monday 03.30.09

at barriques with quinn. closing the place. my first monday shift in - forever? - without my monday closing partner, liz. though that did mean i got to know someone else. and quinn has stellar taste in music, so we had plenty to chat about. just put away the soups for the night, hence the empty soup wells (is that what they're called?) getting ready to close down the rest of the food, which means one step closer to closing down the store.


-bkh

sunday 03.29.09

bringing my dirty laundry downstairs. sweatshirts and jeans and workout clothes filled the washing machine more than i anticipated. i'm surprised it didn't overflow. perhaps i should learn to do >1 load. i was taught to split into darks, pastels, brights, whites, and towels. now i split into 'everything that won't fit into the towel load'. but ya know, i haven't noticed a difference in my clothes from when i was taught to now. so, i'm not really convinced that i need to split laundry loads. and i save water and energy. so...i think i'll just keep on keepin on.


-bkh

saturday 03.28.09

working the 3-8 shift at barriques with alli. our (almost) first shift together. she's an opener; i'm a closer. we don't get to mingle too often. though, we did get some extra time to chat in the evening. after we closed up the coffee shop, we had to brush off the (hopefully last) wet heavy snow from our cars. as we watched the snow fall all afternoon, we were motivated to hustle for a quick close, knowing it'd be a long trek to our homes. bringing the seemingly endless supply of water cups from the dishwasher back out to the dining room.


-bkh

friday 03.27.09

birthday party at the house for ryan's friend from home, margaret. her and her family and some friends were in madison to celebrate with a sparkle and feather boa themed bash (see green tinkerbell skirt) and 'splitlip rayfield' and 'railroad earth' show. her folks funded all the food for a cook-out at the place pre-show. it was a perfect spring mix of chilly and warm outside to have a fire in the backyard to enjoy, too. though as the food was set out in the dining room, people quickly migrated inside.


-bkh

thursday 03.26.09

'find love, and give it all away...'


out for a walk at twilight. or dusk. or both? that was the topic of conversation on the phone with reina (and neil) as i was headed out. later it was discovered that 'twilight' is under the umbrella term 'dusk', though twilight is not part of dawn. i will defer to reina to explain.


-bkh

wednesday 03.25.09

sitting at home with liza. watching '30 rock' online. i missed the episode from last week, along with 'the office'. so wednesday seemed like a good day to play catch-up. ordered some glass nickel pizza for myself (never mind the double recipe of asparagus risotto i made sunday or the soup i brought home from barriques) and settled in on the couch for the night.


-bkh

tuesday 03.24.09

at delmonicos downtown madison. with my boss at a presentation on cervical cancer and genital warts. you must be envious you didn't get into the preventive health field... it was truly an interesting presentation. the presentation focused in the human papillomavirus (hpv) and the vaccine that prevents much of hpv for women. i work with the vaccination for my job, but knew little about the clinical background information the OB/GYN preseted to the group. the photo is a bit blurry, not because i had too much wine, but because a) i was surrounded by doctors and felt self-conscious, and b) i was at a professional function; i should be paying attention. even with the blur, you can see it was a delicious dinner.


-bkh

monday 03.23.09

ladies night. at the melting pot with erin and some of her co-workers - beth and kelly - and beth's friend katie. the fondue restaurant does a monday ladies night special - $5 specialty drinks, and a meal of cheese fondue, salad, and a chocolate fondue for $15ish. last time erin and i went there we each dropped $50 a piece, so this ladies night deal is quite the steal. though i paid for the overindulgence that night. erin and i got back to the house and were motionless for the rest of the night. a small price to pay, though.


-bkh

sunday 03.22.09

shopping at coops. (that's a grocery store.) i closed up the coffee shop with ryan, then headed over to do some shopping. i had my heart set on making an asparagus risotto. i spent far too much time, unsuccessfully, in the produce section searching for fresh chives. do you see them? i don't see them. and i spent too much time on my chives quest. i ended up buying dried chives, and finished making dinner over an hour later. don't ask for the recipe, because it wasn't very good. maybe fresh chives are the key ingredient.


-bkh

saturday 03.21.09

the first grill-out of the season! on the second day of spring. veggie burgers on the grill, sparks on the patio, and liza ate all the buns. a typical evening. heather was in town from milwaukee, and katy came over from a few blocks away. along with ryan nick and erin, we sat around outside until the sun went down, and our jackets (and bathrobes?) weren't enough to keep us warm.


-bkh

thursday 03.19.09

walking liza. you can't see her probably because she's pooping somewhere for the 8th time. sigh. i headed up a road i hadn't been too far on in my neighborhood and found a park. a big park. a beautiful park. with a beautiful view. who knew? just right there a block or two from me. i am not an observant gal, this i know. but COME ON. how did i miss THIS since august and before?


-bkh

friday 03.20.09

sipping on my iced miel at barriques. working a friday night with ellen. she taught me a trick to making the honey-cinnamon lattes so they don't clump up/taste awful (like this one did). pretty much stir the hell out of it, and pour the two ingredients in the shot glass before you pull the shot (marissa, i think you're the only one who will find this useful). regardless. it makes them delicious.


-bkh

wednesday 03.18.09

eating a frozen pizza i picked up at whole foods. the place is an under ten minute walk from my house. convenient, yes. though not as convenient as the less than 1 minute walk i used to have from the willy street co-op. and i tend to believe willy street co-op > whole foods. but perhaps that is the pretentious east-side madison in me coming out.


-bkh

tuesday 03.17.09

heading out for a walk (in my new shoes!) well, the second walk of the night. liza (the dog) and i went for a walk for a bit before. but she kept pooping. so she went home and i headed out solo. what you can't see, though, is that i'm on the phone with my good friend from college, kara larson. talking together all the way from atlanta, ga. the (semi-)newly engaged kara and i were able to catch up on our lives from the past few months. we spent almost an hour talking before she had to get back to life in the atlanta time zone.


-bkh

monday 03.16.09

'mr. bojangles, mr. bojangles, mr. bojangles, dance...'

closing down the sandwich bar at barriques. we close at 8 on mondays, so we shut down all food production at 7:30 in the hopes of being out the door before 8:30. package up the food, put it in the fridge, wash the food-related dishes. liz and i did pretty darn well.


-bkh

sunday 03.15.09

watching a movie with nick, ryan, erin, and liza. i'm not even going to say what it is because it's so shameful. more shameful than 'eyes wide shut'. and i watched the whole thing. on a beautiful sunday evening; the first beautiful sunday evening of 2009. the start of spring, and i stayed at home. watching trash.

(it wasn't 'sex drive', in case you're wondering.
damn you james mardsen.)


-bkh

saturday 03.14.09

after nick's bday-a-palooza, nick and ryan both fled the area for the next night. having the house all to myself meant chocolate cake (courtesy of erin's baking), 'eyes wide shut' (and 'under the tuscan sun'; i have a soft spot for diane lain it appears), and not folding the bed back up into a couch. the chances are not good that i moved more than two times throughout the night. and i'm not ashamed.


-bkh

friday 03.13.09

happy birthday, nick :)

birthday celebration at ginza happy hour. nick turned the big quarter life crisis. so sushi, volcanoes (plural), and ice cream with candles were in order. too bad ginza doesn't allow landmines in their place. but have no fear, landmines were abundant back at mckinley where the festivities continued.


-bkh

thursday 03.12.09

fixing my tiny closet. once a month one of the spring loaded bars that holds my hanging clothes falls down. and makes all my clothes wrinkly. and makes me angry. at least when it falls, it drops straight down instead of sliding to the side, so my color-coordinating stays in tact.


-bkh

wednesday 03.11.09

girls night with erin and jen. we went to 'rachel getting married' at the cheap theater after a happy hour (half price - HOLLA!) at the sushi restaurant. the theater was pretty full, for a wednesday at the cheap theater. so i didn't actually take a picture because that is rude. so i took a picture of my leg instead, to show it was dark in there.


-bkh

tuesday 03.10.09

drinking a glass of vino at home. there's a slight reflection of a computer screen in the glass. most likely shining something new and exciting on facebook i already looked at three times. one of those nights. my christmas gift to my roommate in the foreground. chopsticks, it turns out, are not indestructible when a person tries to scratch his back with them after eating sushi. fyi. hopefully this psa saves at least one pair of chopsticks out there.


-bkh

monday 03.09.09

working barriques with liz. bringing out the garbage. one of many (eleven?) garbages or recycling bin we have there. now that the weather is getting warmer, it's a nice break to step outside for a moment or two. we're not having to pile up the garbage to make a quick run to avoid the snow and cold.


-bkh

sunday 03.08.09

trying to figure out what to make with all the produce i bought at whole foods. asparagus is in season, apparently. which is good news. but i don't know too many recipes that have asparagus. so i turned to my cookbook and magazines. unfortunately for me, i was a little exhausted by the time i sat down with the books and had no energy to cook anything. so i opted for microwave popcorn. a reliable stand-by.


-bkh

saturday 03.07.09

eating an apple. my friend liz from barriques and i went to a beer tasting event at the high noon in the afternoon. whole foods (and barriques) sponsored the event. they had a bunch of $5 off your purchase at whole foods coupons. so i stuffed a handful or two in my pocket and headed down the street to the store after the event. i filled my bag with fresh produce, like apples, and enjoyed one or two when i got home.


-bkh

friday 03.06.09

at the badger hockey game with nick, ryan, erin, and stacy. i know i know - 'bree hates sports'. truth. but i like my friends. and i couldn't pass up a chance to hang out with them. shortly after this picture i excused myself to the bathroom, and was met by erin holding my coat saying 'wanna go to a bar with me?' yes. yes i do.


-bkh

thursday 03.05.09

reading about backpacks. i picked up some literature after the presentation at rei the previous night. i was reading up on things to consider when i buy a pack. i'll have to do it in the next 25 or so days. rei is giving members 20% off one full-priced item in march. and they are luring me in to buy a pack a few months before the weather gets warm enough for me to actually use it. oh, i am a retailers favorite kind of customer - a sucker.


-bkh

wednesday 03.04.09

at a talk at rei. some of the folks from hosteling international put on a presentation about traveling. with the intent of taking a few travels here and there in the near future, i listened with 'an open heart' to their tips and ideas. as with many presentations, the quality depends somewhat on the audience. and unfortunately for most of us there, we had a paranoid traveler who felt the need to share long-winded stories every few minutes about credit cards, atms, money belts, and exchange rates. useful information, yes. but long-winded.


-bkh

tuesday 03.03.09

kinda watching tv. kinda playing on the computer. gmail time. i signed up for this site - sparkpeople.com - which is an online health/fitness/wellness/etc. social networking (i guess) site. the site sends me a few emails a day about articles and blogs on those topics. i manage to spend a good amount of time on the site reading. which is actually pretty darn close to the exact reason why i got into the health education field my freshman year - i kept reading wellness articles online instead of studying for other classes. some things don't change, it appears.


-bkh

monday 03.02.09

'and this old corduroy coat is not keeping me dry...'

the bro and i headed to milwaukee (his first time there!) for the joshua radin show at the pabst theater. after meeting marissa at alterra for tea and mochas, and marques at bravo for vino and italian, ryan and i made it just in time to see jesse harris and meiko open. the show was the main reason ryan made it to the great cheese state. and it certainly was a good reason. i wasn't a big joshua radin fan pre-show, but he put on a good (though heartfelt, it was slightly wimpy) show. i was really sold on him as an artist when i heard he was the only one to play at ellen and portia's wedding.


-bkh

sunday 03.01.09

having dinner with my brother at bahn thai in the willy street neighborhood. i showed him the climbing gym on the east side, and then we spent some time on williamson st. at the co-op, and the weary. he lit up at the idea of thai, and i had never tried thai food. i can't believe, yet again, that i lived so close to such a great place yet spent no time there. the food was phenomenal, and will supply me with lunches for a few days (which always brings me such joy).


-bkh

saturday 02.28.09

'you're still limited by laws and language and its' flaws...'

ryan joined my mom dad and sister in madison. all the way from duluth! the four of us (minus meg who was having a 'high school musical' marathon with jen) enjoyed a drink at le tigre - my dad's favorite place in madison. mom and i met dad and ryan at the classy joint after yoga class. we headed right over to the east side after a drink to meet up with meg for dinner.


-bkh

friday 02.27.09

the fam came to town! mom dad and meg met me and some of my co-workers at scatz for happy hour before the four of us headed from middleton to downtown madison. we tried to eat at the dane, but a 50 minute wait was less than appealing to our hungry stomachs. we stumbled upon papavero on our way to find a drink. it was a great little find. we were seated right away, had a delicious italian meal, and the highlight for my parents was the bottle of wine.


-bkh

thursday 02.26.09

sitting in my room. i bought an exercise ball to use as a chair to help my posture, build my core, blah blah blah. my poor papasan chair has become neglected. i use the ball when i'm getting ready in the morning, sometimes when i'm reading, when i'm trying to figure out what i'm going to do with my evening, when i'm taking my 7:30 picture... it's multi-functional.


-bkh

wednesday 02.25.09

my last pottery class of this session. turning the wheel on with my big ol' rain boot (it rained), getting ready to trim a bowl. teacher todd is helping the gal to my right. centering the pots is tricky business. i required quite a bit of help this last class period. apparently my lessons have paid off, right?


-bkh

tuesday 02.24.09

just hopped out of the shower. there was a buddhism lecture on campus. i went snowshoeing for the brief 35 minutes of sunlight after work. i didn't want to be the smelly kid at the lecture after not showering for a day (...or so). my violin is resting right above my towel. i brought it back from the cities after christmas with the intention of tinkering away at it again (i was pretty good back in 5th grade). i haven't taken it in to have the strings replaced, though. i would really like to give it a go again.


-bkh

monday 02.23.09

heading into yoga class. i signed up for two weeks unlimited, and i am hooked. coffee shop work got done early today (little bit 'o technical difficulty) so i was able to make it to a class at inner fire. and what a great use of found time.


-bkh

sunday 02.22.09

making a quick dinner. i met jen on willy street for coffee this morning. since i was over there, i figured i might as well swing by the co-op. $30 later... i had a golden dinner in my reusable, green shopping bag. cooked up a tofu broccoli mushroom and zucchini teryaki-garlic stir fry to be served over quinoa. got a little over-zealous with the ingredients. which is good news for my lunches this week. there was definitely enough leftover to make it to friday.


-bkh

saturday 02.21.09

closing barriques with ellen. washing the dishes. i like coffee shops that offer customers the option of having their drink 'for here' instead of in something disposable. barriques is one of those coffee shops. though it does tend to leave up with quite a load of dishes to keep up with. some days it seems as though that's all i do at work is dishes and more dishes. though it was not one of those days. the snowstorm (i call is a snowstorm because my neighbors had to push me out of the street, and that doesn't happen on just snowy days) kept people inside, or at least away from barriques from 3-8. regardless of the amount of dishes we do, it's worth it for what is gained. and there's something that's better, i believe, about having a coffee drink in a mug vs. a paper cup. pause? or mise en route?


-bkh

friday 02.20.09

working my first friday shift. there was a wine tasting at the store tonight. mia was doing the pouring of the tuscany wines. ryan and i were working behind the counter. one of the more 'regulars' just paid for her hot chocolate. when the temperature started dropping i was surprised just how many people ordered hot chocolates. i mean, kids of course. when little ones walk in you can bet it's either ice cream or hot chocolate. but adults, too. we go through so much chocolate powder in a day. something soothing, perhaps? a remembrance of childhood? a caffeine-free alternative at the coffee shop? who knows.


-bkh

thursday 02.19.09

taking my contacts out in the bathroom. switching to glasses for the evening. i am in dire need of new contacts. i just figured out how to use my fsa/hsa whatever. so i suppose i should get on using it to buy myself some contacts that don't = sandpaper. perhaps...


-bkh

wednesday 02.18.09

happy birthday mom :)

pottery class. the beginning of what became a bowl. the wire is used to cut manageable sized chunks of clay off the block. from here the clay gets kneaded by hand to get all the air bubbles out (i'm a little impatient and tend to miss a few here and there) rolled into a ball and then thrown into something beautiful. teacher todd is instrumental in making the product 'beautiful'.


-bkh

tuesday 02.17.09

frantically driving across town. from a dinner meeting at the hospital (across the street from my house) to the princeton club. i didn't have time between the end of the work day and the start of the meeting to make it to the workout room. so after the meeting seemed like a good time. my day ended after 9:00pm. which is fine. but i can't help but wonder how the work life and personal life happen when there are kids?


-bkh

monday 02.16.09

closing with liz. i hadn't done a monday in a few weeks. i felt a bit rusty. but it was good to be back with liz. marking out the unsold bakery on the register, getting ready for the end of the night. we both work day jobs, so we're motivated to get out of barriques pretty fast at the end of the night. unfortunately for us, the bree-liz combination does not allow us to leave within 45 minutes of close. ever. we've tried.


-bkh

sunday 02.15.09

after spending the whole day (minus a quick trip downtown for brunch) on alli's futon watching mean girls, i headed over to scott and liz's place on my way out of town. two of the few people left in lax from my undergrad, but two of my favorite. scott was my graduate student advisor for student association my last year in la crosse. he's an awesome fella. we've kept in touch since the end of our advisor-advise relationship. i look forward to spending time with him and his wife liz when i'm in town. this time around he was able to show me me pictures and tell me stories about his recent two-week trip to india.


-bkh

saturday 02.14.09

run run run run run run run away OH OH OH OH AY AY AY AY...

lemon drops. oh lordy, lemon drops. roadtrips to la crosse always end (read: start) with lemon drops. met up with marissa, nina, jeidy, and alli for a 'houses in motion' show. alli cooked us ladies (and dave) dinner at her place, and fed us full of lemon drops. she was so kindly offering me, and the rest of the party-goers, another round. did i mention there were lemon drops?


-bkh

friday 02.13.09

happy birthday meg :)

drinking wine with jen. that's all we do together. barriques on monroe street had a wine and chocolate tasting. the wines were zins, but we were concerned about the chocolate, mainly. and there was no disappointment. the two owners of the store were there and able to give a bit of insight as to what the tasting notes really meant. such as a '30 second finish'. unfortunately, seeing how we enjoyed a happy hour beer prior to barriques, we were only able to make it half-way through the wines before calling it quits.

-bkh

thursday 02.12.09

knock knock knockin on heaven's door...

working from home. i had a meeting with my supervisor this morning, and then a meeting with her supervisor in the afternoon. which means i was loaded up with work (in a good way). i brought home the asthma health management program welcome letter for updating. the nice part about working from home in the evening is i can paint my nails. and answer ryan perket's phone call. and my roommate can drink pbr across from me.

-bkh

wednesday 02.11.09

let's get together and feel alright...


pottery class. helen is trimming her vase/kitchen utensil holder on the wheel like a pro. she's the only first-timer in the beginner class, but is still putting the rest of us to shame some days.


-bkh

tuesday 02.10.09

watching tv. nick ryan and i watched 'nick & norah's infinite playlist' (not as good as i hoped). afterwards the tv somehow ended up on top 50 best/worst plastic surgeries, or something tragic like that. uhmm. not sure how that happened... i commented to ryan on how sad it makes me to be watching tv at 7:30. he responded 'at least you're not playing brick builder on your blackberry'. touche.

-bkh