Happy Holidays...let's catch up...

tis the season...i love christmas.

i love decorating the house and keeping the decorations up til mid-january

i love getting together with family and a fire in the fireplace.

i love turning the lights on the tree when i get up in the morning and not turning them off til i go to bed at night.

i love having everyone together and seeing people i don't see any other time of year.

what i don't love is the hectic pressure we put on ourselves to buy gifts and spend money and wrap everything so that we can rip off the beautiful wrapping in ten seconds time.

this year i did a semi boycott on what i don't like and it was good. less was definitely more and there really was peace on earth...well marina pacifica at least.

i am so blessed.

i have an amazing life.

i live in an incredible place (s).

i have fabulous friends.

i am part of an absolutely fabulous family.

i am so lucky.

i am so blessed!

thank you!!

Visiting friends...

well off we go to visit Bill and Marti Foster in Lake Arrowhead. friends we haven't spent time with in a long time..well, actually ever...except for the occasional dinner or party. i'm really looking forward to just hanging and chatting and viewing life from a different angle.

then on sunday afternoon, we can see Steve and Karen Snow...good friends from way back in the days of young children, early amway, and Stevie single. different lives actually. our perspective of life as it should be was so different. our kids were young, we were young and we thought we knew what we wanted and where we were going...and had all the time in the world to get there.

well, time has a way of sneaking up and rushing past if you don't keep your eye on it, you can miss so much.

i don't want to miss anything now that i'm older and more appreciative of it...but i still squander moments and let time leak out of my days...

time with friends...

i'm looking forward to it....can't wait, actually....

Later...

i have been procrastinating a lot lately.

i'll have more time tomorrow...then i'll get it done or make that call or visit mom or work more.

but that open day just seems to elude me...

i guess i'll have to do it today.

just one more cup of coffee while i read this article....then i'll get to it....

haallllooooo...anybody there?

i feel like have been lost...and i can't find me anywhere.

under the bed, in the back of the closet, next to the bookcase...under the rug?

hmmm, where could i be?

haallooooo...is anybody there?

Family and friends....

July is always a busy month...this year it is crazy! Camp Noonan!

the family arrives about the 30th of june...well almost the whole family. dave and kate and the kids are in the middle of moving to chicago so this year is not a good time. also, cynthia had to cancel because of work and ryan is in so korea.




but laci brought his boat to wisconsin....yikes, that was a job. they brought one of the wave runners too...more toys for the water. what a blast we had!! a whole week of fun and water and wave running, wake boarding, water skiing, kayaking, and sailing. fun at camp noonan!!



at night we had camp fires and pontoon rides and s'mores.


kelly could only come for 4 days so monday morning she heads back to LA. i so wish i could head back with her for her premiere on tuesday nite, but, the "girls" are coming on wednesday and i don't want to be late when they arrive. so, two days of laundry, and clean up...and i'm still not quite ready...

karel, dorothy, and arleen arrive and we're on our way to the cabin. we had fun in the sun. a few days of wind and cooler weather but all in all a fun time for everyone!!

friday was a little cold and windy, and took an evening pontoon ride. and the sky clouded over and the wind came up again...!! we hurried back to the cabin, put the boat away and turned on the tv to find out about the storm....tornado warning!! off to the basement we went to wait out the storm. what an exciting weekend!
we headed out for a road trip on saturday!! almost 700 miles by the time it was over....to frank lloyd wrights spring green house....amazing place, tons of history and drama!! then on to a bookstore that karel and i had heard about on cbs sunday morning. it was essentially a farmer and his book hoarding wife that had over a million books on this little farm in the middle of wisconsin...what a trip!! sweet people and very interesting story. over twelve bldgs. full of books. nothing is catagorized so there are vague catagories and lots of piles...everywhere... and we only visited two bldgs. we made it back for a late dinner and a couple of bottles of wine. whew!!

the next day wanda and her friend cindy came in from minneapolis! it was rather windy so we went down to new richmond to hear the Dweebs!! fun time...then to the bowling alley for a little knocking down of the pins...then back for a pontoon ride with lots of munchies...we kinda skipped over dinner altogether tonite...oops!!





i had to head back to LA a day early this year. that gave me time to check on mom and roger before heading out again with marty. mom is not doing too well. i can see a significant change in her in just the 3 weeks that i have been in wisconsin. roger tries to keep up with her care but elizabeth and i both think that we will have to get in more help for him/her. i will be back on the 22nd and i think that we will definitely need to make changes. she had a spell last week and needed to go to hoag hospital....then he cancelled the follow-up appointment because he felt she still was not responsive enough...news break, rog, she's only going to get less responsive....poor guy, he has to deal with it daily.

it's hard to lose your mom at any time...i'm not sure what's harder...by bits and pieces or suddenly...none of it is easy. love ya mom!

today is my bro, steve's, birthday...he is officially older than me...teehee! for ten short days, we are the same age. so i always take the time to remind him...he's OLDER! on his birthday...Yay!

love that boy!

may has literally flown by...

i accomplished a lot on my "plan" for the month...spring cleaning was my main concentration.
Dubai was in the plan as well but as plans tend to do...it changed and no Dubai...bummer.

i will go there eventually but for now i need to head to the cabin to get ready for our summer fling. i'm so excited, it will be a fabulous summer. i only wish everyone could come and have some "lake time".

i need it for sanity's sake.

focus!

Time to go!

well, our time here has come to and end. bummer...but it was great to get a taste and has just whet my appetite to come back and see more.


we had a full breakfast trying to eat up our groceries...and of course we went for a walk and to get a last view of our wonderful surroundings...and i was in search of just one more massage...


so fun. our last minute stuff was done quickly and we headed out around lunchtime...


grabbed a taxi and then got sucked into the thai check-in procedure....apparently, all the check-in counters are shared and only open two hours before the flight. so we found out which counter it was and for the first time in our recent memories, stood in line for over and hour, to wait. it paid off because things just got progressively more confusing...no problema for these experienced travelers...just kidding, it was fairly painless and we had time to relax before the flight.

after we got to Bangkok, THAT's when it got exciting for me.

i had to wait out at the check-in counter to get my seat.. they released them 8 minutes before the deadline to be at the gate. i only had to go through passport control, security and go over to another terminal to get to the gate...(heavy breathing here)

once in Hong Kong, i was sent to the transfer desk...in the E terminal...by train....once there, this lovely woman took one look at my paperwork and said i needed to go to the "staff" transfer desk in terminal A...the problem was, i had 45min. to catch my flight..unfortunately, she was unconcerned with this little detail..fortunately, another gate agent caught the panic in my eyes and said she would take care of it...which she did. unfortunately, she waited until the requisite 8min before i had to be on the flight. so i did the ole OJ run through the airport (pre-Nicole) and went through security, got on the train, went two terminals over and got out at gate 48 and only had to get to gate 80. luckily i had on my "sensible" shoes and ran like....

once at the airplane, i realized i must have gotten the last seat on the 747 and literally EVERY seat had a seat...all i can say is whew!! and 12 hours later we landed at LAX...kap kun kah!!

in the infamous words of Dorothy on her way home from Oz..."there's no place like home"....

Elephants and more...

we all decided that an elephant ride was necessary to round out our trip. so off we went friday afternoon for an elephant adventure. Siam Safari, we discovered was the most humane and took the best care of their elephants. let's suffice it to say that it was amazing, and the indian elephants were so gentle and incredibly lovely...the mottled skin on their ears shows they are older...possibly 30-35 yrs old....




we went around a pathway through the tree canopy so that it wouldn't be too hot for our big friends...our big guy was Jamjaew...
his trainer is his mahoot..and is pretty much with him for life..the elephants can live to be 60 years old...yikes




after their walk...our buddies like a little fruit snack...so cute! and speaking of cute!





Great day......

Phuket continued....Thursday 10Apr

well, it is time to catch up on our trip. thursday brought sunshine and incredible weather...again. good thing i like sunny, hot, and humid...but not too much humidity. after our excursion yesterday, we "rested"...again. i like this laying around by the pool. let me describe it briefly for those of you who missed it the first time......

yoga class at 8:10 am...followed by yogalates at 9:10am...back to the room to change, have a bite of breakfast..again...and some coffee and down to the pool. the boys are going to Phuket Town for a little sightseeing.

we get to the big pool and scope out our lounge chairs to make sure we have sufficient shade and a bit of breeze...the pool guy comes by to bring us ice water and fresh fruit...have i mentioned how i love this? so, after about an hour i wander down the beach for a massage...for $13.00 and then back to the lounge chair for more reading and my requisite sun time. karel times it so i get my 30 minutes per side and then a dip in the pool to cool off and back in the shade so i don't burn.....i can hear you groaning from here.


after ordering our chicken satay for lunch, we go for a little walk and there on the beach is Jumbo and his big bro swimming in the Andaman Sea and playing in the sand...so cool.




so after watching "the kids" for awhile we walked down the beach and got tatoos...yes, you heard me correctly...tatoos. well, yea, they are henna but it was fun and we giggled all the way back to the condo.....me and my BFF'stime for a beer....

Koh Phi Phi....

well, the boys researched different outings for us and we all decided that snorkeling in the Andaman Sea sounded great! so off to Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee, no giggling) islands for the day. we got picked up at the hotel and taken to the marina...the real or should i say, royal marina.

all in all, a fabulous day. we had a guide that somehow managed to avoid all the other tourist boats while getting us to some incredible snorkeling spots, Karel and i estimated at least twenty different kinds of coral, amazing fish, bi-valves galore....so cool and the best part...warm water, in the 80's...too much!






some monkey viewing,



















a short hike, with a few reminders, lest we forget....



























a great lunch, a stop at Phi Phi Don, an amazing little island that was one of the sights of the tsunami devastation where 5-6,000 people were washed away, never to be seen again...incredible!

a little relaxation time.....
....with only a short detour on the way home to make a beer run, we went back to the resort for a fabulous sunset and some dinner.truly paradise.....

Toosday.....8Apr

another two classes, one yoga, one pilates...aaaahhhh, so splendid...they use words like that here....splendid. then back to shower and head to the pool for a day of sun and reading. .....so picture this... we lay by the pool under a huge umbrella so we don't turn into crispy critters, read all day while they deliver ice water and fruit to us...order a little satay for lunch...delivered to us by the pool, and then wander down the beach for a break and get a massage....ok, so am i slow or what?? what took me so long? yikes, we got a great massage (for an hour) for 400 baht (about $13). I could DEFINITELY do this daily, or, could i maybe take one of these ladies home in my suitcase??.i am so indulged....and my question is...why did i wait until tuesday?? OMG! it feels wonderful...absolutely brilliant...another word that the Brits and Aussies use...love it!

...a little more pool time...then back to our condo for a brewski and snacks...what's not to like?

Casey, Wanda's son and two of his buddies Josh and Taylor joined us last night. Casey has been studying in Bangkok since january and is now traveling a bit before heading back to the OC.
so da boys made us some pasta for dinner and we tried to stay awake until 10, without much luck....the problem with that is, i've been waking up at about 0155 and staying awake until 0430 then dozing til 0630 and i'm up for the day.....

.....hhhmm, i think my internal clock has some defective batteries. but all in all, a great day!

but before we hit the rack, plans for tomorrow...more fun.

Phuket Town...

today Wanda and i went to the health club and did two...count em 2 classes. we are SO virtuous! that means another dessert at dinner, right? except that we did a astanga yoga and a pilates class... and i can barely move my arms. am i out of shape or what? Karel passed on the classes and i was thinking about midway through the second class that she had a pretty good idea about reading and stuff.......

after we came back and showered (it was 85 degrees and 90% humidity) while we did our classes outside...what were we thinking???? a little breakfast, a little coffee...mmmmm, yum!

then on to Phuket Town. and here we were thinking it was a "town", it is a CITY!! we got there on the shuttle and were dropped off in front of a tourist office...how sly are they? then Cha, tried to convince us to take his tour of Phuket Town. in his air-conditioned car. 2 hours for 100 baht or 5 hours for 200 baht ($6 per person?) and we said we had to think about it and went for a walk....for about 3 1/2 minutes and almost melted on the sidewalk because by now it is 102 degrees.....then back across the street to see Cha and there he is with his car all ready and the door open to let in us gringos...oops, wrong language..in.

Basic tour around town...wants us to see all the "shopping sights". we were kinda vague about what we wanted but wanted to see the Buddha on the hill and the temple, and get some souveniers for Wanda cuz she's in the "i need to bring home stuff for people" mode.

so.... he takes us to see Buddha....
after Buddha, we got herded into the Gems Super Store...which was personally guided shopping. I can't believe we got sucked into this tourist trap "shopping experience".Yikes! get me out of here!!...THEN we went to the "locals" shopping mall, where they have all the "knock-offs" and it REALLY wasn't what we were looking for....they really had some fascinating mannequins, however. Just to show you a couple....

a little bit different than we were used to...or expected, however, it was a big huge space..kinda like a convention room with one stall after another of ugly clothing...but at least it was cheap....

we told Cha we needed fruit so we hit some roadside stands and got some awesome fruit.

then he told us we should go see the "marina" area. well, my idea of a marina varies vastly from Cha's. so he took us to this restaureant on the water...well it would have been on the water but the tide was OUT....way out.



but a few local boys found it to be fun. we were going to get something to eat but the restaurant was a tad sketchy so with Karel being our designated worrier..it was a definite NO. so, two beers later, we giggled our way back to the car and the grocery store.

but, on our way to the grocery store, Cha dropped AGAIN at his cousins silk shop where we politely but emphatically told them no, thank you very little, we didn't need or want YARDS of silk. AAAAAARRRGGHHHHH!

on to the grocery store...as luck would have it, right where Cha dropped us off to get groceries, was EXACTLY the store we were looking for. as Ariel, The little Mermaid would say...."we 've got gadgets and gidgets aplenty...we've got whooosits and whatsits galore.....we found souvenooers for everyone...then ran across the street to get groceries in 10 minutes..damn we're good!!

we were hustled outside the store for yet another tour from a taxi driver...all while our man Cha stood holding the door (our door) of his car for us...slightly remininscent of India...

we got back to our hotel shuttle van and luckily were the only ones going back because we took up a little more room with our bags of food, beer and wine and of course, "stuff".

happy to be "home", we had a bottle of wine and mourned briefly for his lost sibling that broke as we were fishing for our key and he fell over in exhaustion and broke...we're talking about wine here.....then we pawed through all our loot and enjoyed a few belly laughs at our adventures of the day.....

Khawp khun kah!