In Stitches...

Dinner eaten, sweatshirts on, tickets in hand, we made our way up to campus this weekend for David Bazan's final-night-on-tour performance. We arrived pleasantly late so as to miss a little of the waiting and intro band's show, only to find out that the tickets, which specifically said doors opened at 7pm, were an hour and a half early on the show time. So we took a few minutes to walk campus instead, noting once again how beautiful it is up there. I can't believe it's been four years already since we graduated - does that make us old?? With still another hour to kill, we headed back home for a snack, a trusty Colbert Report, then made our way back to the show - again, pleasantly late. Unfortunately, not late enough though, as we ended up waiting a good 45 minutes before the opener even came out. But we chatted with some friends, and then enjoyed just being with each other while we waited. The opener was good, and Bazan was fantastic. I will admit, though, I think I'm used to Dana Little-esqe concerts where it feels like you're family and she fills the space between every song with personal thoughts and stories. Not so with Bazan, which Isaac knew having seen him perform before, but I hadn't had the pleasure of experiencing yet. He came on, barely said two words before starting into his first song, then rolled right into the second, third, and fourth songs without any breaks. He came up for air twice, I think, during his entire set, where he asked his standard, "Does anyone have any questions?" After a few half-sentence long answers, it was back to the songs, and then away he went before we even realized it was over. But that's Bazan for you. You don't see him for his charm, you see him for his realness, his heart, his music, and his lyrics that are so full of life and struggle that they're swimming around in your head for days to come. Months, if you're in our house because he's often the voice streaming through our speakers.

In short, it was good. Very good.

I just realized I never posted about our Vashon weekend, either - sorry, Han. A few weeks ago, Isaac and I spent a weekend away with Hannah and Mike and had a FANTASTIC time! Lots of windows, trees, geoducks, hot tubs, and exploring. Want to see the pictures? There are way too many to post, but go here if you want the full view.

It was a hard day...

If I was a stronger, more selfless person, life would be so, so much easier.

if I could learn to swallow my anger, my annoyance...
if I could keep my demons from taking over my life...
if I could see that the needs of others are no less important than my own...
if I could say what I really mean when it really matters, instead of being harsh to protect my damn pride...
that will be when I have truly succeeded.

Two words...

Two words:
Bikram. Yoga.

My new love. Back in January, while we were celebrating Morgan and Tommy's surprise Christmas visit back from their overseas adventure, Morgan, Alex, and I sweated out a one-week trial of Bikram Yoga classes, just to get a taste of the phenomenon that has been sweeping across the states. We showed up, paid our $20, and recieved a pass for unlimited classes for the next seven days. Now, I've been doing yoga for the past couple of years - mostly in my living room with random video instructors - so I thought I'd be rather prepared for the physical challenge of this class, but man, was I surprised. Basically, you're in a room heated to 105 degrees and you're taken though a series of asenas (postures) for the duration of 90 minutes. It's the same postures every class, for every person, no matter how beginning or advanced you are, so every time you go back, you have a chance to really work on executing each asena with perfection. Not that you get anywhere near perfection in the first ten years, though. That's what makes every class a continual challenge. You are drenched in sweat afterwards, having successfully burned over 800 calories, stretched your muscles in ways they've been waiting for the past twenty five years, and built muscles you didn't even know existed. It's an incredible workout, and a proven way to heal injured areas of your body - back and neck pain from my car accident three years ago, in my case. And it's the only workout I've ever truly enjoyed sticking with, which makes it a rather appealing endeavor for me. After that first week, Alex kept going, but I only started going consistently at the end of February. In short, it's one of the best things I've ever done for myself health-wise - both mind and body, and I love, love, love it! And Isaac and Justin love that they have something new to make fun of us for when we return to our respective houses after class red faced and soaking like drowned rats. Although, I have to say I think Isaac really does like me going because it gives him more time to read and study about investing, which has become a growing interest of his for the past several months. Well, it's been an interest of his for the past several years, but in the past year he's really delved into the study of it - almost like he's in school again. It's fun to watch him in something he loves like that, and makes Bikram a double blessing for our little family.

Well, friends, it's raining again up here. Things were looking so good for an early summer up here that I think I prematurely got my hopes up that maybe we would just skip the rain this year just like we skipped the ice and snow part of this winter. Apparently we shall be having no such luck as the rain has been cascading in some shape or form nearly every day of the past week. Lucky us...