Fortunately the next few days are going to be warm–in the 70s–and rainless. This means I can wear all of those cute clothes that you don’t want to start off the year wearing, but you can’t wear into October because it gets too chilly. More importantly, I can rest assured that my 5K (which is tomorrow) will be in sunny weather.

Enough weather chitchat–on to my goings-on.

Friday night was our date night. All I could think about was sleeping when I came home, which has been most afternoons this week, but we knew we needed a date. So, we decided to grab some delicious coffee at Tully’s and find a restaurant for dinner. We checked out this place called Rosebud on Capitol Hill, our old neighborhood. We started with bread and an olive oil/vinegar dip, and ordered a mixed greens salad, some fancy “porcini-dusted” halibut over blue cheese and bacon sauce, and a roasted chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and mushrooms over polenta and greens. All of the dishes were seemingly tiny but fabulous and satisfying. Justin said the chicken melted in his mouth like butter. For dessert, we got brioche and brownie-layered cake with homemade ice cream and whiskey sauce. YUM.

From Rosebud, we walked down the hill to the theater to decide on which movie to see–All the King’s Men or Fearless. Undecided and having to use the restroom, we walked to Barnes and Noble to read for an hour and use the facilities.

There we ran into Jason, a former garage tenant of ours who got into trouble with the law and spent some time in jail. It was good to see him, but somewhat disconcerting. We talked with him for a while only to find out that he’s still homeless and is looking for work. He is in our prayers and knows how to get in touch with us, if needed.

With this weighing heavily on my mind, we walked back to the theater and watched All the King’s Men.

(I don’t remember what else happened–I wrote this September 22–a month ago tomorrow!)

Where did this weekend go?

Friday…
hanging out with Justin’s coworkers
getting coffee with Justin and shopping for Dawn’s b-day present
hanging out with the Ogles and Lesley over some rousing games of Uno while entertaining Asher with my “Geek Squad” bookmark and apparently exciting book cover

Saturday….
Long run from 9-11
breakfast and shower
grading notebooks and watching Alias
giving Justin a haircut
making 2 pies and an apple crisp
grading more notebooks

Sunday….

Church 11-2!!
Grading notebooks 3-4
Short nap 4-4:30
Grading notebooks 4:30-6:30
Making bread and dinner 6:30-7
Grading notebooks 7-8
Lesson Planning 8-9 and watching Alias

From last Friday until Thursday, I could not motivate myself to do much of anything. If there was time at home that was discretionary, I spent it curled up on the couch, sleeping, zoning out, or watching Alias. I got NO schoolwork done at home, and I felt totally unmotivated. I tried remedying my problem by going to bed earlier, and that seemed to work. The weather during that time did not. I worked out Sunday and Monday, but I felt too exhausted and blah to go any other night. I hope that it doesn’t hit again–I get so behind with school work, housework, and exercising if that happens. The weather is in my favor, so I’d love for it to stay that way.

I was reading a friend’s blog and he mentioned a TV show, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose. I remember watching what must have been reruns of this before school started. I remember thinking how cool high school must be if someone like Parker Lewsis was in it. Anyway, this led me to look for other cool TV shows that I remember from growing up, which led me to Punky Brewster. Apparently she’s all grown up and has had breast reduction surgery, but that’s another story. I found this cool website called Retro Junk that lets you see commercials from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, as well as TV shows, movies, and other interesting “memories” you can relive.

How well this connected to the article I am reading in Fast Company about Microsoft’s Gordon Bell, a guy who records every part of his life and uploads it to computer memory. Creepy, yet useful, though somewhat incriminating, at times. He needs a better website.

Last night, Justin and I went on a date courtesy of freebies from our jobs. At the beginning of the year, Justin got two coupons in his box for a lively Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppo. We decided to use them last night for our dinner of garlic bread and meat tortelloni in a cream sauce with veggies. We shared that plate and were pleasantly full, and had what seemed to me to be a short, yet fulfilling conversation.

After parking our car in a free spot, albeit far from Key Arena, we walked from 9th Ave to Seattle Center. Fortunately, we had both dressed casually that day and were wearing warm sweatshirts and comfy shoes. On our way, we passed a sophisticated crowd at a benefit auction, a jumpin’ crowd moving to the Garfield HS band at the Garfield vs. Ballard football game, and a variety of not-so-skilled brass instrument players along the sidewalk. We were on our way to the Sonics’ preseason basketball game to which our school got free tickets. Earlier this year, our school had gotten our basketball jerseys stolen, totalling to $6000. One student tipped off either the newspaper or the Sonics themselves and ended up getting the attention of two of the star players, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. They presented the team with Sonics jerseys with the students’ names on them, new Cleveland jerseys, and a check for $4000 at a school assembly. Plus, everyone in the school got 2 free tickets to last night’s game, one of our star singers sang the national anthem, and our cheerleaders and drumline performed the halftime show! Ultimately, the Sonics lost the game, and Justin and I left at halftime, but we had a fun time.

In other news, I slept until 10 this morning, which I normally don’t get to do, so I feel rather rested. Not that I have much to look forward to–I have to grade notebooks all day and clean the house for church because my 10K is tomorrow.

More news later, hopefully