Thanksgiving 2012

This Thanksgiving was fabulous because I got to take Daniel to work. Yep we got to stay 23 hours in Lafayette, Louisiana. Now you ask where are the pictures?  I can't stand Louisiana, so I would not immortalize it. I think it should fall into the Gulf. Now I know most people are asking themselves why are you so mean to Louisiana?  I can't stand the people from there; all of them.  Every city I fly to they act like Louisiana is the only state in the US and that it is better than New York and LA and any large city in the world. Since I have been to quite a few cities in my day (small and large), I know this isn't true and what I have seen of Louisiana can seriously be worked on.

Anyway I have new reasons for Louisiana to fall into the Gulf.  Thanksgiving started off with a snag when Daniel couldn't get onto the flight that I was working. It was full, why were people going to Lafayette?  What's there except Tabasco sauce?  Daniel was able to get on the next flight so problem solved! We hung out till about dinner and started to look around for something to eat.  Well the entire town shut down for Thanksgiving; even the van driver left us stranded at the hotel with a closed restaurant.  I found out the old hotel we stayed at had a dinner and we walked over to it.

At the dinner we discovered that it was for all of the retired folks.  Daniel and I were the youngest ones with my Captain, his wife, and First Officer.  The funniest part was the food because it was geared toward people with no teeth. Very mushy.  Possibly the part that has me scratching my head is there was turkey, and gravy, but no mash potatoes.  Who doesn't have mash potatoes with Thanksgiving?  Maybe some people don't, okay, but why the gravy?  They had stuffing, beans, and 'cause it Louisiana some cajun/creole rice (I'll call crap because even by their culture standards it was a little off).  All very mushy, so are mashed potatoes.

The best was my Captain. He just started to laugh and said, "hey, look". I turned my head and there were some old ladies with martini glasses. I shrugged, he said, "what do they think this is high class dining?" I laughed and Daniel said, "What is there some age limit on martinis?  From the age 21 to 65 you are allowed to drink martinis once your 66 it's over."  We all busted up laughing because we just didn't know how much worse it could get.

The next day we did have a great breakfast, but Daniel almost didn't make it on the plane!  The stress of that with the substandard food made this Thanksgiving note worth!

PS I know call the waaambulance for me my husband got to be with me for Thanksgiving. I realize this isn't a very Thankful post, but I would like to enjoy the humor of things to show my thanks instead of little diatribes that I would soon forget.

Musings

I love to blog, but must admit I can't unless I have a picture.  It slows my process down because if I have a picture I have to scrapbook it.  It is a vicious cycle and slows the process down dramatically as I have to look for photo ops that I want to scrapbook without getting behind.  I begin to lean more towards Facebook (yes I just admitted that) because it satisfies my gossip urge as well as allow me to participate instantly with the like button. Funny part is that I still take twenty minutes to compose an answer.  This is why I make Daniel compose our Christmas card.  I don't know what he will pull out of his hat this year since we didn't celebrate our birthdays, holidays, or even our anniversary (yes we both forgot).  Sounds depressing when put on paper.  Most my vacations were canceled as well so I can't regal the world with where I've been.

Yes this is my whiny post. I  figure I should have one in case people get the misconception that I'm always happy.

October Crazys

This October I had vacation, but it wasn't so much vacation as a shake up of life.  We moved from Douglasville to Vinings.  I am so excited because now we get be in a hip part of the city.  Daniel's commute has been cut down to 30 minutes from work and 15 minutes from school!  We moved into a  two bedroom apartment (hint: come visit!) that is a renovated Victorian housing.  It is old and has lots of character and I got to paint my walls!  It is the first time I've got to live in a house with out magnolia walls, so out came the magenta and apple green!  I am loving it and have done a great job painting.Still decorating and more pictures to come on that.

After Daniel and I moved by ourselves, okay we had one day where a friend helped us, I treated myself to a concert in Salt Lake.  I went with my friend Tera to The XX.  It was great the crowd was a little weird and we decided that we were too old for concerts, but overall it was worth it.  Daniel was super bummed that her had to stay in Atlanta because of school, but was glad that one of us got to go to The XX.

One of my overnights this month was in Charlottesville, Va.  This is where Thomas Jefferson's Monticello is located.
 It was AWESOME.

 Totally beautiful, but  I feel that way every time I come to Charlottesville and I know why he always wanted to stay on his mountain in Monticello. It had a kickin' kitchen, the Chateau de Chenonceau (France) was better, way better, but they had French copper pots in this kitchen and that is always a mega bonus.  I was amazed to find out that he died with so much debt.  It was worth a small house ($150,000) in today's money and I can't imagine what it was with inflation.  He also didn't free his slaves like most people think. He only freed four; two were his children, one he promised his freedom for becoming his french chef and teaching others, and his butler.  He had an awesome garden. I wanted to buy some seeds that he had cross bred, but they didn't sell any.  They only sold harvested seeds from Monticello, but conveniently none of the species he "invented."

Daddy Daughter Date...Across the Pond

How this all came to be was my dad was saying he wanted to meet Daniel and I in Paris  for the weekend.  Daniel had started his new job and there was no way he could go, and I just mentioned that I need to go to Bradford England to do some family research.  My dad was all over that idea because he just wanted to get away and it he was his family I was researching and my father loves England (served his mission in London and hadn't been up North).

My first map which worked great for the Motorways(Freeways)

I choose the time in September so I knew we could get on a flight to Manchester. It ended up a little rough, but we did get on and in first class!  I will admit that I packed to a  Salt Lake City fall leaning more to Atlanta weather.  It came as quite a surprise when we landed and it was 40ish degrees.  I ended up buying a great jacket.

I am so easily amused. My name was on the TV in my room!

Dad driving on the wrong side of the road--literally he is driving on the American side.

We rented a car because we needed to go to Bradford.  I was hoping that we could just rent a GPS and go from there, but they didn't have any left.  So I navigated us with a map and then later had to buy a town map which became really useful when we searched for where the family lived and moved.

The old grocer...sort of.

We started off driving to the moors. It really it is beautiful country and I'm sorry that I didn't get any good pictures of it.  We arrived after we struggled to find the hotel, and then headed to the Bradford Central Library.  The ladies there were so helpful.  I was able to find out my great great great grandfather was a prominent grocer in Bradford and we found where his grocery store stood which was right next to the Bradford Cathedral. Once again my little street book helped us find this.

My fish is so hot I can barely eat it!

For two nights we got fish and chips at this quaint little chippery near our hotel that served locals.  It was the best fish and chips I've had in a long time.Of course it was the best since the last time I had fish and chips was in England.

 On our third day we found the graveyard where William Lee was buried.  It is in the Colesly Parish. We drove out to the countryside and  found the church with its graveyard. It had taken care of some of its graves while others were very scary.  We couldn't find his grave, but as we were leaving to go to  the Halifax library, I pointed to a mess of weeds and said it's probably dead center in that mess.  We went to Halifax and found a cemetery map.  We went back and it was exactly where I said it was.  My dad was such a trouper because he walk into all that mess and cleared it away, so that we could stand right on top of it. It was the silliest and coolest thing ever.

This was the nice part of the cemetery that was taken care of.

We had to go home after we found this grave.  We did catch a movie at their museum of Photography and Cinema.  It was so cool to see Batman  in a museum it was totally designed to get the best out of the film. I'm glad we got to go there as it is one of my favorite museums.  While I was trying to find this guy's parents, I unfortunately didn't, but seeing where he lived and what he did and where he was buried made this trip successful for me.

Weekend at the Red Neck Rivera

Daniel and I have become beach people.  It is hard to believe considering how hard it is for us to just lay around and stare at water.  This year we chose to go to Panama City, Florida where most Georgians go because it is close and cheap...Red Neck cheap. We did prep for this trip, tanned a little so we didn't burn when our skin saw the sun, we bought a cooler and we bought a beach umbrella. We feel like we are official beach goers now.  We didn't have great weather all the time, but for one day there was nothing but sun and that made our trip.  We scooped out places to eat from my pilots who lived there and we ended up at this really beautiful restaurant on the bay.

Boondocks. The restaurant even has a Red Neck name!

View outside our table

A Week of Incredible Visiting

Izzy  the fish

This weekend I had an extravaganza of travel and family.  I started my Thursday trying to get to St. George for my best friend Jenn's wedding.  I was able to spend some time with my sister and her girls in Los Palmas.  It is a condo complex that Anjie, my sister, and I used to go when we were little. It was great because we swam  and snuggled in bed.  Little girls are the best to giggle and snuggle with. My nieces are especially funny when you bring out the camera.  I couldn't show all of the funny pictures because there are too many to pick from.

Snuggle Bunny time

 After going to the wedding, I traveled up north on my way home for a family reunion.  I don't really do reunions and the moment you call it a reunion I have no interest in going.  I can't help it I always associate seeing my cousins as low key family afternoons or celebrating family achievements.  I don't know why the reunion makes it

Most all of the cousins that came and yes my brothers are the only boys in the family.

Rinehart's Kids

 Hanging out talking. The best part of a "reunion" for me! I got a royal sunburn even though it looked shady.

Hmm My Favorite!

 When I was going home (at least to a stop on the way home),  my dad and love green apples (totally not ripe, but good).  We used to eat them all the time when I was little from the neighbor's tree.  Unfortunately the tree was chopped down, but my dad found another tree.  I was totally excited I made him turn the car around so I could get some.

I went to Baltimore on my way home because it is easier to get from Salt Lake City to Baltimore than to Atlanta.  It was a great opportunity to see her little boy, Tate, before he was no longer little.  He was good boy and I was able to walk him with his papoose and Jody kept saying it was a Bjorn wrap, but I insisted it was a papoose and I had the baby so I got to call it what I want (mostly I just wanted call it that because I don't know the new fangled words that are associated with children). We had Frito Pie while at Jody's house. I knew that Daniel would love it so I came home and made it from him.

Here is the pictures for the 12 hour adventure to Salt Lake

It took so long to get to Salt  Lake we had to go through Chicago.  Daniel had to stop and get a Chicago dog although we did decide that it wasn't the real deal since we never left the airport and they would be so much better if we got them on the street in the city.

 At Grandma's "I am going to die so come visit me" party she attacked a Burger King for their crowns and told them she would eat there only if they had the crowns.  She was the queen and shared her crowns with the younger kids while telling everyone what to do and how it should be done. Daniel's favorite quote was when she wandered off in the middle of his ranting and when he asked her where she was going she said, "Well your boring me so I'm leaving."

Long Time No See

I have blown my New Year's resolutions right out the water.  I stopped eating around March and I guess that was when I stopped writing on my blog.  I do have a marginally good excuse for not doing anything that I am trying to work on.  I got called to set up and run the Young Women's Stake Camp.  While I love camp, and made all the changes I would when I went last year, so I probably deserved this hell, I did not like the people I worked with.  Mostly the people who gave me the final okay for things and would then take away what was my proper final decision.  Plus everything had to be a commitee decision done in a meeting. I DON'T DO MEETINGS, seriously with my job, just do what I tell you and let's make the next decision.  Anyways this three month experience in hell has left me a little exhausted and whiny (poor Daniel huh, near the end he kept saying,"I just want my wife back!"). It has been over a month since then and now I am finally going back to things that I enjoy like knitting and sewing and scrapbooking (which I'm so far behind I don't' even acknowledge it any more).  I have been doing fun things too, but haven't taken pictures because of the serious running behind in the scrapbook department. 

Fun things,  I went to Salt Lake for 12 hours to visit my family, Grandmother and cousins.  Loads of fun; I miss playing with my nephews and nieces. After 5 flights total to get there and back, I miss sitting next to Daniel and finding ways to entertain each in airports (we had a wild traveling summer a few years back and I guess I really liked sitting next to him in a plane--I think if he knew that he would throw up in his mouth because he hates the are we or are we not going to get on factor).

Ooh Roller Derby is really cool and I could so get hooked on that sport and culture.  Daniel's coworkers are on a team, so he gets to work contacts why I am totally into the game.

Found a Facebook group and feel really hip because I finally have a support group of people with diverse backgrounds and different thoughts.  Silly huh that such a dumb thing could make me so happy, and a little OCD with checking it.

Found a dress pattern for a vintage 1920s dress. Could be interesting and stretch my limited sewing skills in ways that I could never imagine, but hey I'll see how far I get into the dress before I chuck it and decided to do something else. PS the pattern is in words not cut out on dotted line...scary.

I haven't decided if I am going to keep up with my resolutions or just leave them where they are. I would like to keep my blog resolution, but I am really not interested in eating.  I guess two and halfish months will have to do work for me.

Oh I do have some pictures maybe when I get off my trip I will add them. Most are random though.

My New Home...The Box

Hiding in Bridget's box, and possibly from Bridget

Will do anything to get attention from Daniel!

March Mayhem

 I can't believe that March is over! I felt like I've lived at least two months in one!  Mostly that is why I haven't been posting; its been go, go all the time. Here are some of the things we have been up to. Early in March we went to Salt Lake  and the onto Santa Cruz Ca we also drove around San Jose and went to the Winchester House.

While Santa Cruz we had to go to Redwood forest that is three or so miles from downtown Santa Cruz. It was amazing to just be driving around and then your would start to wind right into the forest.

Daniel, when he lived here, would go once a week and walk through the forest.  It was pretty peaceful and awesome.

This was great because you can see that a tree is literally growing out of an old tree.

 In Salt Lake Daniel threw me a "surprise" birthday party, but Christine, his sister, kept spilling the beans about the details. The only surprise was the cake I was impressed with their cake decorating, but we were all surprised because Christine mixed up the frosting and cake with gel frosting and didn't know that a very little goes a long way!

Sagan and I watching Tominkins (??) I have no idea what they are, but Sagan was excited to watch the video with me and had charged me to go to Japan and buy him some (I don't see how they are different from Lego)

The Winchester House. It is the most expensive house that has never been complete. It was a little creepy because of all of the weird things that Sarah Winchester (heiress to Winchester rifles) constructed in the house.  I don't know how she lived in it, or how it even stands in some places.

 

Sorry they wouldn't let me take pictures inside

Surfing beaches off of highway 1!!