ClassPass – Evolving in the Emerald City

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

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

Tag: ClassPass

Finally February

Catch Up Time