Spring Break Week

Sharp white cheddar and crackers with grapes this morning.

It's a chilly, rainy spring break week here. Boo hiss! I don't have class, which is nice, but I'm working most of the week. Yesterday I worked from home a little. The boys had to visit the vet. Taking two at a time is not fun. My hearts go out to mothers of small children trying to get in and out of non-automatic doors with children in tow. The boys were good, though.

I took a long walk in the afternoon. The sun was out for awhile, so I stopped and gazed at the creek that runs behind our house and along the road. It was quite serene.

I'm starting to read The Poisonwood Bible today. Ever read it? Thoughts?

Now, I must go book my Friday spa (ok, it's a beauty school) appointment!

Nudie Bar Friday!

Lacy baby swiss slices today.

No, really, it IS nudie bar Friday. You all might think less of me, but I'm going to a strip club tonight. I've never been to one & am ever so slightly curious. We have a friend that has been giddy to arrange the outing and won't let it drop. So, we just said yes to doing it tonight and will get it over with. I'm not excited. I'm dreading it a bit. But still, I'm curious. I think women are pretty, I like to watch dancers, I'm just not into seedy things. This is a fairly tasteful place, though (I think). I predict we'll stay an hour to make our friend happy and then bail out. I'm just feeling a little icky about this. And what DOES a woman wear to a strip joint?

A list is the cool thing to do

Mild brick and crackers this morning.

1. I'm going on a more regimented diet. It's easier to control what I eat when it's relatively the same thing for lunch each day. And not needing leftovers for lunch will help me eat less at night. No need to make big meals.

2. I want to fast forward thru April so I can start gardening. Mid-May is the earliest I can really plant anything here.

3. I returned something to JC Penny's yesterday. So many cute new spring clothes! I could use a shopping spree. I tend to be an all or nothing shopper. I rarely go shopping and just buy one shirt. I tend to shop three times a year for clothes and buy the whole season's wardrobe all at once. How do you shop for clothes?

4. Speaking of that, I suppose I should start hauling out my spring/summer clothes from storage.

5. I should get a pedicure on my birthday, shouldn't I? I should probably call for an appointment this week.

A secret

Artichoke dip loaded with parmesan just for MM today.

I can't log in through blogger, so I have to post on someone's blog before I can come and make a new post on mine. So my secret is that I sometimes post something completely stupid and boring on one of your blogs in the morning, just so I can get logged in. There usually aren't any new posts at 8 am, so I recomment on one from the previous day.

Heh, I had you all excited that it was a good secret.

On an unrelated note, to 24 fans, is this season the start of it jumping the shark, or is it just me?

The Long and Winding Road

Squeaky cheese curds-come and get em!

Friday was Chris's birthday. We took at road trip, at Chris's request, to our neighboring states. The entire trip was built around drinking and eating, by his choice.

Friday: Ate birthday lunch and drank birthday beer at Madison brewpub. Hit the road for Davenport/Rock Island/Moline/Benttendorf areas of Illinois and Iowa. We hit three brewpubs and a martini & cigar bar. The martini bar was cool. There was a great lounge singer to entertain us. Chris had some bourbon and a cigar. I had a chocolate martini of some sort and a cosmo with my favorite vodka (Ciroc).

Saturday: We hit the Rock Island Arsenal, a military base that has quite an interesting history. The arsenal museum was very cool. The base started being built during the civil war, so it was a POW camp where the prisoners helped to build the base. It was interesting to read how Confederate soldiers were guarded by black Union soldiers. You can imagine how well that went over.

Then it was a slow drive down the Mississippi Great River Road. It was a little rainy, but it was still a beautiful drive. We then hit Quincy, IL. We hit one bar (for wings) and one brewpub there. We think there was a prostitute convention in town, because we kept seeing lots of trashy women. But really, Quincy had a lovely downtown and some beautiful, big old houses.

Then it was off to Springfield, IL. We didn't get there til dusk, so there wasn't much sightseeing. All the bars/restaurants we had on our list were in strip malls, it seemed. And they were very family oriented. Bright lights, kiddos running around. Just not what we were looking for. So we found a quiet place that wasn't crowded where I delved into a horrific Springfield tradition: The Horseshoe. CAUTION: MAY CAUSE YOU TO THROW UP IN YOUR MOUTH A LITTLE. The horseshoe is two slices of sourdough bread, open face, topped with your choice of meat (I went for the bacon and tomoato combo), then covered in french fries and drenched in a cheese sauce. I ate all the bread and tomato, but had to leave some of the fries that were too soggy with cheese and the super salty bacon. It was an experience I had to try. It's like the poutine of the U.S. I will never eat it again.

Sunday we just drove home. Oh, I forgot, we had to eat breakfast at the Huddle House. Chris was excited to have his loaded hashbrowns with eggs on top.

That's the excitement in the life of Kim. After last weeks rushed pace, it was nice to slow down for the weekend. I, however, missed some good gardening weather. It's supposed to be nice for a few more days and then drop to average 50ish temps over the weekend.

It's sunny out!

Wunderbar cheese and sesame crackers today (no, I'm not making that up)!

I had my math exam and was busy with work yesterday. Glad that day is over.

I'm working from home today. Ali had to go to the vet. They have no idea what's wrong with her, so I paid for a lot of expensive tests. We'll hopefully find out more tomorrow. We realized today that she has a very tight front paw grip. We often had to pry her paws from the exam table today. I love my kitty and hope she's ok. The vet sent some liquid painkiller home with us, so she gets a squirt of that when Chris gets home.

I got as much work done this morning as I would've in a day in the office. Thus, I think I'll relax and do some projects around the house for the rest of the day. I need to vacuum up all the asian beetles roaming in the house and dead in the carpet.

@$!%^@!

No cheese. I can't afford cheese because my car keeps eating my money.

1. Tire incident in Jan/Feb (due to sliding into icy snow bank). Cost: $250
2. Cracked hose incident (due to ice chunk falling off car's wheel well in front of us) in Feb. Cost: $300
3. Flying chunk of ice off semi on interstate today cracking my whole headlight. Cost: $250 estimate

$800 for snow related incidents in three months. Cripes.

I'm focking moving. I should also mention that a girl rear-ended Chris, during a snow storm, this month when we had the truck. No damage to the truck, thank cod.

We wrote down the semi's company name and truck number. They are saying they won't pay for it. @#!$%

Look Back and Forward

Creamy swiss & bacon spread with crackers today.

We had a BLAST during our St. Patty's Day outing on Saturday. It was a group of 6-10 of us traveling throughout the city. We even made the Madison nightly news as a "group of revelers" at the Irish pub by the Capitol. We looked like dorks, but wow did we have fun. How did YOU celebrate St. Patrick's Day (lie to me if you must)?

I have an exam on Wednesday & have no idea how I'll have enough time to study. This math junk is hard. I spent all day yesterday on it, and feel like I mastered very little. If this exam doesn't go well, I might drop the class. Work is busy, too, which doesn't help. I have to survey night shift CNAs tonight, so won't be done with that til 11 pm. Yuck.

I'm looking forward to Seattle this summer. We got a Frommer's book and reading it is getting me excited. By then I'll be back in the normalcy of no school and no part-time job (that sucked up all of LAST summer).

Waaah!

My shirt won't be here on time. So today I must go shirt shopping. The shirt will not be unique, nor cool, but I must have a shirt.

Aged white cheddar and grapes today.

Unimportant TMI again (I changed the font to a light color so your eyes could skip it if you don't want to read it): I'm going on new birth control pills. It's the generic version of Seasonale. I'm very curious if this will help solve some of my girly issues. I'm also going to start having mammograms next year or the following (age 31 or 32). Finally, a doc that agrees it's a good idea to start early if I can cope with potential false-positive-type situations.

I have to clean the truck out tonight, as we are driving the crew around tomorrow. Chris is staying reasonably sober, as he's not feeling the greatest anyway. Turns out the flu symptoms were just a side effect of the pain meds, thank goodness. Don' t you have cleaning out vehicles? Well, in the summer I don't mind it so much. But it's cold out now.

Happy Thursday!

String Cheese for all!

It's been hella busy, but not so bad that I'm ready to cry in misery. Updates:

1) Chris injured his rotator cuff. Since every man I know has had this problem, I told him it was his rite of passage into old-manhood. He DOES turn 34 next week. *grin* So, he's in a sling and a lot of pain. And today? He's having flu-like symptoms. Poor guy.

2) It's new coffee creamer time! I usually drink my coffee black, but when fun creamers are available, I snag them up! I bought a Coconut Cream one for work and tried it this morning. Hm. I love the smell, I like the taste. Not sure I'd buy it again, but it's a fun diversion. The Almond Vanilla is at home. I'll try that on Saturday (we only make coffee at home on the weekends).

3) Brrrrr. I'm cold.

4) I'm ready for St. Patrick's Day this weekend, although I'm a bit dismayed my shirt hasn't yet arrived. :-(

Thanks for not leaving a cheesy mess in my blog!

In and Out This Week

I'm leaving a gigantic cheese tray today. I might be off blogland for a few days. Work is rather busy. And I hate my math prof. We are chugging along so great that he added another chapter to our exam next week. FOck!

I'll be thinking of you all! *smooch*

I was going to rant about work...

Beer cheese soup today. It's still rather cold here in WI, so a warm bowl of soup is good.

I had a work rant started, but it was rather long and boring. The basic idea is that my boss is too busy to effectively do her research, so it's all thrown in my lap. And frankly, I'm not qualified to do the really high level research methods and analysis. I can't even get a full hour meeting with her most weeks, thus, things drag out forever. She made some career decisions this week that would've made my life easier. Then recanted on them. Sigh.

*time out* Coffee spill!

So, since I'm not typing a really long rant (yeah, yeah, I know, that was long enough), I thought I'd ask you about vehicles. If you were to go shopping within your normal relative vehicle budget, what things would be most important to you, and what are some of the vehicles you'd consider? What is slightly above your budget and impractical, but you'd love to have?

Overtime is killing me.

Not mine. Chris's. I'm on salary, so my schedule often varies. I always make up for the really long days by cutting a few short over the next few weeks. However, Chris has been working overtime, and since we commute, that means I'm also up earlier and home later. It's wearing thin, but the money is nice.

I talked to Lasann last night! She's a real sweetheart. I really, really hope we meet in Seattle this summer!

Oh. Cheese. Right. Grilled mozzarella, spinach, basil and tomato sandwiches. Yum!

A few randoms

Turkey burgers with blue cheese or cheddar today. *flips burgers*

I used counting to fall asleep last night. I didn't count anything in particular, just needed to focus my mind on something else. I got a thought in my head about work and it wouldn't go away.

I need to call my sister and see how she is doing. She's finally figured out that working as a preschool teacher isn't going to provide for her and the boys long term, and that she can't be a great parent if she's around other kids all day long. She hasn't job searched for anything other than preschool and daycare jobs. Ever. But she's ready now, and I need to support her.

In other random news, I've been reading a lot lately. My three most recent reads were My Friend Leonard (Frey), The Camel Club (Baldacci) and The Mephisto Club (Gerristen). I guess I'm into clubs. I'm now reading The Book of Fate (Meltzer). I think I need some non-fiction next. I've toyed around with having a quarterly book club with my local friends. Quarterly seems very doable for people. That way, we still have plenty of time to read other stuff on our own, and nobody feels too rushed.

I present...my opinion

Parrano cheese and crispy sesame crackers this morning. It's a medium firmness cheese, but tastes like parmesan.

Three things I have an opinion about today:

Everyday Minerals
I know I mentioned I got the samples last week. I now love them. More than BM. Why? Because they have the option of a matte formula. And unlike previous "other" brands of mineral makeup I've tried, the matte doesn't make my skin look chalky. I'm in love with the matte EM foundation. And I also got some really pretty blush.

Movies: Barnyard and Man of the Year
Yuck and Yuck. Barnyard wasn't really funny at all. I laughed exactly three times. The animation isn't great. Man of the Year was ODD. It was almost a dark comedy. Not sure Robin Williams was the best choice for the lead role. I don't really recommend it unless it's on tv.

We did see a great movie on the Independent Film Channel this weekend. It was based on a true story of the Burma democracy movement and violence. Patricia Arquette (of Medium) played the lead role and was very good. She was brunette in the movie and looked good as a brunette.

What a lazy weekend it was. Well, other than my four hour Saturday morning cleaning spree. I scrubbed the master bath floor by hand (it's a big bathroom) and cleaned the shower grout. That sucked more than most things.

Yay! It's Friday!

Brie and bread today, my pretties.

We have no plans for the weekend. I'll get lots of exercising done and only have a little homework to do. Our house needs some serious cleaning, so that's what I hope to spend a lot of time doing. We'll also be watching Barnyard and Man of the Year. I also have some thank yous to write to some fabulous peeps.

*pout* Everyone is vacationing. My sister leaves this weekend for a Florida resort, Breezy is going to Hawaii, Carey is going to Mazatlan next month. *double pout* I want a warm vacation. And I so want to move to a warmer climate.

Which one?

Guinness shirts (1st for Chris, 2nd one for me):























Or, matching, personalized Drinking Team shirts? I'm having a style issue with this...baseball tees aren't so flattering on me when they aren't semi-fitted. It's either baseball unfitted, or a junior size (that's what's shown first here) that won't fit me very well at all:

I should've stayed home

Appenzeller fondue today. Dip in!

The weather was really crappy today. Chris dropped me at the bus stop so I could take the bus across town to work. Then, he didn't have to keep driving in the crappy conditions and would get to work on time. I had to wait 25 minutes for an effing bus. Grrr. And brrrr.

I told my boss last night I might stay home today, but the forcasters said "eh, it's just going to be rainy. I don't know why schools are starting late and closing." Glare ice with snow on top as we got closer to Madison.

On a brighter note, at least I'll be eating fondue with my friends here today. And my Everyday Minerals samples came yesterday. I ordered them after someone in that thread where Geg said she couldn't use BM recommended the EM. I think they are the most comparable to BM I've tried.

Comte and apples today. Comte is a form of guyrere.

I went to Whole Foods last night and got three new cheeses (no, comte was not one of them). I can't remember any of their names though & the labels only say "newitem." Bastards. I really enjoy my trips to Whole Foods, though. So many different items. And I love to smell the handcut soap logs. I also bought some tea tree oil last night. We'll see if pure oil zaps my zits any faster than the Mario Badescu drying cream (which, I now found a store locally that sells MB stuff).

I'm feeling a little blue today. Work stressed me yesterday. A single mom in my office never ASKS if she can take time off when her kid is planned off school. It just is. This year, it coincides with a major grant deadline, which means our office is busy (25% of my job is in the research office, one duty is to provide backup to staff during grant deadlines. As in "crap, someone is sick, we need backup" or "there's no way we can get all of these submitted on time unless we have an extra set of hands and eyes."). Thus, I can't take any time over my spring break off, which happens to coincide with my birthday. Why? Because I have a sense of responsibility to my job and I'm polite. She? Doesn't give a rats arse about the needs of her position.

There's some other stuff going on, too. Thus, I'm just a little blue.

In other news, I found the Neutrogena Body Microdermabrasion kit on clearance at Walgreens for $15.99. Now I need to get the face sponge, as it fits the body thing. Yay! One problem with my new body buffing routine is that I'm really noticing some ugly blue veins on my right calf.

My Friend Test

Shamelessly stolen from HD & Arkie:


Create your own Friend Test here

The Breast Cancer 3 Day

*digs out from snow storm* I present a lavish display of Wisconsin cheeses today: brie, sharp cheddar, provolone, baby swiss, meunster, kase, and brick for your pleasure. I'll even put out a little salami cheese for those of you that like that kind of thing. :-)

It's time that I start trying to raise funds for the Breast Cancer 3 Day. I've been training for about four weeks now as a little "pre-training." I start the real training next week and will stick as close as possible to the schedule until the walk is over. Six mile walks are as much as I can handle on the treadmill. It's too boring otherwise! Once the weather warms, those long walks will be easier. I wish Boo was closer so we could train together. :-(

So, I'd like to ask you to consider a donation, no matter what the size. Don't feel obligated. If you can't afford to make a donation, verbal support is always appreciated. And calf massages. :-)
http://www.the3day.org/chicago07/nolet

Thank you for your support, in whatever form it may be. *smooch*

What a weird day it was

Brick cheese and crackers today.

We had an all day "meeting" yesterday on a project. We were meeting with some long term care consumers in the afternoon. One loud woman basically was sexually harassing the guy next to her in a wheelchair. From now on, we are making a point to put her next to one of us in these meetings, not next to other consumers.

In case you are wondering, banana chocolate chip muffins are the preferred type of muffins among our morning group. Followed by cranberry orange and blueberry. Lemon poppyseed wasn't as popular as I asumed. The lowfat blueberry? I was the only one that ate one.

Out of Office Thursday

Please hold my calls. Bob is in charge of the cheese.

Meatloaf and other randoms

Little cheese pizzas today. I've had a pizza craving.

1. I'm making meatloaf tonight. Paula Dean made me laugh, but had a good idea. Line your pan with bread to soak up the grease (thus, the loaf won't sit in the grease). Then she proceeded to put bacon and cheese in her meatloaf.

2. I love grocery shopping. I love to browse the products. I love to price compare and read labels. I picked up some healthy snacks to have at work (that's been my downfall lately...unhealthy work snacks), but forgot the bag at home. :-(

3. I think I've figured out my next career move, but it's going to be a matter of finding open jobs. I'd like to work as a training coordinator (I do some of that in my job already). I would like to stay in the healthcare industry, but since I'm not a nurse, etc., those positions are almost non-existant for me. Thus, I'll continue to look at State positions and other industries. I'm considering getting a distance ed. certificate. Work would pay for the program and it's all online here at the UW. Not sure if it will benefit me that much, but it wouldn't hurt.

4. I watched last week's LOST last night. Very weird. I love Desmond, though.

5. I need a vacation, but it doesn't look like that will happen til May. I'm going to take a big chunk of time off to garden and landscape.

February is sponsored by the letter T

Sharp white cheddar and crackers today.

T? Why T you ask?

T is for tires, which I told you about a few weeks ago.

T is also for transmission. Yesterday, in the thick of traffic, a car let loose some ice chunks from its wheel wells right in front of us. It was unavoidable that we "clunked" right over them. Well, last night, on the way home, the car was not going into gear when we were driving along. I just said "Maybe we should turn around and go to the mechanics" when it permenantly wouldn't stay in drive. We limped off the road and transmission fluid was everywhere. We assumed it was cracked in the ice debacle that morning. However, towing guy didn't see a crack. Might have jostled the transmission enough to blow a seal, though. Either insurance or the warranty should cover it (minus our deductible, though, for insurance), but still, it sucked.

Bruschetta with some strips of shaved parmesan for you today.

I can't wait til spring. I'm sick of having limited social things to do because it's cold and snowy out. I just read MM's blog and was so jealous of her picnicing.

I want to move.

Let's move!

Little toothpick skewers of provolone, pecornio and salami.

Ok, let's pretend we all get to retire in a few years and get to move. Where are you retiring to and why? Or, are you staying right where you are?

Let's pretend again. North America has kicked you out. You must move somewhere else. Where are you going?

Jobs I would consider

Nibble on some baby swiss and let's ponder our careers.

If education wasn't an obstacle, what jobs would you seriously consdier? Try to make it something you could actually do at this point in life with your previous experience.

1. Staff Development Coordinator for nursing homes.
I'd likely need a nursing degree for this.

2. Events Coordinator
I have the education and some low level experience. However, the entry level pay sucks. And I'd have to work a lot of odd hours

3. Kitchen store owner
I'd love to own a little boutique store that sold cookware and gadgets, plus a few gourmet food items. We have one in Madison that I'd love to mirror in the small town I live in. It's a touristy town that would benefit from this business. However, this? Would be incredibly risky.

4. Bakery worker or owner
Fun! Long hours, and again, incredibly risky to be an owner. Low pay to be a worker.

5. Something student oriented at the university
I need to consider jobs in housing, orientation, advising, etc.

*peeks out*

Will some nice warm grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches make up for my absence?

It's been an overwhelming week.

#1: MIL came to visit for multiple days
This meant her 2 year old lab was also in tow. Our three cats hate the dog. The dog is a real chewer and constantly on your heels. MIL shut our bedroom door the morning she left because he was chewing on Chris's slippers. Well, she locked a cat in (from 8 am until we got home at 7:30 last night). Poor kitty bladder. Mind you, she'd be reminded to check for cats the day before when she did this. I'd bore you with the million other odd stories, but basically she's in la la land and this stresses us all.

#2 Math exam
It was today. I studied a ton. I think it paid off. We'll see next week when the grades come out.

#3 Conducting nurse education programs this week
We've had to develop and deliver and education program in the short span of two weeks. We have another next week, but at least all the prep work is now done. We had to drive south in the snow storm yesterday. It was horrendous. Lots of accidents right in front of us.

#4 Every other project amping up
We have two other projects that have major activities going on. Looks like my California trips are going to be April 18-22 and May 3-6. And then probably two more yet this year. Whew!

#5 My boss will be retiring in 3 years
This terrifies me. My job is on soft money tied to her research. I could probably pick up a permenant position within the School of Nursing, but I really don't like my workplace. I just like MY job. I also don't think I want to work for the university UNLESS I GET MY MASTER'S. Only having my bachelor's is like this little black cloud that follows me. Everyone here is so educated and that shuts me out from a lot of the good positions. I just got this by sheer luck of having worked for her previously. She's talked about us developing a consulting business. That would be a great career move for me, but a huge financial risk in the short run.

So that's what is going on in my world. It's a little more calm since this afternoon. Chris and I are heading out for our Valentine's Day outing this evening. Oooh, that reminds me, I need to go wish the Swami's a Happy Anniversary!

A cook's confession

Proscuitto and port du salut this morning.

I love to cook. Love it. I experiment with some weird stuff, but there are a few basic things I've never made at home. Last night, I made lamb.

We have a little organic, local foods store in my home of Spring Green. They had some lil' lamb chops for a reasonable price. Chris was going to a meeting last night (it was a potluck), so I knew I could make whatever I wanted for dinner. Since Chris wasn't ever thrilled about lamb, this was opportunity to experiment.

I rubbed them with some rosemary, thyme, mustard seeds, smoked salt, paprika and pepper. Browned them in a skillet and threw the skillet under low broil for about 14 minutes (flipping halfway).

It turned out near perfect. Next time I'd go for 12-13 minutes, as they were getting on the medium-well side of medium.

Such exciting news I bring, huh?

Last Night's Debacle

Cubes of emmenthaler and edam today. E cheeses.

Tuesday's are Chris's late night at work, so I take the bus over, walk to his office, grab the car and run errands. It was still very cold and a fresh coat of snow was on the ground, so he came to pick me up at the bus stop. Well, as he came over the hill and tried to stop, he slid in the car and bumped off a solid snowbank. We didn't think much of it. We drove back to his office to drop him off (just a few blocks) and I went to the grocery store a few more blocks away. Then I went across the street to TJ Maxx. Yep, I got him some new workout pants and me new socks.

I went to pick Chris up around 5:45 because he let his group out early. As soon as I pulled onto the street...thump thump thump. Hm. A few blocks before his office it hit me. The effing tire is flat. It was so slushy and sleety, that it didn't immediatly dawn on me why steering sucked.

Sure enough, a dead flat tire. The hit to the snowbank had wreck the tire completely. No time like in below zero temps to change a tire. And the roads were so terrible we didn't want to drive with a spare on, so off to get new tires we went. We needed new ones anyway. Sigh.

At least they weren't brand new tires we wrecked. Kind of glad we put off getting new ones. And at least it happened in town, not on the highway in the middle of the country.

New Workout Wear Needed!

String cheese today. Low fat available for dieters.

Not me...I don't need new workout wear. Chris does.

Close your eyes and picture last night's outfit:

1. Bright yellow t-shirt that he uses for working around the house.
2. Dark green sweatpants, usually used for loungewear
3. Slip on brown shoes from Land's End...usually used for working in the garage, etc.

The silly boy has not "worked out" in ages. His tennis shoes are Nikes circa 1995. They aren't horribly worn. For some reason, he chose to forgo the shoes. I frankly think he needs new ones. He does't own a pair of athletic pants or shorts. Whenever we hike or ride bikes, he's always worn denim shorts and tshirts with hiking boots.

Sigh. He'll surely hate that I posted this. However, it's for his own good. He needs some prompting to wear appropriate workout wear. I'm going to buy him at least some athletic pants tonight.

I hate blogger and other musings

NACHOS! We were going to have nachos yesterday, but the poor half bag of tortilla chips was all broken in pieces. Instead, we had quesedillas. But I'm still in the mood for nachos. I'll even use baked chips and low fat cheese for us dieters.

I am having a hard time logging into blogger. If I make a comment on someone's blog, then go to blogger.com, I can make a new post on my blog. If I try to create a new post directly from my blog, I don't see a link to do so. If I log in to blogger cold turkey, it gets stuck and won't actually log me in. Hey blogger, wanna play rock, paper, scissors? *throws rock* (thank you Bud for that moment).

Da Bears lost. This pleases me.

Chris and I bought a new weight set. It's a dual stack system. We did lots of shopping around. With a budget of around $500, Bowflexes were out of our range. Plus, I didn't really want a Bowflex. To much to figure out and hooking and unhooking for my liking. I guess I'm impatient. So we looked at stack systems that were smooth and multifunctioning. Wieder systems sucked for smoothness. The Marcy brand was our fave.

Assembly? Ugh. There were a lot of pieces. We had one part that we put together and took apart three times because either the directions sucked (first time) or we sucked (second and third time). Tonight? We'll be having our first strength training session in the basement with ourselves...and the ever observant cats.

Fix that Pop Up

A nice sharp cheddar and grapes this morning.

I posted this in my comments section of the last post, but it bears repeating here.

I changed an option on IE & that pop up is gone. Granted, it will be gone for all sites, but I don't care.On Tools, Internet Options, Security, Customize levels, scroll down to "Display Mixed Content" and change from "prompt" to "enable"

Happy Groundhog's Day!

Speaking of Oh Piffle.

I think many of us had to "upgrade" to the new blogger over the last few days. *grumble*

I think peeps MIGHT need to update their links (some of mine aren't working, including my own to my blog).

Randoms

Fresh mozzarella, basil and tomatoes today. I had a huge craving for it last week and indulged all weekend.

A few peeps in my calculus lecture stay for the lecture section right after ours. It's the same lecture, they just need that extra dose. How smaht! If I had the time, I'd do it. I spend so much of the hour trying to keep up with notetaking, that I miss half of what the prof says.

In other news, I walked for 45 minutes last night. Tomorrow, I'm starting my 1 hr walks. That will have to suffice until spring, when the weather is better. I don't think I can stay on the treadmill for over an hour. Booooring. And I'm not sure it's good for the longevity of my treadmill motor.

Tonight, I need to go to Target. Is there anything you need?

2/14/07

Plans are made. We have a two year tradition now.

Priceline made me pay a little more this year for a room. We are at the Extended Stay Deluxe for $40.

On the agenda:
Buffalo Wild Wings for um, wings. And people watching. There's a big window where you can watch college kids on dates walking by, or groups of girls eating ice cream in 10 degree weather.
Paul's Club (our favorite bar downtown) for fancy drinks
Wherever else our lust takes us

It's kind of the anti-valentine's day dinner and date, but it's hella fun with no fancy expectations.

Math Rant

Reblochon, a soft, creamy French cheese, with fresh breads this morning.

I suck at math. I can do and understand math...it just takes me more time than some people. I have to really think about a complex problem...even talk it out to myself sometimes. Thus, homework is great. I have all the time in the world. Some problems I breeze through, others take me a bit more time to conceptualize.

That being said, I HATE GROUP WORK. We have a discussion section for my calculus class. Today, our TA made us get in groups and do a challenging worksheet. I had a smarty pants in my group that talked through the problem before I even had my head wrapped around step 1. It just confused me more and stressed me out. I'm a lone math person. I sometimes need to visit profs for office hours because they went too fast for me in class.

This is the only subject where I'm like this (well, except for my one attempt at computer programming).

It's frustrating, but I'll get through.

I got nuthin'

Parmesan toasts this morning.

Hm, not much going on here. We painted our four season room this weekend. It's a warm, dark tan. I'm anxious to get some furniture in there.

The 3 Day

Extra bonus post (if you want cheese products, look at the post below).

Have you seen the ads for the SGK Breast Cancer Foundation 3 day walk?

I was excited about the prospect of this, and then saw you must raise $2200 to participate. *gulp* Then I thought, "Hm. I can do that." Then I thought, "I need someone to do this with me."

http://www.the3day.org/site/pp.asp?c=pmL6JnO8KzE&b=2182495

Anybody willing to take this crazy leap? There's a big list of major cities, and I'm willing to travel.

*puppy dog eyes*

TGIF

Strawberry cheesecake for us this morning.

It's been a hectic week with classes starting. I'm learning how to fit everything in, slow but sure.

I worked from home yesterday, and at 3:00 I closed up the computer and sat down to watch some tv. I was inspired by the home shows to do something. I've been needing to continue some kitchen paint above the cabinets (it was only in the breakfast nook and under the cabinets. So Behr's Chianti (think warm, brick red) is now even more prominent in the kitchen. We love the color and bringing it above the cabinets made a real difference.

In related news, the cats like to climb ladders and sit right below the step I'm on.

In unrelated news, we have to go out for Chris's partner's birthday tonight.

RIP Lil Frank

A cheesey cheese tray of cheddar with salami bits, cojack and swiss.

I was on the bus last night and noticed Lil Frank had been imortalized by someone on the bus. RIP Lil Frank, 1996-2006, was written in three spots in the back of the bus. I started to think about who Lil Frank might have been and made up silly stories about Lil Frank in my head. I'm sure Lil Frank was really some girl's brother, boyfriend or good friend. However, in my mind, Lil Frank was the friendly ambassador of the bus and all the riders were sad he was gone. Thus, the bus was the appropriate place to memorialize Lil Frank.

So, where should we memorialize you?

I think I would like to be memorialized on a foam cheesehead. I don't care whose cheesehead it is, but someone should put RIP Kim on their cheesehead.

Tuesday Ramblings

Cubes of Jarlsburg and Provolone for your snacking pleasure. The provolone is my way of spoiling Carey.

I think I'll make a LIST!

1. E-Bay
My random stuff (a funky curling iron, pieces of lia sophia jewelry, a mini loaf pan, etc) is netting me about $100. I have more to list this week. I didn't want too many auctions running at once. Chris put some items up. Mostly new and used photography lighting stuff that was given to us years ago by step-MIL. She's an artist and used it long ago, but not anymore. It was basically dusty stuff in a big box. Chris cleaned it up, put it on e-bay and we'll make at least $175 off it. More likely $250.

2. Taxes
I know, the theory is you shouldn't use the gov't as a your savings account. We should be happy with our $500 Federal return. However, I get jealous of those people that get thousands of dollars. And I'm not having children to get more money back.

3. Bedroom Furniture
I haven't had a bedroom set since the veneer set I had as a teen. Our matresses are on the floor. We really need to bite the big one this year and get something. Maybe once our big tv purchase is paid off at the furniture store (December) and another 0% interest thing comes along there. Sigh.

4. Class
My calculus class is going well. It's only day 2. :-) Check back in a month and we'll see my state of mind.

5. Breakfast for Dinner
I made a fritatta last night for dinner. Breakfast for dinner rocks. Due to dieting, I should've left out the hashbrowns. But I was good the rest of the day, so I didn't. If it were just for me, I would've made them from sweet potatoes, but Chris doesn't like sweet potatoes. *sigh*

6. Jogging
I still need to get fancy shoes. However, the small tax return isn't helping that. With our tax return we also need to get our passports. Not cheap. I need breathing help. Boo in training? Monsty? Who was our other runner? Zombie? When I have my mouth closed, I'm good. When I go to open mouth breathing later in the run, I feel like I'm not taking enough air all the way into my lungs. It kind of stops in the back of my mouth and then I breathe out. I have to imagine there is a more effective way of breathing when you are running. Also, at what speed are you "running" rather than "jogging"?

*burp*

Cabernet infused cheese spread and crispy flatbreads today.

We arrived at Fleming's and checked our coats. Now, I have been to a few very high end restaurants and have never encountered this: The woman that seated us offered us black napkins because our pants were black.

Our dinner for four started off with two wine flights (a red and a white sampler of three wines each). The men had beer. We settled on a bottle of Wente Zinfandel from the Livermore, CA region. They had champagne and cabernet infused cheese spreads for snacking. We started to feel a bit neglected by waitstaff, as our drinks took a long time to get there. Wines: $12 or so for flights. $40 for bottle. Beer????

For appetizers, we ordered the salmon bruschetta and crab cakes. The bruschetta was amazing. The crab cakes were average. I had better last week at a brewpub. Should've listened to HD. :-) Appetizers were about $12 each for reasonably sized servings (not large, but not tiny). The lobster tempura was closer to $20 and I was outvoted.

From there on out, the staff was a little more attentive. Chris had the blue cheese encrusted strip. I had the seared, rare tuna, my sister had a surf & turf like combo, and my BIL had a bone in ribeye. Chris's steak was AMAZING. My tuna was good, but needed more of the sherry vinegarette on the plate, as rare tuna isn't "juicy" per se. Steaks and seafood were $25-35 (no sides).

For sides we had the mashed potatoes with cheddar and jalepenos, the mashed potatoes with gorgonzola and the tomato, mozz & basil salad. The veggie medly was what I wanted, but it was $25. Yikes! Other sides were around $8-10. They came served family style, which was cool. And we got chilled forks for the salad. :-)

For dessert we all shared the chocolate mousse cake and the peach cobbler. The peach cobbler was very average. The cake was divine. I never saw the dessert prices, but given our total, I'm guessing around $8-$12 each.

Total bill for four: $307.

Would I go again?

For the blue cheese steak and fish (with extra vinegarette)? yes. For some appetizers? Yes. For the Fleming's potatoes? Yes.

For dessert? No. For a plain steak or plain seafood? No. For drinks? No.

I could probably do a dinner for two with one appetizer, one drink each, one steak, one fish and one side for around $100 for a special occassion and be very happy.

Night of Gluttony

*lays out fancy cheese tray from restaurant*

I'm not sure I'll be able to take the pressure tonight! I think I'll be pushing for the lobster tempura (provided it's not like $50) or the Salmon Bruschetta as my choice for appetizer.

For dinnner, I'll have Chris get a big steak so I can have a few bites. Then I'll get either the salmon or tuna. Lamb was also way up on my list *waves at Mystic*

For sides, I'm still torn. It will likely depend on what everyone else wants, since we're all open to sharing sides (I hear they are huge sides). I'm thinking Fleming's potaotes and season's best vegetables are high on my list. But that corn sounds delish, too. I'm looking for something I wouldn't make at home (I make grilled asparagus a lot and can't see how their version would differ much from mine).

For dessert, you are all convincing me I should go with the creme brulee. I like creme brulee.

I'll report back with a full belly and the scary total of our bill. Thank cod for the $150 gift certificate.

Dessert

Now, this is particularly complicated. Since we'll likely only have two desserts at the table, I only get to lobby for one. Normally, I would choose chocolate The mousse cake sounds delish). However, I know Chris really likes peaches. And key lime anything is usually a good choice. I think Chris and I will likely be negotiating the peach cobbler and chocolate mousse cake. Maybe the key lime will be our compromise.

Sigh. Such a terrible problem to have.

Entree and 2 sides

Nolay and I will each order a side and share. Which two should I lobby for? And should I get fish while Nolay gets a big steak (so he can give me a few bites)...or since it's a steak joint, should we both get steaks?

Help Choose My Dinner-Appetizers

I am going out for a fancy dinner tomorrow night. We have a $150 gift certificate and are dining with another couple that has a $75 gift certificate. Thus, we'll be partaking in appetizers, entrees, sides and dessert (not to mention lots of drinks!). Help me pick some good items. I'm so indecisive.

We are going to Fleming's Steak House and Wine Bar. http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/

I can't copy & paste the menu, so please visit the site.

This post is the appetizer post. Please post your two favorite choices from their appetizer menu. We are not getting the seafood tower, as I hear it's $90.

This or that

Muenster, string cheese and longhorn colby today. It's a wacky mishmash of cheese.

1. Movies or Music?
2. Milkshake or Malt?
3. Lessons: Skydiving or Ballroom Dancing?
4. White or brown gravy?

shopping and drinks

Have some light brie and whole grain baguette.

I'm about ready to take off for the day (more research project recruiting), but thought I'd post about our weekend. We have an annual get-together with another couple. This year, we decided to do Saturday around Madison shopping and eating/drinking. Then on Sunday it was off to the Dells area for shopping and drinking/eating. We hit the Mt. Horeb Mustard Museum and a nice chocolate shop. We hit some great brewpubs and a bartender found us charming and gave us free crabcakes. We watched football and ate wings at BW3s. We hit an outlet mall and got lots of shirts for under $10 each. We hit Kohl's and got two new nice jackets for Chris. A CHAPS pea coat and a faux leather lightweight zip up for Chris. Total for both? $85.

I'm feeling well dressed and well fed. Caramel Bailey's and coffee is my new sinful favorite.

I love Amazon!

Appenzeller (a style of swiss) and crackers today.

I put some books up for sale on Amazon yesterday. Two of the seven sold within thirty minutes. Yay!

This is motivating me to get stuff together for ebay. Monday would be a good day for that since I have off work. Do you have stuff you should put on e-bay?

ETA: Make that four of the seven books. Yay!

Scaaaary Dream

I blame Boo.

Oh...have some no-bake light cheesecake with strawberries. You can have my slice. My dream ruined my appetite.

The dream started out rather innocently. I was in college on a field trip to this island of Christmas decor. We were walking around the island, talking to the locals about their holiday traditions and their individual decor displays. Next thing I know, we are meeting up at a mall for the evening. I was hanging out with some trendy boys and girls that took me into some funky shops. Next thing I know we are at a dance club and my instructor...Bobbby Flay...was dancing with me. And in a really, um, intimate manner. Then I got stuck in a closet with some friends, where there was a bag of John Deere and Leinenkugel's sinage/memorabilia. I stole some for Chris (apparently I WAS married), then waited til our friends found us. Then I found instructor Bobby Flay passed out in a hallway.

Apparently I have a hidden celebrity crush on Bobby Flay...or not.

A bunch of nothing

You must eat all the provolone in my fridge. I made my boss a sandwich tray last night (yeah, I'm doing the traditional 'give a grieving family food' thing) and there is leftover provolone. I want to eat it all, but can't.

I seem to be avoiding Chris's nasty cold. He took some of those "shorten my cold" drugs. Today is supposed to be the last day of his cold. We'll see. His colds usually last a long time, so shorter would be good.

Question: Do sleep with your hair down, or put it up somehow (headband, ponytail)? I'm just curious.

Stress Monster, Go Away!

Grapes, dill havarti and sharp cheddar today (you're welcome, Swami).

Do any of you get the January blues? I'm starting to feel them. :-(

Chris used Stir Elton for the first time last night. Unfortunately he insists on using the Toll House recipe that NEVER turns out right for him, so they weren't so good. He still enjoyed his time with Stir.

I jogged my fastest mile last night on the treadmill..10.58 min. Still pathetically slow, but hey, I'm a fatty, cut me some slack.. I also had to do a little treadmill maintenance. I was worried it was breaking. Turned out to be a piece of plastic rubbing against something. No biggie.

MTW, a morning dj was talking about people at his health club brushing their teeth while naked. Do you swish with mouthwash at your club while naked?

Jerky!

Gouda, pepperjack and jerky!

*knows Boo will run away from this post*

We spent ALL weekend making venison jerky. Usually, we process the "scrap meat" into hamburger, breakfast sausage, jerky and summer sausage. Well, this year we still have a ton of burger and summer sausage left, and aren't that thrilled about our recipe for breakfast sausage, so EVERYONE decided they wanted jerky. We grind the meat, add seasonings, roll it into sheets and put in the smoker. We did 75% of it in the smoker and are finishing the rest out on the dehydrator at home today. It's a really long process and we had about 60 lbs of meat to do. Ugh.

So today I share with you some REALLY good jerky in the following flavors:
1) Smoked Inferno
2) Smoked Pepper & Garlic
3) Smoked Sweet & Hot
4) Sweet & Hot (a spicy teriyaki)
5) Jerk

It just dawned on me...

Laughing cow wedges in assorted flavors: Original, Light French Onion and Light Garlic & Herb. Grab a wedge and some crackers. Or just take a wedge and throw it at Boo. She's guilting me into counting calories for a few days. *pout*

I just realized that Chris and I have never experienced a death together. All of our family deaths occured before we were really together as a couple. Thus, we've never attended a funeral together. Luckily, we haven't had friends pass away since we've been together, either. In fact, I've never had a friend die.

I know we are getting older and one of these days we'll be hitting funerals at the rate of, well, Augie (wait, that wasn't meant to be an "old" joke). Sigh. I wonder how we'll be with all that, especially when it's a parent. Going through my mom's death was really rough for me, but I was young. I quite fear my father's decline. Luckily he's very healthy right now.

Brushing your teeth

Have some calcium rich cheedar and swiss today.

Tell me about your teeth brushing habits. Do you run the water while you brush? Use a cup, swish and rinse? Floss & mouthwash every time? Use lots of toothpaste or a little? You get my drift.

Content

Have some fontina and smoked cheddar with apple slices.

Chris did all the dishes last night without being asked. Even hand washed the things that require hand washing. How cool is that? I call that starting the new year on the right foot.

I've been reading a lot of magazines lately. It soothes my soul.

I've been making sure we have some quick meals around the house so I don't stress when we get home late. Normally it would call for a frozen pizza, but I'm trying for some healthier options. Soup and sandwiches can make a good dinner and lunch the next day.

*sips coffee* I'm relaxed now. When my math class starts on the 22nd, I know I'll feel the frenzy, so I might as well prepare now.

Happy New Year!

Fondue, veggies and bread cubes today to celebrate the new year. Grab a fork & dip in!

I hope everyone had a fabulous, long weekend. The Packers & Badgers both won their games, so it was a good football weekend. Although, there was some sadness. *holds Breezy for comfort* It doesn't sound like Favre will be back next year. Did anyone else see the game & watch his tearful interview at the end? When Driver carried him off the field, I said "uh oh." When his tears started streaming I said, "Waaahhaaaa!" *shares box of tissues with Breezy* There's still hope, but it's only a glimmer at this point.

I would tell you all about my NYE, but see resolution #3 below. I hope everyone had great parties or cozy nights on the couch.

Kim's New Year's Resolutions

1. Eat healthier: Eat fewer calories, eliminate junk food as much as possible, buy more organic foods, eat less red meat, drink less alcohol.

2. Continue exercising: This includes making a doctor's appointment to figure out a solution to my right leg problem. I roll my foot to the outside & it causes lots of pain when jogging. More about that with my Bloggest Losers.

3. Talk less about why my in-laws annoy me: Bite my tongue about my BIL, SIL, MIL, FIL. They are good people, although with lots of quirks, and don't always deserve the sh!t I talk about them. Sometimes they do, but me talking negatively about them has become a bit of a habit.

4. Spend more time with my sisters, doing sister things.

5. Really consider going back for my Master's or a certificate program.

Splenda Cookies

Dearest Carey, your wish is my command:
Mild provolone with Ritz and medium cheddar.

I broke in Stir Elton last night by trying a single batch of Splenda's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

The single batch of dough for 36 cookies looked really small in my bowl (my bowl can hold 14 cups of flour).

The splatter shield/pour spout thingy is great. However, don't try to crack an egg on the counter and make it all the way up to the pour spout. You will lose some egg white along the way. :-)

The Splenda cookies were good (http://splenda.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Recipe.aspx?nprid=76241). Now, I have to experiment and get some of the fat out. I'm also going to try using Splenda brown sugar along with the regular Splenda in the recipe. One substitution at a time, though.

BTW, the chicken breasts were great. I stuffed them with chevre, salt & pepper, diced serranos and chopped roasted red peppers. Rubbed the breasts with corriander, salt, oregano, and southwest seasoning. The warm, drizzled sauces were 1) a puree of roasted red pepper, honey and pureed canned chipotle and 2) a can of green salsa with ranch dressing mixed in.

We are...Marshall!

Ugh, my throat still hurts from squeezing my crying muscles so hard at the theatre. I wanted to all out sob in a few parts, but managed to keep myself from doing it. Matthew McHotty and Matthew Foxy were great (although Mr. Foxy's red hair dye job was slightly distracting).

Can I try my recipe for tonight out on you peeps? I'm stuffing chicken breasts with goat cheese, roasted red peppers and diced serannos (and salt & pepper). I think I'll season the outside with corriander, cumin and oregano and grill. Two sauces will top the chicken: A green salsa and a chipotle roasted red pepper sauce. Does that sound ok?

And then...I will make cookies in Stir Elton John (because every kitchen gadget bigger than our cats needs a name). Stir Elton John arrives tonight. *hop*

BTW, the name was going to be Mrs. Whipple, but Chris voted that down.

Roll Call!

*sets out bagels and cream cheese*

Who is around this week?

I hope everyone who celebrates had a Merry Christmas. I tried to get to everyone's blogs yesterday to send holiday wishes, but my internet at home (dial-up) slowed down mid-afternoon.

Our Christmas Eve with my family was pretty lackluster. The kids are getting older and there were fewer people than usual. We all seemed a little out of the holiday spirit.

I have to say, it was really nice to get a big gift this year. Chris rarely gets me anything, so whatever he gets me is always appreciated. However, the stand mixer went above and beyond my expectations. I hope it arrives tomorrrow. I'll have to find healthy recipes to make.

Speaking of tomorrow, we are going to see "We Are Marshall." *fans self* I will be adoring the hotties.

I'll be a mixing goddess!

I interrupt this holiday weekend to bring you port wine cheese spread and crackers.

And to convey my excitement over my Christmas gift from Chris and my BIL.

THE KitchenAid 600 Pro Series stand mixer. *hop*

Ok, so I don't have it yet. They have to wait til it's back in stock at whatever store had the deal on them (they are very sketchy about the details). So in January, the store will call BIL to tell him it's in. Then I shall be a mixing maniac. Yay-I can make tamales again! And if I want it will at LEAST handle 3.5 batches of cookie dough. You know, in case I want to make a standard gross of cookies. *head tilt*

This item is THE one thing I've said will complete my big want list for a long, long time. I'm so excited. I was thinking an Artisan series would've been enough, but the wise men sought out reviews and such and decided bigger was better. :-)

Boys and their toys

Cream cheese danishes this morning with a piping cup of coffee or hot chocolate...your choice.

Chris REALLY wanted the Microsoft X Flight Simulator for Christmas. He knows he's getting it. We thought we could hook my work laptop up to our big screen tv for him to play. Well, turns out my work laptop doesn't have a big enough video card & I'm hesitant to upgrade anything there myself.

So we go to our desktop, which we purchased in 2002(?) from Dell. At the time, we didn't get a DVD-ROM. The game only operates on a DVD-ROM.

So, now we have to spend around $300 for upgrades. Sigh. For a $50 game, it sure is getting expensive. Oh, and the "flight control accessories"....$120 for the hand controls, $200 for footpedals. He'll be waiting on those.

Oh fer cripes sake!

I can't leave you guys alone for a minute!

I thought I would need a little more time to sort through my thoughts, but having yesterday off helped a lot. Having all your kind thoughts and comments also made me feel nothing short of being one lucky chicky.

I've realized that it's been a transition from being a "poster" to coming over here, blogging and developing friendships. I take emails and threads more personally now, thus I need to decide how deep into OT threads I want to get.

In summary:
1. I can't be friends with everyone online, just as in real life. We all have different personalities, some of which don't mesh. I can, however, follow Breezy's credo & not say anything if I don't have anything nice to say. I don't enjoy making people feel bad, even if they've made others feel bad. Really, nobody wins.

2. I need to be cautious about crossing my blogish fun and my OT life.

3. I have the bestest friends evah.

So, here ya go, bestest friends evah:
Double cream brie, brie with morels, 5 year old cheddar, havarti, provelone and blue cheese spread with assorted crackers, breads, pears, apples and grapes.

Need some time

I think I need to take Breezy's credo into action and just shut up for awhile. I've been digging some holes online in the last few weeks. It was honestly more fun keeping my mouth shut over the years.

In all seriousness, my judgment appears to be failing me, as I should've kept my mouth shut about the Peep Meet and just counted votes. I also shouldn't have said anything about that stupid parking thread. It's just easier to stay out of things and keep any thoughts to myself. Nobody else then feels wronged and I don't doubt my own actions and feelings.

I'm not saying any of this with spite, I truly mean that I'm doing some soul searching and am trying to recenter my judgment about where I want to be in our online community and how my actions can support that.

So have a good holiday! I'll be thinking of you! And I'll still be checking in with my fellow bloggest losers, so I won't disappear completely.

*hugs & smooches*

Seattle

Brie with a cranberry bourbon compote.

I really want to visit Seattle in 2007 and the peep meet is the only way I think it will happen. However, Seattle is trailing Chicago by 3 votes now. poo.

So if you also want to go to Seattle, go vote!

Chicago would be reasonably priced for us. We'd probably just stay in Kenosha (WI) Friday night with a friend and take the train to meet peeps for dinner or drinks. Then we'd come back on Saturday to go to IKEA and hang at the lakefront. We'd probably get a room so we could stay up late with peeps that night. I just really don't like Chicago that much, but I'd absolutely go. It would just be a bonus to be in a city I WANT to go to, even if it did cost more.

A Holiday Challenge

I will first entice you with wheat thins and a tuscan romano cheeseball...and Nutz might roll it in some nutz for us.

I have a challenge that might take a little effort. Stick that camera in your purse. Now go for a walk or a drive. Find your favorite light/yard display in the area (no need to drive to the fanciest neighborhood in the city) and the tackiest display of decor. Post the pics on your blog over the next few weeks.

I have two on our normal drive route in mind. Now I just have to convince Nolay to stop & let me take pictures.

On a better note

Grapes and smoked cheddar today.

I got to spend the morning wrapping gifts for our work unit's "adopted family." I tried channeling Boo, but no luck. The stuff looked amateur. Anyway, the stuff is for a 16 year old single mother and her son.

Tonight I'll finish wrapping gifts for my family and Chris's at home, then hopefully finish writing out cards.

Friday we head north to Chris's dad's house. I'm feeling prepared for the holidays. Shocking!

Putting on my grumpy pants

Blue cheese mixed with herbs and cream cheese, spread on baguettes and broiled til warm & gooey.

I'm usually the easygoing person and I don't let much get to me. However, happenings on OT have been getting to me. My tolerance is waning. I know many of you have already gone through this, but I guess I'm just more patient. :-)

1. The increased amount of scathing indignant comments has been really bothering me. There's a nice way to voice your opinions. Why bring it to the scathing level? Maybe that's just who those people are. I don't tend to like rudeness and self-importance oozing from people. Maybe that really IS a significant part of some people's personalities IRL and the nice stuff I've seen before is only a small part of the whole person.

2. Gun talk. I don't know the right answer. My feelings on guns have changed over the years and I feel bad about that, for Chris's sake more than anything. When he was in the military, his buddies would get together and pleasure shoot. I was ok with that. Dad was a hunter so guns didn't scare me. I plinked with the boys sometimes. But those were grown men. Now Chris talks about taking my niece & nephew plinking with the guns they'd use for squirrel hunting and letting their dad shoot our pistol at the same time. I'm pretty sure teaching the kids "it's fun to plink around with guns" is not a good idea. I'm on board with them sighting in a .22 for the squirrel hunting their dad likes to do and learning how to use it. I'm not ok with them seeing Uncle Chris and Dad playing around with a pistol. I think Chris is irritated my view has become more "shapen" on this subject.

3. I'm becoming ok with NOT wanting to meet everyone on OT. I have no desire, for example, to hang out with Ante Bellum. Would I say hello to her at a peep meet? Sure. Do I have enough info to safely say I don't think we'd ever be buds? Yep. I'd rather spend my energy on others. There are about three people that are regular posters where I've quit reading their posts. I used to read everyones because some people change or have at least some things I agree on. I've found there's a few people that I'm best off ignoring completely.

I'll end on a better note:
I'm still excited about another peep meet. The last one was so great, even though I didn't *heart* everyone there. I was able to get to know some awesome peeps I'd otherwise I have missed out on and got to see some of my very favorite peeps. Yay for the new 2007 Peep Meet...wherever it may be!

Weekend

*opens containers of cookies* Who needs cheese? We've got cookies!

I was at home baking and cleaning on Friday. My mail carrier rings the bell with TWO boxes of cookies! Nice timing, ladies!

I BIG thank you to mom2bjm and nutzy for the beautiful holiday treats! I got shortbread spruced up with pretty purple sprinkles, some raspberry/nutty bars, mexican wedding cookies and lemon bars! I haven't had mexican wedding cookies in YEARS. I love powdered sugar. Bonus points to both for excellent packaging. Bonus points to nutz for the pretty tins and mom2bjm for including recipes and cute packaging stickers!

So funny story: I had my baking for peeps done that morning & put them into containers. Had no boxes that were appropriately sized & figured I would buy them at the post office. Well, thanks to nutz & mom2bjm, I had boxes & packing material now! So I packaged stuff up & went to the post office. Stood in line & noticed I put my Canadian peeps cookies in the "for domestic use only" box. And there was enough of a difference in the packages that I couldn't just switch address labels (ok, just the enclosed cards and one item). DAMNIT! So I sent my U.S. peeps package out & returned home to wrap the Canadian peep's box in brown paper. But, alas, all got sent by Saturday morning.

The wine party went GREAT this weekend. Well, other than the fact that Chris ended up with his head in the toilet. People got a little loopy faster than I expected. They all really enjoyed the wine and food.

I have gained 2 lbs in the last week. My guess it's the wine, cookies, cheese and breads I've been feasting on. *licks lips*

Finally, did anyone else see the Packers spank the 49ers yesterday? *laughs maniacally*

More pics

See post below for the first batch. These are of our day with Catt in Livermore.

This is where we are still sober:

This was our new friend Lisa from a town called Tracy...or was it the other way around? Lisa gave us almost full glass samples so she'd have more time to prep to go home. Then she decided to come across the street with us to another winery:


This is the scary looking place across the street. Little did we know, this is where the party was AT:

Catt announced her arrival by banging into the giant display of windchimes behind her.We were obviously noting how cool we were here. I think we may have been singing Hotel California with the guitar guy that was playing...
And the drive home:
My feelings on that:

Me...taking a nap. With Catt's Dolphin pom poms (which got plenty of shaking time during the Dolphins win earlier that day):
See, Carey, there ARE pictures of me. :-)

San Fran Pics

Gasp! Nookie's pics & my pics in the same day? I am missing some pics, as we had three cameras on this trip. So no pics of the peep meet with MTW here. :-(

Ok, here's what you really want...the two SF hostesses with the mostesses:

Unfortunately "The One Without Bravie's Pants" is on another roll of film....

Now, just some general SF pics from the day of our killer bike ride:

Those darn seals:

Now we move on to our day in Livermore wine country with Catt:
She lives near here...I'm so jealous. It was gorgeous:

Chris got to drive Vadar...well, not so much "let" as "grabbed keys and ran:"

More on the Drunken Day on the Other Side of the Bay in the next post...

Port Salut, grapes and clementines this morning.

I ran out of time to go grocery shopping last night. Thus, the cookie baking hasn't progressed as I'd like it to. However, I did start cleaning out my spice cabinet. I think I need to expand it, unfortunately. I'm such a spice ho.

Know what I've realized I HATE doing? Blowdrying my hair. Is blow drying two words, or one? I think it looks better as one.

What a control freak.

Pepper encrusted chevre and sesame thins.

My husband is an utterly insane control freak. His partner ("Jo") asked me to do a favor for her "between us girls." She gave him an envelope to give to me. Big mistake. He had a lil flip out that he couldn't know what it was about. Geesh. I was just trying to do the girl a favor. I told Jo to say the envelope was something benign (such as "it's for the Home & Garden Party I'm having....she booked one from my party last month & he knew that) just because I KNEW he doesn't like not knowing things.

Whatever. I just got pissed and curled up with a book last night. Finished Bleachers (John Grisham) and started For One More Day (Mitch Albom). Both quick reads.

Noteworthy

*shakes maracas* Breakfast burritos with lots of cheese for your a.m. dining pleasure.

I'd like to point out that Breezy was strangely absent from the last entry when we started talking about her moving. I think that's her way of saying "Go ahead, make plans for me." So who is free to help her pack? And who will be polishing her resume'? *ignores the shoving match between momma & carey* :-)

I had a great weekend. Cleaned our basement. Took all the bottles, plants, decor from above the cabinets and washed stuff down. Did lots of laundry. Yesterday we did Christmas shopping and hung out at bars all afternoon. It was a fun way to end the weekend.

Next weekend is packed full. I'm off on Friday to clean for the wine party on Saturday. Then I'll be cookied baking on Sunday.

So, let's say I gave you $300 for Christmas. What would you buy?

Instrospection

First, some pepperjack, sausage and crackers.

*reclines on couch* Feel free to start the timer.

Chris and I got into a good conversation after a few drinks the other night. He's pretty close to his female partner at work (and we were out with her, so that's how this conversation started). We'll call her Jo. He's, for whatever reason, always liked having a close female friend. I think he likes to feel needed and man friends don't always give off that vibe. He enjoys helping Jo with things around her house (she's single with a condo) and giving advice on "man" things. They have become pretty good friends. She enjoys my company, also. While I like her well enough, she's not my usual type of friend. I feel kind of bad that I don't feel more strongly about a big bonding friendship with Jo, but Chris understands that we don't have tons in common.

Thus, we started analyzing friendships of past and present. I realized that I have never been a particular open person with my feelings and thus my friendships were always more about listening to the other person's problems, or just sharing common interests and having fun.

The result of this reflection is that I've had no friends I can say were "so much like me" or "as close as a sister." I had "best friends" where we hung out a lot and went lots of places together. But there wasn't that connection I think exists between many best friends. It was just now that I realized this. It's kind of a sad feeling to look back & realized that I probably missed out on something great by not being more open & bonding. But then again, maybe I just never met the right person to be my kindred soul.

So, I'm really thankful for all of you. While we might not be "best friends," you are the people I open up to most (other than Chris and my oldest sis). You're objective and truly caring people. If I'm ever not open enough or if I don't personally email or call you, it's not that I don't care. It's that it's akward for me. I've always had friends that came to me crying and I'd just listen. I didn't have to do much reaching out. There are some people on here that I do care about and since they didn't come crying to me, I've tried to reach out and extend the hand...but I could do a better job. I'm learning, peeps. Be patient. :-)

Bob and Catt are Smaaahhhhhtt

We are having a party in honor of bob and catt today. I'm breaking out the good cheese: chevre and triple cream brie topped with caramelized onions with baguettes, sliced grapes and apples.

*pops the champagne*

WHY BOB IS SMAAAHHHHHTT
Bob saved me last week. Remember that tooth problem? Well, my entire gum was swollen and I couldn't get into the dentist until Tuesday of this week. I recalled Bob telling about the emergency "curing" of a toothache with Listerine doused cotton balls. I restocked our orange citrus Listerine and checked out other "remedy" mouthwashes in the toothpast aisle. Well, someone had a healing mouthwash where the active ingredient was hydrogen peroxide. So completely not knowing if I was going to create some chemical reaction, I mixed some peroxide in with my Listerine. Whew. No noxious fumes. A steady stream of cotton balls soaked in the stuff for two days took the swelling right down and enabled me to get through Thanksgiving weekend.

Cheers to Bob!

WHY CATT IS SMAAAHHHHHHTT
Remember my cat having a new fetish with tipping and dragging the water bowl across the room? Catt came in with a silly suggestion of putting shiny rocks in the bottom of the dish. While the fountain idea of others sounded more likely to work, it was an additional investment I didn't want to make and since Ali can't do plastic (kitty acne!) and resin also builds up bacteria, that would likely be a little pricey for a flipping water dish.

Last weekend I bought some shiny marbley rocks at the dollar store. Ali hasn't done more than drink out of the dish since. Problem solved!

Cheers to Catt!

Burning Question

I can't wait til tomorrow, I must ask now.

What IS "Fancy" Ketchup?

Yoink!

Cheesy cauliflower soup today because I have to eat soft foods.

I suprisingly had my tooth pulled yesterday. I hate dental insurance. It really doesn't cover crap.

I have been gone so much from work that I don't know where to begin on my projects.

I'm starting to get pics organized from my Nov. trips, so will soon have those to post!

Quick Update

I'm sorry, it's not inspired. I just brought you one of those cheese & sausage trays from the grocery store. It's been a busy week.

My tooth is feeling better. I have a dentist appt tomorrow. I was all ucky & swollen last week. Had the family over for Thanksgiving. It was very relaxed. Went up north to visit Chris's crazy mom. She wasn't overly crazy (other than saying she's retiring early & is happy to move in with us so we can have a baby...um, she apparently didn't listen the last three times I've told her we don't really want children at this point).

Did a lot of walking in the northwoods with Chris hunting. Stayed at his BIL's *cue dueling banjos* and got PLASTERED on Saturday night. Those big bottles of vodka are deceptive. I didn't think I'd drank much, given how much the bottle was going down. Then I realized it's a wider bottle than usual.

Quick. Tell me three things you always have to buy the same brand of. Me: Lipton black tea (for regular iced tea), Pledge cleaner and Diet Coke.

I Got Crabs in Texas.

Quesedillas in honor of the great mexican food I had in Texas.

Everything is bigger in Texas...including my swollen gums. I have a chipped tooth that is infected at the root & needs to be removed. It started bothering me on Friday night & was pretty swollen by the time I met momma & sonya. I hope they didn't think I just had a wad of tobacco in my cheek. :-)

Dallas Report:
The weather was lovely and the conference was great. Our presentation went fine. We didn't have a huge crowd in our session because it was the same time as the Ohio v. Michigan football game. The rest of the sessions were very useful. Unfortunately we were in sessions from about 8-6 every day, plus a few evening "interest group" schmoozing things, so not much time for sightseeing.

Saturday night I went out with a bunch of doctoral students...some in our nursing program, some in our school's medical program. The three glasses of wine & two cosmos before dinner might have been a bad idea. When we got to our restaurant, the waiter immediately elected me head of the table, as he could tell I was in an extra good mood. :-) Two pomatini's later, I was in a REALLY good mood. I spilled some on my shirt & whipped out my Tide stain remover pen. They made me sing like Kelly Rippa does in those commercials. *hangs head*

Fast forward to Sunday:
Momma and Sonya were going to meet me at 5 pm near "the big horse statue" in my hotel. As I walked up the the big horse, I could see they'd arrived first. I was greeted by these great big Texas hugs and smiles. I knew it would be a great night.

First thing I learned: Sonya is pronounced "sawnya." I thought it was "sownya." Who knew?

Second thing I learned: Just because they are from Texas, it doesn't mean they know their way around Dallas. :-)

We decided to walk down to the West End Historic District, where all the restaurants are. When I realized where we were headed I said "Oh yea, I know how to get there, we had dinner down here last night!" So the girl from Wisconsin guided the girls from Texas to the restaurant mecca. It's the cutest area...brick streets, horse drawn carriages, christmas lights, the whole bit.

On our way there, some man said that momma was "so beautiful." It's true...she is! She has the most beautiful blue eyes.

We couldn't decide where to eat until they heard I'd never eaten at a Joe's Crab Shack. Unfortunatley, despite Sonya's best efforts, there would be no crazy dancing at this location. She tried to get the manager and waiter to dance to no avail.

We all ate crab (Kim's Peep Meet Rule 43: Apparently you must eat crab with peeps and you must all order the same thing from the menu). Yummmmmm! We also went shirt shopping at Joe's...Sonya & I wanted the one that said "Good Girls Get Crabs," but it only came in a small. I did, however, find Chris a neanderthal eating crabs t-shirt and a cute beer bottle cozie for me. I also got a bag of awesome Texas themed gifts from the girls.

I learned a lot about the wild days of sonya and momma. They swear they are homebodies now. Should we believe them?

We then went for a few drinks at Gator's. We think our waitress might have been interested in sonya. :-)

It was SO nice to meet momma & sonya. They are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I only wish it wouldn't have been Sunday and sonya wouldn't have been on-call for work. I have a feeling these two could've shown me a wild time!

*smooches* to sonya & momma...the best things in Texas!

A list for Boo

Pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting today. Oh how I love pumpkin. Yay for pumpkin cooking season!

Thoughts currently running through my head:

1. I need a luggage tag for the new giant duffle on wheels. I have a mini pink caribiner and lots of old plastic name badge holders. Perhaps I'll fashion one this morning.

2. I leave at 12:30 today for Dallas. I have sonya's number tucked in my wallet and we are brewing plans for a sonya-momma-me meet this weekend. Hooooooray!

3. I have a pumpkin donut in my office from the cafeteria. I caved. I think since I bought it, I must eat it. I really need to watch what I eat the rest of this weekend.

4. My boss upgraded us to first class. This is good. However, sitting next to hear means we'll work the whole time. I had a new Marie Claire and my MP3 player all set. *pout*

5. Marie Claire is a better magazine than I thought. Budget Living mag went defunct mid-year, so Marie Claire finished out my subscription instead. I thought it was more like Elle. Instead, it has some really poignant articles along with some beauty and fashion stuff.

6. I chose to watch Top Chef over the Laguna Beach finale last night, so I'm still cool, right? I love Sam. And "I'm So Talented" Josie got kicked off...yay! I'm hoping for a Cliff vs. Sam finale. Similar caliber chefs, yet different styles.

7. I will miss The Office tonight. This makes me sad.

Let the holiday frenzy begin!

Chicken Noodle Soup cheese today. I saw that some Wisconsin cheese factory makes it on tv last night. It's monterey jack with chicken noodle soup flavorings. Weird.

I'm starting to work on holiday plans.

1) Thanksgiving with the in laws. BIL isn't going to see his mother, so we are going by ourselves. Oh well. She'll be sad, but nothing I can do about it. BIL is a big boy that can make his own decisions.

2) Simplifying Thanksgiving dinner. Every year we seem to cut something out. Last year we nixed the rolls (and again this year). This year I'm nixing homemade cranberries. I'd nix the cranberries all together, but I like em on my leftover turkey. So I'm just buying canned. Forgive me Thanksgiving Food Gods, for I have sinned. Turkey frying is still the best thing in the world. The boys deal with the turkey outside and the girls have the whole kitchen and oven for other things.

3) Christmas plans. Holy crap, I think we have Christmas plans in order BEFORE Thanksgiving. That's a first.

4) Christmas cards. I started them last night.

5) Wine party is scheduled for Dec. 8th. About 12 wines with the following food:
ceviche (shrimp & scallop)
cheeses, breads, crackers
dipping oils
olives (for OTHER people, not me)
proscuitto & melon, grapes
chocolate caramel fondue with fruit, macaroons and almond pound cake

6) Christmas cookies. December 9th.

The big question. Holiday Decor. Should it also go up on the 9th? We have nobody coming over for the holidays. Should I bother? Is it just another pack & unpack thing that takes up time?

Canadian Slang & Weird Cat

Burrini cheese and french bread for our Canadian themed post today.

A local radio station had a contest for BNL tickets today. Since BNLs are Canadian, the game was "Guess the Canadian Slang." Do YOU know what a gorby is? Now I do. The caller made a good guess and got it right, so that was the end of the game. Boo. They said they'd play again tomorrow, so I'll try to bring you more Canadian fun words. :-)

My big kitty is weird. She just started this odd habit of moving the heavy ceramic water dish...full of water. Splish splash. Water all over. She puts her paw inside the dish and pulls on it.
Problem solving attempts:

1. I took it off the rubber mat, thinking the mat was bothering her. Nope. The water dish ended up about 3 feet away.

2. I've made sure the water dish is full when she goes to drink. Still not satisfactory. It only lead to more water being spilled.

3. Less water in the dish? Nope.

So now, I think I need to try a new bowl. The current one has high sides. Maybe one with lower sides will please Her Highness.

Feeling overwhelmed

*quickly throws out some gouda and sourdough bread*

My list of things to do this week at work is growing. And I leave for Dallas on Thursday. I wish I had more time to spend there.

We had a fairly productive weekend at home. I checked out the new Trader Joe's in Madison. First time going there. THEY HAD THE WASABI ALMONDS that I had at Catt's house. This pleased me greatly.

We hung pictures and a new candle sconce yesterday. We had a growing stack of stuff to be hung. Do you ever have that problem or do you hang things right away when you get them?

Baked Potatoes

Let's have cheesy topped baked potatoes today. I love baked potatoes. I like them with either butter or sour cream, plus lots of salt & pepper. However, they are fun to make as a meal with lots of other toppings & I think I'd like to do that tonight.

So, get my salivary glands going. What would YOU like on your baked potato?

I'm baaaack!

Sharp cheddar, mild swiss and a lovely brie with a selection of Napa, Sonoma and Livermore area wines.

So much to reflect on.

1. San Francisco was different than I'd pictured. I thought it would be full of beautiful rich people. Instead, people were down to earth and friendly, for the most part. And the city itself was more spread out than I thought. Not as much focus on the coastal areas as I thought there would be. The city was pretty clean and easy to navigate by foot. Public transportation was innovative & fairly clean. I would never again attempt to drive in the city at night. Stupid one ways, angled streets, cable & street car traffice, etc.

2. Wine country was awesome. Sonoma and Livermore (by Catt) were my favorites. Napa's Silverado Trail wineries had a beautiful backdrop, but they were WAY too crowded. And it's the offseason (and it was Friday)? In total, we had a case & a half of wine to ship back. Since we only bought a few bottles at each winery, it would've been uber expensive to have each winery just ship our one-three bottles individually. So we just too it all back to our hotel room & thought we'd hit a Fed Ex. Well, only places with a "wine shipping permit" (as most wineries have) can ship wine out of California. Carp. We figured it was going to cost between $50-100 to ship the wine (which was moot, because we COULDN'T ship it), so we instead bought a giant duffle bag suitcase on rollers and stuffed the styrofoam packaging and wine bottles into it. $39.99 and we were set. I was relieved to see the bag didn't leave a purple trail as I was wheeling it to the car last night. No brokens!

3. Dinner with Carey and Chelli was amazing. I know, I've already talked about it, but words can't describe how warm and funny these two are. I want them as roomies. Chris was completely enamored with them, too. I think he wishes we'd spent far more time with both chickies.

Carey's generosity was amazing, as was her humor. Seriously, she's even funnier in person. A thousand *smooches* for being such a caring, hot dog loving woman. I've met few people that care about their friends more than she does. I think she might have even gushed a bit about missing all her visitors. *bonus smooch*

Catt is warm, welcoming and in so many ways, like me. It was such a comfortable feeling to spend the day with her. We laughed, we cried, we sang, we drank. I hope we didn't do anything illegal. :-) We found awesomely fun wineries out by her. Closing time was a little wacky. We had some great wine and some effing great pizza. And I want some of those darn wasabi almonds. *drool*

4. I had lunch with Sharnina. Yet another warm, friendly person. While we come from different political and religious sides of the coin, there was never any tension. We talked about how OT really opened up our viewpoints and understandings that we'll all never agree, but we can still try to understand and respect eachothers views. But mostly, it was just a lunch between friends getting to know eachother. Her two daughters were soooo well behaved and friendly. We got to draw lots of pictures on the tabletop at a rather fancy restaurant.

I also had the FABULOUS coffee & tea meet with MTW. He brought us brie, bread and candy. Sooooooo good! We blabbered incessantly. No awkward lulls in conversation. I, however, don't think we convinced him to move to Wisconsin. And Peet's? Is awesome.

5. My muscles have recovered from the bike ride. ugh. Meh, I guess the pain was good for me.

6. My conference was average. I wasn't supposed to present at this one, but at one session (of about 60 audience members), got asked THREE minutes before starting if I'd sit in on a panel for my boss (who couldn't attend at the last minute). I had NO briefing on the topic. ACK! I managed to fudge my way through, but was sick afterwards thinking about what I could've said, or what I could have clarified.

7. I had a $3 cupcake. It was good.

8. If you are ever in downtown SF at night & want to get a fun drink, head to the Gold Dust. It's an old fashioned cocktail bar. GREAT bartenders, average prices, very tasty drinks and classic musical entertainment.

9. Other big thumbs up: Lefty O' Douls for a good cheap breakfast, Sinbads for seafood with a view (if you take Carey and Catt, they'll even manage to get a free round of drinks from the waiter), Sonoma and/or Livermore, Golden Gate Bridge, views from the coast (but think twice about renting those bikes!), The Beach Chalet brewery & restaurant, the spicy prawns at Thirstybear brewpub

10. Chris got hit on by a bartender while I was at conference. :-)

SF Day 5

*snore*

I'm so exhausted. We've been on the go since we got here. Tonight we decided to come back to the room after dinner and relax instead of going out. I'm going to catch up on some email....and update you on fun stuff.

We took a 20 mile bike ride. Ouch. We started near Fisherman's Wharf, biked along the Presidio, up-up-up the coastal hills through some pretty high falutin' neighborhoods and then along the western coast over to Golden Gate Park....and back to the Wharf. Why didn't the bike rental guy tell us that we are too fat & clumsy to do this? Well, we did it, but it wasn't always pretty. The highlight of the day was lunch at the Beach Chalet. Yummy food & beers. And some views of cute surfers.

We also had a FANTASTIC night with Catt & Carey. Carey must have been really warm because she was taking her clothes off before we even got to the bed at our hotel room. Did I mention Michelle was at a concert and left Carey alone with us? *blinks innocently*

Dinner with them was awesome. The food was great, the view was beautiful and the company was great. I've never seen two girls milk a round of drinks out of a waiter at a nice restaurant with such ease. I think the waiter was HIGHLY entertained by these crazy local girls. We had fresh crab and so much other good seafood. Yum!

Catt was our awesome host for a Sunday of Livermore wine country and Sunday football (her team unexpectedly won, so there was much celebration). Words can't describe what a fantastic day it was. The weather was perfect, the wineries are crazy fun there and I got to spend lots of time with one seriously awesome chicky. Chris has even adopted her as his big sister. *laughs at the old folks* Oh, and Catt's hometown is beautiful. We want to move there.

Now I'm wrapped up in the conference. Boo for stupid work. :-(

Pictures and more stories to come....ok, how bout a picture for the road....

SF Day 3

*shares brie from MTW with bloggers*

Ok, so let's back up to Thursday night again. I don't remember falling asleep. Although, I had no hangover yesterday morning. Yay!

Friday we were, like Breezy said, screwed up with the time difference and were ready to get up by 5:30 a.m. So we got our rental car (a big ol red Impala...that at least had a moonroof) & headed out of town. We had a 9:30ish date with MTW. I was supposed to call him when we left town, but forgot. Ooops. Had an uber greasy breakfast in Vallejo & then headed to Peet's in Fairfield. Peet's was so good! Chris had coffee & I had tea. We need more tea friendly places like this. Sometimes, I have my fill of coffee.

MTW is a fantastically nice guy. He was so relaxed and we had tons to talk about.We did get some pics, but I'm not equiped to post pics right now. You'll just have to watch his blog.

Then it was off to wine country. Bouchaine was our first stop & it was marvellous. Friendly ladies, a beautiful deck where we were given table service for samples...and generous samples they were. Met another young couple from the midwest.

Then it was off to lunch at Boon Fly. Yummy. Chris ate a kobe beef burger & I had a yummy flatbread. Then we hit Artesa winery. Gorgeous location and grounds, average wines...didn't buy any there.

Then we headed further towards Sonoma to Schug winery. Friendly people, decent wine. Not much sampling, though. After that it was Cline...my favorite. Pretty grounds, friendly staff (mostly old men) and great wines. Bought a lot there.

Headed back to Napa. All the wineries were really crowded and we ended up skipping two. Hit dinner at Julia's Kitchen and headed back to San Francisco.

Do not attempt to drive in downtown San Francisco at night for your first time in the city. Yikes! Soooo many one way streets and such.

Today we were up early again. Now I need to get off the blogs and plan our day. *smooch*

Prop 151

Well, we've been in SF since about 1:30 this afternoon (after a bunch of flight delays). We've quickly realized that "props xxx" are hot items here. So this afternoon we embarked on Prop 151, which was really about drinking.

We checked into the hotel around 2 pm, tried to take a nap, but it wasn't happening. Our hotel is nice, so we snuggled on the bed, watching the lil' tourist channel. Then it was off for food an drink. We've hit the hotel sports bar, Thirstybear brewing, Chevy's, Jillians and 4th Street bar. We got lots of snacks at the bar, so I settled for some pumpkin ice cream for dinner.

I've drunk dialed carey & catt. Tomorrow morning we need to be in decent shape for our Mtw meet at Peet's cofffe. *yawn* This time adjustment is tough.

Vacation time!

*stocks blog with enough cheese to last the week* Bob, that means you can't eat it all today.

Tomorrow I live for my lil' vacation & conference in California, so it might be my last blog for a few days. I'm sure I'll check in at some point.

Any other Bay area peeps up for some Saturday night hoopla? I like hoopla.

Oh, I got a new haircut last night & don't particularly like it. I give up.