Hot Rollers for a High Roller

This afternoon I'm heading off to Las Vegas to celebrate my sister's 25th birthday!!  She is picking me up from work since I'm on the way to the airport.  A while back, Josh offered to drive me to work so I wouldn't have to leave my car in the parking lot over the weekend.  I happily agreed even though I knew he would have to drop me off early to get to work at a reasonable time.  We literally work on opposite sides of the city.  Well. . . . . I did get up early (5:00 am), but I had to wash/dry my hair because I didn't have time the night before (we had a lovely dinner with our friends Brent & Catherine).  Josh was angry.  He wanted to drop me off at work by 6:30 am.  We didn't get there until 7:00.  In an effort to get out the door earlier, I bypassed finishing my make-up and curling my hair.  I figured it wasn't a big deal since I had it all packed in my suitcase anyway.  I would just haul my suitcase up to the 3rd floor, plop it open, and finish my primping for the day before other people showed up for work.

I forgot the doors to my office building don't open until 7:30.  You have to have an ID badge to scan at a side door to get in.  I took my ID badge out of my purse last night in preparation for my trip (I didn't want to accidentally lose it on the streets of Las Vegas).  So there I was, peeking through the glass doors of my building trying to get the police officer at the main desk to let me in.  He wouldn't even come to the door to talk to me.  After a few minutes I just decided to sit down outside and start putting on my make-up.  Luckily, around 7:20 one of my co-workers arrived and let me in the door with his badge.  Thank goodness!  I was able to plug my hot rollers in at my desk and viola! I was set up in no time.  Classy.

Stay tuned for pics and stories from sin city.  I'll be back in a few days--hopefully with lots of winnings!!

I Might Have Gone Overboard

I was just reading an article in Allure magazine over lunch that said, "31% of women have more than five beauty products in their handbag right now." It made me wonder how many I actually had in my purse. It was a little embarassing. Not only did I have five, I had sixteen. These items included: sunscreen wipes, nail files, lotion, a compact, perfume, chapstick, lipgloss and lots of different lipsticks. The really sad part is I oftentimes have more--what can I say, I really love lipstick....and having soft hands. I freak out when I can't put on lotion after washing my hands. Yes, I realize that is a little nuts, but it is who I am. Plus, 31% of the women around me are the same.

I learned another interesting fact over lunch. Even though Hawiian Tropic doesn't print it on the bottle, most of their sunscreen is PABA free. I'm allergic to PABA, so I have avoided their products for years. I always went for the bottle that printed PABA Free right on the front, for safety's sake. I actually had to call into the Hawiian Tropic office to make sure the bottle I bought was PABA free. The lady on the phone was very nice and assured me I was safe. I'm really excited to try something new. I hope it works out!! The bottle I bought was the SPF 30 Sheer Touch Lotion Sunscreen. I'll try to remember to tell you all how it holds up. I'm headed to Las Vegas in two days and plan to spend a lot of time laying out by the pool or in the water. It is supposed to be 102 degrees. Ay-yi-yi!!

Brides, Babies and Bears, oh my!

As I mentioned awhile back, I've been quite busy the last few weeks with different parties and events. Since we got back from Greece I have been to a bridal shower, two baby showers, a wedding and a separate wedding reception in another location. Needless to say, the last month and a half have been a whirlwind of friends, family, food and fun.

It all kicked off the week we got back from Greece with my sister-in-law's bridal shower. I helped host, but didn't get to do a ton of work since I was gone the 2 weeks before the shower. The theme was 1950's Garden Party and the guests were encouraged to dress for the theme: floral dresses, brimmed hats, gloves, heels, etc. Nearly everyone participated and it was very lovely.Nicole & Marian (my sister-in-law and mother-in-law)

Nicole with a tasty refreshment
Me and my friend Catherine
Note, Catherine even found a maternity dress for the bridal shower--now that is commitment to theme. Bravo, Cat!

A few weeks later I threw Catherine a baby shower. It was the first time had ever hosted a baby shower, but I think it went very well. We actually had the shower at Catherine's house since it has a little more space, air conditioning and so that people could look at the nursery. I had a lot of fun decorating for the party, but I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures. The only really clear shot was of the dessert table. The two main tables had a variety of different colored and sized glass vases full of big white flowers. I also hung paper pom poms from the ceiling. It was very pretty. The party favors were vintage tea cups with a dark chocolate truffle and a Tea Forte pyramid. It was a ton of fun searching for the vases and tea cups at different thrift and antique stores. I found some amazing stuff! My other favorite find was Gateaux Bakery on Speer. They made us delicious and adorable petit' fours!! I could have ate them all myself--seriously. Overall I think the shower was a success. Lots of fun people showed up and brought great gifts for Cat, Brent and little baby C.

Me and the Momma
This is the blanket I crocheted for Baby C. It is University of Texas colors since we don't know if it is for a little boy or a little girl.
In between the bridal shower and the baby shower, I went to my friend Gina's wedding in June Lake, California. June Lake is near Mammoth, but there isn't a convenient/affordable airport to fly into nearby. Therefore, Josh, Mariyah and I flew into Sacramento and drove 4+ hours to the wedding. The drive was quite lovely. We drove past lots of vineyards, road-side fruit stands, and all the way through Yosemite. Unfortunately, we got lost along the way and missed the entire wedding rehearsal. It was embarrassing and exhausting. However, I had never been to Yosemite before and we got to see some really cool stuff while we were driving on the wrong road. Mariyah and I even saw a baby bear in a meadow on the side of the road. We didn't get to stop and look at it because we were running so late from getting lost. We finally did find June Lake and made it into town just in time for the rehearsal dinner. The wedding was small, about 30 people including the bridal party. Gina looked beautiful and Seth seemed very happy. I gave a toast at the party and managed not to bawl my eyes out. Overall, a good time. The reception ended really early in the night, but it didn't really matter because we went to reception #2 down in Pueblo, CO the following weekend to celebrate with Gina's friends and family. This was quite a change of pace from the quiet mountain wedding the previous weekend and consisted of mostly drinking, dancing and general merry-making. My parents and sister were invited too, which made the night even more fun.

Mariyah, Anna and I dancing. . . I think

Anna, Josh, Me, Seth (the Groom), Gina (the Bride), Mariyah and Whitney

(The young crowd)

Greece Trip: Part 3

Santorini

Upon arriving in Santorini I had two thoughts, 1) I can't believe how hot I am; and 2) This place is beautiful! I've seen tons of pictures, but they don't do justice to how steep the cliffs really are and how amazing the cities built on their edges actually are. Josh and I immediately got a good vibe and knew this was the perfect place to spend the last few days of our vacation.

One of Santorini's main attractions is their wine. Grapes are one of the only fruits that will actually grow on the island. It is very hot and dry. In the past, farmers on Santorini would actually grow their grape vines into a basket shape to protect the grapes from the wind and hot sun. Some still do today, but it is less common with better irrigation practices. Still, the only green you see on the island are grapes, I only saw a patch of grass once. It was in a small courtyard of a fancy looking hotel. I'm still not convinced it was real.

Our first night in Santorini we sought out a restaurant I heard about in one of my travel books called the Pelican Cafe. It didn't look all that special from the outside, but the garden was very nice and the food was undeniably the best we had during our entire trip to Greece. The wine plate for two was delicious. My favorite was the bacon wrapped prunes! Sounds weird, but to die for!! Josh had a pork chop with wine sauce (not on the menu, but recommended by our server, Leo). It was amazing! After dinner, I mentioned that I had heard there was a deep wine cave under the restaurant. Leo confirmed and promised us a tour after our dinner. It was very cool. They think the cave is more than 500 years old. The restaurant owners keep bottles in the cave today and we were able to buy a bottle while we were looking around.

During our second day on the island we rented a car, a very tiny car, I think a Nissan Micra, and drove from one end of the island to the other. We went to the wine museum, three wineries, the Red Beach, Black Sand Beach and the town of Oia for sunset. It was a fun and exhausting day. We had actually planned on eating in Oia for dinner, but didn't see anything we were interested in and went back to Fira (near our hotel) to seek out some food. We couldn't find the sushi restaurant we were looking for, but found a nice place called Naoussa and I had some very yummy moussaka.

The highlight of our trip was the third day when we went sailing with Captain Ted of Santorini Sailing. We shared the boat with 4 other couples all from the U.S. (2 from Texas, 1 from New York and 1 from Chicago). A few were on their honeymoons and other were celebrating their anniversary. We got the typical string of questions everywhere we went in Santorini: Are you on your honeymoon? No Are you married? Yes Do you have children? No Are you here to have children?? No. The Greeks love children. We sailed for about half a day stopping at various spots along the way to see different beaches and swim. Yes, I swam in the sea! (If you really know me, you know I'm not big on swimming, but it was easy here and lots of fun.) We swam to the hot springs in the caldera. They weren't that hot, more luke warm with bands of really cold water--but fun nonetheless. We also had an amazing meal on the boat. Captain Ted has been featured on the Food Network. We had lamb chops, Mediterranean chicken, shrimp, grilled calamari, pasta salad, a yummy eggplant dip, and lots more, plus all the wine and beer we wanted. It was great!!
We weren't quite ready to end the night after we got off the boat, so we went out with the newlywed couple from New York. We ended up going to the sushi restaurant we tried to find the night before, Ginger. In the US I would never go out to sushi in my swim suit and cover-up, but it is no big deal in Santorini. No one looked twice at us all in our swim gear--and this place was nice. It was probably some of the best sushi I've ever ate. The tempura octopus was ridiculous!! We had to order it twice during our meal. The red snapper sashimi w/ truffle oil was also a knockout. It turns out Captain Ted also owns Ginger and showed up later in the evening. He bought us a round, introduced us to his family and chatted with us for a while. It was a really fun night. Scratch that--a really amazing trip.

Greece Trip: Part 2

Mykonos:
We took a five hour ferry from Athens to the island of Mykonos to begin the second part of our trip. Mykonos is famous for their beautiful beaches and hip party scene. . . . oh yeah, it is also a haven for homosexual couples on holiday.
We ended up experiencing all three and it was a blast.

The actual island is quite small, so it was easy to hop on a bus from Mykonos Town to the nearby beaches. Our favorite beach was Elia. It wasn't too crowded and the water was amazingly turquoise blue and clear nearly 30 feet down. It was also really cold! It took me a long time to actually take the plunge. I'm a baby when it comes to cold water!! Plus, I could see little fish swimming around me the whole time. I had cut my ankle in the shower and they were trying to bite me on the wound--yuck! Other than the fish attack, I LOVED the beaches!

Mykonos Town was a lot of fun too. There were plenty of stands selling gyro pitas, souvlaki, kebabs and other delicious street meat. Before we got to Greece I imagined eating lots and lots of lamb, but it was quite the opposite when we arrived. There is very little lamb. The gyro pitas are either pork or chicken. The kebab isn't like what we think of a kebab in the States; it is a mix of different spiced meats formed into a hot dog shape and grilled (despite my description, it is really yummy). Souvlaki is more like the traditional American kebab and it was usually pork, chicken and sometimes lamb. Confusing, but yummy.
We spent a lot of time eating, drinking and shopping around Little Venice. The sunset was beautiful from the shoreside restaurant patios! However, as soon as the sun set, music starting streaming out of the bars lining the beach. Since we ate so late at night, the partying didn't really get started until around midnight.

Josh isn't really into the "house music" scene, so I convinced him to go into a piano bar--live music is always fun. . . . especially when you are drinking fancy cocktails whose names have funny homosexual undertones. Just as we were getting ready to leave, a gay couple sat down next to us and started chatting with us. They were super nice and really funny. After a few more drinks at the bar, they took us out on the town to a place called Babylon. That is where we encountered the lovely drag queen pictured below. Around 4:00 am and lots of cocktails later, we wrapped up the night with some late-night crepes (nutella & strawberry). It was wierd--but really fun weird.

Overall, Mykonos was a nice change of pace from Athens. I wish we could have visited every beach, but we only had a few days. Elia was great--I already miss it. I'm also glad we got our party fix. We have lots of funny memories from that night (and more funny pictures in our photo gallery if you check it out).

Greece Trip: Part 1

After being home for nearly a month now, I'm finally getting to blogging about our recent trip to Greece. I've decided to break these up into three parts since we visited three places while we were there: Athens, Mykonos and Santorini. I have posted a small portion of our pictures in our Picasa gallery. The link is on the left "our photo gallery." Enjoy!

Josh and I tried to jot down some notes while on the trip. Here are a few of the items we thought were of note during phase 1 of our trip.

Athens (plus notes on travel to Athens)
--We had a layover in Toronto. Unfortunately, there was no poutine. However, Josh got to order his first "Canadian" Big Pete style.

--The flight to Athens was quite possibly the oldest flight Josh and I have ever been on. There were 16 people in wheelchairs loaded on the plane. Plus we were nearly an hour late taking off because we had to load so many bottles of oxygen on the plane. Strangely it was the first non-stop flight from Toronto to Athens.

--A guy who looked like the Greek Ricky Martin was on our flight.. . .yes!

--Driving in Athens is nuts! There are hundreds of motorcycles, scooters and 4-wheelers that all lane split.

--Our hotel in Athens was very nice. We had a frosted glass circular window from the bedroom to the bathroom shower. Weird. Also, instead of a Queen sized bed, they just pushed two twin sized beds together.

--On our first night in Athens we visited the old Olympic Stadium, walked through the National Garden (like a big park with no grass) and found Syntagma Square. When it got dark we found ourselves walking towards the acropolis. They light up all of the monuments at night. It is very pretty.

--Our first day we ate two meals that were predominantly cheese. oops. We couldn't find any cool tavernas. The next day we found out we were only a block away from Plaka where there were tons of restaurants bars and shopping. Who knew?? We blamed it on the jet lag.

--On day 2 we took a half day tour that ended at the Acropolis and the New Acropolis Museum. This was great. The Acropolis wasn't too much of a climb. It was neat to see people actually out there working on preserving the site. The Parthenon was huge. It would have been really neat to be able to walk through it, but of course, that isn't possible. However, the New Acropolis Museum has areas that are to-scale replicas of the Parthenon. Many of the real pieces are in the museum instead of out in the elements. The museum is a must see if you go to Athens. No pictures allowed inside, unfortunately.

--We went to a bar called Brettos. It was very cool with tons of backlit bottles on the wall and giant barrels of Ouzo and Brandy. I drank wine--they had a huge list. Josh had the ouzo and plenty of beer. Very fun place.

--We ended our 2nd night in Athens with late night crepes, yum! Oh yeah, and by late night I mean early morning. Everything happens later in Greece. Most of our dinners were between 9:00 pm and 11:30 pm.

Overall impression of Athens: A must see in terms of history, but probably not worth visiting for more than 2 or 3 days. It is a crowded city with lots of traffic (except around the Acropolis). The food was just ok in the areas around Plaka and the Acropolis, not spectacular. We always felt safe and had an easy time getting around on foot. It was very, very hot. I honestly don't know how modern life started here.

Don't Give Up on Me!

I'm so sad because I just realized I didn't post a single thing in June and here we are, July 1st, and I'm posting something--well not really anything important. I just wanted to let any remaining readers know that they are in for a real treat when I try to re-cap the month of June soon. Josh and I were very busy, but in a good way, in a having lots of fun way! Stay tuned for vacation pictures, bridal shower pictures, family fun pictures and even some wedding pics and stories. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we went up to our family cabin at the end of May for Memorial Day. We had an amazing time practicing for a potential zombie invasion (i.e. we put a watermelon in a tree and practiced shooting it with a shotgun and pistol). Practice was successful and I'm pretty sure I could get at least a few mountain zombies in the brain if an invasion occurred. My favorite part was drinking the dripping watermelon juice after we shot it. Yum!