By this time of year, my favorite college basketball team, Loyola Marymount (my alma mater) tends to be disappointingly poised to not do anything special with their season, so I have to find other avenues of hoops excitement. By mid February, I’m already looking toward The Single Greatest Sporting Event in All of Mankind, aka the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament. This year, some of the second and third round (what we used to call the first and second rounds) games are being played right here in Spokane. I just got my media pass confirmation for the games here and am already scouring conference standings to best guess the field of 68. We’ll be blogging from the tournament, so you have that to look forward to. Only five more weeks...
— MIKE BOOKEY
House of Cards season three. Too soon? (Really, though.)
For something more tangible, I'm looking forward — as I have been every week for the last month — to Saturday, when Stella's Cafe is once again serving breakfast. Sure, the cozy sandwich shop serves biscuits, muffins and coffee every day of the week, but Saturdays are bigger. Bigger than all of us. The Stella's breakfast menu caters equally to vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters, and features smallish à la carte style items for maximum mix-match-and-share capabilities. And if you’ve come to love Stella’s sandwiches the way I have, you know what kind of goodness you’re in for. Try the poutine. And the biscuits and gravy. And the waffles. And everything. See you Saturday!
— HEIDI GROOVER
After going years and years without getting my eyes checked, I finally had an appointment last week. And good news, my prescription hasn’t even changed. But the even better news is that now I can get glasses I’m willing to wear in public, which will be a huge relief for my strained, screen-staring, contacts-wearing eyeballs. So I’m looking forward to the free home try-on option from Warby Parker, which makes it 100 percent easier to imagine how frames you browse online will look on your own face. You pick five frames, and they send them to you — all free! — in a custom box that you drop in the mail a couple days later. Another company that does this is Portland-based Rivet & Sway, which exclusively does frames for ladies. The online advice consensus is that my square jawline means I should go for oval or round frames — I’m not entirely convinced, but with so little risk why not try it?
— LISA WAANANEN
There’s nothing I’m looking forward to more than finally graduating with a degree that qualifies me to do nothing more but write and make little money for the rest of my days, but I’m excited! In just 122 short days (yes, I have a countdown) I will finally hold in my hands a piece of paper so expensive it almost hurts. There will be tears. And only time will tell if it will have all been worth it but I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed. What I’m not looking forward to, though, is the impending paying-job search that undoubtedly comes with that degree since that seems for one reason or another to remain an unattainable pipe dream for “millennials” like me. But just the thought of never doing homework or needing to study for a midterm or final exam again is enough to keep me happy for the rest of my life.
— CLARKE HUMPHREY
Good luck, Clarke! We should probably also mention we're looking forward to Inlander Restaurant Week and counting all of your Best Of votes, which are due Wednesday.
