Quizzical Wednesday - Rain or Snow?

You Are Rain

You are dark and dramatic. You tend to be a bit over the top. You have strong emotions and they can change quickly. You are tempestuous. You are wild and unpredictable. You tend to overwhelm and surprise people. While you are aggressive, you are also a homebody. You don't really care for physical activities.

Are You Rain or Snow?

Unusual Sunday Morning

Unusual Sunday Morning, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

Unusual sights for a Sunday morning in March: Snow falling from the sky and people running up Aurora Ave. This is March?

March?

March?, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

This is a shot outside the window of my office in Kent, Washington. Its been snowing off and on all day. Gotta love the crazy weather in the Northwest. (Click on the photo to view some additional notes on the photo.)

December Weekend Wrap Up

Running a bit behind in my Weekend Wrap-Up posts so here is the entire month of December in one post. Enjoy!

For the weekend 12/5 - 12/7:

• Woke bright and early to ferry Don and Kat to work so that we would have to deal with only one car during the days festivities.
• Ran home to shower and get ready to truly face the day.
• Attended the Seattle area P.E.O. reciprocity meeting with several of my chapter sisters.
• Caught up with friends from other P.E.O. chapters.
• Picked up Kat at work and dropped her off for her Spa day.
• Ran home to walk Barney, change my clothes.
• Picked up Don at work and headed to The Parlor in Bellevue to play some pool.
• Once the first drinks were served I couldn't take it any longer and I forced Don to open his birthday gift from me. Needless to say, the surprise was worth the agony. You can read his account here. (He says it better than I could.)
• Ran to pick up Kat when she was done spa-ing and she joined us at The Parlor.
• Celebrated Don's and Kat's birthdays with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.
• Woke super early so that I could run to the office and pick up the boxes that I had been gathering for Kat's impending move.
• Cleaned and prepped the house.
• Hosted the Christmas Party for my P.E.O. Chapter.
• Laundry, coffee, errands, the usual Saturday morning bit, but this time on Sunday.
• Stopped to assist a biker that had taken a nasty spill on her way to work, more about that here.
• Had breakfast with Don and Kat at Crystal Creek Cafe.
• Spent the afternoon packing up all the breakables and kitchen stuff in Kat's apartment.
• Prepped and got myself ready for the week ahead, all the while marveling at the fabulous weekend it had been.

For the weekend 12/12 - 12/14:

• Woke bright and early to head off to the airport for our flight to San Francisco.
• Enjoyed the flying experience aboard Virgin America, much thanks to the abundant leg room of Main Cabin Select.
• Headed into San Francisco via BART.
• Arrived at our hotel not sure if they could check us in but they could, and they upgraded our room. Yippee!
• Settled in and headed out to explore the city. It was a beautiful day so we jumped on a cable carFisherman's Wharf.
• Wanted to lunch at Cafe 8 but arrived amidst the lunch rush so we headed to Fisherman's Grotto
• Had Fish "n" Chips at Cafe 8.
• Picked up a few fun things and enjoyed the yummy smells at Boudin Bakery.
• Boarded the cable car for the return trip to the hotel.
• Relaxed for a few hours in the hotel room.
• Got dressed and headed out a bit early for our dinner reservation.
• Enjoyed some wine in the bar at the House of Prime Rib followed by a spectacular dinner. Truly an evening to remember.
• Stopped at the hotel bar for a nightcap where I was stupid to let Don write on my hand not just once, but twice.
• Fell into bed "comfortable numb" from an incredible evening food, drink and merriment.
• Slept in a bit on Saturday morning and then jumped back on the cable car and headed to Ghirardelli Square.
• Had breakfast at Lori's Diner.
• Picked up some chocolate at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop.
• Walked along the waterfront to Pier 39, spotting Santa over and over again.
• Walked up to San Francisco Brewing Company for a few pints.
• Headed back to the hotel to change clothes and store the treasures we had picked up.
• Took a cab to our favorite North Beach restaurant, Firenze By Night.
• Enjoyed the unbelievable gnocchi and another fabulous dinner.
• Kiss a few Italians, I just couldn't help myself.
• Took a cab to the Palace of Fine Arts and enjoyed a glass of wine in the lobby while waiting for the show.
• Thoroughly enjoyed the performance by The Paper Raincoat.
• Waited with great anticipation for the beginning of the Vienna Teng show.
• Soaked up every note of the Vienna show, the highlight being when she dedicated Shasta to Don in honor of his birthday thanks to an email sent by Kat.
• Spent some time talking to Alex Wong and Amber Rubarth (of The Paper Raincoat) following the shows and picked up some signed copies of their CD.
• Walked blocks and blocks to find a cab to take us back to the hotel.
• Stopped by the hotel bar for a cup of tea before heading to bed.
• Woke on Sunday morning in time to shower and head downstairs for massages at the Hotel Spa.
• Headed back to the room to pack and check out.
• Jumped in a cab and headed to The Carnelian Room for an their unbelievable Sunday brunch.
• Stopped back by the hotel long enough to pick up our bags and head to the BART station.
• Arrived at the airport to find our flight was delayed due to the rainy weather.
• Hung out in the airport bar while waiting for flight information.
• Sat next to a Mr. T look alike on the flight home.
• Arrived home to Seattle and the frigid cold.
• Unpacked and headed to bed with a big smile on my face, what a wonderful weekend.

For the weekend 12/19 - 12/21:

• Cleaned and did basic household stuff.
• Had planned to host a Christmas Party on Friday evening for several friends from work but everyone cancelled for fear of driving on icy roads.
• Relaxed at home with Barney.
• Watched some cheesy Christmas movies.
• Laundry, coffee, the usual Sunday bit.
• Stopped by for a cup of tea at the Teacup's new Queen Anne location and decided that I want to become a tea snob.
• Bravely ventured to the grocery store, Don did the driving, to gather up the turkey and all the fixins for Christmas Eve dinner.
• Made Lasagna in anticipation of dinner with the Black family only to have them cancel due to the impending storm.
• Declared that since we've no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
• Enjoyed lasagna while watching the snow fall.
• Tried to watch It's a Wonderful Life but my VCR ate the tape despite Don's efforts to get it to work.
• Watched White Christmas instead, while "White Seattle" was happening outside.
• Braved the snow and cold to head to Bothell to help Kat unpack her belongs.
• Had breakfast at Crystal Creek Cafe with Kat and Don.
• Was disappointed in my packing skills, especially since I had bragged about how good I was, when I found a couple things broken. :-(
• Spent some time in the evening prepping for the week ahead, happy that Christmas is almost here.

For the weekend 12/26 - 12/28:

• Worked on Friday which was difficult as it was painfully slow.
• Put my pajamas on shortly after getting home from work.
• Had the perfect turkey leftover sandwich for dinner (bread, cranberry sauce, turkey, stuffing, gravy and mayo on white bread.) Yummy!
• Watched some more cheesy Christmas movies.
• Slept until 9:30 a.m.
• Watched some more cheesy holiday movies.
• Finally decided to get out of my pajamas and take a shower around 3:00 p.m.
• Had another turkey leftover sammich for dinner on Saturday night, oh the yumminess.
• Slept in again.
• Decided to stay in my pajamas all day.
• Watched some more cheesy Christmas movies.
• Prepped for the week ahead and marvels at what a bum I was all weekend.

New Years Resolution for 2009 - be more timely in my weekend wrap up posts. ;-)

Weekend Wrap-Up

Escaped from Seattle to Lake Wenatchee for a long weekend with Barney and Don. Here are the highlights:

• Enjoyed the fall colors and a beautiful drive over Steven's Pass.
• Unpacked and settled in to Kamp K, my friend Kipp's cabin.
• Took a walk along the waterfront and back through the woods.
• Worked REALLY hard to get a fire started.
• Relaxed on the deck and enjoyed the lake while snacking and sippin a glass of wine.
• Made and enjoyed a yummy dinner of steaks, baked potatoes and green beans.
• Got beat over and over again in repetitive games of Shanghai Rummy.
• Drank too much wine.
• Sipped coffee and stared out at the morning fog on the lake.
• Made oatmeal for breakfast and can't believe I've lived 35 years and never put cinnamon on my oatmeal!
• Snapped some great pics on the way to Leavenworth, I love fall!
• Saw the Oktoberfest parade and the traditional taping of the first keg.
• Tried a few "new to me" beers.
• Enjoyed walking through Leavenworth on a sunny beautiful afternoon.
• Got back to the cabin in time to enjoy the sunset and some snacking in front of the fire.
• Lost some more card games, it was not my weekend for winning.
• Enjoyed coffee in front of the fire again trying to get the fire going again.
• Made my famous (at least in my little world they are famous) Eggs Benedict.
• Cleaned up and packed up.
• Stopped at Smallwood's Harvest in Peshastin, WA to buy fresh apples.
• Got home in time to unpack and prepare for the week ahead.

Hopefully I'll get the pictures downloaded from my camera soon so that I can share some with all of you. 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?

Photo of the Day - Cool Clouds

Cool Clouds, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

I can't take credit for this one as Don took it on the deck at Ray's Cafe last week.

Mystery Solved!

Weather Forecaster, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

Above is my fairly new (bought in June) Oregon Scientific Wireless Weather Forecaster. It has a sensor outside on my deck to detect the outdoor temperature and displays both the current outdoor and indoor temperature. It also predicts the weather based on barometric pressure. As you can see right now, it's raining outside. Immediately after snapping this shot I walked out onto my deck and snapped the shot below.

Seattle Skyline, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

Not a cloud in the sky. Maybe Steve Pool is so bad at forecasting Seattle weather because he is using a Oregon Scientific Wireless Weather Forecaster. That must be it!

Photo of the Day - Blue Sky!

Blue Sky!, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

Not a cloud in the sky, what a beautiful sight. And proof that it doesn't rain every day in Seattle!

Photo of the Day - Buttermilk Sky

Buttermilk Sky, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

My grandfather would have called this a buttermilk sky, as soon as I looked up at it, I thought of him. This was taken on the Seattle waterfront in May.

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?

Headed east on I-90 on the way to Utah

Snow capped trees as seen from the car.

Why so cold?

I was amazed a moment ago that after 20 minutes the car was still not warm till I actually checked the temp dial. Big Brain!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another weekend has flown by all too quickly. The highlights:

• Celebrated a very belated birthday dinner with Suzie at Mama's Mexican Kitchen in Belltown on Friday night. The food was yummy, as usual, and so were the margarita's and it was great to get caught up with Suzie.
• Woke up early on Saturday morning so Don and I could head up with hill to do laundry. I do love being able to do 4 loads of laundry in less than 2 hours.
• Sorted through every pair of socks that I own with Kat and threw those that met the following criteria: 1.) holes or runs of any size or shape (cause let's face it a small hole will be a big hole in no time at all), 2.) translucent fabric (when gym socks resemble nylons it's time for them to go away), 3.) outdated styles (remember those thick crew socks that you would pull up and then scrunch down for that *legwarmer lite* look), 4.) haven't been worn in the nearly 3 years that I have lived in Seattle (I used to love crew socks but don't anymore so they got thrown in the donation bag)
• Made a list of the replacement socks that would be needed to have a good selection/collection and set out with Kat to find them which we were able to do with a stop at Fred Meyer and another at Macy's.
• Stopped shopping long enough to enjoy a burger, fries and onion rings with Kat at Red Mill Burgers.
• Browsed through Barnes & Nobel and picked up a few books that we had been looking for.
• Saw 27 Dresses, which was good, except for the really creepy solo dude that was seated next to me.
• Laughed so hard that I cried during the "Benny & the Jets" mondegreen scene. Kat and I were both having major "Myzah Georgia" and "DaVinci View" flashbacks.
• Unpackaged and put away 46 new pairs of socks! :-)
• Watched and mocked the "not-so modernized or improved" Miss America pageant which my TiVo had recorded. I was disappointed in the final choice, Miss Michigan, cause what beauty queen can't sing "Over the Rainbow," give me a break. She is the stereo-typical Miss America proving that some things just don't change. Miss Washington made a great showing and I was really proud of her top finish.
• Savored a wonderful dinner at DeNunzio's Italian Restaurant in Seattle's Pioneer Square with Don on Saturday night. It has been on my *Seattle restaurants to try* list for nearly 2 years ago and it lived up to all the reviews that I had read. We had excellent authentic food, good wine and wonderful service.
• Watched The Nanny Diaries.
• Spent 4 hours on Sunday morning determined to fix the problems that I have been having with the external hard drive that stores my iTunes library. For no apparent reason it switched from F:\ to G:\ in the middle of last week. A quick google search reveled a fix in Windows, I then reinstalled the driver and I was back in business. I had to consolidate my library a few times and still have some individual errors but I was able to sync after 5 days which made me unbelievably happy.
• Watched Jersey Girl, Green Card and Dawn Anna all movies that my TiVo had recently recorded as suggestions when not recording game shows.
• Read numerous chapters on Eat Pray Love in an attempt to finish it before my Thursday night book club.
• Ordered pizza and groceries online so I didn't have to leave the house on Sunday.
• Missed forced-air heat as baseboard heaters just don't cut it when it's really, really, really cold outside.
• Waited for the snow that never came.

How was your weekend?

Cold Clear Moon

Cold Clear Moon, originally uploaded by JewellsinSEA.

The cold clear weather is the perfect backdrop for a magnificent moon tonight.

Queen Anne Snow

And I thought that Seattleites were bad drivers in the rain but they are REALLY bad in the snow.

Queen Anne Snow

Something you don't often see.

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?