sum-sum-summah

Yup, August is in the can. The month started out strong, with girls' night at a friend-chef-coolgirl's house up north. We drank wine on a hot summer evening, we watched her chickens run around and ate delicious snacks and drank homemade limoncello and laughed at wisdom teeth videos. I got 2 of my nails did. What a treat.Then, Friday was Gaga, rescheduled at Key Arena, and I was less excited for the show (my 3rd time seeing her) than to hang out with good pals over salt-n-pepper tofu and drinks. I met a new friend and closed out the night by myself, at the neighborhood hot dog cart, treading lightly on my high heeled wedges. Two days later--Book of Mormon, with my sis. We pre-funked nearby on happy hour martinis and potato nachos. Mmmph. I checked out Radiator Whiskey a couple nights later with some pals. My neighbor and her rad husband work there and the whiskey drinks were stellar (and a lil spendy). It was a tough night--I got some news I didn't want to hear--but, now I know what's up, for real, and now I can proceed.
The next night was a good friend-artist's birthday party on the hill. Imagine cucumber and gin drinks, an outdoor patio, a warm summer evening, scads of friends--yes.
Next up--Trombone Shorty at the zoo. Big ups to the big man for a hott show. And a loud chorus of boo's to the zoo for pretty much fucking up everything you could want in a venue: letting kids--babies!--in for free, operating two miniscule beer gardens with zero view of the stage, and no extra bathrooms, meaning females spent a good ten to fifteen minutes waiting to pee. Parents--you're in trouble too. Spring for a babysitter you fucking cheapskates, so the rest of us can enjoy the show without smelling shitty diapers or listening to your kid whine. And to the lady who tried to make 2 dudes sit down so she could see--ha ha. Kudos guys for laughingly saying no.
A few days later I hopped in a car with my Sid and Hammy and we headed up to Vancouver. A pit stop at Duty Free for whiskey, and then onward to Granville Island and our party pad. The visit was stressful and fun and maddening and a little melancholy. During the ceremony's mini-sermon, hate settled in the air like a choking gloom. I looked around afterward at these smiling people, invoking a deity and passing judgement. Ah, no.
On Saturday, I was home by 7pm and in a Zipcar by 8 to check out a friend's housewarming. I got there in good time but it was a bust; people were settled in, comfortable in their party cliques,  not inclined to extend themselves, and so I was on the road again by 9.30. Mid-week I met up with a good pal to catch up after her month away meditating. She's gorgeous and smart and we egg each other on in the best possible way. When I left her at the bar, one of the owners was chatting her up. Girl got game.
The last Saturday was me and Hammy, on the road to the coast to do some trailer repair and generally hang out. By Sunday I was dragging, but I had breakfast and bloody mary's with a good pal, catching up on news--a funeral, a surly ex, a sick parent.
The news continues relentlessly. And so do we.

woo

Halfway through 2014 what? This has been a spectacular summer, a little too hot in stretches but jammed to bursting with good times. Less recap July shall we? Day one, in the 90's, and I met some pals on the back patio of Blue Water Taco for cerveza and burritos before checking out "Rushmore" at SIFF. The a/c conked out during the movie but it didn't matter. Bill Murray's Herman Blume is a work of beauteous ennui. After, drinks with my fella and a good friend at Red Papaya (salt-n-pepper tofu I am coming for you soon). A couple of days later I met up with some girl pals at Cicchetti for a drink. A newcomer threatened to call me Elsie (I warned him the consequences would be dire). After a couple of cocktails, my ladies pedaled home , calling "Bye!" and I took a leisurely stroll home in the golden summer evening.
The Fourth started off with bloody mary's and a pal about to welcome her out-of-town fella into town, for a month. Then a trip to Boom City to stock up on fireworks, and our traditional family blowout at my Sid's--grilled hot dogs and Field Roast's new veggie burgers, my own elotes salad and amazing homemade ice cream sammies, courtesy of Hammy and her mom.
On the 7th, a friend screened her movie at the Harvard Exit and made me miss Tanzania. Afterward, drinks at Bait Shop, our decision finalized by chance encounter with an enthusiastic older lady in a crosswalk. That Friday I worked a half-day, picked up a rental car out on Lake Shitty Way, parked it in my neighborhood, changed shoes and jaunted out to Alki Beach with a pal. It was a blistering hot afternoon so we shaded ourselves near a rock (which happened to house a colony of peaceful bumblebees underneath), shot the shit, and drank my custom beer/lemonade mix. Late afternoon we met up with another pal for a patio drink, then went up to the Junction to check out the festival. Music = lame, crowd = weird, but there was a beer garden and a big bunch of us detoured to West 5 for sustenance and cooler air. Later on, my friend flashed her clown-print, lace-edged bike shorts and a passing driver yelled "girl, you got it."
The next week--still hot!--was all California.
There was a backyard dinner the next week, manhattans and taquitos and lots of laughs and some tears, as my friends were heading to a memorial service that weekend for a dear lady. The next night, rain! and pizza with my seesters and Hammy. And the last weekend in July -- the Capitol Hill Block party. It's a sweaty good time, days and days of sun and music and wandering on the Hill with friends. It's a mini vacation in the middle of summer. The month ended with more dance and music, a new friend's experimental dance performance--duck tape and gender bending--and an old pal's album release party (ps I scored a t-shirt).
July: woo.*
*photo of a utility box in Fremont.