Nick's birthday dinner at Rione XIII

Last night Nick and I went out to celebrate his birthday - the big 29!  His birthday was on Nov. 21, but because of Thanksgiving we decided to hold off until this week.

We went to a new restaurant called Rione XIII - from their website "Inspired by Trastevere, the bustling 13th district of Rome, Rione XIII explores simple Roman cooking on Seattle's Capitol Hill. Menu favorites include fried artichokes, housemade mozzarella, cacio e pepe, and wood-fired Roman street pizza."

image: Rione XIII

I have been wanting to go there for a while and it did not disappoint.  I had my favorite dish in the whole world, Tonnarelli (spaghetti) Carbonara so I was a happy camper!

And to burn off all those calories luckily I have FlyWheel on Saturday!  It's an awesome spinning studio and an insane calorie burn!  I highly recommend it to fellow Seattlites - first class is free!

Pippa Middleton autographed book

I have amazing friends - exhibit A is the amazing "trip treat" my dear friend Meghan brought me back from London.  Not only did she get me the new Pippa Middleton Celebrate book - she got me an authentic autographed copy!!!!  Needless to say I freaked out when she gave it to me!

Once I got past my excitement on page one I flipped through the whole book and it's really cute - she's a British Martha Stewart!  Obviously I'll be planning a Pippa Party based on the book!

So does this mean I am one-degree of separation from Kate Middleton?! ;)

Wicked at the Paramount

Guess what I'm doing today - singing Wicked in my head all day because I saw it last night at the Paramount Theater here in Seattle, it was A-MA-ZING!!!  I love musicals!

I went with my friends Christine and Brittney and we all loved it and seriously want to see it again!  If it's coming to your city I highly recommend it!

Is ma'am offensive?

Ok, I'm going to cut right to the chase with this - is calling someone ma'am offensive?!

I must share the following conversation with a woman (she was about 55 or so) giving me my flu shot/cholesterol screening the other day (she wasn't a doctor, so no formal title like Dr. ____):

lady: have you drank plenty of liquids today
me: yes ma'am (said very politely)
lady: (taking off her glasses to stare me down) my name isn't ma'am (said rudely)
me: oh...
lady: my name is Janet, what's your name?  (still rude)
me: Carol
lady: are you from around here?
me: yes, Seattle
lady: why did you call me ma'am? (accusing tone)
me: um, my mom taught me to use ma'am and sir if I don't know someone
lady: would you have called me ma'am if I was your age? (more accusing tone)
me: um I don't know

So the conversation kept going and she basically shamed me for calling her ma'am! Nick thinks she has some sort of age issue because she later said to me "well your number look great, but then again you are 28 so they should be good - I'm sure in 20 years you'll find a way to screw it up."  Wow - rude!!

But seriously guys, what is up with that?! My mom (who yes, is from the south) taught me that you address people "yes ma'am" and "no sir" and that is what I have been doing for the past 20+ years, and I've never had anyone be so rude to me in response!  I am thinking it was totally an ageism thing, but in my defense - she was about 30 years older than me!  Has this ever happened to anyone before?

This was part of a free "living well" clinic at our place of work and Nick thinks I should complain about her in a survey we got, but honestly I don't want to get anyone in trouble.  I won't stoop to her mean level!

But in nice people news - I got on a full bus yesterday and a really nice man offered me his seat!  And guess what I said back " oh that's so kind of you, I'm fine standing but thank you sir."  Apparently no everyone is offended by ma'am and sir!  :)

Book Club: Gone Girl

Happy Friday everyone!  Thursday evening I hosted book club which includes my friends fellow bloggers Carrie (9 days away from her due date!!) and Michelle!  I could not put this book down!

For dinner I made this butternut squah mac and cheese

 And these amazing nutella-stuffed brown butter and sea salt chocolate chip cookies.  These could possibly be the best cookies of my life!  They take a little longer to make, but SO worth the extra time.  I promise you will not regret these!

The time I met Rick Steves

Some people may not be as excited as I was about this - but I got to meet my travel idol Rick Steves!!  This was huge for me, I am a huge fan of his travel books.  My friend (and fellow blogger) Erika first introduced me to him when we were studying abroad in Rome in 2006 and I've been a follower ever since!  He is a fellow Seattleite and was doing a talk at UW, so I of course had to go!

I was so excited my book is upside down!  

He was so nice, signed my travel book and took and picture with us!

Some travels with Rick in hand:

France 2009

2011 Mediterranean Cruise (at the Acropolis)

2012 Germany, Austria Switzerland trip (still need to blog about it, but this was in Hallstatt, Austria - don't know where I am looking!)