Morning News Woes

I like to watch to have the news while getting ready for work in morning.  They repeat the stories, weather and traffic often enough that even thought I'm out of the room for large portions on the broadcast I still get the general gist of what is going on in the world and what to expect as I venture out into it.

When I first moved to Seattle in 2005 I started watching KOMO 4 Morning News.  Shortly after I got accustomed to the newscast they made some changes that drove me crazy.  The weather was reported by Jim Castillo who drove me crazy with his beady little eyes (photo here).  The anchor for the news was Natasha Curry who has a freakishly large forehead that I found it visually distracting so early in the morning (photo here).  So after I complaining about it for a few months, I finally switched from KOMO to KING 5 Morning News.

The vibe of the KING newscast was extremely pleasant.  Brad Goode, Joyce Taylor and Rich Marriott are very comfortable with one another and very professional.  I was happy to "wake up" with them everyday for several years.  All that changed in January 2010 when they added Tracy Taylor as the traffic reporter.  From the very beginning she drove me crazy but I didn't want to be too quick to judge so I pledged to tough it out until the vibe returned to normal.

By December it was clear that my annoyance level was getting a bit out of control when I caught myself making faces and yelling at the television early one morning.  I feared that if I didn't make a change I would be throwing things at the television soon.  It still took 2 more weeks to officially make the change, I think I was still hoping that I wouldn't have to do it.

In mid-December I switched back to KOMO 4 Morning News.  It has been 3 weeks and all is well.  I've found my new morning news!  Mike Dardis, Molly Shen, Paul Deanno and Rachelle Murcia help me start the day informed and not at all annoyed.  Because of my sensitivity to the traffic difficulties on KING I've been the most critical of Rachelle Murcia who reports the traffic but she does it in an effective and professional manner, it is just delightful.

Let's hope this change lasts for a while!

Weekend Wrap-Up: 9/25 - 9/27 & 10/2 - 10/4

Its a super-sized edition of the Weekend Wrap-Up with the highlights of the last 2 weekends. Enjoy!

9/25 - 9-27:

• Woke and dressed in profession wear and head to Ballard to pick up Kathleen on Friday morning.
• Had a good time mingling with sisters from other chapters at the Seattle Area P.E.O. Reciprocity meeting.
• Had a lovely al fresco lunch with Kathleen at Sonrisa at U Village.
• Dropped off Kathleen and headed home.
• Processed about several winter squash and a bunch of yellow squash for the freezer.
• Caught up on episodes of my favorite TV shows.
• Did Laundry.
• Enjoyed breakfast at the Queen Anne Cafe where I proclaimed that I am DONE with breakfast potatoes.
• Ran errands.
• Processed the other half of the winter squash and several large zucchini for the freezer (in total I processed 98 pounds of vegetables).
• Slept in WAY longer than usual on Sunday morning. Yay!
• Enjoyed a quiet day at home with household chores on Sunday.
• Quizzed Kat on Cisco flashcards while Don made dinner.

10/2 - 10/4:

• Got my second mammogram of the year, all is well and I'm off the hook until 2010.
• Took a nap when my afternoon plans fizzled.
• Enjoyed a relaxing evening a home catching up with the TiVo.
• Got my flu shot.
• Enjoyed breakfast at The Original Pancake House with Don and Kat.
• Picked up some new jeans at Catherine's.
• Got ready for the cooler weather by getting new long sleeve tees and a sweater at JC Penney.
• Went to Office Max twice trying to buy toner for my printer. Note to self: write down the model number next time.
• Celebrated a milestone for my associate and friend Amy with drinks at Elysian Fields, taking the *adult* version of the Seattle Underground Tour and having a late dinner at Mama's Mexican Kitchen.
• Enjoyed a quiet Sunday at home with lots of household chores.

How was your weekend?

Thursday Funny - Shake Weight

I saw this on Ellen and was laughing so hard that I had to share. Enjoy!

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: 9/4 - 9/7 and 9/11 - 9/13

It's a 2-for-1 bonus edition of the Weekend Wrap-Up. Enjoy!

Labor Day weekend was a 4-day weekend for me! Here are the highlights:

• Picked up some fresh veggies at the Queen Anne Farmers Market on Thursday after work.
• Enjoyed a quiet morning at home on Friday.
• Met Suz for lunch at Buckley's.
• Got a manicure and pedicure.
• Quizzed Kat in preparation for her Cisco certification test.
• Enjoyed hamburgers, tater tots and corn on the cob prepped by Don.
• Packed up the ingredients, tools needed for our overnight Cooking Club adventure at Kipp's cabin on Lake Wenatchee.
• Had my first Pumpkin Spice latte of the season!
• Enjoyed the ride to the cabin catching up with friends, Jana and Neil, thanks to Don's driving. :-)
• Had a relaxing afternoon settling in at the cabin and enjoying the outdoors when it wasn't raining.
• Prepped and cooking and laughed and sipped at wine until the feast was ready.
• Enjoyed a wonderful dinner, one for the cooking club hall of fame, for sure!
• Played a men vs. women game of Trivial Pursuit (80's, 90's and Pop Culture edition) and the women won!
• Had a leisurely morning with coffee, breakfast and good friends.
• Stopped by Plain Hardware so Kipp could get his propane tank refilled.
• Sipped some wine at the Eagle Creek Winery.
• Had lunch at South in Leavenworth, WA.
• Picked up some squash (approx. 40 pounds) at Smallwood's Harvest.
• Arrived back in Seattle just before nightfall.
• Had breakfast with Kat and Don at The Bay Cafe.
• Attempted to shop at Fred Meyer among the chaos their remodeling project.
• More quizzing of Kat on the Cisco flashcards.
• Dined on Tamale Dish that Don had prepared. YUM!
• Retired early in prep for the week ahead amazed that 4 days had whizzed by.

It was a really busy and very fast weekend, here are the highlights:

• Made and GIANT pot of spaghetti sauce with tomatoes from my garden on Thursday night.
• Worked from home on Friday.
• Waited for the DirecTV repair guy who never showed up.
• Called and yelled at DirecTV and rescheduled for Sunday afternoon.
• Made a big pan Lasagna.
• Packaged up 12 quarts of spaghetti sauce for the freezer.
• Quizzed Kat in prep for her Cisco certification test while Don a salad and garlic bread to go with the lasagna.
• Woke WAY too early on a Saturday morning to attend a local trade show.
• Enjoyed connecting with some of my favorite customer and vendor friends.
• Laundry.
• Did the grocery shopping for the week.
• Walked down to the neighborhood McMenamins and enjoyed some beer and dinner with Don.
• Slept in until 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, which in my world is rare occurrence.
• Enjoyed a cup of coffee from my new french press which I've finally mastered.
• Made some eggs and had a lazy morning.
• Spent the afternoon in the kitchen making 24 stuffed peppers for the freezer while waiting for the DirecTV guy only to discover that they had come on Saturday, a mistake by DirecTV in the scheduling.
• Talked to 5 people at DirecTV until I got a discount on my bill for the next six months and scheduled yet another appointment for the technician to repairs.
• Baked Banana Bread to bring to the office.
• Cleaned up the kitchen which was a disaster following the major cooking projects of the weekend.

What a whirlwind! 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?

Fantasy Island Falls

Wailua Falls made famous by the opening credits of the tv show Fantasy Island.

Thursday Funny - Jon and Kate Match.com videos

A double whammy today. Enjoy!

Match.com-Jon Gosselin - watch more funny videos

Kate Gosselin Match.com Profile Video - watch more funny videos

Christmas Movie Review

I have had an unending love affair with cheesy Christmas movies since I was a child. It began with classics like Miracle on 34th Street and White Christmas which I remember watching as a child and loving every minute of. The mix of sentiment and holiday cheer left me with a gooey feeling on the inside that I just adored.

Years later I discovered the Christmas movies on Lifetime, ABC Family and Hallmark and would flip on the TV to fill the space of time while setting up the tree, writing out Christmas cards or wrapping presents. But 2 years ago I had my first holiday season with a TiVo and it changed this deep appreciation of Christmas films into a crazy obsession. Now beginning in mid-November I set up "Wish List" searches, set recordings for my favorite titles, rearrange my NetFlix queue so that I only receive holiday films and read up on the "new" premier films. All this so that I can spend every spare moment from mid-November through early January overdosing on sappy Christmas movies, it is an addiction, I'm well aware.

During the 2008 Christmas season I watched 51 movies. And yes I am aware that 51 is A LOT of movies. With the urging and teasing of Don and Kat I made a list of the movies I watched and rating them on a 1 to 4 star scale, 4 being the best. I typed it up and then forgot it as this post has been sitting in my draft folder a really, really, really, really, really long time. It was complete with the exception of links and comments so I added those and decided that today is the perfect day to post it since Christmas is five months from today. They are listed in alphabetical order with links to applicable IMDB pages. Enjoy!

All I Want for Christmas (2007) **** Story is really only 3-star worthy but I loved the character, Ben, portrayed by Robert Mailhouse. Am I the only one who thinks he is adorable?

All I Want for Christmas (1991) ** I don't recall seeing this when it came out, now I know why.

All She Wants for Christmas *** Cute story but Monica Keena is just annoying.

Angel in the Family ** They implied that there were tons of deep seeded family issues but they could all miraculously be fixed in one day with their "angel" mother, I didn't buy it.

Boyfriend for Christmas, A **** Adorable!

Carol Christmas, A * Exactly how many twists can be made on Charles Dickens wonderful tale, ugh! And Tori Spelling was horrible.

Christmas Box, The ** I LOVED this book and hated the movie, all the magic of the book was lost when it was converted to a screenplay. Richard Thomas is overrated and didn't portray the role well.

Christmas Caper ** Saw this when it premiered last year and thought it was okay but Shannen Doherty isn't one of my favorite people and it bugged me this year.

Christmas Card, The *** Great story but Alice Evans (who stars in the lead role) has a weird lisp and it drove me NUTS the entire time I was watching the movie.

Christmas Choir, The **** Very touching especially when you learn that its based on a true story.

Christmas List, The **** This is the epitome of a cheesy Christmas movie for me, I've watched it every year for as long as I can remember.

Christmas Secret, The ** Story dragged on and on and once again with Richard Thomas in the mix to ruin it all.

Christmas Shoes, The *** A perfect example of why a 3-minute song shouldn't be turned into a 2-hour movie. Only redeeming factor was the cast as I love Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Rob Lowe.

Christmas Wedding, A *** Sappy Christmas romance, but it dragged a bit.

Christmas in Boston **** Cute!

Christmas with the Kranks * HORRIBLE!

Different Kind of Christmas, A *** Cute, but probably won't watch it again.

Diva’s Christmas Carol, A ** Enough with the twists on A Christmas Carol. Ugh!

Elf ** Actually liked it better the first time I saw it. This year I didn't find it funny at all.

Eve’s Christmas **** Cute!

His and Her Christmas ***I kept falling asleep during this one which I don't think was because of the film but rather the time of day I was choosing to watch it, right before bed.

Holiday Affair (1996) **** Cute. I just realized that its a remake of a 1949 film with Janet Leigh, I'll have to check that one out next year.

Holiday in Handcuffs *** It was better the first time around, but still entertaining this year.

Holiday to Remember, A *** I hereby declare that Randy Travis shouldn't make any more movies.

Home by Christmas *** I've seen this one before and always find it moving.

Home for the Holidays ** Yawn!

Its a Wonderful Life ***** The quintessential holiday classic and my favorite holiday movie by a long shot.

Lost Holiday: The Jim and Suzanne Shemwell Story ** Nothing says happy holidays like watching a couple get lost in the woods and then scream and yell at each other for a week.

Man Who Saved Christmas, The **** Based on the true story of the inventor of the Erector Set.

Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas **** It's Mickey Mouse, what is not to love about Mickey.

Moonlight and Mistletoe **** New this year, I liked it but wonder if it will retain the 4-star rating in the future.

Most Wonderful Time of the Year, The **** Loved Henry Winkler's performance, he cracked me up.

Ms Scrooge ** Again with the Christmas Carol remakes, ugh!

Polar Express, The ** I loved this book but the movie is just creepy and LONG.

Recipe for a Perfect Christmas **** Cute!

Road to Christmas *** Cute, but a little on the slow side.

Santa Baby *** I used to find Jenny McCarthy annoying but in the last decade she has transformed herself from Playboy/MTV bimbo into a kind and loving advocate and mother and now I adore her.

Santa Jr. ** Trying a little too hard.

Season for Miracles, A **** One of my favorites as it has the perfect mix of intrigue, magic and love to give you chills and bring a tear to your eye.

Silver Bells **** Cast leaves a bit to be desired but the story has that typical holiday sentiment that I adore.

Snow *** Tom Cavanagh is adorable and this is a cute holiday story.

Snow 2: Brain Freeze *** Sequel of the previous film and the "rest of the story" and cute, but lacking a bit of the magic that the first one had.

Snowglobe *** One I could relate to in that struggle between wanting a "perfect Christmas" and just being in the moment, a cute film.

Stealing Christmas **** Tony Danza and Lea Thompson in a "bad guy turned good" Christmas tale, it is holiday gold.

Three Days *** A woman (Kristen Davis) dies but then gets to come back and spend 3 days with her husband. It has been described as "It's a Wonderful Life, Part II" yet I wasn't blown away by it, but I was setting up the tree and chatting while it was one so I really need to give it another chance.

Twelve Days of Christmas Eve, The ** Not funny, only mildly charming and Molly Shannon drove me nuts.

Town Without Christmas, A ** Chuck full of holiday cheese but it just lacked something, not sure what.

Unlikely Angel **** Very predictable and filled with holiday goodness, plus Dolly Parton is adorable.

Very Married Christmas, A *** Movie tagline is "It takes a lifetime of marriage to find your way back to true love" and it is a nice combination of reality, sadness and love.

Very Merry Daughter of the Bride, A **** A new one for 2008 and cute, sure to become a long standing favorite.

White Christmas *** A classic and one that must be watched annually. I own it on DVD now and the quality is amazing.

Weekend Wrap-Up: 1/9 - 1/11

It was a good weekend, here are the highlights:

• Slept in on Friday morning, oh how I love my 3-day weekends.
• Ran to the office to drop of the boxes of files I picked up from the former International Sales Director during our transition meeting on Thursday afternoon.
• Picked up one of the new tea drinks at Starbucks and took Barney on a walk atop Queen Anne hill.
• Walked down to McMenamins for lunch and a pint with a friend.
• Packed up some of the Christmas stuff.
• Smiled as Saturday marked six years cancer free! It was a far less emotional experience than 5 years.
• Met Kat for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory in Bellevue and then some shopping at Bellevue Square and Lincoln Square.
• Picked up a container for my artificial Christmas tree at The Container Store.
• Ran by the grocery store to pick up a few items.
• Took Barney on a long walk in the rain.
• Tried to add HBO to my DirecTV channel lineup but had to pick a new channel package before I could make any changes since I was on a package that no longer existed. I picked the "Choice" Package which is what I had before but now it contains E!, which wasn't in the old lineup. :-)
• Reprogrammed my TiVo's with the new channel lineups and downloaded all the new data.
• Marveled at the number of Christian networks are available for viewing now. I have 11!
• Watched Runaway Bride and Away From Her.
• Slept in a bit on Sunday morning.
• Organized the house and did a bit of ironing.
• Took a trip over to my brother's home in Port Orchard.
• Had a "comfort food" dinner with Don at McMenamins on Sunday evening.
• Packed up a few more Christmas items and then headed off to bed.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm actually posting this on time, that never happens! It was a productive and busy weekend, here are the highlights:

• Took Barney to the vet for his second distemper vaccine.
• Relaxed at home and caught up on the backlog on my TiVo.
• Waiting anxiously for my new cell phone to arrive.
• Played with my new phone for hours. It's so different, but I love it.
• Ran to the grocery store to pick up a few needed items.
• Organized my contacts and synced them to the phone.
• Spent 30 minutes on the phone with Verizon to see why my short code messages aren't coming through and in the end they couldn't figure it out.
• Set the new phone down long enough to get some sleep.
• Deep cleaned the dining room and living room.
• Watered, fertilized and shined the leaves on all my plants.
• Finally watched the second and third Presidential debates. Now I finally understand why everyone was so annoyed by the "Joe the Plumber" references.
• Ran to the grocery store, again.
• Baked a carrot cake from scratch and made Chicken Enchiladas.
• Hosted a birthday party for my friend Christy.
• Stayed up past midnight which is a very rare occurrence for me, man am I getting old.
• Took Barney on a long walk around the Seattle Center and enjoyed the sunshine and fall leaves.
• Deep cleaned my bedroom.
• Organized the magazine holder, I still had magazines from 2005.
• Cleaned the fans (which I have to say is a truly disgusting job) and put them away for the season.
• Got ready for the week ahead.
• Relaxed on the couch and watched Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy before heading to bed.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a rainy and much cooler weekend, you can feel the fall chill in the air. Here are the highlights:

• Started the weekend off with the OSU vs. Utah game on Thursday night at Don's. We made minestrone soup and watched a great game, too bad it didn't end 2 seconds sooner.
• Took Barney to the vet for his distemper vaccine.
• Ran a few errands.
• Completed some household projects and cleaning.
• Enjoyed the cool, rainy evening at home catching up with all the new TV shows my TiVo picked up.
• Woke Saturday morning to NO hot water which left me stuck at home until repairs could be completed to my hot water heater.
• Finally showered. There are Saturdays when I gladly stay in my pj's til noon but its annoying to do so when all you want is to get dressed and start the day.
• Took Barney on a long walk in the rain. He is a *weather wimp* and starts shivering after only a few minutes in the cold.
• Stopped by the grocery store and picked up a few things and then picked up dinner at Teriyaki Bowl.
• Watched License to Wed and a couple horrible Lifetime movies.
• Picked up a cup of coffee at Firehouse Coffee and then walked to Golden Gardens (4 miles roundtrip). I thought Barney was going to give up when we were only halfway done but I gave him some water and he got his second wind.
• Ironed my clothes for the week.
• Baked up some lemon dill chicken for dinner.
• Watched the Amazing Race and went to bed.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a HOT one in Seattle. The highlights:

• Attended to some appointments on Friday morning. The best thing about a 4-day work week is that you have an entire day to schedule appointment and can be leisurely about it.
• Completed many of my household chores while sweating in my 80+ degree apartment on Friday afternoon.
• Enjoyed a quiet evening at home. Watched the Olympics, read and surfed the internet.
• Saturday morning was all about, that's right, Laundry!
• Watched more Olympics, gotta love em, read and relaxed on Saturday afternoon.
• Completed a very successful outing to the Costco Home store in Kirkland. I picked out my new mattress in less than an hour.
• Attended a gathering for friends and alumni of Westminster College at a lovely home in Bellevue.
• Enjoyed a lakeside patio dinner with Don, Kat and Nancy at The Beach Cafe at Yarrow Bay Grill.
• Walked around Fisherman's Terminal on Sunday morning, it was nice and cool on the water.
• Had a yummy breakfast at The Bay Cafe.
• Spent the bulk of Sunday afternoon in my bedroom enjoying the air conditioning while I gave myself a mani/pedi, read, watched old episodes of Gilmore Girls and the Olympics.
• Ventured into the non air conditioned part of the apartment to fix some dinner. Grilling was the only option due to the heat.
• Watched even more Olympic coverage while I ate dinner.

Now it's off to prepare for the week ahead, then bed. How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

It's really hard not to enjoy summer weekends in Seattle, especially 3-day weekends, when the weather is spectacular. The highlights:

• Slept in on Friday morning and enjoyed a leisurely morning at home.
• Cleaned out the drawers in my bathroom. I filled and entire trash bag with outdated hair products and stuff I'll never use again. I don't know how it all fit in there.
• Enjoyed the wonderful afternoon at Seward Park doing some people watching and catching up on my book club reading.
• Watched Dexter (Season 1, Disc 1 & 2) on DVD.
• Played cards and drank beer with Don at Redhook most of the afternoon on Saturday.
• Watched my Sunday morning regular programs and futzed around the house.
• Spent some time taking care of my outdoor pots including cutting back the Forget Me Nots and dead-heading the marigolds, geraniums and portulaca.
• Added another 600+ songs to my iTunes library.
• Watched Charlie Bartlett.

Have 3 days passed already? How was your weekend?

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?

Weekend Wrap-Up

A bit later than usual but it's been a crazy busy Monday thus far. The weekends highlights:

• Raced out of the office Friday afternoon to beat the majority of the traffic headed northbound to join Kat for an early dinner at Outback. It worked as the commute only took a little over an hour complete with 1 work-related stop.
• Tossed and turned Friday night worried about pulling everything together for Saturday night's Fondue Party.
• Woke early Saturday morning (likely a result of the tossing and turning) to organize my grocery list for the 26,476th time and get ready to face the day.
• Had breakfast with Kat at the Queen Anne Cafe.
• Pampered ourselves (Kat & I) with a much needed pedicures.
• Purchased all of the food and gathered all of the *stuff* for the Fondue Party and with Kat's help got everything packed up with time to spare.
• Successfully pulled off the Fondue Party with the assistance of my P.E.O. sisters and a whole lot of wine. Only minor glitch was the damn chocolate fountain which if it continues to make me crazy will be thrown off the Aurora bridge it utter frustration.
• Fell into bed totally exhausted from the business of the day and tossed and turned again, this time thanks to back pain.
• Woke early again on Sunday and laid in bed and watched the movie Little Miss Sunshine.
• Picked up Kat at 9 a.m. and headed to breakfast at the Crystal Creek Cafe where we agreed after a brief discussion that pancakes should never be put on the same plate as the eggs.
• Bought a few essentials (codeword for undergarments/kitchen gadgets) at the Seattle Premium Outlets in Tulalip, WA.
• Made the mistake of going to Radio Shack to purchase an adapter for the Mini SD card in my cell phone. Ended up buying something that will not work in my phone that I have to return. Also had to endure the WORST sales pitch for switching my cell phone from Verizon to Sprint or AT&T (which he is still calling Cingular) in the history of the world. He had to look up the answers to every single technical question that I asked about the phones/plans etc. Yo dude, Rule #1 in sales - Know Your Product!
  
• Watched the first three of the Love Comes Softly movies that my TiVo had picked up on Saturday when Hallmark Channel had a marathon. I liked the movies but as sequels often go the first was my favorite and they went downhill from there, I have 3 more sitting on the TiVo and am still undecided if and when they will be watched.
• Went to bed early to get ready for the week ahead.
  

How was your weekend?

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 morning already? The highlights of the weekend:

• Raced home from the office on Friday to meet Don and head to Happy Hour with my colleague and friend Kipp and several of his friends at McCormick & Schmick's on Lake Union. Happy hour turned into several happy hours with lots of wine and laughter.
• Fell asleep within an hour of arriving at home and slept for 11 hours.
• Found the sweaters that had been left at the Laundromat last weekend.
• Returned a sweater and bought a couple of new sweaters at the Outlet Stores in Tulalip, WA.
• Stopped for lunch at Diamond Knot Alehouse for lunch with Don on the way back from Tulalip. I had a yummy Chicken Cheddar Melt which was cooked at the table on a hot stone.
• Picked out knives to fill the empty holes in my knife block at Macy's as they are having an amazing sale.
• Watched cheesy Hallmark channel movies Daniel's Daughter and The Good Witch from my TiVo.
• Drank coffee and watched my usual Sunday morning favorites Meet The Press and CBS Sunday Morning.
• Ran out to pick up pizza and beer for the Super Bowl.
• Watched the Super Bowl (and the ads) with Kat and Don whilst enjoying clam dip (yummy!), pizza and beer. My favorite ads were the Bridgestone Tire Car vs. Squirrel, Bridgestone Tire Richard Simmons near-miss and the Audi Godfather spoof.
• Attempted to watch Woman of the Year on DVD from NetFlix but only stayed awake while I was sitting up and sipping at a cup of tea.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another weekend has flown by. The highlights:

• Dug through the bowels of my linen closet to find wine carriers to assist with moving Don's wine collection to his new apartment on the 4th floor (in the same building), and then headed over to his place to assist with the moving activities.
• Speaking of the wine carriers - I was amazed at how many had accumulated over the past 3 years, enough for 44 bottles of wine, I can be a pack-rat with the weirdest things sometimes.
• Enjoyed yummy Chinese food between loads up the elevator with Don, Kat and Nancy on Friday evening.
  
• More moving was the order of the day for Saturday. My brother Dave assisted with the heavy stuff, which was so nice.
  
• Took the longest, hottest shower in the history of the world after arriving home from the moving festivities.
• Relaxed on the couch Saturday evening, catching up on my TiVo recordings.
• Woke early Sunday with head congestion and sore legs which resulted in an early morning trip to Bartell Drugs to pick up some decongestants and then back to bed until 10.
• Met a friend for coffee in Ballard.
• Updated iTunes and organized my music a bit more. Also updated my iTunes Registry page with current info.
• Completed some household chores but not nearly everything that needed to be done.
• Enjoyed Red Snapper and Mashed Potatoes prepared by Don and Nancy on Sunday evening at Don's new apartment. It was perfect comfort food on a very cold night.

How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

I can't believe it's over already. The highlights:

• Babysat the *cutest nephew in the world* on Friday night which involved a whole lot of *genius* behavior including banging one's head against the wall and playing Choo-Choo (trains), Beep-Beep, (cars) and ball.
• Speaking of banging ones head against hard objects, did you know it's a sign of superior intelligence, well at least according to my brother it is.
• Following babysitting Don and I went straight to Rock Bottom Brewery for some adult beverages and pool. We shut the place down (which I have never done) only to find that the garage where the car was parked was closed. Luckily the security guard was down shortly to let us in so we could spring Don's car and go home.
• Slept in on Saturday morning.
• Had lunch at Red Mill. Yummy!
• Watched Grey's Anatomy Season 1 on DVD.
• Babysat again on Saturday night and accomplished the impossible by getting him to go to sleep after only 4 minutes of drama tears.
• Reorganized my iTunes library and created several new smart play lists in an attempt to fully enjoy my library and listen to the 7,872 songs that have never been played.
• Uploaded pictures from Christmas to Flickr.
• Took down the outdoor Christmas lights.
• Completed a bunch of household chores and futzing.

How was your weekend?