Woo-hoo! Call me spoiled but the hubs and I are heading out on vacay this weekend. A week long Alaska cruise leaving out of Seattle and returning to Seattle made possible thanks to our wonderful Tea who is taking care of our needy four legged boy and our trusty day time dog watcher, Lynda. The two of them are my wonderful heroes right now. I know Tea especially is going to be sooooo ready to have us home after seven days of waking up at 4:30 to walk Dandy while we while away our time on deck. That is true love! Thank you Thank you Thank you T-bird!

This is not prime time Alaska cruising because of weather but it is cheap time cruising which fits our bill and we aren’t so fussy on weather. In fact, right now some cloudy weather will help me with my vacation goals. Those are two words that don’t really belong together: vacation goals.  None-the-less, I have a list of things to accomplish this week away hat must be done:

• First and foremost, finish the first draft of the book! That above everything else has to happen. Even if it means not doing some things I was hoping to take in. In order to stick to our challenging but doable schedule, the first draft has to be done this month.
• Glen and I plan to get three miles of walking in every day. I know cruising is known for overeating but that hasn’t really been our experience. In fact, most often, we get in more exercise on a ship then we ever do at home and, let’s face it, you can only eat so much.
• However, another goal is trying out all the different offerings on the ship so I can share them all with you. Increasingly, the ships are broadening where you can get dinner from just the dining room and we plan to rotate around and give them all a go including some fancy French food night in an extra-charge dining room.
• Get my book to-do lists organized! I have all these scraps of paper stuffed in my notebook and they need some order restored to them.

That’s the “business” side of things. Most importantly of all, I am looking forward to the down time away from the everyday routine of life and the quality time with my guy. I like the variety a ship offers for things to do and the calm corners you can seek out when you want to do nothing. We also are super looking forward to seeing Glacier Bay again and visiting a new port for us – Sitka. But we enjoy all the ports we’re going to so we’ll be taking in Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria on the way home as well. The beauty of Alaska and the inland passage calls to me and I want to be sure I spend time being present in the gift of it all.

Bon Voyage!

They all spoil us something awful with attention and love and time and I relish every minute of all of it. Between our family and framily and our pile of kids that we adore, we live lives with richness and depth to them. Fabulous! Amongst all that goodness that came my way this weekend, check out the fun fun gift Tea brought me. A super cool bracelet and earrings. But not just earrings — earrings that look like little cameras! Don’t you love em? Say cheese!

The very best part of the weekend though was getting to spend time with my own mom and family. We got to see both our baby nephews this weekend and our little Savanna — twice! That is a total treat. So much fun. I threw together a brunch for Sunday:

• Yogurt parfaits with peach slices and blueberries (big hit with Savi)
• Oven egg omelet with farm fresh eggs that gave it a pretty color
• Sliced potatoes with haricot vertes and two kinds of mushrooms
• Bacon and Chicken Sausages
• Petite Peas with fresh mint
• Assorted pastries
• Mimosa’s and coffee

Nobody hung around long — there’s always so much to do and so many places to be — but it was a great morning together celebrating my mom, my sister, and my niece who are all incredible mom’s.

I HAVE to share these pics of the gorgeous dinner my mom made for us tonight. She didn’t even feel good today but she still cooked up a yummy meal for us and then dad did all the dishes. Pretty cool parents, huh? We have a wet evening tonight but check out how mom grilled the corn — on the panini maker! Super great idea that I am totally going to rip off. In fact, be warned anyone coming to our house for dinner this summer — this scrumptious and easy salad is likely to be on the menu. Thanks again mom and dad.

I HAVE to share this very very cool website with you today: www.karmatube.com.  This wonderful site is all about promoting kindness, beauty and generosity through videos. I’ve watched several now and loved them. They inspire you to feel lighter and hopeful and help remind us of how many really super cool people are out there.

 I HAVE to share this youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apemYk2oz7M  I am a huge fan– like hundreds of thousands of others – of Col Chris Hadfield a Canadian astronaut who has been the captain of the International Space Station for the past five months. I only happened on him the last few weeks but have so enjoyed following him on facebook where he has shared the most unique photos of our planet along with his observations that are almost poetic and always wonder filled. He helps remind us all of the greatness of our world. He landed this week but I suspect he will be equally interesting back here on planet earth so if you have a facebook account be sure and look him up and follow. Meanwhile, get happy with this recording he made. He’s clearly a man of many talents living a really interesting life.

I HAVE to talk about Angelina Jolie today. Have to. Courage, in all its many forms deserves to be acknowledged, recognized and honored. She intrigues me. I’m not convinced she has great talent but I think she is incredibly beautiful and I think she has a generous heart. She works tirelessly for her causes and I really love how she has a mixed family that she clearly puts first. She has beauty, money, interesting career, children, Brad Pitt(!) – the whole world, seemingly at her beck and call. And yet she has no relationship with her father, has lost her treasured mother and was given a surely earth-shaking prognosis regarding the future of her own health. To me, she reminds all of us to envy no one because no one gets everything. Hooray for her for addressing her health concerns head-on and hooray for her for sharing.

Despite how it can feel if you watch the news each day, good is everywhere. Open your arms to the world, invite it in, shine your light and celebrate the wonder of it all.

Glen and I have actually started a healthy habit that we’ve been sticking with and I think you all would like as well. Every morning we whip up a delicious, nutritious, low-cal, packed with good stuff in it, green energy drink. I’ve been raving about them to my family for a bit and today they too gave them a thumbs up when I sampled them out at our Mom’s Day brunch so its time to share them with all of you. Ladies and gentlemen, start your blenders!

I’m sure there are menus for these but I think part of what makes them good is putting in whatever you like. Here’s what we put in our blender every morning:

4 or 5 ice cubes
a whole small apple cut in pieces, stem removed
one banana
a handful of fresh or frozen strawberries
a big handful of any kind of greens — kale is the most common but I especially like the power greens mix from Trader Joes
a scoop of protein powder
a T of coconut oil
about a cup of coconut water

Hit blend and grind it up good. You can also add ginger and certainly other fruits or even veggies like carrots if you wanted. We tried mint in ours too but weren’t so crazy about it but the point is to put in whatever you like. Plus, isn’t this a great list of ingredients? They are all 100% good for you! And even Weight Watchers friendly since only the protein power counts for any points.

The best part of these is that we both really like them  and we’re getting in our fruit and greens in a delicious way. Plus, the shake gives us a great start to the day and are so tasty and such a feel good food that sometimes we even make them for dinner!

With summer coming on I’m thinking I might need to start trying some new combinations — peaches, cantaloupe, other berries, maybe even watermelon. These are fun, easy and, best of all delicious! Give them a try and give me a holler if you come up with a killer taste combination!

My life is full of incredible moms! My own mom (and dad) has always loved her girls unconditionally which is the best gift any person can give anyone else. To love you just for being.

My sister has done the same with her boys and I now have two nieces that are mom’s and they are already spectacular at it. In my life, I  have friends who have had their first baby in their 40s, and framily members that have started their families in their teens — and every age in between. I have moms with just one and moms with many. I have moms that work and moms that stay home. I have moms with “easy” children and moms with not-so-easy children.

Every single one of the moms in my life, rises to the occasion, meet everyday with courage, love unconditionally and raise their children to add to the world. That is an incredible commitment and a transcending achievement.

I am a better person — heck, I AM a person in the case of my mom — for having so many great moms in my life. I believe in living life as a member of a “village” and my village is full of moms who have let me participate in their lives. And consequently, despite not having any of our own children, our lives have been full of children.  It’s a gift Glen and I are humbled by everyday. No one though, has been more generous about that then my sister Lora, who, with my bil Darryl, has always let us share in being an active part in my nephews lives. It enriched our lives beyond measure being part of theirs.

Mom’s in my life, you wow me. Way to make the world a better place! And to my own mom — thanks for always being there for me and Lor and Jen. We live lucky.

I’ve had some lovely moments of connection this week. First, my parents are home and plunged right back into cooking us dinner Tuesday night. Mom whipped together a yummy salmon dinner with chili rellenos, rice and this delish salad made from kale! I am not a huge kale fan but this recipe I am going to be bringing to the blog soon so you all can try it out too. Addicting and so good for you. Our Idaho cousins, Ann and Gerry who taught us all how to dive, were supposed to be there too that night but they had to rush home to Boise when they heard from a neighbor there was water coming out of their house. That is never good and it wasn’t this time either. Loads of damage from something that burst in an upstairs bathroom and was leaking all over their beautiful house. That is three episodes I know of with burst water pipes just in my own family!

Next up on Wednesday night it was an evening with one of my bestees, Tina, to catch up on everything happening with her. She is busy, busy, busy with busy boys. We sat out on her deck chomping on healthy apps and drinking some good white wine toasting to a good life. Indeed. Time flies by when you’re catching up with a good friend.

Thursday at lunch I was lucky enough to treat my work group to box lunches that supported a worthy local charity, Child Haven. They do a fundraiser where you can pre-order lunches and, as long as you order six or more, they deliver them right to your home or work place. The lunches were tasty, the company good and the cause was great. Win, Win, Win.

Thursday dinner, we hooked up with our best pals Rick and Tamy and met at the all new and improved Diamond Knot Ale House which is down at the beach near us. We had our kid Brian with us too so the five of us checked it out and all of us gave it a thumbs up. One side of the place is still very loud but the new side is more for talking and dining. The whole place on the sunny evening was packed with loads of people in shorts and tank tops coming off the beach hungry. They are going to do well! Tamy literally got there after another 11 hour work day so it was especially nice of her to fit it in.

Today at lunch one of the other managers asked me to meet and brought us a picnic to enjoy our meeting outside. It was a great way to catch some sunny rays during a work day.

Tonight Glen heads for band and I’m taking time to catch up with you all and think for a few minutes. Something I try to do every so often. We are planning to walk Greenlake tomorrow, do some pesky chores and then – treat! – go get another peek at our new nephew! Plus it’s his dad’s birthday so we gotta get in a hug! Happy Birthday to Nate! He has a starring role – albeit a little controversial – in the next book by the way.

Which all brings us, of course, to Sunday and the day for our mom’s. I welcome the chance to cook for the mom’s in my life who all soooooo impress me so the family is coming over Sunday morning for a mom celebration brunch. And I better get busy on thinking about exactly how that is going to come together! Time to get planning.

Sending out love to all of you –

• Glen and I have been oooohing and aaaaahing over our front yard right now – and everyone else’s around us too! We live in an area of many older homes mixed with new ones but the older ones have some spectacular old rhodies and azaleas and this time of year our area just shines. Really breathtaking colors.
• And speaking of breathtaking colors, our incredible summer time sunsets are back with their incredible blues and oranges. Absolutely stunning. They make the inside of our house so pretty with the warm colors shining through.
• I slept nine hours last night! I never do that but it was so great. Having the pets on my own did not allow for any real quality sleep so I was ready for the reprieve and fell into bed last night. Glen does it day after day with a rare complaint. He’s such a good guy. I think all people who love animals sincerely tend to be exceptional people.
• The new Star Trek movie comes out next week! I’m a trekkie for sure.
• My parents came back all abuzz from my sister and brother-in-law’s place the other day about their new lawn mower. Now a lawn mower can sound like a pretty ho hum item to be revved up about but their mower is like those Roomba vacuums – it runs and mows on its own! Pretty dang cool. Seems like it could have come out of a Star Trek episode! Or maybe more like the Jetsons. Remember how they had Rosie, the robot housekeeper? I’d love one of those! Somebody needs to make an updated Jetson’s movie. We used to love them as kids.
• We are having flat gorgeous weather here in the Seattle area. In fact, yesterday we tied Phoenix for the high temp in the US! Tell no one. Mostly it just rains here.
• Do you know this Sunday is Mother’s Day? Holy smokes! That is coming up fast. Don’t forget your mamas!

Lookee, Lookee who I have to show off today! As promised, our newest family member arrived yesterday and he is A Dor A Ble!!! Seriously, we are talking major sweet. Meet Jackson Emmett Thomas. He arrived around 8 pm on May 4 weighing in at 7 lbs, 3 ozs and 19 inches! His very tired mama Ambyr had an incredibly long day and fairly tough delivery but she and the proud papa Nathan, were rewarded with a really good ”party favor” who is even cuter in person! Joy is bubbling over today in my corner of the world. Hope it is with all of you too!

Well Glen’s away and his wife is at play.

My sister Jen had one of her always fun art classes this week where we painted flowers and then outlined them with black sharpees. She had a full class including me and Tea and you can see our masterpieces for yourself!

Then last night Tea came over for a girls only slumber party and we had a great time like we always do. We had berry tini’s with cilantro hummus (I got the recipe on Calicotales.com — yum!) then shrimp salads and bruschetta and Tea made . . . magic cake! This is actually a bit of an inside joke cause our magic cake seemed not to have all that much magic in it. I had planned to bring you the recipe here but pretty much our magic cake tasted more like eggs and less like magic. Too funny!

This morning we headed to Seattle for a nice walk around Greenlake followed by some adventure dining. We tracked down one of the restaurants featured on Guy Fieri’s show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” True to its word this was a little on the “divey” side but it was a lot of fun finding it and trying it. It’s a place called Voula’s and we both went for breakfast items. I had a Greek Hobo Scramble and Tea went for the Smoked Salmon Scramble. Both were tasty and you got tons!

Now, I saved the best news for last! It’s “May the fourth be with you” day aka May 4th and our latest family member is due. True to her prompt, polite and organized self, my niece Ambyr went into labor this morning and we are waiting for the news of his arrival any minute!! It’s a gorgeous day out as well so even the sunshine is shining on him today.

Sharing a pic of our sweet Dandy this morning. He’s such a good boy. Because he can’t get up anymore and tires easily, he spends about 22 hours a day just laying here on the carpet (I call him my dog rug ) and he still manages to contribute to our family through his happy face and wagging tail and he never complains. I’m not going to lie. He drives me crazy at times — his panting can get old and if he doesn’t want to get up, he’s going nowhere — but mostly that is all about my lack of good qualities, not his. He’s just doing his best being a dog. With Glen gone on a guy weekend away right now, the kets and I are getting some “bonding” time and, for the most part, its good for all of us. It reminds me how dependent, like small children, they are on you taking good care of them. Being a pet owner is not for the irresponsible. They take consistency and care and money and loads of patience at times. But they give back loads of love. I need a break from being a dog owner particularly but I’m in no hurry for us to lose our beautiful boy. I’ve been down that road once before and I already know how empty the house will feel and how much heartache comes with the loss. It’s coming faster than we would like and I try to remember that when my impatience bubbles to the top. Having Dandy in our family is a privilege. I live lucky!