The Good and The Bad

“Good and Bad” is the theme of the week.  Take a look:

The Bad:

• Weather…Spring is back in Seattle meaning cooler temps and cloudier skies.  Plus lots of wind.
• Sickness…Still slightly lingering.  I have my energy back and sinuses gone but sneezing up a storm.
• Mood…Comes in waves.  I’ve been a little more irritable than usual, I don’t know why.
• Bryan…Workaholic and wears himself out during the week, meaning less time I get to spend with him.
• Bike…Might be a little too big for me.
• Leftovers…Normally a good thing but when bringing home leftovers from my dinner at Loving Hut this week the sauce spilled all over my bag.  Enter bad mood.

The Good:

• Weather…Thankfully the skies break midday and my afternoon ride is usually sunny.  Plus still not really any rain.
• Sickness…I am much better now, and so is Bryan.
• Mood…Comes in waves.  I have had some really good moods this week it just has been more rocky than the even keel that I feel like I am normally.
• Claire…I got a great email response from her that was long overdue about her new life (move and job in Kzoo).  I love hearing from family and friends and getting to write back.  Made my poor Monday good!
• Bike…I still love the bike despite it being on the large size.  I’m not going to return it and I really just love having a bike again.  For someone who is car-less just having that other option to commute is so nice.  Plus I love participating in everything bike-to-work month related and feeling self-sufficient.  I think it increases my productivity at work too…not my productivity after work though.
• Loving Hut…Got to enjoy a great dinner with a friend after work with a coupon of mine.  Split the Mongolian Wonder and the Curry Masala.  Loving Hut is a vegan food chain but like Veggie Grill, I really like them.  They specialize on the Asian cuisine.

  

  

• Happy Hours…I got to enjoy three this week.  The first was on Tuesday with the annual UM Seattle alumni club happy hour at Pyramid Brewery.  I got to dine on some great free bar food (calamari, nachos, fries, chicken wings) along with a Pyramid beer with fellow UM alumni.  
• The second happy hour was actually a trek over to the eastside in Bellevue.  The monthly SEAW Young Member’s Forum happy hour was at Chantanee Thai and was actually super delicious.  I cannot say more about their food and strong drinks.  I seldom venture over to Bellevue but I have been surprised with the quality of venues there.  Our engineering group tried of the dishes off of their happy hour menu including:  spicy lemongrass fries (x2), soft shell grab salad (x3), chicken potstickers and crab rangoon plate (x3), fried shrimp canapes, Thai wings, and pumpkin samosas (x2). 

  

  

  

  

• Best Damn Happy Hour…So since February the Armory at the Seattle Center (think classy mall food court) has been hosting this huge happy hour, as titled above, every third Thursday of the month.  I missed the first three with Amy’s going away happy hour, then Arizona, then Las Vegas.  I was not going to miss another. There are tons of happy hour deals on drinks and the food from the various Armory vendors for sale, plus giant Scrabble, mini golf, and a slew of other board games to play with your friends.  I managed to get a group to join me, had a $2.50 glass of wine, a $4 mini fabulous pizza from Mod Pizza, and played floor scrabble in bean bags with my friends for a few hours…and Bryan and I pulled out a win.  Fabulous!! 

  

  

• I had the freedom of changing the geometry of a very critical piece in our station design and I was told that it was very “smart” (from the Scot) and I did a great job.  I was thrilled that I actually took a risk in veering from the standard and in the end it was rewarding.
• Made a Rainbow Cake with the girls and watched our latest addiction Girls (HBO sitcom) on Friday night.  I felt like we should have had a food fight like in the movie Hook with this cake.  It was surprisingly moist, delicious, and addictive and now I know the tricks of mixing boxed cake mix with diet soda and making frosting from fat free whipped cream and sugar free pudding mix…that is dangerous.

  

• Had a long dinner and nice walk with Bryan on Saturday night just the two of us.  Tried Assagio on 4th Ave., sat at the bar, shared a carafe of wine.

  

  

• Had a great Sunday with the boy.  Went to church, walked to Fremont Brewing to meet friend Kim and her friends.  Had the best beer of my life called the Dark Star Oatmeal Stout but it was on “Nitro” and served in a goblet and extremely delicious.  Not only that but Frement Brewing was having a FREE BBQ for the end of Seattle Beer Week and we had as much delicious pulled pork, coleslaw, potato salad, pickles, and chips that we wanted.  And it was some of the best BBQ I’ve had in Fremont.

  

• After 4 hours at the Brewing Company patio sitting in the sun we continued the car-free weekend by walking back UP the hill, grabbed our bikes and met our other friends at the 5:45 showing of the Great Gatsby at the Big Picture.  Aside from the poor reviews it has received everyone in our group absolutely loved the movie (plus we all love the Big Picture and it was the perfect place for watching this film).  We all walked to the Lucky Diner a block away after for dinner.  Most of us actually got breakfast after they followed my lead.  I actually was wanting dessert so I got their blueberry pancakes.  Theirs are made with whole wheat and are dense and delicious and they loaded them up with blueberries as was requested by me.  Then we biked back!

  

  

Chelsea