Sweet Addictions

I have a few guilty pleasures in life. I won't explain my way out of it or justify myself. It just is.

I am listing them here in picture and video format. I'm throwing myself out there to the blogosphere and saying proudly that I have a few minor addictions. Accept it, I have.


Twilight
Seen here: Breaking Dawn trailer




America's Next Top Model

Nerds

Harry Potter
Seen here: The Deathly Hallows Part 2 trailer




Richelle Mead - Fantasy writer

Pedicures

Jack in the Box

Glee

Josh Groban

Karaoke

Lady Gaga

Cruises

I could keep going, but I think I'll stop here.

What are your guilty pleasures?



What's Up?!

What's been up with me you ask?

In a few words... and graded.

The book I just finished reading and liked quite a lot!

Grade: B+

And for comparison I also went out and saw the movie.

Starring: Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Waltz.

Grade: B-

Synopsis courtesy of IMDB

"When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her. Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford."

What I am watching!

Glee - season 2

Grade: B+

 



What I am stressing over!

The Maple Valley House

Grade: D

 

 

We are still on track for buying it, but boy are the seller and escrow company complete crap. The closing has been put off until mid- June.

 

What I am looking forward to!

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Grade: A

 

By the time you read this I will be on a plane.

See you all when I get back!

What Does Your Map Look Like?

I found this neat site where you can click off all the states you have been to and visualize it all in map form!

What I saw was a little surprising! I am missing a large number of states!

I feel like I have traveled all over the U.S., but apparently I have neglected a bunch in the middle and much of the east coast!

I did not count states where I might have had an airplane layover of some kind while traveling and there was no room for other parts of the globe.

If there were, I could proudly proclaim that I have been to multiple spots in Mexico, Belize, Canada, and the Caribbean.

I have always wanted a huge wall map of the world that I could post up over cork board. I think it would be interesting art to have a large map where I could pin point (with thumb tacks or pins) all the places that Mike and I have traveled. Maybe it would give us more motivation to see new places, instead of revisiting somewhere we have already been!

Someday this map will be displayed and when it is - I'll post a photo of it for you to check out.

Has anyone been to ALL of the states? That would be quite a feat!

If you want to post YOUR map or just see what it would look like you can visit this site!

3 Day Weekend-Palooza

Well it's official! We are heading down to Playa Del Carmen in May. Just after our 5 year anniversary!

We booked the tickets and as the diet has already begun, I am hoping to be in at least some sort of presentable bathing suit state by then. I am a little scared of the idea of a swimming suit right now, but if all continues going well, it shouldn't be too big a deal. Fingers crossed!

In related news - Mike's parents have decided to join us! They had been looking to book a vacation and we had already done all the leg work, so it fit nicely! They made the decision in all of 20 minutes and before we knew it, they were coming too!

And get this - they will be celebrating 40 years of marriage! Holy crap! They have a whole 35 years on us! But it will be so nice to spend our anniversary trip with them.

Also, in news, Mike and I went and saw The King's Speech the other night. I had heard nothing but rave reviews and the theaters have been super slow this season, so I thought I would take in a movie I might normally wait to see on DVD.

Not to mention I love Colin Firth! Always have, always will.

The movie was awesome, in case you were wondering. The lead actors did a bang-up job in their roles and the movie, although slow, did not bore me. The story was intriguing and something I did not previously know about English history.

It was touching, moving, well acted, funny, and informative. Couldn't ask for more. I highly recommend seeing it when you get a chance.

I have yet to see Black Swan, which is the other must-see movie of the season. Hopefully I will get a chance soon!

Next On The Agenda

Ladies and gents, I am currently eating oatmeal and liking it.

I found a way to enjoy it!

I get the maple brown sugar oatmeal, pour a little less water in than advised and mix it with some of my gluten free granola for some crunch. Blackberries or another fruit will top it off! YUM!

And I am also proud to announce that I believe that I have conquered pineapple as well. I keep eating it, making sure I am getting ripe pineapple and now...I think I like it!

I have to tell you that I am fairly proud of myself right now. My 'learning to love it' is working so far.

Next up is eggplant. Meh. I will be scouring the internet for some fabulous recipes and hopefully I will find a couple that look appetising.


Also, in news, I think that Michael and I might have found our next vacation! We've been talking about it for a while and have been trying to figure out what we can afford right now. My original idea was to hop on a cruise (that hits up Central America) for a week and spend a few days in the port of call, New Orleans. But the more I looked, the more I realized that this trip would end up costing $1000 more than a couple of the others I had mapped out.

How perfect would that have been? Going back to the city where we got engaged, for our 5 year anniversary...

ahh well.

I did find a good deal on a different place that we'd never been. Playa Del Carmen, Mexico!

I have wanted to go there for a while, but it was always just a little more expensive than going to say Cabo or Puerta Vallarta. But, this time I found a deal for 7 nights!

The best part is that it's close enough to travel about 30 miles (back toward the airport) and spend some time in Cancun (another place I have never been). Or we could hop a ferry from Playa Del Carmen and head over to the island of Cozumel for the day (which I have been to). There are some Mayan ruins a little south of Playa also that I know we will want to check out. Other than that, we will be beach bound on a beautiful aqua shore.

All that's left is to request time off, book the trip, and get in some kind of bikini shape (yikes)! Oh and maybe go tanning a bit before so as not to burn like a red-head. Cause I will.

When is this all taking place you might ask? Late May! Yes folks, I am avoiding Spring Break like the plague. I am old enough now that I don't want a gaggle of 18-21 year olds puking in the pool next to me or keeping me up until 4am. I want a nice relaxing, romantic vacation with my husband and maybe a few margaritas.

Be happy for me friends...I need this like I need food.

Californication

My mom and I decided to take a little trip this year together. It's been a long time! We set off at the end of August for California to do a mommy & me vaca.

First we flew down to Santa Barbara to spend a few days milling around downtown for shopping and food, with a little visit to the coast. We did meet up with one of my dearest gal-pals, her hubby and her mom for dinner as well. I was not thoughtful enough to take photos of us all, but not to worry...they met up with us at our next destination!




















We were lucky enough to land in one of mom's World Mark Condos in Solvang. Solvang was a cute Danish village a little over a half hour from Santa Barbara. The condo was a big 2 bed/ 2 bath with a generous living/dining area. We even lucked out with the wheelchair accessable room, which meant even more space! There is a lot of yummy Danish food, shopping and wine tasting to be done there. We spent time with Kerry, Kevin and Debbie one evening just tasting the yummy local wines of the area. As everyone knows, CA is filled with vinyards! We even stopped by the Blackjack Ranch where they filmed the movie Sideways.





















After a few days down south, we headed up the coast toward Santa Cruz to see my mom's cousin Litsa and her family. This was just a short stop to grab dinner, but it was really nice to finally meet her! We even met a few furry friends on the way!

















That evening, we trudged our way to San Francisco, both tired and stiff from a long drive. We got to the next condo (more like a hotel room) late so we didn't start our tour of San Fran until the next day. The days flew by as we both walked and rode our way around the many faces of the big city. We didn't rent a car for this portion of the trip so we got a pass for the trolly and saw as much as we could over the next four days. We even got to visit with another of my friends, Corinne, who had moved there a few years ago.









There were just too many things to tell you about, so I decided to just post a couple photos and leave it at that. I would be happy to chat about the places we went over lunch if anyone is so inclined, but that will be it for my blog post. I will close by saying that I had a great time and was happy I got to spend some much needed one-on-one time with my oh-so-wonderful mother!

Cook Family Vacation

This past week I was able to spend time with some of the best people in the world and I am happy to call them family. My aunt Kathy (on my dad's side), her hubby Brent, my cousin Brad and his girl Steph all ventured over here from Ohio to spend a few days. I had been waiting to show some of my Ohio fam around for some time and was delighted when they told me they had booked their tickets!
My sis and I don't get much chance to see our family since they don't live near us, but it's always so comforting when we do. I only wish it could happen more often.

We decided to make the most of our time off of work and see the sights. We went to the Snoqualmie Casino, where Brad was able to slink away with a good handful of winnings and we ate lots of seafood which is lovely!
We took the ferry over to Whidbey Island, wine tasted, played on the beach and took Deception pass back home. We got some decent shopping time in when we spent time at Bothell Country Village, took in a car show and a short trip to the Ballard Locks. We found time to take a drive over Snoqualmie pass to Lake Kachess, eat pie at Remlinger Farms, visit Snoqualmie Falls, sightsee around Pike Place Market and the Space Needle, and chow on "all you can eat" Dungenes Crab! Well that ended up being me and Steph...I won't lie, we were eating for a good hour or more.

All in all, it was a fabulous time and I am plum tuckered out now. Entertaining sure can be exhausting! I wouldn't trade it for the world however.
























Not everyone was able to make it unfortunately, so here is a nice group photo (that I stole) of a few of my Ohio family. Of course the family is much bigger than this, but you can't fit them all into one frame, so this will have to suffice.
We missed you Lindsay & Trace!