La Vida Nilla

I am often amazed at how the week gets away from me. What can I say? I stay busy these days. Busy and laughing. And it's all good :).

So, Monday was a regular old work day. Nothing terribly exciting happened that day, as far as work goes. But, instead of walking, Heidi, Em, Wendy (all from church) and I went to a movie. The first movie in a theatre I've seen since I moved here. Okay, so I'm kind of a loser... Anyway, we went and saw Duplicity with Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. I really quite liked it, though I hadn't even heard of it before then. The four of us made 4 of the 6 people in the theatre that night. So close to being the only ones... Oh well. So, I got home sometime around 10 that night and grabbed a quick shower, and then went to bed.

On Tuesday, I went to work for the morning, and then I left at noon and went by a department of transportation office to get myself a "Good2Go" pass so that I can cross the bridge and not have to stop to pay the toll. So, my car is now RFID-tagged up. Also, the toll is cheaper this way. Yippee. Also, I don't have to worry about my windows that don't roll down -- especially in cold weather. And then I drove the rest of the way to Sumner to do a meet and greet with the people who interviewed me while I was in New Mexico. They seem nice. The library is a lot smaller than I imagined. Much smaller than HLML, maybe twice the size of Ashford. For most of you, this description is meaningless. For the rest of you... now you know :). Anyway, I got shown around and mainly just went to meet them and kind of get familiar with the situation so I can be a substitute. So, toward the end, they are showing me their "slipping" room -- or where all the behind-the-scenes stuff goes down. And one of the ladies working there is writing something and then turns to me and says, "Hablas espanol?" To which I reply "Si." And somehow, before it's all over, I end up making a phone call to these people who didn't return the DVD with the case -- all in Spanish. And, while I was assured that they always get the answering maching, I got a real live person. So, how about that? It was a success, though, since I understood the dude, and the dude understood me. And then the lady that would've made the call had I said no, said, "Wow. You're good. Is your Spanish Mexican Spanish?" So I told her I learned my Spanish in Panama. Seriously... How do these things even happen to me? I was so embarassed. I was being watched (and listened to) by 4 people. Talk about on-the-spot. I soooo enjoy that feeling. Anyway, I went back to work after that and just did a few more files before calling it quits. And then Sue and I walked for about 45 minutes after work.

Wednesday helped me cross something off my Nilla list. Which I need to go find. But anyway... The morning was hectic, because I had to make an unanticipated trip to the pharmacy in Silverdale for my grandparents. My mom was in Seattle for mangers' meetings. And then I had a Relief Society meeting to attend at 10. And then, I had to make sure they knew at work that I was planning to go to Seattle with them. But, it all worked out. We loaded up the van at about 3 -- all 7 seats full. I was jammed in the middle in the back. Felt like the airplane. We laughed and cut up all the way over. Then we got to the hotel, where they were having the meetings. Turns out the President and CEO of the company was here, and so we got to rub elbows with the big whigs. Once the room was ready for all of us to go in, we sat down together and had cookies, chips, and sodas while listening to the "town meeting." After that, we were, quite unexpectedly, invited to join everyone at this place called Mangiamo's. So, we all walked the 4 blocks from the hotel to the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely dinner. In a restaurant with 3 forks per place setting. Which totally qualifies for whatever that was on my bucket list :). It's one of those frivolous things I've always wanted to do -- that and ride in a limo. Hahahaha :). So, I had my camera, but had left it in the van, because I thought I'd look dumb. Yet another regret. I should have brought it. Darn it. But thank goodness for camera phones. I took a picture of a place setting to show off all the forks and plates. And then John took a picture with his phone of me. It came out a bit blurry, but my camera didn't look like it got enough light when you held it up, and John's seemed to get more light. So, we made do. But either way... I have a somewhat record of this experience :). It was like a 4 course meal. First there were appetizers: fried cheese (always a winner) and stuffed mushroom caps (another winner). Then there were salads. They put two big salads on the table: caesar and chopped. I preferred the Caesar. The chopped had bleu cheese. Ick. That taste really stays with you. The main course was also served in big dishes and we all got some of everything: veal scallopini, chicken saltenboca (or however it's spelled), sausage spaghetti, four cheese ravioli. I didn't eat the veal. By about this time, I was completely stuffed. But, there was still dessert. I had the 7 layer chocolate cake, but I didn't have much of it. No more room in my tummy -- or my pants for that matter ;). But anyway, we laughed and enjoyed wonderful conversation. It was a fun night. We left the restaurant around 10 and walked back to the hotel. Then we still had over an hour's drive back to the funeral home where we work. Which got even longer when we couldn't get onto I-405 due to construction. So, I got home sometime after midnight and still had to get a shower and all that. So, it was about 2 before I got to sleep this morning.




But today was a new day, and I got up and made it to work by 8:30. Impressive, no? Hahaha... After a full day of work, I came home, made dinner (my mom was on the ferry back home after 2 days of managers' meetings), and then rushed off to Enrichment at church. So, it's been busy. And I still have a new episode of Lost to watch. But, I thought I should fill in my blog about my fun night in Bellevue/Seattle ;). Way too much fun. Even though it probably doesn't sound like it, since I left out all the fun details ;).