It’s already April…
Wow! It’s already April and the weekend has flown by. I’ll try to catch you up…
Friday: I took the day off so I could catch up on myself. Work has just been too much the past month or so. I took the day to run errands – finally got more $.02 stamps and mailed an Easter goodies package to my nieces – and got a much needed haircut! I am back to my short hairdo since the weather is warming up and I was honestly getting tired of my shaggy mid-length hairdo. I felt frumpy and the new haircut is much more me! I need to take a much better pic but will post before and after photos when I do.
Friday night: Since I took the day off I was able to join Kenny and his friends at their regular Friday night pool gathering. We played in teams and Kenny says I did really well. I was on the winning team more than half the time and I made the “ooh” a couple of times when I made some of the more difficult shots. Kenny says he honestly enjoyed playing with me more than he had anticipated and is encouraging me to come out more often. I might take him up on it if I can.
After pool we headed to dinner at Star Pizza and had a nightcap at The Social.
Saturday: Went shopping! Kenny and I were lucky and were able to stock up on slacks at really good prices. He found a bunch of his favorite Nautica pants on sale and I found nice fitting khakis at New York & Company – also on sale.
Saturday night: We had stayed out all day so we stayed home that evening. Kenny had to laundry anyway in preparation for a business trip the next day.
Sunday: Kenny headed off to College Station for a conference (he’ll be gone till Thursday afternoon) and I went to pick up my Mom. We had lunch then headed back to my house. We have been completely slack in the housecleaning duties and my Mom offered to come over and help. With her help we put away all the clean laundry, thoroughly dusted the living room and the master bedroom, swept both room as well (including sweeping the huge dust bunnies out from under the sofa and from behind the bed), cleaned the ceiling fans and floor fan. She even cleaned my patio table while I planted some leftover marigolds and a passion vine.
At 8:30 PM I finally drove her back home. We of course stopped for dinner on the way. She was a big help. I still have more cleaning to do but the house is so much less dusty now!
Now I am just waiting for Kenny to come home… just another day and a half!
Relaxing in San Antonio
What a much needed get-away!! This weekend we headed West towards San Antonio with our good friends and travel buddies CJ & Susan. Here is our traveling weekend re-cap…
Friday night: Stayed in and relaxed. Tried to tidy up a bit since Kymberlie was coming over to dog/house-sit.
Saturday: Picked up Susan & CJ and headed out on I-10. Arrived a little after noon’ish and checked into our not-so-glamorous but clean La Quinta. It was right cross the street from El Mercado so after dropping out bags off we walked over and got the shopping out of the way. I was on a mission to buy a couple new coconut masks for my collection and always have luck finding unique ones in San Antonio. This trip was no exception! Inventory of what I brought home – all for very good prices:
2 new coconut masks – see the whole collection here and mouse-over to see which ones are new
3 floaty pens – bringing my pen collection to over 375 pens!
2 hand-painted ceramic light switch face plates – No. 1 & No. 2 (very cheap and nice looking – I want to get more for the rest of the house)
Small wall frog to accompany the the larger one I already had.
After shopping we stopped for some margaritas and appetizers before heading back across the street to rest for an hour or so.
Saturday evening: Changed clothes and walked over to the Riverwalk for dinner. We met our old friend, Phil, at The Little Rhein Steak House and had a lovely meal out on the terrace facing the river. Afterward Phil, quickly becoming a local in his new hometown, took us to a wonderful “underground” bar called Club Cohiba. It’s a dark, smoky bar found in the basement of a small historic hotel. We spent several hours there, catching up while sipping mojitos.
Sunday: Wearily woke up (we had done a lot of walking the day before) , checked out and headed back to the Riverwalk for lunch. Ate at Pesca, again, outside on the veranda, and then decided as a group to check out the zoo (CJ had collected a bunch of pamphlets on local attractions while back at the hotel). We headed to the zoo only to find huge lines so we went to Plan B and diverted to the nearby San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Spent the rest of the afternoon there, grabbed some ice cream at the end of the day and headed back to Houston!
Check out all the pictures over at Flickr…
I had a lovely time and stayed laptop and internet free throughout the entire trip (despite having free hi-speed at the hotel). What a nice break!
1st book of 2006
I finally finished a book a few weeks ago that I have been reading since late last year titled Savage Girl by Alex Shakar. It’s the first book I’ve finished for 2006… yay!
The book was OK. It dragged on though and although I would get drawn in I just as quickly lost interest. I think the author tried too hard to make the book be meaningful… he tried too hard to provide an analysis of the state of the world today and where it could go. His language was very heavy and seemed contrived at times. Again, simply stated, the author tried to create a story with a lesson to be learned and in his attempts he stumbled and left me more annoyed than enlightened. I don’t mind “big words” but I don’t like having to re-read paragraphs several times to get the gist of it. I want my reading to be enjoyable – not necessarily a story that is all smiles and happiness but a story that flows naturally and easily, whether or not there is drama and conflict.
That’s it for my first review of the year! Happy reading…
Twelfth Book of the Year!
I almost forgot to write my last book review of the year! As you may recall, back in January I let my one magazine subscription expire and I vowed to get back into reading actual books once again like I used to. I have kept track of them here on the blog via the “Toad’s Library” category and I am happy to report that I made it through twelve books! I wish it had been more but I guess one book a month on average is not bad! On to the review…
A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly was given to me by a friend who finished reading it on her visit into town and didn’t feel like lugging it back home in her luggage. It was not something I might have picked up in a bookstore on my own but I still enjoyed it. It was set up in the Northern United States in the 1920’s and follows the story of a young girl coming into adulthood. It is mostly a first person narrative and describes this young girl’s experiences as she decides which direction her life should go and whether or not she has the strength to make the decision. The author researched the era and the region so the story I assume is relatively historically accurate which makes it that much more interesting. A girlie-read with a somewhat predictable outcome but with interesting plot twists along the way with several sub plots thrown in.
I’m back…
I made it back home late last night and I’m tired! I got to LAX less than 30 minutes before my flight left so even though I made it on the plane, my luggage did not. LOL. So, I had to watch everyone else’s luggage go down the chute and then go and make my claim. No big deal though. I try not to travel with any anything critical in my luggage so I finally just headed home around 11 PM. I asked Continental to go ahead and deliver it to the house since Kenny is there and the bag must have arrived last night on the next flight because they already called before I left for work to tell me it was out for delivery.
So, I have updates and a few photos but I don’t have time right now to post much more so check back in a day or two! Till then…
Sunny Hollywood
Well – greetings from West Hollywood! I meant to post yesterday before I left but I was swamped at work trying to get things done before I got out the door. I headed straight to the airport after work and arrived in LAX by 8 PM.
My friend Rachel picked me up and we headed to her apartment in the heart of West Hollywood. I met her mother and brother who are also staying here for a little while. On the way to the apartment Rachel drove me through the more famous streets of the area and told me some ideas of what we can see and do. She has some great plans and I look forward to checking out some of the hot spots! I’ll keep you posted if I see any stars!
Tonight she got us passes to the Green Room at the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. Beck will be performing and we also have passes to see them afterward. She explained that the Green Room is where the guests and their entourage hang out before they go on. They serve free drinks and it’s like a private party. You then watch the show being taped from there so although we won’t be in the audience this will probably be more fun. How cool is that? I checked the listing (tonight’s taping airs tomorrow night I think) and it seems that the guests are Joe Rogan and Jillian Barberie.
And for EJ –> I finally had my first In-N-Out Burger! I had the double for dinner last night. It was indeed very yummy!
OK – that’s it for now… I’ll keep you posted and I’ll always be sure to have my camera with me. This afternoon I think I’ll go wander Hollywood Ave. until Rachel gets back from work in a couple of hours.
Greetings from Newark!
I am here at the Marriott located at the cough lovely Newark airport about to go to meet the CEO and Medical Director of my company for breakfast before we all head out to our client’s office in Wayne, New Jersey. We try to have regular “quarterly” meetings and as client manager I have to help organize these. It helps keep everyone on track of current projects and such. We flew in late last night, the meeting will be from 10 AM – 3 PM and the we head back home. Whee. What fun.
Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say “Hi”! I’ll leave you with the view from my hotel room of the Newark airport… exciting, isn’t it?
Overdue Book Reviews
I slowed down on my reading since I got my promotion at work. I have had no energy or motivation to do so. But I did get a couple in and here are my reviews…
The Book of Ratings : Opinions, Grades, and Assessments of Everything Worth Thinking About by Lore Fitzgerald Sjoberg was a fun, quick read. It is not a book with a plot but just a book of “ratings”. Arbitrary, non-sensical, silly and hilarious. The author rates a series of things – everything from comic book heroes to urban legends to carnival food – and gives them a grade on how he personally feels about them. His writing is witty and had me laughing out loud. Good read if you don’t have the time to follow a plot line. Keep it by the bedside and read a couple of pages when you can.
Kenny bought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon for himself but let me read it first. Also a great read. I couldn’t put it down. The main character tells the story from his viewpoint and it is fascinating since he seems to suffer from a mild form of autism. Sad, funny, touching, it’s all there. What more can I say but go read it now! The story speaks for itself.
Hollywood, here I come!
Woo-hoo! I’ve booked myself a birthday trip to California! More specifically I’m heading to the LA area to visit a friend who lives in the heart of Hollywood (her apartment is between Hollywood Blvd. and W. Sunset Blvd, a block from each). I’ve never been out here and really am looking forward to the break from work. Since Kenny is still new to his job and doesn’t want to be taking time off so soon, I’ll be going alone and making it a girl’s weekend. My friend, Rachel, is an aspiring actress so she will be a great guide. She already listed some things we can plan on doing… Yay! I can’t wait!
Blue skies & golden hills…
I hope everyone had a safe labor Day weekend with friends and family. I had a nice time visiting Kenny up in the “Inland Northwest”. I flew into Spokane late Thursday night which is about 80 minutes from Pullman where Kenny is staying. Throughout the weekend the weather was perfect (mid 80’s during the day, 50’s at night) and although the area is a bit sparse in terms of what to do and where to go, we found a few things to keep us busy. Here’s the rundown, photos included…
Afterward I took a nap (Kenny went back to work) and then Kenny picked me up again for an ice cream field trip over to Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe on the Washington State University campus. This turned out to be a company outing so I was able to meet a handful of Kenny’s co-workers. Went back with him and got to see where he working and meet a few more people.
Friday night: We joined Kenny’s boss and our friend Beau for the evening. Had dinner, went to a high school football game (boss’s nephew was playing) then headed to John’s Alley (once again, in Moscow) for some drinks. Pullman-Moscow are college towns and this place was hopping because the Clumsy Lovers, a popular band, was going to be playing. They were indeed really good and Kenny happened to know a few people there since he has been playing pool regularly at a local bar. We all had a great time, and the two double screwdrivers gave me a happy buzz. I bought a CD and had it signed by the lead singer and the fiddler – with whom I had a twenty minute conversation. I look forward to seeing them again when they come to Houston in November (if you live in Houston I invite you to join me).
Saturday: We slept in (we had a late night as you can tell) and then headed north to Coeur D’Alene across the border in Idaho about an hour and a half away. We shopped, walked the boardwalk next to the resort, saw the sunset over the lake and had dinner before heading back to Pullman.
Sunday: Got up a little earlier and drove two hours south this time to Walla Walla (still in Washington). This is an up and coming area for winemakers and we were fortunate enough to hook up with Kenny’s boss once more. His fiancee also joined us and together they joined us for some wine tasting. What was especially fun is that the fiance’s father himself is a local winemaker so we got the inside scoop and visited his place, the Russell Creek Winery, last. We also visited Dunham Cellars, Ash Hollow and Waterbrook and ended up with over half a dozen bottles, most of which will get shipped to us.
Monday came too soon and we head back out to Spokane so I can catch my plane home. I had a wonderful time – the area was so cozy in its feel – and I already miss the lovely weather!
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