sunday 05.24.09

ok, so i was actually sleeping again at 7:30 (c’mon - drinking wine full time is a tiring life) but forgot. so, after i woke we played some backgammon over wine in the lobby (everyone’s drinking wine in the lobby!) and then headed out to see some live music at an italian restaurant. we each enjoyed a cocktail – which is frustratingly difficult to come by in napa – me a martini mom a nuts & berries while taking in the music. the place was busy busy; many people told us memorial day weekend brought quite the flood of tourists to the valley. and this place was no exception.


-bkh

saturday 05.23.09

my birthday! and i’m napping. what a day of celebration we had. we visited five (five!) vineyards, all on bicycle (bicycle!) and ended the bike trip with a dinner that was more wine than food. and then there was a tasting in the hotel lobby. i was pooped. all happy and birthdayed out in the hotel room for a bit. mom busied herself with her wine and book in the lobby, and called to wake me for games after a half hour or so rest; a decision soon regretted as a beat her (twice) in bananagrams.


-bkh

friday 05.22.09

walking off the first day of tasting, looking for something to eat (do they serve anything other than wine in napa?) we managed to fit in four vineyards and a tasting the hotel lobby the first day. not too bad for a first timer, eh? back wandering the same street in dt napa as the previous eve.


-bkh

thursday 05.21.09

in napa! my ma and i met up in california for a memorial day weekend trip of wine tasting. we were greeted with open arms offering virtually bottomless glasses of wine. before checking in the hotel we stopped by a tasting room in downtown napa, only to be told of a street fair going on just two blocks up. we were interested. and what a perfect way to enter napa. we spent the evening wandering the street fair with our wine, checking out the farmers market, eating an italian dinner, and shopping the local main street.


-bkh

wednesday 05.20.09

nick discovered a hidden gem in madison – ‘china 1 buffet’. after staring at the flyer on our fridge, we made plans to check out what the buffet had to offer for dinner. and their pictures of sushi and fruit and pizza and beyond did not lead us astray. we each managed a few plates before retiring back to the house.


-bkh

tuesday 05.19.09

working with quinn. end of the day comes, essentially, around 7:30 when the food gets put away. after having zero orders for food in the time since i got there at 5, quinn decided it was appropriate to pack up early. can i comment on how exciting it is to see the sun shining through the windows so brightly, with no sign of letting up, just beyond quinn? hello, summer. i’ve missed you.


-bkh

monday 05.18.09

barriques work with liz. soaked the top of the containers for the honey, chocolates, and caramel to melt away all the excess. and then filled the containers for the openers to seamlessly punch (?) out drinks for customers in the early a.m. exciting? apparently this container, with the freshly cleaned top, didn’t get filled. huh. it really is my attention to detail that propels me in my coffee career…


-bkh

sunday 05.17.09

driving west-east side through downtown madison. trying to follow driving directions on my way over to hang out with colin. i was greeted with freshly-found and cooked morel mushrooms. the world, or at least my world in madison and lax, has gone wild for morel hunting. i have benefited twice now thanks to my generous friends willing to share their treasures.


-bkh

saturday 05.16.09

taking liza on a hike through hoyt park. i tied her up to a tree and climbed a bit on the rocks. i only made it as far as can be seen here, because apparently liza does not like to be tied to a tree. and decided to make this known to me and the rest of the neighborhood. it’s not as though she didn’t have enough energy drained over the afternoon. erin graduated from her mba that afternoon so her fam, including two young nephews, were in town at the place. the two little fellas threw the ball for her and chased her around the backyard like she’s never seen.


-bkh

friday 05.15.09

just eating a little ice cream – cookies & crème with chocolate syrup. i started out the day with my party pants, but slowly removed them leg by leg throughout the day. nick and i (and i guess liza) spent the evening in front of ‘happy go lucky’ and a pizza from pizza hut.


-bkh

thursday 05.14.09

at the wisconsin asthma coalition (wac) meeting dinner presentation. there was a panel of four speakers, each talking on the topic of asthma and the school. my colleague, sally from the dane country asthma coalition (dcac) – which is my member coalition – is speaking about our schools. i attend this meeting twice a year. always a thursday dinner presentation, and an all-day friday of speakers and networking. this time around it was held in madison, which worked out well for my schedule. though have traveled to milwaukee and osh kosh in the past.


-bkh

wednesday 05.13.09

rolling up my mat after an hour of power yoga. my first class after being annoyingly sick. the teacher was someone i had not yet taken a class with and hot damn! she kept us moving! the best part, i believe, was how she ended the class: with four group ‘oms’. i cannot - no one can - describe how it feels to take part in a group om. but if you ever have the opportunity, please take it.


-bkh

tuesday 05.12.09

working at barriques with quinn. in the back working away at the dishes. the milk canisters that hold the ‘room-for-cream’ cream are pulled earlier than close – well, at least the skim and 2%. there are very few coffee orders later in the eve, and if there are it’s a safe bet half & half is the cream of choice. scrubbing and getting them ready for the dishwasher. one thing not anticipated was that the size of the brush > the size of the container. so when i pulled the brush out water sprayed all over. whoops.

-bkh

monday 05.11.09

second sick day of my professional life. first one was right around this time last year. apparently being really sick in may is kinda 'my thing'. awesome. this was the view of my bedroom i had almost all day. except the computer screen was showing 'the office' streamed from nbc.com, and pajama pants were in order - not jeans. sweet day. oh - well, i did get outside to take liza for a walk mid-afternoon. and she tried to eat one of the smaller dogs we ran into on the trail. so that was pretty awesome too.


-bkh

sunday 05.10.09

happy mother's day, mom :)


well. managed to sleep until 3pm. so, that was pretty great. i had 7am coffee plans with ryan, since i missed him the night before. but i had to cancel yet again so i could sleep until 3pm. i suppose it helped a bit to sleep in, but still felt awful all day. i rallied a bit to make it to my see my barriques co-worker - jill - before she takes off for 2 peacecorps years in bulgaria. seven of us from the store headed to ginza for a habachi send-off dinner. tracy made sure to compliment (and fluff) jill's new haircut, with liz in agreement (or, this is one of the first times we've seen jill sans hat; jury is still out).


-bkh

saturday 05.09.09

enjoying drinks with friends at steve & megan's in elkhorn, wi. still dealing with the runny nose, sore throat, cough, etc. but i refused to miss megan's bday bash. s&m cooked us all snacks, a pasta dinner, and served an ice cream cake. oh, and drinks - they made us delicious drinks (please refer to the margarita front and center). we all hung around in front of the brewers game, catching up on each others life, and catching up the non-uwlers about our stories from life at uwl. i took off half-way through the first townie bar and headed back to madison just in time to feel too miserable to see ryan perket - in town for one night only from la crosse - and head directly past all the friends in my living room to go directly to bed.


-bkh

friday 05.08.09

another night of canceled plans. feeling even worse than the previous two nights. after a world asthma day event for work on the northside, i headed home to sink into the big green chair for most of the eve. talking with steve for a bit on the phone - catching up on life, and the lives of college friends. i only moved to head to coldstone, while talking myself horse on the phone with my ma and pa, to get some ice cream to help my throat. if i'm going to feel crappy, i might as well find and excuse to enjoy it. the silver lining, perhaps.


-bkh

thursday 05.07.09

shopping at copps. still feeling crappy. i typically have zero-tolerance for being sick for >24 hours. and i had to cancel plans to bike through the arboretum with colin. so i was pretty annoyed at this point. headed to the grocery store to pick up some oranges, apples and other foods to snack me back to health. unfortunately,my new purchases went unenjoyed for the evening. erin dropped by as i was unpacking, and the two of us managed to cash a bottle of wine before the night was over. ryan and nick joined with their pbr as the night progressed into 'the office', 'deadwood', and buzz trivia.


-bkh

wednesday 05.06.09

packing my bag for yoga class. i was feeling a bit sick since the previous afternoon, so i took it easy and headed to a lighter class. perhaps not the best idea to go at all. i ended up using my sweat towel to wipe my nose every few minutes. which is counter-productive to a class where the entire purpose is to hold the stretch for a few minutes at a time. meh.


-bkh

tuesday 05.05.09

driving home from yoga. a 5:45-7:15 bikram class. and it was the hardest yoga class i had been to. the room was filled to capacity, which made the regular 105 degrees at 40-50% humidity even warmer. i left yoga happily anticipating a night at home with my book. until i saw a text message from nick - 'margaritas'. uhm yes, yes please. we headed to pasquals, where ryan and katy walter met us for drinks and chips, cinco style (whatever that means?) on the patio.


-bkh

monday 05.04.09

i broke a wine bottle while working at barriques. whoops. luckily it was almost empty, and was in the 'employees can take home' pile. but it still broke. and shattered everywhere. there's a bucket in the back for all the broken wine bottles, glasses, pint glasses and anything else we manage to break at work, and the bottle found its resting place there.


-bkh

sunday 05.03.09

heading to yoga after some 'sex & the city' and sushi with erin and stacy. after spending the afternoon on my bike on the east side, i returned to find nick and the gals taking in some of the pink velvet bible. i joined, intending to watch for just a bit, but was roped in when stacy announced she knew of a sushi place that delivered. sushi delivery?! it's been my dream to have sushi delivered to my door! after having my dream finally realized, i just barely made it in time for the 7:45 yin yoga class.


-bkh

saturday 05.02.09

walking up west wash with reina to see neil in an atlas improv show. after a sushi happy hour dinner we headed downtown to get a parking spot in the madness of madison's miflin block party. madison can throw down some pretty good parties, but the city only shuts down twice: halloween & miflin. as reina and i were sitting outside electric earth pre-show we made a whole bunch of new friends. the couple that asked three times what street they were on (wait - west? or east?), the dude that may have been dead (he wasn't, the cop checked) mid way through his coffee, the crowds of people announcing their level of drunkenness... so many new friends.


-bkh

friday 05.01.09

working at barriques with ryan. got a text from AO! back in the mpls confirming her purchase of her rock the garden ticket. which, was some of the greatest news of the day. kara 'k1' miller, erin martinson, alli bayer, that guy i met at bodega, AO!, maybe my barriques co-worker - alli - and her husband, and me watching 'solid gold', 'yeasayer', 'calexico', and 'the decemberists' on a saturday afternoon in june in the cities. i can't imagine a better time.


-bkh

thursday 04.30.09

pulling on my helmet and hopping on my bike to head home after yoga class. i believe that is the most madison sentence i have ever written. unless it was followed by - because my prius was in the shop after a fender bender at the willy street co-op because i spilt my fair trade soy latte on my north face jacket as i was checking my blackberry. uhm. regardless... i was a little tense after a jolt start to my day, and found myself ready to ram my car (no, not a prius) into the car that was taking forever in front of me at the atm after work. realizing i was being a heinous person, i postponed evening plans (because nobody would want to be around me) and combined my yoga and cardio into an almost perfect evening.


-bkh

wednesday 04.29.09

having a drink with jason, jen, and reina at the brocah. stoli doli for me, beers for j&j, and h2o for reina. reina and i came from dinner with chris koza and pete sieve pre-performance at the frequency. the two of them were in town with jeff hanson for a wednesday night show. they met us and neil at a taste of india on the square for a dinner of painful proportions. post-dinner, pre-show was drinks and laughs with jen and jason before they parted their way for home, and reina and i parted our way for music.


-bkh

tuesday 04.28.09

hanging out in the big green chair at home. reading 'the memory keeper's daughter', and drinking lots of water. spent the early evening in yoga class, and was excited to spend part of the evening relaxing, catching-up on reading i had - for no apparent reason - neglected. i managed to rally myself into a bike ride later on in order to round off the 30 minute morning jog into a 60 minute cardio day, and check off tuesday as a completed worksite wellness day.


-bkh

monday 04.27.09

putting on the running shoes to head out on a rainy evening jog. i was perfectly content with the idea of staying inside, reading my 'vegetarian times' and 'the week' magazines. but then remembered i joined my work's quarterly worksite wellness challenge. i signed-up - with a team of ten other folks from the health services (mine) & medical management departments - to have at least sixty minutes of cardiovascular activity five days a week. thinking it was probably best to start the week out on the right foot, i took of for a 30-min jog, 30-min walk so to not disappoint hs & mm.


-bkh

sunday 04.26.09

back from the weekend in la crosse. after a breakfast with the gals, and coffee with alli, i hit the road. made it back in decent time, considering the weather was less than agreeable. as much as i enjoy spring, i always forget how terrifying driving in rain can be. by the time i made it back i was a snack for myself - pesto and melted provolone on bread. and water. lots and lots of water.


-bkh

saturday 04.25.09

ugh. at coconuts in la crosse with the gals after four hours of beer tasting at beer & cheese fest, followed by dinner at erbs & gerbs. we were falsely led to believe that cocos offered $1 pbrs. but it turns out we just read the ad wrong. huh - can't imagine how that happened. they were a little more than $1, but we still enjoyed our cans of beer as we played a few rounds of bananagrams. i had to excuse myself back to alli's bed for a short (2.5 hour) nap so i could make it until bar time at bodega. as per usual - awesome decisions all around, breanna.

-bkh

friday 04.24.09

walking downtown la crosse with kaitylnn. coming right from alli's (beautiful) senior art show on campus and heading straight to bodega. it was a perfectly pleasant 86 degree evening outside, and a sweaty miserable time in bodega. after meeting tara, marissa, and nina at the bar, the five of us quickly excused ourselves to the patio at jules next door to cool off with italian sodas, cookies, and gentleman who openly eavesdrop on girl-talk.

-bkh

thursday 04.23.09

having dinner with colin on the east side. sala thai on fair oaks. after having thai food with the bro back in february, i was excited to try it out again and try something new. though, i ended up accidentally ordering the same thing as before (tofu & vegetables). typical. colin had some squid dish. a bit more adventurous than the other side of the table.


-bkh

wednesday 04.22.09

cuddled up on the big green chair in my living room after an evening of yoga. i got back from class to see my first 'yoga' magazine came in the mail. popped a bag of popcorn, changed into the pjs, and settled in for a cover-to-cover read.


-bkh