Today was an amazingly sunny and warm day, the kind that makes you check the calendar to really make sure it is the middle of November. Sixty degrees means gardening in short-sleeves, laundry that dries on the line, and prolonged bulb planting sessions that don't make your knees ache.

TH and I ran errands this morning -getting ready for Thanksgiving feasts and the days between those feasts. We purchased cranberries, potatoes, celery, carrots, brussel sprouts and chanterelles to be used for stuffing, dressings and chutneys. Blackberries, rhubarb, raspberries picked from the garden will be used for desserts. Hubbard squash and apple sauce will also appear on the table, whether I like them or not, they are standard fare and every year they disappear.

This year, our family has a lot to be thankful for -- marriages to happen, new life added to the family and more on the way, good health for all of us and hope, even among all the bad economic news that things are going to improve.

The next few weeks are going to be hectic. Work is ramping up with new projects, TH is swamped, yet more travel and the holidays are creeping up. I cannot believe how fast the year has gone by at times.

I hope things can slow down enough tomorrow that I can savor every moment in the warming autumn sun.

nm

recession, what recession?

I will admit that we're all a bit on the edge about the economy. I hope this is what is contributing to my eight tums a day habit.

If you were to walk into a hip Seattle eatery on a Thursday night, you would be hard pressed to believe that we're in trouble peeps.

A couple of weeks ago, I ate at Poppy, Jerry Traunfeld's new place. While the food was good, the service was atrocious, the setting bland and cheap looking and the meal was expensive. The place was packed with hipsters galore and they just keep on coming.

Allen Wong's in Honolulu -- packed.

Barolo last night - at 8:30 -- packed, so packed that we came in and turned right back out and went to the Dahlia Lounge instead and still had to wait.

Tonight (I know, this is bad) , we got to Pair at 5:20 pm. We were one of the first people seated - by 6 pm, the resto was 3/4 full, by the time we left --7:30 pm it was packed.

None of these places would be considered inexpensive and my guess is that most of the people eating didn't save up their pennies for a once a month splurge. These are regular restaurant goers and they are still going in droves.

Maybe its because some of us are seeing the recession differently... I'm not so much hurt on a day to day level, but all the money we have carefully put away is dwindling away. Its not a bad place to be in comparison to many others. However, at times I feel guilty as heck for not staying home and eating rice and beans.

For some, grabbing dinner out is just sustenance and fuel. I believe these days, some of us are going out to dine finely only to be reassured by seeing others out enjoying a meal and not so much drowning our sorrows, but shoving them to the side to enjoy a fennel salad or a perfectly cooked veal chop and enjoy being entertained and being entertaining.

nm
vip diner -- opentable.com

Dang, I'm tired.

4 am dog stomach coating sessions are really overrated.

The patient is much better.

nm

Nothing sucks more than trying to figure out what is wrong with your
tiny dog
This seriously sucks, but his grandmere has provided him with freshly poached chicken breast and we are being good dog moms and holding his paw

Poor ernest
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15 minutes home and
laundry has started
Bag unpacked
Bag put away
Sick Dog walked
Mail sorted
Rice started for sick dog

Vacation is really

a. Over
b. Overrated
c. All of the above
d. None of the above
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Eternity --- five hours in Lahaina without wheels nor a need for a maui tee shirt.

So happy to be back in Lanai where TH and I were treated to a croquet lesson. Sweet.

Tomorrow we schelp back home.

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Here today

Gone to Maui

Lahaina to be more specific
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Croquet with mai tai
Beach
Too many people by pool (can't drink at beach)
Bournes 1 and 2 watched

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We are in Lanai surrounded by pine trees and wild turkeys with nary a palm tree nor grass skirt in sight.

The middle of the island is lovely and cool. Approximately 15 degrees cooler than the beach.

I could get used to this.

Tomorrow we head to the beach and then siesta up at the lodge. The Lanai farmers market should be fun and so will walking around the very cute Lanai City.

Later taters
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Aloha

Redux

Diamond head
Sherwood forest
Corner room with views of ocean and diamond head
Alan Wong tasting menu
A mild breeze lulls one to sleep
Aloha sweet dreams
Tomorrow lanai
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Gone fishing.

Yes you did

All I have to say is this restored my faith in America.

This is one of the happiest days of my life.

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who let the freaks out

This thread in particular.

Other than that, I am particularly looking forward to a large cup of hot chocolate and cookies and some sort of sleep aid tomorrow night.

If you haven't for some insane reason voted yet, for shits sake, if you don't tomorrow, I will be really pissed, even if you vote a completely republican ticket.

I am seriously amazed that in this day and age, people still just don't vote.

Sunday wrap up

Dog park
Hanging with homies
Laundry
Dutiful avoidiance of leaf raking and bulb planting
Dvd watching
Quince jam making
Lazy blackberry blogging
Good night
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Today is the beginning of NaBloPoMo. Really. I promise.to.write.a.post.everyday.this.month.

Even with my desire to drink mai-tais and pretend that the last few months of this wretched back biting hideous makes you feel dirty campaign to pick our next commander-in-chief didn't unfold the way it has.

Seriously.

When we contemplated going away for a few days in November, I considered leaving on election day because well, we would be over the Pacific with absolutely no clue as to what happened for five lovely hours. Then I realized that that would drive me batty. In 2000, we thought we had it in the bag and lost it due to dirty Floridian politics and the election went on forever. It was not a happy time for us, Jacques was deathly ill and we were scared for our lives. We also missed nearly of a week of a ten day vacation to Italy to visit our friends and do some touring. The whole time we were in a haze. Every time we would think something would seem resolved, something else would hurtle us backwards. By the time we got to Rome -- via three I kid you not changes to our tickets (keeping our upgrades the whole way) and a detour to Milan we were nervous wrecks.

This time, it seems that we are nervous wrecks without a sick animal.

So, this Tuesday, I will tele-work so that I can get some uninterrupted writing time. I will shut off wireless so that I do not obsess. I will go to class at 6 pm as usual. What is my waiting around listening to NPR and do other that make me even more anxiety ridden? Our television is black and white, so this whole blue/red thing is not happening for us. I am definitely an aural person these days.

Again, I do not believe anything is sewn up until I see the newspaper headlines that are going to make me scream from the rooftops and cry with joy because we may actually regain a few civil rights and give this country some hope and glory that it desperately needs.

Don't you think so as well?


On Thursday, around 9:40 am, I am planning on drinking my first of many mai-tais -- ushering in good times for a few days in the sunshine and hopefully for the next four years.

If you get what you want -- election-wise what are you planning on doing?

Know someone who is being a bit waffley this election season or just complacent, or just not thinking their vote counts.

Well, get thee to this site and send them a little love note, with apologies to Ernest.



He already voted.

I can't say it any better again.

The economy is still in the crapper. I went to the Vill today to pick up something from the pharmacy and decided to wander around. H&M was empty, lucky, Red Mango, Lucy, the Coach store and Victoria Secret, even the freaking Apple Store.

Fear not peeps, I did not go on a spending spree, I just noticed this as I walking by.

Well, okay, I bought a sweater at H&M, seventeen little 'droids on the sales floor and one could not be bothered to help me. I think I'll stick to catalog shopping and Nordstrom, in one case, I don't have to worry about being polite to the sales person. In the other case, I may actually get some customer service.

Gosh, if H&M is what is going to be the first step up the retail ladder to working in some small boutique in Belltown, managing a banana stand or an internship at Lucky Brands, these 'droids have got to learn a thing or two about personal interactions with their customers wielding cash.

nm would you like a belt to go with your hat?

Today I sat with childhood friends to support our incumbent governor and hear Al Gore discuss climate change and how far we need to go to change our lifestyles, our way of thinking and our dependence on fossil fuels. He is a great speaker, and while preaching to a choir of already fiercely democratic voters, I'm sure he enlightened more than one member of the packed room.

Gore also acknowledged a group of scientists that I am affiliated with who are assessing climate change impacts in the Arctic and others who work down the hall from me thatlook at how anthropogenic CO2 affects ocean acidification. My friend who accompanied me to this event, actually did some of this sampling off the West Coast.

Wouldn't it be cool to have your work highlighted?

It was wonderful to listen to a former vice president who understands the impacts of climate change, sea level rise, and necessity for better monitoring and assessment of these problems. Imagine life with a vice president who supports independence on foreign oil by doing more damage to the the Arctic Ecosystem and our near shore environments. I shudder and think and pray that it won't ever happen.

Imagine what we could do if we could start researching alternatives to fossil fuel- algae and other biofuels. We would be integrating biologists, chemists and engineers towards a greater good while solving some basic research issues.

Today I filled my tank up with gas that was under three dollars a gallon. Does the decrease in the price of gas mean that we'll continue our love affair with our car? Does this mean that we'll stop doing the practical and healthy things we have been easing into the last few months -- the carpooling, bike riding, and errand combining? Does this mean that you will get back behind the wheel of your SUV and drive for the sake of driving because dammit you can?

God I hope not.

nm

giving up/giving in

Yesterday I had my lawn mowed and edged for the season. I held off for the whole year, but finally decided it needed doing. Now my lawn looks like it had a bikini wax, the normal, modest kind. Visualize it yourselves.

I hired the dog walker that takes care of Nicki, my neighbor's dog when he's out of town and Ernest's friend, Finnegan. Why? Because I just can't handle leaving work in the middle of the day. For some reason it breaks up my day to no end and Lord knows I am having a hard enough time focusing. So, when TH is gone, Ernest gets to hang with his homies and I get a break.

Giving in -- I am seriously reading too much news of the day and the news is giving me hives.

Giving up - reading too much news. I hate hives.

Larry David says it best.

The weekend is supposed to be sunny and beautiful. Other than dog walking, some distance walking if I can get it in and oven cleaning, I am going to try and put the long season garden to bed and soak in the sun. There is nothing I can do about my attractive thigh high tan before I go to Lanai, but at least my heart and soul can turn off the news and get back to basics.

over and out squeaking all the way

S is for Socialist

Right.

Honestly, this election makes me want to take three showers a day. I will be so happy when its over and we can focus our blogosphere on more important things like how to stretch a can of chicken noodle soup to last two meals and what it really means to be green.

As I tweeted earlier, every investment banker in the world can rot in hell.

God, I am so happy I have a job that is not dependent on the economy per se. I suspect that us scourges on the system (civil servants) will not see a COLA or a merit increase for the next four years. I see less travel and more videoconferencing. I see myself cringe when I see the bill for my professional society dues that I have to pay before I can justly chair or organize sessions in good faith.

I see some hard times past the two years some economists believe the "recession" is going to last. I see some hard choices that some of us are going to have to make. We are super lucky that we are blessed with a home, good jobs, no debt and some semblance of a dwindling nest egg.

I just hope this time we learn from this history that we are making.

If you have a few minutes while waiting for America's top model goes to rehab to come on - read Margaret Atwood's piece on the credit crisis and then turn off the boob tube or the laptop and go read a book.

nm which does not stand for neiman marcus