Wine and work

This photo is from the Vegas trip - the Wine Cellar at the Rio. But it just so happens to be exactly what I'm doing now. (the wine part, not the Vegas part)

It's almost 10 p.m. in Dallas and I got to a restaurant near my hotel about an hour ago, straight from the office. Hadn't eaten dinner. Had been at work since 8:30 a.m.

And the day pretty much rocked.

I know, I'm sick. I'm one of those horrible people who actually like working. Probably has a lot to do with the fact that I like my job. But I suspect that if I didn't like my job, I'd just find one that I did like, and work really hard at that.

So now I'm at Truluck's, a steak and seafood restaurant that's across the street from the hotel I stay at. It's really good. And it has an EXTENSIVE wine list by the glass. We're talking, you can get Silver Oak by the glass. Or Rombauer, which is my favorite chardonnay. That just so happens to be what I'm drinking right now.

A shout-out to Mike, even though I know he never reads this blog. He really stepped up while I've been away, taking the dog to the vet and meeting a contractor at the house for a glass table-top I want made. If the laundry's done when I get home, I might just have a heart attack.

A teaser

I know - I need to write more about Vegas!

I'm in Dallas today. I flew here from Vegas last night, landing just before midnight local time. I'm exhausted, but it's all of my doing.

Here's a teaser on the trip: some photos from rockwall climbing. Mike, Keith and I all went in June, but just Keith and I this trip. (Mike's still trying to process a worker's comp claim through my work because his shoulder still hurts from trying to pull himself up the wall! It's all about the legs, man!)

It was much easier this time around (easy being a relative term), and I went up the wall six times. Even got over the hardest cliff (eventually). Raced Keith on the easiest track - he made it up in one minute ten seconds, and I held my own with one minute thirty-eight seconds!

Tape

Let me set the stage: I was shopping in Vegas yesterday with Debbie. (Debbie, by the way: master shopper. Best I've ever seen. If shopping were an Olympic sport, Debbie would have the gold, silver and bronze.)

We were in Ann Taylor, and I was casually flipping through the sale rack (me: not so much of a master shopper. It seems to be a master shopper you need to have a master bank account. Hm.). I pick up a pretty dress, and, even though we all know the last thing I need is another black dress, I look at the price tag.

$39.99.

"DEBBIE!" I shout/whisper (you know, one of those "whispers" that's really louder than your normal talking voice?)

Being the master shopper that she is, she immediately recognizes the shout/whisper as one of a great find. We oogle over the dress, and I run to the dressing room to try it on. It must be mine before anyone in the store realizes it's been mis-marked.

The dress fits fabulously, and I purchase it. We were going to a fancy dinner and to see Ka that night, and it'd be perfect to wear!

It's only after I leave the store that I realize: wait, this $39.99 dress needs to be accessorized correctly if I'm going to wear it tonight. I simply did not pack the right gear for such a dress. I tell Debbie, and her immediate response is, "I love a mission. Let's go."

The mission entailed finding one essential piece for the dress: a black strapless bra. We're in a huge mall - this really shouldn't be a hard task. In fact, a few stores down is an intimates apparel shop. Debbie goes into a Coldwater Creek, and I head into there.

I tell the lovely (read: bitch. Oh, you'll see why.) sales woman that I need a black strapless bra. She asks what size. I tell her. She scrunches her nose. "Um, well, let me check the back," she says.

Now we all know I'm not the most well-endowed girl. I not exactly endowed at all. Still. I'm a girl. A girl with feelings.

The very lovely (read: super bitch) sales woman comes out of the back and says, "We don't carry that size. Maybe you should just try tape."

Is your mouth hanging open? Because that's what mine was doing.

Tape?

Tape?!?

TAPE!?!

I was flabbergasted. I put my tail between my legs, the high of purchasing such a great dress at a really cheap price deflating out of me, and walk over to Coldwater Creek. I tell Debbie what the saleswoman said. Debbie replies immediately, "Where is she? I'll hold her down, you punch her."

Luckily, Vicki (as in Victoria's Secret) feels my pain. Not only does she carry my size, she had four different options in my size.

Crisis - and tape - averted. Dress worn with stunning success.

Without tape.

Vegas, Baby!

I'm in Vegas! As Danny put it in an e-mail: you two are in Vegas more than Wayne Newton!

Just a jog in so far this morning, about to head down to get some breakfast. When i hit the jackpot, I'll let you all know!

Chicago Running

Let me say first that I can't believe no one called me out for my last obnoxious post. So maybe I'd had a glass of wine (or two. I think just two.) before posting. So maybe I was alone in my hotel room and feeling sorry for myself. But you all are going to let me get away with that gross self-promotion? (I know, technically the entire blog is self-promotion, but I try to keep it to a minimum!) You're weak.

It's my last morning in Chicago, and the conference has been a good one. As expected, all the best parts have been happening outside of the conference sessions themselves!

Dinner last night with Kristy and Andy (and so it doesn't seem like we were doing it behind her back: Vi, we talked about you. A lot. Dissected what we know of your relationship. Speculated. Came up with a list of questions for me to drill the boy with when he comes to the States. Really excited to stay with us know, aren't you???). Ate at Vong's Thai Kitchen, with family style curry and pad thai, souffle and lava cake for dessert, and a pear-flavored vodka drink. Conference? What conference?

Signed up this morning for a guided running tour of the city. OMG! Why didn't I think of this idea? It's called City Running Tours, and they have them in DC (who knew?), New York, Chicago, Austin, San Fran, and a few others. You can contact them as an individual, but this was organized through the conference. Went on a three-mile guided jog of downtown, stopping at a few spots, but with pretty much a constant commentary of the buildings that we were passing.

There were about 25 conference attendees that showed up to jog, and we broke up into groups based on pace. I was a little nervous at first because they called out "5 mile, 8 minute pace." Gulp. Can't do 5 miles at 8 minutes a mile.

Then 3 miles at 8 minute pace. Then 3 miles at 10-minute or slower pace.

Wait! I'm a 9 minute pace!

So I did what any girl who is unsure of what to do in a given situation does: she checks out what everyone else is wearing and goes with the group she most identifies with.

The 8 minute pace group had on shorts and tee's, sports watches with timers to keep pace, all pretty fit. The 10 mile pace group had on sweat pants and sweat shirts. They were carrying coffee already. Someone might have been smoking.

I went with the 8 minute group.

We had three guides for our group - three most adorably beautiful girls. Which could have been why, besides me, only men joined the 8 minute pace group. The guides were a big draw, I think.

Ended up being a good decision. We stopped a bit more than I expected. And while I don't think we were going a 9 minute mile, there were very few times when we picked up the speed to get to an 8 minute mile pace. Mostly because they stopped at a few sights to say what something was, and the guides made us stop at all stop lights. So even though it was 6 a.m., and there were no cars on the street, we had to follow the crossing signals. I can totally understand that from a liability perspective, but kind of frustrating!

Loved it, though. The guides kept up a nice, but not annoying chatter, and the 64 degree weather bathed Chicago in a great light.

Okay, running (oops, bad pun) late now! A few more sessions to go today, then I'm off to Vegas!

Note to self

Maureen, you need to blog. You have a lot to blog about. You need to update everyone on:

1. The pork. Don't forget to include that it was on the grill for 8 hours, yet still didn't get done. Could have had something to do with forgetting to open the air vents, which led the charcoal to keep going out. (but be sure to point out that you're a master saver, so you just cut it up anyway and finished it in the crock pot with homemade BBQ sauce. Yum.)

2. Your itinerary for the week, which you didn't post over the weekend as promised. You're currently in Chicago. You think. But you're really not sure.

3. Your beautiful fall flowers that you somehow (because you're quite amazing) found time to plant on Sunday, in between re-lighting the grill every hour (for 8 hours). And in between going to Home Depot, the grocery store, getting your hair cut, getting a pedicure, and folding four loads of laundry. And packing for the next week and a half.

4. How much of a dork you are because you voluntarily went to a magazine publishing conference, and are quite enjoying it, thank you very much.

5. Probably wouldn't hurt to follow up with your amazingness. Just to make sure the point got across.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow you'll post.

Food and friends

It's been a weekend of food and friends for me. Started with a great jog with Melissa and Danny on Friday after work, followed by dinner with them and Mike at Equinox. Dinner was incredible. I had never been to this restaurant, and subsequently learned that it was known for serving a lot of locally and organically grown food, along with a large selection of vegetarian options. Since Mike and I are carnivores, and Mike doesn't really like spice, it's great to find restaurants with vegetarian options for Melissa and Danny that aren't Indian restaurants!

Mike and I arrived just a few minutes ahead of Danny and Melissa and went to the bar to order cocktails. The bartender had a "late summer" list of house-made cocktails with lots of fun ingredients. I asked him, "which do you recommend: the blue berry fizz or the lemon basil drop?" His response?

"I made them all. They're all good."

Oh. Helpful.

(Had the lemon basil drop and it was delicious.)

The rest of the staff was much friendlier, and dinner was great.

Saturday night we met with David, Lauren, Kristin and Robert for Lauren's birthday. Drinks at Jackson 20, then dinner at Las Tapas in Old Town. Drinks and company were out of this world, but I was underwhelmed with Las Tapas. I don't mind the Tapas idea, but I do have a problem when the only things on a menu are fried. Didn't look like any of the ingredients were fresh, including the fish and chicken dishes I ordered.

Of course with that group, though, we laughed and laughed and laughed all night long. Especially when we went back to David and Lauren's for "sweet tea mojitos" made with a sweet tea vodka they bought in South Carolina, and Kristin and Robert told the story of squirrels getting into their house. I could completely envision Kristin calling Robert and telling him that living in "these conditions" was a "breach of their marriage covenant."

And finally, today. Attempting to make my pulled pork recipe out on the new charcoal grill. I have to admit, it's not exactly going as planned. It's taken a bit longer to get the smoker part of the grill to work, and it just seems to me like it's all not getting hot enough. I'm not sure if we'll ever eat this nine pound slab of meat.

Speaking of, let me go check on it. I'll keep you updated on how it's going!

Really, really sorry

I promise, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth (if you'd followed my earlier advice and signed up for Twitter, you'd at least know that. 140 characters I can do. A blog post - well, I've been busy.).

It's been a hectic week at work, diving into all the publications I work on for the start of the new year. Plus I've been trying to prepare as best I can to be out of the office for the next week and a half (I realized that when I leave here in a few minutes, I won't be back until October.). I've been trying to save stuff to my hard drive or print out to read on the plane (llllooooovveee plane working. Seriously, if work really wanted me to be productive, they'd just fly me around all day.).

A bit of a sad week, too. I've been hesitant to post about this, because I didn't want to 1. Freak out Barb and Aunt Rita or 2. Look like I was sensationalizing it.

But Barb already knows, so I only have to worry about Aunt Rita (it's all FINE, Aunt Rita, REALLY). And, well, it's kind of a big deal. I can't sensationalize it any more than the local news has.

One of my neighbors died a tragic death on Saturday. It's shook up the community, with lots of talk and sadness along our little street. The viewing was last night, and the funeral was today. I wasn't very close to the deceased, but was friendly with her and her husband, our dogs played, and she even let Goldie out recently when we couldn't get home in time. She was a wonderful woman, and is survived by a great husband. I was really glad to see how many members of the community were at the viewing and funeral this morning. We only have 33 townhouses in the neighborhood, and they were well-represented.

Whew.

Okay. See? Hard to write posts this week!

Oh, we did have our gutter fixed! Good thing, since Mike and I shouldn't quit our day jobs to become water-movers. Evidently it wasn't clogging that caused it to spill out water. It was the fact that the gutter was four inches from the side of the house - so the water never actually GOT to the gutter - it just poured down the side of the house. Oops.

I've got a crazy itinerary for the next two weeks (Chicago, Vegas and Dallas), but those should mean lots more to post about. In fact, I promise - over the weekend, I'll put up my itinerary.

I know, you're shaking with excitement!

Dry spell

I'm really, really sorry for the dry spell.

But I decided that I didn't have anything that exciting or entertaining going on, and you probably didn't want to hear boring details (like, how could someone drop off $80 worth of dry cleaning at a place that only charges $.99 per piece this morning?) of my life.

So I decided that silence was golden.

I do appreciate the number of people who thought perhaps my mild brain injury was keeping me out of the blog-o-sphere. I did indeed have a headache all through yesterday. But today it's gone. Still sore to the touch, though, so please, no touching.

Looking forward to seeing Melissa tonight, who's in town for the Religion News Writers conference. We don't get nearly enough girl time these days. I'm going to try to keep up with her on a short run - "try" being the key word there, since she's training for her second marathon!

I'll also try to find inspiration in our talks tonight to post some more amusing happenings. This dry spell can only last so long!

Back from doggie camp

We had a super early flight this morning - 6:36 a.m. out of Nashville. Yikes. Poor Mike, since he had gone to the honky tonk last night (which he said ended up really just being a bar, and the crowd was going to the honky tonk after a few drinks, but by that time it was 11:30 p.m., and, well, he had an early flight. Still, he didn't get back to the hotel until almost midnight.).

Poor me because my head still hurts. And I wish it were because I was out all night partying.

So up at 4:00 a.m. and off to the airport. A smooth ride home, with a connection through Detroit, and we headed straight to Fur Get Me Not to pick up Goldie.

To make any parent proud, when we got there and told the staff person that we were picking up Goldie, she said, "aw, I was hoping she'd be here a while longer!"

(She probably says this to all the parents. Just like the butcher probably flirts with all the girls. But I still pay more just to go to that butcher.)

Goldie is excited to see us, and we get her report card. Two comments are of note.

On Friday, the facility had a special activity day for the dogs (I'm hoping they'll post pictures). For Friday, Goldie's report was:

"Goldie learned how to use the agility equipment today. She went through the tunnel and under (yes, under) the hurdles."

And yesterday, evidently she was bossy:

"Goldie has just been enjoying her Saturday taking it easy. She did regulate some of the dog's play, though."

Ooops.

Home and an immediate bath for the dog. Love the boarding facility, but, man, does she smell like dog when she gets back from it!

We barricade off part of the back porch and hose her down....

... and suds her up....

... brush her teeth...

... and then leave her outside to dry. Doesn't she look pathetic? Like maybe we've been beating her, instead of just giving her a bath. Tough life. Finally, this cracked me up. There must have been something on the porch that this squirrel wanted. It watched us the entire time, lying flat on it's back like it was trying to blend into the fence.
Okay, not the most exciting post. But, give me a break! I was up at 4:00 a.m. this morning!

Bluegrass and concussions

I don't even know where to start this post! So much as happened in the past 24 hours! I'm in a state I've never been to before, unexpectedly love this country town, have eaten probably 4 cupcakes in a matter of hours, and have a mild concussion. Oh! And I dressed perfectly for the garden party, thank you very much.

Deep breath. I'll start at the beginning.

Flew into Nashville last night and joined the bride and groom and about 10 of their friends for dinner at Radius 10. We caused a little bit of hassle by arriving late (although before any ordering had taken place), and making half the table move so we could sit next to each other and the only two other people we knew there!

It was a late night and an early morning. Woke up and walked about a mile, past Vanderbilt, to Centennial Park. It had a great one mile loop that I ran three times in 28 minutes, then walked back to the hotel. Met up with Mike, David, Lauren, Robert and Kristin for breakfast.

Robert, Kristin, Mike and I then got in the car to drive around Vanderbilt. We found the law school first, which is where the groom teaches. I made Robert pull over so I could take this picture:

This picture is also very important because it is the direct cause of the aforementioned concussion.

Robert was nice enough to indulge my making him circle the parking lot so I could jump out and get the picture. So I snapped it, ran to the car, and tried to jump in really quickly. Tried being operative word there.

I slammed my head into the door frame so hard, the car shook. Stars. Definitely saw some stars.

Was way embarrassed, though, so I didn't let myself curl into a ball and cry, which is exactly what I wanted to do.

We continued to drive the campus, parked and walked around the quad, popped into the book store so I could buy a fantastic pair of sweat pant-like shorts. The entire time, my head is pounding. Pounding, pounding, pounding, pounding. But I'm really trying hard to be a good sport.

We swing back by the hotel to pick up David and Lauren, and wander over to Gigi's Cupcakes, directly across the street from the hotel.

Here's what some of Gigi's cupcakes look like: mmmmmmmmmmm!!

The group decided to come back later to get some cupcakes. Kristin brilliantly decided to get just one right now to try.

It was called "birthday cake."

Now with a sugar high, we pile into the car and head to downtown Nashville.

Which is basically just a street with honky tonk after honky tonk. Very, very classy.
Then went to Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.
Toured around, watched a movie...

... saw all the posters of bands old and new that have played there...

Aaaawwww...

Off to lunch at Logan's...

... but my head was still killing me, despite all the Advil I was taking. So I decided a stiff drink would help. Kristin didn't want me to drink alone (what a friend), and since we were in Tennessee, what else would we get but Jack and Diet Coke?

Back to the cupcake shop where Mike and I purchased three (wedding cake, chocolate malt, and dark chocolate). A quick shower, and we all headed to the garden party.

I wish I had taken photos of the house. Absolutely gorgeous. It was built in the 1920s, and still had original floors, windows and detailing inside. But they decorated it, just, just, awesome.

The party was in their backyard (complete with a stone grill and pond!). Maybe the pictures will do it justice...

After all the worry, it seems we dressed appropriately after all!

The party was interupted a little bit for me - I really, really wasn't feeling well, and bailed out to the AC in the car for about 30 minutes to try to cool down. I'm feeling a bit better now, but still have a raging headache. Lauren and the boys are joining the bride, groom, and many of their friends at one of the honkey tonks downtown right now. I'm really jealous - I'd love to see that! But, I don't think loud music would help! So I've spent a huge amount of time on this post, and am patiently waiting 5 more minutes to see Michael Phelps host SNL!

Okay, let's end on a happy note. See how lovely we all looked at the garden party? Like we knew what to expect all along...

Doggie camp

My dog does not have a tough life.

She's in retirement, enjoying two beds on every level of the house, two square meals a day, and two solid, 40-minute walks. (Hm, I see a pattern here.)

She does stay home alone while we're at work, but she sleeps so much that I really don't think she has a problem with it! Her "day bed" is up against the glass in our door, so she can watch all that's going on in the neighborhood.

Goldie is also lucky in that many of our friends love her. So they indulge me and let me bring her on walks with them, or agree to sit outside at a restaurant so Goldie can come along, too.

They even volunteer regularly to house sit for her when we're away.

Sometimes, though, my friends are busy. And so Goldie has to get boarded.

Now before you get all sad for Goldie, don't. Me being me, I researched tons of facilities before deciding on Fur Get Me Not.

It has cageless daycare during the day, which we periodically send Goldie to while we're in town just to keep her used to the facility. They have several staff people that stay in the big pen with the dogs all day. They send the dogs home with report cards that say who they played with, or what trouble they got into. They discipline the dogs with squirt bottles of water to the face (and, yes, Goldie has come home wet on occasion.) And they take their dogs seriously - I had to go through a multi-step application process to get Goldie in, including a "test" run of her at the facility.

You can opt to just send the dog to daycare, or the dog can stay for boarding. At night, they put the dogs in crates to sleep.

Here are some photos of the facility, the daycare, and the boarding. I tried to save the photos to post here, but couldn't.

I can't wait to hear about how today went for Goldie. It's a "special" day at Fur Get Me Not - the birthday party of the owner's dog. Complete with party hats and games for all the dogs. I think they'll post pictures up on their Web site, and if they do, I'll put the link here.

Yeah, partying all weekend? Not a bad life for Goldie.

"Garden Party Attire"

[I really hope they don't read this post. Or, I hope that if they read this post, they have a sense of humor about it!]

Remember when I told you about my RSVP faux pas? Well, this event is causing me nothing but etiquette stress.

For the sake of easy story-telling, I didn't correctly describe the event. I called it a wedding reception in my first post. But it's actually a garden party celebrating the couple's recent marriage. I can't remember the specifics, but they did a small ceremony earlier this year. The party this weekend is a larger event where all of their friends are coming - in short, a wedding reception.

It's in Nashville, TN (never been to TN! Get to add it to the list of new states this summer!).

The invitation was a formal one, and looked like any wedding invitation, only it invited us all to a "garden party" in honor of their marriage.

I have to tell you, I've been stressing over what to wear to this event.

It's still hot in Nashville right now, although it's after Labor Day. So I still feel obligated to abide by not wearing summer fabrics, or white.

(I'd wear this if the event were in July. But it's not.)

I'm also unsure of what one wears to a garden party, summer or not. Is this like a bar-b-que? A tea? Or a wedding reception?

We decided we needed clarification. Mike's brother and sister-in-law are attending this weekend, too, so Lauren called the bride. The bride left a voicemail message back for Lauren that said, "wear, you know, what you'd wear to a garden party."


Mike e-mailed the groom. He wrote back, "According to [the bride], the attire is garden party."


Um...


In their defense, their responses did go just a little further. She said she thought she'd wear a sundress, and he said that khakis or shorts and a button down might be appropriate.

(this was recomended by the groom)

SHORTS? To an event that has a professionally printed invitation?

No, no, I just can't do that.

So the debate rages on. After every half hour, I change what I'm going to wear. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up bringing four dresses down with me, because I just haven't a clue.

Wait! I wonder what Emily Post has to say about garden parties! I'll need to check with her tonight.

Stop lurking!

Go to the right and click to "follow this blog"!

Kudos to Mike

Mike received a promotion to Director at his job last month. Many kudos to him!

The promotion ran in the Post's business section "Appointments" column on Monday.

Men are like puppies

I've got to tell you about last night. Specifically, about Mike making dinner last night.

Let's stop the post right here: Mike made dinner last night! Cue the fireworks and the band! He was so proud of himself! He even washed a pot or two!

So...you know how when you're house training a dog, the goal is just to get them to go on the paper? You praise, you give treats, you love on the dog for going on the paper. Then, one day, the puppy goes on the paper... but you'd really been planning on reading that paper? But you can't be mad at the puppy, or else you'll ruin all the good training you'd done so far?

Yeah, last night was kind of like that.

What you may or may not know about me is that I generally (read: 99 percent of the time) am in charge of dinner at our house. But I also have a full-time job, and I'm really serious about my exercise. So when I get home from work, I want to work out. That doesn't leave much time for dinner-making.

That means I spend a few hours on Sunday prepping for dinners for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This Sunday, I spent some time planning out dinners for the next few nights, including buying all the ingredients I'd need, and prepping as much as I could ahead of time.


For Monday, I had cut up some chicken breast into bite-sized pieces, made a sweet and sour sauce, diced fresh ginger and garlic, set aside some peanuts and cleaned Bibb lettuce. Planned for Monday: lettuce wraps. Nothing too exciting, but quick to throw together (with all the prep done), and pretty light.


Got home from work Monday, and ran right to Curves. Left a note (we had driven separately) that dinner would be a 6:30 p.m.


I walked into the house a few minutes after 6, and could smell tacos. Mike shouted from the kitchen: "dinner!"


As I walked up the stairs, he says, "I felt like tacos tonight (side note: he wasn't that into the fajitas Sunday night. If it doesn't have Ortega taco seasoning, he doesn't consider it Tex-Mex.). You weren't planning on using that cut-up chicken for anything, were you?"


I did my best with excitement. I ate the tacos (and they were delicious). I didn't worry about the other ingredients I had prepped, and what that did to the rest of the week's planning (okay, I worried a little. But I tried really hard to keep that to myself.)


I hope I did a good job with my excitement. I really, really, would like him to make dinner again. Just, not when I was planning on reading the paper.

Mumbo Jumbo

I have a really funny story about Mike making dinner last night that I have yet to blog about. I will, I promise.

But this is on my mind right now.

My big mouth often gets me in trouble. I seem to have a problem with the filter between my brain and my mouth. Some people actually think this is endearing (aaawww, shucks).

One of the reasons it's on my mind right now is how it affects my work. Today, it's affected my work positively (I think).

I have a degree in Political Communications, and when I want to, I can really lay on the spin. Or I can convince someone that short really is just vertically-challenged.

Today, I just don't seem to be able to pull out the BS.

I got a call today from someone trying to sell me their product (which may be the first indicator that I'm not going to use BS on them - I just don't care). He gave me a speal about synergisticly aligning strategic partnerships among same-thinking individuals through a refined and numbers-based marketing effort.

I sat silently for two seconds and said, "I'm sorry, David, could you tell me what that means without the MBA-speak?"

He had no idea how to respond. And that was the end of that cold call.

Fish fajitas

Mmmm... I do love me some fajitas.


And I really love the ones I made tonight.

I'm not sure if this photo came out well, but it's grilled tilapia (marinated in lime and orange juice, with oregano from my herb garden), home-made guacamole, grilled corn, grilled onions, and a nectarine, raw onion and rum salsa.

OMG. So good.

Mike ate the grilled fish part, but preferred his more traditional - sour cream, cheese and taco sauce.

Lots of house stuff today, and some Internet catch-up. Planned the itinerary for our upcoming Vegas trip (yup, off to Vegas again at the end of the month!). Mike's going for a CPA continuing ed conference. I'll be in Chicago for the first part of the week already, and that's half-way to Vegas!

Staying at the Belagio. Planning to see Ka, dinner at Jasmine, and Fix, both in the Belagio. Also going to revisit the restaurant at the Paris that we went to with the big group last May. (Lauren, was it Mon Ami Gabi? If you remember, I don't exactly recall much from that dinner.) Which leads me to crossing my fingers that I'll get to the wine bar at the Rio again! Keith and Debbie are joining us (hey, it's only fair! We had so much fun in June, why would I want to do Vegas without them?), so I have to convince them to head over to the wine bar with me!

Hmmm... okay, I want to go to Vegas now!

Oh Hanna!

I don't really like reality. Let's step away from it, shall we? Back to Chicago, meals out, no deadlines, no desk phone ringing, and if something's broke, well, call the front desk.

I actually started out this morning liking Tropical Storm Hanna.

Since we expected her, Mike canceled our early morning tee time, which meant I could sleep in. The sky stayed dark and the rain made a nice soundtrack that helped me sleep late. So I didn't get up until 8:30 a.m. (yes, that's late for me.)

Took Goldie out to do her business. But for this post, Goldie takes after me (see here for when she takes after Mike). She doesn't like getting wet, and she really doesn't like to do her business when she's uncomfortable - or wet.

So I take her outside, and it's downpouring. She just lowers her head, stands still (even though I'm tugging at the leash) and looks at me like I'm beating her. I walk her for about 5 minutes up and down the street and she won't even pee!

I give up and go to Curves. Then home, shower, and because I lead a glamorous life, to the garage to clean it out.

This is one of those tasks that I've been asking Mike to do for three months. But he's never wanted to (want doesn't really come into play with something like cleaning out the garage, does it?). So he says this morning, "let's clean out the garage."

Now I don't want to. But my girlfriends know I have this ongoing battle with Mike. If it's a chore like this and he finally gets himself in the mood to do it, I need to jump on that. No matter that I haven't unpacked from Chicago, no matter that I wanted to make pasta today, no matter nothing. If I said, "not today," then he considers himself completely and entirely exempt from the chore at hand. The next time I bring up cleaning out the garage, he'll say, "hey, I wanted to that one Saturday and you said no. If you want the garage cleaned out, do it yourself."

(Just so you know, I don't bash Mike entirely in this post. If you stick with me, you'll soon get to my singing his praises.)

So, we clean out the garage. In the end, I'm happy we did.

In the meantime, Hanna continues to dump rain on us. At one point, Mike notices that - even though we had our gutters cleaned out four weeks ago - the gutters are overflowing and lots of water is building up on our back porch.

His first remedy is to get a trash can to catch the water coming down. That works, but - even though it's an outdoor, 30 gallon trash can - it fills up about every 15 minutes. This is not a long-term solution.


(You can't tell it from the picture, but part of the problem is that the water is running down the fence. So here he's trying to get the water to slide away from the fence into the trash can.)

Mike goes to Home Depot and gets some contruction tarp, then proceeds to stand outside in the rain, building this "slide" for lack of a better word!

He did a great job, working on it for a while, and getting drenched the entire time. It seems to be working (keep your fingers crossed) in at least getting the water to not pool right up against the house.

So now I am patiently waiting for the rain to stop. Too late for me to now make a big dinner, and besides, Mike did all the rain diversion work, he gets to pick dinner. So we'll go out somewhere of his choosing, and I'll order a tall glass of wine. Then another one. Then another. Pretend it's my own little tasting!

To Chicago

This is attempt #2 at this post.

I was about four paragraphs into the first one, and it was boring even to ME.

I’m writing on the plane to Chicago, so I’ll just copy and paste from this Word document when I get a chance later today. Headed to Chicago to man an info booth for work at a conference. Not the most stimulating thing in the world, but a chance to see a different city, have some good dinners, and not sit at the office!

I realize that I didn’t fill you in on a really fun Sunday. So, since nothing that exciting happened Tuesday or yet today (do you really want to hear another story about my delayed flight this morning?), I’ll back track.

Jenelle and I went to Food Matters for a wine tasting of North Eastern Italian wines in the afternoon. It was the first in a series that they are doing, and I think we’ll hit up at least several of the others in the series. $20, appetizers, and five half-glass tastings. You could get more tastes of any of the wines again at the end, too. A huge bang for your buck.

It was a little more subdued than I expected, but it was just 3 p.m. on a Sunday. Of course by the end, everyone was a bit more chatty! But it was a great chance to catch up with Jenelle, to compare an $8 bottle of Pinot Grigio next to a $20 bottle (prefer the $8 if I’m just wanting something cool and refreshing, the $20 stood up better with food), and try a new grape for me – the Pinot Bianco.

And (one of the many reasons I love Food Matters), we could walk to and from the tasting! It’s about 1.3 miles from my house, and there’s a back way so you don’t have to walk on Duke Street. Since we all know what a light-weight I am, this is a huge bonus to the wine tasting!

After the tasting, Mike and I headed to Sarah and Gregg’s apartment for dinner with them, and Joe and Jess. It was such a gorgeous day we ended up grilling outside in the apartment complex’s courtyard. The six of us hadn’t been together in a while, and we were literally jumping on each other to hear stories and ask questions.

Especially since Sarah and Gregg just bought a townhouse (yeah!). Joe and Jess each own their own place, and Mike and I have had ours for a few years. So Sarah and Gregg couldn’t have had a better audience. We were grilling them (hardy, har, har) about everything from interest rates, to carpet color, to appliance types, to the number of bedrooms, to moving plans!

Gregg even took us on an “imagination tour” (term stolen from Joe!), where he walked out the entire floor plan in the courtyard, from opening the front door, passing the kitchen, which wall they were knocking down into the dining room, down three steps to the living room… the whole place!

They expect to settle about a month before moving in, and plan a bunch of renovations. Sarah being the energy guru that she is… (I swear, I don’t care your politics. In a few years when word leaks that she’s going to be in the Administration of candidate X, vote for that candidate. Seriously. She’s going to save the world. And yet, somehow, she’s not going to make us feel guilty about screwing it up in the first place.) … they plan on being pretty “green” in the renovations.

That really excites me – as if I couldn’t shout Sarah’s praises enough, besides being extraordinarily smart, she’s just so damn practical. She’s not going to install a floor that’s “green” but also seven times as expensive as anything else. She gave the briefest of run-downs on the companies she’s going to use, and what tradeoffs she was and wasn’t willing to make in the house. Fascinating.

So after three hours of conversation, a delicious meal, and a brief interruption to examine the pork shoulder that had been smoking in two flower pots next to us for 12 hours by another resident, I had to call it a night.

A big Labor Day

Lots to report about this Labor Day!

We golfed this morning at Pohick Bay golf course, and I was really excited with how I played. I even kept score for the FIRST TIME EVER. That's how good - for me - I did! Shot a 120, which it totally laughable, but still great for me! I even pared one hole, without any foot wedges or anything!

The course was nice, but what was amazing were all the deer on the course. And not only were there tons of them, they would hang around and let us get so close!

Here's a perspective of how close we were standing to it:

And, another deer...Yesterday, Mike bought himself a charcoal grill, just 'cuz. (no comments here on why I had to beg and plead and whine to get a camera for the house, but he just got to buy a grill on a whim. Yup. I'm mum.)

So we stopped at Harris Teeter on the way home and picked up a big lunch to grill up. Here's a shot of the new grill (although I didn't think to take a picture until after we had taken the vegetables off):

And the delicious lunch we created for ourselves:

I'll give you one guess who had the cheese burger and corn, and who had the salmon with grilled tomatoes and onions, spinach and orange wedges. One guess.

I actually couldn't finish my meal, so I put a small piece of salmon, then the left over salad in Goldie's dish. The spinach was wilted with the heat of the tomatoes and onion, and tossed in balsamic vinegar. Goldie picked out the spinach and dumped it out of her bowl:

I guess she takes more after Mike than I realized!

And, finally, kudos to my other blog mates, for the big birthday bike ride today!