Happy Birthday Mr X!

Today is Mr X's birthday. Therefore it is a very important day in American History, if you ask me. But I'm biased of course.

If you're worrying that I'm going to write something really cheesy, don't - I'm going to keep that mushy stuff to myself (and Mr X).

I'm also not going to bother writing about how Mr X still looks like a spring chicken no matter what his age is. Nor am I going to marvel about how he's still as nimble as a cat (except on a trampoline - but I suppose cat's don't much care for trampolines either). Mr X never really seems to believe these things when I say them anyway so I imagine that seeing them in writing won't work either. He's just way too hard on himself, I think.

What I AM going to write is a short blip about Mr X's life up to now:

Mr X has lived in 5 states.

He has lived in 3 countries.

He has visited 15 countries (this doesn't include layovers in airports.)

He is an excellent snowboarder and surfer - two of his passions - and continues to do them both.

He is a HOMEOWNER - even if it doesn't agree with him.

He has a job that he loves (and that's a rare/precious thing to have.)

He is fluent in 2 languages and he can 'get by' in about 3 more.

He married some crazy lady that is still completely smitten with him.

He is the proud owner of a Subaru (one of his more impressive accomplishments, I think.)

Now if that's not the summation of living life to it's fullest, I don't know what is.

Update from work...

My fabulous company has been gracious enough to have no problem with allowing me to finish out the month of August for them. That's a relief because the finances would have been scary otherwise. And the people that I was worried about upsetting are indeed upset but they have all been very nice and even offered to give any future employers of mine wonderful recommendations for me. *Whew* As taxing as this job has been, the company and the people have been incredible. It's too bad they don't have a project in CA.

Savannah Georgia

When Mr X and I arrived in Savannah, we stayed in a beautiful southern style B&B in the heart of the town. It was perfect for walking around to all of the sights. I liked Savannah because it seemed small but it wasn't that small. It was a friendly place, well kept and beautiful. It is now one of my favorite places I have been in the US. Here are some pictures from our stay:

The room in which we stayed happened to be the very same room that Joel Chandler Harris lived in for quite a while during his time in Savannah. You know, Br'er Rabbit and Uncle Remus? Yup, that's the guy.

One thing I love about Savannah is that it is entrenched in American History. Every few blocks you will come across yet another small yet very lush park area with statues and plaques detailing interesting historical facts about the city. Mr X and I wore our sweaty (the humidity was cruel to us desert folk) little feet out walking from park to park, learning all we could.

There is a very beautiful and eerie cemetery in the middle of the city that had all sorts of amazing people buried there from events like the American Revolution. Oak trees were all over the place, draped elegantly in Spanish Moss. I probably have a hundred pictures of these trees - I couldn't get enough of them.

I'm not sure what this building was for, but I thought it was beautiful so I snapped a picture.

The picture below is of the Georgia State Capital building.

This was Mr X's dinner that night: Crab legs, peel-n-eat shrimp (not pictured), southern red rice, and of course - grits. The rice was good but I was surprised how much I liked the grits...but I suppose if you put that much butter in anything it would taste pretty good. Oh, and if you didn't have enough butter with your grits, there's a side of butter for crab dipping...

I ordered the mussels and loved them. Once again, I'm sure you can see all the butter pooling below the shells. Mmmmm.....butter. (And I know it sounds like I ate Mr X's food AND my food, but I assure you, we shared everything. Except the butter. I ate all of that.)

We went into one of the candy shops down by the water and I thought I had died and gone to heaven - it smelled so freaking good in there. I've never cared one way or another about pecan pralines, but once you've had one fresh and warm trust me, you will fall in love with them too.

As most of you know, Mr X loves nuts. So when we came upon this shop we had to go in. It certainly didn't disappoint either. You can get peanuts in any form or flavor in here and you get to try them all out too. We were fat and happy after we left this adorable (and tasty) shop.

If we'd had the time and money we would have gone on one of these river boat dinner cruises. But instead we just took a picture of one that was about to leave.

Spilling Beans

Well, due to a series of unfortunate events, pressure, guilt and uncomfortable moments, the news is out at my work. 4 weeks and 2 days advanced notice is what I gave my employer today. My last day of work will be August 28th. Hopefully I will have another job to step into within a week or two of that day. (knock on wood, fingers crossed, and many prayers) I had only planned on giving just shy of 3 weeks notice but things didn't work out that way so I gave more. Now the question is will my company just cut me loose right away and send me packing for this seeming disloyalty (which I have seen them do) or will they allow me to stay on and finish out my month of remaining work? I'm sure I'll know the answer to that at some point tomorrow. I'll keep you posted...

Oh and if you are wondering why I am quitting - Mr X has managed to get himself transferred back to Southern California. So in a sense we feel like we are headed "home" since it's the place that has most felt like home for both of us in our adult lives.

Georgia is lovely

As some of you may know already, Mr X and I enjoyed some time in Georgia at the end of June. I've finally managed to start putting up some pictures from the trip. It was truly a visual delight so I have tons of beautiful/fun pictures from the trip but not enough room or space or patience to post them all here. So I'm just picking and choosing a few of them for you. I'll do several posts with more pictures.

So here we go... I flew into Columbia, SC where Mr X picked me up and took me to Augusta, GA. This first picture is from a swampy area (at least it seems that way to me - but I live in the desert.) where the Battle of Rivers' Bridge happened in South Carolina.
This second picture is from downtown Augusta, GA. Mr X is posing with the statue of James Brown. What I want to know is whether this statue was life-sized or not because if so, the Godfather of Soul was rather small.

These are some beautiful houses built up along the Savannah River in Augusta. (As you'll see in later posts, I was obsessed with the houses in this part of the country.)

Mr X and I ended up hungry in the middle of nowhere at one point on our meandering way to Savannah. So we stopped at a place called "Frank's" where we had a very southern meal. It was pretty tasty even though it probably doesn't look like it from these pictures. We had barbecued pork with cole slaw and potato salad and baked beans. My favorite thing were the hush puppies.

The Winner(s)!

Sorry I'm late on this posting but I had some trouble deciding on the best photo caption post. I know I said that I was going to send the prize to the one who submitted the best 3 captions, but I've divided it up...so I guess I just have to send 2 prizes out. To see the winners, go to the photo caption post and view the captions below the pictures. I will mail out the prizes this week. (I promise!)

Zip it.

Today at work was a little rough. Not only could I not concentrate to save my life, I walked around all morning with zipper unzipped. It was pretty spectacular. Nobody said a thing but they had to have seen because I noticed it finally when I sat down and the front of my pants was gaping open. Black pants on white under-roos? Very inconspicuous.

Later, when my pants were successfully zipped up, I seemed to have trouble zipping my mouth shut. Some of the boys I work with have taken to doing some sort of Ultimate Fighting wrestling class at their gym. It's pretty much all guys. Anyway, one of them walked over to the other and was like, "Hey, are you ready for some guy-on-guy action?" He was referring to heading out for wrestling but it sounded awful. A few moments later another coworker came by and asked the wrestler what they were doing for lunch and the wrestlers responded they were going to get something really tasty to eat (just messing with the guy cuz they were just going to the gym). The uninformed coworker said, "What are you going to eat then." I replied that they were going to "an all you can eat sausage buffet."

Too much for work (or at all probably), I know.

Photo caption contest!

Attention readers! I realize that I have been The World's Most Miserable Blogger lately, and I apologize. In my defense, my life has been a bit hectic - more about that in a few weeks (I have exciting news that I can't divulge just yet...some of you already know so keep it hush hush on here until I give the green light - and no, I'm not pregnant or anything like that.)

Anyway, hopefully I still have a few people reading my blog, or rather devotedly checking my blog in hopes that I might write again. And for you I have created a contest. This contest is a photo caption contest. I am the judge on this one of course. In the comments, just enter your choices for the 3 photos below. (You have to enter a caption for each photo to qualify.) The person with the 3 most clever captions will win a prize. If I don't already have an email for you, leave it in the comments (like abc_home at gmail dot com). I will announce the winner next Friday the 25th (giving people of plenty of time to check my blog, in case they haven't in a while) and then I'll send a prize to the winner and I will post the captions below.

Winner: "On the good ship lollipop! It's a sweet ship to the candy shop!" (make sure you are singing)

Honorable Mention: "Come and get it!" Winner: "Susie realized the repair man was NOT from Maytag when he opened his 'toolbox.' "

Honorable Mention: "I swear, I saw it around here somewhere." Winner: "Even if one must make a hasty exit, remember: a winning smile is your best fashion accessory."