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

A Very GoPro Wedding

OoooOooOoooOOOooooo... Fish eye

For John's birthday, I bought him a GoPro for all his adventure-documenting needs. We felt like how our parents must feel when they're learning how to use facebook or install a printer onto their computer, because it was so frustrating getting the little thing to work. My patience wore thin much quicker than John's so he ended up figuring it out so he wore it on his chest for the wedding!

Since Kim didn't have a videographer, it was great because John was able to record speeches and thank yous and the ceremony. Also, lots of funny conversations, and people pointing at John's chest. GoPro rules. Other than being slightly dizzying from all the shaking, the video quality is excellent (make sure to watch it in HD!), and the sound is clear. John left the GoPro with me so I will have to figure out how to use this thing myself so I can record my own adventures! Before the ceremony, John set the camera to snap a picture every 30 seconds so there are so pretty cool candid ones. The rest of the day was caught on video, and with my amateur video editing skills, we made a little wedding video! Enjoy! And congratulations to Kim and Andy!

My stout little dad

This is Howard, the photographer. I feel like he needs to be recognized, because he worked so hard and is nice, and wasn't even in 1 wedding photo.

This photo wasn't taken on the GoPro, but this is what John looked like with the chest strap on! So Ironman-esk.

And lastly, the little wedding video pieced together by me! I'm pretty proud of myself. Eventually, I'll make a video with sound from the day because there are some pretty funny conversations out there.

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!

East Coast Adventure Part 2: New York City, NY!

Us at the Statue of Liberty! Reminder to self: do NOT go on a Sunday in the summer.

I went back and read my post on Philly, and I didn't do that trip justice at all! I think I was tired and jet-lagged so there were a bunch of grammatical mistakes that I went back to edit, but that sad little post is up now, and it will forever be sad because I don't want to delete posts, because it's an accurate portrayal of my life. Because it was so bad, I've been putting off writing this post for a couple days now (also out of laziness and busy-ness), but I think it marinated well and I feel refreshed and ready to tell you all about part 2 of my awesome east coast adventure time.

So on Saturday morning, we hopped on a bolt bus to spend 3 days and 2 nights in the Big Apple. I've been twice before, but it's different traveling with your friends vs. traveling with your family (ahem, more fun + less stress). We stayed at this sweet place I found on airbnb in the East Village and had a GREAT experience. The apartment was spacious (as spacious as NYC apartments get...) and it was cheaper than a hotel! The neighborhood was lively with lots restaurants and young people out and about, and it was very central to all the things we wanted to see in Manhattan. Here are some of the highlights from the weekend!

We ate at Joe's Pizza- the BEST pizza in NYC (or possibly in the entire US). No kidding. There are photos of celebrities all over the walls coming in to get pizza. Leonardo DiCaprio is on the wall like 4 times, each photo looking like a different time in his life (1 after Titanic, 1 after the Aviator, 1 after Inception, etc.) 

John and me at Washington Square Park. I taught Chin and Tomo the photographic value behind the asian squat, so they started doing it. Yay! No shame! Do it for the photo!

And bless Chin! John and I would never have photos together like this if she did not insist we pose together in front of cool stuff.

John and I subway-ed across town to go to the The City Bakery for their AMAZING chocolate chip cookie. The best in my life. Everything is kind of expensive because all their food is organic and locally sourced, etc, but the cookie was well worth my time and money.

Food from The Halal Guys food truck. The line was ridiculous, but it moved quickly. Delicious, and ginormous portions for $6.

We went out to 230 Fifth, a rooftop bar with a great view of the Empire State building. It was super swanky and crowded. And at $12 for a well drink- no thanks. Not really my scene, but it's good to try everything at least once right?!

Grabbing some pizza after going to Times Square late at night.

Chin and Tomo walk slow, so they got a lot of pictures of John an I walking. It's actually a really good photo collection I think. This is us walking through Central Park.

Me and John walking past the courthouse. It was Monday and there were couples every block, the woman in a little white dress and the man in a suit, about to get married at the courthouse. That sounds kind of amazing and simple, doesn't it? Just getting married and having it be just about you two, not family or the logistics of having a wedding.

Strolling across the Brooklyn Bridge. Actually we only strolled a quarter of it and then strolled back.

9/11 Memorial, which was absolutely amazing. The first time I was in New York, the site was complete rubble with a great big fence around it so that you couldn't really see in. The last time I was there in 2012, we didn't make it to the memorial, but I'm so glad we did this time. The memorial itself actually gave me feelings of grief and loss because you're looking down into the memorial, whereas at other memorials you usually look up and feel inspired or proud or some other positive feeling. It was moving to see the names of the victims, especially those of the first responders grouped with their units. 9/11 defined the politics of my childhood. When I think about the events following 9/11, I think about George W. Bush and the search for weapons of mass destruction, and racism against middle eastern people, and the Iraq War, which is now actually in history books. Although it was happening all over the news around us, it was never really clear what was going on partly because adults tried to protect us from it, and also because I think I don't think we had the mental capacity to fully understand it.

That was essentially our trip in a nutshell! I was really sad to go home and get back to real life. I have been busy working, getting things organized for family to come and for Kim's wedding next weekend. Until next time NYC!