fun at subway in arlington

Just poppin' in for a quick story time, then it's back to work counting down the minutes to seafair and refreshing weather.com every 12 minutes imploring the weekend forecast to improve. What's seafair? only the most amazing time of the year in Seattle... better than christmas! More on that later.

About last night.

So my lil bro Gabe and I were on our way back from sarvey after 5 hours of fun times with wild animals. I managed to make it out of there with only a little raccoon shit in my hair, so it was a good night.

We pulled up to Subway for dinner at 9:58 pm, just two minutes before they closed. We still had a good hour long drive ahead of us. Gabe and I wait patiently to order our subs while, likely reeking of God knows what... but then (I kid you not) the large man in front of us orders his sub: white bread, cheddar cheese, olives, ranch dressing and 3 chocolate chip cookies IN THE SUB. *Don't think that's what Jared had in mind... just saying*

The kids behind the counter were struggling to keep it together, as were we. ... Strangely this made me feel a little bit better about our smell :-)

Anyway, we get our sandwiches and while Gabe's paying - his treat! - I head out to the car... only to discover *SHITSKITTLES* the doors are locked. With my keys (cell phone, money, ID, etc. etc.) in the car.

I never lock my car door. In fact, as I type this my car is sitting outside unlocked with the keys inside of it. Call me stupid, but unless I'm in the city or a sketchy part of town, I don't lock the door. Definitely not for a 5 minute stop at Subway.

Well, Gabe felt pretty bad. Yes, my 14 year old brother locked me (us) out of the car over an hour from home... past my bedtime... in Arlington. You may have heard of Arlington as I'm pretty sure it was in the news recently when a man suffered fatal injuries after having sex with (being penetrated by) a horse. Yes, this confuses me too.

Anyway, Subway Boy said he might have a SlimJim to get my car open. When I think SlimJim, I think:

Apparently, a "slimjim" is actual a tool that criminals use to break in to cars. Why Subway Boy had one... well, I didn't ask.

I told him to give it a go, but he clearly didn't have much practice with it - good boy - so I called AAA. And by I, I mean Gabe, because I did not have my trusty BB with me (for shame!) and I am about as useful a chocolate teapot with his alien music touch phone thinger.

They tell me it's going to be an hour, so I tell them I am going to cry. Seriously. I said that...

I said, I'm going to cry if it takes an hour because I have nothing but a t-shirt on (I forgot to mention pants - oops!) and it is cold out and we're hours from home and there's nowhere to go...

A little exaggeration never hurt anyone....

So, AAA calls back to tell me they have a closer company who'll be here in 10. I Win!!!

Less than five minutes later, a tow-truck rolls up and Mountain Man, with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, jumps out and immediately gets to work on the car. No hi, how are you, who are you. Nada. Mountain Man finishes the job before his cigarette (and strangely I never saw him remove it from his mouth to exhale the entire time... this must be a finely developed skill... quite impressive).

And we're off.

But not before Subway Boy tells me, "Be sure to come back next week, it was great to meet you."

Well, I guess if things with Joe don't work out, I know I have options!

must see: the earthlings

DISCLAIMER: the bottom of this post contains disturbing images. there is a warning before that section of the post, if you do not wish to see.



have you heard of the documentary "earthlings"?

image source.

apparently it was released in 2005, but i never heard about it, until i read an article in the seattle p-i about the mistreatment of the elephants at woodland park zoo and saw a reference to earthlings in the comments section.

i watched the trailer online...



okay, i lied. i watched about half the trailer online, until i got to the part showing dogs, raccoons and foxes skinned alive in china for their fur, and i felt like vomiting. it was horrifying and disturbing. the images of animal cruelty, abuse, slaughter...

it wasn't that i didn't know this is a sad reality of the world we live in. it's just it's so easy to ignore. bury my head in the sand, so to speak.

anyway, i knew i had to watch earthlings.

i ordered it on netflix, and it sat on my coffee table for 6 days, daring me to watch it.

finally last night, with butterflies in my stomach, i put in the dvd, and cuddled up on the couch with bondi as my little spoon, and pressed play.

it was beyond disturbing. profoundly grotesque.

and i think you should watch it!

i know, i know. you will say "you can't bear to watch it" it's too awful. blah blah blah.

~*~this is me on my soap box~*~ if you eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, and steak for dinner... if you wear cute patent leather shoes and carry a lovely coach handbag, if you have a designer dog (or any dog), if you've ever been to the zoo or the circus or the rodeo, if you live on this planet we share with non-humans... you owe it to yourself to be informed.

~*~this is not me preaching~*~ telling you what decisions to make for your life. i do not judge you for your choices.

~*~i will not lie~*~ i eat chicken and turkey and eggs and milk and cheese. i wear leather.  

i am just as complicit in the torture and suffering of animals as the next person. and that is exactly what it is. torture and suffering. but i know... and i choose.

i choose not to eat mammals.

i choose to adopt my dogs from the shelter.

i choose to volunteer at sarvey.

i choose not to support seaworld or the zoo.

i choose to support defenders of wildlife.

and...

i choose to share this powerful documentary with you.

fyi: you can watch the whole movie documentary online here: www.earthlings.com

here is a summary (from wikipedia):

EARTHLINGS is a multi-award winning feature length documentary about humanity's absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and scientific research) while illustrating our complete disrespect for these so-called "non-human providers." [...] the film is narrated by two-time Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby. [...]

With an in-depth study into pet stores, puppy mills and animal shelters, as well as factory farms, the leather and fur trades, sports and entertainment industries, and finally the medical and scientific profession, EARTHLINGS uses hidden cameras and never before seen footage to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the largest industries in the world, all of which rely entirely on animals for profit. Powerful, informative and thought-provoking, EARTHLINGS is by far the most comprehensive documentary produced on the correlation between nature, animals, and human economic interests.

Phoenix has commented on the documentary that, "Of all the films I have ever made, this is the one that gets people talking the most. For every one person who sees EARTHLINGS, they will tell three."

consider ~this~ me telling three.

here is what people are saying who watch the earthlings:

"earthlings is the definitive film of all time that americans don't want to see."

"for those who watch the earthlings, the world will never be the same."

"earthlings is nothing short of a masterpiece"

"it is a rare experience to be changed by a film. earthlings has that power."

"the most powerful movie i have ever known."

WARNING: Below is a preview of certain disturbing images in the movie. 
DO NOT SCROLL DOWN IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SEE. 

images courtesy of google "earthlings" images

lovely surprises!

We spent the past weekend in Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands enjoying gorgeous views like this:

I have stories and pictures to share later, but I will just say I was surprised by a few things.... like, I *heart* private beaches (read: no tan lines)! Well, that's not really so surprising but I just wanted to make y'all jealous.

Oh, and SURPRISE: I don't do well with bossy Type A females who are probably a lot like me but obviously I'm less obnoxious because duh, I'm awesome.

Saturday evening, while Joe and I were enjoying the sunset and a lovely dinner, I received an email from my hilarious mom who had her own lovely surprise.

I have something crazy to share :) David and I were sitting at our fire table, under the 100 foot evergreen tree that comes through our deck, just finishing up dinner, when suddenly a giant half eaten catfish bounced heavily off David's head and landed with a splashy muddy plop on his plate. I kid you not. We then noticed the crows flying around and causing trouble. They must have made the eagle in the tree above us drop his dinner! In the words of your cousin Isaac, "THAT doesn't happen every day!"

Yes, that is seriously a half eaten catfish that fell from an eagle's talons to my dad's dinner plate.

Well, apparently it hit him on the head first.    

Can you imagine???

One of the lovely perks (surprises) that comes along with living in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest.

Tomorrow, I'm off to San Diego bright and early for work. I asked Joe if he would take me to the airport for shits and giggles. (BTW is that an expression anyone else uses? Just me?) I have to be there by 6:00am so I naturally assumed he'd so say no way jose but I must be a really good girl because he agreed. And I was surprised! Especially since there's no way I would take him to the airport that early, and I told him as much.

I KNOW, I KNOW, I'm terrible... and some of you bloggers are like crazy wake up at 4:00am for workout peeps and 6:00am is like sleeping in. For shame.

Anyway... see how I tied this totally random post all together??!! *so proud of myself right meow*

blogger: fail!

Hi lovelies!

It's been well over a month since I last graced you with my presence here.

Blogger: FAIL!

excuse #1: I'm a new mommy to this lovely pup who keeps me on my toes with his silly antics.

Joe's dad came in town for 10 days (excuse #2, and that alone deserves its own post!) and introduced him to the laser pointer... Yeah, thanks for that!

Lil' Homie will chase that damn thing for hours. (And here I thought only cats chased those things.) If you stop playing with him, he just stares at the floor and waits. It's a little disconcerting...

PS the photo in the bottom left corner above is (L to R) Sophie, Homie, Tanner and Bondi. Sophie and Tanner are my mom's pups. We decided we needed a picture of all the dogs after a couple "pomtinis" and I believe this was Take 14.

excuse #3: I have this whole JOB thing that's quite an inconvenience... plus I've been traveling for work. See!

Well... that's enough excuses. Now here are a few collages courtesy of Picnik from our Memorial Day Weekend camping trip (yes, I know that was a REALLY long time ago)...

...And a few fun events Joe and I have been to here in Seattle.

Well, that's all for now! I promise I'll be back with exciting adventures and funnies soon.

i'm a bear.. hear me GaaarrRRR!!

We have plans to go camping/backpacking this Memorial Day weekend. Joe is an avid camper... being from Idaho and all :-)

Or should I say was, since we have only been camping together two times in as many years?

The first time we went with another couple overlooking this algae-infested pond beautiful lake and it rained the whole time.

Oh, and the chick we were with went and took a dump in the woods and came back and put her used TP in the fire. Let's just say no one wanted to cook smores! It was a 'shitty' experience.

Our second backpacking/camping trip - just the two of us - went much better, but it's been almost a year now since we've been.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not that i don't like camping trips.

It's just hard to find the time... But we're going this weekend with a group of friends for 3 nights! With 3 dogs (yes, 3 - I'm dog sitting for friend and don't ask how i thought that would be a good idea, but I digress).

One of my friends, a transplant from Cincinnati, is coming along and she has never been camping before, so she is basically making the stockholders of REI very happy "getting ready" for this trip. Yesterday she sent me over her list, which REI conveniently supplied, of everything she "needs" for camping. I tried to assure her that she did not, in fact, need an headnet or flares, but I think she just wants to be prepared :-)

Yesterday was a long day. I was tired,but it was Tuesday so off my lil bro Gabe and I trekked to Sarvey Wildlife like we do every week. I didn't get home until well after 11:00pm and Joe was already dozing off on the couch with a glass of wine. I was too exhausted to be jealous. We got in the shower and I started to tell him about my day. I was laughing about the thought of my friend showing up with a star identification map, an ice-axe and head lamp in tow.

Joe was laughing with me, until I got to the part about the head lamp.

"Uhh... you'll probably gonna be the only one without a head lamp."
"Why would I need a head lamp? I have a flash light!"
"They're just super convenient, you know... for night hikes."

Okay, first of all I DON'T believe I will be the only one without a headlamp. Just saying. But more importantly, why the HELL would we go on a "night hike"? Isn't the whole point of hiking to enjoy your surroundings?

And I don't know about you but I like my ankles - I've liked them for a long time. The way the are, ya know. Not broken.

The only way I'm going to be doing any hiking at night is very quickly if I'm.. ya know.. running from a rapist or a bear or something..

So I told Joe all of the above. I was tired and cranky so I pretty much said it just like that. And then I threw in, ya know... just for good measure:

"YOU can go hiking at night with your precious headlamp. I will be drinking whiskey by the fire. And Homie's staying with me, because Homie doesn't go night hiking EITHER!!!"

Did I mention I love camping?

Anyway, I went to bed for some much needed rest and I slept. Until 6:30am when Joe's iHome awoke me from the most amazing dream ever (so annoying) and Joe barks "Hit the snooze".

See, Joe gets up (and goes to bed) before me, and I like... no I NEED... my morning sleep. It's my best sleep. It's my - if I don't get it you don't want to be around me - sleep.

Now, usually I don't even wake up to Joe's alarm. Usually I'm a pretty heavy sleeper and Joe just reaches over me and presses the damn snooze button himself.

Probably since I was having such an amazing dream God awoke me to punish me for making fun of that girl who pooped her pants in my second grade class.

Anyway, so I pressed the snooze button... and tried to get back to the part where Bondi and I were running off into the sunset to frolic with sparkle unicorns and rainbow butterflies....

*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP* 6:37AM

I rolled over and looked at Joe, waiting for him to, oh I dunno, shut the goddamn alarm off.

Mother-pooper's still asleep!!!

Well this morning, Joe snoozed his alarm from 6:30AM until the time he actually got out of bed at some point over an hour later!! And by Joe I mean me because I am the one who actually had to reach over every time and press the damn snooze button. Because Joe was ignoring me!!! Despite the fact that I was screaming and bitching and carrying on (no I'm not proud, just honest) every time the alarm woke me up. 14 times.

I am one of those people who, when upset, needs to be Heard. Validated. Acknowledged. Pacified. All I got was a few annoyed grumbles and that WOULD.NOT.DO.

So I did what any crazed, sleep-deprived, PMSing normal girl would do. I unplugged the alarm and chucked it across the bed at Joe. Oh yes I did. And I said that alarm would be on his side of the bed from now on. "GaarrRRR!!"

So what did Joe do? He calmly plugged the iHome back in... got out of bed and said "You are out of control."

Finally... victory!!! Joe is up and getting ready and I get to go back to bed!!!!

And then do you know what happened? 7 minutes later, like clockwork, the piece of shit went off again.

Tell me is this iHome like super human? I unplugged it!!! Don't you have to reset it or something?

So from bed I gave my best... "GaaarrrRRRRRRR!!!"

Yes, I ROARED.


Speaking of, I am thinking I need to beware of Bears this weekend... something Brick said in Anchorman.

Wishful Wednesday - Dream Room (i'm biased)

It's time for Wishful Wednesday, courtesy of my IRL lovely friend Miss Kelsey.

'I wish' I could come home to...

this bedroom each and every night!

I LOVE the bamboo construction and funky low profiles. Just my style :-) I would want it with different (maybe Bamboo?) floors and a shaggy white carpet...

I'd have to throw in this "Chiffonier" ... I just learned this word a few months ago and basically refers to really tall dressers like the one above. It would be PERFECT for all my little clothes.. not like pre-college weight, but you know.. socks in top drawer, then undies, then bras, then bikinis, etc. etc.

Okay, okay. Full disclosure: I'm a little biased.

I helped design this furniture!!! 

Yup, our family company makes this bedroom collection and we sell it on Costco.com here.

Plus, I helped develop the flash product demo for it... check it out, but just warning the music get's really annoying. I take responsibility for ensuring the inclusion of a MUTE button :-)

It's my most favorite bedroom collection we sell, and I would totally have it in our little house, if our bedroom was just a teensy bit bigger. Because of the low profile overhangs (which I love) the bed takes up quite a bit of space... maybe in our next house!

Of course, to complete the dream bedroom, the window in the picture would need to look out upon this view, and not the fake skyline we painted for our furniture showroom :-)

 image source.

To play along with Wishful Wednesday next week, head over to Miss Kelsey's blog The Seattle Smith's!

homies where the heart is!

I know, I know... you have all been wondering if I was run over a truck. I did spend a week in Las Vegas, which is a close equivalent, but alas, I AM ALIVE!

The real reason I have been so MIA is....

.................. I'm a new mommy!

Not THAT kind of mommy, but a mommy to this little guy:

 Friends, meet HOMIE.

I apologize in advance, all these pictures are gonna kinda suck because I can't find my camera at the moment. That's another story (which incidentally has nothing to do with Vegas, shocker!)

Anywhoodles, we weren't exactly looking for a new puppy, but we had talked about it. Remember, that's why we moved! From Feb 18:

Background Info: Our apartment lease is up in a couple weeks, so Joe and I have been looking for a house to move to... with a yard... so we can get Mr. Bondi a little brother/sister that Joe will insist on naming "Homie"... which I think is the worst name for a dog ever, but I digress. 

Well, we waited a good 2 months so I say that's responsible.

What happened is about two weeks ago  I insisted we decided to go to Tuxes and Tails, a big charity auction put on by the Seattle Humane Society.

I wore a snazzy dress and Joe looked quite handsome and we mingled with a bunch of well-to-do Seattleites. There was delicious food and champagne.. and wine.. you get the idea.

Then once they get you all good and liquored, they start parading around with all the adoptable dogs. Ingenious. (The thing about this event is you can put a "hold" on any one dog you see and you have until noon the next day to adopt him/her. This is a huge factor in why I finagled us into going, because it is almost impossible to get a puppy from the pound otherwise.) Anyway, at some point in the evening we saw "Thunder":

I was in love!

We put a hold on him and drug our asses to the shelter bright and early Sunday morning and adopted little "Thunder" who Joe lovingly renamed "Homie" ... Now I do not take credit for this name (though I do have to admit it's grown on me) and I let Joe go with it because:

(a) He's always wanted a "Homie"
(b) He's paying the vet bills
(c) I get dibs on naming our first non-furry child

Bondi did not take to Homie very well. Bondi is a VERY only child and the first couple days were rough for him. More rough than the time he hid in the bathtub, aka Bondi's Terrible Tuesday. The sad part is little H wants nothing more than to follow B around, nuzzle up with him, and be just like him.

Riding in the car goes like this: Bondi sits in the front, as usual. Homie whines to come sit in the front. I help him up. Bondi abandons co-pilot seat with an audible groan and goes to the back. Homie whines to go sit in the back with Bondi. REPEAT.

You can see Bondi's totally annoyed in these pictures:

In the past few days, things have notably improved (probably now that Bondi realizes he's not being replaced). Here are some of Bondi's more tolerant moments:

Anyway, I know this is excessive sharing, but here are some of my favorite shots of Mister Homie (who, not to brag, but has only had 4 accidents in over 2 weeks and already knows SIT and COME)...

Besides the fact that we're totally in love with him, we love how perfect a fit he's going to be for our furry family. Can't you tell how much Homie looks up to Bondi?

Someday, Homie. Someday!