Wow…I had no idea what incredible vacations I’ve been missing all these years! I just got back from my first-ever cruise, on Celebrity’s Solstice Ship. The entire experience –aside from the flights from hell– exceeded all my expectations. The ship was very upscale, with large windows everywhere and a general feeling of openness. We never saw the same people twice, it was easy to find spots to be alone, be quiet, relax, sunbathe, or just read.
The food? Amazing, delicious, plentiful, fresh, and innovative. Our balcony stateroom was a nice size, big king size bed that was along the sliding glass door wall that opened onto our balcony. Lots of space to stash our supplies, flat screen TV, and a good size bathroom!
The crew and staff were on top of everything and seemed very genuine in wanting everyone to enjoy themselves. You basically just had to ask for something and it was taken care of!
You can do everything–and there is a lot to do if you want to–or do nothing–or something in between. I did a little: a little trivia, a little dancing, a little casino, a little sitting at the Martini Bar, a little reading, a little spa, a little sight-seeing, little exercising, and a lot of eating. Did I mention the food is seemingly never-ending?
I am working on convincing my sister we need to do a cruise for our next vacation. Wish me luck with that, but either way, I am going on another one, and soon!
This is out…I am so almost out of here! My first cruise. For some reason I have never even entertained the idea of a cruise. I would see the big ships and shutter at the thought of being on it. I am not exactly sure why I have changed my mind, but I figure it’s hard to see I hate cruises when I’ve never taken one, so here I am, leaving this weekend on a Celebrity Cruise!
I have my own vision of how it’s going to be, so it will be interesting to see what the reality is. I promised myself I will have an open mind and just enjoy being with my dear friend Jim, sleeping past 3:00 a.m., having someone else cook for me, and getting a few spa services!!
Wow, what a whirlwind six weeks. I can’t believe February is half over. For me, I have basically had my head down keeping up with my life. The last 10 days or so it;s been harder since Tim left for rotator cuff surgery and recovery. Tad Lemire, from Providence was brought in for fill-in duties for a few days, but the majority of the time I will be running the morning show solo. Covering for anyone, you don’t realize how much work someone days until you have to do it. I can only marvel at Tim’s ability to keep all the formatics of the show–music beds, weather bed, sounders, phone calls, timing, etc., and still stay engaged in a conversation or thought with me. It’s a talent I didn’t get.
But I must give myself kudos for continuing to feel comfortable in running the show alone. This past week I did a phoner with listeners, several contests a day, and retreived
a lot of audio clips from American Idol. These are steps I have always dreaded for fear of not doing them right. Practice, while doesn’t always make perfect, makes for a lot more confidence to keep trying!
It’s hard to believe I just celebrated five years working at Coast and living in Portland! I can truly say I love it here–mostly. I do think our taxes are too high for the medium wages, the state needs to do a better job of creating jobs to ensure future growth, and sometimes I am just over winter! But for the most part–like 90%, I love where my city, my funky neigborhood on Munjoy Hill, my job at Coast–working with the ever-fun Tim, who makes me laugh daily, our listeners who make that job worthwhile, and my adventure into teaching exercise. I’ve created a nice little life here, and I remain grateful for allowing my road to lead me here.
Thanks for taking the ride with me so far. I’m up for another five years!
I have made myself a promise to add cable next January, so I am not stuck with the TV Guide Channel’s coverage of the Red Carpet for awards season. It was brutal to have to watch Carrie Ann from Dancing with the Stars and Chris Harrison–they just don’t have any cache. Not that I think Ryan Seacrest and his E! gang is a whole better, but at least I’ll be able to flip between them.
On to the celebs and their outfits. I don’t think there was a single woman that I dropped my fork and went gaga for, but there were some good looks.
Penelope Cruz looked every inch the movie star, definitely a young Sophia Loren
Julia Roberts, although I think she should have worn a gown since she was nominated, I did like her hair and makeup. She looked like herself and very comfortable.
Sofia Vergara—(From Modern Family) The front of her strapless Carolina Herrera dress was pretty but the back was too bushy and busy. I forgave her the back because she is so beautiful and looked like she was truly having a good time.
Sandra Bullock—in purple—very pretty—it’s always a bit awkward for me to see her in a gown, she seems better suited to jeans, but she looked great last night.
Jennifer Garner—I may be one of the few who liked this Versace dress. along with her pretty hair and makeup.
Kate Hudson—Hair and makeup lovely, the dress was awful. I did get the full weight of how awful until I saw the pictures online this morning. What was the girl thinking??
Honorable mention: Christina Hendricks from Mad Men—Ididn’t love the dress, but she is so womanly and sexy, I just like to look at her.
The “seasoned” gals looked amazing. Even though I suspect each has had a “freshening,” they looked fairly natural and still beautiful.
Glenn Close
Meryl Streep
Helen Mirren
The bad, bad, bad….
Did Cher borrow a dress from Elvira? I know she’s just “being Cher,” but at some point it seems pathetic rather than unique.
Chloe Sevigny—Wow…hideous with a capital “H”!!! It looked like a trellis of ruffles and not in a good way!
Drew Barrymore—Didn’t like the hair and hated the dress with that silver racoon-looking thing on her shoulder and hip. Love her, loved her specch, but really didn’t like the dress!!
Anna Kendrick—Her hair and makeup was very pretty and soft, but the dress reminded me of sparkly Christmas wrapping tissue. Too much for her size and age, she shoulve have gone less princess-ish.
Juliana Margulies—Worse than the weird dress was one of her eyes was half-closed, and her face just seemed strange. A bit like too much botox and not enough time for it to settle in. Such a beauty normally, wow, too bad.
Mariah Carey—-all boobs, no class. Enough said.
January Jones—(From Mad Men) She is such a beauty, but was lost in that black dress that looked like a bag thrown over her, and the headband just ruined it even more. Fire your stylist please.
knew the day would come, I just didn’t know how much my heart would hurt. Saying goodbye to my furry companion, friend, and confidante of 13+ years has left a huge void in my daily life.
When I adopted Emma in Nashville in May of 1997, I didn’t even want a dog. I had just bought my first house and it had a fenced in yard and friends said, “You need a dog.” So I trotted off to the local shelter and came home with Emma. How do you pick a dog? For me, she could sit and shake, and she had reddish hair with freckles like me.
I instant buyer’s remorse as I realized that I was now responsible for the care and feeding of something besides myself. But then I called a handy man and had him install a doggie door so she could venture around the fenced-in yard and it became a relationship.
Aside from Sammy the poodle growing up, I never had a dog of my own, so boundaries were foreign. Emma was the alpha of the relationship. She had an amazing spirit that could really pi*s me off, but also separated her from just being “another” dog.
Emma led a great life. A really great life. For several summer vacations we would fly to my friend’s family abode in the countryside outside Toronto, where she would run free for a week. She’s driven from Nashville to Connecticut when my friend Jennifer and I did a “Thelma & Louise” type road trip. Emma’s spent many weekends in Connecticut also. We hiked, she’d run along as I snow-shoed, and loved romping on the Eastern Prom.
She was a good girl. Never chewed or even once had an “accident” in anyone’s house. She did all my errands with me, loved being in the car and would quietly stay there for hours while I worked or taught a class.
Sometimes people would laugh when they realized I actually talked to Emma as I would a friend. I would lay out the day’s routine or schedule as if I was bouncing the plan off her. She never really responded, but I think she liked the effort on my part to include her.
I am hopeful that I will see Emma in some form again someday. I will always think of that sweet face and those kind eyes, and I will always be grateful for the love and loyalty she gave to me.
The end of another year. The end of another decade (yes I know some people think the decade ends next year, but it’s just easier to think of 2010 as a new decade).
I always do a mental check of what I have accomplished or life changes I’ve made in the past 12 months.
The biggest accomplishment is that I committed to quit smoking last January 1st, and am now less than two weeks away from celebrating one year of being smoke-free. Having spent much of my adulthood fighting this nasty habit and quitting, starting, quitting, starting, I believe I am done with cigarettes for good. It’s always going to be one day at a time, but it’s just been such a “non issue” this time around that I sometimes forget I ever smoked. I have already rewarded myself for the anniversary by getting an iphone. As someone who never even texted before, I went from simple cell phone—not even a camera—to the iphone. As yes, I admit I love it. The first week I thought I may have over bought because I just didn’t understand how many tricks and applications someone needs in their life. And one day I just got it. The frivolous fun of this little piece of technology. I’m still not the biggest texter, but I have learned how, and I live being able to check my email and Facebook from anywhere. I feel much more plugged in when I am away from my computer for hours. I know I sound like so many people I made fun of. I admit it, I love my iphone!!
I have put the Pilates certification I got last year to good use. I am teaching at several studios and gyms, and have really worked on becoming a good, motivating, fun instructor. I have also begun teaching an exercise method called “Bar Sculpt”. It’s a fabulous workout that burns fat, develops long, lean muscles, and is super fun to do. So far I have taught five Bar Sculpt classes—exclusively taught at Pure Movement in Portland!! I love it and with more and more practice, I think this class will be another good fit for me.
My beloved dog Emma is nearing 14 and starting to have health problems. I’ve been so lucky since adopting her in 1997 that she has never been sick!! She’s hanging in there, but has a very large tumor affecting her spleen, stomach and kidneys, so our time together is shortening. I plan to say goodbye when her quality has diminished to the point where she’s no longer the Emma I know. It’s how she wants to leave me and I respect that. It’s how I want to leave too.
All in all, I am pretty healthy, employed with good benefits, blessed with amazing friendships and people in my life, keeping my mind and body active, and living in a very special place. It’s been a good year!
Happy New Year to all…Wishing you all the best in 2010.
The memories of snow days on the air came flooding back this morning. We basically spend the entire show reading school and business cancellations. Many people rely on their mobile phones and text service for finding out when their school is closed, but there’s still a lot of people who tell us they listen to us live for cancellation information.
We even got a couple of thank you calls today. One from a gal who said it was so nice to hear our familiar voices when waking up to a snow storm. The other lady was thankful we actually read the town names for the school districts now included in new Regional School Unions. While we may see it sometimes as a somewhat boring formatics—that has to be done, it does make a difference—that we are here live and keeping people updated on what’s going on outside.
Let’s hope the snow moves out, everyone is safe, and we can get back to that fun and frivolity we’re famous for!
December 1–I have offically quit smoking for 11 months and am marching toward my one-year anniversary on December 31! Most of friends no longer smoke, but Thanksgiving weekend in Connecticut, it was smokers-city, with a collection of friends from various parts of the U.S. and Canada. If there is one thing I really miss from my smoking days, it’s the good gossip and stuff you hear when you’re huddled outside with just the “smokers”. Can’t put my finger on it, but it’s the place to really know what’s going on. I spent some time on the “front porch” with the group this year–just wanted to be part of it–and didn’t even think about a puff the whole time. I believe I am truly evolving into a permanent non-smoker.
Of course I’ve quit–and for long periods before, so I am not patting myself on the back too hard. It’s a daily commitment I make, but each day is farther away from my smoking days, and that’s a good thing!
Here we go…after today, it’s head-first into the holiday season. The onslaught of everything “holiday” related. Christmas trees, decorations, food, gifts, wrapping, parties, overindulging, travel, and the only chance to wear that dumb Christmas tree or wreath pin you just can’t part with. Wear it proud, enjoy it. It’s Holiday season 2009.
Happy Thanksgiving. Should we also say “Happy Black Friday” now too? It seems to have overshadowed the hallowed gluttonous, festive meal!
