Category Archives: gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving!

1 Reply

I’m sure I could wax on (and on and on) about how thankful I am (‘cuz let’s face it, I am thankful for so many wonderful things) or about the meaning of Thanksgiving or whatnot. But really, I just don’t want to. Instead, I’d rather spend the next couple of non-family-obligation hours just relaxing.

I tried listening to some Christmas music, but I made it through two songs before it just started to annoy me. I’m choosing quiet and rat-a-tat tapping of my fingers on the keyboard as my background noise. Basically though, I’m ahead of the game: the trifle is made but for the final layer and crumbles; the brownies are sliced and packaged to curb further taste testing; the corn bread casserole is assembled and waiting to go into the pre-heated oven that last hour before leaving; the bags are packed with all my food offerings and bowls (and plastic wear and plates since one year the host inlaw neglected to double check that there were enough – there were none!); the wine is chilling and so am I.

The hubby is getting ready to take the pupster for a walk – but first he must update his iPod :insert rolleyes here: while the pupster goes insane waiting for the walk. I’ll be hopping into the shower in a bit so the curls will have a good chance to dry before we head out and then I’ll either curl up with my book club book or watch a little TV. But yeah, it’s a good day so far.

I wish you all a wonderful day filled with warmth, love, good food and good times. Please be safe while on the road. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

PS – I’m a little behind on catching up on everyone’s blogs and leaving comments (or even replying to my own comments), but rest assured, I’m following along. 

Thanksgiving Planning

2 Replies

It was asked that we (all three remaining siblings) provide the sides for Thanksgiving while the other sibling provides the turkey. That’s it. No other direction, no other organization. So, the hubby and I have taken it upon ourselves to provide dishes that we know we like and that more than likely, others won’t make. So here we go so far…

* mixed greens with cranberries, fresh (really fresh from the farmer’s market) goat cheese, sugared nuts and a champagne vinagrette

* cornbread casserole – the hubby wanted cornbread stuffing, but nothing jumped out at me

* possibly some green beans – easy to transfer and steam in the microwave (and some much needed veggies)

* Paula Deen’s pumpkin gingerbread trifle (in fact, I’ve already baked the gingerbread earlier tonight!!)

* a mishmash of crudites and appetizers (who knows how long we’ll be waiting for the entire family to show up with their sides and we need more than just potato chips, right?)

* a bottle or two of yummy wine (we’re more than willing to share – but really, we’re the only ones that drink wine).

Any other suggestions for easy sides that can travel well?

~*~*~*~*~

I’m thankful that I was able to finally send out our last batch of invoices – so much closer to having all of our bookkeeping up to date for year end. Woohoo!

Bring on the Thanks

2 Replies

I also realized that while writing my posts day to day I’m always thankful for the activities or topics that I’m posting about (the positive ones anyway), but I often don’t state this gratitude outright. So to make up for what some may view as some lacking thankfulness or gratitude posts, here goes…

* I’m thankful for our home – I may complain about it from time to time, but we’ve got a good thing going here and the neighborhood is awesome (she says having just returned from a lovely evening walk).

* I’m thankful for the boys – it’s not always easy blending a four-legged family, but our guys have taken to it quite well. They’re also always looking out for each other (when the pupster wasn’t feeling well, the kitkat was right there snuggling close and giving him hugs). They’re also great napping mates (see yesterday’s post regarding my love for napping).

* I’m thankful for my darling, non-sports loving, geeky, mellow, moppet-haired hubby – he’s my dream come true and all I could ever hope for in a partner (even if does desperately need a haircut right now). I aspire to be as calm as he can be in stressful situations – I’m sure I’ve said it before, but he’s so go with the flow and mellow its enviable.

* I’m thankful for my car. It’s a very simple, very inexpensive, bargain-priced Hyundai Elantra, but I love it. It’s the perfect size and it has and does pretty much anything I’d ever want or need a car to do or have. Mind you, I’d love a little sporty 5-speed so I could whiz through those Hollywood Hills, but considering this car cost less than my old sporty car that I bought over 15 years ago, I’m just fine. But once we make it rich, a sporty weekend car will be mine! Bwahahaha!

* I’m thankful for modern medicine and awesome doctors – both for me and for the pupster. I’ll sing it to the world, our doctor is awesome – along with our vet! We get special appointments if we need them, we get follow up phone calls after treatment, but more importantly, we get heard. Our doctor heard my casual chatter about little thing that seemed off and immediately suggested that we check my thyroid and even though my numbers were relatively low, she got me on the meds and it’s made a world of difference. She totally rocks!

* I’m thankful for chocolate – okay, I might be PMSing here, but really, nothing beats good chocolate. My friend recently visited Japan and brought me back some KitKat bars (at my request since that’s a common search keyword here for the blog – blog post to follow in the near future) and man, they’re good! Even cooler still, she’s in London this week and will hopefully be able to bring me back some Cadbury Dairy Milks or Fruit & Nuts. How exactly does US chocolate manage to taste so crappy compared to European chocolate?

* I’m thankful for my Mac and the lacking blue screen of death. Ah, so nice and so simple to use. I’m thrilled that I made the switch without argument or dragging my feet. Now I just need to learn to use half of the fun programs.

* I’m thankful for my friends. I seem to have had some slight bumps in the road of friendship these past couple of months, but I’m moving on. I know that I’ve got a great batch of friends that have been in my life for years and seeing them again, or talking to them from time to time feels like slipping into the most comfortable pajamas…just right.

* I’m thankful for NaBloPoMo – it’s brought so many blogs and bloggers that I’d otherwise never have known about into my life. And that’s not counting the cool things you can learn – like yummy Mexican restaurant recommendations while visiting Tucson! So handy and helpful. Fussy totally rocks for starting this up.

* I’m thankful for the time I’ve been able to spend working from home. I know that I sometimes vent about my job – who doesn’t, right – but it’s nice to know that I can work from home, have fun, and be able to take off on a moment’s notice. I honestly believe that working a 9-5 sort of job would kill our relationship (the hubby being a workaholic that doesn’t go to bed before 2:00am), so I’m thankful to have the opportunity to work with something that’s so flexible and creative.

I could go on and on, but I feel comfortable leaving this at an even ten. Well, that plus the pupster is begging for his dinner (and his medicine) and I still have Thanksgiving stuff to research.  So I leave you with a pretty picture from my birthday getaway two years ago (San Juan Capistrano), just because pretty things to look at are just one more thing to be thankful for…

Capistrano_wagon.jpg

Yeah, Sure I’m Thankful

1 Reply

Thankful to finally be out of that fucking car! What the hell were we thinking driving to Tucson and back?!?!

And who the fuck thought it was a good idea to close so many freeway exits without signs to show you where to go? Or, I don’t know, closing two freeways, at the intersection and at least 3-5 corresponding exits in each direction…good idea?!?! Fuck no!

I spent way too much time exploring the Inland Empire and Orange County tonight. Way too much fucking time.

I’m sleepy…must go to sleep. So, so, SO happy to be home and staying home for the next however long. Traveling by car, with just a quick overnight and then back on the road…yeah, that sucks. Big time!

Happier thoughts once I wake up late, late, late tomorrow!

PS – Geggie you rock! Cafe Poca Cosa was awesome! 😀

Crappy Connectivity & Then Some…

Leave a reply

Well, I have had such crappy connectivity while we’re out that I just had to finally let it go.  Seriously, I’ve been trying to connect now (Sun 1:42 AM) for the past hour and a half.  Instead, I’m closing the (seeming lack of) internet down and rambling here in TextEdit.  I’ll cut and paste it when (if) I finally get a signal.

So far this trip, while our rooms have been lovely, Sheraton has still managed to screw us.  Neither hotel has been able to upgrade us and we have the points – we’re not even in the “preferred guest” floor. And don’t get me started on the whole internet thing…you’d think when you pay $10 a day for internet that they can at least make sure it works well!

But on to bigger and happier things.  Wine tasting yesterday was great.  I was surprised to see the leaves on the vine change for the fall as well as the leaves on the trees.  And of course, the wine tasting was lovely.  We also had some great food (one of my favorite things about this region is just how good the food can be).

Today though we’d planned to do a winery cave tour in Kenwood/Sonoma (at Kunde), but we woke up to rain.  We figured that it would be cold (and it was), it would be wet (and it was) and we wouldn’t get any decent photos, so instead we just headed out to San Fran for the Herbie show.

The show itself was awesome!  One of my favorite things about seeing live music is watching the band interaction.  I love nothing more than seeing that a band is having fun and playing with each other (unlike the Police this last tour).  Herbie’s band was having a ball playing off of each other. Even the sound check was good.  And everyone kicked ass on When Love Comes to Town – it wasn’t U2 and it wasn’t Joss and Johnny (from Herbie’s last album, Possibilities), but it was still AWESOME.  Sonia has a great voice – nice and raspy.

That said, I was stuck in that damn auditorium from around 3:00 until 11:00!  And let me just tell you, that’s just too fucking long to be in one place.  Probably the one part of our “vacation” that I’m not enjoying – and get the privilege of doing again tomorrow (well, I guess tonight since it’s already Sunday).  At least tomorrow/today, since we’re in Santa Barbara, I can take the car out myself during sound check and whatnot (without incurring a $30+ parking fee – crazy San Francisco parking!!)  In fact, I volunteered to pick up a birthday cake for Herbie’s daughter just so I had an excuse to leave soundcheck – I’m a smart cookie, you see.

And speaking of being Sunday, it’s nearly 2:00AM and woooweee, I’m tired.  The hubby is still working on downloading the photos, so he’ll probably be up for the next hour or two.  It’s times like this and his crazy late nights that I’m thrilled he’s “on vacation” and can sleep in as late as he wants once we get back home on Monday.

~*~*~*~*~

I’m thankful that my husband feels comfortable driving in San Francisco – those hills scare the hell outta me!  I’m also thankful for our yummy, Heavenly Bed that we’ll be sleeping in tonight.  And I’m thankful for good friends that willingly agree to visit the kitkat to make sure that he has enough food and love while we’re away (okay, she might have bitched a bit and does it out of obligation because we stock her fridge the day she comes home from their international tours, but still – she does love our little boys, honest).

Gratitude Wine Country Style…

3 Replies

I’m thankful for my hubby (how cute is he?)
My Photographer Hubby

I’m thankful that I got to see grapes (even if they were shriveling up into raisins)
IMG_3924.JPG

IMG_3910.JPG

I’m thankful for the beautiful colors (so purty!)
IMG_3949.JPG

IMG_3911.JPG

I’m very, very thankful that I was about to sit in the hotel lobby, in front of a toasty fire and get some brief internet service that allowed me to upload a handful of photos.

And it goes without any need for explanation…I’m most certainly thankful for WINE!!

Granted, this is a good thing…

Leave a reply

I’m packing for tonight, but um…all my long sleeve tees and tops are well, too big.  So now I’m going to look all sorts of frumpy and whatnot this weekend.  Oh well, I guess I’d rather my clothes be too big than too small, right? I’m sure I can find something.  It’s not worth going out to the garage to look through the boxes though.  Oh well.

And in related news, I tried on a pair of jeans that I’d had in my closet waiting for the day that they’d finally fit (they were on sale when I bought the smaller size).  Well…they fit!!  I will be wearing those this weekend as well.  When I was in NM this past weekend, my roomie gave me a casual suit that I’d always liked.  I figured since it was an 18/20 from years ago (before Lane adjusted their sizing again) that it would still be way too tight.  Nope, it fit perfectly! I might eventually get around to trying on other things from my closet to see what else fits.

~*~*~*~*~

So today I’m thankful that I’m fitting into smaller sizes!! Woohoo!

Time to Find Some New Sorts

Leave a reply

When I’m out of sorts, I’m just completely and totally out of sorts. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. Now that the boys are both home and the hubby is officially On Vacation (woohoo!) we pretty much had a laid back sort of day. The boys have just been snuggling up to each other (which says a lot considering the pupster is always afraid that the kitkat will get him) all day. And it took a while, but around 5:00PM we all finally got into bed for a little snuggle. And yes, I napped for about an hour. Which of course, didn’t help in the sorts department all too much.

A little while ago, the hubby decided that he needed to do a Costco run to pick up a cooler and a case of water for the bands he’ll be working with tomorrow. Of course, coolers are summer items in Costco-land, so none were to be found. But I’m getting ahead of myself in this rambling little story…the important part of the evening…first we stopped at Baja Fresh for dinner. All was fine and good, until we get to Costco, find a parking spot and head in. At this point I realize that I left my purse (!) at Baja Fresh. So we had to double back to pick it up. Since I called to let them know that I left it, they were waiting for me and handed it to me as soon as I walked up to the counter. The guy was so sweet, he said that he actually went into the restroom looking for me.

In my out of sorts daze, I was just about ready to say “it’s okay, it’s not like I left my cell phone behind” until I realized that the purse and all it’s occupants would cost about 5-10x as much as my cell phone would cost to replace. Don’t be alarmed, a huge chunk of that is the actual Coach purse along with my extensive lipstick collection – really, I’ve got it bad. Apparently, when I’m lacking in decent sleep, I’m way to out of it to keep track of the most basic things (or so it would seem).

And of course, the rest of the cooler and water search really isn’t important in this story any longer. So long story short…he found a cooler at the local sporting goods shop and will pick up water at the nearby grocery store. Wow, that really did make for a boring, lame-ass ending. Sorry.

Well, instead we can end things with a little gratitude…I’m grateful that all the boys are home tonight so we can get some good snuggling in before heading out again this weekend (wine country…yum!). I’m grateful that my purse, and all its occupants are safe and sound. I’m SO very grateful that my hubby can love me foibles and all and just shake his head and laugh at my (seemingly) brainless antics.

Oh Dear Lord…

2 Replies

I am more than thankful for finally, FINALLY getting home and sleeping on our own bed. I’m also quite thankful that I thought ahead to pre-post Sunday’s post.

PS – this is a post-dated post since I wasn’t anywhere near internet until we just now got home at 1:00AMish

Back to the Land of Enchantment

5 Replies

2003_0122_165008AA

Last night I went looking through all my digital photos looking for something that represented Albuquerque to me. I remember all those years of taking photos in Old Town and during Balloon Fiesta. Well, turns out all I have digitally are my going away party pictures, my moving truck pictures and a batch from the last roadtrip that my roomie and I took before I left. Notice a theme here?

This photo above is what’s left of the army post at Fort Union on the Santa Fe Trail. We headed out there because I’ve always wanted to see wheel ruts from the Calistoga wagons. So we drove the couple of hours to get there and started taking pictures of what we thought were the wheel ruts. Turns out they were wheel ruts alrighty…from a pickup truck (see below). Yeah, disappointing.

Ruts from a Pickup

On our way back to the freeway, we stopped at the museum and asked them where the damn ruts were. Turns out, they’re right along side of both the road and the freeway. Um…but they look just like every other natural arroyo (as evidenced below). Which of course makes me wonder if it’s arroyo or ruts over on the Turquoise Trail into Madrid.

Santa Fe Trail Wheel Ruts

So while I may not have many digital photos of New Mexico in my arsenal, I do hope to get a couple good shots will visiting this weekend. That is if I can find the time between the margaritas, the green chile and the sopapillas!! Yum!  New Mexico, here I come!