Emma’s Fantabulous Blog

Sorry that i’ve been missing in action recently. I’ve been using most of my time on the interweb researching backpacking in Europe.

I should explain. In May, my brother and I are going to backpack around Europe for 2 weeks. We’ll start in Nice, France and 15 days later we’ll be flying home out of Rome, Italy. We plan on Eurailing it around the continent and traveling on the cheap as much as possible.

Our current itinerary includes stops in Barcelona, Brussels, Amsterdam, Zurich/Schaffhausen, Florence and possibly Bologna. I’m looking forward to eating some amazing food, drinking some great wine, sleeping in overnight trains (which actually look amazingly posh compared to Amtrack as they have white linen restaurants and bars) and staying in cheap hostel/Bed & Breakfast type places and meeting other travelers.

Its kind of daunting. Finding inexpensive but safe places to stay in each city and figuring out the european train system…. Each country seems to have its own train company, and their websites are all separate and the translations are kinda wonky. Its like planning 7 trips at once.

I’m really really really super excited…..

I just finished my day-after-Christmas breakfast that consisted of  one of these cinnamon rolls,  2 thick slabs of bacon and a quad espresso. Two minutes after finishing my meal, I’m sweating, time feels like it has slowed down, and my chest feels heavy. I told Devon to call an ambulance if I clutch at my chest, my eyes roll back, and I keel over.

Breakfast was sooo delicious!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope everyone gets what they were hoping for… Or that they already have exactly what they want.

I spent the evening noshing on raw oysters, brie and other appetizer-type goodness while watching cheesy Christmas videos from D and I’s childhood and reading holiday stories from Little House on the Prairie.

Life is very good.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Somehow D & I lucked out and we have friends who own a boat… Now I was thinking like a little rowboat or something of that nature. So when they extremely kindly offered to take us out on it for a Christmas light Boat Parade last night, I was somewhat expecting that I’d have to do some rowing or something.

We show up at the Kirkland Marina and they don’t have a boat. They have 32 ft yacht that has a kitchen, bathroom and sleeps 4.  The lemur was so beyond pissed that we left him at home.

The parade was really beautiful. All the boats were decorated with Christmas lights.. Some tastefully… Some not so tastefully. There were all different sizes of boats, including booze cruise type boats that had choirs singing Christmas carols all night. And their singing echoed beautifully over the water, so we could hear them almost perfectly. It was really an amazing night. One of the not so tastefully decorated boat follows:

We heard about and saw some fabulous rich people/company boats… Boeing apparently has a company yacht….. The owner of the Seahawks has one. Steve Jobs apparently has a 400 ft yacht that can’t even fit in Lake Washington.

We also floated by some super fancy houses on the lake. We finally saw Bill Gate’s house. He has 2 docks but apparently isn’t big into boats. Not to be like “I was peering into his windows” or anything, but someone was watching a big ass TV in his house last night. hehe.  A ways away there is another massive mansion that apparently has a huge dinosaur skeleton set up in a 2 story great room that you can see from the water. I find it really bizarre that someone would choose to spend their money on that.

Anyways. Here are the kinda bad shots that I snapped..  Happy Holidays!

Crow and Kitten are Friends

I heard about this story from a fellow volunteer during my shift at PAWS today. Cutest story ever!

In honor of my parent’s 35th wedding anniversary, we had a family photo shoot, thanks to Devon. The photo subjects ranged from just my parents to group photos with Seth, Devon and myself.

I think that the following photo is my favorite shot from the whole shoot…. Seth and I are such wise-asses and my parents look totally unamused. Good times.

I want the wedding cake!

This is hilarious! And so true… How everything is more expensive if you attach a wedding to it… Flowers, cake, dresses…. etc…. This is why Devon was not involved in choosing our wedding cake, other than wanting a chocolate one.

Today was good.

But I can sometimes stick my foot in my mouth without even realizing it until a later point in time. Usually in conversations I either: A.) Overanalize everything and rehearse what to say before I say it, and because of that I’m usually quiet as a mouse. or B.) Talk in an uncensored stream of consciousness where I’ll say the first thing that pops into my head, which either comes out as quick-witted or nonsense.

It’s usually Mode of Operation B that gets me into trouble.

I used to pride myself in not caring if I came across as an a**hole, but now I worry about appearing that way towards people that matter. Maybe I’ve just come to realize that friendships are more precious that I had originally thought.

Other than my verbal ineptitude, today was a pretty pleasant day.

I went to the gym and had a great work out. I went to get coffee at Diva and they were having their winter art show, so I got to look at & buy some really interesting art from some local artists. It snowed. Big plump white snowflakes that soak your face and coat your head in a white halo. It was beautiful. I cooked a big dinner with Devon for 2 of our favorite people.

I wrapped presents for friends and family. I love wrapping presents. There is something about the gift-wrapping process that gives me an overwhelming sense of calm. Covering boxes and oddly shaped items in the right colorful piece of paper. Tying color-coordinated shiny ribbons around the packages. Filling out the “to: & from:” tags with quirky but appropriate faux gift-givers…. I’m a freak. I know.