Birthday Deliciousness

March is a month for birthdays in my family... my dad, Beki, and BJ all turned a year older this month! We went to Tucanos a couple weeks ago to celebrate - mmmmmm! We had the best meat server. He had no problem giving any one person six pieces of meat off the same skewer or an entire chunk of pineapple instead of the usual baby-sized slice.

The best part is you get to eat free once during the month of your birthday, so our dinner was a fraction of the regular price! Here's a picture of me and the twinners at the end of our meal, satisfied and totally full!

Turn Out Your Lights for Earth Hour

I hope you'll join me and turn off your lights for Earth Hour tomorrow! All you have to do is turn off your lights from 8:30-9:30 pm local time tomorrow. And you'll be in good company - more than 2,000 cities across the globe will be participating. Among other places, lights will be turned off at:

• The Eiffel Tower
  
• Empire State Building
• Pyramids of Giza
• Acropolis in Athens
• Niagara Falls
• Golden Gate Bridge
• Las Vegas Strip
  

The Happiest Place on Earth

I spent the first half of the week in Anaheim, California for a conference for work. I loved my conference - the sessions I attended were fantastic, and I made some great contacts at other schools. Time flew by, and honestly I was sad to see the conference come to a close. One of the events at the conference was a concert by former Eagles member, Don Felder. I enjoyed the concert, but wish I knew more of his songs! Here is a picture of Camille and me at the concert... and no we didn't plan our outfits!

And of course I couldn't visit Anaheim without going to Disneyland! One evening after the conference sessions ended, Mark, Sandy, Bonnie, and I headed out for an evening of adventure. We had a really enjoyable evening, and had tons of fun on the rides. I love roller coasters, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was one of my favorite rides of the evening.

But perhaps my favorite part of the night was our Indiana Jones ride. The first time we went to the ride, there was a 60 minute wait, so we decided to skip the ride and come back later in the evening. Unfortunately, when we came back later, there was still a 55 minute wait. We all wanted to go on the ride, so we decided to brace the lines. Now here's the cool part - As we went to get in line, there was a sign that said they were accepting single riders. We asked about it, and were each given a single rider pass, with the understanding that we wouldn't get to ride in the same car. That was fine with us, since they said it would cut the wait to about 20 minutes. We were told to walk up the exit with our passes... well, we practically got to walk right up to the front of the line, at which point they had us join the regular line. So here we were, at the front of the line, and no longer had to use our passes :-) They just let us right on to the car as a group... and we even got the very front! How cool is that!?! I felt a little guilty, but it sure was fun :-)
Oh, and one last thing. Have you ever been on a plane where passengers screamed out because they were so scared? Well, the ride into LA was HORRIBLE! There was a ton of turbulence and it seriously sounded like the plane might fall apart. It was definitely the worst plane ride I have ever been on, and for the first time ever, I rifled through my seat pocket to find the little white bag :-) Fortunately, I made it off the plane (just barely) without incident, and I was so happy the plane ride back to Boise wasn't near as bad!

77 and Sunny

Couldn't have asked for a better first day of spring. Too bad it's supposed to drop 20 degrees tomorrow, and be down to 49 on Wednesday!

For the Love of Politics

I have never been super politically active. I mean, I vote every election (I even try to make it to the school board elections), and I try to stay up on the headlines of the major political agenda items, but I have never researched proposed bills, contacted a legislator, etc. And I know this is going to sound bad, but after the most recent election, I would have to think pretty hard in order to name all the major elected officials representing me.

I decided that I wanted to change this. I truly believe it is my right (and even duty) as a citizen to be informed and to express opinions to those who make decisions on my behalf. Earlier this year I joined Boise Young Professionals, and decided I wanted to take an active part in the Community and Civic Involvement committee. I figured not only could I contribute to planning service projects (my passion), but that I would have the opportunity to learn and get more involved on the political front. This Wednesday, our committee put on an event "For the Love of Politics". I wasn't actually involved in all the details, since I didn't have many (or any) connections in this area, but I was fascinated as I listened to 6 young(ish) panelists talk about how they got involved in politics, as well as touch on important topics facing us today - transportation, air quality, and urban renewal. I came out of that meeting having a greater appreciation for those who serve in the political arena, as well as a greater desire to stay more informed. I really thought the panel was fascinating. If you are interested in listening to the discussion, you're in luck! The event was recorded so you can enjoy it too :-)

Out With the Old, In With the New

Thanks to Mr. Tax Man, I splurged a little over the last couple months :-) I have been wanting new blinds since I moved into my house over 5 years ago, so I finally broke down and bought some! I debated between wood (well faux wood) and murano blinds. Even though they were almost twice as much, I decided to go with the murano. I just loved the way they looked. Muranos are really lightweight fabric blinds that let a lot of light through when they are closed (which I LOVE!), but give me the privacy I need. They also stack up nicely when I open them on my doors. They are a MAJOR improvement over my cheap metal mini blinds!It's sunny outside today and is supposed to get up to 52 degrees, so I also decided that it was time for some new spring bedding :-)
And finally... my new project table! I saw this table in the Pottery Barn catalog last fall and have wanted it ever since. I finally broke down and purchased it, and my only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner. I love the height of the table, and am excited to get back to scrapbooking, card making, etc. I also love the storage cubbies so I can have everything close!

Elite Spa Membership

Over the last several weeks, the Boise State Alumni Association and the Boise State Athletic Association held an online auction to help raise money for scholarships. Today was the last day to bid on items, so I decided to peruse the website to see if there was anything that peaked my interest. Almost right away, I noticed that nobody had bid for the 12 Month Elite Spa Membership at Planet Beach Contempo Spa... probably because the starting bid was kind of high (compared to other items such as 2 tacos and 2 burritos from Baja Fresh). Curious, I clicked on the link to learn more. Turns out, the spa membership includes unlimited access to all spa services, including the Mystic spray spa, vitamin steam baths in the hydration beds, facial spas, hydro massage, UV therapy (tanning beds), and more for an entire year. The value of the package was $1200! Nobody had bid on the package, so in an attempt to do my part to help raise scholarship funds (at least that's what I told myself!), I put in the minimum bid. Guess what! At the end of the day, nobody had bid against me, and I WON!!! The best part is that I won the package for less than 1/4 the actual value. I am SUPER excited about my year of pampering :-)

This Is The Life

I fell in love with cruising last August when my family spent a week traveling up and down the Alaskan coastline. I think it was less than a month later that I booked a Western Caribbean cruise with a couple friends. This Boise winter has been cold and snowy and cloudy and long, so I had been looking forward to my escape for a while! Well, the waiting ended last Saturday when Jen and I boarded a plane for Miami, FL (Jen's sister Brooke met us in Miami). We cruised out Sunday afternoon on the Norwegian Jewel, and headed to the Grand Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. There were really rough winds the first morning at sea, but after that, we enjoyed nice weather, sunshine, and no sea-sickness :-) Here are some of the highlights:

I still don't understand why people like slot machines so much. Incredibly boring if you ask me. Jen and I blew through $10 in like 10 minutes.
Here's the porthole I bragged about in an earlier post :-) Yes, it was small, but it was SO nice to be able to see outside from our room and to have some natural light!

In the Cayman Islands, we swam with stingrays! Crazy, huh! Well, these stingrays are tame and are around people all the time. We were able to pet the stingrays (they are incredibly soft), feed them squid, hold them, and even kiss them :-) One funny thing - I had Brooke take a picture of me holding a squid before I fed it to the stingrays, and a bird came down and grabbed the squid from my hand!!! You can see the culprit in one of the pictures below.

After the stingrays, we got to play with a dolphin - watch it do tricks, touch it, get a kiss from the dolphin, and even hold the dolphin. I'll update this post with a picture as soon as Brooke scans it and emails it :-)

Our day in Cozumel was probably the warmest day we had. We enjoyed 80 degree weather as we rode ATVs through the jungle. We also got to see some Mayan ruins. I was expecting to see a whole temple, but we basically only saw where different structures had once been, with only certain cornerstone rocks remaining where the pillars had once been. We got SO dirty! The trails were dusty and super rocky, but it was still tons of fun.
And of course we took time to lay out, enjoying the sunshine and a good book...
... and enjoy some fabulous food (and more food, and more food). Our favorites were Cagney's Steakhouse (where we celebrated Jen's birthday in style) and the Chocolate buffet! And you've gotta love all the fresh seafood! We also enjoyed some authentic Mexican food while in Cozumel.
The on-board entertainment was excellent. We loved the comedians, the acrobatics, the juggler, and more. We got our pictures taken with the juggler (David DiMuzio - who also happens to be a singer, songwriter, and comedian), as well as a signed poster :-)

We had such a great time, that we're already planning our next cruise. We're thinking about Greece next summer if anyone wants to come :-)