Hola chicas!

Today is the only day this week I didn't have anything planned so here I am. Nancy was in Vancouver WA for work the last couple of days so we got together yesterday for happy hour along with Jennifer and Nancy's co-worker Christy. We went to Silk for happy hour, where Linda and I went in May. They have the best carmalized chicken wings! The sugar clings to your teeth, mmmmm.

For dessert we wanted gelato. The waiter said it was 8 blocks away. I wanted to drive but Jennifer being a native said lets walk so I agreed with the condition that she give me a piggy back ride if I got tired, after all, these feet were not meant for walking. Luckily A, the gelato place was not 8 blocks away and B and even more exciting, we ran into a cupcake shop on the way to gelato. This wasn't going to divert us from our original plan for gelato, this was in addition to. Luckily, they had cupcake minis. In the pic, we're all holding a mini but in actualality only Nancy and I had cupcakes. We both ordered two because we couldn't decide. I got the strawberry lemon and the blueberry and Nancy got the banana split and all vanilla. We each took a bite of each of them. I think the strawberry lemon was my fave. Left to right: Jennifer, Christy, Nancy and of course, moi! BTW, I'm the only one wearing flip flops, they're all in heals, LOL.

As we were walking and eating it was pretty quiet, Jennifer pointed out who the talkers of the group were, the two girls with cupcakes stuffed in their mouths, LOL. Once we hit the gelato place we spent several minute tasting the various flavors. I went with the chocolate chip and my new favorite flavor the yogg, which is a yogurt based gelato, it has a nice tang to it.

After our gelato we stopped in Anthropolgie and the first thing they did was say they were closed. The door was unlocked which means they were still open they just wanted us out. I took my time looking around. I was irritated, LOL. If they were closed, the door would have been locked. There were plenty of people still inside shopping. Don't let us in if you're closed, otherwise, I'm shopping.

Nancy and Christy went back to their hotel, they were pooped having worked all day after driving down, Jennifer and I came back and watched tv. I turned Jennifer on to Coupling. I love that show! Then we watched Carson Kressley's How to Look Good Naked. I never had any interest but they showed a clip on in demand so I was like, let's check it out and it was really heart warming. It's such a wonderful message. It was fantastic watching this woman blossom before our eyes and her body was the same body she started with. She just leaned to love and appreciate it. I think so many times what we see in the mirror is not reality. They had a roomful of women of similar body type all in underwear and they told her to pick the body that most resembled hers and she picked a body that was 2 inches bigger at the waist then she was. The one who had her body she thought was beautiful. It's so much easier to see the good in someone else rather then yourself. This is a lifetime show, if you have a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow I'm going to pick blueberries with Nancy's parents and then driving up to WA if I get back at a decent time and the girls are coming into town this weekend so I'll try to check in but no guarantees!

A hermit I'm not...

So Linda's big thing for me while I was house sitting is she didn't want me to become a hermit. You know I'm totally comfortable staying in for days at a time. Well such is not happening here and when my life gets busy my blogging suffers, LOL. I know, I finally have things to talk about but no time to post. Sure, I could have posted during the day when I'm lounging around but I'm too busy watching One Life to Live, LOL.

Last Thursday Linda's cousin Ann called me, she wanted to go out for happy hour. You know that's my kind of hour! I had met Ann a couple of years ago and then saw her again in May. We went to MacAdams bar and grill and sat in the bar area and ordered calamari and jalapeno artichoke dip. The dip was good but the calamari was fantastic. Totally light and tasty. I had ordered a pomegranate mojito. It didn't bode well when it showed up with a brownish color instead of the red I was expecting. I tried it and it didn't taste right and Ann didn't think it did either. We sent it back and the waitress came back with one and she says the juice for their pom mixer isn't red but she made it a little sweeter. It still tasted crappy so I ordered a rasberry drink. Honestly, it tasted like cough syrup but at this point, I wasn't sending it back. I should have had a vodka tonic, LOL. I would go back again though just for the calamari and of course, the company! I swear, Ann and I could have sat there talking all night but hey, happy hour was over and it was time to get home.

I had made plans with neighbor Jim to go hiking on Friday but he ended up having too much work to do so instead of going hiking during the day we went to happy hour at night. Well, mr responsibility had to finish his work first so we missed happy hour! I know! We had to pay full price! Oh the horror! We ate at The Buffalo Gap which used to be a bordello. No wonder I felt at home LOL. I don't like tomato juice but I do enjoy a bloody mary every now and again. Mainly because I love all of the fixings that come with it so that's what I ordered along with home made bbq flavored potato chips and hummus. It was all wonderful. The hummus didn't look like much but I wasn't able to finish it. It came with kalamata olives, some fresh pita, peppercinis, feta cheese, cucumber slices, celery and carrots. It was great.

Sat morning neighbor Jim and I went to the Ross Island Market for breakfast and by morning I mean noon and by breakfast I mean a vegetarian wrap with bacon, LOL. I love their veggie wraps, they load all kinds of goodies in it, the only thing missing is the meat. NJ totally agreed. He enjoyed his wrap.

That night Ann came over to help me organize Linda's books. I told you she had a library, I didn't tell you it was spread throughout 3 floors so I told Linda I would help get them organized. Plus it was a great way for me to see what books I wanted to read, LOL. We went out to a local mexican restaurant for dinner. I can't remember the name of it but it was fantastic.

Sunday I stayed in but I spend the day working on the books and today I went out with Linda's friend Deb. I had met her back in my tango days. I love her, she's shorter then I am! She thought she was taller, pshaw! LOL! We went and had sushi. They had great sushi, reasonably priced with huge pieces. I couldn't finish my california rolls but that's because I had some of my friends.

Oh, I did spend the day working on Vito's myspace page. Rosie emailed me last week and she wanted help so I asked what his fave team was. He's a die hard hockey fan and she told me he loves the Penquins (don't tell Lina). So Sunday night I'm working on his page til 1am so he could be surprised with his new page when he woke up. He loved it! One catch, he wanted a Phoenix Coyotes page, not a Penguins page. I'm kicking that Rosie's ass! But I adore V and he was so cute. He called me a couple of times today, he was so excited. And of course, other then his mother, I'm the coolest chick he knows, LOL. His new page rocks! Unfortunately you have to be his friend to see my awesome handy work but just take my word for it it's awesome, LOL.

He's the reason I didn't blog last night but I'm sure you'll agree, pleasing a 10 year old is a wonderful excuse as is, my eating and drinking, LOL. I was so tired last night I didn't get to sleep til 3am, it was one of those, so tired you can't sleep nights and I only had a 10 minute nap today. I should be sleeping yet here I am, showing my love to my Mannions. I swear, I'm a giver!

What up?

Hmm, let's see, what's been happening with me? Not much! Nes asked me what have I been doing with myself and I said, nothing, yet the days are flying by! I swear! It could have something to do with me not doing anything until after my nap LOL.

I wanted to share this public service announcement. Joss Whedon has an online show called DR. Horrible's Sing Along Blog starring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathon Fillion. He's got a degree in Horribleness! Parts one and two are up and the final part will be up on Sat. It's currently free but I think next week it's going to cost to watch, they want to pay their cast, oh the nerve, LOL. I hear they have about a 1000 hits a second. The cool thing about this is it was done without a studio so they had total creative freedom and it rocks! Plus, you know I love me the musicals. Spring Awakening is going to be in Seattle in Oct and I already told Nancy we're going and Rent will be there next year! It's not til next June which is a bummer but I can't wait to see it!

My brother climbed the summit of Mt Rainier this past weekend. The crazy thing about it is he didn't train and doesn't normally hike or climb. The only way I could hike the summit is if a helicopter dropped me off there! I haven't had a chance to talk in depth with him about the hike but he says it was amazing. The tour guide is a friend of Adam's friend so they only had to pay for the cost of the rental equipment. Here's a link to the video that was put together. I had to double click on the image of the mountain to get it to play and the first time the audio didn't come thru. Adam looks like a midget compared to everyone else and he's pretty normal height. I guess one of the guys was 6'8".

Adam's climb up Mt Rainier

Su and Nancy Day Two

She said/She said

Day Two

SU: I just knew I was being punished for having too much fun. After about two and a half hours of sleep, it was time for me to get up and get ready to head out to the pier where the Victoria Clipper was awaiting us. Soooo not pretty. I was still hungry and very dehydrated. I don’t think Nancy and I said more than a handful of words to each other as we got ready to head out. Mostly we grunted and pointed.

NANCY: What Su seems to have forgotten is that I think she had about 45 minutes of sleep total. Somebody was worried we wouldn’t wake up on time, so even as drunk as she was she couldn’t sleep because she was taking care of us. That girl is an angel! Oh, and grunting and pointing is my main form of communication before noon most of the time anyway, it is always so nice to communicate in my native language.

SU: We had to check in at the pier at 6:30. Do people really get up that early? On the drive to the pier, Nancy was doing her best to try to make me puke by constantly applying the breaks repeatedly or surging ahead without any warning. So not good for my vulnerable constitution. We made it to the pier on time with absolutely no hurling. Woo hoo! We picked up our tickets at the pier and went into a holding room to wait for our boarding number to be called.

NANCY: All I have to say in my defense is it was 6:15 in the morning and perhaps I was still a tiny bit tipsy, in a hilly city I don’t drive in. I think it is lucky we found the pier without falling in the water.

SU: I would like to take a moment to talk to you folks about an important life lesson that I learned while preparing to board our clipper. The lesson is – Nancy cannot be trusted to do the right thing. She will do anything to get what she wants, leaving in her wake nothing but anguish and misery. Bet ya’ll didn’t know that about our sweet little Nancy.

NANCY: Who me? (Picture fluttering eyelashes and a sweet sweet smile).

SU: Let me explain. Our boarding number was #1. When our number was called, Nancy jumped up and started pushing her way to the front of the line. Thank goodness the elderly lady she knocked over wasn’t seriously injured. Nancy’s only comment was, “Get a better walker next time, crypt keeper hag.” All around me I could hear people grunting from pain as Nancy elbowed them aside.

NANCY: I am happy to wait my turn, but if I am boarding first get out of my way! I only warned the woman to get a better walker after Su kicked the old woman while she was down while laughing with just a touch of hysteria. I guess she needs more than 45 minutes of sleep to be the sweet Su we know and love.

SU: What Nancy didn’t know, was that everyone’s boarding number was #1. So she was basically cutting in front of people who were legitimately waiting to board. Did she once try to apologize? No. Did she suggest we should go to the back of the line? No. Did she try to help any of the people she injured? No. Instead, she said, “You snooze, you lose.” I was actually okay with that, but I had to draw the line when she turned around and yelled at the people waiting behind us, “Kiss my grits, suckaaas!” I was mortified. Didn’t she realize we would be stuck on a ferry with these people for three hours? I didn’t want to be fish bait, so I turned around and hollered, “I’m so sorry. They just let her out of the loony bin yesterday.”

NANCY: Truth, I did feel a little guilty after I realized I had cut in front of all those people (but if they really wanted to be in front they should have fought more!) but by the time I realized what I had done it would have made a bigger mess to turn around and go back to the rear of the line. It was just meant to be.

SU: I was relieved when we finally boarded. We fought to get window seats on the boat. I’m not sure why since we knew we’d be sleeping off our hangovers. We were so hungry and thirsty, we immediately went to the concession desk to get our free continental breakfast. It was pooptacular. However, we were so hungry, we choked down as much of the stuff as possible. We’re in the clear, I thought to myself. Not so. While still docked at the pier, the ferry started to sway. My stomach lurched, and I had to close my eyes to battle the waves of dizziness that threatened to overrule my “no hurling” policy.

NANCY: I think Su and I had a little too high of expectations for our free continental breakfast. I was thinking a lovely buffet, maybe some bacon or sausage. We got boxes of squishy bagels (although half of that bagel sopped up a bunch of alcohol in my tummy), sliced apples, yogurt, and assorted other pre-packaged items.

SU: I looked over at Nancy. She wasn’t doing much better. I just started laughing. I told Nancy we were dumb and dumber. Who the hell drinks like a fish when they know they have to be on a boat at the crack of dawn the next day? We do!! The first five to ten minutes on the ferry were absolute misery, but once we got moving, we both felt fine.

NANCY: Everybody kept asking me if I had ever been seasick before when I told them about our great plans to stay out drinking all night and then take the clipper to Victoria. I happily chirped no, but the joke was on me! Imagine being hung over while you bounce up and down and back and forth with jolting jerks… and all that while having no coffee! Sheer torture!

SU: I was curious about our vacation package since Nancy hadn’t sent me any information at all about our trip. Nancy told me we were staying at the Delta Victoria Hotel, but when she booked our package, she put us in the Queen Victoria Hotel. Now, I was in charge of our itinerary once we got to Victoria, so I had planned our “excursions” around the Delta instead of the Queen Victoria. That wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that she booked us into a single instead of a double! I need extra space when I’m gorging!!!

NANCY: I am still not sure how this happened. I booked the hotel I meant to, the same one that I was looking at when Su and I were talking over the phone. I am going to take the responsibility for this one though because come on, you all know me LOL. I had to book a single bed though, there were not many reasonably price hotels left because somebody who’s name starts with N put off making the reservations til just a little late.

SU: When I gently confronted Nancy about our f’d up reservations, she said I heard her wrong about the hotel. I didn’t. When I asked her why she put us in a single, she said she figured the couch was good enough for me. No need to waste money on a double. Thank goodness I was too hung over to really care.

NANCY: Can you imagine the fright I had being “gently” confronted by a hung over Su who had just found out the itinerary she spent days working on is totally backwards because someone told her the wrong hotel and then tells her they had to share a bed? I am still having nightmares and trouble sleeping from that episode.

SU: We slept most of the way to Victoria. By the time we got there, the sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. All we had to do was collect our luggage and get through customs. I have to tell you, every time I’ve been through customs, it’s been a total breeze. I had no idea Nancy had customs anxiety. Every time our customs agent would ask Nancy a question, she’d freeze up.

NANCY: That was the most beautiful picture window I have ever slept next to! Every time the captain would come on the loudspeaker I would rise to consciousness to see if there were whales but (luckily) there were none so there was no need to rouse myself to look.

SU: She couldn’t remember the name of our hotel, what city we were staying in, or how long we were going to be there. I was so distracted by the GORGEOUS customs agents to our left, I wasn’t much help. These boys had dark hair and blue eyes. They looked like they could model for International Male magazine. I knew I was just going to love it here!! Thank goodness they let us through, even though Nancy was acting like a paranoid druggy.

NANCY: I can't help myself, going through customs always makes me freeze up. And really the scary looking lady I got was asking stupid questions, where were we going… well um we just took the clipper to VICTORIA, where could we be going? I thought it was a trick question. And let's be honest, I was still traumatized from the “gentle” confrontation about the little hotel mix up so how was I supposed to remember where we were staying? I really am surprised they let me in without a strip search because every time she asked me a question I had to look at Su for the answer.

SU: We were going to take a taxi to the hotel, but decided to hoof it instead. A nice lady at the taxi stand hooked us up with some awesome maps and directions to our new diggs. Once we made it to the hotel, we were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. The people there were soooooo polite and helpful!!!

NANCY: The walk to the hotel was lovely, I loved giving Su a tour of the city that I had only been to once… for example when I pointed out the beautiful building that was the Empress Hotel… that was actually the City Hall. Whoops!

SU: We ran into the concierge/driver in the lobby. He was a dark haired cutie named Thomas. I think he was 17 years old or so. He said he could make reservations for us and drive us around town if we needed. The front desk people rocked. They were able to switch us to a double room that was already cleaned, so we were able to get settled in right away.

NANCY: Thomas was great! We really saved him from an afternoon of boredom by having him make us dinner reservations and toting us all over town.
SU: The room was lovely. We had a private balcony and a nice bathroom. We quickly freshened up and went downstairs to track down Thomas. I was RAHVENOUS. Thomas drove us to Chinatown where our culinary adventures began. We walked to the sushi place I wanted to try, but it didn’t open for another thirty minutes. Time is money, so we went to Don Mee for some dim sum. I was so proud of our Nancy for trying everything. We had so much food we started giving it away to other people seated around us. We boxed up everything that was left and “donated” it to whoever was residing in the particular doorway we left our food at.

NANCY: Su has introduced me to a whole new world! A world where you sit at a table and they bring the food to you in carts… and the food just keeps coming… and coming. My favorite item was the baked tapioca pudding, when I need to go to a happy place that is what I think of from now on. I tried one of Su’s favorite items, a fried turnip patty (or something close to that) and I have to say after my second bite, it is an acquired taste! I either have to go back soon or find a dim sum place here. To recap, carts of warm food, delivered directly to your table that just keep coming! Yum!
SU: Then off we went to sushi. I was soooooo full, but sometimes you just have to power through. Nancy and I shared three handrolls, and I had a piece of hamachi and something else. I can’t remember because I was suffering from a food coma at the time! Nancy will have to fill you in on the details of our rolls. The sushi was quite good. Too bad we were too full to eat anymore!
NANCY: I did not realize the true extent of Su’s suffering until later in the evening when I hit the food wall. She was a trouper and ate everything at the sushi place. The hand rolls were a California roll (and it had crab with a C, have you ever had a California roll with real crab?), a spicy tuna roll, and I think a spider roll. You know they had to be delicious if we were both full from dim sum and it still tasted divine.

SU: We decided to wander through Chinatown and a few of the squares to walk off our lunches. We found Fan Tan alley, the narrowest street in Canada. I decided we needed a picture. We had to be quick about it because people kept coming in and out of the alley, and I wanted to climb up the wall a little bit. Nancy took a quick pic of me, then it was her turn to climb the walls. Hmmm…Let’s just say she’s no Spiderwoman, but she sure gave it her best shot!!
NANCY: Well my feet might have been on the ground but my friends will agree that my head is always in the clouds.
SU: We wandered around a square a bit until Nancy found some ice cream. Nancy had only had a few licks of her ice cream when she spotted a place selling gelato as we were making our way to another square. She decided she wanted gelato more than she wanted ice cream so she ditched her ice cream. Big mistake. Once she walked into to gelato shop, she found out it was almost five dollars for a scoop and felt that that was WAY too much to pay, even for gelato. So ice cream and gelato-less, we walked to the second square and then wandered onto the main street. I suddenly remembered I needed boots!!

NANCY: Really, five dollars for one scoop of gelato? It is truly one of my favorite things but I had seen lots of gelato places so I was hopeful to find a better priced place later, sigh… it was not to be so I was gelato and icecreamless for this leg of our trip.

SU: Nancy is the best when it comes to taking care of her friends. She asked scores of people for recommendations on where to go to buy relatively inexpensive shoes. We wound up going to the Shoe Warehouse in a downtown Victoria mall. I bought a cute pair of boots and Nancy bought some chic sunglasses.

NANCY: The lady at the purse store that I asked for help was a hoot. When she asked our price range was 50 dollars she said perhaps that is why my friends previous boots had broken was because she had bought cheap boots in the first place and proceeded to recommend many very expensive places. (In Su’s defense her broken boots were Nine West and not cheap!) Really who wants to spend a ton of money on boots you have to buy until you find a new pair you really want?

SU: Nancy’s got this huge bear fetish so we had to take some pictures with a couple of huge brown bears. One was wearing a sign hocking his wares, and the other was dressed in a Mounties costume. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to stop since I’ve got a pig fetish myself.
NANCY: It is not a bear fetish – first of all I think they are badgers, and second of all I will pose with any large stuffed animal hocking wears outside of a store, I can't help myself. Besides, look how cute we are!
SU: We finally wandered back to the hotel and collapsed. Jon and Kate Plus Eight was on the telly so we watched that for a little while. I was on the verge of sleep when Nancy jumped up off her bed and screamed, “Crap! I forgot to shave!” While she was tending to her bristly pits, legs, and nether regions, I took a nap. By the time we were ready to head out to tea, I was actually getting hungry again!

NANCY: And you wonder why Su didn’t want to share a bed with me? LOL.

SU: Thomas took us to the Fairmont Empress for high tea. At fifty dollars per person, I was going to eat the sh*t out of some finger sandwiches. Nancy was in charge of the sweets, of which there were plenty. The tea was a very special hundred-year-old blend. We started off with some fresh strawberries topped with Chantilly cream. Absolutely delightful. There were a variety of sandwiches - cucumber with light horseradish, smoked salmon pinwheels, mango and curried chicken, carrot and ginger, and a multigrain crostini topped with a mixed mushroom pate. Nancy’ll give you the details on the sweets and scones.
NANCY: I feel like we got our moneys worth out of that tea, the atmosphere was wonderful and all the food was delicious. My only regret was that I tied my belt to tight, I really feel like I could have done a better job with my assignment, the sweets! Note my good posture in the tea pictures, it is because I couldn’t slouch I was tied into the dress so tight. The scones were cute petite things. I have to say I don’t normally like scones but these came with a cute little jar of strawberry jelly and clotted cream (think whipped cream). I ate the crap out of those little guys. There were yummy lemon tarts with a strawberry on top, a black and white checkered cake, a confection of chocolate mouse in a chocolate cup, and a sugar cookie with chocolate on half.
SU: We took a cab back to the Queen Victoria to change our clothes and rest a bit before leaving for Nautical Nellies for dinner. Felt good to get out of our nice dresses. After a brief respite, we were ready to continue on our culinary adventure. We decided to walk to Nautical Nellies to work off our high tea.

NANCY: As we left for Nautical Nellies I realized that this was the third wardrobe change of the day. Every time we saw our sweet Thomas we had on new outfits, that tickled me. Thank goodness for the walk because I had hit food coma and was not sure one more thing could fit in me, even without that tight belt. Well until I started looking at the plates on the way to our table…

SU: Nellies turned out to be a fabulous restaurant. Nancy and I ordered these 22oz. fruity drinks. She had one with tequila in it, and I had one with tons of rum. Dinner was amazing. I had steak and scallops. The steak was cooked perfectly and the scallops were scrumptious. Nancy ordered the bacon-wrapped stuffed chicken. It was really tasty too.
NANCY: I was so full I could barely breath… but Su says lets order these drinks that are bigger than our heads and I was all in baby! My chicken was very good but if I had ordered the steak I would have licked my plate, it was divine!
SU: We decided to walk to our next destination – Prism, Victoria’s only gay bar! We were supposed to go there for a drag show at 11pm, but we were about an hour early. The place was deserted, so we decided to go to the last restaurant on our schedule for our final meal instead. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it. Probably because I got the address wrong. I’m sure the restaurant didn’t just up and disappear. I was disappointed we couldn’t find the place and relieved at the same time. Disappointed because I wanted to try some new things, relieved because I was so full I thought I was going to burst.

NANCY: What Su seems to have forgotten is that the club was not in the best area of town either. I know I lead a sheltered life but I have never seen as many homeless people in one place before. They left us alone but it is a little daunting wondering around a strange town on dark unfamiliar streets with all those men watching you.

SU: Neither one of us felt like waiting around for the drag show, so we decided to walk back to the hotel. The sea gulls went crazy that night. There was bird shi*t falling all around us like hail. They were soooo noisy, like screeching poop bombers. We saw a little British sweet shop, and went in for some gelato. Didn’t you know the Brits are famous for their delicious gelato? I got green tea, and I don’t remember what Nancy got. All I know is that it was pretty gross and very expensive. Six whole bucks for icky gelato.
NANCY: Yeah! Instead of paying 5 dollars for gelato I paid six dollars for crappy gelato. Bad karma I guess. I had black forest and mango. I had two bites of the black forest and one of the mango, it was so bad I couldn’t eat any more (well except for a bite of Su’s green tea).

SU: We made it back to the room around 11pm, and I was actually okay with that since I didn’t want a repeat of the night before. I got some ice and a diet coke and was perfectly content! I was totally exhausted and was in desperate need of some beauty sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day!

NANCY: I am fairly certain I was a zombie at this point. Su was worried the TV was bothering me when I let out a loud sigh, but it was because I was so happy to be snuggled in bed about ten seconds from a dreamless refreshing sleep. I needed all my energy for tomorrow!

Not a lot happening...

But I'm going to try to get into the habit of blogging more, yay for you, lol. Yesterday I had my first burger at Bergerville. It was ok, but didn't blow me away. I did enjoy the walla walla onion rings. I ordered 3 of them and I could only eat 2, they were jumbo sized. Apparently they are known for their fresh OR strawberries so we had strawberry smoothies. I went with one of Linda's oldest friends Lori. Linda is worried I'll be lonely so I must go out with her friends, LOL.

Other then that I spent the day in bed reading (now you see why Linda is making me go out LOL) Phantom of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love. I must say, I didn't really enjoy the BAD stories previously. I read a few of them and had no intention to read anymore until Joe and T's story but the addition of Dianna has really helped the series and now I find myself looking forward to the next installment.

Today I went to the neighborhood market, the same one I used to work at for breakfast with neighbor Jim. Course we called it breakfast but it was at noon, LOL. The market is really the heart of the neighborhood. Jim was wondering if Jennifer had hit me up to work there again but I told him it was too much work!

Afterwards I went to the Super H to stock up on my groceries. Tomorrow I'm going to get my eating on track which means I actually need to start eating more. A lot of times I don't get around to eating til noon or 1 and I need to get my metabolism going much sooner. Yes, I'm too lazy to eat in the mornings, LOL. Nancy eats oatmeal for breakfast. I'll save that treat for when I move in with her, for now I'll stick with cereal.

One thing have been enjoying in my new hood is On Demand. I'm watching all kinds of movies and tv shows. One of my favorite is Coupling from BBC America. I've already watched this series but I have to say it is one of my favorite comedies. I am currently watching BBC's Robin Hood and want to watch The Tudors and Mad Men. I'm very excited. The movies I've caught up on are Ocean's 13, The Waitress and We Are Marshall. I'm sure there's more but I can't remember, LOL. On Demand is awesome when there's nothing on tv and more often then not, there isn't, LOL.

So what shows are you watching this summer? Project Runway starts this week, I'm quite excited!

David's birthday!

Originally I had planned on leaving Wed but David's bday was Tue and since we had a miscommunication (very normal in my family) and ended up doing the birthday dinner on Wed. Even though I woke up early (not by choice) and had a ton of things to do I stayed in bed til 11 and made Jordan get up at noon. I had let him stay up as late a he wanted for being such a good helper. I also told him once we got everything done we needed to get done that day we were going to go get ice cream.

It was late afternoon by the time we got everything done I wanted (cleaning the kitchen, moving more stuff into the shed, etc). I texted Kim and told her we were going to go get ice cream and did she want to join us? She wanted us to go to my dad's and hang out (she lives there). I don't spend a lot of time at my dad's. There are too many dogs and it's always messy there. It's been overrun by men for a long time. Kim's room is her haven though and it's clean so she talked me into it. Jordan and I swung by Baskin and Robbins and since I was going there I decided on an ice cream cake instead of ice cream. That was torture for Jordan because he wanted his ice cream now but that freaking cake cost $35 so I told him he could either wait for the cake or have ice cream now but no cake later, LOL. He decided to wait.

Kim and I had fun lounging around in her room. She showed me a bunch of clothes, I went thru her pile of clothes she was selling. I found 2 items that stretched enough to fit LMAO. I also grabbed some of her old makeup and accessories. We were being very girly. My brother Gramer came home with his two kids and he was anxious for some ice cream cake too, LOL.

Everyone was happy when David got home. Turns out he's not much of a sweets eater so we all had cake but him! He wanted to rest for a bit before we headed out. He works in siding with my brother Andy so he was pooped. Luckily I had the cake to tide me over cause I was hungry. David wanted to eat at My Vietnam which the good thing was, it was going to be inexpensive, the bad thing is, I'd had Vietnamese twice in the past week. Good thing I love it.

Kim's bf also joined us for dinner. I hadn't met him yet. Dinner was a lot of fun. David is pretty mellow. The owner was giving me grief and called me so LA because I kept asking for things. You know like more water! I was so demanding, LOL. Oh well, I know what I want, especially when it comes to my food, LOL. Kim had fun calling me that all night. Here are some pics of us.
After dinner we wanted to go bowling. David had other plans so I dropped off the birthday boy and picked up Chistopher, my handy helper from the day before.

Bowling was fun. We put up a bumper for Jordan and I. We're much better bowlers that way, LOL. Kim and I were being goofy and work on our rockstar poses. We need a lot more practice, LOL. The gang after bowling. We were goofing around. Jordan had given Kim a piggy back ride so then I wanted one but he's like you're too heavy so I made him hop on my back, LOL. After I proved to him I could lift him then he needed to prove he could lift me. He did say afterwards that I was easier then Kim. Of course, I knew that's because I got a good jump.

I have to say, I do enjoy being closer to my family. The summer will be great, it's the winters that worry me, LOL.

Greetings from Portland...

Yes, I'm back. I'll be hopping back and forth between my two homes for awhile. It's nice spending time with Nancy and my family again.

Tuesday was crazy. Not only was my stuff getting delivered that day but I had planned Karen's anniversary party on the same day. To be fair, the anniversary party was planned first, LOL. I thought I was getting my stuff on Sat but turns out they don't deliver on the weekends or Monday! I was a bit perturbed to say the least. Anyway, I digress. For help I had Jordan who is becoming an old pro, Christopher, the 15 year old son of Nancy's friend and Edgar, Nancy's brother. Pretty sad that Jordan was the rep for my family considering how much Mann power is located within a close distance. They were forgiven though because they were working. Kathy was going to come but she was sick. I guess that's forgivable also. Just barely though. C and J got on like gang busters. C got there early so I had them play video games cause I was frantically working, trying to get everything set up for the party.

When E showed up we got to working. The truck had been there since 9. The boys were all fabulous workers. I would hand stuff down from the truck and would tell them where to put things. A lot of my things are going into the shed until we can integrate them into Nancy's small house. She's mentally preparing for Hurricane Leiha. It's already started, LOL. I would keep disappearing to go onto the computer to do some things and my helpers were wonderful and didn't complain once. I ordered pizzas and soda and kept them working til the food came. It's a great motivator, LOL. We actually got the truck unloaded pretty quickly and then we loaded up the shed. While we were working on that the food came and work came to a standstill. After that I sent E on his way since he had to go work. It was so sweet of him to come help me before work. He did say that I didn't need to order food and we could scrounge in the kitchen, I reminded him, this is Nancy's kitchen we're talking about. Order pizza it was, LOL.

I let the other two take a break for a few hours because I was on the board partying away and I felt guilty making them work while I played so they played too, til C's ride got there. Eventually it was back to work for J and I. I did warn Nancy it was a disaster before she got home but not as bad as she thought. We actually got a lot done. Of course, I AM a master mover. Her living room will be very familiar to my bloggers since it has my furniture in it but it's all laid out differently and she has painted walls. We still had some big pieces to get out of the room like her old armoire/entertainment center and by we I mean her and whoever she can recruit, LOL. We also re-arranged her shed cause while I loved my little helpers, they weren't the best at space management, LOL. I was so busy that day I didn't get to take my shower until about 11pm and I was disgusting! But it was oh so nice to crawl into my own bed at the end of the day. My new room is so small that basically all I can do is crawl onto my bed, LOL. The sucky thing is I need to flip the mattress around when I go back. I'm sleeping on the side that has my indentions from Atlanta. I spent so much time in bed it molded to my body and since no one slept on the other side I need to balance it out, LOL.

I was so tired and ready for bed but I couldn't get to sleep. Don't you hate when that happens? I was also going to include on this post my birthday dinner with my brother David but I don't want to blow my wad all at once. I'll save that for tomorrow and as a bonus, there will be lots of pics! Yay!

Oh, speaking of pics, snapfish.com is having a special. It only lasts until July 12th so if you're going to take advantage of it it has to be soon. Yes, I should have told you sooner but I've been busy! You can get the first 50 prints for 1 cent each! You know what I'll be doing tomorrow. Uploading pics of me to their site, LOL. The code you need to use is JUL4PENNY08 .

It was a bad bangs night...

but other then that last night was pretty fun. I came into town on the Fourth because I heard my brother Andy was having a BBQ on Sat and you know I love me some food! Well since Adam is the one who told me about it I called Andy to get the deets on Fri and of course, Andy being Andy he never called me back. He says it's because he didn't have my number programmed in, that excuse would have worked better if there weren't 10 other family members he could have called to get my number.

So I made alternate plans to go out with Nancy and her friends. Nancy worked during the day and I spent a lot of it working on the Moning Maniacs video for our one year anniversary this Tuesday. If you would like to be included in the video today (Sunday) is the deadline. Hey, I can't help it if you don't check Karen's board all the time, LOL. I know a bunch of you are signed up for Karen's board so if you want to be included let me know. I have pics of many of you, some of them blackmail worthy *G*.

Anyway, I went to meet Nancy for lunch, I brought her Vietnamese food. I'm ok with the basics of getting around here. I did almost miss the mall exit but it was almost. I was able to ride the median over, LOL. After lunch we did a little shopping. I bought this fabulous long red dress for only $21! You'll be seeing it in the future I'm sure. Did I mention it was long? It'll need to be hemmed. I decided I'll just tie up the bottom until I get around to getting it hemmed. You know how lazy I am.

I had plans to meet up with my sis Kathy and Jordan but for some reason I didn't get her phone call til a couple of hours later. I'm not happy about that. She did invite me to go hiking with her this morning. I don't have my tennis shoes which is good, they're planning a 4 hour hike! I told her I couldn't do that if it was a flat hike let alone climbing over rocks.

Just when I was getting ready to lay down for my nap Adam calls and wants to know what's up. I tell him since Andy never called me back I made alternate plans. Well Andy was right there with him with his excuses. Whatever, I had other plans. I'm not driving an hour away at this late a time. The Adam tells me they have a cooler full of dungeness crab caught that morning. What were the directions again?

I thought it was at 1pm because that's what Adam told me the night before but they called at about 5pm. Turns out it was an evening thing. I was going to go while Nancy was at work. She had no interest in driving out that way after work. I understood but since she was getting off in an hour I planned on changing her mind, LOL.

I decided to head to the grocery store to get the fixings for the world famous in my mind guacamole. It was also the most expensive guacamole around. The avocados were 2 for $6 and I bought 5 of them! I wish I would have bought more peppers cause I don't think it was hot enough. I needed to increase the peppers for as much avocado as I had but Nancy said it got hotter as the night progressed and it was a hit.

So as I was leaving Nancy's house to go to the store these girls from across the street start yelling at me. There's a guy sleeping in the yard! He's off to the side under Nancy's parent's camper. I thank them, get in my car and call Adam to see what to do. I didn't want to bother Nancy and I didn't have her parents number. He says call the police but first call dad. So I call my dad who has a tendency to ramble and he goes on about the fact he could be on drugs, probably strung out on meth, on and on and on before he agrees to calling the cops. I say what's the #? He says 911. I thought that was only for emergencies but apparently that's where all calls are routed through. The 911 operator asked me if I asked him to leave. I said NO! I'm not talking to him! Crazy! He also asked if he was white but from the angle I was I couldn't tell and I wasn't planning on getting closer. It took about a half an hour before the cops came. I was talking to Nancy at this point and she was bummed she missed the festivities. So the cops talk to him for awhile, put him in handcuffs to walk him off of the property and then uncuff him and he walks off and they drive off! They never knocked on the door to let me know what the guy said! The good news is they did drive around the neighborhood for awhile but I couldn't believe they didn't bother knocking on the door to let me know it had been handled. Nancy's parents wanted her to call and complain but no point in getting on the cops bad side, LOL.

On the phone I had told her on the phone about the change in plans. She wasn't happy. I mentioned the crab. She was happy. So when I got back from the store she was home, we quickly put together the guac and headed out the door. My brother had bought a house out in the boonies. He didn't know his address so the directions were turn on the fresh paved road it's a little white house. Luckily there were about 10 cars in the driveway, which was a good indication we were at the right spot.

The boys were nowhere around, turns out there were playing WII bowling. They paused long enough to give us a hug and tell us where the food was and really that's all we needed. We could have sat outside but it was cooling off and I'm one for creature comforts so we hung out with the boys in the living room stuffing ourselves with crab, chicken wings, grilled corn, meatblalls, guac of course and various other foods. I didn't take a pic because everyone else had eaten so it didn't look at pretty.

The boys were doing beer bongs betting on the bowling. Nancy was bummed she was driving because she was very curious. Me, I have zero interest, especially listening to the sounds of the beer coming back up, LOL. They promised Nancy next time we'd stay the night so she could experience the beer bong love. People were taking pics of this but I didn't feel the need. These were my brothers, LOL. As you can tell, they are younger brothers.

Adam happened to mention they had oysters and did we want some? Hell yeah! I had never eaten them off of a grill before but I could only imagine the yummy goodness. So once the game Adam was playing was over I was like ok I want oysters. He's a good host at Andy's party, LOL. Adam is the comedian of the family. I keep telling everyone I'm funnier but no one agrees. Looking at these pics you can see why.


Adam would grill the oysters and shuck them and Nancy and I were eagerly awaiting each oyster and would pop them in our mouths. I wanted a bunch of oysters but Nancy said she could only eat a few so I said ok, I'll only have 6. Later on she regretted it. We should have eaten more, they were tasty, LOL. The only reason I didn't have him pop more on the grill was the bugs were starting to eat us alive.

While on a scouting mission to find the beer bong Nancy heard some interesting convos going on outside so off she went to join them but I stayed inside. It was cold, wet and the bugs were out, LOL. After awhile the boys decided they wanted to hit the redneck bar. Only Nancy and I were fit to drive having spent the night drinking water. Andy crawled into bed, having done the most beer bongs while I gathered up Nancy. She was way at the other end of the yard where they had a bonfire going. I yelled to her cause there was no way I was walking out there, LOL. Once she heard redneck bar, she was in.

The bar was anti-climatic to the boys. They were ready to see guys in shit kickers waiting to kick the shit out of them because they didn't belong. I was excited at the thought of going into a bar where everyone stares at you when you walk in, reminds me of Daytona, LOL. How disappointing when we get in and everyone is middle aged and harmless. It looked like they had their teeth and not a wife beater shirt to be seen. So instead of getting beat up, we drank. I think I had 3 shots in about 15 minutes as well as a vodka tonic. I will tell you now, a washington apple shot is disgusting! Crown royal! UGH! I don't think I had much of a buzz, I had eaten a lot of food prior to the drinking, LOL. Nancy and I had fun taking pics of ourselves. I think this was one of the ones she liked of herself. I remember liking how I looked in all of them *G*. The boys. When Adam turned away I told the other two boys to take their shirts off for the next pic, the look on their faces was priceless. They had been seeing a toned down me all night, LOL. The boys were talking up the bartender, inviting her to the house for a pool party afterwards. Too bad no one knew the names of the streets. The good news is we got free shots. Nancy took a pic with hers and then gave it to Adam, it had served it's purpose, LOL. BTW, the pool is an above ground pool in the middle of the field that is their yard and is probably ice cold and filled with bugs, LOL.

After we went back to the house, it was after 1am and we had an hour drive ahead of us. So we took off. Nancy says she knows I'm back in town when she has experiences like last night, LOL. Just think of what the future holds for her, EG!

Happy Fourth of July!!!

I hope that you're having a wonderful day no matter where in the world you're living.

Sorry it's taken me so long to blog again. I thought after I moved I'd be much more regular and turns out, such is not the case, LOL. Actually I do plan on checking in a bit more. Keep in mind, that's the plan we'll see how well it goes, LOL.

The visit with Aunt was fun. She's a spitfire and had me cracking up. We had fun hanging out with her and going to lunch. I love this pic of Jordan, he looks so sweet! As you can see, my Aunt Lona is from my dad's side, LOL. We used to be really close when I was younger. I used to spend summers with my grandpa and she lived close and over the years we totally lost touch. The last time I saw her was in 2002. We've talked a little in the last couple of years and I'm hoping she can make it out to WA next year. She is a really cool chick.

After we left my Aunt's it was time to hit the road. Jordan was wonderful for the whole trip. He was the naviator. Kim had the back seat set to where she could lay down so she spent a lot of time back there, LOL. Jordan and I would go over what our next turns were and how long til then and we'd zero out the mileage to keep track. When it was night Jordan said to wake him up if I needed him, he took his duties very seriously.

Kim was actually pretty great on the trip also. She drove for about 3 hours at a time, much more then I thought she'd be good for, LOL. We did stop for ice cream a lot. That helps keep the spirits high. The plan was to drive all night but stop at any place that looked interesting. The problem was, there wasn't anything interesting, LOL. I never even saw signs for interesting places to eat so it was pretty much fast food the whole route. I was actually disappointed that we didn't see a sign for the world's biggest ball of yarn, LOL.

We left Missouri Sunday about 5pm and hit Portland Monday about 10pm. We would have been there sooner but we had a couple of stops for food. The early morning was rough but once I got past that the rest went pretty good. I listened to Kiss of the Highlander while Jordan played his PSP and Kim listened to her ipod.

Kim and Jordan wanted to get to WA while I wanted to get settled in here so Kathy came down on Tue to pick them up. Which worked out because I could chill out and not have them bouncing around wanting me to do things with them, LOL. It took me a couple of days to even get my suitcase unpacked. That drive took a lot more out of me then I thought but I'm starting to get a bit more mobile.

I went to the grocery store yesterday. One of the worst things about moving is figuring out what to eat when you get settled. It seems my meal of choice is spaghetti. I made it when I went to Daytona and it's what I made last night. i just want something to fill me up that is easy and tasty. I also stocked up on cereal, LOL.

I was originally going to go to WA on Wed and my stuff was supposed to be delivered on Sat. Well turns out they don't deliver on Sat, today is a holiday and they don't deliver on Mondays so I have to wait til Tue! I'm going to drive up tonight. I wasn't going to go til tomorrow but my brother is having a BBQ and you know I love me a BBQ. Plus, they went crabbing yesterday and I need to try to get me some, LOL.

I'm here!

I'm exhausted but I wanted to let everyone know we arrived safe and sound. Sorry there were not a lot of check-ins. I hadn't been online since I last posted and Nancy was sick today. You didn't miss much, LOL.