The core of the inner circle

Spring has officially hit Seattle. When I arrived at the house, all was quiet so I made my way to the front deck. Grandpa and Ted were sitting outside, enjoying the weather! This is big news, people. We can start using the deck again!!!

It was a super small crowd this week, especially considering we had a pretty big one last week. We had happy hour on the deck - hooch limeade for me, white wine for Jessie - and then moved inside for dinner. Our little foursome was Grandpa, Ted, Jessie and me. We even ate in the kitchen nook, a first for family dinner. 

It was decided that this was the first dinner Charlie dog missed. She greeted Jessie by throwing up when she got home from work. Ted decided it was because Charlie was so excited for family dinner. Whatever the cause, Jessie made Charile some rice and left her and Mark - who is in the depths of thesis writing - home to rest and write, hopefully. Good luck Mark, the offer for editing still stands.

Dinner, of course, was delicious. We had super meaty split pea soup, grilled cheese sandwiches and a big, leafy salad. There was a lot of job talk this go-round, since I am in my first week and Seattle Children's. It's interesting the difference in mentality between generations about careers. Jessie and I are of the same thought that staying at a job for 20+ years is basically unrealistic. we both agree that to make any financial strides, staying put is not likely the best strategy. 

We also talked about being content with work vs settling. The latter part of the 20s is a really interesting time. There's been so much transition, but (hopefully) by now, we have a sense of what the future looks like. AHHH grown-up talk!!!!!!

We also talked a lot about transportation last night. There are some pretty serious commuter perks at my new gig and my commute now is a 25 minute walk!!! Sionara 3/4 bus! While you did provide great bar talk, I spent way too much time with you these last few years. We were talking about percentages of walk/bus/bike vs car commute and here's an interesting article about commuting in Seattle and Portland.

Here are a few interesting stats if you are too busy to click the link:

"in Seattle, about 21 percent of workers got to their jobs on transit from 2006 through 2010. But in Portland, the figure is just 12 percent...Portland has more bike commuters than Seattle—which comes as no surprise, given Portland’s robust biking infrastructure and flatter terrain. But Seattle has more walkers than Portland; on net, the two cities have nearly identical rates of muscle-powered commuting. Similarly, the two cities have very similar rates of carpooling. The only substantial commuting difference boils down to this: Seattle has more transit riders, and fewer drive-alone commuters, than Portland."

But seriously, you should just click the link, there are pretty graphs.

Family dinner wouldn't be complete without dessert and Jessie brought another great one. We still haven't had a duplicate after seven or eight months. Amazing! She made oatmeal cookie bars with lemon cream filling. Topped with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, it was tasty! We also sampled Ted's latest batches of kombucha and ginger liqueur. They were delectable. If you haven't tried kombucha before, it can be pretty bad, and I think Ted's latest recipe proves he has figured something out.

Johnnie joined The Core around 9pm, after a long training at work. Ted set her up with a beer and a bowl of soup and soon she was relaxing after a challenging day. It's nice to know that all it takes is a beverage, a little food and some family to make things better.