Christmas Catch-Up 2008

I am bad. I have not blogged in obviously some time. I apologize as it is never my intent to be unsocial or unsharing. After getting married and sending out thank you cards and all that everything else seems so comforting and normal. Both Chris and I have been working quite a bit and are enjoying our jobs. No massive new purchases, no exciting vacations have occurred. We even planned to take a weekend trip to Yakima in mid-October, but ended up not going as Chris's family was not feeling well.

October was a blur now that I think about it. At least 3 of my friends had birthdays. I'm sure there are more, but my memory escapes me. Perhaps it was the 2 hour nap I just woke up from that is preventing my brain to function at top speed. November was fun of course with Thanksgiving and the Lemon Square party in my kitchen. Notably my good friend Kate decided that it was her time to leave Avanade and we had a lovely and intimate farewell lunch for her at the Avanade office. December kind of snuck up with me and within the past week I have been thankful that I completed all of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. This past week has been nasty in terms of weather. Not since December 18, 1990 (yes, 1990...) has there been such a snow storm in Seattle. USPS, UPS, and FedEx have not been making it to people's houses - that is a lot of Christmas gifts not being delivered. Other services are also impossible it seems right now such as garbage, finding a gas station with gas, and for many the ability to cure a case of cabin fever and just get out of the house!

What I have noticed the most about this particular year is that I am truly happier. About a year ago I was allowing myself to get really down and upset by my job. So much has happened in a year - I left my former job, got a new job, got married, and am just happier overall. I appreciate the opportunities I have experienced and look forward to many more with this Christmas (only 2 days away!) and of course into 2009. Come to think of it many of my friends have also had quite a changing year. Joe bought a house, Kate also got a new job as well as Patti, Rusty, and Andrew. I will have to see if there was any predictions by anyone famous about 2008 being a "year of change", I mean besides President-Elect Barack Obama. (hee hee)

Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve (as today is Christmas Eve-Eve, whatever) and I will as always be making Lemon Squares and probably wrapping whatever is left that needs to be wrapped. Merry Christmas to everyone and I truly hope that you are safe and warm.

Days people, days!

I am feeling the excitement. In one week I will be getting all primped and readied to walk down the aisle and get married. In fact in exactly one week, I will be getting my hair done at the Venetian's salon (being that at the time of my writing this entry it is approximately 11am)...

But who is counting? ME! I finally got all of the "who is going to do what while I am out of the office" stuff straightened just yesterday. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but most of the hold up was out of my control and thought-process. I constantly remind myself that how things get done around where I work now is a LOT different than where I used to work. It makes me grateful that I had such awesome connections and friendships at my previous employment. Where I am now is fantastic - it is just that I am still "the new kid" around these parts so it takes some adjustment for everyone.

What has been happening...I feel like I have been to the hair salon more often than anything else. Deep conditioning, practice run-throughs of hair and make-up, hair trims, hair color, brow work, etc. One of the stylists at the salon I go to said to me yesterday "You know I see you more often than any of my regular clients, is that funny or what?". I call it expensive yet worth-while investment into getting married.

We have received gifts and they have all been wonderful. Been trying to keep up with writing the thank yous and letters as needed. All that is left to do is pack. I have even already made arrangements for the cleaning and deliveries between Vegas and Seattle. Admittedly I am giving William the benefit of the wedding season, but we have yet to actually finalize the "look" of the wedding cakes for September. We will probably hook up with William about that after Vegas -- hoping for the weekend of August 30...

Speaking of things with the number 30 - my brother's 30th birthday is coming up very soon. We are going to celebrate by going out to dinner this weekend. I am really glad that we are doing this because I did not want his birthday to be overshadowed by all of this wedding hoopla. I know he is excited for me - my personal view though is that it isn't every day you turn a milestone year! Happy Birthday Jody!

And yes...DAYS....counting down the DAYS...

Peanut Party and the weekend

I like to put out natural unsalted seeds and nuts in a pan on the deck to feed the animals. Sometimes we are lucky enough to get a glimpse of who is coming around to snack. Generally they are squirrels and bluejays. This morning we saw a stripey friend (a.k.a. raccoon) out and about which surprised us since it was 730 in the morning - aren't raccoons supposed to be tucked away somewhere when it is daylight? It inspired us to put more peanuts into the tray and we were rewarded; Chris got some nifty photos of a bluejay!

The bluejay and the peanut party tray, woo!

The bluejay on the rocks in the backyard.

In other news - we had a great weekend. The weather was outstanding in the low 80s and it got downright HOT Saturday afternoon. Saturday we got up and went to the Woodland Park Zoo (http://www.thezoo.org/) and to our surprise had to wait about 20 minutes in an extremely slow moving line to even gain entry to the zoo. Once inside it didn't feel nearly as crowded as I was expecting it to be. We got to see almost every animal there including TOUCANS, a tiger, and giraffes. Very exciting. It got very hot so we left and went home figuring we would hit up the Seattle Aquarium (http://www.letleonardin.com/) some other day. We had a light dinner and Johanna called - we were on the phone for almost 3 hours. I have to admit when I got off the phone my neck was tweaked out. It was good to catch-up with her.

Sunday I slept in and Heather and I hung out all day. We ventured over to West Seattle so that I could explore Lincoln Park for good photo spaces for the reception (family photo time kind of thing). We stopped by and visited with Ann and then we all went down to Alki in a feeble attempt to eat at Bamboo (http://www.bamboobarandgrill.com/), but there was no parking. The Spuds fish and chips were tasty morsels though followed up with a trip to the Husky Deli (http://www.huskydeli.com/) for a double-scoop of French Orange and Husky Flake. SO good. We went back to the Webb house and I caught up with Heather's mom. A quick trip home to grab the reusable grocery sacks and then it was off to the grocery store at 730pm to buy weekly food. WHEW!

I wish I was enjoying a peanut party right now. Or some more Husky ice cream (French Orange, where have you been all my life)...

Spot is cancer free!

Just read an email from my Mom - the vet said that the mass that was removed from my cat is benign and should not return at all. Yippy for Spot!

We are going through an abnormal heat wave for Seattle this weekend. We are getting ready to go to the Woodland Park Zoo and then to the Seattle Aquarium - wish us luck since who knows how many other people will be doing the same thing. Yesterday was a ghost town at work and after the work-day was over, Joe and Heather came over and we had a BBQ meat fest. We feasted on Kobe Beef hamburgers, bratwursts, and teriyaki-pineapple meatballs with a grilled pineapple and keylime pie for dessert. Today - the zoo and fishes like I said. Tomorrow I think Heather and I are going to hang out getting lost in West Seattle and then who knows what else, but I am positive it will involve a lot of screaming at the Wii while we play Mario Kart Wii.

Here's to my kitty and the great weekend!

Delicious!

We are enjoying some crepes with strawberry sauce. Delicious! I give all of the credit to Heidi's Cottage Cheese Pancake mix (if that link doesn't work for you, try this https://ssl2.ilinkadv.com/heidispancakes/index.html). All you do is add eggs and milk, whisk, let it sit for 5 minutes, then cook. Fabulous. I cut up some strawberries earlier and the ones that were super ripe almost over-ripe (think soft and almost squishy) I put in a sauce pan with a little water, some sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, salt, and a dash of corn syrup. So some homemade strawberry sauce and insta-crepes.

All the same that isn't the only thing that is delicious. My new job - I love it so far. It is still feeling "new" to me even though I'm in my third week, but so far everyone is so nice and genuinely appreciative of the potential I bring. It is nice working in an environment, hold on...it is WONDERFUL to work in an environment where they care so much about you as an employee, not only the free drinks and snacks, but the atmosphere is so refreshing.

This past weekend we went to Yakima for the Yakima Enological Society's Platinum event. We had 19 wines, 5 courses plus appetizers...wow a lot of booze and food. It too was all delicious. We were also invited to brunch with the Sukos. Delicious. We were treated to some self-caught wild salmon from Alaska that had been smoked. Yum!

Blu-Ray and BSG

If anyone wants to donate any Blu-Ray discs to us we will gladly accept. Last night Chris purchased a PlayStation 3 (PS3) and I am SO excited. Admittedly we were inspired by Joe's tv purchase call it electronic envy who knows - and also my friend Patti has a PS3 which when we were at her house last week -- was amazing. I couldn't stop saying "HOLY CRAP" and "Check that out". Plus the PS3 has totally different type of games available than the Wii and it will be fun to play sports and racing games. Perhaps some shoot 'em up type of games too, we'll see.

Also I can't believe that I haven't talked about Battlestar Galactica (BSG) yet. OMG, I have to admit that the show kicks ass. Krista, Shawn, Jess, Johanna, Mark - y'all were right. It is definitely a show that draws you in and you can't stop watching it. I just caught a special deal from Best Buy that allows you to purchase the box sets for $30 each - what a deal!!! I don't know how long the special sale is available, but the URL is here: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=pcmcat146400050062.

Too bad BSG doesn't come in Blu-Ray. I am too impatient because I want it now. But LOST Season 3 is out on Blu-Ray...perhaps another trip to Costco to see what in stock will be in our future. Tee hee!

More Ups and Downs...

Since my last blog there have been some good and not so good things happen. Good things include - ordering some shoes and other items for the wedding, having some job interviews at Gates Foundation and another place called PlayNetworks, planning out some fun "almost done with your job" get togethers. Curling - I've been more consistent than not and my teams have won quite a few matches now so that is obviously good. Some of my other colleagues have also made the decision to leave the company and all of our last "days of employment" are shockingly close to one another's...not sure what that says overall but I can tell you that for all of us - leaving is the right decision. We had lunch with Rusty again and that was the highlight of my week. I met Jess finally - HI JESS I DON'T KNOW IF YOU READ THIS BLOG YET BUT HI JUST THE SAME. She is really cool so I'm glad that I finally got to meet her.

Not so good things - this stupid waste pump in our beloved rental abode. My last entry as you know was a rant about the pump. Chris was successful in cleaning up the ew and we thought that after replacing the breaker this would be resolved. But no - this morning I am down in the laundry room and I thought it was the LeakFrog making noise...instead it was the power trip sensor freaking out. Sure enough, the pump is not functioning. We reset the breaker and the pump is RIP. Thus far today I have called our landlord - home, work, written him email and he seems to be MIA...so now we are waiting for confirmation of an emergency visit from a plumber.

I'm sure there have been other not so good things but right now - the pump takes the cake. Yay! At least the Scotties Tournamet of Hearts is on CBC right now. So that is a good end to this right now - on an up!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year to you all. It is the year of the rat. Squeak squeak!

Audi RS6

This is Chris' new (used) car, the Audi RS6. Ooh. Sorry, ooooooooooooh. It is a lovely car for car rides.

We're Engaged!

5 years to the day as today is our anniversary, Chris and I are finally engaged. We are still working on the details, but for now this is what "the plan" is:

- Getting engaged (done)

- Setting a date ... we're thinking August 2008?

- Buying stuff like a dress, flowers, you know... soon?

- Picking a place to get married ... we're thinking Las Vegas (those of you know who you are - are invited, only immediate family and close friends)

- Picking a place to have a less formal party AFTER the ceremony back in Seattle

So obviously the ceremony and the reception are two separate things in two totally separate locations and on two totally separate dates. There you go.

How did we get engaged? We had been talking about it for months now, so it wasn't a total surprise; we were inspired by Johanna and Mark's rings and we picked out a mokume gane style. As today is our 5 year anniversary of dating, we went out to I Love Sushi, came home and he popped the ring and the question. I had a feeling that today would be the day so I didn't burst out into tears or scream like a banshee, but it is still pretty cool. Neat huh?

And now pictures of the ring...

Front View, I think this shows the mokume gane pattern the best!

Oblique 1 ... oooh, ahhh...

Oblique 2 ... oooh....

On my hand, front view.

On hand, side view.

If there are any other questions, you know where to call or email. Thanks.

Christmas was great, 2007 is almost over!

I forgot to take pictures this past Christmas so I don't have any pictures to update. I could probably re-create some images with stuffed animals as stand-ins versus the actual people... or not. (haha). I hope you all had a great Christmas. I haven't been at work since the 21st and I don't plan on going back until the 2nd of January. I love the break.

Chris and I have been playing a lot of Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii. It is a fun game although it has reminded me as to why I don't actually "play" these types of games; the constant motion shifting and "balance" or lack thereof makes me queasy. Luckily for me Super Mario Galaxy is a two-player game in the sense that the second player helps the first player out by shooting things or blocking fire balls, etc. You know the usual Mario enemies. We have taken breaks to go to the curling club so I could time the first round of the Jr. State playdowns, hang out with Johanna and her parents, and today we saw a movie -- National Treasure Book of Secrets.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2007 and thus far I have no super exciting plans. I will probably bake, do laundry, do some dishes and try to get back into a more normal sleeping pattern, although we'll see... re-entry into work can be painful so why kid myself right?

Oh -- you need to see this Hello Kitty Assault Rifle...http://gizmodo.com/338916/hello-kitty-expands-upon-arsenal-with-ar+15-rifle...

Happy New Year to you all!

4 days until Christmas 2007 and...

Another one of my friends has left Avanade after a long employment...actually make that 3 people. Paul is leaving after 7 years, Ricardo after 8, and Rusty after 3. How the time flies.

I left work early today as it is the last work day of the year for me at least. I am really looking forward to not having to worry about work for a while. Instead I get to worry about the washing machine in my house. I am doing some laundry and well, the basin of the machine won't spin. The water will fill and empty, but the basin stays stationary. I love it. NOT. I just wrote to my landlord - I hope that he is checking his email. If not, then I guess it will be trips to the laundromat or my parents house until this thing gets fixed or replaced. I wish we owned our own house at least then I could easily go to Sears and buy myself a new washing machine...

At least I have all of my presents and they are all wrapped. Just holiday baking to do!

In case you wanted to know...

...I didn't win the cookie competition at work, but I enjoyed seeing everyone having a good time and eating a lot of sugar.

Tomorrow is Ezell's Fried Chicken ... grease...yum.

I am le tired. I'm not sure if it is stress, or if I have been playing too much on the Wii. Probably both. Ha!

Life is like coffee (there is a point)

A week or so ago while I was driving into work, I heard this story on the radio and I want to share it with you as I think a lot of us go through this...

A group of college alums get together and decide to visit their favorite professor. The professor, now retired invites the alums into his house and serves them cookies. The discussion quickly turns from memories to how stressful each alum is, how much work they do, how the work takes them away from their families, etc. The professor gets up, unnoticed, and heads into his kitchen to prepare some coffee. Minutes later, the professor returns to the group of alums with a large tray of assorted coffee mugs and cups and of course a large pot of coffee. He says "Please select a vessel of your choice and I will gladly pour you a cup of coffee." to which each person chooses a mug and the coffee is enjoyed. The professor asks "Do you all enjoy the coffee?" and they all exclaim "Yes, this is some of the best coffee I have had in a while." After everyone has received some coffee, the professor says "You say that you are all stressed out and how hard it is to keep up with life these days. Well, look around at the vessels you each chose. I notice that you each took one of the nicer looking mugs and all of the mugs with scratches or ones that looked older were left behind. After each of you took a mug, I also noticed that you all were trying to get a glance and what each of you took. However, you were all served the same coffee. In fact, the coffee tastes the same whether it is from the fanciest mug here or from the plastic cup, it is the same coffee. Think about your lives and the choices you make. Did you choose the fancier mug because you felt you had to? You can agree that the coffee I served would taste just as good if you had picked a less fancy mug to drink it from. Life is like coffee -- you live your life the way you want and your life can be just as fulfilling with less expensive things, it is still your life and the choices you make as to how you enjoy it."

S...N...O...W...!!

Lo and behold the Seattle area weather forecasters were right -- it in fact SNOWED in the Seattle and outlying areas today. I was hoping that the weather folk would be wrong because we wanted to drive up to Bellingham to visit a jeweler who specializes in Mokume Gane rings -- http://www.mokume-gane.com/. My friends Johanna and Mark decided to go with Mokume Gane styled rings and since their wedding, we have seriously been looking online for Mokume Gane as well. We were all set to go through the same jeweler they went through, but apparently the jeweler who is located in Maine is going through some issues and to top it off he isn't exactly prompt with communicating whether it be via email or telephone; not sure if the time zone difference is the factor or not, but we are not impressed with his lack of speed... so we found a local jeweler and bonus -- this guy is located in the SAME time zone; turns out this jeweler located in Bellingham trained the guy in Maine that Johanna and Mark went through. Small world...

Since the snow came and is still here at our house, we hung around the house today. Drinking a lot of hot beverages, had some homemade split pea soup, and watching some bad holiday TV. Ok, how many times does the ABC Family channel need to show Harry Potter movies all weekend? Am I right? Now we are watching the Huskies play at Hawai'i...I hope we don't blow it!

I don't think the snow is suppost to stick around, but so far everything is still covered in a layer of white. Only 24 days until Christmas!

I'm feeling chatty today, or is that bloggy?

Yes - I'm posting yet again. This is what I get when I think I'm too busy to blog and only manage a post per month. Thanksgiving is only 2 days away! Chris and I were talking and it seems the older you get, the more fun Thanksgiving is -- not to discount or take any credit away from Christmas or any other holiday by any means. I say that mainly out of fear that Santa Claus may skip my house or the Easter Bunny will leave me rotten eggs...

Seriously - maybe it is because Thanksgiving is the first real get together kind of holiday since the 4th of July. Perhaps it is because there is no pressure of gift giving (although I heart presents, see previous post) or massive decorating. Maybe it is just the lure of a ton of food being available and readily edible all at once -- and that it is acceptable to over-indulge on it?

This year, The Lees will be joining us for Thanksgiving festivities and also instead of splitting Thanksgiving into two locations -- all of my families will be together at my parents house in Redmond. I hope that we have enough space; my parents house is huge but normally we can utilize outdoor seating on the deck. I highly doubt anyone will want to eat on a wet picnic table on a cold, blustery Thanksgiving afternoon... but you never know. This year I am planning on making the usual and expected Lemon Squares and also some Red Velvet cake. Yum yum.

And I need to state again -- it is wrong for people to work between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just wrong. Tee hee.

I heart presents.

I heart presents. I enjoy the browsing, the thinking, the purchasing (ok, maybe not so much the actual financial transaction part of the money leaving my account...), the hiding, the wrapping and the giving. I heart it all. I suppose I enjoy receiving presents as well, but it is definitely more fun to give than receive them. I normally wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start shopping for Christmas gifts. This year I decided to start early so now I only have a couple items left to get. It is a relief although admittedly as much as I have grown to love shopping online, there is something about going to the mall and seeing everyone grabbing random items at will because they have to get "something" for that extra relative or friend. As per the last few years, I have done all of my purchasing thus far on Amazon. I especially like having things shipped directly to my office so that I don't have to worry about the UPS or Federal Express driver mis-delivering packages to my house.

I think that most of all, the best part is definitely the wrapping. I'm not a super fantastic nor necessarily most imaginative gift wrapper, but the fun papers and the ribbons are neat. I don't know -- call me a sucker, but I love the wrapping paper with the stupidly drawn animals, snowmen and Santa Claus-type images. I was at Target - my favorite junk store - a couple weeks ago and I was this close to buying yet another roll of Christmas wrapping paper. There must be at least 8 rolls in our closet that aren't even half-used yet, but there is this compulsion -- to buy more paper. MORE PAPER. I had to hold back from wrapping presents this past weekend -- because Thanksgiving isn't even over yet! Joe has started listening to Christmas music already as his rule of "you may play Christmas music the week of Thanksgiving" has gone into effect, but I can't relate that to actually wrapping presents. Or can I? Muhahahaha.

My usual catch-up-post-before-vacation message...

A lot has happened since my birthday (last blog post). Workwise things are so-so, there were some major moves within the office so now I have a new officemate. I didn't think I would miss sitting with Gail simply because she and I aren't super close friends, but I do miss Gail's presence. I think she misses me too because every time I walk by her office door she always flags me down and we end up chatting about something random. Now my entire team is split up between two floors and we are all spread out. Some feel disjointed or no longer part of the team. I do feel isolated only because I share an office with a new contractor who isn't exactly warming up to being social with me.

I've still been working a lot, although admittedly I am consciously trying to work less -- like it is OK to not work a 10 or 11 hour day, it is OK to leave at 430pm. I thought that it would be good to remember what real work-life balance is and the beginning of Curling season has helped. This year I will be playing in Monday and Friday night leagues -- very fun. I found out that some of my co-workers (from a different department) are trying out Curling so I need to remember to ask them how they are enjoying it when I return from vacation.

But for the next 10 days or so I am not going to think about work (too much). We are heading out bright and early tomorrow for Pittsburgh...yes, Pittsburgh. Stop looking at my blog that way yes you read it right, Pittsburgh. My friend Johanna is getting married in a very small way; a total of 28 people includes everyone in the wedding party and all of their guests. She and Mark live in Pittsburgh and have for a while so Pittsburgh it is. After the wedding we are then going to spend the rest of our vacation in Las Vegas doing whatever and whenever and eating whatever and whenever we want. So haha, haha to all of you.

And now...I must try to sleep. More to come later I'm certain. Oh--Happy Belated 32nd Birthday to a Mr. Joel Arnold Bakken.

I got surprised!

Yesterday was my birthday and for a while, I thought people at work were stalking me because everyone was asking me what I was going to do for my birthday. I didn't know that many people knew when my birthday was... anyway, it started off with a run to Starbucks, a hug from a barista and a free coffee later I was back working. We went out to lunch to rush back for a meeting -- to which I was surprised with PIE. Yay! I was so surprised that all of my work pals were able to keep a secret like this from me -- and I guess they had planned this for almost 2 weeks. After the surprise, I worked some more and after work Joe and I went to Red Robin, then a few games of Cribbage and watching Wayne Newton dance (sad dancing) -- that was my birthday!

This weekend we are going to my parents house and my dad will make almond fried chicken and sweet and sour pork for me. Yum yum.

The highlight of today: http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/index.php?page=2.

Wii have joined the club.

Two posts in one day can you believe it? I get home from my trip to Burbank and Chris says to me "I have a surprise for you when you get home". Is it a kitten? A ring? No, he got us a Nintendo Wii! So wii...er we have joined the Wii club.

We had a quick lunch and proceeded to play Wii Sports and Mario Party 8 for a few hours. The Wii is great and loads of fun. The only downside like anything else these days is the cost of all of the extras. Extra accessories and new games. The price of Wii. (hee hee).

Change is good.

An eye opening experience? Alaska Airlines will offer non-stop flights to Hawaii? New job possibilities on the horizon? Friends having children? Ordering a new item at your favorite restaurant?

Change is good. It is a good thing, a very good thing. Where is my Martha Stewart voice over?

Chris and I have been talking about houses a lot even though we currently lack the money to finance the purchase of the "ideal" house that we both want to live in. Over the Memorial Day weekend he quite randomly exclaimed that we could stay in our current house and purchase it from our landlord. We then discussed all of the renovations and changes that could occur in the house to make it more our style. Almost made me want to break out The Sims to build out a house with plug and play windows and door frames. Is staying where we are -- is that such a good idea? Initially I thought "no way I want a change", but change could occur within our current building boundaries. Although it may not change the neighbor situation with them dumping their garbage into OUR garbage can...

...or when we change the house we could build a shed for the garbage cans. Heh heh. Change is good.

Everything is fine... Happy Easter!

For those who have called or email or stopped by, thanks for all of your well wishes for my dad. He is doing remarkably well! He was able to leave the hospital Friday April 6th in the late afternoon. I know it sounds fast considering he was rushed to emergency surgery on Tuesday April 3rd, but like I said he is recovering "fairly well" as the hospital would say after a septuple-bypass surgery.

What else is happening (like there is room for anything else in my life right now) -- my friend Andrew is here visiting for a short time and today is Easter. The local paper has this Peeps contest and you should check out the photos: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/living2003652932/1.html

Other than the above, there is nothing more I can say except whew!

Quick Weekend Recap

I am really tired, but right now I'm slightly more concerned over this nasty cough I've developed. All I've done this weekend is curl. I participated in the 5-and-under bonspiel at our curling club. 8 four-end games were played and overall we finished first in the second bracket. It was pretty swell. I got this handmade plaque and stand; I am debating if it is worth taking to work for fear that I will stop every person who passes by and asks "Oh wow you curl, so do you sweep or throw?"

The spiel consisted of 15 teams and 3 brackets. After the first round-robin each team is reseeded; hence why I said we finished "first in the second bracket".

And with that more cough syrup and an early night to bed. Ta ta!

Snow in Seattle - again?

Believe it or not, we got a February 28th present of snow. Downtown Seattle itself had a light dusting if that counts for anything, but there was apparently quite a bit of snow in the Puget Sound Convergence Zone. School districts north of Seattle and south of Mt. Vernon are closed.

I was disappointed to wake up and see that most of the snow that had fallen at my house overnight had melted already. At least I have a tasty cup of coffee to enjoy right now.

Thrill the World!!

Follow this string of thought:

1. I come home from work, turn on the TV
2. Nothing really good is on, but for some reason I watch 13 Going On 30 -- yes the movie with Jennifer Garner ala Big with Tom Hanks
3. While watching said movie I realize that the best part is when main characters start doing the Thriller dance -- yes the dance from the Michael Jackson hit Thriller from 1983
4. Once movie is over I wonder "how does one learn the Thriller dance?"
5. Google "learn the thriller dance" and come across a site among various youtube URLs that is about a group of people wanting to set the world record for people learning and dancing the Thriller dance

Good times, no? Thrill The World is the site I stumbled across. World record was set in late October 2006 and amazing...who knew the Thriller dance was so "in"?

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

I'm a little late, but better late than never. Happy Chinese New Year or Gung Hay Fat Choy! It is the year 4704 and the glorious little piggy gets his year. The above picture is of 3 piggies, but as you can see there is only one looking at the camera. Isn't he cute? I enjoy this other picture as well, I got it from the last woot-off...
And of course, there is my favorite Pearls Before Swine character, Pig:

We celebrated Saturday night at my parents house where my Dad made everything... soup, rice, soy sauce chicken, fat pork (with the crunchy skin), taro with pork and pineapple, beans with foo yee, gai lan, bittermelon with beef, you name it he made it. I was quite surprised he didn't make a roasted duck as well, but I guess he was under the weather just the day before, so that probably threw a wrench in his shopping schedule. My Grandpa was able to join, so it was definitely good times. On Sunday I treated myself to a facial -- well Jody really treated me, he got me these gift cards for Gene Juarez and I used them, so I had a facial, relaxed and went curling.

What else...this weekend we are probably going to Yakima, but it is dependent on the weather -- it has been snowing in the pass. Work has been...worky that is what I will say, worky. Let's just say -- that I bought $20 worth of scratch tickets at the grocery store today, so you get the idea. Vacation is only a few weeks away, Oregon Coast here we come!

Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentine's Day. Or as one of my friends says "Happy Single's Awareness Day". I don't see any harm in wishing someone a good Valentine's Day. So what if Hallmark, candy companies, and jewelers want you to believe that Valentine's Day is all about pink, red, shiny, sweet things for others. Treat yourself! There is nothing wrong with being single. There is nothing wrong with being in a relationship. There IS something wrong with believing you have to spend a couple hundred bucks on flowers and a new outfit so that you can prove your love on one "fancy" day of the year.

What am I doing for Valentine's Day you ask? I woke up and dressed myself in a nice pink shirt. I went to Starbucks, did my morning dances for the baristas and bought my friend a beverage. I am bringing home fancy cupcakes for Chris. I get to watch LOST tonight and eat popcorn. Need I say more?

Cake - no. Bed - yes.

Let's see... last week the new bed was delivered, then we went away for the weekend to Sequim/Port Angeles. We stayed at our favorite bed and breakfast (Domaine Madeleine) and had some fabulous food at Victor's restaurant -- Sabai Thai. We also had some lovely european beef-based fondue at Toga's. Both Sabai Thai and Toga's are located in the heart of Port Angeles. I recommend them both very much. We have even thought about driving over to PA just to eat at Victor's place because it is some of the best Thai food I have had! This past week at work has felt like...a very long week at work. I volunteered a couple of times to be a timekeeper at the curling club -- the club hosted the Junior National Championships this past week.

I haven't had time to make any coconut cake like I was hoping for. Considering we just went grocery shopping and bought some fresh pineapple and blueberries, the coconut cake can wait a little while longer. That's a good reason, right?

The new bed -- it is quite nice. We both have less pain in the mornings, but it isn't a cure-all. Tempur-Pedic you have a good thing going. So far I am glad to say that it was a good purchase. Of course I haven't received my credit card statement yet (haha), but seriously -- good sleep has been had. I do notice that I have been having or at least remembering my dreams a lot more often than I have in the past. In fact I had a strange dream last night that involved knowing what time the world was going to end--and being concerned that I wasn't packing enough medication as we obviously had a safe place to go since Earth was going to be destroyed... yeah. I also have noticed that I do wake up feeling very rested and I have been sleeping until my alarm clock goes off instead of waking up 30 to 60 minutes before my alarm starts to beep at me.

Again -- so far, good choice for the Tempur-Pedic.

Money money money money...money!

Money....Thank you for Turbo Tax. Thank you Intuit for a fine product, thank you for making it easier for me to give money to the US Federal Government. I entered all of the pretty numbers from my W2 and I owe a whopping $27.00. I'm glad it is a low amount. Sure I'd rather receive a refund than shell out money, but Turbo Tax makes all of it so....so.... almost enjoyable. Jeff if you are reading this -- thank you for going to work for Intuit to make Turbo Tax support and the product even better for future generations of people who like myself are inept when it comes to understanding tax forms.

Money....before I did my taxes, we were out and about. We went to Target to do some browsing and got a photo printer. Decided that we needed a late afternoon snack and being indecisive as I am we ended up at the mall because the food court has endless choices; Sbarro, Thai, Panda Express, ice cream, Ivar's, Kidd Valley, Taco Time, SBUX and Red Robin (I'm not name dropping on purpose nor am I receiving endorsements for doing so, just filling you in on the great mall that is Northgate)... we settled for Taco Time and garlic fries from Kidd Valley. After a dozen mints a piece I treated myself to my first psuedo-impulse buy: a 5 speed Kitchenaid hand mixer. I had a Macy's gift certificate, so why not right? Joe if you are reading this -- I am FINALLY going to give you the Salad Shooter with all of the attachments so you may shred your cheese as you please for your bean dip. :). And Regina if you are reading this -- the Salad Shooter lives on! Back to the money... so after the purchase at Macy's, I asked Chris if there was anything else he wanted to look at -- a last minute turn to the Brookstone store. We walked into Brookstone and made a B-line to the Tempurpedic beds and..............................

Money....yes, that's right, I bought us a new Tempurpedic bed. MONEY. You may call that psuedo-impulse buy number two. The bed is supposed to be here in a little over a week so I am VERY excited because I've been wanting one of these beds for a while. Just like I've been wanting a new hand mixer for a while, hence the "psuedo-impulse" terms. I just happened to pick the same day to drop a buttload of MONEY.

I'll give updates about the mixer and the new mattress as they roll on. There is only a little bit of the Red Velvet cake left so next up will be a Coconut cake? Something I can use the hand mixer on...if anyone wants to give me ideas as to what kind of cake to make next, I'm all ears--send your recipes my way!

Money....you earn it to spend it, such is life. Now if I could just win the lottery....

Red Velvet Cake

I've been asked by quite a few people including Annelise who actually left a comment (yay, Annelise) what exactly Red Velvet Cake is and what it tastes like. From what I can gather, Red Velvet Cake is simply a chocolate cake with a LOT of red food coloring added. What also sets this chocolate cake apart from any other is that the recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar and 1 cup of buttermilk. Chris found out that there is a chemical reaction between the cocoa powder and the vinegar and buttermilk -- which apparently give the cake the smoother, more "velvety" texture. I would like to say it is as smooth as velvet, but considering I have never consumed velvet in my lifetime, I can't really make that claim.

The chocolate taste is less intense and quite honestly -- the cake probably wouldn't be very appealing by itself. Think of it as this BRIGHT RED cake that is way more dense than a sponge cake....I made a cream cheese frosting for it and as much I as abhor frosting, the frosting on this particular cake makes it taste gooooooood. I folded in some shredded coconut and some chopped pecans, so there is definitely something "tasty" in the frosting. I found that at least with the cake mix version -- you can't taste the food coloring so that is a start. I particularly enjoy the cake with a glass of milk.

If you look at wikipedia for this cake -- it claims that most Canadians associate Red Velvet Cake with a now defunct department store chain called Eatons. Who would have thought that? All this time I thought it was a southern thing (which is apparently not true even though grocery distributors along the west coast do not carry Red Velvet Cake mix)...

Updates get your updates!

I finally updated our home page, check it out on the side nav link or simply use this link to get to Chicken and Cheese. It is easier to read and I have included some handy chicken and cheese links. The links I'm sure will be subject to change, but it's a start.

More updates -- I also added new photos to our album; again use the link on the side nav or simply use this link to get to our photo album. I realized that I needed to take more pictures and post them so that my friends far away can see what is going on. The newest album is called Wintertime Fun or something like that.

Also--the snow has finally gone. The rain came and washed it all away. We went to Target earlier today and as we drove by the Les Schwab store (tire store in the Pacific NW) the parking lot was FULL. Wanna bet that those people were buying snow tires??

And for those of you (who like myself) just want something fun to look at...I made a red velvet cake today--from the box. Thanks to Andrew for sending me some cake mix all the way from Alabama. Here are some photos....yummy??

As you can see--it is very RED.

I thought that my bowl would be stained, but it is OK.


Wa-lah. I am waiting for it to cool still so I can cover it with frosting.

I think Christmas is over

I don't believe I've ever had a Christmas last so long. I say this with all of the best thoughts, nothing negative implied. I posted some new pictures (see my album, the link is on the left side you can find it, I know you can!) so that is exciting. Basically we started Christmas on Friday 12/22 in Redmond...it then quickly moved to 12/23 - 12/25 in Yakima, then driving back to Seattle to then have Christmas dinner itself at my Aunt Jeannie's house in Fall City. FOUR DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. Whew.

Today...I am recovering and getting some laundry done. I think we need to go out and buy some new cell phones sooner than later though, the batteries on Chris' cell phone don't last very long. I probably also need to go out and buy some milk or something important like that.

I received quite a bit of stuff this Christmas. A lot of kitchen stuff (I asked for it, so very exciting), a Nintendo DS (which is the coolest thing ever), practical things that are useful including a lot of emergency prepardness kits (emergency flash lights, emergency kits, etc.), a folding card table, but what was will probably be the most useful is the $50 Shell gas gift card I received from my cousin John. Talk about a cool gift! Who doesn't use gasoline (presuming they drive a car regularly)??? I think the next time I really want to just get someone a gift card, I'll have to remember that.

I am fortunate and I took the rest of this week off of work (we get two days for Christmas so technically today is a paid holiday for me). I am SO glad. Reminds me of the days when you get a lot of time off for Christmas break. I am going to spend some time with my friends I hope; Johanna and Mark are in town; Heather is also back; and so is Allan and Amitoj. Lots of people to see I hope!

Ok, back to laundry. I hope you all had a good Christmas too!

Reflections upon Christmas past and present

Less than a week now until Christmas. I'm still dutifully going to work everyday. You know it is a crime to work between Thanksgiving and New Year's? No one is around, everyone is checked out or taking long lunches to go Christmas shopping, or people are "sick" (they just want to save vacation days and burn up sick time). I am planning on taking my usual time off between Christmas and New Year's though - I need time for me. No work, no pressure of missing work since everyone else is gone too, just time for me. I have some miscellaneous medical appointments, perhaps I'll do some light cleaning, my friend Johanna and her fiancee Mark are in town so we'll visit, and I'll probably hang out with Heather as well.

We recently went through a very bad wind storm that left over 1 million people in Western Washington without electricity. We were lucky and only lost power for about 15 hours, but even as I type this in my 68 degree house, stomach full of hot freshly prepared food, listening to a Charlie Brown Christmas -- there are still people even in Seattle who have no electricity. I have read reports that some will be without electricity through Christmas. Ugh. As much as I may rant about work or other trivial things I truly am grateful for a warm house, a roof over my head, food, my friends and family, and my job.

This Christmas we are going to Yaki-vegas....er, Yakima. I was telling Andrew tonight that this Christmas will be only the second Christmas in my life that I would not have spent it with my family. Christmas 1997 - The Huskies made it to the Aloha Bowl, I got to spend a week in Hawaii and away from my family. I know, how horrible. Spending a whole week with friends, getting paid and all expenses paid for to go to a bowl game. Christmas Eve night rolls around and I was very homesick. It was also the first Christmas after my Grandmother had passed away, so I was very sad indeed. The Huskies went on to win the Aloha Bowl, and we were flying back to Seattle on Christmas Day. We approach Seattle and there is too much fog so we had to land in Portland. My friends and I got to spend the night of the December 25h 1997 on the floor of PDX. A greyhound bus came to PDX to drive us home on the 26th. I came home very sad and tired to an empty house. My parents weren't home for some reason and my brother was at work. I remember opening a present with my cat watching me.

Christmas 2006 in Yakima -- shouldn't be so bad. It couldn't be any worse than Christmas 1997, right? I'm not going to be sleeping on the floor of a PDX terminal. I'll be with people who are almost like family (we are not technically family yet as Chris and I are still dating). I understand that it is quite chilly (single digit temperatures) in Yakima right now. I hope the drive over will be fairly easy, the thought of chains and a potential 4 hour drive does not thrill me to say the least. This Friday I'll be at least having dinner and a pre-Christmas but really Christmas celebration with my own parents.

All in all as the days get closer to Christmas, the happier I feel. There is just something about Christmas -- how everyone is generally happier and friendlier. I can't wait for the day where I'll have my own kids and the excitement they will have for the holidays. :)

My photo album is updated -- finally!

Can you believe that I invested some time and updated some photos? Well, believe it!! Due to the large amount of pictures Chris took when we were at Yellowstone -- I haven't had a chance to go through ALL of them yet, but in time grasshoppers, in good time. There are photos from our recent trips and adventures. Check out my photos. Woot.

It's official, everyone is having babies but me.

Kate (my manager) after many months and over 24 hours in labor gave birth this afternoon to a healthy baby boy -- Nicholas! My friend Dawn who lives in Hawaii gave birth to a healthy baby boy -- Carson! Bethany and Bhargavi -- both friends and co-workers are pregnant and due to deliver in May and June 2007! And of course Sommar who just had a baby (a healthy baby -- Casey!) but unfortunately she passed away (see previous blog post). Not that I need to have a baby right this instant, but there is something in the water. My time will be here before I know it I'm sure.

Today also somehow marked the official turn-over of sub-teams apparently within my department. We all went out to Cutter's for a nice lunch. Let me think, was it any other kind of milestone today? Hhhmm.. I guess not.

Special thanks goes out to Joe for helping me fix the links that weren't working.

Links, soup, shopping...

My apologies as apparently the links to my archived posts aren't working very well. Joe, when you read this help me out man. I "upgraded" to the beta version of blogger, whatever. I'm sure there is just some setting I need to look at somewhere.

Thanksgiving was filling. We ate a lot of fun at my parents house, then we went to my aunt's house in Fall City and ate more food. I didn't even wake up today until 10am. Chris is cleaning up the downstairs room. For those of you who have been to my abode, the downstairs area has always been..well, cluttered and full of stuff. Chris has been working diligently today--he said he took out 3 bags of recycling, 2 bags of garbage and burned an entire bag of old bills. Yes that means that we can access the fire place. Yay! He is breaking down a bunch of cardboard boxes now.

We have started eating the leftovers--today we had turkey soup. VERY good. Now, what to do with all of these sweet potatoes and ham...I spent most of my day browsing online for Christmas presents. You know online shopping kicks ass. I only have a few minor things to pick up from various stores, but a majority of my shopping is DONE. Woot!! Done! I also need to say that my friend Max--has a great online store. Check it out at www.maxwaugh.com. I also shamelessly gave Amazon business today. Amazon is a great searching tool that I generally use for price comparisons but hardly ever go straight to their site and just buy things -- with the exception of the day after Thanksgiving. If you look at my purchase records with Amazon -- it shows a yearly trend; I always buy a lot of stuff from Amazon the day after Thanksgiving. Anyone else guilty of this?

Lemon Squares!

I make Lemon Squares twice a year; once at Thanksgiving and once more at Christmas. My house smells of Lemon Squares right now and boy oh boy it is getting me even more excited for Thanksgiving. I've been making Lemon Squares for at least the last 16 years (if not longer). Seeming as how I'm 30 years old now...you can imagine how many sticks of butter that has been! I used to go bake-crazy around the holidays. Seriously, I would make batches and batches of cookies like non-stop from Thanksgiving all the way through Christmas Day. Snickerdoodles are still my favorite -- there is something about how they are FRESH and HOT from the oven. HHhhmm. I would like to make Chocolate Crinkles as well although admittedly they weren't as tasty as Snickerdoodles. And of course, Russian Tea Cakes (aka Mexican Wedding Cookies). My dad just LOVES those, he can eat a whole batch (one batch yields 60 cookies) in one sitting. I remember years where I would make at least 4 batches of Russian Tea Cakes.

I was talking with Shawn today at work about how your perspective of holidays change as you get older. We decided that the holidays are so much more exciting as adults; you appreciate them more because you don't have as much time to yourself it seems. As a kid admit it--Thanksgiving kind of sucks. You don't get any presents, there isn't any fun music to listen to, there is no candy, and all you do is sit around the small table at Grandma's house and eat turkey with your cousins. Not exciting. As an adult, Thanksgiving is about gossiping and getting to talk to your now "cool" older relatives and realizing -- "hey, I'm an adult now, this is fun".

Not much has happened since. I mean, work has been busier than ever. Getting my boss ready for her maternity leave, still transitioning knowledge to people, catching up with research, and at the same time planning events for April 2007...aaaaahhhhh! The weather here in Seattle has been crappy. Lots and lots of rain. Its raining right now, big surprise. Oh hold the phone, what am I saying -- there has been some excitement -- there was another woot-off on www.woot.com. The Huskies surprisingly won the Apple Cup this year (yay!). I just finished watching season 2 of LOST. And tomorrow, I get to eat Lemon Squares. Maybe I'll make some Snickerdoodles too... hahaha.

And now to save myself another blog entry, I'll post the Lemon Square recipe for those of you (you know who you are...) who will ask me for the recipe...

Lemon Squares

1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of butter
1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar

2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. lemon juice
zest of one lemon
2 drops of yellow food coloring (optional if you want your squares to be YELLOW)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, butter and confectioners' sugar thoroughly (best with semi-cold butter so that the dough is crumbly and not like cookie batter). Press evenly into a square pan (8x8x2"), building up a 1/2" edge. Bake 20 minutes. Beat rest of ingredients together until smooth (sugar should be almost completely dissolved and the color will turn lighter yellow, I like using a whisk). After crust has baked for 20 minutes, pour yellow mixture over crust and bake for another 25 minutes. When cooled you may dust the tops with more confectioners' sugar. Makes 25 squares.

Total baking time: 45 minutes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Eating time: 5 minutes

Happy Eating...er, Thanksgiving.