The Champagne Holiday

David and I love Champagne/Sparkling Wine so much that we created our own holiday in its honor.  It's called the Champagne Holiday and it begins the weekend before Thanksgiving and ends on January 1st.  We honor Champagne by drinking it whenever possible at all social occasions and whenever it won't effect our work, driving, or health.  We also make a lot of toasts while we are drinking to add to the humor and festivities.

I usually go to Costco and purchase a few of the $6 magnum size bottles of Cook's Brut.  Some people don't like cheap stuff, but David and I do.  It's like having a soda.  Plus its a great mixer for mimosas and such.  Although, I'll admit, if I have an opportunity to get the good stuff, I'm the first in line for a glass.  There's really nothing like good Champagne!

How funny is this old advertisement I found?

Anyway, please join us in celebrating this year's most fabulous holiday beginning on Friday, November 18th at 6pm by buying a bottle of bubbly and raising a glass in a toast or two... It sure is a fun thing to do!

Changing my Diagnosis and The Specific Carbohydrate Diet

Earlier this month I wrote about the Ulcerative Colitis I deal with effecting my ability to get pregnant.  Just to recap, the doctors recently informed me to "look into other options" in regards to pregnancy, because they don't see me being able to have a healthy pregnancy on my own, especially with the medications I've been on (as of last Thursday, I stopped taking the meds due to a side effect that the doctor was concerned about.)  As I told you before, this baby news devastated me.  I've wanted to be a mommy more than anything for as long as I can remember.

I took the doctors advice seriously.  I've done and continue to do research on everything from fostering to adoption to surrogacy.  I've spoken to many people and David and I have pow-wows with each about all of our options on a regular basis.  However, in all of this studying, I figured out that I still have one more option before throwing in the towel.  It's called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

It's not an easy program, but if it means I can change my diagnosis, feel better, and have a healthy baby on my own, I'm willing to try it.  For it to be successful, I have to follow the program to the letter... with no cheating, for at least a year.  So now I'm trying to wrap my brain around all the rules.  I've read the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle, which David is reading it now too.  I love food and cooking, so what I'm doing now is training my brain to focus on cooking the SCD way from now on, and only the SCD way.  Everything else is poison to me.

The gist of the program is no grains, starches, or simple sugars, and lots of fermented (for a minimum of 24 hours) homemade yogurts and sauerkraut.  I've actually had a great time making the homemade yogurt... and its quite easy and tasty too!  I'm not thrilled by the sauerkraut because I've never liked the taste, but I'll try!

The program gets a little tricky because there are a lot of other "Illegal" foods like all canned vegetables (although frozen are okay), soy products, certain other beans like chickpeas and pinto beans for example, also whey, cream, etc. I can have flax oil, but not flaxseeds- the list goes on.  And the only sweetener I'm allowed is honey (and of course naturally occurring sugars in fruit).  It's definitely a lesson in ready labels!

I have to admit that I was really struggling with the idea of the program until I stumbled upon this wonderful blog called Roost.  The talented author, Coco, and her husband started living the Specific Carbohydrate Diet in an effort to heal his Crohn's Disease (the sister disease to Ulcerative Colitis), and they have enjoyed a 90% success in his healing with diet alone!  That's huge!

The Roost Blog gave me the crutch that I needed to get me started in the right direction.  She also provided links to a couple other very insightful blogs: Comfy Belly and Elana's Pantry which in turn had other wonderful links to support me as well.  I even wrote Coco a letter telling her my story and asking her for starter tips.  She graciously responded and I can't tell you how meaningful her insight and kind words were to me.

I showed all of my research to David and he happily agreed to do the program with me like Coco and her husband did.  Working together, I'll have a better chance of being successful- even the tiniest bit of "illegal" foods can upset the program, so its truly necessary to be vigilant about what goes into my body... so if I'm ever coming over to your home for a meal, please do me a favor and consult the food list and other online recipes.

The woman who created the program, Elaine Gottschall, created it for her daughter who had Ulcerative Colitis, but has since found that the program is healing for everything from bowel diseases to autism to multiple sclerosis and many other auto-immune diseases.  If you have health problems, particularly tummy troubles, you might check it out.

Wish us luck and please keep us in your prayers!  I've got a good feeling about this, and combined with all of the other beneficial things I'm doing like yoga and acupuncture, I'm going to change my diagnosis and have a healthy happy family of my own.

Rita Hayworth

Last night while reading through another blog in an attempt to find something I'd read ages ago on another subject, I found an entire post dedicated to my favorite starlet... Rita Hayworth... I was so excited!  The blog was wishing Rita happy birthday... I wish I'd thought of that!

Many of you who know me know that if asked, my all time favorite movie is the 1946 film Gilda.  And additionally, my all time favorite movie star is Rita Hayworth.  I'll watch really anything she's in.  Even some of her lesser quality films like Pal Joey or Fire Down Below.

Gilda, however, is the embodiment of the Film Noir "bad girl".  In many circles, the character, whom Rita Hayworth created oh so well, is something of legend.  Her ability to make men weak has always enthralled me... but that said, her motto was "Lucky at cards, unlucky in love," and there is where we part ways, because I'm lucky in both! ;)

I have read her biography, If This Was Happiness: A Biography of Rita Hayworth,  I have a Gilda Poster in our bedroom, I have a journal with Rita Hayworth's face on the cover, I lived on Hayworth Street in Los Angeles for a while, I've visited her Hollywood Star on the walk of fame, and I've dressed up as Rita Hayworth on Halloween...(at quite honestly the best Halloween party ever... in LA... The theme was 'Dead Celebrities' so you can only image who showed up!)

Rita, although extremely beautiful, had a very tragic life.  She was abused by almost every man she ever met, she became an alcoholic, and in the end she died of Alzheimer's.  She's ben quoted as saying, "Men fell in love with Gilda but then they wake up with me."  Can you imagine how difficult it would be to have the world see you as this man-eating vixen, but in reality, your just a normal girl who was forced into fame by your family?  My heart always went out to Rita... or Margarita Carmen Cansino as she was born (Hayworth was her mother's maiden name).  

My favorite Rita films, apart from Gilda are, in no particular order, You Were Never Lovelier, You'll Never Get Rich, The Lady From Shanghai, and her small role in the Cary Grant film, Only Angels Have Wings.  Oh, and I almost forgot The Strawberry Blonde and Cover Girl were pretty great too!  I highly recommend all of them, especially if you like old movies like I do!

Do you have a favorite film?  A favorite movie star?  I'd love to hear what they are!

The week of guests...

Last week our little home was filled with guests.  It started with our dear friend Eduardo Placer coming into town for work.  Eddie is an actor with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and Great Lakes Theater Festival in Cleveland, Ohio.  He also works with various organizations to provide tools for public speaking, job interviews, and other areas using techniques to further enhance their business.

The local branch of Merrill Lynch hired Eddie to give the office a tune-up, and so he came to town, and we were lucky enough to have him stay with us.  It was a whirlwind of a week though.  Between the three of us (David, Eddie and me) we were all pretty tired all the time.  Me because I'm up half the night dealing with my Colitis issues, David because I disturb his sleep and he still gets up at the crack of dawn for work, and Eddie because he's always going 1000 miles per hour with his various shows, his photography business, and his public speaking/ business enhancing business.  We had a few nice meals together, some great conversations, but overall, the time went too quickly.  Before we knew it, it was Friday and Eddie was off.

About three hours before Eddie left town, my father-in-law arrived for a weekend in Boise.  He comes to town every year to catch a football game with David.  It was a nice trip.  He got in around 1:30pm on Friday and we all sat in the living room chatting.  Damaso and Eduardo discussed Spain, family history, and gaining/regaining Spanish citizenship (which we are all attempting to do).  Then we all took Eddie to the airport together.  I was so sad to see him go.  David and I both say he adds such a tremendous spark to our lives and to Boise in general  there is definitely a void when he leaves.

David and Damaso wanted to watch the Carolina-Michigan State basketball game, so we headed down to David's favorite place to watch a game: Old Chicago.  After that, we walked around Boise for a while to walk off the food and the beer, and then headed home for the night.

Saturday was a big day.  We got up early and had breakfast as Cafe de Paris.  Then we headed back to the house and changed and I dropped the boys off at the football game tailgate.  I ran a few errands and then joined them. for some fun.  I have to admit, due to my constant need to use the bathroom with Colitis, and the incredibly small amount of bathrooms and port-a-potties available (the lines were 30+ long), I don't particularly have the best time at those things these days, but I try to distract myself and have a great time.

As I'm sure most of you have heard by now, but Boise State lost.  It was a sad day for us all.  Two of our starters we out with injuries- including David's favorite player, Doug Martin.  We gave up easy touchdowns,  and we didn't play like we truly wanted it.  And we lost by one point... because our field goal kicker missed... for the second year in a row.  It was heartbreaking.  But it was a fun game to watch.

Damaso and David had a great time, and I had fun talking to friends at the tailgate.  We headed back to the house a little sad, licking our BSU wounds, but also happy to see some competition for the first time in a long time.  Most of the games we see are blowouts.

That night we had dinner at this great new steakhouse in Boise called the Brickyard.  Dinner was delicious, and the waitstaff was very good.  We especially liked that they made your salads in front of you.  David and I can't wait to go back.

Sunday we went back to Cafe de Paris for another round of delicious breakfast.  When we got home Damaso and I sat down to work on the Lopez Family history.  He's kept notes on his family history that his mother told to him, and he translated them into English and wrote them out for me for a little project I'm working on.

Shortly after that, it was time to say goodbye to Damaso.  We had a delightful visit and We're looking forward to seeing him at Christmas, and having him visit us for another football game again next year.  Like Mamapalooza, Damaso's yearly football visits have become a little tradition, and we enjoy keeping it going.

First Snow

This morning I woke up to find that our power had gone out in our sleep.  I was annoyed because the digital clock in our bedroom was flashing obnoxiously.  When I got up to find my cell phone to see what time it was, I noticed this:

I could hardly believe my eyes.  It was in the 60s here last week and now this!

Linus hardly knows what to do with himself now that his fur coat in finally being put to use.  He's prancing through the show like a stately horse... high knees and all.  It's hysterical.

The snow will all melt off today, as you can see its already started, and we can hopefully get all the leaves raked up off the lawn before the next round of snow.  But I think its safe to say that winter is almost here!

Stay warm everybody!

Beautiful Mountain Sunrise

This morning I drove David to work so I could have the car.  Yes, we only have one car, and its a hybrid- a Mercury Mariner to be specific, and we only have to fill it up with gasoline about once a month.  If we both need to be someplace, one of us (usually David) takes the bus or we ride our bikes.  It's worked out pretty well so far, and we've certainly saved money with gas prices the way they are these days.

Anyway... back to my story... Since Daylight Savings isn't until Sunday, the sunrise has been quite late into the morning, and this morning on my way home, I got to enjoy this:

It wasn't exactly the safest thing to take pictures while driving, but I just couldn't resist... it was so beautiful.  Such a great reminder of why we love living in Boise.

Have a beautiful day!  

Lunching at HP with David... and The Trey McIntire Project?!

Yesterday David called me at about 11:45am just as I was getting finished with a business meeting.  He asked if I would be interested in joining him for lunch, and since I was out near his office anyway for my meeting, I happily agreed.  What fun to see my hubby during the work week!

When I arrived, David told me that there was a surprise at 12:30pm in the cafeteria so we were going to want to get good seats.  He also informed me that HP Boise has been doing major renovations throughout the building and this was also the grand opening of their newly renovated cafeteria.  The place was packed!

The newly remodeled eatery was very cool... somewhat George Jetson-like, which was amusing to see the big burly and completely un-modern factory workers sitting in the super-modern chairs, but I still thought it was great-surprisingly comfortable too.  And I have to also add that I actually thought the food was quite good as well.  Frankly, the selection was truly amazing.

As promised at 12:30pm the surprise: The Trey McIntyre Project preformed a routine for everyone in the middle of the cafeteria.  It was AWESOME!  Now that we've seen them perform twice, David and I are a bit obsessed with them.  If you have a chance to see them, GO!  Click here to see their performance schedule.

TMP was at HP as part of HP's Employee Giving Campaign Fair.  Boise is HP's top site for employee giving and you could tell from the massive amounts of charities who had booths set up there.

After the beautiful dancers performed, they got a bunch of people in the audience to join them to learn a dance routine.  I eagerly volunteered David and an older woman came over and dragged him onto the floor.  He was furious with me, but begrudgingly went along with it anyway.

If I do say so myself, my husband is an excellent dancer, despite the fact that he wasn't particularly thrilled to be out on the floor with all his co-workers watching him.  Unfortunately these are the only pictures I was able to take because I ran out of battery.

It was a fun day, and I must say, HP is a fun place to work... I wish I had the technical skills (and focus) to do what my hubby does... lucky David!