Friday, March 23, 2012

Home Again, Home Again

The boy has been back for a week.  And I am already beyond exhausted, although not nearly as hungover as I thought I would be at this point.  Picked him up Friday night, sans one suitcase that didn't make it from HNL.  Then good beer and cheese and snuggles.  Saturday we both had massages, got some coffee, and mostly just vegged out.

Americano.  Finally.

But I think we also hit the Fir, Moshi AND La Carta, and overall overindulged at all of our favorite places.  I saw it coming, but that doesn't mean my guts were happy about it.

Yay!

Sunday was more of the same, really.  Walked the market, showed off my climbing skillz over at the gym (which I must say, Adam was quite impressed with), cribbage at the Fir, and a full dinner at the Walrus.

Free oysters.  So full of win!

I was hella hungover on Monday, mostly because I didn't get enough sleep after all the weekend insanity.  Add one more layer to it, and we hit Uneeda Burger Monday afternoon:


Doyouneedaburgertoo?

Apparently the fine folks there at Uneeda are still working on their GF training because Tuesday I was in worse shape, and ultimately went home around lunch to sleep it off.  Called in sick Wednesday, and made the turn back *towards* healthy.  Wednesday we also tackled my clogged dryer duct, which included a 12 foot duct rotor rooter, with two different brushes and one mid-evil torture device to retrieve one of said brushes that got stuck up in the duct.  This all allowed Adam to camp out at my place for 24 hours and wash everything from Midway.  It's still TBD whether the dryer is fully functional, since the circuit breaker panel in my condo is now rattling and Adam claims the dryer never really gets hot.  If nothing else, the sensor-based drying function sucks.  Which is awesome for a one-month-old, super-expensive dryer.

Last night we attempted to be part of Famer's pre-surprise-party surprise party, but the crowd was 45 minutes late to the designated meeting spot, which was long enough for us to finish our round and decide to call it.  I pinged Tasha to make sure we were in the right place, and she actually called to apologize for keeping us waiting so long.  One of my college roommates (and part of the Collective Brain) is in town to celebrate, so rowing has already been called off for tomorrow morning in anticipation of an epic surprise bash tonight.  Except Adam says Farmer gets a punch in the nose for standing us up last night:  Happy Birthday Mo-Fo. POW.  Other than that, I think they'll all get along fine.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Midway, Day 91

Well, kids this is it.  End of the line.  Adam is going to get his last dinner on the island.  Bags are packed and waiting to load up on the G2.  My three months of solitude are nearly over: T-minus 24 hours until the boy lands in Seattle.  ACK!!!  Where did the last three months go??

Today I blew out of work early to go get an extended bikini sugaring.  Kind of like waxing, but far less painful, much faster, and requires no chemicals to remove the leftover paste.  Pretty sweet stuff (har har har).  So I'm feeling fabulous about that - and it's kind of Adam's welcome home present.

I was poking around Dorkbook this afternoon and found evidence of a tornado that blew through Dexter, Michigan where Brian and I used to live.  A little research and it sure did look like our old 'hood.  I emailed Brian, and he did a bunch more research and determined the house that was leveled was only a block from our old place.  Reality check.  He's still trying to figure out of our work buddies & neighbors are all alright, but I didn't see anything other than property damage in the AP release, and I'm hoping it's right.  Pretty scary.

Got down to Ballard this evening to clean up around Adam's place.  I got started with the vacuum cleaner and kind of got carried away because its suction was so awesome.  Did all my dirty dishes from the last few weeks and cleaned the mold out of the fridge.  I figure since we'll likely be spending all weekend there, I want it to be clean.  Tomorrow I'll make a grocery run and deliver the pooch before making my trek to the airport.

Didn't sleep worth crap last night, so it's off to bed for this girl.  Gaia doesn't know that while it's our last night snuggling together, she has SO MANY snuggles ahead of her!  Me too!  Woot woot!!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Midway, Day 89

I have been craving chocolate frosting & graham crackers for weeks - since I discovered there is a commercially made GF graham cracker.  Tonight I finally made it.  The frosting could have used some more butter, but whatever.  It's sugary and chocolatey and crunchy and graham crackery.  And I promise to (try) not eat it all in one sitting tonight.  I decided that if I were going to make it, it should probably be before the boy comes back, since he would definitely not approve of this delicious midwestern treat.

Long flight test day - flying is very trying on the body.  Or I'm getting old.  Then the boathouse had no power, so the door code wasn't working, which meant a workout in the bike room.  Gaia adds a whole new dimension of difficulty to planks and push ups and burpees and any other exercise in which you might get down to doggie level for any finite amount of time.  My weird headaches are back too, which is frustrating to no end.  The pain sits right behind my eyes and into my forehead and does not go away regardless of my efforts.  But then it will just go away for no apparent reason for a totally random amount of time.  I'll mention it to the chiropractor next week because I have a feeling he'll have something intelligent to say about it.  I was reading the online health forums (which Adam would also not approve of, so let's not tell him about that one) and it was everything from sinuses to C4 disk problems to BIH, whatever that is, but apparently requires a spinal tap to fix.  No thanks, I'll stick to the chocolate and graham crackers - they seem to be working for now.

Countdown stands at 74 hours until touchdown in Seattle.  And it can't come soon enough!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Midway, Day 88

Well, I think we're officially into the countdown for Midway.  Last night Adam was breaking down his remaining tasks on the island. We're under 100 hours until he lands in Seattle.  Gaia is pretty excited.  Adam might be more excited though - certainly counting down the hours until he's on the G2 and on his way out.

Mom & Dad were out to Seattle for the weekend.  Very glad they came, but also very glad they're safely back in Milwaukee now.  First thing they did was properly greet & gift Gaia:

Scooby is about to be a snack.

Friday we had a Healing Crisis - a Reiki session for each of them.  Dad finally had a third party with awesome intuition tell him to make changes. And then he slept for the next 18 hours.  Saturday we went down to Tacoma to the Museum of Glass and then to a salad bar near the mall, which Dad thought was the best thing since... sliced bread.  Saturday night we went downtown to the Symphony to be serenaded by Mozart & Bach.  It was lovely.  Sunday we walked about at the Ballard Farmer's market, and the local art shops before an epic dinner at Staple & Fancy.  Fried oysters and Chickpea Squid salad were well out of the Midwestern culinary comfort zone, but I think everyone enjoyed it just fine.

Ballard Farmer's Market.

Appetizer course at Staple & Fancy.  Tasting menu is the only way to go.

Dad has claimed that he's changing his diet and was more or less obsessed with finding salad bars.  So we went to Whole Foods for lunch today, and it was delicious.

And leftovers to take to work!

All in all, a good weekend.  But again, glad it's just me & Gaia in this apartment again.  In other news, my brother apparently bought a house today.  Some fixer-upper (that doesn't even have a ceiling in the living room right now), but he's pretty excited about it.  And I think mildly terrified about taking out a giant loan.  So I think Potter Family Vacation 2012 will be a trip to Austin to help with the painting and what-have-you.

Lots of distractions tonight, so I feel like this post might be kind of choppy.  Main points to take away: Adam comes home in less than 100 hours and I had a lovely weekend with my parents, see pictures above.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Midway, Day 81

I am happy to report that Gaia is not shaking with exhaustion anymore.  But the back leg is pretty much non functional - she's not even trying to get up on the couch these days.  Back on the anti-inflamitories and pain killers.  And back to doggie acupuncture on Friday.  Hopefully the healing properties will outweigh the anxiety she gets these days with the needles.  And we can probably get more drugs.

I am rapidly running out of time before Adam gets home.  Mom & Dad will be here Thursday through Monday, and until then I'm just prepping for that (when's the last time I cleaned the bathroom?).  I have to do my taxes sometime in the next few weeks to get it in before we leave for Europe.  I've got stuff to get ready down at Adam's for when he gets back (mostly just food to sustain us for the first weekend, and maybe a deep clean of the dog hair that's in the rugs).  And I'm trying to get all these work hours in so that I can continue to get paid while I'm out of town.  Ack!

But, most importantly, I must announce that adding a fried egg to your meal just makes it better.  Example: toast with goat cheese, turkey and spinach is pretty freaking good.  Put a fried egg on top of that and it's flat out amazing.  I used to be afraid of not fully cooked egg yolks, and I thought they were pretty gross, but I have realized the errors of my thinking, and am embracing the yolky runny goodness.  On everything.

Inspiration by Aimee.  Another reason we were instant friends.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Midway, Day 80

Let's run with a Blogess-style Weekly Wrap up: Shit I did when I wasn't here.  I think we already covered Monday's much needed sick day.  I was pretty toasted the rest of the week too - ready for bed before 10p every night.  I don't think I ever got into bed before 10p any night, but that's another story.  Ok, in reverse order...

Tonight I did happy hour at the Walrus & Carpenter with Aimee.  She's a fellow rower & all around badass (trade track racing & climbing for roller derby).  Other than a couple of brief conversations at parties at Dana's, Aimee and I don't actually know each other.  But we greeted each other like we've been pals for years.  I guess given the background of who you know, and what you do, and your implied values and strengths and some people are just automatically friends.  We had a fabulous time eating oysters, drinking the delicious concoctions Mustache made for us, and talking about Paris.  (Digression: On Adam's recommendation, I got there plenty early to stand in line.  Aimee got there right at 4:00, when they opened.  I was seated without connecting with her, but with the stipulation that I was *suppose to* wait until my entire party was there, like it was such a rule breaking event that I got two spots at the end of the bar by myself.  But then Mustache recognized me and welcome me and asked how I'd been.  One of those times it pays to be a regular, or at least a dormant regular.)  Aimee complimented my little wallet, and I mentioned it had been a thank you gift for throwing a baby shower for one of my girlfriends.  Aimee launches into how much she despises baby showers and refuses to go.  And I have to say her reasoning was completely sound and somewhat liberating.  Because I too HATE baby showers.  Partly because I'm not at that stage in my life.  And partly because listening to "oh, that's sooooo cute" for two straight hours kind of makes me want to puke.  So I'm about to bail out of a shower I said I'd go to this month - it's the day after Adam gets back and I'm pretty sure I won't know anyone.  I applaud, admire and respect the pregnant, and I am more than happy to visit and bring a baby-centric gift, but the idea of spending two hours oogling over baby stuff (ps, btw - how did people have children a hundred years ago before all this stuff???) is zero percent appealing to me.  I already have an awesome book for this mom-to-be, and will bring her a big ass pot of soup or pan of lasagna post-delivery, but I really think it will be better for everyone if I gracefully bow out of the actual shower event.  There.  I said it.

I was actually slightly hungover this morning (and I don't know how this syrah got poured and sitting in a glass in front of me), thanks to the epic birthday party for Silas Brown-Turtle.  The man turned 10.  Double digits!  Scott & Mary always throw a wicked kids' birthday party, and last night was no exception.  I think the kids started partying about 2p, but the adults went 'til at least midnight.  Much wine was drank (especially by Niki), many sex jokes were made out of earshot of children, and lots of delicious food was cooked and eaten.  I think I had a taco & sweet potato soup hangover this morning too.  Those are evenings that I'm reminded how fortunate I am to have had been a part of Tom's life and be so accepted and welcomed by all of his people.  Even if it leaves me hungover.

Gaia ran some errands with me yesterday morning and then we went to the dog park, and that was all just too much.  As much as she LOVED running around off-leash and incessantly chasing the ball into the water, she is done.  Last night she was shaking from exhaustion, and has been flat out unable to use her bum leg since she got back in the jeep post park.  Makes me feel like I'm a horrible dog mom.  So drugs for the week and probably a run back to doggie acupuncture later in the week.  I think no one (including Gaia) wants surgery, so I should probably focus on just getting her healed up in the next few weeks and not walking her all over creation, no matter what pathetic looks she gives me.

Friday I had my new washer & dryer delivered and installed.  And I'm totally calling bullshit on the first crew that insisted that a stackable unit wasn't possible.  Because it totally is.  Friday's crew showed up five minutes before my scheduled window started, and had everything installed 35 minutes later, did their final checks and were out the door in less than an hour.  It was impressive.  Although the I'm not convinced the dryer vent in my building actually goes anywhere... but I do have all sorts of clean clothes and clean sheets and clean towels now.  I'm even tempted to wash Adam's sheets again - even though I've only slept in them about three times.  Both the washer and dryer sing a little tune when they finish, which is super cute.  One of those things that make me feel like a real adult (singing appliances do that).  Also a thing that makes me realize that it's best to throw down the cash for what you really want, and not buy something cheap with the intent of upgrading later, because I won't actually upgrade until whatever it was breaks and then I'll just be mad for not doing it right in the first place (same goes for good fitting clothes & shoes!).

Oh hells yes.

Friday evening (ok, a little out of reverse chronological order) I had dinner & drinks with Farmer.  WHAT!?!?  That's right - THE Farmer.  He emailed me during the day about grad school stuff and we ended up deciding I should join him post-gym for food & beer.  His lady, Tasha, came along and she's just as awesome as Dorkbook makes her out to be.  She's also REALLY good at pretending we've never interacted before about a certain surprise party later this month.  I'm pretty sure Farmer & Adam would get along terribly well, and I look forward to integrating them into my more permanent social circle.  I'm pretty happy with having removed myself from the big socializing events and focusing on having fewer, more meaningful relationships, and I think Farmer & Tasha should be in the latter group.

I think nothing major happened mid-week.  I had dinner with Chance Thursday over at Naked City.  I still adore Chance, even if he bailed out on me Wendesday evening - which was filled with sushi & Young Frankenstein instead, ps btw.  He's (hopefully) coming out of a rough time, and he's another one I hope to keep in my group of close friends.  There's talk of an undoubtedly epic road trip to Montana in May - Jo, Sile, Chance, Adam, me all to see Zana.  How could that not be epic?

This uneventful weekend that was suppose to be used to sew has turned into a fairly eventful weekend in which I have gotten nearly no sewing done.  So now I'm going to retrieve my clean sheets, make the bed, and maybe get a few stitches in.