I Love New York - Day 1

Recently, I had the opportunity to take a vacation in New York. The occasion was my High School Reunion. I planned a few extra days so that I could spend time in New York City. It turned out to be on of the best vacations of my life. Almost nothing happened in the way that I had originally planned, but it was still awesome.

Over the years, I have had lots of friends living in or near New York City so I have rarely needed to stay at a hotel, but this trip I did. I browsed many websites trying to decide on the right balance of cost, location & amenities. New York is famously expensive when it comes to hotel rooms. I finally settled on Park 79 Hotel. I booked a double bed with shared bath.

I made tentative plans with several people to meet up. I bought a ticket for a matinee on Wednesday. I checked out the exhibits at various museums, thought about which favorite restaurants I wanted to visit again. I had a nice little itinerary in my head.

Best laid plans, right?

I arrived at the hotel at 8am (after as much dawdling as I could manage knowing that check in was at 3pm). They checked my luggage and asked me to come back around 1pm.
So I set off in search of breakfast. I found a great little bagel shop and sat down with my coffee and bagel with a shmear. I decided, since it was Wednesday, I would take the subway up to the Bronx and visit the Van Cortland House which is free on Wednesdays. I thought it would be fun to do something I had never done before and that it would use up some time. If you are ever in NYC on a Wednesday, I recommend visiting Van Cortland House. I'm not sure it's worth the price of admission on other days though.

For those that don't know about Van Cortland House, it's been preserved by the Colonial Dames as a historic site from the Revolutionary War. You can learn more here: http://www.vancortlandthouse.org/index-2.html

New York was having a massive heatwave and I was definitely feeling the heat as I headed back downtown. I got off the subway with the intention of visiting Grant's Tomb but it was closed so I opted for a bus ride back to the hotel. Did I mention that I had purchased the unlimited ride MetroCard? That was one of the best decisions I had made. While riding back downtown, I got a text from a friend who I'd been wanting to see but he was only available that day. I texted him back and told him I had matinee tickets, but maybe we could work something out.

A foodie co-worker had told me about the Shake Shack and there was one near my hotel so I went there for lunch. There weren't any tables so I took my lunch to the park and sat there eating and people-watching. While I was eating, the theatre texted me that the performance had cancelled so I quickly made plans with my friend. Now I really needed to shower & change!

I went back to the hotel and my room wasn't ready, but they did have another slightly smaller room that they offered me for $50 less per night. I took it! The price difference online had only been $10!

The room was small, but adequate. I couldn't wait to find the shared bath and take a shower after traveling all night. I was less than thrilled to find a palmetto-type bug sharing the bathroom with me. Yikes. But housekeeping took care of it and I was off downtown.

My friend and I had not seen each other in 30 years! But it was like yesterday. He lives in a great Greenwich Village neighborhood. We played with his new puppy and caught up with our lives and then went shopping for his planned tapas dinner for that night. After our visit, I headed back uptown to a tweetup I had planned.

Meeting Twitter friends for the first time is always fun but a little bit strange. We were both in front of the theatre on our phones and looking at each other to see if we were the ones we were there to meet. We had planned to meet for real the next day to stand on line for Book Of Mormon tickets but decided to meet briefly first to scope things out and make our plan. We picked a place to meet the next day and then I was off to meet another friend for dinner.

The heat was getting to me and I nearly passed out in Grand Central Terminal. After a couple of cold beverages, I was feeling better. Though I got a bit disoriented after exiting the subway at 86th. I finally made it to my friend's apartment and we went to dinner at Paola's at 92nd & Madison. I highly recommend it!

After planning our trip upstate for Friday morning, I grabbed a crosstown bus back to my hotel.

So far, my trip was going very well!

Mi palapa es su palapa

Our first full day in Los Cabos. I am up at dawn. I made coffee and watched the sunrise. Very beautiful & relaxing.

I was just going to run down to La Plaza (the deli) when K got up and suggested we go to the Mega since it was cool and she was awake.

We walked up there and spent two hours as she shopped for souvenirs, groceries, etc.

I finally had to tell her that I was hungry and I needed to go back to the room.

We came back. I had some lunch. She had a few bites and we headed down to the beach.

The beach wasn't crowded at all and we had our choice of palapas. We laid out on the chaises longues for 4 hours! We had bloody marys and margaritas. We watched people riding horseback and guys playing volleyball. We even shopped from the vendors who walk the high tide line.

Then we went to the hot tub for about 15 minutes (one cycle of the button) and then back to the room to change for dinner.

It's K's birthday and we decide to dine at Flor de Noche - the poolside bar. We were sitting there at sunset having mojitos and iced tea. A wedding was taking place on the beach. It was lovely. We had chips & salsa, prawns & steak brochette. The waiter took our picture. Did I say it was lovely?

We watched them turn the lights on the palm trees and light the fire rings. Then we headed back up to the room.

K went to bed pretty soon after that. I watched "In Bruges" which I had brought with me from home. I had trouble figuring out how to get the DVD player to work until I realized that it wasn't plugged in to the TV. DUH! Anyway, I didn't really care for the film. It was just too violent. If it wasn't for the witty dialogue, I would have given it 1 star, but I gave it 2.

The busiest day of our whole trip is tomorrow: Owner breakfast, Drive in to Cabo, Sunset Cruise to El Arco, & shopping.

Peter Brown Called To Say

Monday morning, we are up before the crack of dawn for a day trip to Gibraltar. The whole day I will be singing "The Ballad Of John & Yoko" in my head - and occasionally out loud - but that's another story...

While waiting to be picked up at our resort's entrance, we met two guys from Phoenix. Mr. Phone and Mr. Engineer. They are two friends like us using up timeshare points before they expire. We chat about the other day trips we have planned and they run in to the concierge to sign up for the day trip to Ronda that we have scheduled for tomorrow. We also learn that they will be with us on our trip to Tangier on Thursday.

We board the bus and we meet an American family from Virginia Beach. Dentist dad, travel agent mom, student daughter and snowboard daughter. We learn that they are on the trip to Tangier on Thursday also. They are staying at the Marriot down the beach as they are Marriot owners.

Our guide tells us that we don't have to change money. In Gibraltar, most every place will take Euro or US dollars and those that won't will take plastic. But we should always check before eating or purchasing anything, just in case. (The currency is the Gibraltar Pound which is equivalent to the Pound Sterling but only accepted in Gibraltar. They take Pound Sterling also.) We decide to use Euros or Visa.

At the P&T stop, I chat a little bit more with our new American friends. They are all very friendly and nice.

Crossing the border, we all have to show our passports to Spanish police and then again to British police, but nothing gets stamped.

Then we drive across the airport runway to enter Gibraltar. Our large bus drives to the Visitor Centre wher we board two smaller buses. One is German & English and the other is Spanish & English. We opt for the Spanish bus as do all our new friends. It turns out that the Spanish couple is pretty fluent in English so out guide mostly does the tour in English and only explains things in Spanish as needed.

We head off for our tour of the Rock. We head first to Point Europa which is the closest point to Africa. The coolest thing there (which I unfortunately did NOT get a photo of) was half a tanker aground on the rocks. Apparently, it broke in half when thrown on the rocks during a fierce storm. It's still there.

Then we head up to St. Michael's Cave. The whole Rock is made of limestone so there are many caves, but St. Michael's is enormous and was cleared for use as a hospital during Word War 2. It was never needed so now it is used for concerts.

After that, we went to the Apes Den for a scheduled look at the Barbary Macaques. We had seen them around the Cave as well. They are the only wild Primates in Europe.

At the Apes Den' we saw the Cable Car up to the top of the Rock, but we didn't go up there ourselves. Then we headed down past the Moorish Castle, City Hall (where John & Yoko got married) and through the town to Grand Casements Square where we left the minibus behind for lunch or shopping.

T & I headed out of the very tourist-y Square and strolled down the High Street to see what sparked our fancy. We came across The Star Bar which claims to be the oldest Pub in Gibraltar. Legend has it that Columbus stopped there on his way to discover America! We had a lovely lunch of fish & chips (with malt vinegar!), lamp chops (with brown sauce!), stout & cider.

Then we headed back to the Visitor Centre, shopping a bit along the way.

Back on our large bus, back across the airport runway. Then we had to exit the bus to go through Customs on both sides of the border (but still no stamps). We boarded the bus and headed back to our hotel.

Mr. Phone, Mr. Engineer, T & I stopped back at the concierge to check on our Ronda trip for the next day. Alas, it had been cancelled. We were the only people who signed up. We inquired about the Granada trip and that was booked full for Tuesday and Wednesday. The guys were going to Seville on Wednesday so we signed up for that trip and it was confirmed right then. Then we asked the concierge for suggestions for what to do on Tuesday. He suggested that we go to Ronda on the public bus. He provided us with the bus schedule into Marbella and we decided to think it over.

Later, at Happy Hour, we ran into the guys and they said they were thinking about Ronda for tomorrow. They asked what time we were leaving. We said we didn't know, but we would try to leave early. They headed off for dinner. We chatted with the barmen for awhile and then went back to our condo for dinner and some BBC.

Tomorrow, we will try our Amazing Ronda Bus Adventure en Espanol!

One if by Air, Two if by Sea

Our last full day in Barcelona. We decide to take advantage of the free Harbor Cruise that came with our Barcelona Cards and head to the Harbor. Dos Cafes Con Leche para llevar and a quick trip to La Baguetina and we are ready to set off. A short walk down Las Ramblas, but we take the Metro to reduce the chances of getting lost.

This not being tourist season, the first boat doesn't leave until noon so we turn around and look behind us at El Mirador del Colom - The Christopher Columbus monument. The steel column contains an ascensor and our Barcelona Card offers a discount so up we go. It is so tiny that only four people can fit in at once, and that is if you are friendly enough to be quite close. T being slightly claustrophobic had a smidge of anxiety, but she was fine. At the top, there is less room to maneuver than in the Crown of the Statue Of Liberty and it moves a lot more!

We walked completely around and then had to wait a bit for the ascensor so we could go back down. Then we headed off to the boat.

The Harbor cruise was nice enough, but it was not narrated and it was FREEZING cold. I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have the Barcelona Card. But it was nice to see the Olympic Village.

After that we took the Metro to the Mont Juic Funicular. Emerging halfway up Mont Juic, we opted for the Teleferic up to Castell Mont Juic. We walked around the ancient fortress, had great views of the city and harbor, and had our first paella at the restaurant.

We tooke the Teleferic back down and walked a bit through the Parc. A bus came along so we hopped on it, not really know where it was going. An adventure!! As soon as I figured out where we were on the map, we got off at the next stop that was near the Metro and headed back to our hotel.

Another siesta, then we headed to the Placa del Pi for dinner at Taller Tapas. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in Barcelona. The tapas choices were excellent, they have great daily specials, great cocktails, and menus in English! We saw a lot of folks ordering things we hadn't ordered and were especially glad we opted out of the paella as it came with a whole prawn (head and legs included) smack on top. We had grilled bread with tomatoes & garlic (a sort of Catalan bruschetta), jamon croquette (just one so T could try it), grilled asparagus, sizzling prawns (no heads here), patates bravas (vlamse frites mit saus), mojito, capirinha and dos aguas sin gas. We were stuffed!

After dinner, we headed over to Santa Maria del Pi for a concert by Barcelona Duo Guitarra. A man and a woman who met as music students, they have arranged "Carmen" for two guitars and they play flamenco music while making the percussive sounds of the dancers with their hands. Really wonderful and amazing! The perfect end to our time in Barcelona.

Is it gaudy or is it Gaudi?

We started off our first full day in Spain with breakfast in our hotel. Then we headed off to try to find the Museu Picasso. Theoretically within walking distance of our hotel, but through the labyrinth of the Barri Goti so not exactly easy to find.

Eventually, we made it there. Picasso was from this part of Spain so it seemed like a good way to start off the trip. Plus with our Barcelona card, it was half-price!

Leaving the museum and heading to the Metro, we made our first purchase in Spanish. Dos Aguas, por favor.

We navigated the Metro fairly easily and emerged at La Sagrada Familia, probably the most recognized landmark in all of Barcelona. The cathedral was begun in 1882. Gaudi took over the design in 1883 and worked on it until his death. He completed the Portal of the Nativity. The work on the cathedral is ongoing and they expect to finish it by 2026.

Part of how they pay for the building is by charging admission to the cathedral and also by charging to go up one of the towers in an elevator - "ascensor" en Espanol. So, we decided to give that a try. Now, Gentle Readers, most of you know that I have vertigo. I am not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of falling from them. I do not stand on chairs. I have trouble with steep stairs and escalators. But I have been to the top of some pretty tall buildings (including both World Trade Center towers btw). So I decided this couldn't be too bad.

And it was fine, until I had crossed over a little bity bridge to the other tower and had to walk down 10 meters around an opening that went 70 meters straight down. Oh yeah, that was it. I had to beg the lift operator to take me down. (He was pretty understanding in the end.)

After the dizzying depths, we descended to the basement which contains the museum of the cathedral. But our blood sugar was sinking as well so we headed off to the Michael Collins Irish Pub. Recommended by Barcelona Card, it was conveniently just across the square.

After our lunch of fish & chips (and a strange look when we asked for vinegar for same), we set off for Park Guell. We had a vague map in the Barcelona card book, but it wasn't on the city map we got from our hotel and I wasn't carrying my Lonely Planet. So we got off the metro and looked for a sign. We saw one and followed it to a very confusing intersection. And then we chose, unwisely.

We walked up the street whose name we could read on one of the maps and ended up climbing a huge flight of stairs only to end at a large mural depicting tourists being robbed. Hurriedly, we walked down the nearest street. As we approached a cross street, we saw large numbers of people walking up the hill, we followed them and then saw that we were on the right road. We referred to that journey as "The Stairs of Death" for the rest of the trip.


Park Guell is full of Gaudi's handiwork. The Sala Hipostila staircase has a very famous dragon. The house where he lived is also here and we visited that as well. That was where we encountered The Toucher. Seriously, some British woman who had to touch EVERYTHING in the museum, no matter how many signs were posted or how mortified her companions were.

After leaving the museum, we declared that we were "museumed out" for probably the rest of this trip and we found our way back to the Metro without getting lost or going down the Stairs Of Death.

Once back at our hotel, we had a short siesta and then asked the concierge to recommend a place for dinner. He sent us into the labyrinth to find Banys Nous on which was located a restaurant that he highly recommended. There seemed to be a bit too much pulpa on the menu so we decided to keep walking. We stumbled across Campostela and, though they had pulpa in the window, they had a lovely Menu del Noche so we went in.

We had ensalada mixta, gazpacho, steak (the saltiest steak I have ever eaten in my entire life), and helado. Throw in a bottle of tinto and a bottle of agua sin gas and we were very happy.

We strolled back to our hotel via Las Ramblas. Ready for a good night's sleep and our harbor adventure in the morning.

The Rain in Spain is Mainly at the Airport

Hola from Barcelona! Here´s the news so far:

Got home from work about an hour before the shuttle came to pick me up which gave me time to shower and change before the flight. Always good when you are going to be traveling for a long time.

The shuttle arrived on time with a very friendly driver who asked if I had my passport & tickets. We had one more stop and then flew to LAX with zero traffic. There was no line at the Swissair counter so I had about 90 minutes to shop, eat, etc. before boarding.

After browsing the Duty Free shop (does anyone really buy that stuff?) and having a snack, I zipped through security, obtained some Euro, then went to the gate. Oddly, the same gate I left from for Ireland in 2006!

Once the flight had boarded, the captain announced there would be a slight delay. It was actually a medical emergency and delayed our leaving for about an hour. They not only had to get the passenger off but also his luggage. I was only nervous because I didn´t have a long layover in Zurich. The flight itself was fine. I didn´t have a seatmate so was able to spread out a bit. I had a personal tv and watched ¨Get Smart¨ and ¨Mamma Mia¨, plus two episodes of ¨Friends¨. I also played Sudoku and read one of MAD´s romance novels (she gives them to me to read on planes). I even managed to sleep!

We landed in Zurich at 4:10pm and my flight to Barcelona boarded at 4:45. I sped through Flughaven Zurich but it looks like a nice place to have a layover. I had to go through security again so I had to put everything back in the plastic bag and toss the water I had bought in LA. A quick passport control line and then boarding commenced.

As soon as we boarded, the captain came on to make the announcement that a passenger had not boarded so we would be delayed while his luggage was removed. It was just my day for that sort of thing.

An uneventful flight during which I slept and we landed in Barcelona in the rain. T texted me to say she would be in the arrivals hall just outside customs. I zipped through Immigration, collected my luggage and met her easily.

While she had been waiting, she had discovered that the Aerobus was a better option to our hotel than the Airport Train so we took that. It was raining as we walked to the stop, but not very hard. We boarded the bus, got our Barcelona card discount on the tickets, and were off.

The bus stopped at La Placa Catalunya and we got off. The tricky part was figuring out which direction our hotel was from there. I knew it was on a pedestrian street so we headed in the direction of the only pedestrian street we could see. Good choice! We were at our hotel in less than 10 minutes. And it wasn´t raining!!

Greeted with cava, everything was great. We had a little trouble with the lights, but it turned out to be the circuit breaker and was fixed in a jiffy. Showered and changed, we headed to dinner at a place suggested by both of our guidebooks and less than 5 minutes walking from our hotel.

El Quatre Gats, now a restaurant, was an artist´s club modeled after Le Chat Noir. Picasso held his first exhibition there. They have a traditional Cataln menu. We had olives, bread, mesclun salad with goat cheese, spinach & goat cheese ravioli, baked cod and roasted goat. A bottle of the house red topped us off.

We stopped in the hotel bar for tea and were asleep in our beds within 30 minutes of finishing dinner.

The agenda for our first day includes the Picasso museum, La Sagrada Familia, Michael Collins Irish Pub (seriously!) and who knows what else.

Stay tuned...

Beso

I had dinner last night at Beso, Eva Longoria-Parker's restaurant in Hollywood. The LA Times had kind of panned it but I was meeting a former co-worker who is a real foodie and so we decided to try it.

First off, we both felt woefully under dressed. This place is frequented by Party People. All the ladies were in cocktail dresses and heels and dressed to impress.

The atmosphere is very clubby. It's dark, and red, and there are rooms with curtains and upstairs rooms.

There are two kitchens. Anything grilled comes from the front open kitchen and everything else comes from the rear kitchen.

Our server was fantastic. She asked if we had been there before and would we like some suggestions. We took her suggestions for cocktails, starters, entrees, and dessert.

Our cocktail choice was the signature Blackberry Collins. I had heard people in the bar ordering it and it was good! Lots of fresh blackberries, vodka and lemons.

Food wise, we started with a grilled pear salad and a roasted beet salad. Both were really beautifully presented and really tasty. The vinaigrettes were light enough that all the flavours in the salads came out.

Then we had grilled flat bread, compliments of the chef.

For entrees, we had paella and skirt steak tacos with a side of grilled asparagus. The paella was really good and full of chicken, chorizo, shrimp, mussels, clams, fish, and lobster. All of the meat had been grilled beforehand. The rice was almost risotto-like, creamy and tasty. The skirt steak tacos were very simple. Just grilled skirt steak and aioli in a wrapper that seemed more like lavosh bread than a tortilla with a garnish of pico de gallo. The grilled asparagus was FABULOUS.

For dessert, we had the flan and tea. The flan isn't really flan; it's more mousse. But it was hazelnutty and delicious. The teas are served in infusion pots and the black tea had a french press device in its pot.

We spent a lovely four hours lingering and chatting and were never pressured to leave.

Beso is pricey (our check was over $100 before tax & tip) but worth it! If you are ever in Hollywood, you should check it out! Reservations suggested.

Swell Day at ACL

Today was the first day of ACLFest 2008. My second year at the Festival and this year only B & L are coming from the family, but I did convince T to come along (yeah, that was SO hard - come see 150 bands in 3 days!).

Got in on time. The Bell-Marrs taxi service was ready and waiting. T flew in on a different flight but met up at baggage claim. All well and good.

Got to the house, changed, noshed and heading off again. The taxi was offered so we took it! Dropped us off right where the bus would have and we headed down Barton Springs Rd to Zilker Park.

Through security and wristbanding with no problems, we made a beeline for the food court for some sustenance (fried avocado with mango slaw from Hudsons!) and then off to the AMD stage to catch Asleep At The Wheel. AMD is at the southern far end of the park. There are eight stages and it is a bit of a hike from one end to the other.

Asleep At The Wheel is a fine dance hall band. We had our blanket out near a group of young people that I could have sworn were friends of my "nephew". In fact, they were! He walked right past us, only stopping when I called out to him.

After Asleep At The Wheel, we got some iced tea (I forgot to tell T that we are in the South and it would be sweet-Sorry!) and sat down at the Blue Room stage for What Made Milwaukee Famous. They are a local band, but I know them from Bob Boilen's show on NPR. Once again, Bob has totally made my choices easier at ACL.

After a brief respite in the Sister Mister tent (four huge fans blowing water!), we nabbed front row house left for Jakob Dylan. Same stage as Bob Dylan last year. He totally rocked - well, as much as a Dylan can. Sang nearly every song from his new album.

Next stop was M. Ward at the WAMU stage. Yes - with all their financial woes, WAMU is still a major sponsor. We got some shave ice and sat down to see the previous set by The Freddy Jones Band. I had never heard them before but they were pretty good. A huge crowd left when they were done and we were able to get seats under the tent on actual seats. M. Ward was great. We noticed the paparazzi taking photos of the VIP area. There was a girl that looked like Zoey Deschanel (his bandmate in She and Him) but when we got a good look, it wasn't her.

Debated whether to stay put for Jenny Lewis or head over to Austin Ventures for Mates Of State and Eli Young. Mates of State won since Jenny Lewis is based in LA and we will have a good chance to see her at any number of venues at home, but I have never heard of Mates Of State playing nearby.

Eli Young was great, but they were having major sound issues. T still doesn't know if she likes them. They are this year's Broken West for me. I told K that I want their new cd for Christmas (it's on my Amazon Wish List) because they wrote a song for me! Well, not really, but they used my name. T is now referring to them as The Boy Band since we were the oldest women in the audience. "When It Rains" got me through some tough moments in the past year so who cares how young they are?

This year's Pete Yorn for me is The Swell Season. If you haven't heard of them, you may know them from the movie "Once" or their Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly". Marketa was having problems with the keys sticking on the grand piano (they don't like humidity) but other than that, they were fantastic. Glenn rocked out solo on a Van Morrison tune while they tweaked the piano. He is still playing the guitar with the giant hole - in case you were wondering. T said "Hasn't he made enough money to buy a new one?" Marketa played guitar for one song too so she had a chance to stand up front and sing facing the crowd.

Stopped by Alejandro Escevedo on our way to the Merch Tent and caught their last two songs. Mars Volta was on so we listened to them while we shopped. T got the organic bamboo/cotton tees for herself & J but they were sold out of my size so I went with the regular cotton.

Caught the #3 down Manchaca. Got off at the right stop, but couldn't remember how to walk home (in all fairness, I have never had to before). So I called my niece from the Chevron and she said "Mom's coming to get you".

Warmed up the hot tub, had something to eat, and headed off to bed.

Gotta go get ready for today's adventure. First up is Old 97s!

July 22-August 8, 2008

July 22-24 - I have forgotten, but hopefully it wasn't too important.

July 25 - The last Friday of the month so it has to be Minibar at O'Brien's on Main! Minibar is ALWAYS the best thing, but it was especially nice to see T & J after they had been in a scary motorbike accident while on vacation. Also nice to hear about M's upcoming trip to England.

July 26 - Dinner at Locanda del Lago with G. Finally using the GC I gave him for Christmas or was it birthday? Highly recommend this place if you are ever on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica. We plan to go back so we can try more of the menu!

July 27 - A surprise Dodger game. I had asked for tickets for Monday and got today instead. But the Dodgers won as did the Heat! We celebrated with our annual pizza dinner and I had a nice visit with M & S.

July 28 - A formal job offer for a job I really want was made to me today! I have til Wednesday to think about it. (Since I am writing this after the fact, I can say that I accepted.)

July 29 - The Chino Hills quake was today. I think the best thing was that when I got home from work, I could not even tell. Nothing had moved! If you ever lived in a quake Zone you would appreciate that being the best thing!

July 30 - Publicity Screening for "Swing Vote". This is a great movie. It was not at all what I had been expecting from the trailer. It was a lot smarter. The audience all seemed to enjoy it. And the guy sitting in front of us gave us tickets to...

July 31 - ...The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor! Which we got into at the last possible moment and had to sit in J's favourite seat (front row). I really missed Rachel Weisz but overall it was pretty good!

August 1 - Eric Idle at the Bowl! Box Seats! Good food! Good company! Very good!

August 2 - Attended the Fiesta to raise money for my church's upcoming Mexico Mission Trip. Four people asked me to come back to the choir. It's really nice to be wanted. Lutherans really know how to make margaritas!!

August 3 - Last game of the season and The Heat won! The team gave me roses too which was very nice.

August 4 - Told all the staffers that I am leaving next week for a new job. They were all sad to hear it but happy for me. It's nice to be wanted. I think I said that already.

August 5 - Planned a wine tasting jaunt to visit the author of GollyBlogHowdy or maybe we will have tea? Anyway, we will have a nice visit next week on one of my free days.

August 6 - Discovered I am a winner in the monthly Health Pool!

August 7 - Finished my last close at the old job on time with no ot! YAY!

August 8 - Thoroughly enjoyed watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on tv.

July 18-20, 2008

July 18 - JULIE SANG! It is true that Julie Andrews is no longer a soprano, but she can still sing and her voice still sounds good in the lower register. I was amazed. Definitely a best thing!

July 19 - Another AFM trip. This time we went to Chino Hills to see them at Roscoe's which had the best apple cobbler I have ever had in my life. And that is really saying something!

July 20 - My softball team won today 19-3 on the mercy rule. I stole third! YAY!

May 30 - June 8, 2008

Another catch up posting today...

May 30 - Today's best thing was seeing Minibar again. I hadn't seen them since New Year's Eve and I had such a great time catching up with M & J as well as hearing all my faves again. Thanks for letting the Thursday Night girls help with the set lists!

May 31 - Finally got to see "Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"! Yay!

June 1st - My softball team lost, but I had a very good game with two walks and one run scored!

June 2nd - I am drawing a complete blank. Guess I really do need to do this every day.

June 3rd - I was the first person to vote today in my precinct. I don't think that has ever happened to me before. Hopefully, I wasn't the last, though voter turnout was a disappointing 27% of eligible voters. I would just like to say "Shame on You" if you are registered to vote and couldn't be bothered. My pet peeve is people who don't think their vote makes any difference so they just don't bother. I have never missed an election in my entire life! I am very proud of that.

June 4th - Finally managed to connect with M & D to work out after work. Of course, M forgot to bring shoes so she bailed, but D & I had a nice chat and it was good to catch up!

June 5th - Another chance to see Minibar. This time at the Buffalo Club. I highly recommend this eatery if you are ever in Santa Monica. It is VERY pricey (dinner for two was $125) but well worth it! I just hope Minibar doesn't play there more than once every couple of months.

June 6th - Even though I only got three hours of sleep, I made it to work on time and got all of my work done!!

June 7th - My first time seeing Another Fine Mess which is a side project of most of the band members of The Fenians. We had a great meal at Gallagher's and I want to know where I can get the T shirt some of the servers were wearing that had the Guinness label re-worked for Gallagher's. That was cool!

June 8th - Softball team won!!! 10-4. I only had one at bat and I fouled out. Oh well...