Homemade Bagels

I wanted to take a special moment to honor Bev's HOMEMADE bagels. Yum.

The fresh dough, the boil, the steaming in the oven...the whipped cream cheese, the lox. OMG. Who knew that people still took the time to do this stuff at home...let alone to spoil the people who crashed their house the night after Dj's birthday party.

We have had such great weekends lately. It feels odd because we haven't been at our home, but it doesn't phase us because our friends love our dog Lenny and he has been able to travel with us. And believe it or not, our Greyhound will get in the pool on his own! Grant it, he tries to bite the water jets that tickle his feet and in turn he submerges his whole snout into the water [snort, snarfle, sneeze]. Yeh, smart eh?

Our other friends, on the other side of Phoenix-earth had us out to their pool party/BBQ the weekend before. Holy geeze we got spoiled there too...smoked turkey, RIBS and sausage! Yeah, I think we will keep this rolling road trip party going! ...this weekend it will be a puppy party at our house. We get to have their pups for almost a week and it is always fun to have the new dynamic.

I am hip with the interwebs...

I am currently spoiled enough to now have a brand new phone. It is the Palm Pre and I may just have fallen in love with it. Tom, it may just be time for you to get phone envy (again). I have all the awesomeness that a iPhone can provide without all the BS of dealing with AT&T. 

And I can further be happy with Sprint because I have unlimited texting and way more minutes than we will ever use for the same price...including all of our normal extras of free roaming, insurance, unlimited data, google maps...okay I will stop being an advertisement for Sprint. Long story short, it is a happy tech gadget day for this woman.

Thankful for...

I have been in a bit of a funk and things are running relatively status quo. Still going to the gym, we are still in the same house, I am still at the same job, Lenny is still neurotic and adorable all the same time. Then I have change; friends are moving away to Japan, other friends are visiting Japan and I am longingly wanting my own trip.

Instead of being all gloom and doom (for no apparent reason besides PMS-ing) --I want to focus on the positive and encourage you to do the same in your own lives.

• My family is healthy (core and extended)
• I have wonderful friends (who have great BBQ/pool parties)
• We are DINKs
• Curtis made me dinner last night and helped clean up...its nice to have that extra help and to share in the every day life together

Just remember when you have problems...they may just be "luxury problems." What I mean by this is if your car gets a flat tire and you have a bad day over it. Reverse that thinking to be how it may be inconvenient to have a car issue, however you are very lucky to have the freedom of your own transportation. No public transit, not carpooling, you are still being blessed with the luxury to travel about at your own pace.

Giving Yoga Girls their props.

That class was a lot harder than anticipated, happily non-competitive. I aspire to be as buff and lean as the instructor. Wow.

Paging All Nurses

[blank stares and crickets chirp]

What, us? Oh well, no we aren't nurses...we are simply wiping down our Pilates mats with tea tree oil to keep them sanitary like we did at the old studio. Our fellow classmate had mistaken my work out buddy and me for nurses. I later had it explained to me that us cleaning after every class made us look like persnickety nurses. Eh, I take it as a compliment.

Other happenings at the gym is that my buddy is a trainer magnet. She is such a hottie that trainers want to take credit for her good looks and offer us free training sessions. She lives in the "beautiful bubble" because she is modest and doesn't know this is a perk not everyone gets. Good thing I am along for the ride--today we get to work out with "Tony Hawk" (or at least that is who the trainer looks like to me). I'll let you know how it goes--plus Curtis did his first official day at the gym yesterday. I am so proud of him and he has a pending appointment with T.H. also.

Tip: Here's how not to make friends at the gym...snake 3 elliptical machines at one time. That's what my buddy did, right in front of 2 other girls approaching--it is like the Seinfeld of saving movie seats. We got there just quick moments after and we loved her for it...but damn, I saw the glare she got for popping her towel, water bottle and whole self onto the 3 machines. It still makes me laugh!

In General

No military secrecy on confidential Marine projects like in the past. That all I could find out about is how Scotty has another new hobby and pilots broke more gear in more stupid ways than Curtis thought was originally possible. Now I can ask: 'How was your day?' --And then proceed to get a clear, general, real answer. So for once C can tell me about what he is working on and I love to truly hear about his day.

It is a larger company he works for and they have to pay for coffee, so my solution is that I bought him a 5-cup coffee maker since we didn't find a policy of no hot plates at your desk. The following is what ensued per email update:

The coffee maker has turned into a nightmare. Apparently there was a policy change a while ago. I have to open a facilities request to check the plug I want to plug the coffee maker into to make sure it is approved for small appliances. Then I have to get an equipment tag for the coffee maker so security knows the equipment is allowed on the premises. At this point I can't even bring it into the building. Once I get all that the coffee maker can't sit in my cube, it will have to sit at the end of the cubes where the fridge and microwave are (the only electrical outlet "rated" for small appliances).

So he can tell me how his day went, but he can't walk into the building with a coffee maker. Does anyone else find this funny too?!?!?

Aloha!

I full-heartedly went on vacation and am barely back to normal life statuses. If I continue to wait and post a summary of our vacation, then you will never hear from me again. The best I can do is direct you to my flick'r page where there are over 690 photos/videos. You will get a good idea of our trip and feel free to ask me questions about it. We spent 4 days on the volcano side in a wonderful B&B (living next door to "Wallace & Gromit"), hiking, driving, exploring and visiting with some local connections were were put into touch with [see C's blog]. The last 3 days were blissfuly spent at a Waikoloa-Kona resort where we pampered ourselves, played, read, snorkled and just had a really relaxing vacation together.

Now we want a Jeep since we fully enjoyed putting over 800 miles on our rental. It is a wonderful combination of convertible and 4-wheel drive...rockin' awesome. Also a revision on our life's to-do list is kids; hell...when it happens, it happens. Until then, we are looking forward to being DINKs for once in our marriage. Pamper ourselves a bit more. On my wish list is a stamp in my passport--my goal is Japan.

Gone Fishin'

Hm, perhaps I should have posted that sign weeks ago when I went on vacation. I will post again soon and then you will know my brain is done with the vacation.