Christmas Spirit

Yes, you did read that title correctly. My home has been filled with Christmas spirit in the way of Christmas music, a Christmas tree (and other decorations), Christmas cookies, and a Christmas movie. The best part of the Christmas spirit? Sharing a special time with special friends.

The four of us college girls that get together (fairly regularly) had an absence for the past school year. Rose and her hubby relocated to the middle-of-nowhere Alaska for a teaching job she got. When Rose and Lee made a lower 48 visit in November when Lee's dad died, we decided as a group o'girls that we'd miss not celebrating Christmas and then decided we'd celebrate Christmas in July. Yep...people really do that...or at least four people do! 

We have opted for fun to send out poetry inspired email invites to events. Here is my attempt at it this time:

Ahem, ahem (Again, thanks for that, Rachel)

Here I am again,

Trying to put together paper and pen.

The reason you may ask?

Is a very important task.

We missed a time of things being all merry,

And noses the color of a cherry.

So here we find ourselves,

In an attempt at playing elves.

Christmas in July you might say?

Yes, sometimes we must find a way,

When Alaska takes one of our own far away.

I am going to propose a date,

You all let me know how it will rate.

How about July twenty-first,

If it doesn’t work it’s not the worst.

Though we should schedule it soon as time does fly,

Please don’t ask me how or why.

Christmas cookies, music, decorations and more,

We shall all enjoy and adore.

During this special time of year

When we have all gathered near.

At my home, I’d like to host,

Maybe I can even come up with a toast.

Let me know your thought,

And I will begin to plot!

With all of our crazy schedules, we finally settled on July 26th (last night) and had a grand time.

I put up a Christmas tree, to the surprise of the girls and also decorated in minor other ways. And, hey, it gave me a good excuse for why the holly leaf/berry garland is still on top of my kitchen cupboards.   :( Next year I need to have my act together better and at least take things down. I borrowed Stasia and Dave's fake tree since I am anti-fake tree at this time in my life. I listened to Christmas music while decorating it and while baking cookies. I actually really enjoyed it. It was a nice time and I had a feeling that I was having a second chance at Christmas joy after the stress and unpleasantness of the previous, normal Christmas season. It was a blessing.

Here is the table before all the yummy food was on it... 

 I had bought several things (plates, napkins, candy, etc) after this past Christmas and stored them away to use for this Christmas in July. 

Wreath on the door...and I only had it up from just before the girls arrived to just after they left...I don't need all my neighbors thinking I'm crazy...just the ones that can see the Christmas tree and lights is plenty. 

Pretty tree~ 

Tree (with lots of green leaves in the background) and Christmas picture (hard to see) and Santa hat and stocking.

There was an oven situation for Rose so she went to Safeway to buy a cheesecake and the bakery lady let her decorate it with frosting to make holly leave and berries and a few red and green sprinkles.

There was lots of food. I love Jamie's face...wide open mouth. 

We had Christmas gifts, all wrapped in Christmas paper and had fun opening them. In tanks and shorts...

I few years ago we had a challenge to find the corny-est gift and I introduced to the group "the hat." It is pretty darn awful and amazing all in one. It has been passed around the whole group and has yet to make it back to me. The second year it got passed on we decided that we should each decorate it in the year we have it. So far Rachel and Rose have been the lucky ones to receive and hold on to it and decorated it. This coming year it is all Jamie! Wonder what she'll add to it...Rose added jewels...fancy.

Ezme was the Christmas Cat minus her elf hat, which I completely forgot about.

 So serious, Rose...

 Rachel was the recipient of my corny gift for this year. A music playing Statue of Liberty tourist piece. 

 We've been doing the corny gift exchange for a few years and also have a nice gift exchange...usually with ornaments, this year we went with books.

Finally it was time for our annual "Christmas Picture"...Ezme followed suit and even got into one of them. This was the best one...summer clothing and all.

(from L to R): Rachel, Jamie, me, Rose.

 This is my current favorite Christmas ornament, which I purchase at a Christmas year round (called Kris Kringle) store in Leavenworth when Holly and I were there. It is totally me.

I imagine we may make Christmas in July an annual tradition, for as long as Rose is gone anyway. Maybe even after then, which would be fun. I know I really enjoyed it this year. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The things we do....

 

...for our pets.

I bought the above scale the other day. I've always been a bit anti-bathroom scale. And, I still bought it. Why? That is a crazy good question. The reason: my cat. Yes, I know, I know. 

Thankfully I am not one of those crazy cat/pet owners that has to be home at a certain time to feed the cat. I don't go crazy with cat paraphernalia. I hardly ever buy her toys (and not because I am a mean mom...so many others do buy her things that she has more than enough toys for one cat to wrangle.

But, I did buy a bathroom scale for her. You see, my "little girl" as I call her at times isn't such a little girl. Just before Holly and I went to Snoqualmie Pass I had taken Ez to the vet. She'd had a runny nose (not uncommon) that hadn't cleared up and her kitty snot had begun to smell (uncommon). I knew the vet would say something about her weight. Heck...she could probably say something about mine...just kidding...sort of! :) Anywho, away we went and Ezme got weighed...19.5 pounds. Ouch...really? Maybe black makes felines look thinner, just as it does to humans? I would have never guessed she weighed that much...and others agreed with me. The low down is that the vet wants kitty to loose weight. So, she is on a high protein/low carb diet. (As I should be) and she now gets to participate in kitty calisthenics. The vet gave me the idea to have her run up the stair of my apartment. So we do that...every.single.night. and it kicks.my.butt. No wonder I need to loose some weight...apparently it is challenging for me to assist my cat in doing that same thing right now. Oy. Anywho, I have to trick her. Really, I do. And, I am a mean mom. Really, I am. I carry her to the bottom of the stairs and then run up and close my front door. A closed front door freaks her out and she comes hauling a_ _ up the stairs. I make her do this three or four times every night. Mean mom. Yes, you can say it. I'm at least nice enough to let her have a few nuggets of her coveted dry carb loaded dry food when she is done. Hey...we all need some sort of reward. Even a cat.

So, you may ask about that scale again, if you haven't forgotten about it...yes, I bought it so I could weigh her. Weekly. Ugh. The vet gave me the option of bringing her to the office weekly (read: a 30 mile round trip without the drive home from work to get her) or getting a scale and doing it at home. I chose the lesser of two evils. Now I have to weigh myself weekly. Yep...no lies. I tried putting her in her carrier to weigh her. I couldn't see the dial (I did in fact buy the cheapest scale I could so there aren't any fancy digital read outs. I tried just putting her on the scale. HAHA. And now, I've relegated myself to weighing me holding her and then weighing myself and subtracting the difference to determine her weight. It's a bit of an ordeal since I still refuse to have the bathroom scale in the bathroom. But, I keep reminding myself of the time/gas money/frustration that I am saving myself in the long run. 

Who's to say that you wouldn't do the same thing for such a cutie with such a sweet face?! 

 She's never gotten in the drier before, but a few days ago I was on the phone with my Mom and couldn't find the cat...until I looked in the drier and she was curled up with one of her favorite blankets. And, no, I did not re-wash it...it was going to get cat hair on it anyway.

Wish us luck with weight loss. Running up the stairs must be good for both of us! 

Really?! Really?

I don't understand....

...is this really necessary? I just want to get rid of Ezme's hair when I comb her, though I could build another cat from what comes off her! 

How many of you would use this book?

Trying New Things

Portland is ripe with people and people that don't fit the normal mold. It is one of the things that make this city so phenomenal. There is a large Drag Queen community and bars/clubs that cater to their performance. There is a program called Senior Forget-Me-Not that is much like the Make a Wish program, but for elderly and much lower key. One of our participants wanted to go to see Darcelle, a Portland/NW famous drag queen at her club Darcelle XV. The evening was much fun and included a limo ride to the show (a first for me) and then a fun night at the show (also a first for me-I've seen Drag Queens perform before, but never at Darcelle's). There were eight of us from work (participant included) that went to the show and we all had a blast. One of my co-workers who came has a son who is a drag queen and she "Bolivia Carmichaels' got to perform during the show, though she usually performs at CC Slaughters, another club around the corner. All of the Drag Queens were great to us, providing lots of photo ops, checking in with us and even introducing the participant to the whole audience. It was glorious.

Darcelle (who is 82) greeting us when we arrived.

 Entryway

 Drag Queen 'Poison Waters' with Meredith and myself...we were both new to Darcelle's that night.

 The show...

 check out that hair...impressive!

 Below is Bolivia as Reba and she did a smashingly good job. Bolivia had also let us borrow several of her feather boa's to make our evening a bit more classy and fun!

All-in-all we had a great evening, even though it was a Friday night after a long week and I was exhausted, I was so glad I was able to go with this group. A great way to start this weekend.

"Adventure is worthwhile." ~Amelia Earhart

Back in October, I whisked away to Snoqualmie Pass and stayed in a friends family condo. It was a good little get-away. In January, my friend Holly and I decided we should take a little mini-vacation this summer. I got the okay for staying at the condo and we set the date. We both took Friday the 13th off and after I went to a funeral we got on the road to head to our destination. Our plan was to stop at Snoqualmie Falls for a picnic and to see the falls. They are beautiful!! So much water and power.

 Me...with a poor view of the falls. I wouldn't give up having that railing though...

 Holly and me!

 Once we got to the pass, unloaded my car and got settled in, we opened a bottle of wine and poured it in the classy cups and sat down to enjoy a card game.

 Cheers!!

 We kept score and made a bet that who ever lost the card game had to pick where we'd eat dinner out the next night. Holly and I have a hard time deciding where to eat, what to do, etc so this was an appropriate bet. I lost the game so I had to pick the dinner place. 

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Leavenworth. It is a cute little Bavarian inspired town.

 It was hot and a bit sticky...please ignore our "shine." 

 There were flowers EVERYWHERE and I loved them.

 We stopped at the gazebo for some music, walked through an art show, went to a Christmas store and I got an ornament and we had ice cream to save us a bit from the heat.

 The music group was called AlpenFolk and they played fun music...a classy looking accordion...

 ...and even the wooden spoons (the younger guy).

 After a dinner of German sausage and sauerkraut at the Tumwater Inn we headed back for the condo.

We watched a movie and then stood on the balcony for a few hours and chatted. We saw lots of shooting stars and later discovered that a few miles away the Northern Lights were seen. Too bad we weren't up higher, but so glad we saw what we did. 

Sunday morning we got up and hiked up the ski hill right behind the condo. It was beautiful!

 Snow still in the peaks.

 These low laying flowers remind me of dogwood flowers...I need to find out what they are, exactly.

 Once we got done hiking we got ready to head home, packed the car and got on the road. We stopped for cherries (and coffee/steamers) in Snoqualmie and got on our way.

We'd seen a sign for Meeker Mansion on our drive up to the Pass and decided we'd stop if the timing worked out. And, it did. 

When we were pulling off the highway to stop a little mouse came crawling up and out of the engine area of my car, walked across the windshield wipers and back down. We popped the hood and looked for it when we stopped and couldn't see it. Hope it made it out safely.

The mansion was a nice stop. They are restoring it (it has been home to the Meeker's, a nursing home, hospital, etc) and there are some pretty detailed things that were fun to see.

 Door hinges above, door handle below.

 This is one of the rooms they are in the process of restoring...stripping paint to see original ceiling design.

 Shoes of the children, which were eerily tiny...

 Ceiling paintings....I love these...

 Piano (one of two and very large)

 Another ceiling...

 And the weirdest thing...hair art. Apparently, they would get bored and decided they'd create these things with their hair...weird.

 Fireplace...

 Mansion from the front.

Once we got back to the Portland area I dropped Holly off at home and headed home. Rested from a great weekend away with a good friend and I wished we could go somewhere else again...but, back to reality and dreaming of the next trip!