My I heart Seattle weekend

Best. Weekend. Ever. My glorious weekend kicked off with some much needed good news. My husband got a job. At a big Pacific Northwest company, I love having major employers here. He starts next Monday the 24th. This is significant, because he has been out of work for 354 days (but who's counting?). I never wrote about it publicly here, because I just didn't want to talk about how my insides were a mess of goo and running mental financial calculations every 2 minutes. Now, we have two incomes! We can eat out and not feel guilty! We can dump money into savings, and then blow it on a vacation. To say I am relieved and excited is an understatement. I would also like to say that I am pretty proud of how well we handled this - I still managed to contribute to 2 retirement accounts, and even socked away some cash while only using a meager amount of the severance package to pay the mortgage. This was possible a) because we don't have any debt except the mortgage and b) the unemployment money and lovely Obama administration that extended unemployment payments. Thanks, Mr. O! Okay. Enough money chat.


Seattle gave us beautiful 70+ degree days this weekend. I know elsewhere it is probably even hotter, but here, this is a big deal. Friday I picked up all my groceries, and we had a very healthy rice, asparagus, cashew and Asian vinaigrette dinner. Delicious. Followed by a nice glass of wine while laying in the hammock. Does it get better than that?


Saturday brought more sunshine and dinner with friends - which always does my body good, no matter what we eat. We had a delicious dinner - outside (!) and chocolate fondue for dessert. It was so fantastic, good friends, good food and kids and dogs and laughing. I ate very well - a bonus!


On Sunday, I had plans to exercise and do my chores. But then we were seduced by the call of the Seattle Cheese festival. Two words: Free. Cheese. How can I say no? Our new favorite is little blocks of smokey sharp cheddar, and a Camembert that was so creamy delicious. And who knew that there was a Parmesan that I would consider eating by the slice? Walking around the market, snagging toothpicks of cheese to sample, people-watching, and buying a famous Pike Place Market bouquet, it was enough to make my heart soar, especially side by side with my sweet (employed!) husband. Plus - the samples were tiny, tiny - I estimate that at the most, I had 4 ounces of cheese total. And that's giving me some wiggle room. We headed home, and I was full of good intentions to go to the gym. BUT - it was sunny, and the floor needed mopping, and I needed to pay bills and stamp them, and paint my toes and make dinner, and I skipped my workout. I didn't even make dinner. We cobbled together something to eat out of what was in the fridge. And I am religious about making Sunday dinner. It felt kind of freeing, and I'm learning to realize that just because I don't get all my fruit and veggies in on one day, I'm not going to die of scurvy, or gain 50 pounds.


Oh! And I watched Geneen Roth on Oprah, talking about her new book, Women, Food and God. It cracks me up how the guest is supposed to be talking, but really it was a chance for Oprah to dump out all her a-ha moments. I found myself thinking a few times - hey, Oprah, let her tell us about that chapter, rather than just your reaction and interpretation. But I know what it is like to be excited and you can't stop talking about it. (see paragraph 1) Would love to hear if anyone else has read it.


That is my super duper fun and productive weekend. Mostly I'm just excited that I had a combination of doing fun things but still eating on plan. Gooooooooo...lifestyle change! Ha! I crack myself up.