Long Weekend…I Guess and Four Day Week…I’ll Take It

February 23, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

Every year my company gets President’s Day off and every year I am unsure how to spend it. A few times we have been in Whistler or elsewhere skiing and that’s good, but others it is just me in the house. Of course this year I knew exactly how I was going to be spending it, studying. And that is what I did. All day on Monday I rotated through a cycle of studying for about two hours at a time, breaking for something to eat or drink, and tidying up around the house. It was quiet and it was lonely but at least I got to study in the warmth of the sunlight pouring in. I finally got out of the house around 5 pm to go to the tempo cycle class that I now greatly enjoy and by the time I was back Bryan was home and we had dinner of slow cooker pulled chicken sandwiches with coleslaw while watching the Olympics.

The real weekend was not much different but still enjoyable with my beau. Bryan had men’s group Saturday morning while I studied but once he was home I stopped studying. We decided to put together our new bedside nightstands which took a surprising amount of time to build but is something we both love to do…for me Ikea furniture are a version of adult legos. After assembling the furniture I went for a walk to the post office in the sun (but wind!!) while Bryan got ready to go for a run through the Arboretum. Saturday night we indulged in picking up Lil Woody’s burgers, fries and a chocolate milkshake for their 3rd week of Seattle Burger Month. We’ve only tried two of the four week’s burgers but both have been unique and super delicious. This one by John Sundstrum from Lark (and James Beard winner) was umami on a bun with yuzu aioli, watercress, maitake mushrooms with a pork burger.

Great porky burger from Lil Woody’s for Week 3 of Seattle Burger Month.

Sunday morning started with church and another Subway run on the way home as we hurried to catch the end of the amazing Michigan victory over 8th ranked OSU. I face-timed the family for a while and then Bryan and I took advantage of the surprise outpouring of sunshine to go for a walk through the Arboretum. It was chilly so we bundled up and the wind counteracted the warmth of the sun but we enjoyed a nice long walk. Once home we warmed up by the fire, I studied for a bit, and then we finished making a Thai dinner of chicken satay and fried rice.

Rather uneventful weekend but still restful and peaceful. I am so looking forward to having the freedom to do what I want during my weekends and evenings instead of studying. I think it is just starting to wear on me and I still have about 6 weeks or so left. Ugh.

Tuesday I spent several hours after work studying until I couldn’t take it anymore that the lights in the Municipal Tower kept going off on me every hour and headed to meet Bryan at Capital Grille for a very filling indulgent steak dinner thanks to mystery shopping. We each had a steak, sides and split the warm chocolate cake with cherries and ice cream to finish the night. Certainly had meat sweats Tuesday night.

We feasting until our bellies hurt. His and hers.

Wednesday I had a dentist appointment followed by rushing to get to my girls group at church so NO studying! It was my night off…that was still rather filled with rushing but I passed the dentist appointment with flying colors and the 40 minutes of yoga and girl talk afterwards put me in a zen state of mind heading home in the winterland of snow that was falling. I expected that a chef from Orcas Island, who is currently one of the top rising star chefs in the country, would draw a sold-out restaurant for FareStart at GCN on Thursday but apparently his unique menu posted to the website did not seal the deal. We had very low numbers at the restaurant meaning an early night for us.

And today is joyfully Friday and Bryan and I don’t have much on the calendar again. I don’t even care what is on the calendar anymore I just want to get to April 15th.

Chelsea

Oh Sunny Weekend

February 12, 2018February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

The title says it all. You give me a super sunny weekend in the middle of winter and my mood is bursting with joy. Add to the sunny skies the birds chirping, the rose buds blossoming, and all signs pointing to spring and I will forget for a time that it is still chilly with highs in the mid 40s and that we still have months to go until summer. But sometimes its A-OK to be fooled or even foolish.

Bryan deserted me Friday night and Saturday to go skiing with Mark at White Pass just past Mt. Rainier. I say “deserted” but I’m only joking because I have basically been begging him to go as I don’t want to hold him back from going out and enjoying something I know he loves. So Friday night I had a date with myself to see I, Tonya, enjoyed a Subway sandwich and then got home in time to catch as much as I wanted of the Opening Ceremony. All in all, a pretty good night.

Saturday was S.T.U.D.Y. day with Bryan away. With only breaks for brunch at home, talking to my mom, and a 4-mile easy run in the sun, and making of some healthyish chocolate peanut butter oat bars to snack on this week, I was in the house studying away on structural steel from 10 am until when Bryan got home around 5:30 pm. But it was a good and productive day that I’m glad I had and I sat in the sun next to the window the whole day. Once Bryan was home we caught up with one another’s day before making an easy but super delicious dinner thanks to Hellofresh of moo shu pork tacos with some delicious hoisin aioli while watching the first night of the Olympic events and my personal favorite; ice skating/dancing. I was happy to have my husband back home to fight over space on the couch.

These little tacos were super good…and not little.

Sunday was typical and atypical. We went to church (typical) but there was a guest speaker (atypical). Nevertheless, the talk hit home and was a good one for both of us to hear (typical). We drove off in the sunlight (atypical) and headed south to Ikea in Renton (atypical…we haven’t been to Ikea since we first moved into the house 3.5 years ago) with a stop first to get more Subway for lunch (atypical…I don’t normally have a craving for Subway). We spent the next two hours browsing and shopping Ikea and managed to get everything we came for without breaking the bank. Our grocery cart was:

Two new nightstands for our bedroom that match the style and color of our bed frame.
An actually beautiful dresser (also in the same style as our bedroom furniture but in white) for use in the “nursery” as a dresser and changing table per inspiration from a blog I saw to multipurpose.
A shelving unit to use in the “nursery” closet for books, toys, etc that was also per inspiration from the same blog.
Drawer insert organizers for the wee little baby clothes in the dresser.
Cloth bins in adorable polka dots to use for storing away the toys, etc in the shelving unit.
Two rod racks with hooks to hang certain elements in the kitchen to give us more counter space along with a cute little hanging basket to hang on the rod.

I think we came out winning for sure. We headed back north, stopping to see an open house right down the street from Seward Park that was well-priced, in a neighborhood we like, and pretty cutely remodeled but we just aren’t sure about putting down an offer right now. We headed home to unload the Jeep in the middle of our living room where it still rests. Bryan went for a run in the remaining sunlight and I walked up the hill to get items for dinner. We made one of our favorite calliloo stews together, did a few household chores, watched more Olympics and of course relaxed to more TV before wrapping up the weekend before another work week.

Sun is in store for the week ahead and I’m so happy about that!

Chelsea

Week Recap

Transitioning

February 9, 2018February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

This week was a transitioning week for me with work and with social a bit. I feel like my schedule this week didn’t allow for much to get done and yet most nights I arrived home late in the evening. I didn’t fit in many workouts and I didn’t get very many hours in studying. Hopefully this weekend allows for a little of both.

Part of the reasoning behind lack of studying was a few scheduled nights of girl time. After one night at home on Monday I met Polly for dinner at Palomino’s before seeing the movie Lady Bird together. I also spilled the beans to my dear girlfriend who was very happy for us and very excited. The next night I grabbed dinner at the FareStart Community Dinner before heading to church for yoga and a meet and greet for the winter season of our women’s Practicing Presence group. Pretty much the same girls with a few additions, which is a good thing, and I was glad that I made the effort to go to this first one, even if just to tell them the reason I won’t be making them all; the test. We were led through 50 minutes of gentle yoga and stretching, which I realized were needed after having a few days of mostly office work with little exercise and very tight muscles. An enjoyable session but one that didn’t really leave any time for chatting or getting to know one another.

Thursday night was a good night at FareStart, as it always is, with a fabulous meal and both of us getting to perform our favorite roll of food running. And today we were greeted by sunny skies! I’m back at the main office for the day for our monthly staff meeting, and moving forward I will be spending Fridays, and hopefully as many others as I can, in the main office and so happy to be here instead of up the hill. I’m looking forward to settling in to watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. I’m looking very much forward to the weekend, even if that means I have a lot of studying to do. At least I don’t have to clean. Bryan’s going on his first ski day tomorrow with Mark to White Pass and they have decided to spend the night there tonight so I’m thinking I might go see I, Tonya on my way home for work for a solo date.

Amazing FareStart dinner thanks to Rider restaurant. Beet and burrata salad with beet hummus, steelhead with hazlenuts and fennel puree, and the most amazing chocolate semifreddo with cream, cherries and brittle.

My three days at the Seattle Municipal Tower were not the most fun. The office is quiet and sterile and no one talks to our group from MJA. There are a maximum of eight of us up there at any one time but that number fluctuates throughout the week. It is super strange to me to work in a building where you have to take an elevator up to the 40th floor to then get off and get on another elevator to take you up to the 47th floor. Our floor has spectacular views of the city, however, I really only get to see these when I walk around or are in meetings because in Seattle Public Utility’s contract “no consultant is to have a nicer desk than an SPU employee”. Thus, we are in the middle with super tall partitions and certainly no windows. There is no coffee here either so Bryan makes me an espresso to take with me to work, although there is a Starbucks on the first floor if I was really desperate (but I am cutting back on caffeine intake). My main issue with it though is that there is no conversation or social aspect to this office like there is at First Ave. Our group talks some but everyone is so quiet around us we stick mostly to business, versus the main office which can get very rowdy and loud on a regular basis. Absolutely no one eats lunch together in the kitchen. The work here is mildly interesting which is the one saving grace but I’ll be looking forward to getting back to 1st Ave full time.

Chelsea

Week Recap

Finally February

February 5, 2018February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

January has seemed long, it really has. I’m not sure if it has been all of the wet weather we have had or that it has been more or less uneventful, what, without all of our ski trips and whatnot, and the studying, but it has dragged on. For the first time in forever I’m glad we are finally to February. Not that February has that much more exciting in store for us than January did…

This week was a good work week for both of us. Bryan is getting a lot of momentum moving forward with his big idea and what could be a huge project. He finally has the support he needs, the time to work on it, and the urgency to get it done. I, on the other hand, am finally wrapping up my two-year-long design project for E360. And I am so looking forward to having it off of my plate. It will still be there throughout construction, requiring answers to requests for information and to respond to submittals, but that is a much different capacity and scope than what it has been for two years…and certainly less of a full-time job. There are a few other things on my work plate to diversify so I don’t think it will feel too slow.

Aside from work we each had some of our own things going on after our one and only night of dinner at home on Monday. Monday I tried out a lower body workout on my ClassPass at Bassline Fitness in Capitol Hill. I regrettably followed that up with another cycle class at Riot Cycle, by the office, on Tuesday evening, which left me walking like a crab the rest of the week. Two classes in a week is fine…two classes back to back with both focusing on the same body part = ouch. Bryan was getting happy hour with Philipp Tuesday night so I got a mystery shopping dinner at McMenamin’s Six Arms in Capitol Hill on my way home. Delicious fish and chips while tuning into some of the State of the Union address. And Wednesday was solely a study night for me. I managed to study more or less from 4 pm until 9 pm when Bryan graciously picked me up from Veggie Grill. Aside from getting study fuel of BDubs wings and Veggie Grill tempura green beans, I was at it studying and felt accomplished but exhausted by the end of the night. Bryan was so kind as to do so much around the house to help out.

Some amazing fish and chips for a post workout dinner.

So by the time Thursday rolls around I feel like I am in the clear. Workouts and study nights are done for the mid week and I’m in a light-hearted mood. Thursday’s FareStart night was a good one with a chef whose restaurant we still need to hit with food flavored and focused around MiddleEastern cuisine. It was a great meal and we both had an easy night captaining. We spent Friday evening getting Chef Holly Smith’s amazing and unique lamb burger from Lil Woody’s before heading to finally see the latest Star Wars movie downtown. Good burger, good movie and good walk home rain-free.

Loved this burger. Certainly hit the spot for a Friday night.

We both loved this one. The fully recliner plush leather seats really added to the comfort of seeing the movie as well.

The weekend was fairly busy with making a lot of headway getting ourselves and the house organized. I scheduled a Groupon-discounted housecleaning service to come on Monday so I wanted to make some progress with odds and ends around the house. And we did good with that, without spending our whole weekend on this task. After spending the morning studying and Bryan at Men’s Group at church we started to tackle a few projects. What we accomplished this weekend:

Organize our mail bin
Stabilize dining table
Put away clothes
Measured our “nursery closet” for a new storage unit
Moved guest bed to wall to figure out space
Moved side table from guest room to office for use as a filing cabinet
Organized the “laundry room”
Cleaned out our “miscellaneous” drawers in the kitchen
Cleaned and organized bathroom cabinet downstairs
Organized miscellaneous stuff in our bedroom
All of this resulted in quite a bit of stuff that we have set away either for Goodwill or are dumping and I feel great about that

After a lot of progress was made we did an interval training set at home with the row machine and weights and then set forth for Everett to get dinner with Billy and Valerie before catching Valerie’s musical of The Newsies at the Village Theater. It was a great show with a ton of talent and of course the best violinist in town. It was also great to be able to see her, even for just a few minutes and we got to see the backstage scenes of the orchestra pit and stage.

There is Valerie’s name!

Very fun and lively show.

Sunday morning at church we were back to normal without the table conversations and after church Bryan and I got a great brunch at the Macrina Bakery in upper Queen Anne, with Bryan getting the Italiano sandwich and I tried their Mediterranean benedict with artichokes, spinach and a tomato hollandaise on a pizza bread. After brunch we headed home, getting a few more things done around the house before settling into a lazy night watching the Super Bowl by ourselves. Nothing fancy for our solo party other than chips, salsa, guac and queso. We were both wanting the Patriots to win but in the end are more than fine that the Eagles got their ring.

Back to work and not too happy about it. Especially since I have been moved up to the Seattle Municipal Tower a few days a week to help finish out the Ship Canal Project with Seattle Public Utilities. Back to being a consultant in a rather unwelcoming government agency. Hoorah!

Chelsea

Week Recap · Weekend

Catch Up Time

January 24, 2018February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

Wow, the time has flown. And not because I am having fun. On the contrary, there has been so freaking much to do and my brain is split a thousand different places…most often with “you need to be studying” on repeat, which doesn’t help anything. But January, as a month, seemed nice and long. Not usually my favorite month by any stretch of the imagination but I’m also needing time to go nice and slow for a few months, at least until April.

While the weather has been mostly wet we haven’t had that many chilly days and we have had some breaks in the rain that help keep me sane. It hasn’t been the worst weather this January, nor the best. Probably perfect for studying and working, which is more or less what both of us have been doing. Since being back we have had a little bit of fun in the form of:

Saw the Book of Mormon at the Paramount Theater and loved it!! Enjoyed a Mexican happy hour beforehand at Rioja with Mark and his girl.
Book of Mormon
I took a cycle class complements of Yelp and really liked it. Since then I have started ClassPass and have checked out two more spin classes and a barre class. I like the philosophy of ClassPass and being able to do a variety of workouts at a variety of places with a very flexible schedule.
Enjoyed a dinner at home with Billy and Ainsley.
Dined at Eastlake Bar and Grill twice with Groupons.
Enjoyed FareStart community dinner for the month of January and there have been many stellar meals at FareStart already in this new year for Guest Chef Night.
Have had fun and love our Google Home.
Obsessively watched the entire last season of Top Chef – Charleston, made bets on the winner, and now I owe Bryan two GOOD massages.
Love Top Chef
And watching Always Sunny in Philadelphia all over again because even though it is vain and vulgar it is quite possibly the most hilarious show on television and puts us in a good mood every single night.
I’ve been rowing for short stints when I can, mostly for a break in the study action to break up the doldrums.
We got sushi with the whole gang for Carina’s short return to Seattle this past Sunday. Everyone (except Mark) I hadn’t seen since well before Christmas so it was great to catch up with everyone all at once. Sushi was meh.
We had our first Novelty Hill/Januik wine club member party of the year and like usual we collected our wine and enjoyed the always delicious dinner feasting.
And we have been cooking as much as we can at home, per one of my goals for “18 for 2018” to come shortly in the next post. My goal was 20 dinners at home each month but with FareStart every week and other occasions with friends or fun that are just not right to turn down I have modified it to 20 meals at home, which works because we do have brunch at home most weekends when we could (and sometimes do) go out for brunch. And we have been doing pretty good with this with only a few quick dinners scattered in there. We have been doing a lot of the cooking together to get Bryan some recipes under his belt. We started off the year with a trio of meals from Home Chef delivery service, we made an awesome and simple hot sausage and fennel pasta, callilloo stew, beef stroganoff, chicken paprikash, moussaka, steak and potatoes, Thai turkey lettuce wraps, and others and they have all been delicious.

As you can see, for an entire month we haven’t been that active. Largely that is due to my study schedule (which isn’t all that strict but just needs to happen) and that Bryan was pretty darn sick for a good long time. He even had to take two days off of work because of how awful he felt. But being stuck at home isn’t too bad with good company. At some point we are going to start going stir crazy though. Fortunately, we do have some exciting performances and dinners out ahead in our future.

Chelsea

Christmas · Week Recap

Lead up to Christmas

December 22, 2017February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

What a week we have had leading up to Christmas. We’ve had one thing after another each and every day this week but all/most festive and fun…just maybe not the best medicine for getting over a sickness.

Monday night I had a girls night scheduled and hosted by Deana in her super cozy apartment’s social room. We had the fire going, Christmas music on the Amazon Echo, Pagliacci’s pizza ordered, my salad, Anne’s mocktail (because she is expecting) and got ready to make gobs and gobs of chocolate dipped everything; pretzel rods, pretzel twists, popcorn and oreos. Deana had all sorts of supplies and I was impressed with her talent and know-how of the chocolate dipping process. Everything looked great and certainly tasted great. I didn’t get home until about 10:30 with an absolute sugar/chocolate high.

Chocolate drizzled popcorn

Beautiful and balanced chocolate covered pretzels

Tuesday night Bryan and I had plans to go to dinner at Harvest Vine to use one of our gift certificates for 2017. We got seated in a cute corner table in the taverna area downstairs, selected a Rioja wine and four tapas and took in the cute holiday decor and relaxing music. For dinner, we chose well, really well! We started with the roasted cauliflower with salsa verde that was crispy, soft, salty and tangy all at the same time. We also had the seared sea scallops with an almond and pepper romesco sauce which was as excellent with the scallops as it was with the side of warm and crusty baguette. Our second round were the meats; the always available but always delicious Iberico pork with panadera potatoes and cider sauce and the seasonal venison with oyster mushrooms and root liquorish sauce. Both were so amazing and cooked to perfection. We got a slice of the musicians five-nut caramel tart with whipped cream for dessert and didn’t get home from there until after 10 pm.

Pork with potatoes and scallops with romesco

Cauliflower heaven

Wednesday night was the oddly timed FareStart Guest Chef Night Volunteer Appreciation Night. A good many were there despite being so close to the holidays and we were treated to wine and appetizers while we got to enjoy one another and provide any feedback we have on how GCNs are run. We stayed in the restaurant well past the end time of 8 pm so about seven of us walked over to Le Caviste for more wine and conversation. We didn’t leave on this night until nearly 11 pm.

Thursday was really a pretty quiet day for both of us at work with many people already beginning their travels. I also had scheduled a cleaning service to give me some help and feel like I have piece of mind knowing that the house is clean before we leave for a week. If only they would go through our clutter and stuff and do that for me too. We had plans to dine at Bin on the Lake for views over Lake Washington to take in the holiday boat parade. However, we didn’t realize until midway through dinner that the holiday boat parade was beginning from Kirkland Marina and not Carillon Point Marina in Kirkland, and was heading north not south. Oh well, we say a few boats lit up making their way north and we had a delicious dinner with the lake in the distance. We each got great salads to start and I had the Skuna Bay salmon dish and Bryan the seafood risotto and we both left quite stuffed and happy.

Last day at work for 2017 and that is exciting yet I’m also a bit reluctant for the work to come in 2018. This year has been all design; calculations, drawings and I honestly love it all. Next year is going to be a lot of reviewing submittals during construction and corralling other disciplines to get the building permit acquired for the Seattle Public Utilities ship canal project. That also means that part time I am going to be moving up to SPUs building a few days a week. Certainly a few mixed emotions for me on ending a good year of work and being a little apprehensive about the next years work but I am also ready to start 2018.

Home to pack all my cold weather gear and presents for the next week.

Merry Christmas!

Chelsea

Uncategorized · Week Recap · Weekend

Month of Thanks

November 21, 2017February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

This is the month for celebrating how thankful we are for friends, family, God, food, peace, etc. And that we are. But I’m also not thankful for rain, football losses, and more rain. I’m a little worried that it’s going to rain the whole time we are in Kauai. No one told me that was the rainiest of the islands…during the rainy season. Oh well, I guess if there are at least some sun breaks and warm weather I’ll be okay. There will still be food, family and fun.

This week leading up to Hawaii has done pretty much nothing but rain, except for Saturday thankfully where we actually caught some sun and Bryan and I were able to enjoy our run around Seward Park in pleasant weather. 24 hours later I was playing soccer in essentially a downpour, but we won 2-0 with one assist by me. In addition to activity we watched a lot of football, enjoyed the holiday harvest bash at Novelty Hill for the last wine party of the year, went to church, and made a few good meals at home.

Neither of us are packed so that will be the main priority tonight with a very, very early departure in the morning to go to Hawaii! We have excursions booked and a few meals planned for our condo and I’m beyond excited. Even if it does rain everyday…

Chelsea

Week Recap

Fridays We Celebrate

November 13, 2017February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

Last week was a good week for the Millers…we had a very balanced schedule of friends and fitness, throw in two promotions and raises and Bryan’s first expo experience running the FareStart kitchen for Guest Chef Night with his own work group serving the restaurant no less, and that is a summary of our week.

But let’s start with Bryan because his recognition came first. Tuesday afternoon Bryan was promoted to a Level 4 Engineer with a good bump and his praises sung. Well deserved indeed!

Thursday afternoon my turn came with my annual review and a promotion to Project Engineer and also a good bumpy. I was pleased.

Thursday night was FareStart as usual, but what was unusual about it was that Bryan’s group from Boeing were the community volunteers serving the tables and Bryan was the head of the helm, calling out orders to the students and chefs, Gordon Ramsey-like. Bryan did a good job running the kitchen smoothly and directing his boss’ boss to deliver the food to the tables. We sat down with his group for a delicious dinner of a persimmon and kale salad, lamb ragu with fresh pasta and a pumpkin blondie.

One good looking group and my cutie in the back.

So after a great week for the both of us Bryan and I met at Heartwood Provisions, downstairs of my office, for happy hour to celebrate. We each had two delicious cocktails and a variety of “small” plates, that were not small but filling and delicious. We called it an early night as the great week had exhausted us. Saturday and Sunday were both wet and rainy days. Bryan and I spent the morning cleaning before Bryan rowed and I went for a rainy run. We met back at the house, cleaned up and prepped before our friends Philipp and Sara came over for dinner. We had a good night wine-ing and dine-ing and catching up. It was a late night to bed and a difficult time getting up the next morning. Sunday morning we headed to church before getting brunch at our first-date-place at Both Ways Cafe. Brunch was delicious as usual. The rest of Sunday was a rest day for us; a little football, dinner, and Bryan finishing off Grandma’s cookies.

Last full week for us before we leave for Hawaii. Both of us are so ready to hit the road…especially with the wet and windy weather we are expecting here in Seattle.

Chelsea

Halloween · Week Recap · Weekend

Spook Me Out

November 7, 2017February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

Thankfully the week of scare and frights has passed. Neither Bryan nor I do well with scary…anything. We had Halloween to thank for some of it and passed our nights this last week watching Season 2 of the awesomely scary Stranger Things on Netflix. And yes, we were both scared to death on multiple occasions.

Aside from me dressing up as a hero for my office’s annual Halloween potluck, we had a rather uneventful Halloween. And much of the week was the usual. I continue to go to barre class twice a week and Bryan has jumped right back into rowing and weights…perfect timing as this month is apparently Rowvember. We have been able to enjoy more meals at home, possibly even setting a record for number of times this week. I’ve had my girl’s nights on Wednesday and Bryan’s men’s mornings on Saturday. We got in our long run around Seward Park on Saturday in the rain and cold weather. And we had another fun friend and food filled night at FareStart although Bryan was absent this past week because of a class he was taking at work.

Subpar Halloween costumes at work this year.

This weekend was mostly football and Stranger Things, food and fall cleaning. I honestly can’t think of that much else that was accomplished and that is fine by me. We even had an extra hour to enjoy all of this fall laziness. I am already counting down the days until we leave for Kauai. It seems as that number decreases so do the temperatures here in Seattle. Oh, and yeah, it has snowed here already twice. I don’t even think it has snowed in Michigan yet!

Chelsea

Fall · Week Recap · Weekend

Fall is Flying By

October 31, 2017February 16, 2018 ChelseaLeave a comment

And in a blink of an eye October has vanished. Very quickly. It’s been well over a week since my last post and quite a bit has happened. All good, none bad, rejoice!

We continue to have weekends at home which is nice. Last weekend was just Bryan and I more or less and more relaxing time than anything. It was pouring rain for the vast majority of the weekend. We got dinner just the two of us at Din Tai Fung, watched football, went to Billy and Val’s orchestra concert, went to church, and had a good brunch at Poquitos.

I call this death by tree. Colors are wonderful this year.

We needed a low key weekend because last week was rather eventful for us. I had my monthly SEAW dinner meeting on a fascinating but mentally taxing topic (after a 9 hour day of work) by a professor from the University of Texas. I managed to get to barre class twice and ran once during the week in the glorious fall sunshine. I had my weekly girls meeting on Wednesday after a great (and free birthday) dinner at the nearby Red Robin on the waterfront by work. Meanwhile, Bryan went to Stephen and Ewelina’s for dinner with a few friends after a long row. And FareStart was it’s usual grand self while staying quite late talking with our FareStart friends with our departures seemingly getting later and later.

This weekend was really a fantastic weekend! I hurried home to get dinner made for Bryan’s coworker Mark and his son who I haven’t seen for well over a year. I was frantic in preparations but then dinner was conversationally easy and relaxing. Saturday morning Bryan and I both watched our teams play the early game in our PJs before setting out in the absolutely gorgeous weather for our favorite lap around Seward Park. Saturday night I hosted the first (of hopefully many) girls night in while Bryan hung out with the guys for their night “off”. Five of us girls enjoyed baking two really delicious, and new to us, fall desserts, using the abundance of pears and apples I had on hand, talking, eating a yummy fall dinner, and then settling in with multiple bottles of wine to watch Magic Mike and eat our sweet creations. I had a great time and Bryan did as well; grilling steaks, drinking beer and whiskey, hot tubbing and going out to the bar to drink more and play video games.

Apple tarte tatin and pear chocolate almond tart. Not pictured is Polly’s homemade whipped cream!

My night did me in less than Bryan’s and Sunday morning came around but Bryan didn’t start out on the up and up. Instead of going to church this week we headed over to Randy’s condo overlooking Shilshole for his annual donut party. It was good to see Marika and Randy, the donuts were good, the coffee was needed, and before long the sun was trying to come out and Bryan and I were on our way to Centurylink to go to the Seahawks vs. Texans game. The game started fast and furious and kept up that way the whole game. The Seahawks scored way more than usual and let up way more than usual. It was an exciting game from start to finish. The sun came out full force in the second quarter and I was in high heaven soaking up the sun, yelling my lungs out and thoroughly enjoying the crowd and atmosphere. Russell Wilson proved himself again with shear seconds left and the Seahawks pulled out the victory at the very end. We were electrified leaving the stadium and headed to get food at the new Halal Guys in Pioneer Square (the same group as the legendary street trucks in NYC) and enjoyed our gyro platters and chicken sandwiches before heading home. Both of us were exhausted but the epic marathon of a World Series game kept us up.

We are ready

Nosebleeds but still enjoyable

#winning

Such a great weekend…friends, food, and finally all of our teams with a win!!

Chelsea