SEATTLE, TAKE 2

Before anything else, I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to my dear friends Ryan and Valentina Costello on their recent wedding in Rome Italy!  I'm so sorry I couldn't be there with you both but wish you all the best!!  

Photo by Dan Schwerin

I also wanted to wish best of luck to Felipe Custer, another great friend of mine from DC who recently turned the big 30 and is finally leaving the nest and moving out of DC (today)... Felipe will be traveling the world for the next 3-4 months, from France, to Spain, to Africa, to India before settling in Chile to live and work.  I hope to get a link up on here to a blog that he hopes to create to document his travels!  Stay tuned for an update on that.

Photo by Alex Ogle.

now then.  SEATTLE, TAKE 2

When it is sunny here, there is no place in the world like it (or so I've heard).  Unfortunately, the sun doesn't like to make appearances EVERY day- but on this particular day, and a few others like it since I arrived two weeks ago, there is no place in the world I would rather be.

This is a picture of Lake Union taken from Gas Works Park.  Jesse, Andrea, and I were there relaxing last week.  If this place works out for me, I would LOVE to have a home with a view similar to this... I figure if EVERYONE keeps their fingers crossed for me, maybe it will work out!

In this picture you are looking South, also from Gas Works, towards downtown Seattle over Lake Union.  The space needle is on your far right.

Jesse

I think this is a nice pic of Jesse and Andrea... I went to throw something out and caught it on my way back over to where we were sitting.  This is along the canal that connects Lake Union to Lake Washington

Looking at boats and water never gets old... 

Logan Ann, meet people who read my blog, people who read my blog, meet the "Logan Ann."  She is a 28 foot Sabre- purchased over 20 years ago, and impeccably maintained by Charlie Favia.  After many long years on the east coast, Charlie decided to have her shipped out to Seattle last fall since he and Diane now live happily in Maui and don't spend much time back east (tough life, I know, Charlie reminds me daily that if he were back in Maui he would most likely be playing golf or out doing some other amazing outdoor thing on any particular day...)   Now she lives in a marina minutes from my new home... I've been working on repairs and improvements for the past week since Charlie is in town and we should be out sailing by weeks end.

This is the view from the boat slip... not bad.

Jess, Andrea, and I have been spending a lot of time there- though at this point the throttle had not yet been repaired so we couldn't head out... it's fixed now.

A gauge on board.

Family Dinner with Jess, Andrea, Logan, and me... I think I have hat hair.  my head looks weird.

This is where I've been living while Jesse is home.  He and I are sharing a bedroom... he's only in town until early next week, then he wont be back all summer... I was hoping he would be around more so we could get out and do some fun hikes, camping, and boating, but hopefully as of this fall he will be in town on a more permanent level.

This is my old friend from college, Cara's, new baby boy, Isaia

and her almost 3 year old Daughter, Mara who is ALWAYS smiling!

We went to the park so I could meet her family and so we could catch up on life

So i brought my camera along to take some shots

Cara is a concerned parent... watching Mara is a tough job- she is super out going and will go up to anyone and say hi.  We had fun.

This is Zoe... she was one of the cutest puppies I've ever seen... I played with her a bit, she belonged to another nice family that was at the park.  I love dogs.

The little guy.

Look at that smile.

This weekend Logan and I went to a BBQ to celebrate her friend Anders having just completed his Masters just days before.

From front to back- this is Ben, Andy, Anders, Will, and Chris.  All great guys, who I just played poker with two nights ago.

Anders wanted to burn a copy of his Masters thesis in a celebratory fashion, it was pretty awesome.

Cicely, is Anders girlfriend AND one of Logan's best friends.  She is awesome, such a fun loving, good spirited person.  She is also a yoga instructor (whose class I have already taken.)

A close up of the thesis a few minutes later.

Logan

Will tends to the flames

Anders says his final good bye.

And the toast begins... So Anders spent a lot of time in Northern Asia, more specifically in Kyrgyzstan.  He worked with an organization that helped take children on expeditions and other fun educational programs.  While there he picked up a nice tradition.  He passed around this bottle of vodka.  Each of us was in a big circle where we said something, anything really, about the summer, about our lives, etc, and then we took a shot of vodka and passed the bottle along.  It was a nice start to what became a really great bbq/ party.

Ben and Andy 

Cicely

Anders is off the hook.

Then back to the boat.  Charlie and I have been rebuilding the starboard bulkhead for the past few days... a big job, but one that when completed will strengthen the boat tremendously.  The old bulkhead, pictured here being used as a template, was badly water damaged... and this is the piece that supports two steel cables that hold up the mast while you are sailing.  Not something you want to fail under stress.

Jesse was doing some wood working to create a few new blocks that the rope spindles attach to.

We successfully inserted the new bulkhead this afternoon (Tuesday, June 1st) and will be fiberglassing the back of it and finishing it up tomorrow.

The cabin is a bit of a mess, but we've been doing a great job of keeping it as neat as possible.

 I think Jesse took this picture tonight just before we all had dinner together.  Such fun times hanging out with three fourths of the Favia fam these past few weeks... I'll be sad to see Andrea, Jesse, and then Charlie all leave by next tuesday but I guess it is just about time I get cracking on figuring out what I'm going to do with my life...

Thanks for reading.... more to come sometime soon.