Weekend Wrap-Up: 9/18 - 9/20

It was a wicked weekend, here are the highlights:

• Came home to a clean house (thanks to the cleaning lady) on Thursday!
• Had a relaxing evening and watched the premier of Bones.
• Woke early Friday.
• Pleased that the DirecTV guy showed up and resolved all the issues I was having. I thought it was a broken box, but the receiver in the satellite needed to be replaced.
• Set up both TiVo boxes for the new Fall TV season.
• Watched That Thing You Do! and part of Erin Brockovich.
• Ran to the office to handle a couple of urgent issues.
• Quizzed Kat on Cisco cards while Don made us spaghetti for dinner.
• Met my friend Barb at Bay Cafe for a early breakfast on Saturday morning.
• Ran some errands including stops at Costco and Safeway.
• Picked up a couple growlers of Ruby at McMenamins.
• Watched the Utah vs. Oregon football game and was sad the Utes lost.
• Watched the Oregon State vs. Cincinnati football game and was sad again.
• Moved my iTunes library (with instruction and guidance from Don) from a crappy Western Digital My Book to a new Seagate portable disk drive.
• Made a comfort food classic for dinner while Don cleaned up errors in my iTunes library.
• Slept in on Sunday until 8:30 a.m. :-)
• Had a long overdue catch up phone call with my little brother Jimmy.
• Walked down to Citizen and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast.
• Caught up with Lani (one of my Habitat for Humanity friends) while painting my nails.
• Enjoyed an late lunch/early dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Don and Kat.
• Walked up to the Paramount Theatre to see Wicked, which I LOVED!
• Got home in time to crawl into bed and quickly sleep before starting another week.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up - 8/7 - 8/9

My first full weekend back in Seattle and it was low-key and relaxing, just what I needed:

• Slept in on Friday morning.
• Took a shower, got dressed.
• Took a nap.
• Caught up on a couple TV shows that my TiVo picked up while I was away.
• Took a nap. (Yes that is 2 naps in the same day!)
• Watched New In Town.
• Did 6 loads of laundry.
• Successful trip to Bed Bath and Beyond for a new mattress pad, new laundry bags, new wash cloths, new hair drying towels and new air freshener refills.
• Assimilated all my new treasure into the house and organized a bit.
• Walked through Trader Joe's and picked up whatever looked good for snacking while sailing.
• Went sailing on the Puget Sound with friends.
• Watched It Had to Be You.
• Slept in again on Sunday morning (didn't stir until 9ish, unheard of).
• Enjoyed some coffee from Kauai.
• Chatted and caught up with a few family members on the phone.
• Got my ass kicked by Kat while playing cards.
• Enjoyed a wonderful dinner on the deck at Bell Street Diner.
• Tried to watch Rachel Getting Married but the disc from NetFlix wouldn't work.

Was that really 3 days? It went by WAY too quickly. How was your weekend?

Thanksgiving in Utah - the wrap-up

This post has been sitting in my "draft" box for over a month now. I didn't think it was a good idea to post it at the time I wrote it since I was very angry, hurt, upset, disappointed. However, a month has passed and I still feel angry, hurt, upset, disappointed so that is likely not going to change and I figure that I neglected my blog long enough and its time to POST THE DAMN THING.

So without further ado... My Thanksgiving, in bullet points. Warning: family drama ahead.

I spent Thanksgiving in Utah with my family. I haven't been home for a holiday since moving to Seattle in February 2005 and now I remember why. It was busy, crazy and TONS of work. I was looking forward to spending time with my siblings and step-siblings which turned out to be a disastrous combination. I learned that the things I appreciate in a holiday celebration are not things that my family does well. I love them, but drama free family gatherings just aren't our thing. Here are the highlights:

• I had dinner at Dave & Kristen's prior to leaving so I could pick up some things that they wanted taken in the car.
• The cutest nephew in the world taught me all about the Wonder Pets.
• I learned how to put chains on my tires.
• Packed and got ready for the drive.
• Picked up my first Egg Nog Latte of the season in Ellensburg, Washington en route to Salt Lake City.
• Made the drive in 12 hours and 40 minutes, which isn't bad considering that my stops had to include potty time for Barney.
• Met with clients at 2 hospitals in the Salt Lake Valley and uploaded the latest software in their machines.
• Had lunch with my Dad at Mimi's Cafe.
• Met my Mom at Harmon's to pick up some random items for the Thanksgiving feast.
• Enjoyed a quiet dinner with Mom, Rick and Jimmy.
• Helped Mom with the grocery list for the big shopping trip.
• Drank beer and ate lunch with my Mom and step-Dad at Red Rock prior to the trip to the airport to pick up the family.
• Got in a fight via cell phone with my brother Dave who was, in my opinion, being a stubborn ass.
• Made up with Dave later in the evening.
• Loved having story time with the cutest nephew in the world.
• Wore "Fuck Cancer" t-shirts (Mom and I) on Wednesday while cooking because that sums up our feelings on the subject and it was the 6-year anniversary of the end of chemo for me. (We took pictures which I promise to post.)
• Went with "the girls" to have pedicures.
• Made the decision to paint my toenails orange in honor of the OSU Beavers.
• Cooked and cooked and cooked and when that was done, we cooked some more.
  
• Found out that I am a "bitch" for making my dog behave. Siblings can be so helpful for personal insights.
  
• Ate Chinese food at the "kids table" on the night before Thanksgiving thoroughly enjoyed my nephew Gabe, who is a crack-up and a bit obsessed with Bruce Banner.
• Collapsed into bed, completely exhausted.
  
• Bravely opened 2 packages of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls.
• Watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with the cutest nephew in the world. I think I made him a forever parade fan.
• Stuffed the turkey and got it roasting.
• Cooked and cooked and cooked so more.
• Found out that I was a "bitch" yet again for trying to get everything on the table at the same time.
• Taught my step-Dad's cousin how to make Crescent rolls. I thought they were "self-explanatory," apparently I was wrong.
• Finally sat down at 10:00 p.m. when my Cuz (Karri) and BFF Jenna came over for pie and some girl time.
  
• Bravely opened more packages of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls.
• Celebrated my Mom's 63rd birthday with her by shopping and running errands.
• Enjoyed catching up with friends and many of my Salt Lake P.E.O. sisters at the open-house in honor of my Mom's birthday.
• Cleaned up from the party with the help of Jenna.
• Packed the car, again with more help from Jenna. Why she puts up with my family drama after all these year, I'll never know.
  
• Fell into bed, again totally exhausted and tried to sleep but only managed to get 3 hours in.
• Left Salt Lake super early so that I could be home in time for the Civil War game.
• Arrived home in Seattle exhausted, but so happy to be home.
• Watching the Civil War game with Don and ate the yummy dinner he had made.
• Yelled at my father after his "thanks for including us but we won't ever come again" call.
  
• Proclaimed that I will never again paint my toe nails orange as it clearly didn't help the Beavs.
• Slept in my own bed and got 12 hours of wonderful sleep.
  
• Spend Sunday organizing, unpacking and finishing up the Christmas decorating.
• Spent the next week or so trying to recover from the emotional, physical and mental exhaustion of the trip.

My Mom was thrilled to have the whole family home for a big holiday and she had a ball despite the drama. I don't know how she does it. She thrives on chaos, it exhausts me. Hope your holiday was filled with a bit less drama than mine.

Weekend Wrap Up - 11/14 - 11/16

My poor blog has been so neglected of late. I could give you the army of excuses, but I won't. I've just been introspective and haven't felt much like posting. I'm finally dusting off the draft folder and getting a bunch of these posts up so that I'm caught up. Here is the wrap-up for the weekend 11/14 - 11/16:

• Accompanied my friend Suzie to UW Medical Center for surgery on her hand.
• Listened to lots of little beeps for my annual hearing test.
• Spent more time in the waiting room for Suzie to come out of surgery.
• Listened to all the instructions and took Suzie home to rest.
• Played pool and drank beer with Don at Rock Bottom Brewery.
• Ran some much needed errands to Safeway and Pet's Mart.
• Picked up a coat for Barney to keep him warm and dry.
• Had dinner at Kipp's.
• Ironed and got myself ready for the week ahead.

Exciting life I lead, I know.

Weekend Wrap-Up

The weather was absolutely perfect this weekend in Seattle, I hope it stays like this for a few more weekends. Hey, I can wish! The highlights:

• Attended to a few medical appointments on Friday morning. I love having Friday's off, I take my time with appointments and I'm not always thinking about rushing back to work, it's lovely.
• Had lunch with a friend at Buckley's.
• Relaxed and enjoyed a quiet evening at home.
• Watched Stand Up To Cancer and found it informative and much less annoying that most fundraising programs.
• Slept in a bit on Saturday morning.
• Completed a bunch of household chores and projects around the house.
• Watched the beginning of the Oregon State vs. Penn State football game until it was just too painful to watch anymore.
• Enjoyed the sun, big boats, yummy food and good wine with Don at Bell Street Diner on Saturday evening.
• Discovered that BYU fans are even more annoying outside the state of Utah. GO UTES!
• Had a perfect Sunday morning complete with pj's, coffee, TV news/politics, cinnamon rolls.
• Watched Separate Lies and Three to Tango, both recorded as suggestions by my TiVo. The fall TV schedule can't start soon enough.
• Did the grocery shopping for the week and it all fit in 2 reusable bags but the one was so stuffed I could barely get it out of the cart, let alone up 3 flights of stairs.
• Read and relaxed while making dinner.
• Crawled in bed amazed that the weekend was over already.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a busy and productive weekend, here are the highlights:

• Got an early start to the weekend with an early dismissal from work at the conclusion of our annual Summer Picnic on Thursday. I was chair of the picnic again this year so by the end I was cold, muddy and exhausted but glad it was a success.
• Ran home long enough to shower and change into clean clothes and then went to pick up my new dog, Barney. Snapped this pic moments after picking him up.
  
• Headed back home to get Barney settled in and fed and then we were off to my friend Kipp's for dinner along with Barney and Kayla (Kipp's dog) play-time.
• Woke early Friday morning (one of the benefits of dog ownership) and enjoyed a bit of lazy time around the house.
• Ran to Costco, Pet's Mart and Safeway to pick up dog supplies and other items I needed.
• Read my book while waiting in line at the ferry from Fauntleroy to Southworth.
• Loved watching John (the cutest nephew in the world) follow Barney around their yard. They were instant buddies.
• Enjoyed a fun evening and yummy dinner at Kristen and Dave's.
• Completed the usual Saturday morning laundry bit but this time with Barney in tow. He loved meeting all the people and dogs atop the hill.
• Ran to Fred Meyer to pick up some more household stuff including a shelving unit for my utility closet.
• Cleaned everything out of the utility closet, set up the shelves and reorganized it. The before can be seen here, the after seen here.
• Cleaned the rest of the apartment while Barney slept in the sunshine on the deck.
• Decided not to cook the dinner and ordered a pizza. Watched some Olympic coverage and relaxed with Barney on the couch.
• Took Barney to the off-leash area at Golden Gardens on Sunday morning so that he could sniff and play with other doggie friends.
• Made another trip to Pet's Smart (to make an exchange) and a quick stop at Target and then we were home for the rest of the day just in time for the rain to start.
• Relaxed the afternoon away by watching the Olympics and taking a nap with on the couch.
• Grilled up some pork chops and fresh veggies (including tomatoes from my garden) for dinner while Don and Barney got acquainted with each other.
• Enjoyed a good bottle of wine and dinner on the deck in the rain.

Quite the whirlwind. How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up Catch-Up

Wow! Time flies. I'm 2 weeks behind in my weekend posts so here are the past 2 weekends condensed into one entry. Enjoy!

April 4- 6

• Loitered for 40 minutes at the Alaska Airlines counter where it took 8 employees to check me in for my flight from Burbank to Seattle. The silver lining was the 1st class upgrade that for my trouble.
• Enjoyed quite a few glasses of wine on the flight back to Seattle, perfect to alter my thinking away from all things L.A.
• Dined at Bell Street Diner with Don after he picked me up from the airport.
• Happy to be back in my own bed and enjoyed a FABULOUS night of sleep.
• Started the day Saturday with laundry and coffee which has become our usual but I'm not sure I ever completely woke up from my sleep/home induced fog.
• Took a lovely nap.
• Made clam dip, ordered Chinese food and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark with Kat on Saturday evening.
• Organized, cleaned and enjoyed a day to myself at home. I don't mind traveling for work but I love being home.

April 11 - 13

• Played pool with Don at Rock Bottom on Friday night. I had spent two weeks basking in the glory of my recent win but went down in a ball of fire with only 1 win to his *too numerous to count* wins.
• Stopped for coffee on our way to Bothell to pick up Kat and have breakfast at Maltby Cafe.
• Ran errands in the Woodinville/Bellevue area.
• Traveled *around the pond* to Dave and Kristen's house in Port Orchard for John's (the cutest nephew in the world) 2nd birthday celebration. I took tons of pictures which I haven't had time to upload from the camera. Party was fun but overwhelming and when I found myself wiping frosting off some random child because his own mother hadn't bothered to notice, it was time to go.
• Enjoyed an appetizer and a few drinks at Silver City Restaurant & Brewery before heading back to the Seattle via the Kingston-Edmonds ferry and Bothell to drop Kat off at home which turned out to be only a few hours after her normal bed time.
• Unwound with Don and a cup of coffee at Cheesecake Factory in Bellevue.
• Enjoyed a day at home on Sunday. When I climbed into bed that night I realized that I didn't speak to another person all day which initially I thought was odd and then realized that it was just what I needed.

How was your weekend(s)?