#2337 fav photos from February

Today is supposed to be the end of the month, but since it is a leap year, we get a bonus day tomorrow.

I'm going to recap the month a little differently by sharing some of my favorite photos from the month.

At the beginning of the month, I met up with four other women who read with #EkpesBookClub. The woman closest to you is Rebecca, then there's me in the yellow shirt, Michelle, Melanie, and Jessica. It was fun to talk about books and get to know each other a bit. We are planning to meet again in March. Maybe a couple of other people will be able to join us.

Last Friday Lizzie and I went to Disneyland, and these next few pics are all from that day.This first photo is in the new Star Wars land, Galaxy Edge. That's the Millennium Falcon! So cool!

Here are Lizzie and I taking a selfie and making silly faces. I knew I was making a silly face, but I didn't know she was too.

The afternoon was postcard-perfect. Doesn't the sky look like a Hollywood backdrop?

As I mentioned in my previous post, we walked a lot at Disneyland. Here's a screenshot from my Apple watch to prove it. 20,675 steps, just over nine miles. No wonder I needed a recovery day.

On Sunday Lizzie and I went for a nice walk on the Castlewood Trail. I love the smell of eucalyptus, which does not grow around here in Utah. There was also a lot of wild rosemary growing along the trail. The combination of those two scents was wonderful. I think we walked about three miles. Here's Lizzie and her glorious hair on the trail in front of me.

For Christmas MT got us tickets to a Jazz game. We wanted to sit in the lower bowl so we could be a little closer to the action. We were in section B, row 13 on the Jazz sideline end of the court. It was pretty great to be that close to the floor. Even though the Jazz lost (badly), it was fun to be there.

I was bummed when I looked back through my photos and realized I hadn't taken any pics of my mamacita. Next time for sure!

I hope y'all had a great month and are planning something fun to do on your bonus day tomorrow!

~~~~~

I finished six books this month! Check out the 2020 Reading tab to see what I read and what I thought about each book. Have you read any of these novels? What have you been reading lately?

#2336 a wee recap

I am back from a crazy good mini-vacation. I went to visit Mom and Lizzie at their place and it was just what I needed. It had the right amount of doing stuff and hanging out.

Lizzie and I went to Disneyland last Friday. It was exhausting and fun, as usual. I can remember the days when I would get to the park when the gates opened and I would leave on the last shuttle to the parking lot. Those days are gone. We were there for twelve hours and I needed the entire next day to recover. LOL Sad but true.

On Saturday Lizzie and I went to a movie at which I ate so much popcorn that I felt ill. It was the smallest size, but it was a lot. Sure, I could have stopped eating it, but I didn't. It was rainy that day so I snuggled into a chair with a blanket and book and promptly fell asleep like a little old woman. Later that afternoon we had a late lunch/early dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant, El Cholo. I had my usual fillet mignon tacos (so amazing) and felt overfull and kind of awful, whiny, and pathetic the rest of the night. I was in bed by 9:00. 

The next morning I rallied a little and went for a nature walk with Lizzie. It was a beautiful morning and the trail was perfumed by eucalyptus and rosemary. After the walk, I managed to stay awake the whole day and I finished two books. I was just happy to be hanging out with my mom and my sister and their crazy little dog. It was good.

I got home Monday afternoon, then MT and I went to the Jazz game that night. The tickets to the game were a Christmas gift from MT. We were down in the lower bowl, behind the basket, thirteen rows up from the floor. Good seats, not a great game. The Jazz have been in a slump lately and they played poorly. It was still fun, though.

Osi is doing well. She is perky and walking around well. She wags her tail and looks happy to see me. She really needs a bath and a haircut. I hope I can convince the groomers to work on her soon. I'm not sure what I'll do if they won't take care of her. I have looked at self-serve dog washes. That might be the option. I dread it coming to that!

MT is still busy. He and his brother are working on one of our properties, and MT is also working on a bathroom for a customer. T works for MT a few days a week and is taking a couple of classes at the community college.

That's pretty much all I've got tonight. BYEEEEE!

#2336 taking a few days off

I'm going to visit Mom and Lizzie for a few days, so I'll check back in next week.

#2335 travel Tuesday: 10 years of travels

I finally finished by unravel of the past ten years. It was fun to look back and the good and the bad. Today I'll just talk about the big trips I took from 2010 through 2019. I didn't even count all the trips to California or to Pocatello. I went to some awesome places with people I love and I'm thankful for every trip.

2010

Palm Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

Through Wyoming to Mount Rushmore and back again (photo by T)

2011

Samana, Dominican Republic

2012

Belize (with a side trip to Guatemala)

2013

Oklahoma City with T to watch a Utah Jazz game

Columbia, Missouri for Kevin & Janet's wedding

2014

Isla Mujeres, Mexico

2015

Hawaii

Barcelona

2016

Key West & Western Caribbean cruise (we are in Jamaica in this pic)

New Orleans (Lizze's birthday)

2017

Savannah, Georgia

San Francisco, CA

Stanley, Idaho (total solar eclipse viewing)

Outer Banks, North Carolina

2018

Mazatlan, Mexico

San Francisco, CA

Savannah, Georgia

2019

Cambodia

Thailand

Cancun, Mexico

#2334 weekend wrap-up

It's only 1:00 on Sunday afternoon, but I'm at the computer, so why not write?

Yesterday was a full day. I weighed in early (down one lb) then went out to the office. I am on the board of the credit union at work, and we were having our strategic planning meeting. The business is doing fine, and we wanted to find ways to better serve the members through new products or enhanced services. It was a good discussion.

After that, I needed to stretch my legs, so I went to the gym and walked around in circles for 30 minutes. I really like Apple Music. There are so many fun playlists to choose from. Yesterday I listened to one from the Feel Good section called, appropriately "Feeling Good". There were songs from Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, John Cougar, Meghan Trainor and many others. All of the songs were upbeat and fun. I lose myself in the songs and just walk and walk. Another playlist I have found that I like a lot is in the Fitness section and its's called "Afrobeats Workout". It's African rhythms. Very fun and energetic walking music!

My favorite part of the day was going to Soulstice Day Spa to get a pedicure. I also had my brows tamed, which isn't relaxing, but necessary. The pedicure was great. Jacee has given me a couple of pedicures and she's very good. As she was massaging my calves and feet, I felt myself slouching down into the chair. I like the color I chose, too, a deep dark red called Malaga Wine by O.P.I.

Since I was in the neighborhood, I had to stop over at Old Navy. I was excited to find a black blazer at a reasonable price. I've been wanting one. There was a sale on shoes and I bought a couple of pairs. I really like Old Navy.

I've been thinking a lot about my clothes since I called myself out on my jeans-and-tshirt "style". I'm a grown-ass woman! I can do better than that! Thus, I find myself buying some cute shoes and paying a bit more attention to what I put on in the morning. It's a work in progress.

Last night we all just hung around the house. I was tired and went to bed kind of early.

Today I slept in. I'm just doing a few things around the house. I've paid the bills and changed the sheets. I'm heading to the grocery store in a few minutes. I finished reading the book The Sun is Also a Star, so I want to watch that movie today. I liked the book and I hope the movie will be equally sweet and good.

I'd planned to go to the gym, but I think I'll skip it today.

Next week I am going to visit Mom and Lizzie. There will be a day at Disneyland! I'm hoping there will be a nature walk and maybe some fillet mignon tacos. LOL Before that, though, there is a book club meeting via Twitter on Tuesday and a day full of MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Training) to get through on Wednesday.

I've been craving chicken enchiladas, so I'm off to the store to buy the ingredients. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! If you have the day off tomorrow for President's Day, enjoy that as well.

#2333 hearts and flowers and chocolates

#2332 Survivor is back!

MT and I have different tastes in TV programs. I like to watch sports. MT will watch some sports with me (I think he likes the Jazz), but he has his limits whereas I can watch sports all day long. He tends to binge watch shows on Netflix or Amazon, usually sci-fi shows that I just can't get into.

There is one show that we watch together. We look forward to it, and we have watched it for years: Survivor. I think what we like about it is the interactions and intrigue between the players. It seems like you get a pretty good idea of what people are all about when they are put in an extreme situation like living on an island with a bunch of strangers for up to 39 days. Another thing we like are the challenges they have to do to win immunity and/or rewards. There are so many aspects to Survivor, from physical to social and mental.

Tonight was the first episode of Season 40 (there are usually two seasons a year of the show). All 20 players are previous winners and the name of this season is Winners at War. I did not recognize or remember all 20 participants, and neither did MT, but we were still excited to watch. Tonight's show was a two hour episode and it was wonderful. I think this season is going to be epic, not only because all of the people have won before, but also because there are a couple of new twists to the game that will make it super-entertaining. Plus, the prize money has been doubled for this season's winner to two million dollars.

My bro-in-law is here and I don't think he was interested in watching the show at all, but he kinda got sucked in anyway. He'll be here for a few more Wednesdays, so maybe he'll get into it.

I know there are people who don't like Survivor and who think I'm a nut for watching it, and I really don't care. It's awesome. I sure wouldn't want to be on the show. I'd hate being out there without comforts. MT has often said that he would love to be a participant. I would like to be the one to go visit him on family day!

I'm not going to write recaps or anything like that, but you'll likely read more about Survivor happenings on Wednesdays. Of course, I only write on Wednesdays every other week, so it will be pretty mellow.