We're back!

We've been home for about two weeks from our amazing trip to Very Distant Country and as usual, I'm having trouble getting myself back to work. I have managed to get a little syllabus revision done, but mostly my days have consisted of running errands, going out to eat, and playing Angry Birds. I have a lot to do before classes start in two weeks, but this time of the year is also a chance to get in dentist appointments, doctor's appointments (for all of us), school clothes shopping- since D has been outgrowing her clothes about three months after we buy them (she's almost 5'5" now), and a new routine for us- having her hair braided. She had it done in Very Distant Country, but since the women there are not as accustomed to her half-African hair, they didn't stay in very well. Yesterday, we went to the woman who does my sister-in-law's hair and spent the whole day there. D was in the chair for almost seven hours having her hair braided- it looks amazing and I'm hoping it lasts longer than what we had done in Very Distant Country. It took the entire day, though- we left here at 7:30 am to get my sister-in-law, then head to the other lady's house and got home about 8pm (after going out to dinner). D is vowing not to have it done again- but she said that last time too! We'll see.

I have posted a couple pictures from our trip below (click for larger ones)- those of you who know me on FB have seen these already. It was a great trip and we got to see H's home country and meet more of his aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. The weather was wonderful (July is the coolest month there) and the scenery and wildlife were spectacular. I'm already wondering when we go back- of course, the tickets are outrageously expensive to get there, so we may wait until 2013 to go back.

Enjoying Ocean D and I hadn't seen before.

Turns our Very Distant Country has lots of waterfalls- who knew?

In one of the many national parks.

One of the places we stayed (with hippos and crocodiles!)

Off on an adventure

Today, D and I are off to Very Distant Country to meet up with H, who has been there doing research since June 3rd. This is our first trip and we're very excited about it. It will take two 8-hour plane rides and a 7-hour time change to get there, but we'll arrive tomorrow night! We've been mostly packed since Monday. We've got snacks (larabars & homemade cookies) and entertainment (kindle, iPad, books, pillows, blankets, etc.) for the plane, and everything else is packed and ready to go. A friend picks us up in a few hours to take us to the airport.

I finished teaching my summer class last week (it feels like ages ago already!) and got some research work done, so I won't be thinking about or doing ANY work during the three weeks we are there. We should get to see some amazing places, plants, and animals and meet extended family for the first time. We'll also be crossing the equator for the first time! I'll try to post some pictures- at least when I get back. FB friends can look over there, of course. I've been seeing lots of vacation photos on FB lately and I'm glad it's finally MY turn to get away for a while! I hope everyone is having a good summer!

Dog Days of Summer...

Oh look! I guess it's time for my monthly blog post! Oh well. That was certainly not the plan, but here we are. We got back from our cross country trip last week. We had a great time, but it was a long time to be away (three weeks)- especially to be eating restaurant food the whole time. We saw most of my relatives that live out that way, but our visits at each place were a bit short. I planned it that way since the whole trip was so long already, but it was a little short to be in each place. On the other hand, visiting family can be exhausting, so maybe the short visits were just enough. It turned out to be a really bad time to be at my mom's since she was crazy busy with work. I felt bad and that we were in the way. It would be nice if people would visit us- only my mom comes to see us- and that's just a long weekend once a year. Anyway.

So it's August 1st, which means that the fall semester is just around the corner. Sigh. I have one class that may be canceled due to low enrollment- which means I would have to teach my three course load in spring. I'm still hoping that the class will go, but won't know until classes start. I had some ideas about revamping some things in my classes, so I'll have to think about those in the next few weeks and decide whether to tackle them now or just leave things alone. I'm just not excited about getting back to work and dealing with annoying things and annoying people. Ugh.

Otherwise, things are fine. It was nice to get away for a while- I even visited a few states I'd never been before and even met up with Dr. Bad Ass on our travels. They have some GREAT coffee in her town. :) I hope everyone else's last few weeks of summer are going well! If you know me on FB or IRL, you can see all of our photos. Otherwise, I posted a handful here.

Happy Birthday to Addy's Mom!

I arrived in Adopted Home State today to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday! I got out of Small College Town just in time to beat the snow that arrived (just as I was leaving- they even had to de-ice the plane before take-off). My mom was really surprised and happy to see me. She is really busy with work right now, though, so I've mostly been just hanging around and relaxing this afternoon. I knew she was going to be busy, so it's OK. I'm just glad I could come. I have plenty of work to do, but haven't felt in the mood. I copied my syllabi before leaving (although I keep discovering typos in one of them!), so I'm pretty much ready for next week. I do have some prep to do and some other non-teaching service things to do. I get home Sunday evening and start teaching Monday! Luckily, the weather looks like it will be more cooperative than today's.

We'll be going out for dinner tonight and I'm going to see my Step Dad and hopefully a couple of friends while I'm here, so I'll have things to do even if my mom is overwhelmed with work. It should be a fun break before the reality of Spring semester arrives!

Thinking of years gone by

I have been in Adopted Home State for the past few days on an unscheduled trip. One of my good friends from high school days (and after) committed suicide. I hadn't seen him in a couple of years and last spoke to him about year ago, but the news hit me really hard. I came out for the memorial and I'm really glad that I did. I got to see his family and mutual friends that I had not seen in many years. I met people that knew my name, because of my friend and his brother, and it was comforting to see the look of recognition in their faces when I introduced myself. It also made me sad that I hadn't kept in touch. We were friends on Facebook, but he was not a fan of digital communication- he much preferred talking on the phone. It's been a sad couple of weeks since I heard the bad news, but most of the memorial was spent with his friends sharing their memories and laughing about the things that he did.

This trip also reunited me with other friends that I hadn't seen since D's baby shower ten years ago. I went out to dinner with some of my core group of friends from high school. We're all married now- one with three kids, two of us with one kid, and another who just got married and is trying. I was surprised to learn that two of my friends have had multiple miscarriages, too. It made me feel kind of like a wimp or something for being so affected by *just" one. I hope my friend gets pregnant and stays pregnant soon so that she can have her first! When I was pregnant, few of my friends were even married and none were having kids yet. I had no one to connect with over pregnancy and baby things then.

I also got to spend some time with my step dad and his wife while I'm here. This is my first visit to my mom's house alone in ten years. Since that baby shower trip in 1999, I have always been here with D and H or just D. The only solo trips I ever take are for conferences and we try to do those a family anyway.

OK, I'm digressing- I wanted to write about how the death of my friend has caused me to dig up memories that I'd forgotten and see people that had almost fallen out of my memory. Thinking back to those days of high school, college, and when I moved back here for 8 months after undergrad, makes me sad for losing touch with those friends. I haven't lived in this area in 16 years and left the state 12 years ago, but people can stay friends over the miles if they want to. I think I have been so caught up in my own things- work, especially- that I haven't made it a priority. I am determined to stay in touch now, but I hope that it happens. Maybe, we'll go back our busy lives and lose touch all over again. I hope not. I can't help but feeling like I've been living my own version of the The Big Chill this weekend. I'm doing a lot of reflecting and thinking about a lot of things... and missing my friend.

Random Bullets of Crabbiness

• We're home. We got in yesterday evening and went for a nice dinner on the way home from the airport. Upon arriving, I spent an HOUR cleaning up after our cat sitter (teenaged neighbor who I am paying). This involved: the steam cleaner, vacuum cleaner, swiffer mop, broom & dustpan, and completely changing out the cat litter for a fresh batch. Yes, that is how I love to spend my time after arriving home from a trip. Some of the cleaning is not anything that I would have expected her to do, but even the cat dish and spoon were left in the drying rack (supposedly clean) with dried bits of cat food on them. And bits of cat barf/poop/food on the carpeting. And something smeared around on the wood floor in the kitchen (in an apparent attempt to clean it up). And lights were left on in the house. I must remember not to have her do this again. Sometimes I wonder if my expectations are too high, but this was pretty awful.
• I am feeling exhausted this afternoon. I fell asleep on the couch, which is NOT going to help me adjust back to EDT.
• My mother sent me an email telling me that my rosacea looked worse this visit (maybe because your house is too damn hot??? and it's hot outside??) and that I should go have laser treatments like she did*. I am SO TIRED of being offered unsolicited and unwanted advice about my skin. Yes, I know I have rosacea. Yes, I know that you can have laser treatments for it. Yes, I know that there are skin medications for it- I've tried them and they didn't help. It's not really anything that bothers me that much- I know what the options are and I choose NOT to use them. Why is that so hard for people to understand. I feel like it's the same as telling me that my nose is too big and I should have it fixed. Or that I am overweight and I should go on a diet. Or that I should start coloring my hair because I have some *gasp* gray! Really? I hadn't noticed how I look. So. Irritating. If you find my skin annoying, DON'T look at it!!! I even had a friend at work that told me about how she had laser treatments and I should, too. Ugh.
• My foot seems worse. I walked on it on vacation. Quite a bit, even. I was wearing super supportive shoes** with an orthotic, but I can tell that it's not good. I go back Wednesday morning for a follow-up and I know he's going to put me in a boot. Maybe I'll still be wearing it when classes start. So much for getting back into walking this summer. I'll have to start swimming or something, but that can be tricky, since the campus sports center shuts down at various times in the summer. Joy.
• To end on a positive note, the weather here in Small College Town is unseasonably cool and lovely. I have some fresh produce from the farmer's market to cook up for dinner (pesto with green beans, corn on the cob) and it's the weekend, so I can ignore work for another couple of days.

*She also thinks that I should have bunion surgery like she did, even though mine is not severe and I can choose to wear shoes that don't bother it.

**They look like you have them on the wrong feet, because the inside is so built up to avoid over-pronation!

On vacation...

We've been in Adopted Home State for the past week, visiting family. H and I took a lovely side trip to Scenic Coastal Town to celebrate our 10th anniversary, too. It was really fun to spend time away just the two of us- something we have almost never had a chance to do. D stayed with my mom while we took our side trip and they had lots of fun, too. D had a manicure AND pedicure (I've never even had either one!) and they went to a local theme park, too. I'm looking forward to getting home, though. We'll be there tomorrow evening. 

Gloomy 4th of July

I don't mind, actually. We have no plans, so it isn't spoiling anything for us to get rained on today. I do feel bad for people who were planning to attend the outdoor music and fireworks event in Major City, though. Bummer.

We are just hanging out at home, spending a VERY lazy Saturday. H went for a run on the treadmill, but I have been sidelined by a foot problem. I think I must have injured myself at Relay for Life. In hindsight, I probably need new running shoes- I only walk in them, but I've had them for over three years now. It might have been the combination of the heat wearing me out quicker, my old shoes, and a concrete surface that did me in. I'm wondering if I could have a stress fracture, although it's not very painful. I kept waiting after the weekend to resume my usual treadmill walking, but after walking around the zoo on Wednesday, my right foot was really sore (I never made it to the treadmill). It hurts if I pull my third toe up, but not the others and it was sore yesterday after doing some shopping. It just seems like any kind of fracture would be more painful than this, but who know. Whatever is wrong, it's not great timing since we are headed to Adopted Home State next week for our family visit/anniversary trip and H and I planned to do some hiking on our side trip without D. I'm sure I can do some walking, but I don't want to overdo it and make it worse.

In other news, I am somewhat out of my funk, but still feeling like I am just doing too much thinking about life in general. About decisions and my age and time running out for certain things. I'm having a constant internal struggle that causes my mindset to shift almost daily (or hourly!) I don't know why I am driving myself crazy like this, but I can't help it. Ugh. I am looking forward to getting out of town for a while and having a change of scenery. I am also looking forward to celebrating ten years of marriage to H this month. Our side trip from my mom's will be only our second trip without D ever- and the first trip without her was to a conference! If you know me on Facebook, watch for pictures in the next few weeks.

Another trip around the sun

It's been a year since this happened, and I have totally come to accept it and feel like I have moved on, but it still makes me sad to think about it. I don't think anyone else knows that it was today and I didn't want to mention it to H, while he's back at home and I'm here in adopted Home State with D (visiting my mom). So, I am just 'marking' the event without sharing (except for you guys!) While I may have recovered from that sad event, I have not been feeling quite myself. I was making myself physically ill before this trip, by stressing out over EVERYTHING. I was shaky, dizzy, light-headed, having digestive problems, nightmares, migraines, etc. I am feeling normal since we got here, so I am no longer convinced that I must have diabetes or a thyroid problem (which was only adding to my pre-trip stress). I only have about two weeks left in the semester when I get home from this trip, so I am hoping to keep myself together then.

Tomorrow, D and I are off to Mountain Resort for my conference (I dragged her along since she has spring break this week). I am very tempted to take advantage of their spa and have a massage or facial while we are there. I am also almost hoping to get snowed in (they've been having TONS of snow there)- except that I want to get home to see H. I'll post some pictures from there, but here's one from this leg of the trip:

It is definitely good to get away from Small College Town for a while- I hadn't left town since last August!! I also got to see my Stepdad for the first time in two years. I'm glad the semester is almost over and I will be able to get to things other than teaching soon!

What I did on my summer vacation

Lots more on Flickr...

From the road...

RBOC & the conference

I still want to write a post about the conference outside my discipline (COMD), but I don't think I have the will to do it tonight. Instead, I give you...

• H is now a U.S. citizen. He and 80 other people (from 35 other countries) were naturalized on 08/08/08 (how cool is that?). They even had voter registration forms at the ceremony so that everyone could register. And cookies and punch served by some little old ladies. Very cute.
• Despite the hiccup in our vacation plans, we are off again tomorrow to a different destination- south instead of north- but an increase in elevation should make things cooler. I'm excited, as I have never been to this particular location. I only hope it isn't too crowded around there.
• When we get back, we only have a week left before classes start. Sigh. I'll say the same thing I say every year: where did the summer go?
• Our TV is working overtime now that H discovered the Olympic Soccer Channel. He has watched at least FOUR MATCHES back-to-back (he's insisting that it's only two) and I fear that his butt might grow into the couch. This would all be great, except that he needs to write a manuscript review BEFORE we leave tomorrow. He's been asked to review a lot of papers this summer for some reason. Never mind that I am doing all the packing (but that's the usual deal). I hope he doesn't stay up all night.

OK- I will comment on the conference. COMD is the same size as the one I usually attend my own discipline, but it is the most casual conference I have ever attended. I saw a small handful of people in dressier attire, but most people were in shorts, jeans, cargos, tevas, t-shirts, etc. I'm glad I left my suits at home! It was an interesting experience and I attended some really good talks. I had a poster, so I got to talk to a lot of people at the session. Some of the people knew my collaborator, or went to my U, or had some other connection, and others were just interested in the methods I use- this sparked some interesting conversations and two different people asked me about potentially coming to give talks- something that never happens to me in my own discipline. One of my collaborators ended up being there, too, so it was good to see him (he is at another U). 

Our hotel was NOT something that made me happy. It was one of the organization hotels so I figured it would be fine. However, it was pretty crappy, but still almost $150 a night. The bathroom was tiny and not very clean. The ice machine on our floor didn't work. The elevators were slow. The room they initially put us in had a door that didn't always open and the A/C was out- I immediately requested a new room. They also did not give us a king-sized bed as I requested. H is 6'3" so I had to sleep with D in one bed, while he slept in the other. After arriving, I noticed that Trip Advisor has terrible reviews for this place- wish I had checked that beforehand! 

The conference city was nice, although there were very few restaurants near the convention center. Still, we managed to eat good Thai and Italian and drink plenty of good coffee. We never drove our car during our visit, so it was great to walk everywhere. The weather also cooperated- it was muggy the first two days, but dried out the rest of the time- and it never rained, either.

So, tomorrow we're off again. We'll be hiking and eating, so it should be fun!

Whew!

I have a few minutes to use this $7.95 that I paid for wi-fi at Big Conference Outside my Discipline. EcoGeoFemme surprised me just now, by walking up to me in the exhibit hall and we had a really short blogger meet-up! We had been in touch before the conference, but never managed to plan anything specific. We both ended up being pretty busy, but it was good to get to meet her briefly, at least! Here we are on the lovely exhibition hall carpeting:

That's D on the left, btw. 

H, D, & I were supposed to stay until tomorrow, then drive further north for vacation, but those plans were conveniently changed by the U.S. government, who finally sent H's letter for his naturalization ceremony- and it's tomorrow at 1:00PM. Thanks for the six days notice! Instead, we are driving back to Small College Town tonight AFTER my poster session. It ends at 7:00, but I'm going to try to get out early, because we will be arriving at home at 2:00 or 3:00 AM. It's exciting that H finally got his letter, but what crappy timing- we've been at home all summer and NOW they decide to schedule that damn thing. We changed our destination and will go on vacation next Monday instead. In the mean time, we are all exhausted and just waiting until we can leave later. I will probably drink REAL coffee tonight to make the drive home. Ugh. I'll try to blog more about the conference over the weekend...

Free Airport Blogging from Alma Mater City

We got to the airport too early- partly because a Circuit City we used to go to is no longer there (we planned to stop in and look around on our way to the airport). Luckily, Alma Mater City Airport has free wireless. I will likely pay at Chicago-Midway, because we'll be there for three hours, but I thought I would start writing a post now. We've had a great time. We didn't get to eat in all of our old favorite restaurants (or our first date restaurant, which completely by coincidence has D's name in its name!), but this morning we ate at the place that usually wins the local entertainment paper reader's choice for best breakfast in Alma Mater City. It was tasty and I bought a friend some earrings in their gift shop. 

My mom and grandma drove back to Adopted Home State yesterday and I spent some time with my sister-in-law (my brother's wife) and our daughters. My niece is three and absolutely adorable. She and D had lots of fun together. It's so cute how smaller kids are just mesmerized by "big kids". It was really fun to see them together, too since we don't see my brother very often. We're working on getting them to come all the way to Small College Town to visit. My SIL is up for it, but my brother is a harder sell. He is rather high strung and I think that being a father really stresses him out. He also doesn't have a whole lot of vacation time, so I can understand not wanting to use it up on coming to see us. I really hope they will do it, though. It would be a lot of fun to have them. My grandma sounds like she might be willing to make the trip, too. I've invited her lots of times, but I don't think she really seriously considered it until now. 

On Saturday and Sunday, we visited a couple of the tourist-type places (that are also popular among locals), but did the trips early enough to avoid the worst of the heat. We also had good Mexican food (with live music!) and saw H's PhD advisor (who was also on my diss committee, let's call him Dr. Nice) and their family. They are such great people. We hadn't seen their daughter since she was 12 (she's now finished her third year of college) and D was a little baby. They took us to dinner to celebrate us getting tenure. Dr. Nice was really helpful to H as a grad student and they were nice to us as a family when D showed up unexpectedly. We still have a lot of furniture that they gave us! It's always great to see them and share our good news.

I only got to see my good friend, S, very briefly. Between my family visiting and her work schedule, we didn't coordinate very well on this trip. She and her boyfriend just bought a house, so I got to see it, at least. I don't really have any other friends or family here, but H was here a lot longer and still has a couple of friends, who he saw yesterday.

We've had such a nice time that we're considering doing a road trip next month and coming back! We haven't done a cross-country trek since H moved to Bible Belt State and I was six months pregnant with D. We'll see if works out or not- we do have the conference trip in August, so we'll have to see if we can figure out a way to do it or not.

One issue I want to leave out for discussion is this: those of you in academia, or with advanced degrees- do you have any relatives that seem uncomfortable about it? I feel like there is a distance between me and a family member with whom I used to be very close and I suspect that is the reason- that this family member thinks I am more successful or something and is self-conscious about it. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, have you tried to address it? I wish s/he would see that I am same person I always was and don't really care who has what degree.

500!!

Wow- it's my 500th post! And I have nothing interesting to say. I am killing time at Chicago Midway waiting for our flight to Desert City. We have about two hours here waiting for our next flight, so I thought it was TOTALLY worth paying the $6.95 for wireless access. We were in this exact airport on this exact day two years ago.

Look how D has changed (these will likely expire later):

*poof* I'll put them on Facebook!

That time we were on a trip to Seattle (we drove all the way to San Diego over two weeks). This time, we are headed to Alma Mater City, which is also D's birth city. This is just a quick trip, since H is teaching summer session.

If you know me on Facebook, you know that we've had some wicked storms over the last few days at home and we lost electricity two nights ago. It was out for 13 hours, then when it came back yesterday, it wasn't quite full strength. That meant that the microwave wouldn't really work (after 2.5 minutes my Smart Dogs were still cool!), the A/C worked some early on, but quit later. Before leaving the house yesterday, the power was surging on and off every five minutes. It was annoying and the house was HOT because it was 90 and HUMID outside. We have a neighbor who is house-sitting, so she is going to check on things, but I hated to leave the house in that condition. What a pain. 

Anyway- I just wanted to check in and say hooray! 500 posts!

Walking field trip & bloggy birth news

Last Friday, I went on a walking field trip with D's class (and the other 2nd grade classes). It was hot and humid, but still fun. I posted a couple other pictures here.

Her last day of school is Thursday and we're leaving that afternoon for Cheap-Airport-City-in -Neighboring-State to spend the night before our morning flight on Friday to Blazing-Hot-Desert-City. We'll only be gone a few days, but it will be a fun family reunion. 

In other news (or non-news), it's looking more and more like we are not going to H's Home Country this summer, because we are STILL waiting for his naturalization ceremony notice to arrive. While it's entirely possible that they just haven't sent it yet, I am also a tad bit concerned that it was lost in the mail. It's been four weeks since he passed the test, so I thought we would have heard something by now...

One last thing- luckybuzz is apparently in labor!! I'm very excited for her and hope that things go smoothly and quickly!!

Tuesday check-in (maybe these should be bullets?) UPDATED

Well, if it's Tuesday morning, it must be time for another blood test. I really hope this is the last one. I'm sitting here with gauze taped to my right arm again and once again being forced to ponder my situation. I will likely be getting poked with a lot of needles in the near future, because it looks like we may be going to Very Distant Country after all. The tickets are expensive, but it looks like we can get mine for less than $2000 (and D's is even less). We're just waiting to hear back from travel agent before buying them. I will need a few shots to travel there, including a tetanus shot- which I haven't had since 1986- and I am dreading it. I will also get to take malaria pills- so if anyone has experience with those or recommendations, please share. 

We are going to Tucson in early June for a long weekend, because my mom had free Southwest tickets ($30 instead of $1200!) It will be insanely hot, but it's always nice to visit the place where H and I met, where D was born, where my brother still lives, and they have really good food, like Thai, Indian, Mexican, and pizza (why is there no pesto pizza around here??) It should be fun. My niece is three now and we haven't seen them in over a year.

Finals week is plugging along. I had office hours yesterday afternoon and had students in my office for two hours- uninterrupted! I also received a totally obnoxious email from a disgruntled student- I sent it to RYS, but will post it here if they don't. My TA is also confirming that s/he is a total slacker and pissing me off. S/he has missed several classes over the semester for various reasons and is now out of town until today. Our exam is tomorrow, and I need the other grades from him/her. How or why any graduate student has time to go out of town at the beginning of finals week is beyond me. WTF?

ETA: Ha- get this one. Travel plans are on hold for now, because we found out today that H will have his green card confiscated at his naturalization ceremony. He can apply for a US passport at that point, but since we don't know the time frame yet (until we get the letter for his appointment), we can't count on being able to get his passport in time for the trip. I hope that letter comes soon, so we know what to do! AND thanks for all the malaria drug advice, everyone!

California Trip Recap (finally!)

We had a really nice trip to California. This was our first time traveling at Christmas since we've been a family (over 8 years now!). Since we made the effort to get all the way to L.A., my mom came down from the Bay Area and we had a big family Christmas. Here are some highlights...

Christmas Eve:

My mom and her husband went to South Coast Plaza, while my grandma, D, H, and I went to Seal Beach to look at the shops and have lunch out on the pier. It was sunny and warm (sigh, as I sit here under a blanket). We spent a few hours down there and it was really nice. That night we went out for Mexican food and drank margaritas. 

Christmas Day:

Package-opening extravaganza in the morning, then that night we went to my Aunt & Uncle's house for dinner- there were almost 20 people there- big change from our usual trio at home! D had fun with my cousins (age 13-20) and their cousin (age 8). 

Day Trips:

We took a day trip to Santa Barbara, where we ate Thai food, visited the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and hung around Stearn's Wharf and State Street. We drove back to L.A. after dark, hoping the traffic would clear. It wasn't bad, but still took us about two hours and 15 minutes to get back (it took less than two hours to get up there in the morning).

We also took a day trip to San Diego, where we visited my good friend A and her cats, ate at our favorite Mexican place in O.B., and even saw H's friend from Boston who was visiting family there, too. We didn't get back to my grandma's house until 10pm, but I was impressed with my excellent driving time of less than two hours form Chula Vista!

Other highlights:

We ate lunch at Rubio's (oh, how I miss that place), saw the Water Horse (very good), got to hear my cousin play the organ (he's VERY good), and eat out way too much. I think I consumed about 5 whole avocados while I was in CA- I LOVE them.

ETA: For more photos, see Flickr.

Borders Blogging

Oh, how I miss the Internets! We arrived at my grandma's house on Friday morning and have been having a lovely time so far. Eating too much, not sleeping enough, but it's great to see everyone. My mom and her husband drove down yesterday and today, H and I are "on our own" because D and my mom went to see "Wicked" and my grandma was taken to Tea. It's been 11 years since I spent Christmas with my extended family (anyone outside of D & H), so it's great to be here. It's also great to be in warm, sunny weather. It's the 70s here today! And sunny! And gorgeous! 

Of course, there are also some annoyances that have cropped up since we left home. We spent Thursday night in an airport hotel in neighboring state, due to the early flight time. It was fine, except that the room stayed 75 degrees all night- even after we turned the heat off! And D was up coughing, so I was also up. And we ate some questionable Thai food that night, too. Our flight was on-time and not too bumpy or anything, so that was wonderful. Why does LAX have no restrooms? I mean, WTF? It's a huge airport and I only saw ONE ladies room between our gate and the baggage claim. I had to walk a LONG distance to the restroom nearest the baggage claim, then wait 15 minutes because there were only THREE STALLS! I don't know what they are thinking that place.

When we picked up our rental car, we went to the midsize section of the lot and they had a Toyota Prius! We were very excited to rent a hybrid, since we drive one at home. However, our car at home is a Honda Civic and we had to ask how to start the Prius- it's very unconventional that way. It's been fun to drive so far, although it BEEPS when in reverse- very irritating.

Last night there was car parked at my grandma's neighbor's house that had it's alarm (or something) go off every hour from 4:00AM on. It does this beep-beep-beeeep-beeep for about a minute, then shuts off, but it's EVERY HOUR! I woke up at 4:00, then 5:00 (and got up). Has anyone heard of this? Why would it go off at a regular interval like that? 

So, today we went looking for places to eat and our first stop had to be a T-Mobile HotSpot, since we don't know any ethnic food in our area. On the way there, we were this||close to being in a wreck. Some gimongous SUV cut us off in the right lane to make a turn and I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could. I think they still just grazed the car, because there is a mark on the front bumper that I hadn't noticed before. I was so shaken by the whole thing that I felt nauseous at first. I still can't believe that we didn't actually crash into them. So, we went to lunch at a chain restaurant, because we couldn't find any Indian* or Thai in the vicinity. Now, we're relaxing at Borders and I'm taking advantage of the month-long T-Mobile subscription I bought. It's sooo terrible not having internet access at my grandma's house. I can't even look up restaurants or anything!

Anyway- I hope you are all having a nice break and have a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate it). 

*There were lots of South Indian places, which I love, but my stubborn, stubborn husband only wants Indian if he can eat lamb or goat.

Public Service Announcement

Blogging, blog-reading, and scrabulous-playing will be light until January 1st. I am heading out west for a 10-day family holiday extravaganza, the likes of which I have not experienced since 1996 (when I was single and childless!) My grandma does not have internet at her house, so I will be checking email and other quick things via excruciating cell phone dial-up or in wireless hotspots. I hope you all have a great Christmas (if you celebrate it) and a happy new year! And if you live in SoCal and would like to have a blogger meet-up, post a comment and/or send an email!

Cheers!