Catching up

I have been so busy and so neglectful of this little thing lately. I come home from work and I eat something like an apple or a hanfdul of Goldfish crackers for dinner and then I fall asleep. The past month has been so crazy that I haven't even kept up with things like doing laundry. Well done, Jessica!

Le Boyfriend and I celebrated 2 lovely years together at the beginning of October. He kicked things off by sending me flowers at work, which was the biggest surprise EVER.

We then went to dinner and came home to cuddle a puppy and get some delicious sleep, but we first took our official 2nd anniversary family photo because we're nerdy.

 

For dinner, we went to a pizza place a couple blocks away from my apartment, where we proceeded to ingest the largest slices of pizza ever made, EVER. Nick's arm is right next to that pizza, so there's no depth perception trickery going on to make it look bigger. The slices are 14" long and they are DELICIOUS. Really bad for you, but it was our anniversary, so what the hell, right? RIGHT.

The next morning, some gorgeous peridot earrings and a matching pendant (I said I liked peridot a year ago, in normal conversation. HOW DID HE REMEMBER?!) and an entire BOX of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day cleaning supplies arrived via UPS and I pretty much cried under the weight of feeling so spoiled. I just made him a nerdy scrapbook, printed and framed one of his favorite photos of us and bought tickets for us to go see some plastinated dead bodies. Le Boyfriend clearly wins the anniversary gifter award.

Later that afternoon, I headed out to a gigantic lodge in the middle of nowhere to spend the weekend with a group of my friends. One of the group is moving to Scotland and this was her farewell gathering.

 

Our weekend away took place at Big House Lodge in Cle Elum, WA. 17 people, 4 dogs and an incredible amount of debauchery all fit quite nicely into that 5500 square foot house.

Meals were cooked, delicious cocktails were served and poker was played (I won. I KNOW, right?!) and it was absolutely lovely. The first night, one of the lovely ladies let me in on an awesome piece of news: she and her husband are expecting their first child. WOO! This group of friends is made up of some of the most intelligent, well-traveled, witty, generous people I have ever known and we had a blast. Did I mention that there was food there? Oh my.

I didn't cook an entire meal, but I did make some pretty amazing soft pretzels filled with bacon and caramelized onions.

The weekend also marked my first foray into eating hot wings. My friend Heather's husband Michael is something of a wing master.  I was hesitant to try them, but I am so glad I did. So spicy and delicious! I ate mine with a bit of gouda and some waffles that contained pearl sugar (you can buy it at IKEA). HEAVEN.

Given that the wings and waffles were merely an appetizer, I should have known that dinner would be incredible also, but I was not quite prepared for what was about to happen. I am notoriously anti-bones when it comes to meat. I dislike gristly things and connective tissue, so I tend to stay far away from meat that isn't boneless. Friends Tom & Katie made incredible mashed potatoes, green beans and ribs for dinner and while I was a little bit wary of the ribs, I ended up eating FOUR of them. Four ribs. Four pieces of meat with bones in them. Four pieces of meat that were so gloriously delicious, I was intensely sad that I was too full to eat just one more.

The morning we left, Jeremy and Renee made crepes for everyone. Making crepes for 4 people is work enough. Making crepes for 17 starving people with hangovers is for champions. They stood at the stove for FOREVER and I am so grateful. It was one of the most delicious breakfasts I recall ever having. I ate my crepes with a bit of ricotta, some lemon curd (which I staunchly maintain is the most delicious thing on earth), bananas, strawberries and blueberries and I became a firm believer in the power of crepes.

  

Penelope had so much fun playing with the other dogs. The dog with her in the photo above is a pitull named Marley, and she is the sweetest girl ever. She allowed Penelope to run her in circles andboss her around and she kept coming back for more. I am so glad they had a good time. It was adorable watching them run amok together.

The drive home from Cle Elum is about 90 minutes and winds through the mountains. Driving back from that area of the state is one of my favorite drives because it's so pretty, year round.

Poor Nelly was so tired on the way home that she crashed out on my lap. When she's in the car, she's sitting on my lap and looking out the window, without exception. She hates to miss anything and LOVES going for rides, so I knew she was beat when she zonked out.

Two days after getting back, it was my 32nd birthday. I walked into the office to find that my coworkers had decorated my desk.

In case I haven't mentioned it yet, I really do love working here.

That Friday, a bunch of my friends came out to hang with me to celebrate. I was again reminded that I am incredibly lucky to have such great pals. The only photo I have of that is one that my friend Russell took. l-r are Nicole, Emily, me and Summer. A dear friend gave me the BEST birthday present ever that night by telling me that I would soon be Aunt Jessica, as she and her husband are expecting their first baby. YAY!

The next day was my nephew Luke's first birthday party.

 In keeping with the theme of the month, my sister Kristine is expecting a younger sibling for Luke. Do you have any idea how exciting this is for me? THREE BABIES, coming right up! So excellent. It makes me happy enough that pretty much whenever I think about it, I cry a little bit. I am the mushiest girl alive, for certain.

Friday evening, Nick and I went and saw Where the Wild Things Are and I would like to demand that you go see it NOW. It was so gorgeous and the effects were so good that being able to see the sad expressions in the eyes and faces of the puppets pretty much drove us to tears. 

Yesterday my brother picked Nick and I up and we headed out to my aunt's house, where she and my uncle were holding a birthday party for myself, my cousin Nolan and my sister Elise. Nolan turned 14 and Elise turned 18.

Upon walking into her house, my aunt handed me a tiara and a feather boa and informed me that birthday girls needed to wear these things. Fine by me!

We spent the night catching up with my family and drinking delicious cocktails. Nick gave Elise a fair ration of teasing throughout the evening. It works out pretty well because my sisters think the world of Nick and he's never had any sisters, so getting 5 new sisters as part of the Jessica-package-deal can be pretty fun for him. He loves to torment them and they eat it up. Win/win. 

When my mom called me this week to tell me that she was baking my birthday cake and to ask what kind I wanted, I cried. No one has baked me a birthday cake since I was 17 or 18, so it was a pretty awesome thing to hear. Naturally, I got greedy with it and asked for a Funfetti cake with cherry frosting, and that is exactly what I got. Elise's cake was strawberry and I made a cake for Nolan that was devil's food with homemade dark chocolate buttercream, topped with more chocolate. Needless to say, cake is GOOD.

It was so lovely to spend so much good time with my family. I don't see them as often as I'd like to and they really are the most wonderful people. They are so kind and generous and brilliant and GOOD that it makes me a little bit teary talking about them. I am incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such people.

We came home and crashed out for the night and when we woke up, we headed out to breakfast and then to the farmer's market again. I picked up a bunch of leeks, some garlic, squashes, onions, broccoli raab and I even stumblled upon the vegetable I have been most interested in trying but haven't been able to find:

I made the most delicious dinner EVER with it and will post the recipe with photos tomorrow. For now, I have a delicious glass of wine to drink and a little black dog to snuggle down with for the night. I hope your October has been as lovely as mine has so far, Internet.