Lil Woody’s – Evolving in the Emerald City

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

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

Tag: Lil Woody’s

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