Your Cool is Upside Down...

Heather and James drove in a bit later than anticipated Friday, ending their week long trip up the west coast starting with a wedding near LA and ending with a promised visit to Seattle. I took off from work around noon to finished setting up their cat-free bedroom where everything had been washed, many times, and vacuumed. (James is very allergic). They eventually found Ballard and without wasting a minute, we headed back into the city for some delicious Vietnameses food at Tamrin Tree in the International District. I then threw into the belly of the city with the Underground Tour while I had a beer at Doc Martin's (of Cleveland fame). We watched the sun go down in a cloudy evening from the top of the Space Needle as the city lit up for a Friday evening.

A gaggle of my good (new) friends gathered at Madame K's Pizza Bistro in Ballard. It was supposed to be a fun mix of my film friends, pre-moving-to-Seattle friends and Derby girls, but it ended up being the derby girls - Danni, Derricka (non derby), Brandi and Lara, with conversations about music, the Midwest, relationships, and food while we drank a couple of beers waiting for our table of 8 (no, 7!) to be ready. Our hour-plus wait resulted in a drunken' Danni and food even more delicious. The plans to listen to music at the Sunset or Tractor were dashed by our tired bodies which called us home.

Saturday was puffy clouds poking around the blue sky, coffee and cupcakes at Cupcake Royale, shopping at the Seattle icon, Sonic Boom Records, and a stroll down to the Ballard fish ladder where Coho were supposed to be jumping the weirs (steps) in droves. Instead they were swimming like crazy next to the boats, and I had never seen anything like that before - a field of fish jumping around - timed - to some inaudible music. Off to Little Chinooks to eat some little fishies and then to Pike Place Market to watch fish be thrown, eat perogies (I passed, not my food) and back home to ready ourselves for the derby party.

Your cool is upside down, James commented to Lara. One of her little barrettes that she received as the winner of "Best Helmet Hair" (along with a giant plastic yellow comb) was reading cool in the wrong direction. The Potential Fresh Meat (PFM) Awards were based on everything except one's derby skills. I managed to snag, to my surprise, Biggest Show-Off. There were also awards for Drama Queen, Best Partier, Best Dressed, Best Bruises, Stinkiest Knee pads and many more. There was a hottub that was briefly visited and abandoned by myself because of large numbers of people in it. I was ready to head off to Capitol Hill with James and Heather, as promised that we would listen to live music if they came to the party, but they found themselves having a good time and we stay until after midnight. James comment as we headed back to the city was "You definitely didn't feel the Seattle Big Chill at that party Michelle."