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!

Movie Reviews: The Happening, Hancock, WALL-E

Tonight I thought I'd write some movie reviews interspersed, or even nestled, amongst some little tidbits about my personal life. Saving the best for last, we would of course start with the M. Night Shamalayan piece of shit that I was stupid enough to spend money and 90 minutes on... The Happening: Wow, it sucks. Not that I'm surprised. M. Night Shamalayan is the watchword for not-worth-watching, unless you're re-watching The Sixth Sense, which is permitted. So, The Happening should be called "When Trees Do Even Worse Things to You than Cause Hayfever, and It's Not So Much Scary as Really Annoying, and Even Mark Wahlberg Cannot Make the Insipid Dialogue Work."

Speaking of hayfever, I've got it bad. The 20-40 kleenex per hour (kph) kind, three kinds of allergy medecine at once, the kind where I have to breathe through my mouth for fear of upsetting my pathetic nostrils kind of hayfever. It's funny how it always coincides with the really hot weather. So it's 85 degrees and I don't have AC, and if I open the window it just lets in more filthy pollinated air which will kill me if I allow it to. If I were a magazine centerfold, perhaps my turn-ons list would be something like this: Hepa-filtered, anything hypoallergenic, air conditioning, non-drowsy antihistamines. Turn offs: Dextromethorphane, dust mites, grass, and picnics in the park.

Hancock: A run-of-the-mill Will Smith action movie. Which means that it was pretty good -- never terrible or amazing. It starts of very well and then just kind of ... meh? Charlize Theron plays a superhero too. What I don't get is why, when she goes into superhero mode, does that necessarily mean she has to wear so much additional eye shadow?

I watched the previous two movies with Alex in Aruba. So I was in an amazing place with my husband and we went to see two mediocre at best movies, but it was good because it was so nice just to relax and not have to worry about a thing. The one I watched today, WALL-E, was with Marcus at Pacific Place cinemas. We went to the movie theater just so I could escape the disgusting plant sex and microscopic dust mites that are plaguing me. And I wound up inadvertantly seeing a very good movie.

WALL-E: This movie is really great. It's got the dystopian nightmare scenario that I love, AND Robot Romance. It's one of the very, very few really interesting movies I've seen lately. Go Pixar!!

Alex is in Yakima for his job, which is prepping 3500 National Guardsmen for deployment to Iraq. He's a JAG lawyer, which means that sometimes he's doing desk work like a regular lawyer, but other times he's out shooting bad guys with machine guns and rescuing people from hostile territory by helicopter and infiltrating terrorist hotspots, where he wears a wire to collect evidence to get those terrorists! It's awesome. And then the rest of the time, he just really helps out these poor dudes who have to go to Iraq by getting them wills and helping them sort out their child custody/divorce issues, and other uber important stuff. So, I'm supposed to go to Yakima for a few days this week for my birthday. "Happy Birthday" and "Yakima" don't really seem to go together, but what can you do?

So, July. Really important month for me. Alex is in Yakima for the rest of the month, which is terrible. My biggest plans for July are to deal with all the wedding stuff, all the thank you cards, name change documentation, moving from Marcus's place, putting stuff in storage, and prepping to rent Alex's condo, and looking for a new place for us to move --all of this On My Own. I hate it. Newlyweds should not have to do this alone. But, me having things the way I want them isn't always good for me is it?

Besides dealing with the above stuff, I have a couple of other projects going on. I'm helping Ben & Libbe with their wedding, and I'm considering auditioning for some plays and movies, and I'm getting back into working out. I signed up for a half marathon for Labor Day weekend. Things are just humming along. It's basically the usual. Except I'm married now. It's
different, it really is, but I'm not sure why.

More will be revealed.

Ain’t no sunshine

It's 47 degrees in Seattle. This is not the record coldest; that was a high of 40 degrees in 1924. This summer reminds me of the summer of 1997. That summer, it was still cold well into June. I was working at the Pierce County Prosecutor's office as an intern. I would take the hour-long bus ride and then walk up the huge hill to the courthouse in Tacoma, shivering in my penny loafers and suits bought in North Carolina. What a strange summer. And now, 11 years later, I'm preparing for a wedding here in Seattle. I never thought I'd be doing this. I can't believe I've put up with this weather for so long.

Here's the sort of thing that gets me through: today I'm breaking in a pair of silvery Betsey Johnson shoes, with this cluster of cheery golden crystals on them that almost make me feel like it's sunny outside. They make me feel like a raindrop goddess.

I have some thoughts about maintaining passion. I spoke to my colleague Mark Tackitt today; he's an attorney who does conflict cases for the Office of Public Defense, so he does essentially the same job as I do, except as a solo practitioner. His hobby is civil war reenactment, which he's been doing for over 12 years. I asked how he keeps his interest in his hobby fresh, and he indicated that he tries to work to make everything as close to how it really was as possible, and that this is a very difficult thing to do. He also tries to do better and better events. Soon he'll be going to Gettysburg for a march that he's leading. See http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnppcGNvbi5uZXQvfnNpbGFzL2FuZGVyc2J1cmdtYXJjaC5odG0=

I'm going to try to do that to maintain interest in my passions. It's partly about keeping things as close to your artistic vision as possible, and try to make every "event" better than the last.

Right now my event is, of course, the wedding. I'm working hard and I think it's all coming along. The main things I need to do now are to design the programs, select paper for them and the favor tags, and figure out how much of each beverage we need. And there's a number of other easier to dos (call florist back with updates, bridesmaid gifts, pick up rings, pick up dress, get it cleaned, things like that), but I'm actually pretty happy with the way it's all coming along. I think everything really will be o.k. But anyway, I decided that there were some parts of the vision that could be compromised for the sake of economy (I didn't really need a photo booth, for example), and others that simply could not (I HAD to have terra cotta pots for the floral centerpieces-cum-favors that I'm making. Pastel baskets with checks wouldn't do. I actually had to fire this woman who was going to make them because she couldn't get that it had to be terra cotta pots with pansies and lavendar, not pastel checked baskets with hen and chicks. Sometimes it's difficult to make your vision a reality. I'm just glad my vision was something that is actually pretty doable. It's humbling that my vision is what kind of centerpieces to have on tables at my wedding reception, but that's how it is.

It's freaking cold in my office. Really kinda wishing I were in LA right now.

Aruba Honeymoon

Yes, I'm blogging from Aruba. I can hardly believe that the wedding is done and Alex and I are getting started on our married life.

We're staying at the Renaissance Hotel in Orangestad, Aruba. It's a four-star place with it's own private island, three beautiful swimming pools, a spa, many, many restaurants. The people working here are undoubtedly the friendliest service people I've ever encountered in my life. The motto in Aruba is "One Happy Island" and it fits really well. It's amazing to see so many cultures come together and blend so well, instead of colliding in strife. Aruba is part of the Dutch Federation, and that influence is prevalent everywhere -- many, many Dutch tourists and Dutch is the official language. However, Aruba has people from over 70 nationalities living here -- and the Spanish influence is especially strong. It's really close to Venezuela and many of the natives predominantly speak Spanish.

So far, we rented a Jeep and went off-roading (yee-haw!) and got a flat (awww!) but got it fixed by some nice latino guy, and it all worked out fine. We went diving several times. We have done a lot of swimming and relaxing and sleeping and everything. You know, it's just as amazing as I always dreamed a honeymoon would be.

Well, I have to go now. The pool calls.
See you soon, Seattle!

What to Do When You Have the Flu

My brief blog telling you what sucks and what rocks when you have the flu!

Here's what sucks:
The way you feel

Here's what's great:

Dirt
The second season of this fast-paced FX tabloid-centric drama was cut woefully short due to the writer's strike, but the quick-'n-dirty plots with an easy to follow story arch are perfect when you're running a 99 degree fever. If it gets worse, you're going to need something like….

The Dead Girl
This movie reminds you of why it's good to not be a corpse, even if you're pretty sure that the flu is actually going to kill you. I'm not sure the movie has much more meaning beyond that but it's cinematographically fascinating and there are some great performances in it by Toni Colette, Brittany Murphy, and others. And there was a lovely line about trees and sky that got repeated a couple of times. I really liked this movie and I have no idea why.

The Husky Deli Split Pea Soup
Oh my word. I've always been a big fan of the Husky Deli in general. It has all the fancy foreign foods with none of the uppity attitude. Plus the best homemade ice cream in Seattle, and my favoritest deli sandwich, the Turkish Delight (cream cheese, turkey meat, and mango chutney – get it grilled and praise the Lord for its sweet and savory amazingness!). But I've never had the split pea soup until today. It is sooooo good. It's not a murky, grayish-green-brown mush. It's a wonderful soup with wonderful, fresh tasting peas. So creamy and good. Awesome!

Ratatouille
Pixar is awesome for children and sick people. I'm sure other people like it too. Anyway, this is a cute movie about a rat who dreams of being a chef. I liked it, but then again, by this time my fever was up to 101 and my ears hurt which made me need my Spiderman doll.
What else…

The Riches
This show is so good. It's about the Irish "travelers" and their scheming, conning ways. Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver are so good, even if Izzard's American accent is not 100% believable.

Other Assorted Good Things to Have Around:
The cats!
Bunny slippers
Unlimited liquids
Chicken Soup with Sautéed Garlic
Blankies

Wedding planning and other insanity

I haven't been blogging. I'm sorry about that. It's just that the wedding takes everything I have. Don't get me wrong: I love planning all the little details that go into one great, special day. But it's taking everything. My free time -- gone. I'm at tastings and fittings and planning and scheming. My money is pretty much all going to the wedding. My mind? It's on the wedding. It's hard right now to talk about much else. I went to a "girl's night out" type of party recently where the topic kept veering to local politics (these are not your average girls, apparently). I kept longing, longing, for someone to talk about weddings instead. I should have a little button that says "ask me about my wedding." So it's high time I blogged about it.

So, I got engaged in late January. Here's what I've gotten done since then: choosing and booking the ceremony location (St. James), the reception (Skansonia), transportation in between (for Alex and me, a Rolls; for the wedding party, a really great, um, van), selected a photographer, got a DJ, found a cake baker, decided the menu, registered for some basic gifts, sent e-save the dates, ordered invitations, bought dress, bought corset lingerie thing and stockings, bought crinoline, did first two rounds of alterations on the dress, commenced Catholic premarital counselling, found bridesmaids, picked out bridesmaids dresses, working on picking out their gifts, helped groom pick out groomsman tuxes, looked at honeymoon options with the groom, began shoe shopping (still haven't decided), found hairstylists for rehearsal dinner and wedding, found florist, discussed and decided on floral design, decided on a color scheme (jewel tones) and stylistic theme (vintage and Art Nouveau-inspired).

What's left to do: rehearsal dinner site, contract for DJ, song list for DJ, buy shoes, personalize invitation envelopes, purchase stamps, address and send invites, purchase and assemble favors, let caterer know food selections, create detailed itineraries for wedding party, get marriage license, decide on honeymoon location and pack for that, figure out where we'll live after marriage (I still reside separately from Alex), pick bridesmaid gifts, create hospitality baskets for out-of-town guests, get addresses for the vast numbers of (inconsiderate) guests who failed to respond to my electronic request, finish our registry, book hotel room for wedding night (if we're not immediatly flying off to the honeymoon), buy a guestbook and nice pen, decide what kind and how much beverages we need and order that for reception, buy a veil, go to bridal shower and bachelorette party.

I can't decide if I totally rock and I'm right on schedule or if I should be panicking a little bit. I guess I'll go with totally rock?