A letter for Amanda

Dear Amanda,
We all voted and it was unanimous: you must move back to Seattle. Admit it, you're more of a west coast kind of gal anyway. Sure, you guys bought a house and all. Oh, and you just got a new, rockstar job out yonder. (Congrats!) But I will go on record and say: it's still not as cool as your home state of Washington. Mostly because I live here, but your family and other friends have something to do with it too :)

Until you reach this revelation, I'll accept the fact that you are dillydallying around North Carolina. I'll accept an occasional phone call or message. And I will also accept your invitation to visit at some point in the future.

At any rate, it was so good to see you this weekend. I sincerely hope we don't go as long next time around!

Love,
Herk

P.S. Amanda's brother is who gave me my nickname, "Herk", years and years ago.
P.P.S. The picture is from Halloween 2K7. It's sadly the most recent photo I have with Amanda! And for the record, I was Lindsay Lohan. Remember those lovely photos the paparazzi caught of LiLo in the grey hoodie? That's what I was going for.

A country wedding

The wedding in Tonasket was amazing for the following reasons:

• Gorgeous day (96 degrees earlier, but probably 80 degrees for the wedding)
• Stunning bride
• Happy couple
• Wonderful family time
• Beautiful scenery
• Fun party

The whole shindig was at my aunt and uncle's house, which is perched on the top of a hill with amazing landscape views.

Even the pastor wore a cowboy hat. Please also note the camo hat in the right hand corner.

My cousin had to hold back the tears when her dad walked her down the aisle.

Then she was all smiles.

Mr. and Mrs. Tony and Amanda Call.
(phonetic: a man to call. get it? hehe.)

My aunt was a very happy and beautiful mother of the bride.

The details of the wedding seemed as if they came out of a wedding magazine. The little beverage shack was next to the dance floor. (Wish I had gotten a picture of the dance floor, but it had Christmas lights around it and was covered, which had a vibe kind of like the last photo in this post.)

The table centerpieces featured the local fruit, pears.

Joe was finally exposed to the Peterson clan, which can be quite intimidating because we're GINORMOUS! But he passed with flying colors. He even spoke in Swedish with my grandma and great aunt. Even though I didn't understand anything, I couldn't help but smile watching them chat it up.

I wish I could click my heels three times and magically reappear there. It's so picturesque! Doesn't it looks like we were photoshopped in?

The party (or hoedown) went into the late night.

Congrats Amanda and Tony!

The Weekend: Part Deux

After the show on Saturday, we took an excursion to the Cheesecake Factory for some dessert. A little chocolate coconut dreamcake never hurt anyone. Then I pulled a complete 180 and changed into my Mariner's garb for the game with my cousin, Amanda!

Way back in March, Amanda asked me to go to the game with her, her boyfriend and a group of friends - which I was super excited about because we don't hang out nearly enough! She got me two tickets so I could bring someone, so I asked Aaron because I don't see him enough and he knows my cousin: Perfect! We met at Pyramid for a beer before the game and chatted for awhile. Aaron got caught in traffic on the way down, so he met up right as the game was starting.

Our seats were great, right behind Ichiro in right field. Even though Griffey didn't play, it was still a great game - we won! I was bummed that I didn't really get to chat with everyone in the group, but I did have some good conversations with Tony (the bf) and Stephanie. Loved them both! Stephanie lives in Seattle and we swapped numbers and are going to grab dinner one of these days - new friends are fun!

After the game, Aaron and I headed to BalMar in Ballard for Kimber's birthday. Not the typical bar that Aaron would frequent, but I think he liked it.

Overall, a super fun and full day! My Sunday festivities to come...