That's Mrs. Clumsy to You

So it is a well known fact to most of my family and friends that I fall down a lot. Sometimes I trip, often I run into things, and sometimes I just flat out fall.

Almost 4 years ago I was playing in a soccer match down near SeaTac when a girl from the other team and I collided. We were both going for a header and instead ended up heading each other. Ever since then I've had what I like to call "Inner Ear Issues". This causes the tripping and falling. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Although there may have been some falling and such before the head incident, but no one can prove anything. So there....

Back to falling; last night I was on my way to meet Kara, Matty and Chris at Fado Irish Pub. I was heading down one of Seattle's many steep streets, talking to my mother on the phone, when all of a sudden I stepped onto a slippery sidewalk grate and skidded out of control. I managed to keep my phone pressed to my ear and came down really hard on my knee and then caught myself with my left hand wrenching my wrist. My mom heard the commotion and started yelling "COURTNEY ARE YOU OK, ARE YOU OK, COURTNEY, OH MY, COURTNEY WHAT HAPPENED". I just sat there on the sidewalk in shock, in pain, and totally embarrassed. Luckily people acted like they didn't see anything, or me for that matter, and just stepped over my pained body. Not one "are you ok?" or "can I help you up", they just kept about their business. Finally I was able to right myself and head towards Fado at a slow pitiful limp. At least this time I didn't rip my pants and I probably won't end up with a huge scar......little victories.

Argosy Locks Cruise

Finally, some pictures from the Argosy Locks Cruise last weekend. Since it was raining we didn't get the traditional Argosy photo, so we had to take some to memorialize the event.

Elise



Elise, Josh, Jamie



Chris & Cam



Last minute photo entry. (You're not funny House!)



Chris, Cam & Cheri, enjoying the brews.

Does your cat look like Hitler?

An ex-coworker sent me this post today. Genius......

Enjoy!
http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/

Another Whirlwind Weekend

Wasn't it just Friday? Didn't I just leave work, excited at the prospect of a fun fun weekend? No work for 2 days, lots of time to do so many things I wanted to do? And damn, here I am, back at work already. Where did it go? Here is a recap, does it seem like enough?

Friday - Met Steve and Chris for dinner at Paddy Coynes. They had been fishing all afternoon at Carkeek Park in N. Seattle.

Saturday Morning - Chris and I went to Sears to purchase our new Refrigerator, Stove, Dishwasher, and Hood! Of course we have to wait until March 12th for everything to be delivered, but boy is it going to be grand! I was so excited it was all I could talk about all day.

Saturday Afternoon - We went on an Argosy Locks Cruise with my cousin Cam, his wife Cheri, my cousin Elise, her boyfriend Josh and their friend Jamie. It was raining and cold, but it was still fun to be out on the water, and its always fun to go through the Ballard Locks. (Hopefully I can get the pictures I took uploaded soon. Fun Times!)

Saturday Evening - After the cruise we headed north to Cam and Cheri's Lake City home for a rainy day bbq. It was our first visit to their new home so we got the grand tour. They made us a wonderful dinner and we had a great time sitting around and visiting.

Sunday - Car Wash, Home Depot, Starbucks, Costco, Safeway, home. Then I cleaned, cleaned, cleaned, did laundry, cleaned, more laundry, cleaned. I attempted to make a recipe I found for crock pot Mac&Cheese. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to make this recipe. It turned out HORRIBLE.

And then, it was Sunday night and time to get ready for Monday work and class. I was bitter, I was angry, I wanted more free time, I wanted to frolic in fields of Gerbera Daisies.

At this point Chris was dashing about the house, excited at the prospect of going skiing today for the annual Argosy ski day. This brought my mood to an all time low. It rained all weekend equating to snow in the mountains and he was going skiing. And not just going skiing, but traveling on a bus with 30 of his coworkers and a keg of beer to spend the day skiing in fresh powder.

My weekend went to fast, and boy am I bitter.....
The End.

Darn Rain!

I was hoping to do a 5 mile walk this morning. I'd even talked a coworker into accompanying me. However, upon walking up, I realized that it was pouring down rain outside. Stupid Seattle. Oh well, this will give Chris and I more time picking out our new appliances that we hope to procure this morning. After that we're going on a Locks Cruise with my cousins. Yahoo!

Gmap Pedometer

Another cool site that I use quite often is Gmap Pedometer. You can plot your location and then by clicking across the map track how far you've walked. I use this a lot for my training walks so that I know exactly how far I've gone. They've also added a feature that shows you the elevation change and another feature that tells you how many calories you've burned. Gotta love Google Hacks.

Stuff on MY Cat

I've recently started going to "Stuff on My Cat" every day and it inspired me to find these pictures of Percy from last spring. My brother, his wife, and my nieces had come for a visit and the girls were playing in the backyard. All of a sudden they started piling stuff on Percy and instead of running off he just lay there loving it. Eventually he was encased in what we called "Fort Percy". Fun times.

Funny Face Game

One of my nieces favorite games when I come visit is the funny face game. They make funny faces and I take pictures of them. It's a fun game.

Seattle Thunderbirds Hockey

Friday night we went to Argosy hockey night. It was the Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Spokane Chiefs at Key Arena. Mostly the game was boring and by the 3rd period it was 4-0 Spokane. But all of a sudden the Thunderbirds came back to tie it in regulation play (4-4) and score first in sudden death overtime securing the win! Mostly I'm just there for the beers, but the game this time was actually pretty interesting. Here are some photos from the game....



Kara's first hockey game ever!


Steve ended up buying way too many pucks for Chuck-a-Puck because these girls were so darn cute!


Kevin LOVES having his picture taken.

Home Show

Chris and I went to the Seattle Home Show yesterday to get some remodeling, appliance and landscape ideas for the upcoming summer season. Mostly what we got was crowd anxiety and hot tub envy. I won't be going back next year. It seemed like every other booth was selling property on or near Lake Chelan. Those that weren't had numerous Hot Tubs, Spas or Saunas......not one of the best times I've ever had.

We redeemed ourselves after the show by going to Pyramid for a nice cold DPA (Draught Pale Ale). Yummy.....

INTJ

For class the other day I had to the take the Jung personality test. Apparently I'm an INTJ which won't surprise anyone after reading the below synopsis of what that means:

INTJs are very analytical individuals. Like INTPs, they are more comfortable working alone than with other people, and are not usually as sociable as others, although they are prepared to take the lead if nobody else is up to the task, or they see a large weakness in the current leadership. They tend to be very pragmatic and logical individuals, often with an individualistic bent and a low tolerance for political correctness, spin, or rampant emotionalism.

(INTJ (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging) is one of the sixteen personality types from personality type systems based on C.G. Jung, of which the best-known are the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Keirsey Temperament Sorter and Socionics.)

P-town, PDX, Seattle-lite

I'm heading to Portland, OR this weekend to visit my brother and his wife and get some face time with the two cutest nieces in the land (Chris has to stay here and work and play Warcraft). I'm trying to think of anything and everything that I need that I could possibly buy this weekend with no sales tax. Here is what I've come up with:

1. Lamps for our bedroom. I'm so indecisive on this subject it's ridiculous.
2. Any clearance ski clothing (not really a need as much as a want).
3. Kitty condo for the cats (this will appease Chris more than them).
4. Books, Books & more Books. Perhaps a trip to Powells will be in order.
5. Outdoor fireplace. I want one for the backyard. I could perhaps stop at Home Depot and pick one up (we still have quite a few Home Depot gift cards left from the wedding - awesome gifts BTW).

Most likely I'll come back with nothing, but we'll see. P-town here I come!

Dining Review - Jak's Grill

Last night Chris and I celebrated a belated Valentine's Day Dinner (thanks to a gift from my parents!!) at Jak's Grill in West Seattle. Neither of us had been there before and we're excited to try a new place so close to home. Here is my review:

Location: Just north of the Alaska Junction on California Ave (West Seattle). Kitty corner to Easy Street Records.
Ambiance: Traditional steak house ambiance. Huge wood booths, quaint little bar area, creepy hallway bathrooms, and loft seating overlooking California Ave. We were seated in a huge awkward table near the front of the restaurant.
Food: I had the Petite New York with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Chris has the Ribeye with Potato Pancakes. We both were satisfied with our steaks and truly enjoyed the sides.
Drink: Manny's on tap. 'nuff said.
Service: Our waitress was great! However we felt bad for her because she must have been waiting on the entire restaurant. We got a little lonely for attention at a few spots and had to wait forever for our bill, but again, there was Manny's on tap.

Rating - 4 Stars

Get Human

So my friend Matty sent me this link today http://gethuman.com/us/ . This is really great. Gives you instructions on how to navigate the IVRs of large institutions to "Get Human".

From their site: The gethuman project is a consumer movement to improve the quality of phone support in the US. This free website is run by volunteers and is powered by over one million consumers who demand high quality phone support from the companies that they use.

Check it out!

*Heart*

Yeah, well, Happy Valentine's Day and all that. I was in a pretty bad mood yesterday about the whole Valentine's fiasco. Didn't I just get done paying off all my Christmas presents, and now I'm expected to hand out Valentine's day gifts? I was rebelling.

I left work yesterday with the intention of going shopping for maybe some chocolates and a card for my hubby. Well, I went to Neuhaus Chocolates only to find that all they had left were $42 boxes of chocolates. And those boxes only held 16 pieces! Maybe I'm not up on on fancy chocolates but that seemed a bit excessive to me. So I left there in a huff and went to Papyrus only to find that they there were almost completely out of cards! I found one that I sort of liked, only to find out that they wanted $6.95 for it! A piece of paper with some writing and a matching envelope?!?! Again - I stormed out. Needless to say I went home empty handed and angry.

I even woke up angry about the whole holiday. I stomped my way to the bus, cussing everytime Renee Montagne said "Happy Valentine's Day" everyone.

And then it happened. Riding on the bus over the West Seattle Bridge, downtown came into view. And there, on the west side of the new Washington Mutual building was a giant heart made from offices with their blinds up and their lights on. A small smile actually appeared on my face and happy thoughts of candy and hypoallergenic flowers entered my brain.

Now, mind you I'm still not going to run out and buy a $42 box of chocolates, but at least my inner rage has subsided and I'll perhaps spring for the $6.95 card.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Mappy Hour

Ok, so maybe I'm a bit behind the times, but have you heard of this site Mappy Hour? A friend showed it to me yesterday (shout out to you lady) and I must say, I'm sad I didn't know about it sooner. It is a Google Hack where you can type in the address of where you are and bamn!! There is a little pint glass that shows up for every bar in the vicinity. You can then mouse over the pints to reveal their names, and then click on them for more details. You can also request that missing establishments be added. Genius I say, pure genius.

Back to Mappy Hour!

2007 (9th annual) Jones - Kalahar - Walters Ski - In

Chris and I went to Wenatchee this past weekend for the 9th Annual Ski-In. A gathering of friends and family and friends of family who grew up ski racing at Mission Ridge. We gather for a day of skiing and then retire to Ron and Deb Walters's house for an evening potluck and reminiscing. This year, like those of the past, was great fun. Below are pictures of the event.

Chris getting excited for the day ahead and carrying some VERY hot and yucky lattes.

First Taste - ewwwwww

Chris thinking he's funny....

Dad and I on Chair 3!

The morning crew gathered at the summit. (From Left: Courtney, Chris, Uncle Bud, Allen, Sue, Pat, Susie, & John).

Can you believe this guy is 83 years old! We call him "Fire on the Mountain" and he always returns with "more like Flicker in the Valley".

The mid morning group stopped for a picture. Too many to name!

Chris being his usual self at the top of Chair 2 - The Liberator.

Dad and I after a few lunchtime beers! (One of the best parts of the Ski-In!).

Dad posed in front of the Bomber wing.

Chris of course found a sign to read - telling of the lore of the Bomber wing and the aptly named Bomber Bowl.

I got a bit hungry....

Dad and Chris in the fog.....

So there is a great story behind this. All day long I kept spraying my dad with snow every time he stopped. So finally I was ahead of him, came to a stop and he skied up to spray me with snow. Sadly, he's not as talented at the snow spray and ended up sprawled out in the snow. This was the topic of conversation for quite a while at the potluck!

Chris and I after a long day on the mountain!

Chris House Skiing

Chris Skiing

Thursday Thoughts

• Days off are much needed.
• The sky outside is beautiful.
• Leftover pizza for lunch makes me happy.
• Diaper stories sometimes go a bit too far.
• The mountains need snow.
• Standard & Enterprise are not the same, and do not cost the same.
• Accuvue contacts don't work for me.
• Wenatchee here I come.

Simple Pleasures

Yesterday I arrived at my gym (Allstar Fitness - Downtown) to find that the remodel they've been doing for about 18 months is *almost* complete. I had forgotten how great is was to have a full sized locker, a shower with hot water immediately, mirrors for combing your hair, and lots of available working machines. It was like Christmas, but different. In addition there are flat screen TVs everywhere! And I mean everywhere! There is even one in the women's locker room. Not just a huge flat screen TV in the locker room, but 4 leather chairs in which to lounge in and watch said TV. I fear that this may lead me into kidding myself into believing that because I'm at least at the gym I'm doing some good, but perhaps I should just spend my lunch hour sitting in the locker room and watching reruns of Law & Order: SVU. I could bring my lunch with me, or maybe buy something from their vending machines. And when people at work asked where I've been I could simply state "the gym". That wouldn't be a lie.

Foggy

The last two days have been really foggy. Last night riding the bus home the bus driver kept missing stops because the fog was so thick. After walking just a few blocks from the bus stop home my coat was covered in misty dew and my hair was damp. I must say I LOVE FOG. It's so cool and mysterious. Objects have fuzzy edges in the fog and who knows what you'll find around the next bend. In my case, this morning, I found Christmas lights around the next bend. On my walk to the bus this morning I took a slightly different route and ended up on a side street filled with houses sporting Christmas lights. I don't remember a street so festively decorated during the holidays but here, right in the midst of February was a street full of holiday cheer. Keep in mind, this wasn't just one house where they were annoying their neighbors, it was a whole row of houses. At least 5. I wish I had a really fancy camera that would take adequate fog pictures so that I could represent what I saw this morning. I also am glad that I didn't so that I can keep that memory treasure to myself forever.......

Here is a picture that my friend Matty sent to me today, taken at his New Years Party. Good times!!!

Busy Weekend

We had quite the busy weekend. Saturday we got up early and my cousin and his wife (Cam & Cheri) met us at our house for a day at Crystal Mountain. The drive there was fairly uneventful. The roads were bare and dry and the conversation was pleasant. Upon our arrival we realized just how little snow they've had since Christmastime. There was plenty to ski on, but the snow was worn out. It had been melted, frozen, groomed, and skied so much that it just wanted to sleep. Luckily there were short lift lines so we got some "ok" skiing in. While we were sitting in the lodge at lunch however the Crystal I remember from my youth came shinning through. The rains began to fall.....and not just a drizzle really, full on rain. But heck, if I'm going to pay $53 for a lift ticket I'm going to ski, rain or shine. So we finished out the day sopping wet and exhausted, but all in all it was pretty fun. It was Cheri's first experience on skis - hopefully we'll be able to get her out there again. I tried to tell her that it isn't always raining.......

Sunday morning Chris and I got up early, bustled to clean the house, and got ready for our Super Bowl company to arrive. Chris made some wonderful Meatballs, I made Aunt Cindy's artichoke dip with Courtney's addition (jalapenos) and deviled eggs, Christy & Jer brought over fried chicken and a yummy beer/cheese dip, and James & Chad brought lots of chips and beer. We stuffed ourselves while watching the game. Fun times.

At some point during the game I remembered that I had filled out a questionnaire about the game for our office pool. I pulled it up on my email and was pleased to find out that I was doing quite well. This morning when I walked into the office I was greeted by an email stating that I'd actually won the pool. I got 17/20 right! This entitled me to the grand prize of $120. Yay me! Here are the questions and their correct answers (the ones in red are those that I missed).

Super Bowl XLI – Chicago Bears vs. Indianapolis Colts – Sunday, Feb 4^th, 2007 – Miami, FL

1. Who will be the winning team? Colts

2. Which team will cover the spread? Colts

3. Which will be the first team to score? Bears

4. Will a player rush for more than 100 yards? Yes - Rhodes

5. Will a quarterback pass for more than 300 yards? No

6. Will a receiver catch at least eight passes? Yes - Addai

7. Will there be a blocked kick or punt? No

8. Will replay reverse a call? Yes

9. Will a kickoff or punt be returned for a touchdown? Yes - Hester

10. Will a safety be scored? No

11. Will there be a successful field goal over 47 yards? No

12. Will there be a fake field goal or punt? No

13. Will there be a successful two-point conversion? No

14. Will either defensive unit record five sacks? No

15. Will either defensive unit score a touchdown? Yes - Colts

16. Will any one player fumble at least twice? Yes - Grossman

17. Will either starting quarterback be replaced (for any reason)? No

18. Will either team score in the final two minutes of the first half? No

19. Which quarterback will record the higher passer rating? Manning – 81.8 (Grossman had a 68.3)

20. Will the game end with a kneel down? No

TIEBREAKER

Total Points: 46 Total points (I guessed 38 - but didn't need the tiebreaker!)

Recent Reviews

So here are a bunch of new to me places I've been recently and what I thought of them.

The Pink Door
Location - Pike Place Market
Ambiance - Old School Fancy, soft lighting, interesting decor.
Food - We were there for happy hour and tried the Roasted Garlic and Spread plate. $5. Excellent. Came with lots of fresh bread and a side of olive oil for dipping.
Drink - Again, Happy Hour - Yummy Manny's Pale Ale on Tap ($2). Also Red Menace by Hales ($2). My cousin's wife Cheri had the Pino Grigio ($3). She seemed to really enjoy it.
Service - Very friendly and attentive.

Rating - 4 stars

The Virginia Inn
Location - 1st and Virgina - Downtown
Ambiance - Wonderful wooden bar. Cramped seating, mostly 2 tops.
Food - I had the sausage sandwich. Quite tasty. The gumbo looked great.
Drink- Manny's on Tap! as well as Chopper's Red. Lots of other good beers too.
Service - Fairly Decent. Nothing spectacular.

Rating - 3.5 Stars

Puerto Vallarta
Location - California Avenue - West Seattle. Across from Elliot Bay Brewery.
Ambiance - A little on the dirty side for my taste and sort of white trashy.
Food - I ordered the chicken fajitas. Probably the worst I've ever had. Chris really enjoyed his Tacos Supremo.
Drink - Chris had some crazy strong margarita. I think it was a little too strong! I had a Pacifico. Hard to go wrong there.
Service - Not really great, not terrible. Just sort of so/so.

Rating - 2 Stars

ZigZag Cafe
Location - Steps to the waterfront below Pike Place Market (next to the crying pig Mexican restaurant).
Ambiance - Was incredible until the place started to fill up and the noise became deafening. It has cement ceilings (right Matty?) and the sound just bounced around. Still the bar is comfy and entertaining and they have some wonderful velvet booths.
Food - None
Drink - Maritime beers ($3) on tap as well as numerous fancy cocktails only $5 for happy hour. We watched the bartender make one that he lit on fire. Whoa!
Service - Incredible. I'd go back just for the service.

Rating - 4.5 stars

Deep Breath

Today has been crazy busy. Seems as though work has gone from zero to 60 in 4.2 seconds. It is one of the best feelings in the world, to be so busy that the work day just zooms by. And really, it's been a very fun busy. Calls with interesting people and lots of problems to solve. Good thing that last night was my first class of "Problem solving and decision making". Now here is something that will hopefully come in handy!

I spent all day yesterday angry at the thought of another touchy feely type class, and the thought of a new teacher. I had a horrible attitude upon my arrival in class and slumped into my chair. The first thing the teacher did was say we were going to go around the room and tell something interesting about ourselves. I hate this exercise. I'm really not interesting and being an introvert I truly hate being put on the spot. But she started off and said "I used to be a professional ski instructor, I did that back the day so I could afford to ski". I was in love. This woman spoke my language! From then on I was hers, and I actually learned quite a bit last night. Not that I learned my lesson or anything like that, I'm sure I'll be just as bitter the next time we have one of these touchy feely classes.