Cleaning Out My Closet

One of my favorite weekly segments on the podcast Too Beautiful to Live is called "Jen Cleans Out Her Closet," in which the producer discusses all the emails/news items/pop culture phenomena that she didn't have time to bring up earlier in the week. I am modeling today's post after that segment, considering I have a backlog of posts and there's really nothing I do better than make snarky lists.

1. Last week, my friend Meaghin (whom I met during my study abroad program in Australia), was visiting Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula with her parents. I spent a day with her wandering around the city. 

The highlights: 
-The requisite out-of-town-guest visit to Gas Works Park, during which I inexplicably yawned 9,000 times.
-Meaghin informing me that my dad's Toyota Matrix was "huge" and that we'd never find a place to park it if we were in her hometown of LA.
-Lunch at a restaurant I can only refer to as "the place that used to be Bambuza," where I thought I saw Sounders midfielder Brad Evans ride by on his bike. (As you'll no doubt see, by clicking on his name, it was a gigantic disappointment that it wasn't actually him.) 
-A trip to the central branch of the Seattle Public Library and a healthy stint in the map room looking at the enormous 3D globe and table maps.

2. My friend Scott was home for the weekend from grad school in Bellingham, and we took advantage of our time together by doing what we do best: eating Thai food and watching The Nanny. 

Other highlights:
-Trying out the first two episodes of Living with Fran (jury's still out on that one).  
-The Beautician and the Beast, which we watched in 15-minute installments on YouTube. -Sounders game. Scott has previously maintained that he finds soccer "ass-numbingly dull," so his decision to grace us with his presence called for popcorn and a round of celebratory game-time margaritas. 
-Scott's announcement at the end of the game that his ass was, in fact, not numb, and that he would gladly watch another match.

3. Having graduated from her Masters program at Stanford, my dear friend Jessica is home for a month and a half to spend some time with her family before heading back to California to start her teaching job. I, of course, am beyond happy for her but beyond unhappy for me because her moving back down the coast means her not being here to entertain me on an hourly basis with her witty quips and profound analysis of LOST. 

Weekend highlights:  
-A trip to our special place - the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble - for coffee and a spirited discussion of must-see television.
-A harrowing morning during which Jess, who was home alone, realized that she had no power in her house and became convinced that a band of feral meth addicts roaming her neighborhood had cut her electrical cords. Electricity was restored by the time I dropped her off after coffee, so if it truly was the meth addicts, at least they were kind enough to give her back her internet.
-Coffee and pastries at The Essential Baking Company, an adorable organic bakery in Fremont. 
-In the car on the way to Fremont, Jess informed me that the bakery was rather "hipster." While I lamented the fact that I did not wear my Orcas Island shirt--a tee with a topographical map on the front, which is the only semi-hipster item of clothing in my bland wardrobe--Jess could at least say that she was sporting Toms.  
-Our lengthy discussion about literature. This was perfection. I love very few things more than I love talking about books with my closest friends. 

I now declare my closet officially clean, albeit utterly un-hip.