Yoga Stand Up Paddleboarding

Kathie being a total diva adjusting her sunglasses during class

A couple months ago before summer, Kathie asked me if I wanted to do yoga SUP because there was an awesome deal on amazon local for 3 classes. Ambitious and naive enough to think that I was actually not going to be too lazy to go, I agreed. We were excited to go, but summer somehow slipped quickly past us and last week we realized our deal was about to expire! So, being too economical to just forget about the $39 we had already spent, we carved out some time in our schedules to go.

So far, we have gone twice with 2 different teachers. I liked the smaller class with the calming female teacher, but Kathie liked the bigger class with the male teacher who was into doing more extreme poses on the paddleboard (2 people fell off their boards during his class- 0 fell off in the other class). It was no surprise Kathie liked his class better because Kathie is extreme. My favorite part was paddling out to where we anchored ourselves and paddling back. The yoga part in between was ok, but I don't think yoga is really my thing in the first place. I don't think I'll ever feel the need to buy a deal and force myself to go again. We were pretty lazy before each class- complaining and saying how we didn't want to go, but the cheap Asian inside would not let us stay home and let that money go to waste. But we had fun each time! But for some reason, I feel like before our 3rd and final class, we will still be dreading going to still. Anyway, here are some pictures of Kathie on the water.

Tied up on our paddleboards like cattle

My favorite part- paddling

Kathie befriending the waterfowl

Virginians in Washington

Wedding Crashers

My sister got married the other weekend so I have been so busy hosting family and scurrying around to get things done, but it is all finally winding down. The wedding was beautiful (pictures to come later), and we all boozed and danced, and got through the day, even having fun while doing it! It was so nice to have family here and to have people around all the time to get together and eat. Why don't we just all move to one corner of the United States? And why not that one corner be the Pacific Northwest, because it's the best corner? Sigh... Honestly, I don't think I even had to do any convincing, the city did it for me! But anyway, now they're all gone and I miss the company. It's bittersweet really- on the one hand, I am so excited to get back to my summer nothing, but I'm also really sad all my family is gone! I think when we were younger, we didn't really appreciate each other enough, but now the age difference doesn't feel as significant and we can just all get along!

We piled up to 8 people at my apartment so we had people sleep essentially everywhere except the closets, but it was so fun! We ate and drank and played a lot of Taboo and Heads Up!. One night at dinner with all the parents, we actually got some of the parents to play and it was a hoot. We teamed together to act out a really good centipede, with everyone holding onto the waist of the person in front of them. I basically forgot all responsibilities for a week, until alas, they slowly started leaving and we were so tired from having fun that the remaining pulled out all our laptops and had nightly computer lab hour so we could actually get some work done.

Anyway, here is a haphazard collection of photos from the past 2 weeks! We did so much more than this, but no joke, I was having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures!

Enjoying Essential Baking Company sandwiches the morning after the wedding. Oh, didn't you know? It's tradition for the bride to sit outside on the cement and eat a sandwich on the ground the morning after her wedding.

Ballin' out at Din Tai Fung. When we asked for straws, the waitress said, "Curly or straight?". Ummm, is that a rhetorical question?

Out in Belltown at 2 am on a Monday night. WHO ARE WE.

John invited his friends to go paddleboarding with us and together we made a giant Asian paddleboard gang.

Siblings sharing a tiny slice of coconut cake.

Mid-summer crisis

The sunset, a metaphor for closing stages of my summer.

I should have realized summer was flying right past me when I started getting a bunch of emails from school regarding registration and paperwork we have to turn in for clinical placements last week. But no, it was 30 minutes ago when I went to the blog of a blogger on the East Coast, and her latest post was posted AUGUST 1ST, 2014. WHAT! It's August?! I haven't enjoyed even half of all the summer fun I planned on enjoying this season! Yes, I've done a whole lot, but I haven't nearly been to the lake as many times as I'd hoped I would have been by this time. And I certainly haven't binge watched enough Netflix, nor have I been downtown to walk around and play tourist. Arrrg, I have not been referring to my list.

I have been doing some things though. Don't get me wrong- I have been having a LOT of fun. I'm just not sure how a whole month flew by! Here are some snippets of the last month.

This is Kathie in a douche tank. She can totally pull it off! We had biked to Magnuson park that day and it was cloudy so we didn't think to bring swim suits, which I totally regretted because we got sweaty and sticky.

I went out on a lake float for the FIRST time this summer with my sister and one of her friends. I bought that amazing turtle float and we laughed ourselves silly because seriously, what is better than an adult woman riding a turtle out to sea? Possibly an adult woman riding out to sea on this.

I've been prepping a lot for the wedding, like cleaning the house for family to come, but also practicing our getting-beautiful skills. This is fabulous Bi, with her beautifying servants. Now to get that maid of honor speech down...

Linda turned 28..........?

Of everyone I see, I probably hang out the most with this girl. She is bossy, but we make it work. I don't think I actually do much- just literally watch her while she does her own thing.

Alison and I went to the pier to catch up and get some fried foods. The navy ship from San Diego happened to be there so there were men in white navy uniforms everywhere. One of them offered to take our picture for us in front of the ship when he saw us taking some pretty pathetic selfies. This picture was supposed to be the 'funny' one, but it turned out so good and natural!

This picture is such a good one, but I wish I was in there with her! We didn't want to ask a stranger to take a panorama for us though- I don't think society is ready for that.

Goodbye July 2014! You were a real treat. Can't wait to play with August!

Planting, paddling and pedaling

I just love summer- being able to go outside and feel warm, and eating peaches and berries- it all just makes me feel so healthy and alive. It's been sunny and HOT. Really, really HOT. I've been sleeping with just a flat sheet and I'm still sweating my butt off because all the heat gets trapped up in my room and I'm too scared to sleep with the windows open for fear someone will break in. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I sleep with an air soft gun that looks like a real gun, a tactical flashlight, and a pepper spray gun, all neatly tucked under the pillow next to me every night. So don't sneak into my room in the dark because you will either be shot with a pellet, be heavily disoriented or get pepper sprayed.

Anyway, I was reading something the other day about how there are 100 days of summer (I actually googled  it later- there are 93) and encouraging people not to waste them. I started thinking about all those days during winter where I just so wished that the weather was better so I could go outside and do something, so I am deciding not to waste a single day of summer. I've been busy having a bunch of fun this week which started with getting new house plants. Kathie and I went to Fred Meyer's and spent probably an hour going through their parking lot which had aisles and aisles of plants. We were super conflicted about which plant to take home and attempt to grow (and very possibly kill) because honestly, we wanted half of them! I ended up with a low growing succulent and some Cuban oregano, which is this furry little succulent that you can smell from a mile away. I'm not very confident in my ability to keep plants alive, but I was told recently that to get a green thumb, you have to kill a lot of things first.

Good luck little babies!

Another fun adventure I finally got to doing was going stand up paddle boarding! I've been meaning to go for years, but I just never got around to it or I kept making excuses or something... But I finally did it and I can't wait to go again! I went with Victoria, one of John's best friends, who had never done it before either, but we watched Surf Ballard's newbie video and threw ourselves in there. Standing wasn't too bad, and I eventually got pretty comfortable, although my toes were clenched so hard on the surface of the board that my toes all kept cramping. It was almost 90 degrees that day, so I thought were were going to fry, but with the water and the breeze and lots of sunblock, it was actually really relaxing. Plus, I woke up sore all over the next morning which is always a good feeling. 

Look at those trees! Absolutely beautiful.

Yesterday, I also caught up with my good friend Alison at her swanky apartment on South Lake Union. I picked up my previously abandoned bike from my parents' that morning and I debated biking to her place from mine in Seattle, but it was peak traffic time, and I thought maybe it was a bit too ambitious for my first bike ride in a year. So I drove my bike to her place and we biked around the lake on the paved paths where we'd be safe from cars. It was beautiful and wonderful and, again, I can't wait to do this again either. But next time, I'll bike to South Lake Union. As soon as Kathie gets her bike back from her friend, I'm gonna ask her to go on biking bakery dates. Oooo, that sounds like a fun blog venture.

Hella sail boats

Our blue twin bikes!

Looking like super nerds. You know what's not funny? Safety. 

U-Pick Cherries

One of the best summer fruits are rainier cherries and the best part about living in this area is that they grow right in your back yard! Honestly, I think I have tried a bing cherry maybe 5 times in my life, and I could definitely live without. But rainier cherries? They remind me of childhood and they are just so darn delicious. So yesterday, my parents, my sister and I made our way out to Wenatchee to pick some rainier cherries. It was a pretty long drive there and back for maybe 45 minutes of actual cherry picking, and I probably won't do this again until I have children and feel obligated to give them summertime adventures, but it was a good experience. With the cost of gas and the time spent sitting in the car, I think the cherries may not have been as cheap as the $2.50/lb price tag seemed, but I think my parents consider time spent with their children priceless, so they didn't care. Anyway, here are fun pictures from the day.

Kim, making friends with the friendly farm dog that greeted everyone on the way in. Mom was terrified.

Does my dad remind you of Dwight at Schrute farms or have I been watching too much the Office?

My mom, Kim and I all ended up wearing the same thing: pink top, tan hat.

Here is a picture of my parents pretending to be farm vendors selling to Kim, a farmer's market goer. And wowza, check out all those cherries!

Dear blog

Dear blog,
I've missed you. I know I haven't written in you in a whole week. It's finals week and I hope you understand. Below I left you some pictures from what I've been doing (or rather, things I've been eating) between my studying. I'll write again soon.
Love, Tu

Dinner (and a little bit of shopping) break with my sister at Cedar's

Early Father's day breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe

Ice cream window at Hello Robin

Memorial day weekend part 2

Growing out of John's ear at Kerry Park

As with most weekends John is in town for, I had the most relaxing eventful weekend. Honestly, it felt like a vacation, where you're really busy because you're trying to soak everything up, but at the same time so relaxed. We did so much in 5 days that I am fighting off the resulting fatigue that is telling me to just close my eyes and drift off to sleep. When John comes, we're usually shuttling from his friends to his family and back to his friends so that he gets a chance to see everyone. It's fun, but exhausting!! We had to take turns driving because we'd be out all day, and it would be super tiring for one person to do all that driving. We also ate lots of Asian food because Kentucky lacks good Asian food and we had sushi for 4 meals this weekend! Ahh, what a tasty weekend. One thing we did not do this weekend was work. I don't know how I got away with it, but I'm sure it will bite me in the butt this week.

On Sunday, we attended John's friend's wedding reception at China Harbor, a big Chinese restaurant that sits on Lake Union. Too bad it was rainy all day- no one got to enjoy the giant porch that hangs over the lake! I got to see all of John's temple friends again although I really have trouble remembering all their names. Most of them have Vietnamese names that John pronounces in English, so all the names just sound foreign to me being that they're not quite English names, yet not quite Vietnamese. Also, I see them maybe 4 times a year, and I met 30 of them all at the same time, whereas they're meeting just me! I usually just smile and ask John to remind me everyone's name as we run into them. Anyway, this time, I was surprised how many names I could match to faces (I should make note cards with their faces on one side and their name on the back). Part of the reason was that John kept leaving me to go talk to other people, so I just ended up talking to whoever was sitting next to me which was always someone different, because no one was in their seat.

Ellen inspired selfie, though not as many famous people...

Whenever one of us has to fly back and away from each other, we try to plan something fun to do so that we're not moping around the house and letting goodbyes loom over our heads. Today we went to Discovery Park in Magnolia. It was a beautiful 65 degrees and sunny, perfect for a little city hike. I can't even believe this park is in Seattle city limits. There is so much green space and, I mean, that view. You can even see West Seattle from that place! 

Overlooking Puget Sound

A tiny little wildflower bouquet I made

P.S. John, thanks for coming to hang out! Can't wait to see you again!

UW Street Fair

Today I went to the UW street fair with great friends! The forecast was 30% rain so I spent all morning praying to the weather gods to hold back the rain until after I left the fair. And guess what? It worked. The rain fell on the rest of the fair go-ers 20 minutes after I stepped into my house.

Oh, fairs are so fun. There are babies and dogs everywhere, it's warm out, live music is on every street corner, and everywhere smells yummy. The entire street is closed off to traffic so everyone is free to roam around openly in the street. I always forget how much I love fairs until I'm at one at the beginning of the summer. This time, I got excited as soon as I saw the tops of the white vendor tents from 3 blocks away, and then even more giddy (and hungry) as soon I smelled the food. I love fair food. Everything is fried and fast, and there's a ton of different foods in one place. There's just something about fair lemonade and elephant ears, or a giant cube of fries and a foot-long corn dog. There are two challenges to eating fair food: 1) deciding what to eat, and 2) not getting too full too fast that I can't eat anymore. There's just so many things I want to try, and I never remember what I have tried before, so I really have no solution to my problem.

It's fair season, people, and I am stoked.

Jenny is really happy about some totchos.

^There is something about a man with a banjo... and mismatched socks and no shoes.^

^Kicking this elephant ear's butt^^

Friday fun

Yes, I realize that is Century Link, not Safeco.

John is in town for the weekend, so that means this weekend is filled with a ton of fun! I have been busy all week trying to do two week's worth of course material in one week so I don't have to spend the weekend prepping for next week while he's here, but I failed. Though I have a giant pile of work left, it's Saturday and it's sunny, so I think it's going to be further delayed until tomorrow.

Anyway, John and I went downtown yesterday and went to the aquarium, which John has been telling me he's been dreaming about going to since he was in high school. He literally used to get giddy when I would mention the aquarium. I'd been in high school and my senior party was there, but I wasn't really impressed... It's small and not worth the ticket price ($22 per adult?!), but you can always find discounted tickets somewhere online. John and I have been to the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati which is probably 5x cooler so I think the Seattle aquarium was a bit of a letdown for John, but it's another thing off his bucket list so I'd still consider it a success.

We also went to the Mariner's game with a bunch of my friends from high school. It was our first time going to an M's game ever and it was also college night + beard hat night! There were so many people there- we kept bumping into familiar faces. And another awesome bonus, the Mariner's actually won!

Whats a trip downtown without Piroshky Piroshky? It's not a trip downtown! Also, we got gelato at this little place called Gelatiamo. So good in my belly. 

Beard hats. We're cool, I know. ^^^

This is my dating picture with Jenny- So romantic... ^^^

I hope the next couple days pass by slowly. I love it when John comes to visit, it's really a mini staycation for me, and I always eat so well for those couple of days... Happy Saturday!