Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Hey there, strangers

Woo! Two hours after I first sat down to "just take a quick skim through Bloglines," and finally I am all caught up! Unfortunately, that means the time I had allotted to write a post on my own blog was instead spent reading everyone else's blog, but such is the life of an Internet addict. It's all take and no give some days; am I right?

In any case, I had a lovely time in Seattle... It was a brief trip, and I don't really feel like I fully experienced Seattle by any means, but I did very much enjoy getting to know a friend-of-a-friend better... she's a friend-of-a-friend who's actually moving here next month, and I can certainly see her becoming a full-fledged friend (with no hyphens attaching that word to other words) quite shortly. So yay for that.

Unfortunately, I did probably a worse job photo-documenting this trip than any other in recent memory, but if you're interested in the not-so-interesting photos anyway, you can find them in this Flickr set. Try not to get too excited, if uneventful and craptastic photos aren't exactly your thing.

In addition to gallivanting about Seattle and Seattle-adjacent, I've been busy with various other things lately. Things like getting damn-near all of my Christmas shopping done in three hours flat (at only two stores plus the Internet... God bless you, dear, sweet friend the Internet), and having dinner with friends both near and far (dinner that included lobster macaroni & cheese TWO nights in the same week! Check out me and my decadent rock star life...). I also had Guinness ice cream, which bears mentioning if we're talking decadent and unnecessary food indulgences. Me = not a fan of Guinness (or any beer, really... I know--if I hadn't moved out of Wisconsin on my own volition, they'd have excommunicated me by now for sure), but that stuff was damn tasty anyway.

And on an entirely unrelated note that I mention only because I've gotten a few e-mails asking about it, my grandma is still hanging in there like the invincible and fabulous old biddy that she is. Judging from the video my little sister sent me earlier, she's looking worse for wear and it breaks my heart more than a little bit, but she's still charmingly ornery as always, and I'm still convinced that woman is going to outlive all of us, despite all her sad hopes and best intentions. Thanks for all your kind thoughts for her well-being. I do appreciate it, more than you know.

And that about catches you up, I guess. I'm still in catch-up mode myself after a few days mostly offline. More of a "real" post to follow eventually, I'm sure. Meanwhile, what have all of you been up to (what that I haven't already read and possibly not commented on due to speed feed-reading, I mean)?

13 comments:

Sai Hijara - Ferraris said...

Busy reading other blogs as well...lol I think I'm now a certified blog addict! :D

Anonymous said...

Yay! Stefanie's back! And yeah, Guinness ice cream is pretty amazing.

Jess said...

I am glad you're back! And impressed at your dedication catching up on everyone's blogs.

Aaron said...

Granted, I do have a contest going, but I was damn impressed when I checked my Gmail last night and you'd commented on five different posts on my site!

Aaand, seriously? 10 out of 10 on that contest? It was after the cut-off, yes, but you may need a prize for that. Maybe it is actually you, and not NPW who is my long lost sister?

Anonymous said...

Lobster maccaroni and cheese? How exactly does one get to eat such a thing? It sounds delish!

Poppy said...

Seattle is a lot of fun. I've considered moving there before. Might need to add it back to the list of possibilities...

The only thing that gets me is all the deforestation. I get sad every time I go past a mass of chopped down trees. Maybe I'd get used to it eventually? hmm, what a weird thing to get used to.

The Other Girl said...

I'm trying to figure out how wind-chapped you must be after spending the weekend at Alki, on top of the Needle, and on the ferry.

Noelle said...

Welcome back! I'm tearing through my google reader right now myself...

-R- said...

We missed you at the surprise party, but a good time was had by all. That's about it! Oh, also, we found out from H's doctor last night that H is allergic to gluten. NOT GOOD. Finally, my home computer keeps dying on me so I cannot post anything. ALSO NOT GOOD.

Stefanie said...

Mariposa--It's a sickness, isn't it?

NPW--Yay! You're glad I'm back! :-) I appreciate the commenting enthusiasm. And you've had Guinness ice cream, too? Surprisingly non-beery but good, right?

Jess--Thanks. It's so tempting to just mark everything "read," but then I can't help wondering what I missed! The trade-off was to feed-read and do very little commenting, unfortunately.

Aaron--I am in it to win it, my friend! There's no reason to back out now.

Smart Cookie--Don't you live in Boston?? I would think that if ANY place would have easy-to-find lobster mac & cheese, it'd be Boston! I mean, you guys have lobster at McDonalds! (Or, you did when I was there several years ago...)

Poppy--Deforestation is definitely a bummer. Luckily, I didn't see any of those masses of chopped down trees of which you speak.

TOG--Eh. It was 3 degrees in Minnesota when I left, so 42 actually felt sort of balmy (though I'll admit, the wind on Vashon Island on Saturday was more than a bit brisk).

Noelle--Thanks! And I hope you get your computer fixed soon!!

R--Oh no! Gluten is in EVERYTHING! (Well, not everything, but it's significantly annoying to avoid nonetheless.) Does H have Celiac's?? Also, on a brighter note, glad the party was a success!

Whiskeymarie said...

Glad you had fun! Seattle always sounds fun- I'll be passing through next summer & I'm pretty excited.

How on earth do you catch up on blogs in two hours? I am the fastest reader I know and I still need like, four hours to get through them all with comments.

L Sass said...

Have you tried that wine-flavored sorbet they sell at Whole Foods? It's like $7 a pint, but that stuff is DEEElicious!

Stefanie said...

WM--Well, if I'd commented on everything, it WOULD have taken four hours. I feel bad when I don't take the time to click through from Bloglines, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

L Sass--Someone has found a way to combine WINE and ICE CREAM??? Oh my. I must try this.