I really do SUCK at this

Yeah, when I logged on today and found that I hadn't added a blog since April, I realized I hadn't done very well in the consistency department.

But! My lovely sister got me into this thing, and now I've got various friends who are starting to get into their thing, so I am making a RESOLUTION to do better (at least monthly? Wouldn't that be a good goal? I can already hear my sister snickering since she does one at least once a day...)

Be it known that I Am Resolved:

I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the world’s delight,
Things that are higher,
things that are nobler,
These have allured my sigh

You're asking what the hell...? And I agree

the Florida blog was really June's trip, so I am looking forward to a July blog Very Shortly.

Paradise in the United States

Living in Utah is both great and not-so-great. One of the not-so-great things is the hideous DRY climate, which shrivels up my skin to the point of 80 year old/prune appearance (Hate that) So, of course, I crave the humidity that so many other people complain about - Hawaii, Mexico and Florida are among my favorite places to travel. My skin feels so NORMAL, at least for the duration that I'm there.

But that's just a nice little side note - my love of Florida is mostly due to the fabulous warm beaches, the great restaurants, the people I meet, the intercoastal waterways, the mix of culture, and the KEYS.

The Jewel of Florida is Key West - it's such a great place . The event of the day is watching the Sunset, there are 80 plus bars which would take you all month to go through, Harry Truman lived here as President, Hemingway wrote here, and the attitude of "come as you are" makes you feel like you're accepted before you ever even open your mouth. Where else can you get a taxi from a really hot guy on a bike who'd be willing to drive the streets with 3 rather large girls in his little trailer?

Deep Thoughts

Many of you may remember this fabulous invention from Saturday Night Live - it had me in stitches for years. A friend of mine circulated this the other day, and it brought back several other Deep Thought memories. For now, I'll share:

Some people are like slinkies. They don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

Another favorite of mine is:

If you find yourself falling out of a window of a tall building, act really stiff because people below will look up and think "Hey, free dummy".

I've Been Tagged

Well, for hell's sake.

I can't let my sister down, I mean, I was sort of challenged, right? But I can't IMAGINE my answers will be at all as interesting as hers :-) Here goes -

- Three Things That Scare Me: Disloyalty, poverty, disability (my own)

- Three People Who Make Me Laugh: Family members, Monty Python, Peter Sellers

- Three Things I Love: Cheese fries, Hard Rock, fast cars

- Three Things I Hate: cold weather, sickness, injustice

- Three Things I Don't Understand: crazy people, irrational people, psycho people

- Three Things On My Desk: Lucky frog, computer, a St. Thomas (Caribbean) mouse pad

- Three Things I'm Doing Right Now: Watching Marlon Brando Biography, sitting by the fire, drinking wine

- Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die: learn Karate, become fluent in more languages, visit The List of countries I've had since birth

- Three Things I Can Do: take good pictures with a disposable camera, gain amazing amounts of weight after one weekend :-), laugh at just about anything

- Three Things I Can't Do: can't do the splits, can't speak chinese, and can't manage to shave my legs without getting stubble within 3 hours.

- Three Things I Think You Should Listen To: good music, good leaders, honesty

- Three Things You Should Never Listen To: manipulators, liars, most politicians

- Three Things I'd Like To Learn: play the guitar, smart investing, yoga

- Three Favorite Foods: pizza, sushi, any kind of fried potato

- Three Shows I Watched as a Kid: George of the Jungle, The Partridge Family, Happy Days

- Three Things I Regret: Most, if not all, of the boyfriends I chose, not pursuing a retirement earlier, not being in a rock band.

- Three people I'm tagging: You've got to be kidding? I'd only tag Brillig right back! (I need to get out more)

(Love you, Brillig)

My House

My House is My Castle.

For someone who has a commitment problem and has been a rolling stone most of her life, I was DAMNED eager to get into my very own house, and commit to a 30 year mortgage (Yikes! Saying it out loud hurts a little...)

But! Every day, I wake up in my Princess bed and think to myself "I'm the luckiest person I know". SIX YEARS I had nearly everything I ever owned in various storage places, stored in such a way that it was difficult, if not impossible, to access any of it during that time. I felt temporary, never fully complete, because I couldn't access my STUFF. But now I can! I have all my photos, letters, books, videos, DVD's, cassettes, CD's, clothes - everything at my finger tips. I am so lucky.

Here are some pics of the new place - it was impossible to do any of it justice, but it's the best I can do...

The view off the balcony of my bedroom The Bath

A partial view of the master room

Feminine Bitz

So,
Many of you women out there can relate, but I'm at that Age where suddenly all the feminine bits become Suspect of potential disaster, and for me, it has become such (on a small scale at least).

I mean, what IS this? Mammograms, Pap smears, Vaginal Biopsies, Cervix removals...etc. etc. etc. not to mention that in MY family, (we grow cancer very well), I also have to worry about colon cancer, and just about every other cancer to known thus far to the human race. So just about every oriface needs to be pecked at, poked at and dug into for the "good" of my being.

If God exists, he and I are going to have a talk. I mean, what the hell? Women start their periods at around 12-13 years of age, and begin a life full of emotional, physical or mental colossal messes that just lasts and lasts. In my case, I only had to deal with the physical bit, but that was enough to curse my gender to the ends of the earth.

And what - the only respite from this mess is either pregnancy or menopause? A helluva respite. And men? What? They don't have ANY mess. In fact, more often than not, they make nasty comments about it - there isn't a lot of understanding or commiseration. How could there be? They never had to go through periods, breast exams or pregnancy - they can't relate.

Interestingly enough - I learned recently that any male adolescent who indulged in excessive smoking or drinking, gains the elegant status of Erectile Disfunction by as early as 30 years of age (ah - this explains some Past Experiences). Of course, this disfunction as well as many other pharmaceuticals out there has made drugs like Viagra extremely popular. Just gauging by how many advertisements there are for Viagra, you would think that at least 90% of the male population suffered from this. I've learned that, in fact, that is pretty dern near the case! Hmmm.

Well, at least my bits will eventually (after 6 weeks...!) function without the help of Viagra et al.

Napa Valley

Yet another weekend trip - fabulous!

I met my friends Angie, Amy, Wendy and Shari in Sacramento (they picked me up at the airport - thanks gals!), and off we went to Cheesecake Factory, where we fed our faces for a couple hours. Lovely!

But that was just the beginning. We eventually made our way to Angie and Amy's house in Fairfield, rested for the evening, and woke up to a big breakfast at IHOP, then drove to Sonoma for a bout of wine tasting.

We went to Kenwood first (my favorite!), Blackstone, and then let the path plan our way for the next several - Wilson, Mauritson (GREAT Sauvignon Blanc), some other smaller wines in a warehouse, and Dutcher Crossing (oh my - really hot guy there. Thanks a lot, Wendy, as usual, for pointing out the hot guys. This time in a Loud Whisper - so busted). For lunch, we went to a market deli and picked up some fabulous cheeses and sandwiches, and for dinner (Wendy's birthday celebration), we went to Ameritage in Sonoma, where I had the surf and turf. Not nearly enough Surf, but hey - we were rolling out of there anyway.

Sunday, Easter - many of the wineries were closed, but we stopped at Peju, V. Satui, and Rutherford Ranch. We stopped at Rutherford Grill for lunch, and then zipped home speedily to pack up the multitude of boxes and fly home. Of course, there was still a little time for wine tasting at Vino Volo, a new wine place they're implementing in the airports, showcasing local wines (when there are some), and I was able to test a couple wines that I'd not been able to test that day - Cosentini and Sequoia Grove. Lovely! Now I have a good stash for several more months to come.

Scottsdale

So - my sister has inspired me, and I'm off to start writing on this BLOG so her link won't be wasted on me.

I gotta say - I work an 8-5 job (at best, sometimes more), and I LIVE for the weekends and time off. So when one of my best friends KATE proposed a trip to Scottsdale to watch Spring Training (the Cubs vs. Padres), I jumped at it.

What a good time - Kate's boyfriend and friends rented a limo so we didn't have to worry about parking/drinking/driving, and the fun began. We watched the baseball game in 100 degree weather, drinking lovely cocktails, getting to know each other better (there was a group of 10 of us), then the limo picked us up and took us to a party at a mansion in the "mountains" (can you really call those little hills mountains? I suppose it's all comparable...)

After a few hours of meeting more people, eating the snacks, having more cocktails, the limo took us to downtown Scottsdale where we were in the thick of pubs/restaurants/clubs. It was St. Patrick's Day (uh - no one but Kate and I were wearing green?) and we began to wander the area for some great St. Patrick's Day parties - which we never found. But we found a great restaurant that also had a Karoake bar, so that is where we settled in for the night.

Good times, man...