friday find · let's go sailing

i peeked in a thrift store during a recent beach weekend with my family. 

local tip: WA beach = always a bit cold. bring lots of layers!

and i found this buried treasure.

nautical.

stripes.

oversized.

immediate lovefest!

the kick-off to summer (kinda...)

across the country, this 3-day weekend marks the kick-off to the summer season...ahem...summer BBQ season!

 

and sure, it's the kick-off to bbqs here in seattle too...as long as you don't mind bbq'ing in the rain...until about mid-july.

 

but this weekend they're predicting highs of 65. and i'll take it.

it's not quite our record mid-80s month of may highs from a few weeks ago but it's warm-ish.

score!

 

here are a few photos i snapped of my lil ol' town during our warm stretch. (from a ferry.)

 

 

we've got mountains over there... 

...and the city over there.

 

 

 

 

 "oooh, get THAT shot." he said.

 

hair! wind! cooperate!

 

 

oh seattle. she's a beaut, ain't she?

 

happy bbq'ing!

xox, jpotmont

seeking inspiration · before i die

a few months ago, i came across this beautiful blog:

http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/

 

photo: Candy Chang

 

read it. the whole thing. it's uber·inspiring

 

so this week, i was super excited to see a local edition right down the street from my apartment!

 

it's in the early stages - not much filled in yet. and what has been filled in so far is a tad-bit juvenile. (to be expected?)

 

but, nevertheless, we quickly went over to check it out.

and to add our own responses.

 

talk about pressure! it was much harder than i thought to determine one thing i want to do before i die.

(cut to me. orange chalk in hand. staring at wall for five full minutes.)

 

christina was much less troubled and added her response right away.

 

 

 

after 5 minutes, and not narrowing my lofty life goal to one thing, i instead pulled inspiration from another answer on the board.

 



welp. inspiration can come from the most unlikely places.

 

(ok, ok. i know i'll need to go back to add a better answer. i'm still thinking!)

 

be you

did you hear?

there's an active player in the nba who just told all of us that he's gay!

woot! wait...

first of all: jason collins. congratulations. what a beautiful time for you! no need to hide this part of your life. no more worrying about your secret slipping out. i can't imagine the relief you must feel. but i bet it's been a wonderful release.

i wish you all happiness upon happiness.

so this is breaking news, huh? for professional sports, i guess.

wait, scratch that.

this is big news for MEN's professional sports. 

brittney griner, who just finished her incredible college career and starts her first summer in the WNBA this year, just came out a few weeks ago. and we read the news and thought: yeah. so?

so what's the deal? why is it such a big deal in men's basketball and football for a man to be gay? i honestly don't get it.

i played basketball from 2nd grade through college. many of the friends i played with in middle school and high school, later came out in our college years. easily half of my college teammates were lesbians. and so what? 

i didn't feel any different about them because of who they were attracted to. (they didn't judge me for being attracted to guys...especially all those fresh prince lookalikes!)

this morning, i heard a guy on espn say something along the lines of the locker rooms not being ready for openly gay players.

really?

REALLY?

wow.

i wasn't so cocky to think that, because my teammates were attracted to women, they all were checking me out in the locker room. hey, i'm not attracted to every man i see, regardless if he has his shirt off or on. but apparently gay men and women are attracted to every single member of their gender? RIDICULOUS.

way to go, jason. way to be open and give yourself a chance to be comfortable in your own skin. but way to go anyone who can be honest with their friends and family about their life.

be you. be proud. be happy.

and for the rest of you that have odd assumptions about people because of their life choices? go be educated.

oh, and get over yourself. you're probably not as hot as you think you are. 

(unless you look like the fresh prince. then you definitely are.)