Back to the daily grind and full five-day work weeks. But back to evening “hanging outs” and events with friends and back to weekend excursions and relaxations. Oh, it is nice to have a working schedule and have those precious evenings and weekends. This was reconfirmed after hearing my friends talk about their endless studying, job searching, and test taking during my visit in Ann Arbor. Oh, and thankfully back to temperatures that are bearable.
I am really digging the skiing. I really didn’t think I was going to get into it the way that Mary and Tyler and Bryan and Amy talked about it but here I am doing it. It is funny because I was just telling another “mountain lover” that in coming to Seattle I was more excited about being around water which usually draws me in, but now find myself getting into the mountains, their beauty and all of the adventure that they offer. I get it now and boy does getting out skiing make the winter a whole lot more enjoyable. After a day helping Amy pack, cooking dinner together and watching the Lions vs. Saints I wasn’t sure I really wanted to go on Sunday but then I decided why not and am glad I did. Stevens was only a 1.5 hour ride away and with an Advantage Pass we got a great discount and now get our 4th lift ticket free. The runs were great, staying mostly on the blues all day and definitely feeling more experienced and confident in my skiing abilities. My skis are also freshly waxed and the edges sharpened making my speed, turns, and sliding better. It really made a difference on them. We stopped at one of the million espresso shacks on the way to the resort and dined at the cafeteria which was actually very reasonable and tasty. Today we leave for Oregon to try out Mt. Bachelor in Bend, Oregon for its skiing conditions.
For the Championship game we had a houseful of people (~15) while Mary and Tyler tried out their new skills making jambalaya and gumbo from their cooking class at the New Orleans Cooking School. It was actually quite good and hard to rate theirs in comparison to Amy as it would be very close (but I will…the gumbo was delicious and better but the jambalaya couldn’t compare to Amy’s). As I expected the game itself was low scoring and boring, but oh well.
This week I also tried out Dragonfish for its Asian-style happy hour of sushi rolls, spring rolls, agadashi tofu, chicken satay, edamame, and chicken potstickers. Pretty tasty!
Our basketball team is still looking good, our house is finally clean again, my bags are stuffed for Oregon, and I am enjoying my projects at work slightly more. I have some restaurant recommendations from friends for the food-holy city of Portland and am once again starting The Help. January is better than I remembered it!
Chelsea
Evolving in the Emerald City 