Which way to Santa's House?

(cheers-ing our friend Jojo1962 from Quitnet over the phone)

One of the coolest things about my previous two years was quitting smoking. That in itself is quite the journey and mind trip. Besides better health and smelling sweeter, I also made the very best of internet friends.

The coolest part of internet friends? Meeting them in person and knowing them better than I know some family members.

Holidays are weird for me this year...meaning: I have no idea what I am doing. That was me in the picture up top on Thanksgiving - doing shots with my internet buddy Courtne. In Nebraska. That's right...I drove to NE so that I would not have to be alone.

I am a little worried about where I am going to end up on Christmas! HA! (Lock your doors, friends. )

(State Patrol in NE...not nearly as receptive to having their pic taken. Had to do it INSIDE the car.)

Don't speed in NE.

Have a great day!

Cold...but I'm Still Here...

Ah...if you have not already done so based on my extensive little-known musician reccommendations, you must go check out Evans Blue - an amazing group from Canada, and I love them so.

(this is two of those fantastic Evans Blue Boys and I at the 12th Planet)

And also, today when I was checking out the Two-for-Tuesday sale at Sony.com, there was an exclusive interview with my beloved Dropping Daylight. Do you know what this means?! They made it...omg, they made it. And although I am so very proud, I know I will never be able to see them play at dive bars or be openers that rock the house from here on out. They will be expensive headliners. I want you to remember that I loved them first. FIRST, d*mmit. ;)

I went to see my friend Joanne in Denver this weekend. (She is one of the girls I met when I was on the Quitnet 24/7.)

ANYway. I went to visit Jo this weekend, and to take pictures of the magnificent architecture Downtown Denver. While we were there, we stopped by the RockBottom Brewery to have some a couple of drinks, and to visit my friend Kendall. (Kendall - a child I had hired as a hostess when she was 15, and is now a manager at the RockBottom.) I am so very proud of MissKen, and was very happy to introduce her to Joanne and her sister Lori, except my introduction came out like this:

Me: Kendall, this is my dear friend Joanne and her sister...um...ummmm...oh cr*p!...ummm...Liz? Trish? Why can't I...?

Joanne: Lori. My sister's name is Lori.

Now I must remind you, I have spent tons of time hanging out with Lori. I adore her. Why couldn't I remember her name? Do I have Alzheimers? Ugh.

The only possibility (other than Alzheimers) that I can assuage my social guilt with is that perhaps I was mixing too many worlds together. Old School Kenny's, Old School Qnet, and Downtown Denver with Joanne. Those time periods span aproximately 10 years. Maybe my poor little brain just gave up.

Also, today I found out that I forgot to pay the MilkMan and the Trash Company.

Coincidence or trend? You be the judge.

Rocky Mountain High...

(if you click on this, you can see the moose just hanging out on the golf course. Silly moose. There are golfers not 50 feet away and still they are staying on the green. Someone call fore!)

I finally got a little road trip, anyway. It made me miss my mom.
She used to live up in Woodland Park, CO, and going to visit her in the fall was a like visual candy. The colors, the vistas, the lighting - all perfect.

The boys and I drove up the canyon to Estes Park today and honestly, we had the best time. They had gotten up early and cleaned their room, eaten their breakfast and did not bicker one time. What was my reward for them? Sticking them in a car and making them go up where the temperature was freezing, the wind was howling, and made them hike in and out of the woods. We stopped at every sunny place along the river, and anywhere the trees appeared to be changing color. It was awesome!

Anyway, I find myself partial to the shots that I think will make my mom homesick...

I think that is called emotional manipulation. Ugh.

It's so different to drive somewhere just to enjoy the scene. I forgot there was such intense beauty just up the road.

I also forgot to send out the memo to the other drivers on the road that I was a tourist today...I wanted to shout to them to slow down and enjoy themselves! Where could they have possibly needed to get to at such an unhappy clip?! They wanted to shout at me to hurry up or get out of the way. In fact, I think they DID shout that...I have a hard time reading lips in the rear view mirror, but I am a strong believer in body language speaking louder than words. Especially The Finger type of body language.

Anyway, I can't think of a better way to have spent my Sunday. It could only have been topped if a live band would have been in the car with me...


One more thing...Here is a bench for Katya's collection. It was 60 feet away from the moose on the golf course, but I decided it was worth putting my life in danger to get it! ;)

TGIS

I am at my desk, huddled over my coffee with a huge black sweatshirt wrapped around me...teeth chattering and fingers a little numb. I don't know if it is just REALLY cold in here or if I am getting the flu - or just really tired. And hungover. Whatever it is, I think the temperature has slowed my brain activity as well.

We had a get-together (see: a house party with people my age!) at my Q-friend Joanne's last night. Our guest of honor was a girl from NE that we met online at the Quitnet - Courtne. (Turns out her real name is Brenda, but it is too late for us to call her that. She will always be Courtne to us.)

I must interject here and say that if you had told me a year and 1/2 ago that I would meet and make part of my real life sooo many people from the internet, I would have thought you insane. But real they are, and they have done nothing but enhance and enrich my 3D life. I feel very fortunate!

Anyway, meeting Courtne face to face for the first time was awesome! I am hoping that those of us who went back to smoking did not cause her or Jim to experience any bad exsmokers' urges to light up. Since we began the night at 6 or so yesterday and didn't end it until 430 this morning, I am thinking the cloud of polution could have been monstrous. Ugh.

Courtne's DH made us each a pair of Beer Goggles - safety glasses with beer cans riveted to the lenses...they turned out very cute! He included a CD of the Beer Goggles song in with the present. I am not trying to be funny when I say that I have never heard that song. And it is okay if I don't hear it again!

Many plates of food, glasses of wine and pictures later, we decided to go dancing at Patrick's. Live music and CarBombs - a guaranteed good time. I danced my a** off. It was a shame they had to kick us out so that they could close down the joint...

I also did some drunken txting, some philosophical rambling, some very immodest wardrobe changing...and some recognizing that I was never going to be able to drive my car home just to be there before Jerry woke up. But I really wanted to.

Instead, we all passed out on air mattresses set up throughout the house. That's right. I attended an adult slumber party! And you know what? It was just like I remembered from being a kid. Giggling all night and then waking up groggy and not feeling all that well...ugh. I was actually better off than most of us - I was not puking. But my head was trying to kill me, and my eyes couldn't stabilize on one thing for very long. That made for a very long road trip home to my husband.

Guess what? He wasn't mad at me at all. I am very proud of him. Things are looking up again, and I appreciate that. And hooray for the Q, my Q-net buddies, Joanne and her followers, Nikon Camera Corporation, Guinnes, Verizon Phones and Service, Jaegermeister, Patrick's, the Cute Little Boy that kept asking me to dance, Live Music, Soul Train, Ambrosia Cake at 330 A.M., Bailey's Irish Cream, Taxi Cabs, Toll Roads, Excedrine, and Flip-Flops.
Hooray I say! ;)

Now if I could just stop shivering...

The Ocean, She Rules Me...

Still talking about vacation here, folks. I am all about living in the moment, but oh-so-very-cool events must be documented thoroughly. And we have only covered the Airport, Security, FBI/CIA/whoever they were, and Airplanes. We must move on quickly before I forget the exact details and start making up my own eclectic timeline.

Our plane landed in Boston, MA on Tuesday morning. That is the last thing I know about Tuesday. I slept. All. Freaking. Day. And night. Aaaargh!

Now WEDnesday - that was a great day! Wednesday is the day that my beloved step-father Bob drove me to Manchester, NH to meet my internet friend Terri2005 from the Quitnet. I have corresponded with her daily for almost a year and a half either by Email, Qmail or txt mssge. I have even seen pics of her and her family on the blog scene - but meeting in person was aMAZing!
She and Kathie were delightful company, and we shared a great lunch giggling and talking random things...I adore her. Terri is much littler than I imagined - shorter than ME, anyway. Her personality online is very expansive and gregarious so I really expected to meet someone about 6 foot tall. So much wonderfulness in a petite little person...how great is it to actually meet someone for the first time who lives clear across the country and feel like you have known them your whole life?! Unbelievable...

Mom & Bob met us after lunch and then began the traditional trek to the ocean. I am partial to Rye Beach - have to go there every time we get back East. So magical...so mystical...I have a reverent awe of that spot in the vast world. I actually cried the first time I arrived there - sobbed even. The children frolicked and the adults walked the beach, just soaking in the sun, the wildlife, and the soul altering sound of the waves. I listened with great interest to Mom and Bob discuss the feasibility of purchasing a house in the vicinity. If anyone could make that happen, it would be my mother! And I think I would move right in. Even if it meant living in the closet...

* I am trying to post a pic of the babies and I playing in the waves right now...BlogSpot isn't letting me. I swear there are no thongs. Whatever.*

I love watching the children trying to absorb the greatness of the Ocean, drinking in their fascination with the beach sand, sea shells, and the various live treasures that they insisted I hold on to for them. Do they feel the same spiritual connection I do? Do they hear the same timeless sounds that echo in my ears for days after visiting? Does their heart pound when they smell the lush green and clear blue air? (Don't ask me how air has color. It just does.)

After a nice dinner at Ray's Lobster Station, our dreams were full of rolling waves and gently rocking boats...Good Lord, I can't wait to get there again.

Honey, I'm Home...

Wow...what a vacation!

I wanted to start off telling you about Airports and Airplanes. Mostly because I am so fascinated with how people miss their flights and what that must do to your nervous system. Not to mention your wallet.

This is what the sky looked like on the way TO the Airport last week, by the way. (If you are wondering why I am capitalizing the two words starting with Air, it is simply because I have learned that Airports and Airplanes must be shown huuuge respect in order for everything to go smoothly. Don't p*ss off the Air-words.)

Because we fly jetBlue, our flights back East are always very late at night. Because my husband usually drops us off at the Airport, we have to go very early so he can get home and get to bed at a decent hour. Which leaves us in the wind for a few enjoyable hours - hours spent shopping, eating, reading, and people watching. Oh. And getting through Security. (Another word to capitalize...)

Now remember, I have three children to entertain: this means going up and down the escalator one million times, TCBY at an ungodly hour, pleas for Gatorade and many trips to the potty. Although we got through security just fine and got to our concourse just fine and checked in our luggage just fine - I was completely frazzled when we learned that our flight was an hour behind schedule. Soooo...I decided that I would do a very logical thing: I would go have a smoke. I would simply go back out the way I came and it would kill a few minutes and save the children from certain death-by-strangulation. Besides, it would be several hours before I could afford myself that luxury again.

My time outside was wonderful. And then I got a txt from my daughter: The plane had arrived after all, and they would be boarding in 20 minutes. (Here is where I learn how stressful it is to be late for a flight.) The mad dash back inside must have been comical, because I got pulled out of line in security and shown to my own private screener...ohmygawd.

First thing she asks me is, "Have you been here before?".

I replied that I had, but had foolishly stepped outside for a smoke and needed to pass through quickly if possible. Smiling, (evil-like, now that I look back on it) she told me to enter this small plexi-glass booth and stand very still. Which I did. And then she SHOT me with SEVERAL puffs of rapid fire air...I swear I thought I had been killed. I screamed of course, and hit the ground which is exactly what you are supposed to do when being shot.

Laughingly, (smirking, really) the Security Demon told me to come on out...to which I shrieked something like,"You really should tell a body before you do something like that!".

"Dear, you told me you had been here before!" she giggled.

I tried hard not to mumble and pee my pants simultaneously while explaining that I had been through the NICE Security Line - the only crime I had committed to deserve this was going out for a smoke! To which she replied, "Guess you won't do THAT again, huh?". Ugh.

Needless to say, it was some shaky legs that carried me back to the terminal where I had just enough time to take the kids potty once more, and then collapse on our seats in the Airplane. Which was pretty close to departing on time...Until the steward noticed that the two guys DIRECTLY behind me were almost unconscious. (Apparently, they went to the bar instead of going out for a smoke.)

Deciding that it was too dangerous to leave the drunkards in the aisle reserved for quick escape in case of Aircraft Malfunction, they asked them to switch seats with two lovely ladies up front. And switch they did. Which should have fixed everything. Except for the ladies popped right back up again, demanding their original seats back. Unbeknownst to all, the gentlemen had vomited on the floor...and the seats...and on the Airsick Bag. So of course, the Airline Staff asked them to exit the Airplane and take a later flight when they were sure to feel much better. So, leave they did...but not before assaulting the First Officer on their way off the plane! Whaaa?!

It seems that assault on an Airplane is a Federal Offense - requiring a visit from the FBI or the CIA or whoever it is that takes 1 1/2 hours to arrive in their unmarked cars to haul drunk b*stards to the pokey.

Our Airplane left the tarmac three hours later than planned. I could have smoked a whole damn pack by then.

Oh, by the way... I tried the whole leave-the-terminal-and-brave-Security-again-to-have-a-smoke in New York on the way home, too. With much calmer results. Our plane was 15 minutes early arriving home.

God Bless Airplanes and Airports and Security. And also the FBI/CIA/IRS/whoever it is...

...Leaving On A Jet Plane...

I took this picture at Rye Beach in New Hampshire. It was my first visit there - 2003. When I leave it hanging on my desk I suffer from tremendous wanderlust...
The kids and I are going back East tomorrow night for a week. I am overwhelmingly excited, not only to see the sights again, but to hang with my mom and to experience the world through her magical eyes. Even the color of things are different when I am with her.
Right now, I am trying to wrap things up in a manner that completes the minimal amount of what needs to be done. I think this is the first time I have failed miserably in completing a monumental task - one that I had started anyway. It will still be here when I get home. Ugh. Not going to think about that right now...
I think I already left the state, with or without a jetplane!