Karaoke night

Weyyllll.......the night started out mellow enough with a dinner to welcome home Nichole at San Carlos. Nichole used to be in our ward and came for a brief 2 hour visit en route to her family's in Sequim. I should have left well enough alone and stayed but.......
This.....woman (picture below) had been asking me for months to come to Karaoke night with her so...........

Off we went to Isla Bonita.....the BAR side. Um.....wow. I felt so awkward and out of place. Not only was everyone drunk at 9:30pm ( I know right!), but I was hit on (trust me, not very flattering given their state), ditched.....(yes, ditched) and ended up singing karaoke by myself.

I sang THIS. OH YES.......I did. I knew not a soul and still sang....yes, AWKWARD.

Luckily, there were a few friends from high school that I did manage to visit with, if you call visiting screaming over the music and pushing your way through the very narrow hall. Top that with drunks waving their drinks and pool sticks and I am lucky to have made it home in one piece.

Let's just say that I WONT be going back anytime soon . Lesson learned.....follow those promptings sisters!

Port Townsend and my BIG news!

Port Townsend today with Nonny and the kids. No, we didn't plan the matching red coats and shoes, but so cute!



Jenny, I saw this window and thought of you!
The Candy Shop.

The American Legion Hall where our big Port Townsend bazaar will be June 26th.
It seriously creeped me out. I felt that if there was to be ANY place in the world to be filled with ghosts, this would be it. Look at Mae's face!
LOVE Port Townsend. All the history and art is enough to make my head spin.

Love the shop below. I bought a lot of fun goodies. I love the colors.

My very first store! Indie Banditas on 130 Winslow Way E. We will be open sometime in March!

Whoa Nelly....they want to WHAT!?

I know...the title sounds so intriguing right? It's misleading. Tonight Nathan casually asks me if a girl (see this post) can come to church with him and bring her friend along too. "Excuse me", I say. "Since when were you a man, who has girlfriends that are THAT serious about you"? More importantly......let's get this out of the way...he is 14 (in two weeks)! I am not naive, I expected this, but I guess because of Nathans shyness and overall disdain for being like anyone else...I suppose that I regarded him as more of a late bloomer kind of guy. Weyyll (in moms Idaho drawl), I was, is, am wrong, again. I suppose as a mother, I should get used to this sort of thing, but I truly hate being wrong, especially about my children whom I have always known better than the back of my hand. So, here's what I'm a gonna do. I'm a gonna let these little girls come to church with us. They will not be sitting next to Nathan, but next to me. They will be required to go to their own classes and hopefully learn something. If you see them, please be sure to introduce yourself and embarrass them. Please, you will be doing me a huge favor.
In turn, I will duly do the same for yours.

Babysitting them or pampering me?

I need permission from my friend to post some more fun photos because she omits the faces of her loved ones from her posts. Until then....here is what I have. Our dear friends that watched our little ones the night before, went to see the same play and allowed me and my little ones to come hang with her kiddos while they were away. We had SO much fun.
Just the mere mention that I had missed dinner and K was up making me an omelet with swiss cheese. Not just ANY omelet.....a very very delicious one, AND while eating said delicious omelet, K asked if I would like a massage. Not a kid massage, a real massage from a book that she had been studying. Never you mind that right away I was crying in pain (deep tissue) one minute and laughing (because it really tickled) the next. What amazingly fun and bright kids.
Same chef and masseuse challenged me at my own game of "red light green light trivia".
I thought my spelling challenges were hard, um.....when it was her turn to ask the questions, here are two of the "easier" ones.
"What is the purpose of a computers screensaver"
"What elements were used in Mayan times jewelry"
um.......whaaat? I have NO idea.
A does incredible art. This eye candy is everywhere in her home. The kids are all so proud of their mama and everytime I remarked on something beautiful, they would all chime in "our mama did that". Wow Ash....we need to hang out more. Look at this beautiful silk piece she has done.
I can't wait to post some of the 79, yes......79 photos that little S took with my camera. They are hilarious.
Thanks Ash. I can't wait to trade off more often!!
xo

Friday night date night......finally

My dear friend directed a One Act play night at the Bainbridge Performing Arts on Friday night.
Our other dear friends, Warren and his partner Shayne joined us for dinner and the show.
It was great to catch up and share some laughs. Dinah did an amazing job with the show. There were 5 acts, around 10-15 minutes each. The last act was hilarious. Definitely something worthy of an SNL skit. We were in tears.

I'd show the photo that Shane took of Dinah and me, but um......it was horrible. Seriously...I am giving her a kiss and I look like mama cass. An angry mama cass.
We were so proud of her and her husband Arthur was even in a few of the acts. He had never acted before. We were lucky to be able to leave the little ones with good friends that lived nearby. The show was so great that we just had to buy them tickets.
I came back to babysit for them so they could see it as well.
Great night.

Projects

We have been busy as bees getting the house the way we want it. We have lived in it 7 years and it is time for a makeover. Here are just a couple of things Shane has been working on this week, among the very very many. He turned my bedroom closet into an office. I have been needing a private quiet (well, quieter) space and now I have it, albeit small.
He finally built that built in bookshelf/et center but really a bookshelf for me. I stained it Saturday and am eagerly anticipating tomorrow when I can finally put all my treasured books on it's shelves.
Below is what it looked like without the stain. Bleck.
My projects? Well, I attempted a more difficult pattern (it said fast and easy on the cover, ha!)
and after 4 hours into it, I was in tears. Another 7 hours later and voila, a semi put together dress. Just don't look too close. It seriously, might fall apart.

I was so thankful this week to put a good old store bought dress on her. I think I am done with sewing dresses or anything with a pattern for quite a while.

Saturday morning fun

I am over a week behind in my posts. Last Saturday was a fun, lazy morning. As I sat at the kitchen table working... I was feeling so thankful for the fact that I have children that still get up early and enjoy Saturday morning cartoons (kid shows). Nevermind that Shane is a giant pest and cannot stop himself from wrestling/tickling/poking.....them. They are lucky to have such a fun dad.

Bluebottle Gallery

Keep me in your prayers as I am in the process of acquiring this awesome indie craft shop for my own. It is located up on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Oh the possibilities!
I wont be sleeping tonight. I will be dreaming up paint colors, art arrangements and merchandise displays.

We are NOT the worlds first traveling craft fair!

So sad. How did I not know this before now??
This craft fair has been traveling as well. Since 2005. I am a little bummed. We will be the sloppy second fair to travel.
Renegade travels to the same places though- Austin, TX, Brooklyn, NY, San Francisco, CA, Los Angeles and Chicago.
I feel a bit deflated, but am going ahead.

The WORLDS First Traveling Indie Craft Bazaaar!!

Yes, it's true! We are now the WORLDS very first traveling Indie Craft show. Well, technically not until July, but still! How exciting is this?!

2010-2011 Traveling Schedule

May- Silverdale

July- Bainbridge Blue Grass festival and Port Townsend

August- Olympia

November- Bainbridge Island

December- Bellingham, WA

Feb 2011- Bainbridge Island

May 2011- Anchorage, AK

July- Bainbridge Island

August- West Covina, Ca ( Los Angeles County

December- Boise, Idaho

Temple+NOBU= Amazing night

Temple trip with Chantal and Rhonda. It was special, wonderful etc. of course. My highlight of the night was sitting in the "special" room at the temple and feeling overwhelmingly happy to be called to be an achievement days leader to some very special, loving little girls.
The shot above and below is of outside the ferry terminal, upper deck. I walked Rhondas kids across to meet their dad and met the girls down below on the street. It was so beautiful, the city lights and the light rain. Growing up, I spent sometimes 4 days a week in Seattle, so it pulls at my heart strings a little, every time I get to visit.
A view of the beautiful temple.
After leaving the temple we set out to find somewhere to eat. I remembered a very chic restaurant on 2nd street. Luckily it was still there and we were able to get in. If we would have waited just 10 minutes, it would have been standing room only. Happy Hour started at 10pm, so all food was at a great price.
Amazing food by the way. The three of us are "foodies" so it was quite a treat to be served such great food. The rest. is like a dance club, without the dance floor, but that didn't stop many people from dancing where they were standing. The music was great.
Below is a Kobe beef wrap with a sweet soy sauce and cabbage. The flavors were there, but the texture was too chewy for my liking.
Rhondas favorite was the avocado wraps that were fried and served with a spice aioli sauce.
Eh..it was okay.
The presentations were lovely.
Yam fries with wasabi sauce. They were very good and served in a very futuristic half egg sort of bowl. I didn't get a photo of my favorite, which was an unbelievable sushi roll called "The Bainbridge Islander". It had shrimp, avocado, roe, salmon and a phenomenal spicy sauce. There are no photos because we ate it so fast (and then ordered another).
Once upon a time (before Rylan was born 2002) I used to frequent Seattle clubs every weekend and sometimes during the week while I worked doing film reviews and as a columnist with my own "Shatie Katie Seattles out night, which was short lived. It was the best "job" ever and I really miss being able to be a part of that scene. I was excited to see a DJ at the rest. and noticed that he had new equipment that I hadn't seen before. I just had to go up and talk to him and have him show me. It is all via the computer now! I couldnt' believe it. Even his turntables aren't really turn tables. No more records. He can actually "scratch" without any needle hitting any record. WOW.

Dessert. I am not a dessert girl, but oh MY goodness. We had a fried banana thingmabob that I haven't stopped thinking about since I tasted it. Anyone up for a trip into Seattle this week??
Loving just being outside Seattle, I had to snap this shot of the street sign.
We got to the ferries just as the 1/4 full ferry closed it's gates at 11:00. RIDICULOUS. We were the first car in line and I begged them to let us on. Nope we ended up having to wait until the 12:10. We had great albeit loopy, silly conversation and ended up home around 1:30am.
We have decided to do this once a month. Do you have any great rest. recommendations?
We want to hit the swank, club, hot places, not the date night with your hubby places.
It was fun.....onto the next blog post.