Last night was our first Jazz game!! They played the Lakers and everyone was expecting a blow out. However, the Jazz played half way decently and the Lakers played pretty lazy – those two things combined made the game rather interesting. The Jazz lost in overtime by only one point.
Before the game we went out to dinner at Sapa, which is a restaurant I’ve had my eye on for quite a while. It has an enclosed Japanese garden and some outdoor pagoda style seating. We ate inside the restaurant since the outdoor portion is closed for winter (no kidding, it’s like 18 degrees out there!).
We started with a few sushi rolls and then ordered some entrees.
The sushi was pretty good, not great. The entrees however, were amazing! Gary ordered the Baked Dynamite and it was soooo yummy. He was nice enough to let me try it.
At the game, somebody had a bit of a sugar overload.
Cotton candy.
Giant ice cream cone.
He was a happy camper and he really enjoyed the game. At one point, Mack went up to the concession stand with Nick and a song was playing that Mack perked up to. “Hey dad, I know this song! I’m sexy and I know it!” He then proceeded to sing and dance in the concession area. Man, it’s a good thing we don’t have a girl.
Workout
Every time I go to the pool it is a lesson in humility. Here’s a fact: I’m not a good swimmer. Like, at all. And in a cruel twist of fate, every time that I go to the pool for lap swim the girls swim team is there doing their practice. It’s downright embarrassing. Teenagers who have this swimming thing down perfectly and I’m struggling with my kick board or pool buoy trying to figure out how to breathe without drinking half of the pool.
This morning was actually the first time I have used the pool buoy (up til now I have just used a kickboard to practice my breathing or just swim crawl stroke and try not to drown). A friend of mine suggested using the pool buoy so that I could focus on my stroke in relation to my breathing without having to worry about keeping my legs up or kicking. This was great advice and I feel like I accomplished more today than I have in any of my previous swims.
However, I’m sure I looked like a drowning rat trying to get my breath and my stroke together. The lifeguard actually went and got his little float thing as soon as he saw my form – he probably was like great, this girl is going to need saving I can already tell. Humility I’m telling you. Then again, I’m sexy and I know it.
I ended up doing 5 laps with the pool buoy and 5 laps with the kickboard. I felt like I could have done double that but I ran out of time before I needed to get ready for work.
**I want to make a note that I DID NOT end up going the pool for afternoon session yesterday (AGAIN). There was a funeral for the fallen police officer here in Ogden and pretty much everything was closed during the procession, my gym included. I went, got dressed in my swim suit and then a lady came and told me that they were closing in 5 minutes to go to the funeral. That was the end of my swim. Can’t complain too much – in comparison to the tragedy of a lost life, my swim is not even close to being a big deal.
Breakfast
This morning’s breakfast is a practice in laziness. I didn’t pack anything other than a tangerine when I left the house this morning. So after my swim (which always leaves me starving), I stopped by Starbucks to grab a breakfast sandwich and double tall cappuccino.
Lovely photo, I know. I was actually just grabbing this to take to work so I didn’t want to make a big to-do about taking a fancy picture.
While I was there, they were offering a sampling of their new “Blonde” coffee in comparison to other medium and dark roast coffees. I tried the Veranda Blend while chatting with Brandi about being a previous Coffee Master at Starbucks back in Seattle. (If you care nothing about coffee stop reading now….it’s about to get real folks)
I did my coffee master training partially while I was at the Pike Place Starbucks – which is the original store – and partially at a more “typical” store in downtown Seattle. I loved it! When I became a shift supervisor I was actually trying to work with my district manager on introducing a community tasting program to our store and others in the district.
What is coffee masters? It is a program that requires a barista to sample and compare every SBUX blend of coffee over a period of time, some tasting are paired with food, others are simply paired with other coffee blends. You get a box of “scents” as well which are used to help pick up different flavor notes in the coffee. It is set up a lot like wine tasting and I thought it would be really cool to set it up so that customers could come in on say a Friday night (once a month or whatever) and do a coffee tasting in much the same way that people go out and sample a flight of wines. Given that Starbucks’ whole thing is about endorsing the “culture of coffee,” this idea seems to be right in line with their overall goal of educating and cultivating coffee knowledge and appreciation.
My idea was never put to use and as you can tell, I’m still a little bummed about it. You can read more about the coffee master program here (ßWritten by a barista who completed his training and certification)
Okay enough about coffee. I’ll see you all for dinner!
