A charming thing about Portland is there are little rings on the curb so that a long, long-ass time ago, people could tie their horses to the sidewalk and they wouldn't run away. Isn't that cool? First of all, imagine the pace of life back when you would get around town by horse. Life must have been so chill. I wish life could still be like that. And second of all, isn't it cool that they haven't torn these out for fear of a child tripping over them or something like that? They are still there, reminding us all the good 'ol days. Over the weekend, on the up-and-coming North MIssissippi Avenue, we spotted a funny little golden horse tied to a ring. I mean, how cute!

Today is the one year anniversary of the day that my new friend, Missy Baron, passed away to the other side of life. I had only just gotten to know her, as we had just spent New Years together seeing music. The last time I saw her was when she stayed in our hotel room on New Years eve. Ziegy and I left early in the morning for the airport. She hugged us goodbye and climbed into the bed that we had left warm for her.

Missy was amazing. Always smiling, glowing, and inspiring people to be all that they can be. I don't think I've ever felt so wamly influenced by another person the way I was with Missy. I was so happy about this new friendship.

As sad as it is, I'm allowing myself to feel comforted today. I've always felt Missy's death to be a little, well *magical,* if you will. I'm not normally a very spiritual person, but I often feel a deep meaning behind Missy's death because of her connection to death in her own life. My best conversation with her was listening to how excited she was for her future in working in hospice care. After just having lost her best friend to cancer, she was planning to move to Georgia where she would pursue this dream while caring for the children that her friend had left behind. I watched her dramtically say goodbye to her good friends on the west coast. Just a couple of weeks later, while en route to Georgia, she died in a car accident.

Missy is now with her friend Lilly casting beautiful light over on the other side. And like my friend Jen Ammenti beautifully stated, her death feels understandable.

I love you Missy.

Tonight, to honor Missy, we will be with other friends who also knew her. We will gather to listen to the live webcast of tonight's Hot Buttered Rum show, which is dedicated to her. We will remember her by lighting candles, singing, dancing, laughing, and having fun.... just like she would want.

Aloha my friends. It's been over a week since being back from Hawaii but I still can't stop saying that cause it just makes me happy. In the past couple weeks we meltded down with Hot Buttered Rum in Hawaii, followed by a show in Seattle in Portland, so, a total of 6 shows. Totally over the top!

My Hawaii Highlights:

--Sharing a house with Ziegy, Pam, Lindsey, Jeff, Scotty, Pat, and Zac and Josh. Pam you are a superstar for putting all of that together. Thanks!
--The Busted in Hawaii hour. How cool is it that we turned the broken boat thing into a fun, butter sing-a-long party. Totally fun!
--The had me sit in on fiddle! I was surprised but pleasantly stoked. I heard a rumour that Josh the soundguy said the mic feedback was due to the overstoked crowed volume. and I don't mind blaming it on them. I love Aaron Redner! I will play next to him any day. There is a youtube video of this. If you type in Hot Buttered Rum, it's ther very top clip:
www.youtube.com/results
--Riding around in our convertible. Sweet!
--The lovely Jake Shimakaburo on Ukelele.
--Drinking out of a coconut.
--Playing in the waves. I felt like I was 5 years old again. (I got an ear infection from water in my ear, but alas, I'm nearly recovered now.)
--The crowd at all of the shows. Plenty of dance space! Such a great mix of die-hard fans from the mainland (how many of us were there, like 50?) combined with new fans on the island, meeting new people at shows like Beth, Allison, Jen Redner, Zac's parents, the Kauai girls
--The rented clarinet. Hilarious!
--Seeing Amanda, my island friend on the first night. Good luck in the Honolulu Marathon!
--Speding quality time with all of my fabulous Hot Buttered Rum family who are full of love, live, positive energy and I wish I could take them home with me.
--Imbibing at the Star of Hawaii. Floating around from pool to hot tub to ocean totally nakid. Too fun!
--The music and the dancing. I am a sucker for dancy, sing-a-long tunes like Busted in Utah or Sweet Honey Fountain, but the band also continues to amaze me with their tight musical language that is full of interesting twists and turns. Totally outrageous! How are they so awesome?

When is the next Hawaiin Meltdown?

But wait, there's much more.... After taking the red-eye flight and then sleeping for like 2 days, we cruised down to Portland for the Doug Fir show where we raged it with all of our lovely Portland brothers and sisters who who don't see as much now that I live in Seattle. The band sounded really good at the Fir. Good thing that Ziegy and I stayed at the attached Jupiter Hotel because this girl had a little too much fun that night. The next day--ouch.

Oh, but I recovered. You see, this night we were set to go big for the Seattle show and I did not let anything stop me. Not only was this our 6th and final show of our Hawaii Hurrah, but it was also Mr. Andrew Ziegwied's BIRTHDAY. He looked so great in his new dobro t-shirt that I made for him. And not only the birthday, but I also performed with the opening band, Deadwood Revival before the Butter set. Playing music with one ear is awfully hard, but who really cares, I decided. I went BIG. The highlight for me that night was the fact that Deadwood and Butter met for the first time that night and completely hit it off. We were fortunate enough to have special guests Bryan and Erik (on dobro!) sit in with us and it was just completely awesome.

Next up, Deadwood Revival and Hot Buttered Rum at Wintergrass!!

Aloha and Mahalo my lovely friends.

Tomorrow we're going to Hawaii! I can't wait to bask in the sun. Our time will be spent at Hot Buttered Rum shows at night and hanging out with our Buttery brothers and sisters all weekend long. It will be a mini-vacation of music and play. I think I'll get to hangout with Pretty a little too. This is my first time to Hawaii and my first time in a looong time going on a warm beach vacation. So I am super excited. I've always wanted to be on an island, even better, a tiny particle of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I am such a sucker for all things paradise like palm trees, blue waters, and white sand. Bring on the sunshine! Aloha!

One thing I love about Seattle is that it seems little elves have knitted little teases of texture all around town. I don't know why, but I often see a street pole or bike lock post with a swatch of yarn knitted around it. It's as though an organized group of people decided that random street signs deserve a colorful glove or a little sweater for the cold days ahead. Every time I find one I get happy. You can't go wrong with a little public decoration and who doesn't like a little knitting? The picture you see here is the mother of all Seattle knitted graffiti. This huge quilt-like huggie is around a huge concrete beam underneath the monorail that goes from Seattle Center to downtown. It is the most wonderful thing to walk or bike by. It's like this huge organic piece of love that shines and sparkles even on the rainiest days. How amazing...Several people knitted this massive colorburst by hand (chunky style-which is my favorite) and diligently secured it around and around the post. It was given city approval because it was for a good cause. It sits through rain and shine and never moves. I do not know the story behind the Seattle knitted graffiti, but somehow I don't need to know. It's fun to imagine and I'm just happy it's there.