Where the Sidewalk Begins ...

Fun, Fun, Fun ...

Hangin' out in the piano bar now (free wireless). Many good friends and many good drinks. I'm drinking brandy and "Ting"  (Jamaican Fresca). Quite yummy!

All's Well

hey there!

Just a quick blog entry to let everyone know we got here alright. Ended up with an upgrade to 1st class to Air Jamaica. Drinks are good, weather is beautiful.

Off to Jamaica

I'm as about as prepared as you can get for a hurricane on vacation. My theory is that my bag o' hurricane preparedness will prevent a hurricane. Sort of like when you carry an umbrella and then it doesn't rain ...
I've been checking though, and there's not a hurricane anywhere near us. Plus, we're only gone until next Wednesday.
So, off to Lexington for the evening and flying out of Lexington tomorrow.  I may or may not get to post while I'm in the Caribbean. See ya!

Hair Cut!

I cut my hair yesterday. I've worn it long for three years, and it was a hard thing to do as I'd never really had long hair. But there's more to the story than that.
In Feb '04, my hair stylist opened his own shop. I haven't liked my hair since. I'm not comfortable in the shop, and I don't particularly care for the people he has chosen to surround himself with. I like the manicurist a lot, plus she's really good. And I used to like my hair guy.
When I get my hair cut, I want my head to be the only thing my stylist is concentrating on. That's part of the "salon experience", right? You're doing all this stuff to yourself and you want to be a little pampered. At  my salon, I feel like there is a whole lot of drama going on, all the time, and that everything is all about the stylists in the room, not the clients. I also feel like, now that my stylist is running the place, that he's constantly distracted by this, that, and the other. In mid cut or color, he's running off to deal with whatever person just walked in or he's answering the phone. Since he opened the place, I haven't liked my cut or my color. At all. Plus, he never listens to what I want, instead telling me my choices are wrong. I get the feeling that the stylists he has hired really don't bring in many clients on their own, and my guy is working double-time trying to make up the slack. There's a solution to this - hire better stylists. (Just a thought.)

Accountability - Last Week

Well, this is the last week I'm going to post my diet stats on my blog. It really does help hold me accountable though. But when we return from Jamaica next week, I'll keep trying to eat healthy, and have every intention of continuing with the gym, but it won't be quite as important to me.
So, according to the scale, I lost 3 pounds last week. I'm not actually sure I believe the scale anymore though. Among other things, it fluctuates on a daily basis. Actually, it fluctuates within a day. Whatever I weigh when I wake up, I'll weigh more after my workout, less later, more before I go to bed, etc. It's terribly frustrating. In theory, my clothes should be fitting better and that's really how I'll know I'm actually losing weight. ( "Why the Scale Lies" is a great article on scale fluctuations and what they mean.)
I skipped working out over the weekend because my muscles were aching. I also suspect I was overdoing the weight training portion a bit and I thought my body needed a break since I seem to get injured so easily. I'm returning to the gym today.
I did better on the drinking tons of water thing, but not as good as I would like. I didn't really cheat too much on the diet, and when I did, I still recorded it in my food journal. For instance, after watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday, I was craving a Hershey bar. So I did. Much to my happiness, a Hershey bar is only worth 5 WW points. Yay! So I let myself have it and loved every minute of it.
This week I'll be eating out a lot for lunch and dinner with friends. I have to control myself and have salads. When I hear the standard line from them, "You don't have to lose weight," I put forth my philosophy: If I lose 5 pounds before I leave, then that's 5 pounds I can put on while I'm travelling without needing to worry. It's true. I always gain weight on vacation. When we went to New Orleans last February, I gained 5 pounds, but I had also lost 8 pounds right before we left. It's not quite as easy this time though, but I'm still shooting for the ever elusive 5 pounds. 2 pounds to go, if I listen to the scale.
I hope to work out while we're in Jamaica. There's a nice little fitness room. Walking up and down the beach is a little more difficult - you run into other resorts who don't necessarily like it when you cross their beaches (like Hedonism I, II, and III). But there is a nice little fitness room with a couple of machines and treadmills, if I recall correctly. It blurs in my head with the Dominican Republic.

Finding Neverland

Friday night we rented Finding Neverland with Johnny Depp. It was a really great movie. I have a love of Peter Pan (the play and even, grudgingly, the Disney animated film) and this movie follows the origins of Peter Pan in the mind of J.M. Barrie.
It encouraged me to do a little research on Barrie, and on how much of the film, while lovely, was fictionalized. I found a fantastic article on Barrie from the New Yorker. The article captures what is often lost when you see a Disney or Cathy Rigby-ized Peter Pan - Peter Pan is almost sinister at times. Peter Pan, the play, is up there with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland for underlying creepiness. People tend not to see that part of Peter Pan, anymore. When I was little, I loved the story of Peter Pan although I still could not tell you why. Wendy, because she is the girl, is forced to grow up, and to be mother to the Lost Boys. Peter is downright mean, almost scarier to me than Captain Hook. Maybe I fell in love with Tinkerbell, the jealous little tart that she is. See - the characters in Peter Pan are not all that nice. Yet even as a little girl, there was something of the story that resonated with me. Perhaps I just appreciated it as a really good Story.
As for Finding Neverland, the sinister side of it all is softened, although it is a tearjerker. It reminds me of Big Fish, with jaunts into the imagination of Barrie. It is a very well-done movie. I don't recall, but I believe Depp was nominated for an Oscar for this film. If not, he should have been. I have always loved Depp and think he is one of the finest actors of my generation. A few years back he declared that he would try to do more films that his children could see. Since then he's done Pirates, Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and others. He has, since announcing that, found movies of quality and roles that are Oscar calibre. He could have run off and done Spy Kids, but instead he finds depth and meaning in family-oriented films.

Working Out

After getting off to a rough start this week, I've made it to the gym daily over the last three days. Starting on Wednesday, I incorporated strength training as well.
I am using an ExtremeMac sport wrap for my iPod, and that's working quite nicely. I wear it upside-down so that I can still read the playlists. I'm also toting my Palm Pilot to the gym. That Palm is coming in quite handy - not only does it record all my Weight Watchers information, but I downloaded a program (free trial) called PDAbs that records my workout. PDAbs allows me to set up a workout routine and once at the gym, I just plug in the right numbers. It also displays the machine settings, last used weight levels, etc. Very helpful and way faster than the clipboard and pencil I always used to use.
I'm starting to feel the effects of the weights and may just do cardio tomorrow to give my muscles a little break. I have read, consistently, that you should do 6 1-hour cardio sessions per week, with 3-4 strength training sessions thrown in. I don't know if I can do 6 1-hour cardio - egads!, but I'm more than willing to alternate. (I still do cardio when I do weights - I just do less in those sessions.)
Anyway, although I shouldn't be weighing myself everyday, I am anyway. Since Monday I have dropped 2.2 pounds - which makes me very happy! I also noticed that those pounds didn't start to fall off until I went to the gym this week. It just reaffirmed my belief that working out is imperative for losing weight (along with eating healthy and portion control). Burn those calories!
The clock is ticking - Jamaica in exactly a week!

Bowling for Soup, Ska

Keeping in mind that it was only late 2004 when I discovered groups like Maroon 5 and that I appreciated the Bare Naked Ladies, I have now stumbled across Bowling for Soup.
I have no idea how long the rest of you have been listening to these guys, but I found them last night and I love them. The road to discovery started with a KidzBopz commercial on the Cartoon Network wear they played this catchy song about the '80's. Then I was poking around on iTunes and there was a Radio Disney ad for Bowling for Soup. Voila! I found them. The Radio Disney iTunes section led me to the Bowling for Soup NON-Disney section and I purchased Punk Rock 101 (the single) and the album A Hangover You Don't Deserve (which is great, but also has the non-Disney "1985" song on it, and I just love it because I recognize it all). Their sound and lyrics sort of remind me of the Bare Naked Ladies (perhaps its the upbeat songs and a certain level of admitted silliness). While I was out there I also picked up some new Fountains of Wayne, whom I've liked for a while but hadn't actually gotten around to purchasing anything.
Somewhere I read a classification called "Alterna-Pop." I think that's the perfect description for this (Fountains of Wayne, Bowling for Soup, Maroon 5, and some others) and I really like it. It's some weird combination of punk, rock, and, well, 80's sound. I love it!

Tidal Wave of Work

Out of the blue and all of a sudden.
I was thrilled that I had two great clients through August - including one huge client that will last for at least a year for roughly 20 hours per week. I figure I can give 60 hours each week to my clients, reserving the rest of the hours for eating and sleeping and occasionally leaving the house.
Now one of my repeat clients has called me and they need me for 2-3 weeks in August and are unable to tell me how much work there is with that tight of a deadline. "Oh it's nothing - won't take you long at all," which they are currently saying, is something they have said before. I'm nothing if not honest with my clients, so if I go to take a look at it this week (before committing to the project) and it's bigger than they are implying, I'm telling them.  However, if I turn this down I run the risk of losing the company that was not only my first client ever, but a solid, recurring client. That would be bad for business and make me sad.
If the project really is small, then I can do it without a problem. It may be web-based, which I really like and for some reason I find much easier and faster to document than desktop-based software.
On top of that, I fully expect the client who has kept me busy for the last year to call out of the blue and say, "Hey! We've got an update before the official release date. Can you make some last-minute changes?" I don't expect that to take longer than a day, but I do expect it to happen.
Wow. This is all really good.  The downside, other than that I'll be working my tail off in August, is my hand/arm. It's acting up again, with sporadic numbness up and down my arm to my elbow. I've got my special typing gloves and a new brace for my elbow, so let's cross our fingers and hope it all makes a difference. Stupid ulnar nerve.
Okay, despite the potential for stress and bad time management that may be lurking in my August, I'm pretty excited about all these projects. It's cool to be needed and they're all pretty cool clients.

<p><span style="font-size: 0.6em;">Technorati: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/elbow">elbow</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ulnar" rel="tag">ulnar</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/ulnar+nerve" rel="tag">ulnar nerve</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/elbow+surgery" rel="tag">elbow surgery</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/cubital+tunnel">cubital tunnel</a></span></p>

Diet Accountability: Not so good

Well, I had a very very bad week last week, as far as the diet goes. I pretty much gained back what I'd lost the previous week. I felt awful all last week, and that did not help me at all, plus I had (still am having) ridiculous cravings for chocolate.
Also, I failed on drinking the water and I only made it to the gym twice (which is fair when you feel miserable). Of course, the trip to the old-fashioned Root Beer Stand with footlong hot dogs and home made root beer floats didn't help either. I really really need to get the water thing down. I don't know why it's so hard this time.
So this week I start again (every week is a start over and try to get it a little more right). Again, more water and this time, at least 3 times to the gym but hopefully more. One of my main problems at the gym right now is that I'm too embarassed to go try the weight machines by myself. I don't remember all the settings and they've apparently cleared out the files so all my notes from previous trips are gone. (This has me slightly peeved.)
And I never got around to hanging bikinis everywhere to remind me, so I'm about to go do that. The trip is in two weeks.  Ack!

Slushie Recipe

The lazy days of summer have been just that lately - hot, so humid you could cut through it with a knife, and downright uncomfy. So here's a recipe I found on WeightWatchers.com that sounded so cool and refreshing (and super easy) I thought I'd share it: Raspberry Iced Tea Slushie. (I think I'll whip these up to serve to Kevin after he mows the lawn this evening.) Recipe after the jump.

Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince

Don't worry, I won't give anything away. Not everybody is going to sit down and read the book in 10 hours straight like I did yesterday.
But I did read it - and it was an easy read (big print and all - don't let those 700+ pages fool you). I enjoyed it, I think, better than any of the other books except Goblet of Fire. Goblet of Fire, which I believe is the one where they have the Tri-Wizard Tournament, is still my favorite, but this one ranks high up there for me. Goblet of Fire was the turning point where there was a witnessed death and the books began to grow progressively darker. I think, as Harry has aged, it is easier for Rowling to write him. In the current book, the Half Blood Prince, Harry is 16. Based on some of the things I've watched Steven deal with this year, Rowling pretty much nails being a 16-year old boy with a high IQ and a penchant for trouble.
Anyway, I really liked it.
There is a lot of adventure in this book and finally, even a little romance. I think there is more to the plot than meets the eye. I stick to my guns, as I've felt all along, that Snape is really a good guy. No matter what he does in this novel, I think he has his reasons. I think the things he had to do in this novel were harder for him than is shown on the surface. Yep, I think in this book there is definitely some reading between the lines to do, especially in the final chapters. Rowling has left the story open not only for a 7th book, but an 8th book, I think. (Make money where you find it, I suppose.) Rowling expects more of her readers in this book, perhaps understanding that kids are now growing up with Harry Potter and may be 16 now as well (in addition to all of us kids-at-heart out there). Based on the final setup, the next book (the last?) has the potential to be a true dark adventure story, in the mold of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman (some quite impressive children's lit). Rowling challenges her readers more this time around, and I think there is some undercurrent there of the current global political climate, as well.

Everything Old is New Again

Well, I'm sick. I've been fighting it for a week, but I finally just decided to let myself be sick. While being sick, I had Kevin upgrade my old, old blueberry iMac (the kind that looks like a big old-fashioned blue tv) and now Ella is running 512 MB RAM and a 120 GB hard drive. I partitioned out the hard drive and started to install the operating system. As I did, I discovered the disc I was using for 10.4 was an upgrade and I had to have 10.3 installed in order to run 10.4. How ridiculous.  Anyway, I hunted down a version of 10.3 and installed it last night. All is running quite smootly now - it's like a new machine - one would never guess it was purchased in 2000! I plan on using this machine solely to manage my hundreds and hundreds of photos. It will run all the basic OS X stuff (like iPhoto) as well as the 2.0 version of Photoshop Elements. I can't believe it is running so well.  The downside of it all is that this machine will not support more than 512 MB of RAM (literally, it won't support more than two 256 sticks, period) and any more than a 120 GB hard drive. They made these old iMacs upgradeable only to a point. I guess it's worth pointing out, though, that Ella was originally running a 10.2 GB hard drive and - unbelievably - 64 MB of RAM. No wonder the performance is amazingly different!

iPod at the Gym

I've found that my iPod makes my time at the gym less horrible for me. I really don't enjoy working out and I find that losing myself in the music makes me less self-conscious. My problem is that I can barely use the treadmill and recumbent bike without tangling myself up in headphones and such. How on earth can I use weights and use my iPod. In cardio, I just rest the iPod on the stand where my book and my water are located.  I can't do that with weights - the iPod would have to be placed in my hand - which gets in the way of the weights - or on the ground, which won't work due to the height of some of the machines.
Any thoughts (beyond getting an iPod shuffle to wear around my neck)?

Updated Reading List

I've plowed through most of the books on my Summer Reading List. Time to add more!
I still haven't started Mary, Queen of Scots or East of Eden.  The fact that I stumbled across East of Eden about the same time as Oprah re-launched her book club with it irritates me. I keep thinking I should just rent the movie and be done with it, as I'm terribly annoyed with Oprah. (I'm really not a fan.) So that particular book may wait until fall or winter. Mary, Queen of Scots is high on my list though.
Everything else on the list is complete and scored relatively high marks with me, particularly Katharine and The Memoirs of Cleopatra. The Cleopatra tome (as it was amazingly thick) sent me on a research journey to fact check everything in the novel, learn the real stories, and find out what happened to the historical figures in the book after the fall of the Roman Empire. (BTW, the author stuck strictly to fact, fictionalizing only Cleopatra's thoughts. I was impressed.) So not only did the book take a week to read, but it took a week of non-stop research as well.  I worry that Mary, Queen of Scots will produce that same, OCD research-till-you-drop reaction in me as well.

Getting Nervous

We leave for Jamaica on July 28.  I'm getting rather nervous about the hurricanes. Two years ago I would have laughed it off and not given it a second thought. Having survived the brunt of Ivan, I can honestly say that hurricanes now terrify me and I have no desire on earth to experience one again. Ever.
I've been watching Hurricane Emily. At the moment she is expected to track right across the middle of Jamaica. Now, hurricanes tend to veer off the projected 5 day course, but she could still take out the coastal regions of Jamaica (like Ivan did).
I'm not overly concerned about Emily though - I'm more concerned about whatever "F" or "G" -named hurricane follows her.
Waterproof matches, swim shoes, windbreaker with hood, emergency candles, granola bars, laptop, int'l cell phone - it's all coming with me.

Accountability

Just to hold myself accountable to the web-at-large, I did indeed make it to the gym on Thursday and on Friday. Saturday I was hurting so it was okay to let the refrigerator issue take precendence, and Sunday I cleaned, which I always count as a small workout.
Today, back to the gym. The last two times, I followed up the app't with a tanning bed session, but I'm still slightly burnt so I'll have to skip that this time. I wish I didn't as it's a great relaxation mechanism for me after working out for an hour.
I think today is my last day of just cardio and tomorrow I may move into adding some weights to the mix.

UPDATE: Monday is also my personal weigh-in day. I try to limit myself to once a week, but occasionally my OCD gets the better of me.  Anyway, since Thursday when I started this, I've lost 1.8 lbs. I chock this up to the gym (actually moving some during the day instead of staring at my computer for hours), portion control, and really starting to moderate what I eat (yay for an online food journal at Weight Watchers!) Hopefully this week I can really start drinking the water so that my body won't retain the water. Usually I have an easier time of it. So in addition to portion control, food diaries, and working out, my goal this week is to drink lots of water.

Weekend

This was a perfect summer weekend.
Friday night we joined Kate and a friend at the Cincinnati Pops "Star Wars" concert and followed that with a nightcap at BW-3s. Thanks Kate for the tickets! The music was great and the company was even better.
Saturday we went in search of a new refrigerator, as Friday morning the appliance repair guy pronounced ours dead. We ended up with a Whirlpool from HH Gregg.  The sales guy used old-fashioned sales techniques, which were fun.  (If we can do this for you, will you buy it right now? Let me go talk to my manager.) In the end we got about $100 knocked off the price, free delivery, installation, and disposal of our old fridge, and a deal on the 5-year warranty. And it's white! My kitchen now matches! We also picked up a floor model wine cooler that holds 35 bottles of wine.  All of our reds that are aging 2006 through 2015 are now properly tagged and in the wine cooler, set at 59 degrees.
That night, we popped open some really good Pinot Noir and watched Sideways. I'd forgotten how the title character has a proclivity towards Pinot, so it ended up being a fun choice as well as delicious.
Sunday I cleaned the house and Kevin worked. The refrigerator was delivered and we both dived into cleaning the kitchen, chilling the remaining food in coolers, moving some of our rolling countertops and hallway furniture out of the way, etc. Then it took forever for us to put the kitchen back together. While the appliances were in transit (one being removed, the other brought inside), Kevin was also able to clean out behind the refrigerator. Ooo!  Once it was delivered, I took the opportunity (while the rolling countertops were out of the way and all the rugs were gone, etc) to give the floor a really great mopping and sweeping. I also took a Magic Eraser to all the walls. (Now that is an amazing appliance).  While I deep cleaned the kitchen, Kevin put all the shelving inside the refrigerator and fixed a leak in the ice maker line (not tight enough).
It's silly of me to be so excited over an appliance, but it's got filtered water and ice, slide out spill proof shelves, slide-out freezer bins, easily adjustable shelving, more cubic feet than our previous one, and so forth. And might I just add, "Hurrah for the Home Warranty!" If you just bought a house and you think your appliances might die, renew that warranty until they do. It's worth it. Our neighbors didn't and now their air conditioning is shot (that would also have been covered under the warranty had they renewed it).
Last night, our neighbors Kim & Kole came over for a BBQ and drinks. That was also a lot of fun.
It was a busy, but incredibly fun summery weekend.  I know everyone is incredibly bored now that I just shared all of that with you!

London

London
Things like this make my problems seem so petty. My heart is with the Londoners as they struggle to regain their sense of security and fight the sense of loss and intrusion.

If I picture myself on one of those tube lines, I get panicky.  I think I would not have been one of those who had the absolute Calm I've read so much about. Can you imagine having to walk down a tube tunnel, not know what had happened?
Or the double-decker bus that exploded in Tavistock Square. Double-deckers were my favorite thing in London.

And the impact on the city alone - London depends utterly on public transportation. People are now checking into hotels or buying maps and attempting a very long walk home.

I have several friends in London and I hope like anything that they are all alright.

California Photos

I posted the California photos yesterday. (This is where you'll see that I need to go on a diet.) Just go to the Photo Albums page on our web site and make sure you pay attention to the password once you get there. Most of the photos are of nature and Victorian Houses, but there is an occasional photo of me or Kevin or the occasional one I took of the two of us while holding the camera myself.

Let's Try Again

I know everyone is probably tired of hearing me declare - DIET! But I'm doing it again. I have some incentive - I'll be in Jamaica on July 29 and I need to fit into last year's swimsuits - particularly the bikinis.
I need to lose anywhere between 5 and 10 pounds between now and then. I'm willing to bet that if I behave myself, I'll drop close to 5 pounds in just water weight within the next week or so.
My worst things are wine and weekends. If I have no desserts or snacks in the house, which I don't, I do okay avoiding those.  If we go out to eat though, well, it's hard to avoid them then! (Just say no!) But the wine - well, we just brought back 2.5 cases, plus all the bottles we already have sitting around ...
Back in February I dropped around 8 pounds on Weight Watchers Online.  I just re-logged in and logged my weight and my breakfast like a good girl. I need to log my food several times a day.
Now, I'm also about to do something I didn't do in February - I'm about to go to the gym, that thing we pay a small fortune for every month. I'm also going to go tomorrow and if I don't, I better post a damned good excuse. I'm using my blog to hold myself accountable.
Oh, and I'm going to hang bikinis in my office, in the kitchen (once the fridge is fixed), and in my bathroom.  Maybe also in my bedroom (I have a lot of bikinis - none of which I'm willing to wear at the moment.) Bikinis everywhere - a not-so-subtle reminder of my goal.
So, off to put on gym clothes and hit the gym.

Fixing Leaks Part I

What a morning!
The plumbers were supposed to come between 10 am and 2 pm today.  They showed up at 8 am sharp. I was in a bathrobe and PJs, plus there was laundry hanging in the area they needed to work.  I hadn't expected them until at LEAST 10 am! Ah well - I shouldn't really complain that I was first on their list.
They are currently ransacking the basement, installing a new hot water heater. It will have a 5 year warranty. We're getting it through our home owner's warranty that we've kept renewing on the hopes that we can replace both the hot water heater and the fridge. Hopefully this is the week (the leaky fridge and constantly wet kitchen floor is just intolerable).
This whole shebang today will cost us around $150 because of the Home Owner's Warranty, which is a lot better than $300 for a heater and then $200 installation.  However, it's still nerve-wracking having these guys wandering in and out of my house, farting, chatting.  I just want it installed so they can leave.
But really, prompt service and a $350 savings? I really can't complain.

Comments & Blog Makeover

I've made over the blog again. This time I used a pre-defined Typepad template that I liked. What I don't like is that I'm stuck with fixed width columns no matter what I do. Tha'ts annoying. If I could find a similar title graphic, I'd create a template from scratch. I rather like this one though - I wish they'd let me modify it. I figure the travel theme is fitting, at least through October (another trip to Orlando) or November (Chicago). By that point I'll need something a little more wintry. I've switched over to 2 columns. The fixed column width is annoying, so my preferred 3-column format then leaves very little space for content. Not sure how long I can handle the long continuous stuff column there to the left. So, we'll see how this design works out ...
Also, I've decided to activate authentication for comments. This means that you won't see your comment until I've authenticated it and approved it. This is because I was getting all sorts of crazy comment spam and this way I can stop it and report it before it even gets published. So just keep in mind that you might not see your comments immediately.

Leaky Typepad

No, Typepad isn't leaky. It sure as hell is slow though.  From my end, I can hardly do anything, the performance is so degraded. Supposedly they are fixing that.
From your end, you'll only probably notice it when you go to post a comment. It takes forever to reach their server. I noticed it while posting to another friend's Typepad blog this morning.

Our house is leaky though - or at least our various appliances. Tomorrow the plumber comes to take a look at our hot water heater.  Friday the appliance guy comes to take a look at our refrigerator. We came home to puddles on the floor. Of course, our appliances are 30+ years old and came with the house ...

Back in the Eastern Time Zone

Back in the Eastern Time Zone - we got in at 6 am yesterday. I'm still not adjusted to the time change. Heading west doesn't bother me - coming back into EST is difficult.
Just posted all the non-posted blog entries from the last week of travels.  Hope to have photos up eventually. It just takes time, of which I'm lacking. There aren't as many photos as usual - I took so many last year - but there are still a fair amount.
Hope everyone had a happy 4th of July!

California Day 8

Sunday morning. Crazy re-packing and checking out. We had the equivalent of a case of wine to fit in our carry-ons, along with two laptop computers. Our bags were stuffed full thanks to my shopping and Kevin's conference, plus the wine. We filled a wine box with heavy conference materials (books, etc) and took it to FedEx Kinko's to be shipped out on Tuesday. The FedEx team had a hard time understanding that there wasn't wine in the box, but 19 pounds of books (and a couple of gifts).
After Kinko's, we went to the Charles M. Schulz Museum (the Snoopy Museum) in Santa Rosa. I was raised on Peanuts, and loved this place. There were hundreds of original, hand-drawn comic strips, as well as a special Snoopy exhibit and an exhibit on top dogs throughout Comics history. They re-created Schulz's office, and it was interesting to see the great range of books on his shelves.

California Day 7

Saturday we stopped at Safeway and picked up sunscreen and some other items, put the top down, and went on our way. This was supposed to be the day we spent in the other end of the Sonoma Valley, by the actual town of Sonoma, but it really didn't work out that way. (I'm glad we got to those wineries last year.)
We stopped at Ledson again, and joined their wine club. We're scheduled to receive two cases a year. We can slow that down, and I imagine we'll slow it back to 1 case a year, of mixed whites and reds. Now that we've joined Ledson, we'll have to discontinue Gundlach-Bundschu. Gun-Bun, while awesome, is also monthly, which makes it expensive (esp when you add in shipping) and we tend to get behind. On the up side, we have a lot of wine that I've tagged and we are now "cellaring."

California Day 6

Rented a convertible last night and drove out to Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County. I've decided I could easily live in Santa Rosa. It's an adorable city, small enough, with personality, but only 58 miles from San Francisco. Plus, it is so obviously surrounded on all sides by the Mayacamas Mountains and vineyards, with the Russian River Valley stretching out in one direction and Sonoma Valley in the other. Just on the other side of the mountain is Napa - about a 30 minute scenic drive.
Thursday night we ate at a brewpub - Aleworks - in downtown Santa Rosa. We discovered that because Santa Rosa was the home of Charles Schulz, the town has artistic Charlie Browns everywhere! It was wonderful! I took tons of photos of Charlie Browns.
Friday we visited Kenwood and Glen Ellen, but that's as far through the Valley as we got. Let's see, we hit Ledson Wienry (our favorite), Kenwood, Kunde Estate, Valley of the Moon, and B.R. Cohn. We also got sunburnt in the convertible.