Powered by Blogger.

one grateful bitch

I feel like the Internet has turned into one gigantic forum of lists: Thirteen Most Hipster Things to Have Happen Ever! The Forty-five Hottest Jewish Women in Hollywood (for real)! Five Signs Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You! (I try to avoid dwelling on that last list. Perhaps it's a little too close to home for my taste.)

And because I got up really early this morning to cheer at the Seattle Half (my friend Melissa's first 13.1!) ...


... and then finished the day with a 1,500-yard swim (hey, Ryan Gosling, I look extra-sexy when I get out of the pool and have a big red swim cap line indented in my forehead) and am so tired I can't come up with anything original to post, I give you this:

Ten Things for Which I Am Grateful Because It Is Thanksgiving Weekend, Duh

1. This glowing, glorious, brutally cold, brutally beautiful, vibrant mofo of a city and the crazy decision to move here without knowing a single soul. Anonymity is necessary sometimes. And things that seem scary and intimidating are often also the most rewarding. 



2. My family. And how my mom looks perpetually 40 and also never takes a photo with her eyes open. (She'd kill me if she knew I posted this on the Interwebs. Dear world: This will be our little secret.)


3. My friends. The old ones, who are strangely OK with going along with some silly scheme I've made up (costumes! theme parties! elaborate back stories that really don't need to be that elaborate but it's more fun when they are!) yet always tell the truth, even when it's not entirely what I want to hear because that's how much we love and trust each other:


The new ones, who are game for helping me explore this mofo of an Emerald City, from Middle Eastern food to Flywheel to Homo for the Holidays (yes, that's really a thing and I can't wait until we go).   


And the really old school ones whom I haven't seen in 18 years, yet we still manage to pick up where we left off. (And still kind of look like we did in high school. Dear Asian genes: Thank you.) 


4. Cats. And a dog. And how everyone miraculously gets along, no big deal. (Seriously, the following photo may blow your mind.)


5. My job. Yes, folks, it's really rather sinful that "wine professional" is a thing.


6. Triathlon. Because when you can't do one sport because of a broken cuboid, there are still two other options.



(Side note: The whole trainer setup fascinates the cats. They stare at me like I'm some kind of freak. But then again, I'm wearing padded shorts and riding a road bike indoors and not going anywhere and sweating profusely. The cats are likely onto something. Either that, or they're trying to figure out how to rig the trainer so they can kill me and eat my dead body. I really should stop reading so many lists.)

7. Speaking of triathlon, have I mentioned I'm doing my first Ironman in 2014? IMAZ or bust!


8. My "emergency contact" (by the way, completing IMAZ registration was no joke -- I felt like I was handing over my entire medical history), who wouldn't let me miss tonight's swim (even though all I really wanted to do was lie on the couch and watch terrible movies and eat Doritos) and who made the most incredible, fancy-pants Thanksgiving dinner yet still tolerated my Spam and eggs obsession anyway and who is from Eugene so he once dressed up as "Alberto Salad Bar" for a 5K (pretty much the most genius thing I have ever heard) and who told me that I can taxidermy him as long as I make sure his hair looks pretty and who has serious conversations with my cats on a regular basis.


(Smitten kitten, in so many ways.)

9. Food. Because it's really the reason for being. Recent examples include the potato-themed dinner at The Herbfarm:


Dumplings at Din Tai Fung (so worth the gluten overload):


The aforementioned awesomeness that is Spam:


(Go ahead and judge. This is the ultimate comfort food.)

10. And finally: Maturity, good etiquette and piety.


(Oh come on. You were totally thinking the same thing. No way you knew these were geoducks.)

No comments