That's Sew Sally!

Yes, it is 2009!

2009-05-26T10:57:00.001-05:00

Do I want to begin blogging again...I am not sure. I am going to do a duel blog with john when we go on Youth Choir Tour on June 8. Maybe I will get back into the swing of things. I just don't think I have that much to day anymore...Call me crazy.

My Tale from the Dominican Republic

2007-05-17T12:33:00.000-05:00

All in all mission was accomplished. We spent some quality time with our friend Kim from South Bend, My sister and I did not kill each other...probably thanks to Kim, and we got a few days to rest and relax. Of course there really is not too much to do in the DR as they call it. So happy about that to begin with. No extreme sports to occupy my time this trip. We got an awesome deal ($700 for 6 days) so we did do a few other things. The resort was all inclusive which in my opinion is sort of like a cruise in that the food is not what the whole trip is really about so load up on the things you like. Plus I was a little worried to eat some things I normally love due to the water and all. As a whole the food was edible but nothing was outstanding. Did not bother us too much. We ate out at a little place down on the beach we had heard about which had wonderful steaks and burgers. They also have these things they call "Dumptruck Potaotes" the boil little potatoes and then smash them a little and then fry them. They were yummy!

The Second day we did go on a day trip to a little private island via a yacht and had a nice lunch on another island and then we went bananna boating. Whoo Hoo. I actually went and it was fine. The second boat turned over 3 times. We did not. The private Island was absolutely georgeous! I would love to stay there a week or more but they just had a little hut and some cold drinks. Not facilities as you will and luckily I didn't need one. Kim sadly got sick on the way back to the resort from the food mixed with a bumpy bus ride home.

The next day we went to the Ocean Wold which was fine but just a Big Lots version of Sea World in my opinion. Beth did get to swim with the dolphins which she loved...so for the most part it was worth it too.

On day 3 we just sat around by the pool and did nothing which was wonderful. They had 7 pools and we could have our pick any place we wanted to be for the most part. Very few people around and only a few kids. We all tried out the slide. My limit on extreme sports for this trip. Beth and Kim got so tickled on it I thought one of them was going to lose it.
Hope you will enjoy the pictures.

No, I did not perish in the fire.

2007-05-15T12:34:00.000-05:00

So sorry blog reader...yes singular. I will have to post some photos and journal about my trip to the Dominican...Fantastico!
So on the morning of April 16 I was awake but just barely when I heard the fire alarm going off. I look out in the hall...nothing, look out my window...nothing. So I jump in the shower to get ready for work. As I am exiting the shower with my alarm still sounding I do smell a bit of smoke. So I towel off throw on my clothes from last night, put my hair in a ponytail still wet and grab #1. my purse containing my passport, #2. the sacred church needledpoint we have been slaving over for over a year now and head out to find Mimi. She is waiting for me when I come out and we proceed to the lobby of our building. Well, the smoke has cleared and the fire is almost all the way out but since it is a big building with some businesses as well they sounded a code 5 which means every station in a 10 mile radius responds. I counted about 20 fire trucks and 7 other emergency vehicles. We sat around outside for over an hour and then we were given the all clear. Mimi and I sat in the lobby and watched all the firemen come and go. Not a bad way to start the day I must say. I then had to call into my office and tell them we had a fire and I would be in late. "What's new" they replied. See, I'm not usually a tardy individual...ok...maybe a little, but only where work is concerned. The problem is that on Thursday of the previous week our water was shut off due to a broken line about 3 miles away from me. I get up and no water. Of course I could not go to work without a shower. Then on Friday...the next day...A tree fell over our driveway and we were all stuck in the parking garage until 10:30a.m. So when I called them about the fire I know they were questioning whether I should even come in at all, as was I. As you can see from the picture it was not a serious fire and it was far away from me but still you never know. It was on the news and in the paper and everything so it was sort of a big deal. It was caused by an extention cord which I have all over my place. Trust me I unplugged them all before I left for the Dominican.

Fire! Everyone Evacuate The Building

2007-04-16T22:59:00.000-05:00

This may look like a small fire to you but the owner lost everything. Inside it is completely BLACK! I thought it would be rude to take pictures. Especially since it is the middle of the night when I went up there to take the picture. Check back tomorrow for the outside photos and story.

Barcelona, We have a problem??

2007-03-29T23:16:00.000-05:00

Seeing as how our flight on September 15 out of Barcelona is at 12:00 noon, I thought I should find out about the train schedule from Malaga to Barcelona. Lucky I did...It is a 14 Hour train ride! Yes 1-4....Yikes...I had no idea. It is only about an inch on the map. I thought Spain was about the size of Georgia. Well, the good news is that they do have an overnight train both ways which My dad loves. Sadly, we'll have to leave on Friday night the 13th from Malaga. Right now our plan is to get leave Provence on Friday morning the 7th and spend the night in Barcelona. I guess now we can't leave Barcelona until Saturday night the 8th and arrive in Malaga on Sunday morning the 9th and stay until Friday nightthe 13th. Oh Well...It is vacation right...Go with the flow! Our Time Share is booked from Saturday to Saturday.

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait!

2007-03-28T22:16:00.000-05:00

As I have previously reveled I am planning a trip for my family to Paris, the South of France, Barcelona and Malaga Spain for September 1-15. We had sort of already set these dates due to a tour we signed up for in Provence. I forgot that September 1 would be a holiday and hard to find cheap fares. Well low and behold I have been scouring the internet for WEEKS for a cheap flight. As I looked and looked at every travel sight I could come up with...well me and Clark Howard could come up with...I set a goal price of $750 for the round trip tickets. Pretty ambitious seeing as how the cheapest thing I could find was $1178. So, last night I am surfing, surfing, surfing...every travel site and even sites the sites I am searching suggest. Finally I find a fluke of a deal for $365 ROUND TRIP to Paris and return from Barcelona. I am sweating...I call my sister who has been working 15-17 hour days for the past 3 weeks...she works for an accounting firm. Her response...”who is this?” It was after midnight. So I finally calm down and tell her the details and she says “get it!” so I go to book it and the website says...”Sorry this fare is no longer available, it is now $979” Ugh...I won't give up. I search and search some more, call my parents and get them on board, search and search...finally a fluke happens AGAIN and I find the same fare. OK, so now I know it is not a joke. I am determined. Sparing you anymore details like the website trying to charge me for all 6 tickets....I am finally able to book all 6 of us from Atlanta ~ Paris, We'll then take the train...... to Provence and from Provence to Barcelona and Barcelona to Malaga then back to Barcelona and then fly from Barcelona ~ Atlanta. The plane tickets were only $455 with taxes and fees. I paid for 3 and my dad paid for 3. I am good!

My 5 Favorite Things Today!

2007-03-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

Today, being Tuesday, I thought would be a good day to tell you about the 5 things I love best right now. That and the fact that my radio station talked about it this morning too.

1. My very most favorite thing right now is "Prison Break." I am so happy it is on Monday nights because it gets me over the Monday hump. Only 2 more episodes this season and I am going to be so sad when it ends. I have faith Paul Kellerman is going to do the right thing.

2. My second favorite thing is getting ready for my vacation. I am going to the Dominican Republic in just a little over a month. I have been shopping and checking out all the cute spring clothes. I also spend a lot of time in the evenings reading all the reviews of my resort. I'd have to say it is about 50/50 with folks who liked it and those who do not. I have learned so much.

3. My third favorite thing would have to be my new Vera Bradley Bag I "won" at our preschool auction. It is in my newest pattern and if you keep up with Vera at all you know how quickly the pattern you love retires. So as soon as I picked this new pattern it was already gone. Now I have several small pieces and this one big bag I just bought to go with my old pieces that do not match. E-bay here I come!

4. My fourth favorite thing is my co-workers. They are all pretty chipper today and no one is getting on my nerves too bad (never you bossy). I love having lunch with them but sadly we don't do that enough these days. It is just not the same eating in which I did yesterday for the first time in a long time. It wasn't so bad but I just don't like it. I'm an eater outer!

5. Last but not least I've got to say it...My Tab! I can't believe the number of people who ask me every day if they still are making Tab.....well not every day but all the time! In Asheville this weekend a young lad saw the can and thought we were from another planet. "WOW, Cool, look at that retro soda!" Retro???? Tab has been around longer than you young man. It has never been off the market and I am praying the Coca Cola company will listen to me and never retire it.

Have a good Tuesday!

I AM a real adult!

2007-03-11T12:16:00.000-05:00

As I was coming home on Thursday afternoon I run into my 12 year old neighbor. I say "Hi Christian, How are you?" "Not so good", he says. "I have to do a project this weekend". I wished him luck and we get into the elevator. "What floor?" he asks. "Dude", I say trying to be all 7th grade hip, "I am your neighbor"...He forgot. So we go along and again I wish him luck with his project.

This morning at 10:20a.m., which is really 11:20a.m. I must note, I am still lounging around getting ready for my dinner party tonight when I hear a tiny tap on the door. As I open it I am pleased to see my little neighbor with pad and pen perched on my doorstep. "Um...can I see your mother?" He asks..."My mother?" I reply.."Does not live here. Can I help you?" "No" he says, "I am supposed to interview real adults". "Dude", I use again to show my 12 year old mind, "I AM a real adult" "Oh" he says and turns away...to my other neighbor who is exiting at this point. I quickly duck behind my door so Mark Paul Gosselar..aka my neighbor... can't see me in my pj's as he heads out for a jog. As I duck behind the door and pretend to be all cool for a 41 year old I hear Junior asking Mark if he can interview him. Hello! The man is like 25 years old I think. Yet I am not a real adult! I guess I should be thankful he moved on... the question he asked.."Why do we have different seasons of the year?"

50 Days and Counting!

2007-03-08T16:10:00.000-05:00

Dominican Republic Here I come! After not making it to Puerto Rico due to my friends kidney stone I was so pumped to find this awesome deal to the Dominican. We get 5 days and nights at this resort in Punto Puerto, all your meals from the 9 restaurants, all your beverages including alcohol, and tickest to the Ocean World where my sister will swim with the dolphins and manatees while I take pictures...AND your airfare. All for only $600 and some change. We loved the deal so much we talked our friends from Hawaii into coming along as well.

March 7 is finally here!

2007-03-07T23:31:00.000-05:00

If you happened to check out one of my very first blogs you may remember how much I L-O-V-E Country Music singer Gary Allan. I saw him in concert over the summer and he came out later to watch the other act and stood about 20 feet below me. I was so distracted most of the show trying to debate how painful and what would happen to me if I jumped. Yes, this was taken from my seat of Gary Allan and Rascal Flats.

I found out several months ago he had a Greatest Hits Album coming out in March and I have been counting the days. I mean who wouldn't be attracted to the smoky sad eyes...his wife committed suicide a couple of years ago. So Gary, if you are reading this I got your album today from itunes...CALL ME!

PS ~ BBW I miss you already!

Back In Business!

2007-02-27T19:49:00.000-05:00

OK, so after a week of trying every angle I knew to get into my old blog I started a new one. Finally, Finally, blogger wrote me back and gave me my e-mail and password. I'm B-A-C-K!

41 and holding

2006-12-05T23:54:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry it took me awhile to recover from the weekend. Yes, I can barely still fit in my clothes. Luckily my mom bought me a whole slew of new clothes when we were at the outlet mall. Friday night was great. The girls were toned down. Stac was recovering from a week long illness, her husband was babysitting skymiles 2 kids also, and Boston girl moves this week. SO...we did have fun anyway. After dinner we went to have drinks at The Capital Grille. My new favorite spot I guess. It was an early night. On Friday brother called to wish me a happy birthday and made some comment about how he wasn't sure if he and wifey could afford to hang with the big dogs at Atlanta most expensive restaurant. I had already heard his tirade over the Thanksgiving weekend several times. I got right on the phone with wifey and told her plans had changed I was keeping skymiles baby and I didn't know when she would get back and we weren't going out. I didn't even flinch and she bought it all. True, I was keeping skymiles baby for the afternoon and wasn't exactly sure what time she was coming home....but pretty much knew it would be before 8:30 which was the time of our reservation, she got home at 6:00. Wifey didn't even know what day my actual birthday was on. Go fugure. She wrote me a check...a nice check but still...whoa...thoughtful! Let me just say it was a MUCH more pleasent evening and a quieter evening....and FYI it was cheaper than the other night at Blue Ridge Grille...and a zillion times better. Sorry bro.
Monday with my work crew was one of the best times. It was a fun celebration as usual with this group. For some reason they think I am funny.

Great Birthday ~ even if I did have to get another year older.

Another year has gone by

2006-11-29T23:38:00.000-05:00

This time last year I was busy, busy planning my 40th birthday party for 50 of my closest friends. Hard to believe I will be 41 in just a few short days. Obviously this year will not be quite the celebration. As Bossy was clear to point out..."You don't have parties for your 41st birthday." Damn her! Well, tomorrow night I am having dinner with my married couple friends I have not introduced here yet. They are very sweet to have me and a few other friends over. Plus she is an excellent cook. Then on Friday I am going to a Japanese place with my girls (my actual b-day), Bones with the family on Saturday night, and out with my best boy Mark on Sunday night. As one of my co-workers called it, on Monday my office will make our annual pilgrimage to the Old Hickory House. Funny thing is I don't even claim I like Bar-B-Que. Maybe because my bro works for a BBQ company. BUT...Old Hickory is one of my favorites...and yes I have BBQ. I guess it has something to do with my fond childhood memories. We used to go to OHH almost every Saturday. They used to have them all over Atlanta. now we only have 2 but luckily they are both easy to reach from my work or home.
As you may remember I am planning on taking my sis to Napa Valley for a little R & R to celebrate her 40th Birthday which is January 3. Yes, we are only 13 months apart. Last night I wrote a little poem and gave it to her at this little Christmas party we had. Well, it was my mom's little dinning group and their daughters out for dinner. Only 7 of us. The restaurant (Merlot) was pretty good but very casual and WAY, WAY out for my ITP roots. So, I gave her the little poem at dinner. For the last 24 hours she has done nothing but guess where we are going. I really had her thinking we were going to Boston. I've been dropping hint about going to NYC for weeks now. She probably has figured me out by now. She seems really excited and does not want to really know until Christmas. NOT ME! I told her not to ever do anything like this to me. I got the balloon ride all figured out and our reservation also for Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Gourmet Magazine rated it number 2 in the country. We have quite a bit planned.

I feel guilty

2006-11-22T11:45:00.000-05:00

Most of you know I have a strict hard and fast rule about Christmas Music. While I love it I try to wait to begin the Holiday Season on Thanksgiving Day....or the following day, even better. I try not to do any shopping or play any holiday music until after Thanksgiving. This year I have already been out shopping (and from previous post you know I have already finished my shopping for my sister) TWICE. Well, last night I decided to get all my Christmas music I wanted downloaded to my ipod. I had to play a little snippet to make sure it was the correct song and now I cannot get this song out of my head. I keep singing the same line over and over because I can't remember any more of the song and I am going crazy wanting to know the whole song. I am very happy I just downloaded the songs to my computer and not actually on my ipod because I would have listened to them this morning. Yesterday Bossy sent me an e-mail with several Christmas Questions attached. One of them...What is your favorite Christmas Memory? Easy...here is what I said...

A few years ago we went to Williamsburg for Christmas.

On December 23 they had the "Lighting of the Holiday" or some such.

It was at night and it was 2 degrees outside...acting like it was going to snow.

All the Williamsburg actors were out along with the Fife and Drum (band)

lighting the gas lamps with big torches. They had a parade and Dickens

folks singing carols and it was just "CHRISTMAS". We left the parade and

walked down the street to the Bruton Parish Church for ginger cookies and cider.

The whole family was together and Mimi was also with us.

It never snowed but Washington had so much they called it a white out since

there was so much snow. It is only an hour away from Williamsburg.

The next year we went to Washington and still no snow.

So the next thing I did was download my songs and I couldn't help getting in the mood. It is almost a little sad for me because I am so ready for Thanksgiving to come and go...as you know I love Thanksgiving too....so I can put on my Christmas mood full swing. You can bet the first song I will listen to tomorrow is "You Make Me Feel Like Christmas" (Neil Diamond..chessy? yes..but that man can sing!) Happy Thanksgiving All!

I love my TIVO...most of the time

2006-11-21T01:12:00.000-05:00

My best friend and favorite gift I ever gave myself has really made me angry tonight. I'm not even sure what the problem is but about every other commercial, which I don't watch because TIVO zips through them, the screen goes to blue. What the heck is going on?? TIVO I love you baby but you have got to work with me here. I almost missed the tell all of the Bachelor...HORRORS! Luckily, and I mean LUCKILY for him he was doing fine during Prison Break. Maybe I should take this as a sign to go on to bed a little early tonight...after all it is now 1:15 a.m....OK so 45 minutes and missing an episode I have already seen of Will and Grace will not kill me so I'll sign off. TIVO...you better be back to your old self tomorrow!

I am...That's Sew Sally!

2006-11-20T00:47:00.000-05:00

People were calling me "Sew Sally" because of all the sewing I used to do. I have made a nice little bit of extra cash doing some monogramming and sewing. This past week a friend asked me if I would do somethings for her...but she wanted them for Thanksgiving. Since I also work almost full time I knew this weekend would be the only time to work on all of this. Well, from previous blogs you may know I put it all off until Sunday evening. YIKES! As you can see it all worked out pretty well. One thing I did conclude was my machine needs a good tune up. Since I haven't been sewing I hadn't noticed it until now. Thank goodness "Rosey" made it through these projects. I hope these outfits will make Monogram Momma proud. Sometimes my talents surprise me too. Isn't that refreshing!

Friday

2006-11-18T01:08:00.000-05:00

So Mike and Kim got here EARLY. Some friends told them it was 13 hours from South Bend so they left before dawn I think. I was just messing around putting off gettin gin the shower when Sis called and said they were already here at their hotel waiting. Yikes! So we picked them up and took the to Capital Grill for drinks. The view of Buckhead is the best of anyplace and they loved it. We had a ball catching up and having some liquid refreshment. So after a tiny buzz we left there and went to...guess where?...Target...well, we do have I think the only 2 story Target. They took pictures of the cart escalator. We went to dinner and then quickly left to go meet some friends out. We took our photo albums from Hawaii and everyone who came by our table looked at the books. Well, you know how boring other folks travel pictures can be so I was pleased everyone wanted to see them. It was skymiles girls husbands birthday and he poured a beer on the cake to get the trick candles out. We all had a great evening and Mike and Kim have promised to come back again and stay longer next time. They have to get up by 7:00am so they can get to the South Florida for their cruise. Hopefully they'll come again soon!

Tomorrow night is Skymiles Girls baby's first birthday party...mostly adults and booze so it should be another fun evening.

I love Thanksgiving!

2006-11-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

Even though turkey is not really my favorite I LOVE Thanksgiving. This year my mom is recovering from hip replacement and still in a rehab facility. We thought we'd make it easy on her and us and have t-giving at The Ritz or Four Seasons. We checked it all out, got the menus, wine list and of course all the dessert items. I love a buffet. Well, then my mom's friend, who we spend most holidays with, invited us and did not want to think about a restaurant. Hopefully my mom will be released from rehab on Wednesday. Usually we all make something to bring and the hostess will make the turkey. She is a pretty good cook so no worries there. I'm all set to make Martha's pearl onions and leeks. It looked very yummy when she made it.
So in addition to my brother and his wife, my sis, mom and dad there will be my mom's friends, we'll call the Baboo and Lala, what their grandkids used to call them when they couldn't say their "official names" and their daughter, my brothers age, her husband and their three kids. Now that they are a little older 12, 10 and 7...they have become a little quieter. Without a doubt it will be a lively holiday. This turkey is still on my fridge from last year at their house. Made by the family artist...at age 6. She only had to make 22 last year, 6 of us 15 of them plus one friend. This year will be different.

Friday morning mom, dad, sis and I head off for our annual day at the outlet mall/Target/Khols/Walmart. This year we used our hotel points to stay for free in the hotel in Dahlonega. Yea...I know, why use points in Dahlonega GA but they were Days Inn points, who knew I stayed at Days Inn so much?? They were actually left over from Eurpoe where Days Inn is really nice American Hotel there. Back to the adventure.....this way we get two days of shopping. Dinner at our favorite place in Dahlonega, Corkscrew. If you get a chance you should go here. It is about 30 minutes north of the outlet mall but the town is so cute and the restaurant so yummy, and cheap by my fancy Atlanta standards. Then on Saturday we are planning on spending some time at Wolf Mountain Vineyards, and Blackstock Winery which are both suprisingly very good. Getting us in the mood for Napa.

This man is NOT gay!

2006-11-15T21:26:00.000-05:00

Today I was all excited to post my new entry about Mike and Kim coming to visit. Well, then I read Bossy Bar Wife and Monogram Momma and felt a little left out. Seriously, BBW willl have you rolling on the floor and MM just has the most ADORABLE ideas. I love her blog. Mine is just a little boring if you ask me. Good thing no one is reading it but BBW and me. Oh yea..I forgot Mayor of Crazytown read it and said all my crushes are homos! When BBW told me this I yelled back..."Well she is a homo!" She is not, not that there is anything wrong with that, but it sounded funny at the time. How dare she diss the loves of my life. Hello, Wentworth Miller, He is in Prison for goodness sake! He is a rough and tough prison guy...OK, I see her point but he is NOT gay. Then Bob Harper...admittedly a little on the fem side but still so hot...yea...I would blow him away with one big breath anyway so I'll scratch him. Then Gary Allan, he smokes Camels and drives a motorcycle...clearly not really my type...smoking blech...but again H-O-T! Apparently this "Prez" person says so..I'm going to kick his ass is what I am going to do. Is Prez a homo? Maybe that would be why he thinks my men are gay. I wish I could figure out how to put their dadgum hot pictures in my blog so you could be the judge...but once agian only BBW and Mayor of Crazytown are reading...thanks girls! Tomorrow I am going to figure out how to get in these pictures.

Mike and Kim

2006-11-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

On our cruise to Hawaii last October we met some wonderful people. The first night at our table we made friends with Kim and her husband Mike. They are such genuine awesome people. My sister and I both were so excited to meet them. Of course two single girls we hoped to meet the rich handsome man of our dreams but the first day we both agreed as long as we met some fun folks we didn't care if they were 18 or 80, men or women..as long as they were fun. Last cruise our buds were two men in their 70's...what a hoot they were. So, we met Mike and Kim at our dinner table along with Tom and Donna (Donna who was the spitting image of the Nanny's mother, you know the Fran Dresher show?), Mike and Cindy (Brady ha, ha) who were cruise experts, Teresa and Peter. We all decided she was totally faking the whole cruise and hired Robert Wagnor (not his real name). They claimed to be on their honeymoon, but slept in twin beds. Mike and Kim and the two of us had a ball the whole cruise. One night my sister and I went to dinner to meet our boyfriend (AKA our waiter Zoltan) at the specialty restaurant. On our way back to our room we ran into Mike and Kim going towards our room. We thought "Oh, how nice they were coming to get us for the show". So we quickly changed and went to meet them for the evening show. Then at 5:30 in the morning the room service guy shows up at our door with a cart load of food...enough for like 10 people. They were trying to put the notice on our door when we caught them in the hall. My sis knew right away it was them but I am so gullible I didn't think they would do that....they did! The last night of the cruise they were having a goodbye party in the lounge. We all went after dinner and turns out we were the only ones there. Go figure! So we took the stage and had our own little concert. Mike on the drums, Kim and myself on vocals and my sis on the Bongos. It was a hoot. It didn't take long for the whole crew of workers to be gathered around watching us as we acted like idiots!
They are just fun folks. We spent a lot of time with them and came home thinking we'd never see them again. They live in South Bend...not exactly on our way anywhere. Kim and I have kept up via e-mail about once a month. Well low and behold they decided to go on a cruise agian over Thanksgiving and drive to Florida coming through Atlanta. We both are like kids at Christmas waiting to see them again. They were supposed to come on November 29. Yesterday she e-mailed and said they wanted to come through on their way down instead...THIS FRIDAY!It will really work out great because Skymiles Girl and her husband and some other friends are headed out for the evening. They will all get along great.

Welcome to my Blog!

2006-11-14T17:35:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog!
It’s exciting isn’t it? A part of me is wondering who may be reading this but maybe I don’t want to know….not many folks I am sure!
So today was a good day! I am planning a surprise trip to Napa Valley for my sisters 40th Birthday in January. Well, as we all know airline ticket prices are going up and up. After many hours spent searching and scanning the web for the best prices I came to the conclusion I could not get them for under $400. EEEK! Since it was a gift it was going to cost me over $800 alone for the airfare. OK…so I am most thankful to Bossy Bar Wife for helping me plan my trip since she is an expert Napa Valley Travelers having gone twice now and especially my two BFF’s we’ll call Berkeley Girl or “BG” and Skymiles Girl I’ll call “SG”. BG lives in Berkeley California and has invited us to stay with her. We are only going to stay one night but it is the thought that counts. Plus she is a world of information as well. SG is one true friend boys and girls. She donated to the cause 50,000 of her skymiles so I would not have to spend a fortune for the tickets. The other one is coming from my Dad’s skymiles. Can you believe someone is that nice? Me either! Since I only had 3,000 miles myself because of another trip to see BG in May. We now have our tickets, Reservations for dinner on New Years Eve at Bouchon, sister to French Laundry, lunch reservations at Auberge thanks to Bossy Bar Wife’s recommendation and our hotel room at the Marriott AGAIN thanks to Bossy Bar Wife. Next up…since I saved like $850…hot air balloon ride reservations. I’m waiting for BG to call me back with the place they have used before.

On another note …Our buddies from our cruise to Hawaii last year had planned on coming to visit us on November 29. Well, she e-mailed today and they are actually coming this Friday. We are so excited to see them again! More about them later.