San Diego

SOOOOOO, we will be in La Jolla (near San Diego) for the weekend for a wedding. (Thank you Kory for staying at the house and dog/cat sitting).

Anyone have any suggestions on things we have to do, see, places we need to eat, shop?

Thanks! ;).

Scaling Down

When it rains, it pours! :). Our part-time secretary, Alana, put her two weeks' notice in on Friday. She was offered a full-time job at the probate court, where they pay for your school. We can't offer that benefit at our office, so she is leaving to try and keep her student loans down. We are not replacing her either, so we will be down to one associate, one paralegal and one secretary. Which is fine with us. We kinda want to streamline things and do not want to train anyone new. Training takes so long and requires so much time andd energy, and I just don't have time OR energy right now! :).

Had dinner Saturday at Mitchell's in Livonia with Cassie and Ken and Ken's son, Zyon. It was a fab dinner. We had a reservation, but still had to wait quite a bit of time. We did not complain at all, but they felt bad we had to wait and gave us three free appetizers and free drinks! Crazy! I had a martini (since it was free) and got buzzed off like HALF of it. I am truly pathetic. Had lobster for dinner and it was amazing, as usual. It is my fav meal there.

Got my hair done at Daybreak Saturday, and my brows waxed. It is crazy busy there on the weekends! Last time I went was during the week and it was a lot quieter. Anyway, love the hair! Got a couple inches cut off and new highlights. Stopped at target afterwards, just to browse, as I have not been to a target in like 6 months I think! This target had a ton of food, like an entire frozen food section, which I have never seen in a target before. Anyway, bought some hair stuff on clearance, bought a refill on two vitamins I needed (calcium and valerian root), and got some new clothes. Target had such great deals on clothes--guess I forgot since I rarely go there! I ended up buying a new pair of jeans (which Kurt loves on me, I wore them to dinner tonight), a pair of jean capri pants for summer, a pair of shorts, a skirt for work, and a cute t-shirt.

Skipping Work Makes me Happy and GO Tigers!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous out on Sunday.........Sunny, warm, surprising weather just makes me happy. I worked part of early afternoon, and by the time I went out to my car again, it was over 80 degrees outside. So, I put the top down on the Saab, turned the music up, and started driving to Kohls.......I needed to look for a dress to wear to the San Diego wedding I am going to pretty soon, and have nothing to wear. Ended up trying on a bunch of dresses and liking a lot of them, but bought this one with these cute sandals which I know I will wear again. Also bought a cute new shirt that can be work or casual, and a pair of shorts for San Diego since I have NONE that fit right now. Also got some new nylons, and a pair of swim trunks for Kurty. Oh, and I finally found a bathing suit top that I like on! Problem is I still don't have the bikini bottom, but that will be easier to find. I am pickier about tops. Plus, I had a 20% off coupon, so I saved a bunch of money on all this stuff as well.

Came home and Kurt had cleaned out the entire garage and was cleaning the cars as well. He had packaged up all the pop cans, which we got back and cashed in for over $45! Crazy! I guess I drink a lot of diet pop, LOL. We ran into town as well to buy a new doorknob (one of ours was needing to be replaced).....I think really we just wanted to drive around with the top down, hehe.

We had an office outing yesterday afternoon to the Tigers game against texas. The weather could not have been more perfect for baseball. Clear skies, around 62 degrees, sunny, really a perfect MI Spring day. I wore jeans and a 3-quarter length sleeve shirt and was not too hot, not too cold. Plus, the Tigers won with a walk off homerun by Inge and that's super fun to be part of as well. I got some great pics, which I need to upload and play around with. We had amazing seats in the third row behind visitors dugout. I went and walked around the Tigers store as well, and OMG, the prices in there are insanely high. I really liked this one retro Tigers hoodie. $100. That is insane. I know the stuff is cheaper on the Tigers website, so I will have to look there or eBay. I dont even spend $100 on suits for work, a hoodie should not cost that much.

Yesterday was Holly's last day at the Firm. She took a job as a clerk for one of the Judge's we are in front of all the time and starts today. We are not planning on hiring anyone else. We are going to stick with three attorneys. I hate the whole hiring and training process, and I do not have the energy to do it again right now. I would rather do more hearings and put more hours in than hire/train again right now. Plus, our crazy busy season just ended, so having three attys should more than cover the work I think.

So, off to an appointment at the Monroe office. I got ready way to early today not realizing I had an appointment there until Kurt told me when I woke up, so I have been sitting here reading blogs and updating my own! :).

Oh, I got two dresses in the mail yesterday from Hautelook.com (a fav site of mine) by Ellen Tracy. I had never heard of the line before, but the stuff is really high quality and adorable and cheap since it was off the discount site. I am wearing one of the dresses today (with a suit coat over it). I would post a pic except Kurt is not here..........

Underwear Bomber, His State of Mind and the Complicity of the Detroit Free Press in the Cover Up

by Kurt Haskell

Earlier this week Lori and I attended the pretrial conference for the Underwear Bomber (Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab). This was the second hearing we attended and we plan on attending all other future hearings if our schedule allows. The hearing was pretty uneventful. One point of note to indicate Umar's state of mind was made during the hearing. Judge Edmunds asked him if he had any current concerns. His response had nothing to do with him being sentenced to life in prison, evidence, his need for an attorney, etc. His response was that he wasn't being given commissaries that he wanted in prison and also that the prison would not let him have a certain magazine subscription. Does this sound like someone in the right frame of mind to defend himself in a trial of this magnitude?

Secondly, and more importantly, was something that I discovered about the Detroit Free Press. As most of you know, the Free Press is the main newspaper here in Detroit. Before the hearing this week, I went on the Free Press website to check something about the Underwear Bomber case. What I discovered was pretty astounding. The two main articles that support my theory of the real events of this case have been erased from the Free Press website. I have written previously blog posts about each article. The first one can be found here:

http://haskellfamily.blogspot.com/2010/12/prosecutors-trying-to-block-use-of.html

and the second one can be found here:

http://haskellfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/underwear-bombers-standby-attorney.html

Anyone following this blog knows that my theory on this case is that an agent of the U.S. Government escorted Umar through security without a passport and provided him with an intentionally defective bomb in order to stage a fake terrorist attack on the flight that I was on (Please read previous blog posts for more information and evidence that supports my conclusion). The first erased article talks about how the prosecution requested a hearing to block Umar's stand-by attorney Anthony Chambers from obtaining evidence in the case. I have to ask, why would the prosecution do this? Isn't this an open and shut case with nearly 300 eyewitnesses? Obviously, this article clearly supports my conclusion that the U.S. Government is hiding the real story and the evidence must support this conclusion.

The second erased article talks about how stand-by attorney Anthony Chambers stated that the U.S. Government's own explosives experts indicate that the bomb was defective and could not have blown up. Again, this is another article that has mysteriously been erased by the Free Press. Why would the U.S. Government not want this story out there? Obviously, it would be hard for anyone to believe that Umar went through all the trouble to go to Yemen and have a bomb sewn in his underwear, travel back to Nigeria, then Amsterdam, then Detroit, only to have the bomb have no chance of detonating. It is much easier to believe that the U.S. Government supplied Umar with a fake bomb as it did(admittedly) with the Portland Christmas Tree Bomber and the Wrigley field Bomber.

Strangely enough, all other mundane articles about the Underwear Bomber going back to 2009 remain on the Free Press website. This is not a case of the Free Press erasing old articles. This is a case where the Free Press hand picked explosive articles that go against the official story in an attempt to hide the truth from the American public.

This is not the first problem that I've had with the Free Press. I have done numerous interviews with it only to have the articles, or any mention of anything I stated, not get reported. As a matter of fact, at the hearing in late January 2011, I did a 15 minute interview with a Free Press reported. Despite the fact that her article appeared in the Free Press the next day, she did not mentioned me or her interview with me in any way.

For anyone that believes we have a free press in this country please provide me with a reasonable explanation of what has occurred here with the Detroit Free Press. It certainly appears to me that we have blatant censorship by one of the largest newspapers in the U.S. Sadly, it also appears, that the media is nothing but a 4th branch of the U.S. Government. The sole purpose of the media is obviously to get paid to spew propaganda to the unfortunate U.S. citizens that have yet to awaken.

Only Took Him 2 Months to Listen.....

I was so excited yesterday when Kurt finally decided to listen to me and buy proper running shoes! When he started working out again, I wanted to buy him. He refused and said his Adidas, which are like fashion tennies, were fine. Yea, not so much. His arches have been bothering him and his knees. Which have been issues in the past, but I am sure are made worse by running in bad shoes. He is running an average of 2 miles per day, 5 days per week. Anyway, we went to my fav place for shoes, Total Runner, in Southgate. They measured his foot, looked at the arch, etc., and had him try on about 5 pairs of shoes, including Asics, Saucony, Brooks and New Balance. He ended up liking a pair of Asics best, the Gel Evolution 6. Hooray! Purchase made. Then, since he was apparently on a shopping shoe roll (which is weird cuz Kurt never steps foot in most stores, LOL), he decided he wanted some more supportive dress shoes for work. So, we stopped at Shoe Carnival in Taylor. They had a deal, buy one pair, get one half off. He could only find one pair. I told him it's pretty much against the Lori Rules of Shopping to not take advantage of that offer, so I found a pair of heels to buy in a color I don't already own. This is sad, since I already purchased a pair of heels online today with ShoeDazzle.

I told Kurt I am going to need another shoe shelving unit built, LOL. Or maybe I should just stop buying shoes........At least I get a lot of use out of all of them with the job I have. I finally found a tailor to help me out. Found them on Craigslist of all places, but they are a legit store in Trenton called Jan's Sewing and Alterations. Took in 6 skirts and a pair of pants and they had be try them all on, pinned them, etc. and will have them back to me shortly. Super nice people. I took all the stuff in that was kinda in between stuff (stuff I have bought since I started losing weight). I was not even going to try taking in stuff from before this weight loss journey began, and will be donating most of it to charity. I kinda picked and chose what would be altered to, as if it was a skirt from Kohl's I paid $8 for, I might as well just head back to Kohl's and buy another one in the right size if I like the skirt that much. I mostly took in skirts that go with suit coats, for the nicer brands, like Tahari, Nine West, etc. I have so much crap to donate to charity now. The woman there suggested I take the stuff into a consignment shop, but, I think the charity deduction would be better for our taxes. I may list a couple things on eBay though.....

Updates

*******Took the pic above this week for my Mom. She is doing some kind of thing for my Grampa and wanted me to take this pic. I think my finger looks freakishly long in the pic. odd. I still think my name should be above Kurt's, but, since we go in order of when you joined the firm, Kurt was technically a lawyer before me. Ha.

Work hard, play hard.....seems to be our mantra. :). Had a pretty busy weekend, but worked some "fun" in there as well. Friday night, we had tickets to see Sarah Silverman at The Fillmore. I was wondering where The Fillmore was, and then I realized that it is actually the new name of the State Theatre. Never knew the name changed, I guess I don't go out again! :). Anyway, we left work a half hour early so we could go home and work out, eat dinner, and change for the show. Drove to Detroit, got there in record time so we got a drink and Kurt got popcorn and we waited for the show to start. She had two opening acts and then her act. Show was great, and it was nice to get out on a Friday night. Saturday, we worked a few hours, then I ran into town to return a shirt at TJ Maxx that I grabbed the wrong size off the rack of. Of course, the shirt was no longer there, so I just had to return it. Boo. While there, I found a really cute Calvin Klein black sweater shrug, and another black shirt to wear over tanks and stuff. Also, totally scored on the beauty rack, they had a TON of Philosophy body washes for like half off retail, so I stocked up on those. Will take a while to use, but worth it to stock up since I usually pay regular price at sephora or on the philosophy website. I started using lemon angel food cake this morning and it smells heavenly. Stopped at Ciolino's in Monroe and bought some fruits and veggies. I was craving cantaloupe, so i bought one and cut it up. Super yummy. Stopped at the mall cuz I had a coupon for Elder Beerman. Found nothing there, but decided to stop in Maurices and found a ton of stuff there I liked (see below). I also found a great dress on clearance, but cant find a pic. I am going to wear it with a black suit coat to work, but I could also wear it with my cobalt blue or black shrug.

Saturday night, we went to a charity fundraiser for a local Catholic elementary school. One of the clerks at court invited us, as she was helping run it and her kids go there. Anyway, we had a really nice time. The dress was casual, so I had no clue what to wear. I ended up wearing black dress pants, a new black and white striped short sleeve shirt I bought and my new CK sweater shrug, with red heels and cute jewelry. Was glad I did not wear jeans, as most people were dressed similar to me. There was a buffet, a silent auction, and a live auction. They also had music and dancing later on, but we left before that started as we were both kinda tired. Great night out though. Made a great new recipe tonight. Click here to see how to make the fabulous Chipotle Bean Burritoes (found in Food Network magazine). I slightly modified Kurt's and added mild pepper rings. I also used low fat sour cream. For mine, I used a wheat tortilla and no sour cream or cheese. Anyway, these were a hit in our household! I made mine with ahi tuna and spaghetti squash, Kurt had his with miso soup. Weird combos, I know, but we are weird with what we eat. I made Kurt two, and me one, and we had lots of leftovers for another night as I made the entire recipe instead of halving it. One of my favorite attorneys is now a Referee at the Friend of the Court where I practice all the time. I stopped in to see her on the bench this week, wearing her robe, looking all powerful and important! :). Talked her into a pic and stayed and talked for a while. Holly and I went to a Welcome Judge Hubbard party this week. Was actually pretty fun. They had a spread of food in the courtroom, decorations, etc. and we got to talk to a lot of the Judges/referees/local attys/court staff, etc. Had a nice time and Judge Mccarthy did us a favor and took a pic of us standing behind the bench. We can never take pics during court, so it was kinda fun to get the pic! :). Statrted cleaning out my closet and it's kinda embarassing how many pairs of pants i have to get rid of. I will prob donate to Good Will, unless I can figure out another good use. I also have several suits coats, and some shirts. Ugh. I mean, I am glad I lost the weight, but replenishing a huge wardrobe kinda sucks financially. I will just keep clearance and outlet shopping. Lost another 1.6 pounds this week, so still not sure if I am done losing or not. Kurt lost another 3.6 pounds and is getting really close to his goal weight. He is now thinking he may need to lose 10 more pounds than his goal weight to get his "6 pack" though, so we will see. I will be happy when he is eating meals again every night and not eating only protein shakes, yogurt and fruit/veggies. I actually LIKE cooking dinner.

Anyway, this is getting long.........Hope everyone had a nice week and an even better weekend.

Deals Galore

I decided to go outlet shopping yesterday, as I desperately need some new clothes. I headed to Birch Run, which is my fav Michigan shopping venue. Not the best outlet mall in the country, but the best in the state of MI. It is about 1 hour 45 minutes from my house. Since I waited until the last minute, none of my shopping buddies were available to go, but I thought it was prob best I went on my own anyway as I really needed to spend some time figuring out my size and trying things on and I did not want to bore anyone. Anyway, the drive there was nice. Perfect weather for driving. Got there, and headed to customer service to pick up a coupon book (free of charge with a coupon I got online and my AAA card). Also had my 30% off coupon for Banana/Old Navy/Gap that I got via email. Score! :).

First purchases were at Ann Taylor. Love the store, hate the retail prices. PERFECT Lori work store though. I find deals here every single time I go to Birch Run, and this time was the same! There were a ton of clearance racks in the back, and I started piling stuff up to try on. Got into the dressing room and all the pants were too big. AARGH. Good, but annoying. Went back out and grabbed the next size down. Ended up buying two suit coats (marked down to $8 each), one pair of pants, and a cute t-shirt, all for $50! In the retail store, just one suit coat would have been like $169! Next purchases were at Calvin Klein. I bought two tanks (purple and pink) to wear under suits, a dressy shirt for work on a clearance rack, and a cute skirt to wear on vacay (too short for court, although maybe I could wear in the office when I dont have court). On to Banana Republic. Found Kurt a sweater marked down to $4. Bought myself a grey pin striped suit and a dress shirt. Next, Dress Barn. Bought a really cute dress with a shrug, and a pair of dress pants. Overall, really productive shopping day. Since I am still dropping weight, I never want to buy a ton, but I think I am getting closer to my goals, so hopefully this stuff lasts.

Speaking of which, lost 3.6 more pounds this week! I could not believe it. And Kurt lost 4.2 pounds. I am up to 54.2 pounds lost now. And, all the skirts I bought were between sizes 4-6, and pants between 4-6 as well. Shirts medium. I love, love, love seeing results from working hard at this since September.

Tonight, Val came over for dinner. Dan is super busy with tax season and could not make it, but it was nice to see her and Lucky! :). We went to dinner at Dolce Vita, and while my meal was healthy enough, I ate way too much bread. I rarely eat out, but I cannot resist that stupid bread basket. Now, my stomach feels like lead. Ugh. Bad bread. I worked out twice today though, so hopefully it does not affect my progress. Worked some today while Kurt cleaned the house, and i got 6 more bankruptcies filed and a bunch of family law stuff done, which is great since I have court all morning tomorrow. I hate coming back to a pile of work on my desk and I cleared most of it off.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Crazy Work Week

This was a crazy week. Both crazy, and insanely busy. I filed more family law cases (divorce, custody, etc) this week than I think I ever have in one week, as well as a ton of bankruptcies, and I have to file more bankruptcies online this weekend, when we work on Sunday. We had the other side on one of our divorce cases actually drive his wife to our office and sit in the parking lot. He told her to call us and tell us that they were coming in so she could fire us. She did not want to fire us. He told her if she did not, she would never see her child again. He has a lawyer, and had no business even being near my office, as I can't talk to him or deal with him. This guy is a major control freak, and has been dictating everything to her for the years of their marriage. Anyway, I told her he was NOT coming in the office, or I would be calling the Police, so he stayed in the car. I sent Megan out to take pics of him so I could show the Judge what a loon he is. Then I called his lawyer and told him to tell his client to back the hell off. Anyway, client ended up not firing us, and the Judge granted me an emergency hearing date to deal with the crazy person's behavior. we are actually concerned about our client's safety with this guy though. She cannot tear herself away from doing anything and everything the guy says, including letting him keep their baby and she is only seeing the baby if she goes over to his house and he is there. Cannot wait to argue that hearing.

Made an awesome new recipe tonight, that I slightly modified. The recipe is for Chili-Garlic Glazed Salmon. I modified and made it with ahi tuna instead, since that was what I had thawed in the frig. Also, it said to simply broil the fish, but I grilled it first, then broiled, and halved the recipe since it was just me and Kurt eating. Anyway, super good. Made it with low sodium Zatarain's Jambalaya Rice. Super yum. Kurt was a fan as well.

After work, we stopped at Dunham's as Kurt wanted to buy this Ab Coaster machine we saw last time we were there. We both kinda wanted something for our living room that we could use after a workout, while watching TV and throughout the night. I used it a bit tonight and WOW, great workout. PAIN. Great purchase. Oh, and the really nice cashier gave us 10% off, without us even asking for it! Super nice.

So, I am taking a solo trip to Birch Run tomorrow for outlet shopping. Everyone I normally go with is busy, and really, I kinda enjoy aimlessly wandering myself. I desperately need some clothing that FITS. I did get a referral to a tailor who I called today and left a message with because I am hoping some of my skirts can be saved to the suits I really like. I am so thrilled getting back to my pre-law school self and having time to think about eating right and working out again. I want to start running 5Ks again, and found one in late April near the office that I think I am going to do, it raises money for a local guidance center that a lot of our clients take their kids to. oh, and last Sunday's weigh-in, I was up to 50.2 lbs lost, which is so weird to me. I started this journey off wanting to lose like 20 lbs. I did not even know I had 50 lbs to lose.

Anyway, need to get some sleep. Hope everyone had a nice St Patrick's Day!

Long Time

So, a friend wrote me and told me I needed to update on here......My posts are really rare these days, ones with any kind of substance anyway.

I have been crazy busy with life in general, mostly in relation to WORK life. Tax season gets crazy at the firm. We are working this weekend, yet again, so hopefully, I can clear some stuff off my desk.

My Grama went into the hospital last Saturday night as well, so I spent part of Sunday at the hospital. They don't really know what is wrong with her, first they were thinking pneumonia (which was ruled out, I think), then a hernia, then some kind of issues with her sugar levels (she is diabetic). Hospitals drive me bonkers though, it seems like they never really know what is going on which drives me insane. Anyway, as of yesterday, she was still in there being "figured out", so if she is still there, I will go visit again this weekend in between working. After visiting her, I stopped at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, since I was right near there in Ann Arbor. I had never been to Whole Foods before, and OMG, total Lori store. Kinda pricey though, and coming from someone who never really pays attention to the price of food, this is saying something. It was fun to wander around the store though, and I picked up a few things. One thing I am loving is the mahi burgers I bought. Super good. I eat salmon burgers all the time, but had never seen mahi burgers in a store. I also bought feta spinach sole, and that was super yummy as well. I am liking everything I bought there so far. Oh, a refried black beans thing in a can--super good. Great store. I will be going back for sure when I am in the area of one of their stores.

Went out to eat with friends last Saturday night and had rock lobster tails, which were awesome. I have not had lobster in forever, and it was super good. Had middle eastern food last night with my friend, nancy, and that was awesome as well. Oh how I heart lentil soup............Had dinner with Rebecca last Friday at an awesome hole in the wall mexican place called Angelina's. Awesome food, and chips and salsa were great. I got really sick afterwards though, I think the dairy from the ice cream killed me. Boo. My body is weird lately with all the healthy eating, certain things just affect me. Super nice to see Rebecca though, and she got all dressed up for me! OK, not really, she was going to a party afterwards.....haha. Had lunch the next day with my friends Holly and Angela and ended up not eating because I was still feeling weird from the night before. Was nice to see them and catch up though. :).

Oh, we booked my bday trip! :). I wanted to go someplace super relaxing. That was my one requirement, I wanted a beach I could walk down, relax on, as well as other things to do, and something I could get a good deal on, with not a super long flight. I ended up booking Puerto Rico. Cannot wait. I for sure want to explore and take pics in San Juan, go to the beach, hike in the jungle.........Try some Puerto Rican cuisine. We are staying at this resort called El Conquistador Resort in an ocean view upgraded room. I booked through American Airlines vacations, using air miles, and we paid under $1000 for our airfare AND upgraded room for 5 nights. Score! So weird to be going someplace I don't need my passport for! Cannot wait. Wish it was like tomorrow........Need to get on booking our San Diego flights too for April.

Megan, one of my assistants at work, got engaged! We were all super happy for her. Her ring is gorgeous and she was totally surprised by the proposal. Yay for Megan!

I'm now down 46.8 pounds. It's so awesome having Kurt down there working out with me. He's lost about 10 pounds since he started as well, but he only wants to lose about 12 more. His blood pressure is way down since he started as well, which is AMAZING and why he lost the weight in the first place. I started looking into some classes to take, I would love to incorporate something else into my workouts, but soooo many places have most of their stuff during the day. Seriously, how many people have all this time during the workday to go work out? I am going to call the old studio I worked out at and see if they are still there, I would love to get back into combat kickboxing.

A great new snack I discovered last time at the grocery store: Quaker Caramel Corn Rice Cakes. I did not even think I liked rice cakes, but these are super good. Highly recommend. :).

Anyway, I am exhausted and am thrilled tomorrow is Friday and the end of the workweek. Yay. Off to bed, and I will try to post more often.

Since Everyone Else Is Posting It.....

A. Age: 33

B. Bed size: King

C. Chore you dislike: Pretty much all of them. The worst? Floors/mopping.

D. Dogs: I have three who I love to pieces.

E. Essential start to your day: Shower

F. Favorite color: cobalt blue

G. Gold or silver: Gold, but I truly like both

H. Height: 5'8

I. Instruments you play(ed): clarinet. some oboe.

J. Job title: Attorney/Business Owner

K. Kids: My pets

L. Live: Every day like it's your last

M. Mom’s name: Terry

N. Nicknames: Lor, counselor, freak, loser, dork

O. Overnight hospital stays: Zero

P. Pet peeves: Oh.....so many. Let's choose one. People who drive in the fast lane, slowly.

Q. Quote from a movie: "Let's ALL go!" (Legally Blonde)
R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: One sister. One stepbrother.

T. Time you wake up: during the week, around 715 AM. Weekends, around 830 AM

U. Underwear: Thongs.

W. What makes you run late: my husband. traffic.

X. X-rays you’ve had: teeth

Y. Yummy food you make: fish tacos

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Monkeys of any sort.

Shrimp Pad Thai--Missing Thailand

Click here to see recipe

This was amazing. I halved the recipe and it was the perfect amount for Kurt and I to split. I also quartered the shrimp for me, and made Kurt's with ahi tuna grilled since he does not like shrimp. Found the fish sauce and noodles in the Thai section of the grocery store, and the bean sprouts in the organic section of the grocery store (and they were locally grown, bonus). Everything else I had at home. Oh, I also subbed soy nuts for peanuts since I forgot to buy peanuts.

Anyway, highly recommend. I think I was missing Thailand? :).

Germany Trip Report

Germany was a great trip! :). One of the reasons we chose Germany is that there is a direct flight from Detroit to Frankfurt. After booking the flights (and getting one flight free with miles, one for $300.00 off in price), we realized that there was limited things to do in Frankfurt, and decided to fly to Berlin as well. We were going to take the train, just because we have never taken a train before, but it actually cost MORE than the flight, so we went with the flight via AirBerlin. Speaking of which, AirBerlin was an awesome airline, with really nice, new planes that were very ontime.

So, we left after work on Wednesday, the 16th (also my Momma's bday, Happy Birthday, Mom!). Flight was overnight, arriving in Frankfurt at around 900 AM on the morning of the 17th. Flight was good, I pretty much slept the entire thing. We arrived and were greeted by a driver from the hotel we were staying at, the Flemings Hotel Frankfurt-Messe, which I chose because it was in central Frankfurt. Took about 20 minutes to get there. Checked right in and explored the hotel a little bit. The gym was pretty lame, with equipment that was not even up to par with what I have in my basement at home, but, since we were pretty jet lagged, we had no desire to work out anyway. :). Decided to make it a relaxing day and head to a local spa to use the saunas, pool, hot tubs. We went to Taunus Therme in Bad Homburg. Found it pretty easily, took the subway train, then walked to the Spa. The spa was very relaxing and nice. We used all the different saunas, went in the hot tub, went in the pool, had a drink and pretzel, and relaxed in the meditation room. Love European spas! Had dinner after that at a place called Maredo. I had salmon with wild rice and lobster bisque soup. Went back to the hotel after this and had a lemon white chocolate muffin from the hotel bakery that was aMAZing. The bakeries in Germany were all simply incredible and there were SOOO many of them. Off to bed......

Got up fairly early for a quick flight to Berlin. Same driver picked us up and gave us a little bit of history of the country on our way to the airport. Flight was quick and uneventful and we grabbed a cab to our hotel, the Radisson Blu in the Mitte District of Berlin. Hotel was great--nice room, kewl aquarium in the lobby that went to the ceiling and had tons of pretty fish, nice spa/sauna area with massage and other treatments. Went first to the JFK Museum. Interesting that there is a museum dedicated to JFK in Berlin. On the way there, we saw the Brandenburg Gate. The museum was really well done and classy, with some amazing photos on the history of the Kennedys. Really enjoyed it. Headed to lunch next at Casa Italia, where I had spinach gorgonzola pizza, that was pretty much awesome. Kurt had an onion tuna pizza. We then went to the Judisches Museum, which was a really interesting museum on Jewish history in Germany. Had dinner at Olivia International Kitchen, and stopped to buy an eclair for dessert at a bakery. Yum. You can see my normal diet when out the window while there, but I was on vacation and was not going to miss out on German food! Went to bed.....

Next day, we went to find the concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, which is located just outside of Berlin. After some figuring out of the subway system, which was slightly more confusing with the changing of trains that other places we have been, we found it! :). The concentration camp was one of the most eerie places i have ever been to. It was pretty much in the same form as it was back when it was a camp, with some added musesum like elements and descriptions on signs. We walked around the entire thing, both inside and out. I would highly recommend going here if you are in the area. It was a really educational experience. Had lunch at Antica Roma, and then headed to the Erotik Museum (total opposite end of the spectrum than the camp). The musesum was slightly shocking, but amusing. Some of the signs were only in German, so we did not totally "get" everything, but mostly there were artifacts, pictures and videos, so we could figure out most of it. Def NOT a place to take kids, LOL, and you have to be 18 to get in. Went to another spa that night called Thermen Europa, which was our favorite one we went to on the trip. After that, had dinner at a place called Alex near our hotel where we split appetizers and drinks.

Next day, we did two museums, the Topography of Terror, and the Deutsches Historiches Museum. Botht museums were really educational and I learned a lot about World War II and Hitler. Went to another spa called Liquidrom. Had lunch at an Italian place near the Topography of Terror and dinner again at Alex.

Last day, we went to a museum called The Story of Berlin, and the Neues Museum. We thought Story of Berlin was somewhat elementary, better for school aged kids. The Neues Museum was beautiful though, with really old artifacts from the Egyptian people, Roman people, etc. Really great place. There is normally a wait to get in, but we lucked out and walked right in. Had lunch at Capone Cucina and walked around some stores shopping in the area as well. Had a massage before we left at Mangmi Thai Massage, which was an awesome massage.

Somewhere in there, we also spent some time at the hotel gym, sauna, and got a massage at the hotel.

Back to the airport and off to Frankfurt again, where we stayed at the Carat hotel, which was near the airport. Ate dinner at the Mexican place in the hotel, which was super yummy. Had a tuna nacho. Germans seem to like tuna, it was on every menu, which rocks for me since it helps with protein intake for me. Went to bed, then the hotel took us to the airport in the morning and off to the States we came!

Sadly, when we returned, we had to go into the office for a few hours for appointments and catch up, and we are still kinda jet lagged!

We really, really liked Germany though and would like to go back and explore some other areas, like Munich. The people there were super friendly and polite, very respectful of everyone.

You can see the pics by clicking here.

Updates

The weather here has been horrible for southern MI! Sometimes, we get almost no snow in the Newport area, so the amount we have gotten in January and now February is crazy. Wednesday, we closed the office as all the courts called and canceled court, and a lot of businesses were shut down as well. I was thrilled to stay home in the middle of the week.

Wednesday was also Kurt's 40th bday, so it was nice to relax and do nothing for the day. We ended up heading out later in the day for massages and I got my nails done as well, while kurt went to Border's and bought a Germany book. Germany is where he selected for his bday trip (no matter how hard I tried to persuade him we need some warm weather and beach time), so we head out later this month for a quick trip there to explore. Should be interesting, and will be kewl to explore both of our heritages, as we are both 50% German. Got one of our tickets flying there free, and the other for $300 off, so we saved quite a bit using miles. Yay. Have planned nothing yet, but will start looking into it soon.

Another positive thing this week, Kurt started working out with me again! Yay! So glad he is working out again and I am not alone in our gym every night. Weighed in today, and I am down another 2.2 pounds, making my total since Sept 12, 2010, 44 pounds! So psyched. And telling everyone who asks me about my weight loss about the daily plate, which I give all the credit to. Amazing, free site. I was curious about how i have done each month, so I went back and tracked how much I lost each month thus far, and here it is:

Sept 2010: lost 11.5 pounds (began on 9/12)
October 2010: lost 7.5 pounds
November 2010: lost 9.2 pounds
December 2010: lost 5.4 pounds (less due to not tracking and being on vacay for 17 days I think)January 2011: lost 8.2 pounds
February 2011 so far: lost 2.2 pounds

21 weeks, average of 2.09 pounds per week (which is more than what i put into the daily plate to lose, I put "2 pounds per week", but the site is pretty right on).

Gave Kurty his surprise bday gift as well, a Porsche watch. It's super nice and I got an amazing deal on it. it looks even better on him than on the website i bought it from. :). I wanted to buy him a nice watch and while researching, I found that Porsche makes watches and since Kurt is obsessed with Porsches, I knew I had to buy him that brand. I really like Cartier watches, but spending $15000 on a watch is NOT happening. I can buy a kickass trip for that amount of money! :).

Got a great deal on two new suits this week from ruelala.com (one of my fav discount sites). One is Tahari, one Nine West. Hopefully, they fit well, but shipping to return is free if they do not. I have no idea why anyone would ever pay full price for a suit with all these designer discount sites out there! Yay for sales.

Very proud of myself for not eating standard Super Bowl foods today! I usually make an awesome chili cheese dip, and eat a ton of tortilla chips. none of that today and life totally went on. I did buy corn on the cob which tasted awesome. It's better in winter for some reason......Was thrilled that the Packers won as well. And the Puppy Bowl was wonderful. :).

Hope everyone had a nice Super Bowl sunday weekend!

Fox News Interview Part 2

After we interviewed at the courthouse, Fox called Kurt the next day to see if they could come to the office to continue the conversation. I really don't like being on TV, but they wanted us both, so I participated and let Kurt do the bulk of the talking. Glad someone mainstream media is FINALLY reporting this. Go Amy Lange!

Happy In Court

Court

Updates........

Kurt and I went to Umar's status conference this week. Being in a court room, not being the "attorney" for one of the parties, is weird in itself. Sitting in the back watching the proceedings is odd to me. Kurt and I got there early and sat in the hallway until the doors opened. Once the doors opened, we went in and took a seat. From what I could tell, the only other people there besides us were the media, attorneys for the other side, and I believe, some CIA agents. Kurt was asked by a reporter who he was with (I think they thought we were reporters) and he told her that we were passengers, which sparked her interest. She was from The Free Press and talked to us a lot before the hearing, during it, and in the hall afterwards. nothing we said to her was reported in the Free Press, which did not surprise us since mainstream media seems to steer clear of reporting our story. I don't blame the reporters though, I think they are truly interested, but when they give the story to their higherups, the stories are shot down because we are speaking out against the government, who helps fund them/controls them.........Anyway, we walked outside and it was kinda crazy. Cameras flashing, video cameras everywhere. We talked to a bunch of TV stations, and Fox News was the only one to actually report having talked to us. I imagine Fox is able to report as they are a republican based station, and since we are speaking out against the government and the current administration is democrat, this makes it OK for Fox to show this stuff, and they are probably encouraged to do so. Fox also contacted us the next day asking to come to the office, and filmed us for an hour talking about our different ideas and theories. This was aired as well, two days in a row, however, I cannot find this video online anywhere for some reason. Was Fox told not to air it online by someone? Hmmmm.

Anyway, back to the hearing. When Umar came out, it was really eerie. He was wearing a white t-shirt, just like the last time I saw him. Seeing him was really odd. I almost felt like I was taken back to that day, all the memories of how horrible I felt for months came rushing back to me. I think Kurt felt the same, as I looked at him and said "this is creepy" and he agreed. One result of the PTSD was nightmares and flashbacks to the event, and that night, I had a nightmare and a flashback again. Luckily, it was just the one night though and has not happened since.

We had drinks after work with a friend this week who knew nothing about all of this, and when telling her about the flight, I almost started crying, especially when I saw my telling the story was making Kurt slightly upset. It's so strange to me that what I went through still affects me so much. I remember Kurt sitting back down in his seat, after walking up the aisle saying "we are going to die" and how all I could think about was how upset my Mom would be and how I thought I was living in some bad horror movie.

Had dinner with my friend Nancy this week at Roman Village, half off pasta on Tuesdays! Super good meal not following The Daily Plate! LOL. The bread there is incredible, service is exceptional. Wish it was closer to the office. Also had dinner on Saturday for Grama's bday at an Italian place in Plymouth. Food was below average, but the tiramisu was to die for. Even with the bad meals this week, I still am down another 1 pound, so I have now lost 41.8! I am expecting things to slow down at this point though, so I am happy with that! I worked out extra that night because I felt guilty about the dessert, haha.

Went to a different Kroger's today grocery shopping, and loved the fresh sushi! Kurt tried it tonight for dinner and said it was good! Grocery store sushi, how awesome! This Kroger's also had a much better fresh fish selection than the one I normally go to by the house, so I may be heading there more often.

Anyway, hope everyone had a nice week. Not looking forward to the forecasted snow later in the week, but am looking forward to Kurt turning 40! I will, of course, be harassing him endlessly............

USA Guilty: Underwear Bomber NOT Guilty Haskell Explains

Underwear Bomber Poll

by Kurt Haskell



It seems to me that the U.S. Government is in a difficult position right now. After all, the Underwear Bomber Trial is set for October 4, 2011. This trial could expose the entire false flag plot. I can't see that happening. My question is this, what will happen between now and October 4 that will cause the truth to be suppressed?



a. A plea deal is reached

b. Umar dies mysteriously in prison

c. Umar represents himself and puts on an incompetent defense

d. A bigger event occurs that takes the focus off of the trial

e. A legitimate trial will occur and the false flag plot will be exposed

f. Other (Explain)

Seven Things

I've been awarded the Stylish Blogger Award by Nancy at Crazymrsnancy.com!

Rules of the award are as follows:

1. Make this post and link back to the person who gave the award to me.

2. Share 7 things about myself.

3. Award 5 great bloggers.

4. Contact the bloggers to tell them they’ve won!

So, 7 things about me, will try to make them things you may not know yet, although some of you know me so well this may not be possible........

1. I just recently found out what my exact heritage is. I am 50% German, 25% Polish, 12.5% French Canadian, and 12.5% English. I have no idea why I have never known this before. I always knew the German and Polish (HELLO, I have the most complicated maiden name ever), but I did not know the English and French Canadian. Maybe it was the French in me that stupidly made me take French in high school instead of Spanish. I so wish I could go back in time and take Spanish instead of struggling with it now.....

2. I had totally gotten over the post-traumatic stress stuff from Flight 253. We went to a hearing last week for umar, and I had a nightmare that night with flashbacks to the fire on the plane. No more yet, but I am hoping I did not trigger something by seeing Umar again.

3. On that note, we were telling the entire story to a friend of mine last night who did not know we were on the flight. When I was talking about seeing the fire on the plane, the thoughts that went through my head, I almost started crying it upset me so much. I did not realize it all still affected me so much.

4. I am really proud of myself for being a great attorney and being respected by others in the legal field, without having to do the "behind the scenes" stuff that so many lawyers do. I don't hold judge fundraisers, I don't suck up, I don't ask the Judges to lunch. I do my job, I am nice to people, and it gets me the same results as those that try and work the system.

5. I feel like I was put on this Earth to do something in relation to helping animals. I actually like most animals better than most people. I don't know exactly what my purpose in life is yet, but I know it's not divorcing people. Once I retire from this job, I hope to pursue whatever it is I was put on this Earth to do.

6. I am not running for school board again. I feel like I am not making the difference that I used to anymore and I feel like I need to move on. I plan on volunteering at the high school instead, perhaps speaking to kids/classes or mentoring or something of that nature. I want to feel that I am directly helping kids more, vs attending meetings and voting.

7. Unless I know the person personally, I will never vote for either of the two major parties ever again. Which is odd, after a lifetime of voting straight democratic.

OK, so now the tagging. Here goes! Let me know if you post.

1. Colleen at Life Beings at 39 1/2
2. Natalie at Texas Cowleys
3. Emily at Law For a Living
4. Alex at Dirt. Juice. Details
5. Joanna at just A peek.

Thoughts on Umar's Hearing This Week and a Look Ahead to the October 4th Trial

by Kurt Haskell:

Lori and I attended Umar's status conference this week. The proceedings were extremely interesting to me. First of all, Umar walked into the courtroom in a white t-shirt. He turned and stood about 20 feet in front of me. I kind of had a deja vu moment as when I saw him in Amsterdam, he stood about 10 feet in front of me with a white t-shirt on. I finally got to hear Umar speak. I've never heard him speak until this hearing. His English seemed pretty good, although he had a fairly heavy accent. He did have a Nigerian translator present and he did consult with him a few times. Most of the hearing was spent in a back and forth discussion between Judge Edmunds and Umar. The discussion centered around the need for Umar to accept standby attorney Chambers as his regular attorney. Umar refused over and over again. Everyone in the court room seemed to just want to stand up and say "LET HIM BE YOUR ATTORNEY!". Judge Edmunds finally gave up. Another part of the hearing discussed the fact that Chambers is not Umar's attorney right now, and therefore, Umar and Chambers don't have the attorney client privilege. Thus, anything Umar tells or shows Chambers can be found out by third parties. The U.S. Attorneys seemed particularly troubled with the fact that some of the information they turned over to Umar, could be obtained by third parties and used in a civil case. I wonder why? The hearing then proceeded with a discussion of if and how the evidence held by Umar's previously fired attorney (given to her by the prosecution) would be turned over to Chambers. The result was that it would only be turned over to Umar at Milan Prison and Umar could show Chambers only what he wants to. Note that Chambers, during this discussion, indicated that Milan prison had not been providing faxes or messages of his to Umar or being helpful in scheduling appointments. He went on to state that it was his belief that Milan prison was doing this intentionally, and he suspected that it had received a call from "higher up" to do this. Note that I had a similar experience with Milan prison last year. The hearing concluded with Judge Edmunds setting a trial date. She first suggested June 23, but Chambers wasn't available. She then suggested September 10, but Chambers again wasn't available. She then suggested October 4 and noted that she wouldn't likely reschedule that date. When she set that date, Umar stated that he needed more time than that to read up on how to do the trial. He then asked for a trial date in 2012. Judge Edmunds immediately refused. I was shocked at how adamant Umar was that he was going to represent himself. I now strongly believe that this matter will proceed to trial. What I am concerned about is that Umar will likely represent himself at the trial. If he does so, he may not know how to get the important evidence admitted into the record. If I am correct and Umar does not use Chambers in the trial, I fear that the facts will never be known. I was very impressed with Chambers and Judge Edmunds. I did not get the impression that either is biased towards the prosecution and the "official" story. I talked to Chambers for a few minutes after the hearing and we will be having a conference soon. It was strangely odd that no other passengers were present. This fact put Lori and I back in the crosshairs of the media crunch. We talked to at least 7 reporters, but only Fox 2 Detroit reported the interview. What is also strange is that nearly all of the passengers seem to have disappeared. I no longer have a valid email address or phone number for any other passenger. I am not sure what to make of this.