Todd is a Colorado-to-Seattle transplant who has been a mainstay in our crew for about eight years now. Oddly enough, Aaron (Week 4) and I met him when we were all living in Colorado, outside of a rap show at the Fox in Boulder. Todd started a label in Fort Collins called Voicebox and was working in the indie rap scene with promotion and production. When he moved to Seattle, he got involved with Obese and we ran into him yet again outside of a rap show.
Aside from the common interest of the music industry, Todd also really likes to party. A motto of my group of friends has always been "just have fun." Not verbatim, but in practice. We are pretty much a jovial hoard of idiots, and Todd could be lumped right in there with us. We just want to be partying and having a good time. Nothing wrong with that!
I hadn't seen Todd and Nicole for a little while, but they were living on the same grounds as Gomez (Week 6) when he would dog-sit Lola for us. So not only was I looking forward to seeing my old buddy, Lola was as well anticipating the visit from her boyfriend Diesel. The two pups get along classically and I think little Lo might just have a doggie crush on Diesel.
Erica requested champagne, so I got some sparkling rose to warm us up on the house tour. I wanted to go safe and easy for the meal, so I just did some baked salmon. It was in the oven waiting while we chatted away. I definitely realize, after preparing food for so many dinner parties, baking is THE WAY TO GO if you want food ready and hot at an unspecific time. On the side I had some rice pilaf steaming in a pot and tossed some french bread rolls in the oven right before we served the plates.
With Lola and Diesel running around and gnawing at each other, we sat at the table and enjoyed a basic and light meal. It was good, can't complain. We talked about what we've all been up to lately, both as couples and individuals. Griff (Week 28) came home and gave us all a preview of the music videos to come (one of his, one of mine and one from our friend Grynch).
With the Holidays upon us, Todd and Nicole were actually planning family visits and found themselves in need of a dog-sitter themselves. Since Diesel is a very well mannered, sweet dog, Erica and I couldn't help but volunteer Tune Castle up as a safe haven. Lola was apparently very excited about this, as she strutted up to Diesel, turned around and suggestively raised her backside up at Diesel. It was rather awkward to see our daughter just toss it out there like that. They grow up so fast!
In typical fashion, the group migrated to the coffee table for some games. We ended up busting out the Drinking Jenga tower and Todd toppled it and faced the tole of the beer bowl. A few nice conversations later and before we knew it, our company was gone.
Todd and Nicole are wonderful people and a cute couple. They socialize well and are clearly very caring to each other. We look forward to our time with Diesel and Erica and I cannot wait to reconnect with them.
It is been a long year and I've learned a lot. About cooking. About myself and my wife. I'm becoming more comfortable with my place in life and I think I am really starting to settle in. At the end of the year I will recap our thoughts on the dates and what's to come. What is to come immediately, however, is a sure-to-be-wild dinner with one of my favorite people, Rudy, and his rad lady friend Reagan. Down to 4...
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