New York City

So, I won a trip to NYC from my husband. How? Well, I belted out the chorus of Veggie Tale's "The Bunny Song" over vent to his World of Warcraft guild. To some of you, that last sentence made no sense. It's okay - you are not really missing much. The point is, by me stepping out of my shell and doing this, he said we could go to NYC for a weekend, catch Wicked on Broadway and have a great time. But, a new house, bills, IRS, a pending trip to Vegas, and another road trip to Kansas, we decided to hold off on NYC. So. Stephanie, stop posting photos on your blog. You too, Kelly Purkey. BECAUSE IT LOOKS WONDERFUL. This weekend is going to be awesome - Tonight Loren and I are going out to dinner, then going to see a movie...and tomorrow I'm going to the Cheescake Factory for lunch, then seeing Legally Blonde: the Musical at the 5th with my mom and some friends. THEN, friends from California are going to arrive in the evening and staying for a few days!!!! YEA! Have a fabulous weekend!

Coffee. I.need.coffee.

I love coffee...especially the aroma. My love for it began in college when we'd spend hours on the top of Queen Anne, either at Starbucks, Tullys or Cafe Ladro. Okay, only Chai at Ladro, tho, because it was the BEST. Anyways, I digress. I guess years of the acidic beans has taken its toll on me, as now I can only have it in delicate amounts about once a week, else I pay for it. If ya know what I mean. So, I now contemplate my options as I sit here. I can (1) "just do it", to borrow a registered slogan (don't tell them I used it - I'm fighting the IRS for my money and I can't afford a lawsuit from Nike), (2) create a ghetto mocha with just a single pump of coffee (Hey, I'm at work. Our coffee comes out of a carafe and our 'mocha' in the form of Swiss Miss), (3) Have tea. boo. So now is the time I must decide...my indecision may just mean a lack of decision.

Tonight I'm making these tasty 'chops for dinner. The recipe link came from my friend Aimee, who says they are super delicious. We trust her. Wasabi and Panko Crusted Pork with Ginger Soy Sauce:

The next while is going to be busy for us with guests here for a couple of weeks, so we did a major Costco shopping. Ummm, One MEEEEELION dollars later they finally let us out with our trunk full of goodies. That place is deadly on the pocket book. We were saved a few dollars because they didn't have any stuffed salmon. Have you ever tried that from their meat dept? It is SO GOOD.

The olympics...hehehe, GO USA! Especially that men's Hockey team. Beating Canada was AWESOME! My favorite part of the game was when the one, two, yes THREE Canadian players piled up on each other - without any US interference. I think the Canadians censored any photos leaving the stadium because I can't find any photos of it, but luckily one guy got it on his smuggled camera phone. I don't know how to add a youtube video, so here is the link... THREE CANADIANS COLLIDE. Enjoy!

Looooooong weekend of scrapping

Last weekend I spent four days scrapping with friends in Belfair, WA. I didn't get an epic amount of layouts finished, but I got much more completed than I would have if I were at home. :D It was great to be among really creative girls. I just finished unpacking all of my stuff from the weekend and took some photos of the layouts I completed. In no particular order....

A layout of Loren throwing snowballs at me...location is Hurricane Ridge, WA

A layout of our M.I.A. kitty, Omar. YOU COME HOME, MISTER!

A layout of some friends the first time we frequented the Crab Pot on the Seattle waterfront

An OLD photo of me and my SPRINT team on a R&R in Romania.

This layout is from a Studio Calico Sunday blog sketch

A sweet photo of our two kitties, Pru and Giselle.

This sketch is a jack out of a Scrapbook Trends mag that I do not own, so once I figure it out I'll throw out the props.

A layout of day hanging in Seattle - the photo taken from Pike's Place Market is SO good...even Mt Ranier is showing!

This layout was from a 'grab bag' challenge at the crop. I started out with eight items, randomly selected from a paper bag, that I needed to incorporate into the layout. There was a 30 minute time limit. I was surprised that it turned out as good as it did! Here is the final result:

I got home on Monday afternoon, and Loren got home shortly after with this beautiful floral arrangement from a local florist:

What a great guy, huh??? :D

This weekend has been a lot of fun - Friday night we started season two of Big Love. I love this show! And then yesterday I hung out with my SIL, got my hair done, shopping, scrapping, and some Olympic watching! Luckily, we are able to get three Canadian stations in addition to the TERRIBLE NBC coverage, so we've seen a lot of live events. Today we will be watching the USA men's team play Canada in hocky! GO USA!!!!