I'm very content sitting here on Sunday night knowing that my alarm will not go off at 6am tomorrow. Yes I am officially on Christmas break! For those moments when I think about leaving the public education school setting, I need to remind myself of this moment (and months June, July, and August) to keep me going in my current work setting. I'm more than delighted with the idea of having no plans for the next 4 days other than to join Regis and Kelly each morning with my coffee and lounge in my pj's unitl noon if I so desire. My week ended on a very good note as I found out that I have been released from jury duty! As soon as I read the e-mail a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders and I truly smiled for the first time since leaving the courtroom 8 days before. I sent an e-mail to the judge spelling out my concerns for the potential of such a huge leave of absence from work and my supervisor also sent an e-mail explaining the potential impact it could have on the district-especially honing in on the financial aspect. I am very thankful for having such an understanding judge on this case and for him to take the time to hear my concerns. What a relief and definitely an early Christmas present! :-)
Tonight I went with a friend to the "Nutcracker Burlesque" holiday show. It took place at my favorite venue in Seattle. We sat and ate delicious Asian food as our eyes took in nothing I have ever seen before. You definitely had to go in with an open mind for this show. I was surprised at the variety of the audience (lots of open minds of all ages). I was anticipating dancing and maybe some acrobatics. The performance included both of those things with very little clothing. The story was that of a Christmas party where the audience were the guests and the show itself was the performers at the party. They had the Sugar Plum fairy and King Rat with some familiar music but it was hard to see where the Nutcracker really fit in. It was unique if nothing else. The real surprise came when we went to the parking garage where our car was parked and found the garage to be closed. Who knew parking garages had closing times? We certainly didn't. We had about 3 minutes of panic before a car pulled up to the garage and the door opened for them. We quickly ran inside as the doors closed behind us. We had little time to be concerned about whether or not we were going to be spending the night in the garage as we found our car and high tailed as quick as possible to the ticket booth. Luck was on our side as we paid the fee and the doors opened for us. What was the lesson tonight? Read the sign before pulling into a parking garage and they will charge you extra if you get locked in!

I got caught up in Lifetime Christmas movies yesterday and failed to post an update last night. Yes I do watch the cheesy Christmas movies on Lifetime and the Family Channel and I'm not afraid to admit it. It's a perfectly relaxing way to spend a Sunday :-)
Joe and I spent Saturday afternoon at a Christmas show in a little theater in the International District. These two women, who have performed together for 20 years, wrote the show and performed with two other guys in "Ham for the Holidays- Lard Potion Number 9." It was quite funny-poking fun at the Seattle transportation system, the Family Feud game show, and a trailer park talent show. We followed it up with dinner at our favorite chinese restaurant and then a little Wii competition at home. Joe and I bought ourselves a Wii for Christmas as a way to "bond" together. So far, if I'm not good at a game right away I make Joe stop it and move on to the next game. We have become fierce competitors with one another with wakeboarding and I kicked butt with bowling and table tennis. Fortunately for the golf game there is no way for me to throw my club when I get frustrated so that is definitely a step up from the real deal. My involvement in Wii in no way condones video game playing but is a compromise (there is that great word in the married world) to bond with my husband. And if I can prove that I am better than him at some activities then that is just an added bonus. :-)
I had a tough Thursday last week as I spent a grueling morning at Jury Duty part two. I can't go in to any details but let's just say I got out of court and called my Dad with tears in my eyes. I am one of 85 potential jurors for a case that could go on for months! I'm not going to try and begin to explain all the stress that is causing me. I can't sleep and walk around with a constant stomach ache at the thought of a) having to bear witness to the gruesome details of this trial and b) stepping away from my job for essentially 1/3 of the school year. I wonder if I shared with the judge my "Radicchi" gene in that I cry at every sad commercial, movie, song, or card and I'm not emotionally equipped to handle something of this degree if that would help my case? I am currently in attempts to work with my supervisor to form a plea to the judge. Being female and my age is not helping my situation right now as I do believe they've kept me on as a demographic. I'm certainly missing the small town court system right about now.
My day got a little better as that night the Speech Therapists celebrated Christmas on a house boat on Lake Union. One of the girls is house sitting for friends and we all got to reap the benefits. It was a beautiful view of the skyline and the Space Needle with all the lights. The whole house boat community is very quaint and you can only hope to like your neighbor as your proximity to them is very close.
A downtown condo and a house boat to celebrate the Christmas season- not a bad way to celebrate the holidays. The only better way to celebrate is with family and friends and we get to do that in less than two weeks! Can't wait for a little piece of an east coast Christmas!

Brrrrrrr. It's chilly here in Seattle. Our weather forecast for the next 3 days has a high of 32. Some people are hopeful for snow at the end of the week. Not this girl! Let the snow stay in the mountains and please let the temperature increase by about 10 degrees. Those are my pleas to Mother Nature.
My countdown is 2 weeks until Christmas break. I'm already losing my momentum to get to the end as I'm just buried in paperwork!
I took a break from stress Saturday night and went to the Christmas party for my elementary school. Our principal hosted it with his partner at their downtown high rise condo right across from Pike Place Market. I always wondered who lived in the "glamorous" shindigs and now I know two. The party started at 4 o'clock so that we could all bear witness to the beautiful sunset on the sound. The views were amazing from the 16th floor! I should backtrack my story as my trip getting downtown was almost as entertaining as the rest of evening. I was dressed and ready to go in my tights and cute boots. I was planning on walking until I took 2 steps out my door and realized that my cute boots weren't really made for walking and I was better off taking the bus. Two stops from where I got on the eclectic group from the nearby hospital stepped onto the bus and I knew I was doomed. This man who was already mumbling to himself asked to sit down next to me. His stench was immediately all consuming. There were no introductions and no formal greetings. It was just right into the comments about the cold weather and beautiful sunset and did I notice that the sunset was only orange and not red and that the reason that there was no red was because of a volcano erupting in some far away place. I type with a run on sentence for emphasis as he literally said all of that in one breath! From there he went on to explain his background (engineer) and what he did (something about working on ships) but then delve into how he had to quit because he didn't want to hurt the environment but he could still be 3rd in command on any ship around. (Hopefully ones I never travel on!) He mumbled a few more things, bid me good night, and hobbled off to the shelter. I let out a deep breath and hoped for no more company on the rest of my travels.
When I walked into the condo I was just in awe. Big open spaces and the most spectacular views of the Sound and the Space Needle. 2500 square feet of heaven. I told someone that I thought I would be less stressed if I lived in a place like that as it just felt like a little piece of heaven. The kitchen was spacious with a huge island and beautiful countertops. The stove looked pristine as it has never been used in the 10 months that they've been living there. Right off the kitchen is a little sitting room that opens up to a deck in the warm months. 2 bedrooms, an office, a bathroom, and the master bath round out the square footage. The bathtub was the size of our bedroom and propped in the corner was a flat screen TV. Forget feeling less stressed- I would never want to leave with these amenities. From the master bedroom they can wake up everyday to the view of Nordstrom's sign, along with Macy's and other shopping delights. The place was absolutely incredible and they were such gracious hosts to about the 60 of us who attended. It's always nice to step away from work and socialize on a more personal level.
I have round two of Christmas parties this week on a house boat.....Stay tuned for details!

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with more food than I could imagine at Charlie's cabin. It was a white Thanksgiving for us but luckily no additional snow entered the mountains while we were visiting. Movies were watched, a tree was decorated, and lots of wonderful food was consumed. Joe and I came back to Seattle on Friday afternoon. I headed downtown to immerse myself in the hustle and bustle of black Friday while Joe went to work. Friday evening was the lighting of the Christmas tree at Macy's. Although the tree wasn't as big as Rockefellar Center and there wasn't an ice skating rink underneath, the ceremony still brought out the Christmas feeling. There were songs sung by a choir group as the ever growing crowd waited patiently (and some impatiently) for the countdown. There is a big star that lights up at the front of Macy's along with the Christmas tree. After all the lights were on, fireworks illuminated the sky above Macy's. I was standing amongst lots of families and the kids were just taking it all in. As quickly as the fireworks went off, people quickly headed back into the stores for more shopping.
On Saturday I got our apartment in the holiday mood as I dug out (and I mean I had to dig!) for our Christmas decorations. Nala has already found her favorite to knaw on and my pretty gold present box currently has a T-shirt draped over it to avoid any more kitty teeth imprints. I found myself wandering another Mall Saturday night. We're doing quite well with our Christmas shopping but I find that I like to just wander about in the mall and take in all the shopping frenzy.
This evening Joe and I enjoyed the light show at Bellevue's Botanical Garden. It's amazing to see the creativity of lights done in vineyards, under the sea, and flowers galore. More Christmas cheer was felt near the shopping area as there were toy soldiers walking around on stilts, people dressed up as polar bears, and Christmas music blaring from the outside speakers. As the weekend comes to a close, I'm filled with lots of holiday cheer and my game face to make it the next three weeks until Christmas vacation. Gotta love the school calendar!

Thanksgiving Preparations

In light of the holiday (and my need to share my baking disaster), I'm doing a Wednesday update and sharing my story. Joe is at work and Nala is not much for responding to my kitchen frustrations so type I must. Let me preface my story by saying that for the first time in my life I put leftovers in the freezer. I have never been a leftover kind of person but in these hard economic times I'm trying to be more senseable. About a month ago I made some delicious pumpkin bread using just a small amount of pumpkin from a very large can. I knew that I would be needing some pumpkin again around Thanksgiving so I got myself a tupperware container (okay so it was a plastic container leftover from lunch meat-my first mistake), put the leftover pumpkin inside, and into the freezer it went. Fast forward to this past Sunday when I thought I was being really good taking the pumpkin out of the freezer to thaw. I noticed Monday night that there was some orange liquid at the bottom of the refrigerator but chalked it up to the peaches that Joe had opened that night for dinner. Tuesday comes and there is more orange liquid and no more peaches to blame it on. Joe thought it might be his grapefruit juice. I just kept wiping it up and didn't think much about it. This afternoon I decided that it was time to do the inevitable and tackle this chocolate chip pumpkin cookie recipe. I start to get everything together and pull out the pumpkin. As soon as I open the lid I see that something is not right. I'm not too familiar with pumpkin consistency but I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be lumpy mush sitting in a pool of liquid. Upon further inspection I notice that there is a crack in the bottom of my makeshift tupperware. The culprit of the leaking orange liquid has been found! At first I just tell myself that the pumpkin will be fine once I start mixing it into the other ingredients. Joe comes out to inspect my project and makes a face. I ask him if he thinks my chunky pumpkin will make a difference and he kindly suggests that I make another trip to the store. After some whining (on my part) since I had just come from the store not two hours earlier, and it was not an experience I wanted to repeat, I headed into the grocery abiss. I don't like grocery shopping on a normal day so going to the store twice on the day before Thanksgiving was worth than a trip to the dentist. Back from my shopping escapade (it was tough but I survived the masses), I'm ready to start again. As I look at the recipe I can't help but wonder why so many recipes suggest combining some ingredients in one bowl and others in another bowl before combining it all? To me this just means more dishes and more time spent cleaning up so into one bowl everything goes. I'm going along well until I come to the lowercase "t." Does this mean teaspoon or tablespoon? I'm used to seeing another letter beside the "t" so I was a bit perplexed. Trying to think back to 7th grade Home Ec class didn't help much so I just took a guess and decided teaspoon it is! I'm almost to the end and notice that the recipe calls for salt. This spice (can you call salt a spice?) is something that we've been out of for quite sometime and just can't remember to get at the store. Luckily we have some seasalt in the cupboard so I decide this will be a good fill in for regular salt. Yes Betty Crocker may be shaking her head at me but at this point I just want to get out the kitchen! Last line of the recipe calls for chocolate chips. I just assume it means the whole bag until I look again and see that it says 1 cup. My 1 cup measuring cup is already dirty so after pouring the whole bag in I just take a handful out and assume the rest is a cup. Who says you need to stay on specifics when baking? (Actually that was probably Betty Crocker too.-oops) Cookies just came out of the oven and they look normal. I think I might have Joe test one for me before they make the trip to the cabin. Breathing a sigh of relief as my baking adventure is complete, I look at the contents of the salad I must create. That I can handle as it's really just throwing a bunch of vegetables together and making it look nice. I even bought the already chopped red onion so I don't have to touch them. All I can think of is all this hassle for some cookies in a salad, how would I ever handle a turkey?

It's been a long rainy week here in Seattle. I'm starting to wonder if the "true" Seattle weather held off until our second year here so as to not deter us. Between that and the short daylight days, this time of year is already getting to me a little bit. I've spent much of this past week trying to complete progress updates for work. Take 45 kids x's 3 or 4 IEP goals to comment on and that is a lot of typing! I needed a break mid-week so I decided to take a fitness class at my gym. Normally I don't do this but I really needed a pick me up. I had quickly stuffed clothes in my gym bag that morning; not really paying attention to what I packed. Needless to say it wasn't the cutest or nicest gym outfit that I own. As I was approaching the door to go into the class, I noticed two familiar faces on the other side-parents of one of my students. I froze for a second and then quickly retreated to the stairwell and had a conversation with myself about whether or not I should go in. It's always awkward running into parents outside of school and what made this worse was that this set of parents were ones that always make me so frustrated during meetings. I decided not to let them stop me and went into the class-ugly gym clothes and all. Mom smiled at me and said hello and made small talk for a few minutes. Dad gave me a slight smile but looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt. Needless to say through the whole entire class I was very aware of their presence and couldn't leave fast enough when it was finally over (after politely saying goodbye to them). Not sure if I will be returning to that class although it was a very good midweek kick in the butt that I needed.
Saturday Joe and I headed to the neighborhood of Fremont. It has some really good vintage shops that we always enjoy browsing through and Joe had his eye out for a vintage belt buckle. After successfully finding what he was looking for (but unsuccessfully figuring out how to get it on his belt), we headed to "Roxy's Diner" for a late lunch. They advertise as "The Real East Coast on the West Coast." What makes it east coast? It serves sandwiches! And lots of them. Their specialty is pastrami but they have almost every combination you can think of. You're probably wondering why this is such a big deal right? Well the thing is that we have very few sandwich places out here. You can get any kind of ethnicity that your heart can desire but a true sandwich shop- you're going to have to do some digging. 15 months after moving here and I had my first really good bagel sandwich.
After returning from our vintage escapade I went out to get a haircut. Normally I am really good about keeping up with bimonthly trims but 2 unsatisfactory haircuts and hair that seems to never grow has kept me away from a hairstylist for longer than I'd like to admit. The last time I got my hair cut I was convinced it was uneven, but after several days of washing and blowing I began to wonder if it was all in my imagination. Apparently it wasn't as the nice hairstylist last night informed me that half of my head was almost an inch shorter than the other. An inch! How embarrassing. I've been walking around for too long of time with uneven hair! Guess that's what happen when your hand held mirror goes missing in the move and you can no longer see the back of your head. Look what I missed out on! Crisis averted as I left last night assured that I now had an even head of hair. I'm going to go buy a hand held mirror just to make sure.
We started our Sunday out to brunch with a couple that we've become very friendly with. As we were waiting for our table a group of tight dress wearing, high heeled clad "women" stumbled out after what looked like a late night/early morning party. After noticing the blond leg hair on one of the "blonds" we realized that we were looking at a group of men dressed as club going women. Not sure if that ever becomes common enough not to at least give them a double take . We weren't the only ones. Brunch turned into drinks while watching the Seahawks game and any other football game that we were privy enough to see. Within the course of an hour we saw two drunks fall off of their chairs and then not move. We weren't sure at first if they had a medical issue but when the staff came over to them and called them by name it was obvious that this wasn't the first time. The woman just looked at us with the most vacant eyes. Definitely a bit scary to watch (twice!). And to think that a Sunday could be dull and boring?

Sitting here on a Sunday night with the new Star Trek movie on (I'm already clueless and very uninterested but I won't tell Joe that) I was knee deep in progress updates (it's report card time of year) when I almost forgot to check in. It was a dreary rainy Sunday here today and I can't even tell you what I've done to make the day go by. I guess when you stay in your PJ's until noon (yes it feels good to do that every now and again) it's easy to get lost in the rest of the day. I find on Sundays I have a little more desire to really plan out a dinner and maybe even (gasp!) find a new recipe to try. I felt in the Italian mood and did a little search on the Food Network website for ideas on how to spice up a sauce. I was happy to find something that sounded tasty and was labeled "easy" to make. With my list in hand I headed to the grocery store. I was surprised by my revelation of finding garlic already minced in a jar. After talking with my Dad and Joe somehow I found I was the last to know about this amazing creation. When trying other recipes, I have done my own version of minced with knives and a cheese grader (form your own picture here). Who knew I could be sparing myself this hassle? Dinner was delicious and I got kudos from Joe. I told him I was now done for the week :-)
I had a different kind of beginning to the weekend as I spent Friday at jury duty. My first time ever that I was called and I had no idea what to expect. I was one of 450 people called in on Friday as a potential juror for a specific case. After a back story and other procedural information, we were given a questionnaire that took me almost an hour to fill out. I guess they are hoping to weed some of us out before the formal interviews. I can't say much more about my experience until I am (hopefully) released from consideration. I'll know on November 24th if I made it to phase two. I was done by noon and enjoyed a little sunshine as I meandered downtown and procrastinated from the paperwork that I knew was waiting for me at home.
Saturday night I helped my friend Sydney celebrate her 29th birthday. Glad I still have 6 months for that occasion. It's funny how birthday celebrations in your early twenties are about bars, drinks, and top 40 radio on the dance floor. Now as I'm approaching the horizon to my 30's, birthdays are more about a good glass of wine, a nice ambiance, and good conversation. Is that a sign that I'm getting old or just more mature? I'm hoping for the latter. At least I have another year and a half to wait before I find out!