Yes, yes. kellybean is back after a brief hiatus. Technical difficulties.
Was on cnn.com earlier, scanning the top headlines:
1. IL senator drops of out senate race
2. Ah-nold: CA’s strays should be put to sleep sooner
3. School bus driver reports 2 kids in klan gear at stop
And, lest we forget…#4: Britney is engaged to dancer boyfriend
Hmm, one of these things is not like the other. Wonder how long this will last?
So to recap the past few weeks:
Benedicte, Eric, Leo and Leeloo are all back in France / Tahiti. It was a fun and exhausting two weeks. Everyone ended up getting sick, going to the MD, coughing, sneezing. We had more OTC drugs in our house than Walgreen’s. Of course, as soon as everyone had left, I got sick.
We spent one weekend up at Gurney-ville / Russian River. Beautiful weather…we spent some time on the beach relaxing. Lucie enjoyed very much swimming in the river and swimming and swimming. We took the long way back and drove thru to Sonoma and stopped at a winery before finally arriving home.
Then we were off to Vegas. It was bit difficult to fully enjoy Las Vegas with two children – so we went our separate ways. I gotta say, I LOVE VEGAS! Absolutely LOVE it! When I board the plane, I am oh so tired and plan to nap for a few when I land. But there’s something about flying over nothing and then all of a sudden – lights! everywhere. Something about that just completely reenergizes me. For the most part I always have a good time. It’s probably good that I don’t live in LA or SD (which is always a possibility), because the proximity would just kill me. We weren’t too lucky with slots or blackjack, but we met a nice croupier at MGM who gave us some basic tips on how to play craps. So S & I took what we learned to IP and managed to come up $30 (from that night only). We had a lovely dinner at Mon Ami Gabi (Paris) and before ya know it, it was time to go home. We splurged and paid the extra $100 on America West for first class seats home. Yes, bien sur, we made a visit to the Bellagio buffet for lunch – yummy ribs! Oh we strolled by the poker room at Bellagio – tables and tables of Texas Hold ‘Em, moving at light speed. S mentioned that he & his occasional poker night buddies are definitely not ready for poker games there – especially md. (just kidding!) And of course, we went shopping…picked up some cute baubles at my fave French jewelry shop – Agatha.
Since we’ve been home, we’ve put two offers on two different houses – both of which got denied. So yes, we are frustrated. Oh, that first house we put the offer on…listed at $638k…found out that it sold for $770k!!! wtf, as S would say
Darling Katie and I ventured out one night to the musical, Hairspray. We thoroughly enjoyed the 2nd Act, as during the 1st, we were constantly maneuvering around the gargantuan heads that were in front of us. Katie made friendly with an usher and we were able to move to the lower balcony.
I cashed in on my Sur La Table gift card and attended a cooking class – A Taste of Creole Cuisine: Seafood & Sausage Gumbo, Chicken & Seafood Jambalaya, Succotash, Cinnamon Crepes topped with Bananas Foster. Sadly I didn’t pay too much attention to the dessert prep as I was noshing on my jambalaya (yum!), succotash (my first time eating okra), and gumbo (super yum! can’t wait to make it myself).