Busy day full of birthday parties.

Today was filled with birthday parties.

This morning I went to help my Aunt Mayme with Austin's birthday party. Austin is turning 9 in a couple of days. They party was held at a roller skating business (akin to the Skate King that I grew up with).

When we arrived there, it was fairly empty. Austin's party had 10 kids that turned out. It was fairly easy to manage compared to the previous year. I ended up putting a pair of roller skates on, and it was almost as easy as getting back on a bicycle. It was even easier after I put on the right size of roller skates (duh, roller skates are unisex. pick a size smaller). I was able to move forward fairly fast, and still have the ability to turn around and skate backwards. Pretty fancy.

After I got home, I got ready to go to Mary M's 50th birthday party. Mary M being an acquaintance of ours that we met through curling. A large amount of people that attended were curlers. It was fun to hang around, have a few beers (or rather, watch others have a few beers) and talk.

We have finished our evening with some pizza from Pagliacci's are are getting ready for a snoozefest.

Still no art, but phew! a stinky beagle fart.

Cough. Cough. As I sit here typing, Gravity is laying down next to me. Passing gas. Cough.

As for there being no art, I mean, very little art has been done. I played around with dyed paper towels a la Traci Bautista style on Monday evening.

Since then, its been work, going to the gym, dinner, walking the dog, and playing Mobwars on Facebook.

I am going to spend some time with my hubby and the beagle.

Good night.

A wet June.

Its rainy outside. They are reporting snow in the mountains at high elevations. The weather man said that el nina has not left our area yet. Sounds like we will be having a cool summer.

I have not been very productive with my arts and crafts. The last thing I completed was my grunge charms for a charmster swap. I keep thinking about making something, but I just haven't gotten there yet.

Not a whole lot of excitement at the moment. I received my LCA+ in the mail the other day. I traded 3 old LCAs, that had various issues, and got credit for them. Hence my new LCA+... yay! That's pretty much all the excitement.

I joined the gym around the corner. I've been better about taking my beagle for walks. I started playing Mobwars on Facebook. I've been reading books on curling.

I hope to make a monster stuffed animal before a friend's party tonight. Will update if I manage to get it done or worked on.

A weekend of beagles and Mai Tais.

Jeremy and I went to Bellingham to visit his cousins this weekend.

We started off by picking up Jeff at his house. I was taken on the grand tour. Gravity raced ahead of me, sniffing every corner.

We then went to Brian and Heather's to see if they wanted to have lunch. The original plan was to have potato burritos for lunch, but there was the big Ski to Sea race Memorial Day Weekend. Instead, we had philly steak subs at Davinci's.

After lunch, Jeremy helped Brian put up the fencing in their front yard, so their beagle Jessie would have a larger area to play in. Heather and I went shopping for Mai Tai supplies, dinner, and one other item for the fencing. We also made a side trip to the dog store and came away with dog treats and toys for 'the girls'.

Before dinner, Heather and I took our beagles for a nice long walk. The weather was just gorgeous.

Jeremy and Brian finished putting up the picket fence just after 8 pm. We had a late dinner of New York Steaks.

Sunday, the boys finished attempting to beagle proof the fence. Jessie and Gravity were let loose! Jessie found a hole and managed to slip into the neighbors yard. A temporary fix was inserted, and that ended the escape route.

It was also the day of the nail massacre. Brian clipped both Gravity and Jessie's nails. Poor Jessie. Brian clipped too far on 3 of her nails. Not sure how she'll react next time he tries to clip her nails.

We came home last night after a dinner of bratwurst and sauerkraut. Gravity was so exhausted, she slept all the way home.

Today was a day of housework and art. I woke up and completed 2 loads of laundry, got the grocery shopping for dinner completed, and the garbage taken out. I them went to my friend Maya's to work on my charms for an upcoming grunge charm swap. I came home, started another load of laundry, mowed the lawn, pulled some weeds for an hour.

Yay, for being industrious!

Projects - April Spiel 2008

Here are projects that I put together for Jeremy's April Spiel 2008 team.

Jeremy saved his winnings, so they were put into the memento. I surprised him with it before my Cyndy de Mayo party.

I've already handed one out, just two more to give out. I will probably see the rest of his team members at the banquet on May 17th.

Cyndy de Mayo

Its the big 35 for me today. Its sunny, bright, and about 63 degrees outside.

I'm suffering from a small headache leftover from my Cyndy de Mayo party last night. Not sure why, as I only drank a pint of beer.

Cyndy de Mayo was a huge success. My neighbors Tom, Doug, and Dani and their children all dropped by. My best guy friend Jason and my friend Rajesh, both used to work with me at AT&T came to drink and eat. It was great to see Rajesh, as I haven't seen him in two years. Jeremy's cousin Jeff drove down from Bellingham, Mark and Lisa who supplied the beer. A whole roomful of curlers came to celebrate including: Melissa, Joe R, Joe B and Mary Alice, Chris O, Bob T, Sara S and hubby, Lisa M and her son Derek. Mark and Lisa.

Presents were not required, but were happily accepted. The mini keg of Georgetown porter which was incredibly tasty, 4 bottles of wine, a 6 pack of beer, tequila and margarita mixer, a dozen pink roses, a hand knit brown scarf, and a movie.

A grand time was had by all. It was sad to see everybody go, and I hope to see them all again soon.

It's nice to be missed....

An Ode to Cyndy popped up in my instant messenger today. It was from one of my buddies that I contracted with at a previous job. Sounds like she might be frustrated with another contractor. However, it was a bit of silliness and fun that brightened up my day.

"cyndy angel...
Oh how I truly miss my
cyndy angel...
and her keen eye for the details,
cyndy angel...
she always got things right, my
cyndy angel...
even when she got things wrong,
cyndy angel...
oh how I truly miss my cyndy aaaaaaaaangellllll..."

by an anonymous buddy of mine

Crab Feast!

Yesterday, Jeremy and I joined a couple of curlers for the Monday night All You Can Eat Crab dinner at Thrasher's Corner Pub. I enjoyed the crab, though it wasn't anywhere near as good as the stir fried crab that my mother makes. Jeremy is not a big fan of shellfish, so he stuck with a Philly Steak Sandwich.

Earlier this evening I had an experience that left me speechless. I went to take the recycling out before dinner, and was hailed by a couple standing in the driveway next door. The house next door is a rental house, and was recently vacated. The first thing the guy said to me was "Do you speak English?"

Being born and raised in the Seattle area, I am always surprised when people make comments like that. Last year at a Seattle Mariners game, an older man was sitting next to me. He asked me if I was born in China? No. Was I born in Korea? No. Taiwan? No. Where were you born? I was born in Seattle. I received a blank look. He couldn't understand that even though I am Asian, thatI was born in Seattle. Sometimes I wonder what century I live in.

Breaking the ice and a walk in the park.

There was a small get together at the Seattle Granite Curling Club before the ice was melted last night. The first sheet had sand and hair all over it. Another sheet had the pebble scraped off of it. There was tire frozen to the middle of the ice, and we bounced the rocks off the side boards. We were a little surprised at how few people made it out.

Today we walked around Discovery Park sans beagle. Ali decided that she did not want to be stuck in a car with a whiny beagle. While we were on our walk, we came across some people with this weird balloon. Apparently they were going to attach a camera to it for arial views. After a very long walk we went to Red Mill for burgers and milkshakes.

Steak for dinner!!

Jeremy, Elaine (his mom), Gravity, and I had a steak dinner this evening. On the way I, I stopped by Costco and picked up a package of 4 fillets. I had forgotten that Alison was going to hang out with her Seattle buddies in the U District.

There was lots of yard work preceding the dinner, making the steak that much more tasty. Gravity the beagle is now crashed out in a meat induced coma. The coma may also have been created by her trip to the Lake Washington arboretum. Unfortunately I had to work today, so I only heard about the trip.

Here is a photo of Gravity and myself. I was playing with the Photobooth functionality of my MacBook Pro before I went to sleep.

Arrrgh. Not enough time.

There's just not enough time in the day.

Today I ended up staying an hour and a half past the time I was going to leave at. At this moment, I am waiting to help out on a release. In between the time I arrived home and now, I ate the dinner my hubby cooked, took out the garbage, washed two loads of laundry, and gave our dog a bath. I also too her for a quick stroll around the block.

When I finish testing, if I can work up enough energy, I need to clean the main bathroom. My mother in law and sister in law arrive tomorrow.

I'll probably end up sleeping in a little tomorrow.

Curling on the brain.

My friend Jason took this photo of me at the Last Chance spiel. My husband edited it, using the GIMP. This is my new favorite photo of myself.

Last night, I went to learn how to play bridge. There's lots to think about, and it made my head hurt. Much more complicated than learning how to play craps. I'll have to hunt down an online game to help hurry the learning process along.

Today I spent time harassing developers to update their bugs, so I could find out if I could finish my testing. Hopefully they still like having me work there after two weeks of pestering. On the plus side, some processes are getting ironed out. I just wish I didn't feel like such a nag.

Since I've been home, I've been fairly productive. I changed the sheets, started a load of laundry, and emptied the dishwasher. I've also played one turn of Scrabulous on Facebook, and I'm finishing up this blog entry. As soon as I've done that, I'll try and tidy up some more before the in-laws come in to town.

Snow in the middle of April

We've got some crazy winter weather in Seattle this year. When I left work on Friday, it was snowing. By the time after I got home, some of the snow had stuck.

I'm sure the weather was a surprise to Jeff and Mijung. It was surprisingly chilly in the church that they got married in. The bride looked beautiful, the groom looked handsome, and the maid of honor looked cold.

The ceremony was fairly quick. Jeremy and I arrived at the church a quarter to 3. We arrived at the reception area by 3:40 pm.

I had a fantastic time at the reception. Jeremy and I sat at a table with people from the curling club. Bob T, Dani T, Chris O, and Derek M. There were many conversations about curling, that were interspersed with the eating of appetizers, blowing of bubbles, and jokes about the bags of happiness.

Missed my last game.

Missed my last game today, due to work and lack of sleep. I didn't get to sleep until just after 9 am. I was unable to find a sub to take my place. An email from Leslie F let me know that Sara's kids subbed for me, and that they won, holding the other team to only one point.

Currently working on baking some crazy potato bake dish and washing dishes. Still really tired after a nap of about 3 hours.

Jeremy is still really sick. I hope he improves fast!!

Here's a couple of more photos from yesterday.

I dream of curling.

Well, at least I would if I could go to sleep. Still working. 2 hours, 45 minutes before I need to get up. *sigh*

At least my delivery is improving. My friend Jason stopped by, and snagged a couple of .AVIs. Leslie F, the woman that is skipping for my team, suggested that I choke up on my grip of the broom by about an inch. My left shoulder was not even with my right one.

I made the change in my second game, and now my weight is off a bit. I hope I can find it tomorrow.

Here'e a photo of the team, and an .AVI of my delivery from the first game.

Last chance to curl.

We finished the 2nd game of the Last Chance Bonspiel. Team Eng-Dinsel has lost a game and won a game. Both games were shut outs.

Poor Jeremy has been home sick with the flu. Lots of people thinking of him, and saying Hi - get well soon. Or, in Betty's case "Hi, get well soon so you can drink all the beer!"

My raffle ticket for the 50/50 did not win money, but won some donated beer from Pyramid. I had gone to talk to Dani and Bob T for a bit, then left my 3 raffle tickets there. Dani won beer. She pulled the next ticket, which happened to be mine, so Bob went and got the beer. He pulled a ticket, and Leslie F, the skip of my team won beer. An amusing coincidence.

More about the weekend later. I need to get to sleep. I have to test at 1:00 am for work. :P

Team Thibodeaux wins the C bracket, edging out the Korean Women's National Team!!

Back from Artfest 2008!

I had a great time at Artfest 2008!! This year was very mellow, hanging out with my best friend Maya. I got to her house at 9:30 AM and loaded up the car. We stopped by the library turn in some books, and Kinko's so I could make a few transparencies. We then drove to the University Village Apple store for a replacement phone charger and lunch at a noodle restaurant.

We made it to Fort Worden just after 3 pm. While we were in line, I bumped into last year's FestMates, Ellen, Lani, Julie and Kim. It was nice to see that everyone was able to make it back. On the way out of registration, we made a new and memorable friend, Andrea. Andrea managed to snag a spot 10 days before the start of Artfest, and had been feeling overwhelmed. We received a couple of hugs, gave out some words of encouragement, and went to check out our room in dorm 225.

Dorm 225 was soooo much nicer than 202. It had regular bathrooms - no banging knees on the stall doors. It also had two individual shower stalls. There was no having to sign up for a time slot to take a shower in the morning.

We made jewelry with gut (sausage casings) the first day. The instructor Melissa Manley said all the gut tended to make the room smell like wet dog. I didn't smell wet dog, but I did think the classroom smelled like brine. I stuck some gut against a window, and made parchment.

On the second day, I took Michael DeMeng's transparency class. The class was held in the Art Asylum. I burned some transparencies with a lighter, and made a shadowbox that holds a photo of my grandfather, my father, and myself.

Our last day was taught by Susan Lenart-Kazmer, another jewelry class. The class was difficult for me, but Maya took to it like a fish in water. She was truly in her element. What I loved about Susan, was her friendliness and willingness to help all of us that are new to jewelry.

We took a nap after class and almost missed dinner. We then headed for a brief tour through the crowded and stuffy Show and Tell. I dropped Maya and her luggage at the front of her doorstep, and drove home so I could see Jeremy play in the midnight draw of the April Spiel.

Owl ATCs

Finished up a couple of Owl ATCs for Artfest as well, here is a photo.