Weekend Wrap-up

It was a busy one, the highlights:

• Toasted the completion of the work week with Margaritas on Friday night.
• Soaked up the sunshine and enjoyed the creative works of others at the Edmonds Arts Festival.
• Soaked up more sunshine and had a lake front meal with Kat at The Beach Cafe.
• Laundry, laundry, laundry!
• Drank some good and some not-so-good beers at the Washington Brewers Fest on Sunday.
• Finally took care of my Cooper River Salmon craving with dinner at Bell Street Diner.
• Watched the Tony Awards. This was the highlight for me.
  

How was your weekend?

The Case of the Missing iPod

Last Monday I arrived at work and in my typical fashion I reached in my purse to grab my iPod so that I could plug it into my little speaker set and enjoy music in my office. But alas, there was no iPod in my purse. I removed everything else from my purse, no iPod. I assumed that I had left it on the little table in the entryway where I put my purse at night but when I returned home on Monday night it wasn't there. I looked in the usual places (atop the stereo, on my desk) and couldn't find it, so I assumed that it had fallen out of my purse and hence the long, painful search began.

The last time I remembered having it was on Friday evening. When I picked Don up at work it was plugged into the FM radio transmitter in my car. When we arrived at Yarrow Bay Grill I unplugged it and put it in my purse. Since my purse spent a great deal of time in both my car and Don's car over the weekend, I thought perhaps the iPod had slipped out at some point when it wasn't zipped up. So on Tuesday morning prior to heading to work I searched my car and NOTHING. I shot off an email to Don asking him to check his car and again, NOTHING.

I was now beginning to believe that it may be gone.

Tuesday night I searched my entire house. I had set my purse on my bed at one point over the weekend so I took all the sheets off the bed and searched, nothing. It has been in the kitchen, so I searched there and again, NOTHING. I had been working on the deck and thought that I perhaps set it on the arm of the couch since I had thought about plugging it into the stereo and never did and you guessed it.... NOTHING! UGH!

By Wednesday I was sure that it had fallen out of my purse at one of the places that we visited last weekend. So I began calling to inquire about it. I called Yarrow Bay Grill, Maltby Cafe, Bell Street Diner and Silver City Brewing. NOTHING.

Then it occurred to me that there was no identification or contact information on it. So even if an honest person had found it and wanted to return it they couldn't. Damn!

On Thursday I felt that I had exhausted all possible resources to finding it and began to accept the fact that it was gone forever. Work days were longer without it, my office was painfully quiet. Home life wasn't the same without it and I actually had to use CD's in the stereo. I have all the music on my laptop in iTunes so I wasn't sad about losing music just the method of being able to have all my favorite songs in the palm of my hand. Sure I could buy another one but I didn't want to, I wanted mine back.

Saturday and Sunday were sunny and busy and I had accepted the idea that my beloved iPod was never coming home again. I spent some time on the website looking at the newer options in the iPod world and thought that I would likely replace it in the coming week.

Then yesterday afternoon Don and I were at Rock Bottom playing pool and drinking some beer. Don was on-call for the weekend and had just received a call so we were quickly winding things up so that we could head home and he could handle the problem that had come up. I reached in my purse to get my "card wallet" (the wallet that I keep all the bonus, membership, point, punch cards for various retail establishments) and get the Rock Bottom Mug Club card out. My purse was stuffed since in additional all the regular stuff I also had my digital camera in there. I removed my wallet to give myself more space and reached to the bottom in search of the card wallet and felt something with a velvety texture. Could it be? I grabbed it and pulled it out and it was my iPOD! Oh happy day! Had it really been in my purse all this time? Unbelievable.

When Don returned from the bathroom he couldn't believe it. He thinks that I didn't really check my purse well. I swear that I did. I took everything out and actually shook it upside down. Upon arriving at home I plugged it into the stereo and enjoyed my tunes again. I'm so glad it has come home to me (even if it never really left).

I think instead of buying a new iPod that I need a new purse. One that is big enough for everything and has a zipper that will close when it's packed with stuff.

Sun Slippin Away

The sun is slipping lower and lower in the sky. Soon it will be gone and this beautiful day will be over. :-(

Weekend Wrap-Up

Seattle was the place to be last weekend as the weather was unbelievable. The highlights for me included:

• Left the office early on Friday thanks to my long hours earlier in the week to run a few errands and soak up some rare Seattle sunshine.
• Picked Don up from work and headed over the Beach Cafe at Yarrow Bay Grill for alfresco happy hour which turned into dinner. It was sunny and in the 70's which made for a perfect sunset.
• Enjoyed breakfast at the Maltby Cafe with Kat and Don.
• Arrived at Flower World just a few minutes before they opened to find a line waiting at the gate to the property. Flower World a.k.a. Plant World (the mind of Jewells is a complex thing) was everything I expected and more! We got everything on the list and saw amazing plants, flowers, trees, ponds, fountains and fish, I can't wait to go back.
• Made a quick stop by Home Depot to pick up potting soil and then headed back to Seattle to initiate the "playing in the dirt."
• Started potting 94 flowers/herbs/veggies in 17 pots in 90 degree heat.
• Ran back to Home Depot in the midst of the planting for a few forgotten items including fans for Don's apartment and more pots.
• Finished potting 94 flowers/herbs/veggies in 17 pots in 90 degree heat (more details about flowers/plants to come in future post).
• Cleaned the deck, wiped down the furniture and watched while Don scrub the grill, apparently my scrubbing skills are inadequate.
• Showered not only to remove the dirt but also to cool down.
• Headed down to the Seattle waterfront to enjoy another alfresco dining experience at Bell Street Diner. Never did we dream that we would get to enjoy the people-watching of teenagers at the prom. Oh joy!
• Woke early on Sunday morning so I drank 3/4 of a pot of coffee while I colored my hair and hung around at home.
• Rode along enjoying the sites while Don drove us to the "boring side of the pond" i.e. the Olympic Peninsula.
• Enjoyed beer and lunch and beer on the patio at Silver City Restaurant and Brewery in Silverdale, WA.
• Dropped off color bowls of flowers at Dave and Kristen's in Port Orchard, WA.
• Drove back around the pond and ended up at Red Mill Burgers where we enjoyed dinner, outdoors, of course.
• Ran by the grocery store and headed home to get ready to face the week ahead.

How was your weekend?

Happy Hour Sunset

The perfect end to a perfect Seattle day.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Delayed due to the holiday weekend, here are the highlights of the weekend:

• Enjoyed happy hour with Don at Ray's Boathouse on Friday evening while watching the clouds block out the sunset and a few boats scoot by.
• Woke with the roosters (actually before the roosters) on Saturday morning to drive north with Don to pick up Kat and have breakfast at Maltby Cafe.
• Picked up a bunch of necessities at Costco.
• Browsed the beers and wines at Malt & Vine in Redmond so that Kat could try some different beers thanks to her "I want to try some fruity beers" proclamation.
• Played pool with Don at Rock Bottom and was pleased that I actually won a few legitimate games.
• Slept until just after 10 on Sunday morning.
• Over indulged at Sunday Brunch with my friend Barb at Salty's on Alki.
• Wandered aimlessly through the grocery store on Sunday afternoon with Don trying to figure out what in the world we wanted for dinner. Finally settled on Chicken Cordon Bleu, Rice Pilaf and green beans.
• Slept in again on Monday, oh I love holiday weekends.
• Took a walk through the neighborhood and enjoyed the gorgeous 50-degree sunny weather a bit.
• Caught up on reading The Alchemist which is the book club selection for the month.
• Unchecked duplicate songs in my iTunes library.
• Enjoyed dinner of Chicken and Rice at Don's, along with some wine, followed by catching up on episodes of Brothers & Sisters.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

Is it Monday already? The weekend was the perfect mix of activity and not. The highlights:

• Enjoyed a night at home alone on Friday night trying to get rid of a headache that had been annoying me since Thursday night. I tried to get to bed early which didn't work out thanks to the crazy wind storm.
• Speaking of weather, I hoped that we would get snow since the weather wonks had predicted it but it never happened.
• Worked for 5-hours on Saturday which helped me finish some of the tasks that have been lingering a bit too long on my to-do list.
• Had my car serviced and specifically asked that they replace my burned out headlight. When they were all done the guy helping me told me that there was nothing wrong with my headlight and so they didn't replace it. Upon getting to my car I immediately checked it out and sure enough, it was working. It hasn't worked in over a month so I was shocked! It stopped working 3 blocks later.
• Watched the 4th quarter of the Seahawks game which was definitely action packed!
  
• Had a yummy dinner with Don at the Hi-Life in Ballard. I ordered the Pumpkin Ravioli which was so good.
• Finished uploading all of the pictures I took during our Disney World vacation last month to Flickr.
• Speaking of Flickr, someone marked one of my pictures as a favorite and I got a my first comment this weekend. :-)
• Completed a bunch of household chores and began the process of un-Christmasing the house.
• Inspired by the cool weather and the fact that my mother was making one, I made Pot Roast for dinner on Sunday that was "STUPID good" according to Don.

How was your weekend?

My perfect cocktail recipe

The Recipe For Julie Anne

3 parts Savvy 2 parts Love 1 part Brilliance Splash of Naughtiness Serve over ice

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

My kind of drinkin

Wine tasting with dinner before the symphony.

Happy Hour Sunset

The perfect sunset and a great way to end the day.

Dream Liquor Cabinet

This is one insane liquor cabinet at The Ram in Kent.

QotD: I'll Have The Usual

Vox Question of the Day - If a waiter stopped by right now to take your order, what cocktail or drink are you having?

Typically it would depend what was "on tap" or not. I am a big fan of the Northwest Microbreweries and like to experiment a bit but always like a Hefeweizen or similar. I'm also a big fan of wine, both red and wine depending on the season and what I am eating.

And depending on my company I have been know to venture into the "harder stuff." When I am handing with Katharine I have been known to drink margaritas or the like and when I am with my friend Suzie, I always drink Long Island Ice Teas. Yes, they are both horrible influences on me. ;-)


Originally posted on my Vox site. Full post moved here September 7, 2010 in anticipation of Vox's closing.

Triumphant Day!

On October 27, 2006 I made a bet with a colleague. Today is 1/31/07 and marks the end of the bet.

It was a busy and hectic Friday afternoon following a busy and hectic morning. I was emailing back and forth with a colleague about a frustrating situation with another colleague. I had assessed the situation and drawn my own conclusion and was solid in my conclusion yet she continued to encourage me to reevaluate the situation and hope for "lemonade." I have not always been the best judge of character but I come from a family of people that are very good at it. I tend to be a bit wishy-washy when making judgement calls on another persons character because I always want to see *the best* in others. I don't know why I was so convicted about this situation but I wasn't the least bit wishy-washy. I was incredibly convinced that I was right so when she presented the following challenge, I was in!

"So this is what happens in my life: I assess people slowly, giving benefit of the doubt for a long time. Other people assess those same people very quickly (you and my daughter), and while I think there's a rush to judgment, lo and behold, the great majority of the time, you/they are right. With that said, loser pays for the drinks. Let's see who is right on 1/30/07, and if I'm wrong, I buy yours and vice versa."

So today is judgement day, 1/30/07, and I was right. I have won the bet and in just 2 1/2 short hours I will be enjoying drinks and appetizers while I gloat a bit. :-)

The unfortunate thing about the situation is that I would be much happier at work had I lost this bet.

The Perfect Way to end a long week

Friday night Cosmo's with my girlfriend Heather.