The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

We girls had a book club meeting tonight. The August book was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and I think it was enjoyed unanimously by the group. Several of us decided that if we were to have little boys, we'd want to call them "Dawsey." Ohhhhh Dawsey.

The book club meeting was at Ashleigh's lake house and it was a perfect spot for a late August dinner. Thanks for hosting, Ashleigh! What a beautiful night!

Here are some pics - starting with Katie and my happy hour rendezvous at Blue C Sushi...

A Man, His Dog and Their New Truck

Nick got a new truck today. It's an '08 Toyota Tacoma with 12,000 miles - pretty much brand new. Now he can haul dirt and do all that other manly, homeowner stuff we've been putting off! We celebrated by taking Pi to the Magnusson dog park...

Detachment + 500 Days of Summer + 500,000 Calories

We had a very good day today. Nick's 3:00 p.m. "detachment appointment" gave us plenty of time for blueberry pancakes, coffee and a lazy morning.

Juli, Nick and I went in for the brief chemo #2 detachment and celebrated afterwards with margaritas and a 5:30 showing of 500 Days of Summer. Super cute movie and awesome soundtrack.

Then, there's this neighborhood italian restaurant called Salvatore that Nick and I have been talking about trying since we moved to Greenlake four years ago. Well, we finally tried it and we've been missing out. While the decor isn't going to win any awards, the food - yum. We tried the osso bucco, halibut and spinach pappardelle with wild boar. So full afterwards - but so delicious!!!

500 Days of Summer's cutie cast

(The end of Polar Bear)

We'll miss having you here, Juli! It's been a fun weekend. Come back soon!

Hey Kellys!

We had a great dinner with the Kellys last night - thanks Erin and Merideth! Maybe we'll get their awesome chicken recipe and post it here. And Nick got to ride the water buffalo! Ha!

We also got to see all the great work they've done on their house. You can check it out at: raincityremodel.blogspot.com.

For those of you who don't live in Seattle or know the Kellys they live in Wallingford, a really cute neighborhood sandwiched between Lake Union, Greenlake, the University District and Fremont. It is also home to a Dick's Drive-In and the Erotic Bakery...both of which are just a block away from the new Kelly residence. Nice work on the location guys!

Chemo #2

Nick and I spent the day at the SCCA today for his second infusion. Lu was his nurse again - she's awesome!! We started off the day with his blood draw and were able to go get breakfast at The Portage Bay Cafe (yum!) while we waited for the results.

The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is in the South Lake Union neighborhood and is just off the lake. Nick took a cool picture of the views from the infusion waiting room.

We actually went to breakfast near the new Amazon buildings that are going up just down the street from the SCCA. Will be an awesome spot when it's done!

When we got back to the hospital we met with Charlie, Nick's nurse practitioner. It looks like his blood work was pretty much perfect today -- even better than it was two weeks ago. It's almost totally back to normal post-surgery.

So chemo went as planned. Except for this foot that kept kicking me under the curtain (eww!).

Fortunately, those chemo neighbors were done after an hour or so and then we got a very quiet mom and daughter duo after! The rest of the day was very peaceful.

"Nutrition room" snacks

Nick's mom, Juli, got into Seattle this evening for a nice four-day weekend visit. Should be a good time -- we'll post lots of pics!

More soon,

Sally

A Saturday-like Monday Night

Salutations blogophiles,

It's a cool and partially cloudy Tuesday here in the Emerald City. Sal and I had a lovely evening last night with two of our favorite people in the world, Mary and Jeremy. Ty and Katie were over as well. I kid, Ty and Katie are pretty swell too, but Jeremy and Mary are leaving us for bigger and better things in Chicago therefore I will pay them a special tribute by singing "I will remember you," in my head. Let us pause for a moment, so that you can sing a verse as well....

Okay then, here are some photos to commemorate the moment.


















Mary and Jeremy





















Grillmaster Dom










Dinner Scene



















Obligatory pic of dogs begging for treats.


Me, Mary, Jeremy, Katie, Ty, not pictured (Sally-photog)

8/20

Hola amigos,

It's been a few days since that last post, so here is some news. Actually, not much news to report. Things are all quiet on the cancer front since I am in between chemo appts, however, I did have a nice and informative meeting with a stoma nurse today. I now am more aware of the various fecal collection devices that may be more effective, comfortable and unobtrusive for me. Now, I know that you must be thinking, "hey, a shitbag is a shitbag man." But actually there are some shitbags and shitbag accessories out there that splatter the competition. I apologize for the visual and, yes, shitbag is the technical term. So if you ever have any questions on the subject, you know who to talk to.

In other news I am including some pics from the weekend, during which I got to be a kid again and play beerpong and see GI Joe with Josh.

The movie was interesting enough, taking me back to the old cartoon. The beerpong was super fun, except for two minor details. The first is that I lost a close match to my rival. The second is that I played with water, rather than beer because I didn't feel like drinking. Which if you notice the fanny pack in the picture, is because I was getting chemo pumped at the time. Yes, while playing and no I don't blame it for losing, rather, I believe I lost because I played with water and the beer pong gods were none too happy about that.


Still got it.

Additional news: Sally and I had a nice couple of meals with a couple couples of the McCann and Shea clans. First, Paul and Mary took us to nice breakfast. Second, we had a great dinner at Casa del Mojito with Erin and Mike on Monday. It felt Carribeanish out on the patio and got us counting down the years (2-1/2) until the third reunion Jamaica trip.

That is all for now. Hasta Luego.

-Dom

Pork and Potatoes

We had a great Friday evening with friends. Thanks Chad, Wendy, Nate and Jessica, for bringing dinner. And our buddy Josh came up from Portland - we love having you here Josh! Next time bring your hot wife and adorable little Clover!

Lots of good food, wine and a belated birthday cake for Nick and Wendy.

Love you guys. Thanks again for dinner!