Like a bewildered, cranky groundhog being yanked from its den, I am emerging from The Holidaze. Hi, how ya doin’?

Alrighty, let’s just jump right in here. Our Christmases were fantastic, yet mind-bogglingly busy and time-sucking. Frankly, I’m still disoriented and wandering ditzily around in a blind, stupid stupor from it all. I’m going to assume you are too.

And, yes, I said Christmases.

Christmas #1 was spent with Scope’s parents in Kewanee, IL, where we channeled our inner Guy Fieri and played Minute To Win It (Scope’s sister’s idea) and, among other impossible hijinks, attempted to migrate Oreo’s from our foreheads into our mouths using only our facial muscles.



(Not easy, people. Not. Easy.)

(That’s Scope’s sister and nephew pictured above, by the way. *snicker*)

Christmas #2 was just the three of us in our home in Chicago, where my hubby gave me a fragment of Voldemort’s soul (aka a horcrux locket) that I had been eyeing for many a moon (wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!) and Santa visited and noshed himself into an uncomfortable food coma on all the candy-ified cookies we baked for him.



And Christmas #3 was with my family back in Seattle, where we visited the Pike Place Market, left our grody mark on the Gum Wall, hung out with Callista, and celebrated New Year’s Eve AND Christmas all in one night. *whew!*




Of course, Fernando Von Bakonstein was with us the entire time and he enjoyed himself, having lunch with Wednesday and my nephew….



….and having a mondo throw down with Simon from The Chipmunks….



….and hobnobbing with other porcine folk he met in the Pike Place Market….



….and slurping hot chocolate at Seattle’s Best Coffee….



….and, most especially, making faces with Wednesday at poor Scope as he slept on the flight back home.



(Tee hee hee.)

So far 2012 has been little more than a blur, honestly. (It’s the 19th already?! Really?!) I went whole hog and made several resolutions, instead of just one, which I intend to keep this year. My resolutions?:

1. To Eat Healthier Foods. So far so good on that effort! In fact, in the past 19 days I have not only tolerated oatmeal every morning (which I have utterly loathed my entire existence) but I have actually grown to love the stuff. I know! Me liking mushy slop?! No way! But—taa-daa!—it’s happened.

2. To Build Muscle Mass. I have been trying and failing to lose weight since moving to Chicago a year and a half ago. After beating myself up over it all this time, I finally realized what the problem probably is: loss of muscle mass. Back in Seattle I was a nanny, hoisting hefty kids around every day. Sure, it was murder on my back, but it was great for my rear! So, this year, I vow to get strong again. In fact, I filled a suitcase full of hardback books which I have been working out with and toting around almost daily. *whew!* A stronger Cora is in the making! (And hopefully a stronger Cora will fit back into all of Nanny Cora’s cute, teeny former clothes. *fingers crossed*)

3. To Speak The Truth And Not Sugar Coat Things In A Misguided Effort To Try To Keep The Jerks Of The World Calm. This doormat is done playing nicely now. *pounding my fist into my hand*

4. To Take A Picture Each And Every Day In My Second Attempt At Project 365. You may recall I attempted Project 365 back in 2009/2010, but I abandoned it because life got too crazy what with my tonsillectomy, the wedding, and the cross-country move. With everything that was going on, taking a daily picture just fell right off of my list of priorities. I kind of regret that though. I wish I had kept the project up because I would love to have photos documenting my old Seattle house going from bustling home to bare rooms filled with packing boxes, but the sad fact is that I didn’t do it. I felt like I didn’t have time to take a picture every day. (But, really, how much time would it have taken?) Of course, there will be days I screw up and forget to do a picture, inevitably, but when that happens this time I won’t just drop the whole project and walk away, I’ll just take two pictures the next day to even it all out. (See? Thinking!) So far it’s been going splendiferously! I will be posting the project’s pictures here starting with my next post. I hope you guys enjoy seeing them as much as I’m loving taking them.

5. To Get My Bloggy Groove Back And Blog More Often. I figure Project 365 will help with that, right? :-)

So, anyway, Happy New Year!



Up next: Project 365. Stay tuned!

© Coracabana

Tales from the Road Trip: The part where I pull a bait n’ switch on you by not actually getting to the road trip part yet. (Sorry.)

WARNING: This post may contain peanuts. And a picture or two.


A few weeks ago, Wednesday and I boarded a plane and flew 2000 miles from Chicago….

….to Seattle….



….to get some tasks done and to hang out with my family for a little bit before packing up my car with our pet frogs (whom my mom has been babysitting for the past year) and driving them back home to Chicago.

The joke was on us though. The family went camping instead.

*blink*

(Okay.)

(Wow.)

(Do we offend?)

Seriously. Wednesday and I were left home alone in my mom’s place for a week, which actually ended up being a lot of fun, unexpectedly…. despite the fact that we missed “our dude” Scope like a couple of big, pathetic crybabies.

*sniffle*

We had Wednesday’s friends come over; we went shopping (Oh, Hallmark’s ridiculously cute, yet offensively expensive Keepsake Ornaments, how I love thee!); we went on hour long walks up hills; we plotted mammoth plans involving thousands of photographs and Windows Live Movie Maker; we marveled that Autumn is already alive, kicking, and changing the leaves of the trees in Seattle (Fall? Already? Really? C’mon!)….



….we took a zillion pointless pictures of ourselves and our new ‘dos….





….and we met up with Wednesday’s Guardian ad Litem, who will be speaking for her in court. (But I'm no longer allowed to talk about that. Sorry.)

On the 17th, my family decided to crawl back out of the woods to spend a few days with us before we had to leave. And on the 19th, Scope flew into town.

Or he was supposed to.

Thanks to Mother Nature throwing a temper tantrum on the east coast and grounding his flight, his plane ended up three and a half hours behind schedule. He FINALLY landed in Seattle at 1:00 am on the 20th.

*shaking my fist menacingly at Mother Nature*

It had dawned on Wednesday and me that in all his visits to Seattle, we have never shown Scope Seattle’s beaches. Our favorite beach in Seattle is Seahurst Park. I have been going there since I was a wee, runty, obnoxious kid, as has Wednesday. So, Saturday the three of us loaded up into my car and went to the beach….

Sunday we met up with my mom, my sister and her brood at I-Hop for breakfast….




….where my littlest niece showed off her new walking skillz (which Scope got an uber-cute video of which you can see HERE)….



….and then Wednesday, Scope and I met up with Callista and her hubby at Mourning Market, a spooky, gothic-themed craft fair, which was fantastic!




There were hearses parked outside….




(Yeah, that’s right. It’s the Barbie Dream Hearse. Fabulous!)

And there were all kinds of creepy crafts and ghoulish goodies to purchase inside….






My favorite were the Siamese twin ragdolls….





But for $30 a doll? Ouch! The cheapskate in me said, “I don’t think so.” However, the cheapskate in me applauded enthusiastically and even did a backflip or two for the free bat-shaped chocolates they were handing out….



(FREE chocolates?!?! Yes, please!!!!)

Sunday night, Scope, Wednesday and I went to my dad’s house to visit him. Three days before, he had started cringe-worthy cancer treatment (I’ll spare you the details of what was done to the poor fella) and was still in some pain, but he really, really wanted to see us before we hit the road the next morning. And we really, really wanted to see him too!

He showed Scope the massive model train track layout he is building in his backyard….




….and then when Dad said he felt well enough to go out for Mexican food, we all piled in his van and went out to dinner….




After dinner we went back to my mom’s place to start packing up all our scattered belongings for the Road Trip (*insert vacation-y fanfare here*) back home to Chicago the next morning.



Up next: Day 1 of our Road Trip, where we peed in a town called Ritzville! Stay tuned.

© Coracabana

You Say It’s Your Birthday?

So, today is my daughter’s birthday. Unfortunately, it’s also The Big Bad Ugly Test Day at school too, so—y’know—she’ll be celebrating her arrival on this planet by fretting and sweating over test papers alllllllllllllllllllll daaaaayyyyyy lonnnnngggggggg.

(Poor kiddo.)

(See, this is why when I was a kid I was always relieved my birthday was smack dab in the middle of Summer where the only thing I had to worry about was whether or not I could shovel my cake in my belly before the ice cream melted.)

(Yeeeaaahhhhh!!!!)

However, all is not lost. Tonight Scope and I will be taking her out to dinner at Olive Garden, taking her out for dessert at Cold Stone, and then plying her with a plethora of presents…. even though I kinda think that SHE should be giving ME presents on her birthday since she was over NINE POUNDS at birth and I AM THE ONE WHO DID ALL THE WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*pouting*

But wait! There’s more! Today is also my friend Callista’s birthday too. Funny how that one worked out, huh?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GWEN AND CALLISTA!!

:-)

Now, please excuse me, I need to go walk a million miles on my treadmill so I won’t have to feel too guilty when I’m making a big pig of myself at Cold Stone later on. Bye!

© Coracabana

Let’s Get This Party Started!

The reception, I must say, was an uberblast.

Absofreakinglutely.

It started with dorky, funny pictures staged by my splendiferous step-mom, where my dad couldn’t wait to get rid of me….


….and Scope’s parents couldn’t wait to get rid of him….


….and Scope’s mom and I had a big ol’ tug-o-war over him (“leggo—he’s MINE!!!!”)….


*snicker*

Our Best Man, Tony, gave a spectacular speech….
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….and we cut the cake, with a special surprise for my brother’s girlfriend sneakily delivered first (hee hee hee)….
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We got our cake at Safeway.

(Yes, the grocery store!)

(Yes, really!!)

Despite the store bakery staff’s complete and utter lack of confidence that they could actually do a wedding cake any sort of justice whatsoever (they were sooooooooooooooooooooooo jittery and radiating pure panic over it, I almost felt mean for asking them to do it) (almost), the cake turned out beautiful, elegant and extremely delicious….


Yummmmm.

I threw my bouquet…. and clocked the poor girl who caught it right on the nose with it (whoopsie! My bad)….


I don’t really have any good pictures of the bouquet toss. Yet. But I do have it on video….
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And Scope threw my garter. After removing it with his teeth. *wink wink*….


We have all that fun caught on video too (heh heh heh)….
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And then with our fabulous DJ/Master of Ceremonies, Kenny, pulling the strings, we danced the night away….








We even danced the Hokey Pokey (this was our Father/Daughter Dance, by the way. *snicker*)….


If you live in Western Washington and you need a DJ for anything, YOU WANT KENNY from Action Entertainment. No, no arguing—YOU WANT KENNY!! You DO. You JUST DO. Kenny is absolutely amazing! We had sooooooooooo much fun!!!! :-)

We hung out with great friends….






There were kisses….


There were hugs….


(Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.)

And in a flash, it seemed, the night came to an end and Scope and I left the party and hit Seattle to get a shot of ourselves by the Space Needle….


Then we headed for our hotel. And the rest of it is nunnaya bidness.


Up next: the honeymoon in San Francisco!

© Coracabana