Turning Japanese

(Relax. That's just an old song title.)

Since the beginning of the soccer reffing season, Trevor has been waiting to take me to Wasabi's in downtown Roanoke as a thank you for driving him to so many of his games.  I was totally up for that!

Trev read reviews before choosing the restaurant.  I scoped out the lunch menu online several times.

It was a gorgeous day out. Downtown Roanoke is always fun, and we don't get there enough. It's a destination place, for us anyway, so we need to be more intentional.

Trevor took charge, reviewed the menu, and even ordered my selection for me.  I loved that!

We began with Miso soup.  Seaweed. Tofu.

Sashimi appetizer.  (That's raw meat, usually fish.)  Salmon. Tuna.  Clam (which had a very different texture, not our favorite). A little crab salad. Something else I don't remember.  It was fantastic, fresh, first time I've ever eaten raw fish, and I'd order this again in a heartbeat.

The waitress asked if we needed forks.  Trevor regularly eats with chopsticks at home, so he was fine.  Not me!  The waitress also brought me a plastic clip used to teach little kids how to use chopsticks.  I still couldn't get it and had to revert to my fork!

Trevor ordered Yakiudon, a mild noodle dish.  I had sushi (not raw fish, although it can include raw fish).  Again, excellent, delicious food.

In this pic, his Yakiudon is closest to him, Sashimi in the middle, my sushi in the front.

 

I had seen lychee ice cream on the menu.  Trevor LOVES all things lychee, and I was so happy that he was able to order it for his dessert!  I'm not a lychee fan but agreed to try it anyway.  UGH!!!!  It made me shiver, I can't stand that stuff!  Funny how I could eat a bunch of raw fish, but give me fruit ice cream and I almost gag!!

Such an awesome day with my kid.  I love spending time with him like this.  It was wonderful to be treated out, to a new and wonderful restaurant, and I also appreciated the appetizer and dessert, not something that we usually do.  But best of all was this treasure of a picture I got of the two of us.  How I adore this precious guy!!!!

Week's recap

Gardens are blooming.

I came with Trevor's cold and missed a day of work plus Trev's end of the season soccer banquet.  I felt so guilty, but he was more than fine with it and encouraged  me to stay home.  Holly helped prepare the food Robert and Trevor took, and before the evening ended, I had two moms texting me, asking for the recipe!

I've already said it--what a great season!  Robert was especially blessed.  When we made the team switch, he'd hoped to coach but since the team already had two coaches, he didn't know how that would work out.  It did.  He received the sweetest of compliments from so many players, including:  "This was the best season I've ever had!" "You're a beast!"  (meant complimentary, of course!).

Back to work included taking an Excel class. For fun.

After four years, the deck railings are up!  I was worried that they'd block the "view" (of what, the yard?), but they don't.  They'll be painted white . . . eventually, but I'm in no rush.  I'd rather have the sun room opened and cleaned to enjoy!  We celebrated by eating on the deck and having the dog outside with us.  (The last time she was out on the deck, she saw a squirrel and leapt off, a good 10 foot jump.)

Celebrated our anniversary on Friday.

Holly and I went shopping on Saturday, and she treated me to Starbucks.

Church on Sunday.  BBQ in the afternoon.  SOOOOOO much fun!!  Robert was eager enough to go that he was ready before me.  Judy came by and left Kurt here to hang out with Trevor, and the kids made pizzas for dinner.  Judy rode with us to our friends', a couple of miles down the road.

Potluck was set up inside the house, and everyone brought chairs to set up outside. 

Amazingly blessed by this new church family; I love these people.

Robert had been there the week before and opted to bring horseshoes, which were a huge hit.

 

I honestly don't know the last time I had such a great time in a large group.

  This has been a great weekend, and with Memorial Day today, isn't over yet!

Happy Anniversary!

22 years ago.

Today.

Robert came to my work and took me to lunch at Alejandro's.  As we started eating chips and salsa, he commented, "Isn't this where it all began, with Mexican food?"  Yep!  Our first date, mid-November 1990, at Tosh's Hacienda in Denver.

After work, we went to Flying Mouse Brewery with Judy and Charlie.  It's a cute little place just two miles from home, and it closes at 8:00.  I was a bit surprised, and happy for the place, that there were so many people here on a Friday evening.

I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I drank about half of mine.

When Flying Mouse closed, we headed down the road to Top Dawgs Pub down the road.  Everyone else stuck to more fun beer, and I drank water.  I'm kind of a boring (and cheap) date!

Judy and Robert wrestled for the check. The poor sweet little waitress ended up giving it to Charlie. She said she was more scared of Judy than Robert, hahaha!!

I SO wish this were a higher res photo, but I'm always happy to have a nice one of the two of us!

FUN night to go out, celebrate, and enjoy with friends!

Last week

Last soccer practice.

I went to Crochet & Coffee, and Trevor came again to hang out with Kurt.

Celebrated Holly's grades for the semester.  Four As and an A+.  It really can't get better than that, and we are so proud of her.  What a truly great year, and it's more than just the fantastic work she did (including doing so well in that long-dreaded, first semester math class). Her living situation suited her well, in an apartment with a kitchen, meeting a couple of new friends.  I continue to be impressed with her ability to prioritize and manage her time, meeting all of her deadlines so easily.  She's also a great role model for Trevor in that, which is exciting to me.  She was only halfway glad to be coming home --but that's not a bad thing at all; in fact, I'm very content with that.

Celebratory dinner:  filets, stuffed portobellos, salad

I splurged on myself and got another pedicure.  So nice to be pampered!!

Holly and I played with her iPad's photo app and scared ourselves to death.

After stopping at the mall Friday on my way home from work, I decided to see if I could see the cross on the hill next to our church.  I'd never considered it before, but one of my friends had mentioned it.  Sure enough.

I wish I could find more info about when and why it was erected.  I'm not finding anything online, but there are several articles about the planting of the church at the church, so maybe that will give some clue.  Beautiful view, both from the church into the valley, and from spots in the valley up to the church.  Although I call this a "little country church," it's not really that small, and I continue to wonder why we'd never heard of it until now.  Love it, love the people, love the pastor.  Home.

Soccer!!

As I've already mentioned, Trevor decided to change things up for soccer this season.  After playing on the Rams since 2008, he switched to the Stars.  He wanted the opportunity to play with several of his friends who were on that team.  By the time soccer sign up was done, Robert was the coach of the new team too.

Trev's #49

The had a very good season.  One of the moms shared these pics of Trev.

 Bounced it off of his head

One way to get the other guy to back off

What we see.

What everyone else sees.

 

Looks are deceiving.  We ended up playing the Titans on Friday night, beat them 3 - 1, and took third place in the league.  We're pretty happy with that.

Move out day!

Planned ahead to take two cars, which turned out to be a great idea and worked well.

Robert chatted with a woman and discovered they had gone to the same elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland--she was a year older than him, a year ahead of him in school.

Move out was night-and-day different from the chaos of last year.  We were able to get a wheeled bin, and Holly and I moved things from her apartment to the bin, while Robert and Trevor packed the cars.

Holly had a really fantastic year, I can't imagine how it could have been better.  I am so proud of her, not just of how well she's doing in school, but how well she's doing at school. 

 Taking a last picture of her empty, cleaned out room.

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First quote of the day:

Trevor's joke.

Q:  What do you call a cushion Holly sleeps on?

A:  A Billow!!

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Robert and Trevor headed out to make a planned stop at H-Mart.

 Holly and I returned her books and started for home.

 We stopped for lunch at McDonald's and appreciate the gorgeous view.

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Second quote of the day:

Driving home, I was a few miles ahead of Robert.  He saw the road sign flashing ACCIDENT AHEAD.  He called me:  "You're not in that accident, are you?"
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Coming home, we unpacked everything into Holly's room. 

And we unpacked Robert and Trevor's grocery shopping.  Love this store, so wish there were one close to home! 

10 lbs. of rice noodles, at $1.69 per bag.  We buy them locally for about $5 per bag--which means that I have only bought a few bags ever and forbid anyone from eating them!

Trevor's favorite udon noodles. Fish sauce.  Pocky sticks.  Portobello mushrooms for a steal.  5 lbs. of tofu, $1.39 per package!  Coconut for fun, plus a few other treats.  Still wondering why the Asian store sells South American Inca Kola!

 Holly settled in.

 Pizza Hut for dinner.  Leftovers for lunch the next day.  I just want to say that their New Recipes are fantastic, some of the best pizza I've ever eaten.  My choice last night (on the paper plate), Cherry Pepper Bombshell, with salami, cherry peppers, and spinach--topped with a balsamic drizzle and a pretzel crust. 

Holly and I began watching Friends via Netflix during Christmas break.  We watched the final episode last night, postponing this last show a few days to mark the end of the series to coincide with her coming home for the summer.  Nice symbolism to end a special day!

Random pics from the past week

Trevor took this last week of me and Peggy at church. She was checking out the pad of the gazebo that's being built. I've heard you can see the cross from a few viewpoints around town.  I'm interested to check it out from far away.

From the couch at night, I can see the moon rise.

I went outside to see if I could get a good picture and was photobombed.  LOL.  I may have gotten a good shot with my other camera, but I'm quite lazy and haven't downloaded pics on it in months.

A couple of sons came by Crochet & Coffee this week, Kurt and Trevor included.

Found this picture a few days ago.  I can't believe we used to wear dresses this short! They look like tops!

 c. 1969--I was about 6, Lori, 4

End of April

 . . . and eagerly awaiting those May flowers!

We've had our chandelier in our bedroom for several months now.  It looks great, but the wiring had yet to be completed.  I came home from work on Tuesday, spent some time at home, changed, went to Crochet & Coffee. When I came home, I went into the bedroom and flipped the switch--expecting it to turn on the accent lighting we have in the far corner.  AND THE CHANDELIER turned on!!!!!  Yay!  It turned out perfectly, and I love that Robert put it on a dimmer switch too.  Now we have real light in the bedroom that we can turn on from the door!

Robert had some things shipped to us from his Mom's house, including several boxes of old photos--
and furniture.  Nice to update our living room and put away those green chairs that we bought back in 1993!  Now we have a new-to-us sofa and blue leather chair and ottoman, and everything matched the rest of the room already.

 
Re the old photos.  Many are unidentifiable and unnamed people, while others are of Robert's grandparents.  Such a treasure that he's enjoyed going through.  Also included are gems like this.