Category Archives: travel

They Say You Can Never Go Home

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Well, it’s that time. We leave within the hour. I told myself when I left years ago (back in ’89) that I’d never go back. Well, not exactly never, but only go back 1) if someone died and I needed to be there or 2) when my friend Matt got married and he’s the lucky bridegroom and reason for this trip this weekend!!

I have to say though, I’m getting a bit excited. Maybe it’s watching all that House which supposedly takes place in Princeton (home of my very first job!). Or maybe I’m just finally ready. Either way, look out Jersey, and my long lost, Jersey accent…’cuz you’se guys, I’m comin’ home!

Here’s hoping I won’t get too lost and thrown for a loop.

See you Tuesday (unless I get to steal some computer time from the hubs)…

Traveling Books

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I have some books that I don’t really have any need to keep around. My friends that might be interested in reading them have already read them. Quite a few years ago, a friend passed along a book (Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice) that she found on the bus. To this day, it remains one of my favorites of all the Anne Rice books. In fact, if I’m remembering correctly, it was my first Anne Rice book.

So as a fun little, pay it forward kind of project, I thought I’d drop of my extra books at Los Angeles Airport on my way out of town tomorrow. My hope is that someone will pick them up and enjoy them.

I’ve affixed labels inside the covers asking that if anyone finds the books to come hereo come here and leave a comment. I thought it might be a fun little social experiment.

With that, I say hello to my new readers. Please take a moment to leave a comment and let me know which book you have and where you found it. I do hope you’ve enjoyed your book and have passed it along.

Happy & Safe Travels! 😉

ETA: The hubs won’t let me leave the books in the actual airport. You know, Homeland Security and all that. So instead I’ll leave one or two in the parking lot/shuttle, maybe one or two on the plane and then wherever in NJ when I get there. Yes, I’ll lug around 7 books just so I can leave them somewhere for someone else to find and enjoy. I’m just crazy like that 😀

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday: Sonoma Edition

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Consider yourself warned…this is a long post, with photos.

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Sonoma was fun. Sonoma was cold. Sonoma was rainy. Herbie was awesome! Really, that’s the trip right there. Fun, but cold and rainy with a great show. We didn’t get to do pretty much anything on our brief list of things to do – no cave tour, no fancy, delicious dinner since we ran out of time on Friday and they only do dinner on the weekends and we were flying out Saturday night. And the camera barely came out of my purse since it was so crappy out. Oh well.

Instead we hung out on the square for the first time. We tasted some chocolate at Wine Country Chocolates – and of course bought some champagne and zinfandel truffles (yum!). We enjoyed some wine with some cheese over at the Sonoma Wine Shop (OMG YUM!). We bought two bottles of wine (an unoaked ’07 Chard from Valley of the Moon and an awesome ’06 Miner Viognier from Simpson Vineyard) and took a ’04 Merlot from Millerick Road from backstage. We also bought some cheese from the cheese tasting – a Humbolt Fog from Cypress Grove Chevre and a killer dry Monterery Jack from Vella Cheese Company – both are absolutely delicious. And I did a little shopping at the outlet center before we left (hello new purse!). So not in the plan, but that rain, well, it messed us up a bit.

If you’re heading out to Sonoma, be sure to stop at the Sonoma Wine Shop – $5 tastings (good pours too and they really take the time to ask what you like) and $5 cheese tastings to go with your wine (and again, they really take the time to ask what you like and pair things up). Best $15 we spent – two wine tastings and some cheese. And again, it shares the courtyard with Wine Country Chocolates. What more could you ask for?!?

As for Herbie’s performance, it was awesome. Probably my favorite so far (and while I’m most definitely not a fan of jazz, I do see quite a few Herbie shows). I chose to sit in the audience instead of hanging backstage. Forty-five minutes or so and he was still only on the second song! It was great though to be in the middle of the audience when he played Rockit. He hasn’t played that song life in years (he said nearly 20, but I believe he’s played it somewhere else – non-US show – a few years back). We’re talking about the crowd just freaking out, jumping up out of their seats, dancing everywhere you looked. It was so cool. For a more musical review (by someone that likes and knows jazz), here you go.

And now for the photographic part of this Wednesday post. Too bad half the photos didn’t upload and dingdong me deleted them from the card already. Oh well, it’s not like I took many pictures to begin with (and it’s not like I won’t be seeing Herbie again…soon).

Writing up the setlist…

Jess Writing Up the Set List

During sound check…

Backstage @ Sonoma Jazz Rehearsal

During Rockit…

Herbie Hancock & Vinnie Colaiuta

Settling In in Petaluma

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It’s official, our long day is finally coming to a close.  I feel like I had a gazillion errands to run today before even leaving to pick up the hubs for the airport.  But here we are.  Mind you, we called the hotel on the way to the airport to confirm the reservation (as we’re “with the band”) and there was no rez to be found.  Our friend fixed that up by the time we got here.

So thanks to our “band” status and our Starwood membership we’re in the “preferred guest” floor.  That of course means a fridge in the room – for our wine, no doubt – and our free bottle of water.  I believe there’s also the breakfast and happy hour sort of stuff, but I doubt we’ll be up or around for any of that.  Oooh and Bliss bath products…mandarin mint.  Yummy!

Since we have the world’s smallest bathtub at home, I rarely get to indulge in baths.  So you better believe that I packed some fun treats – salts, bubbles and bombs – and ran the bath as soon as we walked in the door!  My husband of course just rolls his eyes and gets online.  Go figure.

So while I was soaking in my hot, hot, nice and deep tub, the hubs thought it would be the perfect time to run to 7-11 to stock up on sodas and whatnot.  I’m telling myself that there’s no need to be offended that he decided to walk out on me  – LOL.

So tomorrow we have some wine tasting (of course!), band rehearsal, maybe a little shopping if I can swing it  (there’s both a Coach and a Lane Bryant outlet here), and visit to one of our favorite restaurants.  Should be a fun day (assuming rehearsal doesn’t go too long).  If so, then I guess I won’t be sitting in the audience for the show, I’ll be backstage drinking the wine instead 😉  The hubs will be shooting, of course.

Okay, time to get off the computer.  I told myself that I wouldn’t check emails or answer calls from unknown numbers (even managed to put vacation notices on both the email & the cell).  More than likely, I won’t be posting again until Sunday.

Have a great weekend!!

PS – old photo from our last visit out this way since 1) it was already dark when we got here and 2) no computer to upload my photos (only the hub’s ‘puter)

F*ck a Duck!

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My girlfriend just sent me a series of emails while I was out regarding an October women’s retreat that we wanted to do. It’s in Ashville, NC and absolutely beautiful out there any time of the year.  We were so excited.  And I’d actually, finally, get to visit the Biltmore!

First we wanted March, but realized it was too soon for us to make the arrangements.  Then we settled on June until I remembered my friend’s wedding and realized it was the same weekend.  So lastly, October was our target.  It took some work on her part to talk her husband into watching the boys – especially with it being so close to their anniversary.

She decided that we should pay for it now to secure our spot (and so she wouldn’t spend her bonus money on something else).  So we agreed to get online and do just that.  Then I headed out to Trader Joe’s…and come home to six emails from her.  The last one…”well damn!”

Turns out the October retreat is booked.  Mind you, there are still spots in the June session (of course!).  So now we’re both bummed that we don’t get to do the whole female bonding in the woods with massage, meditation and song thing.  Needless to say, we will be following Ms. Christine Kane very, very closely for her posting of the ’09 retreat schedule (thanks to my handy, dandy Reader!)

And now, I must finally start working on tomorrow’s workshop presentation!  Back to work for me!

Okay, Now I Have Something To Say

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So I registered for BlogHer a while back. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the agenda and have been checking every couple of days. I’ve also anxiously been awaiting some activity on the room-share board. Well, turns out we’re now all fucked.

The BlogHer room deal is already sold out. Now all that can be found through Starwood are $350+ rooms. That’s a per night fee! For three nights! Three hundred and fifty fucking dollars a night!!!! Um, legitimate business expense or not, I won’t be staying there.

This sucks for a few reasons, first of which, I’m really not a fan of San Francisco (I know, I know, I’m just not a city kind of gal and well, that place just freaks me out!). And it kind of sucks that since I’ll be going alone I won’t be staying where all the action is. I want to be part of the cool kids crowd *wahhhh*

Okay, no worries. The husband remembered the last boutique hotel we stayed at while in SF. Turns out it’s right across the street from the St. Francis. And it’s $150 less a night than the St. Francis (and includes the internet fees and tea time). So I’ll be staying there instead and will still be close enough to be part of the cool kids crowd. Since they were sold out of doubles already I just said fuck it and got a room of my own.

I’m thankful that’s all done. All I have left to do now is book my flight. I’ll wait until things get closer to do that though. Heck, we have other flights and rooms to book still in late May and early June. July just seems so far off still.

Bring on the Thanks

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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…

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On the Road Again

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By the time you read this, I’ll surely be well on my way to Tucson (a city that I seem to have challenges spelling correctly) considering we woke up at the butt crack of dawn – which happens to be way, way, WAY earlier than I prefer to wake, mind you. Since the hubby never got to shoot Herbie (outside of sound check in San Francisco) we’re making the 7+ hour drive to Tucson to shoot him there. This time around though, he’ll be given 100% full access to photograph all he wants. Thankfully. This was only a week in the making and what we wanted from the start.

The other cool thing this time around, is that the hotel will only be a few minutes away. In San Francisco, since the drive to Santa Barbara was going to be so insane, we stayed an hour out of the city (plus is was like half the price!). So this time, we’ll be driving into town in time for sound check, then the pupster and I will poke around town a bit. Hopefully I can have a little fun before the show. I’d love to be able to check out Old Tucson if I can.

But man, who knew when I agreed to this NaBloPoMo thing that we’d be on the road so much. I feel like I’m spending all my time either pre- or post- publishing stuff. The weird thing, I haven’t even had a chance to really blog about anything other than my day to day antics. I mean there’s a whoe slew of stuff I’d planned to officially write about, you know to try my hand at writing consistently. Guess not. Ah well, something to aspire to. At least we’re nearly halfway through the month, right?