Moments of Wonderful

…rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A blog about diabetes and other moments.

...rather than a lifetime of nothing special. A blog about diabetes and other moments.

Tag Archives: weekend

the key to fun

Last weekend, some friends and I took a little road trip down to the Keys. By little road trip, I mean it took us about 5 hours to get to our destination. It reminded me of a trip I took my freshman year of college. A friend and I drove to Colorado to celebrate the new year with some roommates. I remember being so excited when we finally crossed the border into Colorado, only to find out we had 3 hours left to go. It was just like that this time too! The Keys are a LOT longer than I thought!

Of course, with three girls traveling together, we had to make a few bathroom stops. Some of the locations were quite interesting. This one wanted to make sure we didn’t use the wrong door.

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Based on the cleanliness of the bathroom, we didn’t want to touch anything we didn’t have to.

My travel buddies are quite the foodies so we found some great places to eat

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One location, Blue Heaven, had amazing food and great service. When we were in the gift shop, I noticed some platinum records on the wall from Kenny Chesney. I asked the cashier about it and she mentioned that a sign they used to have on the gate inspired his song, “no shoes, no shirt, no problem”. I don’t know if it was it’s proximity to the Heminway house, but there were cats wandering the grounds as well.

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Of course, what brings people to the keys other than Key Lime pie? The idea disgusts me, but I guess other people enjoy it.

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We also noticed that they were very proud of all their ‘southern-most locations’.

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There was actually a line of people waiting to get their picture taken at the southern-most point. Everybody takes turns taking pictures for the people in front of them in line. It was quite a fun group when we were there.

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And last, but certainly not least, it wouldn’t be a vacation if I didn’t take a few silly pictures with statues.

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Believe it or not, there are a few more pictures I didn’t post here that you can few in the Flickr set.

South (Pole) Pacific

Saturday night I went to a college performance of South Pacific. Because it is South Florida, and because it hardly ever gets cold here, (and because they don’t actually have a theater to perform in), the show was outside.

This part week, however, a cold snap has hit the area. The show did not start until 8 pm, so I put on my warmest sweater, the only jacket I own, two blankets, beanie, and mittens, and walked to the amphitheatre. If it hadn’t had been so windy I don’t think it would have seemed so cold! Everyone was so bundled!

In all honesty, it was only in the low 60s, but we were RIGHT on the water and there was about a 15 mph wind. That’s cold for Florida!

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The funniest part of the show came about 30 seconds into it. Right when the second actress opened her mouth to respond to the opening line, an explosion of fireworks began. Apparently, a sorority was having a party just down the intracoastal from us. The show went on for about 20 minutes. Every time we thought that the show was over, a new set of explosions would start.

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What could the actors do but watch the fireworks right along with us? I think we spotted one of the members of the orchestra on his cell phone during the wait.

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Despite the elements and the interruptions, I think they did a great job!

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not often enough

Long time blog followers know that my sweet little (14 lb) kitties don’t live with me right now. They are in (what I like to call) foster care with a friend from work.

Sadly, she had to go out of town due to a death in the family and needed someone to cat sit.

Of course, I was more than happy to serve!

The sweetest little facepensive Bes

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on the desk

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Oops – notice the pump tubing! :)

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Happily covered in pixie dust

I grew up in Southern California and I am a very cynical person, but the magic of Disney was too much for me to even ignore.

Thanks to a very generous friend, two friends and I were able to go to Disney World this weekend for free on a ticket that could potentially get us into all four of the parks. Her mother is a ‘cast member’ and they have a certain amount of free tickets each year and generously shared them with us. She even met us outside the gate and had us follow her in so we would not have to pay for parking.

We started in Animal Kingdom and I embraced my love/obsession with The Lion King. We then hopped over to the Magic Kingdom to ride a few rides. After that came our true focus for the day – EPCOT!

We started in Future World and rode all the rides, Test Track, Living with the Land (where all the greenhouse pictures below are from), and Soarin’. Soarin’ really made me a little homesick because in California Adventure at Disneyland it is called Soarin’ over California and it is the same ride here on the other coast. The smell of the citrus was almost too much!

This weekend was part of the Food and Wine Festival, so in addition to all the experiences and yummy foods that they have from around the world in the World Showcase we were able to experience even more unique foods. Sure didn’t know what boxty (Ireland) was before, but I really like it now!

I also must have been covered in pixie dust the whole day because I had almost perfect blood sugar numbers no matter how much I ate. My average for the day was 105 mg/dL and I comsumed (according to my pump) 274 carbs!

Enjoy the pictures! :)

 

Give it your best shot!

There was no vlog this weekend because my throat was/is on fire. It was either caused by:

  • the gunk that has been going around work for weeks now, but most people were ‘over it’ by the beginning of last week
  • the hour I spent yesterday cleaning the dirt/mildew/mold off the vents of the window air conditioner next to my bed

September 21, 2008 - diabetes365 - day 349

While I wait to recover, I thought I’d see if you guys have any questions that you would like me to answer in future vlog or blog posts. Ask me (just about) anything and I’ll give it a shot (diabetic pun intended ;) )!

Even with the seats down!

I didn’t find out about the wonderfulness that is IKEA until I was in college. Then, it was about 20 minutes away during my first few years. My friends and I would go on a Saturday afternoon and pick up a few packages of 3 unfinished 4×6 frames for $1.49 a pack. We would then have dinner in the marketplace, where we would get 2 hot dogs, chips, and a drink for $2.50. What a deal!

By the time I was in grad school, the closest IKEA had moved to almost walking distance from the campus. It was amazing! I bought my desk for grad school there and set it up in my bedroom, only to find out when I tried to move two years later that is was significantly wider than the door. And that is the thing with IKEA furniture, while it is fairly easy to put together, it is quite the opposite to take apart. My brother, a mallet, and a few well-placed hits later, my favorite desk ended up in the dumpster.

When I moved to Florida, I was quite disturbed to not find an IKEA within 3 hours! Finally, a few months ago they opened a new location about an hour away from my apartment. Saturday night, I convinced a friend to come with me and I went a little crazy. We first hit up the restaurant for some Swedish meatball and lingonberry plates and then got to shopping.

Small problem – and I really mean small. I drive a Civic. About half of what I purchased would not fit in my car. I mean, we didn’t even have to try. Simple math gave us that answer.

Here’s what didn’t fit:
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I was able to bring home an ottoman:

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And three bedside lamps:
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Note to self: When shopping at IKEA, be sure to bring a friend with a bigger car!

The end of the long weekend

Whew! Long weekend indeed! It started on Friday helping with an event attended by over 700 students. Celebrating at Denny’s afterward meant I did not get home until 3 am and slept long into Saturday.

August 30, 2008 - diabetes365 - day 327

The rest of the weekend I have spent emptying boxes and reorganizing my closet. Yes, I moved into my new apartment months ago, but considering there were boxes that never got unpacked at the old place I think I am doing well. I was tired of telling people they couldn’t come in because I was embarrassed about how it looked. I told my boss I wouldn’t be at work on Tuesday if I didn’t get it finished, and I have one box to go – it looks like I’ll be there.

Happy Labor Day all!

August 29, 2008 - diabetes365 - day 326