Washington DC travels

Lost bear
Doug and Miss B at the Washington Monument

Julia

Miss B in Julia's kitchen--she was in heaven!

USA at one of the several museums

Miss B and I ventured to the east coast this weekend. She attended a TFA (Teach For America) conference and I went to see friends Doug, Carl, and college friend V. It was a whirlwind trip with lots of wine, great food, and laughter. Miss B is a TFA alum and it was high time we went to see the boys and V on the other coast. After a long flight Doug gave us a tour of DC at night via Zipcar and then met up with Carl who was home at cleaning. After lots of drinking and chatting, we eventually made it to bed, late. We spent the day on Friday walking around and checking out things and had a fantastic Indian lunch. The best part of the walking around was the Smithsonian where there were delightful pieces of memorabilia from days past. We saw Dorothy's shoes, the original muppets, Michael Jackson's hat, Fonzie's jacket, the dresses of the First Women (and I wanted to throw paint on both sets of Bush-wear) and lots of other cool stuff.

Friday night and Saturday Miss B was busy conferencing while I hung out with the boys and V. We also went for a wonderful Ethiopian lunch and I think my belly is still full from it! We also hung out for coffee and eventually went to this rather hip place called Cork. It was fabulous to hang out with V as we hadn't seen her in a very long time. A good trip overall. Now I am just sleepy from flying a whole bunch and getting in this morning from SFO to PDX on the early flight. But that's my life these days.

I am being adventurous and having dinner with Emily's girlfriend tomorrow night. A diversion from the usual work, gym, eat, talk to Miss B, and sleep. Crazy huh?!?!

Things may be changing at the jelly doughnut factory. Had a big conversation today with the big boss. When it's official, if it's official, I will report it. Until then, I'll let the suspense kill ya!

Portland Trailblazers

Last night the doughnut factory hooked me up with a ticket to watch the Portland Trailblazers play the Chicago Bulls at the Rose Garden in downtown Portland. Having never been to a professional basketball game, it was a chance to see what it was like and sit in the suite. I took the MAX in from the H-boro (took an hour, no joke) so it was easy to get there, just slow. Didn't have to fork over $40 for parking either, a nice benefit. The Trailblazers won as well and it was a pretty good game.

What I did find is that basketball is no baseball. It's fast. It's fast breaks and slam dunks. It's tattoos and really tall young men. The cheerleaders and dancers are....something. Let's just say the half time routine was performed to the J. Giles Band "freeze frame" which made them look older than they already did to start with and I didn't even see them close up. Basketball is all about manly men who thrash it up on the court. Don't get me wrong. I played all my life. I was the first girl ever to play on the boys team in grade school and was better than a lot of the boys. Middle and high school, some intramural in college. I like basketball. I just love watching baseball a whole lot more. Much more strategy and thought goes into the game. It was fun though to be in such a fancy pants suite with beverages and food. The place was packed too, I suspect a result of the Bulls ('da Bulls!) being in town.

What we did score last week is tickets to opening day for the San Francisco Giants! Both Miss B and I are so excited I can hardly stand it! We also got tickets for the Sunday game which is Buster Posey rookie day. Hee hee! I have been reading lots about them in the off season and the Bear in Training's boyfriend got us a book called the GIANT SURPRISE! It's really good! Oh I miss the Bay Area. Sigh.