Apple Pie

Picture of the Day for 7/31/2010. My work colleague, Andy Almeida, dropped off an apple pie that his wife Jamie had made for me. Within 15 minutes of receipt of the pie, we had already consumed a quarter of it. Yum. Having surgery isn't that fun, but a side benefit has been all the treats my friends and family have showered upon me.

Frankenstein

Picture of the Day for 7/30/2010. I have what I call the "mother of all incisions" from my surgery. Today I had my first post-op doctor's visit where the 45 staples holding the incision together were removed. Just be glad I'm showing a small portion of the incision rather than the whole thing!

Bird's Nest

Picture of the Day for 7/29/2010. Robynne, Robbie, and I ate lunch at Cutler's today. (Yum- they have the best chicken salad sandwiches and cookies there.) There was a bird's nest right outside the window full of little chicks. Too cute.

Permanent Residence

Picture of the Day for 7/28/2010. My days at my sister's house have taken on a certain routine. We go out to lunch (yay for outings!) and then I take up permanent residence on her couch in the TV room for the remainder of the day and evening.

Rubber Necking

Picture of the Day for 7/27/2010. As my sister was bringing me home from the hospital yesterday, we drove past this local business which caught fire a few minutes after we passed it. Dang.

New Accommodations

Picture of the Day for 7/26/2010. Freedom! I was released from the hospital today. Yay! Although my recovery has been meteoric, I am still unfit to be on my own so I'll be staying at my sister Robynne's house for the next week or so.

Hospital Room

Picture of the Day for 7/25/2010. I've become very familiar with this place over the past few days. This is my hospital room. I'm recovering very swiftly and I'd be willing to venture outside the room and go on walks (as instructed by the nurses), but I'm tethered to an IV that makes it more trouble than it's worth to go on excursions.

Bruised

Picture of the Day for 7/24/2010. I have a massive bruise on my arm from where the pre-op nurse was trying to insert an IV needle. My veins weren't cooperating and the needle went into deep tissue instead. VERY painful.

Flowers and Chocolate

Picture of the Day for 7/23/2010. Today was filled with friends and family coming to visit me at the hospital. I was plied with flowers and chocolate. It's nice to know I'm loved.

Hospital Name Tag

Picture of the Day for 7/22/2010. I was admitted to the hospital today for my first operation ever and it was a doozy. The surgeons removed a benign 12-pound mass that had been eating through my uterus. I ended up getting a hysterectomy, but at least the surgeons were able to save one ovary.

It turned out to be a very loooooong day. I started off by getting in a minor car accident which was totally my fault. Dang.

I arrived at the hospital at 2:00 p.m., but wasn't wheeled into the operating room until 6:00 p.m. A blood test revealed that my potassium levels (which regulate the heart) were dangerously low for surgery so there was a chance it was going to be called off. I was given a massive dose of potassium which did the trick. Thank goodness. By this time (having spent a few hours in pre-op being poked, prodded, medicated, EKG'd), I just wanted to get the operation over with. I didn't think I could endure another round of pre-op activities.

The last thing I remember after being wheeled up to the operating room and talking with the surgical staff was scooting myself onto the operating table. My operation lasted four hours since it required some delicate maneuvering to untangle the mass from various organs. Apparently, I lost more blood than anticipated and I required one unit of blood. I spent about an hour in recovery and woke up to the sound of my sisters (who had been at the hospital the whole day with me) talking with my nurse. I believe I made it to my hospital room by about midnight. I didn't want to be left alone so Robynne ended up spending the night in my room.

Vile Substance

Picture of the Day for 7/21/2010. Going in for surgery tomorrow. My surgeon wants my bowel to be thoroughly cleansed and pristine before the big event. In order to accomplish this, I had to drink 8 cups of a vile substance called Golytely which is designed to clear out one's bowel. Words cannot describe just how vile this substance is. I tried mixing it with all sorts of non-vile substances (Sprite, lemonade, apple juice), but nothing could disguise the taste. I only managed to get 7 cups down before crying uncle.

Urban Chickens

Picture of the Day for 7/20/2010. I'm back! The reason for my absence will be revealed in subsequent blog entries. In the meantime, here's the scoop on this picture. I stopped at my favorite doughnut shop on my way to work and noticed there were chickens congregating behind the barber shop next door. I was amused to see chickens in such an urban setting.

Scary House - Part 3

Picture of the Day for 7/19/2010. It's been awhile since I've made an entry in my scary house series. This is a basement room (formerly my sister Paula's bedroom) where a LOT of my parents' things are stowed away until we can sort through them. Probably the scariest thing about this picture is the fact it's blurry, but I didn't have the energy to walk back down a few stairs to re-take the photo.

Somewhat Respectable

Pictures of the Day for 7/18/2010. This might look like an unassuming piece of ground at the base of my front stairs, but I'm thrilled with how it looks. Until Friday, this patch was filled with 6-foot tall monster weeds. The last time my sister Robynne drove my dad past the house, he was distressed to see how disreputable it looked. Robynne's husband, Will, and son, Robbie, took pity on my dad and the house and came by on Saturday morning to spruce up the place a bit. Yay! They also cleaned up the fall leaves and pine needles that had congregated against the retaining wall and had never been raked up. Yay! My house is still not the neighborhood showpiece, but at least it looks somewhat respectable now.

Unwelcome Surprise

Picture of the Day for 7/17/2010. I came home last night to discover my bathroom was infested with a horde of mutant big-ass ants. Eek. That was the most unwelcome surprise ever, especially since I had absolutely no hint there were ants in the house. Thank goodness for Raid. The reason you're seeing this picture today as opposed to last night is because I was only up for killing the ants last night. I had to take a breather before being emotionally ready to clean up the ant carnage.

Inception

Picture of the Day for 7/16/2010. Saw Inception with my nieces and Karl. It was pretty mind-blowing. I think I need to see it again to catch everything I might have missed the first time around.

My favorite part of the movie was the fact there was a character named Ariadne. Ariadne is a figure from Greek mythology and I'm fond of her solely because it's fun to pronounce her name (here's my non-scientific phonetic pronunciation guide: Airy-odd-knee). In fact, as I've been writing this blog entry, I've been chanting her name in my mind- Ariadne, Ariadne, Ariadne.

My Dad's Ice Cream is My Ice Cream

Picture of the Day for 7/15/2010. Every Thursday, we meet as an extended family for lunch. Every Thursday, Paula has her husband David buy our dad ice cream from Dairy Queen. Robynne and I consider the ice cream free game (since dad is very generous and is always willing to share). At first, Paula was distressed by the vulture-like way we would descend upon his ice cream, but she's come to accept the inevitability of it. Now the ice cream is presented to dad with three spoons.

Robbie is Mobile

Picture of the Day for 7/14/2010. My 16-year-old nephew Robbie just got his driver's license. I could make a joke about a new driver being let loose on the world, but that would be a cliche. I could observe that time certainly flies and wonder how Robbie could possibly be old enough to drive, but that would be a cliche as well. So, I guess I have nothing original to say about this situation!

Paul McCartney

Pictures of the Day for 7/13/2010. I attended the Paul McCartney concert and OHMYGOSH I can say without a doubt it is the best concert I have ever attended in my life- and I've been to plenty of concerts. He is a stunning musician, singer, and entertainer. He performed for three hours straight without a break- pretty amazing for a 68-year old. I was in awe that I was seeing a musical icon perform live. The experience was definitely worth every penny.



My blog entry is going to reflect the fact the I'm still in the incoherent and euphoric "I can't believe I saw Paul McCartney" stage. Below are some random thoughts/observations about the concert:

McCartney was very charming. He was amused by the sign some woman was holding that said "Paul, You're in Utah, Marry Us."

This was his first time performing in Utah.

McCartney looks great! He's just as slender (and handsome) as he was during the Beatles era.

My favorite moment was when McCartney and his band sang "Live and Let Die" (one of my favorite songs) accompanied by a flashy fireworks/pyrotechnics show. I had a stupid silly grin on my face the whole time.

This concert marked the 200th show for McCartney and his current band.

He sang a lot of Beatles songs. Everyone in the crowd sang along. (Speaking of the crowd- below is a picture of the audience.)


McCartney would change guitars for almost every song; he joked that he was doing it just to show off. He pointed out that one of the guitars was one he played during his Beatles days and another one was a ukulele that George Harrison had given him.

It was fun watching the crowd which literally spanned generations. There was an older couple behind us who were clearly reformed hippies. They were rocking out (and getting a little sloshed) much to the mortification of their adult daughter

I saw a lot of bad dancing. The most egregious crimes against dancing were committed by the couple in the picture below who resolutely refused to sit down during any part of the concert. The woman kept on doing the raised "gospel" arms until the man behind her told her to cut it out since no one could see past her.

Huge Barry

Picture of the Day for 7/12/2010. A co-worker showed this to me today. It's from a project management document for a client project he's working on that shows the initials associated with each team member's name. We got a big laugh at "Huge Barry"'s expense. We're sure the name was supposed to be "Hugh," but the letters got transposed somehow. The rational explanation is far less amusing than the thought there might be an employee at the company named Huge Barry.

Surprising Results

Picture of the Day for 6/11/2010. I just got the results from the first blood-work I've had done in over 20 years. The last time I had my cholesterol checked in my early 20s, it was above 200. I assumed that since I'm much heavier and older now, my cholesterol would be off the charts. Turns out my cholesterol level is a very normal 163. Really? I live on chocolate, Diet Coke, and cream sauces. I have no business having normal cholesterol, but I'm not about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. I'm delighted.

Construction Watch

Picture of the Day for 7/10/210. Downtown Salt Lake City is currently undergoing a 20-acre, $1 billion reconstruction. I have a "front-row seat," so to speak, from my office. I'm certainly my engineer father's daughter since I've enjoyed watching the process of older buildings being demolished and new buildings going up in their place. I must have a bit of a destructive streak because I REALLY enjoyed watching the buildings being demolished. This picture is a view of the construction from the south side of my office building. Coming in a close 2nd (to building demolition) in entertainment value is watching the massive cranes at work.

Booby Merrill

Picture of the Day for 7/9/2010. I've reached a new level of "Too Much Information" on my blog. Yes, that's a picture of my bosom you're seeing. It's in honor of the fact I had my first ever mammogram at the age of 47 (seven years overdue). My boobs got a clean bill of health. Yay!!

Clouds Over the Mountains

Picture of the Day for 7/8/2010. Sorry readers- this isn't one of my more scintillating posts. I didn't have much time to focus on my picture of the day and I liked the look of the massive clouds over the mountains so I took a quick picture. I got nothing else for you.

Overzealous Love

Picture of the Day for 7/7/2010. You might ask how love could ever be overzealous. The answer is when it comes in the form of a tiny little dog named Billy* who categorically does not understand the concept of personal space. He'd love nothing more than to be nose-to-nose with you at any given time. I love dogs, but that's too close for comfort for me.

*Billy is my sister Robynne's dog.

White Clothing is a Bad Idea

Picture of the Day for 7/6/2010. The weather in California this past weekend was rather chilly so I ended up buying an inexpensive jacket at Target. I had a choice between the white jacket pictured above and a dark gray jacket. Foolishly, I chose the white option. I say "foolishly" because for me, the universe views clean, pristine clothing as a canvas just waiting to be painted with swathes of dirt and spilled food. The universe did not disappoint. I discovered I had gotten mud on the cuff of my jacket while attending the "Shakespeare by the Sea" production of Julius Caesar last Saturday. Really? How does one manage to get muddy while attending a Shakespeare play? The next day at Laguna Beach, Corinne and I snuck off to get ice cream cones. I was doing well until the very last bite when the cone crumbled and spewed melted chocolate ice cream all over the front of my blouse and down my arms. Since I didn't have a napkin handy and I figured the jacket was a lost cause anyway, I used it to clean myself up. Poor white jacket.

Booby Flay

Pictures of the Day for 7/5/2010. If my niece Corinne stumbles across this blog entry, she's going to kill me for how I titled it. She has a flaming crush on Bobby Flay, a very famous chef and restaurateur from the Food Network. He's quite attractive, but Corinne's friends and family like to tease her about how Bobby has man boobs, hence the title of this blog entry, "Booby Flay." One of the restaurants he owns is the Mesa Grill located in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. One of the major agenda items for this trip was to eat at the Mesa Grill on our way home to Salt Lake City from Los Angeles. Our goal was to arrive at the restaurant before 2:30 before the menu switched to the much more expensive dinner prices. It was a little touch and go, and after much trial and tribulation, we arrived precisely at 2:30. Whew.


A good time and fine eating experience was had by all.


On the way into the restaurant, I noticed some Lord of the Rings slot machines. As soon as I laid eyes on those, it became imperative that I play those slot machines before our departure. Sadly, I didn't get my wish because those slot machines were a big draw to nerdy gamblers everywhere. I couldn't get close to them.

On a final random note, I should mention that my friend Karl turned 40 today. Forty!! Karl and I met 18 years ago while working in Yellowstone. I was 27 and he was 22 years old. I can't believe so much time has passed.

July 4th on the Beach

Pictures of the Day for 7/4/2010. Today was beach day. We spent the majority of it at Laguna Beach which was really crowded- not surprising given the holiday. It's been 25 years since I've been there and it's just as pretty as I remembered. I love how you have to drive through a canyon to reach the beach.

I didn't bring a swimsuit so the most I was able to do was wade into the water. Corinne and the ocean have a hostile relationship so she remained firmly planted in her beach chair. Kellie and Renee, on the other hand, braved the choppy ocean to go boogie boarding. Below is a picture.


After we had thoroughly "done" Laguna Beach (lounging in beach chairs, shopping in the cute little shops, eating lunch), we headed up toward Marina del Ray to watch the fireworks. I'm not sure what's up with Marina del Ray, but the place is overrun with hordes of annoying bicyclists. Dodging them turned out to be a real trick. They were so irritating that you kind of stopped wanting to dodge them...

In order to have any hope of parking, we ended up arriving two hours early. Below is a picture of the park where people congregated to watch the fireworks.


Renee, Corinne, and Kellie waiting for the fireworks to begin. Sadly, I wasn't good company for them. I'm in the middle of reading Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy which is quite the page turner. I had my nose in the book the whole time we were waiting.


Pictures of the fireworks.

Renee's Big Birthday Adventure

Pictures of the Day for 7/3/2010. My niece Renee turned 34 today. What better way to celebrate than to stalk the object of her affection- Zachary Quinto (the actor who played Spock in the new Star Trek movie). He lives in the Silver Lake District of Los Angeles (just off of Sunset Boulevard) so we decided to spend the morning there, lurking in the shadows of his known hang-outs.

The following picture is of Corinne standing beneath an owl in a mural on Sunset Boulevard. This does not contribute to the "stalking Zachary Quinto" saga in away, but I thought the picture was very cute, so I'm including it in this post.


We wandered through the farmer's market in Silver Lake.


We were having an ecstatic "eyes rolling in the back of your head" relationship with the organic fruit on sale at the farmer's market. Most of the vendors had samples to try. The fruit made anything purchased at a regular grocery seem like cardboard in comparison.


After spending a few hours in Silver Lake (with no sighting of Zachary Qunto- alas), we moved to less quirky and more upscale environs- Beverly Hills. We made a beeline to Sprinkles cupcakes. Below is a picture of Renee, Corinne, and Corinne's friend, Kellie, enjoying the wonder that is a Sprinkles cupcake. Actually, I'm not sure they are as enamored of the cupcakes as I am, but they were good sports about going there.


After fortifying ourselves with cupcakes, we spent a few hours shopping on Rodeo Drive. Corinne, it turns out, is quite the fashion maven. She was all about visiting the designer stores. It has been a couple of years since I've made any extravagant purchases in Beverly Hills so I felt it was my duty to buy a cute pair of high heels from the Coach store on Rodeo Drive. (Hopefully, this will torment my niece Chantal who is envious of my insanely cute shoe purchases.)


After shopping, we moved on to the official "celebrating Renee's birthday" portion of the day. Corinne and Kellie planned a whole evening of surprises for Renee. We started off by eating at the 22nd Street Landing, a seafood restaurant in San Pedro.


We had a great view of the harbor from our table.


Renee blowing out her birthday candle. Hmm...I wonder if her birthday wish had anything to do with Zachary Quinto? Just a guess...


We had told Renee she would never guess in a million years what post-dinner activity Corinne and Kellie had planned and she conceded we were right once all was finally revealed to her. We took her to see a free production of Julius Caesar hosted by an organization called "Shakespeare by the Sea." Renee is a Shakespeare fanatic so she was delighted. The play was held in Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. Below are some pictures of the stage and the production.




Overall, it was a pretty good production. I did have to laugh at the actor who played Mark Antony. He was good, but seemed a little more suited to appearing in an episode of "Jersey Shore." I expected him to say "yo" at any given time. The actor who played Octavius had a bit of a lisp so it was kind of hard to take his outrage over the death of "Thaesar" seriously.

You Can't Accuse Me of Not Being Spontaneous

Picture of the Day for 7/2/2010. You can't accuse me of being a stick-in-the-mud. I'm up for adventure! My nieces have had a "Stalking Zachary Quinto Where He Lives" trip planned for quite awhile and graciously invited me along. Given my work schedule, I didn't know if I'd be able to come until last Wednesday. I bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles (I'm wondering if that is somehow metaphorical- I love Los Angeles and wouldn't mind living there) on Thursday and flew down to California on Friday. My nieces, who had arrived in Los Angeles earlier that day by car, picked me up at LAX. We drove down to Manhattan Beach and ate a restaurant that I quite like- The Kettle.

I'll Be Back

I just returned last night from a FABULOUS trip to Los Angeles, California. Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait a day or two to hear all about it. I finished downloading all the pictures to my computer, but now I'm too tired to write coherently. In the meantime, I'll give you a teaser. Below is a picture of July 4th fireworks over Marina del Ray. A lot of my pictures of the fireworks were blurry so this one turned out to be a happy accident. It's my favorite picture of the whole weekend.