SeaJen

how do you?

How do you pronounce PEONY?

I was at brunch with two boys on Monday and said, "My peonies are blooming in the yard if you want to come get some for your apartment." (I was kidding - boys typically don't want cut flowers.) There was silence and the looks on their faces was ridiculous so I asked what was wrong. They asked me to say it again. I did and one said, "Oh my gosh, I thought you said panties."

Really?!

Please read that sentence again with panties replacing peonies. No wonder I was met with awkward silence.

They told me I was pronouncing it wrong. I'm not.

Utah people pronouce it wrong. Pee-oh-nee or Pae-oh-nee is not standard.

Just putting that out there.

 

the rest of it

I spent the rest of the weekend doing things that weren't birthday specific, but still pretty great.

Saturday morning I went to the ReStore in Ballard that has all kinds of used building supplies. I was looking for a desktop and found so much more! Too much probably. I met up with Sharon who treated me to a birthday lunch at a Thai restaurant in our neighborhood.

My friends, Ben and Mandy, had some free tickets to a Mariners game that afternoon and offered me one. As we made our way to the seats, we couldn't believe how awesome they were - 18 rows back from homeplate. It was a beautiful day for the ballpark. When I sat down, wearing my teal and navy, I started looking around and wondering if I was in some alternate universe. The teams on the field were wearing royal blue and grey and red and grey. Where was the teal and navy? The scoreboard said "Angels v Rainiers". I thought we were being cheated watching the AAA team from down south. After some googling we discovered it was "throwback" day and they were wearing retro uniforms as well as the 1950s team name.

On Sunday I went to church, delivered lunch to the Hall's and then sanded my desktop find from the ReStore. I spent that afternoon watching all the BBC Sherlock episodes I'd saved up on my DVR. They are so good! Did you watch?

Yesterday, I made an early trip to Home Depot to try and get my desktop cut (fail) and ended up buying a circular saw. What?! Later in the day I realized power saws are my Achilles' heel when it comes to DIY projects. I'm too afraid, will be returning it, and calling in some professional help. I met up with Clay and Ken for brunch at a neighborhood spot and then went to see First Position with Rosie in the afternoon. (so good!)

I was debating making evening plans, but really it was a "school night" so I called it a weekend and enjoyed some downtime.

Happy Memorial Day. (belated)

I can never remember

I can't remember if we've had this discussion, but if not, let's. It's part Mad Men, part work related.

Did anyone watch Sunday's episode? Watching it as a female was both sickening (Joan) and empowering (Peggy). I was screaming inside. And maybe outside. I just was sick for Joan.

Anyway, I love that show. I always told my old boss that he reminded me of Don Draper the way he handled business and this conversation at the :13 second mark reminds me of him.

The scene with Peggy and Don at the end of Sunday's episode was just so, so good.

When I got to work this morning I was chatting with my supervisor about my upcoming evaluation. She mentioned that she asked my boss for input on Friday when I wasn't here. He told her he was really happy with me and she said that he should express that somehow.

His response, "I'm not yelling at her."

Ahhh-mazing.

birthday

Oh my goodness! Friday feels like ages ago.

I couldn't have asked for a nicer birthday. I ended it with a grateful prayer of thanks for all the love shown to me by my family and friends.

Stephanie and I started the day at Essential Baking Company for breakfast.

 

We headed downtown so she could return some sunglasses and somehow with her return, we both walked out of there with new, fancy sunglasses for only $30. Lucky!

The day was turning out to be gorgeous so we popped over to Ella Bailey park to take in a view of the city I hadn't seen before.

We stopped at McDonald's for a $1 coke (hadn't had one in two weeks - the burn!) and then went for mani pedis.

 
I'm dying over my shellac manicure. I want one always!

Then it was onto the grocery store and Target for a few dinner items. On the way home I listened to a voicemail from my brother, Matt, and that was my emotional point of the day. (Always birthday tears! Always.) I tried to nap since I'd slept terribly the night before, but I just got back up and started answering phone calls and getting ready for the evening.

I had big plans for a dinner party, but it just didn't work out. Steph set up tables outside, but just as she finished, a storm blew in and we had to cancel the idea of dining al fresco. I was going to decorate the house, but not a lick of it happened. I had droopy decorations from last weekend's party still up and even they didn't get fixed. Time just ran out. I left a pile of streamers on the floor of my living room knowing that these friends wouldn't care at all. They knew my intentions.

 
We ate at my normal dining room table that we've gathered around many times before, but it was perfect. Alena likes to go around the table on birthdays and make people say what they like best about the guest of honor. It's slightly awkward, but at least they didn't run out of things to say by the 8th person! It was all just so darn sweet in fact, that I felt a little swoony by the end of it.

extra thankful that my friends took over the camera so I could be in some pictures.

 


pretty peonies from Rosie

 
this seems to be our go-to, ridiculous pose these days

 

 

After dinner we hit up the Rock Box in Capitol Hill for karaoke. Karaoke is a funny thing. The idea of it seems fun, but I'm still not sold. This place is a little different because you rent a private room and as Ken put it, feels like a cross between a brothel and a bar. Kind of odd. We had eleven people and it just turned into a giant sing-a-long, which was great. I think only two people were hating life, but it meant a lot that they'd do that for me.

images via their facebook

Topher caught up with us at the very end of the night. Whoa, faces! Time to call it a day.

Thank you to everyone who called, texted, facebooked, sent cards, gifts and all around made my day so special. I wish everyone had birthdays as good as mine. Truly. Love you!

 

33

grateful.

 

two

Two totally unrelated things.    

You probably don't, but do you follow Jose Villa's photography? Film is kind of trendy these days, but what he does with film and photography is just stunning. I'm posting these two pictures mostly because I'm obsessed with that scroll of votives.

images via Jose Villa's blog

 Look what happens when you have a mistake with film!

I sent EC his lastest post as inspiration for her late summer wedding.

 

 

And to switch topics completely. . .

I saw this video of kids listening and commenting on Skrillex yesterday and thought it was super funny. The girl at the end kills me. "I don't like people who have piercings because it makes them look fairly chavy."

Don't know who Skrillex is?

Sidebar: Rumor is that Ellie Goulding dumped her adorbs London DJ boyfriend for this guy ^. Appealing, no?

No, but I am finding that I don't hate dubstep. This Emika song being my favorite. And much less electronic dance than Skrillex.

How's that for random?

Taking tomorrow off for birthdayness.

 

 

get crazy

Birthday week is getting wild. Last night Alena and I saw a documentary and then when I got home at 8:30pm, Stephanie and I went for McFlurries. Then bed.

The documentary we saw was "Mansome". It's the new Morgan Spurlock doc and happens to feature my cousin, Brett, who runs the Art of Manliness blog. His interview pops up about four times during the movie. Super fancy.

Overall, it was entertaining, just a fun look at men's grooming today. Will Arnett never seems to disappoint.

Nice work, Bretto!

 

 

bad timing

Birthday week is starting out with illness. BOOOOOO! Lame.

Bad timing because nobody wants to be sick on their birthday and also because I'm on day 8 of no Coke and I want one so badly. I can't even. I want the burn.

I did lose three pounds though. Gross. It's so bad for you.

And in other news. . .

I took a sick day Friday and had to go into work at 5:00pm for a deadline that was emailed to me from across the globe at 4:30pm. Good thing I was checking work email. Hadn't showered. Hopped on a bus. Submitted. Home by 6:30pm. Two Fridays in a row!

Saturday morning EC and I met up with another birthday girl, Laurie, and had brunch at Skillet in Capitol Hill. Yes, please. So delicious. We were seated at the counter and everything that walked by looked so good. We were annoying asking what every single plate was.

It was a gorgeous morning. We stopped in a vintage store in the same neighborhood and when I saw this upon entering, oh boy the memories came flooding back! I'd totally forgotten those existed.

It was a pretty great store in general.

We drove downtown for the Seattle Cheese festival at the market. (We went last year too.)

Bought some sweetpeas and enjoyed the rest of the flowers on display.

Ate much cheese (coconut cheese!), shopped downtown and then called it an afternoon. I tried to nap since the sun is waking me up SO early. I snapped this at 5:27am. Ack!

We hosted a little birthday party for Laurie that night at our place.

Then I spent basically all day yesterday asleep. I was feeling crap-py.

And here we are today.

Still want a Coke.

 

eta: Wait! I forgot! Look what is opening a block from Pike Place!

City Target!

So cool.

I find him handsome

Do you know who I am loving lately? Eddie Redmayne. Frankly, I felt a little weird about it because he seems like he's 12, but I just Googled him and he's actually 30. Phew.

I first saw him in Tess of the D'Urbervilles about four years ago and didn't think anything of him, but in the past few weeks I've seen him in My Week with Marilyn and Masterpiece's Birdsong.

I find him handsome. Like a lot. So you can imagine my discomfort when I assumed he was so young.

And Fleur Delacour was just gorgeous (her lips!) in Birdsong too. (You can still watch it online.)

Fine, I'll stop.

Wait.

Hell-o, Rochester!!

Does this picture make anyone else think of Shakespeare?

"O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!"

 

project

Stephanie got a bee in her bonnet about redecorating her room and it became her mission this weekend. She went to many stores and explored a few options for a striped curtain project, including spraypaint, but we decided on fusible webbing to make it simpler(?). It actually only took about 6 hours for both curtain panels and it turned out pretty well. Lots of measuring. Lots and lots of ironing. Remember measure twice, cut once.

Also, are you tired of the "look what's growing in my front yard now!" series I seem to have going? I hope not, because look!

terrible pic, but you get the idea...I was late for the bus.

Peonies are next!!!!