Tomorrow is the big day! I am going to California. I will spend a day and a half there before traveling to Hawaii. It's real; I believe it now. Of course I will let everyone know how it went.

Christmas Day, 2002 - I'm enjoying my day. I'm in my humble home surrounded by tall trees with the wind blowing wildly. Earlier in the morning, a neighbor kid came by with a plate of sweet treats that his mom had made. Just now, they insisted I take some of the leftovers from dinner. I tried to decline, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. Anyone who knows me, knows that I wouldn't say no if i didn't mean it. I like these people, but I really didn't want their food; matter of fact, I really didn't want to be bothered. I have this feeling that they are feeling pity for me and pity, my friends, is the last thing I need.

Happy Day!

I just finished journalizing the old fashioned way...you know --- with paper and pencil. Why? you may ask - because when i go to Hawaii, i won't be carrying a computer around with me. Carrying around a notebook I can do.

I have a big trip coming up! Hawaii! We have many activities planned; Susan is quite good at making plans! Here they are:

Arrive on New Year's Eve (Tuesday afternoon) - perhaps we'll play that one by ear.
Kayaking on Wednesday
Mule ride/scenic tour on Thursday
Horse or Bike riding on Friday (whichever is least painful on the rump after a day on a mule)
fly to Honolulu (second destination) on Saturday (maybe get some rest?)
Skydive on Sunday! (Susan just finished setting that one up)
no set plans on Monday until the luau in the evening - (have to do that!)
Tuesday - visit the battleship, "Arizona" (probably)
Wednesday - depart for the continental USA

I like what Susan said, "This is an adventure vacation with nice accomodations." ~ smile ~

Yesterday, on my way to work, I was in deep thought about family and love. I had so much to say; therefore, I thoroughly thought it all through. I was going to blog about it, but had a battle with that idea. It's not really my place to talk about another person's family. It's especially not my place to talk about someone whom I've never met before and most likely never will meet.

With all that in mind, I will talk about my own family. I'm thankful for the love we have for each other. I'm thankful for my upbringing and the fact that nobody ever lost hope on me even when it may have looked like I was a "lost cause." I'm thankful that my parents still have each other during what I think are probably some of the best years of their lives. I'm thankful that my sisters and I will stick together and help each other if/when needed even though we may not always agree.

I love you Mom, Dad, Linda, Sharlene, Patti, Pam and Natalie!

What a great weekend! It was so great that even Bravo blogged about it. I had the weekend off and Susan came to visit. We started Saturday off by taking Bravo to PetSmart. I wanted to take him there with Susan anyway just to show her how good he acts in public. Then, during the week, I heard about pictures with Santa. Bravo is such a good poser!

After the picture with Santa, we went down to River Street and walked around. It was fun walking around the city with my "big bad dog." Anyone who knows me also knows that I had to slip in the candy store, River Street Sweets, a few times to get some free samples.

We had a real good dinner, turkey mole soup. It's a Mexican / healthy soup and it is the best! I should probably post it on granni's recipe site. The best part is that I still have three servings of it in the freezer waiting to be my lunch. ~smile~

The next day, Sunday, we had our Christmas celebration with a special dinner. Actually the dinner was just as special as they always are when Susan is here, but we took pictures of it. Later, we also took pictures of ourselves around my nice little tree.

Happy Holiday Season Everyone! Be thankful and if you're not, look around and try to answer why and what can you do about it.

Early Monday Morning ~ I've been up for over an hour now; I got up because I have some important things to do, but where am I? Ha!

Many people have just had the weekend off - I don't envy you. I have next weekend off and am very much looking forward to it; I tend to think that when you don't have every weekend off, it makes it that much more valuable when you do. Perhaps that's just my way of making myself feel better about it too. That's not a bad thing!

I was hungry and needed to buy groceries. We all know that it's not a good idea to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, so I went to a local "hog trough." I generally stay away from that type of place, but I didn't feel like socializing and it's also good for when you don't really know what you want to eat.

I suddenly felt as if I had entered an old movie. The "waitress" talked incessantly about the types of food she likes. She was talking to two customers at nearby tables but continued to try to get me in the conversation by looking at me. I refused to look at her, but I could see her from the corner of my eye. If I had wanted to socialize, I would have brought a friend! The girl in her extreme Southern accent continued to talk about how "country" her mom is. I laughed inside. This actually was a good experience and the food served its purpose.

Family! Do you think I left Michigan without my popcorn? As soon as Susan and I left Mom and Dad's house we went to Pat's grocery store to get some cheese popcorn! Don't leave home without it.

I woke up early Thanksgiving Day morning; the alarm helped of course. I believe it was about 5am. Susan and I hit the road by 6:30 - stopped to buy fuel ~ for both the car and ourselves. It was a nice drive. I wanted to sleep but couldn't.

As scheduled, we arrived at Mom and Dad's house at around noon. I tried to do the introductions in proper Emily Post fashion, but soon after we had arrived, others also did. Susan ended up introducing herself to most which I think is just fine.

It was great seeing us all together again. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm dinner was great. I didn't even realize I was making that noise (Mmmmmmmmm) until Natalie started laughing about it.

Being with the family just always seems so "right;" therefore, I don't have anything exceptional to say about it. It also just seemed right that Susan was there and welcomed with open arms.

Cell phones are a wonderful thing, aren't they? In the past when I would arrive at the airport, Susan would be right at the end waiting for me. I knew this time that she had to work 12 or more hours, so there was the possibility that she wouldn't be there right away. She wasn't there, so after waiting a few minutes, I decided to call her on her cell phone. She kept talking to me and asking me where I was but never really told me where she was. Before I knew it, she was standing in front of me.

The flights were fine on the way up north. I read a good book during the waiting periods, but in Charlotte, NC, I was also entertained by the people. I observed a cute set of twins who are maybe 18, but possibly a bit younger. They were so bright eyed and bubbly. I noticed the one twin smiling at everyone and saying hi while the other twin was more attached to her boyfriend than the rest of the world. The boyfriend seemed like a very nice young man. I know that sounds strange, but I swear the boys didn't come like that when I was younger. The couple held on to each other closely but not in a rude manner for the public while the other girl also stayed somewhat attached to the boy. Although this could be perceived as perverse, I don't think it was. I saw it as a very sweet relationship. It actually appeared that the boy was more of a "big brother" figure to the one girl while being the partner of the other.

Working in retail seems like the least appreciated place to be during "the holidays," but I am thankful for being employed. Working the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was a bit stressful partly due to how I schedule my flights but also due to all the people who just had to do last minute fixups before the family gathering. note to self: if it's not done a couple days before the event, don't worry about it - move on!

When I arrived at work, I made sure my immediate supervisor (for lack of a better word, but not really his title) knew what time I was leaving. I had already covered it earlier in the week with one of the managers. My immediate supervisor showed obvious disdain, but I forced myself not to allow it to rub off on me. Misery does love company and I will not take on other people's misery. Much of that work day was focusing on the job at hand~as always~ while also focusing on getting out of there in order to make my flight.

Being the clever person I am, I had told them I was leaving at 2 knowing full well that if I left anytime between 2 and 3, I would make the flight just fine. I left promptly at 2, sat in the airport in peace for 2 hours without a care in the world. This was the beginning of a wonderful weekend.