Sick

Ick, I'm sick. I caught a bad cold/sinus thing this past Friday and now all I do is blow my nose and sneeze. My eyes are itchy and I just want to sleep, sleep, sleep. Unfortunately, Ella wakes up as soon as I am settled on the couch and drifting off to sleep.

San Diego/Coronado was great! I wish I were still there! 80 degree weather, lots of sun, and the pounding of ocean waves at night almost make me wish I lived there. I do have pictures to post, but they will have to wait until I am feeling better.

More later...

Vacation

My friend Sara has this book called The 1000 Places to Visit Before You Die and tomorrow we're heading to one of the places!! 999 more to go... :)

I leave for San Diego tomorrow morning - 7:20am PST - and will meet my parents down there. My dad has a work convention at the Hotel del Coronado, which is one of the places mentioned in Sara's book.

I don't have any pics of the resort on my computer, so those will have to wait until later. But check out the link if you so desire. It's going to be amazing!! Sara is driving down from L.A. on Thursday and staying with us until Saturday morning. I talked her into skipping class Friday :) Eh, it's just law school. No biggie. We're the most excited about big, comfy beds; plush, comfy robes; the private beach (voted one of the top 10 beaces in N America!); getting pedicures and/or facials; renting tandem bicycles and riding around the grounds; tea and Scrabble on the lawn; naps; fancy dinners (when was the last time I actually dressed up for something?!) the hot tubs and pools; and hanging out with each other and my mom. My dad's meetings are done Saturday morning, so then he and my mom and I are heading to the San Diego Zoo for the day. I was just there with Sara four months ago, so I can show them around. The only bummer is that I'm really going to miss that little baby Ella. :(

Off to finish packing!!

50 Books in a Year Challenge - Update

Ok, here's a list of all the books I've read or reread this year (in no particular order):

bolded titles = it was a reread

1. Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris
2. The Inner Voice of Love, Henri Nouwen
3. The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen
4. The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
5. A Circle of Quiet, Madeleine L'Engle
6. Grace (Eventually): Thoghts on Faith, Anne Lamott
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling
8. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
9. The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis
10. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
11. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
12. Jesus Land: A Memoir, Julia Scheeres
13. Plainsong, Kent Haruf
14. Eventide, Kent Haruf
15. Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters, Annie Dillard
16. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard
17. Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
18. Homeland and Other Stories, Barbara Kingsolver
19. Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
20. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
21. Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver
22. Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
23. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
24. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
25. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
26. Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder
27. On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura Ingalls Wilder
28. By the Shores of Silver Lake, Laura Ingalls Wilder
29. The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder
30. Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
31. These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
32. The First Four Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder
33. Girl Meets God: A Memoir, Lauren F. Winner

I feel like I'm forgetting a few, because I think my list is actually closer to 40. I have some reading to do to catch up! It's looking doubtful, what with all the knitting I'm doing for Christmas. We'll see what I can do...

Great Day

Note: This post was originally written on Sept. 5th, but Blogger wouldn't let me post it for some reason. I then forgot all about it until tonight, when I re-surfaced into the world of blogging.

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I've had a wonderful day today. Seattle is actually warm and sunny today, and my day with Ella was fun and relaxing. She's such a good baby!!

We're back from Alaska and getting back onto a routine, which is actually going pretty well.

Alaska was awesome! Here are some brief highlights:

Wildlife we saw:

*bald eagles and their little eaglets

*mountain goats

*brown bears

*salmon (alive and on our dinner plates...yum!!)

*seals

*sea stars and sea cucumbers (while kayaking)

*whales

Ports we stopped in:

*Juneau - Chad and Jina went kayaking here, so Ella and I shopped, explored, and played together all day long

*Skagway - we went hiking up to some mountain lakes, shopped, walked around, etc.

*Ketchikan - I went kayaking from 7am-10:30am here, then met up with the family afterwards. We hung out, walked around, got lunch, went shopping

*Victoria, B.C. - we ate dinner on the ship and then walked around, enjoyed a free concert outdoors, and went on what we affectionately call "The Great Canadian Diaper Search." Yeah. After locating one single diaper, found a cool bar, enjoyed a few rounds, and walked back to the dock after the sunset. Nice.

The ship was awesome, including all the food! Yum!! I'm eager to get back to Alaska now, too. Some day I will live there for sure.

My dear friend Karin is visiting the states and she and her husband were in Seattle last week. Ella and I met Karin for lunch last Wednesday afternoon and had a ball. I introduced Karin to Orrapin, my favorite Thai restaurant. YUM! I could eat there every day and not get sick of it at all! I hadn't seen Karin since last August, so it was so good to see her and catch up a little. I'm planning on visiting her and Jake in the UK either next spring or fall...sometime in '08 for sure!! I can't believe it's been three years since the last time I went overseas! That's unacceptable!!

Off to read and hang out.
Here are some pictures from last week's lunch:


Karin and Ella


All three of us