I'm about to get all sappy here

but it's OK, because it's likely about you.
I have the best friends in the world. I can exaggerate sometimes, but this time around - I'm serious. The people I've somehow gathered around me are the most amazing people.

Why are these folks so great?

Let me begin with my 23rd birthday (which, you all should know, occurred on the most epic date ever - 12/12/12). Since I have a few more years before I go into denial about my age, I wanted to celebrate, but this year, I was without my Ithaca crew and old school Newtown buddies and I was sad that I might be alone this year.

Red velvet happiness

As I said before though, I have the best friends on earth (that means you too my dear Seattleites), and they really made me feel so loved this year with such thoughtful presents, lovely handmade cards and most important of all, their presence at my birthday party at an awesome cafe, The Jewel Box, who kindly tolerated our rearranging of furniture, complete invasion of space and our wildly inappropriate game of "Cards against Humanity".

Although I love my new friends here in Seattle, I know that I could never replace my friends that have stuck by me since elementary school (as I get older, I'm beginning to realize how incredibly rare it is to still talk to your high school friends, but somehow, I'm still incredibly tight with my elementary school circle. Yep, that's right. The same people I hung out with when I was 7, I'm still talking to, Skyping with, and missing with everything I have). And, even though I've disappeared on them a couple times (college, travel, and now a spontaneous move to the other side of the country), I know they're the best because they forgive me and still love me.

Amy, one of my oldest and closest childhood friends (16 years and counting!), was the first from home to come visit me out here in Seattle, and I decided that this would be the perfect time to go through all the fun things that are quintessentially Seattle which made me fall in love with the city in the first place, and some new things that I haven't seen or done yet. So, we packed in as much as humanly possible in the (entirely too short week) that she spent here.

On her first day, we saw Les Miserables and sobbed through the whole thing together.
Since several people have asked for my opinion on the film, I'll share my mini review: beautiful performances from all but Russell Crowe. There. I said it. But, apparently so has everyone else.

New Year's eve rolled around quickly, and with no official plans (other than fireworks at the Space Needle), we walked downtown to see what kind of fun we could find for the evening. It was entirely too cold to stay outside for long, so we quickly found a great dinner spot, then sought out a cool bar to hang out in until we relocated to the Space Needle. Although I'm not embarrassed of my age (yet), I'm embarrassed to admit that we were falling asleep at the bar by 8:30. Amy had the jet-lag excuse. I, on the other hand, had absolutely no excuse. I have the rest of my life to be in bed by 8:30... New Year's eve on the town with your best friend is no time for that - sadly, my body begged to differ. After watching the ball drop on the east coast and making my traditional New Year's call to my "close enough to be my brother" Greg, we decided an immediate switch to coffee was necessary, so we went to the only open cafe we could find which happened to be right at the base of the Space Needle. Clearly we weren't the only ones who needed some warm and caffeinated goodness because the place was packed, but we grabbed a table and sat out the last couple hours to midnight.

It was absolutely worth the wait.
Over 10,000 people were gathered under the needle, and the buzz was electric.
Finally, the countdown began... 3, 2, 1!

And together, we rang in the new year.














One of the (many) great things I've always loved (and envied) about Amy is her spontaneity and on this trip, I was thrilled to be a part of an explosion of that spontaneity... holding her hand through this beautiful tattoo that runs down her side:

Amy and I also went to one of the final days of the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science center. It was a great but crowded exhibit, and its last time in the United States. After that, we went straight for the butterfly room...

Amy made a new friend

and the bug exhibit.

I made one too... the cockroach

While we were at the Seattle Center, a ride up the Space Needle was in order (miraculously, it wasn't raining, so we had some amazing views). Fun fact: the Needle was the lair of Dr. Evil in the 2nd Austin Powers film!

 

Amy's dad was kind enough to treat us to a nice dinner on the town (thank you so much Mr. Keyser!), so we picked an Italian place downtown, got dressed up and had some of the best Italian food I've ever tasted.

On Amy's last night, we decided to meet up with my Seattle friend, Ben, and go on the "Seattle Underworld Tour": the adult version of the Underground tour.

A little history:
In 1889, 25 blocks in the heart of Seattle was burnt down in the Great Seattle Fire (but really - what do you expect when your buildings are made of wood and the streets are paved with sawdust?). After the fire, it was decided that the city would be rebuilt using retention walls on either side of the original street thus creating a new (stone version - they weren't about to make the same mistake twice) city at least 8 feet above the original. This left hollow pathways where old sidewalks used to run.
About 80 years after the fire, the Yukon Gold Rush brought all kinds of con men, gamblers, and madams to the city on their way to Alaska. Many decided to stay, giving Seattle a bad name.

My favorite fun facts from the tour:
-The vibrator was one of the first appliances approved by the government for home use, but instead of pleasure, it was used as a medical device to treat "female hysteria" (my favorite symptom is: "a tendency to cause trouble")
-Since the "escorts" at the local brothels and crib houses were some of the richest people in the city, a young entrepreneur realized there was a market to deliver "supplies" to the ladies by bicycle (most important of which was Laudanum: a mixture of alcohol and opium), thus the birth of UPS
-Seattle built the largest brothel in the world in 1910-1911

I also discovered that I must have looked ridiculous walking around with my two tallest friends at once. Never again.

 The next morning, a teary farewell was in order, not unlike the teary farewell we had in August when I first parted for Seattle.