Simple things in life

School has started and is kicking my butt already. Managerial accounting at least makes more sense than the other accounting classes. Still, its no where near easy. That means I'm up late reading and often rushing from my desk at work to my desk at home. If I'm lucky I get the hardest stuff done before the caffeine buzz wears off. If not I have to debate the benefits of another cup vs how late it will be before it wears off and I can sleep.
Fortunately my fiance is a gamer. This means that as long as he has a game to play (and food in the fridge) and he won't really notice I've been gone until I show up again. He offers to run errands for me so that I can cram in more study time, and he's fed me dinner after class. Usually he feeds me because I have had a coffee midway through class and once again there is no food in my fridge. He knows me well enough now that he knows when to pack me back into my car and send me home so that I fall asleep at home and not in the car.
Long way of saying we have to snatch bits of time together. This past weekend I worked from 8am to 6pm on Sat. That's normally my study and catch up time. So Sunday morning I decided we needed quality time together more than we needed to go to sermon. We grabbed coffee and the Cuban coffee shop across the street from our church (I love Seattle) and went for a walk.
It was absolutely beautiful out. The leaves are turning and the air was nice and crisp. We found a little park near by and played on the swings for a bit. Then we kept walking and found a bridge over this huge ravine. The ravine was filled with huge trees and lush green plants. It was gorgeous. I know it doesn't sound like much, but I had an incredible time on our impromptu date. I got to talk to him and focus on just him for more than a quick break between study sessions.
It was great.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through

The happy times together we've been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending
Oh Wouldn't it be nice

Playing catch up

School: For the most part I like it. My prof is great. He has two different MBA's and a law degree. He leads the class discussion well and I love the subject matter. I enjoy the class discussions more now that it is not just myself and two others talking. The draw back is my classmates don't talk to me. When I pass them at break they turn away slightly. Not much, but enough to discourage me from joining the conversation. I'm hoping the fall will be better.

Birthday: Very good. My boyfriend and I met some friends at my favorite wine bar on the night of my birthday. The next day a really good friend and I went on a weekend cruise. It was my first cruise and I really liked it. I had to pretend that I was on a spaceship in order to fall asleep at night. It also helped to do that when we hit rough water.

Work: Overwhelming. I know enough now to get stuff done, I just can't seem to do so. It drives me nuts and I don't know where to start. My co-workers are better now that the character who used to help me is gone. Without his continually antagonizing ways the department gets along as a whole much better. It has meant a lot more cooperation between everyone so we're doing much more cross training than before. Mostly I like that the tension in the department has dropped and its really nice.

Home life: I've found a new place to live. Right now I have the best roommate I've ever had. The only problem is she is engaged and her fiance owns our home. That means that when the get married he is going to be living here. So, I will be moving July 4th weekend to a place much closer to work. I will be renting a daylight basement with a walk in closet and a full bathroom. It is close enough to work that I'll be able to walk there. Better yet, I'll be able to walk to church.

Favorite Tour guide: Make me laugh all the time. We went to the Ballard Locks again yesterday. The sun was out and it was gorgeous out. I finally managed to tickle him by twirling a blade of grass against his skin. He took my toy away from me and tickled me back. It was a lot of fun. We sat and talked for hours enjoying the sunshine and each other's company. Then we went to a friend's house for a bbq. Dinner was filled with more laughing and really good food.

Best for last: My younger sister is on her way to the hospital to have her baby!

Sometimes the best we can do is breathe and reboot. SJP

Random moments

I had to post this picture of chickens. They are in the front yard of a house just a few houses down from the townhouse where my community group meets. The townhouse is not out in the country, it is in the middle of the city. This struck me as funny, and I didn’t think anyone would believe me, so I took a picture.
For date night a couple weeks ago we went to one of my favorite restaurants, The High Life, and then to a movie. Once we were seated my favorite tour guide told me that at first the theater owners couldn’t decide what to call their company. Eventually they named it Elttaes, which is Seattle spelled backwards. After the movie we started to walk a few blocks to his car. Halfway there he picked me up and carried me for a bit. What can I say? My guy is romantic and shares my love of trivia.
My orientation for class is Saturday. Once I’ve completed it I can sign up for the Pre-Calc course I want to take. I’m hoping to get it and Business Calc over with as soon as possible. As much as I’m dreading taking any kind of math course again I am looking forward to starting school. Partly in order to make friends, partly to enjoy being in class again.
The best for last: A few months ago I was visiting my family. As usual we were had a family dinner and afterwards my sister said she had presents for everyone. There didn’t seem to be a special reason but I didn’t really think anything of it. She then handed a children’s book to each of my parents. My mom got Katie No Pockets, which is her favorite. While she was flipping through the pages my dad softly called her name and told her to read the inscription on the first page. After she did my older sister and I got books as well. Mine is one of my favorites, Corduroy. In it she had written “For G, To read to your new niece or nephew.”
I couldn’t believe it. My younger sister is pregnant with her first baby! Since she’s discussing it on her blogs, I’m guessing it’s safe to talk about it on mine. She and her husband are very happy and are going to be great parents. They recently found out that they are having a boy, and I can’t wait to hold my brand new nephew. They won’t tell me what his name is yet, and I’m enjoying looking forward to being introduced to him all at once.

Where the lovelight gleams

One of my all time favorite Christmas songs is "I'll be home for Christmas." I'm not sure why I've loved it so much. I've spent every single Christmas that I can remember with my family. This Christmas will very happily be no exception. However, it will be the second Christmas that I can remember where I won't wake up at the crack of dawn with my younger sister. It was an odd sensation last year to wake up at a decent hour, and to wonder out to join my parents. I'm used to my sister waking me up when it is still dark and going to see what Santa left in our stockings. We aren't extremely close, but I did miss her last year and I'm glad that she and her husband will be spending the holiday with our family.
In other holiday news I helped host a holiday dinner last weekend. I made a chocolate cake that has a pound of chocolate in just the frosting, and a bruschetta pizza that was better than I had thought it would be. Our friends brought food and we laughed and talked as we prepared everything. While some of us were in the kitchen others had turned on the Wii and were playing some sort of Mario Brothers game. For some reason instead of turning it off they decided to leave it on while we ate. So instead of Christmas music playing in the background, my holiday dinner party was serenaded by Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Daisy, Mario and others. When someone finally commented on it we all cracked up. Most of the people there were hard core gamers, but all of us had played Nintendo growing up. The music hasn't really changed in all these years and we all had stories about the music driving parents crazy.
There was one upside. After dinner I was helping to clean up while others finished playing the game. When I went to grab something off the table my boyfriend teased me by trying to poke my belly button. I laughed and tried to spin away while grabbing his hand to stop him. He spun me back around and we ended up dancing and laughing in the middle of the kitchen. All in all it was a great night.

Wine is bottled poetry

I never really drank in high school. I may have had a sip or two of wine that an uncle had brought to dinner, but that was it. It wasn't until I was twenty and attending summer school in Paris that I started drinking. While I was there I learned to appreciate wine. Kind of hard not to when you're visiting the regions wines are named after. Since then I've had good wine, just nothing like I had last week.

My favorite tour guide and I were invited to his roommate's birthday dinner last Tuesday. The roommate is half Japanese, and his father is this adorable tiny Japanese man who can cook native Hawaiian dishes. The food was all made from scratch and utterly fantastic. Best out of all he prepared was the best duck I've had since I was served it at Chateau Chenonceau. That is the only dish whose name I can remember. Well, that and the incredible chocolate cake, but who is going to forget that?

As wonderful as the food was, the wine was better. It started off with champagne that tasted great even thought it was brut. After that we had merlots, cabernets, and a pinot noir that smelled so good I wanted to eat the air. Our host was so delighted that he had guests that appreciated wine he kept bringing out different bottles. We didn't get drunk. Those of us that weren't driving may have gotten a tad fuzzy, but that's it. Our host only poured enough to be appreciated each time.

The pièce de résistance was the port that was served with dessert. I've never had it before, so I was given a crash course. Just like with wine there are a number of different types. Unlike with wine, the different types are an indicator of quality. The top of the line is vintage port, and one of the absolutely best years is 1977. That's the year the roommate was born, which is why the host had a bottle of it. He purchased it that year and kept it for his son's 30th birthday.

All in all dinner was wonderful.

A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry
Ecclesiastes 10:19

Semi-charmed kind of life

Today it was absolutely beautiful outside. I was supposed to get up at the crack of dawn to go get a Washington state license, but I slept through my alarm. By the time I woke up I knew that there was bound to be a long line, and that it was too beautiful a day to waste at the DMV. So instead I called up the one gal pal I have here and made plans to enjoy the day.
Before I met up with her I stopped by the downtown library. On my way there I drove down this street that has what should have been a fantastic view of the Sound. Instead I got to see lots of trees with gorgeous colors, and a wall of fog. It was absolutely beautiful and really weird. The trees were gold and rust and red. What was weird was that the fog seemed to be unable to pass this magical barrier as it seemed to stop the second it hit shore.
After the library I drove to my favorite part of town- Ballard. I parked my car at my friend’s house and we proceeded to walk around downtown Ballard. We went to a couple thrift stores and a couple consignment stores. I was looking for inspiration for a Halloween costume, she was looking for a new table. It seemed like everyone was out enjoying the rare bit of perfect weather. The sun was shining, the sky was this great shade of blue, the leaves on all the trees were turning, and the air had just a slight chill to it. I had a blast just walking around and people watching.
The best part of the day was when I was driving home across one of the bridges. I could see Mt Rainier in the distance and the sun sparkling off of the Sound. It was so beautiful all I could think was “wow, I get to live here.” Clearly my love affair with this city is still in the honeymoon phase. As happy as I am I think I’m just going to go with it.

Goo Goo G'joob

If you have never been to soap box races you are really missing out. This Saturday Red Bull sponsored races in the Fremont district. There was everything from the rolling bridge troll to a ferry pulling the space needle. My favorite was the A-team mostly due to the fact that they had a white Mr. T. Among the others were a giant toilet bowl with a movable seat, and a giant sushi roll. We had a lot of fun in spite of the off and on rain, even though there weren't that many crashes (my favorite part).
After the races I got to see the first part of the Battlestar Galactica mini series. It was awesome. There is this one character that may or may not be a hallucination. Either way she is completely insane and absolutely convinced that this egomaniac will/does love her. He is the only one that can see her and it gets pretty entertaining. Especially when she decides to get frisky and someone walks in on him. Outside of that the story is great and the special effects are impressive.
On Sunday I went with a friend to this great local place called The Dish Cafe. There isn't a lot to the menu, but everyone I met agrees there is nothing bad on it. The fabulous garden omelet came with a scone that was wonderful. We sat and talked for a bit and it was fun to feel like a local. Once we were done stuffing ourselves we went to see Across the Universe. Very trippy movie. At one point the main characters dropped acid to a Beattle's song "I am the Walrus" (the title of this blog is from a line in it).
All in all it was a fun weekend, even with the stereotypical Seattle weather finally deciding to show up.

Here there be dragons,

and pirates that like to go bowling. Or at least guys that work for a company with a pirate mascot do. Last night five of us went to a place called The Garage that is part bowling alley, part pool hall. Its close to me and, at least during the week, is pretty relaxed. Whatever skill I managed to build in high school PE bowling class I have completely lost. My first two frames were gutter balls, but I managed to pull off two spares later so at least I redeemed myself. One of the guys actually pulled off the Fred Flinstone move where he walks on his tip toes up to the lane. His name is Biggie and he hit more pins than I did that round. I'd hold it against him but he's entirely too much fun. His wife is great too. She and I have a common understanding that Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is gorgeous. We only bowled one round. The game had started late and we all had work in the morning. I'm looking forward to doing it again though. Hanging out with pirates is fun.