sneaky september

hello, september.
you snuck up on me.

it has been a LONG time since i last posted.
a lot has happened.

it seems that, whenever i'm at my parent's house in vancouver(washington), i have a nice window of opportunity to catch up on my blogging, photo editing, yelp reviewing, whatnot.
and i'm taking it.

i have been everywhere.

a few weekends ago, justin wanted to take me down to SD for a getaway
we went to the races in del mar and checked out la jolla.

i was able to make it to my aunt's funeral in vancouver BC, but not without my signature misadventure -- this time it was my passport.
i had somehow, along the way, forgotten that prior to going to new zealand, i got a new passport.
so when this trip came along and i was reminded to bring my passport, i located and packed it, neglecting to check the expiration date.
once at the airport, i decided to check the expiration, just in case.
2004. wtf? i had 2 passports floating around amongst my belongings?
and omg my picture was so old.
so i called justin. he went into an apartment-searching frenzy. nothing.
[i found out my flight would be delayed - multiple times, forcing pretty much the entire plane to be missing their connecting flights. luckily, us airways rebooked me onto a direct flight to seattle. so i was freaking out at john wayne for about 3 hours.]
i texted lex. she was at work until 11. after work, she told sam, and they told laura.
THEY went into an apartment-searching frenzy.
[and in the meantime, my brother had looked through the remainder of my stuff at his house,
and my mom had ransacked the suitcase i had left with her. nothing.]
by this time, i had given up. i wouldn't be making the wedding, but at the very least i would stay at my cousin alan's place in seattle, borrow will's car, and scout the city for a weekend of exploration when justin came up for his first time.
2am - lex calls me. THEY FOUND MY RECENT, non-expired PASSPORT!!
*relief* - at not having to pay $200+ for an expedited renewal, or $200+ for an earlier return ticket, or being left behind and not going to the funeral.
my roommates rock.

the funeral was an opportunity for the cousins on my mom's side to be reunited, to catch up, and see all the kids of the younger generation playing together.
my canadian cousins took us, the american cousins (alan, my brother, and myself) canadian bowling. 5-pin, with a smaller ball. i was terrible. but we had a great time, and that was my short, sweet, impromptu, misadventurous northwest trip.


then there was vegas.
great people, new friends (and some old ones that i finally got to party with), good times.
i am so thankful to have had the chance to meet so many of justin's friends and actually have meaningful conversations with a handful of them. they're not only a huge bundle of fun together but also genuine, down(downdown...) individuals. (see also: walle's world)

[photo credit: christine.coates]

i got to use my new canond10 underwater camera and it WAS all it's made out to be.
i love that thing.



upon returning to socal, my roommates convinced me to go to the SD zoo with them
and in honor of us all leaving (my last hurrah),
lex&sam treated us to free admission with their memberships! <3 size="2">[more pictures from my dSLR coming later]

and last but not least, a picture of lambo. he's the best.

+pictures of NWadventures (seattle, portland, SF) coming next[preview]

+looking forward to watching the timetraveler'swife w/vix!
+love, starfish <3>