I went down to Walla Walla this weekend for the retreat and overall it was OK. I got there a little early and ran to Walmart for a hairbrush. I like the Walla Walla Walmart. Except that it's easy to get lost. I also like saying Walla Walla Walmart, although technically, it is in College Place, but it does serve the Walla Walla region. So there.

The hotel room was fine, except that I couldn't steal the shampoo and lotion since it was in a dispenser attached to the wall. They did have a small individually wrapped loofah, a shoe mitt, and a "vanity kit" (two small cotton balls and two Q-tips).

The food was amazing and the margarita was strong. The group usually goes for wine and Bombay Saphire martinis, but I was the first one there and ordered my margarita on the rocks and it set a trend. It was extrememly strong (meaning good). I didn't have to order another, the waitress brought me one and although I was happy, I couldn't let it got to waste. I was feeling very good.

After dinner, everyone went to the bar, but when I saw how small it was and everyone crowding around, receiving dirty looks from the other patrons, I decided to go back to my room. I fell promptly asleep and awoke at 1:00. And stayed awake until 5:00. Oh man. I woke up at 6:30 and went to the Walla Walla Walmart for some eyedrops. We had meetings from 8:00-5:30 and then 6:30-9:30. I was so ready to leave on Sunday.

Although, I wasn't ready to leave the food. On Friday night, I had the Winter Squash Tortellini – sage-hazelnut browned butter, 20-year aged balsami, Parmigiano-Reggiano. For dessert, we had a choice of the French silk hazelnut torte or the apple almond tart with ice cream. When I requested the French silk, I made a comment about the idiocy of the decision, of course it's going to be chocolate. The server came back out and said that they were one short and would I mind having the apple tart. I said, "OK", thinking that these people at the meeting have no idea what I'm sacrificing for them. They served the French silk first and then the tart and when the server brought the tart to the people on either side of me, she said that she had something special for me. She brought me a molten chocolate cake. Apparently it was supposed to serve two. Yeah, right.

Lunch on Saturday was the Roasted Tomato Bisque with Smoked Turkey and Cheddar on Wheat. It doesn't sound impressive, but it was.

Dinner on Saturday was the Double Cut Pork Chop – apple cider-cured, winter squash, pink lady apples, Montiellet chevre, wilted mustard greens. The last four ingredients were together in a kind of stuffing on which the pork was sitting. The about 3" thick, 6" long slab of pork. For dessert, I chose the passion fruit creme brulee.

I left at about 8:30 on Sunday and came home, did a load of wash, and went house-sitting. I'm house-sitting for some friends with four dogs, two cats, and two birds. The first night, I slept with two dogs and a cat and the next was two dogs and two cats. I hate to think what tonight will bring. One of the dogs is a real bed hog. She'll curl up against me and lean against me in her stretch. The unfriendlier of the cats was on the bed when I went to bed, I can't believe that she stayed there when I got in bed or when the dogs and other cat joined us. But she purred. And purred. And purred. For the 45 minutes it took me to fall asleep. The dogs woke up about 30 minutes later when the across the street neighbors came home and, yup, she was still purring.

I'm there until Friday so hopefully everything goes as smoothly as it has. The dogs destroyed one toy, ripping out the batting and the sqeakers, but they did it while I was there so I knew they didn't ingest anything. I come home to shower in the mornings partly because their shower is dirty, but also so that I don't feel so guilty about leaving my cat for so long.