This is a picture of me on a bridge, among the trees, wearing sporty shorts in Seattle.

This picture tells you a few things:

I’m not in a kitchen.  I’m really excited about not being in a kitchen.  My sister let me borrow her running shorts so I didn’t have to wear my bright purple yoga pants…. and I’m wearing a fashion scarf because I want to look cute even when I’m hiking four miles up a mountain.

Aaand.. I have several versions of this picture where my arms are raised too high, exposing a little belly.  I’ve spared myself the shame of sharing those.

Let me show you what my Seattle times look like.  Wanna see?  Rad.

That’s my little sister Lauren, my Mama, and my big sister Launa.

When the four of us are together, we laugh… a lot.

Ps-  cat butt.

We laugh and we joke about eating ice cream for dinner…. then we eat ice cream.

ps- Crown Royal on top of the fridge.

We eat ice cream while my mom tells us the story of how she was a door to door saleswoman for like… three hours.. until she had a panic attack and quit.

Meet Lauren’s cat Charles.  He’s quite the gentleman.

Launa loves to garden.  More than once I found her out back riffling through the apartment building’s commnity garden.

She planted tomato plants for the apartment.  So sweet… she’s also dang pretty.

Chives and lettuce.  Could someone please make some Buttermilk Ranch so we can tame this garden?

Can I show you more pictures of plants?  Are you annoyed yet?

These are my favorite flowers.  Hydrangeas.  They make me want to get married.  I dunno… hard to explain.

We went for a hike.

We went for a four mile hike up a mountain…

past some gorgeous waterfalls…

… and up and up and up thousands… no millions of stairs.

My sister stopped for text message breaks.  Is that normal?

After over two hours of lugging my thighs up that mountain, we made it to Lake Serene, where…

I promptly sat my ass down and devoured this bag of M&Ms.  Fact.

Also… I don’t want to talk about my hair.  At all.

Is that a chipmunk?  Dang this little guy was cute.  I threw him an almond and he was ready to take me home to meet his family.  He was smitten.

Are those hunks?

I threw almonds at them.  I didn’t get the same response.

Just hunks.

Oh!

I stopped by the Cakespy Shop!

At Cakespy, everything is cute and most things are pink.  Also… farts and rainbows meet.

Jessie of Cakespy is so sweet and lovely.  She painted a battle between cupcakes and pie on her shop wall.  She’s also tiny… and I felt like a giant.

Then Lauren and I ate Ice Cream at Molly Moon’s.  Get Out!  So crazy good!

I also can’t get over how crazy pretty this girl is.

This Goat Milk Blueberry Frozen Yogurt made my life.  Also… sorry to creep you out with my weirdo bendy finger.

Remember that time, earlier this year, when I drove my sister from Los Angeles to Seattle?

Remember… it was that time I ate my weight in Chex Mix and strawberry cheesecake.

Well!  I’m headed back up to Seattle this week!  There will be some serious sister time… and I’m dragging my Mom along too.  I think we’re going to laugh for three straight days… then be on each other’s nerves for a day and a half.  It happens that way sometimes.

Plans include:  introducing my mom and sister to The Bachelorette tonight, drinking more coffee than necessary at every possible moment, hugging my sister’s head, meeting her new kitty Charlesbear and…. I dunno… do you wanna hang out?  I’ll be at Top Pot… every Top Pot I can find.  I’ll be the girl with a giant doughnut in my face.  Keep your eyes peeled for that.

I’m in Seattle this weekend.

I’m sticking to a strict schedule of walking around in the cold, eating warm spinach Piroshkies, and enjoying friends, cocktails and Seattle times.

Here’s what my life looks like right now.

Super seats on a wall just outside Pike Place Market.

We found a wall of gum.  Literally a wall of gum.

By we, I mean Simon and I.

Incidentially, that wall of gum had my name written gummed in it.  Really?  Yea… could I make this stuff up?

I’m a sucker for a good used book store.

Then there’s Starbucks.  They’re exactly everywhere.

The Starbucks makes sense, considering this chilly, foggy goodness.

Hope you have a comfy, cozy weekend!  More later!