May?

I May have forgotten how to upload to my blog.
It's been 30 days since my last post.
Have I been traveling?
Working on a secret project on a deserted island?
Stuck at the bottom of a well and Lassie couldn't find me?
Nothing nearly as glamourous as any of those.
I.
Have.
Been.
Sick.
Plain and simple.
For almost 3 weeks. Then of course, when I started feeling better, Jimmy started coming down with the same thing. Let's just say, we were pretty much quarantined for the last several weeks.

ANYHOO...
I'm back on track and LIFE IS GOOD!
Now, let's see if I can remember how to upload a photo.
I took this photo of a dogwood blossom on April 27th when we were at the hideaway. I was just coming down with that vicious virus. Today, May 20th, is the very 1st day that I feel completely, 100% better, well and happy! And that frog of a squatter has finally vacated my throat.

So I'm back to my normal programming. I've got a few photos and a video from Bay to Breakers, and a project or two to share in the next day or so.

PS: thanks SusanD for checking in!

The Worst Christmas Present {December Daily 15}

I thought I felt well enough to venture on foot today so I did a little shopping and returned something I decided wasn't quite right.
For lunch, stopped into a little cafe I've walked by a dozen times, Cafe Madeleine. Can you believe it took me 3 1/2 months try a cafe that's named after me? I was being snooty because they misspelling my name!! LOL!! Actually, i thought they were just a sweets and coffee shop but turns out they have soup, sandwiches and salads, too. So I grabbed a cup of soup and a cafe au lait then headed home to enjoy them. Yummy! I have a feeling this will become my new favorite cafe and maybe next time I'll have to try one of their delicious french pastries.

I loved the cute little Santa hat I made at Elizabeth's last week that I made a handful of them for my Chistmas dinner w/ crafting friends for tomorrow night. I made something similar last year after Kristina showed me the trick. You can click on that link and it'll take you to her blog with instructions.

E came over for dinner while Jimmy configured her wifi for her. So thrilled to have her so close by!! But unfortunately, I think I gave her the worst Christmas present. She came over with a cold...I just saw her on Sunday...the timing is suspicious with the bug I've been battling and the bug she has now. Curses!! Hope she feels better before the weekend! And I hope all of you stay healthy, too!

Home for the holidays {December Daily 13}

This cold/flu/whatever got the best of me today and forced me to stay home. I didn't even have any energy to cyber shop or do any Christmas crafting. But I'm hopeful that I'm on the mend.

Beautiful house in Pacific Heights.

11/17 Gratitude: An evening to veg

It was bound to happen. Jimmy caught my cold. Bummer. But he came home from work a little earlier than normal and we vegged in front of the tv for hours.

Photo of Alcatraz on a foggy evening in September.

11/13 Gratitude: Pizza Delivery

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, right? Well, i need some apples.
Actually, I'm not that bad, i have a bit of a cold but nothing a little rest and some liquids won't cure.
Unfortunately I missed a birthday party and wasn't up to making dinner.
But thankfully we found a yummy pizza place that delivers.

The Boring Life of a Sicko

We've had a deluge of rain for the past 5 days, which is good as long as there isn't any flooding. However, there's been quite a bit of flooding in the Bay Area. There was even a tornado warning in South San Jose. Ok, I can deal with the earthquakes but I'd really rather not have to worry about tornadoes, too. I don't like driving in the rain, but the plus side of that is I've been a sicko since Sunday and didn't leave the house for 4 days. I finally had to go out today, despite the rain, because groceries don't magically appear in my fridge unfortunately. On a normal day I dislike grocery shopping so on a day when the weather is wet and I'm still not quite feeling right, I dread it. But I must admit that getting out of the house was nice because I was getting a bit of the cabin fever so there was a bright side to the re-stocking of our bread, milk and cheese.

On Tuesday, Jimmy and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. 19 on the 19th. It really is hard to believe that we've been married that long. We celebrated by eating Campbell's Chicken Soup and staying in pajamas all day.

We're headed to the hideaway tomorrow. We haven't been since right after Christmas and it'll be a cold snowy wonderland. But before I got sick, we spent some time picking out stuff for the new bathroom. It was a whole lotta fun!

This isn't the vanity we're picking. We were all happy with this choice, but it's going to be flush against one wall. But see how the detailing of the wood on the bottom comes out about 1/2"? That's gonna be a problem if it's against the wall. So hopefully we'll find something very similar to this that's flush. And it won't be a double sink, it'll be a smaller vanity, 36" instead of this pictured 60". And we're picking a different counter, too.

This is the mirror that matches the above vanity. Since we're not getting that vanity, we won't get this exact mirror, but it's the style we're looking for.

We'll also put a little cabinet above the toilet.

Above the mirror we'll put up these light fixtures with...

these bells. I lurve these bells. It's hard to tell in this photo, but there are very very subtle pink, blue and green hues in the glass. It's mostly a honey color with those cool scallops, and the different colors might not even show with the bulb, but I think it's beautiful. Jimmy was the 1st one to notice them and I fell in love with them as soon as he pointed them out.

The vanity counter top will be made of Swanstone and will look like this but in a different color. We picked "Cloud White" which is mostly white with very subtle tan or off-white granite-like marbling throughout.

This is the vanity faucet we picked. We wanted a high faucet head because it bugs both of us when we wash our hands and we hit the back of the sink.

We'll have a full shower in the new bathroom and it'll also be made of Swanstone in the same Cloud White color. We haven't picked shower doors yet.

But we did pick out the shower faucet.Pretty basic.

We'll also add a solar tube in the new bathroom. Basically, it's a small skylight. The new bathroom doesn't have a window so adding this small skylight will bring in a tiny bit of natural light in.

So far, this has been the funnest part of the remodel. It's so cool to be able to design everything ourselves. I'm surprised at how easy it is. It's fun to go out with Jimmy shopping for this stuff and amazingly agreeing on everything and surprisingly not even coming close to any...um...creative arguments. lol.

In other boring news, I gave in and read the 1st Twilight book. I give it an "eh." But I'm intrigued enough to want to see the 1st movie before wasting spending several hours reading the next saga. Mostly, I want to see how the movie translates how Edward is effected in the sunlight.

I hope you read all that right before bedtime. I'm sure it will help you fall asleep.
_

a case of the ick

We've been home since late monday night and now both of us are sick sick sickos. What I had hoped would be a tiny cold turned into the full blown flu and although I still feel pretty crummy, I'm just starting to become a little more human again. and of course, since Jimmy and I spend practically every waking moment together, he has it now. At least his symptoms didn't show up till we got home. Me on the other hand, I spent 2 1/2 days in the hotel in Chicago before leaving for the airport Monday evening.


But one cool thing about staying close to the hotel was experiencing Earth Hour on Saturday night. I know a few of my bloggy friends have already blogged about it, but if you don't know what it is/was, it was a worldwide participation where people turned their lights off from 8:30p-9:30p to conserve energy and as a show that you care.


Jimmy and I were eating dinner in the hotel lobby when all the lights, except emergency ones, turned off. Pretty cool. Although it might have been cooler walking around the city when all the skyscrapers went dark. Oh well.

So my days in Chicago didn't exactly go as planned...
No Shedd Aquarium.
No Bean at Millinium Park.
No shopping on Magnificent Mile for birthday presents...(Hi V..eh hem...I'll be bringing presents w/ me the end of the month...love you...sheepish grin!)


But at least I got that first day of sightseeing.
And Jimmy didn't have to spend the entire weekend alone at his conference.
And I didn't have to be sick at home alone.
And now we are home, safe and sound.

Pics were taken during earth hour.
_

A case of the blahs

Not a whole lot has been happening since I got back from NYC. I think after the high-energy fast pace of NYC, my normal day-to-day routine is just not inspiring to write about. Plus being sick then having some kind of stomach virus the past two days have put me in the dulldrums. I'm trying to convince myself that I can't eat cheese anymore. I love cheese, but maybe it doesn't love me. Which might be ok since cheese is somewhat high on the calorie intake scale. And I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not really gonna eat beef anymore. I haven't in over 2 weeks, so I know my stomach issues aren't related to that. But I went to college near the cattle ranches in Chino where the recent problems and abuses have been discovered and I drove through those ranches many times, so the scare hits a little closer to home for me. So I'm gonna try to commit to not preparing beef meals or order beef when we go out to eat. I'm not swearing off beef all together because if someone makes it for a meal, I'll certainly eat and enjoy it and savor it for that matter! :) Also, I recently finished reading "Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food" which was written by the guy who wrote "Fast Food Nation." So perhaps by reading this, I've added some fuel to my fire, but for me, it's about being more aware, trying to eat better, and the effects it has beyond my minuscule scope of understand and impact. But i'm not getting on a soapbox, because I recently went to KFC (even tho they are one of the big offenders in the book) and just yesterday drove through Jack-in-the-Box (did you know their medium soda is like 32 ounces?!?), so for me, it's baby steps. Then again, I'm lacking in that fortitude virtue, so who knows where this blathering will actual go! Perhaps it's all inspired by a bad tummy ache and once I'm feeling all better, I'll be ordering big macs and super sizing it with the rest of the nation. (j/k, probably) :)

Delicious cheese from the cheese shop in the Grand Central Market at Grand Central Station.
_

Still haven't found it

make your own lists here.

Lost: Voice.

Found: time to be hypnotized by a glowing monitor. and do too much photoshop altering to a simple little photo.

I think I'm starting to feel a little better, except my voice is crackly or missing all together.
But now that I'm home, I can think about the upcoming trips the following year might bring. When we got home from the hideaway last night, a wedding invitation awaited us in our mailbox. A wedding in Anchorage. I don't know if you know any other Anchorage, but this one is the one in Alaska. Yes, we might (keyword: might) be going to Alaska for a wedding in July. July 7th, 2007 to be exact. Vows will be exchanged at 7:07pm. Thank God not 7:07am. I think it'd be fun. It's just a matter of A) can Jimmy take that much time off of work and 2) who else is going. It'd be cool if more than just us went. I told Jimmy that we have to go because I'm the self-proclaimed family photographer. Not sure if he'll buy into that.

I'm chillin'

I'm also illin'. It's raining and I'm sick, but I'm resting at our hideaway, which is a good place to re-coop. There are few distractions to pull me away from taking it easy and resting and not infecting a bunch of other people, aside from my husband (hopefully he's drinking enough oj and staying clear enough so he won't get sick either).

I was surprised at the lack of pukey cute romantic comedies on TBS/TNT etc. this weekend before Valentine's Day. I would have figured I'd have a plethora of Meg Ryan movies to watch. So I settled on watching a few home improvement shows and What Not To Wear's. and napping a lot.

We've had a severe lack of snow this winter though. It's been raining all weekend, but that's not enough to fill all the reservoirs that count on the snowfall. Hopefully we'll get more precipitation and can avoid a drought this year.