GR Summit Official Day One
Exhausted.
Did not sleep last night and not because I was out doing anything fun, either. Full of stress, anxiety, anger at the motherfucking Seattle Underground Tour, you name it. I was up all night. The good part of this, I suppose, is that I burned off some of my upset energies by scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees at 1:00am. My kitchen floor hasn't been this clean in years and the timing for the summit was perfect.
As I did last year, I bought a whack of baked goods from the Columbia City Bakery for the boys to enjoy at breakfast. Fruit danishes, cinnamon twists, pain au chocolate, ham and Gruyère croissants, gougère with Gruyère and pepper (hot from the oven, SO AMAZING!) and coffee...lots of coffee was definitely in order
I managed to pull together the numbers I needed to present to the guys for my state of the company report but I didn't have print outs as I'd intended. I had information spread between two computers and in three formats and it was just too time consuming to mingle all the material just for printing. We did okay with a verbal report, I think. Lots of goings on to consider, lots of things on the table, and we're preparing to make a major shift in several of our processes which bode well for the coming year for efficiency.
I provided a lunch in today, with several meats from Salumi, multiple cheeses, olives, pickles, roasted peppers, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, mustards, spreads and tapenade, my fig-orange jam, a walnut levain and a white loaf that I can't remember now in my exhausted state. After lunch we managed to get through the rest of our agenda for the day.
Dinner tonight was much more satisfying! I took them out to La Medusa. Uncharacteristically (again, because of my fatigue and distraction) I did not have my camera on hand, so you're just going to have to take my word for it: everything was fantastic. I had pasta with tuna meatballs that were out of this world. We had one small hiccup in the evening when Bill sent his steak back because it was unpleasantly charred underneath but the waitress made sure he was taken care of and he was pleased with the dish when it was redone for him. Not only that, but the chef came out to talk with him and once again make sure he left happy. I think everyone did leave happy, I know I did. Hal stopped in at the Bookworm Exchange and got a deal
Tomorrow is brunch at Serafina, a cram session to get as much work in as I can before I have to drive up and get Kate from her dad's. Oh, and I have to find time to fit in making a Guinness chocolate cake! I made the second batch of ice cream today so I have enough to go around tomorrow and sampled it to make sure it was okay. It was better than okay, it was great! I'm looking forward to Operation Guinness Dessert after all is said and done tomorrow.
I felt a little remiss in that I didn't have any activity or anything planned for tonight but it was probably for the best as I can hardly keep my eyes open and the guys all seemed ready to go back to the relative peace of their hotel. Hal stopped in at the Bookworm Exchange for a few minutes and made a good Tolkien find and I had them all back at the hotel early. They might go out on their own tonight but it will have to be without me. I'll be lucky to make it another 15 minutes.
Did not sleep last night and not because I was out doing anything fun, either. Full of stress, anxiety, anger at the motherfucking Seattle Underground Tour, you name it. I was up all night. The good part of this, I suppose, is that I burned off some of my upset energies by scrubbing the floor on my hands and knees at 1:00am. My kitchen floor hasn't been this clean in years and the timing for the summit was perfect.
As I did last year, I bought a whack of baked goods from the Columbia City Bakery for the boys to enjoy at breakfast. Fruit danishes, cinnamon twists, pain au chocolate, ham and Gruyère croissants, gougère with Gruyère and pepper (hot from the oven, SO AMAZING!) and coffee...lots of coffee was definitely in order
I managed to pull together the numbers I needed to present to the guys for my state of the company report but I didn't have print outs as I'd intended. I had information spread between two computers and in three formats and it was just too time consuming to mingle all the material just for printing. We did okay with a verbal report, I think. Lots of goings on to consider, lots of things on the table, and we're preparing to make a major shift in several of our processes which bode well for the coming year for efficiency.
I provided a lunch in today, with several meats from Salumi, multiple cheeses, olives, pickles, roasted peppers, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, mustards, spreads and tapenade, my fig-orange jam, a walnut levain and a white loaf that I can't remember now in my exhausted state. After lunch we managed to get through the rest of our agenda for the day.
Dinner tonight was much more satisfying! I took them out to La Medusa. Uncharacteristically (again, because of my fatigue and distraction) I did not have my camera on hand, so you're just going to have to take my word for it: everything was fantastic. I had pasta with tuna meatballs that were out of this world. We had one small hiccup in the evening when Bill sent his steak back because it was unpleasantly charred underneath but the waitress made sure he was taken care of and he was pleased with the dish when it was redone for him. Not only that, but the chef came out to talk with him and once again make sure he left happy. I think everyone did leave happy, I know I did. Hal stopped in at the Bookworm Exchange and got a deal
Tomorrow is brunch at Serafina, a cram session to get as much work in as I can before I have to drive up and get Kate from her dad's. Oh, and I have to find time to fit in making a Guinness chocolate cake! I made the second batch of ice cream today so I have enough to go around tomorrow and sampled it to make sure it was okay. It was better than okay, it was great! I'm looking forward to Operation Guinness Dessert after all is said and done tomorrow.
I felt a little remiss in that I didn't have any activity or anything planned for tonight but it was probably for the best as I can hardly keep my eyes open and the guys all seemed ready to go back to the relative peace of their hotel. Hal stopped in at the Bookworm Exchange for a few minutes and made a good Tolkien find and I had them all back at the hotel early. They might go out on their own tonight but it will have to be without me. I'll be lucky to make it another 15 minutes.
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