Plan(e) of Attack

We’re getting all the last minute things done for our Croatia trip – which means finding the fishing pole, getting out the snorkel gear, the water shoes, the motion sick meds, the “whatever elses”  we could possibly need. But first things first – this time – way in advance – I tried really hard to book the best possible seats for the long haul of our trip – which is the leg from Vancouver BC to Frankfurt. This is the plane:

So we are sitting in 35K and 35H. The row with just 2 seats, should be pretty undisturbed, not too close to the snack area or the bathrooms, no touching of other people, just us and only us – well except for the entire planeload of others. I booked similar seats for the trip back too. My only worry, someone will screw it up and we will get to the check in area and our seats won’t be our seats. Then I will have to get all ugly and rude. I really really don’t want seats other than in the side row where there are only 2 seats. And no super fat strangers taking up my personal space. Thank you!

Why I have PTSD about this:  Once on a flight from Rome to Detroit I got seat 2 in a 5 seat row, leaving only the aisle seat available for someone else. The someone else showed up and to my joy was a normal sized person. But, sadly, before I could blink, the normal sized person jumped up and changed seats with someone else so he could sit with his wife and the person who ended up next to me was no less than 400 pounds. NO LESS THAN 400 POUNDS!! And she had a pretty tough time getting into her seat and then proceeded to hang WAY OVER into my seat space, making me have to lean at a 45 degree angle in the other direction for the rest of eternity. In fact, I’m still leaning to the right. Then, this happened: Our flight sat on the runway for 4 whole hours before we even took off – due to a strike of some kind….. thank you Fate, you’re so nice. Before we even left the ground I was already dying of back break-ache. I worked up the nerve to tell the woman that she was making me uncomfortable and asked if she could please move over and that she needed to stay in her space. She said to me, “Well, I ain’t very comfortable neither!” – and that was our entire conversation for the rest of the 10 hour flight. Not awesome! I even went to find a flight attendant to see if I could maybe move seats – thinking there must be something – and what if… dare I dream…. Something in business or first class – ha – “oh, sorry”…. ZERO available. So I then asked, “could you maybe handle this situation, I’m not getting anywhere”, maybe the flight attendant could make sure she isn’t in half my seat, and she said “oh, I’m not allowed to discuss a customer’s weight problem with them, but you are welcome to talk to her about it!” Great, thanks lady! )

So, the moral of the story is to plan way way way ahead, get good seats, don’t share even one armrest – and then hope for the best. Oh, and do all the things that they say you shouldn’t do on the plane, avoid water, drink a thousand cocktails, eat all their food – and wake up in Frankfurt fully hung over, dehydrated and completely jet-lagged. So excited for vacation! (I really am! Not even joking - despite the hassles, I still super excited to go!)

Craigslist - What's Old?

Here are a few more craigslist items worth getting that I saw this week in the Seattle version. All you need is a little DIY love and these things will be great. This is exactly why I need to become an upholsterer. Take a look:

Chair pair $99

Old chair $85

Dresser $35

Side table $50

Cute Italian tables $75 for the pair

Wood lamp base $45

Car Rental in Croatia

Yesterday we (the Croatia group) had our last organizing phone call before we all meet up in Dubrovnik in a couple weeks. We were trying to make sure we all had tabs on each other for arrivals into Dubrovnik and if we had all booked the same hotel, and how we were going to get up to Split on the day we needed to. 

We decided that we'll rent a car (for 7 of us) to drive the coastal road (D8) up from Dubrovnik, through the small portion of Bosnia and onto Split. I think Google says it's like a 3.5 hour ride, but reality is that on a coastal road in the tourist season (or just after) it will be probably more like a 7-8 hour adventure. And, knowing our group, we'll want to stop a lot for pics, snacks, adventures. I was trying to get familiar with various bloggers ideas of how easy/hard the drive was and the transition through the border at Bosnia, but sounds like no big deal. I then read about how the road is all small and hairpin turns and super dangerous, blah blah, so I just stopped reading that - I really don't need to hear that - seriously. 

And, how fast and hairpin-y do you think we'll go in this thing (see below). Looks like this is our choice of "sweet ride" for accommodating 7 adults. Now sing: "every day I'm shuf-ful-in".

I hope we can fit all our crap in this thing. The more I read about fun things to do there, the more I want to bring - like snorkel gear, kayaks, water shoes, floaty devices, extra long camera lenses, fishing poles.... good lord, we'll need a sherpa. I'm sure we can rent some of that stuff as needed.

Just over 2 weeks away, and we are getting really really excited. If you have recommendations for restaurants and/or fun things to do for any of these spots, let me know. We are going to try to make it to Bisevo, Lastovo, Scedro, Vis, Hvar, Brac, Korcula and Mljet, Orebic, and Trogir on the way back to Split. 

How long can you live without a modern convenience?

Well, apparently, a long time. Today, finally, the repairmen are coming to fix our Viking fridge at the farm. You would think that Viking means awesome, special, high end, excellent. You’d be wrong. Viking means – we break down, we don’t do refrigerators well, and our other stuff isn’t that great either. And it also means that in January when the company was sold to Middleby Corp. that there would be delays and delays and no shipment of parts for as long as it takes any Viking customer to wish they had never set sights on a Viking appliance in their lives.

VCBB5361L

In June (June 8^th, to be exact), we got out to the farm to find that the refrigerator/freezer had stopped completely. Finally got a repair person to come out 2 weeks later to look at it. And they said, ya… it doesn’t work, we need a part…. So they ordered parts – which never shipped never shipped never shipped. We had to finally call and ask WTF? Where is our part? And why haven’t you called?  Oh, sorry, ya, Viking sucks, and they won’t ship parts – some sort of buyout has created some problems there… We’ll let you know. So, they eventually let us know, they could fix our fridge on August 15^th. No biggie, just, what…., over 2 months without a fridge right through the heart of summer. Nice.

So today, the hubby is out there all day, trying to work from the farm, while not just one, but 2 repair people are fixing the fridge. The problem has something to do with the copper pipe that brings water into the fridge and how it gets cold and water condensates on it, and then it gets corroded and leaks out all the refrigerant. The guy just rolled his eyes, oh ya, this happens all the time with these….. blah blah blah. And it has to be 2 guys to come because they have to drag it out from the wall and there is soldering and whatnot, and we get the “opportunity” to pay some astronomical rate of like $900 bucks to have a working Viking fridge. Not awesome.

The upside? We have a really great appreciation for block ice from the olden days. For over 2 months, we’ve been going super old school, filling the freezer drawer with block ice to keep whatever little bits of food cold for the weekend. I wonder how much we’ve spent in block ice since June. I’m thinking about charging Viking for my pain and suffering.

Based on this experience: DON’T BUY VIKING APPLIANCES! We bought the farmhouse with them already installed, so this fix will be good until the warranty is out, and after that, anything but Viking. Once we started having problems with customer service and the parts, we did some searches on Google and found that it’s not just us. People around the country are even more fed up than we are. Viking, you have a lot of work to do to get people back on your side. 

BFF's

Updates from the weekend! While too lazy to actually take a lot of pics, I think these pretty much sum up what we did: eat, drink, play cards. Excellent time - laughed our heads off. So much fun!

A Word about Girlfriends

This weekend the gals are coming out to the farm for some chick time. I am SO EXCITED! We will have so much fun laughing and eating and drinking and hanging out. 

How lucky am I to have some of the nicest friends ever? SUPER SUPER LUCKY! One friend is in town from Sun Valley, another one is on the way out of town for a long stay in Italy, another friend just got back from almost 9 years living abroad - and another one is a transplant here from Memphis. So, this is our first time all back together in a long long time, and we're pretty whipped up about it. 

Here's a thing about chicks. If you meet women who don't have women friends - watch out for those ladies. Something is NOT right about that. All the good gals have good gal friends. I have lots of different groups of friends, and they all have good girlfriends too - good chicks attract other good chicks. If you meet someone who wants to be friends, and you find out that they don't have other friends - it better be because they just moved to your town. If they have no friends but have lived in your town their whole lives - be very suspicious. 

To you men out there - DO NOT date or marry a gal that doesn't have her own friends. You'll be sorry. Healthy relationships are made of lots of other healthy relationships. Men need men friends, women need women friends, men need lady friends, ladies need men friends, men and women need gay friends, young people need old friends, humans need animal friends - and everyone should be friends with bacon. Follow that reasoning, and your life will be happy.

Have a good weekend. Go make a new friend!

Oh, ps. Last night we hosted an alumni cocktail party event for my husband's high school. It was for all the people who live in the Seattle area that went to this particular boarding school back in New Hampshire. I got to meet a whole bunch of really nice new friends, who are you going to meet this weekend?

Another Thing that Bugs Me

A couple of weeks ago there were a bunch of fabulous photo’s taken of Sharon Stone for New You Magazine (see below). They were posted and reposted all over the internet. Sharon Stone looked fantastic. Here’s the part that bugs me.

Quotes from Sharon (from the article) are mostly about how great she feels and how it’s ok to age and how it’s sexy to be who you are! So, why are the “fabulous” shots of Sharon all airbrushed and retouched so that she looks wrinkle-less and fresh in a way that only a magazine photoshop editor can manage? And everyone is all awww, ohhhhh, wowwwww, so pretty. C’mon people, you can look like that too if you have a “team” at a photo shoot to capture you in a great setting, blow your hair back, and then blur out the lines, brighten up the white teeth and eyes, etc. She is a very pretty woman, super pretty in fact, and in her mid 50’s! Can we not show the super pretty pictures of her that are real? I found some photos below, including the photo below of her taken recently at Cannes – and this is probably a paparazzi or media photo, so printed before it’s all touched up and ok’d for publicity.  She is gorgeous. And she has a few well-earned wrinkles. Again, let me repeat, SHE IS GORGEOUS!

 

This is the Cannes shot - Getty Image

Also a Getty Image from an event where she looks real (and great)!

Again, a real photo - sorry - don't have a credit for the pic

I think it’s a big huge fucking dis-service to all of us that we now think that even the “gorgeous” people have to have all their soul scrubbed off before they can make the cover of a magazine. Hey Oprah, you too lady!!! Yes, I’m talkin’ to you. Years of acceptance of who you are, we are, all of us are, and you still have to have every single cover of O Magazine turn you into a completely photo-shopped angelic version of yourself. Sick of it. And you, Oprah, more than any other woman in the world, probably have enough power to say "hey, make me look good, but not like someone that looks like a pretend version of me and about 20 years younger!"

And, yes… I know… nobody wants to buy magazines with covers that make people look like crap – we see those people and ourselves every day – but can we at least find a happy medium somewhere? Am I crazy here, what do you think, is this bugging you too?