Cold Turkey – a Saturday 9

1) Are you still feasting on cold turkey, or any other leftovers, from your Thanksgiving meal? No, and a left over turkey sandwich on Friday is the best part of Thanksgiving.  I thought about doing my yearly “Come Get Some Leftovers” turkey dinner this year, but in the end I just couldn’t get it together in time.

2) AAA says Thanksgiving is a big travel weekend. Did you venture far from home for your holiday dinner? Just across town.

3) Is this weekend the official start of the Christmas season for you?  No, I’m not yet into the Christmas spirit.  It comes at different times each year.  It’s hard to think about Christmas when still using the air conditioning.  However last night my friend Elana and I spent the evening making staff Christmas gifts for each of our schools.  That was fun.

4) Which couple would you rather hang out with -- Fred and Wilma Flintstone or George and Jane Jetson?  Oh the Jetsons for sure.  They had all those futuristic gadgets.  I think Fred was kind of an ass.

5) Have you/would you ever get your teeth whitened?  Several years ago, while on a cruise my mom and I were talked into having it done in the spa.  It cost an arm and a leg and follow up treatments were required at home.  I did them for a bit, but now, other than the dentist cleanings, I’m good.

6) Do you still have your high school class ring?  I’m sure it’s somewhere in my jewelry box, but it hasn’t seen the light of day since high school.

7) Here's $50. You must spend it all in one place. What are you going to do with it?  Nothing too exciting – probably buy gas or pay a bill.

8) Could your vehicle use a trip to the car wash right about now?  About two weeks after my car’s last wash we had one of those stupid rains when it just spits and makes mud with the layer of dust on the car.  It never rained enough to wash it all off, just enough to make it spotty. 

9) Did you hit the snooze button this morning?  I did set the alarm this morning, but no snooze button.  I only do that for the middle-of-the- night work alarm. 

My Black Friday Plan

Upon returning home from tonight’s Thanksgiving festivities, my email was inundated with information about Black Friday shopping. 

Unfortunately, I was still enjoying Thanksgiving when Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, and many others began their Black Friday deals opening at 8:00 PM…is it just me or is it a little bit wrong that people are leaving their friends and families on a holiday to go shopping?  Best Buy opens at midnight.  People have been camped out at the one nearby for a week now.  A WEEK!  There are some good deals – I just saw a 40” LCD TV marked down from $419.99 to $179.  Of course there’s probably only one at that price. 

As a red-blooded woman, I like shopping…a lot!  But not enough to subject myself to Black Friday.  I just don’t get it.  I’d rather pay full price than put up with the lines, the mess, the crowds, and the crazed lunatics who are shopping in the middle of the night.  As soon as police, pepper spray, or taser guns are needed to control things, shopping kind of loses its appeal to me. 

My Christmas shopping is about halfway done, so I'll wait a couple of weeks when EVERYTHING goes on sale and finish up the rest.  If you plan to partake in Black Friday, good luck!  If not, enjoy your Friday off, sleeping in.  I know I will!

Boise - The Land of Potatoes (and Really Good Hair)

Other than coming down with a head cold (typical once any break starts) on the last day of my trip, the mini-break to Boise, Idaho was great fun.  My friends Tami and Jeff moved from California to Idaho a couple of years ago, and this was my first chance to get up there to see them.  First and foremost, my favorite part of the visit was of course visiting with my friends.  Beyond that, the cool weather and the soft water were a close second and third.  A few years ago several communities in Los Angeles banned salt-based water softeners for environmental reasons.  This past weekend is the first time in years that I’ve washed my hair in soft water.  Ahhhh, it was so manageable and soft and easy to do.  Boy do I miss that soft water!

Anyways, back to Boise.  Here are some highlights…

We went to the Boise State football game against Colorado State.  Broncos’ football is kind of a religion in Idaho.  It was windy and rainy – good football weather.

Boise State is known for the blue, rather than green, football field.  On TV it looks almost teal, but in reality it’s a very deep blue.

 Compared to the watching USC play at the Coliseum with it’s 70,000+ seats, Bronco stadium seemed so small.  Our “cheap” seats were very close. 

The city of Boise is just a few minutes from Tami and Jeff’s so we went in quite a few times over the weekend.  It’s a very small and clean city.  I was surprised to learn that it also has the largest Basque community in the US.

   
The Idaho State Capitol Building 

We went to three or four coffee places while I was visiting, and none of them were Starbucks!  Big City Coffee was probably my favorite of them all. 

       


   
Right near Boise State there are several different museums and educational centers. 

    Boise Art Museum (BAM)

The White Elephant’s exhibit by Billie Grace Lynn.

Idaho’s Black History Museum and Abraham Lincoln statue.


The Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial educational park was very moving.

   
Bridge over the Boise River

A pretty sky…

There are several drive-in/diner/dive-type restaurants in Idaho that have been featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives television show.  We stopped in at the West Side Drive In.


A used bookstore in the Hyde Park area of Boise…
 


I arrived back into LA right on time yesterday afternoon and then proceeded to take three hours to get home from the airport.  Rigby was happy to finally be picked up and taken home last night, as evident by these photos.

What a nice trip.  Thanks to Tami and Jeff for their hospitality!

AND

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sat 9

Sitting in the Oakland Airport half way to my long weekend destination. Apparently my next flight is delayed an hour and thirty minutes, make that 2 hours and 30 minutes. Thankfully there's (intermittent) free wifi. A Saturday 9 will distract me.
1) "Live and Let Die" was nominated for an Oscar as best song. Do you have a favorite movie song?
What a hard question! There are so many good songs and I'm having a hard time differentiating whether they were written for a movie or just in a movie. Maybe Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" from The Breakfast Club or "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls from that angel movie that had a good soundtrack but wasn't a very good movie. I know there are plenty of greats out there, but those are two that I still have in my playlist today. Can't wait to see what others pick.

2) The latest Bond movie, Skyfall, is crazy successful. Have you seen it/do you want to see it?
As a matter of fact I did see it last weekend. I enjoyed it. It explained a little bit of JB's past which was interesting.

3) What do you think makes Bond movies so enduringly popular? Being a fan of spy movies is why I like them plus they're fun. To be honest I've only seen the more recent ones, maybe the last one or two of Pierce Brosnan's reign and then all the Daniel Craig movies. The effects in the newer ones are so much more realistic than those before them. Frankly, the older ones were just a bit too corny for my taste.

4) Do you have a favorite among the actors who have played "Bond, James Bond?"
Since I've only watched two actors portray JB, I'd have to say I do like Daniel Craig. Although Sean Connery is a great actor, so I'm sure I'd like him too if I watched his movies.

5) Bond orders martinis -- "shaken, not stirred." What's your regular drink order?
I haven't had an alcoholic drink in so long, that's such an unfair question! I'd love a glass of Malbec, or an ice cold Corona, and a blended margarita too.

6) Moving from the bar to breakfast -- do you have a favorite cereal?
I don't like cereal. Actually, I don't like milk so the thought of sweet, soggy grain floating around in a bowl full of it doesn't appeal to me at all.

7) Let's daydream about warm weather. Would you rather swim in a lake, the ocean, or an outdoor pool?
I love to swim so I like all three except the lake slightly less...can't see the bottom.

8) Did you get 8 hours' sleep last night?
No, up late packing so maybe 5.5. Honestly though 8 hours of sleep during the week is a rarity.

9) What are you wearing on your feet right now?
Sneakers

Odds and Ends

It seems like just yesterday that I spoke excitedly about the cool weather!  In fact, I think it was just yesterday.  (Today it was back up into the 80s…again – going later and later every year.) Over the long weekend, our temps dropped into the 50s/60s during the day.  It was heavenly.  A small storm had passed through So. Cal. on Friday, and the skies were gorgeous over the weekend.  The color of blue we get after a storm is something.  I wish I could recreate it with paint.
It was a blustery fall day on Saturday.  Even after a windblown walk, Rigby’s energy was through the roof.  We played some ball She ran around the backyard carrying the ball while I stood and watched. 

Rigby has two clean beds (one up and one downstairs), a clean couch, clean rugs/carpet and I even let her on my clean bed, but she has chosen to cuddle up with the dirty feet towel that sits by the back door.

And some fun things found online…

Yes!

My kind of spontaneity…

So nice, but get a tissue. 

The Ellen Show filmed this at the Costco in town.  So funny! (Can’t ever tell if I embed these YouTube videos correctly.  Here’s the link, just in case.)

That’s all I’ve got tonight.  Happy Wednesday!