Warm

Warning: What you are about to read is a very random collection of thoughts.
Being warm would easily make the list of my favorite things.  I'm not sure the three syllable phrase “being warm” fits very well into Julie Andrew's classic song, but I do like it a whole lot more than whiskers or kittens.  For Christmas my parents bought me a heated mattress pad.  I had heard Shelly (my sister) rave about how cozy it is to get into a warm bed after she bought one (for her half) a few months earlier. While affirming her enthusiasm, I thought a pre-heat button on a bed wasn't the most necessary of items because the goal is not to cook the person (or people) sleeping on it, and unlike an oven they eventually warm up.  That was until I put my Christmas gift to use.  Life changing might be a bit strong of a description, but it's close.  You know that saying people recite when they take your seat? "I was keeping it warm for you".  The heated mattress pad is like that, only not at all annoying and comes with out a creepy person laying in your bed making it warm.  Seriously, all you do is turn the heater on and it creates the perfect toasty cocoon each night.  Bed time is wonderful.

Also going along with the theme of useful items I was given at Christmas, socks make the list.  Not just any socks though.  Wool socks.  I had no idea what I was missing.  Although all of my shoes may be stretched out by the end of winter, wool socks make them so much more functional.  It’s kind of strange to wear what I would consider snowboarding gear around everyday, but I’ve gotten over that and said hello to toasty toes.
The most recent warming technique I’ve learned comes in the form of a room heated to 108 degrees, walls of mirrors, calming music, and a one centimeter thick roll-able mat.  Hot yoga.  My roommate Mackinzie loves hot yoga.  A few weeks ago I tagged along for one of the classes, mainly because I had never tried it and have heard mixed opinions.  I wanted to make my own opinions based on experience, instead of hearsay.  While I’m still undecided about my thoughts toward hot yoga as a whole, there is no denying it’s a workout.  That class may be the most I have ever sweat in one day.  Seriously.  Despite feeling like you’re becoming dehydrated by the second and walking out with a soaking wet sweat towel, I really enjoyed the power stretching.  It’s not often I’m legitimately warm from head to toe outside of my bed these days, so walking in to a literal sauna is pretty nice.  I’ll admit I was a bit cynical before trying it.  But hot yoga is actually a fun challenge while feeling like a total body detox.  Plus you get to be warm doing it.  Sounds like a win to me.
P.S. The picture is actually a postcard from Google images.  And thankfully those are not my socks. Mine don't have holes.  But taking a picture of my heating mattress pad, socks or hot yoga seemed weird.  So I didn't and you get the above image instead.

Lessons

Since the snow storm currently passing through has literally consumed and crippled the entire Seattle area, I figured my first "real" snow day experiences probably warrant another postcard.  To fill you in, it's been snowing for pretty much two days straight.  Local news channels have dedicated their whole production to weather coverage - don't expect to hear about anything other than snow, driving conditions, falling trees and power outages when you watch.  It's actually kind of comical.  In Seattle it snows like it rains and by that I mean not in big, heavy droplets (or flakes) but a misty dusting.  So I'd say there is easily a foot and a half of  real snow on the ground, maybe a little more. But only a little. Still the city literally shut down.  Our LivingSocial offices are in the heart of the business district downtown and have been closed for two days now, possibly three depending on what happens tomorrow.  I'll admit, it's fun to be told to stay home (even though I did have to work).  And as a result of the weather imposed house arrest I've been confined to the past 48 hours, a few valuable life lessons have been learned.  So even if you're not wondering what they are, I'm going to share them now..

•  If you have errands to run and drive a Honda, do them before it starts snowing.  Or you'll have to wait an extra three days.
• If you live in an active area like Green Lake where people are outside all the time regardless of conditions, get a pair of cross country skis or snow shoes.  It will make fitting in much easier as you circle the lake instead of stumbling around in snowboarding boots.
• Sometimes the weather man actually knows what he's talking about.  Better to play it safe and get groceries just in case. 
• While you're at the groceries store, stock up on snack food.  Not junk snack food, but little munchies.  There's not much else to do when you're stuck inside.
•  Speaking of being inside, don't stay there all day.  When it gets dark around 4:30pm and you no longer have the option of going out, cabin fever will set in.  It's inevitable.  I learned the hard way.
• If you are going to venture out it's best to leave the snow and ice scrapper in the garage instead of inside the car covered in snow.  Rookie mistake.

I'm sure there are more, those are just the lessons that come to mind now.  Today I took my own advice and went for a stroll around Green Lake.  Here are a few of the white washed post cards from my afternoon...

Snow

As I sit at my kitchen table scribbling this quick entry, there are gloriously white, fluffy water particles gently descending from the sky and collecting in growing piles outside.  I've seen this magical sight before and experienced the hushed peacefulness of snow falling, but never from the comfort of my home.  Watching from cars on the way to the slopes, or on vacation, or at my families cabin in the mountains (which half way counts) all fall short of waking up to it.  This morning I briefly peeked out the window in the midst of groggily turning off my alarm clock and attempting to escape back into the entertaining dream, only to realize the pretty scene outside was better than the story happening in my head.  So I woke up, put on a sweatshirt, grabbed a camera, and ran out the front door to take a picture of all the white on the ground.  Yes, I was that girl. Totally my mothers daughter.  And completely giddy at the sight of snow outside my everyday home.  Then I ran upstairs and announced it to my roommates who were eating breakfast and fully aware of the weather conditions.  They teasingly mocked my CA roots and suggested I take a picture from the balcony too. So I did.  As a result, you get these pictures as postcards from today.  Tomorrow is a holiday so I don't have work, but I'm (secretly) hoping for a huge storm Monday night leaving Seattle no choice but to declare Tuesday a snow day.  Wouldn't that be fun!? I think so too :)

Definitely not taken on our balcony, but fun just the same

Christmas

Postcard from CA - while enjoying a sun hug

I've only lived out of California for four months, but that short time has given me a new appreciation for the sun. Not just sunshine, sun hugs. Actually feeling the warmth provided by the bright light in the sky. During my trip home for Christmas, I was blessed with non stop blue skies. It was lovely.  In fact, the whole week was lovely.  And not just because of the sun. 

This was the first year of having an additional member join our five-some for family festivities. Maybe it's because he’s been in the picture a while (so we're used to him) or maybe all first Christmases are just this smooth, but having my brother in law Matt around was really fun.  At least for me.  (I hope he felt the same :))  While it did change the family dynamic a little, it was a good change.  The male ratio is improving. 

Family traditions remained the same this year; Christmas Eve at my parents house, Christmas day dinner at my aunts, and Bajarin (my mom’s side) family ladies tea.  I love the togetherness that abounds during the holidays.  I also love spending time at our family cabin in the mountains which we were able to squeeze in to the few days all of us were home.  Sleeping in, eating delicious food, hiking, reading, watching movies and great conversation filled up just about every hour of the trip.  Oh, we also put together a family puzzle.  It was a 3D puzzle of the Capital building.  So patriotic, I know.  Not a usual Pund family activity and despite my small contribution to the building project, it was exciting to celebrate the finished product. 

I’m back in Seattle now and celebrating the conclusion of an action packed year.  It was the canvas on which God painted new friendships, exciting adventures, an additional family member, heart-ache, laughter, sweet endings and new beginnings.  I know I’ve said it before, but I am blessed beyond measure.  So before the brand new canvas of twenty-twelve even makes an appearance, I choose to surrender each eventful brush-stroke of the coming year to the Master artist.  In His hands it always turns into a more beautiful picture than I could have imagined.  

Church

I grew up going to a (relatively) small community church around the corner from my house.  And I mean literally around the corner - less than five minutes door to door.  Still somehow despite the church’s close proximity to our house, we would always drive.  I haven’t put much thought into the reason behind our not-so-“green” habit, but my guess is two fold.  One because my dad liked to go to the first service at 8:30 AM and (for me) every minute of sleep is valuable, and two, because that way when one of us inevitably forgot something at home, the trip to retrieve it was much quicker.  Regardless, I’m used to my church community being apart of my living community.  So when I moved away from San Jose (for college and after) and made the choice to continue being apart of a body of believers, finding one close to “home” was near the top of my wish list.  And being the provider that He is, the Lord has given me my wish at every stop.  Seattle is no exception.

Before relocating up north a few people recommended I visit Bethany Community Church.  So when my first Sunday in town rolled around and a Google maps search of “Christian community churches” said BCC was (the closest at) .4 miles away, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.  I’d like to admit that whether for old time sake or out of habit or because I was lazy (or maybe all of the above), I drove the .4 miles that first Sunday.  However, I’m happy to report it’s only happened once since then and that was due to torrential downpour :)  Anyway, one visit is all it took.  I signed up for community group Bible study that day and decided Bethany was going to be my Seattle church.  (Not a common occurrence for someone as indecisive as I am).  The senior pastor, Richard Dahlstrom is an incredibly intellectual, somewhat eccentric, faithful leader, who has experienced enough life to connect with generations older than myself while still being culturally relevant in relating to college students.  His messages are filled with meaty, applicable truth that provoke thought and create conversation. 

We just finished a series called Genesis & Science.  Initially I thought it was going to be a study on creation theories, which was a topic I really enjoyed in college.  However I quickly learned his approach was a more macro perspective, not looking at how the world came to be but why.  Asking questions like what is the function of creation?  Where do we as human beings fit into it?  How do material things play a roll in our purpose or function on earth?  I highly recommend checking out the week we studied how creation is Gloriously Functional.  Or you can start from week one.  We’ve since moved on to an advent series, but Pastor Richard’s unique approach to Genesis 1:1 was a fresh take on the oldest story in The Book and has provided substantive, thought provoking perspectives as well as opportunity for daily application that begins on the short walk home.

Three Months

Seeing as how there are only 30 days in November, December 1^st marked three months since I moved to Seattle.  I can’t help but celebrate the new friendships, sister time, enjoyable work, great church community, and continued adventure.  Abundantly blessed doesn’t quite cover how I feel.  Since the last quarter of the year has been one big highlight, attempting to pick just one is relatively futile.  However, something I haven’t talked much about is fall.  The season of fall is simply splendid in Seattle.  I've had the pleasure of seeing leaves change color all over the county during these months in the past, but there is something different about Washington leaves.  After some thought I’ve decided the vibrantly bright yellows, oranges, and reds must stand out more here because of the distinct contrast against an abundance of other greenery.  There have been numerous times when I literally stopped to admire and soak in views, moments, or scenes covered in the Lord’s fingerprints.  Even if it was something as simple as the swirling of colorful leaves on the neighborhood street as a car drives by.  Seriously, I can’t get enough.  What I can get enough of is the cold.  It’s really cold here.  A damp freezer like chill is the best way to describe it.  And even when the sun does decide to make an appearance for a brief couple hours, the warmth barely cuts through the layers I’ve bundled up in to keep from freezing.  Some of you from more frigid parts of the country might be laughing right about now.  That’s fine, laugh away.  But when you’re done laughing, feel free to send me recommendations of how to stay warm :)  Despite the cold, it has been fun to experience a real fall season.  It’s taught me two things: one, don’t complain about the random 80 degree fall days in California, and two, cameras fall short of capturing the dynamic artistry of heavenly postcards.

Washington Weekends

One of the great perks in moving to Washington is living closer to my sisters.  But “closer” is the key word in that sentence because even though we now live in the same state, we don’t exactly live close enough for random, spur of the moment weekday get togethers.  Which leaves weekends and we put the ones in October to good use!

October 8th: According to Wikipedia, Mt. Si "is a remnant of an oceanic plate volcano and the rocks are highly metamorphosed" (whatever that means).  More importantly, "the 4-mile long Mount Si trail climbs a total of 3,500 feet to the summit ridge.  The summit of Mount Si can then be reached by an exposed scramble (class 3) up the summit block which is know as the "Haystack"."  Conquering this hike was on Shelly and Matt's to-do list, so I added it to mine and we set out for the day.  Starting out we all thought, how hard can it be?  If we can stand on the top of Half Dome, Mt. Si is totally doable.  We didn't account for the fact that 3,500 feet in 4 miles means straight up hill the entire time.  Needless to say, we got our butt workout for that day :)  Besides spending time together, my favorite part was rock climbing up the Haystack.  It's super steep and somewhat terrifying if you put too much though into the pain that could be caused if you slip and fall, but totally worth the extra work once at the top.  And we were blessed with a gorgeous day which made for great views from the summit!

At what we thought was the summit
looking up at the top of the Haystack

Bottom of the Haystack

View from the top looking East

October 15th-16th: Bainbridge Island is across Puget Sound from the city of Seattle and home to Shelly's in-laws.  They hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner and graciously invited me to join them in kicking off the holiday season on "the island".  Their home is gorgeous, dinner was delicious, Bainbridge is adorable, and time together was wonderful.  Matt, Shelly and I capped off the weekend by going to the Sounders v.s SJ Earthquakes soccer game.  60,000 fans packed the stadium, most of whom knew every word to every cheer and literally stood the entire 90 plus minutes.  It was quite the experience.

Bainbridge Gardens - local favorite

It looks empty, but don't be fooled...
we were two hours early

Ferry ride back to Seattle from the island

October 22nd-23rd: Sometimes I wish the folks who decided where state lines would fall had broken up the west coast into a few more states.  On the east coast you can drive for five hours and see at least three states, if not more.  In Washington, if you drive for five hours (east) you're still in the same state and likely rolling into the city of Spokane; which in my case was great because that is where Lindsay goes to schol and my intended destination.  During the quick two day trip we ran a few errands, had a water front picnic in the main park downtown, waited in a 30 minute line to get locally acclaimed pumpkin donuts at Greenbluff, went for a hike at Bowl and Pitcher, successfully made an experimental new cookie creation, watched a movie, and spent two days of thoroughly enjoying quality time and conversation.  I'm thankful to live within driving distance of weekends like this.

One of the many pictures taken during my drive

Downtown Spokane park where we had lunch

Taking a break during our hike :)

Greenbluff pumpkin donuts!