Jury Duty Eats: Week 2, Day 4

Today I stopped off at Marcela's Creole Cookery for some Cajun food.

I had the sampler platter, and NO, I did not finish everything on my plate. I DID however forget my leftovers in the refrigerator. Boo.

The sampler platter consisted of shrimp gumbo, jambalaya, and crawfish pie. The best part was definitely the crawfish pie. Tastiness witha  pie crust. The worst was the shrimp gumbo. Served lukewarm and overly salty. The jambalaya was just okay. Nothing to write home about.

Miscellaneous downtown Seattle photos while on jury duty.

Jury Duty Eats : Week 2

Posting before I head out for lunch.

Day 1 : Cafe Bengodi
Displays a picture of Luigi's on the outside. I had the gorgonzola pasta with garlic bread. Talked to a guy next to me who had the chicken tomato pesto flatbread with a salad. Both looked fantastic and mine was tasty.

Day 2 : Went back to Tat's for a roast beef dip due to lack of time.

Day 3: Cafe Zum Zum. Pakistani Indian food. I had heard about them from our friends Mark and Lisa. I had Lamb Spinach Curry which was okay. It was fairly greasy.

Week 1 Jury Duty Eats Continued..

Day Two
I ate at a restaurant called Tats. Recommended by Neil E, a fellow curler. I had a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich with hot peppers and mushrooms. It was pretty tasty, but definitely not the BEST I have ever had.

Day Three

Another one of Jeremy's recommendations, I ate at Pizza Pro. I really enjoyed it. They had a nice thin crispy crust. The mushroom pizza was especially noms.

Day Four

I ate at the Thai Taste on 2nd. I enjoyed my plate of noodles and veggies.

Jury Duty: Day 1, Week 1

Just started my second week of jury duty.

I can't say anything about the case other than it is a civil trial. Because of this, I'll try and post photos from lunch or to and from jury duty.

Day 1 :  Had lunch with my old sticker pen pal Lisa Hasegawa from junior high school. We had gyros at Zaina.

 A quick stop for a photo before going back into the King County building.

A little window shopping.

Last few days with Byron

We've had a visit from cousin Jessie, some snooze time, and some walka walkas.

New addition to our family.

Meet our new little girl beagle, Byron.

Drawing Lab

Yesterday evening I took a drawling class by Carla Sonheim. It was a lot of fun, and I managed to relax and draw. Our first item was to draw our neighbor across from us with our non dominate hand. Isabel drew an incredible image of me. My drawing of her looked more like something from the tv show Caroline that starred Lea Thompson.

We did some blind contour drawing that I really enjoyed. We also used a little charcoal, which I didn't like so much. Carla brought this crazy statue that I really really enjoyed using for my inspiration.

There were a total of 7 students. Another one of the students was also named Cindy. She had on a really cool remade shirt she got at a boutique in Port Townsend.

All in all, it was a productive and fun night. Three hours went by way too quickly!

Am I a zombie?

Nope. No rotting flesh. No desire to eat human brains.

Can't sleep. I've had problems sleeping all week long. Usually I have problems staying awake. Probably too much whirling around in my mind.

Bonus for not sleeping: I found a craigslist ad for a 10 week old beagle girl. I sent an email out, and am crossing fingers. Beagle puppies on craigslist go super fast. Whssst.  Almost faster than a Randy Johnson fast ball crossing over the plate.

Crossing fingers. I can't get out to visit until Saturday.

As soon as I get off work tomorrow, I am headed to Seattle for Drawing Lab with Carla Sonheim.
Very fun, very exciting. Now I'll be thinking of this little girl.

Designs By Maya jewelry

My friend Maya just launched her jewelry website here: Designs By Maya .

She's been working on her business plan for quite some time and I am very proud of her.

Please stop by and take a look.

You can find beautiful earrings, bracelets, and necklaces.

Nutrition Tips?

I always take nutrition tips with a grain of salt. Some of them are indeed valid. Others are a little hinky, because studies show this 'could' benefit you. Here were a couple of interesting ones that yahoo took from a Men's Health magazine.

" Drink a second cup of coffee. It might lower your risk of adult-onset diabetes, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."

 "Keep serving dishes off the table. Researchers have found that when people are served individual plates, as opposed to empty plates with a platter of food in the middle of the table, they eat up to 35 percent less!"

 "Eat protein at every meal. Dieters who eat the most protein tend to lose more weight while feeling less deprived than those who eat the least protein. It appears that protein is the best nutrient for jumpstarting your metabolism, squashing your appetite, and helping you eat less at subsequent meals."

Finally! Beth's surprise birthday party come and gone!

I say finally! because the cat is now out of the bag! No more worrying about spoiling the surprise. Including Beth on the wrong email thread. Phew. So difficult for me.

The party was hosted at the winery The Convergence Zone in Woodinville. They had a white wine that I really enjoyed. The food that was served was from a little Indian restaurant called Mayuri in Bellevue. Noms.

Jen and Em made the desserts. Jen made a strawberry rhubarb pie. Em made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and a 'crack' pie. The 'crack' pie was kind of like a butterscotch bar of sorts.

Yay! I got to debut the kitty cat apron I made for her as well. No more surprises. Surprises are hard on the gifter as well as the giftee. LOL.

Oooo. An etsy store called Bonspiel Creation.

Not normally big on plugging stores, but a quick one here. How can a curler not like a crafty store with a name that is curling related?

http://www.bonspielcreation.com/apps/etsystore/

I'm more of a dog person, but the mean cat change purse is pretty cute.

Super mellow Labor Day weekend

Wow. So far this has been a super mellow and relaxed weekend.

Yesterday I woke up and put on an aerobics dvd. Jer and I went out to get his passport photo taken and ate some Thai food at Pen Thai in Bothell.

After we got home, I worked on finishing a special project that I'll post and talk about later.

Today, I've been throwing out stuff, putting things on Craigslist and Ebay. Anyone interested in some Star Wars stuff?

Fun up and coming.

Brave Girls Club

My friend Maya forwarded this to me. Normally, I'm not big into receiving daily fortune cookie type mailing, but this site has had some positive words that I really enjoyed. Including the following:

Dear Terrific Girl,

Sometimes you just have to jump...you just have to take that leap....JUMP....
even if you feel like you aren't ready.

We can make a million excuses for all of the reasons why we aren't ready...why
it isn't the right time yet, why we aren't up to the challenge, why we don't
have time or why we just don't have what it takes to EVER do it, but really....
all we need to do is take the first step, the first leap....and then keep going.
It won't be much different if we wait, it will still be the first scary step,
the first scary leap....but if we wait, we might never do it.

YOU KNOW it's time. You know where you want to be, and even where you are meant
to be....but YOU are the only one holding you back from taking the first step
towards that place. Don't hold yourself back anymore.....take the leap....if
you don't like it...you don't have to keep going....but chances are, you will
wonder why you waited so long.

Bliss will fill you up and you will feel so on track!

DO IT, BRAVE GIRL!!!!

xoxo

To read more, check out the following link:  http://www.bravegirlsclub.com/

Yay for a mellow weekend.

Or was it?

Saturday after Jeremy left for a bike ride, I headed out to the Bothell Bike and Ski shop to test two more bicycles. A Scott road bike and a Felt road bike. The Felt road bike was nice, but I felt super wobbly on it. I was on a XS Scott, because the frame was longer. I liked the bike, but did not like the two gears on the left hand (where the Felt had three).

Afterwards, I went home and took a mile long walk while the laundry ran. When I got home, I started pruning blackberry bushes that had grown into our backyard. I did not get all of them.

I met Jeremy in the U Village area, where we picked up a couple of filets from Bill the Butcher (in the Sandpoint area). We later turned those into Pepper Encrusted Filet Mignon with a blue cheese-chive (I screwed up and bought green onions, whoops) butter with Green Beans Amandine on the side. Noms.

Sunday we spent some more time in the back yard. Jeremy got attacked by yellow jackets under the big tree in the right corner. He got bit on his arm and under his knee. They blew up, but no allergic reactions that required a trip to the ER.

We had invited the Thibodeauxes over for dinner. I baked a Shepherd's Pie and a Pear Custard for dinner and Jeremy made Broccoli with Mustard-Red Pepper Vinaigrette. We had a nice, relaxing evening hanging out. Bob was on autopilot and on his way out, grabbed a grocery bag full of items I was going to donate to Goodwill or some other thrift organization. It was pretty amusing.

Gah. Stalled out.

Stalled out on my sewing projects with my backstitch button broken on my Pfaff.  Crappy week for sewing. Two of my lesson canceled. With a third one probably to be called off as well due to a lack of a machine.


Tonight I was supposed to go to NW Bernina, but apparently they overbooked themselves. Sad that I was the one that they canceled on, but I guess I wasn't generating very much money. They were the ones that offered it on their website. How to use your older Bernina. I guess I'll just have to wing it.


My private Friday lesson was canceled due to a schedule conflict. Her work schedule was 11 - 7 pm, and I'm not willing to have a lesson after 7 pm on a Friday in Bellevue. Once I leave, I'm not going back.

Saturday's lesson is at Quality Sewing & Vacuum. I'll have to postpone it myself because of my Pfaff. Since that is the one that I bought from them a few years ago, that is the only one I can get a lesson on. Boo.

Including a photo of all the apples that I picked up off the ground tonight to throw in the yardwaste bin before I mowed the back yard.

I should go to sleep now. I need to finish throwing away some junk mail, and then I can snoozarooni.

Rocked another evening.

Got home and didn't take that nap I wanted to. Sigh. My own fault.

Instead, I put the dishes from the dishwasher away, started a load of laundry, put some cookies to bake in the oven, and went out in the backyard to clean up some yard waste before trash day.

I ended up completing three loads of laundry, 5 trays of chocolate chip cookies, and 2 bags of yard waste before I had to leave for dinner at my friend Maya's.

I feel exhausted just reading my blog entry. Heh.

Ready to pass out.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. No nap today. Been up since 1:40 am.

Here are the napkins I made against the apron that I finished last night.

I am very pleased at how both of them came out. The apron ties are a little shorter than I expected. Did the photocopy enlargening process fail somehow? Or is it just me. Probably just me.  

I met with my teammates Em and Elle today for coffee briefly. Just touching base on the upcoming season. Our newest member is currently on vacation in Montana.

Em and I are sometimes confused for each other at our local curling club, due to a lack of Asians in the sport as well as plain old inattentiveness. It is a running joke that we are 'twins'. We have a few interests and items that we share in common, such as a best friend named Maya. Different best friends, same name.

Today was amusing because we both baked and brought chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with salt to share with the team. We both brought out ziploc baggies with the goodies in them. 

Afterwards, I headed to Renton to hang out with my mother. We made a quick trip to the International District in Seattle to pick up what translates loosely into "Chinese tamales." If I were to spell the chinese word in English, the closest I can get is probably "jeung" or "joong".  There is tonal inflection that is involved that doesn't capture in text.  

I hung out with my mother and sister for a couple of hours and now am back home ready to pass out. Lots of things to do, but too dang tired to do any of it.

Aargh. No sleep for me.

I could not sleep at all last night. I can't understand why. I was and still am exhausted.

Yesterday we picked Ali up from the airport and the headed to Paseo for lunch. we then stopped by bothell bike and ski shop for jer to exchange a jersey.

We then stopped by home for a bit. Ali helped me pick towel colors for the bathroom. There was also some attempt at Yoga from
a DVD that Ali brought with her.

After Jer and Ali left for Bellingham, I stopped off in bothell for gas, returned some library books, and the test drove two different bicycles. I tested a hybrid and a basic road bike. I had planned to test a Felt bike today, but it is raining.

I drove to north bend to the gap outlet and picked up a pair of jeans they are no longer carrying at the regular store. the I went back to Bellevue to return all the bath towels from the day before and to buy the ones that we decided on.

finally, I stopped by joann's for a little fabric for my next project. I headed home just before 9 pm. I finished my apron and got some fabric cut for my napkin project.

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