Now I remember what I did on Sunday. 

I spent most of the day de-decking the halls. I wonder, am I the last to take the decorations down this season? Even Corby once walked over to see the living room fish tank and was surprised that the tree was still there. Normally I try to take the decorations down shortly after the 6th, but this year was spent up at Plymouth the weekend after the 6th, and the weekend after New Years was spent in some organization haze, buying tubs and a Container Store visit or something. Since I had obtained new plastic tubs for storing the Christmas stuff in, I got to spend time putting stuff into new arrangements, downsizing three cardboard boxes to two tubs. Of course all the stuff is still in my sewing room since we had pinned great hopes on the new attic stairs. Perhaps in a couple of weeks. 

With apologies to Dot Warner,
I'm sick, yes it's true
I really can't help it, but what can I do
When you're sick, it just shows
With these two itchy eyes and this sniffely nose
and a fluffy pink robe...

It seems destined that when my doctor goes on vacation, I get sick. And his back-up? Not in the office today. sigh. so I have an appointment tomorrow with the back-up. Hopefully it won't take too long and he can give me something for this funk. I'm rather tired of this chest rattling cough and frankly being tired all the time. 

This weekend Alan and I are off for Wadesboro NC for Grandma Flake's memorial service. Dad called today to see if I wanted to say a few words, and he understood when I decided to bow out due to not having much of a voice to speak of. It will be nice to see the folks and sisters again, if for a brief bit of time. We plan to leave on Friday night after rush hour and drive til we are tired, grab a hotel room and get up the next morning to complete the trek southward. The service is at 2pm, visiting with the family an hour beforehand. We have a room booked at this cute Bed and Breakfast in Wadesboro for Saturday night, and a lovely family breakfast before getting on the road back home on Sunday. I hope I start feeling better tomorrow, since I can't cancel the weekend.
 

 Quick Winter break re-cap.

We went to visit the Toscanos on Saturday, and also delivered some old furniture and clothes to the Salvation Army. eleanors_closet and Alan ended up doing the final clearing out of the storage unit, while I entertained Jimmy with a distracting cookie-hunt and chatter. We stayed to visit and tour the new abode, and enjoy a yummy dinner with them and Carla. Got home a bit late, but had an excellent time. The new house is uber cool and I had way too much fun playing with the beagles.

Sunday we had thought of shopping, but bummed about the house instead. I honestly don't know what we did.

Monday we finally broke down and did Christmas shopping for each other together. We braved the Rockville Best Buy and picked up DVDs and a shredder that we placed in our stockings and under the tree. Then we got cleaned up and had a wonderful dinner out at Timpano's in Rockville. The skillet-roasted prawns and lobster ravioli was yummy, as was the Rosa Regale to drink and the mini-tartufo dessert. Though we had reservations, we did have to wait a bit to get seated, but we enjoyed the floor show of the various other patrons, the un-equal division of labor for the hostesses, and the creeping fake palm dragged out of its niche by staff passing by that I nudged back in place a time or two. We enjoyed ourselves immensely just the two of us, and then tried out the local Episcopal church around the corner. The music was lovely, and the service was nice, but I confess it clashed with the comforting ceremonies and hymns of my Lutheran upbringing (the final lines in What Child is This is not a chorus but a changing line for each verse! sigh), and even Alan balked a bit at the change in language of the Common Book of Prayer from the 1940 version he was accustomed to. It was very interesting, and we were singled out immediately during the sharing of peace and end of service as new and possible recruits. Not terribly likely given our schedules. commitments, and my propensity to sleep in, but neat to try just the same. 

Christmas Day I slept in late and we opened our "presents" and after testing the new shredder, making breakfast and watching Shrek 3, we bustled off to cathgrace's for Christmas dinner with the Griffith's. The company was wonderful, even if we did have a bit of trouble getting on base leaving our new car insurance cards at home. The food was awesome and very tasty, and we stayed much longer than we had initially thought we would. It is just so easy to get wrapped up in conversation that we didn't depart until close to midnight. Despite neglecting to do the cat-check (luckily Alan and I survived only a little sniffly and short of breath), we had an excellent time, and I thank them very much for sharing their Christmas dinner and day with us. It was fabulous getting to know them all a little better. (Thanks to chargirlgenius  for the other orphan offer, and maybe some other time.)

The rest of the week was spent hanging out, blissfully sleeping in, getting a hair-cut and massage and doing a bit of shopping with the post-Christmas sales and using up for coupons and gift cards. I got Alan a new sweater jacket for wearing around the house since we are trying to cut back a bit on the heating bill, moi some new clothes at Gap and Loft sales, some new underthings, as well as new skillets and a conair hairstyling brush and hair dryer in one. So far everything is working out well. Well, except the new casual pants I bought and wore on Saturday only realizing at the end of the day that the tag says wash before wearing, thus leaving me with blue legs. 

The finale to our break was hosting the Black Tie Brash Billionaire Bash New Years Eve party at our place. I had a lovely new (sale) evening gown to wear, and Corby brought me a cheap fleur-de-lys tiara. Alan wore a bow-tie as the bartender down in the space bar, and lots of folks came dressed up. It was so great to spend the evening with friends, even those who had to leave early for various reasons. Bob and I played pool in the basement with the Great Short Horde, since Issac, Emmie and Brandon were in attendance and seemed to have a great time hanging out together all night. The kids even stayed up for the midnight toast (they drank sparkling cider) and then crashed out for a bit as the adults stayed up and chatted for well into the wee hours of the morning. theodoraddid an amazing job providing the food for the party and making it tasty and upscale to the theme. Friends brought other food contributions that were tasty as well. Heck I had alisandramel's chocolate cake for lunch today since our rotten work cafeteria doesn't open up until tomorrow and we all forgot.  

The clean-up was smooth thanks to our glorious friends. We set sircorbyto making waffles for breakfast for those that stayed overnight, and I spent the meager rest of my winter break watching the Dirty Jobs marathon on the Discovery Channel last night until crash time.

Last year I posted pictures of our Christmas Tree and some of my favorite and treasured ornaments. I wasn't going to do it again this year, but mselspet asked me if I was, so, this is for you. Click the tree to see more different ornaments in our collection. Keep an eye out for the Little Drummer Crab, a Viking ship, one of kyneburh's first cast tokens, and an awesome bronzed leaf.


I wasn't as productive as I could have been this weekend, but it was all about the healing. I slept in on Saturday til 10am, and only got up long enough to have breakfast before taking a nap on the couch. Leave me alone, I was sick! But I did get up, and make some chocolate chip cookies to take to the Blackspear party, and we went to that fun and entertaining little shindig. Should have dressed up more, but oh well. It was a lot of fun meeting new friends and seeing some old familiar ones. In addition to the wonderful company, the food was awesome too.

Sunday I slept in until noon. Hey! I obviously needed it! It was luxurious and I know I shouldn't have but I did. We then knuckled down to decorating the house for the holidays. We got the living room rearranged and set up the (artificial for my allergies) tree, Alan did the lights and I put up the ornaments. I really truly adore decorating the tree each year. Even the years we've just set up the smaller tree, it is a nostalgic ritual of looking back and remembering the time of each ornament, the generous gifter, and all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings. Rarely do I leave ornaments off the tree, so the collection just grows and grows each year, and I always place them in different locations. Sometimes I spread like items out, sometimes I group them like a little choir of angels. I have some new ornaments each year representing the year's focus or large events, but I also have some ornaments of my grandmother's that must be well older than I am. The classy cloisonne is beside the cartoon characters, and that's just how things work.

Monday I was feeling remarkably better, just in time for Alan to feel like death warmed over and take a sick day sleeping in the basement. For the first time in a long time I didn't take any decongestants, mucus blockers, expectorants, etc. I finished the decorations last night with the greens on the mantle and spread in vases throughout the house, and more lights and such. Now I should just do shopping or figure out which charities I'm giving to in lieu of gifts, and send out Christmas cards. I think I'll try to get a start on cards tonight. I was gonna try to make practice, but today has not seen me as refreshed and energetic as yesterday, so I think I need to sick-sit Alan and take a nap myself.

 

So Wednesday was my last day in Hawaii. While I did not manage to hike Diamond Head crater, I did have a fun last day in the islands. Hawaii got one of its few driving rain and thunderstorms overnight and that morning. (Apparently thunderstorms are so rare the locals were freaked out and some didn't go to work.) Instead of getting up early and hiking, I slept in a little and decided to play around in Jinger's bay in one of their kayaks. It was still sprinkling a little, and I was too chicken to take the camera out over water, but I had a great time playing about in the kayak for 45 minutes, heading up to a local lagoon entrance and back.  My arms got quite the workout and it was fun playing around in the water some more.

Then Jing came and picked me up and we did lunch down in Waikiki at Lulu's before she headed back to work and I did some shopping. Needless to say I had a great time wandering around on the beach, shopping in some great stores, and snacking on some pineapple sorbet with macadamia nut pieces. Eventually Jinger came back to pick me up and we watched the sun set on Waikiki Beach near the pier before heading back to their place for me to shower and pack and go out to eat before boarding the plane.

I am home now, mostly unpacked, the last of the pictures have been uploaded, and I am really ready for bed now.

We did the North Shore again today, only I was tagging along with the older sister, nieces, dad and older brother-in-law. Mom stayed back at the house to hang out on the beach and play her ukulele, as Jing went to work and Josh back to school. But this time we took the reverse route from the one Jing and I took on Sunday. Roads in Honolulu are... um.. non-intuitive. There is an H201, but it is not on any map we had. And exits off the freeway do not necessarily have exits to return to the freeway. Sigh. Escaping Honolulu was more of a chore than it should have been.

But make it out we did. Eventually, after traveling up the relatively flatter middle of the island, we first hit the surfing competition on the North Shore. The waves were much bigger so the sites and feats were much more impressive. The nieces seemed to enjoy playing in the sand more than trying to watch the surfers, but oh well. We hung out there for at least half an hour if not more before we were dragged away from the lure of the surf. On the way out we saw Bethany Hamilton walk by, and thought to stop her and get a picture of her with our Bethany, but she looked on a mission so we didn't want to intrude.

After watching the surfing, we headed to Waimea Valley Audubon Park to hike the "quick and easy trail" to the Waimea Falls. Quick and easy is relative, and valid if you are planning on hiking Kilimanjaro, but it was a bit more than easy, and definitely not quick with my family looking at all the flowers everywhere. After 2 hours up to the falls and back, we eventually hopped back in the car to get shrimp. The hike was lovely and the falls quite powerful, but the little girls apparently aren't rated for 1.5 miles. We still had fun, even if the evil adults had to give the nieces piggy back rides down the hill.



Making it to lunch at Fumis shrimp truck again, we slid in during a pause in the rain. It picked back up when we were under shelter, but the food was good and the company entertaining. The girls ate their tempura shrimp, which I had as well, and I convinced Clint to try the ginger shrimp I had on Sunday which was so tasty. With some puddle jumping we were back in the van scooting down the Windward side of the island, noting the cool terrain, stopping to let some ill-tempered geese cross the road, gawk at the cool land features, stop at the Tropical Farms for more macadamia nut related merchandise and free samples, to finally make it home alive and in tact.

Mom, Dad, Clint, blondemuse, and the girls are now on a plane home after a flury of packing and pizza for dinner before returning the rental and finding the airport. It was good to see them all, but I am glad I have one more day. I plan to hitch a ride into town with Jinger so I can hike Diamond Head in the morning and do some shopping and hanging out in Waikiki afterward. Should be fun. Then I have to pack all my stuff to catch a plane home myself tomorrow night.

Only the love I have for my Alan and the wonderful friends at home will be able to lure me onto that plane home. We'll really need to plan to come back sometime soon.

Very relaxed today. Jinger was back to work and Josh was back to school, and the rest of the folks didn't get off the boat and here until around noon. So, this morning I spent sleeping in, enjoying breakfast of a fresh orange with the morning breeze, decided to go for a swim/walk/float, and got a bit of sun while reading a tad. The water is very shallow right out from Jing's place, so it is around 3 ft deep or less with lots of seaweed for quite a ways until the reef drops off. So while I didn't reach nice open swimable waters, I did get to swim and float a bit out beyond the peninsula in between walks in the water. Still, better than getting up and going to work.

When the folks arrived off the boat, Mom and I got the girls while Jodi, Clint and Dad went to find the B&B for tonight, check-in and bring back lunch. Meanwhile the girls and I walked some on the beach and I got to show them the cute little sand crabs that were running from us, as well as the fish jumping in the shallow waters. Then it was time to take a shower, freshen up, write a few postcards, and head out to Paradise Cove on the leeward side of the island for the Lu'au.
 

We were handed drinks and leis upon walking in, got assigned seats, and explored the activities and shopping. They had areas for the Kekeis (kids) where you could throw a spear, play a horseshoes like game, get a "Polynesian Tattoo" aka: like face painting on the arms etc., make bracelets from ti leaves and flowers, just flowers, or a headband from palm leaves and flowers. Everyone seemed to have a good time before the other festivities such as the blowing of the conch to signal the end of day, opening a coconut, the shower of flowers from the tallest coconut tree, the bringing in of the fishing nets, and the kalua pua (pig) extraction from the cooking pit. The food was great, the dancing entertaining, and the company fun.

Little Trinity volunteered to do anything they asked for volunteers for. She got to help crack the coconut, dance around the floor with the dancers, and go up on stage to learn the hula. Josh had the best quote of the day as Trin was grabbed for the second activity. "She has a face that wants to be on a milk carton." Had us in stitches. Reminded me of Greg and Dianne's Gareth when he was younger and his mom's worries that he was so friendly and talkative to strangers he might just wander off and never be seen again. I swear, when she gets older, she's either going to be on a milk carton or on stage, the ham.

The luau wound down and we took our tired selves home to soon crash in bed, hopefully with the fragrance of plumeria on my pillow. Tomorrow looks to be a busy day as I take the rest of the family up to the North Shore, which they haven't seen yet. Should be interesting.

And Congrats to Travis and Christine on the birth of Noah! I'm glad I checked in to read that much e-mail. Hooray! 

Very tired, quick post tonight. Jinger took me on a wonderful driving tour up the windward coast to the North Shore and back home again. We saw:

• Hanauma Bay quickly,
  
• stopped at the Haloa Blow Hole overlook to see a cool cove, the Haloa Blow Hole, and Sandy Beach,
  
• drove over to Kailua Beach where we decided to stay a while, swim and watch the kite surfers,
  
• drove around to see the Chinaman's Hat from Kualoa Beach,
  
• drove into the island a bit to find the Tropical Farms Macadamia Nut farm with free sample coffee, samples of the various flavors of maca-nuts, lovely plants to look at and lovely pearls to purchase,
  
• then up to Kahuku on the Northern point for lunch at Fumis Shrimp Truck, which was delicious,
  
• over to Sunset Beach to watch a little bit of surfing in the relatively smaller waves on the North Shore this afternoon,
  
• down to a super cool rocky cove of the forgotten name which is a haven for hanging out as well as scuba diving too, (EDIT: iz named Shark Cove, duh...)
  
• and finally past Waimea Beach before heading back to home base.

It was a jam-packed morning and early afternoon. For dinner we went to Jinger and Josh's friends' Gabe and Michelle's place for a BBQ with some yummy steak, sausage, orzo salad, poke, and apple pie for dessert. It was nice to hang out with some locals and just chill in the setting sun. A few more pictures have been added to the Hawaii set on my flickr page.

Pictures of my first scuba experience and some fireworks from the booze cruise are now uploaded.


Today was a day of remembrance and honoring those who serve. Jinger and Josh took me to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, Visitor's Center and museum this morning. We even got to shake the hand of a Pearl Harbor Survivor named Alan who volunteers to greet visitors as we wait in line to get tickets.


After a break for a very tasty lunch, we visited the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in "Punchbowl" crater. Designed back in the 40's to host the remains of the many fallen known and unknown in WWII, it now cradles the remains of soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and unknowns from Korea and other Pacific campaigns. The Honolulu Memorial stands to honor those missing in action in the conflicts, as well as maps the Pacific encounters and hosts a chapel for remembrance. It was a lovely, touching and solemn day.


I ended the day with a walk on the beach, a mosey out into the low tide to snap a few pictures of the views from my wonderful accommodations, and yummy Greek food with my fabulous hosts.
 

Got to try scuba today. It was so much fun. First we did an intro on the boat, then skill trials under water and then some swimming around and seeing the sites. Jinger and her friends/dive instructors Gabe and Max took us to Turtle Canyon and then for a longer dive on Horseshoe Reef. I got to see a turtle swim right over my head, a white tipped reef shark, two nudibranches (golden lace and margin), some trumpet fish, a pillow starfish, banded sea urchins, three small spotted moray eels, a parrot fish, a fish like Gil from Finding Nemo, and of course quite a few of the unofficial state fish of Hawaii, the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (a geometric patterned trigger fish.) I had an absolute blast, and was even able to calm down and chill and enjoy the entire experience. Jing was an excellent dive buddy, and Gabe was a fabulous instructor. Jing took pictures with her underwater camera, so I'll try to upload those soon. I told her that it was the best birthday present ever!

This evening we took a Booze Cruise with some of Josh and Jinger's friends to go see the fireworks on Waikiki from the water. Their friends are very entertaining and the views of the shore were amazing. The almost full moon rose over Koko Crater, and lit the way ahead very well. Great vistas, fun folks, and a relaxing atmosphere was a great way to end an exciting day. Had even more fun hanging out with some of them at The Shack, a burger joint where I enjoyed a a yummy Island Burger with teriyaki sauce, pineapple etc. Very tasty and the floor show continued from the boat. 

Awesome time. I'm beat, time for bed. Don't miss the pictures from Maui that I loaded onto flickr for yesterday's post.

(BTW, I'm staying in the same room as the computer which is why I am able to update to easily, then crash in bed. w00t.)

The trip so far...

Landed in Maui on Tuesday, checked bag didn't make it until Wednesday, picked up lil' sis at airport later on Tues night and went to K-Mart to get clothes for Wednesday. Wednesday we went to Waihilea, the Maui Tropical Plantation, back to the airport to pick up Josh, to Iao Valley to see the needle rock formation, and out to Mama's Fish house for dinner. Awesome food. Did a lot of driving on Wed.



Thursday we began my birthday early with a trip to Haleakala Crater to watch the breath-taking sunrise, then out to Lahaina for a bit, and then to Manny's sister's place for a fine Thanksgiving meal of both traditional American and Hawaiian foods on the table. I tried kalua pork, poi, poke, lomi lomi, tako, and a spicy papaya salad. Wonderful view, excellent food, better company.



I have now landed in Honolulu with Josh and Jing, staying at their place with high-speed internet for free. Hooray! Haz started upload of some pictures to Flickr already. Am very tired after adjusting myself to local time and then changing the schedule by waking up at 3:15 AM to get to the Crater on time.yawn, need sleep. 

 In ~15 hours I'll be on a plane to Hawaii. yay!


A view of sunrise over Hanauma Bay, not far from my little sister's place in Hawaii.

So ready, just have to pack everything I've already laid out. :)

Hooray!

The neighborhood redeemed itself last night. While we didn't have the flood like in years previous, we certainly had a good crew of folks come by, and I am not forced to eat a ton of left-over candy by myself this year. We had a cute little witch with wig, hat and pink and black dress, an Incredible, a Jane Austen character, a pink leopard, Batman, and all other wonderful children out celebrating Halloween. Only a few were super greedy, like the Unicorn, and took more than two pieces, but most were charming and well behaved, like the lady pirate. We did get a few teenagers who didn't bother to dress up, and I gave them a piece each after harassing them, and making those few who had masks put them on, but all in good fun. I do still have some candy leftover, even after Isobel took a few pieces home to her Bob and we sampled the variety last night.

After the din died down, theodorad(who had come over to hang out), theblueleader(who was our wonderful house-guest for the week as she worked on a project), attack_laurel(my partner in sugar distribution and costume adornment), Alan and I all turned off the lights and headed down to downtown Silver Spring for a late dinner at Ceviche. It was yummy, and great company, and we had an excellent time. Eventually friends made their ways home and we made our way to bed to end another fine Halloween.

And since I know you were dying to see, here is what I wore, and what Isobel wore:


Hope everyone else enjoyed their Halloween in the way they wanted to.

So, I knew roughly what elements would go into my costume for today, but I was having trouble coming up with a solid answer for the "What are you dressed as?" question. It finally hit me this morning as all the elements came together:
My inner 5 year old.

I'll try to get someone to take a picture of me tonight to share tomorrow. 

I'm still a big fan of Halloween. Heck one of the main draws for me to the SCA is the variety of cultures and time periods to pull costume ideas from. I love to dress up. While no one else on my hallway has dressed up in the past 5 years, I always try to dress up as something. (I just have to make it a bit more professional something- no Smut-o-ween at work.) Last year I was a pirate, and I've also done Lara Croft, Cinderella from Ever After (complete with only one wing), a member of a harem, obscure Venus, a black widow, and I'm sure something else.  I got no less than 3 queries yesterday to see if I was dressing up today, so I had to not disappoint. So tonight, despite the dreadful turnout from last year, Isobel is still coming over to hang out and hand out what little candy we can, and then we'll do dinner and such. Nothing smashing, no bar, no dancing, but I guess we could turn on some music and dance in the living room, and I know Alan would make us drinks if we asked. If this year is as dead as last year, perhaps we'll have to think of formally closing up shop and checking out the haunted parts of MD instead. But I like seeing the cute little kids in costume and even don't mind harassing the lame teenagers before handing out candy.

Y'hear that neighborhood. This is your last chance to return to taking Trick or Treating seriously. Skip the mall.

 No, I won't be at University this weekend. Instead Isobel and I are off to Plimoth Plantation for more embroidery, and Alan will be with us to spend some time with his Mother. So sorry, but I'm sure we'll each have our own fun weekends. :)

And I've finally booked my Thanksgiving vacation to Hawaii. Alas Alan will not be able to join me, but I'm still going and still plan on having a grand time. I've got two days booked to spend on Maui with family during their cruise stop, and then I fly over to Oahu for 6 days of free lodging and fun with my little sister and little brother-in-law in Honolulu. I hope to do some hiking, some swimming, perhaps even SCUBA once, some snorkeling, maybe try to surf, and in general relax with my sister. I'm sure I'll visit Pearl Harbor for the history and memorial, and likely eat lots of yummy local foods. If there is anything I need to be sure not to miss on Oahu, please let me know. :)

Alan and I are heading down to Assessment this afternoon. We'll have our 16x16 and hope to get it on/near the rapier field.

But the Fourth of July was a wonderful holiday, if evilly stuck in the middle of the week. If it weren't for the fact I'm wearing jeans, it'd be kinda hard to believe it's Friday. Alan spent it sleeping in and lounging in the morning. He puttered a bit and I snuggled up with a book. It was a lovely way to spend the morning. Eventually we ate lunch and then went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. The walk is something we should do more often. I also noticed that there are a lot of houses for sale in our neighborhood. Mind you they aren't selling quickly, but they are for sale. Makes me wonder if they know something we don't or what? Actually, our next door neighbor's house is for sale. But the walk was lovely, the temperature mild and we got a nice chat in at the same time as a little exercise.

Then we cleaned ourselves and headed up to Kernan Hospital for a picnic with Mikey 'n friends. We brought fresh fruit, and brought most of it home too. Mike and Matt's mom Pam provided quite the spread. The food was wonderful, the company incomparable, and the weather, eh.. a little disappointing. Still, through the spotty rain and thunder we managed to have a great time with folks. Mikey is doing well, and apparently can walk a little with a cane. We were all thrilled that they gave him an offensive weapon. We eventually had to pack up and dive for cover inside, for the finale of brownies and ice cream, but even that was grand. Around 8, we decided it was time to pack up and head home before they kick our sodden butts out. 

Alan and I retreated home to eat watermelon and watch the DC fireworks in the basement on TV in HD again. I apparently yelled at the screen a few times to fire the cinematographer as we don't care about the funky angles and people's faces, we just wanna see the darn fireworks, dammit! And Alan told me he'd turn it off if it was upsetting me that badly. sigh. Must contain first of death. :) But I did get a few giggles at one of the angles of the top of the Washington Monument, with the flashing red lights for planes, that made it look like a giant jawa on screen. From then on out anytime I spotted the glowing red "eyes" I burst into fits of laughter. Then we also found NYC fireworks and Chicago fireworks, and I finally crawled into bed as Alan stayed up to watch the Boston fireworks.

It was a very low key if wonderful 4th of July celebration for us. Now if only I could have taken the week off as well. Sigh, must save leave for Pennsic.

As sad as this is going to sound, I must admit that I've never been to Virginia Beach outside of SCA events, and I've never been to the beach portion of the Beach. I booked Alan and I a suite in an oceanfront hotel on the (quiet?) Northside for the weekend of Rich and Genie's wedding. I got such a deal on the room, I'm sure it's not ocean facing, but I'm sure the quick stroll will cost me nothing to see the water. Since that Friday is our 5th wedding anniversary, we plan to take the day off and head down Thursday night, after rush hour, so we can wake to the sound of the ocean on Friday morning. 

So, assuming that we wish do to anything that requires more effort than rolling out of our room and walking on the beach/swimming in the water, are there any suggestions? How long does it take to go through the Aquarium? Will it likely be packed with children and therefore not a relaxing visit? Any other place we should make certain to see while down there? We'll have Friday free as well as Saturday and Sunday mornings. I'm thinking of convincing Alan to hit the VMFA in Richmond for the Rule Britannia! exhibit on our way back on Sunday.

So, I'm torn between plan! plan! plan! and let's see what inspires us that day. I've never been really good at going without a plan, but have had fun those days I do. So suggestions for activities and restaurants are gleefully accepted. At the very least I plan to sleep in and ignore anything resembling an alarm clock.

Yes, I know I have to survive UofA before getting to this fun in the sun wedded bliss weekend, but a little planning can't hurt.

Tonight, I finally got off my duff and took down the Christmas tree. The final bit of de-decking is done and the tree and decorations are loaded back into the attic. Every time I put the ornaments back in the box I swear they will never all fit, but each year they do, even with the few new additions each year. Pitiful truly, taking down the tree on the 23rd is far too late. I'll blame the colds, etc. yeah, that's the ticket. I have to confess to mselspetthat the very pretty glass ornament she gave me at Twelfth Night got hung up in the guest room window so I can see it each morning when I look down the hall, instead of packing it away for a year. But it is so pretty catching the light...

Speaking of the guest room, I also finally got around to tidying it up as well. Since Crown it's become a bit of a garb/accessory dumping ground, and was in dire need of a cleaning since we get theblueleaderup tomorrow night for projects this weekend. Nothing like company to inspire a bit of cleaning. 

Saturday was lovely as we did two events in one day. In the morning Alan and I got gussied up in our Elizabethan and headed out to the Storvik Investiture to see Shecky and Bess step down from a good run on the baronial seats, and the installation of Rorik and Janina, who will also be good for the group. Got to see lots of folks from just quick hello's to a nice chat with Helmut and kyneburhand the congratulations. Sadly we didn't have time to get into Eadric's vigil, but left him a note. And apparently we missed quite the evening court, so congrats to everyone recognized then.
But alas, especially with the news of a required detour to avoid a fallen tree and not knowing how long said detour would take, we had to take off in the afternoon to make our second engagement, the Bandes Yule in Abingdon.

Yule was quite fun. Unfortunately I still have a few slices of the two cheese tarts I made in the fridge. But the food was excellent, we had some new folks that I hope had a good time, and the mystery was a good way to spark conversation even if in the end we quit caring and just gossiped in persona instead. Had fun playing cards, even if I didn't win a single hand of Put or Primero. I think I'm taking my money to the goose board or somewhere else next time. Alan and I joked that we split the vices, he drinks and smokes and I gamble and gossip, at Bandes events anyways. It's fun getting the chance to be in persona occasionally, but I do find it tough for a whole day or longer. None the less, it was enjoyable, got to see friends old and new that I don't often see, and even pick on Zeke/dreadbaronfor his new nickname. Like MENG, I didn't cleverly come up with it, but I'll definitely propagate it. :) But best of all, I got the most faboo Yule gift from Father Christmas (who looked astonishingly like Zeke in a cloak). Normally there are small gifts from buckles and games to candles and machine embroidered sweet bags. This year I got a set of nice beeswax candles, but Zeke got a nice set of ladies' fingerless knit gloves, which would not fit his gorilla hands. So we switched. Rock on! Jane (moi in the Bandes) did a little happy dance and even wore them on the drive home. It seemed that we had forgotten mundane clothes to change into, so comfy if constraining garb all day was our fate. Got home and piled almost immediately into the comfy flannel sheeted bed.

Sunday I slept in until 9:30. Bliss. Then we met with Freddy and Alice for brunch at the Ram's Head Tavern, and ended up hanging out for about 4 hours. We miss those guys and had a great time catching up. We enjoyed everything from eggs and crab cakes to beers and bar talk. Eventually I looked out the window to see a nice covering of the deck in snow and practically squealed with glee. We made it home safely, though slowly, after a brief stop at Alan's new fish place to see if we could find a new male Ram cichlid to go with our now lonely female (struck out) and a new heater.

All in all it was a good weekend, and I am looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend at home coming up, except for a fun jaunt to salviati's, assuming the Tommy-man is doing better.

But at least I also got my calendar on my webpage updated. Isn't everyone scheduled out through the middle of June already?

Wow, um, where to start? Would a complete holiday wrap up be too trite at this point? probably, so I'll divvy it up into cuts. For the record, yes we have internet access at home, but who wants to spend time on the computer when there is fascinating brain rotting TV, new movies from Xmas presents as well as yummy brain candy reading to be done? For the bulk of my break I read a lot, watched lots of bad TV, checked email, napped, and exercised on the elliptical machine, as well as took care of a periodically sick Alan.

( Christmas and New Year's break re-cap )

Alas a cold has been creeping up on me very slowly. Felt a slight tickle in my throat a week ago, which has blossomed into a full on sinus infection/cold of massive energy suckage. I had to bring a new box of tissues into the office, and Mucinex-D is my friend. Looks like this weekend is de-decking the halls, cleaning, maybe finally some sewing, and hopefully more relaxing and getting better. I hope. Twelfth Night is on our calendar, as is Storvik Investiture in the AM and Bandes Yule in the PM for January. Who knows what the 27th will bring? Feb is packed with UofA, Ymir, Jamestown Training and a Spring Faculty Meeting for me. March is quick on the heels, and I must determine if I'll get cabin space for Gulf Wars, else I might just wimp out. UofA, KA&SFest, and the Costumer's Symposium will provide ample reminders of my failure to produce anything new and good and my complete lackluster as an artisan in our little world. hooray.

On the plus side, I've met my 10% weight loss goal, and I finally ordered my new customized Demotivator's Calendar. :)
And this meme helps to lift the mood a bit. For all those who think of me as cool and calm, you don't know the half of it...
( Villain Meme )