Keep us posted on the houseboat story, shaw. Sounds cool. I live vicariously through you.
No plans for today. Woke up feeling awful- sore throat, coughing, tired. I think whatever is going around has found me.
Had good luck with cards at euchre group last night and finished 2nd. That obviously did not carry over to Powerball.
Well, darn, @FallGirl.
The houseboat sounds very cool. Going to do some hiking around Point Reyes, Shawbridge?
Point Reyes for sure. We are watching seals swim around our houseboat at the moment. ShawD says she doesn’t want to go back to MA. ShawSon is in Carmel with GF but we may meet them for dinner in SF tonight.
ShawD has never been in the Bay Area before. She’s here for 5 days. What should we show her? I was thinking about the mud bath in Calistoga and wineries in Sonoma or Napa one day. Plus Stinson Beach and/or Point Reyes. What is worth seeing in SF? One day, she and ShawWife will take the ferry to SF. Would like to take her to see ShawSon at his university, but I’m not sure that’s going to happen on this trip.
Hope the insurance gets worked out. How frustrating!
Well, younger D has lost her apartment-mate and gained a cat. Her roommate texted yesterday that she is pregnant and her parents won’t let her return to school. However, she has her BF’s cat and her parents are going to put it down unless she can find a home for it. So, deduct a person, add a cat.
Over the weekend we un-decorated all of the trees and put all of them away. Now it’s just the boxes and boxes and boxes of decorations to put away. Son is coming back over tomorrow to help H with that.
Did anyone else waste time watching the Golden Globes? I admit that I did, simply because I was too tired to do anything else but exist on the couch. The single best part was Helen Miren’s dress.
MP - sorry about younger D’s apartment-mate. Will she be trying to find another roommate?
Arabrab - sounds like the insurance issues are a nightmare that I wouldn’t want to have to deal with. Good Luck!
Today is the first day that I really feel good since I got that dreaded cold. Actually got up this morning and went to the gym. I did take it easy there - no sense pushing it and getting sick right away again. I’ll wean into it over the next few days.
We are getting ideas for out to do list while in Napa later this winter. We have also started on line looking at venues that D will want to check out in a couple of months for wedding/reception. We will go looking at dresses for the first time in Feb. Having a long engagement means that we can move a bit slowly. 
I’m on the Dallas Bryce Howard fan wagon – going to a department store and actually buying a size 6 dress because the samples provided by designers are size 0/1.
Hi all. Back in the saddle and slowly catching up so first off, kudos DTE, healthy fairy dust for the gang of sickies, and hugs for any who need one 
I don’t really know where to start on cruise shenanigans update (except to say we got god value on ultimate drink package ; travel home flight shenanigans or grouting disaster recovery management, so lets just call this post a proof-of-life with more to follow!
Welcome back , kmc.
Feeling much better now, hope to get back to yoga tomorrow. Our crazy quarter end at work is over for the most part, but did I mention that my office is moving a month from now? So we are packing up, getting rid of stuff, organizing stuff for storage - I secretly like doing this stuff. Move itself is a mixed bag. The good- larger work space, I’ll be near a window and away from the noisy spot I’m in now. The bad- commute will be the same distance, but rumored to be much worse traffic wise. Hoping that’s not true.
Grouting disaster recovery management sounds…not fun.
Glad you’re better, FallGirl.
Good luck with grout. No doubt better than gout.
I’m in London – flew in yesterday. It’s a 10+ hour flight. The client CEO who I was going to meet this AM cancelled. Looks like he is either sick or his family (wife) is as he is now going to call me from his home. I hope all is well.
I’m meeting with his people earlier in the day. Then, I decided to spend the weekend in London and work rather than head down to Mallorca or someplace like that. Then on to Frankfurt where my meetings are also being reorganized and I might have to either take a later flight and fly business instead of first or fly the next day. Ah well.
We took ShawD to Muir Woods – and ShawWife has decided she is going to paint there every morning. I wonder if the NPS will tolerate or embrace her or throw her out. We then took ShawD for lunch and a tasting in Healdsburg. Yesterday, our car arrived and ShawD and ShawWife had a spa day and then, I think, dinner at a gourmet vegan place in SF which has a great view.
We stayed in Healdsburg last summer. Loved the area. Great town square with great music on Thursday evenings in the summer/fall. Fun little shops, too. If you head up that way again stop in Armstrong State Park for viewing Redwoods. Not as crowded as Muir Woods. If you like hiking also head down to Big Sur. The landscape is stunning.
D1 starts her new job in 2 weeks. She works for a week here in the cities then heads to Boston for training for a week. She has never been there before so she is very excited.
Well – happy day! Today is D’s birthday, and this morning she was just told she’s being promoted again. That’s a heck of a birthday present.
Proud mama here.
Congrats to your D, and happy birthday too!
Congrats and Happy Birthday to your D Arabrab!
Adding to the Congrats and Happy Birthday to your D, Arabrab
Me, too, arabrab!
Congrats and Happy BDay.
ShawD is heading home now from Sausalito as she has to work this weekend. She had a blast.
Had a great day today. Reviewed our work with client team thus far – we have collectively worked on saving 20 MM GBP per year and growing as a result of some really interesting negotiations… We planned out the next year or so of work. Later, I had a good conversation with the CEO, who has been pushing two additional groups to work with us.
I’m teaching a seminar in Istanbul later in the year and they are already marketing, which seems to be creating opportunities. The seminar folks will pay for ShawWife to come with me and we’ll take a vacation in Turkey but I will also be doing some interviews with the major magazines/newspapers and meeting with some corporate bigwigs (why do we call them bigwigs?).
Last night I had dinner with a guy who wants me to teach an exec ed thing at University of Oxford. Could be fun but marginally lucrative. I spent a year in Oxford when my dad took a sabbatical there. So, a bit of going home.
Alas, no dinner plans tonight so I am eating alone. My least favorite part of business travel. I’m never sure how I would meet people to have dinner with, especially on weekends (my clients in the UK tend to not have business meetings on the weekend). If I were single, I suppose I could do online dating, but I am happily married.
SIL finally received her diagnosis. She has the early stages of Alzheimer’s. So sad. They waited so long to retire and no they didn’t need to but they didn’t want to have to bridge health care. She wanted to retire and financially they could have years ago. Now 18 months after retirement this happens. Makes me think that we should do what we want when we want and not “wait” if at all possible.
Sorry to hear it. If I recall, you have been concerned about her behavior for a while, no? [Or was that someone else’s S or SIL]. If so, maybe it is good to finally have a diagnosis.
Hugs, RM. I’m so sorry to hear that.