"the art of racing in the rain" by garth stein :: literature

I came across this novel at Barnes & Noble and was intrigued by the simple fact that it is a story written from the point of view of a dog.  I mean how can that not be intriguing? A local author from Seattle, Garth Stein did an amazing job.  From the turning of the first page I fell into the story being told, loving how it made me laugh, cry, get mad and rejoice.  I look forward to getting ahold of his other two novels and diving into them.

**** I would definitely recommend this book to all adults.  The skill involved in writing from the dog's perspective really is amazing.  If you have an aversion to car racing you might want to skip it simply because there are a lot of comparisons made between life and racing and a lot of references to pro drivers and their careers.  I recently saw a preteen version of the book I would be intrigued to review that.  The original version is definitely not kid appropriate. 

weekend in sequim :: eats

This last weekend my hubby and I spent up in Sequim staying at Fern Hollow while we had guests there from out of town.  On Friday night, having heard of a little place called the Next Door Gastropub, we thought we would head to Port Angeles to give it a try.  Gracious me . . . . I can't say anything bad about it at all. 

We arrived around 6:30 and waited about 20 minutes until a seat opened up.  The street side wall of the pub was a garage door style that they had in the open position with patio heaters placed along the outside surrounding bar tables.  There was a wall of booth seating, misc. tables and chairs and a long expansive bar area for seating.  A great atmosphere of people gathered enjoying amazing food, great drinks and fun conversation. Once seated we began perusing the menu and knew right off the bat that we wanted to try the mac & cheese with the Dungeness crab added.  It was delicious, creamy, great flavor and served piping hot from the oven.  We followed that up with the Not Your Average Joe burger.  A coffee rubbed 1/2 lb 100% natural Northwest beef patty topped with tempura onion straws, and a romesco sauce all served on a lightly toasted pub bun. We got this with fries covered in chopped garlic and shaved parmesan.  Nothing says love like a big 'ol kiss after eating fries covered in chopped garlic. :)

We of course couldn't stop there and finished off our meal with a fabulous order of Poutine.  We would definitely recommend the Next Door Gastropub to anyone looking for a place to go and grab a bite on the Olympic Peninsula.  It was delicious.  Not only was the food great, but after about an hour, we saw a couple I had gone to school with years ago and who I hadn't seen in almost a year.  It was great to catch up and hear how their family was.

19 years and counting :: family

Growing up in a small town I am blessed with memories of activities I would have never experienced had I grown up in the city.  One of those such memories revolves around what happens to be the longest running Washington State Festival, the Irrigation Festival. Tomorrow it will celebrate 118 years and up until 19 years ago it never really held any special significance to me other than a fun activity to do on a weekend in May each year.

It was Thursday. A Thursday just like any other. I was 15 years old. My best friend and I had made plans to get together that evening and go to the opening night of the carnival.  Opening night was the night to go because all rides were 1 ticket and all the kids went.  We would go to the carnival, eat junk food, ride rides, play games, hang out with friends and then spend the night at her house.  We arrived and promptly began going on rides. We had to leave at 10pm and head back to her house so we didn't want to waste any time.  All was going great until we realized we wanted to go on rides her sister didn't and her sister wanted to hang with her friends and not us.  So, she and I went on the hunt to find someone to go on the rides with us.  She happened to see her neighbor hanging with some of his friends and so we went and asked him.  He said sure.

I have to admit I was a little giddy.  This was the same boy that my friend and I would watch from her bedroom window.  He was pretty cute.  Although I had never really thought a ton about it since he was 4 1/2 years older than me and therefore didn't even go to the same school.

The next couple hours seemed to fly by.  We talked, rode rides and laughed a lot.  We even laughed when the ride we were on came apart while we were hanging upside down in it.  (Something that brings us to laughter to this day.)  Before I knew we had to leave.  It was already shortly after 10 and we were under strict instructions to head back to my friend's house at 10pm.  Sad to have to go, we said "goodbye, see you around" and left. (Very casual and nonchalant of course.)  That evening we did what any normal 15 year old girls would do and stayed up into the wee hours talking all about the cute neighbor boy from the carnival.  His family and my best friends family were close and I wanted all the details.  She was happy to fill me in. I wondered when I would see him next? Turned out that day wasn't far off. On Saturday May 14th, dressed like ducks, my best friend and I walked in the Irrigation Festival Parade handing out candy and advertising the annual duck derby.  What better way to get a guy to notice you than to dress in a HUGE bright yellow duck costume, right? Nothing screams hottie like that does I tell ya. It turned out the duck costume didn't deter him and after the parade he asked me to join him for the afternoon/evening.  My very first official date and the beginning of the next phase of my life.

The decision on May 12th, 1994 to ask this boy to join us proved to be a pivotal moment in my life and one that would lead me down an amazing path of friendship, love, marriage, travel, children and so much more.  Because of that one decision, I am blessed with a husband who puts up with my idiosyncrasies, desires, quirks, jokes, late night giggle fits and so much more.

  

thank you matt & rachel nickel for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

thank you moch snyder for this photo.

I can truthfully say that 15 year old me had no idea what was ahead but I am thankful every day for the amazing coincidences that God blessed us with that lead us to each other and into this life we are leading.