melcreada | Entries tagged with travel

It feels so weird to be posting again. It's been 7 months...wow.

So, bad stuff first. My wonderful father passed away in April of this year. He fought that cancer for years before it finally got the better of him. And although I miss him like crazy and think about him every day, part of me is glad that the battle is over. Those last few months were so hard - anyone who has watched a loved one in pain knows what I mean. You would gladly cut an arm off if it meant they wouldn't suffer.

Everyone has been strong and supportive and my brothers and sister and I are focusing on making sure my mom is okay. She's a pretty tough cookie, but I worry about her being by herself too much. Everyone is so busy and it's hard to remember sometimes in the day to day rush.

But lest you think this is going to be a completely maudlin entry, I actually do have a couple of good things to report. First, my brother and his wife had their second baby last week, a sweet little girl they named Isabella. So tiny and adorable. Cannot wait to dress her in a million cute outfits, LOL.

The second piece of big news is that I am going to India for work. !!! I will be in Pune for 10 weeks starting in mid August and ending at the end of October. The coolest part is that I was able to tack my vacation on after that trip so I will take 10 days to visit Nepal and Bhutan, which are two of my bucket list countries. !!! The best part is that my company is paying for all the airline flights, so I am saving quite a bit there. The only bad part is that I will be doing this all solo. JP is not really up to it, physically, and we are not up to bringing him over, financially. So. Boo. But...India! Nepal! Bhutan! I am really excited and so glad I got to tell my dad about the trip before he passed. He was really excited for me.

Anyway, I guess that is enough for now. No idea if I will try to keep this up or not. We only have one computer in the house now and it's impossible to type on my iPad and the crummy excuse for a keyboard that you can attach to it.

But I'll try to check in semi-regularly...I hope y'all are doing well. Sending good vibes and happy thoughts out into the ether...

Current Mood: calm
Crossposts: http://joseishijin.livejournal.com/510456.html

Just got back from our Winter Wonderland trip to Alaska. We went in search of the aurora, snow, and absolutely no work! We stayed at the Aurora Borealis Lodge, apartment-like rooms with huge windows, located on a mountain side 20 miles northeast of Fairbanks. Everything was perfect! We had four nights with aurora (one night was mind-blowing) and two days of snow. We went sightseeing, played in the snow with the lodge owner's lab (a delightfully smart dog named Sitka), and enjoyed the outdoor hot springs in Chena. And at night, we stayed up looking at the night sky, marveling at the northern lights and the millions of stars.

Here are like ten out of 1300 photos...enjoy and admire my restraint!

Current Mood: awake
Crossposts: http://joseishijin.livejournal.com/509515.html

Tranquil, eh? Someone better tell my blood pressure that. Everything else is lovely...

Thanks for the meme,

annearchy!

Your rainbow is intensely shaded violet, indigo, and blue.

What is says about you: You are a tranquil person. You appreciate beauty and craftsmanship. You are patient and will keep trying to understand something until you've mastered it. Friends count on you for being honest and insightful.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

We went to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which is completely awesome, touching, funny, and the best travel commercial for India that I have ever seen. I swear, if work ever gives me the chance, I am totes going!

Current Mood: curious

Something about spring always makes me want to travel. So I am sitting here, daydreaming about trips. Also, we are going to the coast in a couple of weeks. Yay!

Okay, that's it. Have a kitty pic! Here is Tut-tut (he has black lines around his eyes, like an Egyptian painting), who enjoys watching His Girl Friday:

Current Mood: cheerful

Thank Jeebus and the holy goats that it is the weekend! Trying to get the energy to

1. Get out of bed
2. Make breakfast
3. Color hair
4. Clean up the master bedroom

Things are not looking too promising.

Refinance goes on apace. They sent me a copy of the drive-by appraisal and they weren't kidding! A couple of blurry shots of the front of my house obviously taken from a moving car, LOL! I don't know why that cracks me up, but it does. I see that they took the picture on an early weekend morning because the sun is not quite all the way up, the porch light is still on and my Jeep is parked out front. I see you, Appraiser Man. Creeper.

Still loving The Civil Wars. I guess they are classified as folk singer-songwriters, but there is a strong bluegrass element, kind of a throwback. It's great.

I'm sorry this post isn't more interesting but I have been living and breathing work and it's really not worth discussing. Next time, I will talk about something cool, like my plans to go to Alaska!

Current Mood: awake

For some reason I am reading like four books at once, which was fine when I was young and sharp but now I'm just confused and grumpy. Also, my attention span keeps getting shorter and shorter as I get older and older. Verrah scary.

I felt like posting, but I really had nothing to say. So, yeah. Here's what I came up with...

Things I Am SO Ready For

1. The muthafuckin' weekend
2. Taking JP to see Esther's Follies Friday night (which also means hanging out in Austin, woo woo!)
3. Visiting the Kid and his wife in about 6 weeks (San Diego, here I come!)

Things I Am SO Over

1. Eating healthy (so. difficult. especially after a whole year of eating crap. delicious crap.)
2. Work. Do not get me started - it's just depressing.
3. Getting my finances in order (I know it's important, but boring!)

I am listening to Nelson's (Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection. I approve of their use of parenthesis.

Current Mood: bummed

Soooo...when did talking on your cell phone while you are doing your business in a public bathroom become the norm? I swear every time I go into a bathroom, some chick in the next stall is having a serious discussion about where to go for dinner or how she is pissed at her bestie whilst all around her toilets are flushing, children are screaming, and hand dryers are blasting. Is this not gross to anyone else? Is it because I was raised Catholic? I don't get it...how can you hear, anyway? And does the person on the other line ever think to say, "Uh...why don't you call me back...when you're DONE?" I don't know.

I read a really cool article the other day (which I cannot find now, of course) about women who don't want children being treated like they are freaks and outcasts of society. I wanted to print it out and tape it to the night supervisor's desk because he simply doesn't believe that I don't want kids. He thinks my biological clock hasn't started ticking yet, even though I am just this side of 38. I actually really like kids. I just don't want any. Why does that make me weird? Isn't it enough that I am apparently going through a second adolescence? >__<

Heard about the fire drill at Otakon -

hamburger , fess up! Did you pull the alarm?

I kid, I kid!

I think tonight is a Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown! kind of night.

Also, I want to go to here. I have wanted to see the cliff dwellings for years and years, but I keep forgetting about it. I think they would be awesome to see in the snow, but mostly the park is closed by then. This will have to go on my Bucket Travel List, along with Machu Picchu, Bora Bora, and Bhutan.

And that's all the inanity I have for tonight! Cheerio...

Current Mood: sick

Okay, enough of my bullshit whining. Time for a positive post!

- Am going to see the Kid next month and there will be much movie watching, meat-grillin', beer-swillin', and laughter going on. Also, possibly a day trip to San Diego, which always makes me happy.

- Tomorrow is Friday, thank you Jay-sus! Have OT up the yin yang, so I will try and sock that away to my "survival fund." *shifty eyes*

- JP is downstairs doing the dishes. ♥ ♥ ♥

Current Mood: chipper

The Huffington Post had an article about the funniest 'help wanted' signs and I figured we could all use a good laugh...

See, I don't know if I would be qualified because although I do finagle the English language, I don't necessarily er dominate it...not my style. ^_~

P.S. For some reason, I have been invited on three separate vacations this week. I am in demand as a travel companion! I wonder if I could parlay this into a job...and if I could convince everyone to travel by train?

Current Mood: amused

Mmm, love the lovely no-work Fridays! I did bring stuff home with me (a binder full of software admin guides) that I have to read by next Tuesday. DO NOT WANT.

I ran a couple of errands earlier, including picking up a couple of pairs of jeans at Old Navy (on sale for $19 apiece and it's tax-free weekend, baby). Oh, Old Navy! Why do you tempt me with your sales and your cute scarves, and blouses with lacy trim?!

In super-dooper exciting news, I am going to see my sweet baboo Arwen over Labor Day weekend. That's right, uh-huh, going to see her, can't stop me...er, what was I saying? Oh, yeah! Visiting the greater San Francisco area, one of my favoritest places in all the world. ^_________^

And finally, I thought I would make Nay-nay a vegan, diabetic chocolate cake for her birthday, but the recipes I've come up with so far do not fill me with any great amount of confidence. I think the potential for disaster is rather high on this one. What to do, what to do...if any of ya'll have any tried and true tips for uber-specialized baking, I'd love to hear it!

Okay, off to go do stuff.

Current Mood: chipper

I got hit on today at the Wal-mart. A legitimate, "can I have your digits?" kind of thing. I felt simultaneously uplifted and terrible because I hate to reject anyone (and he looked like a sweet guy and going up to a strange girl and not coming across as a creeper has got to be hard to do). Anyway, said thanks but no in the nicest way possible.

I was also thinking today that the summer is halfway over and I have yet to go swimming! Travesty! We have a pool in the neighborhood but goodness knows where I put my pool pass or the 2009 stickers for it. My clutter knows no bounds. None of this would even matter if I had a pool in my backyard. Oh, well. A girl can dream...

I think I will go see Green Day. And skip the shoes. Compromise. Eh? EH?! Still on the fence about P&P&Z.

Also, the more I think about it, the more excited I get about us possibly going to NYC in October. I hope things unfold smoothly and we can go.

Okay, JP and I are going to watch some Buffy because I don't believe in sensible bedtimes!

Current Mood: chipper

Okay, universe. Knock it the fuck off.

My dad left the hospital this morning and this afternoon my older brother went to the ER. They are admitting him for a low heart rate. Hopefully he won't be in for too long, but it just highlights how wrecked his body is from being sick these past 10 years.

Can this week just please be over already? Two more 11-hour days at work to get through first...

In better news, JP and I might be going to New York for his cousin's wedding in October. It's all up in the air right now, but I really would love to go, seeing as how I have never been. Nervous to meet extended family, though! LOL...

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: anodyne - mwk

Yuck. I have to go to scary business breakfast in the morning hosted by the president of our division. I am supposed to ask questions. You know the kind I am talking about. The kind that don't offend anyone but are still thought-provoking and make me (and by extension, my department) look good and smart. I want to ask about the outsourcing, but I have been told that under no circumstances am I to mention it. Excuse me while I barf. Corporate politics can kiss my ass.

Must go think up some questions...

Adam Lambert is gay! In other news, water is wet!

*rolling my eyes so hard, they have gone into the back of my head*

Don't mind me, kiddies. Momma is in a baaaad mood.

Still to do before my trip next week: get itinerary/driving directions together, cut and color hair, do MOAR LAUNDRY, buy strapless bra (gaaaaaah), clean my disgusting room.

In good news, I am going to see Wicked this weekend. Huzzah!

ETA: okay, I am not cranky about the Adam Lambert stuff anymore because I read a couple of snippets of the interview and it is FABULOUS, i.e.:

"I loved it this season when girls went crazy for me. As far as I'm concerned, it's all hot. Just because I'm not sticking it in there doesn't mean that I don't find it beautiful," Lambert (graphically) tells Rolling Stone.

Lambert even goes on to share his feelings toward sharing a living space with 'Idol' champion Kris Allen. He says that when the show moved them in together, "I was like, 'Oh, s--t, they put me with the cute guy.' Distracting! He's the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type – except that he has a wife. I mean, he's open-minded and liberal, but he's definitely 100 percent straight."

LOLOLOLOL!!!

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: little sparrow - david cook

Ever since I found out that Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Savings, I have been pea-green with envy. In a country obsessed with time, Arizona is Timex Switzerland. And what the Hell...springing forward this early in the year is unnatural! Would any of this have been neccesary if we had just stuck with the Mayan calendar?

Feel free to disabuse me of my notions...half the time I don't know what I'm spluttering on about, anyway. *grin*

Okay, now for the big news: I am going to Japan in May so I can visit the awesome Arwen and also fulfill a longtime dream. I can't wait! I am simultaneously thrilled and terrified. I am also an idiot because I booked the majority of my trip during a time when the Ghibli Museum will be closed. Yeesh. But as JP put it, there's always next year. And the idea that I would make this a yearly vacation fills me with much *squee*.

But I am getting ahead of myself. I know some of you are veterans of Japan travel, so if ya'll have any helpful hints, I would love to hear 'em. I am currently studying a couple of guides and poring over atlases and train schedules. Also, I have "Where is the bathroom?" and "How much is it?/I'll take it!" down. Well, it's a start, anyway.

In local news, two of the other supervisors are on vacay this week, so in addition to the HELL that is software upgrades, I will be covering their stuff, too. Hello, fourth week in a row where I hit or surpass 50 hours!

Also - I am happy that we received rain, but that meant scrapping plans to go to the outlet mall in San Marcos today. Pooh.

Aaaand, I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but the antenna snapped off my Jeep last week, so now I get two stations on my radio: a popular rock one and the classical station. Who knew they had such a strong signal? Anyhoo, I've been listening to a lot of classical music, feeling all pleased with myself because I can correctly identify like 30% of the music they play. It reminds me of how, as a child, I used to incessantly listen to my dad's record (RECORD!!!) collection of classical composers and make up little stories to go with each piece. Told you I was strange. Time Life Famous Classical Composers and Michael Jackson's Thriller would pretty much sum up the musical stylings of Melissa, circa 1983.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

Current Mood: talkative
Current Music: brahams - serenade #2

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melcreada

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February 2018

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Page Summary

Hello, strangers...
Vacay, wot wot!
Where the Hell did the weekend go?!
Nothing new to report...
I am hungry! Why is no one bringing me my breakfast?!!
Nelson had seriously overprocessed hair...
I hate to say it, I hate to say it...it's probably me
This is life, this is no rhyme...
Random posts in a random world...
You're still standing
I am a hot bitch?
Celebrate me home, MWK!!
Shit, my laundry!
Wanderings, classical music, and daylight savings can SUCK IT!

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You're so Vain, You Probably Think this LJ is About You

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Entries tagged with travel

Hello, strangers...

Vacay, wot wot!

Where the Hell did the weekend go?!

Nothing new to report...

I am hungry! Why is no one bringing me my breakfast?!!

Nelson had seriously overprocessed hair...

I hate to say it, I hate to say it...it's probably me

This is life, this is no rhyme...

Random posts in a random world...

You're still standing

I am a hot bitch?

Celebrate me home, MWK!!

Shit, my laundry!

Wanderings, classical music, and daylight savings can SUCK IT!