Dinner for 2 – Ruth’s Chris Steak House June 9, 2008

Happy Anniversary to me! It was that time again. Time to celebrate another year of Wedded Bliss. What better way to do so then by enjoying a lovely dinner at a “Serious Steakhouse” [their words-not mine]. Sit back, relax and enjoy the description of a dinner that had the caloric content of a full day of meals. The one time a year when I’m not allowed to count calories [that and my birthday].

Appetizer: Grilled Scallops on a bed of pesto topped with shredded veggies–YUM!

Salad: A crisp wedge of iceberg lettuce on field greens.

Entree: Seared tuna topped with Colossal lump crabmeat and served sizzling with red pepper pesto.

Dessert: Chocolate Explosion Cake – I was told it was fat free and low-calorie…even the Haagen Dazs

Drinks: Just like the cast of SITC — I had a couple of Cosmos–Cranberry, Lime and Vodka~Oh my!

It was a great dinner and I’ve decided it should become a yearly tradition for our anniversary.

The gym enthusiast in me, got up at 8am the next morning for spin class at the gym–My sweat consisted of butter and vodka. How sweet it is!

Email is the new conversation May 25, 2008

Don’t get me wrong, I love technology. In fact, if I want to, I could go days without actually talking to another human being [not including my kids]. I email back and forth with the kids teachers. If I have a question about my cable bill I log onto my account and have a LIVE CHAT with a cable representative. I pay many of my bills online and some I can pay via an automated phone system. I go to the grocery store and can use self-checkout. If I happen to get a check for my birthday or Christmas I can deposit it in the ATM machine. I have even taken up texting with my friends and family members. It’s great in a pinch if you can’t talk long, don’t want to talk or are too lazy to move your mouth. Yes, texting is raising a whole new generation of carpel tunnel syndrome laden children. My eldest daughter who turned 13 this year absolutely loves texting. In fact, we invited 20 [or so] of her closest friends out to lunch at a local restaurant for her birthday. You would think that many girls at one table there had to be a ton of talking. When they were all seated they whipped out their phones and began texting each other, sharing mp3s, and playing their ring tones for all to hear. It was quite the scene. My husband has even been known to IM me upstairs while he is downstairs on his computer. He sends me email reminders of upcoming events so that I can add them to my outlook calender. We have even held serious discussion via email because it takes all the emotion out of the communication process, which at times is a good thing. So, some say brown is the new black. Jen Lancaster says Bitter is the new black. I say Email is the new conversation.

My life as an 80’s Television Show May 14, 2008

We all go through it. It’s a right of passage–It’s called growing up. Well, growing up isn’t as simple as it sounds. Mom always told me to take One Day at a Time. There will be Happy Days and there will be days when you just want to shout Gimme a Break. Well Nell Carter isn’t going to save you now. We’re not all born with Silver Spoons in our mouths and some of us have to work to make it to the Head of the Class. There are Diff’rent Strokes for different folks. At times you may feel like your movin’ on up, like The Jeffersons and other times that you just feel like Square Pegs in round holes. Getting along with your parents through the teenage years is rough. Gone were the days of thinking your dad was The Greatest American Hero and the Family Ties don’t seem quite so tight and on occasion we felt like Perfect Strangers. We just wanted to please them and every once in a while get a That’s Incredible or at least hear their Cheers. With the ups and downs of mood swings and hormone shifts it feels like Hill Street Blues. You cry yourself to sleep at night wondering why you don’t live on a Little House on the Prairie or come home to The Walton’s every night. Things may get a little Too Close for Comfort, but you can always count on your Bosom Buddies. My girlfriends and I were tight, like Laverne and Shirley. Although, every once in a while we would let a boy get between us [and I never drank milk and Pepsi]. That’s when my mom would sit me down for a Hart to Hart chat and try explaining to me the Facts of Life. Was it so wrong that I too wanted to catch a ride on the Love Boat? I knew boys would come and go but a friend is for always, but come on my heart’s not made of Remington Steele! And just when I’d think that boy [that got between us] was in love with me, I’d realize that I too, was living on Fantasy Island. That’s ok, because I don’t need a Knight Rider. I’ll be The Fall Guy and stay home and try to piece together a Newhart for myself. Little did I know that one day I would be a Thirty Something, Married with Children, with my very own Ricky Shcroder and a Full House. To all you guys who passed me by, I have one question! Who’s the Boss now?

Can I get a water with that? March 18, 2008

So here I am…living in the Coffee capital of the nation, finding myself surrounded by coffee enthusiasts [kind of like I'm a gym enthusiast]. They love it! And who wouldn’t, right? We do live in the Northwest where the city sleeps, but the rain DOES NOT! I thought it would be depressing to live here. Frankly, everyone told me I would be. How nice is that?!?! You tell your loved ones your moving to Seattle and the best they can come up with is, “wow, it rains a lot there–I would be so DEPRESSED”. Ok, maybe only a few people said that to me and they were virtually strangers, but it still made an impression. Anyway, I am getting off topic. Why do so many people love coffee in this region? For starters, it’s a great pick-me-up when your looking at the world through gray colored glasses [or are those just the clouds]. Sun gives you energy—cloudy skies make you want to curl up in front of a fire place and read a good book or maybe go into hibernation. Well, with kids, work, errands to run, sporting events to attend and volunteering to be done, no one has time for hibernation. I never got into the whole coffee thing, because I can’t get past the bitter after-taste. I like to consider myself an upbeat person, but every once in a while it would be nice for a caffeine jolt to get me through that 14th load of laundry. My husband has always enjoyed coffee. If I’m not mistaken, he became a fan during his military days [understandably]. His coffee habit has become a little more obsessive since moving here and becoming a card-carrying member of the coffee bean of the month club. We have coffee mugs [he's actually a collector], coffee thermos’ and coffee travel mugs [with and without handles]. I’ve told my husband, it would just be easier [and possibly cheaper] for him to get an IV drip so he can have coffee coursing through his veins 24-7. Coffee is so popular here our church has a coffee bar and an espresso vending machine [no I'm not kidding]. So needless to say, everywhere I go I am surrounded by these coffee bean addicted, half-caf, low fat, latte, frappuccino loving coffee crazies. For now I will stick to my ice water and the occasional energy drink. And when I lovingly go to Starbucks to pick up my darling husband a “Venti Drip” I will continue to say, “Can I get a water with that?”