Random Sunday Post

What's this? A post on Sunday? With pictures

I know. It's crazy.

Yesterday, Todd and I went to Tim's (of the Kim-n-Tim fame) 40th birthday party. The first half was All Ages, the second half was Adults Only because it was at a local pub. We only attended the All Ages part.

Oddly enough, TBFE and I were the only ones there without kids. Our kids were much too cool to go to a party with a bunch a toddlers. Their loss, I say. Because the little kiddies were so cute!

I did have a few slight oh-my-gawd-this-is-my-life-now moments. I am a parent. I go to parties where there are just as many kids as there are adults.

(Gaggle of children)

(Kim & Milo)

(Milo. Cutie pie, no?)

(Mother-daughter moment. I love this picture.)

(Me and Isabella. I asked her to smile. This is what I got.)

(Steve doing art. Chalk feet outlines were all the rage.)

(Me & Stephanie)

(The obligatory self portrait. My man's so cute.)

RAWK STARS

My rawk star birthday party was last night.

I got a tat just for the occasion.

(Oh, calm down, ma. It's fake.)

Luckily, things went pretty smoothly and we didn't have any incidents. The staff did a good job. Even though Doug the Doorman passed out on the job.

How ya like them shirts? TBFE goes all out for these theme parties. There were badges and buttons, too. And you had to get your hand stamped at the door.

Kayleigh was on duty, as well. She's become our staff photographer. She had the video camera last night.

We haven't had a chance to watch the video footage yet. I'm scared. If the camera adds 10 pounds, how much does a videocamera add?

Johnnie Cross and his woman showed up.

(My co-worker, and girlfriend, who really didn't have to "dress up" for the party. They're just that cool all the time.)

Kayleigh eventually skipped out on her duties to belt some songs on Rock Band.

Her voice is trashed today.

She also helped me learn how to play the guitar, while Ms. Johnnie Cross sang and Todd hammed it up for the photographers.

I finally got the hang of it.

All in all, it was a small, but lively party and the last guests left around 1:30am. Cause we are CRAZY PARTIERS like that.

Johnnie says, "Thank you, and GOOD NIGHT!"

More photos here.

Weekend Update

My goodness, where does the time go? Seems like it was just Friday, and I was looking forward to relaxing over the weekend. Yeah. It never works out that way.

Friday night was movies with Trish and Dan and pizza. And westerns. Fun stuff. The most relaxing portion of the weekend.

Saturday, we Downings-n-Marsh were all very productive. We cleaned out the carport and took a truckload of stuff to the dump. Kayleigh swept out the carport and Tyler broke down cardboard boxes for recycling. It was a fun family project and the result is no more crap for the rats to hide in! Yay!

After cleaning ourselves up, Kayleigh headed over to a friend’s house for an overnight and Todd and I headed to Canada. Uh, I mean Lynnwood. Which is almost to Canada.

Todd shot some footage of Kyle Steven’s performance at the Comic Stop and afterwards, we had dinner, then attended my first Chinese New Year party. I am a rabbit. That’s my Chinese sign. I like it. I like bunnies. This however, is the year of the Ox. I’m not sure what that means for us rabbits. I met lots of new people, and I think I made my man proud in front of his friends. Especially when I talked about my boobs. When in doubt, talk about yer boobs.

Since the party was in Lynnwood, and it didn’t let out until around midnight, we were up very late. But Todd still got up early Sunday morning to have coffee with his friend, while I slept in, drooling and dreaming until my phone rang and woke me up. Then I got myself together and walked over to my new friend Stephanie’s house so that I could offer up my two cents on decorating ideas for our shopping trip. We weren’t very productive in the shopping department, but it was nice to have some coffee and girl time. She came home with three adhesive back hooks. At least her daughter can hang her coats up now.

By that afternoon, I was quite pooped, so Todd fixed nachos and we curled up on the couch to watch the Un-SuperBowl. Although, it was pretty super. Would have been superer if the Cardinals had won, but oh well. They gave the Steelers (although, some Seahawks fans still tend to say Stealers) a run for their money and that’s better than we all expected.

And after the game I broke out all of my wedding notes and brochures and ripped pages, along with my BRAND NEW LABEL MAKER and spent the next two hours organizing my papers and labeling my Holy-Crap-I’m-Actually-Getting-Married wedding binder while sprawling all over the bed and watching The Office.

Yes, that’s my idea of a great night.

And now I think I have a sinus infection.

My head hurts, my cheeks hurt, my teeth hurt. Ow. I’ve been itching like crazy and it occurs to me that it’s because I’ve been loading up on Sudafed for the past week. My sinuses tend to clog up right as we lay down to go to bed, so I've been popping a Sudafed nightly. Which dries me out. Which makes me itch. At least it’s not lice. But it does indicate a problem of some sort.

(No, not a drug problem. I can stop anytime I want. Really.)

Thankfully, I have yet another doctor’s appointment* this week, so maybe he can prescribe an antibiotic or something to clear it up.

I think you’re all caught up now.



*Not to worry. This appointment is just to represcribe my massages. No biggie.

Par-Tays

I know that TBFE has mentioned our weekend on his post, but I like the throw my $.02 in as well. I dub this weekend "How Did I Do This When I Was 24?".

Friday night was my friend Val's bachelorette party. There was dinner at Julia's on Capitol Hill to start, then dancing at Neighbors, a popular gay dance club. Which is the best place for a group of 10 inebriated ladies to go dancing. Less pressure. No one was interested in us (except for some weirdo who seemed to be interested in anyone who would make eye contact with him). I shook my groove thing for a little while, then I'd sit and watch the gals, then maybe dance a little more. I remember how my knees hurt last year after going out with Rachelle and Val, and I knew I had a big party to host on Saturday night, so I took it easy.

Got home late, stayed up even later, crashed around 2am.

Todd and I were up early on Saturday to shop for the party. Ran around til about 2pm, picked up a little around the house, then actually had some downtime before the deluge of people arrived around 7pm.

Lots o' photos here.

Now, if you've ever been to a party that I've hosted or co-hosted, you know that I appear stressed. I'm really not. I just tend to get a little overwhelmed in the beginning when everyone is arriving faster than I can greet/meet them. At one point, I had my hands full of coats, frantically trying to figure out how to fit them in the closet, when the doorbell rang. Meaning more coats to try and hang. A couple of my friends had been watching me and when the doorbell rang, one asked, "Howya doin' there, Raechelle?"

But once the initial rush of guests is finished, I mingle like a mad woman. As does Todd. In looking back at our photos from the night (thank you, Kayleigh, our budding photographer) I noticed there isn't one picture of me and Todd together. Huh.

Anyway, I met a lot of new people, saw a lot of old friends and actually remembered to eat something in the midst so I wasn't completely out of it come midnight.

And what's a nice byproduct of parties?

Holy crap, anyone wanna come over for a drink?

Random Thoughts

TBFE is not alone when he says it's been a shitty week. Something is outta whack and I'm about sick of it. Dinner and dancing tonight with a bunch gals may be just what I need to get back on track.

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Speaking of TBFE, he is now feeding me vitamins. Kayleigh witness this last week and said to me, "He spoils you."

Yes, he does.

And the vitamins he feeds me turn my pee neon yellow. Apparently, that's normal.

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The smell of Top Raman noodles, chicken flavor, remind me of daytime TV. Must have eaten these alot when I was home during the summer.

Yes, I'm still eating Top Raman for lunch. Six for $1. I'm on a budget.

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Ruby is STILL in the shop and I miss her terribly. The mechanic tells me that replacing the cables is tedious work and he's been careful and thorough. I believe him. He's also going to go ahead and replace the rear brake pads. I made some calls, chatted on some car forums and came to the conclusion that the quick wear of the brake pads may not be a warranty issue. It may just be a cheap brake pads/city driving/using my parking brake alot issue.

Whatever. I don't have the energy to care at this point.

But I owe my co-worker Cathi many drinks for carting me to and from work all week. She's a lifesaver.

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Our housewarming/now engagement party redux is tomorrow night. Damn Snowpocalypse '08. We did have five people show up at the originally scheduled party last month. They all lived within a mile of us. Hopefully there will be no weather related catastrophes tomorrow.

And hopefully I will be a bit more chipper.

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My Holy-Crap-I'm-Actually-Getting-Married wedding spreadsheet now has eight tabs. Venue, caterer, guests, vendors, lodging, questions to ask, oot guests and misc. There's pretty colors, too.

Wedding planner? I don't need no stinkin' wedding planner!

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I filled out the paperwork for a passport.
No, I don't have one.

Now I just need to get the photo taken (while I am blemish free) and take it to the post office. Apparently, you can get your passport there.

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The Superbowl is coming up and I'm so sad that I don't care. But I'll root for the Cardinals. Cause....well, you know why.

BOO!

Just a quick post to direct you to photos of our Halloween party. TBBE will have a more in depth post for you.

Todd and I agree - the party was a success! There was much eating, drinking and schmoozing, and the vampire costumes were a big hit.

Sunday was spent in jammies, watching football, sleeping and eating pizza rolls. A perfect day in my book.

Now we begin election week. I sense that tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be quite unproductive at work……

Weekend Update.....And Then Some

One of the perks of dating Todd is that he's so quick to get his post about our weekends up so you guys are In The Know come Monday morning. Thus, alleviating the pressure for me to get something written. Because, believe it or not, I get emails asking me how my weekend was and just why have I not posted yet this morning!

Almost makes me feel famous.

Side note: artichokes kind of look like chicken in the pasta salad I'm eating for lunch, but taste nothing like chicken. So, it's quite a shock to expect chicken and get artichoke. Very different experiences. I'm just sayin'.....

Anywho.

While I didn't consider this past weekend to be jammed packed, in retrospect, we were quite the little social butterflies. Todd has even created a google calendar for us to which we can both contribute. Planners unite!

As you may have read, we partied it up with some of my co-workers Friday night. And somehow the party ended up at the Lock-n-Keel. Okay, maybe I was the one who suggested it. Who knows. You remember the Lock-n-Keel. My old home away from home. When I was apartment hunting last summer, one of the requirements was that it was walking (or, stumbling) distance from the Lock-n-Keel. Then I had the bottom of the barrel night in October and well, the desire to hang out there suddenly disappeared.

And Friday night, I made the declaration to Todd that I did not need to go there again. Too many memories. Memories that I would rather put to bed and then forget about it. There were some fun times with the Ex there, but that's a different life ago. Time to move on.

Saturday morning, I declared that I did not need to drink jack-n-cokes again, either. My stomach was not at all happy with me. So my little bottle of Jack Daniels that I bought when I first moved into my apartment went home with Jessica and Sam.

And speaking of Jessica, I bawled like a baby when she left. It's one thing to not have her spending the night with me every week (she was great blogging material), but now I won't even see her at work. Luckily, as the fates would have it, Todd has family in Bellingham, so here's hoping there will be some road trips up there.

After my crying fit, Todd and I ate some breakfast, then headed to Costco. Where I thought Todd was finally going to get see Very Cranky Raechelle. Lemme tell ya, it took a ton of energy to not just whack people upside the head as I walked by them. I don't do people. I don't do large groups of people who are completely unaware that they are not alone on this planet. For the love of puppies people, just be aware!

So, we made it out of Costco in tact and Todd didn't have to see my head spin around while I called people very bad names. Probably for the best.

Then, that afternoon, was the big joint birthday party. It was a good time and I met lots of cool, new people who just absolutely adore Todd. I was introduced to a few people who had heard of me but that I'd never met, so I was a bit on the spot for a while.

(Todd, posing with his girls.)

Then the granddaddy of On The Spot happened.

Trish asked if I wanted to give a toast to Todd, as The Girlfriend. She was going to give the toast to Dan, her husband. I very politely said, "Um, hell no". I can get on stage and belt out "Angel from Montgomery" with a moment's notice, but ask me to actually form coherent sentences in front of a bunch of people I just met, who I feel are already paying way too much attention to me? I'll pass, thank you.

So, I made my way to the back of the room to stand by Ann and Doug, because I know them, while Trish toasted Dan and Todd and said really nice things about them. Then one by one, the guests starting saying nice things and it was all well and good until Val toasted Todd. She said she was happy for him and this great place he's in and he's a great guy and (something to the effect of) best wishes to him and his new girlfriend, Raechelle.

At which point EVERYONE in the very large room turned to look at me. Whadya gonna do?

I smiled as best I could and waved.

And Doug said, "Why, Raechelle. You color up real nice."

I thought the tops of my ears were going to burst into flames.

Once the moment of utter spotlight was over, I poured myself a big ass glass of white wine and mingled like a mad woman. That's where Ann, Natasha and I decided we MUST go shopping for shoes and make up. Because that's what women do.

So, the party wound down, we packed everything up and caravaned over to Todd's. There was dinner out, then a movie, then more socializing, and finally at 11:30pm, it was bedtime. Whew. Suffice it to say, I did not need my codeine cough syrup in order to sleep through the night. I was plum tuckered out (getting ready for West Virginia).

And Sunday morning, Todd had to bribe me with a latte to get me out of bed. Finally. At 9am.

Remember when I used to sleep in until 10 or 11am? Yeah, those days are gone. Tyler was at the bedroom door at 5:30am asking if we wanted eggs for breakfast. Sigh. You can't really get upset when a 14 year old is offering to cook you breakfast. Even if it's before dawn.

Apparently, it was even too early for Tyler, because when we left for Starbucks at 9:30am, he was asleep on the couch. And he only had on one sock. It was very cute.

The latte helped my energy level, at least enough to try on a few things at Target. I have a couple new sparkly tank tops for West Virginia now. And a cute skirt.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging because it was too freakin' hot to even think about doing anything else. Well, until I got on a cleaning fit. I simply washed up the wine glasses, which turned into loading the dishwasher, which turned into wiping down the counter tops, which turned into wiping down the front of the cabinets.

Which turned into Todd scrubbing the stove top. Hee hee. I infected him.

But then Jamie arrived for dinner, so I had to put the sponge down. We had a lovely celebratory dinner and then celebratory ice cream and then just hung out chatting until 8:30pm.

I kept saying, last week, that I was going to leave West Seattle around noon on Sunday. I had some shopping I wanted to do, Ruby needs a bath very badly and I wanted to start preparing for my trip. But it's funny how none of those things seem very appealing when I'm laughing my ass off with Todd. The man just cracks me up.

I finally made it home, got some administrative stuff done, and crashed for the night. It was quite warm in my apartment, so I opened all the windows and just slept with a sheet. It's baffling to have such warm weather after freezing our butts off for eight months.

So, this week will be some last minute shopping for shorts and capris (mine are a bit too big and baggy on me) and hopefully a dinner with Shaun. Then I fly out Friday morning!

I'm already giddy.

Well, would you look at that?
I accidently took a two hour lunch. Huh.

Guess I should get back work now........

Errands, Tiny Stuff and Sobriety

My Saturday was not as productive as I had hoped.

I didn't get my christmas cards mailed. The Sip-n-Ship was out of holiday stamps. And I didn't spend all that energy making those freakin' cards, and the pretty return address labels, only to use american stamps. No way. So I'll stop by there one morning this week, when they get more festive stamps in.

I did buy another pair of black boots and two pretty scarfs at Goodwill. That was a highlight. These boots will replace another pair of Goodwill boots that are extremely uncomfortable, so it's not like I'm actually adding to the boot pile. Just substituting. And I'm getting into wearing scarfs with outfits. I kept my pretty, red chenille scarf all night Friday night and it really was pretty warm. So I got this really long, crocheted beige scarf that could go with anything. Hip and warm. I love it.

And I treated myself to a happy meal for lunch. Some people may be embarrassed to 1) even go to McDonald's and 2) order a happy meal at the age of 32, but it's just the perfect amount of food. Even maybe a bite or two too much. Little cheeseburger, little fries, little coke. And I got a toy. Strawberry Shortcake.

After lunch, I stopped into JoAnn's to get bags for the christmas cookies that I'll be making this afternoon. I love JoAnn's. These bags were $.99 with 60%. I got 20 of them. Can't have too many bags.

But then I completely lost it and ended up buying a little tree and little ornaments for my office.

A waste of $12, yes, but come on. That is one cute little tree.

And then last night was the christmas party. I gave Jessica and her man a ride and even, gasp, drove them home. Because I was sober. At a party. Wow.

I nursed a glass of red wine for two hours, then a glass of champagne for two hours. Didn't finish either one of them. Didn't really need to. You know those moment when you're "on"? When people laugh at your jokes and you actually mingle well? That's the kind of night I had. There are nights when I have no umph to leave the couch and I'm tired and I just don't want to talk to anyone (like last weekend's christmas party). But I was actually social last night, so I kept busy. When midnight rolled around, though, I was exhausted. I told Jessica I was leaving and she asked if I was okay to drive. I thought it about it for a minute and said "Uh, yes. How weird." So I ended up taking them home, too.

And now I need to go bake. Well, at some point this afternoon. I'm not motivated right now. Maybe I need a nap.

Happy Weekend!

You will be happy to know that there is no shit on the fan. Clean as a whistle.

I had the inaugural gathering at Casa de Rae. Just a few friends (the Sheauns, Rachelle and Jamie - my absolute best friends right now) for games and a few episodes of Flight of the Concords. I even treated myself to one glass of champagne because it was a special occasion.

I had every intention of walking down to Ballard today to get stamps for my christmas cards (All done! In the mail soon!) and run a few other errands, but it's windy and chilly and trying to rain, so I may just drive. I hate to do it, but I also would hate to get sick. So there.

Tonight is a christmas/housewarming party at a work buddy's house. This will end up being our Winter Gathering. There have been some changes in the department, so we didn't get funding for any kind for an event this year. That's really okay with me. I was in no position to tackle planning something of that magnitude. This party is mostly work people so they can get their holiday cheer on tonight and I'm off the hook. Perfect.

And tomorrow is the Seahawks game (at 10am. Ug). The weather is supposed to be just as icky, so I think I'll just hole up at home and make some cookies. There are some people at work who have made my life so much easier this year, so they're getting cookies and a nice note. I like to keep those kind of people happy.

Enjoy your weekend!

Parties Galore, Fantasy Football & Puking

Quite a busy weekend I've had.

After I posted Saturday, I got up and started cleaning. Now that Shaun is off to Holland for two weeks, I get to make this place my own. I swept the floors, wiped down the cabinets, scrubbed the sink and cleaned the bathroom, right down to taking a toothbrush to the baseboards. Spotless, I tell ya!

After cleaning, it was time to start the partying. First, a work party at the boss' house. A Summer Soiree. Yes, she stole the word "soiree" from me, and Steve's Swanky Soiree. I stayed there for about 3 hours, ate some food, chatted with a few friends, then toodled on to the next party.

A Pie Party. A woman in my department has a pie party every summer. She has too many fruit trees in her back yard, so she throws a party so people will come over, drink all of her alcohol, and then make fruit pies. She makes all of the crusts and the guests sit and peel fruit, layer it in the pie crust, sprinkle some sugar and spices on it, then she sends it home with the guests to bake. Which I did Sunday night. I made a plum pie. I really wanted to make an apple one, but you have to peel the apples and she was pushing the plums (which you don't have to peel) big time. I could have made two, but by the time I finished the plum pie, I had three drinks in me and it was just best I put the knife down.

Where was I?
Oh, after the pie party was another co-worker's Birthday BBQ for his girlfriend. Which I had every intention of going to because I really like them, but by the time I left the pie party, I was too pooped to be social so I just came home. I was in bed by 11pm. Fabulous.

Then Sunday, MickeyP came over to help me with the Fantasy Football Draft. We thought he could use his laptop and I could use Shaun's laptop (wireless connection in the apartment), but we couldn't both connect. So I drafted my first few players, then logged off so he could draft his players. If you're not logged on and physically drafting, the computer will do it for you. And sometimes that's just not a good thing. But I got a good team. Peyton Manning, Josh Brown and some other running backs and wide receivers that I'm told are good. I can't keep them straight.

The draft took a little over an hour, then I made dinner and we watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He'd never seen it. Weird. So I had to enlighten him.

And we had plum pie for dessert.

Which I don't think my stomach liked (it was either the pie or the beet salad I had for lunch earlier in the day). I woke up this morning and it was making noises I had never heard before. Very scary. But after emptying it's entire contents in every way possible, life started to look much better. I actually made it to work, which was touch and go there for a bit. So no more plum pie (or beet salad) for me.

And I was back on the soup diet today. Which is okay because I treated myself to lots of sweets over the weekend.

And now I'm vegged out in front of the TV and I'm actually thinking about going to bed. I'm beat. It's too bad, too, because it's just a beautiful day here. If I were in my new apartment in Ballard, I would walk over to the Locks, throw a blanket down and watch the pretty boats go by. Ah, but not yet.

12 days and counting......