Adventures in Tubing

Chris, Cole and I spent the morning tubing up at Snoqualmie Pass. The weather couldn't have been better: lots of sun and no wind!

You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Because the weather sucks

Here are some baby animals for your enjoyment






Images from my new favorite blog, zooborns

Colder than a...

*insert your favorite euphemism*

Brrr! Winter has come early and with a vengeance to the Pacific Northwest! As I'm writing this post, it's 20 degrees outside and our street looks like an ice rink. Now, I don't mind a bit of snow, but this ice crap is for the birds! Bring back 45 degrees and rain - that's a proper Seattle December.

Of course, the snow had to fall on the day that we had a big Christmas open house planned. I had been shopping, baking, and cleaning all week in preparation and was horribly depressed when I looked out the window early Sunday morning to see all of the snow. We sat by the phone and kept checking email to see how many cancellations there would be. In the end, about 20 brave souls made their way to the party. We had a great time and it was fun to ring in the season with lots of food, drink and fun.

As Christmas quickly approaches, I just have a few last minute things to do to get ready. The shopping is almost done and I just have to finish the last of the Christmas cards and a couple of crafty presents. It's been so hectic this year with school and holiday prep so it's nice to take a deep breath and enjoy the season.

If I don't get a chance to blog again before Christmas, I hope that each and every one of you have a wonderful holiday season!

This fits my mood today

I don't know if it's pre-Christmas burnout or just a case of the Monday blahs, but this video gave me a chuckle.

Gobble, gobble

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I have to say that as far as holidays go, Thanksgiving is not a big one for me. I rank it alongside Easter as an "eating" holiday. It's good for a meal, but other than that, it's not big on my holiday radar. It's merely a milestone on the way to CHRISTMAS!

We're doing the Turkey Trot in Tacoma tomorrow morning. Cole and I will do the two mile walk and Chris will run the 5k. It's early and it's cold but it's a nice way to jump start the metabolism for the turkey coma that will come later in the day.

Chris and I are heading to Portland this weekend for our annual Christmas shopping bash. We're also belatedly celebrating our anniversary so I'm sure we'll eat lots of good food and just enjoy spending time together.

I've only got a week left before the end of the quarter so I'm madly trying to finish my big project and study for my final. After that, I've got a month off!

Hope you all have a fun and safe Thanksgiving!

Disney, Christmas, Portland and Short-Timer Syndrome

1. Cole and I had a great time on his surprise birthday trip to Disneyland. Seriously, I don't think that there are two other people in this world who love Disney as much as we do. From riding Space Mountain at 7am to shin splints and sore feet, we were all Disney, all day (and night) long for three days straight. We rode, we ate, we shopped and had lots of great bonding time. I think I may have even put a dent in my fear of flying because there was quite a bit of turbulence and I didn't even have a panic attack. Yay me! You can see the rest of the pictures here.

2. In addition to Disney, I also have a love of Christmas. Not so much the actual day but the whole season. Each year, I seem to start a little earlier with the decorations and the all the assorted holiday stuff. I've been listening to Christmas music around the house for about a week which means that I'll be sick of it by December 2nd. FYI: Don't buy the new Enya "Christmas" disc. It sucks. *shudder*

3. Speaking of Christmas, Chris and I have a fairly new, yet fun tradition of heading to Portland the day after Thanksgiving to shop, eat, and relax for the weekend. A big bonus is that Oregon has no sales tax so we save a bit of a money on the shopping. We try to do most of our Christmas shopping while we're there which takes a bit of pressure off of us in December. We're also belatedly celebrating our anniversary. I'm really looking forward to getting away with my sweetie :)

4. I've only got two weeks left of school and I'm totally giddy. I just want to be done with Stats for a month before I delve into the second part of the class in January. I'm off until January 10th - just long enough to forget everything I learned this quarter :) Short-timer syndrome: I has it.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary. Chris and I have been together for 12 years and married for 10 of those wonderful years. I know it sounds cliche to say that you're married to your best friend, but it really is the case with us. I have never felt so connected to another person, and it's amazing to be married to someone who totally gets me.

I am very blessed to have him in my life. In addition to being a great husband, he's an awesome stepfather to Cole. I couldn't ask for a more compassionate and caring spouse. He makes me laugh, lifts me up when I'm down and provides unwavering love and support.

Happy Anniversary, Chris. Love you! :)

Cows are funny

A little post-election humor courtesy of my good friend, Becky.

The World Explained with Cows

DEMOCRAT
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful. Barbara Streisand sings for you.

REPUBLICAN
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?

SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

DEMOCRACY, AME RICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, and then pours the milk down the drain.

AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when one cow drops dead.
You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have down sized and are reducing expenses.
Your stock's price goes up.

FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch an d drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You engineer them so they are all blond, give excellent quality milk, and run a hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately they also demand 13 weeks of vacation per year.

ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows but you don't know where they are. While ambling around, you see a beautiful woman.
You break for lunch.
Life is good.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have some vodka.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You have some more vodka.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
The Mafia shows up and takes over however many cows you really have.

TALIBAN CORPORATION
You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don't milk them because you cannot touch any creature's private parts.
Then you kill them and claim a U.S. bomb blew them up while they were in the hospital.

IRAQI CORPORAT ION
You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

POLISH CORPORATION
You have two bulls.
Employees are regularly maimed and killed attempting to milk them.

FLORIDA CORPORATION
You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best looking one.
Some of the people who like the brown one best, vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both.
Some people vote for neither.
Some people can't figure out how to vote at all.
Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which is the best looking cow.
CALIFORNIAN
You have a cow and a bull.
The bull is depressed.
It has spent its life living a lie.
It goes away for two weeks and comes back after a taxpayer-paid sex-change operation.
You now have two cows.
One makes milk; the other doesn't.
You try to sell the transgender cow, but its lawyer sues you for discrimination.
You lose in court.
You sell the milk-generating cow to pay the damages.
You now have one rich, transgender, non-milk-producing cow.
You change your business to beef. PETA pickets your farm.
Jesse Jackson makes a speech in your driveway.
Cruz Bustamante calls for higher farm taxes to help "working cows".
Hillary Clinton calls for the nationalization of 1/7 of your farm "for the children."
The legislature passes a law giving your farm to Mexico.
The L.A. Times quotes five anonymous cows claiming you groped their teats.
You declare bankruptcy and shut down all operations and the cow starves to death.
The L.A. Times' analysis shows your business failure is Bush's fault.

Celeb-reality, birthday boy, Gobama FTW!

1. I had a brush with "celebrity" this weekend when I ran into "Mr Jay" from America's Next Top Model at Sea Tac. He was nice enough to pose for a pic with me after I took a picture of he and his family for him. He's very tall and very bronze. VERY bronze. ANTM is one of my guilty tv pleasures, and I should have asked him who won this cycle but I didn't want to be a fangirl. Go Elena!



2. My baby turns 16 today. How the hell am I old enough to have a 16 year old? Even more scary, how am I almost old enough to have a soon to be 18 year old?! Craziness! He's a really good kid and I'm so proud of the person he has become. Love you, Cole! He's spending the day with his dad but we have some fun things planned for the weekend. :)




3. In addition to this being a big day in the Lynch house, it's also a big day for the U. S of A. Either way it goes, it's going to be history in action today. Let's just hope that the right (left) person wins. Chris and I voted by mail and we'll be glued to the TV either at home or at an election party downtown. This is the first time in about 8 years that I am super excited about the results.

GoBama!!

Bumps in the night, Doggy bumps and birthday surprises

1. As most people know, Chris and I are early night people. We usually turn in between 9-9:30 and are conked out by 10. I had just fallen into a deep sleep last night when I heard a large BOOM. Tango started barking like crazy and my heart just about raced out of my body! Chris and I both went downstairs to investigate although I was pretty sure the noise had come from outside. Cole peeked out of his bedroom door to see what the commotion was all about. I was a bit freaked because Chris had just told me a story about a co-worker who heard a noise only to find a neighbor hiding behind his kitchen island. Apparently said neighbor had a drug issue and was ripping off other neighbors. Luckily, that wasn't the case here, but it was in the back of my mind! We never did figure out what the noise was, but it took me a good hour to fall back asleep with all the adrenalin coursing through my veins.

2. A few weeks ago, I took Tango to the vet to have some lumps checked out. Most of them were fatty cysts, but two were a bit questionable. The vet said she was 70% sure they were fine, but we should probably have them removed at some point. I decided to get a second opinion but life has been really hectic with my new schedule so I haven't made the appointment yet. Fast forward to this weekend - Chris was petting Kala and noticed a huge lump under her chin. I, of course, FREAKED OUT and starting crying that all of our dogs were become cancer patients! He calmed me down and said that he thought it was a new lump and was probably nothing. I made a vet appointment first thing Monday morning and the vet confirmed that it was indeed some sort of infection. WHEW! She's on antibiotics and her lump should go away shortly. Note to self: Make appointment for Tango next week!

3. Chris blogged this morning about my hatred of surprises. With my birthday coming up, I start pelting Chris and Cole with all sorts of questions about what we're doing and where we're going. Usually, I just get blank stares back because Chris loves surprises. I then go into my litany about how I hate surprises and since it's MY birthday, I shouldn't have to be surprised. It's only taken 11 years, but he finally gave in! I can't wait to go to the Harvest Vine! I'm enamoured with Spanish food and wine right now and I'm going to chow down on some nummy tapas!

Monkey waiters, birthdays and bleeding heart liberals

1. Our friend, Tom, knows of my love of monkeys and indulges me by sending me monkey videos from time to time. I woke up to this one this morning. I either need to go back to Japan or find out how to import one of these guys. Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to study and have my little monkey butler bring me a diet coke! I've tried with the dogs, but they're not having it.



2. October is birthday central for my friends and family. Starting with one of my sister's birthdays on October 3rd, there are seven other birthdays including my own all before the 20th of the month! Tonight is my mom's birthday so we're heading to Tacoma for dinner at Samurai Japanese Steakhouse and then back to my parents for the obligatory cake and ice cream. I make my mom's favorite cake every year - dark chocolate with an icing made from sweetened condensed milk and baking chocolate. It's pretty yummy, I must say! She makes me a banana cream pie for my birthday. We're all about traditions (ie: doing the same thing year after year) in my family which drives Chris nuts. He's all about the new and different!

3. I consider myself to be fairly liberal in my politics, especially when it comes to social policy. Since I'm minoring in Sociology, my liberal bent probably lends itself well to my studies. I'm taking a class this quarter called "Individual and Society" which, as the title suggests, discusses how individuals are shaped by society and vice versa. This week, the subject is poverty, race and crime. I have to say that the information is just frightening. For example, if you are a black man, you're more likely to be in jail than in college. I could go on and on with similar figures. I end up so fired up and outraged after class that I could probably give Michael Moore a run for his money. I'm writing a research paper on Conservatives, Fear and Social Policy. Should be a lot more interesting than recent papers I've had to write on qualitative psychological research methods!

This and that

1. After my first full week of fall quarter, I highly resemble the above picture. I've been out of school for 4 months and my brain is just not in perfect school working order yet. I'm taking two classes this fall: a sociology class for my minor and a stats class for my Psych major. I really think that the soc class will be interesting and one big plus is that it meets two afternoons a week. Unfortunately, while my stats class is only one day a week, that one day is Saturday from 10-1:30 - ick! Looks like my next stats class for winter quarter will also be on Saturdays so I will have limited weekend time for the next 6 months.

2. Speaking of weekends, a good friend of ours was in town this weekend so we had dinner together at the Pink Door on Saturday night. As we were walking around after dinner, we passed by the Paramount Theater where Phantom of the Opera is playing until next weekend. Jeff mentioned that he really liked the show and thought about trying to get tickets for Sunday night's performance. Chris and I had never seen it so we decided to go as well. We ended up scoring great tickets for the Sunday afternoon matinee - about 10 rows from the stage on the main floor. Fun show - I'm not a huge fan of musicals but the production was really good.

3. I'm reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer about teenage vampires in the NW. Our book club had decided to read the first book, Twilight, for our October choice but since I was between books, I actually read it before our September meeting - oops! I'm now finishing up book 3, Eclipse, and I'll be starting the 4th book, Breaking Dawn, tomorrow. All in all, it's an entertaining read - not much depth but the books are page-turners. I'm looking forward to the Twilight movie opening this fall.

Democrats are funny - Redeux!

For your viewing and entertainment pleasure. Wonder if Barack went out for an Orange Mocha Frappuccino after the debate?

Black holes and monkey colliding - the end of the world as we know it?

Well, I woke up this morning and the world hadn't come to an end even though the CERN "Big Bang" Hadron collider experiment took place today. There's still hope though since they just sent some protons crashing around. I'm sure once they start smashing more atoms and crap together that we'll all end up in some gaping black hole of nothingness. At least that's what these people think about the "doomsday device." I think that in light of these recent events, it's only fitting that I'm playing Spore and evolving my own species from cell to civilization. That way I'll be ready to repopulate the planet if need be.

Speaking of colliders, all this talk of smashing particles reminded me of my favorite Onion article of all time - the Super Monkey Collider.

October 22, 1996 | Issue 30•11

Congress voted Monday to cut federal funding for the superconducting monkey collider, a controversial experiment which has cost taxpayers an estimated $7.6 billion a year since its creation in 1983.

Monkeys relax in the main hallway of the abandoned collider, which, if successful, would have smashed the primates together at near-light speeds.

The collider, which was to be built within a 45-mile-long circular tunnel, would accelerate monkeys to near-light speeds before smashing them together. Scientists insist the collider is an important step toward understanding the universe, because no one can yet say for certain what kind of noises monkeys would make if collided at those high speeds.

"It could be a thump, a splat, or maybe even a sound that hasn't yet been heard by human ears," said project head Dr. Eric Reed Friday, in an impassioned plea to Congress. "How are we supposed to understand things like the atom or the nature of gravity if we don't even know what colliding monkeys sound like?"

But Congress, under heavy pressure from the powerful monkey rights lobby, decided that money being spent on the monkey collider would be put to better use in other areas of government. Now, with funding cut off, the future of our nation's monkey collision program looks bleak.

Congress began funding the monkey collider in 1983, after Reed convinced lawmakers that the U.S. was lagging behind the Soviet Union in monkey-colliding technology. Funds were quickly allocated so that Reed could spend a week procuring monkeys on Florida's beautiful Captiva Island. Though Reed returned with a great tan and a beautiful young fiancee, he reported that there were no monkeys to be found on the sunny Gulf Coast island. Congress funded subsequent trips to the Cayman Islands, Bora Bora and Cancun, but these searches also yielded negative results.

Two years passed without a single monkey being procured, and Congress was close to cutting the project's funding. It was then that Reed got the idea to utilize monkeys already being bred in captivity. The Congressional Subcommittee for Scientific Investigation was enthralled by the idea of watching caged monkeys copulate, and increased funding by 40 percent.

With a steady supply of monkeys ensured, construction of the monkey collider began on a scenic Colorado site. Despite environmental pressure, a mountain was levelled to facilitate construction of the seven-mile-wide complex. Huge underground tunnels were dug, at a cost of billions of dollars and 17 lives. Money left over was used to build resort homes, spas and video arcades for Reed, his colleagues and several Congressmen.

Construction of the collider's acceleration mechanism was delayed for years, as scientists couldn't decide how to get the monkeys up to smashing speed. Last month, it was finally decided that the collider would employ a system in which the monkeys run through the tunnels chasing holographic projections of bananas. "Monkeys love bananas," Reed said, "and they're willing to run extremely fast to get them."

But now it seems the acceleration mechanism may never be built. With the monkey collider placed on indefinite hold, the huge research facility in Colorado lies dormant.

To keep the space from going to waste, Congress Monday voted to convert the empty underground tunnel into a federally funded drag-racing track. The track is expected to create hundreds of jobs in the form of pit crews and concessions workers, and will allow President Clinton to impress important foreign dignitaries with America's wheelie technology.

Despite this promising alternate plan, most involved with the monkey collider project feel the sudden cuts in funding are inexcusable. "It is a travesty of science," Reed said. "I remember the joy I felt in college when I would launch monkeys at one another with big rubber bands, and this project would have been even more enlightening."

Back to school, Zuma, scrapbooking and crappy weather

1. Today was the first day of school for Cole. He actually handled it quite well compared to previous years. He woke up, got his shower and headed downstairs for breakfast with nary a snide remark or a put-out look. I treasure those type of mornings. He even spoke using words with more than one syllable. Double bonus for me! I'm sure that even though he was dreading the first day, at least he'll get to see his new girlfriend. Too bad they don't have any classes together. With a lingering cloud of Abercrombie cologne, he headed off for the bus at 6:30 am. These are the days that I love being home so I can pump him for info at 2:30pm. I'm sure he'll be monosyllabic by then!

2. Chris got me a bunch of Pop Cap games awhile back, and while I've enjoyed playing them, I quickly became addicted to Zuma Deluxe. The game is pretty straight-forward- you shoot colored balls at a chain of balls and try to make sets of three. Of course, the game gets progressively harder as the levels increase. I cleared the first 8 levels pretty quickly and then it got crazy hard. I was stuck on 11 for a few weeks and just two days ago, I completed the bonus round on level 13. It was a bittersweet moment because while I was glad to have completed it, I was sad to be done with the game. Chris says I'm now a game addict :) In true addict maner, I searched for a similar game and ended up with Luxor 2. The premise is similar but it's not as fun. *sigh* If anyone knows of any games similar to Zuma Deluxe, please let me know!

3. I've dipped my toes once again into the scrapbooking waters. Chris was nice enough to finish editing the Disney pictures so I started printing them out. My printer, however, is really finicky if I don't use it regularly. The ink clogs and it takes time to run cleaning programs etc so scrapping is not a spontaneous thing in our house. In a flashback to previous technology rants involving the MythTV dvr fiasco, poor Chris had to listen to me bitch about how we have too much technology and nothing is ever easy in this house! For the sake of our marriage, I may run down to Costco and have some pictures printed. Sometimes the easy way out is the way to go.

4. Of course, since August was one of the crappiest summer months on record, September is shaping up to be beautiful - right as the kids go back to school. I love fall so I'm mentally ready for the crisp weather and fall decorating; however, I'll probably have to wait until October for the crispness at this rate!

Munchkin, walking & camping

1. Tania and C introduced to the fun card game, Munchkin, a few months ago and we were instantly hooked. It's a spoof of role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Players can become wizards, elves, and clerics in order to combat monsters such as Pukachu and Squidzilla. Along the way, they must also deal with curses such as the dreaded Duck of Doom. It's geeky fun but we have a great time playing. We're going to get together tonight and battle it out while enjoying pizza, sangria and bellinis.

2. Tomorrow is the annual 5 & 10k walk/run for Children's Hospital. Chris's company is a sponsor so we always make sure to put this event on our calendar. The good news this year is that the run is in August rather than October. October can be an iffy month weather-wise in the Seattle area. More often than not, it's rainy and icky, but there is also the occassional beautiful fall day. Although it's going to be 93 tomorrow, the run/walk starts at 8 a.m. so we'll be done before the heatwave hits.

3. I don't really enjoy camping that much but I'm going down to Riffe Lake with Cole and my parents for a few days next week. My parents have a motorhome and they enjoy getting out and communing with nature (as much as you can in a fully equiped "home.") I am not a fan of sleeping in cramped quarters so I opt to car-camp. I put an air matress in the back of the Explorer and some tarps over the top to keep the sun/lookie-loos out and I'm good to go! Of course, I can only handle this for a couple of nights, but it's fun to hang out by the lake. And, of course, eat s'mores - the best part of camping :)

Hello jet lag, my old friend...

I always seem to have a hard time getting back into the swing of things after taking a trip. Even a short one like our jaunt to Chicago. I blame it on the recycled airplane air :)

1. Since I'm a lazy blogger, I haven't gotten around to blogging about Chicago, but you can read about our trip on Chris's, Avitania's and RE's blog. I will say that it was such a fun time! I think I slept about 20 hours in total which probably contributed significantly to my jet lag. Although I really enjoyed going out, I think the best night of the trip was just hanging out with RE and LF at their abode and chilling. Mojitos, pizza and the Olympics - a very fun night! And yes, RE, there is quite a bit of video of you singing :) Maybe I should auction the footage on eBay. *evil grin*

2. The school year is almost upon us. I've got about 6 weeks left before I go back, but Cole goes back in a little over two weeks. In preparation, we went school shopping yesterday at American Eagle and Abercrombie. Of those two stores, I much prefer the atmosphere at AE. I must be getting old because I cringe when we enter Abercrombie because of the smell (they spray cologne every 30 minutes) and the music. I had an enlightening conversation with one (cute - according to Cole) employee:

Me: Do these jeans come in 31 length
Cute, yet dumb employee (CYDE): Um.... I dunno.
Me: Do you think you could possibly check?
CYDE: You want me to check?
Me: That would be nice (rolls eyes):
CYDE: (mumbles into walkie talkie, pauses to listen, mumbles again before ringing up our purchases and not saying anything)
Me: Did you find out
CYDE: Oh yeah.... they don't
Me: Gee, thanks for all of your help (by this point, I want to hit her on the head with a bottle of Fierce cologne).

My advice to Cole at the end of this conversation- don't ever date a girl like that - Intelligence trumps cute every time.

3. Speaking of dates, Cole has one on Friday. He's not really calling it a "date" since the girl has to bring a friend along because her parents don't know Cole. I gave him RE's dating advice: "be funny and bring money." The money part will come from me but he's responsible for his own funny. I'm going to drop him off at the mall and then pick him up a few hours later. Maybe I should wear a disguise and sneak into the movie. Nah, I'll let him have his moment :)

On being a mallrat, getting blynched and my walking playlist

1. So the biggest shopping news in our area has been the almost-two year long remodel of our local mall. This mall hasn't been my favorite shopping destination for some time because of the lack of stores that I really like. Finding out about the new stores has been somewhat of a challenge because the developer was keeping it quiet. Bit by bit, however, I found out that H & M was going in along with Sephora as well as some larger versions of existing mall stores. Since I don't have a job or school right now, I've been sleuthing around trying to find out about the new stores. Sad, I know but I need a hobby right? Well, the official opening is tomorrow but since the theater complex opened last week, you can walk through the new section to get to the theater which is where I dragged Chris last night after dinner. I'm happy to report that there will be a Banana Republic (finally!) but no Pottery Barn or Williams-Sonoma (Boo!). I'll be there bright and early on Friday for the opening!

2. I have become a catchphrase for getting drunk. A few months back, I twittered something while slightly tipsy and Random Esquire proclaimed that I was "blynched." My twitter name is blynch23 hence... blynched. I look forward to getting blynched and eating lots of yummy food in Chicago.

3. I've been trying to walk a 5k (roughly 3.2 miles) a few times a week along with a couple of shorter 2 mile walks. I broke out the old shuffle (which I normally don't use for shorter walks) and created a new playlist. Among the eclectic tracks: Adam Ant, Kettel, Above and Beyond, Cesium 137, Chris Brown, Coldplay and Metro Station. I haven't gained any weight back since Orlando and I'm continuing to lose so the walking is definitely helping.

Disney makes you crazy

Disney makes you crazy
Originally uploaded by blynch23

Since I am not the photographer in the family, I only have a few pics of our Disney trip. This is one of my favorites. We were just going into "It's a Small World," and after 3 attempts to get Cole to smile, this is what I got.

You can see more pics here: Disney Vacation

My new favorite drink

The Bellini.

Everyone who has me as a Twitter friend has heard (seen?) me raving about these for the past few weeks. The drink is surprisingly simple: Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine and sorbet. Although, it's not the "original" version according to Wikipedia, it's pretty darned yummy. I don't really like peaches anyway so I'm not sure that I'd even really like the original.

We have been drinking these at our local pizzeria, Fondi, every time we go (which is pretty often because their pizza is amazing!), and they usually have a refreshing selection of sorbets to choose from. My favorite is marionberry, but the tangerine sounds really great as well. Since they're served in a tiny glass, it's impossible not to be tempted to have at least two. It's like dessert in a glass - with alcohol!

Yesterday, while we were shopping at Whole Foods in Bellevue, I decided to get the ingredients to make our own. I have to mention Whole Foods, because ain't nobody selling Prosecco in Kent... just sayin :). To mix it up a bit, I selected pomegranate sorbet to accompany the Prosecco.

WOW!

Chris had three glasses and I had two. Not cute little champagne flutes - BIG glasses :) It was so yummy! I need to fiddle with the sorbet/Prosecco ratio a bit but it's hard to go wrong with a mix of both. Move over Sangria, there's a new drink in town!

Weekend Tidbits

1. Summer has finally come to Seattle - only 2 months behind the rest of the country! We've had a week of 75 and sunny and more of the same is forecast for next week. No humidity and a light breeze = summer heaven. Break out the sangria!

2. We'll be right in the thick of the midwest summer on our Chicago trip coming up in two weeks. I'm expecting lots of sticky humidity, but since we were just in Orlando, I'm ready for it. I can't wait to eat, shop, see the sights and hang out with Random Esquire. We're all doing a segway tour of the city which should be fun. Hopefully no one will end up like this: Segway fail.

3. Chris and I braved the crowds and hung out at the Bite of Seattle for a few hours today. Among the food we sampled: Indonesian Javanese chicken, beef kabobs, barbeque hot links, fried macaroni & cheese, root beer floats, lemonade, and piroshky. We also sampled a few wines while cooling our feet in a fountain and listening to jazz music. After the bite, I stocked up on bubble bars from Lush and got a new pair of shoes at the Nordstrom sale (my 4th pair of shoes in a week, but who's counting, right?). Pretty much the perfect day.

Bits and Pieces

1. So even though we're just back from one trip, I'm already planning a quick trip to Chicago at the beginning of August. We'll get to spend time with Random Esquire and also see some of the sites. I love to plan so as you can imagine, I'm already working on this trip! We may take a segway tour and I'm sure we'll eat lots of great food. My mouth is already watering for some deep-dish pizza!

2. Looks like we'll be moving forward with getting a new roof. Our house is almost 20 years old and the cedar shakes are in much need of replacement. It's a big expense, but something that just can't be put off any longer. The good news is that unlike most of our other home projects, I really won't have to do much with this one. The dogs will think that the sky is falling, but hopefully they'll get used to it quickly.

3. As Chris blogged about a few days ago, we have a new GPS. I'm not so much into the gadgets, but I'm pretty stoked about this one. We love to spend time geocaching, and since accuracy is so important, a new GPS with improved accuracy was a must. I'm sure we'll be out this weekend playing with it.

4. Cole is back to updating his weather blog so be sure to check it out and leave comments!

I'm off to a farmer's market in Olympia and lunch with a friend. I love summer!

Back to real life... sigh

We got back from our fun-filled, yet exhausting Disney vay-kay late last night. Late for those of us used to Eastern time, that is. Getting to and from our destination via flying is my one hundred percent least favorite part of flying. I've gotten pretty phobic over the past few years about turbulence. If the flight is smooth- I'm pretty cool and relaxed. If it starts to get bumpy-I start hyperventilating. Not pretty, I'm telling you. In fact, our flight to Cincinnati, the layover on the way to Orlando, was downright terrifying to me. Probably the worst flight I've been on since my fear started on a hairy flight from Japan about 8 years ago. Anyway, the point is that we made it to and from Disney in one piece, albeit missing my suitcase which didn't make it on our tiny plane from Orlando to Houston on the way back.

As I've blogged about for the past few months, I love planning trips - especially Disney trips. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my time now that we're back, but the planning really paid off. Even though it definitely required some daily planning on how to get back and forth to the restaurants I reserved months ago (Disney transportation is great, but it's not fast!), we had some wonderful meals. The standouts to me were the the Kenyan coffee barbecue braised short-ribs at Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge. One big bonus - the meal was interrupted by a fire alarm midway through the meal so they replaced all of our meals after we were able to re-enter the building which means I got 1 1/2 meals of yumminess! We also had a wonderful relaxed meal at the California Grill atop the Contemporary resort. A big plus - we had an awesome view of the fireworks from Magic Kingdom. Also, as Chris blogged about, we had a sentimental meal at Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom. This is a special place to us as we ate their on our honeymoon 1o years ago and they gave us engraved champagne flutes. We also witnessed a proposal while we were eating, so it's fun to know that others will have similar romantic memories.

I had pretty much made touring plans for each park and we stuck with them for the most part. As Orlando in July = hellishly hot weather, it was nice to get to the parks at opening, tour for a few hours and escape back to the air-conditioned comfort of our villa. Speaking of our villa, we stayed in a one-bedroom unit at Old Key West. I am in love with this resort! It's so relaxing and removed from the hustle and bustle of the parks and other resorts. It's a bit spread out but I really don't want to stay anywhere else.

Chris will be posting more pictures soon and I'm sure I'll blog more about the trip in the upcoming days, but I'm in need of a shower and I'm also needing to reconnect with my canine children :)

Thank God it's Finally Summer!

So today was Cole's last day of school, and I'm officially wiped out. Heh, it's been a tough year school-wise around here. This is the first year that he's taken honors classes and I don't think that any of us were prepared for the amount of work required. Add in the fact that his dad took him out of school for 12 days over Thanksgiving and various other bike races, so he's been playing catch-up most of the year. He ended the year with 5 Bs and 1 A - all very hard earned!

I always take him to lunch on the last day of school so we went to Mizu, our local Japanese tepanyaki steakhouse. It was the yum! I was good and only ate half, but I could have eaten the whole damn thing! I've been so good and my clothes are fitting wonderfully so I resisted. Vacation eating is going to be hard enough so I've got to try the "half" rule as much as I can.

We're leaving on the red-eye to Orlando at 11:30 on Sunday night and I think we're pretty much ready. I've been planning this trip for so long that I can't actually believe it's almost *that* time! I'm so ready it hurts! I've got some laundry to do and I usually try to clean the house before we leave so we can come home to a tidy abode. The good news is that my back issue seems to have cured itself for now. Hopefully, it won't rebound with the rides and tons of walking.

Tomorrow, Tania and I are going to the glassybaby sale and brunch afterward. I'm so excited! She bought me my first glassybaby a couple of months ago and now I'm hooked! My mom got me a gift cert for Mother's Day so I'm hoping I can use it at the sale. My cute apple green baby needs some brothers and sisters!

That's it for now, folks. I probably won't blog from Orlando, but I'm sure Chris will so be sure to check out his blog. I'll post a full trip report when I return!

Lots of love!
Bev

The countdown continues

We're finally less than a week away from our long-awaited appointment with "The Mouse" which means that my months of obsessive planning and list-making will soon come to an end *sigh.* What can I say, this girl needs a hobby.

Unfortunately, I seem to have tweaked my back something major. I've had a nagging little pain for the last three weeks or so and it's blossomed into a full-on assault. I'm not sure if the hiking this weekend triggered it or if it was caused by something as mundane as lifting the laundry basket, but it's here now and screaming with a vengeance.

Something always seems to happen to us before vacation. Case in point: I got laid off the day before our wedding/honeymoon back in '98. Chris found out his company was closing down before our Mexican vacation about 5 years ago. Other various little things have happened as well so I guess this is the "thing" this year. Luckily, since I'm uber-obsessively organized, I'm pretty much ready for the trip. I have all of my clothes laid out on the air hockey table in Chris's office and I think everyone has their summer clothes ready to be packed. The hard part for me will be taking it easy for the next few days. I'm not much of a take-it-easy sort of person, however I am awaiting a book delivery from Amazon and I just bought the new Coldplay disc, so I think I'll be pretty prepared to chill today.

The icepack on my back also helps with the "chill" factor :)

Weekend Wrapup

A few snippets from my weekend.

Friday- We took Cole and a friend to see "You Don't Mess with the Zohan." Exactly what you would expect from an Adam Sandler film: very lowbrow, yet funny humor. Lots of butts, sex jokes and hummus. Only the hummus was unexpected. If you're looking for a bit of mindless escape, this is your movie. Cole, as typical of a 15 year old boy, loved it.

Saturday- Saw Anthony Bourdain at the Moore Theater with C & T. I've been a huge Bourdain fan since I read "Kitchen Confidential" years ago. It's the combination of snark and wit with a touch of charisma that does it for me. He opened the show by talking about why he sent Top Chef's Dale home instead of "that Gorgon" Lisa a week ago. It all came down to inedible scallops - Dale had them. He also said that judge's table goes on for 4-5 hours and is usually fueled by lots of alcohol. Gin and Tonic in his case. Other sound bites: Rachel Ray is an f****** beyotch. Samantha Brown is surprisingly not a beyotch. His dream would be to be adopted into the Batali family and make sandwiches at Salumi. He's a mediocre cook at best. Alice Cooper is the 2nd most normal guy he knows. All in all a great show! If he's in your area, I'd highly recommend it.

Sunday- Participated in the Furry 5k for the third year in a row. Chris ran it and I walked with C, T & Lily along with our pooches. Kala actually made it the entire way including the half mile uphill to our car. She's dead tired today but I was impressed that this lazy lump of dog could walk that far. The weather was iffy, but at least it didn't rain. T came over later in the afternoon for brats from Uli's and a bit of geocaching. She bought C a GPS for their anniversary so Chris showed her all the bells and whistles. Of course, it's 10 times better than ours so now I have GPS envy - I WANT!

Today I'm taking the dogs to the vet for their shots. Always fun to take three dogs by myself. In case you wondered, it's raining yet again. I'm about ready to move!

This man is the bomb

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I'll accommodate them, I'll rummage around for something to feed them, for a "vegetarian plate," if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine."
-Anthony Bourdain

I'll be in the audience at The Moore tomorrow night swooning at his wit and snark. Oh my.

So this is summer....huh

1. I'm finally done with school and had been looking forward to reading on our deck and getting a little bit of sun before we leave for Florida. Sun = Not so much around the greater Seattle area these days. It's been overcast, windy, and rainy for the past week. Bleh! Chris and I were going to hike last weekend but it was super cold here in Kent which means it's probably 10 degrees cooler toward the mountains. I'm beginning to think that I have some form of Seasonal Affective Disorder, but only in response to crappy summer weather. I can be happy as a clam in the winter when it's cold and grey for months because it's *supposed* to be that way. Rain and grey in summer = depression. Maybe I should go tanning... or get a light box or something.

2. On tap for this weekend: Anthony Bourdain and the Furry 5k. I am a *huge* Bourdain fan. Love everything he's written and his snark is, dare I say it... sexy. I do so love the snark. We're going with C and T to see him at the Moore Theater on Saturday. Not sure if it's a reading or what he's doing but I'm sure it will be entertaining. Sunday is the Furry 5k - a benefit for the Seattle Animal Shelter. We usually walk/run every year. In fact, last year, it was the 5k that I ended up running two weeks before my couch to 5k program ended. Unfortunately, I wound up with shin splints and never ran again. This year, Kala and I are walkers (well, Kala will probably end up being carried). Let's just hope for no rain!

3. Despite the crappy weather, I've been gearing up for the Florida heat and humidity. I've bought some sleeveless tops and even a few skirts (gasp!) for the trip. I need some cute shoes and a couple more pairs of shorts and I should be good to go. I haven't walked for the last week due to the weather and finishing up my class so I haven't lost as much as I had hoped. I'm still eating pretty well and I've got 2 1/2 weeks left until the trip. I need to kick it up a notch!

Creativity - I has it

Just a quickie to announce that...

I scrapbooked today!

I also bought a skirt yesterday so these two things might be a sign that the apocalypse is looming. I promise to scan it tonight and post the layout later. If I can remember how to operate the scanner, that is.

Oh well, lucky for me that I have in-house IT (read: Chris).

Edited to add: The layout will be up sometime this weekend because IT (yes - Chris) just told me that the scanner isn't hooked up. Stay tuned!

Freedom!

So I'm officially on summer vacation. My last class was supposed to be tomorrow night but our Prof had a death in the family so class was canceled. In order to celebrate 4 months of freedom, I took myself shopping. Since I've been eating healthier, I've been losing weight (yay) so I need new summer clothes. Plus with our upcoming trip to Florida, I need to replace some things I've grown out of.

I bought two pairs of capri/cropped pants at the Ann Taylor Loft end of season sale last year and they are getting VERY big on me. I love them though so I'm trying to decide if I should keep them as "fat pants," or just chuck 'em. I think I'll keep them through the summer and then decide. If we ever get a summer that is - it's currently 65 and overcast - bleh! I'm on vacation! I need vacation weather!

So it's just me and the dogs - hanging out. Watching tv. Reading. That's going to pretty much sum up my summer. Relaxation. I dig it.

I hereby renounce my love of Lionel Richie

Because I've seen this video.

Short shorts, bad dancing, and leg warmers.

Can someone pass the bleach? My mind's eye thanks you.

ETA: Cole just saw the video and said, "Men in booty shorts... bad. Just bad."

Weight loss, quirks and my daily routine

1. Pretty much every morning, I try on clothes that I haven't been able to wear for awhile which is fun because I'm losing some much needed weight. My goal is to not buy anything new for vacation (other than a few sleeveless tops because Florida = Hades) because I want to wear some of my own stuff! So in order to meet this challenge, I have a couple of goals. Chris has inspired me to have a fairly reasonable goal and then a "stretch" goal. My goals are in the form of capri pants. My regular goal is a cute pair of cargo capris that I love dearly. I'm almost at that goal. My "stretch" goal is a pair of white capris that have been sitting in my closet for awhile. I've got 45 days and my eyes are on the white capris!

2. I've noticed lately that I have one interesting quirk. I mentally add up my food purchases as the cashier is ringing me up. As I put my food on the little conveyor belt, I come up with a sum total in my head and see how close I am to the final price. Although I've had to make some adjustments lately due to the price of food and shopping at different stores, I'm usually pretty dead-on. Yesterday, I had estimated $50 and the total was 48.65 FTW! Chris has this amazing ability to estimate suitcase weight. The Lynches have been blessed with the gift of accurate estimations.

3. The other day, Cole said that my days revolve around studying and Disney. I told him to throw in picking up after 2 additional people and 3 dogs, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, yard work, running errands, and helping with homework and that pretty much sums up my day. I need a hobby.

The yard, halibut, gifts and Disney

1. Our yard looks amazing. Contrary to what Chris says, it's not so much that I love yard work - I just love the immediate gratification of seeing the results. It's my mission this year since we spent a ton on landscaping last year. I want to enjoy my flowers and the efforts of my labor.

2. Halibut might be my new favorite fish. Too bad it's $17 a pound! I've never been much of a fish person. We had lots of salmon growing up since my dad loves to fish. In fact, I never understood why people would order salmon at a restaurant because that was something we ate at home all the time. It certainly didn't seem special enough to order when you go out! I know better now :)

3. I've been blessed with thoughtfulness over the past week. Tiffany gave me a wonderful bag of goodies at book club the other night. I can't wait to use the "fabulous" bling on a layout with Tango and his shades. My buddy, Randomesq, sent me a foodie book which makes me hungry each time I read it. I've also learned the correct way to slice onions with my fingers curled under. Avitania gave me a really pretty green Glassy Baby candle which has a really warm wonderful glow. I suspect I'll be collecting all the colors soon :)

4. Cole and I are certified Disney freaks! Someone on one of my Disney boards is at Disney World right now and set up a webcam outside of their window at the Boardwalk hotel. Cole and I watched Illuminations (the fireworks show at Epcot) on the webcam last night and then proceeded to search for all of our Disney cds. (I have a few). He told me that he isn't racing in a mountain bike race the day before we leave on vacation because he doesn't want anything bad to happen before he arrives at the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH! Now that is dedication :)

Denial - It's not just a river in Egypt

You can't change what you don't acknowledge - Dr. Phil

Ok, Dr. Phil - I'm acknowledging it: I'm overweight and out of shape.

There, I said it. Ugh

So, I've been wanting to drop some pounds and get in shape, but so far, I really haven't been overly motivated to actually do something. I've been inspired, however, by lots of shining examples including Avitania-who is looking quite awesome these days, Tiffany- one hot mama!, and my wonderful husband who is in incredible shape and also quite hot :)

I have an aversion toward weighing myself. BIGTIME. In fact, I've had no idea what I've weighed for a few years. I usually just go off of how my clothes fit (which is quite tight these days). My illusions of how much I actually weighed have been shattered and I can't hide anymore.

Back in February, I got really sick with a horrible virus and bronchitis to boot. I finally had Chris take me to an urgent care clinic because I needed DRUGS. Well, they weighed me. Of course, I looked away and didn't want to know the number (Denial in action). Fast forward to yesterday - I was cleaning up my office and I found a pile of papers on my desk. Lo and behold, I opened up a folded piece of paper which turned out to be the form from the clinic. Staring me right in the face was that ugly ugly number - my weight (Chris - it has been shredded and burned so don't think you can dive into my garbage and find it :)

So- no more denial *sigh*

It's actually a good thing and even though I'm moritifed, it has kicked me into action. I've started walking again and I'm hoping to work out 4-5 days per week. I also started eating MUCH healthier. I'm not good with diets so I'm hoping that good choices and portion control will make a difference.

Oh - and no more wine during the week. That might help as well :)

Two of my favorite things - the Market and Cooking

It's been a crazy few weeks/months in the Lynch household. All of us have been super busy with work/school/family so yesterday, Chris decided to surprise me with a day of fun :) As most of you know, surprises really aren't my thing. Figuring out surprises is my thing. I was good though and made it until 8:30 a.m. before I made him tell me.

Chris knows of my love of all things culinary and food related so he booked a session with a local chef that has an "urban cooking school" right next to his office. The session was even better because it involved buying all the ingredients at Pike Place Market and then taking them back to the studio and cooking it all up! We met Diane, the chef, at the "pig" at the Market at 10 am. There was supposed to be another couple taking the class, but they never showed up. SCORE! Nothing like some serious one on one time! We bought halibut at Pike Place Fish-home of the famous Seattle flying fish, and then we bought produce, spices, truffle oil and cheese from other local vendors. As we walked through the market, she talked about the benefits of buying local as well as the importance of sustainability. She also gave us some interesting info about the Market and vendors.

After the purchases were made, we headed back to the studio to cook. She started out by having us taste lots of different salts from Hawaiian black salt to Cyprus sea salt in order to emphasize the importance of seasoning. After watching many episodes of Top Chef, I am all over the seasoning. We also tried lots of different spices, some olives and different cheeses. Then it was on to the main event - cooking!!

Lunch consisted of sauteed ramps - wild leeks that are in season right now and available at the market for $16.00 a pound (yikes!), fiddlehead ferns and parmesan-crusted halibut. The ramps and fiddleheads were sauteed with pancetta, wine, cream and a bit of lemon. The halibut was lightly pan-seared and then finished in a hot oven. We got to help out at each part and then we enjoyed eating our creations with a glass of chardonnay. Dessert was a lovely strawberry-rhubarb pie. After we finished, we walked back through the market and bought lots of yummy goodness. I also made a stop into Sur la Table for a chef's apron, microplane grater and potato ricer.

We'd love to plan a 7 course tasting menu with wine pairings at the studio for sometime in June so if you're in the Seattle area and are interested, let me know and we'll put it all together!

Thursday Thoughts

1. I have another test tonight. We can have a single-sided 5x7 cheat sheet to help us, so I managed to get 4 chapters worth of material down to 5.5 font. I may be blind by 6pm, but hopefully it will help me do well!

2. I felt a sense of vindication this week. I didn't blog about it but last week I had decided not to shop at Albertson's anymore because they had a staggering amount of out of date product on the shelves. I managed to buy organic ketchup that was 6 months out of date, and almost bought some mayo that was a month bad. When I told the manager, he seemed nonchalant about it so I vowed to not go back. Well, I caved the other day because of convenience. Much to my surprise (and delight), there were several signs advertising great sales on soon to be expired items. I'm such a consumer crusader.

3. Our dryer stopped drying earlier in the week. I'd turn it on and after 3o minutes, it would feel like Southeast Asia inside, complete with humidity and damp clothes. After some research, I figured out that there must be a build up of lint in the system. Chris took the hose off of the back and didn't find anything so we decided to have a guy come out and clean the air ducts. After about 10 minutes under the house, he came back up and told me that there was a bulging air duct filled with about 5 lbs of dog hair and water. Ew. He cleaned it out and now the dryer works just fine.

4. Bailey has decided that she doesn't want to go outside anymore. Something spooked her in the yard and now she flat refuses to go out willingly. Cole had to drag her outside the other day and then she stood there shivering. We found "evidence" in the house this morning (read: poop) so now I have to physically force her outside. Not easy with a 60 lb dog.

Commitments. I has them.

I've said so many times that my life either runs at Driving Miss Daisy speed or 1.21 Gigawatts. There is no in between. This week, I'm running at the latter speed. I've got another mega test on Thursday. This one is even "harder" according to my lovely Prof. Harder. Huh. Not quite sure how that's possible, but we'll see.

I've also had lots of family in town this week. My brother and both sisters are visiting. It's the first time we've all been together since 1989. We've seen each other separately of course, but never seemed to make it all in one place. Last night, we took some family pictures during a brief respite from the ugly-ass weather that's been plaguing us. My cousin's wife is a photographer, and I think she got some really cool shots of us. Maybe I'll post some soon.

I've been struggling with another sort of commitment lately - a commitment to myself to get in shape. I have the desire, but I haven't been able to convince myself that now is the time. I'm sure the fact that we have had exceedingly crappy weather hasn't helped because I am a fair-weather exerciser big-time. I'm thinking about starting up the Couch to 5k Program again this weekend. Those of you who are my long-time readers will probably remember that I did this last year and blogged about my progress. I did end up running a 5k, only to get severe shin-splints which curtailed my running for the rest of the year. The program is great in theory, but I will probably double or triple some of the weeks so I can build up gradually. I'm also planning on taking a running class this summer. I had too many commitments right now to start the spring class.

Only 7 more weeks and my life will be back to Miss Daisy speed. I'll then be whining that I'm bored :)

Wait... it's already Monday again?

Wow, this weekend just flew by! I think I slept about 10 hours last night in recovery! Here's what went on in the Lynch house this weekend.

Friday - We went with C and T to a "performance art" show. We thought it would be like Zumanity (which we had all seen together in October). It wasn't. At all. You can read more about it on Tania's blog. She pretty much summed it up nicely. Note to self: Don't make Tania laugh when she has a mouthful of pudding or you will wear it. As I did. Everywhere.

Saturday-The temps were forecasted to reach the lower 70s so I got into full-on spring mode. We went to breakfast at Wild Wheat and then stopped at Carpinito's for some hanging flower baskets for the deck. We also got out our deck furniture and cleaned up the grill. C and T came over in the afternoon to get some music so we sat out on the deck drinking sangria and soaking in the sun. I even got a bit of a burn. I think the temp actually got into the 80s but today we're back to icky greyness and cold. Spring is such a tease.

Sunday- Chris runs a big 50 mile relay race with some peeps from work every year. I usually head out to watch the last part of the race but this year, I decided to help out by being the team chauffeur. We got up to North Bend around 7:45 and drove from checkpoint to checkpoint for the next 8 hours. The weather started out nice, but turned grey by the end of the day. We didn't see any raindrops until we were safely en route home. I was hungry for Mexican food so we grabbed dinner after picking up Cole at home. Of course, around 1am last night, I woke up with horrible heartburn and weird dreams. I think I'm going to lay off the Mexican for awhile.

What was your weekend like?

Does it get much better than this?

I think not.

Chris made this comment on a friend's blog this morning:

"Nice post - I agree with everything you've said. I think Bev and I have a great and special relationship that's built on a lot of these things with each other. She's that one in a million for me. Someone who I can relate to, talk to, and learn from. The best part is I love hanging out with her and doing just about anything."

Needless to say - I am one lucky woman :)

I'm not a neurologist - I just play one on tv

I've learned so much about the brain and neural activity over the past week that I might as well be in med school. I'm pretty sure I could at least perform cranial screwtop-ziplock surgery ala Steve Martin in The Man With Two Brains.

While the material is pretty interesting, my brain has declared that it has had enough of the learnin' for a day. Therefore, to appease my brain, I am watching reality tv, Tivo'd CSI Miami and surfing the internet today.

I can't expect to be intelligent everyday! My brain says it just might explode.

Have I mentioned my slight Disney obsession?

Ok - not so slight would be more appropriate. Even more appropriate would be to call it an overwhelming desire to know all the ins and outs of a great DisneyWorld trip.

We've been to DisneyWorld several times over the past 10 years. Chris and I have been 4 times ourselves, not to mention 2 trips to DisneyLand in between. Cole has only been twice but still has as much of a Disney addiction as I do - must be hereditary.

I've also mentioned in previous posts that I love to plan. LOVE IT! I especially love planning Disney trips. My little daily pick-me-up in between studying about brain anatomy is surfing the Disney planning boards. I'm usually hanging around disboards.com or my newest uber-obsessive planning board, tourguidemike.com. On these boards, we discuss every aspect of the trip, from making hotel reservations, and the best ticket package to getting all the hard-to-get Advance Dining Reservations such as Cinderella Castle.

One additional aspect of my obsessive planning is The Spreadsheet (cue the voices of angels). The Spreadsheet has every aspect of our vacation planned, and is color coded by day and activity. But wait... there's more! In addition to listing the parks and restaurants for the day (complete with time and reservation number), I also have every attraction in each park laid out in a daily touring plan. For example, on our Magic Kingdom day, I have each moment scheduled from park opening at 8am until the time we go to bed - I've even scheduled rest time :)

Chris's eyes start to glaze over when I want to show him my latest additions to The Spreadsheet, but he indulges my obsession and listens to me obsess over scheduling dinner at 5:45 or 5:50 pm. I get giddy even thinking about it. It's a sickness, but I hope there's no cure!

Wednesday Soundbites

1. Started back to school last night. Although last quarter about killed me, both with personal stuff and school stuff, this quarter is also going to be exceptionally hard. I'm taking Physiological Psychology which is basically an anatomy class which means learning everything there is to know about the brain and nervous system. Lots of memorizing. Luckily that's how my brain works so I'm pretty good at the memorization.

2. I don't do well with lots of unstructured free time. I guess it's the need to feel productive that gets to me. I can spend part of an afternoon reading or hanging out but if I have too much of that, I get really antsy. Like I should be doing something worthwhile... like laundry :) I'm a planner by nature, and I'm pretty structured which is a good and bad thing

3. I came home to a wonderful dinner last night. One thing that sucks about night classes is that I miss dinners with the fam. Since my class ends at 7, and the days are getting longer, I'm going to make dinner up ahead of time so Cole can just pop it in the oven and we can all eat together when I get home. So yesterday, I made up a lasagna and left cooking instructions for Cole. When I came home, he had everything set out on the dining room table. Plates were dished up. Candles were lit. Drinks were poured. It was wonderful :)

4. Lots of talk in my blogging circle lately about how much of what we share online is representative of our real lives. I think that I'm pretty open on here since most everyone that reads my blog knows me in real life - at least to some extent. My feeling is that it's your blog and each person has to set their own comfort limits.

I'm off to memorize parts of the brain. Let's hope my brain can keep up!

Yaay Spring! *Sneeze*

You can always tell when it's spring in the northwest by looking at all of the lovely flowers in bloom - in the rain.

I was so stoked for spring this year. It's one of my favorite seasons, and we had a little glimpse of spring in late February. Of course, it was finals week and I was up to my eyeballs in work, but I would glance out my office window and look longingly at the flowers blooming in my back yard. Of course, the minute I turned in my last final, we got a dose of our true Seattle spring - lots of rain. I had hoped to be able to get a bit of yard work done while I was on spring break, but the weather just hasn't cooperated. I did buy some potted hyacinths for my garden window, however, they have managed to set my allergies in full bloom so I'm probably going to relocate them outside.

In honor of the changing seasons, I decided to update my look a bit. I chopped about an inch and a half off of my hair, went back to bangs and went a bit darker on the color. I feel fresh and renewed, even though it still feels like winter outside.

The excitement that is my weekend

Are you ready for some excitement? Well, look elsewhere, heh.

Here are my uber-exciting weekend plans

1. Wash the dogs. All three of them. Separately of course. They smell like dirt and urine. Not a pleasing combination. The two big ones will get their wash on at The Soggy Doggy self serve dog wash. It's just easier to take them in one at a time, get washed and smelling good. The owners even do toenails. Tango will get a spritz of "Unleashed." Kala fits in the kitchen sink so that's her spa adventure.

2. Get the house ready for company. Our friends, Steve and Helena, are visiting from London next week so we're super excited to see them. I had hoped to get the yard in better shape, but the nonstop rain has ruined that plan.

3. Go to the Japanese steakhouse with my parents and eat way too much. I love their fried rice!

4. Wait not-so-patiently for Chris to get home. I've had one of the worst weeks ever while he's been living it up in Argentina :) He needs to get home and stop having so much fun!

That's about it for me. I'll probably finish a book and start another. Maybe play some Super Mario Galaxy and watch a movie or two.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Ever had a day...

... when you should have never gotten out of bed?

Pretty much sums up my whole day.

*sigh*

In a few more weeks, I may be ready for the circus

So I took my first yoga class last night.

My friend, Becky, has been going to a yoga studio in Burien and invited me to take a class with her. As I tend to carry lots of stress in my body, I've been wanting to look into yoga for awhile, but I was too scared to go alone. She warned me ahead of time that it was a bit "woo woo" but she liked the way it made her taller after a class (she's 5'9 already compared to my 5'3 and change).

We got our mats and headed into the main yoga room. Very dim lights and soft music. I almost felt like I was at a spa. The instructor had us lie down on our mats while she talked softly. Then she had to break the trance by ringing a damned bell! Over and over. Very disconcerting.

She talked us through various poses - some of which I had no trouble with; however, at one point I thought she was going to say, "now, bend down and put your head through your legs until you can kiss your ass." Maybe that's the advanced class, but I'm sure it's coming.

I'm glad the class was all women, because yoga positions are pretty much similar to another type of nocturnal-type position (you're all smart - figure it out) :) There's something strange about lying next to your best friend while thrusting your hips out.

After we did the various poses, we did another lie down on the mats. This is where the "woo woo" started. The leader read some esoteric Native American poem about finding your inner eagle or some crap like that. Then the bell. I hate that bell. Finally, we had to sit up and sing "Ooom Shanti Shanti Shanti" 3 times. Exsqueeze me? I came here to stretch, not sing. If I had looked over at Becky, I would have lost it so I looked straight ahead and tried to contain my inner 3 year old.

So this morning, I'm a bit sore, but not too bad. I'll probably look into going again, but I'm not singing. I need relief from sore muscles, not spiritual enlightenment.

Mousebound

It started with a phone call.

A few weeks ago, Cole called me from his dad's and wanted to know how much allowance he could save up by October. I asked him why, and he said he just wondered, so I told him to figure out $10.50 per week for however many weeks and that was his answer. He sighed and said, "never mind." I asked him what he was saving for and he said that he wanted to save up some money so we could go to DisneyWorld for my birthday.

What a little conniver! :) He knows that the way to my heart is through Mickey Mouse.

I am a hopeless Disney addict. I went to Disneyland once as a child and I was hooked. Unfortunately, I didn't make it back to a Disney park until Chris and I went to DisneyWorld for our honeymoon. Ever since then, I've bought into the "magic" hook, line and sinker. We've been back 3 more times in the past 9 years, and now Cole is as hooked as I am. Chris spent part of his childhood in the Orlando area so he had LOTS of Disney growing up. He tends to get a bit more "Disney'd out" than Cole or I. In fact, after our last trip, he proclaimed,
"No More Disney!"

We were planning on going to Costa Rica for vacation this year, but Cole wasn't really that into it. Chris and I just did a jungle lodge trip to Belize a year ago so I was enthused, but not 100% into it. So I had a great idea last weekend - what about DISNEYWORLD! :) I had to sell it to Chris a bit, and told him that he could pick where he wanted to go for our 10th anniversary later this year (he chose Italy). Luckily for Cole and I, Chris understands our Disney love and he saw that it was important to us so he relented.

Chris's brother and sister in law are part of the Disney Vacation Club so they can get discounted rooms. In fact, our wedding present from them was our stay at the uber-luxurious Grand Floridian Hotel at DisneyWorld. This time, we're staying in a one-bedroom villa at Old Key West resort. None of us have stayed there before so it will be new for all of us.

So, as usual, I'm planning already. I love planning vacations - probably almost as much as I enjoy the actual vacation. I made all of our dining reservations this morning (Disney starts taking restaurant reservations 6 months in advance!)

Now I only have to wait three months till my date with Mickey. *swoon*

The light at the end of the tunnel

I can see it! There's hope :)

Things are settling down a bit, thankfully. I think that February 2008 will go down as one of the most stressful months ever in my life. My friend, Tania, had a similar month so I'm wondering if February represents some sort of collective chaotic stress.

One more week to go and I'm done with school for a couple of weeks. I'm finishing up my big monster paper today and then I start studying for two finals next week. Both are take-homes so that helps keep my studying to a minimum.

Tomorrow is March 1st and I am so ready for spring. It's been in the upper 50s all week around here. I've got some spring flowers popping up in the yard, and my allergies are also popping up with things in bloom. I've decided that since tulips make me smile that every week I will buy a few bunches for the house. It's cheaper than anti-depressants and "greener" as well.

What makes you smile?

Bizzy bizzy

So these next few weeks are going to be hellish. Supremely hellish. Why, you may ask... well, let me spell it all out for you.

1. My 76 year old dad is having a double knee replacement tomorrow. If that's not bad enough, my mom is a brittle diabetic and can't be on her own so I'll be staying down at their place for the next few nights plus driving her back and forth to the hospital. They live 3o minutes away so I'll be getting lots of quality car time.

2. I've got 2 papers and 2 finals in the next 2 weeks. Joy. These two classes have been some of the hardest I've ever had so it's been lots and lots of work.

3. Lots of family coming in to help with my parents = good. Driving all of them back and forth to the airport = bad.

Luckily, Chris has been super supportive and a good shoulder to cry on when things have just gotten to be too much (that's happened a lot these past few months).

Only 3 more weeks and I'm on spring break! I just hope I can make it :)

A head for trivia...

I love that line from "Working Girl" where Melanie Griffith says she has a head for business and a body for sin. These days, I have more of a body for weight watchers but I still have the trivia head :)

I have always remembered useless stuff. No idea why. Want to know the unit of measurement used to build Noah's ark - ask me! It's a cubit! That's a real question in Trivial Pursuit by the way. Chris has a super smarty friend named Jeremy who is a TOTAL trivia geek. We played Trivial Pursuit one night and I gave him a strong run for his money. He was shocked and somewhat humbled that I came close to beating him. 

Last night, Tania and C brought over two trivia type games: Scene It for the 360 and Smarty Pants for the wii. Tania is a trivia head like me so we duked it out back and forth. She cleaned up though, especially on Scene It at the end when you get massive points. 

So today we are going to buy both of those games. Watch out, Tania!

Hearts and minds

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Hope you're all going to have some romance for the day. Even though it's Thursday :)

I have class on Thursday nights so Chris and I celebrated last night. He got me this really cute handbag/tote from a designer in Portland (I also have this really cute bag from her as well), and some memory for my laptop. I got him Obama's book and a game for the 360 (thanks, tania)!

We had a tres french dinner of crepes at 611 Supreme, which I coughed and hacked my way through - very romantic! I'm hoping to be done with this cough by the weekend! I'll tell you what though - cough medicine with codeine has been a Godsend for sleeping! Knocks me right out!

Wishing you a day of romance and lurve :)

It was bound to happen sometime

I knew it was coming. The odds were stacked against me and it was inevitable.

What is "it?" you are probably wondering?

It is a "B-" - my first one ever on a test since I've been back in school. Ok to be fair, I did get a C+ on a test once but that was because I didn't see a question on the back of the test so I don't really count it against me. This one, however, was fully earned by yours truly, and it's not a proud moment.

I've been struggling in general with my soc class as I blogged about a few days ago. I guess I just don't do well with theory these days. My test was a take home 10 question essay exam and I was asked to "discuss" and critique certain theories from our book. Well, I did a really good job of listing the theories and explaining them, but apparently, not so much in "discussing" them - hence the B-. When something looks too easy, it probably is - and it was.

I'm sure that most of you reading this probably think I'm crazy. A "B" isn't a bad grade in and of itself, but I've been a 4.0 student for 4 years and other than the flukey C+, I've always gotten A's. I live for the A's and I work extremely hard for them.

So today, I'm licking my wounds and also feeling a bit sorry for myself. In a fit of irrationality and low self-esteem, I was ready to chuck it all last night. Just give up school and move on. Today, however, I'm a bit more rational (and rested), and so I am just choosing to move onward and upward. Challenge is good right?

Oh, I guarantee I'll get an A on the next test :)

Obamarama 08 - my first caucus experience

Despite still feeling pretty sickly from my bronchitis, I decided that after almost 24 hours on antibiotics that I wasn't contagious so I went with Chris to our local democratic caucus. Neither of us had caucused before, but were anxious to see what the scoop was. Chris has been pretty firmly Obama since day 1. I've been leaning more toward Clinton, but I wasn't 100% firm.

Actually getting to the caucusing site was a nightmare. Somehow, we ended up with the wrong directions and we went to the wrong caucus site in Kent at an elementary school. We walked in and it was total pandemonium. I don't think that anyone had any idea just how many people were going to turn out. After we checked the map to try and find our precinct, we realized that this wasn't the right place. Luckily, Chris pulled up the address of the correct caucus site and we hauled ass to try and make the 1:30 deadline.

Our correct caucus site was at a union hall, and we got there just as the main group was getting ready to split up into precincts. so we found the room that held our precinct and filed in with a few other neighbors. We signed in and wrote down who we were voting for on a registration sheet. Up until the time I wrote "Obama" I was still unsure. After everyone registered, they divided up the delegates based upon the vote split. Our precinct was pretty apathetic and a couple of people said they wanted to be delegates and no one seemed to have any problems with that. I think we all just wanted to leave and get on with our day.

The interesting part is that after you split into your candidate group, you basically send emissaries to the other groups to convince them to vote for your candidate. After a set amount of time, the numbers are calculated again. In the end, our precinct had 5 delegates and they went 3 to Obama, 1 to Clinton, and 1 undecided.

The whole process seems extremely antiquated and it's really easy to see how fraud and miscounts can happen at election time. I've heard that the turnout was expected to be about 200,000 which is about 100,000 more than 2004. Like I said earlier, it was total pandemonium and confusion, but I'm glad we took part in the process.

Makes me wish we could just vote democrat in the primary from the comfort of my living room.

it's official - cabin fever has set in

After 3 1/2 days indoors fighting this godawful virus, I officially have cabin fever. I'm too sick to even think of venturing out, but I have reached the end of trying to entertain myself. I read a little bit but got bored. Then I tried to play Super Mario Galaxy, but ended up in a sweaty coughing fit because I got so frustrated!

You know things are bad when you watch two consecutive episodes of the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. Yeah, two. I'm so ashamed. I spent the afternoon working on a take-home test, but this congestion makes my head feel pretty cloudy. I can't wait to look at my assignment tomorrow to try and make sense of it before turning it in.

I had planned to caucus for the first time tomorrow afternoon, but even that is looking doubtful. Every time I cough, it sounds and feels like a lung is working it's way out of my body. Chris will be happy that I probably won't go and cancel out his vote since he plans to caucus for Obama and I was planning on caucusing for Clinton (although I'm still pretty undecided).

I may have to try and venture out a bit tomorrow so I keep my sanity. At this point, I'd just be happy to drive around the block a few times.

Sniff sniff cough cough

Been battling a nasty virus for the past few days. Had a fever of 101 - yuck!

On the mend thankfully!

Catching up on lots of daytime tv.

Theoretically speaking...

I've realized that I'm not much of a theorist anymore. Back when I was attending college for the first time, I loved learning new theories and different ways of approaching problems and issues. These college days, however... not so much.

I've got two classes the quarter: Research Methods in Psychology and a soc class, Criminology. The first class is a prereq for my Psych major. The latter class will apply to my minor of Sociology.

When I signed up for classes this quarter, I was super excited about the Criminology class. I have a paralegal certificate and my community college classes were all geared toward Law so I thought that Criminology would be a good fit. The thing is, it's so theoretical! I mean... it's all theories of why people commit crimes which is interesting to a certain degree, but I find myself saying, "would this fall under Rational Choice or Latent Trait theory."

The class that I thought would be a snooze-fest - Research Methods - is actually quite interesting! I guess as I've aged, I've discovered that stats ain't so bad. The class and material is very methodical which really works for me. I like that A + B = C. I get that. It's just very interesting to me that not too long ago I was all about the theories. Now I'm all about the numbers and the method.

Maybe I'll skip psychology and become a physicist or engineer :)

I lurve monkeys...

... but not this much.