Mele Kalikimaka

Well I made it to Hawai'i. The trip started yesterday when I got bumped. Yeah for me. I received a $300 travel voucher, hotel and meal coupons for the night, and first class seating from San Fran to Honolulu. Alright...so the bad part was I had to fly to San Francisco, but honestly, I am on Christmas break.

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.

Husky Women Take it All!

The University of Washington Women's Volleyball are now national champions! They swept the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Cornhuskers have some TALL women on their team, but Husky strategy and defense won the championship. Priceless.

Husky Volleyball

Tonight I went over to Dan and Judy's home to watch some volleyball. Dan and Judy are Kevin's slum lords. If only I could have landlords like them. Anyway, the University of Washington women's volleyball team swept the University of Tennessee. The UW women were great. While the game wasn't a nail biter, there were some great plays. Candace Lee (the libero) rocks. Can't wait for the championship game on Saturday...I'm sure I'll be sick to my stomach watching the game. I'll have to clip my nails now so I don't bite them. Go Dawgs!

Christmas is coming soon

There's been so much going on that it hasn't really dawned on me that Christmas is a few short days away. Last night, Kevin and I went to Bellevue Square. I had to buy a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law. There were so many people there. The good news is all the holiday activities going on. Last night carolers were strolling through the mall singing Christmas songs. It made the experience pleasant.