Some Memorial Days are more memorable than others...

My brother in law is home from Afghanistan.



Welcome home, Phillip, we missed you and are happy you are home safe.

Wow, I am tired

My parents left today, they were here for a week. I love planning people's vacations, but in all honesty, people who participate in my vacation packages ending up taking a lot of naps and talking about how tired they are. I don't get it!!

Monday, we hiked Pinnacles National Monument looking for condors. Sadly, we saw none. We did manage to have a phenomenal time and see some great scenery.


Tuesday, we shopped until we dropped! Thanks for the great graduation present shopping spree, Mom and Dad!! And to think people told me my Master's was useless! Cha-ching!!

Wednesday we headed to Monterey for lunch and scenery.


Thursday, we participated in a endangered plant survey at Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. Lots of flowers, lots of picture taking! Not a bad way to spend the day, hiking along the San Joaquin River looking for flowers! Never mind that we had to be out of the house at 630am!

Last day, I set Mom and Dad up with a meet and greet with some larger than life friends.


They are headed to San Diego today for some rest and relaxation!!!

Voting

I am voting today.

It's been an hour and I have voted on one proposition so far.

I hate voting. That's not true, I love voting. I hate reading website after website and argument after argument. Being an informed voter is no walk in the park!!

Back to research.

Proposition 14.

Thank goodness there are only 5.

Of course, then come the candidates.

*sigh*

Li Hing Mui

How do I love thee, let me count the ways.

When I lived in Hawaii, I developed a love for some of the finer things in life.

Hurricane popcorn
Kua Aina burgers on the North Shore
Mini loco moco at L & L Drive in
Kaka'ako Kitchen
and all things li hing mui

Most of those, sadly, can not be replaced here on the mainland, but Rickey's mom, bless her, sends Rickey care packages from Hawaii all the time. Sometimes she throws in things I just can't live without. This care package it was li hing mui dried cherries. SO good. Ridiculously good. I am now sick from eating approximately half the bag. Sweet, salty, sour, an explosion of awesomeness in your mouth. I can only hope that the next care package contains the nectar of the Gods known as li hing mui gummy bears. I cherish the thought!!

We finally eased up on the hurricane popcorn, we had about 12 packages (hurricane and typhoon both) and we got pretty popcorned out. Again though, popcorn, butter, salt, nori, and mochi crunch. Really. Mainland movie theaters have NO idea how to serve popcorn. At all.

I am a coward

I admit it.

The woman I gave my cat to called me last night, I deliberately didn't take the call for fear she is calling to give back the cat.

I am that pathetic.

I can't avoid her forever though, that's not cool, so I am calling her back this afternoon. Maybe. Kidding, definitely. In the interim, just in case she is calling to tell me Mao is still under the bed and this isn't working, I have downloaded a bunch of stuff on cats in new homes and how long it can take them to adapt. I feel bad, since I don't want her to be unhappy, but on the flipside, I don't want me to be unhappy either. So, there we are.

One of my iris bloomed, I have no idea which one it is. I assumed it would be Catchy Name (creamy yellow standards, lavender falls) since it is a very prolific bloomer, but clearly, this is not Catchy Name.
This is cool, whilst (love that word) wandering through someone's website looking at iris pictures trying to id above iris (should have kept the list that came with the box from Mom and Dad), I came across this -

$ 4.00 SATAN'S MISTRESS - SELIGMANN, 1983, 28, E-M, -, TB Red black; dark red black B.

Gus Seligmann was my grandfather, and Satan's Mistress (which is a gorgeous iris) was created by my brother. So, too cool!!!

Breaking up is hard to do...

Actually, when you're breaking up for all the right reasons it's not as hard is it might have been.

No, I didn't fabricate a boyfriend and break up with him for the sake of this blog post, I am still happily single.

What I did do, however, is give my cat away. It's been a long time coming. I thought I would be sad, but to be honest, I really wasn't. The woman I gave him to came recommended by a vet tech at one of the local hospitals and I ended up spending about 2 hours at her house talking to her and looking at old family photos. I am going to check in with her later today and then check in with her again on Saturday to see how things are going, but I am confident this is in everyone's best interests, especially his.

So now I am a single pet household and I think I am okay with that.

Mother's Day is upon us

So I made some cards.

Thanks, Rosie, another fun afternoon!!