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!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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 :)
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 :)
Friday, June 20, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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 :)
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 :)
Monday, June 9, 2008
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!
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!
Friday, June 6, 2008
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.
-Anthony Bourdain
I'll be in the audience at The Moore tomorrow night swooning at his wit and snark. Oh my.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
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!
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!
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