Somebody really hates me.

Do you ever feel if somebody hates or dislikes you?

One of our curling friends, Melissa always has her camera (much like myself). However, I'm not quite sure I've ever seen sooooo many unflattering pictures of myself . Posted online.

Of course, if it wasn't for these unflattering pictures over the last year, I would not have realized: my bad posture, the bald spot on the back of my head, and how fat I am getting. Sigh. Does getting old have any good points?

The first two photos are with my husband Jeremy. They are the best photos that I've stumbled upon that she's snagged of me. The others are just... bleah. And to think, I felt that I was having a 'cute' day.

Raccoons in the afternoon.

It was almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon today, when I started to pull into our driveway. I was surprised by seeing two furry animals run under our neighbors bush. I stopped and continued to watch. Turns out it was not two, but THREE masked bandits.

I rolled down my window and hollered at my husband. He also watched them for a few moments. I parked my car, and attempted to get a little closer. Not CLOSE mind you. Darn these iPhones for not having a zoom function.

Oh well.

Because there are no raccoon photos, I am including a couple of photos from a trip to the dog park last Saturday.

A most excellent weekend.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a lot of fun.

Friday evening, I left work to go to the Redhook brewery. I celebrated my friend Alex's leaving AT&T party. I almost can't believe they treated him so poorly, after having put in 10 years of service.

I was able to see Steve J, Rob T, Rani, Glenn P, and Alex. I haven't seen some of them in years. It was fun being nostalgic, and talking about the good old days. To this day, it still ranks in my favorite group of people to have worked with.

Saturday evening we went to Jeff W's (a fellow curler) birthday party. It was also good fun. We saw Joe and Mary Alice, Melissa, Chris, Scott and Lisa, and more. Jeff's wife Mijung cooked up lots of tasty kalbi. I played poorly on the Wii ski jump game, but did enjoy learning how to Wii Curl.

Old photos, report cards, awards, and ribbons!

I went to dim sum with my mom, grandmother, two aunts, uncle and cousin today. As always, it was very tasty. Nom nom nom.

When I went back to my mother's house afterwards, she saddled me with all of my old school photos, report cards, and awards. I have track photos dating from 4th grade. Report cards from junior high. A few drawings of people.

The most intriguing is a fun letter from a Michael P Sweet. I cannot remember if it was from junior high or high school, but it is very entertaining to read. It talks about cockroaches, has a code to write back in, and some drawings. The edges of the paper have bite marks on it. Very creative. I wonder where he went to.....

Anyways, when I get a chance, I will scan some of the photos in, and you can laugh at my permed hair and ballet photos.

The Red Elvises

I didn't get a lot accomplished after I purchased my new iPhone. If last year's release was the bar to go by, this year's iPhone release rated a negative 10. What a miserable experience.

The biggest problem this year was they were forcing the activations in the store, instead of being able to buy the phone and activate it online at home. A 5 minute purchase therefore turned into a 20 minute plus ordeal. And that is if you already had an account.

The Bellevue Square Apple store made bad decisions. AT&T's system went down Friday night. They gave out 60 vouchers, unbeknownst to those of us who went to wait in line at 6 am. Jeremy and I had gotten there early and were in spots 9 and 10. Well, as the morning went on, we were told that the people who had received vouchers would get priority. The problem with this, is the voucher people were not given a set time to be at the Apple store. Jeremy and I made it to number two in line, and then 30 people with vouchers showed up at random times. We would think finally, all the voucher people were done. Next thing you know, three more people would show up.

Additionally, five hours after we showed up, we were told if you were on a corporate or business account, the Apple store would not be able to activate you, and that you had to go to the AT&T Wireless store. I went to look at the AT&T Wireless store - they only had a total of 60 16 gig iPhones. There were 62 people in front of me. I decided to call in to AT&T Wireless to have them remove my corporate fan. I've worked there before, years and years ago. I know its not a big deal to remove it. It became a big deal, and I finally had to have my friend Jason call in and walk them through it, as he had worked there more recently than I, and still knew how to walk them through.

I believe that because of that, our activations were able to go through. Yay.

Jeremy and I returned home. Synched up our phones to our computer. Played with them for a few minutes. Then we both passed out due to a lack of sleep. I took a nice 2 hour nap. I would have liked a longer nap, but I needed to get ready to see the Red Elvises at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard.

This is the 2nd time I have seen the Red Elvises. They are solid performers. I was entertained just as much as I had been the first time. They have an odd collection of followers. There were the alternatively dressed people. Skimpy clothes, lots and lots of tattoos, lots of piercings. There were the freakishly tall geeks (Those of you that are 6 ' 11 - sorry, you just don't get to stand in the front of the stage!). There were some crazy old people as well.

I went with Marisa, her cousin John, and my friend Maya. There were definitely some good times had last evening.

I need to get moving. Jeremy is biking to Ballard with a friend, and I am picking him up!

Tonight's scotch party was a success!

Today was an interesting day. The new iPhone launched. Jeremy did not manage to obtain one. He went to the AT&T store at Bellevue Square. The AT&T store ran out of the 16 gig model, and Jeremy chose not to go to the really long line at the Apple store.

Around 11:45 AM, during my lunch, I walked by to see how the line was. The line was still disgustingly long. I continued on my way and purchased 3 shirts at Nordstrom. After I tried them on at home, I have decided I like 2 of the 3 shirts. Jeremy does not like one of the shirts that I really like.

This evening we had our heavily anticipated Scotch party. Chris O, Mary Alice and Joe B, Dani and Bob T, and Darryl and his wife Lisa attended. Jeremy and I were able to taste a few scotches that we had not previously had before. Mary Alice and Joe very generously brought and left a bottle of Erde..(?)

Jeremy is currently sobering up. Tomorrow we will make a trip to the Apple store for new iPhones. We were also invited to go to the Tivoli celebration in Ballard. Jeremy will most likely go, but I will be at home. Tomorrow my friend Maya will be joining Marisa and I at the Tractor Tavern to see the Red Elvises!

Movies and Books

We haven't been out to the theater in ages. For the most part, there really hasn't been any movies out there that have struck my fancy.

In the last two months, these are the movies that I have seen on DVD (that I haven't seen previously): Jumper, Akeelah and the Bee, and Enchanted. Enchanted was as cute as you would have expected from Disney. Akeelah and the Bee was awesome. It made me want to dig out a dictionary and study words such as synecdoche. Jumper was disappointing after having seen the trailer. I gave up halfway through the movie. My husband enjoyed watching it. Hayden Christianson was a much better actor in this movie than in the Star Wars series.

I have a large amount of books hat I have checked out from the library. My favorite fiction book that I just finished was Eclipse, by Stephanie Meyer. It is a teenage fiction book, that is number three in the series. Breaking Dawn, the next book in the series is coming out in August. The movie Twilight, which is based on the first book is also coming out in August. I may drag myself out to the theater to see this movie.

Other books from the library include : How to Play a Bridge Hand, Curling for Dummies (there are some great exercises for getting into shape), Journal Revolution, Sweater Surgery, Last-Minute Fabric Gifts, and Sewing Packs, Pouches, Seats & Sacks. Who knew that the library would get them to me so fast?! I've really enjoyed the Journal Revolution book so far.

I just checked out fellow artfester Kim's blog, and see that Kim, Ellen, and Lani are starting a round robin journal. I've had various journal ideas rolling around in my head for the last couple of weeks. Hopefully this twinge of jealousy will get me off my butt, and to finally start working on it!

It feels like a Sunday.

It is 4:38 pm on Sunday afternoon.

This morning I went with the hubby to a woodcrafting store in the Georgetown area. Afterwards, we went to get coffee at the Queen Anne Cafe Ladro, where we saw Elizabeth. Elizabeth worked at Cafe Ladro before I had met Jeremy. She is now a teacher of K - 3 on the Eastside.

After coffee, we went to the Barking Dog for lunch. While we waited for the restaurant to open, we walked around the neighborhood, scoping out houses. Finished with dinner, we drove back roads to Edmonds, and bought some cheese from the Cheesemonger.

I have since gone to the grocery store to get food for dinner, started a load of laundry, washed dishes, mowed the lawn, and weeded for an hour or so. Lots more time left in my Sunday.

Still exhausted

I haven't done much since we ate dinner tonight. Jeremy grilled some bratwurst, and I steamed some broccoli.

Zzzzz. No idea why I am so exhausted.

Due to a lack of anything interesting , here are a couple of entertaining photos that I took with my iPhone. I took these when I went to get some more dog food for Gravity last week.

Quiet fourth of July.

I had a quiet fourth of July this year. My friend Jason came over and we watched a little television. My husband went to his relatives, played some softball, drank some beer, and camped overnight.

I need to go to the gym and walk Gravity, but I just don't feel motivated to do anything. I had 7 hours of sleep last night, snuck in a 15 minute nap, and I still feel wiped out.

I've been weeding through my collection of magazines, so I can sell some of them on Ebay or Craigslist. Anything else will go to Half Price books. I've got some Somerset Studio magazines and a few Art & Life/The Studio magazines that I'm willing to part with. I did check Ebay earlier. It does not seem like people are bidding on them like they have in the past. *sigh*

Cleaning out the craft (crap) room is always a daunting task. One bookshelf is clean. Only the rest of the room to go.

O, Canada!

The hubby and I celebrated Canada Day at a fellow curlers barbecue last Sunday. There were burgers, hotdogs, and freezies to eat.

There was also badminton, croquet, and bocce ball to play. I enjoyed playing a few sets of badminton and then walking through the sprinkler to cool off.