Coming home with 2 sets of crystal!!!

Team Galey : Sam Galey, Steve Galey, Jeremy Dinsel, and Cyndy Eng-Dinsel took 1st place in the Friday night league. First draw we had Beth C sub for Jeremy, and Matt T sub for Steve G. It was a close game going into the 8th end, but Team Galey beat out Team Vukich. We shook after two ends in the second draw.

In our Sunday novice, our team took first place in the novice hotshots competition. We scored 108 points, with the runner up scoring 90 points.

I've included a photo of our Friday night team.

Curling for crystal!

In just a couple of hours, I will be curling against the team that is sitting in second place. Our skip will be out. He's a high school senior who has a baseball game tonight. Apparently he is their ace pitcher. My husband is out, his ankle is still sore.
I'm excited. I hope to win. 1st and 2nd place will receive crystal.

Artfest is just around the corner. I'm busy trying to get the last of my things together and some stuff for the art asylum. I have a nice big box full of things for people to use.

Well, off to finish getting ready for the game.

82 Owls created!

82 owls, 1 tree, 1 gremlin, and 2 mutant bears are complete. Artfest is 2 weeks away. The anticipation is there. The Artfest group is full of newbie posts. Everyone is excited. Tick tick tick.

Thankfully, I have curling to distract me. I still ache all over from this weekend. I bailed on last nights game, and subbing for today. I will have a game tomorrow and Friday. Thursday I will go to the club, because they are having a meeting to see which ladies are interested in curling competitively. Saturday I am helping at an open house from 10 am to 2:30 pm, and that evening I will be going to Jeff and MJ's Stag and Doe party.

So the anticipation is dulled by the sadness of the curling season coming to the end. There is still a little stress lying about, trying to get a few more trades done. I think I will switch to making owl ATCs. Of course, there is also time to make some during the evening hours at Art Asylum as well. I hope my cough goes away before Artfest....

All American USWCA Bonspiel is over!!!

The All American USWCA Bonspiel is over. The team that I played on, Team Vukich took 1st place. Sharon Vukich was skip, Erin from the Evergreen curling club in Oregon played 3rd, I played 2nd, and Pam Bisenthal from Vacaville in CA played lead. It was especially challenging for Pam and Erin, as they are used to playing on arena ice.

Our first two games were won 10 -5 and 10 - 2, in which we shook early. Our last game was close. We were ahead by one in the 10th end, and the opposing team drew in for one and tied it. We had hammer, and they were sitting one with our last rock. Sharon made an incredible shot, and we nudge them out for the win and first place. I am now a proud owner of one of the coveted USWCA pins. Huzzah!

Army of Owls

Almost over the flu. What a nasty bug. I'm beginning to think I caught it during the 5 and Under Spiel when I saw and chatted with Wayne and his son Sasha. 6 days of sleeping, 4 days of somewhat normalcy, and I STILL have a lingering cough.

Today was my first day back curling. With 3 player, Eric, Jeremy, and myself, we beat Katie's team 12 to 5. It was an entertaining game, with Alberto decked out in a squirrel costume originally made for a 12 year old girl. He was testing it out for the April Spiel that is coming up.

Its crazy busy, with more craziness coming up. All of my weekends are booked in April. 2 weddings, wedding-like events, and Artfest. I am in full panic mode, trying to get trades ready. Unfortunately making stuffed animals takes quite a bit of time, even those as simple as my owls. I've got around 55 made, and had been hoping to have around 100. Not sure I'm going to get to my 100 mark before April 1st.

Tired. Exhausted. Sick?

Well, this morning I woke up with a half cough. I spent most of the time with my eyes glazed over. I took a nap in my car during my lunch. I got home around 3:30 and slept until 6. I'm getting ready to hit the sack.

I hope I'm not getting the flu that is going around. I don't have time to get sick. My day of art with my friends has been canceled on Saturday because of too many people being sick.

Curled last night. Our team lost to Linda Draper's team. We were ahead by 1, but she had hammer, and scored 3 points. It was a fantastic shot.

I spent some time working on my delivery on Tuesday as well as Wednesday. Sliding with a rock to the hog line, making sure I stay balanced. Getting better. Only missed the broom a couple of times yesteday, and it was on the outside shots!

I want to be a Rockstar Curler!!

So over the weekend, one of the 2nd year curlers told me about a competition, where they will select 5 people to train and compete for the 2010 Olympics. I'm only a first year curler, and I doubt I'll get a shot at it, but that doesn't stop me from being super excited at having submitted my application.

Ah the dream of curling for 6 months, 8 hours a day. I don't doubt it will be hard work. I'd give a couple of teeth for a chance.

My husband Jeremy and I have been curling since October. We belong to two leagues, the Sunday Novice League, and the Friday open. We are permanent subs on Tuesday, and I'm a permanent sub now on the Wednesday Womens league. We are also known to sub on the Sunday night mixed league and Mondays as well. Just a little curling crazy!!!

There are so many things that I am curious about this competition. Who are they going to select to try out? Do new curlers even have a chance? When are they closing the applications? Where are the try outs going to be? I can hardly stand it.

Jon Bonjovi and the Boss are closet curlers?
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2008/02/11/curling-rockstar-boss.html

Last place in the 5 and under Bonspiel.

Well, I'm fairly disappointed to say, that Team Pirie took the booby prize in this years 5 and under. We played fairly well in the first round robin, and ended up in the S bracket, as S-3. From there, we couldn't hold it together, starting with our first game, where we got skunked 9 - 0. It continued to fall apart from there.

However, we had a most excellent time, and came away with this lovely parting gift of chocolate truffles. It was pretty amusing, considering I was wearing a pig fleece hat. It was as little disappointing that nobody else chose to do anything funky for the bonspiel. Jim's wife Sahara, wore her kitty cat knitted hat, but that was pretty much it.

After the bonspiel, I lost the first game I skipped in the novice league by two points. However, I did have a big 3rd end, where we scored 6 points. One of the ends we lost was followed by the the advice "Never attempt to follow a perfect draw with another perfect draw."

We hung around for the first draw on the mixed league, as Jeremy was subbing for Ian. I picked up Gravity after we dropped Derek off, and then my hubby. Lots of other cool things that I am missing, but I am just too tired. Oh, and there were many hat compliments. Mostly "Nice hat." Not sure if they were sarcastic "Nice Hats" or if they really meant it, but comments just the same.

Hogged it hat.

Tadaaaa!! My first fleece hat, has morphed into my first 5 and under bonspiel hat!
This gal ain't going to be hogging any rocks on Saturday! Once again, come and support Jeremy and I a the curling club. Address and times below!

Gravity was not impressed by my hog hat.

5 and Under Bonspiel this Sat. Come and watch!!

The Seattle Granite Curling Club is having their annual 5 and under bonspiel this weekend. It is open to all club curlers who have 5 or less years of curling under their belts.

I will be playing in the A-2 team, along with Jim Pirie, Chris O'Brien, and Steven Kilpatrick.

Please come and support us!

The times that I will guaranteed to be curling at:

First Draw 8:30 AM
Second Draw 9:45 AM
Third Draw 1:30 PM
Fourth Draw 2:45 PM

The Round Robins start at 7 PM.

1440 N 128th St
Seattle, WA 98133
(206) 362-2446

Gravity is sick.

Poor Gravity. Poor me. Gravity must have gotten into something today. She did not keep her dinner down. Yuck. At least she didn't hurl on our new Ethan Allen rug.

Had a great time over the weekend. Melissa, Joe, Jeremy and myself went up to New Westminster to curl in the Royal City Mixed Bonspiel. We fell into the D[rinking] bracket with our guaranteed third game.

It was a great experience, to curl on Canadian ice. It was quite a bit faster than ours. The Canadians got a kick out of our South Lake Union Trolley shirts. We had some of the best Greek food at Yianni (sp?).

I have included a few fun photos.

13 hours before we leave for Canada.

Not that I'm counting or anything.

Work has been stressful. We've been trying to get test cases written and completed by end of day Friday. I have tomorrow off, and put in some overtime on Tuesday and this evening to compensate.

I spent a day trying to figure out what a dev had written for a use case category. It gave me a headache and stressed me out even after talking to him. Finally, I spent an hour and a half with another dev, who had worked on use cases similar to this. He drew a grid, we filled it out, and voila. I had rewritten the titles of test cases so that I , and my fellow testers could understand them.

Additionally during meeting, I brought up topics I felt needed to be addressed before our next software release. I kept thinking about them, because nobody had taken ownership of them. Now, they are on the white board. While nobody has taken ownership of them still, at least they are documented. I apologized for taking up so much of his time, and he said "There's no need to ever apologize for being detail orientated."

I've gotten everything that I could get done off my plate, and in an email. No need to worry about work until 6 am Monday morning. Now I can worry about packing. Heh.

Since I've gotten home, I've washed dishes, two loads of laundry, and tidied up the main bathroom. I've also spent a little time with my beagle, Gravity, played two songs on Guitar Hero 3, taken a shower, and typed up this blog. Not bad, since I got home just before 7 pm.

Off to bed. I have to get up early to take Gravity to doggie daycare. ZZZZZZZ.

Whooo me?

I am getting in every spare minute to making owls for trades for Artfest. I have 24 completed owls, one tree, and 2 forest gremlins. I have 4 owls that are stuffed, but need to be sewn up, have eyes and a beak attached to them. I have cut another 6 to 8 patterns for sewing.

If I can keep this up, I might be able to have 75 t0 80 owls to trade! Yahoozies! My only problem is squeezing in time to work on my two gallery pieces. Its only mid February and I am panicking!!

No time this weekend for arts & crafts. I'm heading up to Canada for my first curling spiel outside of the club. Technically, its only my second spiel. LOL. I'm excited for the spiel, but unhappy at the lack of time for crafts. I would like to create a couple of journal entries on water color paper. Shop for supplies for Artfest.

I think I will try to make a few extra special trades for people who share supplies. Also, I need to think of a few special trades for my buddies that I made last year who will be returning as well.

Driving the P(ASS)AT home from curling.

I've just gotten home from the curling club. At a stoplight, I looked in my rearview mirror, and saw the driver pointing at my car, and the passenger laughing. The P(ASS)AT strikes again.

Several years ago, my husband decided to scrape off the word PASSAT off the back of the car. Apparently it was difficult, and in the end, he left the letters ASS. To this day, we still get people who notice it and start laughing.

Had the worst game ever curling in the novice league. I missed every single shot. It was very disappointing. We lost our game by three points. First game we've lost this half of the season.

I meant to come home after the traditional pint and socialization, since my husband was going to play in the late draw. I ended up staying until 9 pm, but I had a blast. The McLeans had food duty tonight, and brought in a baked potato bar. I helped grate cheese, wash dishes, bake cookies, and make the occasional smart aleck comment. Interacting with them always ensures that you'll have a good time.

I chatted with Ian about Barack Obama. Turns out he went to the rally at Key Arena on Friday. The doors opened at 11:00 AM, and the 20,000 seats were filled at 11:10 AM. Three thousand people were turned away at the doors. I wish I could have made it. Ian definitely has a passion for politics.


When I haven't been curling, Artfest has been in my head. Getting my trades ready, and putting my art supplies together. Its not until April, but as I am busy concentrating on my trades, I do not think I will have much time to play with my paints and inks. I hope I can have about 75 stuffies ready by the time April rolls around. I've also been tossing the idea of making fleece scarves for people who are used to warmer weather. I was supposed to leave early, and try my hand at one or two of them tonight. *sigh*

Anyways, Gravity our beagle, has been fed and watered. I'm going to play with her for few minutes before I wind down for the evening. Good night, sleep tight, and plenty of dreams about making art.

My first fleece hat.

Here it is, a picture of me and the first fleece hat that I've sewn. Done without a pattern, it turned out ok. Its a little big. I added ears at the last minute. I probably should have done tentacles instead. I've been thinking about the hat for the last couple of days.

Yesterday I had to undo some stitching, because I had sewn it up incorrectly. We learn from our mistakes.

Sometimes I feel like my body is falling apart...

My right knee hurts. Probably too much curling last week. Between the mixed league bonspiel, and being a sub for two draws on Monday as well as two draws on Wednesday. We only played a 6 end game in today's novice league, and my knee was ready to be done by 4.

Earlier today, Rob called me to sub for him tomorrow late night draw. I passed him off to Jeremy. I think I'm going to take it easy this week, and rest my knee up.

Whenever my knee hurts like this, I think about an animated short i saw in one of Mike & Spike's animation festivals. One of my favorite shorts, was a spoof of Lee's press on nails, in which it was Lee's press on limbs. Just lick them and stick!! Comes in all sorts of color, red, aquamarine, and paisley! I could use a replacement knee!

Yesterday, Jer went to Bellingham to visit his cousin Jeff in his new house. I stayed at local. I took Gravity to the vet, and went to buy Ride the S.L.U.T. (South Lake Union Transit) shirts for the Royal City Bonspiel. I also managed to do a couple of loads of laundry, clean the master bedroom's bathroom, and the dishes.

Here are a few more stuffed animals I made for the Artfest trades as well!! More owls, a tree, and a couple of forest gremlins. Not sure what I'm going to do for the forest gremlins mouths yet.... We'll see. The fabric that I picked for them is a pain in the but to use for stuffies.

Curling so much, I don't have time to sit in my new furniture.

We lost our last two games of the bonspiel this past weekend. Game two, was impressive, due to the fact we played against Brady Clark's team - a team with several national titles and bronze medals in the US Olympic Trials. My goal in that game, was to score one point. Not only did we score a point in the second end, but we stole four points in the third end, and had the lead for a nanosecond, before we got blown away. We lost our third game to Tammy Lehto's team. Not a terrible loss either, seeing how they won the C bracket.

Due to our partying past one am on Saturday night, we didn't wake up until noon on Sunday. Just enough time for a shower, and a run to Red Mill for a hamburger before our novice league. One of our team members was in Mexico for vacation, and another dropped out due to lack of time.

I was planning on enjoying a Monday evening to myself, as Jeremy has agreed to sub both early and late draws. I got a phone call less than half an hour before Jer was leaving asking me to sub for the early draw on Melissa's team. I agreed. I could have said no, and probably should have said no. We're leaving in two weeks for the Royal City Bonspiel in Canada, and I want whatever practice I can get, curling with Melissa.

With two novices, we managed to pull off an unexpected win. She had a brand new curler, with 5 or less times out, and a curler who had curled for 3 years, but was used to curling lead. We were behind by 4 points the first two ends. We had expected a blowout, and were pleased by the turn on events.

Before I had helped finish cleaning the ice, I got invited by John to sub for his late night draw. Since I was going to be there til Jeremy finished curling, I went and subbed with John's team. Turns out, we were playing against the team Jer was subbing on. It was a close game, we were tied going into the 8th end. My team pulled a win by two points. The house ended up being very crowded, and it was unclear who the winner would be. I looked up during the last 4 rocks, and it seemed as if everyone on the second floor had crowded the windows, to see who would win. Unnerving. Thankfully, I threw lead, and didn't have to deal with it.

A good night.

My first bonspiel!!

My first game of my first bonspiel is completed! Our team, comprised of Jeff Wick (10 years experience), and three novices, myself, Jeremy, and MJ (Jeff's fiancee). We beat team Passo, and there's good news, good news, and a teensy bit of bad news.

Good news: we won. We might have won by more than a couple of points, but we stacked our brooms, and went to drink at the end of 4 ends, we were ahead 7 to 3. After 30 minutes of drinking, a double Balevenie neat for me on an empty stomach, and a pitcher of beer for the rest, our lead shrunk.

Good news : Jeff hit a the last double of the first end draws in our 5th end, and we won a free pitcher of beer. The decision was to draw to the button, but Jeremy came to remind us of our chance for the free pitcher of beer. When it doubt, go back to the basics.

Bad news : we won, play in the A bracket tomorrow against Brady Clark's team.

Chocolate for Choice

This evening, I went to our girls night out, planned by our friend Lisa.

Maya and I carpooled from the Eastside, stopped off at King's BBQ for some BBQ boxes to go, and then browsed the bookstore at Kinokuiya. We then headed off to meet Jonna and Lisa to share a pint of stout which was on Nitro.

We then headed to support Naral's Chocolate for Choice. It was amazing. There was tons of chocolate. I'm really glad that we got there early, so we could scope out all the different chocolates before the crowds got there. I had thought I was greedy, starting out with 5 pieces on a plate, but the lady that sat down next to me had TWO full plates, with more than one layer of chocolate covering the plate.

I have to admit, by the 10th piece of chocolate, I was starting to feel a little sick. Most of the chocolate was very rich, and my Chinese heritage started to emerge. I like little bit of sweet, but not the super rich stuff. Several glasses of 1% milk helped wash everything down. A lady was about serving vegetables, and I snagged a piece of cauliflower. Lisa made fun of the fact that I was eating a vegetable among all the chocolate.

I mingled, took some photos with my iPhone. I met Patrick Hogan, special assistant to Jay Inslee, member of Congress, 1st District, Washington. I also got a chance to see what Dr. Pepper Schwarz looked like. I saw her stand up, and she's pretty short. I made an odd comment "Why are they all short?" - referring to having met Dr. Ruth when I was in college, another sex-pert/relationship expert that was vertically challenged. I asked a few questions of the people that worked at Theo Chocolates - their lavendar/jalapeno/hawaiian rock salt caramel was tasty, and also talked to a couple of people from La Spiga. Here's a shout out to the la Spiga guy that said he likes to check out blogs!!!

We attempted to bid for the Salty-Sweet Cake, but it went over our $100 pooled price, and garnered $120 or so. Hurrah for Naral. All in all, we had a grand time. Next year, we'll be smarter. One of us will get a $70 take home box, to share later on.

Low key weekend...

Its nice to have a low key weekend, after having been so busy.

We went to the Apple store yesterday, and Jeremy bought me Guitar Hero III!! Yeah! We've been having some good fun playing the game.

We also had dinner at our friends Jonna and Eric's. An excellent dinner, surrounded by friends, and the chance to play Rock Band.

All in all, a nice relaxing weekend.

Couches...

Here is an image of the small couch that is going away.

Owl Post

Here are a couple of ideas I am working on for Artfest 2008 trades.

Tired and frustrated.

I'm pretty tired and sore. Yes, sore again from this weekend.

Friday night, we drew random names, and played with people we do not normally curl with. I played with Jake V, Matt T, and Denise K. We squeaked by with a win by like a point.

Saturday, my hubby was supposed to go and watch the Seahawks game in Bellingham with his cousins. He came down with a cold, and stayed at home, while I continued with my scheduled art making date.

Maya worked on her charms for her Valentine's charm swap, and I worked on my stuffed animals for my Artfest 2008 trades. I got 9 owls cut out, and 2 of them filled with stuffing, but I did not finish the 2 until this evening. Part of my frustration stems from my iPhone not taking photos again.

Sunday was fun, frustrating, and exhausting. Jeremy skipped for our novice league, and we won 10 - 3. Actually it was probably more like 12 - 3, but there were some close points that I didn't bother to count as vice skip. I heard one of the members of the other team mutter after the first end "We're going to get slaughtered."

During my hour break, and a handful of chips, I was invited by David (who handles most of the rentals), to play on the late draw for the mixed league. Linda twisted her ankle sometime earlier, and his other sub had not called him back. I agreed to play, knowing that I would be tired at the end of the day. Crazy gung ho me.

I played lead for the early draw for the mixed league. I was too nervous, and blew almost all of my shots. It didn't help that the game was also played on sheet 5. I was hoping not to be too much of an embarrassment, and I'm pretty sure I was. So much for all the extra practice I've been going to. I wish I had time to hang out with them after the game, but immediately after we finished, I had to go to sheet 4 for my last game. We didn't lose too badly - only by one point, and I guess when you're playing Team Knieval, that's not a bad loss.

I played lead for David's team as well. Apparently by that time I was too tired to be stressed out. I was on broom (target) for almost all of my shots. My weight was a little off, but all in all, I was happy with most of my shots for that game. I now know what it feels like to play three games in one day.

I am fairly sore right now. I fervently hope I won't hurt more tomorrow, but that is how it generally goes for me when I overdue it. I accepted an email invitation to play in the late draw on the Kozai team Wednesday night. I find it amusing. I am subbing for Erica. The team will be Betty, Cindy, Cindy, and Cyndy. I couldn't pass up that opportunity.

I will probably not go to Tuesday league for once. My whole body groans at the thought of trying to kneel down in the hack to deliver a rock right now.

Arrgh, busy weekends ahead.

Incredibly tired today. I did not sleep very well last night, waking up about 4 times, and staying awake for about a half an hour to an hour each time. I left work after a little over 3 hours, came home and took a nice long nap with Gravity, my beagle.

Before our nap, my little hunting dog went outside to chase a squirrel, and almost caught it!! I saw her make a beeline towards the squirrel, saw the squirrel leap up the corner area of the fence, to fall back down. It looked like Gravity managed to knock him down somehow. There was some quick zig zagging around, and then up and over the fence he went.

I was mildly productive after my nap. Took care of two loads of laundry, and put some crafts magazines up for sale on Craigslist. Also put my library books together, and books and magazines that I'll take to a second hand bookstore. Checked Ebay, and saw that 2 or my 3 posted items have bids on them.

On the agenda for tonight, is curling. We are taking a break from our normal Friday night team, and we will be pulling names out of a hat, and playing with other people. It should be fun. I just hope that both Jeremy and I end up with the early draw!

Tomorrow, I will be hanging out with my friend Maya, in hopes of getting some trades ready for Artfest 2008. I have put a baggie of fabric to make a couple of stuffed animals, and maybe a pendant or three. I have a couple of ideas, but the end product has to be not too time consuming to make, as I intend to make at least 50 of them. Last year, I made 50 monster stuffed animals, and they disappeared super quick!!!

As for the upcoming weekends, they are all full. Most of them filled with curling, or the occasional outing for a friend. I don't see a true break until after curling season is gone.

I've included a fun photo I found of a painted wall in Portland that I took back in October. I'd like to take up my toy photography again, and see what I can do with mixed media projects.

A weekend of curling...

We had a super busy weekend of curling that Jer and I just finished.

Friday night, we squeaked by with a tie, playing against Jake's team.

Saturday, Jeremy and I volunteered to help at a curling rental. That was from 2 to 6 pm. It was cold, but fun. I am a little sad we missed out on watching the Seahawks-Redskins game. But we did have some tasty indian food afterwards.

Today, we curled with in our novice league, and managed to mix up the positions a bit. Jeremy skipped, I played second, and Eric, our normal skip, played lead. Our normal second, Molly, had gotten stuck in some traffic.

We had a spectacular game, and won 12 to 1. I had a pretty good game. I made most of my shots, and felt good coming out of the hack.

After our game, I was lingering downstairs, talking to Erica, one of the girls from the team we played against. Sally C came into the club, and asked me to sub for her next Sunday in the mixed league. I will be playing with Claire, Ian, and Derek. I'm super excited, but very nervous, due to their skill level. They are all super nice people, I just don't want to let them down.

Tired, sore, and severely out of shape.

I subbed for the women's league last night. Dani called me at work, to let me know that the opposing team needed a substitute.

About a half an hour before I left, I got a phone call from Betty Kozai. She requested a sub for the late draw, which after checking in with the hubby, I agreed to.

At 6:30, I played with the Richards/Frohe. Each one of those ladies has a national title under her belt. I felt a little awestruck, as well as concerned what kind of game I would produce as a first year.

As it was, the ice had not been pebbled, and rocks that I normally would have hogged, went through the house. We still beat April's team by several points, and the game was called before the 6th end. I did get a few tips, the most important one, was a reminder. To keep my throwing arm straight.

At the 8:30 draw, Betty's team had a second substitute, Beth. We started out behind, but came up with 4 points to take the lead in the 5th end. We continued to play well, and won that game too! The ice was pebbled by one of the guys, and back to the consistency I was familiar with. Most of my shots in this game were consistent.

Jer and I received an email from Melissa, inviting us to play in the mixed spiel up in Westminster BC in February. I am very excited to play in that tournament. Must continue to practice!!!

And now for something completely different...

Gravity with Jessie's treat ball.

Happy New Years!

Just got back from a New Year's party at Mark and Lisa's.

We got a chance to see Tim and Maya, Amy and Andrew, Jonna and Eric, and Anna and John. There were also a few other people that we weren't previously familiar with.

Apparently, Mark and Lisa got Guitar Hero III for their holiday gifts, so I got a chance to rock out. I was unable to get past the bonus song in the easy level, but I think I made a decent attempt, with the highest finish being 81% of the song.

There was all sorts of food. Various cheeses, guacamole, black bean quesadillas, pineapple salsa, hummus, an Alton Brown onion dip, satsumas and cookies. There was Georgetown's Porter on Nitro.

A good time was had by all. Happy 2008!

Busy holiday week...

Its been a very busy holiday week. I worked a whole day and a half.

Thursday evening, we had a scotch party. Bob T and Chris O showed up from the curling club. Our friends Mark and Lisa also attended. Tom J from across the street stopped by for a wee dram. Sadly, Scott M was unable to make it, having managed to acquire pink eye in both of his eyes. There was much scotch imbibed, and a few games of dominoes.

Friday, I watched over my cousin Austin. We started off with Breakfast at Mae's. Unfortunately, the food just isn't as good as it used to be. We then headed over to the Woodland Park Zoo, where we froze our behinds off. Austin opted to wear my spare fleece jacket, and played Ichabod Crane. He had me zip the jacket over his head, and had me guide him around the zoo. We stopped by monkey island, saw gorillas, giraffes, penguins, zebras, and elephants.

After the zoo, we went to a comic book store, Half Price Books, and then to downtown Seattle to play at Gameworks. After a couple of hours playing video games, I got him a belated holiday gift. Dragonballz 3 for his new Wii. He patiently allowed me to stop by the curling club, to watch the juniors play a few ends. Jeremy was there with Mark, and they were enticed to play a couple of games of foosball.

Saturday was spent viewing pieces at Ethan Allen.

Sunday was a continuation of watching the juniors curl. The team our Friday night skip was on won. It was a close game.

Tonight, we head out to Mark and Lisa's for a informal New year's Eve party.

Red Elvises and Ride the S.L.U.T

Yesterday was a busy day. I was tasked by my husband to acquire Ride the S.L.U.T shirt for a holiday gift.

My friend Jason accompanied me through the first half of the days activities. A trip to the coffee store selling them, to find out that they had already sold out, but would have more the next day at 10 am. We also stopped by the Schmancy store, a store of homemade plush toys and other various odd items, located next to the Moore Theatre. It is a store I had been meaning to visit since August. Definitely a neat store. Gives me food for thought on what I can make on the sewing machine.

A trip to Kent to go to Jason's tea store was next. I picked up a gift there as well. The owner was a nice Chinese woman, that spoke Mandarin and English. It was an interesting experience. A wood table designed for tea sampling, with several levels, so that when you poured the leftover tea in it, it cascades to the bottom, where there was a drain. We sampled the High Mountain green tea, and another sweeter tea. I also sampled some relaxing evening teas, in which she had me guess what was in them. These were too Americanized for me, with orange peel, cloves, rosemary, and cinnamon.

Later, I met Marisa, her brother Joe, and her friend Gretchen, to see the Red Elvises at the Tractor. What an incredible show. They were incredibly high energy, and it was just as much fun as I expected. There were a couple of oddities. The male to female ratio was much more skewed that I expected, and there was an overabundance of really tall people. With a black and tan and a shot of Jager to fortify me, I danced my short legs off.

The highlight of the evening was grabbing the attention of the balaika player, Oleg during the break. He walked past us, and I said Zdrasvitya! He came back to say hello. I got a chance why there weren't more of the albums in Russian. I got a hug. Marisa joked about never washing the shirt I was wearing again.

Two minutes later, I was hitting my forehead with the palm of my hand. Idiot!! Marisa and Gretchen were looking at me like I was crazy. I have a degree in Russian Language and Literature, and I only said hello in Russian. I could have been at least mildly impressive, by saying that I love the Red Elvises in Russian. I had my chance and blew it. Doh! Needless to say, Marisa and Gretchen were amused.

Photobooth photos

Here we go, photos of me and my haircut. One taken comic book style. Me in my angry rock out pose.

Heading out for a night of Mediterannean food, belly dancing (not by me), and some curling before the holiday break.

Bad haircut.

Monday I went to end up with a haircut. Its short, ugly, and does all sorts of funky things when I sleep on it. Just in time for the holidays. *sigh*

My friend Jason stopped by work yesterday, with holiday gifts for me. Yay! Tasty chocolates and knitted hand warmers. His knitting has really improved dramatically over the last few years. Impressive!

Jeremy and I went curling last night. Not enough people showed up, so Jeremy and I played against Terry and Brian in a mock mixed doubles game. It was horrible, and I just couldn't make my shots. I thought too much about my delivery and was all over the place. Phooey.

Working on my delivery.

1. Hips back (don't move the head)
2. Pull the rock back
3. Pull slider foot back
4. Rock forward
5. Slider foot forward.

We lost our game today in the novice league. Drank our beer, had some snacks. There was quite a bit of practice ice. So, while Jeremy was drinking beer, and chatting with Wayne, I went downstairs to sheet 3 to ask if I could practice with Derek and Steve.

Derek broke the delivery into 5 steps for me. I think it helped quite a bit. I also need to remember to keep my arm straight. Not pull the rock back, or push it forward.

Putting captions to yesterday's photos, while Gravity snuggles with me, and I watch The Bourne Ultimatum with Jeremy.

Bellingham

I'm at Jeremy's cousin's house in Bellingham. Brian and Jeremy are out getting food. I'm here with Gravity our beagle. She got a chance to meet Jessie, Brian and Heather's puppy a little while ago. Jessie is on her way to the vet, due to a bladder infection.


Gravity is whining like crazy. She does not care for the fact that there are gates up, when there's a whole house to sniff and check out. I think she also doesn't like the fact that she can't see outside, like at home. Make sure theres no squirrels invading her space.

Jeremy and I had the late draw, at the curling club last night. We only played 6 ends, as we were winning 12 to 2, against Team Smith. I'm pleased with my consistency. No hogged rocks. Only one through the house in the 4th end.

We didn't get to sleep until after 2 am, because we stayed late, learning to play dominoes. 42 is an interesting game. Looking forward to more practice.

Just like shooting wamp rats.

I was a substitute curler for the Tuesday curling league yesterday. I played on Mel and Joe's team We skunked the other team (which my hubby happened to be on).

I was pretty happy, because most of my shots went where I wanted them to be. Much, much better than the game from the Tuesday before. In that game, my shots were all heavy (went way past where they should have gone).

There's a guy at the curling club, who has this awesome custom sweatshirt his wife had designed for him. I want something cool like that too. I have an idea, but my drawing skills are less than ideal. I don't have any friends that are graphic designers to help me out with it. I've searched around on http://www.cafepress.com, but I don't like the designs enough.

I wish I had more hours in the day. I would like more sleep. I'd like time to work on my arts & crafts. I need to get started on my trades for Artfest 2008.

Work is still frustrating, due to a personality conflict. Even though I've been told to be patient, I'm not sure I can wait much longer. Kind of at the end of my rope.

Practicing my delivery.

I've had the Balance Plus 200 shoes for about 3 weeks now. I've gone out in them almost 10 times. Working hard on my balance. I forgot to ask for a thinner slider. I went from a step on slider to the shoes that had a really thick slider (the thicker the slider, the faster you are!).

Its been frustrating, but I'm trying to get to the curling club as much as I can to practice. In Sundays Novice League, I got distracted, forgot to step out with my right foot (the non slider foot) and cracked my head against the ice. Dum dum head.

Here's a video of me with my balance all over the place.

Photo Booth Fun

Had some fun tormenting Gravity this evening.

Stormy Weather

Monday was filled with lots of rain and extremely large and dangerous puddles. Many roads were closed down due to standing water and landslides. Here is a shot of the Totem Lake area from my iPhone. I am patiently awaiting my turn.

Was a substitute for the Tuesday league. Jeremy was put on the other team. They won by one point (darn it). My balance is much better now. Still having problems with my weight (throwing the rock). I did not put up as many guards as I was hoping to.

Mary talked us into signing up for the Mixed Spiel. Jeff W will probably curl with us, and he's trying to talk his fiancee MJ into playing too.

Shout outs to Ellen and Kel_eh for stopping by!

Snow.

Lots of curling this week.

Friday we had a draw. We were ahead by three, and ended up tying. Knocked our own rock out of the house. It was quite a shame. On the other hand, they bought the beer. Someone from another table dropped off the last of their Wee Heavy. I've included a terrific photo of Bob T drinking out of a pitcher.

Saturday was crazy. Jeremy and I had volunteered to help at the open house. 60 people signed up. 200 people showed up. It was an absolute mad house. I was supposed to be an assistant instructor. Because the groups were so huge 14 and 18 people, I ended up taking half of each group and teaching them on the other side of the sheet. Sometime during the open house, it started to snow.

Chris dropped by in the evening for scotch, dinner, and to watch the Huskies lose. Talk about a shame. The Huskies were ahead, and gave up the game. They also had a chance to tie in the last 30 seconds of the game, and almost did. A dropped pass in the end zone, which was then picked up by Hawaii ended those hopes.

Still have a few dishes to do before novice league today.