Bahamas

I am really the type of person that loves to have vacations to look forward to. Somehow it makes the daily grind seem a lot more bearable. Ben and I couldn't agree on a destination, budget or a time when we could both get away for a long time until finally we were both so super ready for the break that we had to make it happen quickly. We were also finally able to make it work to have my parents come with us! Cruises are much more fun with more people. So, to the Bahamas we went!

We spent a few days in Orlando (spending some time with my uncle that lives there-seeing his house and taking a tour of the candy factory where he works, the Orlando temple, Moss park, and outlet shopping) and then 4 days on the cruise.

Our first stop was the cruise's private island Cococay. This was by far our favorite day! It was a beautiful, sandy beach island with all sorts of places to just lay back on a beach chair and relax. We played in the warm ocean, napped, and watched the waves.

I even convinced my dad to go parasailing with me-which is awesome. It provided a beautiful view and is wonderfully peaceful floating 400 ft. above the water.  (not scary at all-unless you are afraid of heights-I totally recommend trying it).

Next day was Nassau island. It was extremely hot and humid that day. We walked around the city a bit but weren't too interested in buying touristy trinkets or doing the excursions at the Atlantis resort (most the beaches are private and you have to pay to use them). We preferred to hang out on the less crowded ship. We spent a lot of time in the pool, reading and chilling out on the deck chairs, and eating more than we should at the buffet.

Then we had a day at sea. I tried out the rock-climbing wall on the back of the ship, played ping pong and then took advantage of reading and nap time.

We of course ate way too much, sampling all the good food choices. We also got to see the comedian, magician, bands, and several movies in the evenings. What a great trip! Things still happened while we were gone (my sister and her baby became famous on all the news shows/blogs, my friend had her baby, they called a new RS presidency so I got released but, it was good to be away from phone/email for a while).  I needed something to help me reset and come back with a clearer head to organize and rebalance my life.

Produce production

So, remember me planting a garden earlier this year? And how I was worried how much would survive?

Well, we actually got a bumper crop this year! We have had so many tomatoes, it's been awesome. Our of my 16 plants, 14 survived (4 cherry plants and 2 yellow tomato plants, and several other red and heirloom types). We haven't actually had problems eating them all (We LOVE tomatoes here and have lots of family and friends that have been happy to receive any extras) until this last week, when I got my biggest load of tomatoes.

My sweet sister-in-law helped me learn to bottle them (I love learning new skills) so we could keep some for the winter. Aren't they pretty??

In addition to our tomato excitement, we also got bunches of swiss chard, 3 peppers from our pepper plant and several butternut squashes growing on the a vine. It makes me soooo happy!

It inspired me to teach my next cooking class this Saturday at Kitchen Kneads (in Logan) about "Using Garden Goods".

Bobsledding

For my surprise sister-birthday party this year, I got quite the adventure. They took me up to park city for a fun lunch and then  REAL bobsled ride at olympic park (where you actually do the entire course). Vee and Kimi helped boost my courage to do it by riding with me. It was scarier than I expected but I'm glad I did it once in my life. I am not one to swear but it honestly took restraint to hold back a swear word as we got going really fast, I was using all my strength just to hold my position so I wouldn't get jostled all around. Imagine hurling down a windy canyon road in a go-kart at freeway speeds...

After it was all over and the adrenaline calmed down, we were excited that we survived the 2nd fastest time of all the bobsled runs that day.

Lake Powell

Ben's sister and family were generous enough to invite us down to Lake Powell to stay on their new house boat over the 4th of July. It was just the getaway I needed and oddly enough, my first time at Lake Powell.

I got to soak up some sun, relax and read my book, climb red rocks (my favorite), learn to drive a wave runner, see American Indian ruins, get up on waterskis for the first time EVER, and hang out with some really cool people. I also learned a lot about boats and what can go wrong... Many fun experiences and stories to share. It was very fun. SO much fun, in fact, I took very few pictures. Turns out it is hard to keep a camera with you when you are always in or around the water, so most were taken on our hike.

Chicago

I got to do a quick work trip to Chicago to the American Diabetes Association scientific sessions conference. Our diabetes center did a study about continuous glucose monitoring devices and was chosen to present a poster on our findings at the meeting. There was some good interest in our study and we got to meet people from all over the world. They wouldn't let us take pictures in the poster hall but here is what it looked like.



I stayed a couple days to attend some of the sessions and learned a lot of interesting things about better diabetes treatment and upcoming research. (No we really are not that close to a cure...it's way more complicated than you think).

I took a few hrs to do a little sightseeing: shopping on the Magnificent Mile, a riverboat tour about the interesting architecture but it's really not as fun when you travel by yourself. I got a good feel for all the crazy traffic there riding shuttles to/from airport and to/from the conference each day-I soon learned to bury myself in my book rather than watch out the window...that is, unless you had to sit in the front seat with a very talkative shuttle driver that wouldn't let you. It is fun city right downtown and the building are very interesting.

Madame Curry

My trusty companion, Madame Curry, crossed the threshhold of 100,000 miles today. That's a lot of time spent together over the last 7 yrs.  Although she is starting to show some of her age and has needed some surgeries and extra attention lately, she has been pretty good to me and still gets great gas mileage.
When I knew it was time to say goodbye to my last car, Ljubicica the purple wonder, I looked specifically for cars that I knew would last a long time and settled on buying a Honda civic. I haven't been disappointed. We are going to treat her well and hopefully she'll stick around for another 1-200,000 more.

If you haven't heard how my car earned her name...here is the story:

One week after I bought the car, my roommate got married. My assignment was to pick up food from a few Cambodian establishments to deliver to her reception. I filled my trunk with large trays of vegetables, rice, noodles and such. Lastly, I went to pick up the curry, which would have to fit in my backseat. These Cambodians were not used to catering because they put all the curry into one VERY large metal pot with an ill-fitting lid, weighing about 100 lbs. The 4 Cambodian men looked very perplexed at my car and decided they better tape on the lid with packing tape and put cardboard box under it. I had brought towels to keep things from sliding around and packed them around it. Off I went, with a friend in the back to hold it upright. It smelled wonderful. I must mention at this point that I had never seen or tasted Cambodian curry before and figured it must be very similar to other curries I was familiar with...like Indian curry or Japanese curry...which usually involve large chunks of meat and vegetables with a very thick, spicy sauce. I learned very quickly this was not the case. As I slowly drove down the ever-busy 405 interstate, I heard a sound that I did NOT like. My friend gasped as a stream of red oily liquid poured out of the pot as we turned... She tried with all her might to hold the bent, dented lid down to stop the flow, but really, there was nothing we could do. It gushed out every movement the car made and the towels quickly saturated. When we finally got to the church, we called for help to get the heavy leaking pot out of the car. Several people ran to our rescue, the liquid sloshing out and burning our hands as we pulled it out of my new car. I was finally left to survey the damage: red oil stained my backseat and floor. I laughed in disbelief and got to work cleaning it up best I could. I took it to 2 different auto cleaning places to see what they could do. All I got were stupified looks and broken English offers to vacuum it out. A weekend of shopvac, steam-cleaning tools, carpet cleaner, wipes and scrubbing and I finally got most of it out and looking presentable again. I spent the next few months (summer in Southern California) driving with all the windows down and a bottle of Febreeze to spray every time I got in. Curry residue does NOT smell good days later after being baked in a parking lot all day. The car was officially dubbed Madame Curry in honor of her faint curry aroma she held for the first year.

Gardening

I doing a garden this year! A REAL garden. Well, I hope it turns into a garden. Right now it is a plot of dirt, but that's more than I  have ever had. No, my backyard hasn't grown, it is still a  2 ft. square of artificial grass. But there is a community garden area down the street that just had a plot become available!

I know what some of you are thinking...the girl who can even kill plastic plants is going to grow a garden? I LOVE home-grown produce and flowers, so I am determined to get a green thumb someday and won't give up. I have had some small successes lately that helped me get the courage to take this on: my annual amaryllis grew beautifully 2 yrs. in a row, my 3 potted tomato plants last year yielded exactly 5 small tomatoes and I got some herbs to grow for about a month before they went moldy. Like I said, small successes. Be Nice!

The great thing about this garden plot? It is outside in a sunny area and has a drip line for watering.  I can't remember ever getting past the obstacles of consistent water and sun before... I guess that means I will have to worry about the more complicated issues of adequate mulch, compost, spacing, companion planting and weeding. Eek! Hopefully, mother nature will help me out a bit even if I get those things wrong.