Vancouver BC or Bust

In 1991 I graduated from WSU. I moved myself and my belongings to Seattle Washington – more specifically Bellevue.  Since then I’ve moved over 25 times and have traveled and seen the world.

What I have not done is seen my own backyard.

Vancouver BC is just a short 3 hour (with the border stop) from Seattle. And yet, it’s sat allusively up North mocking me. Teasing me for not coming to visit. 

“It’s too far.” I’d say.

“There’s no one to go with” was another excuse.

Until now. Finally.  Vancouver no longer is on my “places to go” list.

I purchased an EXCELLENT deal from GroupOn for the PanPacific Hotel located on the water front in Vancouver. Well, one of the many waterfronts. That town is surrounded by water – not at all different from Seattle.

The GroupOn was for the PanPacific Club and it got us a kickass room on the 23^rd floor with our own private concierge, happy hour every night, HUGE continental breakfast, and our own private visitors every night.

When I bought the GroupOn in February I started planning.  I am of the breed that I MUST know what all my options are for a destination so I can then decide what I’d like to do. Blueberry is of the breed of “wait until you get there.” We travel well together for this reason. She usually just hops on to whatever I have found and recommended. It’s a win-win really. My Control Goddess gets to plan and do what she wants, and her Sit Back and Follow Goddess gets to do fun stuff.

I had a list.  And I was willing to be flexible because I am, after all, older and more relaxed about some things. This was Blueberry’s birthday trip so I had to allow for to add/remove as she wanted to.

We left Lynnwood at 8:30am. Vancouver playlist playing loud, top up cuz it wasn’t quite warm enough yet for Blueberry, coffee in hand and we were off. We hit the border in what felt like no time at all.

Once across and into Canada we stopped at the Visitor center to visit their Canadian bathrooms and to just look around.

That’s when Blueberry stumbled onto this brochure for Capilano Suspension Bridge.

I had seen this in my research and avoided it like the plague. I’m not a heights person and I’m especially not a heights person when there’s a 250ft drop below you.  The tourism folks there were offering a discount and Blueberry really wanted to go. So we signed up.

Once in Vancouver proper we were a bit early to check-in so we hopped on the free shuttle to Capilano.

Now, despite my whining about the height and the vertigo and the absolute certainty that I was going to plunge to my death, this place was pretty damn cool.

The suspension bridge  is 450ft long and was 250ft high.  They “said” it’s the strongest and safest suspension bridge in the country.  I’d like to know how they test the safety part….but I digress.

On the other side of the bridge was this Tree Walk.  It was basically pretending to be a squirrel with no hop and you walk from tree to tree on these mini suspension bridges.  You ooohhh and ahhhh at the scenery and walk to the next tree.  It was pretty cool. And the bridges between trees were only like 2 stories high give or take, so I was okay with that.

 

 

We sauntered around a bit and checked out the other nature around on that side of the bridge and then I, like a drunken sailor, wandered back across. See the bridge is moving from everyone walking on it, so you can’t exactly walk straight.  I have a hard enough time as it is, I certainly didn’t need any more help.

The “newest” attraction out there is the Cliff Walk. It’s a 20inch plank to walk on that is extended 30 feet from the cliff.  I think the idea is to scare the pee out of most people, but to maybe also give them a slightly different view of where they’re going to plunge to their death. (Did I ever tell you drama was my middle name?)

I may look relaxed...but I'm anything but.

The thinks she's so funny!

Gulp!

We were starving by the time we finished this and decided to just grab a quick bite at their “grill”.  Upon seeing that a burger…just a burger, no fries, no drink, no nothing, was $12 we opted to split curly fries.  Puck had to have some too.

Back at the hotel, we checked in and started to wander the city. We didn’t get too far before we were asked if we wanted to buy a Hop-on and Hop-off bus tour.  I LOVE these tours.  They make seeing a city so easy and allow you to decide what you really want to check out.  So we bought a two day pass that we’d start to use on Saturday.

We managed to walk our way up to Robson Street – their major shopping street apparently.  On our way I marveled at their architecture. 

Vancouver is a city of skyscrapers.  Not just business skyscrapers, but apartment skyscrapers too…everywhere.  In their downtown section, there was an abundance of glassy, shiny buildings mixed in with old world brick buildings.

The Marine Building.

This building had a single line poem from a British author all around it. It was very cool.

Saturday morning after stuffing ourselves on the supurb continental breakfast they offered, we hopped on to see Stanley Park.  According to our bus tour guide the park is the “jewel” of Canada.  It’s just 100 acres larger than Central Park and boy was it beautiful.  It offered us some great views of Vancouver as well.

Shakespeare's Garden in Stanley Park

The bus was a little bouncy and I, for whatever reason, was starting to get a little motion sick. I never get motion sick, but this time I was. We “hopped off” and took a little ferry (I mean LITTLE) to Granville Island –which – it turns out – isn’t really an island.

The Granville Island Market was awesome. I wish I had felt a bit better because it’s a photographers heaven. So many things to shoot.  The flavors in the air, the shops, the people, it was just fantastic. 

Picking out chocolates.

Leaving the market we had our maps in hand. Blueberry had the bus tour map and I had just a regular old map I had picked up at the hotel.  We were trying to find where to hop on the blue line. The earlier line we were on was the red line and only did Stanely park. We now needed the blue line to do the rest of the tour of Vancouver. Blueberry and I stared hard at the map from the bus company and couldn’t figure out WHERE we needed to be.  The street names were cut off, or non-existent which made it difficult to figure it out.  We walked a full block circle to determine that where we had started was where we needed to be.  We asked 4 people, we argued with each other, I determined we both read maps very differently and it was raining.  I’m surprised we both survived that.

Finally, the blue bus came along and we were off again.

We drove through Chinatown and got off because Blueberry wanted to see the Police Museum (YAWN).  But it was her birthday weekend so we did it.  Well, she did it, I sat in the lobby and waited. 

After that we walked up to Gastown and found a happenin’ little place called PickinPah – the guide book I had suggested this little bourbon bar for lunch.  We were hungry so we stopped for lunch.  We didn’t want to eat too much because it was late and we had dinner reservations at the Italian Kitchen.  Still, I ordered Mac N Cheese and Blueberry ordered a bowl of chili.  After about half way through, Blueberry noticed the dessert menu on the wall and saw that it said, “Deep Fried Mars Bars.” She turned to me with a goofy smile and announced we HAD to get dessert. 

The most delicious Mac N Cheese.

It doesn't look like much, but it was SOOOO good.

The chewy, gooey inside...

OMG…that’s all I can say about this dessert. It was SOOOO…. DAMN…. Good….
We finished our walk through Gastown and stopped to see the famous Steam Clock.  Apparently this clock operates by steam power. Which is pretty cool.

The Gastown Steam Clock

On our way back to the hotel I noticed the building that was in my guide book that offered an observation deck on the roof. So we went inside and bought tickets to the top. 

Again with the heights.  I’m fine if I’m inside an enclosure and can look out (not down), but the mode of travel to the top was a glass elevator!  I do not need to see the ground beneath me grow smaller. Blueberry, on the other hand, is leaning into the glass door looking down shooting photos. Ugh.

Once on the top, we got a great view of Vancouver from above. 

I survived…barely.  With shaky knees we walked back to the hotel to “freshen up” before dinner. 

The Italian Kitchen inVancouver is by far, one of the BEST restaurants I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating in. Top 10 easily.  The food was delicious, the dessert was AMAZING…and the cosmo…well you see what it was.

In the end, I loved Vancouver.  It’s a beautiful city. Clean, friendly people, lots of little dogs everywhere, and an all-around good time.  I’ll be going back there.  There’s more I need to see and do and photograph.

So glad I did this for Blueberry’s 22 again birthday.  Or as our cousin Kara put it, her 19^th anniversary of her 25^th birthday.

All the photos are here.

Pioneer Woman

Yesterday I met the Pioneer Woman.  It was an adventure and an experience I won’t soon forget.  I went to her new cookbook book signing at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park. Having only been there once or twice, I wasn’t sure how this book signing would go, so in typical Jenn fashion I was 2 hours early.

Being 2 hours early though granted me a rare look into the frenzy that is Pioneer Woman and the women (and some men) who follow her.  Somehow I sat outside this chaos and did not include myself in the craziness that was this book signing.

I found a seat as close to the area where she’d be doing her speaking, sat and watched the tables around me fill up.  The store employees were setting up the chairs for the speech and had blocked that area off.  I was sitting right by this area and so knew I’d be first to get a seat – or among the first.

The room began to fill as more and more women showed up for the signing.  The hum in the air was of excitement and a little bit giddy.  I could over-hear misc conversations all around me about “did you see that show?” and “Did you read her blog about XYZ?” and it went on and on. Everyone talking about Pioneer Woman.  Every person had one, two, three, or more cookbooks in their hands and were eagerly looking through them commenting on the recipes.

“Oh I made that one. It was delicious. Isn’t she clever to come up with that combination of flavors?”

 
“Oh look at that photo of Charlie. He’s so cute.”

It dawned on me, that we talk about this person as if we know her. She’s invited us into her life through her blog, her recipes, her cookbook, and her cooking show. And somehow, we all feel a kindred spirit to her and feel like she’s “one of the girls.”

And that sums up how I felt about her. She’s just an average person who’s worked very hard to get to where she is. And somehow she’s managed to hold on to herself in spite of all the fame (and I’m sure fortune).

Anyhow, back to the signing.

The store employees motioned that the seating was opened. I got up and started walking towards a seat and was shoved, pushed, crushed, etc by a stampede of women trying to get a seat.  You would have thought that a major designer was giving away clothing for free.  The frantic feeling of these women to “get the best seat” was insane. I’ve never seen anything like it and never want to again. 

I ended up off to the side, but in the front seat. I had a perfect view of her as far as I was concerned.

She spoke for about 30 minutes and told her story.  I’m sure everyone in the room knew her story but she told it anyhow. She told us about how she ended up in Oklahoma, how she had 4 children, how much she loves her dog Charlie, and her dog Walter, and the other animals on the ranch. She spoke about how far she’s come with her food photos over the years, and gave us some examples, of then and now.  Truly an amazing transformation.  I wished, for a moment, I would make that transformation too. She sang a little song to Charlie the Basset hound, she smiled, she was gracious to us for being there. And I think still a little stunned at how much people have taken to her little cookbook, blog and story. She seemed genuine.  She seemed real.

After she spoke, the store employees called for signing group “A”, which I was a part of because I was Johnny on the spot to get my signing ticket back in March.  The employees asked everyone else to stay seated while the A group gets through, then they’d call each group individually.  Naturally, no one listened to them and everyone got up. I had to force my way through the crowd to get to the signing.

As I got closer to where they were checking the signing tickets, this rude woman says to me, “HEY! The line starts back there.” So I asked her if she was waiting to go in as an “A” ticket holder. Her response was a resounding no. So I flipped my little signing ticket in her face (not really that close) and said, “Well I am an A ticket holder, so I’m going to go on through.” (In my head I ended that last sentence with the word “bitch”).

Once “on the other side” I was about 15 back from getting my book signed. You could feel the excitement in the air. All of us women grasping our books and waiting patiently.

The woman in front of me turned around and asked me what my favorite recipe of hers is.  I couldn’t possibly answer that. There’s so many.

Finally it was my turn.

I approached her and she smiled so fully and said, “Hiya.” 

First it was the photo – I asked her to hold Puck. She commented that Puck was an original name and how did I come up with it.  My response was, “It stands for Pink Duck.” Of which she replied, “Clever!”  

Then as she started signing books I mentioned to her that I was a finalist in one of her photo contests. I had my wits about me and had brought a copy of the photo to job her memory. She looked at the photo and said, “Oh I remember this one. I loved it. “ She asked for the story behind it and I briefly told her. 

Then she thanked me for coming and sent me on my way.

It all happened so very fast, but I’m so glad I did it. I got four books signed … and I know each of my friends will pay me handsomely for their books…if they want them that is.

For Mom because she asked nicely.

For Heather because she and I talk PDub stuff every day.

And for Megan for giving me the first PDub cookbook and getting the craze started.

Doing What You Love

I recently had an email conversation with a friend who said he can't seem to find what it is he wants to do with his life.  He's worked in and out of Hotel Californiasoft for years and just can't seem to pinpoint what his life passion is. 

I questioned him a little about what he liked to do in his spare time.  What did he read? What movies did he like to watch? What TV did he watch? Did he game? etc. I was trying to figure out what, if anything, in his life was a common denominator.

After and exhaustive three day email thread it finally dawned on me, he just wasn't that interested in living his life. He was a passenger in his life and at this point he wasn't interested in taking over the driver's seat.

It got me to thinking about this on and off over the last several days.  I wondered if I was doing what I love, and if I wasn't doing what I was currently doing, what would I be doing?

I happen to be fortunate that I do love what I'm currently doing. I worked hard to get to where I am and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. 

But would I do something else if I could? 

So many fantasies ideas pass through my noggin daily.  Many are just that, fantasies.  Its fun to think about it, but I'm not that interested in actually doing a lot of them.

As I continued to think about this and wondering am I really doing what I want and more importantly, am I doing the fun stuff in my life that I want to do.  Time to pull out the life list and refine and adjust.

At the end of the day, I'm quite happy where I am. I'm thankful that I've put in the effort needed to get myself to a happy place of work, and play. And more importantly I'm happy that I question, almost every day, am I doing what I want to do? If not, what needs to change.

Are you living the life you want? No? What needs to change?

This too shall pass...

I am, of course, referring to the blasted rain that's back in the Great Northwest.  After a beautiful, sunny weekend, the rain has returned. And oddly, I'm okay with that. Allergies were out of control this weekend, so the rain helps some.

This weekend FLEW by. I had a ton of stuff on my agenda to do, and I did about one-third of it. But that's okay. Nothing major got left out.

Saturday, bright and early, okay, so not early. I took Sparky off to get her new bling!  Dropped her off and met the Pantry Goat for breakfast. We went to a little dive we'd gone to before. It was almost 11am so I ordered lunch and the Pantry Goat ordered dinner.  More specifically Liver & Onions. Blech.  Puck wanted to make an appearance too so we set him up as the cherry on top of the Pantry Goat's ice cream that came with her dinner.

After breakfast, the Pantry Goat dropped me off at Starbucks so I can wait for Sparky to be done. I anticipated having to be there for a couple of hours, but turned out I was only there for like 30 minutes. I literally got my iced tea, sat down, flipped through a couple of pages of my book, drew a few items for the game I'm addicted to and the phone call came in that Sparky was done.

I hoofed it a half a mile to pick her up. She looked good. Sitting in the sun all sparkly with her clean outside and her new bling.

Smokin'!!!

You'll notice the sun is out too. Rare in Seattle in the Spring.

Ah, the new windscreen. 

I drove the long way home to "test" it. And I may, or may not have drove 70+ MPH to see just how well it did work. With the windows down, the wind is like a breeze.  With the windows up, it's like an oversized sun roof. Sunshine, and a little breeze. It's awesome. I'm so glad I did this.

Sunday, I was up early thanks to the Canadian Geese that frequent Lake Jenn (aka the pond out back). They honk their way in to the pond every morning about 5:15am. It wakes the cat. Which, anyone who has a cat knows, means I am next to be poked awake.

Sunday was Sunday Dinner day. I had all the makings already so I got to it. By 9am everything was done with the exception of grilling the chicken.

I tried to keep it light again this month.  Sunday dinners were originally about comfort and cooking all those large comfort food type of meals.  I'll get back to that I'm sure, but for now I'm trying to keep it light.  Dinner consisted of:

Open-faced Chicken Sandwiches with Basil Mayo. I swapped out the ground chicken, for chicken breasts. And I marinated them in homemade pesto for the day. OMG they were so good. The mayo for this sandwich is weird in that it has basil AND dill pickles. The first time I made this recipe I was all, "That's an odd combo." but I tried it and was surprised with just how good it was.

Along side I made a Caprese salad - using a little of the homemade pesto and some balsamic vinegar. Yum.  And I made Balsamic Green Beans and Mushrooms.

THAT recipe was awesome.  Putting the green beans and mushrooms in a marinade, then baking them at a high heat made the ends and outter edges all caramelized.  OMG. So good.

Finally, I did the Flat Apple Pie again for dessert.

All in all, the good friends, good conversation, and good food resulted in another successful Sunday dinner. Know how I know it was successful?

An Artist I Ain't

Yesterday while watching Ellen, she discussed a new app out for iPhone/iPads called Draw Something. It sounded interesting, and fun. I'm a horrible drawerERER...I mean bad. I have a vague recollection of playing Pictionary in college where I was drawing a typewriter and my partner guessed moose. 

Like any good follower I downloaded Draw Something.  I discovered several facebook friends who are also part of the crazy. Let the games begin.

I spent most the night laughing my ass off at some of my attempts.  How my friends guessed any of them is beyond me...other than they are awesome.

The app is very simple to use.  You start by downloading it - der. There's a free version and a $.99 version.  I recommend signing in under your FB credentials, then you can see all your friends who have it downloaded and can start games with them.

Once you start a new game you're given a list of random, in some cases VERY random, words.

You get three levels.  Each level offers more "coins" if completed successfully. The coins are used to buy other colors or other "get new words" if you're using the free version.

So once you decide which you can draw without looking like a total lunatic, you begin drawing. After a couple of tries you figure out there's an eraser, different colors (which by the way, colors make all the difference sometimes), and different size pen strokes. 

This photo was "borrowed" from the Internet and does not in any way represent one of my drawings. Though this masterpiece could be one of my drawings...I'm that bad.

Once you hit that you've finished "drawing" you send it to your unsuspecting friend. They receive it and receive a number of letters in the word, and letter options to choose from. You'd think that'd be helpful. Not so much.

This photo was "borrowed" from the Internet and does not in any way represent one of my drawings. Though my friends WISH I was that good.

So far, the one main downside I can find so far is it doesn't store any pictures you draw to look at and laugh at later.  I've been talking about this app all day and trying to explain to co-workers just how I drew a "shrimp" that looked more like a caterpillar on crack. According to their help section though that feature is coming, so Yay.

In the meantime, I may have to have a camera handy to snap some shots of these "drawings" I'm making and receiving. Let me give you an example.

It took me, my officemate, and Heater to figure this out. And I figured it out only AFTER the MomUnit gave me a hint. Because I couldn't find a way to copy this, I "drew" it basically in PaintBrush to send to Heater to help me.  So keep that in mind, but this is a pretty good rendition of what the MomUnit sent me. Her cow was a little skinnier than mine.

Even with the "it has 5 letters to it" clue and a bunch of letters provided, I had no idea what this was.  I did finally figure it out after the MomUnit gave me a clue.  Any guesses?

The Keg

Traditions are something I love.  I have a lot of them that only I am privy to and won't share them with anyone, even if you ask nicely.  (Though I'll admit sometimes my "traditions" get mingled with "process"). Every family has traditions, at least I hope every family does. They're fun. They remind you that you have something solid to look forward to.  Maybe it's a tradition your great-grand pappy passed down to your grand pappy who passed it down to your pappy who passed it down to you.  Maybe it's one that you just created in the last week/month/year. Either way, I like traditions.

One of my favorite recent traditions is Sunday dinner.  I love that I started this.  The tradition of getting friends/family together on a regular basis to eat good food...does it get much better?

Sometimes there are traditions INSIDE traditions.  For example, Sunday dinner is a tradition in and of itself.  EVERY Sunday dinner we take two photos: one "normal" one "not so normal".  Anyone who has attended more than one knows this to be true.

Another of my favorite traditions is going with BigBro, Seattle SIL, and Blueberry to The Keg in our birthday months.  We all signed up for their birthday deal (if you haven't you should, it's a good deal. A free meal up to $23.95 in the month of your birth.). Which means every April, September, October and December one of us gets a free meal, and the other three tag along ... because it's a tradition.

I hesitate to also say that the discussion of signing up every family member we know for each month of the year every time we get our free meal could also be a tradition. We'll sit and rattle off family members who's birthday's fall in months our's don't. For example, the MomUnit would give us a November free meal.  We'd never do it, of course, cuz that would be fraud.

Last night was our traditional Keg meal for Blueberry's April birthday. I won't say that she'll be OLDER than me, but she'll officially be older than me in a week.  Then for 8 months I can give her crap about being old.

I happen to love the Keg.  I've never had a bad meal there and have always had exceptional service.  Last night was no exception.  My steak was ordered medium - which in Keg terms comes out just as I like it, usually.  This time it came out WELL DONE.  It was still tasty and still edible. When Jenny, the waitress, came back to check to see if our steaks were cooked ok, I mentioned mine was WAY over cooked. She offered to cook me a new one.  Not wanting to waste anything, and not wanting to wait another 15 minutes for a steak, I said no thanks. It was fine. But thank you for the offer.  She asked a couple of times to make sure I was sure.

After Jenny walked away convinced I didn't need a new steak, Ian, the manager stopped by.  He "heard" that my steak wasn't cooked to my satisfaction and could he have another cooked for me. Again with the, "No it's fine, but thank you for asking." Ian then said he'd take my meal off my bill.

Now, it should be said that I did not say my steak was not cooked right to get a free meal. Didn't even cross my mind in fact.  Jenny asked how our steaks were, and I told her.  The Keg and their service did the rest.  I love when they don't even balk at giving you another steak or offering to take it off your bill.  They showed they believe in their product and if I'm not satisfied they will make it right.

It got even better though...since it was Blueberry's "birthday" meal, Ian brought her a piece of ice cream cake with a candle. THAT put the customer service over the top for me. Never before have we ever got a piece of birthday cake for going because it was our birthday's!! Bigbro, Seattle SIL and Blueberry all but licked the plate too.

I refrained. 

Prior to going to the Keg, for the first time ever, I looked up their menu items and the calories for items I would normally eat.  A normal meal I'd have there, without any concern of calories ranged at about 1400 calories. Oy vei.  That's almost my entire days worth of calories.

So I looked, I plotted, I planned. And eventually came up with three options.  I knew 1) no salad would be permitted. Too many calories there. 2) had to not get any potato of any type, and not get the rice pilaf (500+ calories for that alone).  Eventually I opted for steak and steamed asparagus.  I managed to get to the gym before meeting the fam, so I had some room to work with. Still wasn't going to waste the effort on a salad and potato.  BigBro shared a bit or two of his potato and Blueberry shared her sauteed mushrooms.  At the end of it all, I was pretty happy with my decisions and I wasn't stuffed to the gills like I normally am.

So to Let me 'splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up. (movie reference?). 
1. Traditions are awesome. Make some.
2. The Keg is awesome. Eat there.
3. I'm awesome. Period.

Thanks Easter Bunny - BRAUCK BRAUCK

Whew, what a weekend. 

Saturday took all the emotion out of me and left me dangling dry and empty for Sunday's Easter dinner.  Thankfully some usual suspects were on hand to help celebrate Easter. Thanks to BigBro, Seattle Sister-In-Law and The Pantry Goat for coming to Chez Jenn's - oh and Millie too - and spending a couple of hours laughing, and chatting about everything and anything.

I didn't make the traditional Easter ham. I'm not a huge ham fan and it cooks WAY too much. So I opted for my go to marinated flank steak, potato-bacon torte (basically potatoes gratin in a pie shell - does it get any better than that?, asparagus and a peanut butter sheet cake that was, in my opinion, to die for.

BigBro a couple of days prior had mentioned Peeps.  I remembered I had wanted to get some Peeps to do some photographing with.  I'm not a fan of Peeps either, but for the BigBro and for photography I'd get some. 

 I have also, secretly, always wanted to do special table settings for big occasions. Sometimes I get creative and can think of something. Most the time I do not. So spur of the moment, I decided to do little chocolate bunnies on everyone's plates.  They turned out pretty darn cute I think.

 But the star of the show was Millie. She belongs to the Pantry Goat - temporarily - and is the sweetest dog. So patient and so willing to do anything just to get some attention.  Naturally, I had to see if she would balance Peeps on her head.  Naturally BigBro was in on helping me.  My accomplice.

Look how sweet she is. He eyes are saying, "Really?" But she sat still as we placed those Peeps on her head.

Then we had to test to see if she'd sit with one on her nose.  Such a good girl.  She let me snap off about a dozen photos, and even then she didn't go after that Peep. She waited until we took it off her nose.

How many can she balance? After the fact, we realized we had one more Peep, but decided we'd tortured her enough and so balancing three was the new house record. And the only house record for that matter.

But we weren't done with her yet. We had to test it on Puck. She did try to eat Puck when I offered her a smell to meet Puck.  One lick and she decided it was not covered in sugar goodness.  BTW she did get a Peep for a treat for being such a good dog.

BigBro couldn't be out done by a dog. 

It was a good day. I so enjoy, and have missed, cooking a big meal.  Sunday dinner is this coming week and I can't wait to see the crowd that's coming for that.

I realized I haven't had my camera out for a while. I've decided to not do Project 365 this year. While it was fun, it was a bit much. On the other hand, it did have me taking a lot more photos.  I need to get the camera out this weekend. I'm taking Sparky in to get her new light bar for the windscreen and it promises to be a sunshiney day.

In other exciting news, my trip to Vancouver is just around the corner. Blueberry isn't sure she'll get her passport in time (don't get me started on this) and so I have the Seattle SIL waiting in the wings.  Either way I'm sure it'll be fun. I have a bunch of stuff in my head planned to do.  Now I just need to get there and do some of it. 

RIP Beautiful Lourdes

The morning broke with a sunrise that was full of color and promises of a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest.  The sun was shining down on all of us today as we remembered the beautiful, life filled woman, Lourdes.

A few of us "girlfriends" met for brunch to get caught up, tell stories, remember Lourdes with laughter and smiles, and of course to drink a Bloody Mary.

None of us could remember if Lourdes even liked Bloody Mary's, but we all knew she'd love the fact we were drinking one in her honor.

Its what Lourdes would want.

Friends, Kara, Julie, Kim and I sat and chit chatted about so many wonderful times we spent with Lourdes.  We cried a little, well Kim cried a lot, we laughed a little, and we told each other how important they were to us.  It was cathartic. It was needed. It healed our broken hearts just a small bit.

Its what Lourdes would want.

The Celebration of Life was held at a local golf club that overlooks the area and shows, in my opinion, just why Seattle is so beautiful when it's sunny.

If you look real close in the middle of the photo, those tall buildings...that's Seattle.

I mean just look at that. The light green lawn of a well manicured golf course, with the dark evergreen trees standing proud in the back ground, to the blue, BLUE sky we had today. Gorgeous.

Its what Lourdes would want.

The Celebration was amazing.  Several friends and family members spoke and told stories about Lourdes.  We laughed. We cried. We sang along to a goofy ukulele version of "Hey Soul Sister" by Train.  A song that was definitely written for Lourdes and now whenever I hear it I will think of her.

We laughed. We cried some more.  We watched her Zumba friends get up and do a little dance in her honor.  We cried a lot when they showed a photo montage of Lourdes and showed just how full of life she truly was.  After that we were treated to a hula by her hula group.  Just beautiful and so heart felt. The large reception room was filled and standing room only.  If ever there was a doubt that she was loved, one just needed to look around this room.  Red, teary eyes every place you looked.  So much love and admiration spilling out from everyone in that room. I felt humbled just to be included in this group of people who can say they knew Lourdes and was a friend.

Its what Lourdes would want.

After the Celebration there was a reception. Us girls giggled, laughed, cried, drank wine, laughed, cried, and so on.  We promised to see each other more and, without doing a blood oath, meant it.

Left to right: Julie, Kim, me, Kim, and Kara

 We all met Lourdes during our early years at Microsoft in the early 90's and we all made an effort to get together as often as we can.  We found that life sometimes gets in the way of living life.  Families, kids, jobs, etc all got in the way of us seeing each other as much as we wanted to. But that's about to end.  We are going to start the Happy Hour Club.  Come hell or high water we are going to get together and keep caught up on each other's lives.  We have to.

It's what Lourdes would want.

Speaking of what Lourdes would want.  One of her relatives from Hawaii brought over hundreds...HUNDREDS of plumeria flowers for the attendees.  The smell of plumeria wafted through the hall and with every whiff you were reminded of Lourdes and the flower she always seemed to have in her hair.  We raised our glass one last time in memory of our dear friend. Who may be gone from this world, but is now and forever will be imprinted on our hearts. 

Its what Lourdes would want.

I'm Christain, Unless you're gay

A few weeks ago I let loose about my opinions on an article that was sent to my niece and nephew.  I’m sure you all remember it.

I’ve been struggling with understanding how homosexuality is a bad thing.  I’m not religious and so therefore cannot understand how a person’s choice (or not a choice I should say) of who the love is a bad thing.  I don’t understand how people who claim (and I’m generalizing here because I have SEVERAL friends who are Christians and who, while disagreeing with me often, still love all despite who or what they are).

I have a family member who is a devout Christian. DEVOUT. And I respect his belief and his way of life. I truly do. I do not, however, respect him when he pushes his beliefs onto me, my niece, my nephew or anyone else for that matter.  

I’ve asked the question a number of times of him and others who follow a faith and are very devout Christians how it is that they can believe the Bible when it says homosexuality is wrong, but not believe the Bible when it says things like  sale your daughters into slavery (Exodus 21:7). Or that I may have slaves (Lev 25:44). Or that I may not approach the alter of God if I have a defect in my sight (Lev 21:16-23).

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27.  How should they die?

My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? -- Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

You see my point right? And don’t say it’s all how it’s interpreted because you lose that battle as well. 

Back when I was in 5^th or 6^th grade, I started attending the Lutheran Church of the Masters.  I loved that church. I was very involved in the youth group, in singing in front of the congregation, in helping out, and yes, I even got to play the organ during a church service.  I was a Christian.  I was baptised there and I attended all the required classes and had my First Confirmation.  The one thing I remember above all else was what the minister said to me one day.  He said, “Love thy neighbor – regardless of who your neighbor is.”

THAT is what I believe Christianity is about. Love. And since I’ve not been able to put to words exactly how I feel about supposed “Christians” and yet spout hatred toward homosexuals, I give you this video.  You can read what this guy says too. It’s here.

Please take a moment to watch this. He really does have some very valid points.

The part of his speech that really resonated with me is this:


"The greatest spiritual leaders in history have all preached love for others as the basis for all happiness, and never did they accompany such mandates with a list of unlovable actions or deeds. They never said, love everybody except for the gays. Love everybody except for the homeless. Love everybody except for the drug users. Love everybody except for the gang members, or those covered in ink, or the spouse abusers. They didn’t tell us it was okay to love everybody with the exception of the “trailer trash,” those living in poverty, or the illegal immigrants. They didn’t tell us it was okay to love everybody except for our ex-lovers, our lovers’ ex lovers, or our ex-lovers’ lovers. The mandate was pretty damn clear, wasn’t it?

Love others.

Period."

You can teach an old dog new tricks

Since I've made significant changes in my lifestyle, I've been learning, or relearning, things that I'm shocked and stunned I never "got" before.

I like this new learning though. I've been learning a lot about calories and more importantly how many calories are in things.  Let me tell you, it's a shock to the system when you look up calories for something you used to eat on a regular basis and find out its your total amount of daily calories you're allowed now. Ugh.

I track my calories intake and burned through myfitnesspal.com.  I track all my food and water intake there too.  Its a nice little website and iPhone app that allows you to see your progress and keep track of what you're doing daily. 

MyFitnessPal has a huge database of food and exercise.  As I understand it, when you put in your body information, weight, height, age, measurements etc, that it calculates your burned calories based on that and the amount of time you do an exercise.  For example, if I put in 30 minutes of elliptical it says I burn 522 calories.

Woot.

Here's my issue though.

Said elliptical rider - when weight and age are put in - says I burn 282 calories.

Naturally I want to believe MyFitnessPal. I mean who wouldn't.

So to figure out just what I am burning, I bought a heart rate monitor that has a calorie setting.  Today I finally remembered to turn the calorie tracker on. It said in 30 minutes of elliptical I burned 398 calories.

522 or 282 or 398...which to believe.

I'm definitely more inclined to believe the personal heart rate monitor than the other two. 

I can understand just how hard it is now to figure out how much you eat and how much you have to work out to keep yourself in shape.  I know there's a happy medium for every person. I'm just glad that I'm finally figuring mine out.

If you haven't noticed the gadget on the side of the blog, I've lost 16 lbs to date.  I've lost a bunch of inches in the hips, waist and chest area. In fact, I joked with a friend this weekend about having to stuff my bra again since my chest is shrinking.

I'm also learning that working out is really not that bad. I'm finding I miss it if I go too many days without it.  I am only doing 30 minutes of cardio right now, and that's appearing to be enough for now.  I have noticed that my heart rate doesn't increase nearly as fast as it used to. I used to just look at an elliptical and my heart rate would shoot to 140. Now at least I can be on the elliptical for 10-15 minutes moderately before it hits that rate.

All in all I feel good. I can see the progress and I have learned a lot about myself and my habits. For example, last Thursday night when I got the call that Lourdes had passed away, my first thought was, "I need something to eat." And I didn't mean an apple. I wanted something comforting. I was really glad I didn't have anything "comforting" to eat in the house.

Lost: One full bottle of glitter

A couple of years ago a friend of mine when talking about her best friend that she lost to breast cancer called her a "full bottle of glitter."  I knew immediately what type of person the best friend was.

Today, I too lost a friend who could only be described as full bottle of glitter.

borrowed from her FB page

Lourdes experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm on Monday. Her prognosis was grim. Today the family listened to their hearts and did what they knew Lourdes would want and took her off life support.

I don't even know what to say about Lourdes that can truly express just what a lovely, spirited, full of life, kind, gracious woman she was.  Reading her FB page tonight broke my heart as she was loved by so many.  Every person she touched chiming in, expressing their love for her and their grief. My heart breaks reading the comments.

One is never really ready to say goodbye to someone you love, and we go through life assuming we have all the time in the world to do things we dream of doing, and telling the one's we love we love them.  I'm here to tell you, do... not... wait... Do it. Live it. Say it.

Lourdes suffered a brain aneurysm about 3 years ago. She vowed to come back better and stronger.  She was determined to live life like there was no tomorrow because she had been close enough to recognize there may not be a tomorrow. She took life by the horns and road it 8+ seconds.  I wish I would have thanked her for reminding me so often that life is for living, without reservation, without fear, without regret.

I'll smile with every thought of you and I'll forever be grateful that you were a part of my life. Many of us go through life never touching as many hearts as you have.  Your footprint is indelible. Your personality mirrored your life....overflowing with exuberance, humor and love. You were a beacon of beauty in the world.   Heaven is taking back an angel tonight. RIP my dear friend.

A Kingdome Lost

The  morning was crisp, but the sun was already showing some promise of making an appearance.  It was early when I loaded up the camera and hopped in the Stang. 

First stop, predictably was Starbucks. Back then in 2000 it was my lifeline.  I did nothing without that warm cup of java. 

Next stop, a park in West Seattle. The plan was to witness the implosion of the Seattle Kindome.

That was twelve years ago.

Unbelievable to think it has been that long.  Knowing today as the anniversary of the implosion, I went searching for my photos. 

Now keep in mind, back in 2000 I as still shooting with film.  How times have changed since then?  I had my 300mm lens hooked up to my first Canon Rebel. It was hooked up to my tri-pod. I would be shooting quite a distance to get the implosion on film.  And back then, you did your best to set the camera up and you hoped and prayed you did it right. There was no taking a photo and checking, and certainly no post production.

Not to mention the kingdome would only be imploded once.

The count down began.

As the timer hit zero, loud booms in succession could be heard across the sound.  We were across the water, so we saw what was happening before we heard the booms.  Then within seconds the once great, ahead of its time kingdome, was a pile of rubble.

Looking at it now, it seems like just yesterday.  And sadly, we're still paying for the kingdome even though it's long gone.

Where were you when it was imploded?

Quick and Dirty

If there is one thing I know to be not so quick, it's weight loss.  Ugh.

For those of you keeping up at home, and for those of you who are just stopping by for some much needed refreshing reading, here's an update.

As of last Saturday, I've lost 15lbs. Wow. I know. I'm totally stoked about it and can't wait for that to read 25/35/45/etc.  Here's the thing though.  Its slow.  I knew it would be. And I know it will be.  Logically, I know that.  I know that it didn't take a month to put this weight on so it'll take twice as long to take it off.

In the beginning of this life style change, the loss of a pound or less was exciting. Progress.  And somewhere in the middle of this 15 lbs the loss of a pound or less just didn't seem enough.  Frustration set in.

Then last night I decided at 9pm to go work out.  I am not sure what induced this thought to get dressed, get in the car (yes I drove. Not only was it raining, but dark and scary out there), and get to the gym.  The 30 minutes on the elliptical went by quickly. And as I was stretching after I was thinking about 15lbs and how quickly the loss really does add up - relatively speaking.

Let's take for example. When you've lost 6 lbs.  Nice, but not impressive.  It just says to me that okay you have this life style change a go.  Now what? 

But losing 15lbs to me says commitment is setting in.  Its been a battle, and a struggle, and it will continue to be one (thanks to age and slow metabolism).  But FIFTEEN POUNDS is big.  It sparkles and flashes in neon lights to me that I'm on the right path.  That despite and set backs I may "feel" I had, or despite the piece of candy/sweet I might have had, or carb I may have shoved in my mouth, I'm still doing it. 

No, it hasn't been quick.  In fact, I'm starting my 11th week and am averaging 1.36 lbs.  If I keep up this average, I will lose almost 40lbs by the cruise in October.  That doesn't seem enough to me, but it seems steady enough that maybe they'll stay off. Maybe I'll even *gasp* work out on the cruise to help keep it off.

At the end of the day, I'd like this journey to be quicker. But I know it won't be. So I'll just sit back and enjoy the ride and be proud of what I'm doing and know that each step I take will mean a longer, healthier life.

On being a PiMP

In 2004 I was working at the Cat Shack (not the real name of the company) struggling in my job.  I had no direction. I had no real manager who could help direct me. The company re-orged and left me hanging without a place to go in the new org.  They had no idea what to do with me. And I had no idea what to do with me.  I wasn't happy with the current "work" I was doing, and wanted more.  I just didn't know what "more" looked like.

My manager who was, in my opinion, crazy, was quite possibly the worst manager I had ever had.  We were in cube-land and she would send an email, walk to my desk and ask if I read her email.  She frustrated me and annoyed me all the time.  She seemed smart, but didn't seem to have a clue, or care, what it was I was doing.

One day she and I were leaving at the same time. Walking to our cars she asked me if I ever thought about taking some project management classes.  I must have looked bemused because she quickly continued and said she thinks I have a natural sense for managing projects.  She thought if I showed some initiative and started taking classes that perhaps I could be a PM at this company.  She outlined the qualities I currently had that made me potentially a good PM and said she'd even approve the company to pay for my training.

Needless to say, I hopped on it.

I started taking classes toward a PM certificate at a local community college. As each quarter passed, I got closer and closer to achieving PM knowledge and thus a better career at the company.

Finally in 2005 I completed all the classes. I had in my hands a certificate that said I had taken and passed the certificate courses at the college. (Incidentally, this is where I met the Pantry Goat. She was one of my instructors.) Several members of this class were all going to continue to study for the PMP exam (Project Management Professional) - which I hadn't really considered, but figured why not. If they are all studying it would help keep me focused.

In the meantime, at the Cat Shack we re-orged.  My new manager told me I could potentially be a PM if I had my certification. So I had more on the line to pass this test.

The studying for this test was grueling.  I studied 120 hours - every waking hour was spent learning PM guidelines, rules, ways of life and then some.  I memorized my study guide from inside out.  I memorized all the formulas for earned value.  I made flash cards for definitions and concepts.  I put my heart, soul and brain into studying for this exam.

Then the day arrived to take the exam. Walking into the cramped exam room I knew my stuff. I was confident I'd do just fine and my life would change on Monday once I showed the Cat Shack I was a PMP. None of the current PMs at the Cat Shack were PMPs and so I was sure I'd be accepted and moved into a new role.

4 hours later, I sat, anxiously ready to push the "I'm done - score my test" button.  My finger lingered.  Thoughts ran through my head, "Do I need to go back to #45?", "Did I do that formula in #134 correctly?" I kept second guessing myself for a bit. Finally I pushed the "I'm done" button.  The screen went blank and I sat holding my breath.  What felt like eternity was probably only 15 seconds when a note popped up saying, go see the proctor.

Ugh. That can't be a good sign.  I walked out of the exam room, and to the proctor who was standing by the printer.  He pulled the papers from the printer, stapled them, and handed them to me and said,
Congrats! You got an 88%."

Wait - what? I passed? WOO HOO!!!!

I flew home. I was so excited that I could barely stand it.  The MomUnit and DadUnit were at my house and were anxiously waiting my arrival to find out.  The MomUnit and I danced a little jig.  Then we all went to dinner (Blueberry came with us since she had suffered through the hours of me studying too.)

The next week I was thrilled. I told my boss and a very impressive email went out to the entire company telling them I was, for all intense and purposes, a rock star.  I knew my life was going to change. I was on my way.

Or so I thought.

Next one on one with the new boss and he said, "You'll never be a PM." I wasn't sure if he meant there at the Cat Shack, or ever. But I knew then I had to leave.

That was 7 years ago.  I just completed my second round of PMP certification duties - basically getting a certain number of professional development units to continue being a PMP. I forked over my $150 and a new certificate saying I'm valid for 3 more years is on its way.

I was right in 2005 though, my life did change.  I didn't make more money immediately. In fact, I hadn't really made real PMP $$ until the last two years.  But I did move on. I did start becoming a PM and a good one too. My crazy boss was right, I did have all the mad PM skills basically built in, I just had to learn to use them. And it's amusing to me that the most annoying boss I ever had, basically changed my life. 

I have pondered once or twice if I need to keep my PMP certification. And every single time I think about it I remember how much work I put into it.  Its a priveldge to be a PMP and I'm thrilled that I was able to accomplish it.

So here's to another 3 years of being a PMP.  Its been fun.  Its been real.  Its been real fun. 

Jell-o pudding

So the sickness has passed...mostly. I'm still hacking a bit, but it's not nearly as bad as it was. And I've not had any of those dreaded hacking spells that hurt so much all I can do is just focus on breathing. Ack.

Jell-o pudding has become the new sick food I guess. During the bronchitis adventure all I wanted was Greek Olive hummus/pita and chocolate pudding. Weird combination to be sure. But it felt safe...and I figured if it had to come back up it wouldn't be too bad. Turns out it stayed down and all seemed well. But now I'm slightly addicted to jell-o pudding. The little pudding cups are only 100 calories, and are a pretty satisfying snack. Cool and refreshing. 

Back when my girlie innards were removed, I didn't eat for like two months.  I only craved Nutella and fritos.  Lost 30 lbs by eating only those two things.  Also a weird combination. I wonder what I would have craved if I ever had kids? Way back when I used to crave cottage cheese when I was sick. And I HATE cottage cheese. Blech.

The weigh in at Jenny on Saturday (two weeks since the last weigh in) was positive and 5.5 lbs. Getting sick sure helped. Now if I can keep the sick pounds from returning.

Sunday Dinner was another success.  I made those Smokey Indoor Ribs again.  They're so easy and oh so good. I took a page out of Rachael Ray's book and did mashed potatoes with Borsin cheese in them. OMG if you've never mixed Borsin cheese into mashed potatoes, I highly recommend it. You don't need butter and just a touch of milk/cream to make them smooth potatoes.  I used the garlic and herb cheese and it just took the mashed potatoes over the top. I'll be doing this again.

Left to right: Blueberry, BigBro, Seattle SIL, Puck, Mr. Georgia, Mrs. Landlord, Mrs. Georgia and moi.

We had new peeps to dinner this month.  A new friend from Georgia and her husband made it to the inner circle and got on the much coveted invite list to Sunday Dinners.  It was a bit risky making BBQ ribs when southern folk were coming to dinner. But they both had seconds, so it must have been good.

And as you can tell, there weren't any leftovers.

Hacker

Here we are day 12 of the cold to end all colds. I finally caved to the MomUnit's guilt and went to the ER on Monday. I felt so horrible I figured it was the right thing to do.

There's a new ER/clinic by my place. In fact directly across the street.  I drove to the Urgent Care that used to be in my area, but apparently they moved. So back to the ER.  This place was AWESOME. If I ever have to go to the ER again I'm going there.

Super new, fantastic staff, and clean clean clean.  I was whisked in and "pampered" immediately. No waiting. I had 4 people getting me into a bed, shoes off (and other items of clothing removed), a warm blanket, a blood pressure cuff, and a oxygen doo-hickey on my finger before I could even get my name out.  The entire process was like a well rehearsed ballet.  And nice....man every single person was friendly and nice.  I felt safe and taken care of.

After the initial consultation with the nurse, the doctor came in and listened to my lungs. She was a bit concerned and so sent me for a chest X-ray.  I got to go on a road trip in the gurney to the X-ray room. WEEEEEE. 

X-rays have really come a long way. These are digital and immediate.  It was so quick. Well quick - ish. I still had to wait for the doctor to review them.

She came in about 30 minutes later with the prognosis.  Bronchitis. Oh boy!  She handed me a prescription for some antibiotics and sent me on my way.

I'm day 3 into my antibiotics and I'm feeling much better - thanks for asking. I've been working from home to keep the germs to myself...I'm sure my office mate and co-workers appreciate it.

I must say, on the plus side, I've not been eating and so have been losing weight.  I branched out yesterday and actually had a grilled cheese sandwich. It stayed down and tasted delicious.

Now I'm off to go hack up another lung or two.