Monday, February 25, 2008

Rock Band Super Star

Maholla peeps-

Wooza- did this feel like a full weekend! I need a weekend for my weekend . . . . .ha. lame. It was a jam packed 2 days though. When the sun comes out its so much harder to sit on the couch and watch TV- I gotta get out there and do stuff!

Friday night I met up with Alex and we went out to a lovely dinner at the Stumbling Goat Bistro on Phinney Ridge. It was a bit of an accident that we ended up there- as we were trying to go to Olive Twist which is a block away! We had walked in to the wrong place (had never been to either), and only noticed after being seated by the hostess, so we decided to stay and try it out. I wasn't too hungry, so I had the appetizer soup as my entree, and Alex had the roasted chicken. Both dishes were excellent, and our earlier mistake proved to be a lucky chance as we ate a wonderful meal! HA- we are such nerds!

Saturday morning was sunny sunny sunny- so Alex joined me for a walk from Capital Hill down to the Market- and then along the waterfront. Alex had last week off from teaching for mid-winter break, and in this photo he is sporting a cut- up face from one of his many skiing adventures of the week.
We had a great walk- stopping on the way back for crumpets at the Crumpet shop- Alex's first!

Saturday night Kostas hosted a housewarming at his place. A late night out- and my first time playing ROCK BAND! So much fun! I can actually say- for the first time ever- that I WANT A VIDEO GAME!!!!! Scary but true- I rocked out on the guitar!

The night also included many rounds of flip cup- dance party in the living room (one annoying girl aside) and lots of mingling with the array of folks in attendance- I felt like an outsider as a non-computer person-ha ha, kidding kidding. There were a lot of really fun people there that I had never met, so it was kinda cool.

Sunday morning I woke up to the sun streaming in through my window- I love it! It reminded me of my summer living with Max in Cali where I literally was woken up by the sun every morning! Best alarm clock ever!

Alex and I took advantage of the sun by going for an extended run around Cap Hill. We are in training (and I use that term loosely) for the Mercer Island 10K that takes place March 9th- so we are trying to incorporate more hills into our usually flat runs . . . . its going okay. I will tell you this, SO much easier to get out and run when its sunny!

Sunday night we capped off the weekend with dinner and Oscar watching at Max and Anne's. Max and I combined the contents of our fridges and made a delicious salad with grilled chicken. Add some bread and wine and it was a meal fit for the stars!

Happy Monday!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Lunch Date


La Carta de Oaxaca


Yummy yum yum! Can't wait- meeting Alex and his teacher friend at noon for a mid-week lunch date- dang those teachers and their week off- SO JEALOUS! Hope everyone can make it outside to enjoy the sun, even if its just for a little break. Counting down to the weekend!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Sunshine Sunshine

Maholla all-

This has been a great past week/weekend for me. First and foremost, it was SUNNY this weekend! What a treat!

Max, Anne, Oggy and my mom met me for a walk at Alki beach Monday afternoon, and it was so hot we were all in short sleeves by the end. Grand time. Its easy to forget how beautiful sunny Seattle days can be. This was a great Presidents Day gift!

The pervios day Alex and I attempted to go up skiing with some members of his family, only to get turned back just past North Bend. A 6 car pile up resulted in the closing of I-90, so instead of a day up at the mountains we had a nice brunch at the North Bend grill! Oh well, all was definitly not lost, Alex and I ran a 5/6 mile course throughout Capital Hill in the gorgeous sunshine and then met up with Jody and Anton at Smith.

Alex's birthday was last week, and we went out to dinner at La Vita e' Bella (a Kostas found restaurant). We had a delicious dinner, followed by a 'happy birthday' serenade from an accordion playing Italian gentleman sporting a long white beard and a brilliant derby hat, as well as the entire wait staff! Needless to say it was hilarious, and the highlight of the night. Nothing says Happy Birthday like an old man with an accordion- ha ha!

From there it was on to the Big Picture to catch the showing of Juno. A great place to see a movie, and a great movie to see.

Here's to another week like the last!
ajk

P.S.- finally a NEW LOST AUDIO PODCAST

Friday, February 15, 2008

Be My Valentine

Maholla peeps, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night Alex and I celebrated our year anniversary and Valentine's day all in one. It was great- nothing like killing two birds with one stone- ha ha.

Alex met me after work, and he had a lovely bouquet of red roses in a beautiful vase waiting for me. I have never considered myself a "rose" person, but there is something about getting a bouquet of red roses on Valentines Day, so classic. They are gorgeous, really really beautiful.





We started off our evening with dinner at Pair, a really cute neighborhood restaurant in Ravenna. Its specialty is small plates, so we had many tasty dishes to share between us, including the cambozola fondue-YUM!

One of the really nice aspects of Pair is that they stagger seating throughout the night, ever on a busy night like Valentin's Day. This allows for the kitchen to take their time with each order, as well as creating an environment of calm and relaxation for all diners. There always seemed to be one table open, (even though I know they were completely booked for the night) so we never felt rushed to leave. They also have great lighting, all candles (so everyone looks good :)

After coffee, and a shared apple tart, we continued on to the 5th Avenue Theater for the opening night of MAME!


Mame is the story of a feisty New York party girl in the roaring 20's who prides herself of good gin and good parties! Her life changes forever when her only brother is killed, and her nephew from the south comes to live with her. She opens his eyes to the New York party scene, the arts, and a whole different way of life. It is a great musical with good songs and dancing, and leaves you wishing you had an 'antie mame' in your life!

A side note- one of the male leads in the cast was the voice of GASTON in the Disney animated Beast and the Beast! What star power!

It was a fabulous night- great food- great show- and a wonderful person to share it with!

I hope everyone's Valentine was as lovely as mine. I leave you with a link to an ecard my mom sent me . . . . best internet card ever.



Friday, February 8, 2008

GObama!!!!

Maholla Peeps-

Just back from the Obama rally- and I am inspired!!!! Get out and caucus everyone! Tomorrow is the day!


After a cold hour and a half wait in the freezing wind, we were let through the gates into Key Arena. Luckily my good pals Corrie and Meagan saved seats so I had a great view! The arena was over capacity, with about 20,000 people inside, and another 3,000 or so outside listening! Barack finally went on at about 1 (FINALLY)- but it was well worth the wait!

Barack started off the speech focused on getting people introduced to who he is as a candidate and where he stands on the policies. For me, it was mostly a review, since I have watch tons of speeches and debates. That being said, I would probably watch him read the dictionary :)



The second part of his speech was the most interesting to me. He talked about facing McCain in the upcoming election, and responded to some of Hilary's allegations against him very directly. This was all new post-super Tuesday info, and it was met with thunderous applause! He is SO inspiring! He spoke to uniting our divisions with foreign countries (especially those alienated by George Bush), uniting our differences with republicans, with people of different races, religions, genders.








He is making history - and I was lucky enough to be there to see it!

LETS VOTE HIM IN!





Barack N' Roll

Maholla peeps-

Sorry its been so long, I've done a lot since my last post, but I just can't seem to remember to bring my camera along- hence the lack of blogging.

I still don't have any good pics to post, but I had to write to tell everyone that I am about to see BARACK OBAMA speak at Key Arena!!!! GObama himself! As you can tell I am VERY excited- he is my candidate of choice going into this weeks Washington State democratic caucus. Since I will be out of town (something that couldn't be avoided) during the caucus, and my primary vote counts for squat (stupid WS dems) I am going to cheer him on in person. I am actually just about to duck out of work and head on down- WOOT WOOT!



I hope to have many photos to post when I return!

Happy Friday everyone!

NAMASTE
Anna

PS- lost is wiggin me out this season- OCEANIC 6!!!!!