Snow Day

The snow kept a fallin last night and I called in a snow day to work. While it was nice to be at home and not be out driving in the snow, I'm a little worried about the additional 2-4 inches that are supposed to fall tonight. I have more paid leave I can take from work if I really can't make it in, but I don't want to look like a wimp who doesn't want to drive in the snow. I'm not denying that I indeed am a wimp who doesn't want to drive in the snow, I just don't want to look that way.

Being at home when there's snow on the ground is definitely nice, and since I did something to my ankle sometime yesterday I'm trying to stay off of it - which means my ars is on the couch watching TV (what a sacrifice). I was watching reruns of one of my favorite shows of all time, America's Next Top Model, when I stumbled upon the upcoming season of Making the Band. I haven't watched it since the very first season (I think they're on season 4 or 5) because it was too much drama, but I have to admit this season looks really good. Kind of like a Diddy version of The Real World - but the back in the day version of the Real World, not the latest version. I think the last couple of years have really, well, sucked. The best seasons were San Francisco, London, Miami, and of course Seattle - now it's just lame. It almost makes me wish they'd bring Puck back...almost.

You really can wear bridesmaid dresses again!

Not only did this weekend start off fun with all the girlie time on Friday, but the fun continued over Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning I went running around Greenlake with one of the knotties. I didn't run the whole way around the lake, but considering I haven't been running probably since I was in grad school, this was a pretty big accomplishment. We then took our sweaty selves to Target and had a little retail therapy, which in my opinion is a great way to spend the rest of a Saturday morning.

Saturday night I had conflicting plans - the knotties were having a Wine, Wigs, and White Trash party, and my husband had some of his cousins coming over to our house for game night. While I was sad to miss out on the knottie white trashiness, I decided to stay home and play hostess for game night, which ended up being a lot of fun. My husband and his cousins are always a good time - we ended up playing Battle of the Sexes and Loaded Questions, which presented lots of opportunities for family jokes here and there.

Saturday night was followed by Sunday morning, which was basically comprised of sleeping in (one of my favorite activities). For the most part it has been kind of a lazy Sunday - my husband and I played the Wii for a bit, I did some laundry, caught up on some of the shows I DVR'd, etc. Then once the evening rolled around we went to my company's Anniversary Dinner (which they decided to do instead of a Holiday Party, as it's less controversial). It was held at Purple Cafe & Wine Bar in downtown Kirkland, with great food and drink (as you would expect the latter by the name alone). My company had arranged for a Murder Mystery to occur, where people who were coming could sign up for a role and play a part in a fake murder. The scene was set at the wedding of Becky Giovanni and Stanley Simpson - I played Denise Simpson, sister of the groom, and my husband played Harry Hitt, business associate of Becky's dad, Tony Giovanni (a known mob boss). People really dressed the part (I actually wore a bridesmaid dress from a wedding I was in a couple years ago) and it ended up being a really good time. Plus you can't beat free food - or free wine. Now we're back home, and I'm trying to think how the heck I'm going to get to work tomorrow with the snow that's falling from the sky. Since I've already written a post about how much I hate snow, I'll refrain from a soliloquy here, but know that I'm not excited to get up and drive in to work tomorrow. So long to another weekend.

Girlie Time

Tonight was a super fun day. I took a half day at work and met up with a friend who was in town for the weekend. We went to Bell Square for lunch and then went shopping. We each got a new pair of shoes - hers for work, mine for running (since I'm really actually trying to start working out more). Then after her husband picked her up I met up with two other friends for Happy Hour, and we got to have some time to catch up. All in all it was a good day for girlie time, which every woman needs on a regular basis. Now I'm just about off to bed to get some good rest so tomorrow I'm energized for my run.

Call me Betty Focker

This week has been filled with meetings at work - lunch meetings, project meetings, etc. One of the meetings was a potluck lunch staff meeting where they had about half of the employees bring food (the other half brought food to the November staff meeting) and the company donated the money they would have spent on buying us all lunch to charity. I volunteered to make a cake - this great poppyseed pound cake that my mom always made growing up that I recently learned how to make as well. I love this cake and when I've made it for others it usually gets raves. So imagine my surprise when I cut up the cake and set it out on the table where all the other desserts were set and maybe five people took a slice of cake. Five! Out of, like, fifty! People, that cake was a great dessert! I am a good baker! Give me some credit here - I'm not saying I'm Betty Crocker, but c'mon, my cake ain't that bad! Hmph.

Damn the NY Giants (and an update on life in general)

This weekend was a pretty busy one for me. Friday night I met up with a friend for dinner at one of my absolute favorite restaurants, The Jones. One of my friends, MoHo, owns the restaurant with her husband and man, do they do things right. I got to enjoy some nice wine, delicious ravioli, and the most divine banana dessert I think I've ever had (sorry Mom). Then Saturday morning I got my yeti brows waxed so I didn't have to subject anyone to their hideousness anymore. Later that morning I met up with a group of friends I met on an internet website The Knot, known as "the knotties" (MoHo and the friend from dinner are included in that group). We all saw the movie 27 Dresses at Lincoln Square, and it was great. Predictable, but still cute. I then had lunch with about half of the knotties, did a little cruising around Bellevue Square, and headed home.

Saturday night I met up with friends from the sorority I was in at U-Dub. One of them lives near Portland, Oregon, and I hadn't seen her in months, so it was great to catch up. We had decided to get together at the Irish Emigrant, a bar in the U District we frequented quite a bit during our college years. It was definitely weird to be in a college bar, especially when you're about 10 years older than the people who are currently in college.

Today the busy-ness continued as my family celebrated both my Dad's and Brother's birthdays with a lunch/brunch at my parents' house in Issaquah. It was nice to see the family, however we ended up spending more time out there then we meant to and I had to reschedule coffee with a friend for later this week. The rest of the day has mainly been spent doing laundry and dishes (so exciting - but hey, it keeps me in line with my New Year's resolutions), and watching the NFC championship game, which The Packers and my lovely NFL crush Brett Favre have just lost to the New York Giants. It may not sound like it, but I'm seriously raging inside at The Packer loss. Now I'm not nearly as invested in the Super Bowl - though I'll probably still watch it for the commercials, and with the slight hope that the Giants could actually beat Tom Brady and the Patriots this time around. Again I repeat from a previous post...freaking Tom Brady.

Fetch!

When I was little I loved to read, and I read all the time. Through high school and college that changed quite a bit as I was forced to read books that I didn't necessarily want to and didn't have time to read the things I liked. Recently I've gotten back into reading for pleasure, and I even joined a book club. The most recent book I read (which was not a book club book) was "Marley & Me", and it was so fabulous. For those who haven't heard about it, it's the story of a dog, a family pet, and all the trouble he gets in to. Of course eventually he passes away and it's so sad, but the story of Marley was just wonderful. Of course it makes me think of our dog, Chesney - our dear little beagle. She cracks me up with her butt wiggling from happiness when we get home and her "talking" to us when she wants something (mainly a toy or a treat). While it's difficult to know that one day she will pass away, I like to focus on the daily little things she does and how much fuller my life is because of her. Like when she's barking at whatever is (or isn't) behind our back yard fence. And when she thinks a kitchen towel is a new toy. And especially when she climbs all over my lap (and laptop) when I'm trying to write a post. Okay Chesney - enough computer time. Let's play some fetch.

Peyton, what were you thinking?

Being married to a football nut, I have come to enjoy football quite a bit. It's still hard for me to watch a full game when someone besides the Seahawks are playing, but I for sure want to see the highlights and check websites for scores. I've even played fantasy football and enjoyed it. With this has come a few tiny pro-football crushes. One is on Brett Favre (despite him beating our beloved Hawks) - he's just so darn All-American. The other is on Peyton Manning. Again, totally All-American, and from what I can tell with all the commercials he's been in lately, fairly good with the comedic timing. Most of the time I think pro athlete's commercials are completely lame, but the Peyton Manning commercials seriously crack me up. Especially the NFL pep talk ones.

However, I just saw a commercial that has made me revert back to my old way of thinking. And seriously question Peyton's comedic sense. It was a commercial with Peyton and his brother Eli for what I think everyone can agree is completely related to football...double stuff oreo cookies. It was something about both of them leaving football and starting a double stuff oreo licking league. And it was seriously weak..and completely un-funny. Oh Peyton, let's step up the standards, shall we?

No thunder stealing here

I am so excited for a friend of mine. And I'm going to direct you to her blog to wait until she tells the whole world before I do. I can't steal her thunder :) But Spring Break, I'm completely thrilled for you and your man.

http://awatchedpotwaitingtoboil.blogspot.com/

It's beginning to look a lot like...snow

It has barely stopped snowing at our house and I am not happy about it. I should clarify - I'm not happy that it snowed in the first place, and I actually am happy that it stopped. I cannot stand driving in snow, or driving after it's snowed, or driving on snow - anything involved with snow and driving I pretty much can't stand. It makes my muscles get all tense and my stomach do flip flops of anxiousness. So you can imagine the fact that I need to be in Kirkland tomorrow at 6:30 am (to pick up a coworker and drive down to Fort Lewis for a site visit by 7:45 am) is not sitting well with me. These are the times I wish I was a kid, when I would pray for snow every week so I didn't have to go to school. Which makes me think of a funny little story from my childhood - well, technically my brother's childhood, but roll with me here.

My family has always loved listening to Christmas carols, and Bing Crosby is one of our favorites. We would listen to the album over and over again. According to my mom, the song "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" came on and my younger brother was singing away. Right after the line "and Mom & Dad can hardly wait for school to start again", my brother (who was probably in kindergarten or around that age), turned to her and asked "Why do you want us to go back to school?" in this completely sad little voice, as if he was supremely hurt that his parents would want him out of the house. My mom just cracked up.

Aaaaahhh, to be young and naive again.

A Lovely Lazy Sunday

Today has been a lovely lazy Sunday, which I relish. While I do like to get out of the house a bit on the weekends, sometimes it's just as nice to hang out at home. What isn't so good is that I often spend a lazy Sunday on the couch, watching TV and surfing the internet; this isn't exactly in keeping with my New Year's resolutions of having a cleaner house and losing weight/working out. What also isn't in keeping with my New Year's resolutions is the pile of clean clothes that's been sitting on my dining room table for the past 6 days (side note, we don't usually eat at the table, unless we're having people over, so no food near the clean clothes). I don't know why I don't fold them, it's not like it's hard, but for some reason I resist doing it. It's time for an attitude adjustment. And it's time for me to get my tush off the couch and fold some clothes.

Our F-game

Today is a sad, sad day. The Seahawks lost to the Packers in an NFC Division Round game. And it wasn't even a close loss, it was pretty much a blow out. To quote a friend, the Packers brought their A-game, we brought our F-game. On the upside, I have a mini-crush on Favre so if we had to lose this game, I'm okay with losing it to Favre. It would be great if the Packers could go on to face the Patriots in the Super Bowl and kick their butts. Plus I would love to see Tom Brady fall on his ars. Freaking Tom Brady.

Friday-what-ous?

I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent person, and that I work with intelligent people. I also like to think that the people I come into contact with through work are intelligent as well; I mean, they hold a job, so they have to be a little smart. Well, today I found out that apparently that's all you have to be to hold a job...a little smart.

But a little background first. I have been doing work on Fort Lewis for the past two months or so. It's been very interesting work and I've really enjoyed it. What I haven't enjoyed is the circuitous communication that's required by this project's contract. Technically, the company I work for is a subconsultant to another firm (we'll call them Firm XYZ) who actually has the contract with the military. In order to ask questions or get any of the data we need, we have to ask Firm XYZ, who asks the contact at Fort Lewis, who gets the information, gives it to Firm XYZ, who then gives it to us. As you tell, this is quite the efficient way to do things (yeah right).

Anyway, the woman who I speak with at Firm XYZ to get the information is so peppy it kills me. I swear she came out of cheerleader bootcamp - she just oozes cheerfulness. I called her today because she was supposed to email the Fort Lewis contact with a letter attachment about a site visit I'm doing next week and cc me, but I didn't see the email. When I called her she said something along the lines of "Did I not cc you on the email? Oh my goodness, I'm such a boob! I'll forward you the email." Who uses the word "boob" at work? Especially when talking to someone who you barely know, who you have never met face to face? As if that wasn't enough to cause alarm, in the email she forwarded me, she wrote (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Sorry about the email! I must have Friday-idous!" Friday-what-ous? You mean, Friday-itis? As in arthritis? Appendicitis? Even senioritis? How did this woman get her job? More importantly, how does she keep it? I do not mean to be harsh, I'm just quite surprised - and a little sad at the state of our education system. In fact, it's giving me encephalitis (inflammation of the brain, for those of you not up on your itis-es).

This is an outrage

In September I started volunteering with an organization called ACE (Architects, Construction Managers, and Engineers). The organization has a mentor program that works with high school students - we (people who work in the previously mentioned fields - there's about 15 of us) meet with a group of students (about 25 or so) every two weeks through the course of a school year. They have a project that they work on - they have to choose some type of building to design. First they pick a location, then go about designing it, taking into account the mechanics, plumbing, soil, traffic - all the various engineering aspects.



We had our first meeting back from winter break tonight and I have to say these kids crack me up. The goal of tonight's meeting was to pick the location for the project (a mall with an amusement park in it - think Mall of America). Over the break the students visited one of the sites on the list they came up with at the previous meeting - and boy, did people get attached to their sites. First off, let me say that there is limitless budget for this project. Now, some of these sites were very...out there. One was St Edwards park. Another was Mercer Island - the entire island (never mind the people living on it). A third was a random site in Chehalis (picked because "dude, there's nothing else out there"). The three most viable options were the old Safeway distribution site, the Factoria mall (meaning it would be redeveloped), and 60 acres (a huge soccer field area in the Woodinville/Redmond area which isn't actually 60 acres). Trying to discuss (read: shout over each other until someone gets heard) about the pros and cons of each site went something like this (as best I can remember).



"Your site's too small"

"What are you gonna do with all the kids who want to play soccer? They're gonna be all on the side of the road, pissed that they don't have anywhere else to play"

"Dude, the farmers won't mind if we build right next to them. They're cool"

"Who wants to travel to the middle of nowhere" (said about the site in Woodinville/Redmond)

"No, seriously, think about it, the whole island would be a theme park"

- and my favorite, said by one boy under his breath somewhat jokingly after "his" site was not voted as the project site

"This is an outrage"




Wouldn't we all like to go back to a time when one of our biggest problems was the site we wanted for a project didn't get picked? I think so.

A Minor Accomplishment

I'm really trying to keep up with my New Year's resolutions, and in doing so I had a minor accomplishment today. Those who have lived with me know I am not by any means a neat freak, and if given the chance I will let cleaning go until a) things get so gross it becomes unlivable or b) I have guests coming over and I have to hide the fact that I'm a slob. My kitchen was verging on option a, but not quite there yet. Normally I would let it go until the weekend, but instead I loaded the dishwasher, ran it, unloaded it once the dishes were clean, put the dishes away, and loaded it back up as much as I could. I don't know that I've ever done that on a weeknight. Sad but true - but hey, I'm making progress, that's gotta count for something!

Rats!

Yup, that's right, we have rats. Not mice, rats. In our crawl space/attic. It is creepy to think that there are little critters crawling around and breeding above my head while I sit here typing. We had a guy come out to see where they were getting in and what we could do about it. He's supposed to come back in about a week to seal things up, but we'll need to replace all the insulation up there because the rats have used it has one giant bathroom. Gross. In addition to that, we really need to replace the carpets in our house because they are seriously disgusting as well. Houses are complete money pits.

Begin at the beginning

Seeing as blogs have become so popular lately, I've decided to start my own. While I don't think everything I have to say is terribly interesting, I love reading others' blogs and find that it helps me keep up to date on my friends' lives. So this will be my story, of a girl who has been married less than a year and is dealing with life in general.

With the start of 2008 I have made a number of resolutions. First and foremost (and a classic) is to lose weight. Second is to keep my house cleaner (notice I didn't say "clean", just "cleaner"). Third is to become more financially responsible. So far I'm not doing so well; I'm the same weight as at the first of the year, my house isn't that much cleaner (though I did clean it a bit for when we had people over for the Seahawks/Redskins game on Saturday), and I have a serious weakness of shopping on the weekends. But there's still the rest of the year to improve, and you never can tell what will happen in a year's time.