Thinking about this & that.......

My dear friend Karen has turned me on to an amazing creative person, Keri Smith, without her even knowing it. To see how I was lead to Keri's doorstep (so to speak), check out Karen's entry called "Wish Tree in Tarrytown...". Anyway...I'm beginning to feel a bit inspired again & want to come up with my next project and/or batch~o~cards. I keep reading & re-reading the list of inspirational/creative ideas Keri has listed on the right hand side of her main page. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

On another note...& I hope I'm not jinxing myself here...I'm in the process of quitting smoking after 23 years of this miserable habit. I started taking a prescription medication called Chantix on Monday & have set my quit date as Monday, October 1st. With Chantix, you can still smoke during the first week of taking it as it slowly builds up in your system. By the time your quit date rolls around one week later, you should pretty much be uninterested/sick of cigarettes. Let me say for the record, I think I'm starting to get there a few days early. Not quite enough to quit tonight, but I think it's starting to kick in. The only thing is.....& this is so crazy sounding to me....I feel like I'm going to be tossing out an old friend & I also wonder "what the hell am I going to do with myself at all those times I would normally be smoking?" Am I going to sit/stand/whatever & just stare at myself or the empty ashtray? Am I going to put on some or all of the weight (15 lbs approx) that I had lost since February & become REALLY fat & hideous? Am I going to be a b*tch for the first days/weeks of my official quit? What if I fall back into smoking (even for 1 day) & disappoint myself & everyone around me that I care about? So many questions & so few answers.

I know that this is the right decision to make for so many reasons on so many levels, but I have so many self~doubts. I have such an addictive personality anyway, never mind the smoking. Has anyone out there quit smoking (or in the process of quitting smoking right now) & have any tips or words of encouragement? I really need them right about now!

What's on YOUR bookshelf?

Okie-dokie gang....here it is....an official picture from the first meeting of my book group! All I can say is, my lord...I look like a one~legged~squinting~midget! I know I'm short (only 5' even), but this is ridiculous!!!!! Front row, left to right: Lisa, Mary Lou, Karen, Liz (moi!), Marti. Back row, left to right: Anabel, Skip, Lori. Hope no one minds my using their first names. Only 1 person was MIA. Thanks to Marti's Aunt Lilly for taking the picture! We're calling ourselves the "Reckless Abandon Book Club," but as Skip pointed out, maybe we should've called ourselves "8 Ladies & a Bloke." He was such a good sport for being the only guy there, but secretly I think he loved it!

Anywho...the book group went absolutely fabulously!!! Our first selection (in case I didn't mention it before) was Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain (you might have caught his show on the Travel Channel called "No Reservations"). It was a fascinating look into the restaurant business & the life of a professional chef ~ I highly recommend it, as did everyone else. Certainly gives you a whole nother view & I won't be ordering certain things ever again!

We had all sorts of goodies to eat on top of it all, as everyone brought something ~ tiramisu, assorted muffins, cheese & crackers, chocolate, wine, soda, & something called monkey bread, which I must get the recipe for (it tasted almost like Cinnabon)!

We're doing it again at the end of next month & we're reading A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger. I'm so looking forward to it! What's everyone else (besides my book group) out there reading?

By the way...I was finally able to post the vineyard picture I mentioned in the post below. Check it out!

Show me the way to go home....

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig....

Yes...I'm finally home from my short but sweet trip to southeastern MA. As always, I feel like I'm on a whirlwind. Got home only to have to drag everything in from the car myself (Skip was dropping his mom & her stuff off at her home), unpack like a crazy woman & then finally start baking for tonight's "Reckless Abandon Book Club" meeting.

Actually, I'm very excited about the book club meeting. It's the very first 1 of this book club that I've set up. Our first selection was "Kitchen Confidential......" by Anthony Bourdain (that crazy chef who has a show on the Travel Channel called No Reservations ~ travelling around the world & eating all sorts of exotic local stuff). It was a fascinating book & easy read & I'm really looking forward to what everyone has to say about it (8 or 10 people are coming!). I wonder what we'll vote on from the list of books for our next selection?!?!

I was going to put a picture here that I took with my camera phone, but can't figure out how. I've had this camera phone for a couple of months & finally figured out how to send a picture to myself (or someone else for that matter) immediately via an e-mail address. It arrived in my e-mail box, but now I can't figure out how to "transport" it over here. God....I'm such a technology~moron! It was a really cool picture of the red grapes on the vine @ a local vineyard up there. Will post when I figure out how! By George...I think I've done it! The picture should be there when I hit "publish post"........I hope!

Post #2 to my new blog! Hooray! Now if I could only figure out how to post other blogs & neat-o websites in my sidebars here.....that would be cool.

What a day this has been. Long, drawn out, unending...whatever other similar words you can think of. Thankfully, I'll be heading up to southeastern MA early tomorrow morning for some relaxation. Right now, all I can think about is cooling off (my security uniform shirt is made out of the most horrible & unbreathable polyster blend crap) & watching some reruns of "Designing Women" & "Who's the Boss?" that I TiVo'd (I've got so many of them & really need to catch up)....all with a couple of big, ice cold glasses of chocolate milk & whatever snack food I can find (don't feel like cooking tonight).

The picture with this post is of hubby, Skip, & myself from my cousin's wedding on September 8th. It was out in Montauk & I was just so thrilled to be there...can't get enough of the place & would live there if I could! Don't mind the flabby arms on me...I don't have the money Madonna does for a personal trainer that one needs to have perfect arms after 40. Sigh.........

Bloggin' again!

Oh boy....what have I gotten myself into here? I used to have a journal over in AOL "J~Land," but haven't done that in eons. This looks so darn different than what I'm used to...so anyone out there reading this (ha ha ha) will have to bear with me while I get my head wrapped around it. I am NOT a computer savvy person! But....in talking to a dear friend of mine on the phone tonight, I figured I could give this another shot. What the heck do I have to lose, right? So....Karen....this is all your fault & you're gonna have to help me figure this stuff out!