Extra Day Off!

My, it has been a while...here I am. No, I did not fall off the face of this Earth!

Lots of things have happened since I last published an entry. Let's see...We did go on that Alaskan cruise, and boy was it fun. I think this was my favorite cruise, so far. Eric's younger daughter, Irene had a baby girl in December, on the 15th. Her name is Jade, and she is beautiful and healthy.

Eric's older daughter, Dawn joined the Army in May, and is currently stationed at Ft. Riley, KS. Dawn is being deployed to Iraq tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will be able to keep in contact with her while she is there. We all have joined Facebook, now, and think that will help.

Oh, one more big thing...Eric and I finally tied the knot on November 14th of 2008! It wasn't a big event, but it was so much fun, and perfect for us. We were in Las Vegas, celebrating Eric's dad's 80th birthday, and we got married while there in our city of lights. My best friend in the world, Ida was there to be our witness, and no one else. What a fun night it was! We really wanted something like this instead of some huge, fancy affair with hundreds of people...how nerve wracking, not to mention expensive. We plan to take a proper honeymoon to Europe as soon as our schedules will allow.

Also, my co-op opened a second store on January 15th of this year, and I work there on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is a very nice store, modern and gorgeous. Hopefully, we will continue to get busier and busier.

Today is an extra day off for me, and I intend to enjoy it to the max. I will head to Starbucks, and watch part of an "Ace of Cakes" marathon that starts at 11 (I do know how to live it up, don't I?). Who knows what else the day may bring, but I am happy to have this little extra time off.

Happy Day!

Today was a very happy, good day. Work went really well, as I was working with some of my favorite people, and everyone (including me) was in a pretty good mood. I swung by my favorite coffee haunt after work for an iced Americano, and then headed home. Eric's daughter called to say that all is well with her pregnancy, and that the baby's heartbeat was strong...good news!!!
Eric and I are getting ready to go on our Alaskan cruise with his family at the end of this week...we are so excited! Even if the weather is not great, we will have so much fun just being with everyone, sightseeing, relaxing, and shopping. It is cool to be on a big cruiseliner, no matter where it is headed. Everyone keeps telling me how beautiful Alaska is, so I am happy to finally get to see for myself!

Peppermint Soap, Raindrops and Evergreen Trees

Earlier this evening, I took time out to go take a relaxing, hot, peppermint- scented bath. The bathroom window was open (no one can see in, it is too high!), so I sat there in my nice hot water, and watched it rain. It was beautiful to see these huge drops of rain, against the backdrop of a very old, tall Evergreen tree...it almost seemed mystical. During this time, my noisy neighbors down the street broke into choruses of drumming and singing. Normally, that sort of thing might annoy me when I am trying to relax, meditate even. Today, however, I found it entertaining, and almost nice to hear their happy sounds...I really do appreciate living in the Pacific Northwest most of the time, this is one of those times.

Cherry Cobbler

This weekend, I tidied up our back room, and it turned out really nice. We threw out some things, and put others in the basement. This morning, I went to Home depot to pick out some paint for our now uncluttered room. I have had a sort of "spaghetti sauce red" in mind for some time now, but I have been unable to find that exact shade I've been imagining. I did, however, find something close, and it is called, "cherry cobbler." It is a deep red, and I think it will look nice with the wide white baseboards, brown carpet and chair, and light wood paneling. I had to keep those colors in mind, when thinking of my paint, also. I really wanted to do some sort of chocolate shade, but that would have made the room too brown, I think. Anyway, I will post a picture when it gets done. I had to buy this pink primer to put down first, so that the dark color will take. Otherwise, you end up applying many, many coats to achieve your ultimate goal. I just might wait until next weekend to do this, now that I think of all that work...