30 July 2009

A day on the go

I saw Kathy yesterday for her cut and color. She mentioned that she was on her own for dinner. I told her I was on my own too. Bingo! Dinner plans were made and we had a most enjoyable meal at Momma Lucia's which just happened to be participating in Restaurant Week in our county. Kathy had never been to this restaurant before and she loved it, as did I. We had a beverage, Caesar salad, entree and dessert for the special price of $10.09! Restaurant week continues till August 9. I plan to go back. There was enough leftovers for at least another week. Bonus!

I thought I'd spend a few hours with my mom today in-between getting Emily to work at 10:30 and picking up at 4:30, then bringing to driving school at 5:45 and picking up at 8:45. I called my mom in the morning to find that her aide was coming at 10 and they were going grocery shopping. I called Karen to see what she was doing, and she said she planned to drive around and go to Walmart. We made a plan. She met me at my salon. We hung out while I got my hair colored. She watched me get my brows waxed, which is something she'd never seen before. It was a fun time. We went to Panera's for lunch and Walmart for yarn. Then we surprised my sister Lisa at her medical practice's new office. It was fascinating seeing the array of hi-tech automated machines/computers that do all the lab tests. Finally she dropped me off at my car. She did all the driving in her bright red Corvette. I wasn't afraid of her driving this time!

I haven't seen Bonnie in ages. It's time for a get-togeter!

I'm hanging at the Starbucks next to Emily's job. There wasn't enough time for me to go home, and since I had my laptop....

A few more pictures from the Cape


The Cape has so many white picket fences bedecked with roses, hydrangeas, and other assorted flowers. I'll always picture this when I think of the Cape.



My friend Bernice wants a trellis on her roof with roses. I found this little cottage with just that thing. Isn't it beautiful?


The grassy point of land in this picture is part of the Kennedy compound. I took this pic at the beach closest to Bernice's house.


Tranquil, huh?


Doorknocker with Dragonfly.


I have Rhode Island pictures to post. I'll do that soon. Emily will be off work in a minute, so it's back in the car for me.

28 July 2009

First day back to work

First day back to work went by in a blur...

I went to Marshalls before work and found the exact dress I was looking for. I ran into my boss/friend Pam there and she gave me the thumbs up on it. I found the proper undergarments. I went to DSW and didn't find the perfect shoes but brought two pairs home. I still need accessories. Why did I wait till almost the last minute for this? I'll shop again tomorrow after work and on Thursday if I have to.

I used to get really nervous about the first day back to work after vacation. Afraid I'd forget how to cut hair. Afraid I'd be nervous (self-fulfilling prophesy?). I stopped being nervous a few years ago. Today, my hands were shaking like crazy with my first client. It was like they didn't belong to me. I was with a regular client that I know well. I wasn't nervous. Well, I was once my hands started shaking. Fight or flight reaction. I went in the back room and ate a yogurt and used the bathroom and then I was fine. Thank goodness. I suffered for years with anxiety attacks and I knew I had to get through this, and I did. Whew. I was just fine for the rest of the day. I hope I don't start being nervous about the first day back again.

I was busy, busy, busy. It was great. I loved my vacations, but I also love my job.

27 July 2009

The Party's Over

I'm home sweet home. In a way it seems like I never left. Maybe that's why I take so many pictures? To remember? I worked on my pictures yesterday, then somehow lost them. They're still on my camera, so I'll start the process over again, but not now. Now I'm going through caffeine withdrawal. It happens after every vacation. I drink as much coffee as I can when I'm off work. Then I give myself a day or two without, and really suffer in that I'm just so sleepy. Yesterday I had a small half-caff when I left Rhode Island. Just enough to keep me alert. Today I had one scoop of regular coffee to 4 scoops of decaf. Tomorrow I'll be fine.

Emily and I are going shopping today for uniform skirts for school. Tonight she has driver's ed for the first time. We'll see what the in-between hours hold. I will get my pictures ready and post them soon.

Happy Monday!

23 July 2009

Many pictures, few words.

We're at Barnes and Noble for an Internet break. I'll be around another day for a post with stories. I'm having the best time!!

Just after sunset at Rock Harbor.


My very comfortable room. I've fallen asleep instantly every night.


I'm fascinated by these stones. This is the front of a church. Fences made out of these stones can be found everywhere.


We visited long time clients of mine who have a home in N. Falmouth. It turns out Bernice knew them. They have a 120 year old house overlooking Buzzard's Bay.


A large New England home in a cluster of homes owned by the family that owns Ken's Salad Dressings, etc...


This is how clear the water was at Buzzard's Bay.


Lobster doubles for dinner.


I've been told that New England steeples are usually much taller than this.


Sand dunes close to Provincetown.


Our whale-watching boat.


Whales! We saw 15-18 humpbacks and 8 finbacks.





The harbor at P-town.



Moi.


Low tide


Still life with dog bowl.


The oldest/only (?) lifesaving station left on Cape Cod. It's been fully restored. There were thousands of shipwrecks off the coast.


A nearby building. It seemed to be abandoned except for the CD's I could see in one window.


Sand dunes.


Loved all the blow-up toys on the roof.


Great sign, huh?

20 July 2009

Just a peek at my vacation

So.....

The drive to Cape Cod was wonderful. So much better than my trips down south. The time just flew. Literally. The sky was the bluest blue. The clouds huge and white and beautiful. I listened to my book, listened to music. Stopped many times for coffee. Many times for the bathroom. It was pretty amazing. Berni's house is wonderful. Exactly how you'd picture a New England house. Weather-beaten shingles, white picket fence, lots of hydrangeas, lavender and daisies, etc... The walls inside are yellow with lots of blue accents. Very comfortable. There's a constant breeze blowing. I can't keep my eyes off the architecture, the homes and gardens and the shore.

Last night we went for a dinner of fried seafood. It was...good but heavy. Today we went food shopping (Trader Joes's too!)then to the beach. I was expecting freezing water but it was fine. And so clear. The sand is very soft and kind of hard to walk in. It was partly cloudy, which was great. I took lots of pictures, as usual.

I made tomato pie for dinner and Berni made salad. Delicious. We're in Panera's to use the Internet. Then we'll go out for ice cream. I have no idea what tomorrow holds.

Here's a few pictures. Panera's is closing so I have to go!

I was fascinated by this group of very tattooed people. Then I heard someone say, she's taking pictures of us. Then I took pictures of all kinds of things to pretend I wasn't. Then one very nice girl came over and explained that they're all friends, and professionals. She pointed out the teachers, the accountants, etc...I apologized, then asked questions. I thanked her for being so gracious.


See how clear the water is?



Canada geese at the beach?


A very cool church. I'll talk about those rocks later.

18 July 2009

The Road Ahead

I'm leaving in the morning, hopefully by 6AM, for a solo drive to Cape Cod, MA. If all goes as planned, it should take about 9 hours. I've got 4-5 discs left of my book Watchers by Dean Koontz to listen to. I took a few more audio books out of the library today. My iPhone is loaded with music. I'll hit as many Starbucks as I can on the way. And as many bathrooms. I hope the time will fly. I've driven to NY many times, but not gone farther than that. I don't like the NJ Turnpike, but no choice there. Will Exit 8 back it up as usual? I'll cross a few bridges, and I don't like bridges. I've heard the Tappan Zee is a really long one. Great. I'll be hugging the shoreline on I-95 after I get past NYC. Maybe I'll do some exploring on the way home, but I'll just drive, drive, drive on the way there.

I'm usually such a planner when I go away. Not this time. It's almost 9PM and I haven't packed a thing. Time to get busy. It's going to be very casual, so I'm not stressed over the packing. The trash is taken care of, same with mail and watering and timers for stuff.

That said, I'm gonna do what needs to be done. Be on the lookout for lots of pictures and such. I'll be bringing my laptop and mini-computer (iPhone). I hope to keep up with my blog and yours.

I wish it was 6AM now. Oh, right, gotta pack first. And sleep. Later!

16 July 2009

Good days and...

It's not been a great day. They all can't be, right? It's not been the worst. Some conflicts at home. No pool time. Frustration at the pharmacy. Yada, yada. I took Emily to the doctor's for a follow-up. She has exercise-induced asthma that will easily be controlled with an inhaler before exercise. She didn't want the new prescription, believing doctors are too quick to prescribe medicine - that it's an easy way out. I can understand her feelings, but I'm glad she agreed anyway. I liked the doctor and he was thorough with his explanation of why she needed this particular medicine. I dropped her off and went to Sam's Club to fill it. I waited the 30 minutes they said it would take only to find out they had to order it. Thanks for calling me to the pharmacy to let me know. Not. I did a little shopping while I waited, and tried on new eyeglass frames. I like the ones I already have the best. That was good to know. I called all the local pharmacies to find out that everyone needed to order the inhaler. I wound up dropping the script at my local grocery store. Should have done that from the start. Then I wasn't in the mood to shop for an outfit for the reunion. So we got pizza. The garage door fixer is here, fixing what needs to be done. He's working in the garage with the door closed on a sweltering day. He said he likes to be hot, that he needs to lose weight. If only it would be so easy...we'd all just sweat it off. I decided to take some time and update my blogroll. I was just about done when I accidentally deleted the entire list. Poof! I'll deal with that some other time.

I just over-cooked my salmon on the George Foreman grill. I cooked it outside so as not to stink up the house. I roasted a Vidalia onion in one of those cookers that go in the microwave. The ones that look like an onion. And I cooked a small potato. A dinner for one because Emily's not hungry yet. The onion was the best part of my dinner. I found frozen cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies in the freezer while searching for something for dinner. Dessert will be a sure thing.

Maybe I'll go out on the porch and try that book again....

15 July 2009

A hello, of sorts

I've been sitting out on the deck trying really hard to get into my book. I'm on page 93 out of 627. I really want to love this book but I just don't. I'm almost ready to give up. I've only stayed this long because it came so highly recommended. Outlander.

The house is hot inside but it's beautiful out here. The steamy weather comes tomorrow. I've finally put the book aside to have some fun. Yes, this is fun for me. It's fun for you too. You know it.

I was at Whole Foods a few days ago and had to pull out my camera for shots of these:


At least some of these are duck eggs. The rest, chicken


The whole store was a wonderland for me. I have to go back!

I was amazed by the sky on my ride home. The clouds were enormous.


As I was driving home from work today I saw an amazing sight. The most enormous tree trunks I've ever seen, loaded onto an 18-wheeler, along with all the branches. The first picture is blurry, but you can get an idea of the scale of the tree. It must have been centuries old. I wonder why it was cut down. It looks like it was healthy.



That reminds me of trees we saw at a home in Myrtle Beach. They were humongous with low-lying branches. I stopped to gape at them. One day we were driving past the house and saw tree service vehicles and men on the trees. I stopped and asked if they were being cut down. The person I spoke to said no; the owner of the house had employed them to have the trees trimmed every year for the past 20 years. That if it hadn't been for this, the trees would have been lost. Can you imagine the cost to maintain them? Those trees were centuries old.

Tomorrow will be errand day. Emily has a doctor's appointment in the morning. I have someone coming to work on my garage door in the afternoon. I need to find an outfit for my class reunion. Maybe I'll do some shopping in-between. I don't like to shop. I tried on the dress I wore to two weddings that I loved. Emily said no. I agreed. I wonder why I liked it the last two years and not now. I was counting on it, but a class reunion outfit has to be just right. You never know what can happen at a class reunion.

Well, enough about me. Or, enough of my rambles. Let's see what's happening with you.

13 July 2009

Time flies

I was on a roll for a week, huh? Blogging every day. Keeping up with Reader. Now I'm behind and catch up is, well, catching up is hard to do. It's so much easier to just keep up. A lot easier said than done. If that were the case we'd all have neat and clean houses and yards and the newspaper would get read and we'd find time to exercise and read, etc., etc. I could go on and on, but you know what I mean.

It was a great weekend, but it's coming to an end. I did the usual. Lots of pool time. Lots of laps. Saturday. Sunday. Today I finally cleaned. Finally. I went to the pool late. Left early. Sound exciting? Nah. Very mundane but just the way I like it. Lots of time spent outside.

Emily drove to the mall and I'm about to pick her up. Then it's in bed with a book. Actually, I'm back from the mall and it's time for bed without the book. Cause like I was getting at in the first paragraph, time flies and I never have enough of it.

11 July 2009

Rushing along

Wish I had time to post. Later. I rushed all day yesterday at work, and I'm rushing this morning. Happy Saturday!

P.S. Mary from Pathways is having her surgery this morning. Keep her in your thoughts.

10 July 2009

Pretty in Purple

It's almost the middle of July, and the temps are in the 60's this morning. It's supposed to reach 80 today with low humidity. I'll take it! By now we're usually in the throes of high heat and sticky, uncomfortable humidity.

I'll keep it short and say it was a great day off yesterday. To me a great day is spent being outside as much as possible. Someone pooped in the pool (yuck and WHY? since it was in the deep end so not a child) and my mom and I had to leave earlier than planned. I dropped her off and went to my pool. I swam a total of 13 laps. It dawned on me that I might be able to get up to the 36 I was doing last summer. I'll try to work up to it slowly since it took forever for my shoulder to heal. Emily was very happy when I came home and we went driving. I'm glad the gas prices are going down! I spent the rest of the daylight hours at an outdoor table at Panera's, having dinner and reading blogs.

Emily and I picked out purple nail polish yesterday. I'm sporting it today. I'll leave you with a picture, cause you know how I am about that. Happy Friday!

09 July 2009

I'll take happy whenever I can

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Nothing I like more than being outside in the early morning hours with a garden hose in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. My neighbor and I even had a good conversation about his brand new beautiful garage doors that were installed yesterday. He said, not an eyesore anymore, huh? I guess he didn't forget my words. I told him his doors are the nicest in the cul-de-sac. I guess we're friends again :). I communed with nature for an hour or so, did a little transplanting of annuals to hopefully happier homes in the garden, and now I'm out on the deck to do a little writing and reading. No, not my book. I'm trying really hard to read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I've been told it's great and it's part of a series, but it just gets me dozy. I'm not ready to give up, though. I'm listening to Watchers by Dean Koontz. He's such a storyteller. I've enjoyed every book I've read by him. Or I should say, listened. It's my preferred method of 'reading'.

Emily is doing a great with driving and I'm surprising myself with my trust in her ability. She's proving herself to be a natural. I asked if she wanted to drive for a while after I picked her up from work yesterday. Of course she was happy to say yes. I drove part of the way home, then directed her here and there, till she had driven for 40 minutes and 15 miles. Driving makes her very happy!

I've been very busy at work. Happily busy. I can't believe I leave in 10 days for another vacation. A vacation that includes a very long drive, again. I'm visiting a friend/client who spends the summers at her home on Cape Cod. She's a client that I see every Friday to straighten her long curly hair. We've gotten to know each other well, and so, I took her up on her invitation. I'll be going by myself, and I imagine the trip to be about 8-10 hours. A new adventure. It's been at least 20 years since I've been to the Cape, and I don't remember much about it. I think Bernice lives in Hyannis, and I think it's very close to the beach. I'm not thinking of this as a beach vacation though. The water is freezing up there.

I need to finish this up. I want to catch up on blogs. When I'm done with that I'm donning my bathing suit and heading to my folks' house. Mom and I are spending the day at her pool, the one I grew up at. I hope to dive into my book while I'm there, and not want to come out.

Happy day!

08 July 2009

Hitting the road

Guess who got her Learner's Permit?


What a right of passage. What a big day! Emily called me at work to tell me the great news. She said, when you get home from work, don't even turn off the car; I don't care if you're hungry or tired, we're going driving. I said, what about driving with your dad? She reminded me he drives a stick-shift. I said, why don't you two come to my work and borrow my car? She thought about it for 1 second and said, BYE! They came right over and were gone for hours. She clocked 45 miles on my car. I don't quite agree with all the driving she did, but... She was ready at the door when I got home from work at 8:00. I was tired and hungry, but no complaints from me. She did a lot of parking, driving in our neighborhood, and a very short distance on a main road. There was only one scary moment. I think she's going to be a good driver. I foresee a lot of car time in my future.

Happy day!

07 July 2009

An unoriginal title: Tuesday's post

I had NO idea of the hoopla surrounding Michael Jackson's death and the memorial service. He died when I was on vacation, and the only reason the TV was on then was because of the kids. I stopped getting the newspaper. I rarely turn on the TV, but I had the Today show on while putting on my 'face' this morning. Wow! I'm tempted to DVR the memorial today, just because. I was so affected by the death of Princess Di. This one was maybe, expected? I don't know.

I had the best day off yesterday! It was a gorgeous day with a bright blue sky, low humidity, a breeze, and temps in the 80's. I took Emily to her job, did a few things around the house, and spent the rest of the day at the pool. Ah, what a life. It was deliciously decadent. I swam laps, read, listened to Creedence Clearwater Revival on my iPhone, and waxed nostalgic about life. I came home and grilled a flat iron steak and potatoes for dinner with grean beans. After time on the porch, Emily and I went to Dairy Queen. My favorite Blizzard is the Strawberry Cheesequake. It was as good as always. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

This morning has been a rush! I finally went grocery shopping, made lunches, etc. Emily went with her dad for a 3 hour test for exercise-induced asthma. I don't envy her. When they're done, they're going to the MVA for Emily to take her Learner's Permit test. A big day for her. She's practicing and I think she'll pass.

Because I'm me, here's a few pictures. Just because.

No, the point of this is not to show that my nails and cuticles are in bad shape. I had no idea how bad they were! It's to show the ugly nail that looks that way because I closed it in a door about a month ago. I think I'm gonna lose that nail.


This is a picture of my friend Kit with her 90-something year old father. Kit is a wonderful daughter, and I love seeing the two of them together.



The pictures in yesterday's post did include one from my Butterfly Bush. I have 3 of the bushes in different colors.

Time to run to work. Happy Tuesday!

06 July 2009

I'm on a roll

Have you noticed? I'm blogging every day. Not on purpose...it's just happening!

At Anthropologie, a favorite store.



Have phone, having fun.


Garden pictures.








Yes, unfortunately, a view from my garden. I do find it fascinating.



Emily started her new job today at a different Rita's. The old boss was a bully. I hope this is much better. The new boss sent out a e-mail to all the employees with their schedules and included a blurb about welcoming Emily as the newest member of their team. She's a hard worker, and it will be great for them to have a new hire that's experienced. The store is 7 miles and 15 minutes from home.

Yesterday on our way out of the neighborhood we saw a little Asian boy, about 3, standing by a 4-way stop, barefoot and alone, trying to cross the street. I passed him by, then made a U-turn. Emily asked if he was lost. He didn't seem to understand. She got out of the car and made sure it was safe for him to cross. I called the police and waited for them, watching the boy walk down the sidewalk and out of sight. Three police cars showed up and went looking, asking us to wait. It took about 15 minutes, but they found his house and he was there. The father didn't know he was gone. The little brother that was supposed to be keeping an eye on him didn't do his job. We were glad we could help. Our good deed for the day.

It's beautiful here. I'm off to the pool. Another day of life being good.