Well, here we are at October.  My plans to do a lot and have fun this summer seem to have been a success, so that's always good.  I haven't posted in awhile and the most recent thing I have to update on is my vacation to see my sister.  Was a fabulous two and a half weeks, from which I was not that excited about coming home (but you know, why would I be?).

Anyway, so a quick synopsis - Flew into London on the 6th and met up with ashkitty , who had booked into the hostel and bought groceries and stuff already.  Was dead tired after being up about 26 hours with no sleep or something, but wanted to stay up so went out to dinner anyway.  We went to this great coffee house place that Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, etc. used to play at, which makes it pretty cool in my book of course!  The next day we met up with ladyorla, who was also in London from New Zealand, and did a ton of shopping and had lunch at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (divine).  I was pretty exhausted by this point and wondering what had possesed me to want to run around London all jetlagged and stuff, but whatever.  Oh, and me feet hurt.   So bad I was waking up the next couple of days after full nights of sleep feeling like my feet would be happier if they were amputated.  But whatever.  Anyway, other highlights of London included the National Portrait Gallery, a cruise on the Thames, and a tour of the Globe. 

After London we spent a lovely night in a B&B in Shrewsbury and played around there the next day before heading to Aber to ashkitty 's place.  Spend a lovely five days in Aber, which was nice because I was pretty tired from London.  Spent a lot of time drinking tea, walking by the water, eating ice cream, playing at the castle, walking around town, and drinking beer at pubs.  So, obviously an all around marvelous time. 

After Wales we headed to Bath, where we met up with folk and took him out for his birthday.  Dinner was quite delicious, at this great French Restaurant.   The duck, as it is in good French restaurants, was divine.  The next day I, unhappily, came down with a cold.  It was our only full day in Bath, which I was excited to see, so I soldiered on.  We visited the Roman Baths and had lunch at the pump room and went to the Fashion Museum.  I was so beat by the time we'd walked back to our B&B that I couldn't go back out.  Which was sad because there seem to be so many good restaurants to try in Bath.  But we had a baked potato at the B&B and called it good.

The next day was a travel day to Hamburg, and being sick sucked, but was pretty much ok.  Not a lot happened, we got to Germany and our old friend A got us from the airport and took us to her place where we hung out and talked, etc.  The next day was A's daughter's first birthday so there was a party and lot's of neighborhood kids, etc.  By Saturday  I was feeling better and we got around to some shoppning and sight seeing.  In general, we did not hit Hamburg too hard, as it was more of a visiting trip and there was a 1 year old involved.  Well, Sat. A's boyfriend took the baby and we went out and did stuff, but he was busy on Sun., so we were trekking around the city and getting on the subway, etc., with a somewhat fussy 1 year old, so obviously that couldn't be TOO long of a day being out.  On Monday we left and flew back to Heathrow.  We stayed the night out there, since I was flying out the next day.  We stayed at the Premier Inn on Bath Road, which was pretty nice for the 55 pounds we paid for it, so I'd definitely recommend it.   Anyway, the next day, which was the 22nd, I came home.

I went to work the 23rd and was busy all week, had a wedding on Sat., etc.  So am just now kind of getting back into the swing of things.

Hope everyone on my flist is doing well!

So I decided it would be fun to finally start DOING THINGS for my three day weekends.  This weekend I went to California to visit my college friend Aubrey in West Hollywood.  So I got up ridiculously early Sat. morning and got a flight that got me down there around 9ish, where we went to Portos (www.portosbakery.com/) and had some delicious pastries (the chocolate croissants, cheese rolls, and meat pies are to die for) and caught up with one of my old college room mates, who lives in Georgia now and was in town until Sun. morning.  Then we went down Hollywood Blvd. and looked at stuff and went shopping on Melrose.  Afterward we walked to OBar (www.obarla.com/index.html) for dinner, which was pretty yummy as well (yes, my life revolves a lot around food!).

The next day we went to Venice Beach, then saw Half Blood Prince, then went to sushi, then went for gelato.  Aubrey's wife Irma is Italian and has approved of this particular gelato place.  She also makes wonderful coffee that I am much in love with. 

Today we went to Rodea drive to check out the shops.  Irma is the visual manager for the west coast Dolce and Gabbana stores so she gave us a tour of her store.  Anyway, basically being the visual manager means that she is in charge of hwo all the stores look.  She is responsible for all the layouts of the stores as well as their window displays.  It's a pretty cool job.  Anyway, so we got a tour of the store and also of the showroom, which is where the celelbrities come and try on clothes and borrow them and stuff.  Then she went back to work and Aubrey took me to check out Prada across the street because they have these cool dressing rooms that are clear glass but fog up when you go into them.  Pretty trippy.  Then we went here (www.sprinkles.com/) and shared a cupcake (mostly shared because Aubrey told me they are so rich she can only eat about a quarter of one).  Then we passed a Lush and I introduced her to the wonderful world of Lush products, which she was pretty excited about.  Oh, then we went to Chanel and I drooled all over the $2700 necklaces and then we went back to her place and relaxed for about an hour until she drove me to my flight.  Now I am home.

It was a pretty fun weekend!
 

Apparently I missed a lot today, not being on the internet.  Both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died today.  So Farrah's had cancer for awhile and has been reported to be on a decline, but the Michael Jackson one I didn't see coming.

So, one thing I shall never understand is people who deliberately make people feel bad.  What makes them enjoy being a mean person?  When I feel like I've been mean I pretty much agonize over it forever.  Weird that other people seem to enjoy it. 

Anyway, so as those who have been following are aware, I pretty much felt crappy all day yesterday for spazzing out on my neighbors.  So after work yesterday I went home and walked over and knocked on their door.  The wife was gone but the husband was home, and he is the one who really weedwhacked my stuff anyway, so of the two he was really the one I wanted to talk to anyway.  So he ended up inviting me in for a beer and we hung out for a bit and talked.  They are super nice people and I really really felt bad about making them feel bad.  Bu tall is ok now.  Still wish I would have just been like "stupid flowers that I didn't even plant and inherited with the house and look like weeds anyway" and gone about having a nice day and being nice, but did not. 

So...this morning when I got up there was a really nice hanging basket hanging next to my front door.

I feel like a real heel.

It's bloody friggin' hot today.  92 it got to.
I was working from home and do not have air conditioning.  
oh well.  must remember when fussing about cold.

Every once in awhile I just get the urge to start making plans.  So I booked a flight to see my friend in SoCal for July and am planning a trip to visit ashkitty in Sept.  Just over two weeks (9/6-9/22) and will hit England, Germany (to visit an old friend, A, who I am sure those of you I went to high school with will know who I mean), and Wales.  Hurrah for traveling!  

In other news, things are pretty much same ol same ol here.  Nothing new, but that's not bad.  As someone who loves her life, it's quite good actually.  Work is good, house is perfect, new car is running great. 

Have made a couple of changes to the yard that are still in progress.  Had a massive maple tree cut down in the backyard that was taking up half my gardening space and shading the rest.  Turns out it was rotten through too so is a good thing.  Still working on cutting up the pieces and getting them moved.  Also there is no shed except a kids playhouse that was here from before that I keep my mower in and stuff, so my dad and I started building a nice 6 * 8 shed.  We did it last weekend, but then my dad and mom went on vacation so it now just has a floor and two walls.  He says we'll make it cute with gables and stuff.  So my yard is a work in progress but will look quite fantastic when done.  

Anyway, guess that's about it. We are enjoying some exceptionally warm and sunny weather today (must be about 80) so that's pretty nice. Good to see summer coming around.

So earlier in the week I was a little bummed that I was going to miss the home opener and was going to the game tonight instead. Um, not now.  I mean, I would have left before it went into extra innings last night.  Tonight - holy cow does Ichiro know how to start his first game of the season with a grand slam.  Griffey hit a homer (his 400th as a Mariner, BTW).  Mariners won 11-3.  Now that was a good game.  Also, had seats about 18 rows back right behind the dugout (which my aunt scored from work), so it was pretty awesome.

Sleep now, work tomorrow.  Good night.

So, in somewhat weirdness I ran into my boss here asadotacoma.com/ last night.  Which is bizarre because I work in Kent and she lives in Lake Tapps so it seems like I would not be running into her on 6th Ave in Tacoma.  But it is an exceptionally good restaurant and a lot of people like to drive a bit to get there.  I had some really delish skewer thingies with lentils and this absolutely yummy glass of Malbec.  Very spicy.  Also had some drink called a Metreopolitan, which, apparently is not really as good as a cosmopolitan and was kind of syrupy sweet.  Yay for spending $10 on that (yeah right).  

Anyway, so this morning I went back into my price bracket and after my normal Saturday morning routine (gym, tanning), went to Grocery Outlet.  For not the first time I was asked if I was having a party when I wasn't.  This has happened a lot.  I got to Trader Joe's and people are like, are you having a party.  Some day I will just say "no, I am an alcoholic" or, perhaps even better, just say no and look completely confused as to why they would ask.  Anyway, so today is the last day of Grocery Outlet's 20% off wine day, so I bought 9 bottles for $30ish.  Pretty ridiculous deal.

Anyway, off tozombiechick and elbaz 's house for the weekend. TTYL.

So, ipod is on shuffle. I have to admit I still love the Monkees. They were my fav. when I was little and it's not like I've listened to them in forever and ever, but I snagged some stuff from my mom's itunes when I was over there awhile ago (she was able to add a ton of stuff I haven't really listened to in forever because she got one of those turntables that puts your records on the computer). Anyway, so it's not like I was really listening to it though, but I have it on shuffle now and a few of their songs have come on and I like them. I know they were essentially a boy band and were never happy because they couldn't write songs and play instruments and be like a real band, but I don't care. I like them.

Um, let's see, in other news, I am eagerly anticipating the May 1 release of Lindsay Lohan's new self tanning line. I know, right? I don't want to support her financially or anything, but it has gotten really good reviews as far as not being orange or streaky. I far prefer the natural method as it looks, well, natural, but there is pesky skin cancer to worry about so, though I will continue to tan, I might supplement with self tanning product.

Also am going to visit zombiechick and elbaz for the weekend. Am v. excited about seeing little Rowan (and of course cannot leave out big brother and my own personal BFF Opus). So am pretty excited about that. Maybe will have time for some tax-free shopping? Well, I don't even think stores are open on Easter so maybe another time.

Oh! Also, I had this massive behemoth of a tree cut down in my backyard so will actually have a lot more gardening space now, that is pretty exciting. I had the stump ground down so I can completely use the space. I would post pictures if I knew how. The before and after are pretty amazing. Also had some huge overgrown hedges in the alley ( 38th street really, but is v. small) behind my house they took down. The whole yard is opened up and looks a lot bigger. It turns out the tree was rotten in the middle so it was good to have it taken down. As my dad said it would have come down one way or the other and it is better to not have it come down on the house.

Work related - I have to move offices and will have a longer commute. Will now be up by B Field. No biggie though, I'll have windows and everything. Will be more involved and not isolated so there are actually quite a few pluses to moving up there, not the least of which is that I am still employed, which is more than I can say for the people's whose desks we are being moved into...

Mom and Dad are adventuring around the UK with ashkitty right now, so sounds like they are having fun. Wish I were there, but will hopefully get a visit in this year. Am frustrated with still not hearing on he waitlist for grad school. I mean, at some point I really would like to know whether I have to use my vacation to do the residency or whether I can go ahead and plan a vacation. Oh well, must be patient (which we know I do not possess in abundance).

Anyway, guess that's about it for now!

Has anyone ever seen the movie Rachel Getting Married? My friend and I rented it last night and really tried to stick it out. We made it about 50 min. in and had to turn it off, right about when they were reloading the dishwasher. I had just sat through what seemed like a long rehearsal dinner that I forced to attend and then got to watch someone reload the dishwasher. I feel like that's the stuff they should take OUT of movies. Doing dishes, etc. It was just people, you know, talking, and a plot that moved so slowly that I could have moved forward quicker walking backward.

That being said, would be curious to know if others have seen this and found it good and can explain its sort of appeal (I mean, it got great reviews).

So, my sister posted this already, as she definitely gets more traffic than I do with my, oh, 10 friends, but thought, since it is my friend doing it, that I would go ahead and post it as well, even though all the people on my flist are on hers. So basically my friend Danielle is running a half marathon for Crohn’s Disease and Colitis (which she has) and is doing fundraising for that, so go check it out. She is training to do a full marathon around her 30th birthday in November too, which I am super proud of her for. She's been really working hard to train and I think she's doing a great job. Anyway, go check it out!
http://www.active.com/donate/napa09washington/napa09DCruver

So, I was sitting around my house this morning and my friend H called me on her way to Best Buy. She was on her way to Best Buy because her husband had picked up a virus on Facebook. A quick synopsis of what she told me pretty much indicated it was the Koobface virus. And all you really have to do is run a virus scan to get it off and then change your passwords and stuff (and for God's sake stop clicking on random links). So I told her to come over to my house instead of to Geek Squad and when she did all I did was put AVG on and run a scan and clean it up and it was running like new. She was so impressed she was calling everyone telling them how I fixed her computer and how great I am. Now, just to recap. I ran a virus scan. This is the extent of the technical savvy involved. So I started thinking that Geek Squad people must make a lot of money if people run over to them with the slightest little thing. Of course, I could never do something like that because surely eventually someone would want me to do something more complicated and really, I get pretty bored doing complicated things (at my old house it got so cold once that the freezing then expanding made me have to reseat my memory card and I got pretty bored about two seconds into that and it wasn't really that complicated or involved). Still, could be a decently lucrative living...

It is not a massive surprise that Daniel Osmond would be a good singer.  I mean, ok, people's parents tell them they are good all the time, but I think if your dad was already a part of the music industry and really knows what is required they would not encourage their kid to audition unless they were actually good.  Plus he has MS and has been in a wheel chair.  They don't put sucky people like that on, only good ones.

Coming up: super creepy eyeliner / tongue guy.

Right. So that one guy screamed so loud in his audition that Ryan came running into the room to see what was wrong. He said he didn't make it because he was too "intense." Seems like a nice guy though.

My friend J called 10 min. before the end. You KNOW the very best and the very worst happen at the end. I missed them. =( Cannot put off friends for television, that is wrong.

Tall blonde "positive attitude" girl's parents need to get hearing aids.

Went to the Swiss after work today for celebratory fun and let me tell you, it was packed. I don't think I have ever participated in inaugural celebration before. Was a little disappointed because we thought they were going to use that big huge movie projector screen to play inaugaral things from earlier, but they basically kept the news on mute while a band played. Will youtube things later. We could not watch anything at work because it would bugger up the system, but I can tell people must have been anyway because I could not even do my actual job the internet was so slow.

Anyway, am happily home only 20 min. into American Idol and can relax (as my friend D said, since we went after work in nice clothes "I miss my sweats")

Hurrah! American Idol!

Happy New Year all! Am off to Portland for a few days for shopping, wine and food. Then back Saturday and needing to get ready for the (ugh) work week. 14 days off is nice though! Hope everyone is having a wonderful beginning to 2009.