So we headed out last Thursday night for an overnight flight home. First stop La Guardia, then on to Boston, then drive to Maine. We made it to NY with time to spare and enjoyed some Dunkin' Donuts...Tito's favorite. As much as we've been told there are DD's here in Seattle, it's not true (according to their website at least there aren't any on the West Coast at all!) So Tito happily scarfed down an iced latte and donut.

Sunrise on the way to NY



Landed in Boston and got our rental car. I succeeded in pissing off the rental car agent because he was trying to upsell me into a larger car, sell us the insurance, etc. and I eventually had to tell him that I had worked for Enterprise and didn't need his sales pitches and that we would take an economy car and if they didn't have one then they would put us into the next size available for free. He didn't like that. He also didn't like it when I told him their policy (Alamo) of having to pay for all second drivers was "stupid." At Enterprise if a couple is married they count as one and can both drive and anyone after them is an additional fee. Apparently this guy was telling me you had to pay for all additiional drivers, married or not which I thought (and still think) is dumb. Especially since Enterprise owns Alamo and National now. Whatever. We got out of there with a compact car since they had no economy cars and were on our way.



Boston bridge

At this point, I've slept about 3 hours because our seat partner brought her Chihauhau with her who apparently has attachment issues and was whiny, yippy, etc. throughout the whole flight with the most high pitched bark I've ever heard. I would occasionally fall asleep to be woken by a bark, or when she let her dog out onto her lap it would jump out and would be on the floor licking my legs. Also, the owner didn't seem to know the rules of space on a plane and she kept taking up our shared arm rest, and then leaning over into my seat space. It was fine for a bit as I could lie on Tito's shoulder, but when she attempted to "snuggle" up to me in her sleep I sort of elbowed her awake. :) Tito hadn't slept at all. So he was super tired, and I drove (totally breaking our rental agreement) so he could sleep.



Entering Maine!



We stopped at LL Bean on the way up so I could return an indoor/outdoor thermometer my parents had given us a few years ago that stopped working. I exchanged it for a gift card and managed to get a cute rain/spring coat with a hood. Tito also managed to charge his phone since both of ours had died so we could call my parents. We drove home and I found my second wind to go to the bride to be's mom's house to put together napkins for the wedding we were going to on Sunday. Tito crashed and went to bed. I got home at about 9pm and crashed as well.

Woke up early on Saturday and spent all day (9:30am - 4pm) cleaning with little breaks and didn't eat (I was so focused on getting done I didn't want to stop to eat fearing I'd lose my motivation.) We had plans to meet friends at their place 30 minutes away to go to dinner so we headed over there after showering and changing. It was so great to see them (the girls were two of my bridesmaids in my wedding and the last time we'd been home was for Beth's wedding two years ago.)





Went to the Sea Dog, which is Beth's favorite restaurant (they actually had their reception at the Bangor, ME one two years ago.) We attempted to go and see The Hangover, but missed it by 10 minutes, so we went and got drinks and back to Beth and Pete's house to play Trivial Pursuit and Asshole and catch up...


We left at 2am and slept in the next morning until 9am. Wedding was that day, and after the wedding, we headed up to Orono/Bangor area to see our old college haunts. Got into Bangor around 6pm and changed and headed to Orono for dinner at our favorite pizza place - Pat's. So deliscious!


Tito excited for his pizza



Digging in (notice my super curly hair brought on by the humidity!)




After dinner we headed next door to a favorite college bar, the Bear Brew Pub. There were 4 other people there - being a Sunday night and out of classes, the town pretty much dies down and the population decreases by 12,000. We didn't care and enjoyed a drink!





Headed back to the hotel to sleep and slept in until about 9am. Woke up and started coordinating meeting many people throughout the day and then headed up to campus!



Hancock Hall - Tito's old dorm and where we first met and had our first kiss. Awww...



Tutor Program - one of the places Tito worked while an undergrad.

We stopped into my old work and saw my old boss, who is one of our closest friends. We were able to catch up and made plans to stop by her house later to see her daughter and their old AFS student who I also know who was randomly visiting the same weekend.

Headed to lunch to meet my friend Natasha and her son Ryder. I haven't seen her in about 7 years so it was nice to get a chance to catch up. We wanted to go to a different restaurant but everything else was closed for lunch so we ended up back at Pat's. :)


After lunch we headed back to campus, driving by one of my old houses I lived in with my friends Adrienne and Kate.


60 Park Street...first house with A and K. My room is the second floor with the three windows.

Once on campus, we went to the bookstore, got some souveniers (a UMaine cheering shirt for me and little baby beanie with black bears on it for future babies), and then walked around the Union.



At the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences building - thanks for my degree!

After awhile we headed out to see some of Tito's old buildings and his old professors. We ran into a lot of them actually (engineers never take summer breaks!)



On our way off to visit more friends, we stopped at the new (well a couple of years old now) Alumni House to tour it.



The guy working the desk was an alum and also a very enthusiastic one. He belonged to the same honor organization as Tito had (Senior Skulls) and was also current president of "Friends of Maine Cheering". When he heard I was a former UMaine cheerleader he was super excited. :)



In the music room with Rudy Vallee memorbilia....Rudy Vallee wrote our alma mater's song..."Fill the Steins to Dear Old Maine, shout till the rafters roar..." Yes, I know all the words, including the section where we shout "Drink, Drink, Drink!" at hockey games. Tito HAD to know it to be in the Senior Skulls as they would be randomly asked to sing it if they ran into other Skull brothers throughout the first part of joining the group (similar to fraternity gags)...and at our wedding, we had 8 Skull members there and they sang the Stein Song to me...



Reliving old UMaine cheering days...ok, I didn't cheer THAT long ago, but it feels like it!



The ceiling of the rotunda in the Alumni House. The "stars" actually twinkle!



Floor of the rotunda...12 columns representing the first 12 UMaine graduates

After leaving the Alumni House we made the short trip to Page Place, the street where three of my four former flowergirls live...they're neighbors and my old boss lives here too.



With Brynn, Mason and Elise. Elise is almost as tall as I am at 9 years old.

Had a great visit, then headed down the street to my old boss' house.



Me, Molly, Amy, John and Dom (their Swiss former AFS student who was coincidentally visiting.)


Tito, Molly and I...she's such a peanut even at 6! She takes horseback riding lessons and her mom has to buy her clothes on a specialty website. She said that the size that she buys her isn't even modeled by a kid, but by a doll they're so tiny! :)

After visiting and not wanting to leave, we had to because we had dinner plans with some other friends in Bangor. So we rushed over and saw them all which was great. The women are both Spanish teachers at UMaine, and one of the husbands is an anthropology professor there as well. One couple is from Columbia and the other wife is from Peru (her husband is from Maine). So we have known them throughout all of college, they've worked with us in several of our Latino Heritage events we put on throughout college and their son was a ring bearer in our wedding as well. It was a fun filled evening, filled with conversation, mention of babies (as always in Latin culture!) and just good times. It was funny for outsiders listening in I'm sure because we were loud and laughing switching back and forth between English and Spanish the whole time!





We headed back to the hotel and to bed early because we had to leave at 7am the next morning in order to make it down to Boston for our last visit and then to the airport.

We made it and met up with one of Tito's best friends Kamal (best man in our wedding), his wife Ashley and their baby Malik. They'd taught Malik how to say Tito, which came out as "Itooooo!!" so it was cute!



Not the best photo of me but still cute!

We made it to return the rental car, and then to the airport in record time. Had time to sit, relax and have a beer and then take off to our first layover which was in Phoenix. We were asked to voluntarily give up our seats in exchange for $300 vouchers, hotel stay and dinner and we did...but they ended up not needing our seats. Oh well!



Sky blue pink (as my Grandma would call it) in Phoenix


Sunset over the clouds in AZ

Made it home and waited to get our bags for about 45 minutes (4 flights coming in at the same time + all unloading at the same baggage claim + a million and one high schoolers returning from a trip to Mexico complete with facial and tongue piercings, braided hair and fake tattoos = an unhappy Kate.) But we finally got our bags and caught a shuttle bus back to where our car was and got home at about 12:30pm. Cats were SO happy to see us. I had taken Wednesday off and took the day to unpack (but left the suitcases out since I'll be using them again in 8 days!) and do laundry. It was so nice and relaxing.

Now back to reality for another week or so and then off to Houston for the 4th!

Busy bee...

So I've been MIA again. But this time with good reason. Busy bee with work. My husband's grandmother passed away last week so we've been mourning her and remembering (and for me learning new things about her through his stories of this wonderful woman!)

In the next two months, I am going to be gone a lot. Some for work, some for pleasure. Here's the schedule:

June 8 - June 15: Corning, NY for conference for work
June 18 - 23: Maine for my older brother's wedding, and visiting my alma mater (college) and friends
July 3 - 6: Houston for my friend's wedding

I have three days of downtime between the first and second trip and 9 days between the second and the third. Lots of organization will have to happen. Hopefully the weather warms up in Maine and the rain goes away so it'll make packing easier. Houston is going to be hot. Actually I think the word is HAWT. Humidity, heat...ahhh....I actually do miss that from my time living in Florida. Sometimes you just need a few hot days to make you appreciate the ones where it's 75 and sunny with a little breeze. I can promise my hair will be a crazy curly mess. I will do my best to tame it. But it will not be straight. Might have to actually get my hair styled for the wedding so it doesn't look like Grace from Will and Grace's crazy 80's hair in her flashback episodes.

I've now lived in Seattle for 3 years and 4 months. Sometimes I really like it. Like today, when it's 80, sunny, and just perfect. Like last weekend when it was similar, and like this weekend when it's going to be awesome. Sometimes I don't like it, like when it rains. Or actually when it's grey. I hate the grey. But for now I'm loving the sunshine and warm weather. I'll take it for now. :)

My garden is growing like crazy. Well the window box garden that it is. We have crazy amounts of parsley, cilantro, oregano, lettuce and spinach. I've had two salads with the lettuce and spinach and it grows back so quickly, it's great! Tomato plants that were positively pathetic when I bought them, all dried out and almost dead and only about 2 inches tall are now 6 inches high with nice strong roots. No tomatoes yet, but hopefully soon! Also still waiting on our poblano peppers and jalepeno peppers to come in. Again, hopefully soon on those. I'm feeling an urge to make some salsa and pico de gallo!

I'm running a road race this weekend with my husband and a friend of ours. Just a 5k but it's the first race I've run since I was about 5. Yes, I used to run road races with my dad back then. Didn't run the whole time, but still finished each one. And I have a trophy at home that is for a first place finish in one of them..first place in my age division. Which was 18 and under and I was the only one! Winner by default is still a winner. I will not be winning this race this weekend, but it's nice that I've gotten back into running. Something fun, free and easy and somehting to do with my husband which is nice too.

So hopefully I won't be MIA for too much longer...and will be back with at least some photos of my upcoming travels/experiences.

Disturbingly funny

I love Justin Timberlake, just like many out there in the world. I love his singing, stage presence, etc. I also think he has great comedic timing when he's on SNL. I had DVR'd this week's episode and watched it last night and I haven't laughed so hard in awhile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKqDlIhRsPY

Sunny days

It's sunny in Seattle today, supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow and 60's all weekend with rain. Yay. My parents are visiting today through Tuesday, so it should make for an interesting weekend. Today they are hanging out with my brother who lives here too, but tomorrow they're on their own because I am working. I am taking Monday off so we're heading to do some sight seeing over the weekend to some new "non-Seattle" Seattle things...like the Ballard Lock, Nordic Heritage Museum, UW Arboretum and Japanese Gardens, Skagit Valley tulips, etc., etc., etc. No Space Needle, Pike Place Market, etc. this time since this is the 3rd time they've been here and we've already done those things, and I just "did" them with my brother in law and sister in law 6 weeks ago.

I have a whirlwind of things happening work and personal-wise over the next few months...should be interesting. Hopefully the swine flu doesn't get me before then. :)

Gross Monday...

Monday night, I went to Fred Meyer because it was on my way home. I had to get some more pots for re-potting my plants and wanted to see if I could get some more veggies and/or flowers for the deck and potting soil and didn't want to pay a ton of cash somewhere else. I never shop at Fred Meyer because they're over-priced IMO (at least compared to Target) and kind of out of the way for me. But I figured I'd give it a try. As usual, I found things that were "ok" but not exactly what I wanted. I wanted flower boxes, of which I'd gotten one last year for about $6 each but they didn't have them and only had ones that wouldn't fit on my deck for $15 each. So I opted for two large round pots and two more large hanging pots. I wanted some cascading flowers/greenery for the hanging pots but didn't really find anything, so I ended up with some smaller flowers. I did get a steal on some cherry tomatoes that can be planted in a hanging basket for $.99 each though which was unexpected.

As I grabbed my pots, plants, potting soil and gardening gloves, I made my way to the check out. Aside from the fact that it was an express lane, and the two people in front of me had about 30 items (the sign above the checkout actually says "about 12 items" which apparently means up to 30) I got in line and waited to put my things on the belt.

After doing so, I moved forward so the woman behind me could put her things on the belt. She immediately started talking to me. I smiled politely and turned forward. She started saying how hot it was in the store (all the doors were open and a nice breeze was blowing in.) I get to the front where my overly cheerful cashier was ringing me out and having a conversation about wines with her next door cashier neighbor. Not about wines they had for sale mind you, but just types of wine in general. Then she rang up my plants and the price came up wrong, so I had to get her to stop her convo to correct it.

Sometime during this, I look back and see the woman behind me with what appears to be some sort of creamy donut frosting on her face. She asks for a paper towel and I assume it's for her face. The cashier takes about a century to get her the towel, then continues to ring me up. I keep watching the woman behind me as she uses the paper towel on the floor. I think she must have spilled something and she'll ask the cashier for another towel for her face. She doesn't. What she does do is lean over her little plastic bag from the bakery section and proceeds to throw up in it. I instantly recoil, becuse it's gross, but also because I don't want to accidentally get "sprayed". I point this out to the cashier who has totalled my order, I've run my card and am "waiting for cashier". She just stands there and looks at the woman, and watches her throw up. No helping. No offering of paper towels. No calling over the intercom for a "cleanup", as it's hazardous material. I look at her and ask her to punch the button to charge my card. She doesn't move. So at this point, I'm trapped between my cart filled with things that aren't paid for and the woman behind me throwing up, who with each cough is pushing her cart into me.

What seemed like 20 mins was probably only a few seconds before the cashier snapped out of it, hit the button and handed me my reciept. As I walked away, the cashier started ringing the woman's things up - ummm...she's probably a bit busy throwing up and maybe needs a second before getting her credit card out to pay you, you think? Maybe it's ok to put your blinky light on signaling a manager and get the aisle cleaned up and allow the woman to compose herself before shoving her out the door with her purchases?

Ugh - I had to leave the store before I saw the end of it because I was feeling nauseous. I felt so bad for the woman, but couldn't do any more than I did without creating my own "mess". Yeah, I don't really like shopping at Fred Meyer and I think that sealed the deal for me...I doubt I'll ever go back.

On another note, and a much nicer one, I did manage to replant all of our potted flowers last night, as well as some new veggies and took some photos...our deck is small and the sun only hits it directly for about 4 hours in the morning, but things seem to do ok there. I was actually thinking of asking if I could have a small plot of land to build a garden at my complex yesterday since I like growing our own veggies...might bring it up this weekend to our manager as a community thing since we have a lot of older women who live there who might join in. Anyway, here are our plants so far for the spring:



Geraniums, gerbera daisies and some other flowers I forget the name of... :)




Gerberas




Serrano peppers, golden oregano and poblano peppers...hopefully these peppers grow and we get a few good ones for cooking/making salsa




Parsley and geraniums and unknown flowers in the back. I used some of this parsley last night with our dinner and it was delish




Tumbling Tom tomatoes in the hanging pot




Some greenery that is supposed to bloom into red flowers similar to impatiens..




Monet and Epi waiting patiently for their turn on the porch...

I'll have to see if I can get a clear shot of the whole porch but it looks nice with three hanging pots across the front, and then little groupings on each side with the flower box in the center with the peppers and oregano in them. I really want a garden space though...I'd plant cucumbers, romaine lettuce and beefsteak tomatoes if I had one!

Pay It Forward

So I received a lovely package in the mail the other day from Erin over at From The Land Of Cotton. If you haven't read her blog, head on over to check it out.

My camera battery is dead, but please be assured it was a cute package, right down to the wrapping paper! Inside were: two cute hot pink dish towels with pineapples on them, a bright blue oven mitt, a little pen, Easter bunny Pez and a magnetic pad with my initial on it. Such cute things and they arrived on the perfect day - a rainy, dreary day here in Seattle, and the bright colors screamed "fun" and "springtime" so I was very happy!

So, in the tradition of Pay It Forward, the first three people to respond to this post will receive some goodies from me! This is a great way for me to see who and if anyone actually reads this blog!

OK, so apparently you can't embed a video on Blogger...but check out this link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr9_5uZn6ds&feature=player_embedded

Elmo and Ricky Gervais (from the British version of The Office). Too cute!

PEEPtini recipes...in honor of Easter

For the Easter drinker, may I suggest a PEEPtini this year...


Lemon PEEPtini
- 1 oz Limoncello
- 1 oz Vodka
- 1/2 oz Sweet and sour mix
- 1 peep
- Tang, for rimming the glass

Mix all liquid items in a shaker. Shake, pour into glass rimmed with Tang. Float the peep. Enjoy.

Pink PEEPtini
-1 oz limoncello
-1 oz raspberry vodka
-1 tsp frozen pink lemonade concentrate
- Sugar to rim the glass
-1 pink peep

Rim glass with sugar. Mix the liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice, pour into a martini glass. Don’t forget to float the peep.


Blue-on-Blue PEEPtini
-6 parts vodka
-1 part blue curacao
-1 dash Angostura bitters
-Cocktail olive

Combine liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish two blue PEEPs.


Chocolate Mint Cocktail PEEPtini
-2 oz. Light rum
-½ oz. White creme de menthe
-½ oz. Godiva Liqueur
-Mint sprig for garnish

Combine rum and liqueurs in mixing glass. Add ice and stir to chill. Strain into your Swank Martini Glass and garnish with chocolate and green PEEPs.


Fuzzy PEEPtini
-4 parts vanilla-flavored vodka
-1 part coffee-flavored vodka
-1 teaspoon peach schnapps
-Fresh peach slice

Combine liquid ingredients in a cocktail glass and garnish with a fresh red PEEP.


CosmoPEEPitan PEEPtini
-4 parts vodka
-2 parts triple sec
-2 parts cranberry juice
-1 part fresh lime juice

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with pink PEEPs. Enjoy your CosmoPEEPitan PEEPtini!

My weekend!

I had a busy weekend, busier than most have been recently. But oh so much fun!

Friday - I left work a bit early and headed downtown to meet friends for a happy hour at Twilight Martini Lounge. This is right by Pike Place Market and has a super yummy and cheap happy hour menu! We shared updates on our lives, good food and drinks!

I left the bar around 8pm, and drove my other friend home, and then came home to meet Tito as he was on his way out to Fremont to hang out with a friend. This is a friend of ours from undergrad who moved out here last year. He is from Kenya, and leaving for a matter of months to go home and see his family. He's not 100% sure if he's coming back so Tito wanted a chance to see him before he left. I stayed home and cleaned the house though since it was a boys night. :)

Saturday - I woke up to sunshine! I headed out and hit up the DMV to finally get my WA license after 3 years of living here. It took only 20 minutes, they asked no questions about how long I'd lived here, gave me my old license after punching a hole in it and sent me on my way for my photo. Stupid lady taking the photo, had me stand back, I smiled. Kept smiling. She didn't look like she was going to take the photo, but I still smiled. She looked down to her left and talked to someone of which made me think she wasn't going to take the photo yet so I looked at who she was talking to. Turned me head back around to the camera and she snapped the photo then. The result? A photo of my dead pan with my eyes half opened. I asked her if we could take it again and she said no. I usually have good license photos too! So I think I'm going to look into "losing" the license and see if I can get another one taken where I at least have my eyes open!

After the DMV, I drove over to the UVillage to walk around and go to H&M. Hadn't been there in awhile, and picked up a cute little top, some black satin peep toe espadrilles and a collection of little turquoise wooden beaded bracelets. I also headed to Crate and Barrel but didn't find anything to really buy but picked up a new shoe rack and some storage things at Storables. (Have to bring the shoe rack back because it was missing a piece which was annoying to find out.) Headed home and made brownies, and pico de gallo.

Tito headed to Kirkland to meet up with Erik and Mike for a man playdate. :) Headed out to M's house for B's birthday dinner. Had a great time enjoying fajitas, chips and salsa and pico, and brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce, as well as wine, beer and good company! After dinner, we headed to a new martini bar in Kirkland. It was packed and a little small for the space, but B and M snagged a table and we camped out for the rest of the night.

Sunday - woke up, grocery shopped, then got lunch at Subway and Tito and I headed to St. Edward's State Park to enjoy the sunshine and have a picnic. We spent three hours in the sunshine, soaking up Vitamin D, relaxing, reading, and just loving life. Headed home, grabbed some movies and settled in and watched both (Role Models and 7 Pounds.) We liked both of them for different reasons, and it was nice to spend a good day together, and good evening snuggling and just enjoying each other's company.


Some photos from the weekend:


Jess and I (playing with the color accent feature on my new camera)


Jess and purple coat!


Not a great shot of me, but with my new license


The ladies at dinner


Happy Birthday B!


On the way to the bar - I'm riding in the "big girl" seat in the middle of E's new Highlander


Cheers to B!


The ladies


Tito and I at St. Edward's State Park enjoying the sunshine!



Epi and I after a day in the sun (with Monet looking on in the background)