December 28th - Thank you, I think....

It was a great Christmas at Chez Em......the miniquiches and sausage balls were a hit, the weather behaved, and wonderful gifts were given and received by all.

And the gifts didn't end there - I had a lovely lunch with my friend Steph and her husband who gifted me with a bottle of Pusser's Rum which is the same recipe served to Royal Navy seamen for more than 300 years.  I think this substance is part of the reason that they lost the War of 1812 - it certainly can be distracting ;).

But that wasn't the end of the gifts - when I came home today, in the mail was an AARP membership.....not one of the invitations to join that I've been tossing in the recycle bin ever since I hit my 40s - but a real membership, card and all.  The paperwork says its a gift membership - but it doesn't mention from whom.  (or is it from who - this is one of those grammatical rules that I can't keep straight so I generally avoid using either one and in any case - sentences shouldn't end with prepositions )

 There's a list of membership benefits that include hotel, car rental, and cruise discounts all of which would certainly be useful to me - and I gather some stores offer special senior discounts as well. Seems that it does make a great gift for a bargain shopper/traveler like myself.

But still - its the AARP....and I'm not quite ready to publicly acknowledge my senior citizen status even to save a few bucks.

So, to the anonymous donor - Thank you, I think ;).

12/24/11 - Its a new day, and a new blog

"It's a new dawn, a new day
a new life for me
And I'm feelin' good"


A catchy Weight Watchers commercial and words that capture how I feel about my world these days.


I began making online friends with Yahoo many years ago, first with message boards and then blogging with Y-360 which no longer exists.  Then there was and still is Multiply - a blogging platform that is based on connections between people and friendships rather than just random blogging to the world.


Then there's Facebook - and I confess that I probably spend more time there than I should - but it does help me keep up with friends and family - allowing instant sharing of important (and unimportant) bits of information that we run across - it even has a chat function which has pretty much replaced the MSN and Yahoo instant messengers that I used to use.


But there's been something missing in my online world, and I think I've figured it out - its the blogging.  Not the communicating back and forth with friends and family, because that still exists in all of the venues I visit.....but the occasional visit/comment from passersby, the invitations to check out their own page, and the friendships that often blossom from this "random" sort of interaction.


I've made some great friends just because they happened to "say" something that struck home with me - or I did the same for them - and the comments flew back and forth - and the next thing I knew, our worlds were the better for knowing each other.


 I don't know if things still work that way in cyberspace - but what I do know that I've not taken the time to search out different blogs and make comments the way I used to.  And my blogging has changed as well.....I don't write as often as I did because I'm already communicating with the folks I know via FB so they already know what I'm going to write about.


 I still want to blog - but I want to try to go back to what it was when I started.....as a somewhat anonymous single woman sharing pieces of her thoughts and dreams (and her trials and tribulations) in a way that connects with other human beings.  I need to once again just put my posts "out there" and see what happens.

December 4th - Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

A few years ago I decided I'd had enough of the hassle of a live tree and went with artificial.  It was tough to give up the tradition of going out and picking a tree, bringing it home, and having the house smell deliciously of evergreen - but between having cats (whose nature is to think of trees as things to climb) and not having kids at home - it was time for a change.

And because I have a small house, I went with a small tree.  Every year I worry about whether or I'll have enough room for all my ornaments, and every year amazingly enough I have plenty of space.  Of course last year I gave my son all of "his" ornaments - the "first christmas", etc etc....and that helped a bit.

At some point after I started travelling, I realized that Christmas ornaments make wonderful momentos of my trips.  They are generally inexpensive and don't take up a lot of room in a crowded suitcase.....and it always makes me smile as I trim the tree and remember my adventures.

And there certainly were a lot of adventures in 2011 - Arizona with Amy,  my Dream cruise to the Western Caribbean with a visit to Cape Canaveral, Seattle with Lisa and Carol who then showed me a bit of British Columbia, Watkins Glen with my brother, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland with John and Lorel, London and Salisbury with Belinda, and finally the awesome European Magic cruise with Judy. 

Wow - I really did cover a lot of ground this year and enjoyed every moment of it thanks in no small part to my wonderful friends.  I can't wait to see what 2012 brings....