My buddy Sarah from Ann Arbor and UM visited me for the weekend and it was like my twin came to visit.  I swear we have so much in common.  I am so happy that I got to catch up with her and introduce her to Bryan and Amy.  After a whirlwind of a week (dinner with ex-roommate Marieke at Qazi’s Indian Curry House, dinner at Salty’s at Alki Beach for Tauber Networking event, dinner with Amy for girls night at her house, free screening of Hit and Run at SIFF cinema with Bryan (followed by a Q&A session live with Kristen Bell and Dak Shepard!!!…found out they are both from Detroit), and two appointments this week) we actually had a great time just hanging out, moving slow, having long meals with long conversations, and just doing our own thang!

Bryan and I picked her up at the airport Friday night and were going to catch live flamenco and tapas at Bilbao only to find they just closed so we went and got tacos at a hopping Pecado Bueno.  We headed home to talk and show her my sweet digs.  Saturday morning was the slowest moving of all…she woke up at 2pm!!!  We had a great, long brunch at home and then spent the day and evening cooking spaghetti at Amy’s and then having a dinner with the boys and watching a Redbox awful movie called the Tower Heist.  It was fun and the best we could do considering the awful weather.  Sunday morning we went to Lululemon for a great yoga class and then headed to the Eastside for a Google Local Special Users event at Wild Ginger.  Fantastic!!!  Multiple course dim sum brunch of so many delicious edibles all with some great Asian flavors.  We sampled:  excellent shrimp shu mai, baked and steamed barbeque pork buns, sesame shrimp cakes with wasabi cream, these amazing little sesame kabucha squash cakes and best of all was our own private open bar.  I had a mimosa to start, then coffee, than an original guava martini like drink.  Great ambiance in our little private room.

The rest of Sunday was gorgeous and we spent it at the market and then headed to Conor Byrnes in Ballard with Bryan and David to catch Open Mic Night.  She left early this morning as I sent her off on the light rail to the airport from downtown.  I miss her but am exhausted as well!  She is so fun, smart, sensible and motivating.  We can talk for hours and I really think that she knows me probably better than any of my friends and that we can both trust each other with anything and that is what I love and need in her as my friend.

Chelsea

Well this is an easy “Wish List” for my time at home and the cottage.  When I think of the cottage I get the most nostalgia of any because I don’t know of one Fourth of July being any different than any other.  I know they have changed, that the kids and the adults have grown up, that our activities have varied, but it honestly seems the same to me when I think about it.  I know what to expect, I know what to look forward to, I know what it is I want to do while I am there.  Cue Spice Girls “Wannabe”…

• Water ski
• Play euchre and cards off the heazy
• Have campfires all day long
• Roast marshmallows for smores
• Listen to my cousin John play guitar around the fire
• Play tennis
• Go fishing with the boys
• Go for a boat cruise around the lake
• Have Mom’s shrimp boil
• Light off fireworks…or at least do sparklers
• Have talks with the girls
• Go kayaking with Mamasita
• Walk around the lake
• Fall asleep to a movie
• Eat my dad and Terry’s waffles
• Soak up sun and read
• Eat on the picnic table
• Watch the neighbor’s fireworks
• Walk around barefoot
• Play with Maggie and Sophie

And at home/Ann Arbor…

• See Nisa and Claire
• Eat at JG and/or Aladdins
• Brunch out at a fave (Northside or Soup Spoon)
• Eat on the deck and grill out
• Bring back Afternoon Delight muffins (however many will fit in my bag)

Now I just need to figure out how to pack my water ski, tennis racket, mom’s shoes, ski jacket, books, etc in one carry on bag.  Hmmm….

Chelsea

• Grilling out
• $1 off at Yogurtland…all month long (been there 3x already) and have been loving on their Nutter Butter flavor especially
• Sunnier weather than May (not hard to do)
• Determined to catch a fish with my new rod and reel
• Purple nail polish – Amy even got me one as a gift (though it’s really pink not purple)
• Festival season starts (already had Northwest Folklife but we have the Fremont Fair, Kirkland Uncorked, International Beer Fest, and Ballard Seafood Fest all coming up soon)
• Farmer markets in full swing…me love the Ballard and Fremont ones, have yet to hit the Queen Anne one on Thursday afternoons but I bus by it and it is hopping
• Comedy show at Comedy Underground in Pioneer Square was awesome
• Getting to get dressed up once in a while.  Wore an unworn white dress to the Sarajevo Lounge white party and got glammed up for the ballet in a new pink Forever 21 dress at the Seattle Center this weekend before hitting what ended up being the after party at the swank and totally me Sitting Room in Lower Queen Anne with Amy, Bryan and Polly.  Loved the ballet too by the way.
• Asian dumplings…especially at $4
• Sweet potato fries 
• Google Local events…next one is coming up in a week at a restaurant I’ve been dying to try anyways.  And I may be featured in the Google Local Seattle newsletter.
• Berries and melon in season
• Redbox + discount codes = free!
• Tauber Networking dinner at Salty’s in Alki Beach (dinner with a view?)
• My new bike
• Tootsie rolls and fudgsicles (?!?!)
• Sarah coming to visit in less than a week
• Brunch and shopping sound like a splendid Saturday morning and afternoon to me with Amy
• Discovering must-try local fish and chips places…and discovering that one of those even offered me up free delicious “chips” every third Friday of the month
• Being so close to the 4th of July trip to the cottage
• Crashing hotel jacuzzis
• The discovery of my favorite bagels in the city, Eltana in Capitol Hill, discovering that they are top rated in the COUNTRY and discovering that they like to give out free baker’s dozens of bagels frequently
• Top Chef is filming here this summer for the next season = exciting!!!

This is the question that I find myself asking myself more and more.  There can be a million and one things that I want to do in one day but that can’t be possible.  There can also be a thousand things I think I want to do but don’t really.  This weekend was no exception and I think that I might even be influencing my friends and boyfriend into this way of thinking…or maybe they are influencing me.  Either way I think it is vital to my well being to ask myself this question continually, either to save myself from exhaustion and dillemmas or tap into my inner desires versus obligations.  One tough challenge presents my most indecisive self.

This weekend the boy still said he wanted to go somewhere on Friday night at 7pm.  I could sense he was feeling obligated to do so and I knew I would not be into THAT spontaneous of a trip.  Not happening.  So instead we took it easy, recouped, recovered, reconnected.  That was what we both needed and wanted.  Nothing too thrilling occurred but we still had a great time.  Friday night we checked out Lucky Diner in Belltown, complements to Restaurant.com.  We had a great meal, I chose the Flying Hawaiian dinner with subs of sweet potato fries and steamed greens that they most graciously took.  Every component was delicious and I cleaned the plate.  We settled into Man On a Ledge complements of Red Box and ate fudgsicles like we were 15.

Saturday I finally got to let my breakfast cooking skills shine with delicious (they really were I have to say) denver omelets and sweet in-season Rainier cherries.  We bought the boy a tennis racquet and balls at Play It Again Sports and then headed north to Arlington to buy myself a fishing rod and reel, bait, and setup and popped a squat at the nearest pond to catch some trout or bass.  No luck.  We then tested our skill at Green Lake and even though we saw with our very own eyes HUGE fish jump we had no catches.  Bummer.  We headed to Santa Fe Cafe in Green Lake for some New Mexico chilies.  I tried the Green Chili Stew on what was  a chilly, cloudy day.  It was okay.  It had heat and flavor but hardly any beef and the homemade flour tortillas I thought were way too thick and somewhat flavorless.  Not my favorite Mexican restaurant in Seattle, but then I might just prefer the Baja or Sonoran Mexican food over New Mexican food.  We next snuck into the Clarion Inn Lodge for hot tubbing and wine drinking.  Wait, did I just confess that?  Yup, I did, that was us.  Before settling into my third movie night in a row to watch The Grey (boo bad movie and I like Leam Neeson).

Sunday was a gorgeous day, thank God.  My scooter got towed to go to the shop.  I went to a great yoga class and for a walk.  Then we had a great cookout and double header of Mad Men.  I got some fabulous premade and seasoned burgers that I spotted at QFC.  I got a variety of bacon cheddar, bacon jack, black and blue, and turkey spinach and feta to have the boys grill up.  Philipp brought over a potato salad and with a huge juicy watermelon, beer, and root beer floats at intermission we were a big happy group.

The weather looks great for the week ahead.  I have plenty of fun and relaxation scheduled into my week and I am still feeling into my work for the next upcoming deadline.

Chelsea

It was weird.  All last week I felt a bit like a grump.  People around me were grumpy and the weather was not helping me shake the mood.  Nothing really fun to look forward to in the evenings and just kind of ho-hum all around.  Thankfully, the weekend helped to kick the blues and this week has been helpful in maintaining that as well, not the weather though.

Cures for the common duldrums:

• Staff lunch of Pagliacci’s and company jokes and laughter
• Girls night!! I brought over wine and Gouda to Amy’s and several of us girls chatted it up, nibbled and drank.  Just as we were about to head out to the dueling piano bar we heard intense rain outside and determined that there was plenty on hand to enjoy staying inside.
• Saturday morning walk to the market to have a phenomenal brunch at one of Tom Douglas’ restaurant, Seatown, with Bryan.  This is one of his more reasonably priced and casual-er restaurants and we loved it.  We were able to dine al fresco and watch all of the market browsers and we were even under the warmth of heat lamps and each chair provided a blanket to snuggle up in.  I decided on the rotisserie hash which included a bed of hashbrowns, asparagus, leeks, and rottiserie porchetta, topped with two perfectly poached eggs and a buttered crostini for sopping up yolk.  There was even a side of habenero ketchup for my dining pleasure.  I really loved my meal but I already want to go back to get what Bryan ordered, which I was really torn between.  He had the breakfast sandwich which was an amazing english muffin topped with an egg, jack cheese from Beecher’s, avocado, and dungeness crab served with a side of fruit.  It was sooooo good.

• Free day at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) without crowds surprisingly and a new Australasian aboriginal exhibit with Bryan followed our brunch.  Pretty museum and peaceful.
• Frozen yogurt from my fave Yogurtland…giving away free 3oz all month long!!  (Will be there many times…assuming the temps warm up)
• Reading in Discovery Park with Bryan, Amy and Mark on Sunday
• Finally a yoga class at Lululemon
• Great Mad Men dinner of homemade pot pies and a failed key lime pie dessert.  Pot pies came out very well though.  Good episode too, though a little uncomfortable for me with the topic focus.
• Followed up Mad Men with everyone attending Compline service at St. Mark’s cathedral to center ourselves for the week ahead.  Soothing!
• First Google Local event held at King’s Hardware in Ballard.  First one taking Phil and Bryan to.  Free pitchers of beer, appetizers (great sweet potatoes = me love) and what King’s is known for…skeeball!!!  When was the last time you played skeeball?  For me, I’m sure it was at the Chuck E. Cheese near the Lansing Mall.

• Bought my plane tickets for home for the 4th of July.  So excited to get to the cottage!!
• I bought a new road bike and got a pretty good bike for the price I think.  It is a Specialized Sirrus bike, a pretty blue, without the weird U-bar handlebars, came with a lock and great battery operated lights on the front and back and Shimano components (recommended by the boy) but I picked it out myself and got it for a steal for $240.  It is only 2.5 years old and was used by someone who road it across the country but that’s about it.
• Redbox movie night with Amy on Thursday to watch a truly girly movie…Contraband.  We both liked Mark Wahlberg it.

Chelsea

We need more of these, seriously.  It is so nice to forget that “no, it’s not Monday but Tuesday already”.  I felt more productive at work too, which is amazing considering that I didn’t really know what it was that I would be focusing on at work this week with having submitted a deadline on Friday.  It did involve learning a new program to complement the design results that I did submit on Friday.  Will probably be working on this project in this program all month long with our next deadline looming on June 22nd.  It also involved a lot of odds and ends tasks.

I had a great chat with my supervisor over coffee at Starbucks on Wednesday to verify my role in the next couple months/years, my direction, what I can help with, what I have liked so far, and what I would like to get my hands on more.  It was fantastic and what ended up turning into pretty much my annual review.  I like the direction he has me heading, he has me working on things I want to, getting out into the field as many of our designs move into the construction phase, working a lot with my buddy Marika, and becoming an expert in a lot of the programs that I am working in.  He was very easy to talk to during this conversation and I was also able to tell him that I have so far really liked learning the geotechnical designs related to structural engineering, working on more collaborative projects with my peers, the field work, and attending interdisciplinary meetings from time to time.

Tuesday night and Wednesday night I went to the Seattle International Film Festival for a flick.  Bryan and I went to see The Imposter on Tuesday night after grilling up steaks at my place.  The movie was kind of like 48 Hour Mysteries and was about an Armenian impostering himself as a 14 year old Texan who had been missing for four years.  I honestly couldn’t believe that the family had no clue it wasn’t their actual relative.  Wednesday night I went with Amy to see Everything and Everyone which was more of a family saga/drama but no so great.  Both were held at the Harvard Exit theater in Capitol Hill that I had yet to go to.

A little bit of work a little bit of play to my week.

Chelsea