The Weekend in Review

It's been a mad weekend I tell you, just mad. Friday was the last day of finals. I think most faculty and students were just beat. I did feel good to be over and done. That night Kevin and I headed over to the Waterfront Restaurant to see Paula Laney, server extraordinaire, who recently celebrated a birthday. Well, we were in for a real treat. We got there at about 9:00 pm, and thought we'd have some appetizers. Instead we had a full-on six course dinner. It was amazing. The meal began with a beet salad,salad greens with red and yellow beets and goat cheese. Next was the oyster platter. There was a variety which had a cucumber flavor to it. The spicy crab bisque followed. It was creamy with a kick. We had a palate treat with the tangerine sorbet. Light and refreshing. Dinner was a combination of sole and beef medallions. Sides, you ask? Squash, garlic sauteed broccoli rabe, and potato augratin. As if that weren't enough, Paula brought us a lemon rasberry torte and chocolate chip cookie ala mode. It was an extravagant meal, and an extravagant gift. Paula treated us.

I woke up Saturday ready to go to Lacey, about 1.5 hours from Seattle. Jim and Cherie Heugel and I carpooled down for the memorial service of Buel Brodin. Buel was the father of Kristi and Kari, two of my colleagues at the university. I cried through the whole thing...I couldn't help it. It was so touching to hear people talk about a man who lived his life richly. After the service we headed back up to the Eastside. I went home for a bit then headed over to Jim and Cherie's where we then made our way to the Macaroni Grill. What great food. Hawai'i really needs one of these. The spaghetti and meatballs were very tasty. Since it's so close to my birthday we got a dessert, too. Chocolate cake in fudge sauce. After dinner we headed back over to Jim and Cherie were Kevin joined up for a movie...the March of the Penguins. A cute movie although a little slow.

Sunday? I went to church and helped with clean up duties. This actually was a task. Tons of bowls, pitchers, and pans which needed to be washed. After clean up, I headed to Kyle's to drop off presents. The social event of the evening was a turkey dinner at some friend's. After dinner and dessert we sang Christmas carols. How great is that?? I got home at about 9:45 and proceeded to pack and clean. Oh, and color my hair. All this because I had to leave for Hawai'i on Monday.

And here it is Monday and I'm sitting in the Raddison Gateway Hotel in Sea-Tac. I got bumped!!! Yeah!!! So for my inconvenience, I received a travel voucher for $300, a hotel voucher, dinner and breakfast vouchers, and did I mention the first class seating from San Francisco to Honolulu? Isn't this fantastic!?! I'm loving it. So I guess the weekend wrapped up pretty nice.