This Just Might Take All the Tea in China

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The thing about leaving town for a bit and having very limited internet time (or in my case, horrible connectivity) is that you come home feeling so behind.  My Google Reader has 145 posts for me to read!  That’s one HUNDRED and forty-five!!  And it was only for a few days.

Something tells me I might need more than just one cup of  tea to catch up..and that’s not counting my own updating that needs to get done.  Plus tonight we have the Feist show and then first thing Tuesday, it looks like we’ll be driving to Tuscon (with the pupster) to shoot Herbie’s show.  Again Since we didn’t get to shoot his Santa Barbara show last night.

But let me just say, no matter how comfy those Heavenly Beds are over at the Westin (and woowee are they comfy!) nothing beats coming home to sleep in your own bed.   Too bad the kitcat decided that we needed to get up around 7:30 to feed him and go get the pupster.  Needless to say, I told him to hush and just kept sleeping – well, as well as I could with his damn meowing for three hours *sigh*  But really, it’s good to be home.

Repeat After Me…

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…while business trips can often times be pleasurable; business trips are not guaranteed to be pleasurable.  Business does not always equal pleasure.  And yes, I learned this the hard way.

Of course, I’m far too tired to fill you in.  But there’s always tomorrow.

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I’m thankful for being able to sleep in my own bed tonight and to finally be out of the car (too much driving today for my own kind of fun).   I’m also thankful that my husband is so very tolerant and able to go with the flow so easily (and just thrilled that I was able to hold back the tears earlier).

Crappy Connectivity & Then Some…

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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.

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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…

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

Tonight We Fly Out a Weekend of Wine & Jazz

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First stop, two days in Healdsburg drinking yummy wine and eating awesome food. Hopefully we’ll pop on in to Sonoma since there are a couple of vineyards there that we really like (Kunde, Valley of the Moon, etc).

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We’ll be staying in Petaluma (just a short drive away) on the marina. The rooms are gorgeous and comfortable and there’s a marsh right near by with walking trails. Last time it was crazy windy, so this time I’ll be sure to bring warmer clothes – and a hat.

Herbie & Friends Backstage

From there we head back into San Francisco for Herbie’s show at the Masonic. The hubby will be shooting the show and we’ll have plenty of backstage access so this time I hope to get some great shots myself. The photo above was taken backstage after the Sonoma Jazz Festival but I wasn’t using my flash since it would have messed up the hubby’s pro shots. Sonia Kitchell will be performing with the band and I’m pretty excited abut that (she’s the blond above).

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Then we drive down to Santa Barbara for the last night of Herbie’s mini-tour.  Again, the hubby will be shooting the show so I should again be able to get some fun shots.  We won’t be staying in Santa Barbara this time around though, we’ll be staying in Ventura instead – gotta save some money considering what we’ll probably be spending in wine – so who knows how much sightseeing we might get to do.

I’ll be back on Monday (and hope to post a photo or two while I’m gone).

Granted, this is a good thing…

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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.

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

And Speaking of Lists…

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It’s about that time that I put some serious thought into my Christmas list.  The hubby won’t step foot into a mall, so anything I want needs to be able to be found online (I typically do an amazon.com list).  For the family (the in-laws) we draw names and have a $50 limit, so that’s a different list for them.

So just thinking out loud (since there’s not all too much that I really want or need) I thought I’d put down some of my thoughts here in no particular order…

And totally unrelated to my holiday shopping list, but how awesome does this sound?  Honey and fir…talk about smelling like the holidays!

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I’m thankful for having the opportunity to have a relaxing lunch with my hubby while he’s on vacation works from home.

Yet Another Cool Thing About Living in SoCal

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…the celebs are everywhere.

My hubby just sent me a text message to tell me that David Anders* is at the show he’s photographing tonight. And of course, this has to be one of the shows that he didn’t get a +1 for. I could have easily spent the entire night ogling Sark (from Alias). I mean, who couldn’t, right? Hopefully, he’ll sneak a photo for me.

* edited to add a link to his IMDB page 

Time to Find Some New Sorts

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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.