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...
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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...
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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...
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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....
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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...
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Climb Every Mountain

Well, not EVERY mountain but just the one. It took Brandon and I 7 years of marriage to figure out that we both like camping.  Away from the cars kind of camping. We have been investing in our camping gear.  When we were shopping for a backpack, the staff mentioned that REI does have overnight backpacking classes and that we should check that out. So we did. This past Saturday and Sunday, we were in Mount San Jacinto State Park backpacking for the first time with 2 REI instructors, Greg and Michael, and 5 other newbies.  One was gearing up...
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