obscure Mexican holidays

After a full day of backyard bottle-collecting and re-hydration, I'm more than ready to talk about the best Cinco de Mayo I've ever had. Which maybe isn't the most meaningful way to phrase it since I've never actually done anything extraordinary for this obscure Mexican holiday that we Americans seem to cherish so much.

But still.

Last night began when an old friend of mine from high school in Santa Barbara ended up at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard, Seattle, playing a show on his West Coast tour with his band, Tommy & the High Pilots. The thing about Tommy is that I remember him more as this ever-so-slightly chubby theater geek kid when we were teenagers. 

And now he's hot. And he has groupies. 

I converted two of my friends on the spot. The second Tommy opened his mouth on stage, both of the girls went weak at the knees. They both wept when I told them he'd been dating the same girl for EIGHT YEARS.

This isn't even a good recording, but it's a new song he just wrote about Goleta, my true homeland, and it makes me a little weepy. In a good way. Now go watch their real videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/thehighpilots?feature=watch

I haven't even gotten to the best part yet.

Since it was Cinco de Mayo and all, I naturally extended some Cinco de Mayo hospitality and invited Tommy and his boys over for some fireside beers in our backyard with a few other friends. And by few, I mean 20-30-ish.

The High Pilots brought the other band they're touring with, A B & the SEA...and they all brought their guitars. Ergo a fireside jam session proceeded into the wee hours of the morning (ooops—sorry, neighbors!). And then I made them scrambled eggs for breakfast in the morning. The end.

Viva la Cinco!

9008 Gala

Fun story: 

One of my favorite people in Seattle is this girl:

Meet Kelly. 

We are both from Santa Barbara. We technically grew up together. Meaning there are photos of us running around with other kids when we were knee-high...but we'd never actually hung out until a year ago when we connected back in Santa Barbara at a mutual friend's graduation party. We got to talking about Seattle and realized we lived a mile away from one another. We also realized that we should probably become really good friends ASAP. So...we did. 

Several months ago Kelly was offered a fabulous position at a nonprofit organization called World Concern. While I'm sad (read: morbidly depressed and inconsolable) that she will be leaving soon to move to KENYA, I'm so proud of their new Communication Liaison!

A fundraising gala was held in her honor recently and I was blessed to be a part of the night. Obviously the camera came along...

 

 

Café Presse

Every once in a while I feel minor intimidation toward certain eating establishments in Seattle. Either they've been written up in one too many foodie magazines, their menus are in a chic foreign language, or the wait staff have uncommon piercings and tattoos covering the majority of their visible skin. 

This morning I brunched with my bloggy girlfriend Allie at Café Presse, and it nabbed a spot in all three of the above categories. 

First of all, hellooooo magazine selection. Bless their hearts for alphabetizing—made it a lot easier to find these winners.

Croque Madame. One bite is worth a thousand words. And this iPhone photo is worth about five.

 Ginger Al. Looking sassy is her M.O.

 The go-to mezzo: espresso, steamed soy, H₂O.

 Al's café au lait...

Natural car air freshener. The first lilacs of Spring. Pure love.

the art of cutting down a Christmas tree

Kaylin, me, Jess...& Gus Gus :)

Me, Kaylin, Jess

the Taranto ladies

Shawn contesting the "adults only" sign :)

Wonderful, unofficial Idaho family

 I'll let the majority of the photos speak for themselves.

We had a hilarious time at the Christmas tree farm.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to the Taranto's for being my Idaho family all last week! Kaylin, you're like a sister to me—what a Godsend.