CFC.

Flying high, up in the sky,
We'll keep the blue flag flying high
From Stamford Bridge to Wemb(er)ley
We'll keep the blue flag flying high.
[hear a clip]

Chelsea are in it to win it. As of today, they're off to the UEFA Champions League final against Man Utd. while battling Man Utd. for the Premiership title at the same time. Bring it!

Summer, followed by thundersnow.

So this weekend, it snowed, rained, thundered while snowing, and then got a bit sunny. All in all, it was a crappy weather weekend, so we nested quite a bit. Another sinus infection also made its way back into my body. Awesome. The ugly fountain is officially out of our backyard, though, so no complaints there!

Fortunately the lack of recent excitement gives me a chance to recap our lovely visit with Jill and Dan last weekend. The weather was downright summery here. Seattle weather differs from Indiana in that it's mostly the same here all the time! Adjustments in temperature are so slight that they are barely noticeable. But, for some reason, the sun came out and the moisture dried up while they were here. It got up to around 80 degrees and we were all quite pleased about that.

We packed in a lot and basically wore ourselves out... the weather was too nice to miss out on anything. We visited Dan's booth at Green Fest, canoed, went to Seattle's public Japanese garden and UW's arboretum, checked out the sculpture park, ate lots of great food, played far too much Rock Band, and generally marvelled at the great mountain views. Next time Jill comes, I promise relaxation! =)

For sale.

When we moved in, this ridiculous fountain was left in our back yard. And it's still sitting there. Anyone who has seen it either loves it or hates it. We fall into the hate category.

As of today, it's officially for sale. You have to pick it up, though! ;)

Ten.

We celebrated Bluebee's 10th birthday yesterday with wet food and a new set of purr pads. Blue and Lu both took a seat right on them, sitting next to each other in identical positions. They looked like a couple of sweet chickens trying to hatch an egg.

Vertigo.

Another day gone, another trip task complete. This week, we reserved spots to climb the leaning tower of Pisa. I'm a little scared, but think it should be a pretty unique experience. A friend here said that he felt like he was going to fly out the window when climbing it back in the 70s. Now, if I can just be patient for another 5 weeks...

Feeling pretty good today.

Given that it's a Monday, I'm feeling surprisingly good today. Over the weekend, I:

• drank Belgian brews two nights in a row.
• got a superb haircut from a punk stylist with a mouth like a sailor (who coincidentally has the same name as me) for a mere $20.
• weeded and polished up our landscaping with S.
• started prepping the house for Jill's visit this next weekend.
• busted out my new Orla bag and started carrying it.
• took a trial yoga class and loved it.

Food + beer = happiness.

I have been feeling inspired to try new foods lately. Not just new restaurants, but crazy weird meals and strange drinks to boot. We recently started watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and I'm particularly enjoying how it focuses on two of my passions: food and travel. Bourdain visits new places and eats quite exotic foods. While I was stuck in bed last month, I also read Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential. His career as an executive chef in NYC was positively R-rated and quite interesting to read about. We're now watching the short-lived Fox series to see how it measures up. All of these things combined have really just made me want to eat!



So, tonight we decided to try Quinn's, a new gastropub that is receiving great reviews. The beer list was incredible with many Belgian options for S to drool over. I had an Éphémère Apple that smelled like warm apple pie. For starters, we had a Belgian-style order of poutine consisting of perfect frites covered in melted fontina cheese. We ordered a second small plate: wild boar sloppy joes. OMG. The couple sitting next to us had them earlier and the smell was murdering us as it wafted our direction. They were undeniably as mouth-watering as they smelled.

Finally, we split pork roulade and squash risotto that was covered in a sweet chesnut and huckleberry sauce. We both agreed that it was easily one of the best dishes we've eaten. Shawn exclaimed that "even the fat is delicious!" The next best thing to the taste was the cost of it all. We've spent nearly as much at the pub on certain occasions.

So now we're on the couch in our pj's full, fat and very happy.

Baseball!

It's baseball season, and I'm excited (it definitely helps that the Cubs finally won their first game last night)!
In honor of the return of our national pasttime, take a peek at this recent play-by-play of a Japanese league game by none other than John Mayer. It's oddly hilarious! "And that happened" has got to be the next catchphrase of '08.

The joy in being a graphic designer.

Today is one of those days where I'm annoyed to be the only designer for a staff of 200+. While I've been working hard to crank out over 20 printed pieces for our yearly fundraising events, there are still business card requests pouring in.

In my opinion, a monkey could lay out a business card. Once the thing has been designed, typing in new names and phone numbers is a job that I feel overqualified for. So, when a call comes in from an employee bitching me out because they haven't gotten their cards yet, I want to scream: I should be using my skills for something better than this!

Drool.

It's no secret that I heart Orla Kiely. I have two of her bags after finally breaking down and getting the colorful stem one that I coveted recently. As if this weren't enough, she has developed a stationary line that I am sure will be the death of me.

And of course, there are always more bags that I can dream about...

Today's phrase.

The Italian phrase on my calendar for today gives me flashbacks:

Sembrerebbe che abbiamo perso il bagaglio.
We seem to have lost your luggage.

Note to the travel gods: Please don't make me have to remember this phrase when we're in Italy this May.