bbq = happiness

independence via lounging.

bulldogs:

god bless 'em.

twisp, wa.

spent a weekend in the woods out in central/eastern (?) washington (i don't quite know my geography up here yet).

i apologize upfront for going slightly overboard with the number of photos, but i had too amazing a time to be stingy.

so here you go...


john wayne presiding:


the beautiful cabin:


axes and hatchets and other such outdoorsy stuff:


the duke, once again:


rickety swings and beautiful yellow flowers:


loved the details of this place:


again with the yellow flowers - they were everywhere:


some good sky on saturday:


lounging (jenna and tom):


more lounging by crazy huge fire (tom and anko):


ethan and his good friend tom, apparently giddy as can be:


the ubiquitous self-portrait. oh, how this guy makes me smile:


carl, ethan, and tom playing horseshoes (a game at which i am horrible, i quickly discovered). ethan proudly sporting his dad's old coveralls:


folf in the woods:


more folf:


justin and ethan meandering down to the river:


laura, who is friggin' rad:


ethan, who is also friggin' rad:


carl and ethan in serious mode:


and then in not-so-serious mode (you can't quite tell, but carl is singing - beautifully, i might add):


justin capturing carl's serenade:


concentrating on his scrabble game (i am quite sad, by the way, that i was not the one to take this awesome photo - my camera had been passed around a bit):


a few shots from the voyage to and from twisp (taken from the car, hence the blurriness):






the end. if you've managed to make it to the end of this excessive photo-fest, i appreciate your devotion greatly. =)

chuckanut drive

sunny day = wandering

rad movie poster

and the movie looks pretty intriguing too.

the ginger snap

i was thus referred to today. lovingly, that is.

it made me smile.

check

i learned to play chess yesterday! and by that i mean ethan taught me the rules, and we played two games, both of which he won. but i loved it. i've always wanted to learn, and not even losing pathetically could ruin my joy in it.

killing my television

I'm throwing it out there in an effort to hold myself accountable. Not that I'm some crazy tv nut or anything, but even if I was only watching 30 minutes a day, that's 30 minutes I could be spending reading, or job hunting, or exercising, or (gasp!) balancing my checkbook. And I'm hoping to rid my mind of needless clutter. So I've decided to go a month without watching. I'm still allowed to watch the occasional movie, but only with others, and no watching movies I've already seen. For one month. I want to see the effect, if any.

I will miss my nightly Golden Girls, though. I'll say that much.

On the subject of tv, by the way, this website is pretty interesting.

a conversation i had today:

manager: i'm sorry, ma'am, but that feature only applies to wamu free checking accounts.

me: but i have a free checking account.

manager: yes, ma'am, but you don't have a wamu free checking account.

me: but... um, wait... i'm confused. my checking account is with you, wamu, and it's free.

manager: yes, ma'am.

me: wouldn't that make it a wamu free checking account?

manager: no, ma'am.

me: ???