Our new year

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was 'thank you' that would suffice.
~Meister Eckhart

Our goal was to make it to midnight.  That's WAY past my bedtime and with the help of a nap, I did it.  :) We had a lovely dinner, marinated ribeyes, rice, and a pear-blue cheese-walnut-Boston bibb salad.  Spectacular. 

From 2011-12-31

From 2011-12-31

The evening started with the most beautiful sunset.  Here we are, January, and not  a flake of the fluffy white stuff on the ground.  [that is all supposed to change by this afternoon].

From 2011-12-31

We enjoyed a few pints of our favorite oat pops while watching the Red Wings pummel the St. Louis Blues.  I love that the Wings play on New Year's Eve. 

From 2011-12-31

A magnificent fire.

From 2011-12-31

And most lovely, the dinner wine.

From 2011-12-31

Thank you.  For everything.  Welcome 2012. 

Weekend

Seriously, I woke up in another state. This weekend has been absolutely glorious. Sunny skies, light breezes and warm temperatures. I normally wouldn't be so excited about this weather except that 1) it is November in Michigan and 2) we still had a ton of leaves that needed to be hauled to the curb. There is nothing worse than hauling leaves in the rain and snow. Trust me on that.

So with the weather on our side, we got an early start on leaves and were done long before lunch. We had lots of help from the Handsome One (supervisory of course) and enjoyed some wonderful sunshine in between rakes and tarp pulls.

The whole "tarp pull" thing was new to me upon arriving in Grand Rapids. People with large yards (such as ours) load up tarps with piles of leaves and haul them to the curb. Fortunately where we live, our leaves are collected at the street (when they actually show up) and we don't have to bag them. Given that we have six oak trees, it's a lot of blowing with the nuclear-powered leaf blower, raking and hauling. And it wouldn't be fall if Samson didn't charge through the large piles of leaves, scattering our work. Crazy dog.

Last night, Deb joined us for dinner. Paul made a magnificent beef tenderloin in a mustard-shallot sauce and Amy recommended a wonderful Spanish wine, Vina Alberdi. We spent the night around the table with good food and drink, watching the Red Wings smash the Anaheim Ducks and in between periods, sitting in front of a lovely outdoor fire.

Today is all the things I didn't do while enjoying the weather - laundry, general clean up, football and some ironing. I am trying a new meatloaf recipe today, with the help of Ann Marie and need to get our entropy reduced! Happy Sunday!

Weekend Wrap up and a little anxiety

Whoooosh. That was the sound of the weekend screaming past us. Whew, I feel like I blinked and it's gone. Friday night was a pretty calm weekend, prepping for Saturday. Paul picked up the lawnmower, under repair at Four Seasons. The self-propel mechanism stopped working and if you have seen our hilly backyard, there is NO mowing without propel help. I ran a ton of errands, Paul did some IT work, Samson had a lot of playtime outdoors.

For the game, one of Paul's colleagues came over, accompanied by his 7 year old daughter Maggie. I got to learn all about icarly, something-kins and Barbie.com. While surprisingly none of this much appealed to me, it was amazing how nimble and quick Maggie was surfing around the sites. She was also a fan of my dual screens and wanted to know exactly (and I do mean exactly) how I set it up. Try explaining hardware upgrades to a seven year old.

Some more changes are coming our way. Next week, we completely rip out our closets, prepping for friends and business partners to disassemble, patch, paint and prep for the installation of our new closets. If you want to test your memory, short AND long term, try living without closets. And try remembering where the heck things are. This is going to be a tough (and anxious) couple of weeks.

Mr. Handsome is not a fan of the upheaval. He followed Paul around for much of the demo today. Paul has a great start on the project that included power tools and a lot of banging. Samson put himself to bed for a good part of it.

I have also started moving my pictures to my new website. I hope to post my favorites of the week online at Deirdre Honner Photography. Along with Google and Flikr, I have enough pictures of the backyard and Mr. Handsome for the world to enjoy. My next great photography adventure will be with my friend Julia. We have a photo-date set for the end of June. Should be fun!

The Red Wings are off to a great start against the Pittsburgh Penguins. I don't have the stomach for playoffs but here it is. The Red Wings need to keep on the pressure and make sure their defense are stationed to help Osgood. Game two starts at 8pm. Go Wings!

Friday Happy Dance

Wow, it's Friday! It's another week in the books and I have almost nothing to show for it - no pictures of Mr. Handsome, no pictures of the beautiful, yet fading flowers in our backyard, no funny stories of this or that. Nope, none of it. You know why? Because the Red Wings played hockey this week and I was doing nothing but waiting for the game. There were other incidentals - work, calls, business, etc but really, all I could think about was the game. So the Red Wings finished off the Chicago Blackhawks and are staged to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday night. This will be playoff hockey at its best. I don't know how much I can stomach but it will be some of the best hockey ever played. Stay tuned.

We have suffered through some nasty rain this week that pretty much curtailed picture taking. Even his Handsomeness didn't pose for the camera. As remedy this weekend, Paul and I plan to take a stroll in Meijer Gardens and shoot some pictures.

Enjoy the weekend. <<Let's Go, Red Wings >>

Midweek

I can't believe that it's Wednesday already. The weather is gorgeous and nary a cloud in the sky. Lots to do over the long weekend but until then it's time to enjoy American Idol and Detroit Red Wings.

And I have the Grass Doctor to thank for the trick of keeping flowers alive!

Amen

Way to go Red Wings! Chicago, here we come.

Chicken slime and other tales of woe

One day, my life changed. I woke up and could no longer touch uncooked chicken. I have no rational explanation for said event, no trauma, no bad dreams, no food poisoning, no cleaning horrors, nothing. Nada. It is a big ole mystery. One day, I bought chicken at Sam's Club, the big package of like 1000 chicken breasts and I needed to re-package and freeze them. And I couldn't do it. Couldn't pick 'em up. Couldn't even slice open the package. Made me sick to my stomach.

So I did what any cheap, rational person would do. I bought disposable gloves for food handling. Yup. That's what I did.

So today, I have to bake some chicken and put the rest away. I am ready. I have my food handling gloves - all 10 pair that I go through re-packaging chicken (don't talk to me about landfills - I try to make it up in other ways). I think it was revenge of the chicken slime today. My gloves wouldn't stay on and fell off on my pants. So I had to change my pants. Then my food handling gloves sort of dropped a chicken breast and it splattered chicken guts on my shirt. Had the change the shirt. Then the worst possible thing happened. The chicken slimed my feet. It was slow motion, falling through the air, plonking and splatter on my sandals and bare foot. It got me good - so good that I was then compelled to take another shower. Ick, gives me the willies thinking about it. But in the end, I did get the chicken in the freezer and the couple of chicken breasts cooked for dinner tonight.

With Paul back at work today, I took advantage of the time to take down all the decorations. This to me is the saddest time of the year. But I had Samson who had to help, er was underfoot most of the day. That is, until he discovered his brand new favorite place in the guest room. We were moving some things around and when I am in the front room, I pull the shades up for him. He loves to gaze out the window. As I was wandering back and forth, I discovered him up on the bed, looking out the window. There he has stayed for the majority of the afternoon.

So the Charlie Brown tree is disassembled and put away. The decorations are reboxed, the Santas lining up, ready to rest up until the next great holiday season. The newest additions to our holiday lineup were the reindeer, purchased from our fave store, Art of the Table -@artofthetable for you twitter lovers.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable and safe New Year's eve. We had one of my favorite meals, rack o'lamb that Paul made with a new recipe. Since the recipe called for honey and we had a little leftover, Paul made an incredible flank steak with rosemary and honey for New Year's Day. Watching the Red Wings and Blackhawks play at Wrigley Field was a pretty amazing event, though I wasn't all that crazy about some of the penalties there were called - and was even more crazy with some of the calls that weren't! (Grrr)

So what do you think a wonderful husband buys his wife for their 22nd anniversary? Anyone? Anyone? Why a new lens, silly. Should be here if 6-9 business days. I can wait for free shipping. :) So Happy 2009.

Wednesday .. er, Monday ... or...

...whatever day of the week it is! I was back at work today and while not feeling 100%, was well enough to keep down some scrambled eggs and chicken soup. Oh yum.

Lots going on in the world -a woman in western Michigan is stealing Salvation Army toys (an incredible low), the governor of Illinois, was well, trying to sell a senate seat (what bizarre and erratic behavior) and Mr. Handsome spent his day at the Spa.

Much more to write but the hands are tired from stuffing Christmas cards. Go Wings!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Yeah, it is hand's down the most wonderful time of year. Tonight, the Red Wings dropped the puck and are playing the Toronto Maple Leafs. For sure, it's the most wonderful time of year. :)

It's been a busy week with lots of work, work and work. Tomorrow is Friday and the happy dance. Another conference next week and updates are due on the Handsome One.

Cheers!

Congratulations Detroit!

One word - whew. :) Congratulations to the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings!

All's well that ends Red! ~Mitch Albom. Well, until next year, Let's Go, Red Wings!

Transitions

Comings and goings, hither and yon....It was a nice Saturday. Friday night, it poured the rain complete with thunder and lightening. It was glorious. Mr. Samson is quite oblivious to the sound and interruption of the sounds, unlike our Allie. She hated the sound of thunder. It rained into Saturday morning and I was concerned for our friends and their schedule parties, hoping that the rain would subside before noon. And it did. For a while, it was sticky in the morning, but the breeze came in from the south and it was deliciously cool breezy all afternoon. It is perfect weather.

Mr. Samson REALLY let us sleep in today, all the way to 7:40 am....and let me tell you, that is a TREAT. Of course, we had to let him out around 6:00 am but we told him to go back to bed and he obliged. It was heaven.

Around noon, we headed to a graduation party of a colleague. We took the cameras along to take pictures of the kids and parents, friends and food. It was a delightful party and we took 300+ pictures for the families to share. The weather could not have been more perfect.

For dinner, we headed to Grandville for a retirement bbq. I use the term 'retirement' tongue in check since my friend and colleague, Jennifer, is retiring, for a while anyway. I have had the joy and privilege of working with her for the past 7 + years and I will miss her. Every day. She got a degree in computer science when not a lot of women studied and worked in the field. And she brought amazing gifts and vision to her job, the college and our office. I sure will miss her. She and her husband had a bbq for dinner and we had a blast - eating, chatting, reminiscing and laughing. She is going to take some time and hang with her kids, write recipes for the Foodies Grand Rapids blog and chat with me on IM. :) Congratulations, Jennifer.

We have the Wings on and are hoping for a victory. Sunday is our day to get it together. Laundry, shopping, cleaning, cooking...certainly NOT our day of rest as we transition to another work week. Cheers.

Slacker

I have been a slacker; busy, but a slacker none-the-less. Tuesday, the fabulous crew at HWC finished the work around the house. The front door looks great, the rebuilt wall is a fantastic and the windows give us safety, sound improvement and help in the pocketbook. I can't believe the difference that the new and improved windows have made in our lives.

Wednesday night, we had a busy night. We came home and immediately headed downtown to a private showing of the Warhol exhibit at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. I have to confess that I had not ever explored the art world here in Grand Rapids. I mean, for goodness sake, we were used to an entirely different world that included the Getty Museum. Well, I had a nice dose of humble pie touring the magnificent building and an incredible display for Warhol art AND the beauty of the stunning permanent collection. We were entertained and educated by two fabulous docents who knew their stuff. Of course, in pure Paul fashion, he did locate a slight error in a picture description (it was a sexton, not a chronometer - make a note please) so the docent promised to have it fixed.

The Red Wings played and an edge-on-your-seat game is NOT conducive blogging. While they didn't win, it was a good game but I still have some 'issues' with some of the ref calls. But I have to leave the lady by the river and look forward to the next game, Saturday night.

We are working through an adolescent streak in Mr. Samson. He is feeling his oats and is misbehaving a bit. We are back to the long leash, so when he decides to go visiting, he comes back. Ugh.

It's Friday and we are doing the Happy Dance! It's a busy weekend - more graduation parties, parties in general, more hockey and some painting. It's going to be a wet and rainy Friday but the weekend looks good. Enjoy!

Red Wings make it!

Woo hoo!! It's on to Pittsburgh. Way to go Chris, way to guard the goal! Last stop before the Stanley Cup. Bring it home boys!!

Elvis Costello and oh yeah, the Police

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....oops, wrong story. Let me try again. Before now, a long time ago, when I was young(er), I had the chance to see a lot of very cool, relatively unknown-at-the-time musicians/bands. I had friends in bands and since 1) I had a car that ran well, and 2) I was a sober individual (no drinking and no driving, no drugs), I was very popular. I was frequently the 'designated driver' and ended up carting my friends around and ended up back stage and hanging with some pretty darn cool people. When I could summon the courage to ask for autographs, I did - U2 for one, but so many times, I was just hanging and couldn't in my wildest dreams say something like, "hey, here we are just hanging and on the off chance that you become really famous, could I have your autograph?" People like The Clash, X, Gang of Four, Gary Numan, the Psychedelic Furs, Squeeze, Echo and Bunnymen, Julian Cope, The Jam, Bauhaus, Duran Duran, etc. To put it in perspective, I saw REM when they were still an opening act. And they were pretty good! (Hehe)

I had an aversion to (what I called) arena bands. Once a band made it big and played venues larger than 1500 people, they were off my list. I made two exceptions in my life - one was to see Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music. The only way that I would see him would be to suffer through the arena venue of Cobo Hall. The other exception was to see the Cure and it was worth it.

So eventually, my focus changed to more serious things, I got married and wandered off into life. A great life by all accounts, with gratitude. But in the back of my mind and buried in my heart is this large jukebox of really cool music that resurrects every time I turn on my iPod. When I heard that the Police were coming to Grand Rapids, I was mediocrely interested. Then, I heard that Elvis Costello was playing. So I couldn't pass it up. Really, I went to see Elvis and the Police were just a bonus. And both were great.

I have seen Elvis at least 4 times that I can recall. Once, Gang of Four opened for him; another time, Men at Work opened for him. (Now it gets fuzzy). I think, I think that we were seeing him with Gang of Four at Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor and a photographer was trying to avoid the ticket police. Since I had front row seats ( I always had front row seats), I grabbed him and shared my seat. I don't know why they cared - when the bands came out, everyone rushed the stage. He was a really nice guy and to thank me for sharing my seat, shared his pictures of Elvis - great pictures of Mr. Costello. Can't remember the photographer's name but he worked at Sam's Records in Ferndale. So I have these old pictures of Elvis Costello, with hair, singing something from his Almost Blue album. I believe that he is one of the most underrated musicians of all time. I LOVE his music.

So, the concert was really good. I was sad that the Police didn't sing Synchronicity. Apparently, they didn't sing it here in GR or in Chicago. But I had lots of 80s flashbacks, for me driving to concerts and clubs, trying to avoid arenas. I acquiesed this time, to see an all time favorite. He sang Watching the Detectives. He sang Allison. He sang Radio, Radio. He sang Everyday I Write the Book. He sang What's So Fun about Peace, Love and Understanding. He sang what I thought he would NEVER sing. He sang Pump It Up. HE SANG PUMP IT UP!! YEAH! Go Elvis.

Oh and Go Red Wings. :)

Wrapping up the weekend

It was a very busy Saturday! Paul had a terrific time running in the 5k. After he finished up the race and cleaned up, we had some errands to run. The cupboards were VERY bare so we need to get in some grocery shopping, pick up some miscellaneous items (I was out of decent coffee), and to grab some lunch. Saturdays we normally eat out and today we grabbed Jimmy Johns.

The rest of day was filled with obligatory stuff. I had to get the laundry done and some bills paid, we cut the grass with Paul edging and cutting the front and I cut the back. Having had two homes for a number of years, we have two lawn mowers. Our initial thought was to sell one of them but with the size of our yard, we can divide and conquer. Works out pretty well.

The entire evening revolved around the Red Wings/Dallas Stars game. Before the game started, we joined our fun neighbors, Amy and Dennis for an adult beverage. They are such wonderful people and have the greatest kids. Of course, there is our favorite furry neighbor, Annie and the love of Samson's life. So while we chatted about life, the universe and everything, Mr. Handsome and Ms. Annie played for a while. For whatever reason, Samson loves their pacasandra and will frequently use it as a combination toilet and resting place. Huh. I think that he needs a bath.

For dinner, we had a terrific idea from our neighbor on the other side, Cris. We LOVE BWW but know that they are just baaaaad. Cris shared that he buys naked wings and cooks them like this. Boil them (from frozen) for about twenty minutes. Remove from the water and bake at 325 degrees for another twenty minutes. After removing from the oven, toss with your sauce and serve. We LOVED them - they were terrific. Next time, we might put them back in the oven after tossing with sauce to bake it in a bit. It's a bit messy but much healthier than BWW and just as good. :)

To top off a wonderful day, the Red Wings won a squeaker and are up 2-0 over the Dallas Stars. Monday night, it's game 3 in Dallas. Let's go, Red Wings!!

Reminiscing

It's Saturday morning, a little past 7:00 am and I got to SLEEP IN. I can hardly stand it. (John, don't bother saying that this isn't sleeping in....) Actually I got up at 6:40 because Mr. Handsome was talking to me and telling me that there were bunnies in his yard, or squirrels, and SOMEONE had to go take care of the interlopers. So we got up, chased away the heathens and made a big ole pot of coffee. I am sipping from my Desron 20 cup (Destroyer Squadron for you non-Navy types). Wherever Paul was stationed, I have a coffee cup with the name of the duty station and my name, in case I forget what it is. Which is always possible.

Paul was out the door early this morning, running in the Fifth Third Riverbank Run. Whenever he has been home, he tries to run it, with a number of his Navy friends. I am sure that he will have a wonderful run - it's gorgeous here right now, good sun, very cool and most importantly NO RAIN.

I have decided that I must, absolutely positively get my pictures in order. I have pictures scattered on every computer, every place and am reasonably sure that I don't have ALL the pictures in one place. This is the drawback of sometimes, dare I say it, being disorganized...Sigh. When I was culling through the pictures stored on my Mac, I found some magnificent pictures of Allister, and some of Paul, as we started the journey toward his retirement from the Navy. About this time last year, he (and we) were starting to plan his retirement - party, transition, etc. Picking the date and the time and the fun and the food. Over those next three months, we went through everything and had a blast doing it. We also knew that Allie was on her slide down, and all I kept saying to her was, 'just make it through Chicago.' And she did.

I snapped some great pictures of her lounging in the chair after a great run on the beach (she was always so poofy after the water), playing with her frisbee and just walking with Paul. Fast forward a year later. We are in our 'death house' (ok it's not as morbid as it sounds - we will probably go outta here feet first, which will be easy because it's a ranch), both having fun with our jobs and another furry family member to keep us humble.

Well, it's time to do what I do best on Saturdays. Do some work around said abode (and it needs it), start some laundry, hang with Handsome Boy and think about the Red Wings and game 2. Let's Go, Red Wings!!

Friday Happy Dance!

Woo hoo! It's FRIDAY! And to make the morning even better, the Red Wings swept (SWEEP) the Colorado Avalanche 4 games to 0 with an 8-2 romp last night. WOW. That is incredible. I was a little apprehensive about this matchup as it historically has been a very tight, very well matched game. Not so now.

So now, we wait. The beloved Wings will either play Dallas or San Jose, depending on the outcome. Our preference is the Dallas Stars for time zone and team travel. I just can't stay up for those 10pm, west coast games. :(

It's a busy weekend. With new windows come new screens and our friend and window provider Aileen will be out to check and measure our screens. We are also replacing our entire front door, all the way to the frame, and just can't wait! I also need my locks shorn and maybe colored, and we have a ton of little projects to knock out. Happy Friday!

Wednesday

It's gloriously midweek! The weather has taken a turn and has gotten much colder. So cold in fact that we are expecting snow flurries this weekend. Is that crazy or what?

Tomorrow night, the Red Wings start their first round of the playoffs. They start with the Nashville Predators who, in the past, have had a kickin' goalie. I sure hope that they can score.

Paul is getting closer to a decision. He still has a couple of positions pending but is leaning towards GE. We love the location, and commute and job, of course. We spent the evening taking care of dogs, having a wonderful dinner and watching Idol Gives Back. Enjoy the evening. :)