Ew.

I made a serious error. I mis-spelled Chocolatine every time I wrote the word in my previous post! Thankfully, looking at all the comments on that post, it looks like none of you followed me down the same cliff.
In the very PICTURES that I have posted of the place, the correct spelling is available! How could I overlook that? And I really wonder why I care about it so much? :)

Choclatine and Adventures

My best friend, Holly, and I had many adventures together two weeks ago. Some of them were planned ahead of time, some were thrown at us without our chance to give a "Nay!" and some of them were planned on the spot. All of that is bound to happen when best friends spend 72 hours together in one week.
It all started when I met Holly at her place on our way to our first adventure. But before we left the house, she had me open her birthday present to me: the Neil Armstrong biography, First Man, and the Rachael Ray book, $40 a Day. This Holly girl knows me very well. Anyone who knows me in the slightest will know why I appreciated the first book, and as for the second book, that one proved that she knows me better than I know myself. It's no secret that I love Rachael Ray recipes, but I never gave a thought to spending a dime on her because most every recipe you could ever need is for free on her web site. But when I opened up $40 a Day I realized why it's so valuable to have one of her books. Not only does this book have delicious and for the most part easy recipes, but it's also a travel guide for your mouth! The book features cities around the world and the best restaurants in them to get great food at a great price. FUN fun fun. Holly knows I LOVE to travel and that I LOVE food, so mix the two with Rachael Ray, and wala! a perfect birthday present for Hayley!
Our first adventure together was dessert/lunch at a native French couple's cafe called Choclatine. Holly's been talking and talking about this place for the last six months, so I was jazzed to finally be able to try it with her. Holly has studied three years of French, so I quite enjoyed witnessing her jibber-jabber in the French language with Hugo, one of the owners of the cafe who treated Holly like an old friend because of her frequent appearances in his store. Holly ordered us two cups of hot chocolate and two raspberry tarts with chocolate mousse.


My goodness, you guys, this was the first hot chocolate I've ever tried that was worthy of the name. You see, I've always been a huge fan of the idea of hot chocolate, but I'm almost always severely disappointed upon my first sip of a drink by that name because it either tastes like hot water with a hint of cocoa dusting, or it's basically hot sugar water. My hopes were raised upon hearing Kim Archer's description of her hot chocolate from France: she said it tasted like a melted candy bar, the way hot chocolate SHOULD taste. At Choclatine, the hot chocolate was WELL worthy of the name. And the thick dallop of homemade whip cream on top added the perfect touch to the already practically perfect drink.
Oh, and I should mention that after preparing our drinks and treats from behind the counter, Hugo served us our orders himself! Did I mention that his wife's name is Sabrina? Isn't that perfect? Those are just the names you would want for a French couple that owns a chocolate cafe.
Holly and I spent about an hour at Choclatine, savoring our treats, catching up with each other's lives and LAUGHING. Before we left, we ordered some truffles to go. We decided to try their chili pepper truffles, because ever since watching Chocolate, I've been immensely curious about chili pepper chocolate. Holly had never seen the movie but decided to trust my enthusiasm and get that kind of truffle also.
We drove to Malibu, set up camp on a perfect spot at Zuma Beach, laid down on our blanket and tried the truffles.
They were SO good, totally worth it, I would totally get one again, and again and again and again! Later that evening Holly described to her parents the experience of biting down into one of the chocolates like this: "Mmmmm, chocolate....fiesta??"
The sensation was pretty much the same as the one you get when you bite down into delicious chocolate, but there is an added burn and warmth in your mouth as you savor and swallow. And a slight flavor of chili pepper. But a good flavor.
Because Holly and I are crazy about SWIMMING at the beach, it surprised us both that after laying down, we didn't want to get back up again. In fact, we both fell asleep for about an hour. It was such a deep, relaxing beach sleep. We both felt so wonderful when we woke up. We decided to take a picture.
After sitting and talking for a bit, she decided to treat me to a Starbucks "for my birthday." Yeah right. The drink was wonderful and she was so sweet to buy it for me, but "for my birthday?" Please. Everyone who knows Holly knows that ever since she started working there, she cannot go a day without Starbucks. I even asked her how often there is a day when she doesn't get her Starbucks fix. She raised her eyebrows, pursed her lips, and didn't answer. And she slightly giggled. :) I got a white chocolate mocha, for the record. That's my favorite drink there at the moment. WITH whip. You can never go without the whip.
When we got home, we helped Mrs. Schultz prepare minestrone soup made with fresh homegrown vegetables. I'm so thankful that my tastes for vegetables finally came around in the last few years, it opens up a whole new world of tasty pleasure! This soup was very good, needless to say. Before we went to bed, Holly and I watched Chocolate, in memory of our day at Choclatine.

And so concluded day one of our adventures together. There's much more to come, but it is now time for me to get ready for my first day of classes tomorrow!! Because Heather wants to see pictures and stories from Choclatine so badly, I'm posting this part now. The second installment of our time together will be posted soon, I hope!

Discovered a few things about myself tonight

I love Claim Jumper's chocolate chip calzone. My dad treated my little brother and me to dessert at that restaurant tonight to serve as a little "Goodbye, Summer!" party. I got a coffee and my share of the unbelievably enjoyable dessert, and was superbly happy as I savored and chatted the night away with my dad and brother.

The other thing I discovered: I am in love with the song The Prayer.

The last thing I discovered: I think The Prayer is prettiest when Charlotte Church sings it with Josh Groban rather than Celine Dion and Josh Groban. I compared the two choices on YouTube tonight. Its amazing...compared to Charlotte Church, Celine Dion seems to have a small vocal range! I've always dreamt of being able to sing like Charlotte Church does in The Prayer. I wonder if Charlotte Church ever sang that song with Andrea Bocelli? Now THAT would be purely heart-stopping, quite as heart-stopping as certain men who wear shirts that match their eye-color. I saw one over the weekend and I think my heart did stop.

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have had caffeine at Claim Jumper tonight.

Before I go to bed I'll check out the Charlotte Church and Andrea Bocelli idea. I hope its a reality!!

Back!!

My team touched down in LA a little over two weeks ago after our ten days of missions work together in Kiev, Ukraine. I wasn't planning on writing much about the trip here on my blog, reasoning that the thank-you letter I would send to all of my supporters would be enough. I think I've changed my mind, though. It would be nice to tell people what the trip was like without the formal air of a missions letter. Because many of you who read this will be getting my missions thank-you letter also, I'm going to be creative with my blog account of the ministry. Let's have some fun, hmm.....

Here are 5 Ways God Demonstrated Himself During My Mission Trip Experience

But before I start, I realize many of you might need some background info about the trip, having not received my original letter that described what I would be doing in Ukraine. So here goes with the background, I hope I can make it short, casual, efficient and intriguing for you. Hmm, actually, I just realized why this background info will NO DOUBT be intriguing to you: I can't give you any. If you want to know more about what my team did in Ukraine and why we did it, shoot me an email or grab me at church or something. But for security reasons I'm not going to put any more information on this blog about the trip than I originally planned.

Without further ado, 5 Ways God Demonstrated Himself During My Mission Trip Experience

1) God showed me that His plans are usually much different from what I assume are His plans.
Let me tell you a story. For the first few weeks after I sent out my letter asking people for the necessary funds to make the trip possible, it was looking like my team was actually going to gather in ALL of the money in record timing. "Woot!" I thought to myself, "Check fund-raising off of this summer's to do list. Let's move on to bigger and better things!" With immense relief, I thought it was apparent that for the first time in four years, it was not God's plan to have my team play the trusting game (looking back now, I think my relief was proof that I have never really played the game successfully). The game goes like this: My team tries as hard as possible beginning in April to raise the required $23,000 to conduct ministry in Eastern Europe, but for three months our ministry account dwindles around $14,000 or less. Finally, three weeks before the Belarusians expect us to be with them, with our plane tickets reserved but not purchased, our hearts are encouraged by the fact that though our plans for ministry look like they are falling through financially, our God is bigger than appearances, finances, and human logic about the future. We are assured that our God is in perfect control of the situation, and that if He wants us in Belarus or Ukraine this specific summer, He will get us there. And He would get us there not because of any work or merit of our own, not even because of our fund-raising work, but He would get us there through His power. That's what the trusting game produces: childlike trust in God, a trust that becomes one of the major themes of the mission trip as we fully rely on God throughout all the situations, complex and impossible though they may seem, that God brings our way during our time in Eastern Europe.

So I think you know where the rest of this story is going. Of course, Hayley's Assumption #1, that God didn't want us to play the trusting game, was ________. Fill in the blank. Yes, incorrect.

I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying that very generous people donated half of my support in the three weeks following the sending of my letter, but my personal ministry account remained stagnant at halfway up there until about three weeks before our scheduled departure for Ukraine. During that time between the initial surge and the final three weeks before we wanted to take off from LAX, Hayley's Assumption #2 appeared: God must not want us in Ukraine this summer. And I was convinced. I didn't believe it was a lack of faith on my part, I thought I was simply trusting God in all of His decisions. I thought of my other team members as slightly foolish to keep planning the trip when we were stuck in California with next to no money while new expenses kept popping up for us to cover over in Ukraine.

So when God opened up the floodgates of His resources in the three weeks leading up to my team's departure, I stood dumbfounded again, while my dad smiled, praised God, and said confidently, "He's done it again!" Throughout the entire summer, my dad had been reminding our team of Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart." As each team member individually asked God for assistance in making Him their delight, the desire He laid on our hearts for the summer was Ukraine. I'm not saying that just because we desired Ukraine, I should have been sure that we were going to get there. Instead, I'm saying that the lesson I learned through this year's trusting game is that when I have a desire like that, I should not assume that God has shut the doors when early on the desire looks impossible to be fulfilled. I should have waited on God and let my heart and mind wait until the very last second or until circumstances PROVED that He wanted otherwise for me and my fellow team members. Giving up on the desire He had given me before He had given the final answer proved my impatience, assuming nature, and it was, I believe, contrary to His will.

Thank You, God, for demonstrating Your power and sovereignty!!

2) God showed us that He is the God of the nations.
Slipping this reason in here is more just my way of telling you what a thrill it gives me to watch the Belarusians praise God in song in their own language. When it's time for Belarusian musical worship, it is the American team's time to sit back and do nothing because we can't really join them in song. I usually take this time to pray, sing in English if they're singing a song that I know in my language, or, most of the time I sit back and watch my fellow believers praise the God they love for His salvation and continuing love. They know Him intimately in their Russian language, I know Him intimately in my English language, and He knows all of His children, from all of the nations, intimately. He is the Creator of language, after all! I wonder in what language we will praise God in Heaven? Anyways, in the early years, when the Belarusians still loved to sing "Shout to the Lord," I found it so exhilarating to sing the line "Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing" in English while my Belarusian friends sang it in Russian! Cool, huh?

3) God showed me that His creation is best enjoyed in its natural form.
Well, at least I know that I enjoy His creation best in its natural form. I can't speak for everyone else. If you enjoy processed foods and laboratory formulated face masks, go ahead and enjoy it up! I've found over the years that I really do LOVE the simple foods of Belarus, with no added preservatives or...anything. Most of it is just God-given FOOD. The way He prepared it for us. I especially love their breads, tea, salad (usually just vegetables and oil), and BUCKWHEAT!! Ooo, I gobble up the buckwheat. I eat it like I do brown rice. My dad and little brother think I'm crazy ridiculous for liking the food over there so much, but I really do!

And the reason that I mentioned face masks is that one evening, after the formality of lessons and small groups and such, we all divided up into boys and girls for Boys Night and Girls Night. During Girls Night we did facials, ate sweets and watched a movie, but I was most ecstatic about the facials. The girls in charge of Girls Night made homemade facemasks, one recipe was SUPER dark bread and water (kind of weird sounding, I know, but it actually felt really good). Another recipe was keifer (aka, buttermilk, kind of), oatmeal, and bananas. One of the girls on my team who tried that mask said that for the next three days, she didn't have to wear foundation because the skin on her face was all even and glowing. After the masks, we rubbed our faces with cucumber slices, FELT SO STINKIN' GOOD! And, I find out later that there is a chemical in cucumber (also found in potato slices) that naturally shrinks pores to a smaller size.

When I got home I did my own mini-girls night and found some all-natural recipes on the internet. For my face mask I used banana, olive oil and oatmeal. I also made a toner out of herbal water (thankfully I had some bath tea from Alaska that I used to make the herbal water) and cider vinegar. I've been using the toner twice a day ever since and am LOVING how soft my skin is, AND, I'm not seeing the need to wear foundation every day! Yay for all-natural products with fabulous benefits!

4) God showed once again that His love for us produces IN us enthusiastic love for Him and therefore, for others.
This was evidenced in the faces of most of the Belarusian believers whenever we went into the city of Kiev to assist a church there in open-air evangelism. Open-air evangelism is something the Belarusians have been deprived of doing since who knows when in their own country, so coming to a place like Ukraine where there is religious freedom is a breath of fresh air to these kids. They LOVE their freedom and the way they can put it to use. We saw a lot of fruit from the evangelism, too. I'm not completely sure if anyone's eyes were opened to the truths of Christ while we were there, but there were quite a few who were so close, and they expressed interest in attending the church there and learning more.

5) God showed me that His work of sanctification in the hearts of those who are His is an on-going, constant process.
I think I already knew this truth, but it hit home in an interesting way during and after this summer's trip. There is a sin issue that I struggle with almost constantly that becomes more of a burden under certain circumstances but is always, nonetheless, there. And though I hate the sin I'm dealing with, I'm forever falling because of it and am therefore forever asking for God's forgiveness (which, by the way, He already granted to me because of the work of His Son on the Cross...still, I love Him and what He's done for me so much that I want to love Him with my WHOLE heart and with my actions, so that is why I call this a sin struggle: I am struggling against this sin, even though I am already forgiven from it). It's totally the Romans 7 ordeal: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." Anyways, like I said, there are certain circumstances in which this struggle becomes intense and during which I fail a lot more easily, and God chose for there to be one of these circumstances on this trip. I was kind of going, "NOW, God? Seriously? When I'm trying to concentrate on ministry" (Hehe, like my sin is His fault. If I wasn't sinful, the circumstance He provided wouldn't have helped me to stumble.) Finally, I got so flustered, fed up and sad because of my sin that I cried it out to God, asked Him to take away this sin once and for all, telling Him that I was ready to give it up and love Him perfectly in this area starting NOW and ending never. But the more I prayed, the more I realized that I had no idea how to just simply give it up. Ok, I'll go to the Bible. Where does it give me the formula for how to give this up? Needless to say, I couldn't find that formula. But I was SURE there was one. When I got back home I set up an appointment with my dad to talk about this struggle and ask him how to give up the sin. I went to the appointment with a pen and paper, seriously believing that I would leave my time with him with a battle plan.
So, I told my sympathetic and compassionate Dad all about the sin and my long struggle, and tearfully asked him how I could give it up. His answer put me in a bad mood for a few minutes but when it sunk it, it helped me to rejoice in God's salvation even more. He said I can't give up the sin. I'll ALWAYS deal with it. It's not our job to remove the sin from our hearts, leave God's jobs to God and His timing. Hate the sin, continually repent from it, but stop trying to play the Holy Spirit in removing it from your heart. I tried to tell my dad that battle plan wouldn't work because it's the one I've been using for YEARS and see the results? Nothing. Just failure. He said yes, you've failed numerous times and will fail numerous times again, but trust in the promise of Philippians 1:6 that He is continually working in you, and after that, live the life that God wants you to live here on this Earth. A life of humility and brokenness and ever-increasing love for our Savior who died for us even when He knew that after we come to a knowledge of His sacrifice, we will still sin against Him.
Encouraging news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

So those are my five ways. I'm sure there are more but this post is long enough as is. Email me if you want more!

Some history may help with your wait.

What you will find below is a little blurb I put on my blog back in February of '06. Because I've heard from several of you that you are getting cranky with me because of my disappearance from my blog, I've re-posted this most important info so that you can have a little insight as to WHY I may be away from the computer more often than not.

"Hayley has a blogspot" is pretty much an oxymoron.

I've had this blogspot for over two months, I think, and only have one post. In all actuality, I really despise working on the computer, especially if its not necessary and not for school. My eyes start to feel all puffy and sleepy, I usually get a headache from staring at the screen for so long, all the tiny intricate muscles in my hands cramp up from typing, and I don't know if I've EVER sat down in a comfortable computer chair. So why am I preparing this post? One reason: my dear sister demanded that I update my blog.

So here you go, sis, if this doesn't show my love for you I don't know what will. I've updated my blog, and now you know a little more about me: I don't like updating my blog.

Ok, ok, my attitude about blogging has improved greatly since then (I've begun to find it fun!), though my attitude about computers hasn't changed TOO too much. And writing still kind of stresses me out, especially if it's about important stuff like UKRAINE. So yes, I'm preparing a post about Ukraine, but going about it slowly because I want to get it RIGHT. Hopefully I'll have it up today. Hope hope. I'm even praying I'll have it up today.

Incommunicado

I will be away from my blog for at least the next two weeks, due to my mission trip to Ukraine for which I depart tomorrow morning!! Please pray for the hearts of the seven American team members that are going, that we would be Christ-centered and servant-hearted, and for the hearts of the Belarusians/Ukrainians we will be ministering to, that God would open their hearts to understand the things He wants to teach them.

And Soli Deo Gloria!!

Last Days With Georgie

It's so strange to think that this will be my last post with Georgie pictures for a LONG time. Wow, I miss her. I've been home now for a little less than a week, but because there's so much else going on I haven't really had time to realize that I miss her. I left her right as she was just starting to try to find her thumb to suck on. I spent a whole morning coaching her through the process, showing her how to purposefully bring her wrist to her mouth, unfold her fingers to release her own thumb from her grip and place her extended thumb in that sweet spot at the roof of her mouth. I would praise her when she found her thumb and giggle when she wept out of the frustration of the thumb slipping from her lips (of course I would cradle her as I giggled...and she'll never remember the giggling anyway...). Those were such sweet moments on my last morning with her. I love remembering the way her eyebrows would raise up and her head would wiggle back and forth when she felt her wrist near her mouth and therefore searched for her thumb. Sweet little thing.

Ok, disregarding the fact that I have the appearance of a hobo, this photo documents one of the sillinesses of Georgie!! Almost every time I held her on my shoulder, she would wriggle and thrust her way into this silly position. Seriously, the full weight of her head was hanging in the air, it was quite an arm workout to keep her steady and sleeping!!

I just loved walking into her nursery or her parents' bedroom - wherever her side-sleeper was during her nap - to this site. Besides the fact that she looked precious, she always reminded me of a lazy teenager sleeping in on a Saturday morning.

'dorable 'dorableness! What else can I say? Could you ever have imagined such a tiny little thing?

For Hunter

Just a collection of photos and some stories that I know would be enjoyed by Hunter.

This was how Smithka spent her 4th of July. She sacked in practically the whole day. She was really taking a well-deserved lazy day, relaxing from her duty of being the neighborhood sneak peak.


These are genuine reindeer. Christmas flooded over your senses the minute you turned the zoo's corner and saw Santa's most faithful helpers nibbling in Washington's early July heat. The original Christmas legendeers really knew what they were up to when they decided that REINDEER would be the animal that comes to mind when the word "Christmas" is uttered.

I wish I could have gotten a completely front-on shot of this silly owl's face. He made me giggle. His ginormous, invading eyes give the impression that he thinks he's much more intimidating and wise than he really is. He looked around and at people like, "Duh, you're taking pictures of me. I'm the most interesting and intriguing piece of creation here."

I just thought Smithers looked beautiful on this windowsill behind these curtains. I love the way her eyes match the linen. And her use of the perch technique here is exquisite. If I've ever seen an attempt at the Double Paw Curl that deserved a 10.0, this is it.


Smithers continued to impress me with the way she has perfected the art of cat comfort. Notice the well-placed tail.

After cautiously climbing onto the air mattress and snooping out the underneath side of my pillow, Smithers decided that the pillow would make an adequate kitty-cave, if only she could get underneath it. Well, no task seems to large for a determined Smithers so sure enough, in a matter of minutes she was cuddled completely under the pillow. She stayed there for a good twenty minutes.

I just thought these were awesome flowers at the zoo, reflecting a little of our Awesome God. They're such cool flowers, aren't they? This shot is from directly below the flowers, so they're pretty design faces the floor. Interesting, huh?

God's Perfect Timing

I'm sure most of you who read this blog have already seen Heather's post about her back pain and the ER ordeal. Poor girl! She hasn't felt "normal" or well for ten months now, and even before she was pregnant her migraines and headaches were an almost constant struggle. She puts on such a cheerful face and maintains such a sweet disposition, though. She's really strong. That's why it was such a shock to see her writhing on the ground last night with tears streaming down her face...I knew that she was feeling a level of pain that I have never come close to experiencing. For Heather, managing a busy, social events-filled life with a constant headache (many times migraine) while maintaining a sweet smile and a fun, encouraging personality is LIFE. Making sure people don't feel uncomfortable around her because of her pain has always, in her mind, been a loving MUST. And she does a stupendous job at it.

But enough about Heather. :)

Our God is so awesome!!!! In a gazillion more ways than one, too, but here's one of them:

He demonstrated His providential planning and timing yet again. Hear this: My original itinerary had me leaving Washington TODAY, the day after the all-nighter in the ER. Thankfully (providentially), at the beginning of my month here it was looking like Matt was going to have to be out of town this entire week, so Heather asked me to extend my stay here by at least a few days. I readily agreed to move my flight to the weekend. But think about it, can you imagine us trying to get me to the airport today in the state we were in after having not slept the night before? I'm so thankful that I get to stay a few extra days and help get things back in order and help Heather rest like she should. And I'm so thankful that her in-laws are here also...they've been such help! And they've got quite a knack for cooking. So that's where Matt gets it.

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow!"

An Event Worthy of Fireworks

A proposal was made on the 4th of July! (Said proposal was eagerly accepted on the same day.) Congratulations, you two!

Fiamially (fee-am-yu-lly)

The title comes from the way I used to pronounce the word "family" when I was a small girl. Haha, over the years my family has pretty much developed its own vocabulary as we picked up and held on to funny ways of saying things or little kids' mistaken pronunciations...anyways, my whole family plus Harrison's girlfriend were here in Washington this past weekend! It was a great time of passing Georgie around, laughing, fellowship and a little sight-seeing.

The first time all of us were together was on Saturday morning when we gathered for a kind of smorgasbord (Matt had to help me spell that one...though he claims I still didn't type a real word because I left out the two little dots over the second "o") breakfast. We laughed a ton as Harrison and Vichka presented their gifts to Georgie: 1) a coffee machine, because, of course, babies are always falling asleep all the time, so Georgie just needs a good strong cup of coffee and 2) a monsterish puppet. I think Heather has a pic of the monstrosity on her blog.

We eventually mosied over to the Steilacoom Deli & Pub for lunch. Yummy just like the first time.

On our way home we stopped at the lake for a walk. Here are some pics:

Couldn't resist the shot of the butts as they all bent over to look at something in the water:
Since when did trees become food?
When we got home from our outing, we all decided that our skin temperature relative to the temperature of the pool water made ideal conditions for a dip, and Harrison became a hippie on our walk to the pool:
Georgie had her first dip in a swimming pool, poor girl hated it even more than she hates baths. But doesn't she look cute?

After having to say good-bye to my mom and Hunter, the rest of us went to church the next morning! Georgie got dressed up for her first occasion of hearing Jesus talked about in big words, as Matt said.
After church we went to lunch at a really cool restaurant ("we" here means the church group minus my dad, we had to say good-bye to him mid-morning :( ). It was a pizza place, called The Rock, and the theme was rock-n-roll. Guys, I love restaurants like this, that pay as much attention to atmosphere as they do to food. It totally reminded me of Hard Rock Cafe, except maybe a little more Disneyland-ish (i.e., EVERYTHING was part of the decorations, even the drink station where the waitresses prepared our drinks looked like dumpsters, and the outside of the menus were famous rock-n-roll records). I think I was the only one who appreciated the atmosphere so enthusiastically, but I think we all agreed on the caliber of the food. Oh, so tasty.

Pics:

This one was meant to be a picture of the two girls' scrunchy hair (thanks to my mom who labored to braid our hair the night before!!), but Harrison couldn't pass up the opportunity to take another picture with his beautiful girlfriend:
Part of the decoration in the restaurant, a guitar chandelier:
I was WAY impressed with the bathrooms. The minute you walked in you felt like a rock queen. The stalls were jet black with hot pink flames, the toilets were black, the walls were a juicy red, man, I could totally be a rocker. (Ok, probably not.)
After lunch we spent the afternoon at Dashpoint State Park. This was the first time that I got to wade in Pugent Sound! The water was very warm, and strewn all over the sand and in the water were beautiful sand dollars, some of them still alive! I started getting all excited and shaking them next to my ear as I marveled aloud at the little shell angels that we would find inside a sand dollar if we broke one of them open. Finally several of us gathered in a little huddle as Matt held a sand dollar in the middle of us and broke it open with his hand. Nope, no angels, but Matt did succeed in splattering my arm and face with mudd. The rest of the group had never heard of angels being inside sand dollars, so they proceeded to laugh at my belief and attributed it to one of my crazy dreams. I then became slightly frantic because of how CLEAR the REALITY of angels in sand dollars had been in my mind, so I crawled all over the sand, shaking many sand dollars to find the sound of loose shell and becoming increasingly uncomfortable with my world as I shook and shook but heard nothing. At that moment the reality of angels in sand dollars seemed to be the crux of everything I believed, I had to find them!!!!! Oh, those minutes were painful as I slowly began to believe that I had, in fact, dreamt up the notion of shell-angels residing in sand dollars.

This is me with the mud, also looking slightly perplexed because of my angel dilemma:
I managed to still have fun and shoot a few pictures:
The moment of truth!!!! I finally examined a previously broken sand dollar, one that looked as if it had been carelessy stepped on, and I found what I had so long and frantically been searching for!!!! Sand dollar angels! (Or, some people like to think they are doves...doesn't matter, it was what I was looking for!)
Georgie just looked so cute with her dad:


Do you see the jellyfish?
I want to frame this:
As our group was walking along the shore, Harrison wondered out loud what it would be like to climb this hill and find a tiger at the top:
The purpose of our walk on the shore was to reach those houses in the background, which from far away looked just like miniature playhouses:


Mr. Crab (um, Mr. Dead Crab, that is):
Perhaps the coolest jellyfish I've ever seen:
Have you ever felt the top of a jellyfish? All I can say is, whoever named them jellyfishes has obviously felt the top of a jellyfish. So fun to feel! Just steer clear of the tenticles!

Wandering in Seattle

Today my dad, brother and I traveled the thirty plus minutes to downtown Seattle! We really didn't want to be away from Lakewood too long, because the main attraction of our time in Washington is, of course, Georgie Eloise Hitzeroth, but we tried to time it so that we would only be gone for four or five hours. We had two main goals in mind: seeing the Seattle Space Needle up close and in person, and experiencing the original Starbucks in Pike Place Market. I always get excited for any tourist adventure, especially when it happens in such a big and famous city, so here is me waiting in the car and excited for the hours to come:

About thirty minutes into our drive, the downtown Seattle skyline came into view! Its such a pretty city, don't you think?

Once we got off the freeway, we discovered that driving in downtown Seattle is probably just as difficult as that in downtown NY or LA. Oh well, there was plenty to look at! Mostly just shops and cafes and nice looking apartment buildings that I could imagine myself living in. Because of the traffic and slightly confusing streets, I think it took us another thirty minutes to actually get to the Needle. We had all previously determined that while we did want to see the Space Needle up close, we weren't all THAT thrilled about it so we wouldn't spend the money to ride the elevator or even pay for parking! Dad stayed in the car while Hunter and I hopped out for two minutes to take the shots we wanted and look around a bit. I think if I ever get to come back to Seattle again I would be interested in hanging out there a little longer, the attractions around the skyscraper look kind of intriguing and I wouldn't mind taking a ride up the elevator...or even eating a meal in the high-altitude restaurant if I were a millionaire (I'm assuming you need big money?).


Pike Place Market is only about a ten-minute crawl from the Space Needle. We quickly found some very reasonably priced parking and then happily set about on our adventure! I LOVED the view of Pugent Sound, quite lovely, so here is a picture as we were on our way to the market area. Once again, the pic doesn't exactly do the Sound justice.

Pike Place Market is a very enjoyable place to be. It seems to be made up of about a half-mile of shops, both permanent shops and kiosks, and TONS of food places. Every 20 seconds as we would walk down the street, another new wonderful aroma would drift to our noses, inviting us to waffle cones, cinnamon buns, clam chowder, fresh fruit, coffee, even flowers!! I loved seeing this flower spot, so beautiful. Couldn't resist taking a picture. Doesn't it remind you of the kind of place that Joe would have bought his flowers for Kathleen in You've Got Mail? Ugh, I'm such a girl.

One thing about Pike Place Market: it is a tourist trap and consequently VERY busy and crowded. It was lunch time when we arrived, and at first glance it looked like the only type of place to get food would be a place where we would pick up our order and have to stand or walk in the street to eat it, but I was very thankful to find a place called something like "Sound View Cafe" in order to have a satisfying sit-down meal. And the restaurant did have a wonderful view of Pugent Sound, we even got window seats! Almost immediately, Hunter stuck his head as far as he could out of the window and just looked and looked at everthing there was to see.

While I was waiting for my food, I imagined what it would be like to have a roof-top garden like this

or this.

One of the many pleasant views inside the restaurant:

My dad and I split an order of crab cakes that came with roasted vegetables, seasoned potatoes, and yummy yummy bread.

Hunter enjoyed his turkey and swiss cheese sandwich:

On our walk to Starbucks we discovered that there was more to see of Pike Place Market than just the main street, the post alley shops turned out to be very quaint and European-esque! I have to come back to this city with Holly...

Next pic is of the first Starbucks EVER!! I love how they haven't changed anything about it, they haven't made it more like its other retail stores or more modern or anything! Even the trademark symbol, when seen anywhere in this store, is slightly different than the current one. The mermaid is chubbier, among other things. :) Inside the store there is only room to stand in line and order your drink, look at merchandise you might want to buy, and then there is an official standing area with a counter at which you can sip your drink. No normal chairs or couches, though, and I liked that. I love that they've kept it the same way that its been for 36 years. Hardwood floors, counters, shelves, gold trimming, coffee beans displayed behind glass, it was beautiful and coffee-ish, somehow even more coffee-ish than modern Starbucks are. And the people working there were really friendly, when we walked in one of the cashiers was singing back every order that he heard coming from his customers, and later I saw him posing for a picture with some girls. I loved my experience in the original Starbucks. I got a Cinnamon Dolce Latte, by the way.

Inside the first Starbucks!

Not sure of the significance of the flags on this map, because I KNOW there are more cities with Starbucks than might be indicated by the flags on it, but I took this picture because, incidentally, this is the same world map that Heather selected for Georgie's nursery. Thought Heather would be pleased to know that Georgie's map was also considered worthy of Starbucks.


Drinks!!
Proof about it being the first Starbucks store:

On our way back to the car, I realized that not only could I not resist taking a picture of the flowers, but I shouldn't leave without buying a bouquet! I found a lovely bouquet of sweet peas, and they are now happily sitting in a vase on the kitchen table!

The three of us left Seattle feeling very satisfied with our time there, knowing that yes, we would like to visit it again for a much longer period of time, but for the time being we wanted to get back to the treasure of Lakewood: Georgie.