Sicko

So I have been a little sickie the past few days. So pretty much when you are sick nothing exciting happens for you to post about. :)
I came into work on Tuesday and felt bad. I was exhausted, had chills and was achy, along with sore throat and congestion. I left about 11:30 or so.
I came into work on Wednesday. I normally would have stayed home, but there was a meeting I just didn't want to miss. And in the end it was good that I didn't miss it. I was feeling better, but not great. The aches and chills were gone. So went home about 11:30 on Wednesday.
Thursday morning I felt a lot better. Mostly just congestion.
I feel even better today. Just congestion and slight sore throat. It is more scratchy than anything else.
This weekend I am planning on resting and cleaning our really messy house. With me being out of town last weekend and then being sick our house has kinda become a disaster pit! There will be no gym going either. Can't go back until I am at least 90% healthy, which should be ready for my yoga class Monday morning.

Came home sick today

I started feeling a little punky last night. Went to work this morning and decided to come home about noon. I think I have a cold coming on. Slight sore throat, a little achy, tired. I have been lying around all day, a little nap here and there. I just took a shot of Nyquil. So if something doesn't make sense it is the Nyquil talking.
Jen sent the following as a forward. I thought for fun I would fill it out here on my blog. If you are so inclined to also fill it out you can send to annchihakpoff@yahoo.com.

Some things about me:

1. What time did you get up this morning? My alarm went off at 7 a.m. But I know I was up earlier than that.
2 Diamonds or Pearls? Neither. I am a sapphire girl.
3. What two things do you always have with you? Huh? I guess my ID. But I am sure there are times I got to coffee with just cash or gift card.
4. What is your favorite TV show? I watch a lot of shows. The Office or Big Love or Brothers and Sisters.
6. What is your favorite book? I am really into the Twilight series right now. But my two faves are The Giving Tree and The Five People You Meet in Heaven
7. What is your middle name? Soltero
8. What food do you dislike? corn nuts; black licorice
9. What is your favorite CD? I don't buy CDs anymore. The only one I do buy is the Curious George soundtrack for new babies that come into my life.
10. What type of car do you drive? Barrents Blue Volvo S40
11. Favorite sandwich? Grilled cheese
12. What characteristic do you despise? arrogance, people who are conceited and ignorant people
13. Favorite item of clothing? My Uggs
14. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? I have been to Paris. I guess Croatia, Greece or Australia.
15. What color is your bathroom? beige I think
16. Favorite brand of clothing? I shop at Target, H&M, Old Navy, Gap. My absolute favorite clothing store is Ann Taylor Loft.
17. Where would you like retire to? Tucson
18. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Last year I received a wonderful massage and a wonderful dinner with Curt and Monica.
19. Furthest place you are sending this? Cyberspace.
21. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? n/a
22. Person you expect to send it back first? n/a
23. Favorite saying/quote? I can't think of one. But I am hopped up on Nyquil.
24. When is your birthday? Oct. 9
25. Are you a morning person or a night person? Really neither these days.
26. What is your shoe size? Usually 7 / 7 1/2
27. Pets? Furbaby cat Joey
28. What did you want to be when you were little? a teacher
29. How are you today? I have a cold or something. So not feeling too hot.
30. What is your favorite candy? Reesees Peanut Butter Cups
31. What is your favorite flower? Daisies
32. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Feb 14--taking off for Maui that day.
33 What is the last thing you ate? Some Ritz chips things.
34. What are you listening to right now? Rerun of Friends
35. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? the prettiest blue
36. How is the weather right now? Probably cold.
37. Last person you spoke to on the phone? I can't remember. Probably someone at work.
38. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes!
39. Favorite soft drink? Vanilla Coke
40. Favorite restaurant? Sushyia
41. Hair color? brown
42. Sibling(s): 1
43. Favorite day of the year? ???
44. What was your favorite toy as a child? Probably My Doggie my Nana gave me when I was very young.
45. Summer or winter? Well, neither in the Bay Area--both seasons are cold. Winter in Arizona is nice--I was just in Tucson over the weekend.
46. Hugs or kisses? From whom? I guess hugs.
47. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate, but if we are talking ice crea, peanut butter and chocolate or jamoca almond fudge
48. Do you want your friends to email you back? Only if they want.
49. When was the last time you cried? Earlier today while watching TV.
50. What is under your bed? Wrapping paper, packaging supplies and probably some dust bunnies.
51. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Shelly (the longest consistent friend)
52. Favorite smell? rain
53. What are you afraid of? Lots of stuff: losing my loved ones, crazy drivers, labor and delivery (which one of the many reasons I am not having children
54. Plain, butter or salted popcorn? Very light butter.
55. How many keys on your key ring? 3
56. How many years at your current job? Almost 4 years.
57. Favorite day of the week? Saturday.
58. How many towns have you lived in? 6
59. Do you make friends easily? Yes, but it is hard for me to keep them.
60. How many people will you be sending this to? None

Good visit

Got back from Tucson last night. Had a good weekend visit.
Got in late Friday night.
Saturday morning my grandma came over for chorizo breakfast. We had a nice visit. Then I headed to my grandpa's house to visit with him. We had some good chats and, of course, there were jokes. Now, if I can just remember them.
After visiting Grandpa I headed to Shelly's house to visit with her and her twin daughters, Hope and Jade, who are now 13 and going to high school next year!!!! We chatted a bit and then headed to Applebee's for appetizers and dessert. Applebee's has these little shooter desserts. They are yummy, cute and perfect size.
Then back to my mom's for some relaxing before she and Fred got home from church. So Cookie (yorkie) and I got some quality time together. That dog is a little nut! She is so cute but so hyper.
After Mom and Fred got home from church we headed to dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant. Yummy food as always.
Then back to their house to watch Lifetime movies. Fred was nice enough to go out and get me a Strawberry Eegee! Yum! I had the whole thing that night. (You can't go to Tucson and NOT have an Eegee drink.)
Sunday morning we had menudo. Mmmmmmyum! And also some Mexican pastries. Then we got ready and headed to Grandma's and then to Uncle Mike's for the family party to celebrate Grandma's 80th!
There was good food, good conversation, crazy conversation, yelling, beer drinking, lots of eating and present opening. We avoided politics because well, that would be bad to talk about. Most of my family is fairly liberal. But not everyone.
One of my aunts did ask me if Curt and I were coming back for a visit in the summer. I said, in the summer? NO! I told her I wasn't sure when we would be back. But they were welcome to visit us. (I get this fairly often from friends and family. When is Ann (& Curt) coming to visit? And they are usually asking when I am there visiting. Sheesh!)
And just a reminder, I am trying to scale back the trips because well, they cost money, people!!! For some reason everyone thinks we are rich--yea, we don't have kids and we don't have a house (that could change). Does everyone think we are rich? Or what do they think?
Remember what Erica said, Curt and I are great hosts (thanks Erica). We live in a really cool place. So come visit. Maybe I will start pestering people asking when they are gonna visit US???

Heading to Tucson

Going to my beloved hometown this weekend to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday.
My mom, of course, has lots of stuff planned. Curt mentioned something about drinking a lot of coffee. It will be the only way I can keep up with my mom and her energy.
I get in late tonight. Then tomorrow morning breakfast with my grandma. Then I am hoping to get in a visit with my grandpa (my dad's dad) late morning. Then after that likely a visit with one of my oldest friends Shelly.
I gotta somehow get to Eegee's, too.
Dinner with Mom and Fred after THEY go to church.
Sunday is my grandma's family party at Uncle Mike's house.
Whew! I am tired just reading this post over.
I have been promised chorizo and menudo! Yum!

Dashiell, I am booked!

At the end of March I am going to see my new little friend Dashiell, and, of course, Mama Kate.
I can't wait to meet the new little guy and to see Kate and Papa Jason and visit St. Augustine.
My travel calendar is already filling up for 2009. And I am trying to scale back this year. For various reasons: one, money (trying to save money instead of spending all of it) and two, we already have two big trips planned this year so vacation time will be eaten up. (Maui next month and Europe in September: Budapest, Prague, Munich [for Oktoberfest] and Stuttgart.)
Oh, and third!!! I live in this really cool area of the country called San Francisco or the Bay Area or Northern California or whatever you want to call it. So you should come and visit Curt and me. Our place isn't huge. But it is free and you would have the spare room/office to sleep in. And I have been told our futon is really comfy. We are close to BART. And we also live in a cool neighborhood.
So, what do you say?

Unpacking ...

We are in our new digs on the 7th floor of our building. The floor is really nice and it is so quiet here. I used to sit near someone who has fake nails and you would hear clickty clack ALL DAY LONG!

Legal has their own filing room and we have extra shared filing cabinets in a common area.
And we have the cool Peet's coffee machine, which makes all kinds of yummy stuff and can be quite dangerous for someone who is watching how many calories they intake.

The cool Peet's coffee machine. You can make some drinks decaf. You can also make americano, espresso, cappucino, mocha, hot chocolate and french vanilla. I have tried everything except for the espresso and no decaf for me!

You know what today is?

Bush's last day in office!!!! Woo-hoo!

I was a bachelorette this weekend. Curt went to Missouri to visit his grandma and parents.
I took Curt to the airport Saturday morning, then off to the gym. After the gym I came home and did a little cleaning and a lot of vegging.
Sunday morning the gym. Then to Mia's. Had lunch with Mia and Lexie. Then Mia and I saw Milk. If you haven't seen it you must. It was so good. Sean Penn was amazing and so was Harvey Milk. He did some truly great things. After the movie I ran some errands and back home for more vegging.
Today I went to yoga and then ran some errands. Afterward I headed to the city to meet my friend Nydia for lunch. She lives in Florida right now and should be moving to the Bay Area soon. We had a great time. Nydia and I went to college together and were both j-majors. We had some good laughs about Tombstone and that horrible apartment.
I am back home vegging again. Curt's flight comes in about 10:30 and I am trying to figure out how to keep myself awake until then. I am so tired. Not really sure why. I guess I have time for a nap.
Back to work tomorrow. Lots of unpacking. Mia told me that they are setting up in a conference room for us to watch the inauguration at work tomorrow morning. Woo-hoo!
Hope you all had a good weekend.
Next weekend I will be in Tucson for my grandma's 80th birthday celebration.

Congrats to Erica and Casey and Baby O!!!

So, yup, Erica is pregnant. She is due in July. And this means I will be an aunt yet again. You all know how I love shopping for baby stuff and making gifts, too. And, of course, the shopping and planning has already begun.
The picture above is Erica and Casey last April right after they were married.
(Just an FYI for any of those wondering: I never post big news like this until it is OK. I would never post something about someone else like this before asking or getting the OK. So you don't need to worry that I am gonna tell everyone about ... whatever. I am the only one who is a free-for-all. And I, obviously, don't blog about everything in my life.)
Another congrats to Erica, Casey and Baby O! (Remember how I said EVERYONE I know is pregnant. I wasn't lying, was I? Don't worry, I am not drinking the Kool-Aid. Hee hee.)

My latest project

Lately I have been trying to focus my knitting on charity work. You all know how I knitted 20 beanies for the military. And I enjoyed coordinating that and getting all of the extras, too. And The Ship's Project is acquiring more and more units to support with "Hugs from Home." So please, if you have the time, think about making a hat or two for the troops. For the ground troops they need dark, muted colors and 100% wool. For the ship troops and the wounded troops you can use a blend yarn and more cheery colors. For more information just go to the Web site or you can ask me.

With all of the friends who have had babies (and there have been a lot!). I have acquired a ton of baby yarn--Pound of Love. So I have started making preemie hats for the Oakland Children's Hospital.

The blue one is for Baby Pickle--a friend of a friend. Pickle is gonna be born just a little early. His mom is a great person and I really like her. So Pickle gets a hat, some diapers and some onesies.

Obama to end 'don't ask, don't tell' policy

You don't know happy this makes me. I was NEVER a fan of the don't ask, don't tell. I was miffed that Clinton came up with that. But I realize he was kinda forced. But still!!!

I know the blogging has been slacking. Not a lot to report.
Packing at work for our move. Been knitting a preemie hat for a friend. Trying to get that done before her shower on Saturday. Been reading a lot--on the third book of the Twilight series. LOVE it! I love Edward. Book No. 2 was just OK. It got better near the end.

And very LAME Breaking News: Gannett announces one-week, unpaid furloughs. I mean, they might as well just take a week away from everyone. Isn't it bad enough that many co-workers were laid off just what, not even two months ago? Being forced to take an unpaid vacation seriously makes no sense to me. And while people are gone then others will have to work OT to make up for the missing workers.
Whenever I complain about my job I need to remember this and say, I am lucky and fortunate and love my job.

Tasting dried fruits, pepper and a hint of ...

Macworld UK friends Karen and Louise came over to our hood yesterday.
I met them at the BART station. We took a leisurely walk on College Ave. We stopped for coffee at Market Hall, gawked at shoes from outside at Tootsies and enjoyed the sunny and warm weather.
We got back to the house and Curt was ready to drive us girls up to Napa.
We stopped at Don Giovanni for a nice lunch. There is a cute little cat that lives at the restaurant. She took a real liking to Karen and jumped in her lap and then got Karen in trouble when she was told that the cat was not allowed in the dining area.


After lunch we drove a bit and first hit William Harrison Vineyards & Winery. It is small and quaint and I like the kind of service we get there.
Next stop was ZD Wines. At this point us girls were feeling a little light and fun. So I told the two Brits to start working the accent. We got an extra tasting at ZD and our wine guy seemed to enjoy letting Louise pose with some HUGE bottles of wine.
Third and last stop was Andretti Winery, where I am a wine club member. This is really where the girls worked the accents. Though they really didn't have a lot of work to do. Those guys just loved them. At Andretti since I am a wine club member myself and my guests get free tastings. We took all kinds of funny pictures, got lots of yummy snacks. They even opened a bag of goodies for us. We got free wine stopper thingies--where it will only allow an ounce of wine to come out when pouring.
I have to say that I think the English accents got us more attention and freebies than Dave with his Hawaiian shirt--and that got us a lot of free stuff.
Once we got home I had to take a nap.
Today Curt and I de-Christmased the house and lazed around. Had sushi for dinner and got a free beer at dinner. :)
And tomorrow is back to work. I am kinda dreading this week. Moving at the end of the week. So lots of packing Thursday and Friday. We have to be packed up by 3 p.m. Friday and out of there by about 3:05. So there is one benefit!!!! (The other benefits are cool, new digs and the force of purging crap on my desk.)

eat drink unwind enjoy

This week is Macworld Expo. A friend of ours, David, was hosting a party with a client he represents.
So after work I met Curt and some of our friends from London for some eats and drinks. We had to wear wrist bands and they said: eat drink unwind enjoy. I like that.
We hung out at the party for a bit and then headed out to dinner with our friend Ryan and Karen (my twin) and Mark, who both work at Macworld UK for dinner.
It was a fun night--and it got me out of work at a decent hour.

Moving

Working for a company that continually hires people we run out of space. Onyx has now acquired a third floor in our building. We will occupy 12, 7 and 3. (Seven is the new floor.)
The Legal Department will be moving to the 7th floor. Funny thing is we are gonna be in our same spots, just on a lower floor. But our boss' office will be closer to us. And Legal gets their very own file room, where they can lock the door and no one else can get in!!!! It is gonna be so cool. We get a Peet's coffee machine on 7--as opposed to the Starbucks ones on the other floors--which will make regular coffee, americanos, espressos and cappucinos!
The cubes are set up slightly differently, which I like.
We will be moving soon and have a lot to pack before then.

I haven't updated in the past few days because there has been little to write about. Work has been busy. I come home late and after a long day and all I want to do is read New Moon--No. 2 in Twilight series. (I finished the first book and absolutely LOVED it!) New Moon is good, but not as good as the first one.

Macworld Expo is this week. So some of our Macworld UK friends are in town. I am planning on meeting them and Curt tonight in the city. Should be a good time.

Visit with the Philly Poffs

Uncle Curt, Aunt Ann, James, Madison and Jackson.

Whenever we mention to the kids that we call them the Philly Poffs they remind us that they don't live in Philly, they live in West Chester. We remind them that West Chester Poffs doesn't quite roll off the tongue as Philly Poffs does.
Anyway, we had a good visit with Craig and Susan and the kids.
Thursday morning and Saturday morning Jackson came in and crawled into bed to cuddle. He is still so sweet and cuddly and I gotta take advantage when I can. He is pretty good and doesn't move around too much.
Friday morning he came in to say bye to me (Susan and the kids went skiing). He told me when he got back he would tell me all the things he learned at ski school. He walked out and then he came back and whispered to me, Tell Uncle Curt I said bye.
Friday evening Curt and I watched the kids while Craig and Susan went to dinner and a movie. We had pizza for dinner, watched some Dog Whisperer, played a board came called Camp, ate leftover birthday cake, Curt played some Wii with James and Maddi, I knitted with Jackson and watched part of The Year without a Santa Claus. At one point when Jackson and I were knitting he started giggling. I asked what was so funny. He said nothing. I asked him why he was laughing. He said it was because he was happy. Awwww! So sweet!
Saturday morning we had breakfast and hung out a bit. I worked with Maddi on her homework a little. And then we took off for the airport and home.
Here is a link to the pics from our trip.
Today I have gone grocery shopping, done laundry, paid some bills, done a little relaxing and I gotta do some de-Christmasing. Or at least start it.
FYI: Joey has blogged recently. And Go Fit Girl! is being updated more often.
Tomorrow back to work after about 10 days off.

Home from Philly/West Chester

Had a long day getting home. But we are home. Curt is watching football, I am making dinner and blogging. And Joey is happy we are home. Ruff Ruff took care of him while we were away and they did a wonderful job, as always.
Had a little rough time with SW when checking in the morning. We had checked in online yesterday. But we had to print boarding passes and check luggage. The SW area at the Philly airport is horrible. But it still moved pretty quickly.
When we got up to our kiosk it would only print one boarding pass and told us to check with a counter agent. So I told the woman it would only print one. She said, did you check in online. We said yes. Then she asked me what color the screen was. It was white and then gold. She did some fancy coding and asked us if we were having a bad day because it seemed like it. And then she told us to not take it out on them. Because I wanted to get home I kept my mouth shut. But I really wanted to tell her I did nothing wrong and she needs to get over herself. But whatever.
We are home and I still love Southwest. Always getting us in early. I just earned yet another free flight with them.
We waited almost an hour to get our bags once we landed! We waited 40 mins until they told us what carousel. It usually does take them awhile to get their acts together with the luggage. But today was even worse. Then we stood at that carousel for almost about 15 mins waiting for bags. Luckily there was no line waiting for taxis and our guy got us home in warp speed.
Oh, over our trip I read the first Twilight book. OMG! I loved it. I hope Mia has the second book. I must start reading it soon! I love Edward--how can you not love this vampire, even if he is a vampire. I will definitely want to read the whole series before seeing the movie. But since I rarely go to movies, I will have to wait for it on Netflix anyway.
Details of the trip later. I gotta go eat.

Snowing

So today it is snowing in West Chester. And you all know how much I love to be cold and in the snow. The snow is light and wet and it actually kinda pretty.

My sister-in-law took the kids skiing today. Craig joined them around lunchtime. Curt and I slept in and then headed downtown for lunch. We had a yummy lunch at a place called Teca. Now we are at Starbucks having some coffee and checking e-mail, etc. I had to check us in for our flight tomorrow. 

We have been having a nice visit. New Year's Eve day was low-key. We hung out, had a nice dinner and most of us stayed up for the ball to drop.

Then New Year's Day is James' birthday. So there was a family party with delicious food. Susan does amazing things with food. 

The kids got a Wii for Christmas. So there has been a lot of Wii playing. I am not too shabby at the bowling. 

Anyway, just thought I would check in. Happy New Year everyone!