Just wasting some time

Just finished storming and it looks like it will be storming all night.

I've got about 20 minutes or so until the husband comes home and picks me up for trivia.

Not enough time to get much accomplished, but I don't want to just sit and waste time either.

It's the first of the month, which brings along a LOT of extra work.  It also happens to be payroll time again, and I always seem be be catching up so that I can get it done by Friday.

But right now, at this quiet time in my house (except for this awful smell which I think is because the dog farted and not because she took a crap on the floor), I decided to just write down all the crazy crap that's been happening here the last couple of days.

We've been really trying hard to find a cabin rental for when we go to Santa Fe.  Not going to share all the details yet, but the little town we need it in for 7 days is having some BIG GIGANTIC CELEBRATION that only happens once a year and it's the weekend we'll be there. 

I've found AWESOME places we need to rent, but then things happen and things happen and we still haven't gotten the perfect thing yet.  We've had it in the grasp of our hands TWICE, but lost it just as quickly. 

I've been working with a national coordinator on a pizza party for a local shelter and ironing out some details. 

We've been planning a bowling party for our employees on the 4th of July since we close on that day.  In the past, we have done a softball game, but the weather here is just too brutal to play outside.....so a bowling game it is.

We've got New York City coming up next weekend and there's still some things I need to do with that. 

Just a brief list of the FUN things that we've had going on.  I won't bore you with all the boring things we have.....but it's always exciting at the Gainor house.

Well, need to start getting ready for trivia.  Looking forward to a fun night out with my husband.  Haven't had a night out in awhile......we need it.

Hope to start sharing some of the other details of our life here soon!

I should have been a travel agent!

Those of you who know us.....know we LOVE to travel!

Right now we have all our tickets for New York City and for Santa Fe.

Paul and I have been tossing around ideas for what we want to do in NYC while we are there.  We missed so many places last time we visited 3.5 years ago.....so there are lots of choices.  Our must do's so far are:  Coney Island, 911 Museum, Statue of Liberty, Broadway Shows, PIZZA, and the Hudson River Museum.

Aaron and I have been tossing around ideas for what we want to do in Santa Fe while we are there.  Last night we spent an hour on the phone and came up with some genius things to do.

So excited.....still have some planning to do, but our trip there will include these things:

We are going to have an AWESOME time when we visit.   Can't wait until the details and plans are all final so we can share our adventure!

Last full day of London (Part 2)

Here's a refresher of where we left off:  we just ate lunch.

Got on the subway and started planning on our remaining time we had left.  We realized that we would not have enough time to visit the Maritime Museum, buy souvenirs, get a brief nap, and be on time to meet with James and his wife (Paul's friend) for our evening plans.

We had to scrap something and it ended up being the museum.  We have learned that you "can't do it all" and you should save some things to do when you come back for a visit.

Our plan was to head back towards our hotel and stop on the way and do some souvenir shopping at an open street market Paul had researched in Covent Garden.

Our subway ride back to the hotel required us to transfer and it just so happened it was the station where the Dr. Who Tardis was located.  So we popped out of the station and took some souvenir photos:

See those Pizza Zone magnets stuck on the Tardis?  Of course, the people standing around there thought that we were totally wacky.....but who cares?????  we are tourists!!

 

After the picture opportunity, we hopped on the subway and headed to Covent Garden.  We had a slew of souvenirs to buy. 

 

The whole time we had been in London, I kept telling Paul we just had to take an iconic picture next to a London phone booth......after getting off in Covent Garden, we had that opportunity!

 



Love those phone booths.....and they are seriously all over the city!

We found a souvenir shop where we purchased plates, beer glasses, tote bags, shot glasses and all other kinds of cheesy London souvenirs. 

As we were headed back to our hotel, we passed through the open market and ended up with a couple of pictures for ourselves.  Love, love, love this painting:

Having a hard time finding the perfect spot for it......but it such an awesome painting!

Since we hit the jackpot at the first store for getting souvenirs for Cris, Aaron, Shay, me, Paul, and whomever.....we had time to go to the hotel room and freshen up a little bit and get an itty bitty nap.

We got on the subway and headed to Stratford (about 45 minutes by subway) to meet James and his wife at a casino and have dinner.  Dinner for us was very light (mushroom soup for me and a little sandwich for Paul) since we had eaten a late lunch.  We really enjoyed talking with them during dinner and then it was time to head into the casino.

I just have to say that it was very difficult to understand some of the games, but we spent a couple of hours there and I actually came out a little ahead on the money.

Around 10:30pm we called it a night since we had to ride the subway back to the hotel and get all packed up for a very very early wake up call in the morning.

We stayed up for about an hour cleaning the room up and cramming everything into our suitcases.  We certainly didn't want to do it in the morning, since we had to leave the hotel by 6:30 am to get us to the airport in plenty of time.

We made it with lots of time, got on our flight.......which was 10 hours going home (we were on a slower plane).  They fed us, gave us ice cream, and kept us hydrated and entertained the whole way home.  We tried to sleep some.....but that's hard on a plane. 

Of course, after we landed (about 2:30pm Houston time), we had to go through US Customs -- which was a more tedious process than when we landed in London.  Then of course, we couldn't come straight home....we had to stop at the Restaurant Depot and pick up supplies to drop off at Pizza Zone.  We finally made it home around 5pm and then it was time for Paul to go to work and me do payroll (yuck).....but the employees really wanted their paychecks.

It was a fun, amazing, and a once in a lifetime trip and I'm so glad I got to do it with my best friend.  We had such a great time and I can't wait until we can take our next international trip again.

We even came back with some English money we had to exchange at the bank!

So as another fantastic journey ends.......there's another new adventure waiting on the horizon!

Boo Hoo....Last full day London

Last day.  Always a sad day cause you know that you're leaving the next day and your real life begins again.  No more of the fun fairy tale adventure you've been living the last few days.

We made the plans for the day in the usual way (......laying around our room and getting to sleep in a little) and it was to go and visit Wimbledon and visit the tennis museum there.  Paul is a big tennis lover.....so this trip was something he was going to really enjoy.  After checking the subway route....we were off.  It was the very last stop on one of the train lines, so the ride getting there took us about an hour.

After getting to the town of Wimbledon, we discovered that it was about 4 miles from the train station.  Yay.....we had to get a taxi.  I loved the taxi's and really wanted to ride in one.

They were very spacious.

 

Awww.....isn't he cute?

 

After arriving at the Wimbledon Tennis Club, we discovered that we could take a guided tour and see all the "behind the scenes" stuff, including going to Center Court.  So that's what we did.

 

This is the current standing board that sits out in front of all the courts.  They always keep the last year's results until the next tournament (which will be held in July).

This was Court #1.  They were working to get the Club ready for the tournament, so it was really a great time to visit since everything looked so beautiful and green.

This was the press briefing room where the players are interviewed after their matches.  As you can see....Paul was waiting for someone to ask him a question.

And here is the famous Center Court.  What an awesome history and amazing tennis players that have played here.

It wouldn't be right unless you took a selfie at Center Court.

It was amazing to see all these banners that told all the winners from all the years of the Wimbledon Tournaments.  Was fun to look back and remember some of those matches.

After the "behind the scenes tour".....we headed to the museum.  A great time was had by all, including me and some friends that I met while we were there  (they were dressed a little strange).

After our visit to the museum, we called for a taxi to take us back to the town.  It was time to eat....I was beyond hungry.

We found this cute little pub & grill that had an amazing rooftop eating place.

Alexandra's Bar.....where Paul feasted on a Roasted Vegetable and Goat Cheese salad (yummmmm......we discovered that we love goat cheese).  I had a grilled Peri Peri sauce chicken sandwich and chips (French fries for those of you who are not familiar with London talk).

With our tummies full, we walked over to the train station to take off for another adventure.  We were really going to try and make it to the National Maritime Museum....but the day was running short and we had plans already for the evening. 

What did we do?   Where did we go?  Guess I'll have to finish this exciting post tomorrow!

So what have we been up to?

Well one thing I haven't been up to is getting that last day of London posted.  If I don't hurry.....I'm going to forget it.  But then again, I always take lots of pictures so I can recreate what we did.

I actually did have good intentions to start the week off and work very hard.

But then my husband called me at 11am on Monday and said "hey, how about we take off and go to Lake Charles?"  What?????

Our original plans were that we were taking Tuesday off (since we had not had a day off in 1 MONTH).  We had plans to drive one direction and hit small towns and antique shops and visit anything else that interested us.  He thought we might as well start the vacation day early.  I must admit that I couldn't say no.

Within 2 hours we had the necessities done to be out on the road for the 3 hour drive to Lake Charles.  I won't bore you with ALL the details, but here was some of those things:  decide which hotel/casino we wanted to stay at, get a hotel reservation, get a dog sitter, do sales tax report, answer e-mail, send directions for animal care to dog sitter, pack, get house ready.....blah blah blah.

We pulled into the hotel parking at 3:45......awesome.

We stayed at Isle of Capri (mostly because we belong to "their club") and actually stayed at the tower hotel this time instead of the little hotel on their property.  The advantage was that the hotel is right on the lakeside and is connected to the casino.  The littler hotel you have to take a 2 minute walk across the parking lot (and little train tracks).  However, we have stayed many many many many many a night at the littler hotel.  I just felt like "upgrading" us a little and stay at the tower (this was only the 2nd time we've stayed there).

We checked into the room and I was so so so excited that we got a room with this fabulous view:

I have to say that I've been to lots of casinos everywhere.......and the view that you get from this casino in tiny little Lake Charles, Louisiana beats them all!  That bridge is actually Interstate 10 that crosses the lake.

After a short nap, we decided to eat like normal people and have our dinner at 5pm.  Actually we were starving because the only thing I had to eat so far that day was a bag of Gardetto's on the drive over.

I don't know if I was really hungry or if they've improved their buffet.....but it was delicious.  I feasted on ham, fried chicken, salad, mashed potatoes and gravy.  But then it was time for the more serious work to begin.......the slot machines!

We had a blast.  Paul played in a poker tournament.....and lost.  I was up $500 on the slot machines early in the evening.....and then I lost.  We drank Coronas and played slot machines all over the casino......until we lost.  We finally decided to call it a night (at 2am) and grab a quick bite (a slice of pizza and a corn dog) on our way to the room.  Don't see my husband like this very often.....but he appeared to have really enjoyed those Coronas that we kept on ordering.  (haha.....love this guy).

We slept in until 10am and were out the door by 10:30 headed back home to Houston.

Of course, the minute we hit Houston City Limits we had to make a couple of stops for Pizza Zone.  Once those were done, we stopped at a local food establishment run by someone Paul randomly met the other day.  We had yummy burgers for our 3pm lunch and had to take pictures of his kitchen/lobby area so we can get ideas about what we want for our expansion.  No joke.....everyday is a Pizza Zone day one way or the other.

What a great time we had.  Even more fun maybe because it had been so "spur of the moment".  And then again, maybe it's because I have the BEST husband in the world!

When life hands you fruit.......

Well since my last doctor's visit, I've been put on 5 new medications.

That sucks.  So.....we are doing a major overhaul in our life right now.  When I have my check up in 3 months......I am hoping to be off every single one of them.

So....part of the new change is eating lots of fruit.  This is the BEST time of the year for that decision.  We still had a lot of fruit left that was getting to be too ripe......

So.....I just cut it up and made it FRUIT SALAD!

Now we have no excuse to eat it......we can either right out of a bowl or mix it up in a smoothie!

I guess breakfast for tomorrow has been decided.

And in other news.......

The last remaining London photos are in a blog that is partially written.  Lots of fine tuning to do on that project before it's finished

Life has been going crazy here this past week.  Haven't had much time to devote to the fun things in my life.

Of course, we dealt with Tropical Storm Bill this week.

 
I kind of injured my toe bashing it against the bedroom door frame.  OMG....this hurt so bad.  Four days later and it's still sore.

Yesterday I had the worst panic attack that wouldn't go away.  The husband sensed that I was having a rough day when he called me.  Surprised me and came home with these.  Dang....this guy is so awesome!

I even had a little time to bake this week in between the payroll, the catching up on laundry, and our travel planning.

Tickets are all taken care of for trips to New York City in July and Albuquerque in August.

Today is just a day filled with little things that need to get done.  Unfortunately, the tiny mound of work is now as big as Mt. Everest.....but I'm going to try and make it a fun day.

The rest of London will just have to wait for a couple of days.



The best board room table there ever was!

We have gotten into the routine each evening of sitting here and talking and enjoying our quiet little house.  We have so many amazing discussions held around this board room table.

Some nights we are in it before dinner and some nights we're in it after dinner.  Of course, dinner at our house most nights are anywhere between 9-11pm.

This completes our night and was probably the best money we ever spent.  It gets a lot of use and we're usually out here at least 5 nights a week.

 

It's like taking a nice warm bath every night before you go to bed.

And of course, you can't forget to have your supplies nearby!

 We love our hot tub!

 

Never fear......we'll be back tomorrow with the rest of the London story.

Abbey Road Bloopers 2015

It took a lot of tries to get that perfect shot of Paul crossing Abbey Road.

Just for fun, I thought I'd share with you all the shots that didn't make it into our memory book.

 Okay Paul.....walk across the street and get rid of that lady walking with you.

 

 No Paul, not this one.  Good job getting rid of the lady but it looks like you're stumbling a little.

 

We almost got it.....but don't look at me and smile Paul.  Look straight ahead.

 

 

 Okay.....go back and try it again.  Watch out for the cars.

 Not quite.....we don't have the legs open enough.

 Dang it......looks like the camera shot this one too late.  Gonna have to walk back across the street and try it again.

YES!  This is it......this is the money shot!

 

We could have spent all day here trying to get the shot, but as you can see, I was already taking it from one of the lanes of traffic and I didn't think we needed to get hit by a car to get our perfect shot.

 

Kinda fun looking back at all these pictures we snapped trying to get the right one. 

Tour of London - Day 4 (Part 2)

......let's pick up where we left off the other day.

We finished lunch and were headed to Selfridge's Department store.  Apparently, there is a TV show about this store (never seen or heard of it)....but it's one of the biggest stores in London and has lots of very VERY high end labels and names.

Well we basically just whizzed through that store.....not interesting enough for us to hang around.  We thought out our next destination and headed to the subway station.

I don't know what it is, but I have a fascination with subway stations.  They are always each different.  Some are inside, some outside, and some way down deep in the ground.  I loved this one....it was outside, but had a roof over it and was so bright.  We got off here to transfer to another train and I just had to snap a picture of it.

And after a little assistance......we found our next thing we had just had to see:

The Dr. Who tardis.  And yes we looked like nerds taking our pictures in front of it. 

Who cares?  We are on vacation!

 

After our picture opportunity at the tardis, we hopped on the train again and headed towards Kensington Palace.  We opted to only see one Palace and that's why we didn't visit Buckingham Palace (there just isn't enough time to do everything).  This was the Palace that Princess Diana and her family lived in and this is where Prince William and Princess Kate now reside.

Actually, the current residents actually live in the buildings to the left of the building behind the gates.  It also had a totally separate entrance.

We decided to take the tour and see what was inside.  Here's what we found:

Gorgeous staircases.
 

 Fantastic and beautiful views.  This was Kensington Park.
 

 

And lots and lots of artwork and paintings.  There was about 15 rooms we could visit.

 

Well it was about 5pm at this point and we had a show to go see this night......so we crammed ourselves like sardines back on the subway and headed to our hotel for a short break and some "beverages".

 

This evening's show was going to be Let It Be.....which is basically the story of the Beatles music performed by a band that looks and sounds like the Beatles.  It was in the Garrick Theater, which happened to be about a 5 minute walk from our hotel.

If you are a Beatles fan and love the music (we are)......then the show was great.  They encouraged you to take pictures and had us up on our feet dancing and singing.

The show let out about 10:30 and we were HUNGRY!  I had been craving spaghetti for the whole time we had been in London, so Paul finally indulged me and picked the Spaghetti House for our dinner.  It was a pretty safe bet that they served spaghetti.  (I have no idea why I was craving spaghetti, but I just LOVE spaghetti).  The spaghetti was delicious and the company I was with was even better.

 

Once again the hotel was only 5 minutes away, so we walked back and relaxed in the room looking at all our maps and books again to figure out what we were going to do on our last full day in London.  We also checked out some of the television shows.......we were shocked at all the pornographic shows that began after 11pm (oh my!)

 

One more day left of our fabulous trip to London!