A Brief Jaunt

I'd like to give a shout out to Chris and Janelle, who paused in Washington for about thirty seconds on the morning of June 26. The context? During a 4-hour Hawaii to Denver layover, I took Janelle and Chris (good friends from Taylor) on a mini Tour o' Seattle. These are the photojournalistic highlights of the world's briefest tourist stop to Washington the State:

Chris and Janelle and I start our morning together by visiting Pike Place Market at 7 am on a Tuesday. It's not exactly a hot spot that time of day, but if you can only have time to make one stop in Seattle, it's a great one.



Please imagine Janelle running through the Seattle streets in the wee hours of the morning crying out, "It's a port-a-potty! It's a port-a-potty!" While Chris and I are saying, "What is the big deal?" Janelle points us upwards...and we see a dangling port-a-potty several stories above our heads, glistening above the skyline in the morning Seattle sun...how picturesque!




On a normal afternoon at Pike Place Market, there are thousands of people milling around on the street...do you see them? No! Are we crazy to be there at 7am? Yes!










Chris and Janelle say, "Oh Heather! Thank you for making our dream of someday spending thirty seconds in Seattle a reality! Thank you for taking us to breakfast at the restaurant where Rob Reiner and Tom Hanks talk about tiramisu in Sleepless in Seattle!"



I say, "You're very welcome friends! This was merely a teaser to entice you to return very very soon!"





Before Chris and Janelle go back to the airport, we pay homage to the world's first Starbucks...it's pretty much like the regular Starbucks, only with boobs.




And I specially arranged for Mt. Rainier to bid them a fond adieu as we headed back to the airport! How nice of me!

Tiptoeing Through the Tulips: Mount Vernon in April

I'm going to go out on a limb and clue you into an assumption you're free to make: if your out-of-state boyfriend flies up to Washington to visit you three times in three months, it's getting serious.

Clay came up to visit again this weekend, using some well-earned days off to tiptoe through the tulips with me. I'm not joking when I use that cliche...actually, as you can see here, Clay in particular did more than tiptoe:



Our weekend together began with an extremely intense game of Cranium with ten or so of my favorite Washington friends, in which all of the following truths were discovered:
1. adding hot water to Cranium clay does not make it pliable, even if the clay is being fixed by a man named Clay.
2. doodling while blind is not necessarily easier even if you're half-blind already.
3. trying to act out "mermaid" while on dry land more closely resembles bungee jumping or epilepsy that it does "scaled woman of the sea." (see MerEsther, to your left.)

Regardless, as is always the case in Cranium, a good time was had by all, and no one is 100% sure what the official rules of the game are. Thanks to Jade, Jed, Rider, Esther, Lizzy, Bethany, Zach, C, Becca, and Heidi for a fantastic game night.

Another highlight of the weekend was discovering that the Skagit Valley Co-op is one of the most amazing places in the entire world. First of all, their fresh-made sandwiches and soups are to die for, second of all, the atmosphere is killer, and third of all, Clay and I were able to sit in the upstairs mezzanine near the "Mercantile Shop" and read without distraction for several hours. It's pretty much the most fantastic thing in the world to realize I can shop local, get food I love, purchase coffee and chai, and have a great place to read all in the same spot. And Clay thinks it's the best place in the world to be also, so it's definitely convenient to be able to share it.

A definite weekend highlight was visiting the nearby tulip fields. Every April, the Skagit Valley (where I live) bursts out into full-colored tulips. This field we're standing in front of represents one of about 30 or so fields of tulips and daffodils that erupt every April. People go crazy for these flowers, hopping on busses to visit them, spending exhorbatant amounts of money on local tulip art. And--it's like an official rite of passage if you live in/near the valley you must get your picture taken in a tulip field. So--I am an official resident of the Skagit Valley as a direct result of this photo. And--I officially dedicate this photo to Renee, who has taught me 90% of what I know about what it means to be Dutch and what it means to celebrate the birth of tulips each spring.

We also finally watched Blood Diamond, which I'd been wanting to see for ages. Fantastic performances from Leo and Djimon Hounsou. Movies like this and The Constant Gardener have been reminding me lately how I do dearly love Africa and am definitely not doing enough to advocate for better approaches by the West towards Africa.

Both of these films are good introductory education for westerners on how African civil wars are impacted by the diamond trade and how Western countries exploit Africa for profit. Here's an article from the UN about conflict diamonds, which I strongly recommend you read through and educate yourself on before you purchase your next diamond. I've also heard recommendations from various sources to check into Canadian diamonds, as they are definitely conflict-free.

So. I hope you glean something in there that's good information for a Monday afternoon. If not, at minimum, here's some new wallpaper for your computer. I invite you to become a part of Clay and I's community of prayer as we tiptoe into figuring out how to share life and move towards a future together, whatever that's going to look like:

Introducing...boyfriend...

So. The super Ms. Independent Heathermbaker now has a boyfriend...and apparently when it comes to the idea of boyfriend, I feel this incessent need to refer to myself in third person... (Don't deconstruct that too much. It's probably simply because the whole idea of it is so foreign to me...since the last time I used that term on a consistent basis I had the suffix 'teen' in my age.) So--I'd like to introduce you to the newest person in my life, who's apt to be make appearances on the blog from time-to-time...Clay...

Clay and I met back in October at the Austin YS Convention. You might remember this brief story...if not...you can read it here. We met as a result of a bulletin board ad Clay had posted in the Convention foyer looking for fellow concert goers to see an Alt-Country act at a local venue. I saw the ad late on a Friday night and called him because I wanted something fun to do and wanted to see live music in Austin. Fifteen minutes later we met on the Congress Bridge over the Colorado River in downtown Austin and spent 2 1/2 hours enjoying good music and great conversation. We clicked right away that first night...and Clay asked me to hang out again a few nights later.

Those two nights were so fantastic that we decided to keep in touch when he returned to his home in Tucson, AZ and I returned to my home here...we stayed connected through email and phone...and over the next two months the frequency of those emails and phone calls increased. In November, Clay asked me if he could come visit in January...so...he booked a ticket, and this weekend, he came.

We were definitely both excited and nervous about seeing each other again...I mean, seriously, what if those two evenings in Austin were a fluke? We didn't really think they were...but it was hard to be sure when we were having hard times remember what the other person looked like. So...on Wednesday I picked Clay up from the airport. At first it was a bit shocking to see him and think, "I remember you. I met you in Texas three months ago," trying to mesh the person in front of me with the person I knew so well over the phone lines.

It only took a few short hours to get used to the idea of being in the same room as each other...and by Thursday, it felt like sharing life together was completely normal. We tooled around my favorite Washington spots (Deception Pass and Pike Place Market). We spent time with lots of my friends (Heidi, Sarah, Miranda, Jenny, Zach, Cordell, Erin, Shaffer Wafer, Jade, Caedmon Rider, Lizzy, my Coworkers). We went grocery shopping (which is as close to visiting my home as we can get right now). We went out on a schmancy date. And it all felt so natural and good. By the time he left on Saturday, it was hard to say goodbye because it so felt like he belonged here.

But he did leave, which was really, really hard. Right now our lives are centered in two places that happen to be 1,700 miles apart. Although I'm not happy about that, but I'm at peace about it...it's the way things are right now. And even in being 1,700 miles apart, sharing life is so good. So...we're relying on God's grace and mercy...and continuing to pursue a relationship...refining the pieces of ourselves we can work on while we're apart...and waiting...it all feels very much like a beginning.

That's my story...and that's Clay--a good man...a youth minister in Tucson who grew up in Texas, spent his college years studying about ministry and theater, and loves pretty much everything I love (except for American Idol). He's sweet, funny, encouraging, and is beginning to challenge and refine me in unexpected ways. I'm very excited to introduce him to you.