London- Visiting Friends

In February I decided to visit a Kiwi and an Orange living in what was supposed to be a frozen city.  Other than a few exceptions God decided to bless my trip with SUN.  Freakish bright, warm sun for almost my entire trip in London!  Who could have predicted that?  

If that wasn't blessing enough I also got to visit with two AWESOME friends, the Kuypers were very gracious in opening their home to me and letting me crash in their living room for my trip.  Tony even let me borrow Cindy for her spring break for a quick hop over to Ireland and Wales.  

I'm Back....

OK... So I'm a BAD blogger :(  
I't been a few month since I posted but here's what has happened in brief:
In January I visited family in Oregon,
In February I had a birthday- sucks how those darn things sneak up on you.
Then I went on vacation and flew to London for two weeks.
In March I flew back to California to visit my family and friends :) 
In April I ran, OK walked and jogged the Sun Run 5K in Vancouver and had a house guest and had my parents up for a visit. 
In May I started pet sitting for a co-worker who was called away for work and when I got time iff from work and wasn't watching her pets... I slept :) 

That pretty much covers the last few months in brief.  My goal over the next few days is to get a few more posts up to show off pictures and update in more detail.  

On the personal side, I know shared a little about my CRAZY glucose levels right before the Christmas Holiday.  It was crazy getting everything balanced out, and I still have one more blood work up to do before I am completely out of the woods, but for now everything is looking much better.  I went from borderline diabetes to dropping about 50 pounds and working my way off insulin stabilizers.  My last set of blood work will confirm if I am good to continue staying off the meds :)  

Quick update on the lack of activity...

So... for those of you who don't know I was recently diagnosed with a high glucose count and warned that with out some changes I would very soon be listing into the world of diabetes.  Scary wake up call.  I've had some moments, but so far the adjustments to my diet and exercise have been going well.  Plus for me on the side effect side, working with a nutritionist to learn how to eat has helped me to loose some frustrating extra weight.  :)  

Living through the holiday season with no options for desserts?  This has been tough.  I am very thankful to all the wonderful people who have been giving me recipes for all the foods I want to try but can't. I know when I get these level under control I am going to enjoy making all the tasty holiday treats for myself a little later next year.  Over the last month I have made some awesome steps toward getting this under control and expect to be living a little more normally by January.  I have been really encouraged by all the support from those of you who know as I have been going through this :)  More to follow as I go :)   

Galiano Island Day Trip

Waters around Galiano Island

A flower along the road ;)  

 In August I realized I hadn't made any plans for my weekend off and wanted to get out for a day.  I took the ferry out to Galiano Island.  The plan was ferry out in the morning, catch the noon ferry back and run  my errands in the States before heading home.  There was supposed to be an art and wine festival that sounded like fun.  

The ferry ride over was fun.  I grabbed some breakfast at a random table and pulled out my trusty book, a sure conversation killer, right... The cafeteria slowly cleared around me but it was still pretty full.  A gentleman asked if he could sit on the other side of the table from me.  No problem, except he wasn't taking the book hint.  Hmmmm, no problem. I can carry on a polite conversation, except by the end of my breakfast this old guy has declared himself as my Island tour guide and I'm to meet him at his car for a ride.  Whoa, I listened to my mom when she told me never to get in a car with a stranger.  So I politely excused myself to walk the deck of the ferry, ducked into the restroom when I was out of his site and promptly changed my top and put on a hat. :)  Yes, I carry a change of clothes, I had planned to hike and didn't want to run errands in a sweaty top. As soon as the ferry docked I could see the guy looking for me, so I did the polite thing again.  I hid in the crowd ducked my shoulders and moved with the crowd off the island.  

Fun little pies at the Bakery

I explored around and discovered the art part of the festival was the town's weekly farmers market... OK, and the wine part wasn't starting until 13:00.  Blah, what a bust.  I'm so ready to leave, problem, the noon ferry doesn't operate on weekends, Argh.  No problem I can chill out until the 17:00 ferry, There's still the wine festival, of which I definitely got my money's worth, thank you complimentary hors d'oeuvres.  I ate so many spinach puffs and cheese, I'm sure the people passing platters were purposely avoiding me. 

I started hiking back and figured I should grab something on my way off the Island for dinner, as my day was going to be longer than planned.  "Spicy" Chipotle Chicken Burrito ended up being about as bland as mayo, but was filling on my ferry ride home :)  Next time we'll be a little more careful with the time table but other than that , fun day trip out.  

4th of July

In May I realized two things... I was going to be off work for the 4th of July and I am an eight hour drive away from Family!  Too close to resist I made the drive for an American Holiday :)  

Sparklers to start off the night... After the BBQ of course :)

Whiz- Bang

It was an exhausting drive, but well work the tired to make it down to Oregon for the day.  SHOPPING was accomplished, thanks Aunt Randie and Kristin for introducing me to the Outlets :)  

And thanks for the place to hang out before my mad dash back north again :)

The Summer's Order

The last few posts have been out of order so I figured I'd post a quick list of the order of my summer trips...

-May- Las Vegas
-June- Okanagan Valley- Brianne visited :)
-July 4th- Salem Oregon
-Mid July- Home to San Jose
-August- Galiano
-Late August- Visiting Family in Salem
-September- Grouse Mountain & Whistler with Sister
-Mid September- Stanley Park- Jesse & Andrea visited
-October- Washington & Oregon Coastal Drive
-Late October- DC Weekend

So far that is what is coming up, already posted and the order they go in.  Thanks for the patience as I madly spend the weekend getting these posted :)  Stay tuned for the last few installments to be posted by tomorrow...

Inn Boonsboro

The Inn from across the street....

Fresh Flowers in our room

Aren't Surprises the best?  Especially when you get to surprise someone with going someplace you have wanted to go yourself?  These are shots from my surprise trip to Inn Boonboro with Danielle.  A perfect retreat.  The only downside of the trip was I don't think I will be content at another hotel again.  The inn keepers exceeded everything I expected.

Magic Shower with 6 jets :)

Amazing pizza and to die for desserts...

Our package included Dinner, we went with pizza, salad and fresh cannoli with sparkling wine to top it off. 



After a fun chat over skype with another friend we crashed out.  The only unpleasantness of the weekend occurred at 0600 when an emergency buzzed under our window with sirens blaring.  For the two early morning shift people we are... sleep was not something we were gonna get back... good thing we remembered where the krupps brewer was at :)

Comfort defined :)

Little cool?  No problem with our fireplace in the wall.

Who knew a healthy breakfast could look this good?  Don't worry.  We had unhealthy bits too.

 After an amazing breakfast and of course more coffee :)  Our spa treatments awaited to be followed by shopping and a relaxing lunch.  Thanks Danielle for putting up with my silly surprise :)  Hope you had a great night out :)