Life Detox

6 days in Costa Rica and I came back with a new look at life. I went 6 days without the internet (except for a 30 minutes I hopped on to check in with the hubby when I arrived and before I left), work, or television. I went 6 days without much of anything but gallo pinto, rum,  and time. Yep.  Nora and I didn’t do much of anything during our trip but relax and go with the flow. We landed in San Jose at 9 a.m. on Thursday and we were at Calilu restaurant to wait for our shuttle...
Continue reading...

All my bags are packed

Costa Rica, here I am! Yep. My BFF Nora and I are heading down to the beautiful northwestern beaches of Guanacaste region of Costa Rica for my friends’ wedding.  The traveling Couch Monkey will finally get to be among his capuchin buddies! I just realized that this is my first trip abroad in 17 years. Well, you know, having come over to the U.S. being my last “foreign” trip.  Since then, I have only gone home and nowhere else outside the U.S. Okay. I did set foot in Canada for like 15 minutes in college when we got turned around...
Continue reading...

Don’t leave home without it

I’ve done my share of long distance traveling.  Every time some one gasps when I tell them how long it takes to fly to Thailand, I chuckle a little bit inside. “Well, it’s 11-12 hours with a 3-hour layover in Taiwan/Hong Kong/Japan, and then another 4-5 hours to Bangkok. OR I can fly direct for 17.5 hours.” “OH MY GOD! / Da-yam! / Are you kidding me? / I could never do that!?!” Then I will tell them that it’s not so bad any more.  On Thai Airways direct flight, even Economy seat has its own on demand TV and...
Continue reading...

Wheel of Fortune

I told you about my multi-talented friend Note, the co-owner of Kinnaree Gourmet Thai and tarot card reader extraordinaire.  The latter, at least our group of friends think she is anyway. I promised Note that I would blog about my month-to-month prediction, so that as time ticks on, we can come back to see how accurate she really is. Before we get to that, what she said about my overall future gets me giggling. She said that although I am a team player, I work better alone. Same thing with my social life, great with friends and going out but...
Continue reading...

Home At Last

Sawaddee from the Big Mango, y’all!  A nice, crisp, 75F “winter” Bangkok, no less.  I am enjoying the cool morning here. I arrived at dawn yesterday and what a day it was!  My brother and sister-in-law picked me up in his brand new BMW X5.  We had breakfast and I was left to myself all morning.  I unpacked, played some piano, and took a crack at the Nikki Heat novel before succumbing to sleep after lunch. My friend Note called to wake me up and off I went to her condo for a 4:30 p.m. pool party that didn’t happen....
Continue reading...

All my bags are packed

…I’m ready to go. Are you ready for me, the Big Mango? So I leave LAX tonight, arriving in Bangkok at 6 a.m. on Saturday.  (Yes, time traveling. It’s awesome.) Let’s say, I’d probably get home around 8 a.m.  I’d be done unpacking by 9 a.m. and I get to relax for a while. 3:30 p.m. I am off to my friend’s condo for a pool party.  A few hours later, we’ll mosey down to Kinnaree Gourmet Thai for dinner and drinks, my annual pilgrimage.  Hopefully, someone will drop me off at home with a nice buzz. Yep. I’m rolling...
Continue reading...