Neon Dirty Thirty Birthday

May 11th marks the trifecta birthday of my friends Henry, Matt Swett, and Jenkins. I met them all in college, and since I can remember they have been celebrating together. This year the day not only fell on a Friday, but it was the big 3-0 for both Henry and Swett. They decided to do it up big and rent out the bar Sport and have a hundred of their closest friends take over the place. This group happens to be fond of theme parties, so we were told to break out the neon and mustaches (real or fake).

headed to the party, glow in the dark style

Henry's brother Big Shim offered up the "SkyLounge" room in his condo building for a prefunk before heading to the bar. This gave us a chance to show off our outfits, and don some neon flare that Henry generously handed out.

party favors from Henry

Me, Anne, and creepy looking Louis

Me and Becker. He's a little sleepy, or maybe
it's the double fisting

Around 10pm we all headed over to Sport to meet up with the rest of the party goers. It was a blast, and fun to see so many people all dressed up. Even Char and Ko made it out from Lynnwood. I hadn't seen them in forever, so it was nice to catch up for a bit.

Me and Char

So neon we're glowing!

take two

Gina's back from Cali!

Henry and the ladies

Happy Birthday boys, thanks for the great party!

Birthday boys - Henry, Jenkins, and Swett

Birchbox

I received my first Birchbox in the mail yesterday! Birchbox is something that Colleen discovered and told me about, and now a few of us girls have signed up for the service. For $10 a month (with free shipping), they deliver a box to your doorstep with 5 sample beauty products. The samples are different each time, and are based off of a quick survey you fill out on their website when you first register. This sounded perfect for me as I don't know much about what products to buy, so now I can try them out first. If you like the sample, you can go online and buy the full size version (again, with free shipping).

In my first box I received a headband, nail polish, makeup brush cleanser, tinted moisturizer, and some perfume, plus a little bonus XOXO notecard since the theme this month was Gossip Girl.

I love getting packages in the mail, especially when what's inside is a surprise! It'll be fun to try out my new stuff and excited to see what next month brings.

And for you guys out there...they now have Birchbox for Men.

Goodbye Trisha Roo

We had finally gotten our friend Trisha to come back to Seattle for what seemed like good (after a stint in Korea, then Australia), to only find out she's leaving us once again to follow her job to San Diego. Trisha has always been such a fun and loyal friend who is always up for a challenge, and I know she will do great on this new adventure.

To give her a proper goodbye, Sarah graciously hosted us at her and Taylor's new home in Renton, which is so adorable. Sarah has done an amazing job furnishing and decorating (will you please do mine now?). Being seis de mayo, we made it a fiesta. Sarah prepared a delicious taco bar with all the fixings. I also decided to make a 7 layer dip to bring with me, and we did what us cow omega's do best...grazed around the kitchen.

7 layers of yum

taco bar

check out those cute taco holders!

After we ate, we gifted Trisha with a photo book with pictures of us all with her through the years, along with a little message from each of us. It turned out really well (props to Sarah for organizing that) and even made our little Roo tear up. Now she'll have a keepsake to remember us by in San Diego, and can even share it with her kids someday...okay, more like hide it from, not sure you want all those pictures getting out!

Rachel had brought a piñata to celebrate, so we took that across the street to the playground to give it a whack. We brought along a broom and tied it up to the monkey bars. Rachelle had also made the trip up to join us from Portland, so her family had been enjoying the sunny day while we had our girl time. They then came and joined us for the piñata festivities.

Coleman up first

piñatas and heels

good job Roo

dangerous spot, Coleman

yay candy!

sweet baby Camryn asleep in Kyle's arms

the moms couldn't get enough of the baby

the girls...minus Kylee and plus Coleman

We will sure miss you, Trisha, but can't wait to come visit!

Feliz Cumpleaños Gatos

Back when Lindsay came to meet and bring home the kitties, she had asked when their birthday was. I knew from Becca that it was sometime in May, so I told her they were born on Cinco de Mayo, cause who wouldn't want a pair of Mexican cats? She said, "Oh, that's fun!" Yes, Lindsay. Yes it is.

I had forgotten all about it until Saturday, May 5th, when I received a text message from her. I got a quick update along with four pictures of the "birthday kikis." These aren't the most interesting pictures, but at least I know she's still having fun with them and they haven't escaped.

Happy Birthday you two little Mexican hat dancing kitties!

Lake House

My dad's parents own a cabin out near Shelton, WA on Lake Nahwatzel. They built it in 1968, and since then my family has been using it as a fun getaway, especially in the warm Summer months. The cabin sits up on a hill with it's own private beach down below. The lake is great for water sports, and is where I learned how to water ski. I have tons of childhood memories from the lake...catching salamanders off the dock, taking the row boat out to the lilipads, learning to ride the trail 60 motorcycles, salmon bakes, big family dinners out on the deck, and my first vodka tonic (I was 8, Dad told me it was Sprite).

Dad mean muggin'

It's been forever since I've stayed overnight at the Lake, probably since high school. So, when Clint mentioned a motorcycle race he was interested in out on the Mason County Fairgrounds, I told him I had just the place for us to stay. We packed up his truck after work on Friday, and made the 2 hour drive out to the cabin that night. We were the first guests of the season, so when we got there we had to not only get the water pump and electricity going, but also air it out a bit. Walking into the cabin brought back lots of memories, and it even smells the same. Not much has changed from the picture above from the 60's. Those curtains, wood paneling, and green carpet are all still there.

In the morning Clint got up early to head out to meet his friends at the race. I stayed behind for some quiet time and found things to do around the cabin to keep myself entertained. I walked around the property, had some lunch, swept off the deck (that was a chore...I have blisters to prove it, these hands are not made for manual labor), and caught up on my TV shows watching Hulu on my iPad.

Soike cabin

view from the deck with the tree Uncle Dave
planted for Grandma which now blocks our view

quiet morning on the lake

cabin up on the hill and our neighbors

Clint got back that afternoon after having a blast riding. He's even wanting to go back for another race on Memorial Day Weekend. He had his GPS on while riding, so he was able to make this map of the route he took and see how close he actually came to the lake.

Clint's race course

After hanging out at the cabin for a bit, I was ready to go do something (cabin fever, ha). We decided to head into Shelton to find a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We drove by a few places before deciding that El Sarape looked the least sketchy. We soon realized we made the right choice once we saw how packed it was in there. The food was delicious (I had the carne asada) and the drinks were ginormous. Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we headed back to the cabin to call it a night.

boxer shorts and BB guns

so yummy

The next morning we got up early and got ready to head out. Did some cleaning around the cabin, and shut everything back off. I had such a fun time being back there, and hope to make some more trips out this Summer, just need to find friends with boats!

till next time

Mrs. Rachel Cougan

On Saturday April 28th, my friend Rachel got married! The Seattle weather actually cooperated, and it was a nice Spring day. The ceremony and reception were both held at the Hall at Fauntleroy which just happens to be in my new neighborhood, West Seattle.

Rachel and Peter Cougan

Clint was actually down in LA for his friend Brian's wedding. With two weddings on the same day, we had to divide and conquer, which was a bummer. Clint definitely missed out on a great time, but I was also jealous to hear about the fun he was having with his brother and sister-in-law, Blake and Rebecca, without me.

With Clint out of town, and Colleen's husband Will off at one of his races, we decided to be each others dates and make it a sleep over at my house. Colleen came over a little early to see the new place, and we got ready to head to the wedding.

We mingled with friends outside, then headed in for the ceremony. The place looked gorgeous. We were also handed programs and pencils as we were taking our seats. Inside each program was either a crossword puzzle, mad libs, or connect the dots to keep us busy as we waited for things to start, such a cute idea!

Becker filling out the mad libs

After Rachel and Peter made it official in front of friends and family, we headed to the courtyard for cocktail hour. Trays of yummy food and drinks circled around while we visited with friends and congratulated the bride and groom. This was also our chance to find our adorable place cards for our dinner seating assignments. Rachel had gone to facebook to find photos of all the guests and printed them out as polaroids. On the back was your table number and what you had chosen for your meal. Loved it.

Chi O's in the courtyard

table placecards

Dinner was delicious, and fun to see some familiar faces from college at the table. We reminisced about the old days, and cheers'd to the happy couple. Speeches were given, which were great, followed by the first dance. We all then danced the night away, which was over far too soon. No one wanted it to end, but with the kegs empty and the DJ packing up, we had to call it a night.

finishing my crossword before dinner

me and my date

table buddies, Lindsey and Henry

dinner menu, yum!

first dance as Mr and Mrs

dancing queens

Lysico

Colleen, Trisha, and I called a taxi and headed back to my place...ordering Dominos on the way of course. We got back and stayed up eating pizza and chatting before heading to bed (or the floor...I really need to get furniture).

Congrats to you Rachel and Peter, and thank you for such a wonderful night!

Moment of silence

I've taken a little break from keeping the blog updated lately. My family and I were devastated by the news that my Grandma Marlene passed away unexpectedly last week. She was such an energetic, lively, FUNNY, happy person in good health, and became sick for only a short time.

We all flew down to Palm Desert to be together as a family and comfort my grandpa as we made it through a tough week. The loss has been hard on all of us. Grandma was such an important presence in our family, we were all very close to her.

Once I found out my grandparents enjoyed reading my blog so much, I started writing my posts keeping them in mind. It's been a fun way to keep them updated with what I've been up to with them living so far away. My grandma in particular loved it. There was even a time when Papa (who has my blog bookmarked on the home page of his iPhone...yes my grandfather has a cooler phone than me) saw a new post and began to read it out loud to her. She quickly cut him off to keep him from spoiling it since she liked reading it on her own, too funny.

It just makes me sad, I miss her so much.

LUSM Grandma!