Our Yard... landscaping from start to finish!

Recent Pictures!!!

www.flickr.com

Live Video From The Fabulous Wireless Webcam!!!

Click here to enlarge.

Live Video From The Second Fabulous Wireless Webcam!!!

Click here to enlarge.

Thursday, May 27, 2004
3:14 PM

An Ode To Skinny B

I don't know if everyone heard, but Barbara was recently nominated for a "Women in Business Award" which is an annual award given by the Orange County Business Journal. The award is intended to recognize business women in Orange County who have made a significant contribution to both the business world and the community. I think Barbara was an excellent candidate. She works like a maniac and is involved in so many other pediatric groups. She cooks, she cleans, she diets. She builds things, paints things, grows things. There really seems to be nothing she can't do.

I just got back from the awards luncheon and am very disappointed that Barbara did not win. Even though the panel was foolish not to pick her, I wanted to reinforce that I think she absolutely 100% deserved it. We all know she is SuperWoman. And I guess that is all that matters (but the award would have been nice too!).

I do take small consolation from the fact that the winners' resumes read something like this:

"Mary grew up in a shack with no electricity and had to put herself through school by candlelight. After overcoming an amputation in high school, Mary went on to compete in the Olympics as a champion synchronized swimmer. While, concurrently earning her B.A., B.S., M.B.A., Ph.D. and M.D. Mary single-handedly developed both a vaccine for AIDS and a cure for cancer. In her free time, Mary works at a soup kitchen in Bolivia, where she found her 13 adopted refugee children. Mary also donates over a gazillion dollars to various charities each year and teaches Sunday school at every church in a 100 mile radius."

But I hope everyone will join me in letting Barbara know that we all love her and think she is the greatest!!

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Wednesday, May 26, 2004
8:28 AM

Happy Birthday Uncle Tom!!

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Tuesday, May 25, 2004
2:47 PM

Watch Out Aldi's!!
Just in case my last post sounded too yuppified with all that stuff about my Fabulous Yard, outdoor fireplace, drinking wine while watching the sunset, etc., I thought I would share my lunch shopping trip with my faithful readers. Far from yuppie.

I visited the store I know and love - Target. I could probably spend a full day browsing there but, alas, I had just an hour.

First stop - DVD section. Had to pick up the newly release LOTR - Return of the King. Couldn't wait. And they had plenty. Many many copies. Even widescreen. Yay Target!

Next stop - lotion (gee, isn't this exciting?). My only complaint about the Target shopping spree was that they have lotions in two completely different areas. Tried the first and couldn't find the one I use. So I stumbled around a bit no doubt looking confused and befuddled. After a few minutes of confusion, I stumbled into the second lotion area. What's up with that anyway? Why dazzle me with the vast array of the first set of lotions only to dash my hopes with the absence of my lotion? And then to hide my lotion with a whole other set of unguents and salves? Just put it all together already!!

Sorry, the cynicism rears its ugly head again!! But when all was said and done, I was two for two. Lotion added to basket.

Then it was off to the shoe section. I wanted some cute casual sandals and I refuse to spend $30 bucks or whatever they cost at department stores. They get enough out of me for work clothes. Target was indeed the perfect choice. I ended up with black, brown and red dressy flip-flops (three pairs, not one - bad me. If Mark asks, you don't need to point this out). Just for clarification, yes, flip flops can be dressy - or at least more dressy than my $3 rubber ones from Old Navy. The brown ones are suede and have cute little beads on them, the red ones are sequined and the black ones are leather.

Are you all bored yet with the nauseating detail about my Target trip?? Fear not, we are almost done.

I managed to then check out, after fighting off the $9 sunglasses which tried to leap into my basket unbidden. And I avoided the garden center altogether for fear of the cheap roses that I probably couldn't resist. I was disappointed that I didn't find a new gold watch - I've been looking for one of those since before Christmas. But 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

And now for the part I'm sure Auntie Lo has been anxiously anticipating. When all was said and done, I got a big bottle of lotion, a brand new, just released DVD and 3 pairs of really cute shoes for just over $50! I thought I did quite well. Especially on the shoes. I think my trip to Marshall's in STL has had a lasting effect on me.

In summary, I may not have Aldi's, but I do just fine anyway.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Monday, May 24, 2004
5:57 PM

What a Difference a Year Makes

Sorry about the last post. It was a bit negative. Hopefully I can counteract it with a much more positive one. I must warn you though, this will be a shockingly upbeat one coming from me!

I had a fabulous weekend. Got home Friday with plenty of time to enjoy the Fabulous Yard and all of its amenities. While Mark watched the Laker game, I took my monthly magazines outside, lit the fireplace, and enjoyed a glass of wine while reading and watching the sun go down. It was incredibly relaxing. As I was sitting out there I began to wax philosophical and got to thinking about how much things have changed in the past year.

One year ago:
-Living in a rental.
-Frantically trying to make sure everything was in order to close on our house. Too much paperwork.
-Even more frantically trying to finalize the landscaping plans for the Fabulous Yard. Too many choices.
-40 pounds heavier.
-Still on steroids. With the related moon-face swelling (looking at pictures taken then is pure torture for me).
-Generally feeling less than fabulous.
-Trying to come to grips with the RA diagnosis and get used to the less than fabulous drugs I must take for it.
-Worrying constantly that we shouldn't be buying the house.
-Packing everything we own for yet another move.
-Trying to decide what to do about partnership at my firm.
-Mark trying to decide what to do about partnership at his firm.

Now:
-All moved into our home. And we love it. It truly is a great house.
-Yard is in and came out better than we ever imagined.
-Back to my "normal" weight - actually even lower. And the bonus is that I can wear virtually all my clothes again.
-I have cheekbones again!
-Feeling good most of the time.
-Pretty must stabilized on the medications. Still not loving them, but I'll take them over the alternative.
-Promoted to Senior Attorney (an alternative to partner).
-Mark promoted to Partner.

So I sat there in my Fabulous Yard on Friday evening, enjoying the warmth from the fireplace (and the wine), the view, and the setting in general (I could even see the game through the back doors). And I counted my blessings. I am so thankful for how things have turned out over the last year. I can't really think of anything that I would change (Ok, a cure for RA would be good, but I'll take what I have in a heartbeat).

I'll go back to my usual cynical self now.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Friday, May 21, 2004
9:58 AM

Weekly Annoyances

Is it just me or is there more than usual idiocy present in the world this week? Somehow more things than usual are just annoying me this week. It clearly can't be me, so it must be an increase in the global annoyance factor. For example, all of the following have been making me crazy this week:

1. People who insist on driving below the speed limit in the fast lane. Hello!! It's called the fast lane for a reason! It isn't called the "5-10 miles below the speed limit lane"!). Get over. NOW!! This one has been so prevalent this week that I suspect a conspiracy is afoot.

2. Bosses who make ridiculous demands. This week I have been asked to find a needle in a haystack (actually, I wasn't really asked, but commanded to find it). And it isn't even certain that the needle is there. Really. I've been researching an issue all week, can't find anything relevant and yet the boss continues to insist that there must be something out there. What I want to say is "Good luck finding it because I can't," but we all know that isn't an option. I guess it's back to the haystack for me.

3. People who insist on parking the HUGE oversized SUVs in compact parking spaces. You wanted the huge car - live with it. Preferably in a parking space that is actually big enough for it! (And no, the Lexus does not qualify as huge!) Again, this is so prevalent this week that I think there may be an overall plot.

4. People who block their numbers on caller ID. Come on. Is your identity really top secret? Actually, I don't really mind this one all that much. It just means we won't answer and you will be screened by the answering machine.

5. Clients who fight with me. Look - I've got enough on my hands fighting with the lawyers who are suing you. I really don't need or want to fight with you too. It doesn't help and really just pisses me off!!! Not a good plan. Good news for me and bad news for you is that clients get billed for time spent on the phone fighting with me. At least I don't have to fight with them for free.

6. People who don't update their blogs and thereby entertain me. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

As you can see, I am profoundly glad it is Friday.

Feel free to add your own annoyances!!

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Wednesday, May 19, 2004
8:59 AM

The Mile High Shopping Club

Somehow I've ended up doing a lot of traveling over the past few weeks, including the fabulous trip to STL as well as a couple of work-related trips for hearings, meetings and such (Ahhh, it's such a glamorous life I lead - jetting all over the country. Not.) And as a result I've been able to spend a lot of quality time on airplanes. Lucky me. Again, not.

But luckily for me and any other people stuck on a plane for any amount of time, the wonderful people at Skymall make it easy to kill time shopping while on the plane. We've all seen the Skymall catalogs in the seatback in front of us - right behind the map of the exit slides, the airsickness bag, and the airline magazine which invariably features some singer you've never heard of. But lucky for us, Skymall is there.

Now before I mock certain of Skymall's items (you had to know that was coming), I freely admit that there are some items they carry that I have been interested in. Not interested enough to actually buy them, but interested nonetheless. Skymall is clearly not entirely without merit. But there are items that I really have to wonder about. For example:

The Upside Down Tomato Garden

Now why exactly is this a good idea? Why not just plant the tomatoes in the ground or a pot? It wouldn't take any more room than this. Has there been some study about the benefits of growing tomatoes upside down and I missed it? And how does the soil stay in over time? This just seems to be a revival of Gravity Boots (another doozy of an idea), except this time the torture is being inflicting on defenseless tomatoes. Just say no. Grow your tomatoes the good old fashioned way. With those hideous tomato cages that are unavoidable. At least they are marginally better looking that this contraption. And far less silly.

Another favorite is the Hot Dog Cooker

As you all know from prior posts, I am a huge kitchen gadget person. Generally I have never met a kitchen gadget that I didn't like. Until now. A designated hot dog cooker? What's wrong with a good old toaster oven? And does anyone really eat enough hot dogs to justify this "appliance"?? If they do, I don't know that this will really help as it only cooks two at a time.

But perhaps my personal favorite is the Dog Translator Yes, you read that correctly.

Do I even need to comment on this one?

Suffice it to say that my credit cards survived all of the travel unscathed - at least by Skymall.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Thursday, May 13, 2004
5:34 PM

More E-Bay Hilarity
For those of you who missed out on the opportunity to buy the Wedding Dress mentioned in my earlier post, fret not. Another perhaps even superior item is now available.

Haunted Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I have just a few comments on this one.

1. It's 6 years old. Really. Talk about holding on to something in hopes of selling it one day!
2. Who on earth is going to buy this? I can't wait to see the bids. Then again, if someone paid $3,850 for a used wedding dress that cost $1,200 new, who knows?!?

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

10:53 AM

STL Day 3
Ah Day 3. The last day of the great STL trek. So soon and so sad. Alas the weather mirrored our sorrow at the rapidly approaching end of our trip. It rained nearly all day and was quite cold. But we refused to cave to the whims of Mother Nature and still headed out for some more STL fun - specifically Grant's Farm. For those of you who have not experienced Grant's Farm in all of its glory, it is a big nature preserve run by Anheuser Busch (interesting cross-over). Apparently what STL does especially well (in addition to frozen custard) is animal attractions. As with the earlier zoo trip, Grant's Farm was very nice. Tram tour. Lots of cool animals up close and personal (I took lots of pictures but don't want to bore people with them). Free liquor at the Biergarten (can't beat free booze can you?). But best of all, I got to feed the baby goats:

My favorite part. Except for the very dirty pants that resulted from all of the goats leaping up on me. (But thanks to Auntie Lo, the pants were as good as new before we left STL). Pushy little goats. But I still wanted to take one home - after cleaning his/her feet.

All in all, Grant's Farm was a great place. The only drawback, which unfortunately was a big one, was that it was drizzly and cold. And we were short one jacket so poor Mark was a bit cold by the time we finished (to quote him "It's ok, you can just pry my frozen corpse off of the tram when we are done"). Perhaps he was more than a bit cold. Naah. I think a return trip to Grant's Farm will be in order when it is sunny and warm. Luckily we weren't the only morons there in the rain so we didn't have to feel completely foolish (just mostly foolish, and cold).

Then we toured STL, saw the arch, saw the neighborhood where my grandmother used to work as a maid (quite a high point for Mark I'm sure). Just general touring. But it was nice to see more of the city.

Then back to the Vogel abode for our German themed dinner prepared in tribute to our German heritage. Fabulous bratwurst by Uncle Tom. Potato pancakes. Sauerkraut. Dark beer. Mmmm. And chocolate cake for dessert. Another fabulous meal.

Then it was time for packing and bed, as our flights were very early the next day.

In keeping with the predominant animal theme from the trip, I'll close with a final picture:

Poor KC. So sweet and so misunderstood. She really isn't possessed by Satan. She just acts like it sometimes.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Wednesday, May 12, 2004
8:47 AM

STL Day 2.75
Sorry for the delay in posts. It's been a bit crazy and still is, but I will do a quick post in hopes of not losing all of my readers!

As I was going through my pictures, I realized that I failed to mention yet another fun and exciting aspect of Day 2 of the trip - ping-pong!

First Mark solidly defeated Chris, but then was challenged by Auntie Lo. And Lois was in rare form:

As was Mark:

But ultimately Lois prevailed. She was the reigning ping-pong queen of this trip. But there will no doubt be a re-match at some point. . .

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Friday, May 07, 2004
1:42 PM

STL Day 2.5
Friday, April 30. We woke up bright and early and spent the early morning on the fabulous screened porch watching the colorful birds (see below) and waiting for everyone to get up. Then, once everyone was awake, we headed out to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. (Ok, so maybe we didn't actually wait for everyone to wake up. Dana, Laura and Chris perhaps had a little prodding. As in "If you don't get up, we are leaving without you." Worked like a charm - try it sometime.)

Given that the idea to take this trip was spurred by my crazy gardening obsession and desire to see the Garden's Spring bulb display, I was very excited to go. Unfortunately, I did miss most of the bulbs in bloom, but there were still plenty to see. For example:

and

Love the tulips. My favorite flower. Anyway . . .

Other than the bulbs, we pretty much saw every square inch of the Gardens. We saw the maze:

We spent a lot of time in the Japanese Garden, especially feeding the Koi and ducks:

Chris even managed to train the Koi to push themselves out of the water several inches to get the food. If only he could have taught them to then swim backwards, it would have rivaled the dolphin shows at Sea World. If dental school doesn't work out, maybe he can look forward to a long and prosperous career training fish. Wonder if they give you a pension for that?? (Sorry Lois, couldn't resist.)

The Japanese Garden seemed to be everyone's' favorite. It is the largest Japanese Garden in North America. Very zen. But I suspect that the calming and soothing aspects were somewhat lost on Mark who unfortunately spent a decent amount of time on his cell phone dealing with various work crises. Definitely not Feng Shui compliant.

All in all, I think we all very much enjoyed the gardens. At least everyone looked like the were having fun:

After making everyone cover every square inch of the gardens, we went to a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant that I think was actually called Wei Hong. But we referred to it affectionately as "Dead Duck Chinese" in light of the dead ducks hanging in the window. You can tell we were in desperate need of sustenance given our complete lack of nickname creativity. Somehow I still fail to see the allure of eating at a place with dead animals in the window, but I must admit that the food was great. My favorite was the Chow Fun recommended by Lois (again, Lois proves her brilliance). But it had to be good. It was Fun!

After all the walking and eating we were again - wait for it - tired. So back we went to the screened porch to lounge around. Lois, Chris and I then made a quick shopping trip to the beloved Aldi's and Marshalls. I even managed to buy a couple of things. I think Aldi's may be growing on me. Where else can you get 2 packs of hot dog buns, 2 boxes of brownie mix, an avocado, a bag of bagels, and a bunch of boxes of Kraft mac & cheese for the grand total of $8.18 (and I think I may be forgetting something). Truly amazing.

That's all I have time to add today. But that should give you enough to tantalize and keep you coming back for more!

Coming up - the extremely cold trip to Grant's Farm. Thank God they give out free alcohol!

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Thursday, May 06, 2004
1:41 PM

STL Day 2 (aka Lois Proves Herself Once Again)
When I last updated the STL report, we were all taking naps. Pretty exciting eh?

First of all, about the nap (still exciting eh?). Let me say how much I love Lois & Tom's basement guest room (hereinafter Lois & Tom shall be referred to as "L&T" for ease of reference). I have this thing about trying to block any and all light in my bedroom at night and during naps (sort of like Nicole Kidman's kids in the movie the Others). The first thing we changed in one of our houses was the blinds in the master bedroom that seemed to actually generate light rather than block it. Who puts blinds like that in their bedroom?? Really. I like it dark. Needless to say, the basement room rocks!! Very dark. But I digress. (Can you tell yet that I had perhaps a bit too much caffeine at lunch?)

So after the fabulous nap in the wonderfully dark basement room (darkness is especially key during naps, but I digress again), off we went to pick Mark up at the airport. We managed to reach him on his cell phone right as he got off the plane so we had yet another picture perfect pickup. And off we went to expose poor uninitiated Mark to his first taste of the Midwest. Two things struck him at first. The first were the freeway signs that pointed you toward places like "Memphis" "Kansas City and "Chicago". Just seems much more far afield than those here in mundane SoCal. The second was the complete lack of walls between people's yards. I must agree with him that I don't get that either. I tend to agree with the saying "Good fences make for great neighbors." But to each his/her own. If you crazy STL people want everyone in your yard, more power to you.

We arrived at L&T's just in time for yet another fabulous dinner prepared by Tom. BBQ pork steaks, grilled vegetables. Mmmmmm. Of course I must give some credit for the dinner idea to Lois. Tom wanted to make chicken but he was finally worn down after about the gazillionth comment from Lois like "Are you sure you don't want to make pork?" Ok, it wasn't a gazillion. More like 378. But given the delicious outcome, I think that yet again, Lois established her superior knowledge about all aspects of life. Tom should join me in allowing Lois to run his life (Wait! He already has! I'll just join him.)

After dinner, we had a momentous event. Truly life-changed, mind-altering, point-of-no-return kind of thing. Allow me to demonstrate with a picture:

Anyone recognize it? Anyone? Bueller? Well for the non-STL folks, that is the famous Ted Drewes mentioned earlier. Just what we needed after gorging on too much dinner. (I must confess that the picture is not 100% accurate because as of this point in the trip, Laura wasn't home yet. Pardon my creative license.) Ted Drewes rocks. Frozen custard with things blended in. Mmmm. I had a caramel nut one that night. Double mmmm.

Back to sleep in the basement room. (I already have a foolishly long post and I haven't even gotten to Friday yet!!!)

I'll close for now. Don't want to bore anyone with a too-long post. But plenty more to come. Please tune in next time for the next installment.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

8:02 AM

Thursday Grandma Update
I visited Grandma again yesterday evening. She was definitely doing better, but will probably be in the hospital until Friday. As on Tuesday, she was eating dinner when I was there (Nicole can tell you all about my special talent for interrupting people's dinners). After dinner I helped her from the chair she was in (I was very happy to see her out of bed) to the restroom and back to bed. She needed help but she made due with just little ol' me - no nurse, which I think was a good sign. I even helped her get her jammies on. So she was pretty active and was very chatty. All in all, things are looking up. But keep up the good thoughts.

Day 2 of STL coming up at some point. Sorry, just haven't had time thus far.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Wednesday, May 05, 2004
8:09 AM

Grandma Update
Just wanted to give everyone a quick update about Grandma (as originally posted by Dana). I visited yesterday evening. She said she is feeling much better. She got some rest and was eating dinner while I was there. She is able to get out of bed if she has help. She said she thinks that she just got run down and dehydrated.

We still don't know when she'll be going home. Maybe today. I'll keep you posted.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Tuesday, May 04, 2004
3:01 PM

STL Day 1 (aka Lois Is Always Right)
I promised to post more about the STL trip when I had time. I really don't have time (funny how taking a couple of days off results in huge piles of work on your desk), but far be it for me to deprive my loyal readers of an STL report. Given all the fun that was had, I cannot begin to capture it all in just one post. So I'll do it one day at a time.

I arrived in STL at about 6 pm on Wednesday evening. Flight was fine (more to come on that in a future post - so much to make fun of when it comes to airlines). As I got off the plane, there was Dana waiting to greet me (her flight got in a bit before mine so she waited for me). Yay Dana! I must admit that it is nice to see a friendly face when getting off a plane - that just doesn't happen these days with all the new airport security measures. Once we met up, we headed out to the curb where Auntie Lo was already waiting to pick us up. It was like clockwork. Split second timing. A well oiled machine. Anyway. . . off we went to the Vogel abode.

Dinner was a fabulous stew thanks to Uncle Tom (and Julia Child). We sat on the screened porch (I need to figure out how to add one of these to our house), ate, chatted and watched the birds.

(Sorry the picture is kind of fuzzy.)

Pretty mellow evening all in all. Naturally, we made the first of several trips to Ted Drewes that night. Mmmm Ted Drewes. Need to figure out how to add one a Ted Drewes on to our house too.

Alas, the next morning Tom had a patient he had to see so he was out for the morning plans. But Lois, Dana and I headed out to see the sights. I'll skip the first stop given our unanimous disappointment with it. If you really want to know, here it is. Let's just say that you know things aren't going well when the most interesting aspect of a location is the story about how someone else's car was broken into minutes before your arrival. Not an auspicious start to the day (for us, or the victim of the break in). Luckily we managed to avoid a similar break-in and the day of touring improved rapidly.

Lois then insisted on taking us to the zoo. I admit that I was hesitant, reluctant, even stubborn in my resistance to the zoo idea. I figured that with the San Diego Zoo so close by, why go anywhere else? I freely admit the error of my ways. Sorry Lo - I'll never doubt you again. The STL Zoo was wonderful. I think I liked it better than San Diego. And, best of all it was 100% completely FREE! Imagine that! Let me say it again - FREE! As in zero admission fee. That is unheard of. San Diego costs list a gazillion dollars, which is definitely more than FREE!

So we spent most of the morning strolling around the zoo. Here are a few samples of the sights:

Lois and Dana Making a New Friend:

Crazy Blanket-Climbing Bear:

(I actually took way more pictures at the zoo. But I figured that I would bore everyone if I posted too many animal pictures. As you will see, somehow I managed to take pictures of a lot of animals on this trip.)

In short, the zoo was great. I have no idea why I resisted Lois' expert advice, especially given my love of animals. I think I'll just let Lois run my life from now on.

As a brief sidebar - the zoo also had great funnel cakes. Mmmm. In addition to a lot of animals, this trip was characterized by lots of very yummy but not very healthy food.

After the zoo and a couple of errands, we met up with Tom and went to lunch at my dad's favorite place from his recent STL trip - The Blue Owl. In fact, we were super-mean and called him while we were there eating just to rub it in. But I agree with him - I loved that place. It is right by the Mississippi River so then we drove down to check that out (sorry no pics - just imagine a really big river).

Then we went home and took naps (all that eating is really very tiring).

So endeth the first 24 hour period. Stay tuned for Day 2 of the Great STL Adventure (aka Mark Visits the Midwest). . .

P.S. Lest Lois' head get too big, allow me to remind her of the "Heellllooooo" incident at Costco on Day 1.

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment

Monday, May 03, 2004
9:21 AM

More to Come . . .
Sorry, I don't have time for a comprehensive post (or more likely posts) about the trip to STL. Have to get caught up. I will say we had a fabulous time. Thanks again to Tom & Lois for being such great hosts. I will take the time to post my favorite picture though:

More to come when I have time!

0 comment(s) so far!

Click Here to Read or Post a Comment