Jamaica

****Holiday tree some guests put up from a branch in the jungle the staff found and all natural ornaments, i.e. shells, etc. The same guests have been putting up an all natural tree on the beach the past 5 years.

So, I suppose I should post about Jamaica before too much time has gone by.......

We decided to stay at Couples Sans Souci in Ocho Rios. Left on Dec 20 and came home Dec 26, flying Delta via Atlanta.

Flights went smoothly on the way to Jamaica. No delays at all, which was nice. Got there, and there was a long wait to get through customs. When we got the front of the line, Kurt had to go to a special health area to be asked questions because he had been out of the country in the past 6 weeks (his Costa Rica business trip). I found the luggage while he did that and we headed to the Couples area of the airport. The resort had an area of the airport where you checked in, could use the bathroom, get a drink, relax, and wait for the shuttle to the resort to get there. About 10 minutes in, the shuttle was ready. It was us and two other couples in the van, and they were actually going to another Couples resort. Ride took about 1.45 from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. We talked to the other couples quite a bit--could not watch more scenery as it was getting dark. Got to the resort and check in was easy, we were the only ones in the lobby. A beach party was going on that night for dinner, so we headed to our room E8 (evergreen building), changed into better hot weather clothing, and headed down to the party. Got down there, found a place to sit and ate. We were starving from not eating very much that day. We were pretty tired, so we did not stay much for the show at dinner. Headed back to the room, threw bathing suits on and headed for the jacuzzi and to check out the resort. Found the gym, all the pools, the hot tubs, restaurants, etc.

The rest of the trip was mostly spent doing one of the next few things--working out (once a day), sitting on the beach (most of the day), drinking (most of the day), playing tennis (most days), and having meals (three times per day). We also read a couple books and RELAXED. It was totally what I needed. I was exhausted going into this trip. Loved lying on the beach all day, napping, walking on the water, using the pool and hot tub. I think I napped more on this trip than any trip I have ever been on, which caused problems with my work productivity the first week back, LOL.

**on our way to the resort after flying to Jamaica.

We ate at all three restaurants while there. My fav was Bella Vista, which was on the beach. This was the only place that did not require a reservation at the resort, but I thought had the best service and food. They had this snapper there that was amazing. The other two places were good as well. We had breakfast at a buffet all mornings but one when we ordered room service (which was included in the price of our room as well).

We went into town one day to shop, and it was not really a fun experience. They took us to this area I think it just for tourists. The people there were realllllly pushy, moreso than anywhere we have been. It made us not want to shop as you could not really browse leisurely without being hounded. At least in nonEnglish speaking countries we can act like we dont understand. :). We ended up hanging out at a little bar and having a snack and drinks. More relaxing than being hounded shopping.

***heading to dinner, night one, the beach party.

Overall, the beaches at the resort and Jamaica, at the resort anyway, was absolutely beautiful. The water was totally blue and gorgeous. We loved our time there, and we spent the trip doing just what we wanted--nothing. I would not recommend Jamaica if you want a place to explore a lot in the country, as I don't think it's really safe to explore a lot on your own and not on tours.

You can click here to see all the pics from the trip.

St Maarten

I am going to watch this video daily as something to look forward to soon......

The Cliff at Cupecoy in St Maarten from thecliff on Vimeo.

Heading Down to Watch the Underwear Bomber Hearing Tomorrow

by Kurt Haskell

Although the underwear bomber trial concluded in October with a plea deal, Umar filed a motion on December 12, 2011 to replace stand-by attorney Chambers. This motion is too little too late since the only matter left in the case is sentencing, which will occur on January 19, 2012. A copy of the hand written motion can be viewed here:

http://www.mied.uscourts.gov/hpc/docs/21.Motion%20to%20Appoint%20New%20Stand-By%20Counsel.pdf

When it was filed in December, the press jumped all over it claiming that the crazy Umar wanted to fire his stand-by attorney and replace him with a muslim attorney. To me, this motion is something else. Let me explain. When Umar took his plea deal, it consisted of him pleading guilty to all of the charges, which require a life sentence with no chance of parole. NOBODY ON EARTH TAKES A PLEA SO THAT THEY CAN NEVER GET OUT OF PRISON! Plea deals involve give and take on both sides. Not only that, but stand-by attorney Chambers told me earlier in 2011 that Umar was offered very lenient plea deals because the prosecution "Just wants this case to go away". Umar rejected all of the lenient offers. Therefore, there is more to the plea deal that we will never know about (i.e. that Umar will be secretly released after sentencing for example). What was also an apparent sham to me was the concocted speech that Umar gave when he made made his plea "deal". Umar had written a statement in advance and read it in open court. It can be found on the internet with a little searching. To me, the statement did not seem like it was written by Umar or even in language that I heard Umar use before. It seemed much more likely to be the exact wording that the prosecution or government would want him to say as if they had prepared it themselves. It was a statement that the prosecution and press could blast everywhere to show that Umar is indeed a "crazy Muslin terrorist" and not the mere patsy that he is. I believe that whatever the real plea deal was, it involved not only that Umar read the statement prepared for him, but that he also file this nonsensical motion. The purpose of the motion would be to allow the press to again label Umar a "crazy Muslim terrorist" and continue to spread the government's propaganda. I was in contact with attorney Chambers on multiple occasions during this case. I know that not only did he not ignore Umar, but he tried everything in his power to become Umar's regular attorney and to get him off of the charges. It was Umar that withheld evidence from Chambers and failed to discuss most of the case details with Chambers. It was obvious that Umar was withholding evidence from Chambers because Chambers would often learn of important details of the case from me or from reading my blog. What really is the smoking gun in this motion is the following sentence "I do not intend to have my new attorney to have my discovery materials and things". WHY THE HELL NOT???? Umar again is going to hide evidence from the only person that can help him. Guys, this just doesn't happen in the real world. In my blog post last July, I discussed what would happen if Umar's stand-by attorney obtained the evidence in this case........It could be obtained by subpoena by interested third parties (me for example). Is this why Umar withheld evidence from his stand-by attorney and wants to do it again? This sort of thing just doesn't happen in the real world. Then again, maybe the underwear bomber case is really the government concocted fantasy I've been saying it is. Nevertheless, I am heading down to Judge Edmunds' Courtroom at 11:00 A.M. tomorrow to watch the theatrics.

Sum Up the Year, Yo

I stole this from Nancy.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

*** Traveled to Germany, Jamaica, San Diego, and Puerto Rico. Wore an all sequined dress. Became obsessed with running and actually placed in my age group in many places. Adopted a stray kitty.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

*** I did not. I failed miserably. I wanted to learn Spanish better. I have already made some more. I want to run a 10K. I want to learn Spanish. I want to eat more fruits and veggies.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

*** Yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

*** Yes.

5. What countries did you visit?

*** Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Germany, many places in the US

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

*** More free time.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

***There are really no dates that totally stand out this year. I had a lot of good times, but I am horrible at remembering dates.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

*** I think I would have to say the races I ran and my times continually improving.

9. What was your biggest failure?

*** Not spending as much time with family as I would have liked to.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

*** Yes. I was hit by a car while riding my bike and hurt myself, but not too badly.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

*** My husband's.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

*** Most politicians, like the ones who recently passed a law making it legal to detain a citizen, without cause. Most of the American public, for thinking this is OK and just accepting the BS that happens without question or second thought.

14. Where did most of your money go?

*** Besides office expenses, prob travel.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

*** all of our trips.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

*** Moves Like Jagger

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? Happier!
b) thinner or fatter? thinner
c) richer or poorer? richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

*** spending time with friends and family

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

*** Working

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

*** Spent it in Jamaica with my husband

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

*** Yes

23. What was your favorite TV program?

*** Girls Next Door

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

*** No. I don’t really hate anyone.

25. What was the best book you read?

***Nothing really stands out. Any travel book is great

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

***Paul McCartney live was amazing.

27. What did you want and get?

*** Trips, clothes that fit right, a continuing successful law practice

28. What did you want and not get?

*** More free time

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

*** Dont know. I dont really watch movies until they have been out on video for a while

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

*** I was 34. We took a trip to Puerto Rico, which rocked.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

*** Not working as much. Seeing my Mom more.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

*** Great shoes make every outfit.

33. What kept you sane?

*** Running. My husband. Calls with my Mom.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

*** Kate Middleton.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

*** See above. The law passed to detain citizens with no cause. also, any laws that take our constitutional rights away by lying and telling the US it is to protect us from terrorism.

36. Who did you miss?

*** My Mom.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

*** Well, not new exactly, but new to the office, Angie.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

*** Sometimes I cant do it all and need to ask for help.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

*** I've got the moves like Jagger. hahahahaha.

Christmas Day Two Years Later and the Current State of the U.S.

by Kurt Haskell

It has now been two years since the Underwear Bomber attack. Once again, Lori and I find ourselves reflecting during the holidays about what happened on Flight 253. The attack, which comprised only two minutes of our lives, continues to shape our thoughts and beliefs. Although the criminal case has ended (except for sentencing which will happen in January 2012), the laws of Michigan allow for a two year period statute of limitations in order for the injured to bring a civil lawsuit. The time period to file such a lawsuit lapses tomorrow. Lori and I have had the plan to file a civil suit at the conclusion of the criminal case, which ended in October 2011. The plan was for me to file the civil case on my own in order to keep her out of the inevitable attacks and aggravation that would come from such a suit. I have talked to several attorneys to represent me in such a case, but none of them were willing to take on the U.S. Government. I made the decision that I would represent myself in such a case. I have spent a great deal of time researching the suit and have worked on writing the complaint to initiate the case. Even though I have spent a great deal of time researching the civil case, I don't feel that I have spent enough time on the case. I have come to the conclusion that becoming involved in such a case would be an overwhelming constraint on my time. As I am a very busy attorney, this would be time that I don't have to give up. I have been willing to give up my nights and weekends in order to work on the case to further expose evidence to prove that the U.S. Government was behind the staged attack.

Over the past few weeks, I have reconsidered my decision to file a civil case, and I will instead, begrudgingly, let the statute of limitations lapse. There are several reasons I have reconsidered my decision. The purpose of my civil lawsuit would not have been to obtain compensation, but would have been to obtain further evidence that the U.S. Government perpetrated the attack. Personally, I don't need any further evidence to prove the matter to myself. I have laid out my case in numerous prior postings on this blog. I have convinced the vast majority of people that have chosen to look at all of the evidence that I've presented. I don't believe I can convince anyone else. Those that choose to deny the obvious will still not be convinced even if they watched the Schiphol airport video and audio showing what I have indicated. What then would be the purpose of my civil suit? I could possibly obtain further evidence, but that would only further convince those that already believe the U.S. Government is behind the attack. I also believe that obtaining such evidence would be nearly impossible. We now have a U.S. Government so drunk with its own power that it believes it is o.k. to kill U.S. citizens without a trial and/or to detain them forever without a hearing before a judge.

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-obama-its-not-okay-to-kill-us-citizens-without-trial

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/15/americans-face-guantanamo-detention-obama

Would the U.S. Government willingly turn over evidence to me to show conclusively that it was behind the Underwear Bombing attack when it believes it can kill or detain American citizens indefinitely? Not a chance in hell. It is much more likely that the U.S. Government would declare me a person that "substantially aided" a terrorist under the new defense authorization bill and detain me indefinitely without a trial. However, that was not really a concern that led to my decision to not file a civil case. What did play a factor was the reaction, or lack thereof, of Americans in relation to the passing of this bill. Why are Americans not outraged and protesting by the millions in Washington over this law? It has just further confirmed to me that the vast majority of Americans just don't care what the U.S. Government does in relation to "terrorism". I can't tell you how many times people have told me that they are o.k. to let the U.S. Government do whatever it wants to do against terrorists in order to make them safe. I have news for these people, if there are terrorists everywhere; there is nothing that can be done to make you entirely safe. I live very close to the largest population of Muslims in the U.S. If terrorism were as bad as the U.S. Government makes it out to be, car and suicide bombings would occur in my area on a regular basis. The fact that they never occur is very telling. It is my belief that the war on terror is nothing but a fraudulent U.S. Government creation designed, in part, to take away all of the rights of Americans and to further enrich and consolidate the power of those in control.

Our Constitutional rights are currently under attack and are being rapidly taken away. In case you haven't been paying attention, the definition of "terrorist" is slowly changing to one that means "a person that doesn't agree with the U.S. Government". When those that have given away all of their rights to combat terrorism suddenly discover that they are in fact terrorists, it will be too late. If I filed and won my lawsuit and proved that the U.S. Government staged the Underwear Bomber attack, would these people care? No they wouldn't. Would it stop the U.S. Government's assault on our Constitutional Rights? No it wouldn't. Would anyone do anything if I was labeled a terrorist and detained indefinitely without a trial? Not a chance. These people comprise the vast majority of the American population. The corruption is so entrenched that 93 out of 100 senators voted for the recent law that allows for the indefinite detention of Americans without a trial. Can anyone think of any recent law that had that had such a vast majority of approval by both Democrats and Republicans? I can't think of any. The question I have is why would this bill obtain such vast approval? The answer to me is an obvious one. The U.S. as we know it is on the edge of complete collapse due to an out of control national debt. This collapse will lead to an economic collapse that will make the Great Depression look like a fun time. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility, an 18 member bi-partisan commission created by President Obama, recently indicated that the financial collapse will occur within two years.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Trinity-speakers-say-U-S-must-share-sacrifice-2400021.php#ixzz1gWTEZC60

Obviously, the vast majority of senators that voted in support of the authorization to detain Americans indefinitely are worried that Americans may turn their anger from a financial collapse onto their political representatives. The approval of such a law was made in order to protect the politicians themselves from unruly mobs of Americans that are angry from the financial collapse. These Americans will be the new "terrorists". The new "terrorists" will find indefinite “housing” in FEMA camps that are being built throughout the U.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P-hvPJPTi4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJBxdRIQx7Y

What other explanation could there be for the large bipartisan support for such an unconstitutional law? There is none. It is also shocking that a president that is a supposed Constitutional law expert would approve of a law that is such a direct violation of the Constitution. This is the sad state of affairs that is prevalent in the U.S. today.

What also had an effect on my decision to not file a civil case was the indication by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility that the U.S. economy will collapse within the next two years. Lori and I have had a multi-year plan (Going back to 2006) to retire and move out of the U.S. Our current plan is to move abroad at the end of 2013. Apparently, according to the commission, this would coincide with the U.S. economic collapse. If I were to file a civil suit, the time and money I would need to put into such a case would delay our move out of the U.S. For obvious reasons, we don’t want to be in the U.S. when it collapses and definitely, don’t want to be considered “wealthy” when millions of out of control Americans look for scapegoats for their economic problems.

Make no mistake, my decision to not file a civil case was not due to intimidation. If it was, I never would have spoken out against the U.S. Government in the first place. My decision rests on two conditions that have become increasingly clear over the past two months:

1. The vast majority of Americans don’t care or will never believe that the U.S. Government is staging false terror attacks against its own citizens.

2. The U.S. is facing imminent economic collapse for which I need to devote as much time and save as much money as possible in order to financially prepare to leave the U.S. permanently.

On a side note, I saw that a fellow Underwear Bomber passenger has filed a civil suit.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/23/justice/new-york-underwear-bomber-lawsuit/?hpt=us_c2

Note that Mr. Maranga has sued the airline and not the U.S. Government agents that were behind the attack. I have spoken to Mr. Maranga on several occasions and he is not convinced that the U.S. Government was involved. Don’t expect anything earth shattering to come out of this lawsuit. I originally read this story on the Detroit Free Press website, which I have been unable to locate. The comments section of that article contains many posts attacking Mr. Maranga for wanting compensation for his emotional injuries. Such is the sad state of the mind of the standard American. By the way, in order to sue an airline for an injury received on an international flight, you must have a physical injury and not just emotional trauma. What is interesting to me is that the U.S. was responsible for this provision in the Montreal Convention (the current law on international airline travel). Most nations wanted passengers to be able to sue for strictly emotional injuries, but the U.S. wouldn’t allow it. As I didn’t suffer a physical injury, I am prohibited from suing the airline.

I know that many people will be disappointed in my decision to not sue the members of the U.S. Government that were behind the fraudulent, false, threat known as the Underwear Bomber attack. I understand your feelings. I don’t want to let it go myself, but I have to look at the reality of the situation. The vast majority of Americans are not willing to believe that their government is as corrupt and evil as it is. No significant change will occur until this changes, and likely, even then, won’t occur without an overthrow of the government. Such a time will not occur without prior significant financial hardship happening to the vast majority of Americans. That time is coming, but it is not yet here. A cost benefit analysis regarding the filing of a civil suit indicates that there is no real upside to filing such a case, but there is significant downside. Nonetheless, I will continue to speak out against the corrupt and fraudulent U.S. Government and will continue to support those Americans that are paying attention and want their country to return to the free country that it once was.

Happy Holidays to all.

Racquetball, Kate and land

So, just to update, I think we have decided against putting a bid in on the property. What's weird is, on paper, the place sounds perfect for us, and really, in person it was as well. But something is telling me not to put a bid in on it, like I have this feeling it's not the perfect fit. Kurt feels the same way, so we are holding off for now. I know we will just know when we find the perfect land/house, and I just do not think this is it. I think we are looking a little bit too early too, since we are still a couple years away from moving. I really don't want to buy and let something sit.

My amazing Kate Spade dress came in the mail! :). I can't believe the deal I got on it and I love it. REALLY high quality and well made, and super cute on. It's so detailed too, I don't even have to wear a necklace or any jewelry with it (besides my wedding ring). Wore it today to the office with my purple and white heels. Love. Yay Neiman Marcus clearance sales.

Had a KFASS dinner tonight, and it was nice to see the girls. I love having this group of girls who I can gossip with, who are in the same career as I am and just understand my job issues, etc.

I have had a bad headache for two days, which is super annoying. I think it's sinus related, the weather here had just been odd, with temps going up and down daily. Today, at one point, it was 53 degrees out! And this is weird since a couple days ago, it was in the 20s. My body hates drastic weather changes like that. I love the 53 degrees in December in Michigan, but my body is not doing well with that. I was proud of myself though, as even with a borderline migraine, I still biked over 11 miles on both days (which is about the only workout I can do with a bad headache).

So, we taught ourselves how to play racquetball this weekend and had a blast! We are just kinda learning at this point, but it seems like a great workout and is a lot of fun. I think we will be playing a lot now, at least on weekends. Here is me in my fancy goggles and racquet! Whoot.

Anyway, got to get to bed. Hope everyone is having a fab week!

BRRRRRR

Was so happy Kurt got home! :). The pugs were as well. They seemed shocked when he walked in the door, as that is the longest the pugs and I have been at home without Kurt in 15 years!

Anyway, his trip was very busy, but went well. He got 6 veneers on his top teeth while there, in Tamarindo, at the only place he could find that could do the work that quickly. They turned out gorgeous. But, the main point of the trip was looking at the land in Bijagual. Bijagual is near Jaco, which like I have said before, is my fav city in the world. The piece of land we are looking at is 100 acres. Kurt hiked and saw a lot of it on horseback.



There was a portion of it that had been cleared at one point into 5 lots for houses (I think the owners were hoping to turn it into a small subdivision), and the rest of it is mostly primary and secondary rain forest, with some farm land as well. Which is pretty much what we want. Also, the land is part of some government program where we can have them come in and plant any kind of tree we want if we want to reforest any part of the cleared land. We would like to be somewhat self sufficient, so I would love lots of fruit trees for that purpose. I guess there are waterfalls and a lot of really pretty creeks and stuff on the land as well. Sounds pretty perfect. It is about 15 minutes from the ocean and another 10 minutes to Jaco. we are waiting on some other information on the property from our realtor, but it seems great (we would build a house on it, there is no house). Which is fine with me, since most costa rican houses I see are not really built in the style I would prefer. Jaco was having a huge surfing tourney while Kurt was there, and the reservation I made him at a room was not honored. So, he had to find another place, but found one pretty quickly. All went well with his flights, which I was happy about because I was worried about Kurt flying without me since he hates it. A lot of turbulence on one flight, and one small delay, but other than that, all was good.

We have, of course, been super busy since he got home.

We went today and bought racquets, balls, and goggles for playing racquetball at the gym. We are going to teach ourselves soon. I am hoping its a fun way to get cardio in to mix in with running, jumping rope and biking. I just can't make myself like running outdoors, so I am trying to make working out indoors more interesting. It has been under 30 degrees out here, and is crazy cold.

Friday, a Seattle based documentary writer met up with Kurt for most of the afternoon. I had lunch with him and he was a super nice guy, really interested in everything related to Flight 253 and the aftermath. I am curious to see how the film comes out. Anything we can do to open the American people's eyes to the lies and deceit going on behind the scenes, we will take part in.

I finally found a great red winter coat to buy on ideeli.com. Came in the mail today and thankfully, it fits perfectly. Yay. Marked WAY down too, which makes me happy. Kurt says it makes me look *skinny*, so I was even more happy after that! ;).




Also, got another scarf in the mail this week that I got an AMAZING deal on Shopbop.com this week. Scarf is adorable and super soft. I can tell Im cold lately since I am obsessed with scarves.



I started using the weight room part of the gym today. I have decided I want to tone up my arms more. I already see some muscle tone, but I want everything in my arms, chest, shoulders to be rock hard. So, gotta start lifting more. I am thankful for running though, as that in itself has really started the toning process. I need to buy a one piece swimsuit as well, as I want to start swimming in the pool at the gym, since I want to do a tri next summer.

Am counting down the days to Jamaica!!!!

Hope everyone is well!

Update(s)

OK, don't even know where to start.

Well, Vegas for Thanksgiving 2011 was super fun! We flew out via Delta after work on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Flight was fine, no issues. Picked up our rental car at Alamo and we were off to the Palazzo. The Palazzo is part of the Venetian, just a newer tower they built. Anyway, I got the room at a discount through SniqueAway, an online travel site. The deal also included some coupons for the spa, restaurants, ice skating, etc., but we did not use any of the coupons. Anyway, all of the rooms a Palazzo are suites and super nice. We had a gorgeous view overlooking the entire strip, on the 43rd floor. Room 732 to be exact. Highly recommend that room, as it is away from the elevators and we barely saw another person on our floor while there. My fav part of the room was the remote controls that opened the curtains and shades. Anyway, the room had a separate sleeping area and sitting area, that had two couches, a desk, a frig, etc. The bathroom was huge and shower was nice. Also had a jet tub, which we did not use. Anyway, first night we simply stayed in, as we had eaten a sushi dinner at the airport in Detroit and were tired with the time difference.

Got up and used the hotel gym. There were two gyms we could use, either the one at Palazzo or Venetian (we only use the one at Palazzo the entire trip). I guess the one at Venetian was larger, but the one at Palazzo was plenty big enough for me since I only use the treadmill and bike generally. I worked out every day of the trip, which was good with all the crap we ate. :). After that, we headed out to play some poker. Had Thanksgiving dinner at the Mirage buffet, which was super good. We eat there almost every trip. Then, we saw Peepshow with Holly Madison at Planet Hollywood hotel. Loved the show. Was pleased that Madison was a huge part of the show, did not just make an appearance. Black Friday, I went shopping at my fav outlet mall out there, but did not end up buying anything, weirdly. Kurt watched football, then picked me up after several hours. We then played some more poker and just pretty much gambled the rest of the day. Saturday, Kurt spoke at a function for a friend of his in Vegas, then we had Mexican for lunch and got massages at a place I found online. Played some more poker, and went to dinner, then saw the Cirque Elvis show at Aria. Loved that show as well, but it was kinda more of a musical than your normal Cirque show. Sunday, I went shopping at Fashion Show mall and ended up getting some great deals on things. I bought an all sequined dress at the Limited to wear to a Xmas party, but ended up wearing it out that night in Vegas too. Perfect Vegas dress. Also got a dress for Jamaica there (one shoulder dress), and a cute skirt for work. I was psyched to find a bathing suit I have been coveting marked half off at Betsey Johnson, so I bought that, and I found two really high end bras marked down at Nordstrom's on clearance. Whoot. Went back to the room, and Kurt and I went to dinner, played poker, blackjack, relaxed. Monday, we headed to the airport and home. At the start of the trip, Kurt got plagued with the cold most of the office has had, so he was kinda out of it most of the trip. Boo.


Of course, as soon as we got home, I came down with what Kurt had. Boo. Got up in the morning to take a shower, and had no hot water. Why? Well, Kurt went down to look in the basement, and we had 6 inches of water throughout the basement. While we were gone, both sump pumps in the basement went out, and the water got so high it damaged both of our hot water tanks and almost ruined our furnace. So, Kurt had to stay home from work and call a plumber, who came out and pumped out our basement. Of course, they could not put in new hot water tanks right away. So, I had taken COLD showers all week, with the exception of the showers I took at the gym. UGH. SUCKS. I lost my voice an entire day this week which made working interesting, thank God I had no court that day.

Went to the downriver bar association Xmas party on Friday night. Both Shannon and Angie from the office came, and a lot of the KFASS girls and other lawyer peeps were there, so it was a lot of fun. We went out afterwards and ended up at the American Legion where we surprisingly had a lot of fun! :). Was much cheaper than a trendier place, that's for sure...........

**Judge McNally and I

Went to dinner on Saturday night with my Aunt at Crave. I had a Living Social deal that was about to expire, and I had to use it or lose it. Dinner was amazing, as usual. We split an appetizer of Spring Rolls and I think they were the best spring rolls I have ever had. Tonight, we had a late Thanksgiving dinner at Grama's, where we ordered in pizza and pasta from Buddy's. Food was good but not good for me. That's OK though. :). It was Thanksgiving, right?

Kurt took off to Costa Rica on Friday afternoon to look at some property that sounds awesome that our realtor emailed us about. I could not go as we are too busy with hearings at the office. Boo. He is also getting some dental work done while he is there (at an insane discount compared to the US). He saw the property today, but since we have not talked on the phone (just via text and facebook), I don't know a ton about it yet, but will keep everyone posted. Sounded like he liked the property though, and the dental work is going well. He got to explore the property by horseback today, and it is sunny and 85 degrees there, so needless to say, I am uber jealous right now! :).

Off to bed. Hope everyone has been doing well.

Booked

**Pic above from the website of the Couples Sans Souci.

Our holiday trip is booked for Christmas! I know I blogged about this before, but we decided to shorten our trip this year since we have new staff starting at the office and I don't really think I should be leaving for two weeks right now. So, we are going to take a longer trip sometime in the beginning of 2012 to make up for the missed time off. Anyway, I wanted to pick someplace where we could both relax and take some little day trips to do things outside where we would be staying.

I started looking at Jamaica (Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril) and Mexico (Puerto Vallerta and Cabo). Went back and forth for a while before booking today, and the winner is:

Ocho Rios! :)

Can't wait. My resort requirements were adults only (preferably, couples only), wireless internet in room (preferably for free), gym on premises of hotel (with weights and cardio) and large rooms. Ended up booking at the Couples Sans Souci in Ocho Rios. After searching and pricing things out, ended up getting a Penthouse Suite for the price of a normal room on Travelocity, so I was happy. I had a really hard time picking a place, but this one had everything we were looking for. I like this place too as they pick you up for free at the airport.

There are already a couple tours I know I want to do while there, like this kewl ATV tour up a mountain, and another to a waterfall. There are some with dolphins and sharks............................

First week with Angie at the office has been awesome. She has been SOOO much help with hearings and phone calls and paperwork, and she has only worked one week so far. Everyone else loves her at the office too and she fits in perfectly. So happy about this decision that we made to hire her.

Off to bed, happy weekend! :)

Recipes

I bought this cookbook that is AWESOME. Rebecca forwarded me a coupon to use when we stopped in a bookstore after lunch the other weekend, for 50% off one book. I ended up buying a cookbook, which is not a normal purchase for me since you can get almost every recipe online these days......Anyway, I bought this one. All the recipes are low fat (which is super important to Kurt and I), as well as vegetarian and a lot of them are even vegan. Also, most of the recipes seem super simple and pretty quick.

So far, I have made two recipes for Kurt (and stole a bite of course), and they were both awesome!

First, yesterday, I made garbanzo bean soup. Decided to make this because Kurt LOVES garbanzo beans. It was very simple. Recipe as follows (I modified the recipe to make 2 servings instead of 4):

1 medium onion, chopped (I used a red onion cuz they were the cheapest at the store and used half a large onion)

1 garlic clove, minced (used a jarred one) and my garlic press

2 cups vegetable stock (I used Kroger brand cans)

1 can garbanzo beans (used organic Kroger brand)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme leaves

salt and pepper, to taste

1/8 cup of sour cream (I eliminated this totally)

paprika or chili powder, as garnish

Saute onion and garlic in lightly greased large saucepan until tender, about 5 minutes. Add stock, beans, cumin, and thyme and heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.

Process soup in blender until smooth (could also use food processor according to book); season with salt and pepper. Top each bowl of soup with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with paprika.

This was great. Almost tasted like hummus soup! And we all know how I love hummus.......

Second recipe was Black Bean and Jalapeno Pizza with Cheese Pizza Dough

First, make the cheese pizza dough. Take 1.25 cups of flour and mix with half teaspoon of sugar and 2/3 cup of very hot water. Mix. ADd 2 TBSP of parm cheese and another .5 cup of flour. Knead in .25 cup of cheddar cheese. I used fat free cheddar and parm, kraft for both. Let sit covered for 15 minutes before spreading on 12 inch pizza pan. (I let sit much longer as I worked out before making the pizza, and it was fine sitting for much longer).

Spread .75 cup of salsa on dough (i used a medium salsa). Lightly mash black beans (I used organic) with 1/4 cup of salsa. Spoon over pizza. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of jalapeno chilies (I used banana peppers instead) and 1 cup of fat free cheddar cheese. Bake at 425 degrees until crust is browned, 20 minutes.

This crust was aMAZing and my first attempt ever at pizza crust. I would have never guessed the cheese was fat free, SO GOOD. Kurt ate almost the entire pizza, so I guess it was good! :).

Lack of Posting

Life has been pretty chaotic. When I do get downtime, I truthfully have not really felt like coming on here and blogging. It takes enough keeping up with everything else with email, facebook, reading friends' blogs, etc.

Good news with the office though! I finally talked Kurt into letting me hire another associate. After Holly left in April 2011, Kurt was kinda thinking he did not want to hire anyone else. Prob was, the associate that works with him was still working, which meant the bulk of the family law was mine and I had no help. I had someone in mind, a friend of mine who actually interviewed with us back in January 2009. Had no idea if she actually wanted a job or not, so once I got the support of Kurt, contacted her, she came in to meet with us, and she took the job the next day. She starts tomorrow, and I am hoping once she gets into the swing of things, I will be working less hours and may have time to do things like post on here. :). We had dinner on Friday night with her and her boyfriend and had a great time. Her boyfriend is strangely similar to Kurt......

Went through my closet last night and cleared out 5 more bags of clothing. I kept wondering why my closet was so full, but I never felt like I had anything to wear. Yea, that's cuz most of the clothes are too big. I still prob have another bag of clothes to bag up, but 5 bags was all that would fit in the car. Took it over to my friend Joni's house today so she could go thru it and keep what she wants before it's donated or trashed. My closet is strangely empty now. Except for shoes, since those are always the same size, pre-63 pound loss and now! :). Headed to NY and Co to use some coupons I had. The store was having buy one item, get one for half off, I had a $20 off coupon, and I had a 50% more off coupon. Amazing deals. I got the following stuff, some for work, some for casual, and some that works both places! I really, really need a new red winter coat. I had to donate mine and was NOT happy as the coat I had was the perfect red coat but it was HUGE on me when I went to put it on and looked bad. Boo. I need a birch run trip for shopping, that's where I found the last one super cheap. Anyway, back to the shopping!

Necklace one: (this one was only $2.66 after all coupons were applied)

Necklace two: (fell in love with this one when I saw it, and ended up with the one above since they had buy one necklace, get one 75% off plus another 50% off with my coupon)

Sweater, in white: Super comfy and can wear with dress pants to work or with jeans on the weekend.

Shirt, in green: prob will wear with suits at work

Sweater in white: cute over tanks at work.

Shirt, in blue: more for work under suits.

Jeans: I think I just liked the rhinestone detail, ;)

Blazer: tried on the matching white skirt and pants, and I just cant bring myself to buy white for skirts and pants. I know I would sit in something or rub against something and ruin them.

Sweater in grey: for casual, wore today, love it

Sweater in green: for casual

Jeans: could not find pic of these, but they are dark wash flare.

Stopped at Lowe's today and bought some plastic divider things to help organize things. I am pretty organized in my closet, except wanted a better way to organize my tights, socks, etc. other than throwing them in a bin. Started working on that, and got all my tights and nylons all organized. Moving on to socks next. Yay.

I am excited to report that Kurt is back to running, and not feeling injured at all! We were supposed to run in a race yesterday, but work got in the way of that, and Im kinda glad as a friend of mine reported the race was chaos and not very well organized. I am supposed to run in one on Tuesday night as well as Saturday.

Still trying to figure out our Xmas trip this year. Because of the new employee, we we are thinking our Xmas trip will not be super long, like usual, and we will take our longer trip of the year in late January and celebrate Kurt's bday then as well. So, I was being boring and looking at all inclusives in Mexico (cabo) and Jamamca. Then, our Costa Rica realtor emailedus a piece of property that looks amazing and is a fabulous deal, so we may be going there to look at property. I think if we go there, we will fly in, look at the property and take a side trip someplace else. leaning towards the Nicoya peninsula, since we have not yet been there, but don't really know. We could also fly to Bocas del Toro for a couple nights, or maybe the Osa? No time to figure it out, but that's most likely where we will be.

Anyway, gotta get to bed, going to have a busy week training Angie and we have a TON of court as well. Hope everyone is doing awesome!

The Penn State Scandal--My Thoughts

To all the Penn State students who think Joe Pa is a saint and amazing person and did nothing wrong, legally or morally, read the following. It is disturbing and disgusting. Because of Joe Pa and others not reporting this to the proper authorities and acting like this was "no big deals", a lot of kids were molested, raped, etc.

Did Joe Pa commit a crime? No. But because of his desire to protect his image, protect the university's image and protect his precious football program, he decided that kids being raped and molested was *OK*. He weighed the two, and decided that it was more important to protect his school and friend than to protect young kids. So morally and ethically wrong. Especially since he is a father himself, to allow this to continue happening to others is a disgrace.

And the students at Penn State should stop acting like children. I get it, you love Joe Pa. He is a legend there and in college football. I actually feel a little bit badly that after so many years and an amazing career, he had to leave on this note. But, when you are out there rioting and causing stupid scenes, step back for a second and think about the victims here, and have a little bit of respect for them.

http://sbmblog.typepad.com/files/paterno_grand_jury.pdf

Week in Review

**Post-Race picture. Recognize the hoodie, Mom? :).

Ran a 5K race in Woodhaven this morning called "The Monster Mash". A lot of people dressed up for it, so it was a fun race. Smaller turnout, which was good for me since they only gave out medals to the first person in each age group, and the age groups were 10 year increments. Anyway, I placed first! :). They accidentally put me in the wrong age group at first, but I actually placed first in both so it was OK. Well, except the girl who got knocked down one in my age group when they fixed it was not happy. Whoops. I would have preferred to stay age 24, but alas, I had to add 10. it's hard for me to figure out what to wear to the races these days, as it is too cold for short sleeves, but I get too hot running with long sleeves about half way through the race. Any runners have any ideas? I don't want to stop and take off layers while running.

Had a crazy busy week this week. One highlight was our friend Steve's retirement party. Steve was a co-worker of kurt's at the IRS back in the day (Kurt's first law job). Steve and his wife, Marilyn, are two of the kewlest people ever. They totally remind me of me and Kurt. They never had kids, and you can tell they truly love and admire one another and enjoy one another's company. they met in law school. Anyway, the turnout was crazy huge. you know someone is a nice guy when he is a lawyer for the government and that many people come out to help him celebrate. Very nice party at a country club in Maumee. Congrats Steve!

Also, had a K-Fass meeting/dinner at la Pita in Dearborn. Yum. Next meeting is Thai food at Bangkok 96 in dearborn, can't wait......

Anyway, besides working 8 million hours, those are about the only updates from the week. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.