Weekend Magic

Home for the holidays…..manana! YEE-ha.

And let me tell ya, I am going into this Thanksgiving week grateful for a whole  heck of a lot. It’s been a really, really good past week. [Brett Dennen could not make me smile more. I just LOVE that dude. And do you know Grizfolk? I’m so excited to get to know their music better.]

Hope your weekends were filled with oodles to be thankful for, too!

Goin’ With The Flow

Last week, nothing seemed to be flowing. Nada. Do you ever have those weeks? Every stinkin’ little thing I tried to do felt a bit harder than it should have…It was raining cats and dogs, my congestion was otherworldly, my electronics were kink-filled, and my work scene was rife with convoluted miscommunications (you guys would not even believe…), dizzying circles and frustrating dead ends.

This week, though: the sun is OUT, the mountains are showing themselves, I feel better rested + more healthily fed (=more energy overall) and, praise be, my writing is feeling inspired and more creative than it has in eons. I’ve also somehow managed to spend time with so many of my favorite, favorite Seattle people this past week (with more fun hangouts on tap for the weekend!). I repeat, I know some really good people.

Sometimes the puzzle pieces just effortlessly fall into place. At the moment, I’m riding along with the flowing current and enjoying the ride. (And it doesn’t hurt knowing that HOME is on the horizon so super soon:)) How have your weeks been?

Happy weekend, y’all!

                           [I have yet another friend/fellow wanderluster launching off to travel the world next week (!). Today I got to catch up with her over an alfresco coffee, as sweet Griff looked on. Couldn’t you just eat him up? He’s the best.]

Wine, Wonderful Women, Wigs & Wild Horses

Life: It’s really all about the celebrations, isn’t it? We must take time to celebrate—the people, the places, the moments, the laughter. We must!

My friend  Melissa did an awesome job this month of ushering in a milestone birthday, and I was lucky enough to be along for the ride.

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.”~Tom Peters

Words & Tunes

[Seeing these guys Thursday:)]

Happy Monday!

The Scene Over Here

*I want to go on a run; it’s raining.

*I want to write this story; I have no information for it.

*I want to write this other story; I have no creativity/motivation for it.

*I had a potential opportunity this week to mayyyyybe go to the Galapagos Islands in December (the Galapagos!!!); I don’t think it’s going to work out…

*I really want to enjoy my friend’s much-anticipated birthday festivities this weekend; I still can’t breathe, my throat hurts, and I’m sooo over not feeling 100%.

*Channeling positivity, attempting, struggling….

How are your Fridays:)?

A Whole Stream

[Pit stop @ Zillah, WA]

“….the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.” ~WH Murray

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandwich Road Trip Anyone?

The mini + pobre, little stray dog. (Note the “tumbleweed” picked up en route, ha!)

I am a lover of sandwiches and a lover of road trips. So. Who wants to eat their way across America with me? (Admittedly, some of these sandwiches look a little too meat-crazy for yours truly, but….I’d give it a whirl.)

Recently, I have a dream of getting sent on some sort of project where I have to travel the width of our vast, amazing, quirky country, exploring all the nooks and crannies  along the way. I love road trips,  I love interviewing local characters, and I love little towns with one blinking stop light, one laundromat and one local pub where everybody knows your name. I think that, because this is so far from the reality of the suburban upbringing I experienced, I am just fascinated by life in these remote, unpopulated pockets of our country.

So, I’ve decided I really want an assignment that gives me the excuse to do this—to hit the road and to interview folks I meet along the path. I want to learn their stories; I want to share their tales.

I’m talking This American Life, StoryCorps, documentary research or random projects like this that I’ve recently randomly stumbled upon and become so captivated by. (Or maybe I could/should create a project on my own? Hmmmm. If anyone with an assignment catches wind of this post, feel free to send it my way:))

Here are some preview pics from my recent mini-roadtrip east to Leavenworth and Walla Walla, WA.

This is a mighty diverse country we’ve got, y’all, and there’s still so much more of it I want to explore.

Snowing through the pass

Some no-nonsense Walla Walla Mexican, thanks to a tip from a local

Lake Street Dive

Do y’all know these guys? You should. I mean, really, you should.

I have seen and continue to see quite a bit of live music, and I can honestly say that this show was one for the record books—a concert I’ll never forget (along with that first time Langhorne/Sean spellbound me in teeny-tiny Iota and that evening the Fleet Foxes unexpectedly awed us all into collective silence with their harmonizing perfection on the Black Cat’s smaller stage, just before word got out, and they launched off into super-stardom).

In the presence of such genius, engulfed in such a special scene, when it all just falls into place, when it all works—I feel so lucky to share the space with these amazing artists who have decided to share their talent with us. I mean, with us!

Last night, too, there was magic in the air in the dimly-lit, sold-out room of the Tractor Tavern, the majority of surrounding Ballard businesses pitch black due to wild winds that had earlier knocked down power lines around town. But in the Tractor, we had light. And we had community. And we had soul. And we came together under those dangling cowboy boots to hear a voice that seems to come from otherworldly greatness. I won’t soon forget it. Thanks, Lake Street Dive. You were really something.

Roll on, November! (Already, how?)

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Halloween’s come & gone:

The leaves continue to fall and soon will all be gone:

Rolling into a new season, here we go….

“When chill November’s surly blast make fields and forest bare.”
~Robert Burns