Giving the People What They Want

Guest Blog Alert! Guest Blog Alert!

Michelle will probably give me the evil eye for intruding on the blog but I thought I'd get some action going on here. Every morning I find myself cliking on our blog only as a portal through which I stalk visit other blogs. And then it hit me...our blog is probably at the bottom of everyone's blogroll since it was updated probably 3...4 weeks ago? I'm not sure, but people probably would like to hear a little more about what is going on with us. I'll try to start where Michelle left off with the California shower. And so on with the show...

World Cup - Where to start? From June 11 - July 11, my life was utterly consumed with World Cup. From taking vacation days just to watch some of the best matches, to making sure atdhe.net was my first online visit in the mornings, I could not get enough of the greatest sporting event in the world. Thankfully Michelle knew the importance of WC and left me alone for the most part during the tournament. The nice thing being on the West Coast was that the games ended by 1:30pm so there was still a huge chunk of the day for doing "other things". In the end, I thought the WC was excellent and Spain deserved to win.

Beer Brewing - The Evanson's famously host 4th of July at their lake house ("cabin") during which all are welcome to enjoy the slower pace of life and enjoy some R&R. The past two years we had purchased copious amounts of beer and also got an African Amber keg from Mac and Jacks. This year, however, Pat and I decided to brew our own beer at the suggestion of one of my co-workers. There is a place in Edmonds called Where U Brew...where you do exactly as the name says. After much drinking hard work, we decided that we would brew a lighter beer than the amber and chose a Danish Pilsner. It was a bit hoppy but not too heavy and figured it would complement the "hot" (more on this later) summer at the cabin. Two hours and a couple beers later, our beer was done cooking and ready for fermentation. We figured we would come back and bottle during another of Michelle's showers later in June (see below for continuing story).

Michelle's Seattle Shower - My mom came up for Michelle's "Greater Seattle Area" Shower on the last weekend in June. As I customarily do with all guests, I immediately took my mom to Paseo after picking her up at the airport so she could taste the sweet ambrosia and nectar known as a cuban roast sandwich. The thing about my mom is that when she feasts on good food, she tends to become quiet and ever so slightly places an open palm on the side of the table. Even though she was holding a cuban roast sandwich, I think I saw her try to sneak one of those open palms during the meal. The best part about the whole meal was that the sandwich was too big for her, so I was left the spoils of war and feasted on the seconds. It's a shame that Michelle has picked up on this habit of mine and will actually turn the sandwich over and eat from the bottom so that all the good stuff doesn't wind up in my belly. Curse you!! Anywho, we ended up back home where my mom was able to see the completed house. We then went to the rehearsal dinner location to taste some vino and food and headed home to sleep. Michelle's shower on Saturday consisted of kicking me out of the house for about 24 hours, so I packed up my sleeping bag and PJ's and left knowing that I had refuge at Kimmie and Pat's apartment that night...but not before I cut the grass so the house would look nice for the ladies (brownie points for me). Luckily Michelle's shower was timed at just the right time for the US - Ghana game, but we all know how that ended so I won't go into details. After the game, Pat and I went to drink bottle our sorrows since the US lost.

Quick side note guys: Do not vacuum when the retractable blinds cord is laying on the floor (especially when you have guests coming in a day). I learned the hard way and before I could even utter a curse, the blinds were ripped from the window and lay dishevled on the floor. I can honestly say that it was pretty cool, but not worth the headache. No worries though as I was able to repair them the next day before my mom came to visit! I guess the lesson learned is just don't vacuum, period.

Beer Brewing Part 2 - So after the loss, Pat and I left for Edmonds once again so that our beer brewing quest would be completed. Upon arrival, we purchased 134 bottles for our beer (Yeah, we had that much beer, and half of it is still in our fridges). We then hooked up our beer to their tap and were underway...but were we? Apparently the guys at the place didn't carbonate our beer so what came out of the tap tasted like a day old refrigerated beer. Obviously not what we wanted. Luckily they had some nifty CO2 compressors and we were able to bottle all the beer in less than an hour. But not before we enjoyed a beer on the house since they kinda screwed up our beer. Since the ladies were having a sleepover at my abode, Pat and I had a "man date" the rest of the night. Pat had heard of this great Puerto Rican place in Ballard called "La Isla" and we decided that is where our stomachs would be pleasured. Everything we had from the empanadas to the pulled pork and cod, was cooked perfectly and was muy delicioso. We immediately determined that it was a place we had to bring the girls (which we still haven't yet, HA!). We then headed home for a male's night consisting of homemade brew and "The Hurt Locker", which left us both pretty tired and we ended up crashing. All in all it was a great weekend, and I was glad my mom was able to make it up.

4th of July/Weather - The weather was pretty disappointing in Seattle for much of May and June. Everyone said "It's not supposed to be like this" but it was pretty gray and rainy. There's a saying up here that goes "Summer doesn't start until July 5th" but it's a tongue in cheek joke since there are nice days beforehand. However, this year it was spot on. The weekend of the fourth was a blistering 65 degrees and overcast (contrast to 4 days later when it reached 90 degrees, no joke). The cold was a perfect complement to our cool pilsner. We were better off brewing some Winterfest!! But the weather didn't spoil the excitement (in more ways than one) that is the 4th of July. As usual, we had our seafood boil for the 4th which was delicious as always. And the 4th wouldn't be complete without a trip to the reservations to get some totally legit and legal fireworks. After a lot of bargaining and Pat's obsession with firecrackers and five finger discounts (just kidding Pat), we came away with a healthy inventory of fireworks. We set up our normal mortar tubes aimed away from the shore since that is the safe thing to do. Looking back on it we probably had like 10 tubes out there. The firework show started off spectacular, and I swear the bangs and booms were so much better than last year. But then something crazy happened, we inadvertantly put a mortar upside down and it blew on the beach. All I remember was the beach being flooded with white light (very similar to when Harry Potter casts a Patronus...okay I'll stop) and then it was followed by beautiful blue lights. And then something even crazier happened, another one exploded on the beach. These both happened within 2 seconds of each other but felt like 2 minutes. We then hear that Kim got something in her eye and see her rush into the house. Michelle handled the situation superbly and fortunately my parents are eye doctors (and a phone call away) and we were able to help Kim out immediately. Thankfully there was no long term damage to Kim's eye but it was a scary reminder of how dangerous fireworks are. Next year, we will be much safer and smarter.

Wedding Season - Two weekends ago Michelle and I went to Rachel (one of Michelle's high school friends) and Steve's (a fellow California native and Seattle transplant) wedding. It was beautiful and even featured a boat cruise from Lake Union all the way to Medina. Fortunately, that Seattle "summer" which starts on July 5th was on full display as it was the absolute perfect weather. Just wanted to say "Congrats" to you two again, I hope Whistler was amazing.

Let's see what am I missing now...oh yeah. Michelle and I have this little shindig happening at the end of this month where we are getting married. It's crazy to think that we've been engaged for over a year and just how much has happened in that year. It looks like we are 12 days out now and we are both getting very excited. It will be wonderful to see all of our friends and family from all over, and have them celebrate our special day with us.

So until 8 more months when I make my next blog post, here is me wishing everyone a happy summer, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas!!

Scott