Clutter

I was rummaging through my closet a few weeks ago when it dawned on my how much crap I have. Every last bit of drawer space, hanging space, and storage space is filled, perhaps overflowing. I started going through my stuff and soon found myself on a trip down memory lane. I save everything. I mean everything. It's not so bad now, but when I was younger, every little note passed, memento, ticket stub, etc held some sort of significance to me, so I kept them. First in a little tin box from Sanrio (I was 12, ok?!), then I upgraded to a shoe box, and finally to a large plastic crate which rests in the top shelf of my closet. I read some notes that my BFF Lauren and I passed throughout Jr High and High School and man, first of all, we were dorks, and second of all, I can hardly decipher the code of abbreviations, nick-names given to classmates that I have long forgotten, and inside jokes that riddle the pages of these notes. It's like reading gibberish written by a stranger. This brings something to mind...note passing is probably a thing of the past. Almost every elementary, jr high, and certainly high school kid has a cell phone, and texting is surely the new note passing. But, you can include illustrations in texts, and boy did we like to illustrate all over our notes!
I also found ticket stubs to Austin Powers that we saw in New Jersey, plane ticket stubs and subway ticket stubs from our trip to NY and DC after 8th grade graduation, a brochure for Gaylord Lighthouse Tours from a Martha's Vineyard trip when I was 13 (we couldn't get over the Gaylord part). I kept virtually every plane ticket stub and subway/train/bus/museum ticket for every trip I had ever been on (which is a lot!), and even my old retainer-ew!. I kept every card, love note, print out of IM chats, movie ticket stub, plane ticket stub, graduation flyer, prom invitations, (and even my corsage from my 1st prom) from my first (and only) high school boyfriend.
More digging discovered zebra-printed keys (anyone else get designs printed on their house keys?) and a lease contract for my first apartment. In case you were wondering, Megan and Brooke, our move-in date for "Scamdon" was 12/14/2002.
I have another tub full of all my sorority things. Greek week costumes, about a dozen different letters, John's pin that he gave me during a pinning ceremony his last year in college, and a bunch of pictures that never made it to albums due to their content...hehehe
I have a bunch of notes from John from back in college (again, pre-texting) that include several racy comics that he would draw when he was bored in class. I should scan one and post it one of these days-they are quite entertaining!
My goal was to get rid of the "crap" in my closet to make more room. After a couple of hours of sifting, my toss pile contained a few coins and some gum wrappers that had accidentally made it into my tubs, and a giant keep pile that contained everything I started with. I just couldn't part with any of it. The fact that I had saved it all for all these years makes it even harder to part with it all. I think I tend to form attachments to inanimate objects. When I was a younger, I could never get rid of my stuffed animals, even when I outgrew them, because I didn't want to hurt their feelings or make them sad. As ridiculous as it sounds, I am the exact same way today.
So, after my trip down memory lane came to an end, I carefully packed it all back up and put it back on my top shelf. Maybe next time I "clean out" my closet, I'll start with the clothes and shoes. In the meantime, I suppose I'll just continue to be a crazy hoarder!

Updates

Well, there has not been much to blog about these days...life has been busy, but not overly exciting-which is exactly what I needed. We have passed the time by buying mountain bikes and getting prepared for our new hobby-which was quickly cut short by this clumsy gal injuring herself on her first ride (may or may not have happened right in front of my house within 5 minutes of getting on the bike-damn clip in shoes!!), and I suffered from a broken elbow and a fractured ego. Since then, I have learned to love the stationary bikes at the gym-I can read a good book, which I never have time to do, and I can burn calories at the same time. Plus, I have yet to fall off it. Win-Win. We've tried out some delish new restaurants in our area, caught up with good friends, done some home imrovements, and finally spent the last of our wedding gift cards.

Last week, though, there was some fun to be had. My company took its sales team to Cabo for the weekend as a reward for exceeding its agressive sales sales goal in 2010. It was a perfect 4 day getaway and the resort was awesome-I'd highly recommend it (and I'm a snob when it comes to these things). My only complaint is that the food wasn't great...not bad, but not delicious either. But, it was about standard for an all-inclusive. Here are some pics from our weekend.

View of one of the pools at our resort



Infinity pool overlooking the ocean

J and I

Mamacita and I

Arrrrr...on a pirate ship

I saw a whale breach about 100 feet away...pretty incredible

I was the *lucky* audience member who got terrorized a rogue pirate during their show...and in case you are wondering-that is a real sword with a real blade, and he was really pushing it against my neck. Oh, Mexico


But, clearly I survived

Fun stuff!

Honeymoon, A Novel

A fellow blogger friend posted all about her h-moon this week and it reminded me that I never got around to writing about ours! Well, go ahead and take care of your business now and then get comfy 'cause this gonna be a loooong one! ; )
I believe I mentioned here what our big plans were, and man did we make the right decision. I was a little skeptical about this trip, seeings as many of the stops the ol' ship made weren't exactly virgin territory to me (Waaaaa, I know!). I have been to the UK more times than I can count, and I have done plenty of the touristy necessities. But, on the flip side, I have never been without mom and dad, and the last time I did anything touristy I was younger and failed to appreciate the beauty and history that exists across the pond. John and I made a quick trip over to Dublin during one of our UK journeys, but we were 19 and ran outta cash quick (Dublin has to be one of the most expensive cities in Europe). Furthermore, a lot of time had passed since my last visit to Gay Pari, and I was excited to practice my French skills once again. So, on Aug 9th we took off for Southampton and on Aug 10th we set sail!



Side Note: My mom was actually born in Southampton and spent the first 10 (give or take) years of her life there. If we get technical here, she's a blimey Englishwoman. My grandparents relocated to England from Scotland while my grandpa worked as a sailor for the Queen Mary. In it's hay day, the old QM docked in Southampton. It was cool leaving out of the same harbour that my gramps used to frequent.

Our first stop was Guernsey/St Peter's Port. Where is Guernsey, do you ask? Well, it's this little treat of an island city (think Catalina, CA peeps, but better). It's located in the English Channel, and is one of the Channel Islands located just a hop, skip, and a jump (or rather a swim) from Normandy. In fact, many Guernsey residents take a 45 min ferry over to France for dinner. How cool would that be? The coolest place 45 min from where I live is downtown LA, which is not that cool. Not that cool at all. But, I will save my utter detest for LA for another post. A few more fun facts about Guernsey:

-It is not part of the UK or the European Union

-It's nearly impossible to buy property there...you pretty much have to have been born there, share residence with someone who lives there, or qualify for a housing license, which is only valid for a fixed amount of time. It's quite the exclusive little island, and once you travel there, you'll understand why. It's gorgeous!

-People there are very superstitious. Almost every house has a little stoop mounted somewhere around the roof on on the outer walls. This stoop is for witches to sit on and rest. This polite gesture keeps them from tormenting the people inside the house. How thoughtful.

-The book "The Guernsey Literary and and Potato Peel Pie Society" really painted a great picture of Guernsey and by coincidence I read it about a year before we made this trip. It's a really great book and it made me excited to visit this quaint little town.

OK, now that the history lesson is over, I'll tell you about our stop. We rented bikes and did a bike tour around the whole island. For a part of the world that has sunshine about 3 days a year, we got incredibly lucky the entire trip. We had perfect weather. Blue skies, sunshine, not too hot, not too cold. We got to tour the amazing homes, churches, and landscape, but since we were on our bikes most of the time, I wasn't able to get too many pictures...I'm not that well-coordinated.

Here's what Guernsey looks like:

Docking at St Peter's Port


Taking a break from our bikes for a photo opp


Our second stop was Cork, Cobh, Ireland. Amazing. Even though I didn't think it would be possible, each place we went topped the place before. Cobh (pronounced Cove) is a great little seaside town.

Here are some fun facts about Cobh:

-Cobh port was the departure point for the 6 million + Irish emigrants who came to North America during the famine.

-Cobh Harbour was the last port of call for the Titanic on it's Maiden Voyage. Unfortunately, as we all know, it never made it there.

-The Titanic weighed it's anchor at Cobh for the last time, and set sail towards icy waters. 123 passengers boarded the ship in Cobh.

-Not far from Cork is the city of Blarney, where the Blarney Castle stands. It is here where you can stand in line for 2 hours to kiss a stone that 23904823908239058239058490584 people have kissed before you.

-Legend has it that kissing the blarney stone will give you "blarney", which is the "ability to coax with fair words and soft speech without giving offense" otherwise known as the ability to bullshit.

We quickly ventured outside the walls of Cobh and into the medieval stronghold of Blarney. We weren't intimidated by the mile long line around the castle and up the narrow stairs of the tower-we were kissing that stone! We laughed afterwards because the workers at Blarney Castle really have that process down to a science. They are very militant about it, and you can't really spend time getting to know the stone. It's very slam, bam, thank-you ma'am. No time for formalities. It's also very awkward to reach, and it involves lying on your back, and have some old toothless character drag you off the side of the tower's edge and under a ledge where you have to practice your yoga inversions in order to peck the stone. But, it's one of things that you just have to do if you find yourself in Blarney. I do have to say that my ability to "speak softly without giving offense" does not seem to improved.

Blarney Castle-I swear, anytime we visit anything of historical importance, it's under construction- and despite what you may think, scaffolding doesn't make for a framer...

Couldn't Resist!


Climbing the tower of Blarney Castle


Kissing the stone-note the giant wet spot...gross


John getting his Blarney on


Next stop, Dublin, which was basically the reason for the trip. We planned an excursion to the Guinness Factory aka Guinness Storehouse aka St. James's Gate (Gotta love the Catholics' appreciation for booze). Here are some fun facts about the "Storehouse"

-was once the largest brewery in the world, but still holds the title of the largest brewer of stout in the world.

-The Storehouse is not the brewery-that's across the street. The Storehouse is a museum dedicated to all things Guinness. It's 7 stories high and is shaped like a pint glass. An effect you can only see from a distance. The "rim" of the pint glass is the circular viewing tower at the top which is 360 degrees of windows and overlooks the entire city of Dublin. In the center of this circular room is a circular bar.

-Their main product is Guinness Draught and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide.

-There is a bar inside the museum that has little tables affixed with their very own taps. All you thirsty patrons have to do is put in 20 Euro and you can fill up your mug until you fall over or until closing time-whatever comes first. This is a real bargain considering the cocktail I purchased at a bar in Dublin cost about 15 buckeroos!

After our tour of the museum, we decided to bail from our tour group and see Dublin on our own. We befriended a cabbie who knew the lay of the land and took us to all the best bars. We went to the Clarence Hotel, which is owned by U2. We then ventured to O'Donoghue's, which is the local bar where the Dubliner's got their start. We sat and drank there for most of the afternoon before O'Cabbie (I can't for the life of me remember his name) picked us up. We had just enough time to get an authentic fish and chip supper, and made it back to our ship with about 30 min to spare before it pulled away.

There She Is!


Having a drink at the top of the storehouse, enjoying a view over Dublin


Cheers!


We spent a fair amount of our day here


Our next stop was Liverpool. Since I have already written over 1,300 words, I'll keep this one short. All in all, Liverpool was cool, yo. I had heard that it wasn't that nice, but let me tell you, I heard wrong. The Fab Four should be proud to call Liverpool home. We toured the city, and also visited some of the must see Beatles stops.

A necessary stop when in Liverpool


Next on the list was one of the absolute highlights of the trip. Belfast-Northern Ireland. Antrim Coast to be specific. This place is like a frickin post card. We docked in Belfast and quickly scooted out and began the long trek to the coast (about 3 hours) to see Giant's Causeway. Here are some facts:

-The causeway is the result of a volcanic eruption
-It was named the 4th natural wonder of the UK
-Legend has it that Irish warrior (and giant) built the "steps" to use as stepping stone to cross the water over to Scotland. It's actually a much longer story than that, but I've run outta steam!

This place is amazing. See for yourself.














I have about 100 more pics of this and they all look like postcards or screensavers.

Our next several stops were to Scotland. Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Inverness to be exact. I'd been to all three stops many, many times before, but we did get to do one thing I had never done and that was attend the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Every year in August, the military tattoo is held in the Edinburgh castle. I somehow have managed to never see this before, despite making several trips to Scotland in Aug. It was take-your-breath-away incredible. I would tell you to check out footage on youtube, but it won't do it justice. Pipe and drum bands perform from all over the world, including the Citadel Military College from South Carolina-reppin' the USA. It is a MUST do if you ever find yourself in Scotland in August.

We paid a visit to the Highlands of Scotland, which are breathtakingly beautiful. We were a tad under the weather on this day due to befriending the cruise director the night before and drinking for free until the wee hours of the morning. However, we managed to rally and we had a nice little day.

Yay! We got to meet up for a night on the town with my Auntie Carol and Nic!


A little hungover the next day after said night on the town


Urquhart Castle in the Scottish Highlands


Searching for the Loch Ness Monster...never did get a glimpse of old Nessie-she must have been feeling shy!


After 10 days w/out my coffee fix, I was a happy camper...so Ammmericann of me ; )


Getting seated for the Edinburgh Tattoo-that's the castle in case you were wondering


All lit up for the Tattoo


Our final stop was Paris. Actually, La Havre to be exact. Paris was a couple of hours away. La Havre is the port right near Normandy. John wanted to do some WW2 Normandy beach tours, but what's more romantic for a honeymoon, touring the beach where tens of thousands of people died, or strolling around Paris for the day?? John and I had been to the south of France together a few years back, and I have been to Paris before, but not w/ J. Many things were different in Paris this time round. 1. I was not with French peeps like the last time I was there. 2. I seem to have been quite out of practice in the language that I was once so proficient in. But, some things remained the same-the Eiffel Tower is just as glorious, Notre Dame is just as spectacular, and the crepes are just as amazing as I remember.

Monsieur Eiffel Tower


A little self-portrait action




Yummm! Finally getting my crepes!


After we docked back in Southampton, our great friend Chris picked us up and took us back to his house for the weekend. We spent the day touring his local town in the countryside of England, and we got to have a drink at a bar frequented by Phil Collins. OK, that's the grand summary of our trip. We had a day or two at sea in between all these stops, and we had nights to explore the ship. It was a big joke the entire time that John and I were the youngest cruisers by about 30 years. Seriously, there were probably more oxygen tanks than 20-somethings on this cruise. This def affected the night life on the ship. For lack of anything better to do, we racked up quite the bar tab every night. That's where the cruise ships get ya! But, we had an amazing time and I wish I could close my eyes and click my heels and be back on that ship. It was a glorious escape from reality. We are planning our next trip back for this summer to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. I can’t wait!

Resolve, 2011 Edition

It's that time of year again...time to resolve to start fresh, eat salads for every meal, workout 3 times a day, learn a language, etc etc etc. Well, in the 10 or so years that I have been making New Years Resolutions, I have yet to keep a single one. So, because the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, I decided to not make any resolutions this year, and by proxy, to not be insane. Instead, I decided that I will come up with a new hobby for 2011. Back when I was a spring chicken, I had all sorts of hobbies. I was really quite adventurous. In my young years, I ice-skated. In my highschool/early college years, I wakeboarded regularly (and believe it or not, I was good!). I also SCUBA dived regularly and held an Advanced Open Water certification, meaning I could dive and I could dive deep. I dilly-dallied in skydiving, I learned another language, and I also got into mountain biking and kick boxing. I was one in shape little lady, but I didn't do any of it for my physique...I did it because it was fun. I think that's the difference...I had fun doing these activities, and the healthy part was just a cool side effect.

I got older and busier, and one by one, all of my hobbies fell by the wayside. I was consumed with school, work, my social activities, and then grad school, and when I had downtime all I wanted to do was veg on the couch with a movie. So, because life is just going to get busier from here on out, I decided that I need to make time for meeee. Here are some of my new hobbies that I will be introducing (or re-introducing) into my life in 2011.

Yoga! Loved it and missed it and thanks to Santa-John I am enjoying once again.

Biking! Used to do this a looong time ago, and we would do it pretty often. I live right near a beautiful state park with lots of trails to offer. Now we just have to splurge on the bikes.

Camping! I'm more of a hotel gal, but I married into a campin' fam so when in Rome, right?

Meat! OK, while the trendy resolution may include eliminating meat from your diet and going vegetarian or vegan, I'm gonna go the opposite route. I ate a steak for the first time on our honeymoon, and much to my surprise, I loved it! I hardly ate any kind of meat at all, and may as well have been a vegetarian...the stuff just really grossed me out and I have a very hard time not thinking of the animal when it was alive when it's sitting there cooked on my plate. But, I think after 27 years of iron deprivation, my body turned against my mind and took control because now I have actual meat cravings. So, in 2011 I plan on making up for lots of lost time and going to every great steak house that I once avoided. Poor John-I used to be such a cheap date, always sticking w/ the pasta option.

Who knows if my new hobbies of choice will stick, but it'll be fun to try. I hope to get the same joy and excitement out of these new activities that I once had...because who can really fail at something fun?

I'll report back throughout the year on my progress. Happy 2011 Friends!

Christmas Breakdown

Christmas has come and gone and it was a wonderful three day event for us! We spent Christmas Eve eating pizza and watching Christmas movies with the inlaws. Afterwards, John and I went home, made hot tea, set the TV's to the holiday music channel, and we opened our gifts to each other. We used to always open our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve because we would each go to our own families' houses on Christmas Day. Well, even though we would be spending the entire day together, we decided that in the interest of time (we had to be at J's parents early in the am for presents and breakfast, followed by my fam right afterwards), we would open our gifts the night before. It was such a sweet, cozy night! We started off by giving our lil kitties their stockings. They were on a catnip-induced high for the remainder of the evening. I was a spoiled girl, as usual. This year for Christmas, I was really hoping to get a membership to our local Yoga studio that I had heard many great things about. I have thought about joining many times for over a year now, but it's a bit pricey and I already have a gym membership. Well, John must have been paying attention to my numerous, not so subtle hints because I got that membership along with some awesome Yoga gear. Poor John was funny...after I opened my gifts he told me that he had always thought that workout related items were on a list of things to NEVER give your gf/wife as a gift. I guess that would be true, but I really wanted it so I'm a happy, un-offended camper! I started Yoga this week, and I love it! It is as wonderful as I remember it being (I did Yoga a lot back in high school/early college), although I'm sad to report that I am 0% flexible. I used to ice skate competitively, and part of that training regiment included hours of stretching and weight training, so I know that at one point in my life I was capable of being a bendy pretzel bobcat, but those days are long gone. I am anxious to get them back!
OK, back to Christmas...Christmas morning started with us dashing out of the house bright and early, making a quick stop at Starbucks (yes, I discovered last year that the Starbucks inside Vons is open x-mas day...sad for them, awesome for me!). We headed to John's parents' house to do presents and breakfast with John's bro's and parents. We had a delish early am feast then headed over to my parents to do presents with them. Afterwards, the boys played pool and the gals worked on the dinner feast. This was the point in the day where I should have said to myself "Tracie, you are about to eat a big Christmas dinner, so maybe all this snacking on appetizers is not a good idea". Alas hindsight is 20/20. John's entire fam came out to my parents' house for dinner. It was a great night...even though both John and I at different points in the night thought we were going to puke as a direct result of over-eating. It was bad.
The day after Christmas, we did nothing until about 5pm, when we ventured out of the house to good ol' Chilis so John could use his giftcard. That is seriously his fav. restaurant.
All in all, x-mas was a success! Coming up...NYE Pajama-Jam! Can't wait!

Merry Merry Merry

Well, it's Christmas Eve Eve and things are getting pretty exciting over at the Hall house. Presents are wrapped and sittin' pretty under Wilbur the 3rd (yes, we name our Christmas tree every year...and every year he ends up with the name Wilbur).

This picture does it no justice-it was taken a couple of weeks ago and now ol' Wilbur is literally overtaken by presents. We have a fun little holiday agenda. It started last Sunday when we did Christmas with my side of the family who would not be able to make it to Casa Konrad on Christmas Day. My aunt, uncle, and little cousin Zoe came over for Christmas # 1. Watching Z open her gifts made me realize how much more fun x-mas can be with little people around. She was so funny and excited while opening her gifts...but you can see for yourself-that is an expression that can only be induced by the sheer excitement of a Tangled doll!

That same weekend, my parent's had their annual holiday party. It was great fun, and Mr. Grinch even made an appearance!

This is a short week for us at work, and we wrapped up the week 1/2 day today. Tonight we are headed to the Mission Inn for dinner with the fam. It's amazing at Christmas time, and who knows, I just may bust out my old ice skates and show off my moves (assuming I still have them...). Tomorrow night will be spent at my in-laws, and Christmas will be at the parent's as usual! Can't wait to watch everyone open their goodies...don't want to brag, but John and I got good gifties for everyone this year.

Merry Christmas to All!!

Perks, Part 2

A perk to driving the same car you got at sweet 16 for 11 years is finally being able to trade up!

Meet Herman, the newest addition to my driveway. He's a Cadillac SRX and he won my heart (and my bank account) over last night.

Herman, let's hope that you are as good to me as Tommy the Toyota was. I promise to be nicer to you than I was to him.