Summer in Seattle

This has been a big summer. A lot has happened and it's all gone by astoundingly quickly. Here's a sort of overview of the summer through pictures, since I don't think I could do this summer justice with a blog post. Maybe I'll elaborate on some of these points in the near future. And soon, I promise. 

 I graduated college, woohoo! And mange cum laude at that. I'm pretty proud and got to have my whole family here to watch me walk and show around Seattle.

I moved! A peak into my apartment 

Lots of wine and new friendships

More family came for an awesome whirlwind Seattle tour

Leisurely strolls around my neighborhood...when I'm not working

Some seriously awesome times with some pretty fine ladies 

Enjoying this city's gorgeous summer

Portland | Pt. 2

The rest of my time in Portland (yes, yes I know we're almost through August too - it's been a busy summer) was picturesque. Lazy mornings fueled by coffee in the garden followed by walks through North East Portland. One day we ended up spending the day with more of Thea's family, when we had only gone over on a mission to retrieve a lawn mower. It turned into a lovely afternoon wherein we lounged in the backyard, some sort of summer cocktail concoction in our hands, and just talked. 

We eventually made our way the four blocks home dragging a lawn mower behind us. I sat on the front step and Thea cranked on the mower. Not three feet into their enormous front yard a car stopped in front of the house and a little girl ran up to us and asked, "Does Al live here?" Turns out some of Al's friends from college were stopping by. They came in and we eventual scrounged together a pretty impressive impromptu meal that we ate all together on the half-mowed lawn. It's was warm evening, not a cloud in the sky. When they left to continue their journey down to California, we sat outside with some ice cream and stargazed. 

The next day we went to Sauvie Island. We had a bit of a late start, but when we got to this island just northwest of the city, we stopped to pick berries in the sun. We walked away arms full of blueberries and raspberries. Next stop on the island was the beach. As a Californian, I'm weary of any "beach" that's not on the ocean, but this was just perfect. Sand and a calm river to swim in and escape the pretty hot day. Our timing was perfect- we had a few good hours at the beach before leaving and as we did we passed a line of cars waiting to park probably a mile long. We rode back into Portland berries in hand and went to Thea's mom's house for late lunch. Which turned into quite the evening when more of Thea's friends and family showed up.

My last morning in Portland was spent rearranging Thea and Al's little house. We moved and cleaned and discussed cabinet placement for quite some time before breaking for a popsicle run. And before I knew it, I was back on a crowded bus to Seattle. 

Sauvie Island berries

Portland Escape | Part One

It's early, and I'm awake. Having gotten my work schedule completely wrong, I showed up at 6am when I don't have to be there until noon. So, I'm taking that as a sign. As though the universe is saying, "Here. Have a few hours and write that damn blog post you've been promising your dad for months now." So, here goes.

While my life here in Seattle involves much less international travel than wonderful Grenoble life, I've still been taking some awesome trips. I spent the week of July 4th down in Portland yet again. I'm starting to think this is a yearly tradition I'd like to maintain.

Going down to Portland means serious time with great friends, damn good food, plenty of drinking, and time with a family that has adopted me as their own. I've definitely found a home away from home in the Rose City.

I spent a whole week in Thea and Al's (you'll remember them from many a post) adorable and super tiny house in NE. Almost every morning, I drank my coffee in Thea's garden, among the poppies and happy little bees, soaking up the morning sun.

If I do say so myself, they've got a pretty awesome home gallery going. With some art by yours truly.

 I arrived in Portland around 10pm and bussed up to their neighborhood. I, seriously misunderstanding some texts (that seems to be a theme lately), walked 15 blocks to the house, just to realize I was meant to meet them at a bar only four blocks from the bus stop. So that was a fun walk. At least it was gorgeous and warm out. There was a birthday happening that I got to join and I had a great time meeting some of Thea's coworkers and friends.

The next morning, while everyone was away at work, I putzed around the house and read. I really needed a day of nothing to do and nowhere to be. Once everyone was back that afternoon, we packed up the car and headed to Mt. Hood National Forest to camp for the night. Our destination was Bagby Hot Springs.

One of my favorite views

We spent the night among massive trees and constantly pestering mosquitoes after hours of fireside hilarity. In the morning we "hiked" to the hot springs. I guess I would call it more a walk or a lazy jaunt along a large, flat trail. The trail followed the weaving Clackamas river, so our walk was accompanied by the sound of the rushing water and gorgeous sights. 

Bagby Hot Springs

Our hot spring timing could have been better- there was a lot of waiting for kids who kept turning on the water to refill the tub they had splashed all the water out of- but it was awesome nonetheless. The tubs were either large and made with planks or smaller (like the one above) and carved out of a single log. And the hot, slightly sulfurous water flowed from the source, steadily making its way to our tub were we sat for hours.

Dillinger Dogs - popular dish of seasoned outlaws and weekend campers alike

 Once we were all warm and snuggly and refreshed, we made our way back to camp and started working on breakfast. What you see above does not look like much but it's actually a fine Al/Thea invention: Dillinger Dogs. Sausage and blueberries in a mess of pancake batter. Deliciously sweet and savory (maple syrup necessary).

Fun camping tidbits:
Thea was the only one who could build a fire in a steady and brisk manner;
Al is really, genuinely scared of bears (like, more so than I realized);
Turning off the flashlight and looking up is probably one of my favorite things to do;
Root beer and whiskey is a fantastic combination and we plan on trying floats of this variety very soon.

Heading in to the forest near sundown 

We got back into town the next day with enough time to unload the car, wash off some of that campfire, and head to a 4th of July party at some friends' house. Food, music, and fireworks combined for a good time somewhere in Portland. We ate too much, danced, and watched the fireworks from the roof. I'm only realizing now that I don't have any pictures from the party, so my words will have to be enough. 

Strawberries from Thea's garden

Une Boulangerie Française

Volunteer Park dahlias

I've been finding ways everywhere in my life to procrastinate lately. I'm trying to change that, school is about to start and I really need to focus. Anyway, the blob has been suffering and it's because of pretty good reasons. I got a second job! In the most fortuitous and fitting turn of events, I'm now working at a French bakery. How appropriate, I know. Learning the names of every pastry was quick and painless thanks to the French. And hopefully I'll get to actually use it on a tourist sometime soon!

Back in Seattle

Other than working as much as I can, my roommate and I have been having a wonderful time walking around and eating all the good food we can get our hands on. Until yesterday, the weather was pretty consistently sunny and warm, so walks were a regular occurrence. Last Sunday we made our way over and strolled among the dahlias that are blooming all over. And I'm completely moved-in to our adorable little apartment, which is a relief. It's an adorable place in a building from the '20s. I couldn't be more thrilled.

The perks of working at a bakery!

Back and Forth

The furnished half of our apartment.

The last two weeks have been vaguely insane and really, really good. I have one job so far, and a second interview this week (gotta pay that rent). And I'm almost fully moved in to my new apartment. I spent most of Saturday with my future roommate, Alana, and Katherine taking load after load over to Katherine's new apartment. And in the process we were able to go grab the rest of my things. Suffice it to saw, I've been covering lots of Seattle by foot and quite often with boxes in my arms. It all seems to be coming together and I'm happy to be getting back into the swing of things here. I'm mostly excited to have endless dinner parties in our minuscule kitchen and to finish decorating.

Rediscovery

The last few days have been tiring, exciting, busy, and grey. Rediscovering the Seattle I so love has been interesting and sometimes shocking. Shocking is the amount of change...until I realize how long I've actually been gone. I forget that I haven't been in Seattle for over a year. I didn't remember that little fact until I ran into an old friend on the street and had a moment of "wow, I have absolutely no idea what's going on your life because I haven't seen you in, how long?" And even then, in that moment realizing I've been back in America for over two months! Time is rushing by much too quickly for me.

And then there's the streets I walked almost every day to and from classes, the neighborhoods and streets that have been the backdrop of time here, where now new condos, bars, restaurants, and construction sites have popped up. "Neighborhood staples" that suddenly I don't recognize the name of. But that's also a fun and exciting aspect of the rediscovery, especially now that I'm 21 and a whole new part of the neighborhood is open to me. Last night I got to take advantage of the happy hour wine special at our favorite French spot, Café Presse, while I reminisced and reconnected with a fellow Grenoble student. I'm excited to continue the friendships that started half-way across the planet.

The Space Needle...from afar

My search for employment continues (so if anyone out there has any connections, hook me up?), which means lots of walking. The resume dropping-off and schmoozing is punctuated by jaunts through adorable residential streets or a quick glance of the Puget sound perfectly framed between buildings.

Back to the Northwest

The view from my apartment

It's been a long few days and I'm now back up in Seattle. We left Friday evening and arrived Saturday afternoon in what was a long and lightning filled drive. The about 2-4am stretch through Southern Oregon was during a pretty large storm that sporadically lit up the whole sky.

It was a nice drive with my dad and uncle. We drove through the night and stopped in Portland for breakfast before the final three hours to Seattle. We got lunch in our neighborhood before my drivers decided to start it all over again. I'm really happy to be back up here. The weather has been fantastic and I've been enjoying walking around seeing old favorites and discovering everything that has changed. But, the pressure is on now: to find a job! So that's what will be taking up the majority of my time for the foreseeable future. Allez, courage!

Gilroy Garlic Festival

The pyro chefs of gourmet alley

I'm about to turn on the hometown pride, beware. Last weekend was the 35th Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival! My family is normally pretty involved in the festivities, but this year even more so. Not only was my mom a sous chef on the Garlic Cook-off stage, but her art won her 1st place in the official poster competition. A win and by a local, even better!

Mahi mahi lau lau

Her contestant on the cook-off stage made mahi mahi that was absolutely delicious. The perks of having family on the stage is getting plates sneaked to you off to the side. When we weren't cheering on mom or her contestant we were sampling the garlicky food and (now that I'm 21) getting into those beer gardens. A successful day at one of the most classic of food festivals. 

Mom's (Sheryl Cathers) winning poster

Reminiscent Summer Mornings

This whole summer seems to be going by in a blur. I'm only weeks away from going back up to Seattle and I honestly can't tell you what I've been doing these last two months. Lots of sleeping I guess? Well, I've finally kind of gotten my life together to start working on the paper I have to write as a reflection on my time in Morocco. So far, I think I've maybe written two paragraphs (of around 15 pages...) but it's something. With only two paragraphs though, I see that everything is slowly but surely fading from my memory. Not as a whole, but the little details I expressly told myself I wanted to hold onto.

Anyway, this all prompted me to break out the journals and sketchbooks and stacks of mementos of my whole year. In that stack I found the letter my friend Josie wrote to me while in London. She typed it out on the old typewriter she had just bought somewhere in town as I lay on her bed, eyes-closed, exhausted, and finding the repetitiveness of the loud typing soothing. I love reading and rereading this letter because it so succinctly sums up my feelings at the end of my time abroad, especially in the last few lines:

"'God willing'- as your favorite Arabic phrase goes, we shall enjoy tomorrow....Today we couldn't believe we were 21, almost done with college and a year away from being responsible for ourselves. We couldn't believe a year abroad was almost over. Here's to another day we can't believe happened...and the future that is impossible to plan and will according to our designs- a future we can only hope for, to reach out across the water towards a future we greet with the words 'God willing.'"

Portland

A whole series of pictures from my time in Portland. I've been doing a miserable job being productive and actually blogging this summer. But, I had a lovely trip and leaving was very hard. The 4th of July weekend was a great but bittersweet reunion for our group of friends- knowing we won't be together like this again for a very long time. 

Hippo

I spent my first day in Portland wandering down Burnside towards downtown, stopping for coffee and pastries and to peruse Powell's City of Books.

Portland's many bridges

The Fourth of July was great. We ate, we drank, we blew off fireworks (okay, we mostly watched), and made friends. Alana and Ian, our Seattle friends, joined us that afternoon. With them we went to a shindig in Southeast and then ended our night at the impromptu celebration that happened at Thea's mom's house. It was hilarious and a helluva good time.

The steel bridge and Northeast

 One of my favorite activities was our day-long bike ride on Friday. We started at Thea's mom's house in Northeast Portland and rode down to and crossed the Steel bridge, crossed the esplanade, rode back up the Hawthorne bridge and stopped at the Waffle Window. Probably my new favorite food establishment, the Waffle Window is exactly what it sounds like. Delicious waffle-y concoctions passed out of a small window off Hawthorne. Naturally, we went back for seconds.

Bike riding on the esplanade

So delicious.

The Waffle Window

 From there, we rode up to Mt. Tabor Park where we eventually stopped next to a reservoir that overlooked downtown Portland and laid in the shade before riding all the way back home.

Mt. Tabor park with a view

 We were exhausted after the ride, but still somehow got ourselves together and made our way over to the Doug Fir for the All the Apparatus show (which was excellent!). I got to order real alcohol at a real bar and got past the bouncer all legal and such. It was nice. The show was fantastic, featuring the sounds of Kithkin and The Horde and the Harem, Seattle bands, as openers. We danced all night long and I definitely slept like a log afterwards.

Doug Fir

 On Saturday we went to the river to enjoy the sun, eat some good food, and swim. The plan was originally to go somewhere in the Columbia Gorge and them go swimming in the Columbia River...but we requested a hike, with no incline, not too far, and with a view. A bit much to ask in a gorge, but we were still trying to physically cope with the previous day's adventures. Thea decided on the Sandy River to avoid the hiking. There was minimal trekking to the river bank where we positioned ourselves.  We stayed for a few hours and when as we left decided that night would be a bring-your-own-steak night. We feasted on steak and potatoes in the backyard and then met Thea's dad for drinks and more food out on Alberta before calling it a night.

The Sandy River

 Sunday was Thea's grandmother's birthday, which we celebrated with a large family brunch in the backyard. All of us friends helped out with the party prep and then got to hang out with the gem that is her grandma for the whole afternoon. Alana and Ian left that afternoon, pushing the reality of the impending end of the weekend on us.

On Alberta

We made pie, walked around, talked, ate even more, and hugged. There was so much hugging. It's nice knowing soon we'll all be a lot closer- once I'm back in Seattle, living with Alana and able to go only 3 hours to visit Portland, but it was still so sad leaving the people and the city I've truly grown to love these last few years.

The Rose City

I'm off to Portland for the next week to visit Thea and Al for the 4th of July, see the whole family, and even some friends on top of that. I'm thrilled we made this reunion happen. It's quite the photogenic city so I'll try to stay on my game and document my time here as best I can. 

I got in last night and after being picked up at the airport, we headed straight to band practice. Al's band, All the Apparatus, is playing a big show on Friday night. So we hung out in the yard enjoying the warm evening and sipping cider while the band sweated away in the basement providing us with some pretty fantastic background music. And today everyone is working, so it's my chance to explore Portland by foot and absorb what I can before the real festivities begin. 

"It's a funny thing coming home..."

"It's a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what's changed is you"

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

I remember seeing this quote a long time ago, even before I left last September and thinking, "No. Let's not get too carried away. Things won't be that different." I don't think it's entirely true that nothing changes at home. It does. But it's my role in that home that has shifted. What I'm trying to say is, things still feel a little off here. As though I'm still in a jet-laggy haze, even though I've been home long enough to have re-adjusted. But I'm not entirely sure if it's because of the travel fatigue or the real minor differences that make being home not feel the same.

The distance has made me see that life goes on without me. The entire time in France, I found myself wondering what was happening with my family and if I would really be missing out on some major happenings. And then, as I left Grenoble, it all came crashing down on me. I got on the train, waved goodbye to my host family, and sat down. That's when it hit me, their lives will go on. They'll continue to sit down to dinner every night and laugh about the same things, they'll see their oldest son get married this summer, they'll greet summer in Grenoble...and all without me. I know I was only there for 6 months, but it began to feel like that was normal. I finally started to
fit into their funny family dynamic. Life continues and I can't do anything about it.

Now, being here, it's hard to cope with this knowing I'll be leaving again soon. It's entirely too true that, in general, I'm feeling a bit torn. I see these photos of friends graduating and moving on with their lives and I realize, not only did I miss this year in their life, but I won't see them again for a quite some time. That so much happened while I was gone and I really have no idea what it will be like when I finally get back up to Seattle. I'll be down a few friends, but I'll also have the new ones I made in Grenoble.

I feel silly saying that I feel like I've missed out on something when I got to experience some pretty amazing things this last year. It's just that I've come to call so many places home and they're all constantly calling to me.

I went on this same rant with my dad that other night and in the middle of it all he turned to me and said, "You have to ask yourself, what am I experiencing now?" Here and now. It's something I need to focus more on. I need to appreciate where I am, regardless if that's at home, in another country or in another city. I am here, now, with people that I love, in a beautiful part of the country. And while I can reminisce about the things I saw and the people I connected with, I need to break from the train of thought where I can't help asking, "What am I missing? What would I be doing if I were there? What are they doing without me?"

Straight From My Sketchbook

When I travel I always bring my favorite watercolor kit that allows me to paint in almost any situation. While I was in Morocco I made sure to bring them since I knew I would want to capture all of the colors and vibrant images around me. I'm a bit shy sharing my art, but I'm very proud of this batch of watercolors and I wanted to share my memories of Morocco as seen directly through my eyes.

These are in chronological order, starting in Rabat and ending in Marrakech. I would either find a way to paint a scene or two during lunch or snap a picture and work on it later in our hotel room or on the bus. Excuse the quality (I should have scanned them).

Rabat Parliament

Rabat kasbah- Andalusian gardens 

Fez- shop in the medina, tiles and views

Sketch of gate into Fez 

Same gate in watercolor- Fez

Fez medina by night

Oum-er-Rbia riverside lunch spot

Oum-er-Rbia lunch 

Khénifra wool souk

Lunch before heading to the desert

Interesting buildings on the way to Ait-ben-Haddou

Ait-Ben-Haddou

Marrakech orange juice carts and brochette