Another Big Gay Weekend!

The timing of the beginning of this blog is rather ironic - it seems to be a lot more Gay Pride related than I originally planned, but hey - not a bad message to put out there!

On Sunday I attended Pride Fest at Seattle Center with the lovely Laurel and her husband Matt. I had a chance to cross another thing off my list!

151. Go to Seattle Pride Parade (And dress up!)

Chris had opted out as he felt he needed a little break from "the gays." I felt I couldn't fault him as he had been such wonderful company during the counter-protest and wandering around Capitol Hill afterward. He got to watch me get into my pride get-up (which, lets face it, watching me get dressed is probably so much more entertaining for him than a parade - or is it watching me get undressed? Well anyway, the rest of his day was downhill from there. Heh heh.) Then he snapped a couple pictures for me in front of the house. I had these outrageous rainbow falsies I was planning to wear, but hadn't realized I didn't have any lash glue. Bummer!

A quick shot before leaving the house

My first plan was to head to Bellevue Square and into Sephora to see if they would help me attach my lashes and complete my makeup. Alas, they were not open until 11 on a Sunday. I did, however, enjoy frolicking around in the rather yuppy Bellevue Square in my rainbow knee socks and see-through petticoat! It might have been a bit much for the citizens of Bellevue.

Laurel came to my rescue, and brought some of her lash glue when she and Matt came to meet me by the orange tubey sculpture near the Space Needle. I'm sure Matt rather enjoyed his first impression of me - first meeting me in my pridey finery and then Laurel and I asked him to get right up close and personal and help me attach my lovely lashes, as he had far more experience with it having helped Laurel with hers in the past. I guess its probably not the weirdest way I've met someone for the first time.

Space Needle

The lovely Miss Laurel

After I quickly finished my makeup (lashes have to get glued first or it won't stick!) we wandered over to find a place to watch the parade.

A shot of the lovely lashes

Rainbow

The procession began with Dykes on Bykes - a great spectacle of some bad-ass ladies (often with some sexy barely clothed girls riding behind) circling in front of us on their hogs for about five minutes. If I were going to be in a parade, I would want to be riding something like those bikes.

 So pretty!

 Amazon's contribution

Fairy :) 

 Alaska Airlines float

Lots of nudity!

There were many floats and groups who walked together. Several organizations broadcasted their gay-friendly message to the onlookers, and there were clearly some clubs that came to strut their stuff. On the whole, the parade honestly seemed to be a bit corporate-dominated. I had mixed feelings about there being such a large corporate presence in the parade. While I am psyched to see the support coming from so many different companies, after a while it all just started to feel like a publicity stunt. I wanted to see more gays just being their awesomely gay selves!

 This is a sexy look

 Yep... they are naked.

 Teatro Zinzanni!

 Most definitely a queen

 Gothic - Gas mask?

 This guy's boots were insane - 

so big they didn't fit in my photo!

Bad-ass goth biker dude

After standing in the sun for a couple hours, I realized my skin was probably frying - - it was the first real sun I had seen all year. We decided to head back to Pride Fest and get some delicious and greasy fair food. I would have taken a picture of it, but our brick of curly fries didn't look nearly as cool as everyone elses - a brick is something special, but who wants to see a picture of just another pile of fries? We stopped at a t-shirt booth to check out the merchandise.

 I have a new favorite word. 

I wonder if you have to be gay to be a naughty bitch?

We wandered the booths for a while and people watched like crazy. Seeing the wide variety of individuals was like how I imagine my eyes would feel if they could taste and were encountering all of these new and exotic flavors for the first time. It brought a whole new meaning to the term "eye candy."

 Mr. Happy Penis

I needed to pose with these fellas

The International Fountain was one of the hottest spots around. We stood for a bit to watch all of the drunken, mostly nude people prancing in the water. I was tempted to dive in with everyone myself, but was feeling too lazy to remove my socks and shoes, then wade my way through the masses down to the fountain.

Fountain party!

We then decided we had probably had enough sun, and were ready to head home. I ran into my friend Jereme as I was winding my way through the crowd. He snuck up to me and surprised the hell out of me. I was so happy to see him and I finally got to meet his boyfriend who I had heard many nice things about.

I read today that the crowd at the festival topped 100,000 people! What an awesome and supportive city we live in. I am so proud to call Seattle my home.

Had so much fun with these two!!

Laurel, Matt and I finally made it back out of the crowds and onto the street, where we posed for one last shot together and went our separate ways. They had been such fantastic company for such a wild day. Matt has told me he'd be happy to take me to a shooting range, so I'll be able to strike that one off the list soon, too!

Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Homophobia's Got To Go!

I had been watching the buzz go around Facebook about a protest that had been organized by the infamous Westboro Baptist Church (headed by Alan Phelps) at the Seattle Pride Picnic. Local gay rights activists were planning a counter-protest the theme of which was, "Let's keep it classy." Sass and wit were highly encouraged. I loved the energy of the posts that I saw - everyone talking about fighting hate with love and rainbows. Lovely!

Chris and I decided that this was a great opportunity to cross something off my list:

 20. Participate in a Protest


We arrived at Volunteer Park to meet up with the counter-protest. They had arranged to gather twenty minutes before the arrival of Westboro. It was quite a sight! Lots of amusing signs:

 A part of the fabulous crowd for the counter-protest

Another view of the protest

Chris ran around taking pictures, while I joined in the groups enthusiastic chorus, "Hey hey! Ho ho! Homophobia's got to go!"

I wished I had brought my own sign!

PRIDE!

There were a ton of pretty fantastic individuals around. One of my favorites was a sexy Gaga-channeling lipstick lesbian that I absolutely had to pose with.

She makes me wish I had an excuse

to run around in my underwear in public, too.

This sign was just too good not to post.

I thought this group of loving Christians deserved notice. 

After about 45 minutes of anticipation, it became clear that Westboro just wasn't going to show. Our counter-protest had morphed into a demonstration of Gay Pride. How appropriate for Pride Week!

The crowd was told to disperse and enjoy the picnic, so Chris and I took a turn around the park, including the conservatory. I love it when I get a little window into Chris's passionate relationship with vegetation. He knows fascinating things about many of the plants, whereas I generally run around and comment on which plants look like various sexual organs. I think he and I strike a good balance there.

So crude....

After wandering around the picnic for a moment we checked out the lovely host, Miss Gaysha Starr, a drag queen with a headdress that was so big it looked like it could comfortably house a family of raccoons. Unfortunately we were a bit too far away from the stage to capture a shot of that madness.

We decided we were hungry and wanted to drive over to Pike Street for some NY style pizza. On our way over we got stuck behind SlutWalk - a protest against a comment made by a Toronto police officer. He claimed that women could avoid being raped by not dressing like "sluts."

The nerve!! It is such a tragedy that this kind of attitude often makes victims of sexual assault wonder if it had somehow been their fault. Rape is an act of violence that has absolutely nothing to do with how sexually appealing someone may or may not be. The fault lies entirely with the rapist, never the rape survivor.

But enough of that rant - Chris and I were on to happy and delicious things! While devouring our delectable pepperoni pizza at Big Mario's, Chris declared that we needed to take a pizza tour. This meant two more stops to compare pizza. The challenge was set!

A shot of the front of Big Mario's

Love the vibe inside Big Mario's!

We decided to stop into Cupcake Royale during the interlude, where we for some reason decided it was a good idea to buy six cupcakes since we had a coupon, as well as the new location of the Elliott Bay Bookstore while our tummys created some extra room for round two. We spent an hour or so hunting down some of the best children's books for Chris to send his nephew as a birthday present. Sometimes I think I will write books for children one day. I imagine I get the same look on my face when I'm sitting on the floor reading a children's story as Chris does when he's fondling flora.

Our second stop was Piecora's. Chris ordered a pizza with lots of meat on it and I ordered a slice with artichoke and pesto. Chris mocked me for my pizza choice.

Piecora's!

I am excited for my first taste of Piecora's pizza

Aww... its like Lady and the Tramp, but greasier...

We tried so hard to get a picture of this weird woman who was sitting behind Chris reading her bible. Chris jokingly asked our server if our pizza came with complimentary copies of the good book, causing me to nearly shoot beer out of my nostrils.

We both decided that Big Mario's definitely had Piecora's beat in the NY style pizza department.

During our second break between stuffing our faces, we wandered around in Capitol Hill for a while. We discovered a high end sex shop with lots of fancy toys and thrilling accessories. Chris and I were making a purchase, and the girl behind the counter was telling us all about the product and the warranty and the care and the battery life and the feedback she's heard about it and how it compares to other products and how many she's sold and all the different colors it comes in.... when suddenly, to my great dismay, nature came furiously knocking. Somewhere between the first pizza, the six cupcakes, and the second pizza something had gone very very wrong. I know... its shocking. It suddenly seemed as though the girl had been talking for eight hours and she was never going to stop. I stood there acutely aware that I had probably lost most of my color and was sweaty and panting - I can only guess what the girl must have been thinking of me at that moment - perhaps I was just super excited about our purchase? Nightmare! We finally got out of there and I told Chris we needed to find a place for me to pray to the porcelain god immediately.

Third and final pizza stop - Via Tribunali

Fast forward a bit and I decide to celebrate the fact that I am somehow still alive by eating more pizza at Via Tribunali. And adding a beer to the mix. I felt it was the best plan.

Feeling better now!

Chris is ready for more

I adore him :)

Chris wanted to interview our waitress, whose name was Jen. Small world - it turned out that she was on the same professional dance team as the woman who has been teaching Chris how to salsa dance! I love the ease with which Chris engages people in conversation and we get to learn things we would have never known otherwise. I pretty much couldn't move at the end of that meal. I had, just barely, survived our day of eating way too much pizza. I felt very accomplished.

Love it.

Overall, I'd say the day had brought a fantastic array of adventures, all due to crossing something off my list. This is going to be so much fun!

To Dare is Divine

In the face of some rather disheartening news came inspiration. Chris, my boyfriend, had told me shortly after we started seeing each other that he planned to embark on a solo journey called a "walkabout" that would last for some undetermined length of time. "It could be months," he admonished, painfully aware that the news could possibly cause me to walk away from the powerful connection we had already established.

My respect for him grew, as I knew that his motivation was that of self-discovery and spiritual connection. I admire his hunger for personal growth and advancement. Knowing that I couldn't stand in the way of such pure intention, I began to consider the various ways in which I could make use of the time that he was away. 

The way I looked at it, I was faced with two options - I could wallow in loneliness and pine for him until he returned (I'm doomed to do at least a little bit of this regardless), or I could find ways to entertain myself and more actively engage in the opportunities that life presents, bringing deeper meaning to my day-to-day. Inspired by Chris's yearning to go after his goals, I began to think about all of the activities that I have often thought of doing, but had never made the time for. I realized then that none of these adventures would come to me of their own volition - I had to seize the opportunity and live more purposefully. By waking up in the morning with the intention to do something out of the ordinary, I would immediately open up a succession of doors that otherwise would remain unseen.

Excited about the prospect of so many new experiences, I set to work on creating a list of everything that I could feasibly accomplish close to home. Once I had a substantial list going, I realized I would never be able to patiently wait for Chris's departure to start chipping away at it. I was ready to leap into action immediately! So, without further ado, the objective of this blog is to document my random adventures as I begin to check things off the list. Though I'm sure this list will grow as new opportunities reveal themselves, here's what we have to look forward to so far: 

Adventure List:

1. Sky Dive

2. Write Poetry

3. Take a dance class

4. Work a night in a soup kitchen

5. Star Gaze

6. Ride a Bicycle

7. Spend an afternoon gardening and try to like it

8. Hot Air Balloon Ride

9. Give to Charity anonymously

10. Try Hot Yoga

11. Rock Climbing

12. Bungee Jump (Outside of Vancouver)

13. Write in a journal

14. Take part in a Flash Mob

15. Go to the Opera

16. Learn a new language

17. Weekend Road Trip within WA State

18. Create Street Art

19. Buy a Lottery Ticket

20. Participate in a Protest

21. Sing in Public

22. Listen to a College Course on Tape

23. Take a photography class

24. Read 5 classics

25. Read 5 non-fiction books

26. Go Roller Blading

27. Build a blanket fort and sleep in it

28. Build a compost bin

29. Go to a Zumba Class

30. Say Yes to Everything for a Day

31. Find treasure at a flea market

32. Go Zorbing

33. Visit 3 new WA cities in one day

34. Take a circus trapeze class

35. Visit Grand Canyon

36. Go to the shooting range

37. Read a biography of someone I admire

38. Make thoughtful cards for friends and family

39. Get hair extensions

40. Visit a fortune teller

41. Host a game night with friends

42. Learn how to make paper cranes

43. Write on 10 creative writing prompts

44. Take a class on flower arranging

45. Ball Room Dance Class

46. Go fishing

47. Go to all new places in Seattle for a day

48. Visit a museum I’ve never been to

49. Make the switch to reusable grocery bags

50. Go on a retreat

51. Watch 10 new documentaries

52. Volunteer somewhere in Seattle

53. Make bread from scratch

54. Mail a secret to PostSecret

55. Learn a new piece on the piano

56. Try top-notch oysters

57. Host a poker night

58. Improve my Spanish

59. Fast for at least 24 hours

60. Bake and Decorate a cake

61. Take a massage class

62. Paraglide

63. Take a glassblowing class

64. Go Paintballing

65. Take a self-defense class

66. Clam Digging

67. Buy a pair of hiking boots – hike in them!

68. Volunteer at an animal shelter

69. Watch a movie that is more than 50 years old

70. Register as an organ donor

71. Go to a jazz/blues club

72. Learn to sew

73. Complete a +1000 piece puzzle

74. Hold a tarantula

75. Write a list of things that make me happy

76. Carve my name on a tree

77. Do not speak for an entire day

78. Take a brewery tour

79. Take a winery tour

80. Learn to make jewelry

81. Learn how to tie 10 good knots

82. Paint a room

83. Create the soundtrack of my life

84. Go to the zoo by myself for a day

85. Watch the sunrise and the sunset in the same day

86. Go one week without television

87. Try to get something published

88. Eat only raw food for a day

89. Ride a Segway

90. Read a Shakespearian comedy I haven’t read before

91. Host a killer theme party

92. Have a spa night with home-made products

93. Tip someone 100%

94. Make an apple pie

95. Make a list of 100 things I am grateful for

96. Go to Vancouver for the weekend

97. Go to BC for the weekend

98. Design my own t-shirt

99. Make dinner for myself and eat it by candlelight

100. Take a martial arts class

101. Learn “Hello,” “Goodbye,” “Please,” and “Thank you” in 10 different languages

102. Go to a roller derby

103. Write a love letter to my boyfriend

104. Make Sangria

105. Have a Random Acts of Kindness Day

106. Buy a totally spontaneous plane ticket

107. Go to a short story reading in Seattle

108. Take an ethnic cooking class

109. Go to a renaissance faire

110. Get professional boudoir photos taken

111. Visit and hike through local caves

112. Visit local hot springs

113. Send anonymous flowers to someone

114. Go Geocaching

115. Find out what my blood type is

116. Do a walk for a cause

117. Learn how to say “I love you” in 10 different languages

118. Have a picnic with friends

119. Go to a burlesque show

120. Create a scrapbook

121. Attend a local theater production

122. Sleep in a tent in the back yard

123. Make a list of 100 things I like about myself

124. Take a picture for each letter of the alphabet over the course of a day

125. Go skinny dipping

126. Go to a ballet performance

127. Ride a mechanical bull

128. Take a mud bath

129. Visit Mt St Helens

130. Go to the top of a lighthouse

131. Plant a tree in a location I will always be able to visit

132. Drive a Ferrari

133. Read a book in Spanish

134. Watch 10 foreign films

135. Go on a 10 mile hike

136. Run a mile

137. Attend the midnight premiere of a movie

138. Find a poem that means something to me and memorize it

139. Learn to identify 10 constellations

140. Stay the night at a bed and breakfast

141. Visit a place that’s haunted

142. Read Romeo and Juliet

143. Play Texas Hold ‘em at a casino

144. Learn to French braid

145. Repel down a sheer cliff

146. Pick 5 people who have changed my life and write each of them a letter

147. Ride one of those multi-person bikes in Ballard

148. Couchsurf in Washington

149. Couchsurf in Oregon

150. Couchsurf in Vancouver

151. Go to Seattle Pride Parade (And dress up!)