so long, seattle. next stop: california.

well, today another chapter of our epic summer adventure comes to an end. remember when we lived in nyc? yeah, me neither. that was approximately seven million years ago at this point. anyways, we've been spoiled rotten in seattle both by the weather and by blake's parents, but our three weeks here have totally flown by! i could happily stay another month, but it's time for us to pack up and keep on moving. and by pack up, of course i mean throw all of our clothes in the trunk of the car because i'm sick of packing suitcases. might even use a garbage bag or two, that's how classy our travel has become!

tonight, we're headed to see arcade fire at the gorge, which i am so excited about, and then tomorrow, we head out from eastern washington down to sacramento, where our next pit stop is at my dad's house until the 15th. anybody have a good road trip playlist that lasts, oh, i don't know, 12 hours or so? i predict an epic battle for control of spotify tomorrow.

i'll leave you with one final amazing seattle sunset seen from the deck last night, as i've got some clothes to put in trash bags. see ya in california!

thoughts for thursday: salmon, novels, and august goals

owwwww. i can't believe i managed to get out of bed this morning after taking my first barre class last night. um. holy workout. i used muscles that i didn't even know existed! it was kind of amazing, and a really fun change of pace from yoga and running. i've already found a barre place close to our sublet in la and i can see myself totally getting into it. anyways, it's thursday!! so i have some thoughts! it's thoughts on thursday, yahoo! check out the link-up over with nat and annie.

pistachio-crusted salmon
so blake's parents best friend went on a fishing trip up in british columbia and came home with 50lbs of fresh salmon and halibut. luckily, we got to share in that bounty, and cooked up a huge fresh seafood feast last night, including my first go at this recipe from nomnompaleo. and wow, it was incredible. for the halibut, i just baked it with some homemade pesto, and that wasn't half-bad. but this salmon totally stole the show - i'd highly recommend making it in the near future!

tell the wolves i'm home
i stayed up way past my bedtime the other night to finish this book in less than two days because i absolutely loved it. it's the story of a girl who is really close with her uncle, and it explores their relationship while he's dying of AIDS. what i really loved about it is the portrayal of the main character and her older sister - it's pretty much a spot on story about teenage girls (the good, the bad, the ugly). if you're looking for a new read, then this should be at the top of your list. but now i'm searching for a new novel, so let me know if you have any recommendations!

august goals
fine, i know, we're like a week into august already and i haven't done a post on setting goals like i did back in july. but this month, a big goal that my sister, mom, and i made is to email each other at least once a day, every day. we are all really busy and in different time zones, and sometimes end up going way too long without connecting or keeping each other up to date on what's happening in each other's lives. so far, we've made it through to the 7th! excited to see how the rest of the month goes.

tomorrow is our last day in seattle!! and tomorrow night we're heading to see arcade fire out at the gorge before driving down to sacramento on saturday. we're almost to california!!

our weekend was: the blue angels and bbq edition

it was our final weekend here in seattle, and if there's one thing i learned about this city, it's that once a year, they go absolutely apeshit for the blue angels. there's an annual festival called sea fair which has all kinds of parades, hydroplane races, military demonstrations, and other assorted weird... i mean interesting activities. and the highlight of sea fair is the BLUE MOTHERFREAKIN ANGELS. i mean, i'm not gonna lie, i got pretty swept up into it. we watched them practice on thursday, went to a friend's deck to watch a show on friday, and then went across the city to a beach for primo viewing of their show on saturday. yes, for those of you keeping track at home, that's three days worth of airplane acrobatics.

it's pretty damn hard to watch them and not fist pump while yelling "AMERICAAAAA!!!" at the same time. also, it doesn't hurt that they're all super dreamy, as if handsomeness is some kind of job requirement. in fact, i wouldn't be surprised if it is. needless to say, our weekend pretty much revolved around the MOTHER FREAKING BLUE ANGELS! but we did some other stuff too!

on sunday, we hosted a bbq for blake's high school buddies and their wives/families/etc, so it was really fun to catch up with all of them and hear embarrassing stories about teenage blake (of which there are many). not to mention the weather was incredible, yet again. i made a pretty damn awesome kale salad with mango, cucumber, red pepper, pumpkin seeds, and some fresh basil in the vinaigrette. highly recommend that combination, if you're looking for a new kale salad go-to.

the evening culminated in a pretty fiercely competitive shuffleboard game, which i'm not embarrassed to say i dominated. yes, that's right, i like to vacation in palm springs AND play shuffleboard. just send me to a retirement home already.

finally we watched the most incredible sunset i've ever seen over lake washington. i actually still can't really get over it. i've done absolutely zero editing to this photo, by the way. i swear to you. nature, man. it's nuts. 

how was your weekend??

five on friday: i'm alive, i swear!

holy. crap. hello! this week has been one thing after another and none of those things have involved blogging. alas, here we are on a friday yet again, so how about i catch you up on what's gone on the past seven or so days?

we survived the family reunion. 
and miraculously, so did everyone else! it was certainly a lot of together time, but i mostly marveled at the fact that blake's family has been doing this every four years for the past 30 or so, when my family wouldn't even be able to visit the same state together without melting down. and yes, there are all kinds of idiosyncrasies and politics and dysfunctional members as there are in every family (so i hear), but it was pretty cool to be a part of this one! oh and we got a lot of fun boat rides and meals out of it. win win.

then i got sick. 
like really sick. monday night was the worst, and let's just say it will be a long time before i eat steak with chimichurri sauce again (DAMMIT, THAT'S MY FAVORITE). tmi? sorry. but in a lovely twist of fate, turns out that on top of some weird 24 hour bug, i got a terrible head cold - yes, in july - and have been feeling miserable since tuesday. it is now friday, and i am over. it. still feeling only about 75%, but i'm hoping that i can finally get back to normal to enjoy this beautiful weekend in seattle! also it would be great if i could stop sounding like an 85 year old smoker hacking up a lung.

oh, but in between, i bought this dress!
eek, i want it now!! eagerly awaiting ups this afternoon and trying to decide if it's too fancy to wear to a bbq tomorrow afternoon. probably?

and i got my hair cut. 
but since i've either been puking or sneezing since then, it's been rather difficult to get a good picture. so you'll just have to wait for the big reveal in a few days. but i looooove it!

also i might just never leave seattle.
or really, i guess i'd like to summer in seattle. having been here in the winter, i know it's not always like this, so i'd rather spend july and august here when it is stunningly perfect. and yesterday, the blue angels were practicing right over us for a few hours, and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever. they're doing a big show for a week-long festival called seafair, and we're going down to the boat this afternoon to watch it. yes, another friday on a boat.

this weekend, we've got a few bbq's, and i'm dying to get back to yoga and go stand up paddle-boarding. our time here is flying by! what's on your agenda this weekend?