Saturday night and all day Sunday

David and I hung out for a bit after Dan and Mollye left. Actually, we took a nap almost immediately after, then we hung out a bit. We went to the store, and I made a German chocolate cake. Trivia: German chocolate cake has nothing to do with Germany. It is named after a specific brand of baking chocolate, called German's, and are actually more typical of Southern US cuisine, as evidenced by the pecans in the frosting. Not to boast, but this may be the best thing that I or anyone else in the history of time has ever baked. Ok, that's probably not true, but I'm pretty proud of it since I whipped it up from scratch following Betty Crocker's sage guidance. Anyhow, the reason I made said cake was that David's buddy Willy shipped off to the Marines today and was in town to celebrate his last night as a free man. Willy and his friend Christina came over around 10 and we had a few drinks. Here's Willy with the Cake:
Now on to Sunday. David and I lounged around in bed for a bit; I ate oatmeal and studied flashcards while he played a game on his computer. Then I made some scrambled eggs/tofu. Then I went to the farmer's market and the gym. Boring. Then the good stuff began: we hopped on the bus to go to Gas Works Park. More trivia: the Gas Works used to be a gas factory and employed most of the surrounding area. Then they closed and the city turned them into a park. Anyhow, we got off the bus in Fremont. The below gallery is one of the folk art galleries Rene was talking about when she visited last week:
We got off the bus a little earlier than we needed to, but we walked by something I've been wanting to see for a while: the Fremont Troll!
Awesome. The VW bug he is holding in his left hand is an actual VW bug. Some little kid kicked it and proved it. We walked a bit and came to the park, where we took in scenic views of the Seattle skyline across Lake Union. David read a book and I studied vocab. Here's David in front of the Gas works.
It's sad to think that this is one of the last nice weekends we're might have, and I'm glad we got out to enjoy it.

Now David is watching "The View" and we're about to go to bed.

Guests

Dan, Mollye and the kids came over this afternoon. We tried to childproof the house but didn't do a great job; I don't think enough like a baby (or a mom) to realize what is considered a chew-toy in the eyes of a 9-month-old: everything.

Willy was offered a huge bonus to ship off to the Marine's a month early, so he's coming over to Seattle to celebrate his last night as a civilian. I'm going to bake a cake.

Week in review:

Monday- Work sucked. Went to spinning class.

Tuesday- Work sucked. Went to conditioning class.

Wednesday- Work sucked. Was actually asked to wash people's dirty dishes. Tried to make homemade veggie burgers at home: epic fail. They do make good Schloppy Joe's though. [They're called Schloppy Joe's because when you use a fake meat or dairy product you have to give it a name that sounds like what you're replacing but is a little different. Like "chreez" or "tofurky." I could call them "Sloppy Faux's" too. That works.]

Thursday- Work sucked. Went to sushi at the restaurant around the corner: loved it! Saw "Man on Wire," a movie about the man who tightrope-walked across the World Trade Centers. It was eerie to be watching it on September 11, but that was completely incidental: we decided to go see it before we remembered what day it was. The film was ok.

Friday- Work was ok. Just kidding: it sucked. Talked online to my cousin Jeni, who I hadn't had any sort of communication with since our grandmother's funeral 9 years ago. We mainly reminisced about how awesome our grandmother was.

The weekend should redeem the week.

Good Day

I had a very good day today. I was consistently busy at work, and even learned something new in Photoshop. The brochures I've been waiting for came in, so I was able to finally get a marketing mailing out. The shoes I ordered last week also arrived, and even though I had to send them back because they were too small, they are really cute and comfy, so I am really excited for the right size to come in. After work, I got my hair cut downtown. I really like what the stylist did to it, although it's the shortest it's been since I've had hair (I was bald until my first birthday,which combined with my ears sticking out was not pretty, so once it started to grow my parents just let it grow). I just made a really good soup, and even though it's really hot in the apartment and I'm pretty full I'm going to eat all of it. It's soup, it's healthy.

Cat Lady

This lady from the Denver office called today for Dave but we got to talking. I asked her how her day was going, and she said that it wasn't going so well. I said I was sorry to hear that. She said it was because her 16-year-old cat died. I said that I was sorry to hear that. She said that actually, her cat died a year ago, but it just hit her today. I said "let me transfer you to Dave."

Saturday

I had a productive morning and a fun afternoon, and am now enjoying a relaxing evening. I woke up around 7:30 and did GRE math problems for about an hour. I'd been talking about doing a spinning class at the gym, and since I was awake, I figured I'd give the 9 am class a shot. Spinning is such a girlie activity, but it was a great workout and after an hour everyone was sweating rivers. I'm considering making it a regular activity.

David and I hung out for a bit; we listened to Obama's acceptance speech on YouTube. He's a great speaker with great ambitions and has my vote. To be fair, he could be a crappy speaker with no goals for the future but as long as the Republicans are throwing pro-life evangelical beauty queens at me I would take anything else.

We hopped on the 3 pm ferry to the island and Dan picked us up at the dock in their new Kia. David played with Chet while Dan and Mollye figured out what to do with all the little yellow plums they have growing in their yard. They concluded that plum pudding was the way to go, so while the menfolk went to the coffee shop to see a long-lost uncle, the ladies concocted a pudding. It was pretty delicious, though more of a cobbler than a pudding, but "plum cobbler" just doesn't have the same ring. Mollye and Dan fed us a nice dinner, and we ate the pudding/cobbler for dessert. I am amazed at how fast little kids change; Lela is walking, and when we were there two weeks ago she was not.

David set up our internet when we got home, and we're projecting Today's Big Fail on the wall. The Drag Show at Julia's is in the Dolly Parton portion of the evening, meaning it's almost over. Time to go to bed.

fixed

I talked to my old insurance company and the HR woman at work yesterday, and I think everything will be ok. Whew.

David and I were out late last night; we went downtown for shopping, dinner, and games. It was really fun, but I am especially tired this morning. Nothing that a little caffeine won't solve though.