I Found Happiness For $11, or Socks

I love my socks. Really, really love them. Check them out.

And

They are the coolest socks ever. I found my first pair of these socks in college and there has been no looking back since then. I have always had a hate/hate relationship with shoes and socks. I have large, wide feet and never found socks that fit right, unless they were men's socks. Yuck. And don't get me started on shoes...most of the time I can never find anything in my size that I like. I also prefer to go barefoot or as close to barefoot as I can get, and these socks get me close enough. Which is also why I wear Birkenstocks. Even in the rain.

Fun fact: My mom, a brother, a sister and I all have the same exact size feet. Birkenstock size 40.

So back to my socks. They are the best ever and they stay on my large feet quite nicely. Most of them even go up to my knees. Each sock is unique and no two socks are similar. So, sometimes I end up with a pair of socks that looks like this:

Now for the downside to these socks. They cost $11 per pair. It's ok if you feel a little queasy right now, I know I do when I go buy them. I just bought myself a whole load of new ones and I asked the salesperson not to tell me what the total was...I'm such a tightwad as it is, it really hurts to buy these socks. I do have regular socks and try to wear them, because my mom taught me when I was younger that You HAVE To Wear Socks With Your Shoes. But then I'm back to my original problem. I attempt to mend them to get a few more wears out of them, but it really doesn't work because these socks are stretchy and then I end up having a seam on the bottom of my foot. Yuck.

I relish these socks during the winter for their leg-warming abilities. And they are so purty.

When I Was a Boy....

I had another girls night out with my mom and we had a blast. We started off the night by heading down to Fremont for dinner at Costa's Opa. But before we could eat we had to find parking. In Fremont, on a Friday. So we drove around a little (open to interpretation of what a little means (and crossing the Fremont Bridge several times)) and drove past Troll Avenue which is under the Aurora Bridge. I told my mom we had to go up and see the Fremont Troll. She had never seen it before, so I was excited to show her. The troll was put under the bridge and yes, that is a Volkswagon Bug in it's grasp. It's cool. I would looove to live on Troll Avenue. Who wouldn't?

Walking back towards the restaurant we saw a sign celebrating the installation of the J.P. Patches statue, so we decided to find out where it was. For those who don't know, J.P. Patches had a local t.v. show for YEARS. Maybe 20? He was a clown and the Mayor of the City Dump. He had a lot of fun friends come visit him like Ketchikan the Animal Man, Boris S. Wort, The Swami of Pastrami, and Ggoorrsstt the Friendly Frpl. My personal favorite was Gertrude, his girlfriend who is the masculine lady in the statue with him. She has hands just like a Michelangelo statue. And all the other parts too. (Don't get the wrong idea, she was only played by a man.)



You can almost see her 5 o'clock shadow.



The statue was designed so that people could add their own pins to J.P.'s jacket. I thought that was such an awesome idea.

ICU2TV

My mom and J.P.

Cool side note - We got to see J.P. Patches at the Stanwood-Camano Fair a couple of years ago. He was just as funny as I remember. My girls loved him and still talk about him. The fun was that there were a lot of adults in the audience who didn't have children with them.

Costa's Opa is a fabulous Greek restaurant where they set cheese on fire right in front of our table and shouted OPA! Awesome. The food was amazing and I plan on returning in the near future. Avgolemono, mousaka, souvlaki, dolmades, spankopita....drool. The only thing I didn't eat was baklava - I was too full.

And for the last part of our fun night we got to go to a Dar Williams concert. She is another singer that I discovered in college. Ah, the good ol' days when you had unlimited access to friend's CD collections! She had Shawn Mullins open for her. He had the hit "Rockabye" ("Every thing is gonna be alright"....that guy). He was good, but Dar was awesome. She is quite the storyteller and the stories that led into her songs were so twisted and convoluted that I had a hard time keeping up/not peeing my pants cause I was laughing so hard. She's that funny/subtle. It was my first time seeing her in concert and I was not let down. Here are two of my favorite (of many) songs of hers:

When I Was a Boy


The Christians & The Pagans



OPA!

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Look what I found when I went out into my garden today! They are completely unmarked by the squirrels. I was harvesting all the nasty, nibbled on zucchini and found these three! I generally like them a little larger (Who doesn't?), but I wasn't about to tempt fate. This was a gift from above, so I took it. Nothing like a little zucchini to bring some sunshine into my soul today. And I already have plans for these little beauties. Chicken Pesto Pizza. Yum.