An Experiment in Community

Gather ‘round, kiddies...this is going to be a long one. I’ll get to the title at the end, since I HAVE to go in chronological order or I’ll forget everything entirely. This is how I roll. I flip through my folder titled “July” and put up pictures as they were taken, and tell stories along the way. Now you know.

Well, there was the fourth of July! I've never experienced a colder, wetter 4th than this year...haha. THANK YOU, SEATTLE.

I had extremely high hopes of spending the entire day down at Gasworks park (right across the street from us!) for the fun & games, facepainting, food, live music, and then Seattle's premiere fireworks show. I was going to have friends over, and soak up the sun....and then it rained cold rain all day and all my plans washed away :)

My friend Sayaka came over anyways, and her, Jon & I watched the fireworks from our balcony, which was still a pretty stellar view. Here's a shot of the park from our place...that's a giant inflatable statue of Liberty, if you're wondering.

then I tried in vain to go to sleep, as I am one of the Americans who has to work the day after the fourth. Do you remember the band, Presidents of the United States of America? You know the song..."Movin' to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches..." Or how about our favorite, "She's lump! She's lump! She's lump! She's in my head..." They were down at the park performing live til about midnight...so that was aweeesome trying to fall asleep to. Haha, I felt like I was trapped in my sophomore year of high school, and couldnt get out.

My brother David came out to stay with us for a week!!! You know it's a great time when the week seems to go by at warp speed, and before you know it you're taking someone back to the airport to say goodbye. It was SUCH good, quality time with my bro, that I cannot wait for him to come back to stay with us again!

We met Amy for breakfast the first morning...they hadnt seen each in a long, long time...so that was sweet to see them be reunited.

Showed him the fremont troll, of course.

my artsy shot of it.

That afternoon we went hiking (with a girl from work too who's new to the area). The trail we had wanted to take was closed, so we improvised and forged our own hike to a waterfall. We spent most of the time jumping from rock to rock across the river, and tightrope walking across fallen trees. It was a really beautiful day to be in the woods.

One of the days Jon, David, Sayaka & I went whitewater rafting! I think it was a first for almost all of us, and it was suuuuch a fun day! Definitely want to go again. I didnt dare bring my camera onto the river, so I only got a couple of shots as we got into our sweaty wetsuits in 103 degree weather. It was not a pleasant or easy chore to get those suits on.

While David was here we went to two baseball games, and a Sounders match. Haha. I think he got his fill of pro sporting events. He enjoyed the soccer game much more than the "boring" baseball games, and it was great to show him something we love out here.
and I regret that I didnt take more pictures of David's trip, but it was truly because we were out having a good time. He got scuba certified in the puget sound, caught up with an old college buddy who lives out here, and worked on his tan. Haha. Thanks for visiting David! Please come again soon!!

Onto my birthday, which was really just this last weekend. 27, what the what?! I'm officially teetering between my mid and late 20s...kinda weird. But life just keeps getting better, so how can I complain?

And can I just send a HUGE thanks out into the interweb to all of you who left me voicemails, sent me sweet cards, facebook messages, emails, texts....I kid you not, I shed tears of joy that day for how overwhelmingly loved I felt on July 16th. Like the name of my blog, I live over two thousand miles away from so many of you guys, yet I felt like you were all here! I know how cheesy that sounds, but birthdays mean so much to me, and I can't express loved I felt. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Amy was soooo sweet to throw together a party at the beach for me on my big day. The sun broke through just in time, and I have the GREATEST friends and family that showed up to spend time with me!

Here's Amy&Nelson's dog, Roger. He enjoyed basking in the sun with the rest of us.
As did Jon...
Here's me with my buddy, Sandra. This girl is hilarious. And canadian.
Amy & Nelson Liu!
Me & Amers. Love this girl.
Amy& Roger & Rachel (remember Rachel's face. More about her later)
Some of the fam....thanks Dave & Sue for making it up!


Amy, Thanks again for putting that party together for me! It was such a fun night. I stopped taking pictures pretty much right away, so I didnt even capture how many other friends showed up to make me feel special! All these current and past coworkers, friends of friends, family, family of friends....hahaha. Thanks you guys. It was a really fun night, and I was blessed to share it with ya.

The next day Jon shared his birthday present for me, which was going out to the Gorge at George (yes, the venue and the town) to see the Kings of Leon perform! I've never been to a concert at a setting like this, and it makes perfect sense why everyone raves about this place. I mean, just LOOK:

It was incredible. It was hot, and crowded, and I loved every second of it. Kings of Leon were amazing, and it was a great time with my hubs. Thanks, Jon!!!!!!
The morning after THAT, Dave, Sue, Kristen, Ryan & Owen journeyed up to Seattle to have lunch with Jon and I, as a little family birthday get together (embarrassed now. Day three of my birthday? Isnt that just gluttonous?! Okay, I'll take it :) And it was really great to spend time with all of them, see Owen's new tricks (such a sweetheart!!!!), and show them our new apartment. Thanks for coming up to see us, you guys. I love you all!

And onto the reason for my title tonight. Yes, we are moving. Again. Six times in five years to be exact, but that's neither here nor there.

We had hoped to stay in this place for more than just a year (in fact, I told Jon FIERCELY last year that I would NOT do this again. Under penalty of death, I would not move the next summer so help me...) But circumstances out of our control have changed the game, and we needed to find a new place to live. Coincidentally, our good friend Rachel was also looking for a new place to live...and we began nonchalantly throwing around the idea of finding a place that was sort of duplexy...could accommodate the three of us in a way that we wouldnt have to be up in each other's faces all the time...

Nothing really came along. We really thought we'd end up in our own respective places. And that was cool too.

When all of a sudden this GEM of a place comes along that we did not expect, and all three of us fell in love with. It happened kind of suddenly, and we might just prove to be crazy in the end, but it's just one of those things. We all felt really at peace with it, it's a really large place (a penthouse, actually) with a couple of different living areas...and an enormous private rooftop deck to boot.

So we signed!

And we are in the throes of moving once again.

Jon & I have eleven more days til we need to be out of our current place, which I know will go lightning fast, but for now is helping me breathe easier. Also, I'm head over heels in love with the new apartment, so I actually have the motivation to keep on top of moving our lives over there.

And it's only three minutes down the road, so that's a huge plus.

I plan to put together a little video tour of the place once we're all moved in, but for now these are the only shots I've got, of our view...

and yeah. Call us crazy, we kind of sprung this on everybody without telling many people beforehand. We're ready to go for it! I know this isnt the traditional route married people take, but we're ready to try our hand at community living, at least for a year :) Someone asked us if they could plant cameras in the house, with a live feed to their tv. Very funny.

So anyway, that's that.

My mom, dad, and lil' bro Josiah are coming out to visit in three weeks. In the words of my nephew, Henry..."Holey smokes!" I think we're going to take a couple of days to get away to Vancouver, and I'm just really excited to have them in the city with us.

This summer is whizzing by, full of so many fun things. Before I know it, it'll be fall again, and I'll be getting another baby nephew in my life. (I'm pulling for the name Oscar!)

So, I should probably get some sleep now. night :)