Happy Halloween!!!

Click HERE for a funny halloween tradition to look out for tomorrow morning.

Found HERE on Apartment Therapy.com

just vote.

I HAVE TOTALLY LOST MY MIND!!!

And I can't even write about it. I'm having a hard time finding a place to live in Utah. It's not falling together like I think it should. It doesn't feel right. I'm already having withdrawls, I miss the water, and I don't want to be cold. I guess I am writing about it.

I had a moment of weakness and got a little down about my rotten luck with the yacht in Seattle. I thought it meant I needed to try something different. Maybe it just meant I needed to try again.

Here's the story...

Mom and Dad will be relieved to hear this news. I have been feeling this for a few days now and tonight it all came to climax while I was chatting online with an old friend from Key West.

Courtney and I have been friends since 2003 when I moved to Key West. You see, she is a badass. When I was a lowly dock girl selling day trips on the Schooner Liberty, before anyone even let me attempt to train on board, Courtney was the Firs Mate on a Parasail Boat at the same marina. She's just a badass. Anyway, we lost touch like people do and due to the majic of Facebook and Myspace we have reconnected and have been chatting frequently this year. When I told Courtney about my bad luck and getting laid off from the Seattle yacht she got all excited and decided it was a sign that I should come to Ft. Lauderdale and stay with her for a while, after all, it is the Mega Yacht Capital of the world. Now, any normal, "sign seeing" person would have seen that as a good idea, but I decided to wait it out. I was a little depressed I have to admit.

I had totally forgotten about that fleeting conversation when tonight Courtney instant messaged me and we started to chat. She was telling me all about Ft. Lauderdale and how great it was and she mentioned again that I should come stay with her at her new apartment. I told her I couldn't afford rent at a condo in Lauderdale at the moment and she just laughed and said " I didn't ask you to pay rent, I told you to come stay with me for a while and look for a job here, if you find one and leave thats cool and if I decided to stay then we could wait till the next month before we worry about rent." Can we say "HERE'S YOUR SIGN" ?
Then she continued to berate me about how I was a boat chick and to just get over it because I was going to regret being cold constantly... She's right.

P.S. The rent in Lauderdale is the same as what I would be paying in Utah. Ahem....

Let the comments begin....

Yes I know... I am a flake. I feel like a big flake. I don't know what to do.
I do know that being in Lauderdale is what's best for my career.

p.s. again I put out an email to my agent in lauderdale to ask her what she thought about me moving there, if she thinks it would help me get a job and if she knew of any shore based or freelance positions... we shall see.

Another perk... Courtney is a personal trainer... yep... she would kick my ass into shape...

Got this from the Ski Utah blog. Cute!

Ski Utah blog here.

In response to Russell's bad idea to make fun of a cultural icon...

Russell resigns from Radio 2


i still love russell brand.

Here is the recipe for the Rolo Cookies!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Pillsbury BEST(R) All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup chopped pecans
48 Rolo(R) Chewy Caramels in Milk Chocolate, unwrapped
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ounces vanilla-flavored candy coating (optional)

Cooking Directions:

In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa and baking soda; mix well.
In large bowl, combine 1 cup sugar, brown sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; beat well. Add flour mixture; blend well. Stir in 1/2 cup of the pecans. If necessary, cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes for easier handling.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. For each cookie, with floured hands, shape about 1 tablespoon dough around 1 caramel candy, covering completely.
In small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup pecans and 1 tablespoon sugar. Press one side of each ball into pecan mixture. Place, nut side up, 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake at 375 degrees F for 7 to 10 minutes or until set and slightly cracked. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes or until completely cooled.
Melt candy coating in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.
Yield: 48 servings

I just poured a half a bottle of Wild Turkey down the drain...

I decided to have a sip for old times sake... I nearly yacked all over the place... i went right into the bathroom and poured it down the drain. I have never abused alcohol like that... I feel bad about pouring it out... some homeless bum would have liked it. My brother would have taken it... oh well.

HAHA HAHHA GOBBLE THAT TURKEY!

It's coming...

The snow... It's on it's way to Utah finally! Forecast says Monday! Yay! Can't wait to get there... sure wish I had a room... haha! I am sure something will come up, I still have 3 weeks to find a place!

I have decided to make some Egg Nog.

I think my dad is worried about me now... haha I was standing on the stool reaching in the highest cabinet in the kitchen pulling bottles of alcohol out and placing them gently on the counter as if he wouldn't hear the glass clacking on the tile counter tops. He was playing the mandolin... Anyway, I finally got to the very back of the cabinet where I knew my mother hid the bottle of Wild Turkey she found in my room over a year ago. I pulled it out, over the Crown Royal and through the muffin tins (to grandmother' house we go) and then put all the other liquors back in the cabinet. With my bottle of WT on the counter I noticed we needed to make a pitcher of tea. So I got the pitcher and the sugar and made some tea, dad got up and walked to the garage door and paused when he walked past the wild turkey bottle and just kinda glanced at it... then walked outside. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. yarrrrrrrrr! I bet he thinks i'm back here swillin outta the bottle!

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
9 Eggs separated
1 cup extra fine sugar !DO NOT USE confectioners sugar!
2 cups light cream
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup Wild Turkey Bourbon Whisky
1/2 cup Remy Martin VSOP
( substitute Christian Brothers Brandy for a sweeter drink )

3 large mixing bowls
a whisk or electric beater
Directions:
Chill all ingredients Metal and glass bowls

Place 9 egg yolks into a bowl and add sugar. Beat until thick. Add light cream, bourbon, and congac. Set aside.

Place 9 egg whites into a bowl and beat to soft peaks.
Do not make stiff peaks as this will make the eggnog separate. Set aside.

Place heavy cream into a bowl and beat until whipped cream.

Gently fold all 3 bowls together into your punch bowl.

Enjoy with some freshly grated nutmeg.


It's the HOLIDAYS!! Just drink it!
Keeping the eggnog cool is always good so don't put it by the fire. Don't over mix or stir the eggnog in the serving bowl. Gently fold it together if it needs it after an hour or so. A small spice grater and whole nutmeg by the bowl makes it real nice!

For my viewing pleasure.

I already own National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation so I don't need to steal it from YouTube. But I don't own the other mandatory viewing... How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It's in 3 parts, enjoy!

For LYVVIE!!!!!! ahem....

SWEET POTATO CASSAROLE

you need:
1 can of sweet potatos
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
about a handfull of mini marshmallows


Open the can of sweet potatoes with a can opener almost all the way so you can use the lid to strain the juice.
KEEP THE JUICE!
Pour the juice from the sweet potatoes into a sauce pan
add the white and brown sugar to the sauce
you want to cook this mixture on low-med STIRRING CONSTANTLY
you can bring it up to a low boil to make the process go faster but you have to really be on it and not let it scorch.

Stir and cook the sauce till its nice and thick like between honey and molasses.

put the sweet potatoes in a small dish about 6" by 6" or something to that effect
pour the sauce over them and put it in the oven on 350 for about 10 mins or so till warm.
take it out of the oven and sprinkle the mini marshmallows on top in an even layer covering all the sweet potatoes.

pop it back in the oven for just a couple of mins till the marshmallows are browned slightly

BE CAREFUL YOU KNOW HOW FAST MARSHMALLOWS BURN!!!

ta da!

dig in.

I will post the chocolate rolo cookie recipe next.

this pic is not mine but i forgot to take a pic of mine and it looked so much better.... :)

The big thanksgiving...

Well, after everyone said their hellos and got comfy the long lost cousins got up and started to leave and take 3 people with them BEFORE we ate!!! I almost blew a gasket!!! OHHHHHHHHHH NO! NOBODY IS BAILING OUT ON THIS GOOD OLD FASHIONED FAMILY THANKSGIVING NO WAY!!! I almost went crazy just like this....



Thankfully my father saw the crazy in my eyes and told everyone just to relax and stay a while... good thing too... i had a cassarole dish full of molten candied yams and I wasn't afraid to use it....

Whew,,,

it was a success! i will post the fam reunion pics soon. been cleaning and drinking wine...

HAL-LEY-LOO-YAH! HOLY SHIT!

Add another 2 people to the guest list!!! Uncle Derwood and Aunt Betty are coming too!!! Thats 10 people!!! I have to peel more potatoes and make the sweet potatoe cassarole!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Oh MY GOSH!

Mini Griswold famly gathering crisis. I started making the greenbean cassarole... i messed up the ingredients but don't tell anyone, we will see how it turns out... i don't eat it so I wouldn't know...

Got a call from Grandma, looks like we are having 2 extra guests for dinner, some long lost relatives I either met when I was 2 or never... so I am running around doubling up on food and making extra side dishes....

I knew there was a reason I watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation this morning....

Turkey Time!

Naked raw turkey... ready to enter roasting compartment. NOW!

Oh! I made these mini apple pies yesterday...

I got the idea from Lyvvie.

The chocolate Rolo cookies

It's Thanksgiving again!!!

Today I am busy cooking Thanksgiving dinner for Mom, Dad, Jeff, Grandma and Grandpa!!! It's the second time this year! Before I went to Seattle we had turkey day because we thought I wouldn't be here for it. Well, we all know how Seattle turned out... Now I am back home but it looks like I won't be here for Thanksgiving again, and the grandparents are stopping by for the night so we decided to do it again!!! I love it and I don't mind cooking it. I made a honey glazed ham this morning because I think it's acceptable to eat that at room temperature. It was actually just a ham and I made a brown sugar honey glaze from scratch, I let the ham cook for about 40 mins then I smeared the glaze all over it and cranked it up to 400 for about 10 mins to caramelize the glaze. It looks yummy!

I just whipped up a batch of cookies, not sure what they are called, but they are chocolate, with a Rolo in the middle so when you bite into them its melty chocolatey caramel!!! I made those from scratch too. The dough is in the fridge cooling so it's easier to handle, so says the recipe so I will post pics when they are done!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

lol'd so much i think i woke mom up...

This is a little disheartening.

There is a big giant High Pressure system just SITTING over utah. Just sitting there, the sun a shining, temperatures mild, barely dropping to freezing at night. I have been looking at the ski and snowboard blogs and they are going crazy! Apparently this is the first year in their memories that they haven't been out on the slopes "shreading freshies" at this time of year. Is it really possible that my bad luck has already infected Utah? I have always been a hurricane magnet and I firmly believe that St. Thomas was spared because the hurricane realized I had moved away the night before squashing the island and altered course to go between the BVI and Sint Maarten so it wouldn't hurt anyone. Now my bad karma is getting a jump on my winter escapades. I really hope Utah gets dumped on soon or I'm gonna get really bummed out.

p.s. i only thing 38% of this blog entry is true.

So funny!!!

I found this on the "If it's hip it's here" blog on my list to the right!

DAD ONLY HAS ONE MORE CHEMO LEFT!

Woo hoo! Dad went in for treatment number 7 today and came home with good news! He only has to have 8 treatments! So two weeks from today he will be all done with the chemo and they will start radiation which shouldn't be as bad, or take as long I don't think.

In other news, I am knitting some leg warmers! I will post pics as soon as I am finished! :)

Looking for a place to live in Alta...

It's pretty hard... well... not really... it's just hard to decide which place to take... all the houses are big, like 5 bedrooms so you have to live with at least 4 other people which can be challenging. I will let yall know when anything exciting happens... pretty chill around here. :)

THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG!!!

I GOT THE JOB!!!! I am the new Ski Demo Girl at Alta Ski Resort! What is a Ski Demo Girl you ask? Well... let me tell you how I got the job...

My interview with Stephanie went really well this morning and she said she would let me know within the next week if I had the job or not. We talked about my experience with boats and being hands on and how much I liked getting into the thick of it and getting greasy and learning all about the way things worked, she mentioned the Ski Demo Shop and told me that's where the skis get tweaked and waxed and repaired and fitted and all that good stuff. She said she thought I would be good at that. I agreed. She didn't mention it again and we got off the phone a while later. This afternoon she emailed me and offered me the retail job at the ski shop, but at the end of the email she asked me what I thouht about working in the demo shop because she thinks I would be great at it. It pays the same AND I get to learn how to work on skis and all that good stuff plus... I work with all guys. :) She said they need a female influence down there and she thinks I'll be great at handing out the ass whoopins. :) I can't wait. I bought my flight ticket this afternoon and now I am in the market for a place to live. I have quite a few leads on cheap places to stay so I'm not going to stress about that. I leave November 13th! Now I have to dig out my long sleeved t-shirts and buy some long johns. wooooooo hoooooooooooooo! I'M GONNA MAKE THE BEST SNOW ANGEL EVER!!! Just wait and see...

That pic is the view from where I will be working.... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

The interview...

went really great!!! She said she would let me know sometime this week as I was her first interview. She said there are 46 employees at the mtn. and this year they only had 6 open positions, as in, 40 employees came back from the previous year! That says something about the way they run, sounds like they are a pretty good company to work for. Now... I wait... but first... I eat mexican food... :)

yup.

Interview in an hour!

In t minus 59 minutes, I will be on the phone with someone from the Deep Powder House in Alta, UT. Wish me luck. Either way it's gonna be a good day because Mom and I will be having lunch with Aunt Diane at Jalapeno's Mexican Food place and I LOVE Mexican food. :) I will let yall know...

OK, HERE'S THE PROM DRESS...

It's a picture of a picture taken with my computer so the quality isn't that great but you get the gist.... my high school didn't have a dress code for prom until I wore this dress... they created one in my honor... I love my life.

cleaning out the closet!

Found my Burton gloves that I bought like 5 years ago when I worked at Sun and Ski Sports in Houston. I bought them with my employee discount, and I also bought snowboard pants and a snowboard jacket and snowboard boots and goggles. To this day I have yet to use any of it. I moved to the islands soon after! Ugh. Since then I have given my snowboard boots and Oakley goggles away to my ex-best friend Laurie. But I still have the pants, and gloves and I take that back, I always wear that jacket. It's a really nice jacket. I found this piratey hat and my fat hippie headband my friend Jess in Australia gave me. I am getting rid of all my old formal dresses, all but my prom dress. That dress is one of a kind and I refuse to give it up. I am trying to keep myself busy. I think I will go empty the dishwasher....

ok ok... this is it.

Yep, a guy riding a horse down the highway. Texas.

I got attacked by that grass by my legs and I had itchy seeds all over my shorts!!! That's what happens when you stop at roadside treasure troves... 
The booming metropolis of Gause, TX
Small town cute.
Blah... entering back into Dallas....
I wish roadtrips didn't have to end.

but wait... more...

It's a deer! Just walking around the neighborhood...

Some Kayakers on the Comal
Old barn on Hwy 77
Entering the Lost Pines area of TX

more!

The crystal clear water of the Comal River, New Braunfels, TX

Comal River scene
Comal River
Ahhhhh I love to get in the water.... 
The Comal River is one of my favorite places in the world.

Road Trip Pics cont...

More views 

Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Me in Gruene...
Mom and I had Sangrita Swirls on the patio at the Gruene River Cafe.

Road Trip Pics

Leaving Dallas in 5 O'clock traffic.

Sunset on HWY 31 in between Corsicana and Waco... 

Traffic between Waco and Austin, we tried to watch Pirates of the Caribbean on my Mac.
Grandma's beautiful deck with a view of the 8th green or something. 

Acai or not to Acai... that is the question.

Undoubtedly y'all have heard of this Acai berry that is supposed to make you just totally Victoria Beckham skinny and make you live forever... Yeah... Well I have decided to try it after seeing just how big my ass has gotten in the past few months. Well, I found a bottle of the purple stuff in the back of mom's fridge and as there was no expiration date on it, I shook it up and poured me a small cup of it. After scooping the chunks of I-don't-know-what out of the cup I decided to get a few things together before downing it. I poured myself a glass of wine first and foremost, then I cracked open a frosty cold Dr. Pepper. I figure one of the two will be a good chaser. The Acai didn't taste all that bad, it was just a little thick. I went ahead and chased it with both just to be on the safe side. I was just reading the lable on the Acai bottle, (something I should have done before I drank it) and it said to drink one ounce twice a day... ONE OUNCE??? Shit... Hope I don't have some kind of reaction... I drank like four ounces. Ha ha! I feel good! They say this berry juice has like 30 times the antioxidants as red wine! So, imagine the benefits of mixing the two... Oh my, there's something wrong with me. Oh! I need to post pics from the weekend!

Tomorrow is another day!

Tomorrow at 10am I have an interview with someone at the Deep Powder House in Alta, Utah. I am super excited about it but I am trying not to be because I have had a run of bad luck with jobs and I don't want to be disappointed. But if you know anything about me, you'd know that I can't NOT get excited. I have far too much faith in myself for someone who doesn't keep a job for more than 6 months at a time. Hell, sounds like seasonal work is right up my alley!
I have been thinking alot about how DIFFERENT life would be on the mountain compared to the island. Thinking about the weather, well, not so much the weather but the COLD. I have been sweating my ass off for about 5 years, avoiding winter at all costs, chasing the endless summer. I feel like it might be good for me to "chill out" for a few months, slow down, try something new, reflect, play the guitar more, meet new people, get out and see some scenery. While I was in Seattle, you could see Mt. Rainer from the boat yard I worked at. But only on certain days when it was clear enough to see that far. Every day that I could see it, I spent my breaks sitting on the rail by the river bank staring at the mountain. It really is amazing, our country, the beauty we take for granted. I guess when I was a kid when we went on ski trips I didn't really pay attention to the beauty around me, I was usually plugged in to my walkman singing at the top of my lungs while everyone else in the suburban suffered.
Have you ever woken up, thrown the curtains back only to see pure, perfect snowflakes falling on pristine white drifts of snow? I haven't. But I want to. Now, if this whole thing falls through tomorrow and I don't end up getting the job we can just put this blog in the "pipe dreams" folder ok? But just for today... let me dream.

cant. sleep.

dreaming. of. snow.

Boat Feet VS. Aussie Feet.

Nearly one and the same...

These are Maria's Boat Feet after spending all day/week/month???? in the yard...


These are My feet and Jess's feet after partying in the dirt all day on Australia Day 2008...

I had to dig out the VHS tape of one of my old favorite movies...

Over the river and through the woods...

To Grandma and Grandpa's house we go! I love going to the G'parent's house. It has a smell that just reminds me of being little and chasing cats around the house, while grandma screams at the Cowboy's football game on the TV, (which used to make my brother cry when he was little, poor little feller). It reminds me of many Thanksgiving's and big breakfasts and Christmas, which are 3 of my favorite things! It reminds me of my cousins and how we used to see them about once a year, I can't tell you the last time I saw any of them. (on my dad's side) I also love the area of Texas they live in! They live in New Braunfels, which is south of Austin in the Hill Country area. It's beautiful down there, lakes and rivers and rolling hills everywhere. There are all sorts of small towns out there, most of them with a German name or influence as the first settlers in that area were, of course, German. There is a little town named Gruene, pronounced "green" that we like to visit when we get down that way. Gruene is full of little artisan shops and music. The famous Gruene Music Hall is there where the likes of George Strait and Robert Earl Keen played their first shows, they still come back to play homage to this place frequently, you never know who you may see strolling through the streets of Gruene.

What a beautiful weekend for a road trip! I love road trips! I will take pics and post them up as soon as I can!

Oh, and... I have a job interview with a ski resort in Alta, Utah on Tuesday... Wish me luck! Tee hee I am so excited!

Totally Awesome.

Click here to find out what this is...

I have realized that I travel quite a bit... I would love to have one of these to put in my carry on... tee hee!

When the going gets tough, the tough weigh their options.

After reading an interesting blog on Dockwalk.com, I have decided to take a long hard look at how I got here. "Here" being, "in the yachting industry". It all started way back in 2002... I was a high volume bartender in Houston, TX. I was really good at it, I was making a little money, working at the bar at night and at Sun N' Ski Sports during the day when I wasn't at class at Tomball College. To say the least, I was busy. It started to wear me down and I decided to do something different. I stood in the middle of Sun N' Ski sports, on one side there was the ski section, full of snowboards and warm fuzzy coats, on the other side was the Sun and Surf section, equipped with wake boards and swim suits. I closed my eyes and spun around. When I stopped I was looking at the snow board section as well as a very confused coworker. He was silent, I said "I'm deciding what to do next", he just smiled and walked off. I spent the next few weeks doing research on Aspen, Colorado because where else would one go if they wanted to move to the mountains to become a snow bunny??? I signed up on a website called Roommates.com and eventually found someone who was in the process of moving to Aspen as well. We decided to look for a place together and the search began. Not long after that someone gave me the bright idea to email a long lost relative who lived in Key West if I wanted to try something new. They thought it a better idea to go somewhere I actually knew someone than to go off into the wild blue yonder where I knew no one. This turned out to be a not so good idea in the end. I have learned my lesson in that area but we won't go into that. Needless to say I chose to couch surf in Key West instead of Ski Bum in Aspen. It's a decision I think about often. We all know what happened after that, I ended up being a boat girl instead of a ski bunny. Not so bad, I have skills now that not many people have and I wouldn't trade my experiences or friends for the world. But I do think about what I could have learned and the fun I could have had if I had gone ahead with my first choice and ran for the hills. This new Megayacht industry has really spoiled me in the salary area but I'm not so sure I need to be really worried about that right now. I think I might like to spend the winter season in the mountains just to see how it goes. I can always get back on a yacht for the spring/summer season in the Med come May. I'm just thinking out loud, but those of you who know how I am wont be surprised when I tell you that I have already sent my resume out to over 10 ski resorts across the US, anddddddddddd I just got an email from one! Gotta go check it! Wish me luck!