Working for the Weekends

Due to the past few weeks being sunny and yes, even almost hot on some days, I have not been in much of a blogging mood.  I am a terrible blogger.  I really lose steam after a month or two.  I know this.

Anyways, life has been good and busy.  I have been hanging out with intern friends, exploring Seattle a bit more, spending time playing with the Jackie and Lauren chatting with Aunt Sheila, and watching a lot of Mad Men on Netflix (an episode every night for the last two weeks).

Weekdays are usually pretty routine with work, workouts, and occasional happy hours, but the last few weekends have been really eventful!

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The second weekend of August was Sea Fair in Seattle, which is an event composed of an air show and Hydroplane boat races.  One of my intern friends at the office, Natalie, very generously invited me over to her house on Lake Washington to watch the show and experience Sea Fair.  I had so much fun!
I met Natalie's close friends from highschool and college as well as old family friends.
It was so good to be surrounded by so many great people.  Plus, we were in an amazing spot for the Blue Angels show!

After the air show, we went down to the hydroplane races.  Natalie's family had Pit passes, so we were down in the pits where the boats were being worked on.  It was a very cool experience.

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The next weekend was fun for 3 reasons.
1)  I went out in a town called Fremont with a friend from work, Jay, and his girlfriend and roommate on Friday night.  It was the first time I had been out at night in a long time, and it was just really fun to be out in a bar with friends and about a hundred other people around my age!
2)  The next morning, Saturday, aunt Sheila and I decided to hike up Little Si...  a small, but challenging mountain.  It was a cool and cloudy day, but it turned out to be perfect weather for the hike.  We stayed fairly cool, and the clouds didn't disrupt the view from the summit!  :)

3) On Sunday of this particular weekend, Yihan, an intern from China, invited a few of us over for a traditional Hot Pot meal.  Hot Pot is similar to fondue, because vegetables, seafood, meat, and/or tofu is cooked in a pot of VERY spicy broth at the table.  Although it was truly painfully spicy, the Hot Pot food was delicious!  My favorite part was the lotus root, and I was so happy Yihan introduced me to it.

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One weekend later was truly one of a kind...  the weekend of Seattle's annual Hemp Fest, a strange, strange place.  I visited Hemp Fest with my fantastic friend Sam, who made the experience all the more memorable.  Hemp Fest is a 3-day festival filled with hippies, rastafarians, and a lot of marajuana paraphanailia.  It was truly spectacular people-watching.

After walking through the madness of Hemp Fest, Sam and I walked to Pike Place Market and bought some over-priced and very delicious fruit which we ate at the park.

This was also the night of Jackie's birthday sleepover party!  The party was so fun.  The girls had hamburgers on the grill, ice cream sundaes, a swim in the jacuzzi, and in the morning- a pancake breakfast!  Oh, to be 10 again...

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This past weekend was really one of those relaxing weekends that you need every once in a while.  The highlights of the weekend were sunbathing in West Seattle with Aunt Sheila and going to dinner with Sheila and some of her good friends, Randy and Jill.

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This weekend is Labor Day weekend, and I'll tell you what I've been up to very soon!  So far, it has been an awesome weekend, and I am excited for what's to come!  :)  Spoiler Alert :  It's paddle boarding, canoeing, a neighborhood barbeque, and a Monday without work!