Weekend Update

Gabe made it safely to Chicago yesterday to begin his week-long work trip in the Midwest. I chatted with him this afternoon, and sounds like he's having a good time with Saupe, ordered in some good Chicago-style pizza from Giordano's and caught the Cubs vs. Cardinals game this afternoon at Wrigley Field. Not a bad way to spend a weekend, I'd say! Tomorrow he is at his company's Chicagoland office, then takes off tomorrow night for Detroit. He's in Detroit until Wednesday, and then that night he is off to Minneapolis where he will have more work-related things to do but will also be able to catch up with his buddies that live there and also drive over to Fargo for the weekend to hang out with C.J. Work trips that you can combine with fun things are the best -- especially when they are a week long, and you can get your employer to pay for the airfare. :) But, it will be nice to have Gabe home again, that's for sure!

I've been pretty domestic and lazy this weekend...I went to the grocery store yesterday to get things for the week, and it was our Safeway's "grand re-opening" celebration, which was a pain in the ass to say the least. The store has been remodeled and looks really nice, but I didn't make it to the grocery store early enough to beat the weekend -- let alone the "re-opening" -- crowd, and I had to jockey my cart through the aisles of people who had all their carts sitting in the middle of nowhere while they were off trying the many free samples that were available. I also think it must have been social security check day or something (do those come at the end of the month?), because there also were a ton of little old grannies and grandpas randomly stopped in the middle of the aisles, flipping through their coupon books and comparing what they had coupons for with what was on the shelves. I personally have nothing against the grannies, grandpas and their bargain shopping, but if they could learn to hug the side of the aisle instead of take up the middle, that would be just super. Or, I could just stop going to the grocery store on a Saturday morning and not have to worry about it. :)

But, one interesting thing that did happen while I was at the Safeway -- I also stopped by the Starbucks in the store on the way out and got a double, tall, half-caf, non-fat, sugar-free vanilla latte (yes, I do say all those things when I order), and with that one coffee I scored a free DVD player as part of the "grand re-opening" promotion for the day. Oh, and I also got 10% of our entire grocery bill by shopping during the re-opening. So, all-in-all, not a bad little trip, despite all the poor grocery cart etiquette people.

I've spent the rest of the weekend being a domestic homebody. I made this awesome Lentil Soup with Beef that I saw Giada what's-her-face make on the Food Network's "Everyday Italian" program, and it was awesome! It was a good weekend to make it -- it feels very nice and fall-like here, and Gabe already let me know that he takes an anti-lentil soup stance, so he wouldn't have helped me to eat it, anyways. So, I've got about four Rubbermaids worth of soup in the freezer and one in the fridge, and I've already eaten three meals from it. So, if anyone wants some soup, let me know! Happy to bring a frozen bowl to you (but I won't ship it, you can probably just make your own).

I have to travel down to Portland later this week for a night or two; I'll have to figure out for sure how long I need to be there when I get into the office tomorrow. So, the cats are going to have to fend for themselves for a couple of days. It's so nice that cats are so independent -- all you have to do is make sure they have a clean litterbox before you leave and enough food and water for the time you'll be away, and they are set to go. Granted, that only works for two-to-three days max as after that point they will need someone to come in and clean their litterbox and feed them again, but is still a nice perk to choosing cats as pets!

Off to go finish up the weekend with some news watching, lunch preparing and maybe watch another movie I rented. I wish weekends were longer. :)