Muffalettas Please

I'm hungry.

Not something that has been in my vocabulary in the last 3 months, and I'm happy (sorta) to report my appetite is back.

Right now, 11:15 am, I'm hungry. It's what happens when I don't eat breakfast (and coffee doesn't count as breakfast apparently). So I'm sitting in my scrapbook room looking at recipes online when a muffaletta crosses my path. Not a real one, a recipe. Suddenly I'm ravinish.

Open Google and make the request, "Dear God Google, where can I find a Muffaletta in Redmond?" Now Redmond is not a hot pot of Italian food, or creole food, or well Irish. And yet, what appears on the result page but a crusty old restaurant I've been dying to try since the day I laid eyes on it some number of years ago, The Celtic Bayou.

I know, right? Irish and South? What the dickens? And yet, this restaurant I drive past daily and have always wondered what could it be like. Their website says, "The Celtic Bayou is a Cajun café and Irish pub that offers excellent authentic Cajun, Irish, & American foods along with award-winning handcrafted beers brewed by local Washington breweries. " Which really confuses me. Is it cajun? Is it irish?

And so I have a mission. I won't go today because, well that would be weird...although, that muffaletta on their menu is calling my name. Who in the Seattle / Redmond area wants to go with me to try this place out?

So now that my appetite is back, I don't want to gain the 28lbs I lost. Who knew having your ovaries removed was a viable diet plan? And what, you ask, did I learn during the months of no eating.

Well, I'll tell you. Cuz you asked so nicely.

1. I'm a clock eater. I have lunch at 11 and dinner at 5pm regardless of whether I'm hungry or not. Know that now means I'm going to pay attention to actual hunger not time.

2. Portions and habits. Habitually, lunches for me was a full sandwich, bag of chips and a soda. I discovered during my hiatus of eating that I don't 1) need the chips and 2) need the full sandwich. The diet coke is a given, so don't even ask me to give that up. That's like asking me to cut off my right arm. And eating out - the portions are ridiculously large. Learning its 1) okay to order an appetizer and salad instead of an entree and 2) share the entree. I'm trying to be very aware of my portions at home as well. I bought myself a scale to help me understand just what 3 ounces of meat looks like, or 8 ounces of fruits, etc. (Side note: I discovered eating on smaller plates help tremendously with portions. Visually, my plate looks full w/o it being full).

3. Starches. I'm a carb girl. I love me my bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. Somehow while on the eating hiatus I didn't crave them at all. And now, while I'll eat them, I don't crave them. I have, therefore, taken them out of my dinners. I grew up with dinners being a meat, a vegetable, and a starch. It's part of the holy trinity of dinners. And now, I've made my trinity, meat, vegetables, and a big huge salad.

And so those are my three lessons. It doesn't mean I won't get in the car and drive 2 miles to get that muffaletta - or I could walk there...yah...um...hmmm, it's raining. Never mind. I'll just go downstairs and make a salad.

When do I exhale?

You'd think two weeks off would put one in the right frame of mind. And mind you, it did, for like a nano-second. I'm stunned at how quickly all my hard relaxing went to waste and stress was again my roommate.

Today was our quarterly business review. Now, I didn't expect anything bad to come from it. Quite the opposite. I expected to breeze through the meeting. The meeting with our sponsor is the easy part. The getting to the meeting prepared with stats and numbers and highlights and lowlights...now THAT part is the tough stressful part.

Next quarter I'm not going to be proactive and try to get this process started early. It's useless. I did that this time, but since we're humans, and very busy humans, we didn't do a darn think in prep for this. We put it off. And why wouldn't we? I mean we have 3 months until the next one.

I'm reminded of my report cards from school. I didn't believe them at the time, and was, a bit, offended, when a few teachers (most of them) wrote I procrastinated. I wanted to show them I didn't but I had better things to do, I'd get around to it. Still, we all procrastinate at one time or another and we all have good reasons for it. Business reviews, in my opinion, one should not procrastinate.

Yet we did. Not because we wanted to, but because we 1) could and 2) were ubber busy. The amount of stress that causes though is really not very enjoyable. I felt like I've not exhaled in two days. The execs came later than I thought they should, and we were "rushed" I felt to pull the deck together. I want to plan. I want to start Q3 now. I want everyone to put in 100% between now and the end of Q3 in the deck/numbers/stats. Its not gonna happen. I'll just have to get used to holding my breath.

Still, as I mentioned, the meeting went well. We're on a track - notice I said not the right track (or wrong track), but we have come a long ways and I can't help but feel we are primed to move on. Okay, well I feel primed to actually start managing this program. I just have to get brave, vocal, aggressive, arrogant, consistent, forthright, a little conceited, and confident. Right. All the things I don't think I am. Well, except consistent. I procrastinate consistently apparently.

The third quarter is a month over and I've got two months to find the inner rock star. Which I will, right after I write this blog. And organize my photos. And read Dilbert. And...And...And...

I'm a Pink Warrior. Are you?

This year's Breast Cancer 3 Day song is a tear jerker...Okay maybe just for me, but I find myself sniffing half way through the darn song.

Candy Coben is the writer and performer of this song. She wrote it for her grandmother. You can listen and download the song from here. For each download on iTunes $.40 goes back to Susan G. Komen and for the fight against Breast Cancer.

In case you aren't around someplace where you can listen, no worry, I've put the lyrics below. The second verse is what gets my eyes all watery...what a sap. But I'll be happy to be a sap any day for a good cause.

PINK WARRIOR--lyrics

She wore a pink tutu and her cowboy boots,
and her big brother's superman capeShootin' down dragons from her little red wagonTo keep the backyard safeStubborn as a grass stain,
runnin' 'round in french braids,tough for such a little girlLivin in a big boys' world--
Oh--shes a pink warriorShe's a fighter like her mama always taught to be
Got an army of angels marchin around with herShe won't give inYeah she's gonna winShe's a pink warrior
She wears a pink ball cap and a pink durag,
pink ribbon on her SUV
Its been a long hard fight but she's kicked it twice
cause she don't know the word defeat
She's walkin for the big cure,
mothers,daughters, sisters-
they're facin' this head on-
talk about being strong
Oh--shes a pink warriorShe's a fighter like her mama always taught to beGot an army of angels marchin around with herShe won't give inYeah she's gonna win
She's a pink warrior

Walking the Vieux Carre

Today we woke to overcast and fog. Which in any normal circumstance I'd be sad and/or depressed. Yet being that I'm on vacation, I really don't care what the weather does....I'm not at work and that's what counts!

Because the fog was realatively thick I thought it would be fun to walk the French Quarter (Vieux Carre) and see what shots would emerge with the fog. I got lucky a couple of times.

Today was also my "shopping day" and so I planned on buying a few gifts for folks back home and a few gifts for myself. The MomUnit, Suzie/Jack and I headed off to have our morning beignets ( a habit I'm going to have to stop here soon). After which we walked through some of the shops, picking up trinkets and putting them back down. Looking for that one special thing for the folks on our lists. Then Suzie picked up this book that was a Walking Tour of the French Quarter. It outlined ALL of the historical places - well 48 of them - gave addresses, and an explanation as to their significance. And so we sallied forth...

Many of the places I had already photographed, but had no idea what I was taking pictures of. We walked on, marking off each historic building we saw - looked for plaques on the buildings, read about the houses and buildings and generally had a grand old time.

We walked back to have lunch with the rest of them. Mufalatta for lunch. It was the last of the food items on my list to taste. If you've not had a Mufalatta, you really should try them. A traditional muffuletta consists of one muffuletta loaf, split horizontally. Then they have an olive salad/spread on it, capicola, cheese, salami, mortadella, and provolone. Although in my research I discovered the meats and cheeses can vary. I need to find a deli in Seattle/Redmond that has this kind of sammi. The traditional ones, I hear, are generally made on a large round loaf of bread and can feed 4 people easily. Ours fed all 5 of us and we had a sliver left over. Breakfast tomorrow.

After lunch, Suzie, the MomUnit and I headed out to finish the second half of our walking tour. The sun was high in the sky and shining like crazy. It was warm, no jackets required. And we were off.

We managed to walk about 7 blocks and walked through the cathedral again. Once outside we started looking for one of the numbers on the tour - and couldn't find it. Then a few rain drops. No matter, it's just small drops. One or two, nothing serious. By the end of the block we were in a torrential downpour and were getting soaked. We ran for cover. Mom into one door opening and Suzie and I in another down the street. We thought we'd wait it out. After about 3 minutes my cell phone rings, it's Mom. "Where are you?" she says. I explain we're just down and ask "Where are you?"

"Down here" she says.

"Stick your head out." I say

I look down the street and see this hand waving out a door way.

"I found the arsenal" she says - which is what we were looking for - and I got the giggles. Suzie and I made a run for it and ended up in a small doorway with the MomUnit and a plaque that says "The Arsenal".

After that little episode we jetted into a souvenir shop to buy some rain ponchos. Naturally once we purchased them the rain stopped.

We continued on our little walk about.

Last day of vacation - sadly. I can say though that I've been able to see and do a lot and somehow managed to stay within my budget too. Woohoo! I'll be glad to get home. As you always are: glad to leave, but glad to get home. Not so thrilled about going back to work, but gotta earn more peanuts to go on vacation again.

I see dead people

Today has been a walking day. I started out bright and early walking my way to Cafe du Monde to get my morning beignets and cafe au lait. What? I gotta keep my strength up during vacation.

We ended the night having dinner at the Crazy Lobster. I "had" to have me some jambalaya and I am running out of time. In fact, I still have two more items on my "menu" I need to have before I leave. I'd better take care of it tomorrow.

While at the Crazy Lobster, BigBro, CowboyBro, and Seattle SIL and I had to wait a bit for the rest of the family to join us - so we had to have a Hurricane. This hurricane was a more authentic one in that it wasn't a slushy. It was 32oz of a rum drink with fruit-ish punch. Delish.

In the afternoon, the three mentioned above, and I went to St. Louis Cemetery 1. The oldest in New Orleans. It was "founded" in 1789 and was on the out skirts of the town originally, now in the "bad" part of town - as we later found out. The cemetery was beautiful, in a odd creepy sort of way. I was fascinated at the oldness and sad at the same time at all the crypts that had no names on them. New Orleans has a program for crypts called Perpetual Care. Meaning you can pay to have your crypt taken care of forever. You could sure tell who had paid for it and who hadn't.

A famous tomb in this cemetery is that of the famed Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. We couldn't figure out why the tomb had the "XXX" symbols on it. Google and I however found out "The thousands of X’s are largely the result of tour groups, who have paid to learn how to practice Voodoo. Their instructions always include breaking a brick off of other tombs (notice the neighboring tombs depleted of their bricks) and a combination of steps which involve spinning around three times, scratching three X’s on the tomb, knocking on it, or rubbing a foot on it or hollering at it or kicking it, etc., (everyone does it slightly, if not very, differently from everyone else) and then leaving an offering to get a wish granted." The interesting thing about voodoo is that its really a peaceful religion and not black and dark as it's been portrayed in the movies. Needless to say, I'm curious.

I started my day strolling the French Quarter in search of cool and fun balconies. I just love the Spanish influence and how ornate the wrought iron is.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. The plan now is to do the French Market again (I need to buy me a voodoo doll or two or three and some Cajun spice). After that we're heading to the Garden District to see some of the beautiful ante bellum mansions.

"Laissez les bon temps rouler" - "Let the good times role"

And they are rolling.

Day 2 in Nawlins. I'm in a bit of history stupor really. I had no idea the amount of history that lives and breaths here. But today we have been bombarded with history.

Yesterday we wandered down Bourbon Street. Not so impressed. Twenty years ago it would have been a blast, but now it was a bit annoying. Part of the street (more toward our condo) it's quite and interesting. Then you cross into the bizarre, bars, and questionable establishments. To give you an idea, we walked past a "bar" which had a young lady hanging out the door in what I can only describe as a string bikini and she was missing some strings, if you know what I mean? She wasn't "officially" for sale, but I bet you could talk her into it...

I'm absolutely loving the architecture. The iron balconies are just beautiful. I've not yet taken a good photo of any, but tomorrow morning I'm heading out early with the camera to do my photo walk about.

Today the fam (minus dad who preferred to stay behind) hopped into a mule drawn carriage and took a ride through the French Quarter.

(Front seat: Me and Seattle SIL, behind us: Mom and BigBro, behind them: BigSis and Hubby, and finally Jack and Suzie).

We started at Jackson Square - named after Andrew Jackson. Its the heart of the French Quarter and dates back to 1791. Beautiful St. Louis Cathedral stands proud in the middle of the square.

And of course we had to stop at Cafe Du Monde to have our beignets (ban yeas). I will be going back to get me some more of that. OH man they are good. The chickory coffee was good in an interesting sorta way.

In the afternoon, we took a van tour that took us throughout New Orleans. He focused a good part of the trip in the Lower 9th Ward which was under 15 feet of water for days and days. The devastation that still exists is truly humbling. People forced out of their homes and they lost everything. Many never returned. Their houses still sit boarded up, sitting empty reminding the area of what happened. We saw several that still were "marked" from the rescue teams. Thankfully I didn't see any that indicated how many were dead in the house. Still, a shocking scene. Most interesting of the whole trip was to see the upper crust area who were "on high ground" who were also flooded out. The news didn't show that area. According to our tour guide the main reason was seeing the wealthy under water doesn't pull at the heart strings as much as seeing the less fortunate. Sad, but true. Overall, most interesting. Our tour guide was a victim as well and took him 2 months from when he evacuated before he could return to his house.

Tomorrow, as I said, I'll be heading out on my own with my camera in the morning. After that, we'll be hopping on the trolley to take us to one of the most famous cemeteries around. I can't wait. We got a taste of one of the old cemeteries today and I could have stayed there all day.

And...we finish with Tropical Storm Wraspir

Before I get into the storm of all storms we floated through this morning, let me tell you about what we did yesterday.

We drank beer.

Okay, we did something more than drink beer. We went to Tulum. Tulum is a Mayan city on the shore that was responsible for trade that wasn't agriculture. Almost all other mayan cities traded agriculture, but this beautiful city was right on the water and so was able to keep themselves alive for awhile. Until the Spaniards of course.

I had Tulum on my list of ruins to see and am so glad I got to see it. It was gorgeous. I can't even tell you how beautiful it was. It was windy though. I couldn't believe how windy it was. But we all survived the tour bus ride and the walk to the ruins. We had a fantastic tour guide who was very passionate about the Mayans and their culture. I learned a lot about them. A few things I didn't know either.

The castilla (castle) below is the main temple of the ruins. I can't tell you the whole story about it because 1) I can't remember and 2) limited minutes left on the boat. But if you're ever in Cozumel Mexico, take the hour trip south to Tulum. You won't be disappointed.

After walking through the ruins, STL SIL and I walked straight to the restaurant and bought ourselves a beer. It was sooo hot yesterday, and humid. Sunny at times, (I got burnt) but the humidity was almost unbearable. So we had to quinch our thirst with Mexican water - aka beer. And while we were there we decided to have some tacos. Mmmm.

The trip to Tulum was a 30 minute boat ride (ferry) in very rocky waters, then an hour bus ride. We stopped about 10 minutes out for a potty break (apparently at the site you have to pay to use the restrooms...a whole $.35 ...

After the the ruins and boat ride, we took another VERY rocky boat trip back to Cozumel. Once there we were greeted by a beautiful rainbow. Half the family went into Cozumel to shop and the smart ones of us, went back to the boat. Just crossing the gang plank and the skies opened and dumped.

We are at sea today (Saturday) and unfortunately the weather isn't cooperating enough to be out on deck. But I don't care...I'm on vacation. We sailed through a MASSIVE storm this morning. Thunder and lightening, and sheets of rain and wind. I sat just inside the deck and watched and sang the Gilligan Island theme song in my mind. As the lightening flashed and thundered roared, I sat complete content and not even a bit worried we'd sink.

Today we're all just hanging around the boat. Some of us reading, some of us playing shuffle board, and some of us drinking coffee. Tomorrow we disembark and will start our New Orleans part of this adventure. I can't wait. And can only hope its warmer than it was when we left.

Al-Tuna The Hun Ruins

Today was Al-Tun Ha Mayan ruins. Both sister in laws and I headed out to these and a Belize City tour.

We started the day be having to tender into Belize. The bay is too shallow for the cruise ships so we had to get on these little dingy's and go into town about 2 miles from the boat. These "dingy's" seat about 40 people...so they aren't that small. But it was interesting. A bit choppy, but fun.

Belize in general is beautiful. Belize City, not so much. Poverty stricken and just nothing to really warrant a tour in my opinion. I was expecting to see some historical sites, and instead got to see some houses that have been put together by gum and shoe laces...scary. It does make you feel fortunate for what you have though.

Al-Tun Ha ruins were nice. They weren't as big as I expected them to be, just one big plaza of structures. No temples per se. The tour guide said temples are only in ruins when sacrifices were performed. I still am not 100% sure how they know, but they do.

After the ruins, the sister in laws and I HAD to have a local beer. Belikin beer. Tasted like Tecate again. Makes me wonder if they're all made in the same brewery. It was refreshing and tasty, so I didn't mind. Then we made it back to Belize City and we decided we were hungry. Off to The Wet Lizard bar. We had more beer and tacos that were out of this world. We also had some interesting salsa. It was cucumbers, onions, lime and cilantro. Sooo good.

The family all went their separate ways today and did a bunch of different things. We all gathered after for beer and chatter. Good times.

Tomorrow is Tulum. I can't wait. Its the excursion I've been waiting for. I got a nice little blister today so I'm not sure how tomorrow's going to go. But I don't care...I'm on vacation.

Bienvenidos a Guatemala!

In case you were worried, we made it to Santo Tomas, Guatemala. We weren't affected at all by the earthquake in Haiti, even though it's just a bit away. I thought the boat was rockier (if that's a word) last night, but figured it was the beer I drank.

Speaking of beer, My BIGGEST Brother, St.Louis SIL and I headed off to San Felipe Fortress today. It's an old fortress the Spaniards built to protect the area. To get there we traveled about an hour and half through little villages and the lush, lush greenery of Santo Tomas. Absolutely beautiful. Although, you are forced to remember you're in a third world country where poverty is abundant. Made me a bit thankful to be on the bus, and not living the rough lives they must live.

The fortress was quite interesting, and I love all the history of it. REAL live pirates were captured and held there. If they died, they were buried there too. The grass area in the picture below with the canons are where they buried them.

It's a beautiful area. Our tour through the fortress was very informative. We had a good guide who took the time to explain almost everything. My BIGGEST Brother forced me to walk through this very dark, very dank hallway (I hate dark dank things) to the jail. It was so dark you could barely see the hand in front of your face. I didn't like it one bit, but was glad I braved the darkness to find the jail. It was spooky, but interesting.

From there we climbed all over the fortress and explored the rooms. The Spaniards must have been very short and very thin people. There were some hallways I wasn't too sure I was going to make it through.

The tour guide had mentioned to us about their "official" beer - which I felt obligated to try. I mean you've got to experience the culture, right? So my BIGGEST Brother bought me a beer. Gallo (pronounced GUY-YO) is their official beer. It's a light beer and quite good. Reminded me of Tecate. Notice on my brothers beer the top. They served it to us with a napkin wrapped and stuffed into the neck of the bottle. We could only assume it was to keep the bugs out.

Tomorrow we're in Belize. Sister In Law's and I are doing Al-Tun Ha (which we are affectionately calling Atuna The Hun) and then a Belize City tour. Should be quite fun...I hope I get to taste their national beer too.

The weather hasn't been overly cooperative. It hasn't been sunny. Warm, but not sunny. Which I keep saying I don't mind because I'm on vacation.

Hola from Costa Maya...

First off, if you got an email from me and you weren't expecting one, and it had no subject line, ignore it! Apparently I picked up a virus yesterday from the internet onboard...and I'm not talking of the Noro type. Sorry if you did.


Today we docked in Costa Maya Mexico. No photos unfortunately. I'm not on my computer, but the ships. I'll get them posted eventually. Anyhow, Costa Maya wouldn't really exist if the cruise ships didn't come in here. There was absolutely nothing but tourist shops on the dock. Thankfully we were not sticking to the dock.

We headed to Chacchoben Mayan ruins. Not as cool as Chitza Nitza I had seen previously in my trips to Mexico, but still pretty darn cool. We took a short bus ride - as in duration not length of the bus - to the ruins. Once there our tour guide gave us the low down on the site. At least what they "think" it was about. Interesting that it seems a lot of what's "known" about the Mayans seems to be a good guess as to what happened. Anyhow, it was fun, and pretty cool to hear all the history and information about the region of Mexico we are in.

After the tour we hopped back on the bus. Along the route, we stopped at this little village in which the women were selling pineapple slices with a chili powder on them. BigBro and I had heard of this before we left, so we decided we needed to try it. Interesting flavor. The sweet and salty thing going on. Not hot as in spicy and not like our chili powder. But it was pretty good.

Tomorrow a few of us are off to Santo Tomas to see the San Felipe Fortress. Hopefully I'll fix my computer and can post photos. Again, sorry if you got the virus email. I hate that.

The ship is moving a lot tonight. There's a lot of speculation that we'll hit a few big waves thanks to that earthquake in Haiti. I'm not too worried. I kinda like the rocking. It's soothing. Except when I'm trying to walk staight, then not so much.

Ahoy Matey!

We'll we're at sea and I'm trying very hard not to be bored. Thankfully the whole fam damily is here to entertain me...and entertain me is what they do. The ship is rockin a bit today, which makes walking interesting. I feel like a drunk sailor most the time...and I'm not, I swear.

Yesterday I got to experience getting dad checked in. He's a handful when you're used to only being concerned with yourself. But we made it. We sat and waited for mom and the rest. In the meantime I had my first bucket of beer. Okay, I didn't have the whole bucket myself...sheesh...what do you think I am, a lush? Wait, don't answer that.

We did our lifeboat drill. Which, as it turns out, the later you are to the drill, the closer to the front of the single file lines they put you in you are. Which puts you first on the life boat. So the morale of the story is in the event of an actual emergency, take you time and be late. You'll get in the boat first. The whole women and children first thing is, apparently, a crock.

After that we scattered to the five winds. Some went exploring, others, went back to the rooms. I decided to head back to our sardine can (aka our room) and unpack. I'll try to get a photo of this so called "sleeps 3 comfortably" room. It would, if it were three midgets. I'm just sayin'.
I was up early this morning hoping to catch the sunrise...I was about 30 minutes too late. Caught a glimpse of the elusive sun through the clouds instead. It's warming up though. Tonight standing on the deck, I barely shivered. God it better get warmer.

Tomorrow starts the excursions. I'm off to a Mayan ruin. Which you'll hear a lot of this trip. I can't help myself. I love the history of the ruins.

I'm off to la la land. The boats been rocking a lot today and am hoping it'll rock me to sleep.

Nuh Orleens! - BRRRRRR!

I know you're not shocked, but there's a STARBUCKS here. And thank god for that. We woke to a balmy 23F this morning.

The whole family is here too. We went to Mulates last night for some cajun food and music. It was a blast. From what it looked like the food most got was good. I had just a small plate of shrimps in BBQ sauce (which was just Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce) but it was good all the same.

This morning ST. Louis SIL and I walked to Mecca Starbucks. One to get out and two just because ...

On our trip we found this sculpture of a house in a tree. As we got closer we read the plaque. This tree house is made out of scraps from other houses, etc after Katrina. The artist made it as a testament to what nature is really capable of.

We're off to the boat today. Its freezing outside, so I'm hoping that as we head out to sea it gets warmer. The Parka I did not bring. brrr...

Islands in the stream, that is what we are...

Oh god, how'd Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers get in my head? I'm in deep doo doo if they're song is stuck. For the record, if you clicked on the link, you'll notice it's Kenny Rogers before all the plastic surgery.

I am ready to be on vacation. And by "ready" I mean, packed, camera tuned up and all batteries charged, computer ready to be stuck in a bag, ice box cleaned out, cat sitters arranged, neighbor told I'm leaving, keys ready for cat sitters, enough cat food for the beast, vacation plan done at work to hand off stuff, and passport in my pocket...

I'd say I soo need this vacation, but I wonder how much of a vacation this is really going to be. I mean my entire family - all sibs and their significant others will be on this trip. I really am not 100% sure this will be relaxing...Fun? Definitely. Exhausting? Certainly. Full of lifetime memories? Absolutely! But relaxing? Doubtful.

Its hard for me to actually relax on vacation. Especially if I'm going some place new. I have this unexplained phobia that I'll miss something important and so therefore can't sit and rest because I'm sure I'm missing that important thing. I thought as I got older this would fade, but it doesn't appear to be doing that...yet. Maybe I'm not "old" enough.

Oooo...gotta get cash! Making a mental note now.

We head out bright and early on Saturday morning. Our flight leaves Seattle at 6am! Yes, you read that correctly, 6 AM ... in the morning...which means we have to be at the airport in the middle of what I still consider night. Blueberry, lucky her, is taking BigBro, Seattle SIL and I to the airport. She owes me, and I'm calling in the favor!

Did I mention I'm ready to be on vacation?

But don't worry, you won't have to go without your daily dose of Jenn, I'm bringing the laptop so I (and the Mom Unit) can blog. I'll try to post photos, but am not sure of the bandwidth...we shall see...

I'm accustomed to a smooth ride

...I have the song Obvious Child by Paul Simon stuck in the noggin. I decided to look up the lyrics because there's a portion of the song I just mumble because I had no idea what he was saying. And now that I've read the lyrics, I have no idea what he's saying. Weird lyrics. I love it when songs are deeper than me. Makes me feel, well accustomed to a smooth ride.

This smooth ride is about to end though. Tomorrow is "Back To Work" day. blech! I've been off work - sorta - since the 24th of December and I'm getting used to this "free time". Now I just need to figure a way to have this "free time" and get paid.

And so I decided today I'm going to start to play the lottery. Why not? $1 a week - if I remember to buy a ticket...I'm feeling lucky. And if all of you send your luck this way I'm sure it will pay off.

Hold please while I blow my nose....

Okay, where was I? Oh yes, luck. A small side of me is nervous asking for you to send luck to me because it could just as easy be bad luck as it could be good luck and since I'm about to get on a big boat...I can't risk running into an iceberg, so never mind on the luck wishes. Keep them yourself.

Seriously. Keep them.

I've been blessed - or lucky - to have come down with a small cold. Perfect timing really. I mean why not now? I suppose it could have waited until next week...which would have sucked tremendously. So, I'll sniffle my way through the week. It's holding with just a stuffed nose now, and am hoping it stays there. I bought myself some Airborne though figuring it wouldn't be a bad idea to start hopping up the immune system. I mean I'm about to get on board a ship that if it doesn't hit an iceberg, does have a disease on it...what's that cruise ship disease? Not SARS...what is it? Um... ? Well whatever it is, I figure if you isolate hundreds of people on a boat, and one of them has a virus...it'll get passed. And so I've got my purell, my airborn and my germ phobia all packed.

I just have to get through 5 days of work...ugh.

Well, hello Two thousand and ten...please be kind...

As I sit here watching the Tournament of Rose's parade I can't but feel a bit moody. (to be honest, I got all teary-eyed when Ohio State marching band went by - don't ask. Oddly enough I did not cry when the Oregon Ducks - blech - went by. I mean their uniforms did almost make me throw up...)

Right, where was I? Oh yes, the year that was.

It wasn't a horrible year. But it wasn't a good year either. In fact, I know more people who are quicker to bid it farewell than to be sad to see it go. Why is that? How is it that so many people could have had such a crap year?

As I sit here in my new pink Sunggie (Blueberry got me one for Christmas which we celebrated last night) my mind quickly drifts to the bad of 2009 - and there was a lot. But then I forced my mind on the good, and found that when you really look, there are quite a few good. Sure, some of the bad, was - well - bad BAD, but we made it through. That is good. We prevailed. And I always will.

How do I know that? (OH geeze...here come the tears) because I have the greatest network of friends and family! There is nothing I can't get through and there is nothing our family can't get through because we have each other.

So let's wave goodbye to 2009, and welcome 2010 knowing we greet it with an army of courage. Bring it on!

And just what is my plan for 2010? Well, I have a small list. Just 10 things because well, it's the last two numbers in the year, so why not 10 things.

1. Monthly Photography - I'm going to do my best to get the PhotoGods back together in 2010. I miss getting out and taking some shots and learning a little about photography. We've already discussed it and while January will not work for me (I'll be on a cruise) we'll start in February. So hold on for some kick ass shots in 2010.

2. Photography / Cake decorating / Photoshop class - I think I want to take some type of class. I can't decide which of the aforementioned would be more fun, but which to take?

3. Bake more - specifically bread. I know, right? Bread? Why would you want to bake bread if you can just buy it? See, I am not a baker. No patience for it. But for some ungodly known reason I think I want to become the family cinnamon roll maker. My Gma Wraspir used to make some kickass cinnamon rolls and I miss them. I wish I would have learned from the Goddess of Cinnamon Rolls, but alas I did not. So now I have to suffer through it myself. My GalPal Claudia suggested I start with pizza dough - and oh by the way she'll help me taste test...in fact, she got me a pizza cookbook for my birthday - she's sneaky that one. So stayed tuned. We'll see how far I get with bread...but I swear to try. Any advice?

4. Visit Smith Tower - What is Smith Tower you ask? It s a Seattle historic landmark. It's got an observation deck with a unique view of Seattle. It is one of the first skyscrapers in the world and stands only 540ft, so it's not tall, but it's history.

5. Walk the docks by UW - I don't really know what else to call these, and I don't know how to get there (BigBro can help I'm sure), but out on Lake Washington by the UofW are several walking docks, etc. They go way out into the water and are all connected somehow. I drive by them every time I pass them on the 520 bridge and think I have to do the right thing and take a stroll on them.

6. Wine Tasting in Wenatchee - You may not know if you're not from around here, but Washington has some great wine country. There are several wineries in the area and only a couple hours drive away. Why not spend a weekend?

7. Museum of Glass - I've mentioned this before as it was going to be part of my list of 40. I didn't make it last year. But I will this year.

8. Visit Leavenworth - Leavenworth is this little village in the mountains here. It's a winter wonderland in the winter, and gorgeous during the spring and summer. Recently Amtrak has added Leavenworth to its schedule. How fun to just hop on the train, no worrying about driving/parking etc.

9. Monthly Scrapbooking - I gotta get caught up. Specifically heritage photos. I have hundreds of heritage photos that are screaming to be scrapbooked...I've had them for years. It's time to get the family history down on paper. Not to mention almost all of 2008 needs to be scrapbooked. I started yesterday by doing my 40th and 39th birthday parties (see how far behind I am) and made the goal of doing 4 pages a month. That's ONLY 2 - 2 page layouts, which I do all the time. That can't be that hard. I wonder if I can get ALL Caught up and not have anything to scrapbook by end of 2010...hmmmm? That would be huge...

10. This one I can't blog about. And one I'm not 100% sure will come to fruition. It depends on a lot of other forces coming together - or not coming together. So I'm leaving this one as possibly open for something else.

And with that, I'm going to get back under the Snuggie (BTW Blueberry did an "As Seen on TV" Christmas for me...though she doesn't know it - I asked for a Snuggie, the Perfect Brownie Pan, and a Grill Daddy - well she didn't actually get this one, but got me a gift card to go get it) and I'm going to finish watching the parade and then maybe, just maybe go for a little walk.

My 80's Band name would have been "A Flock of Flamingos"

Well another birthday has past. And again, I feel blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thanks to everyone who stopped by last night...much wine was drunk, much food was eaten, and we discovered the name of my 80's band...

This year's theme: Pink-A-Licious. Which, by the way, only came about because when I asked the helper at the local party store if she had any pink birthday plates, she took me to their new display of "Pink-A-Licious". It was fate. I had to.

Pink-A-Licious entrance to Chez Jenn's. The joke all night was whether you could come in and shut the door without getting the pink strings caught in the door.

My long time friend Julie. She actually signed my letter of employment into GeekSoft way back when - 1993....

We all know this character: Blueberry was, of course, there.

My pal Mega-roonie. She and I go back to the days at the Cat Shack. She's all grown up now and doing quite well as a big wig HR person...she would disagree in the "big wig" part. Mega-roonie brought me this little glass indicators that were little suction people. If you look close you'll see I have several on my glass. The quote of the night: "Just lick him". See they kept falling off and every time they did, someone would say, "Just lick him".

Chickenlady! One of my favoritest people. Friends with her thanks to a car accident way back when in 2000. Holy Cow...we've been friends for almost 10 years. Here's to another 10!

Claudia is responsible for the Flock of Flamingos. Her and Blueberry were whispering one night after they left my place, and me thinks this might have been what they were whispering. Still, the Flock of Flamingo candle holders were a smashing success to me and now Claudia gets left-overs for life. Once I start cooking again that is. Although, she did have a thought last night. She suggested I just cook and put them in the freezer for her. I just might have to now.

PhotoGirl and the Yank both made it. Brought a fantastic bottle of wine I hear. I was too busy drinking my Barbera...nummers. The Yank became the photographer most the night. I needed someone I could trust to take photos to document what I may or may not remember.

Oh, lifetime Geeksoft friends Kim (on the left) and Julie (previously mentioned). Kim's a riot and I just love being around her. I'm going to make a goal of spending more time with her next year. My sides generally hurt after spending time with her.

Ahhh, Mr. Volleyball. Just look what he did! He carved my name out of rice krispie treats...I'm so blessed. The rice krispie treat story goes way back - and so its a standard now. Thank heavens he spelled my name right though, how embarrassing if he hadn't.

Part of the gang: PhotoGirl, Blueberry, Mr. Volleyball, the Birthday Girl, The Not-So-Newlywed and Jack the baby.

In the end there were several others there who I did not get pictures with...fooey! BigBro and Seattle SIL were there, Mrs. Geek from work was there, and Queen PopUp and her king were all there and managed to escape a photo op with me. I'll get you...just wait.

For those who didn't make it, you're forgiven. I still love you.

Seriously though, thanks to everyone. I needed a good fun party and you all stepped up to make it just that. There's enough wine left over for a few other parties...so I'll see you all sometime in the new year...dinner at Chez Jenn's.

Its my birfff-day...

Yes mam, I am now 41. Wow. How'd that happen? I'm excited though, I feel pretty darn good for being "in my forty's". And after all life begins in your forty's right? As Patron Saint told me today 41 is a prime number and therefore I'm in my prime. I'd better make the most of it.

We're going to start the celebration off with appetizers and wine tasting at Chez Jenn's. Several friends are coming over tonight for the great celebration. It should be a blast. I've got homemade olive tapenade, teriyaki meatballs, pistachio cheese log (minus some of the pistachios - we had a small kitchen mishap in which I dumped most the chopped nuts on the floor...Me good.), shrimp/cream cheese spread and of course wine. Lots of wine.

In other exciting news, I selected my cruise excursions last night. Not too surprising almost all of them are visiting mayan ruins. And I managed to stay under my budget! WooHoo! That just means extra $$ for drinks on the cruise ship. That cruise ship that is going to leave in T-minus 10 days. Not that I'm counting.

Now I have some birff-day candles to blow out....

Happy Christmas to all....

Ahh Christmas day. Filled with so many glorious memories. This Christmas is odd for me in that I'm not with my parents. We choose to not fly down to Tucson because we'll be seeing each other in January for our cruise. Not to mention the finance of flying during Christmas. If I could have found a cheap ticket, I may have surprised them.

Still, I find myself thinking of Christmas' past. And trying to recall fond memories. I have a few, quite a few actually. Even when the $ was tight, us kids always had a Christmas to remember. We may not have received the gift of the year, but we always got gifts filled with love.

One memory that leaped out to me this year was that of my Grandma Miller. She had a unique gift wrapping skill. She used foil papers and decorated our gifts with what we loved. The photo below is of Gma Miller and some of her gifts. The frog gift was for my Aunt Toad (no that wasn't her real name, but she collected Frogs).

This photo below is one of my favorites. We're in Trenton, NJ - I must be about 3 or 4. Like my hair doo...? I know, right? Hot. I don't remember what I got that Christmas. I'm sure it was great and I'm sure I played with it, and/or the box it came in, for hours.

Then there are the Santa photos. I only have 2 that I'm aware of. The first is in New Jersey in 1071 and the second in Albuquerque in 1972.

Last, the sister's photo in front of the tree. I never realized how 70's our trees were in the 70's. The first in Minot, ND (BRRRR) and the second in Great Falls, MT in 1977. Just look how stylin' my sister and I are...

Still, I find myself thankful for each and every Christmas. The one's filled with family and the one's spent without. Its hard to remember, with all the hustle and bustle around this time of year, that it is a time of year for love.

My New Boyfriend

It’s no secret to anyone that I’m a coffee fan. I can’t prove it but at one point in time Starbuck’s ran through my veins. Starbuck’s has been my BF for years. Until now. A new BF has blown into town and pushed Bucky’s to the side. I’ve been stalking this BF for a couple of months and only recently found my confidence to see him up close. It didn’t take long. It was love at first sight. I had to bring him back to my home.
Once back home he fit in quite well. And now, I don’t think I can live without him. Meet my new BF.

Now some would say I’m a coffee snob and so would also be surprised at this new relationship. But I gotta tell ya, I was blown away by the quickness and precision of the coffee maker. One perfect cup of coffee in less than 15 seconds. WOW! Not only was it quick, but a quality cup of coffee (Disclaimer: I believe it has everything to do with the fact I purchased the Tully’s Kona coffee cuppettes as my coffee for my BF to make. And “cuppettes” is my term, not theirs). And as a former Bucky’s addict fan, it surprises me just a little that I now prefer to make my own coffee at home. I’m now addicted to a new way to get a cuppa Joe.

In other non coffee news, my belly button is leaking. I don’t think my BB will ever heal. Ever. Apparently, the stitch that was inside has decided to go rebel and get all infected. Now, lucky me gets to wash it three times a day, antibiotic cream and I get to take antibiotics. I’m so luck! I was also scolded by my doc about not recognizing that I am not yet healed. She told me that 3 months, minimum to heal and I just need to get that through my “thick” head. Me? Thick head? Hah!

One more “working” day this year. Our office shuts down the last week of the month and so as of tomorrow at 3pm I’m supposedly on vacation. Although, lucky me, (again with the luck? How’d I get so luck?) own a program that doesn’t shut down and will have to “work” occasionally. Not real thrilled about that. In fact, find myself getting somewhat bitter over it. But it is what it is.

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year?

Normally I'd measure my year by the number of coffees I have taken in, yet this year it doesn't seem appropriate considering I'm not doing coffee now.

Side Note: I did have a really, REALLY bad day at work yesterday so took off at/around lunch time. Not being hungry I went to my other safe haven, Starbucks. I ordered my normal Grande Vanilla Americano with xtra room. Added my cream and sugar. And about 30 minutes later I was the speediest of typists. I'm thinking perhaps jumping back into a triple wasn't such a good choice.

Right, back to measuring.

I could measure it by the number of people I did not kill.

Or I could measure it by the amount of love and support I felt throughout the year.

Or even still I could measure it by how often the local weather forecasters are wrong.

Nah. I think I'll measure it by a LIST OF 40 NEW THINGS

Yes, my faithful readers, the list is complete. (if you get my Christmas card you are 1) very lucky and 2) already know the list). Still there are others who really are dying to know what's on that list.

So without any more goofing around...drum roll please...

My 2009 List of 40 New Things

First let me say that if you don't 1)like, 2) think its not new, or 3) have any other negative opinions about my 40 new things, I'm returning your Christmas gift.

Ahem

Starbuck’s Instant Coffee – anyone who knows me knows Starbuck’s runs through my veins - or well it did. Instant Starbucks! My life had been changed forever.

Bosses for dinner – having people to dinner isn’t anything new. But having my boss and my bosses’ boss to dinner was new to me. I BBQ'd and ran out of gas...thank heavens they like their meat rare.

Podiatrist – What? There was never a need before. And I can't say it was all that helpful cuz - *clears throat* someone didn't follow all the doctor's orders.

Photograph a 5K Run – PhotoGirl asked me to assist in photographing a 5K run at a turnaround point with Seattle in the back ground. It was a blast. Tiring holding up the camera for so long, but fun all the same.

Grease the Musical – Grease is the word!

Roller Derby – A whole different crowd to watch and a whole new sport to learn and appreciate. I think I should have been a roller derby girl in another life. I think I actually came up with a roller derby girl name too...Jenicide I think.

Photograph Susan G. Komen Gala – Fancy pants gala event in which I was asked to photograph the SGK volunteers. Had to "search" for a formal and then remembered by I didn't like formals...itchy, uncomfortable, and too much work.

Moved to a townhouse – Moving isn’t new – I mean if you know me, you know moving isn’t new. But moving to a town house is. And having three floors of goodness is new. That's three whole floors full of cat fur. Yes mam.

Read 100 books – I didn’t manage to read 100, but 73 instead. Still I’ve never read 73 books in a year. So it counts. And I got turned onto a very cool site called GoodReads. It allows you to track the books you've read and want to read. I have 272 in my "want to read" queue. And no I won't be trying to read 100 next year. Maybe I'll shoot for the remaining 27 (did I do my math right? 100-73 = 27 right?)

Volunteer at Getting Started Meetings – After participating in the 3Day last year, I knew I wanted to volunteer this year. So I started by helping at the Getting Started Meetings. It was a blast and yes I cried every single meeting thanks to the overly moving video. Yes, I'm going to volunteer again this year. That should be interesting. I'll break out blubbering at the opening music...watch, you'll see.

Pampered Chef Party – Also no “new” but I hadn’t had a party in 10 years, therefore, new. Anything you haven't done in 10 years and re-do is new. Jenn's Law #45. What? You don't believe me. Well, Jenn's law #46 says, Jenn does not have to care if you believe her or not, so there.

3Day Expo Volunteer – Again, my chance to participate in the 3Day without walking. But being allowed to hang with some extraordinary men and women.

Photograph Race for the Cure – I got to wander around the R4TC and take photos of the volunteers. They give so much and I was so thrilled to be a part of it.

il Divo – Wow. And Yum.

Dueling Pianos – It is what it sounds like. Two pianos going back and forth - well dueling - playing and singing. The bar was sketchy, but the company was fun.

Seattle Duck Tours – Goofy? Definitely. Worth it? Most certainly! I mean I met my soul mate on the duck tour...the driver playing really bad 80's songs - surely my soul mate.

Black Bottle Restaurant – What? I have never been there. And for the record for all you Seattle folks...Yum. If you go, get the Blast Broccoli. ZOMG sooo good.

Photograph a Wedding – Nerve wracking! But worth it to learn more about photographing people. Not sure I'd ever do it again, maybe drunk I would.

Volunteer for Survivor Brunch – For once I actually volunteered instead of photographing the volunteers. And I won, I mean Blueberry won, a free cruise on Holland America.

Try 100 new recipes – Again, didn’t get to 100, but got to 67 – and I’ve never tried 67 new recipes in a year. A few friends appreciated the endeavor. One friend concerned that I'm not eating and therefore not cooking and therefore she doesn't get left overs. She'll survive....maybe. Almost all are on my cooking blog. Go ahead, take a look. I'll wait.

Carve a white pumpkin – I didn’t even know there were white pumpkins, but I carved one for my Great Pumpkin Carving Party. It had white guts even.

Have an Ultra Sound – Yep. I had to have an ultrasound. It’s not what you think.

Had a Hysteroscopy – yah, ick.

Visited an OBGYN Oncologist – there was concern of some pre-cancerous cells found during the hysteroscopy. Had to go to an oncologist for my options.

Had a Hysterectomy – this was my option. A robotic laparoscopic hysterectomy. But you know all about that. BTW, the belly button incision is almost all closed. Thanks for asking. The stitch that was still in it fell out. I thought I lost my umbilical chord again.

Took Percocet – in the hospital they gave me Percocet as the pain killer. Weeee!

Had a catheter – 'nough said.

Estrogen Patch – well taking out the girly parts means I needed something to help “balance” me out. Notice I didn't say make me normal? Yah I know the peanut gallery pretty well and they'd contest that in a heartbeat.

Giving myself injections – because of blood clot issues in the past, and now being on estrogen, the doctor thought giving myself injections of a blood thinner for 21 days post surgery would be a great idea. I hated it. Nightly tried to talk myself out of it. And yet, 21 nights in a row, I managed to put a needle in my tummy. It's amazing what you can do when you have to.

Hot Flashes – Oh yah, these are fun. Even being on the estrogen patches, it’s a low dose and so some of the menopause side effects will come through. My own Personal Summers is one…and I cry at the drop of a hat. Wheeeee!

Program Manager – I was promoted shoved into being a Program Manager. Its hard work, and a bit discouraging at times, but its fun and new and I’m learning a lot.

Lead a Quarterly Business Review – Being the Prgm Mgr I was the lead on the business review for the first quarter. Lots of hard work, and a bit unnerving, but I put on my ubber confidence pants and prevailed. Didn't even get yelled at. So that's a plus, right?

Straight No Chasers – If you want to hear a 10 man acapella group, search for these guys on YouTube and sit back and be amazed.Go to Benaroya Hall – Straight No Chaser performed in a local theater I’ve never been in. It has a huge Chihuly glass chandeler above the stairs (look to the right of the picture)...I wish I would have brought my camera...

Super Diamond – Whoa! Went and saw a Neil Diamond tribute band. I had no idea what songs Neil Diamond did that I knew. Of course Dudley opened for them, which was the real reason I went.

Saw New Moon – What? I’m a Twilight fan. Go Team Jacob!

Bought and iPod Car Stereo – Love it. I get to skip past songs quickly. In my 4 mile commute I can listen to 30 songs...

Cracked Windshield – yes the Mustang has a boo boo. But in all my life, with all the cars I’ve owned, I’ve never had a cracked windshield. Honest! And this one apparently I'll have for a while. Every time I go to replace it, some financial catastrophe happens and it has to wait another month.

No one’s every asked me if I’d eat a triscuit off the floor – my office mate was helping me come up with one more. And in fact I've never ever been asked that. Who knew this list could produce such wild abandonment?

And the 40th New Thing: Never before (and never again) have a made a list of 40 new things.

The other thing I love to do this time of year is re-read my blog posts for the year. I don't read them all, but I skim through them and I gotta tell you...I'm all shades of surprised you all are coming back to read. There's some weird stuff in this blog...but it's all me, and all friends, and apparently almost nothing is off limits.