30eme et 31eme de decembre...BONNE ANNEE!

Ok, I'll check back tomorrow, but much has happened in a short period of time...an engagement, viewing of Monets, Degas, Manets, Lido caberet, two amazing birthdays...now New Years Eve by the Tour Eiffel...stay tuned for details...

3eme jour en Paris

Dear Diary,
Round French beds suck! Especially with skylights in a loft apartment. It sounds all crazy romantic fun, but your feet stick out since there is no edge of the bed...yes I said round bed. As for the skylights? It has been pouring rain all night into right now (9am Paris time), and again you would think would be all crazy romantic, except with jet lag none of us could sleep anyways, and the rain beating down on the roof and glass was loud. Hmmm...still love we are in Paris, but tired.

Stay tuned for today's events later on...

Jour Deux...Paris!

Our 2nd day, or actually first full day in Paris, and what a day we had, an amazing day in gay Paree!!! Le Louvre, Tuileries, Hotel de Ville, falaffels in the Marais, and beers in Les Halles...ending with wine and cheese and macarrones back at our apartment in the 10th. Buzzed and happy...bon nuit @ 12:30am.

Heidi and Andy had a casual morning hanging, and cafe-ing it. Lori, Noel and I took the Metro to the Tuileries and saw the amazing gardens...then off to the Le Louvre from 10am to 2pm. I did the Louvre in 1991 (almost 20 years ago) and quickly remembered how huge and over whelming the museum truly is. OMG! Crazy. We saw this Italian show that Noel has been dying to see all year, the 3 Venetians. It was beautiful. Then we ran to Mona Lisa, Ingres, Delacroix, and the Michaelangelo's slaves. After exhausted we ran out of the Louvre with our hair on fire and took the Metro to Hotel de Ville on the edge of the Marais where the outside ice skating rink is...kinda their Rockafeller Center.

The 3 of us wandered through the gay/jewish district (the 4th) they call Marais, until we met up with the Spletzers for scrumptous falaffels in an Israeli cafe. Yum. Good. So Jewish! Then the 5 of us shopped throughout the Marais, and bought from some chatchski shops. We all worked our way to Les Halles, which is west of the Marais, west of the Pompideau Centre. Fun shopping at the all the Boulangeries (amazing baguettes), Boucheries (salami to die for), Chocolateries (wow!), and Patisseries (pan du chocolate and the foie gras). Then we had a couple Kronnebergs and we staggered home...after passing the Le Pied de la Cochon and the Julia Childs kitchen shop (in which Noel was orgasmic for both).

We had a great dinner of everything we bought, baguette, cheese, salami, wine, etc. YUM!

Tomorrow...Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower is planned...and of course lots of food and wine! (almost 1am Paris time, need to go to sleep)

Nous sommes en Paris!

Ok, it's been forever, but I thought I'd start blogging again to document our trip to Paris, atleast partially. OUI! We arrived in Paris yesterday at noon and made ourselves stay up to get in the right time zone... we walked around the hood in the 10th Arrondissement, around the Canal Saint Martin...after a couple glasses of wine at Chez Prune we ended up checking out the Christmas windows at Gallerias Lafayette and Printemps department stores...amazing windows indeed! It was a chilly 35F degrees but we were all bundled up and prepared.

After fighting the crowds in the shopping district we decided to head off to the Champ de L'Essey and just get a little hint of all that Paris has to offer (and only in just the first couple hours of arriving)...on our way to the center, we walked right passed one of the places on Noel's bucket list: Laudaree for their world famous macarrones. Then off to the turn around between the Lourve/Tuileries and the Champ de L'Essey in which we found a huge ice white ferris wheel. Then up the Champs which was lined with beautiful Christmas lit trees all the way to the Arch de Triomphe. The street had a Christmas world market which was so fun...especially having the German Glugwein or Vin Chaud (hot mulled brandy wine) in the freezing weather. Yummy! The layer on some more pasteries...yummy. Then we went home plotted out the next day and passed out at 9:30pm...after 36 hours of virtually no sleep.

God I missed Paris and can't believed I waited 10 years to come back. I am not waiting another 10 years, that's for sure. VIVA LA FRANCE!

I heart him...adorable campaign!

InsideTheTents.com S/S 2010

Just one of my projects I am working on right now. We, Nordstrom, is part of this blog site above InsideTheTents.com, but I am project managing our own blog site too, which is fun and just starting...going until 9/21/09. It has been interesting getting our team together, and learning the ins and outs of Bryant Park and the goings on. Check out our site too...more blogs to come soon!
http://fromthefloor.nordstrom.com/nordstromatnyfw/

Facebook killed my blog!

Ok, I was going strong through 2008 blogging when I had time, had a thought to share...but I have found that this year I've barely entered a thing. Yes Noel and I have had a busy 2009 so far (it's almost half over)...but I truly believe that facebook has killed my blog. I along with the rest of the world gets on facebook daily to check in with friends and tell them my status too. I post photos (like our recent trip to San Diego for my bday or Walla Walla drinking wine with the fam), or post stories like what happened on the bus yesterday, or post videos like Susan Boyle singing for Britain's Got Talent...And it's all facebooking not blogging. This is the 2009 version of VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR of 1981. Hmmm...

I gotta go and facebook now...my audience is waiting...

Love this video! Time to go back to Europe...

This is from a belgian trainstation. So reminiscent of me in Salzberg, Austria in the summer of 1991 on the 'Sound of Music' tour actually singing and dancing throughout the city! LOL.

April showers bring May flowers!

I have a ton of thing to say, but it is Sunday night at Midnight...and I am pooped after a day of pancake breakfasting at the Swedish Cultural Center, hiking Discovery Park for 2 hours in 70 degree sun (thank god), going to open house down the street, pulling up half the sawd in the yard to prep for laying patio with pavers, finished painting the 2 story upper hallway the third coat of navy blue paint, ran 3 miles around Green Lake, sweep the walk, walked the dog, paid some bills...and now DEAD...must go wish Breanne a happy birthday via text (it just turned to 4/6)...then sleep.

MUST BLOG, MUST BLOG...been too long...

When I come back, I will tell you about this last week with the Seattle Mens Chorus, and Debbie Reynolds, and my Mom, and Beyonce, and the finishing of Spanish class, and the 3rd First-Saturday French night, and how spring has sprung in Green Lake and how amazing the flowering cherry trees are...

Somewhere between the Ides of March and St.Patty's...

Wow...where has this year gone? Ok in less than an hour it will be March 13th...FRIDAY 13th! I haven't blogged much in 2009 and need to get on it. Noel and I have been so busy...since the year started with snows and then floods we have been into a bunch of things;
Monday night = kick boxing until 8pm, Tuesday night = 4 mile run/gym, Wednesday night = Spanish 101 at North Seattle CC 6:30-8:30... every weekend there has been painting, baptisms, Dina Martina show, Oscar Party, oh and a month of walking pneumonia...just so much going on.

Noel is now ramping up to work a third job (silly boy) and has been preparing a lecture that starts on 3/23, weekly on Mondays, to teach Neuro Physical Therapy. He is excited to teach again.

I will attempt to come back to my blog this coming weekend, and catch up...

It happened at the World's Fair!

or for more retro Seattle fun...go here: http://www.archive.org/details/Century21964

Where did a month go...

...Well a month has past since I last blogged and not too much has happened to me personally, except the last couple weeks, for the first time in my life, I was laid down by a lovely case of walking pnuemonia.  After a week of wet night fevers and night high temps of 102-103 degrees, finally went to the doctor and after chest x-rays found I had an infection in my left lobe (lung)...antibiotics have stopped the fevers, but my deep cough has not gone away as of yet....still waiting.

The world did change hugely since I last blogged though...WE HAVE A NEW PRESIDENT!!!  the 44th president of the United States...BARACK OBAMA!  How exciting to get rid of Bush once and for all!  Now it's time for the country to slowly get back on it's feet.

Noel and I are now taking Spanish class at North Seattle CC...so I need to study before I blog more, so until that time...enjoy this little video about all the controversy with Christian Bale (sorry it's a little X-rated, but it says it all...what a jackass...though has a good beat-LOL-and the middle has an awesome suprise):

This weather SUCKS!!!

Catastrophies everywhere lately (City wide, State wide, and Country wide)... So we had to cancel our ski trip to Dad's place in Sandpoint, Idaho last weekend due to avalanches and the passes being closed, and his Christmas party before that due to a foot of snow...now we are have to cancel Noel and my romantic blustery weekend to the Oregon Coast due to record flooding. I-5 is closed along with the Ocean freeway because it is under 10 feet of water in some places (Centralia/Chehalis)...THIS SUCKS! This has been a difficult month of weather, disrupting the holidays and vacations and work projects. At least our house is not flooded unlink 30,000 other Puget Sounders....silver lining...

I just hope my Mom is okay since they closed I-5 in Arlington, and the Snohomish River went above it's dyke and is still rising. I can't get ahold of her via phone and am a little worried.

Here is a little commentary on the crappy job the city of Seattle and Mayor Nichols did in the 3 weeks of snow and ice:

Twas the week before Christmas, and next to the Sound,
Not a creature was stirring, for all were snowbound.
Greyhound busses quit running, no matter the fare,
And the mail men and garbage said they just couldn't get there!

The children were sliding Queen Anne Hill on their sleds.
While roofs were collapsing on old people's heads.
And mamma in her boots and I in my cap,
Were stuck in the snow and ice and such crap.

When at the Home Depot there arose such a clatter,
I trudged from my car to see what was the matter.
A group of sad souls were waving their cash,
They couldn't buy shovels, they'd sold in a flash.

Tires were spinning and just wouldn't go,
And chains lay broken in the dirty old snow.
Then, what to my surprise did my eyes look over and see?
Eight representatives of SDOT

With a fat politician so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it was Mayor "Salt Nick".
More rapid than gun bans, his excuses they came,
"To save our environment the roads stay the same!

On Broadway! On Boren! On Yesler and Denny!,
To clear off these roads would cost such a penny!
Sliding down Thomas and onto a wall!
The buses hung over I-5, ready to fall!

Still, he insisted it wasn't his fault,
As the world's greenest mayor he wouldn't use SALT!
That stuffs corrosive, could hurt the fish.
(But the Puget Sound's SALT WATER you ignorant kish!)

So snowy Seattle continued to stew,
But Mayor "Salt Nick" just hadn't a clue.
While I stood there astonished, on nearby TV sets,
I saw the airport was packed, no de-icer for jets.

Since others couldn't get down the roads to the ferry,
The city decided to close Denny and Cherry.
Police cars and firetrucks were highly impaired,
Citizens got no impression that Mayor Salt Nick cared.

A house that caught fire, or a rape in progress,
Was less important than "going green" in Seattle - I guess!
An accident closed the I-90 bridge,
And people couldn't drive down Phinney Ridge.

Shovels, and salt had just flown off the shelf,
And I laughed when I heard him in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
He tried to convey we had nothing to dread;

He spoke many words, but did little work,
Yet Seattle knew they should never have elected this jerk.
Then thumbing his nose at his citizens' plight,
He turned to the crowd and exclaimed "We've done right!"

And then to his limo refusing to yield,
He left to get solar panels installed on Qwest Field.
But I heard him exclaim, as he skidded past me,
"Happy Christmas to all, heck, I give myself a 'B' "

Some of my favorite things...

You know when something so stupid, so mundane, so usual just makes your day?

I just got back to my desk and realized I was surrounded by beverages. I love that...I have a fresh water with a lemon to my left, a Coke Zero from lunch straight on, and a new Starbucks London Fog Latte to my right. (The London Fog is a lavendar & vanilla black tea latte...Yum!).

1 - I love when you are having that big breakfast hungover, the morning after going out, and you surround yourself with a big ice water, endless cup of coffee, large grapefruit juice, and maybe even a bloody mary (depending on how H.O. you really are).

2 - I love silent cool sound and feel of the blue glow of new snow on the ground (which we have had a lot of recently...even 4 more inches last night...which is 18 inches since December 13th). It's so peaceful and virginal as you are the first to put your steps forth in the snow...and hear that crunching under your feet.

3 - I love the roar of the Pacific Ocean at the Oregon Coast (just not the same in L.A. or Vallarta)...and I am so excited that I am taking Noel this coming weekend, on a mini-break of sorts. Noel has never been to the Oregon Coast so we're doing one of my favorite loops: Astoria, to Seaside, to Cannon Beach, to Tillamook, to Portland and back. The Oregon Coast is so peaceful and my heart, my soul missed that calmness.

4 - I love seeing that great movie in a not so packed theatre with a big popcorn, and hold the hand of your loved one.

5 - I love getting into a hot shower after a long cold 3 mile run outside. Washes away the sweat, and the sore muscles and freshes up everything. Then getting out and throwing on some cozy flannel loungepants and long sleeve tee...and cuddling up in front of your favorite TV show.

Ahhh....

Happy 2009!

Need to catch up from the last couple weeks, Christmas, New Years, Noel & Heidi's b-days, David & Doug's visit, Dina Martina, Boat cruise...and a total accumulation of some 15 inches of snow over 3 weeks...but until I elaborate...HERE'S TO A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Couple of 2009 tentative escursions:

1 - San Diego to visit Shane for our  b-days in May

2 - Provincetown for 4th of July 

3 - Heidi & Andy's Wedding on August 8th

4 - Chelsea & Adam's Wedding in Vallarta on December 2nd

5 - Paris to celebrates Noel's 40th b-day (and Heidi's too) the last week of December

Stay tuned...