wildcelticrose.net

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I’m going to concentrate on the good things that have happened in the last few days because sometimes, that’s all we can do.

New Years Eve started out with a FABULOUS First Night Celebration in downtown Tacoma. It’s great to live withing walking distance (only about a mile)

Even though it’s not Chinese New Year yet, the “Year of the Tiger” was rung in with great enthusiasm.

I am a tiger; perhaps this will be my year? I’d like to think so, and that’s the energy I’m going to put out there.

Speakeasy was a venue and we had a great lineup of performers, some of them Speakeasy members, so even though I bought a button, I spent most of my time there.

Angie, Suni and I kicking back and enjoying the vibe (note the lipstick on my teeth, one of the many reasons I rarely wear the stuff)

Aaron, Voxxy, Gene and I getting some air when the skies magically cleared and the blue moon graced us with her light.

I have more pictures of our wonderful speakeasy friends and First Night fun here…

I got up bright and early to head out to Steliacoom for the Resolution run. In case you’re wondering what crazy people look like; we’re here running through the often wet, and sometimes snowy or icy streets when most folks are in bed recovering from New Year’s Eve.

After a very brief bit of rest I headed up to Kenmore for Saul’s New Year’s (night) party. He was kind enough to let me crash on his couch since it was a long drive and we were going snowshoeing the next day.

It was great to spend time with old and new friends.

Saul never rests and is constantly organizing trips and events; I’m certain that we’re twins separated at birth…

More pictures of the party animals are available here:

the next day we went on a snowshoe and fondue trip up to Lake Keechelus.

It was a bit wet up there and a few folks didn’t understand that dogs aren’t allowed everywhere and when they are they should be leashed and their poop scooped, but that was all worked out and it’s all good!

A few more photos are available here:

After that great day, I was STARVING and my friend Jim was good enough to accompany me to Taquera El Guadalajara for Carne Asada (Mmmmm, Steak Crack)

The next day, I was up bright and early to go on a ski trip with Gene W.

We were going to go up to Hyak as I was breaking in new skis, boots and bindings, but decided to head further east where it was a bit colder and hit snow instead of rain at Easton.

Although the snow was a bit firm, we had new fluffy stuff falling all day and it was gorgeous! Here’s a shot of the Yakima River from the trail.

I LOVE my new skis, boots and NNN bindings.

Aren’t they SEXY?

I have NNN “auto” bindings so I just step and click; Gene has to bend over. HA! (no one’s complaining about an Ironman training toned butt)

It wasn’t groomed and there were some trail hazards.

Ooops!!!

We had a GREAT time!!!

And I didn’t even need to take any of the Advil he brought despite taking a couple of hard falls.

More pictures are and our Garmin track are available here. (it’s a slideshow, I have no idea why the title isn’t showing; just click the play symbol)

After we got Gene home to meet his other obligations, I met Dale at Joseppi’s for Spaghetti and Joe’s famous meatballs.

It was one heck of an AWESOME holiday!

Of course, I had to get back to real life today, but I think I’ll just end this post on a happy note focusing on the great weekend!

Happy New Year everyone!
~L

Mood: Energized

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I managed to be productive for 7 1/4 hours at work today which is pretty good (I work ten hour shifts, so it was not a full day).

I’m still feeling pretty sick, but not as bad as yesterday and have a horrible rattling bronchial cough which was driving everyone else crazy, so I caught a ride home early when I could. I’ll make up a few hours on Friday. (I have sick leave, but I have a ton of work that needs to be done) That will give me a chance to run up to SouthPark and get my Seattle Library card. I qualify for a free one since I work in King County and they have a GREAT online selection.

I’m going to take a nap, rest, and go to bed early. Exciting life I lead eh?

The icky boy was very sweet last night. He called up and asked, “How do you like your mashed potatoes?” (he knows that my Mom used to make them for me when I was sick as a child) I told him,
“You don’t need to do that” to which he replied, “I know; how do you like your mashed potatoes?” He cooked me a nice healthy meal last night including mashed potatoes the way I make them.

He’s pretty sweet for an icky boy. (but he still has COOTIES!!!)

I did stop by my mailbox on the way home and found a SHINY THING!!! My friend Una in Ottawa Ontario (that’s in Canada eh?) mailed be a beautiful shiny snowflake. Oooh ,Shiny!!!

Here it is in one of my snowflake windows (at the very top on the left-BadKitty not included.)

If you have sent a card or snowflake and it’s not here yet, don’t give up hope, holiday mail is still catching up from the snow, ice and floods. If you haven’t sent one yet, it’s not too late.

And with that, it’s time for a nap, and then fiddle practice…

~L

Mood: Snotty

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Finally!!!

Here is the “Best of 2008-Top Ten” page.

Complete with lots of links, pictures and slideshows.

http://www.wildcelticrose.net/lisasplace/bestof2008.html

It’s been quite a year…

I expect that 2009 will be amazing as well.

~L

Mood: Looking Forward

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Here it is…

[drum roll please]

The 2009 New Year’s collage.

Each year, I put together a collage of what I would like to bring into (or continue to have in) my life for the coming year.

I don’t do resolutions. This works better for me. I consider it an exercise in mindfulness and a way to physically manifest what I want to have in my life.

I hang the collage over my espresso machine so that I have it as motivation each morning.

Here it is…

and here is last year’s collage…

Pretty much everything on last year’s collage manifested this year…

jussayn’

I am working on my “Best Of 2008” web page.

It may be up tonight, it may be up tomorrow.

~L

Mood: Looking Forward

~ My first post of 2009 is a happy one. I caught a ride home with Stephani when we closed up the office early for New Year’s Eve. I had ridden the bus to the train station in anticipation of meeting Tom there and hopping on the LINK Light Rail to catch a ride to the Museum of Glass which was included in our First Night admission but was only open until 5:00 PM,working our way through First Night and walking home after our last event. I only waited about five minutes before the LINK showed up. Tom got off, I yelled, waived and said, “hop back on” and we were off to the Union Station to walk across the Bridge of Glass to check out the museum. We spent some time in the hot shop watching the glass blowing demonstrations, visited the gallery and then headed over to the Tacoma Art Museum. After that, it was still happy hour time, so we went to the Harmon for a huge plate of nachos and a microbrew. After warming and filling up, we spent the evening running back and fourth between entertainment ventures. We saw: Valentine’s Performing Pigs at the Rialto, Scott Cossu at the Pythian Temple, watched the procession which included the Tacoma Scots Pipe Band and fire eaters, We went to see Voxxy Vallejo at Sanford & Sons, then saw some Academy Award nominated short films at the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts. After that, we hauled butt back up the hill to see the Mud Bay Jugglers (there was FIRE) Tthen back down to the Pythian Temple to see local favorites Uncle Bonsai. I thought that one of the members of the group looked a lot like Patrice from Wintergrass. As it turns out, she replaced one of the original members of the group. At that time, it was 11:30PM. We had been running around in the cold rain (and sometimes sleet) for several hours (I had been up since 4:20 AM) so we walked back to my place where it was warm, quiet and free of drunks leaving bars. We toasted the new year while watching the Space Needle celebration on TV. Yes, we had our own fireworks here in Tacoma, but after over 20 hours of being out and about, it was good to be home. And the Space Needle event is much better than watching that silly ball drop in Time’s Square. (and this year, there were no technical glitches) It was a GREAT show! Today is my first violin/fiddle lesson in over four years. After I get back, I’m meeting the icky boy at the History Museum to see the model train exhibit then heading back to his place for dinner, movie, laundry, etc… So far, 2009 is turning out to be a very good year! ~L Mood: Happy