Falling

I am never ready for this. We've had hot, hot weather, and POOF!, once fall was officially here, that changed dramatically.

 

On the plus side, we kicked off Oktoberfest at work with apple cider mimosas, assorted beers and faux German snacks.

I finally feel like I'm settling in to the new job, catching up on the chaos from when there was no secretary for quite a while, and learning how things work. I like the work, the medical information is quite interesting to me. The people are pleasant, no drama. All is good.

This conversation happened between me and Debbie late Tuesday night.

That part about me considering going? That was a flat out lie. I only said that because I thought I had the perfect out. 

So I bought a plane ticket to San Jose. I haven't seen Debbie in 20 years, Robyn in 33. Georgia is gone. Debbie's dad is really ill. This is a welcome opportunity to visit, and I'm looking forward to it (although I'm reluctant on the reunion event part, that's just a couple of hours of the trip). Most of the people I would want to see I already see on Facebook. I feel very little pressure about finding the "perfect" outfit or doing anything drastic to be sure I look good. And that's a really nice, comfortable feeling. San Jose, here I come!  (Gulp.)

My view

Gorgeous end of summer day in beautiful Roanoke.

Circus of the Sun

For Trevor's 18th birthday, we bought tickets to see Cirque du Soleil.  It was an exciting present!  We knew that Holly would be gone, and Robert had little interest in going.

Trevor and I tried a new (to us) Vietnamese restaurant before the show. Cafe Vina is located on a busy road in a small building. It was bright and friendly, the waitress spoke English very well, and a man who appeared to be our waitress's father sat at a table watching college football. Truly, perfectly awesome, an easy and unassuming atmosphere.

We'd checked out the menu and ordered tons of food. We had spring rolls and fried egg rolls. Trevor ordered Vietnamese iced coffee. I had my favorite grilled pork noodle bowl, Trevor ordered the pho and a banh mi.  Very good food, not the best noodle bowl but certainly adequate and far better than any I've had in Roanoke. (Notice that Trev's arm is up, taking pics with his phone too, lol.)

While it was allowed, we didn't take pictures during the show. This was before it began.

We thought it would be good, and it exceeded our expectations. Fantastic show. I'd recommend it anyone, and we are eager for our next opportunity to go again!

Girls and guns

Last year, Judy went to the NRA's Women on Target training. She loved it enough to convince five of us to join her this year. No small feat, as I didn't really enjoy actually shooting guns three years ago when I took a concealed carry class.

This was totally different. We were broken up into small groups, with three in my group, and we moved from station to station.

First up were AR-15s. Quite fun, actually.

I did well. Really well. Better, in fact than the other 20 or so ladies there that day. I also got four water bottles with five shots. All from 30 yards out.

Next up were shotguns. My goal was clay pigeons tied to a fence. Five killed in six shots.  On to skeet shooting. I got the first one, missed the next two. At that point, my instructor encouraged me to try for more (we were only supposed to have three shots), but I declined. At that point, I didn't think I could improve!

Pistols station. Ruger 22/45. Judy called me Bullseye McGowan. Another trainer, wanting me to shoot more. Of course, the truth is that I could do well because my hands were supported. Otherwise, my aim would have been a totally different story!

Last up for my group was the rifles. Easy to aim, easy to shoot. Everything was fun, honestly, but this I think was my favorite because of how easy it was.

Absolutely loved it. Ruger 10/22. Robert says we have one and just to get a scope.

Our collective crew.

Beautiful Botetourt County. 

So much more fun this time, and I'm not sure why. We had a lot of one on one instruction at both (different locations, different sponsors). Last time, we tried a variety of handguns; this time a variety of guns.  It was all women in the class last time, too. The only difference that I can really think of is that I had great ear protection this time. Last time, I just had those orange foam earplugs, and I did NOT like how loud everything was. I was really proud of how well I did, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to do it again. I hope I don't have to wait until next year.

RVLSA

Last minute empty spot at a fundraiser dinner for the Roanoke Valley, umm, well, even the website doesn't say what this stands for, but it's an association for legal professionals.  Like me!

It's really somewhat political, as most of the members are from our arch enemy law firm--and whose employees are good friends of many of us. There are a handful of members from two other law firms in town.

Confusing.

The fundraiser bosses' night has a particularly low turnout due to some fancy political dinner that most of the attorneys went to, although in general they are very supportive of RVLSA.

So I went to this dinner on a last minute notice with a bunch from my office. Cash bar, super delicious buffet (this club is well known for its great food), and the guest speaker was Cynthia Kinser, the first female state Supreme Court Chief Justice. So you can see that it was a bit of a big deal.

I of course took pics of the food. And texted them to my family.

I plan on joining and have asked my firm to pay my membership dues. I expect they will, since they really want our firm represented in this venue. Oh, and I've already been to one of their monthly lunches, as I have a friend at that arch rival law firm whose very involved in this group.

Holly's story

!!!!! I had a quiz today, too, before I left! So I was BUSY, so I even made sure to eat right before I left ;D

I left my dorm just after two, and I got to the shuttle stop JUST as the 2:10 shuttle came. The actual rally didn't start until 5, so I knew if I caught the 2:40 shuttle instead, I'd be fine time wise, but I was super happy to have that extra time cushion :).

The picture of me was when I was leaving lmao, I was kind of like, "holy cow wtf am i doing" but I was kind of excited, too!

I got off the metro at McPherson Square at about 3:15-ish. I had already mapped out where I could go chill to kill time if needed, so I walked two blocks to Starbucks :D, where I recharged my phone, drank coffee, and sat for thirty mins until 4.

I walked back to the General Lafayette Statue to be there in time to get a good spot to stand :) Also!!!!!!!!!!!! This was my first time seeing the white house :O

In the pictures, you'll gradually see the crowd get a LOT bigger, looooool.

I stood right in front of the camera line during the whole thing :)

There were easily three times as many people behind the cameras, so I got a REALLY awesome spot. There's a huge corporate media blackout on this thing, it really seems . . . except for independent media outlets, who have been reporting on the pipeline a lot.

There were 9 speakers. I knew who most of them were, most of them were either well known Native activists or well known general social justice activists. In the pictures I'm showing you is Tara Houska, who was Bernie's Native American adviser during his campaign, two of tribal leaders from the Kiowa Nation who performed a drum song in Kiowa about what's happening which was really cool, and Jasilyn Charger, who's a girl from the Standing Rock Reservation (where this is all happening), who was an AMAZING speaker, and then ofc Bernie.

And after the last speaker finished, we all walked like 30 feet to in front of the white house!!!

Look at allllllllllll the people :O

 

More pictures from in front of the white house. And then at about 6:30ish, I ducked out to get back home cuz I didn't know how bad rush-ish hour metro would be! But it wasn't bad and I got back on my shuttle before dark :)

I really like the last few pictures I took when I started to leave because you can really see how big the crowd was.

Spent the day with . . .

these two!  And they let me get a picture!!!!!!!  :::swoon:::

September restart

I'll never catch up, but if I'm ever to post again, I'll need to start somewhere!

Trevor and I have long wanted to make these Green Goddess sandwiches and did so tonight. I so enjoy cooking with him. The food was good, but the company was even better!

Rainbow

Most amazing rainbow I've ever seen. As I pulled off of the highway, the end of the rainbow was in front of my car, as in it seemed as if I were driving over it. 

When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth. Gen 9:16

Pork Bulgogi

Korean barbeque. Different than beef bulgogi, different ingredients, different sauce. With Trevor's help, I played around with two different recipes and came up with this. I've made this twice, after refining the first effort.

PORK BULGOGI

3 lb. pork loin, thinly sliced (I freeze for bit first to make this easy)
3/4 c. soy sauce
6 cloves of garlic
6 green onions, sliced
3 yellow onions, chopped
6 T. sesame seeds
black pepper
3 T. sugar
9 T. red pepper paste (gochujang)

6 t. sesame oil
6 t. chopped fresh ginger
6 t. white wine

Mix all ingredients together and marinate. Overnight is optimum; one hour is minimum. Cook meat in batches, over medium hot pan, until browned, one layer at a time. Serve with white rice.


Original recipes:
http://www.food.com/recipe/spicy-pork-bulgogi-29690 
http://crazykoreancooking.com/recipe/spicy-pork-bulgogi-spicy-marinated-pork