I can haz iPhone 4

On Friday, my husband asked me to pick up an HDMI adapter from the Apple store. During my lunch break I popped into Bellevue Square mall to pick one up. I looked at a relatively short line and asked the Apple employee if that was still the preorder iPhone 4 line. He said no, that it was for the leftover phones.

There were about 20 people in line, and the wait was about an hour long. I said, what the heck, and got in line. The wait was more like an hour and a half. The first 10 people disappeared in less than half an hour. Everyone must have gone on their lunch break at the same time, because it slowed to a crawl afterwards.

Day 3 of having an iPhone. I am having a blast with the camera and video features. Friday I took Gravity to Marymoor Park. Yesterday I went to the Redmond Town Center sidewalk sale and Farmer's Market. Today we went hiking with some friends up to Rattlesnake Ridge and then for lunch at the Rogue Brewpub in Issaquah.

Gravity is completely crashed out. Poor little doggie.

Crazy week.

Its been a super crazy week.

Gravity had 4 seizures in less than 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday. I thought we might lose her. She's not even 8 years old yet. Beagles traditionally live 12 to 15 years.

I asked my coworker Alex to bring his fancy digital camera to work and try to get a couple of photos of Gravity and myself. I have tons of photos OF Gravity, but only a couple of myself together next to Gravity. We lucked out and had a little bit of sun shining through the clouds. I am including the 3 that turned out the best. 2 of them were her 'rolling over' She doesn't seem very happy in those two photos.

Saturday I took her to daycare, and Jeremy and I headed to the Washington Beer Festival held at St. Edward's Park. This is the 7th or 8the year that we've attended. There was one year, where it was held somewhere else. The weather was cloudier than normal, but we managed to avoid the rain. My favorite beer by far was the Triple Chocolate Stout by Airwaves.

We bumped into a couple of our friends from the Seattle Granite Club. I also bumped into my friend and former coworker Martha. We worked in a lab at Microsoft a little over 3 years ago. I also bumped into a former coworker, Abraham. We worked at AT&T Wireless/Cingular together back in 2003-4ish. A fun time was had by all.

Bob T came back to our house for Bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese. Jer almost did us in with those. I couldn't finish mine, it was wayyyyy too spicy. We also had brats with sauerkraut for dinner.

Today was Father's Day. I called my dad up yesterday to wish him a Happy Father's day and schedule an upcoming outing. Jeremy, Gravity, and I headed out for a nice drive to Edmonds. We picked up some coffee at the Cafe Ladro out there.

From there, we took the backroads into Ballard, where we partook in the Ballard Farmer's Market. Jeremy got us a couple of slices of pizza from vendor. While he was in line, there was this guy playing the accordian. He was playing "Starlight" by Muse. Totally awesome. I wish I had clarified with him - he made a comment saying that it took him a year. To learn how to play the accordian, or to figure out how to play "Starlight" is the question I should have asked. Oh well. Perhaps I'll get a chance to hear him again in the future.

After purchasing some smoked salmon and dog treats, we headed to the Fisherman's terminal in Magnolia. We sampled a piece of deep fried halibut - no chips at Chinook. Remember, we already had pizza. Then Jeremy bought some salmon for dinner.

Lots of laundry was washed, there was a nice long dog walk, chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies and kale chips were made. Ah, and baked salmon on a bed of lentils were eaten. Nom nom nom. Jeremy finished up the night by making some Chex mix for tomorrow's bridge night to be hosted at our house.

Crazy busy weekend.

No rest for the wicked.

Friday night we had a Scotch tasting party at our house. Total of 12 people or so and 9 different Scotches to taste. Laguvalin 16, Edradour, Scapa 16, Laphroaig Quartercask, Glenfarclas 21, and Chieftain's to name a few. Its all fun and games until someone or two gets sick. Yuck. We will be hiring a carpet cleaner to get the smell out.

Saturday I dropped Gravity off at doggie daycare. I forget what we did in the morning, but we did something. Then ate a quick lunch at the double D bar in Bothell-Kenmore area. It used to be JRs. The food isn't really ready yet, but they made us an ok grilled cheese sandwich. Home to the noise of construction in the kitchen, and then I made a run to half price books to sell, sell, sell.

The evening finished off with the Seattle Granite Curling Club's annual banquet. New board members were voted on. New measures were passed. Awards were distributed. My Sunday Mixed team came out of 3rd place in the round robin to win the A division, and therefore the crystal! My women's team took the A division as well

Today I picked up my beagle and headed to Tully's in Canyon Park to harass Derrick on his first day at work. From there I headed home for about an hour, put some laundry in the wash before heading with the hubby to Bellevue Square to meet Joel.

The plan was to have dinner at Delancey's. We started off at The Barking Dog. While Joel and Jeremy had a beer, I took Gravity for a nice walk. I came back and tried a Hot Buttered Rum. Yuck. It was terrible. However, I've read about it and always wanted to taste one. Checked off list. Note: Don't have again.

We then drove to the Maritime Brewery. More beer for the boys. I had a cup of coffee. We did however try the beer battered bacon. Another item checked off of my list. It was okay. I'm pretty sure I felt my arteries harden after I ate a piece.

Next, we went to the famous Delancey's. The pizza was pretty good. We had the pepperoni and the special, a white pizza. We had their fennel sausage added, and it was incredible. Jer then asked the waitress to bring the next most popular pizza.

Cyndy de Mayo

Having a pretty good Cyndy de Mayo.

My hubby took me to a local Italian restaurant for dinner. I had a short walk with my beagle Gravity. A handful of people called me to wish me a Happy Birthday, including my mom and dad, my best friend Maya, and an old schoolmate of mine from UW. A plethora of people wished me a happy birthday on Facebook.

All in all, a good day.

Boo. Shortly after this post, Gravity had a seizure. Sigh.

New sport : Hotel bed jumping

New photo sport, hotel bed jumping. Bring funny props and jump away! Ali and I had some fun last night.

Texas Open Spiel

Wen to Houston this past weekend to visit my sister-in-law and to participate in the Texas Open Spiel. First time curling on hockey ice. Yuck. The only way to get it to the tee line was to push out from the hack as hard as I could and then give the rock a shove.

Also toured NASA which was really cool. More photos to come.

April Spiel 2010!

April Spiel 2010 is in full swing at the Seattle Granite Curling Club.

My team is in the sweet, sweet B bracket. We had a 2 pm draw on Friday, a 4 am draw on Saturday, a 10 am draw on Saturday, and then a 27 hour wait until the 1 pm draw on Sunday.

Update: Won the B bracket!!

Black Forest Cupcakes

Ingredients:
15 oz can pitted cherries (sweet) in syrup
4 oz bittersweek (dark) eating chocolate, coarsely chopped
5 1/2 oz butter, coarsely chopped
11 oz (aka1 1/3 cup) of superfine (castor) sugar
2/14 fl oz (aka 1/4 cup) cherry brandy
5 oz (aka 1 cup) all-purpose plain flour
2 tablespoons self-rising flour
1 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg

decoration
2/3 cup thickened cream, whipped
2 tsp cherry brandy
Shavings of bittersweet dark eating chocolate.

1. Preheat oven to 335 degree F
2. Line a 12 cupcake pan, with cupcake papers
3. Drain cherries and reserve the syrup
4. Take 1/2 cup of cherries and 1/2 of syrup and process in a food processor until smooth.
5. Cut the remaining cherries in half and reserve. Discard the remaining syrup
6. Place the chocolate, butter, sugar, brandy, and cherry puree into a saucepan. Cook over a low heat. Stir until chocolate and butter has melted.
7. Pour into a large bowl and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
8. Sift flours and cocoa.
9. Whisk in sifted flours and cocoa.
10. Whisk in egg.
11. Divide mixture evenly between cupcake holes. You will probably find that they fill the cases close to the top. (don't worry, they don't rise a lot)
12. Bake for 40-45 minutes until firm to touch
13. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Decorate
1. allow cupcakes to cool completely.
2. Mix brandy into the whipped cream
3. Top each cake with some of the remaining cherry halves
4. Top each cake with some of the cream
5. Using a vegetable peeler, scrape along side a block of chocolate to create curls. Sprinkle on each cake.

This recipe comes from http://www.cupcake-creations.com

Curling season is almost over!

So close to being over.

Last night was the last women's league draw. My team won "crystal" in the A bracket. We played with three, as my skip had an emergency at work. We were ahead going into the 6th end. I turned around after delivering my first rock to find that the Lead of the other team had fallen. She had cracked her noggin a good one, but was refusing medical assistance. She was escorted into the warm room area. We finished the end and with her teammates distracted we scored two.

Our team decided it just wasn't right, and offered to shake, split the points with a tie. To play when the other team is distracted over a team mate just isn't in the spirit of curling. However the league manager said because the game affected other standings we weren't allowed to tie. I am still disappointed about this decision.

I've got one more league game to play on the Sunday Mixed League. This game is also for crystal. We would have played last Sunday, however the Clark rink was busy winning the Mixed Nationals title for the 7th time in 9 years.

I have 4 bonspiels across three weekends in April left. Two weekends from now, I am playing in the Seattle April Spiel. The following weekend I'll be in Texas for the Texas Open Spiel. The weekend after that, I'm the 5th man for the San Francisco PIC team. However, I ended up being over committed and will be coming back the same weekend to play in the Last Chance spiel with my hubby Jer and my coworker Alex.

Busy times.

Quote of the day

From Kim W.'s facebook page, this helped put me in a better mood.

"Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." --Helen Keller

Woohoo, a mellow weekend!

The first mellow non-curling weekend in a very long time.

Yesterday, Jeremy, Joel, and I went to Market House Corned Beef located 1124 Howell Street, Seattle, WA 98101-1409. Jeremy and Joel had the very tasty corned beef sandwiches, while I tried the pulled pork bbq sandwich. Both were very tasty.

From there, we headed to Feierabend. Jer and Joel drank beer, while Gravity and I sat and hung out. It was a very nice day.

Jeremy grilled up some salmon and I made some no bake peanut butter oatmeal cookies.

Today, Jeremy started his training for STP. While he was up and about, I washed a couple of loads of laundry and dishes. I also took the recycling out and sent out some bills. Jeremy managed to lock himself out of his car, so I headed out to rescue him with the extra set of keys.

I then drove home and made a batch of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to take to the club. We watched the gold medal match of the women's worlds, Germany vs Scotland. Germany took the gold.

Its just been trying to tidy up my mess. There's still a crapload of dishes to wash, and I am tired.

Talked to Maya briefly about her trip to artfest. Apparently someone approached her, thinking she was me. The person mentioned she still has the stuffed owl that I made for trades 2 years ago. Pretty cool...

Power evenings..

I would love an evening to decompress. Just sit and veg out. Probably not going to happen until this weekend at the very least.

Since I've been home I've accomplished this list of things:

1. Cooked dinner
2. Washed 2 loads of laundry
3. Folded and put away 1.5 loads of laundry
4. Watched an episode of Numb3rs
5. Emptied out the closet in my craft room.
6. Fed the beagle her dinner and meds.

Things that still need to be done

1. Wash dishes
2. Fold and put away 1 load of laundry
3. Play with the beagle
4. Throw away some old junk

Bathrooms under construction

The two bathrooms in my house are currently under construction.

Here is a photo of the main bathroom.

Back from 2010 Nationals

I am back from 2010 Nationals. Made some friends and learned a lot about curling.Had some good times.

On to the next adventure : The Tankard!!

Hurry Hard!!!

It's 5:47 PM...

I think I've just finished packing.

I moved all the bathroom items from the hallway bathroom.

Just need to move my craft stuff.

Then on to the plane ride to Kalamazoo!

Men's Gold Medal Curling and Jill Officer

This weekend was fantastic. My husband was the best, scoring me a ticket to see the Men's Bronze Curling match. He stood in the rain for an hour, before being let into the Vancouver Curling Club....

Afterwards, we saw the Men's Gold curling match. Seeing Kevin Martin's rink play in person is just incredible.

On the way out, we managed to snag a photo with Jill Officer. Jill is very sweet and personable.

I'm feeling a little under the weather today. Mustered up some energy to try a new type of apple, called Lady Alice. Very tasty. Crunchy, sweet, and a little tart.

Sooo busy.I hope I don't get worse. We're heading out for nationals on the Thursday red eye.

Olympic Plush Challenge Submission

This is sandie the penguin. She kept seeing all of these visitors that were talking about the olympics. One day, she snuck out and found a keeper watching figure skating on tv. Sandie became entranced by it.

She wanted shoes of her own, but couldn't find any. She found some white children boots and jammed her webbed feet into them. Back in the penguin enclave, she pretends to glide around, with an occasional triple spin jump.

The visitors noticed sandie and her antics, and the penguin exhibit has become one of the most popular exhibits at our local zoo...

Plush Olympic Challenge from Schmancy

What was I thinking when I signed up for this? I know, I know. I really wanted to participate, but I have almost zero free time this month. *sigh*

My task is to create a plush something or other in the category of figure skating. The due date is Feb 26th. Today is Feb 24th. Eek!

The reason why I'm so busy, is I've been busy trying to squeeze some practice in before I head off to the US Women's Curling Nationals in Kalamazoo, MI from March 6-14th. Between getting practice in, there are regular game days, paying attention to my hubby and my beagle, and getting in some housework and chores. I also have my regular day job as quality assurance (software tester). February is especially trying, because I have tickets to the Olympics. Last Saturday we saw the women's qualifiers (curling). This Saturday I get to see the men's gold match.

I originally wanted to make a plushie figure skating octopus. I had a whole story created for him too. I'm having to change it to a penguin. This is what has been created so far,and it has all been hand sewn. Crossing fingers that I get this completed before Friday.

Oh yeah, to all the plush people, here's a shameless plug for my curling team. We're trying to win a sponsorship from Prilosec OTC for $1000. Votes/popularity count in the final decision. You can login and vote every day. If you could just login and vote once, I'd really appreciate it. Team Hambley is listed in the sports section here : http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501

Trip to the Olympics!

I went with my husband to the Vancouver Centre to watch the Saturday 2 pm women's qualifiers draw. It was a pretty awesome draw to go to. There were two games with extra ends - USA Vs Great Britain and China Vs Germany. Both USA and China won.

It was very exciting to attend. Canada was not playing this draw so the crowd chanted loudly for USA.

If you can make it to Vancouver, I highly recommend it. I'll try and post a few photos when I get home. I managed to snag some photos of the teams during their practices.

Next Sarturday my husband and I will be headed to watch the Men's Gold.

Best hubby in the world

I have got the best hubby in the world. He recently got me a new battery for my MacBook Pro! I can go around without being beholden to a charger again!

Today I got a hair cut during lunch. I don't think Jer likes it. Its okay. I always forget how much I hate bangs until I get them. However, I haven't changed my hair in 3 years so needed something different. Back to the drawing board I guess.

By the way, thanks to everyone for voting for Team Hambley to win a Prilosec OTC sponsorship. We are in 2nd place on the sports page with 576 votes. We are 125 votes away from Old Guy Who Wants to Play His Favorite Sport. Keep voting! You can login and vote once a day!

http://www.officialsponsor.com/applications/view/1501