Work Back on Track

Work has been a little bit easier for me to focus…I don’t know why?  Miserable weather?  Basketball is now over?  Liking my projects a bit more again?  Finally had lunch with my supervisor to discuss certain things?  I don’t know, but thankfully it has been better.

Monday was an all around fun day.  I met with my supervisor for lunch at the Steelhead Diner in the market to take advantage of their Seattle Restaurant Week menu.  The food I would only say was so so, maybe I just had high expectations for it.  From their select menu I chose the dungeness crab and shrimp tator tots, the grilled arctic char, and the Theo’s chocolate pecan pie.  I’ve had the pie before and it is wonderful and very, very rich.  The tator tots were fun to try and were good but both them and the arctic char were not super flavorful.  I thought they could have used a little more salt or seasonings or something.  And the portion of the char was okay but I was still hungry…though I did take the pie to go to save for an afternoon snack break. Though for $15 total this is still a really good deal at this restaurant.  The lunch (even without dessert) took two hours so as you can probably tell much was discussed and I will post on that later.

I then got the pleasure of watching my Michigan Wolverines play for the National Championship title in a spectacular game.  It was indeed a rollarcoaster of emotions to watch through the whole game.  I thought we had the game nearly sealed when halftime came around but Louisville is a really good team, and the reffing led to a very rough and unruly game, and Burke not playing as much, the team missing some free throws, and turning the ball over way too much really cost us.  People the next day kept asking me if I was really disappointed or upset (after they commented on how great the game was) and I told them:

“How could I possibly be upset?  My team played phenomenal the whole tournament, even down to the last game.  I never would have imagined they would have been contenders for the National Championship game while I was there at school and I love the composure and talent of this team and this coach.  And don’t even expect that to be all of the Michigan basketball team you will come to know and see.  We have some great young talent and a coach who finally has players that he wants to coach and players who want to play for him…we are going to be good for a little while!  Booyah!”

Plus I was a bit relieved to not have to wear my Michigan fleece to work again (it’s the only school spirit thing I have that I think is slightly work appropriate) and got to dress up in a new white dress (spring!) to go to The Jersey Boys at the 5th Avenue Theater on Tuesday night with Bryan.  And, oh yeah, Bryan is finally back after what felt like weeks.  He has to work late this week so I went and got Veggie Grill (again!) on my own before meeting him at the show.  Best meal yet maybe at Veggie Grill, I find myself liking this place more and more.

Jersey Boys was EXCELLENT!!!  It was so much fun!  At the beginning of the show I was a bit uncertain, I thought there was a little too much storyline and acting and not enough song and dance.  I did miss typical musical dancing a bit in this show but not enough for me not to love it.  I thought they did a great job developing the characters, I thought how they told the story, with each member getting their own season to share what happened, and the music and voices of the people in the show were all really well done.  Needless to say that the entire 2.5 hrs were enjoyed, we had oldies stuck in our head going home, and searched all over the Seattle radio programming for an oldies station afterwards.

The weekend brought a lot of fun and events and hardly a moment to just to relax but it was all good.  A friend from UM and fellow Washingtonian came to visit on Friday night as he had an interview with a Seattle firm Friday morning.  Friday night we went to dinner at Hilltop Ale House on top of Queen Anne and then headed next door to Paragon for live acoustic music and then headed next door to Menchies for their $5 fill-your-cup to the brim deal (Bryan and I split one giant cup).  Gotta love living in Queen Anne with all good things in one block…seriously ONE BLOCK!

Saturday morning we headed out early to Steven’s Pass for one final day of skiing this year.  We met Jeff at the Park and Ride and had a great day of skiing in fresh powder, and a whole lot of it.  It snowed on us like crazy all day and we had a ton of unskied tracks, snowpacked trees, and not a wait ever in any lift line.  After a good days skiing we headed back to Seattle, got our usual Fish Cake Factory Thai food (finally got him to share two items with me) and headed home to watch American Horror Story and hit the sack early for a Saturday night.

Sunday kicked off our Mad Men dinners with the premiere and seven lovely guests joining me for the Theme:  Classic 60s Style.  It was a grand success but one that kept me busy the whole day and night.  The menu was:

Entree:  Chicken Cordon Bleu

Veggie Side:  Maple Glazed Carrots

Starch Side:  Potato Gratin

Salad:  Iceberg Wedge Salad

Appetizer:  Deviled Eggs

Dessert:  Chocolate Chip Cookies (made by Philipp)

Drinks:  Moscow Mules (made by Polly) and Sazeracs (made by Stephan)

I have to say that everything came out delicious and I got a lot of compliments on them. The potato gratin was demolished!  I love hosting the nights…and then passing out after them.  And the 2-hour premiere was interesting, though a little soap-operay.

Back to work!

Chelsea