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.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Disney makes you crazy
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
You can see more pics here: Disney Vacation
Monday, July 21, 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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!
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!
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
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