I have a new crush

Well, not exactly. Stan and I went to see Mark Knopfler in concert on Saturday night at the Greek Theatre. C’mon…you know…Mark Knopfler? Of Dire Straits? The one who wrote the score to Princess Bride? Anyway, it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. He is an incredible musician, as are all the guys who played with him.

So the crush…he had a great voice. I could listen to him talk for hours. I don’t really have a crush on him…just his voice.

Expert worrier

So, after TOTALLY freaking out all day, I finally found someone at Delta who would confirm that yes, my family got on the plane and are now on their way home. Then I got an email from Jean telling me the same.

Thank the heavens.

Anxiety

It is 11:44 pm and I cannot sleep. My kids and husband are in Mexico visiting his dad and stepmom who are mostly retired and cruising around on their sailboat. I think they are near Santa Rosalia, but I haven’t heard from them since yesterday morning and now I am FREAKING OUT.

I keep telling myself that everything is okay, that I should remember Ockham’s Razor…”All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best.” But then the anxiety devil steps in and tells me what horrible things MIGHT have happened. Yesterday morning, I got this email:

Alison,
We are off to explore Santa Rosalia today. Stan and Jonah are off on a zodiac ride, and Zoe is feeding fish and playing with Bill in the cock pit while we get ready for the trip. The engine is running to charge up the batteries.

The fish that we feed include: sergeant majors (yellow and black stripes), salt water cat fish (with whiskers), and spotted mackerels.

We will write more tonight.
Jean

I haven’t received any other emails. One who was not paranoid and anxiety ridden might conclude that a) they are having a great time and haven’t had time to email b) they are having trouble connecting because they are, after all, on a sail boat, or c) they forgot and don’t realize I am FREAKING OUT.

Please tell me that I’m just being paranoid and anxious and that all will be well. They are coming home tomorrow, and you can be sure that I will be calling the airport to make sure they got on their plane. I can’t wait to hold my babies. It’s been too long.

Vegas, baby!

So, I had SUCH a great weekend! My bf from college and I have been planning a road trip for like…EVER. We have been planning this ever since the movie Thelma & Louise came out. A cliche, I know. Anyway, as it turned out, we never did this road trip. Then I moved to N. Cal. Then we both had babies. Then we both had our second babies. And we worried that this trip would never happen. When Stan planned his trip to Mexico with the kids to visit his dad and step mom, I thought to myself, “This is my chance!”. So Daria and I decided Las Vegas would be a good choice.

We stayed at the Red Rock Casino and Spa….aaaaaahhhhh. I have never done a whole spa-day thing and it was truly heaven. Facial. Pedi. Scalp and foot treatment. Relaxed by the pool. All. Day. Long. Had dinner. Then, I said I wanted to try my hand at craps. I’ve never played and I think I like it. Maybe it was just beginners luck, but I won about $300. Nice.

There is the saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” I wish I could coyly say that was our motto, but we are old married ladies with two kids. We were in bed before midnight both nights, but we had such a great time.

And now I’m addicted to Craps.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

Way back in the pre-kids days, I used to go sailing almost every weekend in the summer. It’s the thing I miss the most about my pre-mommy days. And tomorrow…it’s true…I get to go sailing! I’m sure I’ll be rusty but I don’t care. We aren’t sailing on our own boat, but in a way that makes it a little easier since we won’t have to put the boat away after the race. I’ll report on how it goes – hopefully I won’t break anything on the boat or on me.

Getting to know your friends meme

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:23 am (6:30 am during school year)
2. Diamonds or pearls? pearls, but diamonds if I could afford them
3. What was the last film you saw at the movies? Into the Wild (sadly, I almost couldn’t remember)
4. What is your favorite TV show? Lost, The Daily Show
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? caffe latte, fruit
6. What is your middle name? Morrow
7. What food do you dislike? greasy food (does not mean I don’t like fried food, however)
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Stan’s mix titled, “Thinking of my Family”
9. What kind of car do you drive? 2000 Audi station wagon
10. Favorite sandwich? prosciutto & arugula & mozzarella on a baguette (copied directly from Meri)
11. What characteristics do you despise? selfishness, meanness
12. Favorite item of clothing? my new sweater from anthropologie
13. If you could go anywhere on vacation where you would go? Africa, specifically Zanzibar and the Seychelle Islands
14. What color is your bathroom? black and white marble, teal walls
15. Favorite brand of clothing? anthropologie
16. Where would you retire? I haven’t been to enough places yet, but probably Mexico or Costa Rica
17. Most memorable birthday? My 35th, five days before Zoe was born. Meri’s 40th when Theresa and I surprised her.
18. Favorite Sport to watch? Sailing, Tour de France
19. Furthest place you are sending this? North Carolina
20. Who do you expect to send this back to you? My sisters, Anne
21. Person you expect to send it back first?? Theresa
23. When is your birthday? April 30
24. Are you a morning person or a night person? a night person
25. What is your shoe size? 11, sadly. Thank God for Zappos.
26. Pet? Seven fish
27. What did you want to be when you were little? A hair dresser and a doctor. A hair doctor?
28. What are you today? eMarketing for
an awesome biotech
29. What is your favorite candy? Vosges Barcelona bar
30. What is your favorite flower? gerber daisies, lilacs
31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? June 20
32. What church/temple do you attend? none
33. What are you listening to right now? a conference call
34. What did you eat last? Specialty’s dark chocolate chip cookie
35. Do you believe in Angels? Yes
36. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? goldenrod
37. What is your pet peeve? conspicuous consumption
39. Favorite soft drink? pellegrino limonata
40. Favorite restaurant? Where? Japonais in Chicago, Bangkok House in San Francisco (not there anymore)
41. Hair Color? blonde
43. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
46. Hugs or kisses? why choose? Hugs, because you can get one from almost anyone without being weird or contracting a cold
47. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
48. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Yes
49. When was the last time you cried? In March when I found out my Mom was in the hospital
50. What is under your bed? A rolled up rug, slippers, toys
51. Who is the friend you’ve had longest? Laura (is she my friend or my sister? Zoe thinks we’re sisters)
52. What did you do last night? ate dinner, put kids to bed, updated Quicken w/ finances
53. Favorite smell? the smell of landing in a tropical place
54. What are you afraid of? people I love dying
55. How many keys on your key ring? three
56. How many years at your current job? less than one
58. How many towns have you lived in? 6
59. Do you make friends easily? yes, but it takes a while

I’m now tagging Anne and Mrs. Flinger

Making Friends

This goes back to my very first post, where I talked about my philosophy of how people make connections throughout life. Some last, some don’t. Sometimes you make a connection with someone because your ‘bubblegum’ is made of similar stuff.

I’m writing this post because I realize that my old definition of how one could make friends has evolved. Or maybe I’m writing this post to acknowledge some new friends. I think the latter is probably why I’m writing this.

I am pretty accustomed to making friends at work. Tonight, however, took me a bit by surprise. I am at an off-site meeting for work and after dinner we went to the bar to have some drinks and continue socializing. I ended up chatting with a couple of the women in my group. I should preface this all by saying that I have been in this new job now for 7 1/2 months. However, I found the transition to be a little difficult because I was leaving such good friends at my old job. But today, and tonight especially, I realized that I have people around me that I can really become friends with. We had a discussion tonight about religion, God, atheism, spirituality, etc. I shared with them my Bubblegum theory. I think they got it. I don’t know if they agreed with it, but they got it. And we had such a great discussion. I don’t normally chat with people about religion, or lack thereof. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I did. But it was a great conversation.

The other thing that prompted me to write tonight are two of my friends – one new, one old. I read a blog entry and responded to this with an email to Anne. I ended up sending the email to another Anne that I know by accident (thanks, Yahoo! address book…). However, it reconnected me to someone I haven’t talked to in a long time, but is another friend whose bond seems to remain strong. This bond remains even though we didn’t know each other very long and she now lives a long way away, but it has also been years since we’ve seen each other in person. Yet I still feel connected to her.

The other friend – Anne, is someone I have never met. Or talked to. I found her blog by accident one day, years ago. She had two daughters, I had one. A few months after I started reading her blog, I found out I was pregnant, somewhat unexpectedly. Then she found out she was pregnant too. Also unexpectedly. Since then, I read her blog regularly and I feel like she is one of my friends. She seems to have many of the same challenges, conflicts, likes, etc.

Years ago I would never have believed that you could make friends with someone you’ve never met. Or that one conversation could make you realize that new friends are right in front of you. I know better now. And I’m thankful.