Fall is here! Even on a rare sunny day like yesterday it felt different. It's crispy outside (or soggy if it's raining). It's getting darker a little earlier than it used to and the shadows are long even midday. I met up with a good friend on the top of the hill here yesterday very spontaneously for a 90 minute brisk walk. Leaves are starting to turn, and the tall sunflowers in that corner yard we always pass by are now top heavy and tired from their own weight.
So while I always mourn summer as she melts away into fall, I DO love this time of year for the clothes and food. Time to bust out the sweaters, boots, leather jackets...oh yeah. And cooking! Soups! Stews!
Last year I purchased a slow cooker for the first time. I remember our Crock Pot as a kid - my Mom made wonderful chicken dishes all the time - and they seem to be coming around in style again. Kinda like fondue. Anyway, mine was free actually. Remember the Refrigerator Drama from last year? I got a $100 Sears gift card, one of the few bright spots in that whole episode. So I used it toward a slow cooker. Very nice, stainless steel, 3 1/2 quart size. And my folks gave me a Williams-Sonoma slow cooker recipe book for Christmas. Love it!
And it was time to bust a move with it again. Last weekend I had 3 lbs of ground beef in my fridge, just a couple days away from use it or freeze it. I really wanted to make a Bolognese sauce - the cookbook recipe is wonderful - but, being a smart cook, re-read the recipe. Ah yes, now I remember: once you make the sauce it needs 4 hours in the slow cooker on high heat or 8 hours on low heat. Hmmm...how do I cram that into my crazy week schedule? I know one cool thing about a slow cooker is you can put everything in it in the morning, turn it on low and come home that night from work with your meal ready! But for some reason I've been a little reluctant to do that. What if I get stuck at work late or in traffic? I know they shut off to a low simmer once the timer goes off, but anyway I guess I'm not comfortable with something "cooking" in my house when I'm not there.
Last week definitely was burning the candle at both ends. Sunday night was our first hockey game of the season! Woo hoo! With a 10:45pm faceoff! Not so woohoo. But that's winter season for ya. It was awesome seeing my teammates again, meeting a couple new faces and getting back on the ice. I had not skated since around June and frankly have been woefully lame getting regular exercise. But I actually skated and played a lot better than I thought I would. And we had an 8-4 blowout win!
There's something surreal about leaving the rink after a late game. That night, it was midnight. Luckily this game was at the rink that's just a 5 minute drive from my house, so no excuses. Once I get to the rink, especially for a late game, time kind of stops mentally for me, except for our game clock. I force myself not to look at the "real" clock...nope don't need to be reminded it's 11:30pm or whatever! Crazy.
Now, it's uber hard to immediately wind down and get to sleep after hockey, as much as I want to/need to, especially on a Sunday night (errr, early Monday I guess). So that means an extra cup of coffee at work. Those of you reading this who play hockey or other late night sports know what I'm talking about!
So Sunday night was out for making the sauce. Onward to Monday. Well, I didn't get home as early as I'd thought, and so I got a late start getting the ingredients ready. There's a bit of chopping and prep time, plus you need to brown 3 lbs of ground beef and make a little extra sauce with some deglazing. I honestly don't mind doing a lot of chopping/prep work by hand. Yeah, there are these really cool things out there called food processors, and I actually do own a couple - one large, one small - but when it comes to chopping, slicing or dicing relatively small amounts of ingredients, I'm good with my cutting board and a sharp knife. My Mom says I'm my grandmother's granddaughter...on my Dad's side. Right down to our mutual love of flour sack towels to get those last drops off of pots and pans after they air dry.
Getting the meat, veggies and deglazing sauce ready was all I had time for on Monday. Even on the high heat setting, 4 hours in the slow cooker would mean finishing up at 1am. And I just couldn't do it. So I put the cooked meat and veggies in a huge Pyrex bowl, poured the deglazed sauce in it, covered it with foil and put it in the fridge.
Tuesday? Well, that was a night out with my Silpada team. We meet monthly and normally are at our team leader's house, but this time we changed it up and met at Purple, a wine bar in downtown Bellevue. I loved seeing everybody and relaxing with some wine and munchies. Someone even sprung for a round of salted caramels for dessert. WOW. We definitely were the most bling'd out table, and given it was a little noisy we just had a ton of chitchat rather than any kind of organized meeting agenda, and passed around eachother's jewelry for everyone to try on.
I got home at 10pm that night. So that's a no-go on finishing that darn sauce.
Wednesday night, anyone? This HAD to be the night to finish. I thought it would be OK, but a teeny part of me was worried that the sauce would turn out different or weird having been in the fridge for two days. But, it turned out great. Kinda weird getting steaming hot sauce to cool down and get divided up into Tupperwares...at midnight. Ahh, blissful sleep.
So I learned that slow cooking is MUCH better done on a weekend. Thankfully this sauce keeps beautifully in the fridge or freezer. (This sauce stores up to 3 days in airtight containers in the fridge or in the freezer for up to 3 months). But it's soooo good I bet you won't be able to keep it around that long!
Here's the recipe!
Bolognese Sauce
Makes about 12 cups (3 quarts)
2 T olive oil
2 oz pancetta, chopped
2 small, finely chopped yellow onions
2 finely chopped carrots
1 stalk finely chopped celery
3 lbs ground beef
2 C beef broth
1 1/2 C dry red wine
1 can (28 oz) crushed or diced plum tomatoes
1/2 C milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Italian leaf parsley, minced for garnish (optional)
In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the pancetta and saute until it begins to render its fat, about 1 minute. Add the onions, carrots and celery and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until it is no longer red, about 7 minutes.
Transfer to the slow cooker. Add the broth and wine to the pan and raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits on the pan bottom. Pour the liquid into the slow cooker along with the tomatoes and stir to combine.
Cover and cook the sauce on the high heat setting for 4 hours, or the low heat setting for 8 hours. Add the milk, stirring to combine. Cover and continue cooking for 20 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper.
...now, how do you use this sauce? Toss it with some fettucine and sprinkle in fresh-grated Parmesan cheese.
Or try it with Polenta:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a gratin baking dish (I actually just use a 9 x 13 glass casserole). Take a tube of prepared Polenta (18 oz) and slice it crosswise into slices about 1/4" thick. Arrange the slices in the bottom of the baking dish, overlapping them. Spoon the Bolognese sauce around the slices generously and sprinkle a 1/2 cup of fresh-grated Parmesan cheese. Bake until the sauce is hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Served with minced fresh Italian parsley for garnish.
from the Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast Slow Cooker Recipes book.
I had a really great week but up until yesterday still hadn't had an aha moment or two or three to inspire me to write today.
Then, within hours, two sprang up yesterday. Quite literally, actually.
Saturday was a couple hours at the salon getting my color touched up and my hair cut. Good laughs and time to get my OK! and People mag fixes. I'm all caught up on celebrity gossip now!
Then, I forced myself to go to the mall. I LOVE shopping, but I can't stand shopping for bras. Yeah, bras and swimsuits are the two worst. Not fun. But believe me, it was time. When your bras stop doing their job, wires break, well it ain't pretty and it's super uncomfortable. And, as much as I hate to admit it, some of mine are a leeetle too tight in the band now. That's either weight gain, loss of muscle tone or both. So I figured I would do the bra shopping first and then do something fun afterwards, like get some new makeup or perfume to reward myself. And why "waste" freshly-done hair by just going home, right?
Next destination: the lingerie section at Nordstrom in Bellevue Square. OK, I had to first stop in makeup, jewelry and then upstairs to look at cute sweaters. THEN I headed up the escalator and procrastinated some more...browsing around looking at cute sleepwear...then a sales person asked if I needed help. Ummm...yeah, I need new bras I kind of mumbled. She smiled and said no problem and that she'd measure me to make sure I had the right size.
OK, I remember doing this a few years ago. I was super self-conscious about it as that was my first time ever getting fitted, but they are pros. And it's a free service! Alright, are you wondering how they do it? C'mon, you're curious, admit it. Here's what happens: you and your fitter go into a dressing room. You take your top off with your back turned to the fitter and face a non-mirrored wall. You keep your bra on, and she measures you for your band size. Then she asks if you have a favorite brand. She comes back with a few basic styles just to get an idea of your cup size and you take it from there. She helps you into the bras by standing behind you and holding it for you to slip your arms through. Then she fastens it in the back and you turn around and she helps you get it adjusted and helps decide if it's a good fit or not. So yay, no bare booby moments with the fitter.
So as she was measuring me she said yeah, you're around a 36. Really? That's what I've worn for years and now most of my bras are too snug even in the loosest clasp. She said, well, yes, you might be more around a 38 - we'll try both. OK, that sounds good to me...well, not really that I've gone up a band size but that's reality right now. My favorite brand, by the way? Chantelle. These bras are beautifully made and just really work well on my figure. No, they're not cheap, but they last for years and years. And that day I was on a mission to get t-shirt style bras...those that are just simple and smooth and don't have a lot of lace. Just basics that look nice under sweaters.
As L was heading out of the dressing room to grab a few for me to try, I said oh, these are gonna be C cup, right? She smiled and said, no...D.
I stood there in shock, looking at this petite brunette who was probably all of 30 who had just measured me...and I looked her right in the eye and said are you shittin' me? Good Lord almighty. Normally I can keep my cool but that just popped out of my mouth. L kept her cool, smiled and didn't miss a beat. No, that's your size, she says. And we both laughed a little. Man, I'm sure she hears it all with that kind of job.
Then she left the dressing room. And I had a rather awkward moment with myself. What the hell is it about store dressing rooms...the light is always so unflattering. I sat down in the corner seat and looked across into the mirror...I'm just wearing jeans, black high-heeled boots and my now-too-tight Chantelle bra. My pale skin looks like a plucked chicken in that horrible fluorescent lighting. My lost muscle tone. Rolls and bulges I don't remember seeing before, made worse as I was sitting down in my jeans. UGH IS THIS ME?
And how in the hell am I now a D cup? That just seems...well, BIG. I'd been a 34B for years...forever it seemed. And I could never quite fill out that cup size but I would buy it anyway just 'cause. 'Cause that was my size! Back in college we had a joke club in our sorority: the IBTC. Yep, the itty bitty titty committee. And I was Vice President. I remember later when I first got professionally fitted and found out I'd morphed into a 36C. And now, up another size yet again.
A few minutes later L came back and I came mentally back to 2011 after that daydream down Bra Memory Lane. I giggled again and said sorry, I'm still trying to process this new info! Anyway, we tried on a few styles and I ended up with 3 I really liked. Not loved, because, well I still was in shock. L was great the entire time...I thanked her so much for her help and said thank you for making a not-so-fun chore a tiny bit fun for me! She really was fantastic.
$235 later I was on my way back down the escalator, headed into the main mall. (Yeah, I told you these bras are not cheap, eesh). I looked down at my shopping bag, new bras all nicely wrapped with tissue. And smiled.
Next it was off to Sephora - I was tempted to get a new mascara but then remembered I have a ton at home. Willpower, yes!
I walked past the Michael Kors store and realized I hadn't been in there in awhile. I really love his stuff and how this store is laid out. An SA approached me and he and I chatted for awhile, admiring shoes and bags (ahh, my favorites!) I wasn't really in the mood to purchase a bag given the $$ I just spent on my new bras, BUT I then suddenly remembered how everyone raves about Michael Kors perfume...and I've never tried it! So I asked R to show me the perfume. I tried a little spritz of it and LOVED it. I have no idea how to describe it but I am in love with it. Amazing.
R was waiting for a cash register so he could ring me up and we just chatted for awhile. He asked what I do for a living and I said I'm consulting at (name of company). Then I heard a somewhat loud woman's voice behind me:
"I THOUGHT that was you!!"
Do you know that moment when you turn around and see someone you think you recognize but aren't quite sure how to place it? I smiled and looked at the woman. Where do I know her from? Then she jumped in, "...building 110, remember? The cafeteria??" Aha, now I do! Too funny!
Back at my last work engagement, consultants did not get official, assigned workspaces. You could try squatting in empty cubicles but more often than not the routine was to either work at home (which I can't stand) or find a place in the cafeteria that's close to an electrical outlet. This also was a less than ideal setup - the chairs are not ergonomically correct for sitting for hours, and during the peak lunch hours it gets so noisy it's hard to concentrate. And don't even try to be on a conference call during those times - too much background noise. But I knew that would be the deal going into the gig so I wasn't too surprised when I had to give up my unofficial cubicle.
So I officially met D, my cafeteria colleague. She too has moved to another group on campus, and we had a blast reconnecting, sharing our common memory of the ol' cafeteria. We talked about networking and how important it is, especially in our line of work. She explained, while purchasing an incredible black leather bag, how she is a part of a group of women who meet periodically for professional networking. Sign me up! I handed her one of my Silpada business cards and she said oh...jewelry? We may need to REALLY chat soon now!
R, the SA, was very patient, waiting for D and me to finish our chat as he wrapped up my new perfume. He smiled, hearing us reconnect and all.
Will D and I stay in contact? I sure hope so - I really liked her personality and energy. And in just that short chat we seemed to have a lot in common.
I drove home, smiling. New haircut, new bras and a new colleague connection! That's the funny and cool thing about weekends...you never know what's gonna happen!
I'm really feeling the passion and energy from this new job now even more! The team is one of the most collaborative I have worked with in years, and I've just turned that mental corner where you "click" and REALLY jump into another layer of understanding of just what exactly we're going to do and when we want to get everything finished. This is a natural part of my ramp-up with new a consulting gig...I KNOW there's a ton of stuff to do but don't know the subject matter indepth...yet.
So I came home on Friday after a mentally fulfilling and yet exhausting week too. I was ready to relax, heat up some leftover pasta and just veg. But first, as I always do when I get home, I went upstairs to check email here in the home office. Rather than seeing my usual, soothing aquarium-themed screen saver, I saw IT. The loathed, despised...BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!
Duhn duhn duhnnnnnnnnnnn....or maybe wahn wahn wahnnnnn sad trombone sound. Pick your dramatic music of choice.
Thankfully I haven't seen a BSOD in years. I looked closer at this new screen booger, skimmed over a bunch of gobbledeegook and then this jumped out at me: Bad Pool Caller.
Now, I appreciate technology and all even though I'm no coding expert. A bad pool caller? Sounds like a crappy judge in a swim or dive meet. Flashbacks to our neighborhood pool when I was a kid - all those swimming and diving competitions.
So, after restarting the laptop and praying it boots up alright (whew, it does), I go online and search on this strange error. Turns out there's a ton of stuff out there about it. What's true and what's not? Well, the windowstalk blog seems to sum it up pretty well in plain English: "The 'bad pool caller' error is shown when Windows is not able to access the data-pool that it requires to run. The data pool is the technical term used to describe all the settings and options that your computer may require whenever it’s running, and as you may have guessed, it’s constantly being 'called' to help your computer run as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, there are many occasions where Windows will try and call a setting from the data pool, only to have it show an error."
What's one of the recommended fixes? Try using a registry cleaner. Hmmm...for years I did use one. I don't remember how I stumbled upon it, but I ran it every few days or so, it would call out errors and fix them and I'd pay my $30 subscription fee every year. And never had any problems or issues with it nor with this laptop in general come to think of it.
But a couple of months ago I got hit with a bad computer virus, which took over 4 hours of phone time with Dell to troubleshoot and clean. Viruses suck. And there's no way to tell when or how your computer got infected. I learned that viruses can lie dormant for long periods of time and then suddenly spring to life. Hell, when you're on the phone with a tech all those hours you might as well ask and learn.
Part of that troubleshooting was to remove any sort of accessory type thingy. The tech was convinced my registry cleaner, among other things, was no good so I agreed to have him removed it (over the phone remote connectivity stuff is pretty cool). We removed pretty much everything...he even was convinced my Google Desktop search agent had been downloaded from an unauthorized source. So I felt like I was getting a mega computer antibiotic that cleared out the good stuff as well as the bad. Bottom line, no more virus.
And (but?) now, this blue screen. Anyway I poked around and found a different registry cleaner to try. And it seems to have good reviews. Do I dare dive into this again?
I signed up with it for a year. A tad reluctant, but also a little relieved that this might just be one way to bandaid any problems with this ancient laptop before I pull the trigger on a new one. Why reluctant? Yeah, well, earlier this year I had to cancel my debit card because I thought it might have been compromised online. Better safe than sorry, so I got a new one issued. I used a credit card I hardly ever use for this new registry cleaning program, so if for some reason it's a problem they don't have my bank account number.
So, after a few 'cleans,' no more blue screens and we *seem* to be alright. Dodged a boulder...maybe.
I also got some great girl-time in this weekend too...nothing is both more energizing and relaxing to me all at the same time. Love it. L and I went on a long-overdue walk around our neighborhood to reconnect yesterday. I'm feeling a little sore today too which is a good sign! And I drove down to S's place this afternoon for a mini spa and facial party.
Most of you who tune in here regularly probably know I'm a makeup junkie. I have zero brand loyalty...I do have my favorites but will try just about anything meanwhile.
At S's party we had fun playing around with a product line she represents - Artistry. It's part of Amway Global. Yes, Amway Global! Surprised they have a makeup line? Don't be...and it's top notch stuff. We had fun pampering ourselves with some cleansing and exfoliating products, hot towels and all. Sipping on wine and enjoying fabulous munchies meanwhile.
After we did our mini facials we played with makeup and got matched for our colors in foundations and tinted moisturizers. WOW, I'm very impressed with the foundation S recommended for me and can't wait to get it! I've tried just about every brand out there over 30+ years and this one really did a great job evening out my ruddiness and giving good overall coverage without being too cakey or grippy. Even now it still looks fresh after a few hours...with no primer underneath (I swear by primer, always). Nice. I also love how it comes in a pump-style dispenser...much more sanitary than a jar and lid.
I also fell in love with the light-up lip gloss. This is stuff of genius...a lipgloss that has a small mirror on one side of the tube, and tiny lights that light up at the base of the wand when you pull it out. So, you can easily touch up your lips and do the good ol' teeth check in the tiny mirror...love it!
Rounding out my mini-haul today...a green tea-scented lotion and body wash (two huge containers for just $15 total? Unreal.) and a liquid facial cleanser I tried out today. While I'm picky about skincare, I am open to trying just about anything that is not too drying and not overly-scented. This cleanser has a very light outdoorsy and citrusy scent...so subtle it's hard to pin down...perfect in my book.
Four great products for $95 including shipping and tax? Oh yeahhhh...
And we're going on almost 72 hours here with no BSOD. Yep it's a great weekend alright.
I just realized the ol' fivenineteen here turned two back on the 14th! Wow! I made a much bigger deal about the first birthday last year. This year, sadly, I didn't even realize I missed it till the 15th. Oops!
But OK, OK, no biggy. I guess that's a good sign that this blog is pretty much a given, essential part of my lifestyle. At least for now. What started out as me sitting here, unemployed and bored, with a "no idea what's going to happen...and I like that" opening post of sorts in 2009 has sprouted into over 130 weekly musings/ramblings. Thank you all who tune in here regularly and those who stumble in by accident. They always say, oh, when you start a blog you should have a theme. I said hell with that and just plunged right in. So, here we are - pretty dang eclectic!
I slept in until (gulp) 11am this morning. That's even late for me. Ugh, I've been in a sort of half-fog tired state this past week. We've got some bad colds going around the office and I am trying HARD not to catch anything. Guess it's the change in the weather and kids going back to school. New germs everywhere. OK, so if sleep is the best medicine for me, then we'll go with it.
Yep...change in weather from crappy summer to early fall. Just like that - my furnace has been kicking on in the morning recently, and my usual routine of opening the windows for fresh air here upstairs every day first thing is going to get shelved pretty soon. A little chilly! And where are my slippers?
This "summer" reminds me a little of I think it was...errr...2008. That summer was also pretty much a bust save for a week or two. That was the also the year we had snow in mid April and everything was all weird and freaky.
So while I do like the fall season, it's just hard to welcome it when summer wasn't much different save for a couple of weeks in August. And this past week was glorious too. I'm glad I was out on the coast for the 4th of July weekend, as it was beautiful and sunny out there while I hear it was all rainy and cold here at home! Wow.
And I think about projects and stuff in the works...our townhouse complex is going to replace our garage doors with new, insultated ones. Our living rooms are each right over our garages and we think - hope - we can save on our power bills by doing this. Too funny how I am all excited about this - woohooo...new garage doors!
I'm also in the market for a new laptop. This one is 5 years old and really showing its age. It needs more RAM but I am not even sure it's worth investing more money into it. Don't laugh but I'm still on Windows XP and Office 2003 on this laptop, so it's a Time Warp every time I shut down my work laptop and get home here to this one. Back in the day this thing was super duper, and now it's just meh. And it's running slow and not 100% reliable. I thought it might be due to a virus or spyware (had a BIG virus epi back in July - yuck) so I ran some scanning programs and found just a few things. But still, this puppy is slow.
I've also agreed to take on some additional consulting work for my friend/colleague A who launched a business. I did some part time pro bono work for him when I was unemployed the first part of 2010 - just 5-10 hours a week. Fast forward a year and change and he actually landed some business with a local power company here, and it's been small enough to where he is just doing the work himself instead of hiring someone. BUT, funny how life twists, he got hired on with another company and has to move cross country. Next month! So he needs someone to finish up the work, which can mostly be done outside of working hours. He says it's 5-10 hours a month at the most and will wrap up at the end of December. Am I insane to say yes? 'Cause I did. The hourly pay rate is extremely appealing and the work is no conflict of interest with what I'm currently doing.
This will be good discipline for me to keep saving money, as it's 1099-type work so I will need to sort out the tax stuff next year. But a little extra cashola is fine by me - I have a lot of rebuilding still to do for being out of work so long.
What does Fall also mean? Hockey season! And it starts tonight with an exhibition game. I have not skated since June so this is going to be hysterical.
Welcome, Fall!
For the first 34 years of my life, September 11th was just any old ho-hum day. No family birthdays, no wedding anniversaries, nothing real significant in my world...it was just a day that wove into the typical back-to-school or back-to-work-in-earnest-because-the-Labor-Day-holiday-is-done kind of rhythms.
It was simply just A Day. Now for ten years and forever it will be a Day Everyone Knows. A huge wound trying to slowly heal itself and rebuild but forever scarred no matter how we try to think otherwise.
I'm stunned that today is the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. It is a beautiful, clear morning here - just like it was that morning in New York City. I've been kind of weirdly looking forward to this day only to just get through it if that makes sense...a sort of 'self duty' I have to write about it, and even moreso that my typical Sunday Blog Day falls on the anniversary.
So here I am, swirled in memories not only of that horrible day but the 2001 I knew prior. Some memories are a little fuzzy - maybe by design as my mind moved through the decade and replaced them with others, but I could pretty much sum it up into one word: INNOCENT.
My God, how innocent and quaint the world was prior...at least in my own little world. Remember when you were a kid (maybe you do) when you could just go to the airport with your family, sit in a terminal and just watch planes take off and land for fun? When I was getting ready to fly to Florida in 1997 to catch a cruise to the Caribbean...and I forgot I had a huge pair of scissors from my office in my purse (no idea why)? And the security agent looked at them but let me put them back in my purse before boarding the plane? Dear Lord how things have changed!
Early 2001 started for me out of the country...in Vancouver, BC. OK, OK, I remember now. See, for those of us who worked in IT-related fields over Y2K, that New Years was spent working pretty much the entire day and into the wee hours. No vacations or partying allowed. I toasted 2000 with a bunch of co-workers and a carload of lasagnes we picked up from Olive Garden earlier that evening, washed down with a little sparkling cider.
So. The calendar flip from 2000 to 2001 meant Time to Party, making up for the working New Years prior. I started dating a guy, D, around summer of 2000. He and I met during a huge technology deployment project and while I was not fond in theory of dating co-workers, this project was so huge and he and I really didn't cross paths too much. We didn't even work in the same building or same department. So we kept it discreet, people knew, but didn't give us a hard time about it - well, not terribly hard. In a word, it worked because we kept things professional. And wow, we were really in love.
We got pretty ripped that night in Vancouver, enjoying dinner and doing a couple of bar hops around Robson street. Cabs were working hard that night! And New Years Day was sunny and glorious...we took the tram up Grouse Mountain not to ski, but to just walk in the snow and enjoy the beautiful view looking back down on the city. Gorgeous.
I remember the random Monoliths that a group in Seattle had planted around the city...a funny prank. I remember the Mardi Gras riot in Pioneer Square...and the 6.8 earthquake we suffered the very next morning. UGH what a horrible 48 hours for us.
Probably my favorite memory of 2001 was the two weeks I traveled through Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. Ah, the time one could take a (PAID) two-week vacation...that DOES seem innocent. I traveled with a group from my church - we were touring to share our music! We had a choir and a handbell group...I'd been in the handbell group for many years and was so thrilled to take this trip. If you haven't traveled yet with a group of 70 people and lots of equipment, I highly recommend it. It can be grueling at times, but the bonding and friendships last forever.
We got back in the states in mid July. Ah yes, that's right! We celebrated the 4th of July that year at a pub in Varazdin, Croatia. A little surreal being out of the country on that holiday, in a place where people have no reason to care that it's July 4th. When I got back home, other than fighting off the jet lag I was wondering if I would have a job to come back to...our company was re-organizing and there were a lot of uncertainties and rumors flying around.
I ended up moving to a different department on our team and immersed myself back into the swing. I was not particularly looking forward to having direct reports again, but the group was well established and in good standing so there was nothing majorly broken. Or maybe that's the fuzzy part of my memories.
D and I had been going through some struggles in our relationship. We'd been together about a year by now. He'd been working a lot and we were just, well, struggling. He'd always given me a hard time on whether I truly didn't want to have kids or not. He was ten years older than I with an 11 year old daughter and made it perfectly clear he did not want any more kids. So clear that he took the steps to ensure that if you know what I mean. I was 34 and knew deep down I didn't want to have kids, even though a teeny part of me was still kind of wondering...what if I really did? I think he sensed that...he kept bringing it up ALL the time and we'd argue. Looking back on it now, I think he was worried that if we were to be together long-term, well, if I changed my mind down the road then I would resent him? And then leave? I guess in a twisted way he wanted to make sure I was happy. But I wasn't in how he handled it. I was kept arms distance from his daughter too - I rarely got to see her...I wanted to get to know her because she was well, his family and part of him. Wow, I haven't thought about that in a long time...hence my ramble.
And oh that first part of September...I remember driving him to jail. Yes, jail. Now more is flooding back. Earlier in the spring he'd been out drinking with a buddy of his and swerved getting off a freeway exit ramp - and got pulled over. And failed sobriety tests. I remember the night he told me what happened and I just fell to the floor emotionally, but immediately gave him a hug. What the hell already?
Now, if you have to drive your boyfriend to serve two days in jail, be glad it's a small county jail in a very rural part of the state (rather than downtown). That's where he had his little, uhhhh, incident. The whole thing was so surreal...and those were two of the longest days of my life. He couldn't have any phone or email contact with me, obviously. I had to call the jail two days later to confirm he was going to be released so I could make the hour and a half drive north to come get him. SURREAL.
Somewhere in all this mess we agreed to just stay together 24/7 and try to work things out. Plus he had a suspended driver's license so yours truly was the chauffeur.
Lots of those days after bringing him home from jail are a little blurry, but one night I will never forget. We were watching TV...Larry King Live. One of the last news stories was about an old Air Force One 707 that was being retired. Seriously...it was a total snoozer of a story and we both looked at eachother and said WOW, they're really must not be a lot of news going on right now! We even went to sleep that night giggling about it.
That night? Monday September 10th.
The next morning my alarm went off around 6:30am or so. I had it set to my favorite radio station at the time but I remember immediately shutting it off and getting in the shower. D was still fast asleep.
After my shower I turned on the radio again. The first words I hear are the DJ saying "...yes, yes, we're getting your phone calls. We know one of the World Trade Center towers has just collapsed." I thought I was completely losing my mind.
I ran down the hall and turned on CNN. That was the very first thing I saw on TV...one of the towers was gone and the other was on fire. And I had no fucking clue why. I screamed for D to get in here right now! We were both so sleepy still and couldn't believe it. We just sat on my living room couch, dumbfounded. THEN we saw the replay of the 2nd plane hitting a tower and we just gasped.
For all the thousands of times everyone has seen that horrific moment, I don't think any of us will forget when we saw it first. And keep in mind here on the west coast we are three hours behind, so a lot had already happened that we simply didn't know about, except for the real early-risers.
Then we learned the planes were hijacked. My stomach dropped. One of my brothers was a flight attendant with American, based at La Guardia at the time. Could not reach him. I had two cousins in college at Columbia...was everyone OK??
The TV was focused on the one remaining tower. I'm pretty sure the whole world was by now too. And then, in seconds, it collapsed. That was the only thing D and I saw live on TV. I remember feeling like I was going to throw up. What does this mean? Who would do this? All those people still in the towers...how many thousands and thousands are there? In the streets? In those planes? Are we going to be attacked next?
My mind raced and whirred. The Pentagon was attacked too...and there was a plane crash in Pennsylvania (which we we learned later was Flight 93, probably intended for the White House). I remember calling my folks and my Mom answered the phone. I said "are you watching TV??" She said yes...and I sort of yelled "OMG, where is M?" (my brother). She didn't know. And my Dad was up in rural BC on a fishing trip...
Somehow D and I drove into work, in a daze. Everyone at work was either zoned out, panicked trying to locate family members or crowded around the TVs in our lobby. I don't think much got done that day. I remember just trying to infuse some sense of normal routine into a day that was anything but. We sat at our computers but mostly surfed news channels, tried to track down our family and friends, tell people we loved them.
After the shock there was fear. D and I spent that night of the 11th at his house. I didn't sleep well for several nights. I was panicked, worried that there would be more attacks in other cities. Thank God my brother was off that day and home in New Jersey, by the way. Waiting to find that out seemed like eternity.
I did some journaling in the days following. And I wish I knew where that writing is...it is probably on an old computer I don't have any more. Too bad, for the writing there is a lot more raw. Funny how a decade smooths our raw edges out.
I remember speaking with my friend J...and you know what immediately popped into each of our heads about that day (along with so many other thoughts)? She and I went on a Caribbean cruise in the spring of 2000. We'd flown to Newark on a red eye before catching a connecting flight to Ft. Lauderdale. I remember arriving with her in Newark, bleary after an all night flight and walking to our connecting gate. There, out the window was a beautiful sunrise...and the Twin Towers glowing as we looked across the river. How I regret I never had an opportunity to visit the WTC. And I'll never, ever forget that image in my mind of them.
The rest of 2001 played itself out grimly...what started out as a great year save for an earthquake plunged me into sadness. What was the world going to be like NOW? Will we ever find time for humor, laughter? There sure wasn't much to smile about.
The year fizzled out horribly. My grandmother passed away that November after a long battle with Alzheimer's, just two days prior to my Mom's 60th birthday.
And D and me? Well, we gave it a go for awhile but we couldn't get through many hurdles in that relationship. I broke up with him...New Years Eve to be exact. A year prior we were celebrating in Vancouver. And now, too many walls up. We were sitting on the couch, supposed to go out for dinner, but we knew it was ending and that that dinner would never happen.
It didn't. He left and I sat again on the couch, sad and in shock. Just like when he and I watched the 9/11 footage in horror together. So while our relationship didn't work out, he is seered in my mind forever, mostly for that reason. They say you'll never forget where you were or what you were doing if you were old enough.
So when people ask me where I was, I start off with this: "I was in my apartment at the time with my boyfriend at the time..."
10 years. Wow. Blessings to all who lost loved ones that day.
I'm in one of those moods where I am feeling both a little anxious and yet blissfully, almost gluttonously relaxed. Here we are on a long Labor Day weekend and it is absolutely beyond gorgeous outside. It's sunny and the air is thick and hot with hardly any breeze. Not a humid thick, though. It's that warm, gentle reminder that Fall is right around the corner. And even in the heat the shadows are a tad long as we're well past the Solstice. So I don't dare bitch at all about the heat. After all, this summer was a total bust save for maybe one week in August. In the Pacific Northwest we appreciate and savor our sunny days, for we know the clouds and drizzle are just a few months away. We pay a price for it being so green here.
I grasp hard at August, kicking and screaming as she wraps up. There's something about those last few days before September kicks in that make me feel a little whiney and cranky. I don't WANT it to be September! Maybe it's that deeply ingrained childhood memory of the end of summer vacation. Yuck, I didn't WANT to go back to school. But of course once I did it was great...mostly.
So it's a staycation holiday weekend for me...no worries there. Just getting totally random things done and also, just relaxing. I decided to get into the 21st century even more for real and switched my landline over to my Comcast internet and cable package. I found out I could bundle my phone service in with my cable and internet and pay less than I was paying for my current Comcast services (huh? wow) AND save the $55 a month I was paying for my old school landline. AND keep my same landline number. AND get a DVR for my TV. What's not to love about this? I weighed the pros and cons...when the power's out or when Comcast is down I'll be screwed but then again, how often does that happen? I have a super old school curly cord phone in my bedroom with the ringer turned off - I have it for emergencies and have two other cordless phones here in the townhouse. When we had a two-week power outage back in late 2006 that old school landline saved me. Cell phone towers were knocked out and we were pretty much brought to our knees, crippled with minimal if any communication. I've been reluctant to cut the cord on my landline because of that, but then remember that that was a freak once-in-a-lifetime storm.
So yesterday two Comcast dudes show up and within an hour, voila. I have a new, higher speed modem for my internet (which now hosts my landline phones too) AND a DVR for my TV. Don't laugh...I still haven't converted to a flat screen TV yet. I will. My old curly cord phone is now as useful as last week's newspaper so away she goes.
They explained how the initial upload and refresh of the TV channels can take awhile which seemed reasonable to me. They showed me how to set up my voicemail for my new landline service - all good. I was very impressed with how helpful they both were. And they even showed up a little earlier than my appointment timeframe. Nice!
Guess it was too good to be true. I waited a little while before playing around with the TV. When I did, my remote was pretty much useless. Did the batteries die? Nope. I could adjust the TV volume and mute the sound with it, but could not change channels nor get to the channel lineup guide. Stuck! God, help me...my TV's stuck on the E! channel and just my luck it's a Keeping up with the Kardashians marathon. I can only stomach that scripted reality TV crap (krap?) for a few minutes at a time.
So Comcast rebooted my TV and cable box remotely. All's well...or was. Within an hour it froze up again...and Comcast had to reboot it remotely for the second time. After that everything was fine for the rest of the evening. As I was heading to bed I realized I'd forgotten to try the DVR out but I figured I would do that today.
I woke up this morning and decided to play around with the TV more before heading out to meet my good friend J for brunch. UGH. This time the TV turned on just fine...and then 5 minutes later the cable box rebooted...on its own. It's possessed or something. HELP!
Comcast is sending out a crew to swap out my cable box this afternoon. I was pleasantly shocked that they could do a same-day service, especially here on a Sunday, but I'll take it. It's the least they can do to make this right.
And yet, it's just TV. Sure I want it working right as it should, but I'm not going to get overly upset about it. Now if it was Stanley Cup Finals or something that would be a different story. Just trying to keep perspective...
...meaning it was a tough week these past few days. My Dad's cousin J passed away suddenly from a heart attack. The next day my co-worker L's Dad passed away after a long battle with Parkinson's and dementia. And the day after that my friend T was hit on her morning commute into work...her car got rear-ended on the freeway by someone who wasn't paying attention and she's still feeling the after effects, though thankfully not severely injured.
I was talking about this with J this morning over lots of coffee and a nice bacon and cheese omelette. Yum, I may not even need dinner I'm so full. She agrees, yes, it's all about perspective. Sometimes it's hard to find that discipline within. I guess it's ongoing Life Work.
We walked around the shops near where we had brunch...wonderful little boutiquey specialty stores full of everything from art to home accessories (my weakness) and crafts like rubber stamping and beading. No patience here for either of those but it's fun to look.
And we ended up in a fantastic shop we both love to visit. It has tons of candles and aromatherapy things (oils, humidifiers)...and lots of stones and crystals. I LOVE the chunk of Celestite I purchased there nearly a couple of years ago - it's right next to me here by the good ol' laptop.
Once again, something pretty much leaped off the shelf into my arms. Labradorite. The picture in my post here is of a polished sphere...my chunk is, well, wonderfully imperfect...half of it is polished and the other is rough. Deliciously asymmetrical and hunky. I love the greens and greys. I asked the woman in the store to tell me a little about it. "It's a magic stone," she explained. She pulled out a huge, well-worn book and turned to the page. "Helps one remain calm within chaos." Ahhhh, sounds good to me. Here's more .
So my new Labradorite holds a tea light or votive too. Love it. And the woman who works there is so nice...she is very gentle, knowlegeable and grandmotherly and reminds me a little of a therapist I used to see about 10 years ago.
I'm not yet sure where to put this new beauty, but I think I'll keep it near the TV and DVR for now.
After all, it couldn't hurt.
Whew! The 3rd time IS a charm. After being too tired or too rained out for two other 5Ks this spring/summer, I finally got one under my belt this year!
OK, yeah...I didn't RUN it, but it still counts right?
This was my second time volunteering in the annual Alki Beach 5K Walk & Run, which benefits Northwest Hope and Healing. Northwest Hope and Healing is a non-profit organization which provides emergency financial assistance for women who are undergoing breast cancer treatment at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle. Assistance with basic living expenses like rent, childcare and groceries.
And wow that was a lot of hyperlinking in that last paragraph. But really good stuff - please check it out.
So, how do you volunteer at a 5K? Well, the way I did today was one of the easiest jobs ever - walk the course at the very end, to help let the police and others know that they could start re-opening the roads again. That's it!
There are a ton of both new and old memories woven into this event...starting with the neighborhood. Alki Beach is in West Seattle, and there's a ton of family history here on my Dad's side of the family. My grandfather grew up in West Seattle in the 1920s. He and my grandmother later raised my Dad and Uncle in this same neighborhood. I have enormously fond memories as a kid of the long drive from my house growing up in the suburbs over to West Seattle for Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Countless, joyful times.
And the newer memories are from my dear friend P, who inspired me to start training to run 5Ks a couple of years ago. She and I used to work together and I'm so glad we still keep in touch despite super busy schedules. P's both run and volunteered in this 5K before, and I was so happy she asked me to join her again this year.
What can I say...this just FEELS good all around. And it's a nice change of pace getting out of the suburbs and into a wonderful, older neighborhood in the city, right on the salt water of Puget Sound.
OK, getting up super early on a Sunday morning is not my favorite thing to do, but once I got up, got dressed and on my way to meet P for our carpool, I was smiling. P showed up with S, an exchange student from Japan who is staying with a friend of P's while attending college here. S was a good sport - I wasn't sure if she knew entirely what this event was going to be all about but I admired her spunk and enthusiasm. And her English was pretty good too! Far better than my Japanese for sure, ha.
We arrived at Alki Beach around 8am. Damn, that fog was thick but thankfully it was not as chilly as it was last year. I remember borrowing knit running gloves from P at the last minute! And also having to put our t-shirts on over our jackets! This year it was not cold, but that fog didn't burn of AT ALL.
Yep, that's Yours Truly in this week's picture - that's a fivenineteen first, everyone. Had it not been so foggy there would have been a spectacular view of the Seattle skyline behind me. Believe me. P and I were so bummed because we really wanted S (the exchange student) to experience the view. But the darn fog never burned off.
The one challenging thing about walking at the tail end of a 5K is, well, keeping your pace just right. You don't want to 'hover' too close behind the last group of walkers. And, you want to make sure you start walking truly after everyone else has started. With about 1200 people participating we had to wait several minutes before we could take to the street and start.
This race goes up and down Alki Avenue - a very flat, fast course. At the halfway point the course does a 180 turn and heads back down the street, finishing at the same place we started. Even though I was walking at a very slow pace with P and S, I was looking forward to a quick gulp of water at the water stop. NOPE. No water stop at the turn around point this year! If I had been running this race I would have been extremely pissed. Yikes.
Other than a few late stragglers we had to corral (how in the hell do you show up over one hour late for a 5K? Baffling.) the three of us had a very nice, relaxing stroll. And we even finished in around 1 hour 15 minutes. MUCH faster than last year. Feels kinda cool walking over the finishing line and hearing the emcee announce, "...and our last walkers have just crossed the finish line...". Meanwhile we didn't even break a sweat.
So although the fog kept its iron-clad grip on the neighborhood (hence my 'cotton ball' post title today), we had a wonderful morning volunteering.
And on the drive back to the suburbs? Glorious sunshine. Even Mount Baker was out. Too funny how socked in Alki was.
Now it's time for a nap. Until next week, everyone!
