Aw man, I did it again

I've noticed a behavior pattern. I consistently leave huge gaps in this blog, then swear I'll improve at posting, then move right ahead by continuing to suck at posting. And so here we are again with an update of semi-currant news:

- Christine came to Seattle for a week in February, just in time for my birthday. It was the first birthday I've been able to spend with her and it was very cool to have her in my sphere. Plus she made a great designated driver after I got "tricked" into drinking more than I planned, and took very good care of me the next day. Other than that, we had a rightous time together- wedding planning, bike riding, trail running, wine tasting, sleeping in, and an awesome afternoon in West Seattle punctuated by a picnic on the beach. Plus, Horizon Airlines bumped her off her return flight home, so we got one more unplanned night together. We went to Whole Foods, bought beer, went home to watch the Oscars and eat pizza, and laughed so hard our that arms wouldn't work for quite a while.

- Christine's Subaru has a new right side mirror, fog light, some suspension pieces, a bent roof rack, and a really custom paint job after she hit black ice on the highway while going to work and became a passenger in her own car as it went off the road and up on its side. Thank Buddha she wasn't injured beyond general muscle soreness, a result of a mild case of whiplash. She's been receiving physical therapy and theraputic massage, and was back running on the treadmill just over a week later.

Although this whole situation really sucked, there was a fun part: We turned her parents' garage in Calgary into a bodyshop, and spend an entire Saturday (and $64 at Canadian Tire for materials) sanding, masking, priming, painting, and clearcoating parts of the car. And we had a great time doing it together. Christine was in there with me the entire time sanding away and getting dirty, and is definitely better at presicion masking tape work than me. Once we unveiled our work the next day, it was still sort of ugly (our paint match wasn't right) although way better than bare, rusty metal. For working in an unheated garage with one quartz work lamp and a space heater on a ladder to make the primer dry quicker (it was -20 C and blowing snow outside that night), and for doing all the work in about 14 hours, we did really well.

- Wedding planning is a bit brutal right now- we're just not that into it- but we're trying and have regrouped and gotten ourselves back together and on track. We need to pick a caterer really soon, and are doing the best we can while being in different countries. After the catering part is out of the way, I am going to be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. Going through all these quotes is mind numbing; you can't directly compare any one to another, and they vary by as much as $7000 depending on the complexity and foofiness of the caterer. Mostly, we're just trying to ensure that we get good food for all our guests, and good service so our families don't have to pick up the slack. If we can accomplish that then we'll be in good shape.