slidergirl

I had to look at the St. Regis location as it has changed. One of my Butlers at the St. Regis I worked at came to us to train to be a Butler for the newly-opening SR that was on one of the islands. I knew that one closed due to lack of business, but I didn't realize they moved. Where is it now is what was the old Westin Regina & Europa. I stayed there years ago on points when it was the Westin. It is actually a good location. Away from noise, but easy walking to St. Marks. I'd love to go back there just to see the changes they made. I had a room up on the top, just a normal room. BUT, it had a door that opened up to the rooftop. Got some nice photos from there!

Good morning ladies! I am thoroughly thankful to have all of you in my life, even if it is just through a thread on CC. We've been there for each other in good times, bad times and silly times. And, you help me plan my out-of-control vacations! And, thankful to CC for allowing a little latitude inside this thread! It is a TJ's Thanksgiving all the way. Brined 1/2 turkey breast, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce. Kind of the traditions today. Adding in the scalloped potatoes for tomorrow. I did buy myself a nice little bottle of Pinot Noir to go with the goodies. And, the freakin' vacation hamster wheel in my brain won't take the day off!

I did go into Urgent Care. All the tests were negative and the chest Xray was clear and my lungs sounded clear. The NP said it was most likely one of the various viruses floating around town. Nothing for my cough because what she offered does not work on me (Tesslon Perles) AND the office indeed does not prescribe opioids or narcotics because of all the drug seekers, I guess. There is even a sign on the wall at reception that states that. The NP said to take Zyrtec in the AM, Benedryl in the PM and to do some puffs on my inhaler. And just tough it out. OOTD: camo cargo pants and a black henley Tshirt. Red Patagonia because it was very lightly snowing.

I thought that last year I heard a big NO to egg nog yogurt. It's at TJ's, and I think 99 cents. I will mix some granola in with my yogurts sometimes. I have a bag of TJ's Pecan Praline that I'll mix. It could be a good breakfast or snack thing for you! The egg nog bread sounds absolutely yummy!!

I just want some Hydrocodone to kill the cough, But the urgent Care docs/NPs usually think I'm a drug seeker because I know what I want because it works for me. My old NP would write me up for a big bottle, but the urgent care folks will only do the smallest bottle, only after me saying Tessalon Pearles do not work on me. I forgot - I bought one of the panettone at World Market - the one with the cherries. While good, the cherries were a little too sweet for me. I'd rather have the classic.

Even back in the 70s, my university, UCLA, used the quarter system.

Not sure what I have. No stuffy or runny nose, so not a cold, Had a low-grade fever for a few days. But, I'm still coughing like mad - a little wet and wheezy. My ribs hurt from the coughing. When I cough, it isn't a short one, either, I swear - last night in bed, I was coughing for a solid 5 minutes! Maybe I'll run to Urgent Care tomorrow if it doesn't slow down. Ugh. Hmm. What I've eaten from TJs so far: nothing new, the Harvest Apple bagged salad, some pecans, the butternut squash soup in the refrigerated section, some Multi-Grain Pita crackers and some of the instant oatmeal. I did sautee up the small package of Argentinian Red Shrimp With Togarashi Butter to put in some salad greens (I always like those shrimp). Not much of an appetite right now. I am going to have some of the Pita crackers for lunch with the Cramberry Goat Cheese. Oh - I did finish off the Olive Fougasse - so yummy. I like a good dense bread. I know most of you don't like the egg nog yogurt so I won't mention that it goes really well with the TJ's Pecan Granola 😉 Had a weird idea for a trip (what else is new???) Take Icelandair to Milan, play for 2 weeks around Italy, fly home but use the free stopover with Icelandair to take a week playing around Iceland. I'm going crazy...

I totally forgot about this.

There are a couple Mariott properties with maybe 5 walking minutes of each other up in the Via Veneto/Barberini area: The W, the Westin Excelsior, Mariott Grand Flora and the St. Regis. I stayed at the Westin on employee benefit. Across the street from the US Embassy, so it gets a lot of business from there and a few cruise lines use it as their pre-cruise hotel. It's a classic old hotel. I haven't stayed at the others, just stopped in at the St. Regis to add another Bloody Mary to my list (each St Regis around the world does it own special take on the Bloody Mary). Like cruisemom said, it's maybe a 30 minute walk downhill to the Pantheon area. There is Metro stop at Piazza Barberini and one the top of the hill. I always walked - Via Ludovisi to the Spanish Steps and down.

Up here where I live, a major ski resort town, we now consider Spring Break to be from Presidents Week (used to be "weekend", but it's more week now) to Easter Monday. It just seems to be one big, messy busy time. The old "public schools do week before Easter and Catholic schools do week after Easter" has morphed into "depending on the school schedule, it can be anytime". I've had families with school-age kids show up for a week anytime during that "Spring Break".

It is just so heartbreaking that this still happens and things that could possibly help curb these events go unused. Between the 3 UVA students murdered and now the murders in Colorado Springs, I just am so sick. I feel like some of the stuff the dogs leave on my front lawn. Ugh. And, some elephant came here and is now sitting on my chest. Coughing like crazy. My voice has lowered from it's usual alto to a baritone, when I can even talk. Definitely going to be drinking tea and broth and couchsurfing again. Fortunately no snow in the forecast so I don't have to worry about shoveling. I went to bed at 8 last night and slept straight through to 8 this morning. Feel like napping is going be the big activity today. Stay safe and healthy everyone!

I forgot: if anyone sees a Med cruise for May 2023 that has a good single price during the Black Friday sales, let me know please. My brain just can't let go of another trip. I finish my season up here the end of April so May 1 is the earliest I can get out of here.

Lois - good to know feel better today. I'll be sure to schedule my vax #2 when I have 2 days off! Still feeling lousy today. Just in case, I did a COVID test - negative. I'll couch surf some more today. I couldn't go down to the valley today, anyway - they are closing the Interstate every hour in the canyon so they can do blasting at the quarry that's next to the Interstate. In case anyone is in the market for another travel bag - Sherpani is having their Black Friday sale with some decent prices on totes, crossbodies, rollers. It was nice and officially cold this morning - minus 1 at 8am. Ugh. I guess it's offically leggings time! Hanging out today in some Athleta joggers and a Tshirt. Not going anywhere, don't care.

If you were to take away the windows and the overhead cabinets from the sink and put a wall from the end of the sink counter all the way across the kitchen, you'd have my kitchen. Right down to that diagonal cupboard by the stove - it's where my pots go! Right now, my butcher table is used as my pantry. I sure would like that extra space!!

I use Tru Earth. I got a free sample of 6 sheets in my camping subscription box last spring. Best invention ever for laundry!!! Used them on my Summer vacation - just slipped them in an envelope and tossed in my bag. I now even use them at home. As others have said - pack like you did for your 1 week cruises, just rinse and repeat 😉

Welcome back Purple! Hadn't heard from you for awhile. "Congrats" on the colonoscopy. None of us like it, but we have to do it. Sherri - congrats on the kitchen completion! Nice and bright and makes the small kitchen look much bigger. Started feeling a sore throat coming on last evening. It's here now. Feel lousy. No fever, though. I'm going to put off the Ikea trip until maybe Sunday. I'll just hunker down, drink hot tea and honey, and have some of my Panettone.

bummer. They used to be called "Cost Plus" - I still call it that once in awhile. I did just get back from World Market. The panettone is not the same brand (it's Muzzi Tomasso). But, it's a smaller loaf (500 vs 750 grams) and half the price. Worth it to me to give it a try. Sadly, no basalmic creme-filled one, though. Bought the cherry one. And, since I was there, more candies & cookies to go into the basket for my hair stylist. And, no joy on the square storage boxes I'm looking for. I guess a trip down to the far end of the Valley to Ikea is in order. Nothing at the local HomeGoods, either.

This summer I did a 7 night Rhone canal barge trip with 10 other women. The barge part was $6K (our group chartered the barge). My airfare (Delta One) was somewhere in the $4K range. Then, add in train from CDG to Marseille and 2 nights in Marseille and that's another ~$500. I won't add in the additional month I spent traveling between France and Italy, although my ticket to see Andrea Bocelli (the reason I stayed longer) cost 304EU (totally worth it!!!).

I think I'll go there, today, too. I have to pick up a couple of storage baskets to turn into a pantry on my kitchen island. If anyone saw the ads for Wendy's new Peppermint frosty - I tried one yesterday. Meh. Not much peppermint taste to it and it was more like a shake than a frosty - they didn't even give out a spoon for it. I still like putting the peppermint whipped cream onto my coffee instead. I don't know if I mentioned: At TJ's, they had these cute baskets woven out of newspapers. They'd be great for making gift baskets - bought one to use for my hair stylist's gift basket. OOTD: It's another cold day - mid 20s for the high, but it's sunny. I'll go out in a pair of leggings, a Tshirt and my Patagonia. It's my standard Winter uniform.

Cynthia - I just browsed that website. It has a lot of the things that my Italian market carries. I've got one of the Olivewood EVOOs but haven't cracked it open yet, and I swear the Ruscichetta panettone are the ones at World Market - I recognized the color paper wrapping, I'd love to try the one that has the basalmic creme filling - sounds yummy. And, those panforte, wow, One of my favorite sweets!!

Go to World Market too. They actually have several flavors of panettone, and several other good holiday goodies. And, Whole Foods usually will get in a lemoncello cream-filled one. My TJ's has their panettone in now. My Italian store down in SLC will carry, too. But, I have to look at this website to see what goodies they have! I love panettone!! It's good as-is or with the traditional, toast it a little. I've also done French toast with the traditional. Made my turkey burgers with the turkey gravy and I did add some mushrooms, Good. I've got one left for tomorrow...

gotta say - I started watching RH Orange County because I went to High School with one of the husbands. And, I went to high school in Orange County (Corona del Mar).

I've done cornish hen many a time. I'm doing TJ's half turkey breast this year. It's brined and fully cooked - all I have to do it stick it in the oven and get it reheated. The remainder goes into soups and chili. I've got my stuffing and veggies ready to go. I just have to head to the state store and get a bottle of wine, most likely some kind of Pinot Noir. Let us know how the shingles vax goes! My NP took a few vials of blood from me yesterday. Today, she said the results are back and all is OK except my red blood ones are on the high side. Could be from dehydration, since I hadn't had anything to drink for a good 12 hours and I wasn't feeling all that spiffy (my BP was way high for me, my pulse ox was 94 and I hadn't slept most of the night and I felt hyperglycemic). Then she casually tosses in that it could be Polycythemia Vera. Didn't explain what it is, but says she usually has people donate blood to get the blood generating better. I look it up and it scared the cr@p outta me because it can be a type of blood cancer!!! She just said we'd look at it again when I go back in the end of December. Great - leave me hanging...There are some dietary things you can do also to help, but between those, the ones for Type 2 and the ones the ENT has me doing for silent reflux, I'd just be drinking water!!! I think I'll try to ignore this for a month. Dinner of the night: I'm going to cook up some turkey burger and season it with TJ's Everything But The Leftovers spice mix and smother it in TJ's turkey gravy. Melody - congrats to the people of CO!! Women now have the majority in both sides of the legislature! Quite the accomplishment!!

It was on Bravo - same channel as all the Below Deck and Real Housewives shows. It finished it's season like 2 weeks ago. Not worth it, content-wise, but it did have Paris in it...

The card you got is the usual Part A/B card. You still have to figure out the prescription/part D/advantage plan stuff. But, congrats on joing the "old ladies" club!!! I'm still adjusting to it, after 4 years! It started hitting me a few years ago - one day I was looking at myself in the bathroom mirror and went "Da#n, I got OLD!" I still have trouble with not being able to do some of the heavy lifting I used to do. But, I just call myself the old hippie lady and do my own thing.