Need carpet?

Rolls of carpet waiting to be rolled out at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Towel Swan

Apparently on day two of your stay you only get one swan.

Lunch is served

Tostada Salad at Tortilla Jo's in Downtown Disney.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a crazy week with long work hours and lots of projects to prepare for my trip to California which caused my weekend update post to be VERY delayed, here are the highlights:

• Left work a bit early to run by Costco on the way home to pick up some of our *regular* wine (Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling).
• Headed over to Don's to help him with any prep needed prior to dinner but he had things completely under control.
• Enjoyed lots of laughter and a really good meal with friends Kipp and Christy. Don made his infamous Orange Chicken on the grill, roasted red potatoes and green beans which was all yummy!
• Woke early Saturday for the regular trip to the laundromat, coffee at Peet's and doughnuts at Top Pot.
• Took a nap on Saturday afternoon.
• Enjoyed a quiet night at home on Saturday night catching up on my TiVo and dying Easter Eggs.
• Had Easter Brunch with Don and Kat at Yarrow Bay Grill in Kirkland. We had never been there and it was delightful. It will definitely be added to our list of regular places.
• Got an Easter basket full of fun treasurers from Nancy.
• Cleaned, organized and futzed around the house.
• Spent the evening playing pool with Don at Rock Bottom playing pool. As usual, he kicked my ass. :-)

How was your weekend?

Welcoming Committee

Swans made from towels on the bed of my hotel in Anaheim.

Me as a thinker

Your Thinking is Concrete and Sequential

You are precise, orderly, and realistic. You tend to get to the point and get things done. Difficult, detailed work is easy for you. You take things step by step. Time limits aren't a problem for you either. You work well with deadlines. What does drive you crazy is any sort of task that isn't precisely laid out. You don't like anything to be ambiguous. You prefer to deal with the facts at hand.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

Happy Easter!

Good Speller... HA!

I'm only posting this cause anyone who really knows me knows that I would never score this high if the test was spelling words and not just proofing for misspelled ones. ;-)

Your Spelling is Good

You got 9/10 correct. Your spelling is generally pretty decent. You are prone to a few mistakes, but the mistakes you make are pretty forgivable.

How's Your Spelling?

What dog breed am I?

Weekend Wrap-Up

A bit tardy with my wrap-up this week cause I've been a bit under the weather. Here are the highlights:

• Ran to the grocery store with Don right after getting home from the office on Friday to get all the stuff for our St. Patrick's Day extravaganza.
• Did our laundry in what has become our typical fashion of being the first one's there in order to beat the crowds.
• Enjoyed coffee at Peet's Coffee and Tea.
• Walked down to the new Top Pot Doughnuts in Queen Anne while our clothes were in the dryer.
• Saw this extraordinary house on our way back to the laundry room, which is now on the list of Queen Anne favorites.
• Cleaned and organized the house.
• Drank beer and boiled stuff (boiled stuff is Irish for cooking) to prepare for our celebration.
• Enjoyed boxty (potato cakes), irish cheese, soda bread, corned beef, cabbage, champs (mashed potatoes with green onions) and lots of green beer with Don, Kat, Dave, Kristen and John.
• Watched The Cutting Edge 2 and The Cutting Edge 3 and am still amazed that they could make the same movie 3 times.
• Ran the dishwasher 3 times to get all the pots, platters and dishes washed.
• Read.
• Napped.

How was your weekend?

Maple Bar Goodness

There is a brand new Top Pot Doughnuts atop Queen Anne.

A little jig to get you in the spirit

Hope this leaves you craving a green beer of your own. Happy St. Patrick's Day! :-)

Don't send a lame St. Patrick's Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

My Shamrock Personality

What Your Shamrock Says About You

You are charming, witty, and larger than life. At times, you can be a bit impatient and inflexible. You don't like to be distracted. You don't really consider yourself a lucky person. In your view, people create their own luck. You are stylish, in a classic sort of way. You are particular about how you like things.

The Shamrock Personality Test

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was only an hour shorter that usual but it seem a whole lot shorter than that. Here are the highlights:

• Enjoyed a quiet night at home on Friday night which included cheese and crackers for dinner, catching up on old episodes of Las Vegas and watching the movie The Break-Up which contained way too much yelling for the mood I was in.
• Woke early Saturday to head up the hill and do 5 loads of laundry.
• Learned what a London Fog is at Peet's Coffee & Tea when ordering my own "regular" drink.
• Sat at the corner table by the window and watched the world go by while my clothes tumbled around next door.
• Ran home long enough to put my laundry away and hook up with Don to run to errands including Fred Meyer and Home Depot.
• Spent the afternoon cooking and drinking beer with Don.
• Packed up the corned beef and Irish soda bread we had prepared and headed to our "Cooking with Bacchus" evening.
• Felt like a bum when I stayed in bed until after 9 on Sunday morning only to feel worse when I realized that thanks to daylight savings time it was after 10.
• Bitched while I walked through the house changing the time on all the clocks, electronics etc. I hate the whole daylight savings bit.
• Felt the full effect of the writers strike when I realized that except for a couple of shows I am archiving my TiVo is empty.
• Headed to Don's in the late afternoon Sunday to hang for a bit while he prepared dinner for us of grilled orange chicken and baked potatoes.
• Speaking of Don he has become quite the baker of late. Shortly after my arrival yesterday he pulled a cake out of the oven. It's the third cake (that I'm aware of) that he has baked this year. I don't mind his baking AT ALL and hope that it continues!
• Tossed and turned thanks to the time change and/or a late nap and/or god only knows what, and ended up with only about 4 hours of sleep which has left me a bit wiped today.

How was your weekend?

Spring is on the trees

The trees in Queen Anne are beginning to bloom, in a few days they will be magnificent!

Plastic Laundry

New banner hanging atop the Queen Anne Laundry Room.

My Spoon is Too Big!

This is dedicated to my brothers Dave and Jimmy, cause we all need a laugh today! :-)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Enjoyed a 3-day weekend trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon with Don this weekend. Some of the highlights:

• Woke early on Friday morning to finish packing and organizing so that we could leave between 9 and 10 as planned. Don and I were sending text messages back and forth to ensure that we didn't forget anything and I nearly fell over when I received a message saying that he wasn't bringing his laptop. I hadn't packed mine yet (but had been planning to take it) and was intrigued by the idea of having an "unplugged" weekend and that is exactly what we did.
  
• Enjoyed a easy drive (of course if was easy for me, I wasn't driving) south to Oregon.
• Stopped for a small lunch and a beer at Rogue Ales Public House in Astoria.
• Got settled in our beautiful room on the beach in Cannon Beach.
• Had dinner with our friends Nikki and Matt at Bigfoot's Pub and Grub in Seaside.
• Enjoyed a part rainy, part sunny stroll on the beach to have lunch at Mo's where we enjoyed sourdough bread bowls filled with Clam Chowder and Mo's own Half-e-weizen.
• Relaxed and enjoyed a sunny afternoon, followed by a spectacular sunset complete with snacks and wine.
• Had a fabulous dinner at the Wayfarer Restaurant.
• Slept in and then packed up and left the room just before check-out time and headed to the Pig N Pancake to indulge in some much needed carbs and protein.
• Took in the scenery on the ride home to Seattle (once again, spoiled cause I didn't have to drive!)
• Arrived home to empty kitchens/fridges, so we ran to get a few essentials at the store shortly after arriving home.
• "Plugged in" my laptop to check my email, RSS Feeds etc and realized that I didn't miss anything earth shattering.
  
• Relaxed the evening away, all the while remembering the beach and the fabulous weekend, trying to forget that the "real world" would be back in full-force today.

I took tons of pictures but haven't finished sorting through and uploading them yet, but am hoping to do so tonight, I'll keep you posted.

Three!

I admit that I am way to into dates/anniversaries and milestones. With that said, I thought I would share my joy about *3* with you.

This past was week filled by 3rd anniversaries for me. Monday (February 25th) marked 3 years since the day Mom and I pulled into Seattle in a U-Haul truck. Wednesday (February 28th) marked 3 years at my job. And Saturday (March 1st) marked the third year anniversary of moving into the apartment that I still call home. I realize in the grand scheme of things that 3 years isn't an eternity. But with my track record - 3 years is a big deal!

Seattle now hold 3rd place position for the place I have lived longest (see graph below). My hometown (Salt Lake City) holds the top spot followed by my college hometown (Corvallis, Oregon). I spend the bulk of my late twenties bouncing around from place to place, all the while thinking that each place was *perfect* and *my true home* only to realize a few months into each that it wasn't a perfect fit.

I had the usual adjustments when I first moved to Seattle - finding new doctors, drive to places the day/night before to ensure I didn't get lost, finding new favorite restaurants and hang-outs - but I have had an amazing sense of home in Seattle since the moment I arrived.

Happy Anniversary Seattle! I love calling you *home!* :-)

Breakfast View

Breakfast at the Pig N Pancake in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Beautiful Sunset

The perfect end to a perfect day in Cannon Beach with Don.