Day 269- Enjoy your fungi ladies!

Left work early and met up with the girls in the U District to get manicures with Mon and the wedding party. The place was a dump and I refused to get my toes done in those yucky wells with the yucky tools.

Snagged Mebbie and did some shopping at Alderwood Mall. Got my hair cut. I was happy.

Picked up cupcakes at Trophy. Delicious.

Dropped Mebbie off and returned home to frantically prepare for the wedding.

Day 262

Dropped Mon at the hair-dresser's and went to Amber's place. Checked out her art and then walked over to her school. It was pretty neat.

While Amber was in class I went to Starbucks and read Gang Leader for a Day on the patio and had a cinnamon roll. It was very nice out.

Went to 23rd and did some shopping. Bought stationary. Had chocolates at Moonstruck and Reuben sandwiches at Kornblatt's. Drove back to her place through historic neighborhoods. I should go back down again while the weather is good and do some sight seeing.

Fought traffic out to Multnomah Falls. Had a nice dinner with Monica and Fran. Headed back to Seattle. Dropped off Mon.

Came home and crashed.

I felt very murrrrr today.

Day 255

Very busy day. Moved into Gargoyle Toe's cube. Missed my appt to pick up my orthotics. Started dog sitting for Riley and Sammi, and ran home to let them out before joining the girls at Claim Jumper to celebrate Angie's last day at work. Relaxed at dogsitting house.

Read more Pillars of the Earth.

Day 247

Had lunch with Mon, Katie, and the kids.

Frosted the cake in a hurry and scurried to Kieran's b-day BBQ at Lynn's. Lynn, Michael, Diane, Kevin, Angie, Melody, Jack, and Leni in attendance.

Picked up Jim and went game night at the Sluss' with Steve and Addy. Very nice.

Today was busy but good.

Day 240

Met up with Melody for a super pj fun night. Rented In Bruges (good, but could have liked more funny) and dropped in at the liquor store. Bought tequila, blueberry vodka, and Starbucks liquer (all in mini bottles). Was tempted by, but ultimately did not buy any Patron. Had dinner at a Chinese place in Woodway. It was pretty good.

Watched the movie and drank heavily. FYI- Blueberry vodka is delicious.

At 11:30 two ambulances pulled up next door to the dogsitting house. I was worried and they did ultimately take someone away. Without their lights and with no urgency. This seemed ominous.

Pretty much a nice way to end the week. (Let the dog sleep on the bed tho, and in hindsight this was a mistake. Oh well. Having one's spleen trampled is not the worst fate.)

Day 233

Went shopping with Jim and had dinner at Spaghetti Factory. (Yay spumoni!)

Found a new tower entertainment center-y thing and watched Jim put it together. Finished up Ultraviolet (the BBC series, which should have been a long running series, darn it).

Read some comics.

Day 226

Brad's back went out, so the rest of us took a beautiful scenic drive out to the Emerald Creek Garnet Area. We traveled up and up and up and entered what is called the Palouse. It was like finding the Teletubby land there at the top of the world. It was gorgeous. If you have to live up at 7% grade 25 mile road in BFE nowhere, at least you can leave in verdant weirdly regularly hilled countryside. But I don't think that they have a grocery store.

We dug buckets of dirt and screened them for star garnets, and I found a few. It was kind of crowded and pretty hot. And full of rednecks. Anyway, we had lunch at the campground and Auntie was so excited at the old water pump.

On the way home we stopped at a produce store in Moscow for ice cream. I had blackberry swirl and it was AMAZING. Best ice cream of the trip.

Played board games and made a weird photo tableau with my Santos.

Started Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. It is pretty good so far.

Day 219

Got up early and snuck down to Winthrop for breakfast with my Uncle and Grandpa. Delicious. Picked up fresh baked cinnamon rolls for the others.

Loaded up the car and traveled to Republic to dig for nifty fossils. It was very hot, but we all found at least one good fossil. I found two different kinds of leaves.

Set out for Grand Forks, BC. At the border the guards seized from my grandparents:

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Peaches

1 50 pound (?) bag of dog food

2 garbage bags of dog food

Some beef.

I know I shouldn’t laugh, but my grandmother’s righteous indignation= hilarious.

Set up camp and headed to the hotel to enjoy their “world famous borscht”. I have no idea why this was famous. Perhaps famous for being bland. I also had some so-so perogies.

Started What is the What by Dave Eggers which is very very good.

Day 212

Fed and walked the dog, then headed home to prepare for The Dark Knight’s 12 am IMAX showing. Drove down to Seattle Center with Paul, George, Mel and Jim. Found great parking and arrived at the line to find that Jim and Jason were first in line. Hung out for a while and got great seats. The IMAX experience was great, but I couldn’t help but feel that it detracted from the movie. Which was also long. But I liked it.

Read and crashed out near to 4 am.

Day 205

Fed and walked the dog, met with George and Jim at our place and fetched 2.0. Met Elwood at Serious Pie, but walked down to an Italian place instead.

Watched the Sub-Pop Comedy show. There were several comedians there, but Patton Oswalt was far and away the funniest. Eugene Mirman was also there and very funny (especially extemporaneously) but most of his material I had heard before.

Read comics.

Day 198

Caught Hancock with Jim, Deuce, and Paul. Hancock was fine.

Had lunch at Qdoba. Then Deuce and I saw Wanted as well. Very good movie.

Frosted my cake and scurried up to George’s for a BBQ. Had a nice time.

Day 191

Coworker who is leaving took a bunch of us out to lunch. Had some delicious pie.

Happy Hour with the coworkers at Las Brisas in Edmonds after work. Pretty warm outside.

Went to the cat sitting house and watched Bones with Smoky who was super cuddly.

I'm convinced my reflux is back. As I was supposed to attend a wine tasting party and instead stayed home murring on the couch with stomach pain.

Day 184

Left work early for margaritas at Sarah S.’s house with Angie.

Had my haircut.

Had dinner with Steve and Addy. Had weird PIN incident (reader rejected my pin- pretty certain that I didn’t misremember a number I’ve used for almost 6 years… just saying), just put it through as credit.

Loitered at 7-11, like old Cuban men. Tried giant chewy nerds (yucko).

Saw Harold and Kumar.

Read more Th1rte3n.

Spoke with Mom.

Day 177

Took a half day and went shopping for furniture with Jim in Everett. Jim thinks he may have found the table.

Dropped by the store then made tacos for dinner for Steve and Addy. Baked a cheesecake while watching TIVO'd Cartoon Network.

Read some more Nocturnals.

Day 170

Took the day off. Had a bagel and watched music videos with Jim. Puttered around.

Picked up Kim, raced Northward. Good drive. Somewhat lengthy wait at the border. Not sure why.

Dropped Kim at her friend's. Picked up mom. Met up with Darren and went to the good Greek place in Port Coquitlam. Stopped by Blockbuster.

Watched Stardust. Still awesome.

Today was a good day.

Spoke with Terry and Grammy.

Day 163

Dropped in on George at The Comic Stop. Brian came in a bit later and we gabbed for a while.

Fed and walked Theo. Sat down with the cat to watch some TV.

Read more Th1rte3n. Sometimes when authors want to cover several different people’s stories they simply intersperse the character’s chapters. Now unless they are connected by theme, time line, or some other concept, this never ever works. What happens is that you draw the reader in and then drop them cold and one chapter later I can’t remember who is who and if they meet, I do not get it, because I have forgotten by then. Here I am, cold, and wondering why Rickard Morgan is screwing with me.

Spoke with Czabrina, Steve, Grandma, Mom, Burke, and Amber.

Day 156

Started another dogsitting gig.

Went to bed early in order to be prepared for the early am move.

Spoke with countless people to confirm plans.

Day 149

Took the day off to convalesce. Tidied a little bit but mostly dozed off and on.

Met up with Gordy, Monica and Fran for cocktails at Barca. Retired to Mon's to chat.

Drove back to the dog sitting house and passed out.

Day 142

Met with Jim, Paul 2.0, and Gavin at The Stop, loaded Paul’s van and made two trips to the convention center. Dropped off the van at Paul’s office. Put together some badges. Accompanied Friday to Lake City to switch cars with her spouse and met her family (adorable). Had dinner at The Dragonfish with some of the gaming crew, Friday, Paul and Jim. Mooched a ride back to The Stop and returned home to pack for dog-sitting.

Day 135

Work still sucking.

Had cocktails at Scott's with Diane, Kevin, Angie, Lynn, and Michael for Diane's birthday. Then Angie and I ran over to Macy's to pick up three 7 quart Martha Stewart Collection Dutch Ovens (50% off!). (One for me, and one each for my Uncle and Grandma. I swear I don't need 3!) I am looking forward to perfect pot roasts and no-kneed bread. Of course, we also stopped by Daiso and bought a magnet and a cake box set. Angie picked up a dessert mold in the shape of a koala head and I am burning with envy. We also stopped in at Sephora, as I was out of powder. I impulse purchased some 2$ purple nail polish as well.

Finished The City and The Stars. Highly recommended.