Kayaking the Arboretum

Alex and I kayaked in the Arboretum this weekend. We rented from the Aqua Verde Cafe & Paddle Club (I'd always rented from UW in the past and found Aqua Verde to be just as good. I'll have to compare rates).



The Arboretum is beautiful on foot, but even more so by kayak. The lagoons glimmer green in the We wandered amongst lily pads and dragonflies, ducks, and a lone egret stalking some fish. We were on our way back near Montlake cut, when the sky opened and we got drenched. The rain plastered my hair to my skull and we paddled through the choppy water in the cut, yelling, "1-2-3-4, I love Marine Corps!" to keep time.

Rain or no rain, I love it! More kayaking to come!

Prospects on the Proctor District

Last night we took a trip down to our new place in Tacoma. It's right in between Old Town and the Proctor District, which are both nice, old fashioned neighborhoods. Proctor District reminds me a bit of Wallingford or the Admiral District in West Seattle. The neighborhood is quiet and pretty, and most of our neighbors have flags. I want a flag too.

Our house is a 1930 craftsman, with sage-green painted wood. It's all one floor except for the requisite creepy basement. There long, awkwardly shaped front room has a great view of Commencement Bay. The house is quaint, but it has that slightly-off feel that old homes sometimes get. It's been remodeled somewhat, but obviously in a fairly hurried manner. The new walls make strange shapes in the rooms. The "office" is tiny and oppressive feeling, so I'm trying to scope out a way I can do my writing in the front room. The kitchen window overlooks the stairway to the basement instead of outside. I wonder if plants would improve the situation? We were dismayed to learn that there's no dishwasher, so I'm going to be hand washing dishes all winter long. There's no fireplace either. That really bums me out. This winter could be depressing -- moving away from my friends in Seattle to live in an old house in Tacoma with no dishwasher and no fireplace.

We went to dinner at a place called Knapp's. It's one of those classic places that's been around for 70 years. You'd think in that amount of time you'd learn to cook a steak. Alex had the surf n' turf, and his medium rare steak was medium well. It was actually pretty gross. My salad was frozen, the meatloaf so-so, the service was pretty terrible. The only saving graces of dinner was the baked potato, though actuallymy sour cream was frozen, so I take that back. Dessert, however, was great: the coconut cream pie was fresh and delicious and very coconutty.

We stopped by the Metropolitan Market and the Safeway. The vibe I got was that eventually we could call this area home. It'll probably be o.k.

The Perfect Party: Basics & A Little Spice

Every party, no matter how elaborate its trappings, has some essential basics. You can have a pretty good party without these elements, but it will never be an amazing party. The items are remarkably simple, but unfortunately quite easy to get wrong, which is why planning is crucial.

Any amazing party will ensure that there are:

1) Good people
2) Good drinks
3) Good food
4) Good music
5) Optional (particularly if you have at least three of the above): Entertaiment

If you don't have one or more of the top four, prepare for your party to be anything from average to abysmal. But notice that none of these things has to be incredible or amazing for the party will

HOW NOT TO PARTY:
I went to a dinner party very recently, and it was a nice effort on the hostess's part. Homemade dinner, some alternative satellite radio station playing in the background, and a group of friends -- actually, two groups of friends brought together. And honestly, it was an o.k. party. How could this party have been amazing? Skip the weird orzo 'n squid casserole or whatever tf that was supposed to be. Baked chicken legs (legs only -- no white meat?) with nothing but olive oil for flavor? No! And NO BOILED VEGETABLES. Ever. Mushy and tasteless should never, ever describe anything at your party, much less the food. And even more important, the people, while they may have been great, were not getting to know each other. That's an important aspect of hosting a great party. Introduce your friends and acquaintances to each other. Let them mingle. This is very often neglected. So we were all talking to the people we already knew and not to anyone else. It was pretty boring.

Later the host (a lawyer) told a story about a child molestation case that he hadn't even worked on. That's when the orzo squid decided it just wasn't sitting right in my stomach and I needed to make a hasty exit. The party was breaking up anyway. Moral: avoid talking about disgusting subject matter like child molestation at a dinner party. If it's hard to grasp the why on this one, you may want to read up on a book like Miss Manners to get some ideas about basic social skills.

What could they have done? Put spice on the chicken. Spicy (but maybe not too spicy) is more fun. Always err on the side of spicy in your party planning.

If you follow the above advice, your parties will be nothing short of amazing, every time.

NEXT UP: More parties!