Happy Summer Solstice! In Seattle, the longest day of the year means daylight for as long as you could want it, with twilight peeking in the late four o'clock hour, kicking into bright white by 5am, and fading into dusk approaching ten at night. It also signals a far scarier phenomenon slash freak show: The Seattle Solstice Parade!
The fun begins with a dream come true (or nightmare, if you're me) parade of Fremont locals on bicycles, totally naked. Naked. They're mostly painted head to toe with body paint, some with a costumey effect that looks like complete outfits, some with pathetic swirls and smears only pretending to cover their most delicate parts. While the shock of it all was fun AND exciting, this section of the excitement was longer than it needed to be, the hundreds of bicyclists making unnecessary laps along the parade route, bouncing and jiggling with every turn and shout. The remainder of the parade is a caravan of Fremont crazies in their most homemade and celebratory costumes, dancing and cheering. There was no rhyme or reason to the 'floats' on display- most memorable to me were several sets of belly dancers, a group in red handing out free hugs and love and one group manning a paper mache volcano on wheels that periodically erupted a litter of stuffed kittens. (Pics at your own risk) I'm traumatized. And so glad I'm female. But how fun!
I have a job now! A great one in fact (don't be jealous). You can even email me at my dot o-r-g company email address. Please don't though, I have a lot of very important correspondence to deal with, or at least will once I go from the slow chug of training to actually being functional in my job responsibilities. Plus, I have this irrational fear that the IT department (guy) is somehow tracking all the times I (never) get off task. It's a paranoia surely left over from some necessarily strict computer lab rules in High School, but all for the best, I suppose, as I've got my to-do list for the evening, and snippets of this very blog scribbled on neon green post-its for a post-work update.
Rewind!
I dragged (drug?) my feet through the whole job search thing for a good month or more after I got back. I've got plenty to keep my busy even while unemployed around this (disaster of a) house. Ultimately, I finished phase one of garage clean-out (one garage sale and about twelve trips to Goodwill) and my Craigslist return from furniture and knick knack sales was dwindling so the hunt was on.
Round one of applications (minus the Gates Foundation, World Vision and Unitus who are unfortunately smart for not hiring me) yielded two interviews and basically two job offers, one where I'd get down and dirty in the business world, the other in nonprofit. If you know me and my philosophies on development, you know that both are pretty appealing. In the end, a higher salary and shorter commute lost out to my current title: Food Resource Developer.
Basically, I get food manufacturers (you know, farmers, fishermen, factories and the like) to donate their food products directly to us, and we distribute them out to 17 counties. Who knew such a job existed. Making sure the hungry people in the 300+ Food Banks in Western Washington don't have to live on just peanut butter and Ramen noodles. Produce, meat and pretty high quality stuff... most of the time at least.
More later on the work I'm doing but here, I'm sure the first of many stabs at helping people be aware of what hunger in America looks like today: (cheesy elevator music and a bit boring in the middle, but good fast facts and a powerful message)
It's official, the Knudson dynasty is ready to rule.
Exactly one year ago, the only Knudson family member living in the state of Washington was my oldest brother Brent. My parents were in Utah for the summer and the rest of us were out and about, living some version of our own lives. Since then, Brent got married and brought Mia into the fold, my parents are back in the house, Jake started a business up here so he and Kelsie and their munchkins are here, I graduated and moved back after traveling, Scott high-tailed it out of Florida after finishing his mission and finally, as of about a week ago, the set is complete. Brian and Heather, holed up in Princeton, NJ with their little ones and threatening to stay there forever, finally gave in and moved back west.
Yesterday was moving day for the Kwnudsons to their newhouse in Lynnwood/Mukilteo/Everett border area -an adorable house with almost the exact same layout as my childhood best friend's house. I didn't realize until yesterday how good I am at helping people move. It's so much easier when it isn't your own stuff. I've got the hangnails from all the carboard boxes to prove it!
I'm excited for these siblings to be here because Brian, of anyone in the family, thinks most like I do. The last time we were really in the same place was my Freshman year at BYU when I would treat him to weekly Dining Plus meals and he'd treat me in return by winning at our usually weekly tennis games. And, even though Heather has been in the family since I was in high school, I don't know her as well as I'd like. Plus, their kids are stinkin' cute.
I had the best day. Three potential job interviews, each of which with pretty different qualifications and responsibilities, all of which I kicked serious butt. I'm a pretty together lady, if you didn't know. I interview like a rockstar. Two pretty sure job offers, one for sure volunteer thing with a great organization I can learn a lot from. The wrapping up of some other personal junk- the kind that puts a smile on your face and the anthem 'I'm free' on my lips. Afternoon golf with my dad, and by that I mean driving the cart around most of the front nine, hitting about 5 good hits with a 7 iron and sucking it up with anything close to pitching or putting, but my dad is so cute! An evening walk and a little giggle time with the nieces. A killer set by New Directions on the season finale of Glee. A blue sky day with a rainy, breezy night. Couldn't ask for more!
"half of my heart's got a right mind to tell you that half of my heart won't do" "made a plan stay the man who can only love himself"
To this:
"don't say a word, just come over and lie here with me..." "love is really nothing but a dream that keeps waking me" "silently screaming, I have to have you now"
And finally:
"nothing to do, nowhere to be, a simple little kind of free" "and this is not to say there never comes a day i'll take my chances and start again"
The remainder of the parade is a caravan of Fremont crazies in their most homemade and celebratory costumes, dancing and cheering. There was no rhyme or reason to the 'floats' on display- most memorable to me were several sets of belly dancers, a group in red handing out free hugs and love and one group manning a paper mache volcano on wheels that periodically erupted a litter of stuffed kittens. (Pics at your own risk)
I'm traumatized. And so glad I'm female. But how fun!
