German Reisling, Ridiculously Long Airports, and Leviticus

I was going for a title that would encapsulate the past week of my life.

Last Wednesday morning, I headed out of Hector International Airport, right here in the lovely metropolis of Fargo, North Dakota, on my way to a conference in San Francisco. Having never been on a plane that only has two seats on either side of the aisle, I was unpleasantly surprised at what a horrible landing we had in Chicago. They even made us get off the plane on the tarmack! I suppose the plane was too small to attach to one of the gates? Who knows. Anyway, I then boarded a Boeing 777 and headed for the great state of California. Aside from being a nervous WRECK the entire day (I hate flying), I made it to California safely and in one piece. That night we checked into our hotel, which was a mere three blocks from Fisherman's Wharf on the Bay, and headed down to the Wharf to see what we could scrounge up to eat.

We went into the first place that looked good - Alioto's. It was a fancy restaurant, where I had a glass of German Reisling (I don't know much about wine - is all Reisling German?) and one of the most delicious dishes I've ever eaten: Seafood Cannolini. Scrumptious. Crab and shrimp inside a cannolini noodle with cream sauce. Yum. Then, we had dessert: a fruit tart, which I have to say, was no where NEAR the level of tastiness that Nichole's Fine Pastry delivers. Since it was 11:30 pm (our time) by the time we finished, we headed back to the hotel to catch some zzz's.

The conference was excellent, the accommodations were excellent (the best hotel bed I think I've ever slept in), and the people at the conference were great. In our off time (what little of it we had) we went down to the Wharf to eat clam chowder in bread bowls, or stroll through all the chocolate shoppes. On Thursday night we ate at Neptune's, which was a lot fancier than the guy who recommended it to me had made it sound. I had another fine dining experience which consisted of Dungeness Crab Pasta with tomatoes and asparagus in a Chardonnay sauce, with some sort of Sunset something to drink (read: Bicardi Limon, orange Vodka, and cranberry juice...) and warm rolls of crusty sourdough. I love food.

The trip back on Friday was also uneventful, but still stressful for me. At least at this point I wasn't hyperventilating just stepping onto the plane. And by "hyperventilating," I mostly mean freaking out. Anyway, when we got to Denver, we were told to go to Gate B93, which was about 2.4 miles away from the gate where we exited! Denver Airport is extremely long. So, we hopped on the moving sidewalks, which I love, and headed down....to the END OF THE WORLD. Literally, it was the last gate in the entire place. Then, there wasn't really a gate - just a fenced-in sidewalk area to walk through, then up some steps and into the plane. Craziness. THIS is why I hate living in Fargo. Because the jets that fly into Fargo are miniscule. Anyway, we had to fly around some thunderstorms, which made things a bit bumpy and when we landed I thought for sure we were going to land on top of 19th Avenue instead of on the runway.

All in all, it was wonderful, and I've decided that I'm not going to be scared of flying anymore: I love traveling too much. I needed that break from reality, so to speak.


San Francisco seemed to me to be a rather dirty town. I was discussing this with the guy sitting next to my on our mini-jet to Fargo Friday night. He speculated that since they don't have the four seasons, there isn't snow to wash away all the filthiness on the roads and sidewalks. It was also rather smelly. Being near the docks where all the fish and sea lions live is rather pungeant. But, it was definitely a great experience to have and I was thoroughly delighted to be there.

One travesty: I got some cash from the hotel ATM, and was charged $2.95 for the transaction (which I wasn't too surprised at) then, my bank charged me another $2.00 because it wasn't a US Bank ATM, which I was aware of. All in all, I spent $4.95 for the luxury of having $40 in cash in my wallet. Ridiculous.

Anyway...
I arrived home, and proceded to sleep for 10 hours. Memorial Day weekend was so nice and relaxing. We just bummed around and did whatever. I was also pleased to find out that on Saturday night, my new friend, Leviticus Sloan Evans was born! I've been waiting to meet him for a long time, and he made his rather lengthy debut about 9:45 pm that night. I got to see him the next day, and I have to say, what a beautiful baby. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a perfect newborn. They will call him Levi.

And now, back to reality.

Reality bites.

Are You Going to San Francisco?

Why, yes I am!

I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and I'm very much looking forward to a change of scenery. The ocean is calling my name...

I also found an amazing-looking French restaurant online that is rated the #2 restaurant in S.F. It's called La Folie, and can be viewed at www.lafolie.com. Check it out. The menu looks other-worldly.

Other than that, I'm going to be spending my day in an airplane or sitting in O'Hare tomorrow, and Thursday and Friday I'll be spending it sitting in a conference. And the somewhat disappointing thing is that it isn't even going to be that warm while I'm there - the high tomorrow is 70, and Thursday and Friday are both forecasted at 65. Bah!

Other than that, I found a new gadget of the day:
http://www.gifts.com/search/product/pee-pee-Teepee?ideaID=6736&prodID=64945

Rather ingenious, n'est-ce pas?

Ah, French. How I miss it.

Tonight's the big finale of American Idol. We're having an AI party at our house to celebrate.

Last night was knitting at Erin's. We made mojitos. It was fun to make them from scratch - I've just used the pre-packaged mix before.

I resigned my position at the Counseling center. I'm looking forward to having the summer be client-free. We'll see what happens in the future. Not going to think about it for a while. I am glad, however, that I will have all Fridays off this summer. I believe I will head down to the Cities a few times for group supervision, just for the continued exposure and support.

I was given a free geranium today. It will live on my balcony.

It's almost time to go home. We're having grilled hamburgers tonight, and Chris has already been plotting his concoction - he's putting bacon in his. Sounds good. I had bacon pizza once. It was good, too.

I'm not worth a whole lot today, mentally speaking. As if you couldn't tell from this post.

I think I'll just sign off, and let the few people who read this move on to bigger and better things.

Update on the Blueberry Krispy Kremes

I tried one. And it was wonderful.

Shocking.

Revamping

I believe that this is the year of revamping. I'm going to turn 30 on September 29th this year, and I want to revamp myself before I enter that decade. The numbers are working against me... there's some statistic on gaining weight after 30 even if you don't change a thing about your eating habits...you lose a certain percentage of muscle every five years after 30...your fertility starts declining at 25 and once you hit 35 you're considered "high risk"...your bone density starts decreasing after 30...gosh.

There have got to be good things about 30, however. One of my coworkers, who is my mother's age, said that her friend thought that 30 was the best because she stopped caring what other people thought about her. That's definitely a good thing. Also, I'll still be young enough to do things, but old enough not to do stupid things, hopefully (that's called wisdom, hee hee).

Anyway, the revamping is beginning this week, officially. I have stopped my quest to lose weight, and am now on a quest to be healthy. I actually bought Bob Green's book, "The Best Life Now Diet", because it is such a well-rounded approach to exercise and healthy eating, and it's designed to be a lifestyle change that happens gradually, which increases your chances of keeping it up. Also, it doesn't deprive you in terms of eating, which also increases your chances of making it a permanent change. It's designed so that it's not a diet, in terms of going "on" and "off" of it. It's a way of life, which I agree with on all levels.

I've also finally found my niche in the career world. That's got to be one of the best feelings ever. I'm going to be increasing my hours from 20 to 30 as of June 1st, and as of October 1st, I'll go up to 40 hours. I think I'd be happiest at 35 hours, but we'll deal with that when the time comes. My mentor is encouraging me to really specialize my interests and develop them so that I can be more creative with my career in the future.

We're still working on my husband's career, which obviously affects me immensely, but it seems to be making some progress, so I'm trying to stay encouraged. It's hard, when my desire to buy a house and get out of the stinking apartment is so great, and hinges on his job. There's a lender standing about 3 feet from me at this very moment, talking to our homebuyer educator at work here, and they're talking about qualifying for a mortgage. It's killing me! I know what I want and what needs to happen to get it, but I feel so crippled, because of Chris' job situation! It's so maddening! So, this is an issue that we just simply have to pray about and work hard towards paying off debt, and getting him interviews.

I'm also revamping my spiritual life. I am going through a great "devotional" book (for lack of a better word) that contains excerpts from a lot of the classic Christian writers...Thomas Aquinas, Dallas Willard, C.S. Lewis, and the like. I just read a portion of Dallas Willard's book, the Spirit of the Disciplines, concerning discipleship. It was profound. He spoke to the issue of the American church abandoning the practice of making Christ followers DISCIPLES, by means of the way they live their lives, conduct business and personal affairs, spend money, treat people, etc. Jesus said that you can tell the kind of tree by the fruit it bears. What happens when the American church converts people, and then never teaches them about Christian living - about becoming Christ-like, which is our main purpose on earth here, aside from telling others about Christ? If you confess belief in Christ, but never change your life, are you really a Christian? Some people would argue that you can't help but change your life when you become a Christian, because you know what a sinner you are, and how far off the mark you land - you want to do better. A quote from C.S. Lewis comes to mind, "You cannot stay an egg forever - you must either hatch or go bad." Interesting.

All that said, I'm trying to get my prayer life in better order, my Bible-reading life in better order, and the way I conduct myself both at home and at work in better order. I don't want to look like the world to my children, whenever I have them. I want to look like Christ.

I also have to get my "relationship" with my in-laws under control. I honestly don't know how I'm going to do this. All I know is that I don't want to be anti-in-laws when there are grandchildren involved, although I don't know how I'm going to manage it all. I don't have the foggiest notion.

I also have some hobbies that I would like to develop more. I'm doing pretty well with the knitting thing. I'd like to do more with my new digital camera. I'm taking belly dancing lessons right now. I'd like to get back into yoga. I'd also like to start exercising WITH my husband. I'm always more motivated to do something when he's doing it with me...applies to cleaning the house or doing dishes, too!

Overall, those are the things I'm doing, and it's feeling good so far. It's a process. And my process is processing. I'm happy about that!

I think I'll go make myself some peach ginger tea!

There's Krispy Kremes in the kitchen. It's a good thing most of them are blueberry, cause I think that sounds nasty.