Florida Bound

Taxi arrived at 5:15, snow was falling on the Twin Cities so the ride to the AP took a little longer. I was pulled for additional screening 2x at MSP. Flight from DTW to FMY was delayed nearly an hour giving me time to grab a breakfast sandwich at the Coney Island Hot Dog place, hands down the best airport food I've ever tried. The same flight crew from MPS to DTW to DTW-FMY a first in all my travel experience. Weather in FL 44 degrees when we took off but a predicted high of 62 for FMY. My seat mates, a couple from Madison, Bill a retired landscape architect and Betsey a retired UW-Madison admissions person. Bill told me the greatest story about how he got to college. His high school principle pulled him aside one afternoon and told him that he had already paid his tuition for the 1st semester at Madison and would be really disappointed if he didn’t go. Bill’s dad had died when he was a little kid, mom worked all sorts of jobs, he had no intentions of going to college b/c no one in his family but he didn't want to disappoint his high school principle and decided to give college a try. The principle obviously saw something special in Bill who not only went to Madison but spent 40+ years there after earning his graduate degree in design/architecture at Harvard.. Tracy’s flight arrived at 11:00 but mine didn’t get in until 2:00; but no worries, Tracy located a Starbucks and free Wii Fi so she kept busy with work. When we got to the car rental place the clerk was really pushing convertibles so Tracy offered to pay the difference and we took off in a convertible bound for Sanibel about a 45 minute drive. However, after about 15 minutes of cruising down the Florida highway we pulled over and put the top up because we were freezing even with the windows rolled up and the heat cranked. We got to the hotel and Tracy did a little more work. We went down to the beach around sunset and despite the chilly temps it was really beautiful We went out for a nice dinner at Matzaluna The Italian Kitchen and then back to the hotel around 9:00.

Early to bed early to rise

I’m not going to write much tonight because I have a 6:35 flight in the morning to Florida and I want to turn in at a decent hour. A very nice day and evening, John had friends over to dinner tonight., John and Erin. The dinner was delicious as usual with yellow fin tuna, coconut rice, and Brussels sprouts. John and Erin arrived around 6:00 and we had a wonderful time chatting and enjoying dinner. Because they were aware of my early flight the dinner wrapped up around 7:30 and John and I cleaned up the kitchen and will probably watch a movie in a few minutes. My contribution to the evening besides cleaning up the dishes was the stovetop grill I purchased about 10 years ago but used only once or twice, it was just the thing for preparing the tuna. Can’t wait to see my sissy in sunny Florida tomorrow. Okay good people I’m signing off for the day.

Tuesday at Big Bowl

A nice lazy day! So as usual I was off to the gym this morning but I didn’t break any speed limits getting there, rolled in after 11:00! If I workout 12 x/ month $20 is deducted from my monthly dues, so I need to get in as many visits as possible before we start traveling later this month. As some of you know I will be heading to Sanibel, FL with my sister on Thursday and returning Monday night. I just checked the extended forecast and it’s going to be cold by Florida standards but a virtual heat wave by my standards.

I met my pal Joyce for lunch today at Big Bowl. Joyce is the realtor who represented me in two home purchases and listed my townhouse about 18 months ago when I naively thought I could unload a townhouse in the suburbs for close to what I paid 4 years earlier, silly me. We had a great catch up lunch and I discovered that my wild relationship stories are nothing compared to hers! Whew, but it’s all about attitude and what you take from your experiences and Joyce has an awesome attitude. We had such a great time today that we scheduled our next outing for mid February for happy hour at McCormick’s. Tracy and Val I totally rocked the new wool coat and Jimmy Choo Choo handbag today!

I purchased a second video tutorial at National Camera Exchange this one is all about the speedlite so now I need to make time to watch and learn. I’ve been spending way too much time watching photography and healthy hair care videos on YouTube and a few days ago I joined a social networking site called Hairlista where I've also been spending a lot of time.

Did you guys happen to notice the sudden and big jump in gas prices overnight? Here prices are up nearly .25/gallon. Lucky for me I filled up yesterday.

Today’s photo Family n. a source of love, comfort, and happiness 2. the people who accept us just the way we are 3. those with whom we share a lifetime of memories 4. family is what we call home. I am so grateful for my family.

Thanks aunt Jessie for the beautiful candle; and it smells good too!

Happy Monday

Although this was actually my second Monday away from the office it really felt more like the first because it is the first full week of the LOA. Anyway, today was quite busy, starting with a good workout at the gym, then a quick eyebrow waxing, next off to the post office to finally mail off some Christmas gifts. Never again will I attempt to save time by mailing from one of those commercial mailing centers; they wanted $15 to mail something the size and weight of a thick paperback book! The USPS charged about $7 for 3-5 day delivery. I left the house at about 5:30 to meet Donna for dinner. We had planned to meet at Heartland but it turns out that place is closed on Monday. I stopped by the office to straighten up my office for Anne J. who will be camping out in my office for the next 3 months.. Anne W. and Erin where in the office when I stopped by so it was fun to catch up with them. I met Donna at Brasa Rotisserie for a rgood dinner, catch up chat, and gift exchange. I believe this is the earliest we’ve ever exchanged gifts usually we’re catching up in February or even March. Chatted with John for about an hour and figured out the what was going on with my new speedlite (camera flash) weak batteries! Yeah an easy fix. Then got ready for bed, nothing beats sleeping on freshly laundered sheets after a busy day. Sweet dreams.

It's so cold

It is so cold here! Today’s balmy high was a whopping 7 degrees and the low was -9. Today was all about Lisa. I saw John and Gretchen off in the morning and then I watched YouTube videos on hair care and photography. Gotta love YouTube for all the great “how to” videos, I’ve learned so much and all for free. After chilling out in front of the computer for an hour or so I headed to the global market to pick up more organic hair care stuff on the advice of my favorite youtubers. I spent a little over an hour at the global market buying stuff and taking photos and enjoying some delicious strawberry/mango Italian Ice yum! Next it was off to the gym to workout and try out my new hair concoction of coconut oil and shea butter. The sauna is a great place blend oils and try them out; so after my workout I spent about 15 minutes in the sauna moisturizing my hair…looks and feels fabulous. After the gym I headed to the office where I spent a couple hours wrapping up some stuff. I have more to do there but it’s so great to have the flexibility to go in when I want and leave whenever I feel like it. Oh yes I forgot to mention my little car mishap after the market. The streets are icy and I was heading down a main drag when my car slid just a bit and my side mirror caught the side mirror of a parked car; fortunately, there was no damage to the other car unfortunately my side mirror sustained some damage and will need to be replaced, knowing the dealer it will probably set me back a couple hundred bucks for a piece of hard plastic…. oh well. Finally, I arrived home around 5:00 and have been chilling out ever since. I think I’ll need to pick John up at the airport in a few unless he decides to take a taxi. I’d really love to stay in my warm house and not go out again but he’s always doing nice stuff for me so I’m happy to get off my lazy butt and pick him up considering he’s spent 8 hours in the car driving G. back to school.

A couple of you (okay just one) have asked about this “healthy hair journey” thing so I’ve attached a composite photo 1. Oct 31 2. Dec 16 3. Jan 3. Basically my hair was very dry and damaged due to over processing (relaxers) and too much heat. I decided in late October to take better care of it and have been watching YouTube videos my favorite is QB at thetruthishair regarding hair care specifically African American hair care and following a couple online forums and blogs: keep it simple sista and hairlista.com. I haven’t used heat or chemicals on my hair since Oct 23rd. It is a lot of work but I’m already seeing some awesome results. If you click on the photo you should be able to view a larger image.

O' Tannenbaum

The Christmas tree came down at John’s today marking the end of the holiday season. Gretchen heads back to school tomorrow and so 2010 officially begins. I don’t have much to report about today considering I didn’t leave the house until 2:30 when I met Anne for a late lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s and a movie right afterwards. One reason for not leaving the house earlier was the -14 degree temperature. We saw Nine with Daniel Day Lewis, it was a very good song and dance movie with some of the most beautiful scenery/cinematography I’ve ever seen, but the story was a big lame disappointment. After the movie I made my way over to John’s where he was preparing a terrific dinner for just the two of us of cod, Brussels spruouts, rice, and Caesar salad… um um good eatin’. After dinner we danced around the kitchen to some old tunes and I shot the attached photo for today’s entry. John confessed that he does indeed think I’m rigid but he also thinks I have a great sense of humor so I guess that’s a pretty good trade. We watched an old movie based on Noel Coward's, The Brief Encounter starring some actors I'd never heard of; it was just okay...too slow for my taste, but good acting and good storytelling, I just wouldn't count it among my favorite old movies. Nighty night.

Happy 2010

I realize yesterday’s entry failed to mention anything at all about the day and was actually all about December 31, 2007. So I’d like to bring my readers up to speed on just exactly what went down on New Year’s eve 2009. I spent a lot of time at the gym in the morning first to workout and then to focus on my hair regimen. A little over two hours was spent at the gym between the workout and the whole hair maintenance thing. The hair thing takes a ton of time, but I’m really liking the results so like this blog I plan to keep it up. John hosted a retirement luncheon for his brother Will at 12:30 yesterday, so we gathered at the house for a delicious lunch and celebration. Joelle made two awesome salads, the chocolate cake from Wollet's was delicious, and John’s turkey burgers were of course juicy and tasty. After the luncheon John and the girls ran some errands and I stayed back at the house and chilled out. Around 7:00 we headed out to meet Will and Marie for a movie, It’s Complicated starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin…funny movie but a lame ending. After the movie we went back to Marie’s house for popcorn and champagne; apparently I am not alone in believing popcorn is a great substitute for dinner. Next John and I headed on over to Luci Ancora where the restaurant was only offering soup and dessert due to the late hour 11:00 PM. We had more champagne, peppery soup, and yummy yummy desserts tiramisu cheesecake for me, and I think John had bread pudding, but I was too busy scarfing down my dessert to notice what he was having. At midnight John took center stage…yes still at the restaurant in leading everyone in Auld Lang Syne for which he received warm applause; I believe the song was a nice opportunity for the patrons and the staff to greet the New Year with good cheer. After it was all over I might have bumped my head while crawling from under the table, we headed for home around 12:30. I didn’t wake up until 10:00 and didn’t leave John’s until 2:00 on this first day of 2010! Once I got myself going it turned out to be a fairly productive day, gym, errands, uploading photos, and of course ending the evening with another exciting blog entry.