Turning 8 :: This little one turns 8 today. I had the privilege of spending his last day as a 7 year old with him. We had tickets to the UW vs OSU men’s basketball game(courtesy of my lovely workplace). The game was really close which made it pretty exciting. The 2 of us(neither of which are regular basketball watchers) clapped and screamed and willed the purple team to victory. Magic of all magic was when the cheerleaders flung t-shirts into the crowd and one fell straight into the hands of the birthday boy. Pretty special. We ended the day with a trip to Borracchini’s. I love that place. Birthday boy got to pick out his cake and we watched in wonder as they assembled, iced and decorated it before our eyes. Then, in a moment of weakness, I was suckered into buying a Transformers piñata. The delight it brought was well worth the twenty bucks. Perhaps even priceless 🙂 Happy Birthday Sweet Asalli.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree :: I know, Christmas seems like a million years ago. However, up until last weekend my Christmas tree was up and I was still thoroughly enjoying it. My very own tree was a wonderful little treat for me this Christmas season! I own a total of one Christmas ornament so to add some decor I made a paper chain for my tree, a friend gifted me an angel for the top, and my grandma gifted me a tree skirt she had made long ago. Such special things all in their own right. Oh little tree you were good to me.

The City of Seattle picks up Christmas trees curbside for free until the middle of January. So, my plan was to keep mine up until the very last minute for maximum enjoyment and then to take it out to the curb mid-January(which would have been this past week). SO, last Sunday, after a full day of snowshoeing – IN THE RAIN – I came home and decided to take down the tree and get it ready for the curb. Now, taking a down a tree that is bigger than you is not an easy task. Just picture me undoing the stand while simultaneously making sure the tree doesn’t fall on me. Living alone has its upsides, taking down Christmas trees is not one of them. Anyways, I get the thing down only to realize I’m one day too late as the last free pick up day has actually passed. I guess there are multiple definitions for “mid-January”. 

At this point the tree is laying in the middle of the room, pine needles are everywhere and I just want the thing out. So, I attempt to break it into pieces small enough to fit in the yard waste bin. That was wildly unsuccessful, but one of the perks of living alone is that no one sees you when you attempt things like breaking your dried up Christmas tree in half(keep in mind I do not own a saw). So, I decided to smash the tree into my car so that I could take it to disposal station the next day…OR sometime that week.

I did get myself together one day and dropped off the tree this past week, but I also spent a good part of the week driving around with a Christmas tree stuffed in my car – which is one thing if you have a giant car, but quite another thing in my little Civic. I think it’s going to smell like Christmas in my car for a very long time.