…for chocolate.

It all started last Saturday night. Justin and I went to Victrola Coffee for some, well, coffee. However, I had more in mind. Like the Theo chocolate they USED to carry. I can’t believe they stopped stocking it, and I definitely couldn’t get some of their delicious chocolate off of my mind. They have flavors like coconut curry, bread and chocolate, nib brittle, vanilla, and a variety of dark chocolates–not flavors you can get in most places.

The good news is, they are based in Seattle. I thought about ordering online, but with Justin’s latest book order having been stolen, I thought about visiting the factory store. It’s a small building with tours, samples, and a small retail space, but before I go too much into the building, I have to talk about getting there.

I had planned to get there at about 4:30 (30 minutes before it closed) after washing the car. However, with 4 cars in front of me at the car wash and a considerable distance to the location (what I thought was 44th and Phinney), I didn’t get to park until about that time. However, after looking lost and asking the coffee shop down the street where the store was, I found out that it was on 34th instead. I had already parked and walked a couple of blocks.The store closed at 5. I was supposed to pick up Justin at 5 in the U District. I decided to book it down the hill.

The blisters on my feet after walking for 10 or 15 minutes began to throb once I set foot in the store (with 2 minutes to spare). I sampled a few chocolate pieces, glanced around, and, feeling rushed, chose to take home a box with Pearl Jasmine, Burnt Sugar, Scotch, and Ginger-flavored chocolates. If I could do it over again, I would have gotten mint, fig fennel, vanilla, and ivory coast (or perhaps peanut butter or earl grey?). I also got the tried-and-true nib brittle and bread-and-chocolate bars. As I was checking out, I noticed a warm feeling on my heels. I took a peek and my heels were bleeding! Not wanting to keep them open any longer, I limped out of the door and stared at the road ahead of me. I came more than 10 blocks down a hill. It was after 5 and I was late in picking up Justin. I had to trek up the hill quickly with my new-found chocolates (oh, joy!) and my feet on fire.

Next time, I will either order online or park near the building. My feet shall never bleed for chocolate again!

So I was on the Discovery Health National Body Challenge website today, tracking my exercise for the last week. Apparently, one can exercise in church as a valid fitness activity. I’ll have to bring my stopwatch and sweatpants next time. Click the photo for a larger view.

Also listed as a form of exercise is “Bathing: Self-care.” As my husband stated, with no pun intended, I’m sure, “that’s really reaching for exercise.”

DSC_0001, uploaded by justinbaeder.

I see this on the way to work everyday, but I never stop for the “PERMIUM” gas–yes, that’s how it is spelled.

There are some things in life that I really enjoy when I get the chance. My friends would say that they “rock my face off,” in the best possible way.

Though they may be trivial, here are my items/experiences:
*being finished with grading, left to enjoy an evening at home
*fire in a fireplace
*$5 chocolate bars that last me the whole week (right now, I’m working on an Italian dark chocolate with cinnamon and orange)
*my comfy clothes
*Wasabi peas, Pocky, Japanese sticky rice, and bubble tea
*sleeping!
*being sore from exercise
*feeling accomplished
*learning something new
*having a “good teaching day”
*YouTube’s hilarity/Arrested Development
*looking forward to a week off next week!
*baked brie/homemade bread
*getting really into a book

Gotta go…Wasabi peas burning my nostrils……

Dawn and I returned from our unforgettable road trip last night. I haven’t posted much because when I had access to the internet, I was either catching up on e-mails or I wasn’t in that place long enough to access the internet. Sleep presides over the internet, in my case.

Though I may still blog about this trip in a long-winded, novel-like fashion (see trip to Hawaii), right now I want to post some highlights, or at least some memorable moments. Disclaimers: This will not be all-inclusive I am sure, and these will not include anything before Columbia, since I have blogged about that already. This list is in no real order, just what I thought of first.

1. Our marathon, visit-everyone day when we left Columbia, MO last Tuesday. We said bye to all of our friends there and had lunch with Bethany, and then we left at about 1:30 or so. We arranged to meet my sister and CJ in Jonesboro at the Dixie Cafe, ate dinner, saw her new living quarters, drove to our friend Hillary’s house in Wiener, AR on a froggy (not foggy) gravel road that had bad consequences on the car, held the bebbeh and toured her place, booked it to Searcy to see my sister in law and her husband at Midnight Oil at 11:55 p.m., and drove to Heber that night by dodging deer (8 to be exact) and raccoons. We got 6 hours of sleep the next night.
2. Going to the emergency room late at night in Salina, KS in the pouring rain after paying way too much for a very nice hotel and getting an EKG and X-ray and getting diagnosed for a chest wall contusion. See explanation below, and pardon the run-on sentence.
3. Aaron’s party, full of food, fun, and family, also had its moments of excitement, including Daron’s famous riverdance, Dad’s accordion playing and Daron’s mandolin playing, Shannon, Anna, and Mandy having a few laughs, Dawn and I dancing to the music, Mom and Ms. Lowery visiting, and Uncle CJ, Aaron, and Papa enjoying the show. This was all after eating a full dinner of BBQ chicken, steak, baked potatoes, salad, rolls, homemade ice cream and fresh peaches, and an ooey gooey butter cake.
4. Visiting Granny and Pa–five words: coconut cake, corn, watermelon, salsa. OK, how about a few more: Dawn’s car needing Pa’s help, Granny and I looking at slides, and the grand tour of the premises.
5. Seeing my cousins and Aunt Lori in Rose Bud, as well as my in-laws in Pocatello
6. Lunch with Andy at “Crackle” Barrell in Tulsa. Oh, the hilarity.
7. “Learning” to drive stick in my brother’s new 1984 Toyota Truck.
8. Actually driving stick. On the road. In the dark. On deer-infested lands.
9. Spending the day with my brother and the rest of my family in Heber, which included touring my old elementary school, having lunch with my mom and brother, going swimming with my brother, going to sonic, and going with by bro to his open house for high school.
10. Finally getting back to Seattle (to an empty house–*pout*) after hitting heavy traffic on I-90 in the teeming metropolis of Cle Elum. Who would have thought??

*The visit to the hospital was warranted due to an unexpectedly hard, yet playful, blow to the chest delivered by my stronger-than-he-knows-it brother. This was my second trip to a health care facility on the trip. The first was to a MediQuick clinic for an ear infection. Sheesh.

On the trip, I read 3 books: Chew on This, We Are All Fine Here, and Blooming. I recommend the first and the last.
The soundtrack for our trip was provided by a variety of rock stations, as well as CDs by The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie (not as rough as it sounds, believe me), and Amsterband, for the most part.

Now that I am back, there is quite a bit of cleaning up to do, as well as preparing for school, getting back into shape, visiting with Seattle friends, grocery shopping, and gardening. I did some harvesting of green beans, lavender, and roses this morning. I hope to pick some blackberries soon!

Thank you to all of our wonderful hosts and hostesses along this trip! We love you and miss you. Thanks to Dawn for dealing with me for 2 whole weeks and driving a million miles, or at least close to 5,000 on your own (we drove more than that, I just don’t remember the number, though I am sure she will).

This should be named after the kind of weather we’ve been having–it’s been in the 60s and cloudy for too long. However, the post refers to a photo I ran across today in my 2 hours of investigating all of the photos we have through Picasa.

I know the intention of this set-up in the park: to provide our park (in Heber Springs, AR) with a nativity. The nativity was funded by Wal-Mart. What it looks like, though, is that if you follow Sam’s Blvd., you will find the Messiah, courtesy of Wal-Mart. Heh. Always low prices. Always. In this case, however, I think the price was pretty high.

*Hint: Click on the photo and select “Open New Window” to view.

How awesome is this?? I got this from Erin, one of my book club members, and it is ultimately from YouTube. Rock on, 80s fans.

Apparently I grind my teeth at night. Apparently it annoys Justin, and is loud enough to awaken him from his sleep just enough for him to pop me on my cheek and sleepily say, “Stop grinding your teeth. Uhn….*pillow thud*…*snore*). I wish I didn’t grind ‘em–it must be hereditary somehow–I know my lil’ sis does it, too.

It snowed this morning just enough to keep my spirits up for school today. I spent most of last night driving around from my school to Justin’s to the UW to Costco to Whole Foods to the UW to home. Most of that driving was so I could get lab materials for my bio class–onions, filters, distilled water, corn syrup, eggs, and vinegar. I was jealous of the people buying fruit snacks and interesting cereals in bulk.

First, I must say that I think that it’s odd that Costco does not sell corn syrup in bulk. It doesn’t sell corn syrup at all, in fact. No–I had to go to Whole Foods and spend $45 on corn syrup and water. They probably thought I was the craziest, least healthy woman among them. I thought it might be cheaper to boil down some Sprite than to drop that much money on the most ubiquitous substance in North American foods.

Second, I had to front the almost-$100 for my labs this month. The other $45 I submitted in receipts for reimbursement was from stamps I have used for attendance notifications, letters, and invitations to parents. At least I’ll get that back (hopefully).

Tonight consists of much bundling-up in preparation for this cold front that is coming, of grad school homework, and of laundry management. That means folding and ironing of laundry while watching some TV for an hour, I think.

Justin is doing OK–he just recouped from a nasty fever. We got home and he had a headache and body ache, as well as a 103.2F fever!! I gave him some NyQuil and Ibuprofen and he napped for almost 2 hours. Now he’s down to a 99.7F and feels almost clammy compared to before. Time to feed him dinner.

When I tallied up my work hours from last Monday to this Friday, (Jan. 30-Feb 10) I worked 136 hours. That’s 50 hours overtime without pay. That’s a lot of time put toward chaperoning, meeting, grading, planning, and calling homes.

This weekend, in contrast, was pure luxury. Not in the satin sheets, chocolate-dipped strawberries, fur coat-sense, but in the spontaneously productive relaxation that I enjoyed. Yes, I exercised, did laundry, grocery shopped, cleaned house, worked on school stuff, did grad school homework, and cooked, but I also enjoyed my walks with Justin in the sun, learned how to knit a hat, listened to Garrison Keillor, made tasty, healthy food, went to church, watched a couple of movies, socialized, and went on a 10 p.m. light dinner and dessert date with my hubby in downtown Seattle.

I deserved it.

On to lesson planning and laundry folding, with Gray’s Anatomy in the background!