Hitting the Road

For those of you keeping track, tomorrow I will go on my third travel adventure for the month of April. It’s like I am living like there is no recession, I have a stead y job with no risk of layoffs and abundant salary increases, and Santa is a real person along with the Easter Bunny.

Still, I don’t care, I get to go visit my best friend (Nuclear Mom). I am embarrassed that she has lived in the Pacific Northwest for something like 7 years and this is my first trip to see her in the town she lives in.

For the next week I will be sampling wine at the vineyards near her home, playing with her children, laughing, cooking and eating with her and her wonderful husband. I also can’t forget the shopping… we will put our super powers together to dually attempt to stimulate the economy.

Checking out and packing my bags…See ya in a week

Earth Day 5k (Running off the Grid)

Tina did it! Her very first 5k and on such a dreary day, the thermometer read 39 degrees once we peddled back home and I was able to see how cold it really was. (This explained why my legs felt like frozen popsicles and the most comforting thing I could do was sit in a hot bathtub and until they thawed out.--Gotta love springtime in the Rockies!!!)

I think it was Prowler the Tiger that gave us the extra little push we needed.


A big “Rock, Rock On” goes out to Miss Tina and her super running legs!!!

Love Your Mother

Earth day have been yesterday, but I am celebrating today…like everyday.

Random Adventure: Weekend in Fargo, ND

I left Colorado in one of our infamous spring snow storms. The kind that dump multiple inches of wet, slushy snow that our dry earth soaks up and wants more. Unfortunately this is not fun to drive in and I almost wrecked my car on the way to Denver International Airport. Whew, glad I didn’t, thank goodness I have mad winter driving skillz—thanks dad! After a delay or two I was able to board my plane and sit on the runway. By the time we were de-iced, and ready for take-off it was the same time we should have been landing in Fargo. Luckily we had an uneventful flight at 1:20am we landed. Jason gets Rockstar Points for staying awake almost 24 hours and still greeting me with Bubble Yum, Green Tea and a welcoming smile at 1:30 in the morning. Fargo has great wildlife in the airport to greet you while you claim your baggage, here is my new friend the buffalo. (He likes it when I pet his bum) Saturday Jason gave me the local’s tour of Fargo, we went to the worlds largest sporting goods store, where they had a Ferris wheel inside among other activities like this shooting game.
Me with a gun (even if it is a toy) is like handing a Trig Calculator to a St. Bernard. What the heck am I supposed to do with this? We visited the Hjemkomst Center, and admired the Hopperstad Stave Church Replica…Very cool! We took a side trip up to Detroit Lakes Minnesota to see Jason’s home town, visit with his friends and meet his godson Hunter (what a little charmer). Then we ventured to see if the lake was thawed enough for some kayaking, it wasn’t. So instead we went to eat Nachos… My Godzilla impression over the nachos… Sunday we spent riding bikes around Fargo, taking a helicopter ride over the flood area, and general playing around including my first geocache experience. I recently learned that my grandparents met in Fargo. It was neat for me to be in the historic area of town and imagine my grandparents being in the same place so many years ago. Like the historic movie theater. I am HUGE in Fargo! And strong... Before this weekend I always thought of Fargo, ND as cold and boring. After this weekend I have to say “Notsomuch”. It is a lovely little city with great parks, lots of areas to ride bikes and some of the friendliest people you will ever meet. Fargo get a big high five and a circus act rating from me! Also, huge props to my friend Jason for being such an excellent host and tour guide!!! You are a Rockstar!!! I never dreamt that switching seats on a plane could lead to so much fun and future adventures.

A Little Adventure, Dontchaknow

Right now while the rest of the world is cutting back, including my company which doled out a nice pay cut this month. One would think I would follow suit. Nope, not I. Why be a trend follower? I ask. Dip into that savings and make life fun…

This weekend I am heading up to the great white (albeit, flooded) northern midwest.

Fargo, North Dakota!

Libby + Warren = CONGRATULATIONS

Today my dear friends Libby and Warren are getting married in Sunny California.
They promise to share margaritas forever…

What REALLY happened to the Easter Bunny

If you woke up on Sunday to no Easter basket...

It is not because you were bad. It is because the Easter bunny had a few too many vodka martini's the night before...

Florida Trip Recap

I went to Florida to heal my heart, spend quality time with my grandmother and grab a tan and some adventure.



I had originally planned to spend three days with my grandmother, take off by myself for two days to the east coast to surf, and come back to the gulf coast for one day before leaving. Funny how plans get changed once the adventure is under way. My grandmother was not happy about me leaving her after a couple days visit, so I decided to not take the side trip to the coast to go surfing. (Although I really really wanted too, there are some things we need to do to make our families happy). Sigh…Next trip….



This turned out to be a good decision because on the flight out there I had befriended the gentleman sitting next to me on the plane. Had I been on the east coast I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to go on a personal tour by him of Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg, the Baywalk and sea shell hunting on the beach until 2 in the morning.




Here is a picture of my new friend Jason on the beach amid our middle of the night sea shell hunting adventure…


My grandmother had also filled our agenda with lots of fun things to do every day. We went to see a Broadway play “Thoroughly Modern Millie” at a local dinner theater. Played at the beach , went to Busch Gardens and of course touring the shopping and dining locals around Tampa, Holiday, Port Richey and Tarpon Springs, (My favorite Greek community in the entire world—Can you say Baklava?—yummmmm).

I came on vacation with a purpose, I left tan, relaxed, well read (I knocked 4 books off my reading list this week) and with a new friend…



You could say it was a perfect vacation. (Even if I didn’t get to surf…next time)