Taking Stock

This post has been a long time in coming. (I'm sure we'll all be sad to see Harry's face leave the masthead, but it must be done.)

In the past few months, so much has happened in my life--weddings, birthdays, a funeral, and travel travel travel--that every time I come here to write about it, there's too much to share. I don't know where to start.

There was the amazing trip to Greece in September (Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Crete. Le sigh.). My grandma's sudden and unexpected passing. A best friend's 30th birthday spent in a treehouse hotel. A January luau-themed surprise party in celebration of my mom's 50th. My darling niece's 1st birthday. My father-in-law's re-marriage, as well as a best friend's wedding. When you put it all together, I spent over seven weeks away from home in the last eight months. (Don't get me started on the nine-hour drive home. Ugh.)

And on top of all that, I fell off the blogwagon last summer when I suffered the worst migraine period of my life--having migraines three weeks out of every month from about May to September.

I began this blog to reach out to other writers and to talk about my own writing journey, but with my current focus on finding an agent (and my reluctance to discuss that publicly on the interwebs) I'm finding it hard to think about anything else. (Suffice it to say, it has been both encouraging and discouraging all in one, and I've never checked my email more!)

The reason all this has been on my mind? This is the last week of my twenties(!), and I feel I ought to take stock of my life to date. There are so many things I'm proud to have done in my twenties--finishing college (and more recently, paying it off), writing (and rewriting and rewriting) my novel, running a marathon, skydiving, training my cute puppy into a (mostly) well-behaved dog, traveling abroad alone, getting a tattoo--but there is so much more I want to do and accomplish in the next decade. I'm starting off my thirties with another adventure--friends and family are joining me on a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, something I've wanted to do since we moved here seven years ago. I'm also working my butt off toward my biggest goal--making my novel the best it can be (even if that means more revision) and securing an agent. And this summer, husband and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary (yes, we married young) and commemorate it with a return to England, my favorite place to travel.

So in sum, hello again. (*waves*) I will try to check in more frequently with what's certain to be an interesting year. Oh, and HUZZAH to 30!

Beer at 30...

It's been busy around here the last two weeks. Last Wednesday was husband's 30th birthday (yay!), so I spent my time planning, cooking, and shopping. I was exhausted by Saturday, but the outcome was fantastic--we celebrated his birthday with a 'Tarts & Vicars' Dirty Thirty Party over the weekend. Here's a sample of what I've been doing:

(Top: Making Czech Goulash and bread dumplings.)

(Bottom: In honor of Husband's dual love for beer and jelly beans, I etched pub glasses and filled them with jelly beans for the party favors.)

Husband and I grew up in the Pacific Northwest--arguably the center of craft microbrewing in the United States. Portland, OR has more breweries per capita than any other city, and we grew up in a town with one of the best and most-well known microbreweries in the country: Deschutes Brewery. In college husband and I studied abroad in London, where he was introduced to traditional English beer and grew to love it above all but his PacNW microbrews. We stayed with a host family, and the dad was an avid 'Real Ale' fan (introduced us to CAMRA, and etc.). The very first night there, he took Husband out to the garage to make his first beer. Adam's Ale. Then he took him to the pub and gave him an education in cask-conditioned real ale. It's no wonder husband became such a beer lover. So for Christmas I got him his first beer-making kit. His second batch was finished just in time for the party this weekend.

A friend hosted the party at his house--his built-in bar and back yard were much more fun than our tiny condo. We ate and drank 'around the world' with food and beer samplings from various locales. The original menu included most of the major beer countries, but we had to whittle it down to avoid drowning in food and beer, so instead we sampled the following: England, the Czech Republic, Belgium, the Pacific NW, California, and India (random, but our friend makes a mean curry, and wanted some Maharaja).The end result was quite a blast. Any guesses on my costume? Here's a hint: I went with a bookish stereotype, while Husband--standing next to me--decided that as the birthday boy he should be the pope. :)

Preview

Today I had a preview of what my 80th birthday will be like. I spent the morning making phone calls, followed by a long appointment with a neurologist. Then it was off to the pharmacist's to fill my ever-growing prescription list. I may have to alphabetize to keep them all straight! Tonight I'm having a low-key birthday dinner at one of my favorite (authentic) pizzerias, possibly followed by gelato or cake with a few friends. Since I went to Germany in March and I'm going to the Dominican Republic next week(!) we're not doing presents (rightly so), and my family already gave me presents for my trip, which was fabulous. I admit, normally I'm a birthday diva, but I'm enjoying the low-key nature of my birthday this year. Although, I am hoping I won't have to repeat the neurologist's visit next year.

April Fools

...is probably one of my favorite holidays behind Christmas. One of my best friends from childhood is an April Fools baby (and one day older than me), so I always make a point to tease her with an April Fools joke, but this year she's not excited about her birthday, so I abstained from making any jokes. I managed to not play any jokes on my mom today as well, though I'm not sure why all the joke abstinence this year. I suppose my schedule has taken over and left no time for funny busyness. I did have a lovely haircut today and spent the afternoon working at the coffeeshop. I also managed to write on Friday and Monday while on the plane so I didn't get behind on my writing, though with my current word count, it does look like I will be going over that 90,000 mark since I'm still finishing this chapter and have two more to go. My excitement level rises every day as I feel myself drawing closer to the end.

Guns N Roses and Easter on 28th

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter. Husband's mom came down for a visit, so we took Drew and her two little Aussies for a long walk down to Campbell where we enjoyed brunch outside in the sunshine. We then spent Saturday evening with friends at the pub celebrating Husband's 28th birthday. It felt more like a 21er when Husband disappeared for a good 20 minutes because he drank too many free beers, meanwhile we were entertained by a friend karoaking "Sweet Child of Mine" in full shouty form ("Where do we GO-OH, where do we go now..."). He also performed a moving Neil Diamond rendition.

Yesterday was his actual birthday, so we had a little celebratory curry, and then, because he gains full control of the remote on his birthday, we watched a few tivoed hours of tennis--the Pacific Life Open--with a friend. While we were watching, there was a great 'Janet Jackson' moment. The camera panned the crowd and stopped on a woman who was watching the match in a bikini top when she was surprised by a hand that reached from the side of the viewing frame and grasped her breast. A perfect Tivo moment - we rewound it a couple times to make sure it really happened.

On the writing front, things are moving slowly this week. I spent much of yesterday running errands that I tried and failed to finish on Sunday since the stores were closed, and then I had birthday details to tie up. Today I must (I must, I must!) catch up. I'm off to a great start since I chose to blog first. Hmph.

Another Monday

Just a short post today. I'm going on nearly two weeks of almost daily migraines, so I've been resting up today trying to get energy back.

Since I know you're dying to know: The cake turned out okay. Ugly as usual, even with my early planning. The raspberry filling I made from scratch and drizzled on top made it look like it was swimming in jam. It tasted pretty good, but it was a little dry, which irritated me even more because my cakes aren't usually dry. My homemade frosting was good, but it didn't ice well because I didn't let it set long enough, and that's why everything looked amateur (besides the "jam" around the edges). So much for my baking skills. *sigh*

After more thought, I've decided to completely remove the word counter from my sidebar. Frankly, it irritates me. When I do a new post and haven't taken the time to count my words, I feel guilty and I think it makes me worry more about updating my word count rather than focusing on the task at hand: writing.

Since we were gone last weekend, the husband took me to celebrate my birthday this weekend, which was great fun. We went to tea (my favorite), saw Miss Potter--which I liked not only for the storyline, but also for the beautiful cinematography of the Lake District--and went to the bookstore. I got three new books, including Giada De Laurentiis' new cookbook Everyday Pasta. I don't buy cookbooks very often, but I'm really excited about this one because she's got a great mix of recipes (quick, light fare, fancy, etc.) and I want to expand my pasta knowledge. My grandmother was Italian, and I've always loved Italian food and felt the most adept at cooking Italian, but I want to learn more. The husband was obviously not complaining about getting this book for me since it means more Italian food for him. ;)

Okay, so not such a short post. Happy Monday all.

Tired

Not much to post about today. I'm baking a cake and trying to clean up the place for our little belated b'day/housewarming party tomorrow. Last night I went shopping for drinks for the party and was (slightly) offended the cashier didn't ask for my ID. I bought 4 bottles of wine, 3 six-packs of beer and various mixers, and she didn't even blink an eye. I'm hoping it's because I have a BevMo card and you have to be 21 to get the card? I would've been thrilled not to be carded a few years ago, but now I wonder how old that makes me look because they're supposed to card anyone who looks under 30. And I've got 4 years to go! Ah well.

Had a fun Drew outing today. He had to get two booster shots at the vet, and started shaking and whining as soon as we walked into the office. I'm sure he recognized it and remembered getting left all day last time. (Joey will say it's because he lost his "manhood" there, but I don't think he realizes that, he just hates mommy leaving him.) He whined the entire time we sat in the office waiting for his turn, but he did really well with the vet when she came to get him. He's a big baby, but he was partly whining because there was another dog in the waiting room and he really wanted to play with him; he just doesn't understand that his whining scares off the other dogs! Dork. I do hope he calms down more as he gets older. He's calmed down significantly since we first got him, but he's got a long way to go and he's eight months old so I'm not sure when exactly he'll mature more.

I'm glad it's Thursday so I can watch The Office and my other comedy night shows. I'm feeling really drained today. I'm not as stressed about the job/writing dilemma I had a few days ago, but I am struggling with the writing again. I know I can do this, but sometimes I really start questioning myself.

Mwah ha ha

I am 26 today. Hurrah! According to 'This Day In History' I share my birthday with Hans Christian Andersen and Emile Zola, which is not bad company, especially since I want to be a writer.

Being the old lady that I am, I had to be an adult and do two of my favorite things. Insurance. Talk on the Phone. Simultaneously. Ugh. Why is it that talking to my insurance provider for 15 minutes can put me on the verge of tears? Well I guess part of it is that I was my bravest self and put up a futile last ditch fight to keep my current doctor. And lost. I have to have a lovely HMO now and she is not a preferred provider (bastards), but when I was looking online to figure out how to change my primary care physician from the assigned male doctor, I found a pdf booklet of frequently asked questions including my all-important question: "What happens if my current physician is not a network provider?" The answer according to the booklet: "You may be able to nominate him or her. Call our Customer Service number on your ID Card." Now, those of you that know me will know that I hate Hate HATE talking on the phone, and also that I am a total chicken and avoid confrontation if at all possible. I do have a brave side though, and she decided to step up to the plate and ask if she could nominate my doctor (who is the first doctor I've ever really liked) like the booklet suggests. Well, of course I got Ms. Testy on the phone as is my luck. I read her the FAQ booklet's question and answer and here is how the conversation went:

She said, "This is an HMO, you have to use the preferred providers."
"Yes yes, I know all that, but the booklet said..."
"What booklet?"
"The FAQ booklet on your website."
"You must have been looking at the PPO."
"Um, no, it says HMO on it."
"Well, you must be looking at the large group provider booklet."
"Um, no. The front of the booklet says 'Members' Frequently Asked Questions About Blue Cross of California Individual HMO Health Plans'" (Ha! Angie silently cheers herself.)
*Audible Humph* "Ma'am, I don't know what you're talking about, can you read me exactly what it says?"
I read the question and answer (above).
"Well, I don't think that's possible."
*sigh*

So I didn't get my doctor, but I do get an extra large birthday trophy for standing my ground and proving mean insurance lady wrong, even if I lost in the end.

As for my birthday, it's nothing too exciting this year. I woke up with a migraine (woo hoo!), tried to sleep it off, but it keeps fighting back, so probably no birthday glass of wine for me. I wanted to watch a fun movie today and get some cleaning done (very exciting, I know), but I didn't want to neglect the writing completely, so I made myself write my 500 morning words with my coffee, so I have been fairly productive today. I think now I'm going to skip the cleaning, hunker back down with some tea and my movie, and try to fight off this headache before Adam gets home.