Seattle Patriot

Happy birthday, John. You’re still in your early 20s, but we won’t tell. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures – we had a great time celebrating another year of John’s life at Marrakesh, Uptown, Scott’s, Amber, and Del Mar. Can’t wait for next year!

A delightful group of guests?

Or a murder waiting to happen?

It was a dark and stormy night, when a group of apparent strangers gathered together for an undisclosed reason. It all seemed innocent enough…but all was not as it seemed. Several guests never lived to make the party. Those who did barely escaped with their lives. Survivors included Colonel Mustard, M. Brunette, Mrs. Peacock, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, and Miss Peach. Each guest appeared innocent enough, but appearances can be deceptive. Guests were secretly captured on film throughout the evening, and a mysterious stranger has provided me with them for the public to solve the crimes committed that night. It is my duty to share them.

Who killed Mr. Boddy? Who killed the other guests? Could the crimes be solved in time to halt the bloodshed? And just what was in those cupcakes Mrs. White served? Each guest proved innocent one moment, and most guilty the next. Who is the murderer – or who ARE the murderERS? We’ll never tell… Can you?

Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m done. HUGE HUGE HUGE “thank you!” to everyone who was incredibly supportive of my over the past 7 weeks (not to mention the past 3 years). It took about 3 full days for me to recover, but I guess that makes sense for a 3 day test, and by Monday of this week I was finally feeling myself again. Now that I’m back in action, I have 5 weeks before I start work, and I plan to use every second of them!

Thursday we had a great time catching up with Alex, who was in town with his lovely girlfriend, Elizabeth. We ate at a great place, to which we all agreed we would return soon…if it weren’t in Burien. Friday I finally got to spend some time with the family, and it was great to catch up on everything that’s been going on during my absence. Ben is deeply ensconsed in his new work at Aquent, and despite the fact that it sounds incredibly challenging, he is rising to the occassion as always. Emily went to present at a conference for college speakers, so she was gone for part of the weekend, but back on Sunday! I went to Jessica’s musical (she’s amazing!), and would recommend you all go, except it closed on Saturday.

Although I missed the whole softball season this summer (thanks a lot, WSBA), I got to see Dad play in the tournament on Sunday. Despite a heart-stopping collision, he must have batted about .750 and pitched 7 great innings. We’re all in agreement it was a far superior tournament than the Cunninghams/Cresseys had last summer, with a family trip to the emergency room.

Monday we had a great good-bye dinner for Alex at Piatti – the only thing missing was Alex… The weather has been beautiful, and I’m SO GLAD I can finally take advantage of it, so I’m getting outside every moment I can! Yesterday Ciara and I resumed working out together (and when we’re back on evenings, Jess can join us too since she’s finally done with rehearsals!) and I had almost forgotten how nice it is to workout OUTSIDE for a change, rather than sitting on a recumbant bike reading through notes. BLECH! Last night we made Happy Hour at McCormick & Shmick where we could each get a cider/beer and half pound hamburger for $5. FANTASTIC deal. I hear they have one across the street from my firm, so you know I’ll be enjoying that more soon. We headed out to Safeco to see the Mariners lose in a spectacular show of zero offense and near zero defense (was the final score 0-8?) – they’d already hit two home runs before Jess and I even made it to the seats! Still, a beautiful 75 degree evening and a great day for baseball. (And we poured out some Kettle Corn in your honor, Trace!)

There are still 5 full weeks to go, so stay tuned for more fun, and let me know if you have any bright ideas. In the works is berry picking, croquet, picnics, more karaoke, book club (Ciara!), Culinary Club coming up on the 12th, Volleyball (I go on Mondays if anyone wants to join me), and much much more! Looking forward to spending more time with everyone SOON!

As promised, here are the photos from the big day (aka my last day of freedom until July 26 at about 2 PM)! I’m still expecting some more photos (hint hint) from a few of you, so perhaps there will be more later!

Thank you to everyone who made my “big day” so special. Thank you also to everyone who helped me survive the roller coaster ride that was law school!