Getting COVID-19 vaccine now!
Partially Retired
We are both excited and terrified at the same time, its retirement time! 6 years of planning, multiple planning meetings, eating at home, packing lunches, working overtime for years, driving used cars, we have no cottage, no RVs, no 4 wheelers, using coupons, garage sale shopping, reviews of income, savings, planning.. plan some more and January 1, 2021 or original plan is almost here. David will delay ~35days after January 1st and retire the first week of February. I have already stopped working at so many clients, and should be down 30% on work January 1, 2021, then moving on and less work with the end of a contract March 30, 2021. Our only income will be my part time job at Ascension hospitals, a few Nuclear medicine facilities and our Physics education website. Almost time to celebrate. Next post will be all the people/nay sayers that have told us how wrong we are to retire at 52years old and how we responded.
It’s my Birthday!
I am a young 52 years old today, and celebrating this entire year for sure! My plans are to make this year more about me and David. Taking better care of ourselves. We definitely have given most of ourselves away for years and this is going to finally be a time for us. David and I will both be retiring in 2021, David first in January – he is full time retiring. I am going to work part time at my job, but going to join him as soon as I can figure out how to pay for medical for both of us. So exciting and looking forward to this immensely Wish us luck!
Old San Juan Photos a color exploration
Even the tiles on the ground, look like a ceramic blue
Panaderia Espana Bakery
We always ask our Uber drivers the best places to eat, this guy was right a best bakery for sure. Panaderia Espana Bakery: https://www.facebook.com/PanaderiaEspana/
We ate pastry so lite, they were air, and octopus marinade in a vinaigrette. A local coconut pudding, and beef empanada, ham croquettes, whew I’m full. Think we will sit for awhile. But that paella looks so good…
BioLuminance Bay, Puerto Rico
Well as soon as I heard about a Bioluminance bay and that Puerto Rico has three of the five, David and I made plans to come during the New Moon. Since you are in the Bay in the pitch dark, the darker the better to see it, and a New Moon is perfect for seeing bioluminance! Of all the TripAdvisor bioluminous bay choices, the swimming experience sounded better than the kayak trip. Who wants to kayak thru the glow when you can straight up swim in it! I was honestly not expecting much based upon the stories I heard from others who went to a bioluminous bay, they said they were in Kayaks, and had to hold tarps of their heads to see even the mildest glow.
We will have to add pictures later, because David has a few, but honestly he is going to have to tweak them, even the couple we were on the boat with took pictures, and theirs were better, but they just do not show up on the blog (yet!) they are coming, but I have this one picture of the boat and the glow trail. The captain said even National Geographic had a hard time photographing this experience, so I guess you just have to see it with your own eyes.
The tour picks you up at the hotel in a van, our driver was Hector. It was a 2.5hr drive from San Juan to the sleepy and mostly boarded up town of la Parguera, PR. You could tell this town was an incredibly fun multi colored and muraled vibrant hot spot, with now most bars, restaurants and shopping Covid closed. I would say, four locations were open on the entire boardwalk. We had a quick stop for a drink, and bathroom break, then jumped on a fishing boat similar to a Boston Whaler owned by Captain Jose.
He took us out to a quick stop at a dock to walk around for pictures, then at dark we hoped back in to drive to the bay.
So to visually explain what we saw, when we pulled up into the bay, it was a mild glow on the side, when looking into the water. We stopped mid bay and I jumped in first, because I could not wait, Captain Jose screams with delite because he can see the glow from the splash, and he says I do that everytime because I still am like a kid everytime I see it. The water was warm and we could not touch the bottom, I swim fine, but asked for a foam noodle so I could focus on the glow. I anxiously looked around for the glow, and there it is all around you….it is like swimming in tiny pin like stars, or baby blue laser points, randomly everywhere. You move around and see the pin lights just for a few seconds and then they fade. I honestly laughed or smiled with complete glee the entire time I was in the water, I could see the tiny blue glows clear like a thousand flashlights in the dark. I looked around to see if the captain tricked us and there was a laser on board, but there wasn’t. It only happened when you swished the water, or moved around. My favorite part was holding your arm up from the water and watching the blue specks flow down your arm like diamonds draping and falling away into the water, dozens each time. We did not bring face masks but the couple we were with did and they borrowed one to use momentarily and it was like being in space, with stars rocketing past us as we swam. I could have spent all night there. David said it was like little fireflies swimming in the water or running down your arms.
We had about 40mins to swim, it felt like 15, I loved it. I must admit I did briefly think about sharks, but they did not bother us and when back on the boat, Captain Jose said they do not like the warmth of the bay.
Why it glows… another post future, but hint…. its not radiation.
Random cats and gelato in old San Juan
Just two random cats we saw enjoying a hot afternoon siesta.
More kitties from random locations
Then a delicious Gelato, a 10 on both flavors. I had chocolate pretzel carmel, David had chocolate almond carmel. But we both agree mine was better, the salty crunch was perfect
Traveling during Covid
We have bad wanderlust, bad! I’m having trouble focusing at work and home since I have worked all thru Covid and hard. I had to get away, so Orlando here we are! We are headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico , we like to be last minute.
But this is what we have learned with covid travel… so far early into our trip.
- To go to Puerto Rico and fly on some airlines you must have a negative Covid test within 72hours negative, or you cannot go!
- Getting a rapid Covid test requires some real work and investigation. We barely go it done.
- Spirit airlines does NOT social distance at all, there is NO separation between seating, zero. All seats were filled, 100% occupancy.
- The hotel websites might say breakfast and free shuttle, but Covid probably shut that down, do not expect any extras.
- Extras including cleaning your room with housekeeping daily, that is apparently not happening at any hotels. No beds made when you come back after a long day of just relaxing at the beach.
- In Puerto Rico, you must wear your mask ALL the time, even on the beach, even when walking down the street, even if no one is around, if the police pull up, they will make you mask it! Pretty much everyone does wear a mask everywhere.
A drink and bite on the beach
Lunch of chicken and pork empanados? Were not sure, but it was local and tasty. It took a few minutes to make but they were fresh and really good.
Next we stopped at the Wicked Lily, Condodo beach Puerto Rico for an afternoon drink at the beach. I had the Lily’s Colada, rich and creamy. The burnt pineapple topper was so crisp and tasty.
On a new adventure
Headed to a surprise destination.
Marine City, MI Date Night with David
While we cannot travel, we still can enjoy each other and date each other, so tried a new place, the Marine City Fish Company. We were told, get a reservation, but we did not need one at 4:30pm on a Friday, the only time they told us they had one, it was fine, we are dieting and starving, so eating early sounded great to us. I would recommend a reservation after 5:30pm for sure. The weather was PERFECT for walking around town afterward.
Happy Labor Day
We had two parties this weekend, first a dinner for my moms birthday 85years old, and then an ice cream party yesterday for their 64th Wedding anniversary. Both celebrations were September 3rd, but thought why not celebrate twice on two days, twice the fun! So we did, both September 3rd, and September 6th. More to enjoy. Love my family!!!
Garion was enjoying 2nd part with the dessert and ice cream bar (6 types of ice cream), with some small appetizers of butter and radishes, spaghetti, a cheese platter, chips and dips, and salami with cheese and pickles.
What up recently…. not much but working and Grad Party
So we have not posted lately, but that is because we are not doing much. We did however have our sons Garions Graduation party – that took all our free time for about a month and a half in preparation! But our youngest son is now graduated and starting online community college next week – it is way cheaper and I went to community college prior to moving on to Oakland University – where he has decided to go as well.
Sharing a few pictures of him. The party was small and separated some inside, some outside, some downstairs some in the garage, the ultimate social distance party. It has been three weeks since the party and I am feeling rested and ready to start posting again.
Fourth of July visit with our son
We will try and visit him again one more time before the end if the year, but, glad to have the short time.
Our son is in the airforce in Dover, Delaware. He has 2 years in his 4 year contract and settled nicely and is thriving. He asked us to bring him his things, because he is finally in an apartment and wanted it to feel like home, not and empty space with a bed, couch and coffee maker. So we packed it up and drove on over. Michigan to Delaware is about 12hours of driving with a trailer, but seeing him was incredible. He has really grown as a person, he seems- happier, stronger mentally, calmer, smarter, more respectful and overall I would say the grown into a fine young man. I was beaming the entire weekend.
I honestly have a greater inner peace after this visit with him, moms worry, its our job. But after this visit, I feel calmer about him and his chosen path.
So overall one if the best July 4th weekend ever!
David is healing up
So after Davids bicep tendon surgery, and me working all the time, tomorrow is fathers day and we are having a celebration 🍾. We will post some pictures of the party, which is way better than these surgical scar pictures
Grocery Shopping has become really hard
Wish I was posting on our travels, but Covid-19 locked down still. So this is what I do, work all day often at home, but still a lot in the hospital or doctors offices working until dinner time, then clean, cook, watch TV at night with my husband David. Not much to talk about, but did want to say, here in the Detroit Michigan area, we have Covid-19, fairly severe and I am grocery shopping every week for my family and my parents and starting this week with my mother in law. So it is hard, we get our list, get their lists and then put on our masks and we shop with separate baskets (because I mix things up and that causes issues). About 1.5hours to shop, then we wait in really long lines for 30mins – 6 feet apart, then load it into the car and go home and wipe it all down with bleach water then put away our groceries and then drive the rest to our families. It takes pretty much all day, which is fine.
I have noticed EVERY time I have shopped for the last 5 weeks, I have been accosted, or yelled at or was standing right in front of some one who was yelling at someone else. I have never yelled back or raised my voice. Some examples: Was told:
1-“wearing a mask just holds in the germs – it is wrong”
2- “your walking the wrong way down the isle – this is a one way isle, why don’t you know that – look at the floor” He really smugly walked away with his nose in the air – and Nope I did not know.
3- Saw a shopper try and pick up some coffee creamer from the milk shelf, and the store worker who was loading it told her – to “get off my ass” then the shopper said “sorry I was ON your ass” then the shopper said – let me speak with your manager and the store worker said ” get her yourself I am busy working” then the shopper cried and looked at me, I had my mouth open and looked at the store worker and then she made a head butt move toward me. BTW, told the manager about that whole thing.
There were other rude shoppers as well, many more stories. So I came up with a response so my mouth can do more than hang open. Tell me what you think.… “I know things are hard for all of us right now- but speaking like that is not respectful to me and while things are still happy in my life right now, I will not accept it” If I get trouble, my husband is shopping around the corner, and I am going to tell them then – “I will call my husband and the two of you can talk about this further if you like”
I will honestly listen to whatever you have to offer in suggestions, I am empathetic and willing to listen.
Happy Mothers Day
This Mothers Day we are spending at home, having ham and potato dinner. We visited my Mother and Father Yesterday when we grocery shopped, and my brother is stopping over today. We picked up Mom a hanging basket, a Polish Bird but from metal on a stick which we proudly placed in her front yard, and a whole lot of yummy snacks from the Polish Hamtramck store (the only open one) and our local grocery store. Wish we could hang out at home in the backyard together, but it is cold and overcast and rainy. Missing my son as well, who is in the Air Force, but he already texted and said he would call later today.
These are the kitty and puppy cupcakes we made for dinner and to give out to my parents and my girlfriend.
This is our real puppy giving herself a back rub, we call it her happy Dance!
Happy Mothers Day everyone!
David needs arm Surgery tomorrow
Well, I have not written in over a week, because between all the work we have been doing around the house on Quarantine and me working at the hospital and at home. David has been working around the house – ALOT, and well he was putting in the dock he built and the ramp was stuck underneath – so he lifted it up and … POP! He has a partial distal bicep tear, so steroids and no improvement. We could do physical therapy, but was told 20-40% less strength would be the probable result, we asked about surgery, but in our area, non emergency surgeries are not being performed because our hospitals are FILLED with Covid patients. So at best it is a two week hold on surgeries and then his is in line behind over 100 patients who have more severe injuries. This is Dave with his dock. Proud even injured.
I have a cousin who is an orthopedic surgeon, he lives about 2.5hours away from us, but we got a second opinion, and he said he needs surgery sooner than later, they have openings for surgery tomorrow. So we are headed out early tomorrow to an outpatient surgery. We are accepting prayers for an easy surgery with no nerve damage and a speedy recovery. Should know more tomorrow.
We also cut down three trees, then chipped them up. Fixed a park bench I garbage picked from way back, it looks really good.
The Bees Lived! Long live the Bees!
We were worried about the bees we just restocked in our four hives in our backyard, because we have had freezing 29degree weather and snow we had this week. Those poor bees, but they made it! Another year of honey!!!
Long live the bees!
What we are up to April 15, 2020
Since our last posting we have received the bees for the backyard, they ALL died over the winter. Beekeeping is hard, the bees are very sensitive and they just could not make it thru even this very mild winter, we left them plenty to eat over the winter, and now we have four boxes (which is a lot) of honey to start off the spring since they did not use it. This is a picture of them in our garage, we put them out yesterday, hope they survive – it is cold but they cannot live on our garage for long, so hoping for the best.
While David and our son, Garion have been off work, they built a dock to put in the river behind our house, we are the only people on the river who do not have a boat or a dock, so they built this floating dock and were putting in the water in this video. I was there to help if anything happened, and it did, the dock got stuck at the end, and David tried to lift it out of the water to move a piece of wood that was wedged underneath and he tore a ligament or tendon and has been out of commission of his right arm since Saturday. We spent 4 hours at the urgent care, it is not broken, and today a video conference with the orthopedic surgeon was good news of just move it as much as possible and take steroids. So good news there!
Putting in the dock on the river, but not smoothly.
I am working quite a bit from home and going into the hospitals to work whenever they need me, this is a picture of me and my friend Kathy today working hard and staying safe!
So this week, we have been eating together, like every week, but posting our dinners so far, we cook every night except Thursdays. Saturday – Salad nite. Easter – Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Cheese platter, corn, rolls, Salad, cupcakes with cherries and whipped frosting. Monday – Leftover Easter Dinner along with Brussel Sprouts. Tuesday- Fried rice with Pork and quinoa with frozen eggrolls (those were not good eggrolls, did not eat them). Wed – Chicken Tamales with Nacho Chips. Thursdays is our order out nite once a week. Friday will be Breakfast for dinner, probably pancakes with bacon and eggs.
What we are up to now… April 6, 2020
Well not up to much, but up to so much. So David was laid off about 2 weeks ago until April 13, 2020, but we think that will go much longer. So he is doing a bunch of projects he always wanted to do. First he made some shelves for our sons room, then power washed the deck, then prepped the ground and put down pea gravel and pavers under the deck, then built a dock to put in the river behind our home, it is a floatable dock, which means no builders permit. All of our neighbors in the area have docks, we could put a canoe or small fishing boat on it one day. We figure this will improve the value of our home, if we sell it one day. Today he is staining the dock. Then will put in the post holes and drop the dock in the water later this week. He has projects on the back burner of taking down the sides of the deck, and putting up new ones, we will painting those together, and making a D&D table cover with a grid for his D&D nites.
I am still working, but mostly from home, going into work about 1/week at the hospital, the rest of the work week I spend most of my time answer emails, writing reports, submitting lead shielding reports, writing policies and writing ALOT of lectures. I am updating my website with a new lecture group. Been cleaning the house, working on taxes, planning on painting a hallway this week, and dusting all of the blinds. Cooking dinner every nite, tonight it is Ham.
So holding up fine, what are you up to? Let us know.
Bridgetown, Barbados – Jolly Roger Pirate Cruise
We are back for awhile now, but posting on our Jolly Roger Cruise. This was so fun – we would both take this cruise again in a heart beat. We were picked up at the cruise ship dock, we took a short ride to the boat, where we had the chance to buy a lunch – either buffet or hamburger – we just ate breakfast, so shared a $5 hamburger. Good thing, because the rum punch on this cruise was triple charged and we needed the lunch. Rum was free.
First we snorkeled and saw baby sea turtles, and a sunken ship – wish we had more time here, but time flies by when your having fun. Wish we had some pictures to share of the baby sea turtles, but hard to carry a phone underwater.
Then we headed about 30 minutes away and they pulled out a plank, a pirates plank and we all jumped off, then a rope swing.
Fort George, Grenada
We are just walking around, and I see a fort at the top of the hill. It is HOT out, but I want to check it out, so we start walking. The streets are difficult to walk – because they are narrow with steep uneven sidewalks, or sometimes no sidewalks and cars are moving by quickly. We brave it and sweat our way to the top. The fee was $2 each to enter. The fort is now a police academy and we see them working on polishing shoes in the top portion, and young men working out hard in another section of the fort. It is a wonderful view and there were several cool spots in between the fort walls, the top has a breeze but brilliant sunshine. We check out the variety of cannons, some just tossed off bases and scattered.
Windy but beautiful!
Walking around Grenada
While we are back and quarantine at home, I am posting on our trip just a few/two weeks ago. We had a day in port at Grenada and nothing planned so decided just to walk around everywhere…. a few pictures to share of our walk around the bay.
Locals were lined up to buy a small bag of fish from the boat.
Selling corn on the grill was also a purchase on the street, the corn was hard (we called it cow corn on our farm growing up), but for some reason it was a unique tasty treat, like dried roasted popcorn. I ate most of the ear just walking around town. Now we are headed to the fort on the top of the hill!
Sushi at Sea
Were back from our cruise, but then I came down with a fever of 103, and a cough. Since I work in a hospital, prior to returning they made me get tested and turns out I only have a stinker flu – my temp is down to 100 at this point so on my way back to health.
So lets move on to fun things, such as Sushi Classes on our Sea Day. We wer on the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas and had a sea day, decided to try a Sushi making class, and honestly I learned a lot.
With out a doubt as soon as I can get over to our local super Asian grocery store, I will buy some ingredients and make a huge pot of rice try this class with the kids as home.
Back from Cruise, just barely
Well, we could not post the entire time on the cruise, because the wifi, was spotty at best, and we could not download even one image, so will post over this week, but the worst part was we almost did not make it back home. Our cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean Vision of Seas, was turned away from both St Marteen, and St Kitts, so we ended up with an extra sea day, then the morning we were supposed to dock at San Juan, Puerto Rico, we woke up and noticed we were not docked, we were still at sea. We were scheduled to disembark around 7:30, at 7:45ish, the captain said they were working on the paperwork as quickly as possible, but all I could think about was quarantine and living inside our inside stateroom for 30days. David was … whatever…. I think he just wanted to be off work, but did not think about being locked up in a room.
Around 8am, the captain said we were granted permission and we would be allowed to disembark at 9:15, so we did as quickly as possible and ran to the airport. Once we were thru customs and waiting for our plane at the airport, we heard from others on our ship the ship that was tandem to us all cruise – an Celebrity cruise was banned from docking and they were on a 15day quarantine at sea, from two people who were just test positive for Corona Virus- YIKES!!! So close, so glad to be home. Whew!
Best Meal San Juan, Puerto Rico
This is the second time this year we had a meal worthy of adding to our top ten best meals ever. This meal is the Mofongo – skirt steak with garlic sauce at Punto de Vista Rooftop Restaurant.
https://tapterminals.com/punto-de-vista-restaurant/
The guide at Barcardi tour said this was the place to eat, and we love local recommendations for dinner. Monfongo is plantains fried and crushed. And at this restaurant it is then shaped into a shallow bowl then filled with skirt steak, and topped with a light cream garlic sauce. There was so much flavor in the sauce and steak and the plantains were delicious, like a fried potato. This dish was very reasonably priced and although we only shared a meal – hope to go back and eat again. Reservations were required. Pictures are not great, because the lighting was all blue.
Other best of best meals: #1 Nobu – Las Vegas – Miso Cod, #2 Bourbon House, New Orleans – Shrimp and Grits #3 Monfongo you are reading about.
Bacardi Tour, Puerto Rico
What should we do other than eat, swim, sleep in late, enjoy each other, and hang out on a Beach…. we decided to Tour the Bacardi Distillery. We Uber it over… and David says as we pull into the Bacardi complex, they should name a building after you. I do love Bacardi Silver Rum!
We decided a history tour of the distillery, a mixology course on three infamous Bacardi drinks. All super delicious and what a fun experience, we were laughing thru the entire mixology course. We are sharing a few pictures of our time here. More to be added as soon.
More pictures to add this afternoon, awaiting David’s photos to add, and lets face it, his are superior to mine.
Puerto rico
We just landed, and were not even done with our new Orleans posts yet, so here we are enjoying life and the beach and each other!
Crawfish snack
I just finished up my taco snack and David spots crawfish lunch special at turtle bay $12.00 2lbs with corn and potatoes. We have to stop
Johnny Sanchez lunch. New Orleans
On the way walking to another parade I saw this Mexican restaurant and the chips with plantains and salsa caught my eye. A quick snack that turned into a lunch. I guess you cant eat southern creole the whole trip…. well I could, but just sounded great and it was.
Aaron Sanchez owns this place and I love him from food network, masterchef and chopped. Excellent choice for a mini meal.
Café Du Monde & Walking around New Orleans
We are in New Orleans, LA for Mardi Gras. We always have wanted to travel to the worlds greatest festivals and celebrate life. So, last night they closed up the Endymion parade, because for the second time this week a person somehow was crushed by a float and died. Prayers and Love to these families for their great losses. So we will post the few pictures of just the beginning of the parade after we have a few more parade pictures to share.
We did have some incredible beignets at the historic Café Du Monde. A tasty treat after a night of drinking. Coffee and super powder sugar beignets. The Coffee here is a mix of coffee and chickory, dark and woodsie tasting to me. I took a couple of spoonfuls of the powdered sugar to mix with my coffee and it was sweet and like a dessert drink.
New Orleans, LA
Well were here in New Orleans and Mardi gras is everything we imaged. A few pictures to share of our first parade
On another Adventure!
Were off to Mardi Gras
Valentine’s Party Fun
We had a Valentine’s nite party, to celebrate love for family and friends. Had a wonderful time, sharing a few pictures.
Valentine Party Planned for Tonight!
This family loves Love and loves a Party, so tonight a Valentines Party is planned…. will post pictures tomorrow of the celebration. Family and Friends, small but any excuse to celebrate we say!
Trip to Puerto Rico
Ok, finalized a trip to Puerto Rico. We wanted to donate supplies while there, but can find nothing online about donations when visiting, so I am going with a trip to a local church and then dropping off kids toys and school supplies. Wish we had a real list of what is needed, so if you have suggestions, let us know. No China for now, but Puerto Rico and a Cruise while visiting.
Reschedule a trip
We are consider a short trip to Puerto Rico to fill our Cancelled trip to China. But there was just an Earth Quake there recently, so if we do go, we are going to have to take some helper supplies, will look into that and what to bring. Will do my research and get back on the plans.
Putting off our China trip
Decided last night we are going to have to put off our China trip not because we’re scared of being sick with Corona virus but because we’re scared of being quarantine.
The idea of being locked in a room for 3 weeks when we arrive and not seeing the sites, or coming home and being forced to quarantine for 3 weeks to beyond scary to me. We have always felt just sitting on a couch or stuck at home is the worst thing for us. So a delay to September is planned. Luckily we can do this for only a $68 penalty each. Worth it to us. New trip to be planned to replace it soon.
Booked a Trip to Mardi Gras
We just booked a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. We will post pictures when there. David was able to use the Spirit Airline points we had with our Spirit Card we have, but I could not get mine to work.
TIP: Spirit Airlines is very difficult to work with on points. They messed our names on the application and it did not match with our spirit club, so could not book a trip – we tried to call them and ran into this giant circle loop of endless nonsense. Eventually I will spend those points, but not this trip.
New Years Fortune!
David and I are on a date, my New Years fortune is.. Luck is coming your way!
We will take that luck!
Happy New Year from our family!
Happy New Year from our family, May 2020 bless you and your family with Health and wonderful times. We celebrated our New Years Eve by first stopping over to took Laura’s parents to help them fix a circuit breaker that gave us some trouble on Christmas Eve dinner – the lights went out 4 times. David replaced the breaker. Then we toasted with some champagne and then out to Dinner, then Lauras parents were done with all the fun and headed back home. We stopped at Dave and Busters, a giant arcade by our house for about 40minutes of game playing fun. Back home for a drink and celebrating the New Years!
Ulu Knife Cheese Platter
Well, I finally used the Ulu knife, we bought in Alaska on a Christmas Cheese platter. This is our previous post on our Ulu purchase.
https://daveandlaurasdream.com/2019/09/24/ulu-knife-from-alaska/
Happy holidays
Love our family!
Merry Christmas from our family
Red Head Piano Bar – Chicago
Well at this point, we had a lot to drink and a lot to eat and a lot of friendship and conversation, so what is left to do – Sing and Drink more at the Red Head Piano Bar, some of the friends left, some showed up – lots of fun for all!
Benny and the Jets!
Warning – Laura is singing!
Late Late Dinner in Chicago
Dinner at Volare Ristorante Italiano Chicago, right around the corner from the Christmas tree and on the way back to our hotel near Michigan Ave.
Happy Holidays from Chicago
I love this photo! My husband and close Physics friends all walking down the streets of Chicago at night, stopping for a photo opportunity!
Starbucks Chicago Roastery
Well our friends Bruce told us there was a HUGE Starbucks on Michigan Ave, with a spiral escalator and it was four stories tall with a line for coffee on every floor and a medium would cost us $7.00. We had to check it out!
This is soooo cool, the coffee starts at the bottom, boils up to the top, then drops to the bottom, is filtered out and put in a fancy cup!
This is a spiral Escalator – Yep, very cool!
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co Lunch at Chicago’s Navy Pier
Quick Break from RSNA (Radiological Society of North America) meeting for Lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co location at Navy Pier, Chicago. This is a fun restaurant location with the Forest Gump movie theme with Forests and Lt Dan’s Shrimp business as the inner theme. All kinds of Shrimp – we love the place and the food.
Les Nomades, Chicago
Next year, we are going to try this restaurant out, but looks like reservations are required. We loved the feel, look and menu of this place. It is so close to our hotel, we could walk over. Date night idea 2020!
Dim Sum in Chicago
A quick lunch between lectures with my friends at a Dim Sum Restaurant –
dim sum[ˌdim ˈsəm]NOUN a Chinese dish of small steamed or fried savory dumplings containing various fillings, served as a snack or main course.
GE – Revolution Meeting
Outside of wonderful friends meeting up together at RSNA, we also love the educational courses. I heard a great lecture on 10-15% radiation dose reduction in the US over the last 10 years. Then we went to the GE Rev lecture on the GE CT Revolution. I have two at my facility in Detroit.
Below is our great friend Dimitris from Greece (the hub of all humanity as he calls it), a physicist from Penn State. Alec (the young one) a physics student from Wayne State University, and Matt a former co-worker I have known since Wayne State – who now works as the therapy physicist in Midland, MI. Matt and Alec are brothers.
Lawry’s Steak House, Chicago Illinois
We recently had dinner with friends and co workers at Lawry’s Steak House in Chicago Illinois, see previous post for more of this dinner site. We go every year to Chicago for RSNA, the Radiological Society of North America. This is our Dinner spot. Sharing a few pictures of the beautiful site! It is filled with history and we love it.
Dinner live carols! Check us all out video taping, everyone!
Chicago, Illinois
Dinner out with my husband and great friends at Lawrys steak house last nite.
Dad’s 90th Birthday Party
Well my Wonderful Father turns 90 years old tomorrow – on Veterans Day – November 11th. Happy Birthday DAD!
A little bragging – my Father is a great man – a Super Hero of a Dad. He has my back, loves us like no other, proud of each of us , a strong role model for my children -especially thru some really hard days we have had in the past, he is a close friend and mentor to my husband – my Father will tell anyone he meets about us, how great we are, what we do for a living, how David and I are retiring soon – and then will ask – so What are you up to, with a Cheshire Grin. He is tough as nails, I still think he could easily take on and win a fight someone 20 years younger, in a fight . He is sharp – still can do math in his head, when I was a kid, you could ask him the square root of any number, and he knew it! He can remember an address of a house he visited over a month ago, he can remember the price of a stock from a conversation we had last week. He regularly sells things online and keeps busy all day with reading up on the news and learning new internet information. Sharing some pictures of his Birthday party at Buca Italian restaurant this evening – Love the Patriarch of the family –
Lobby at the FireKeepers Hotel – 7 pillars of the Tribe Battle Ck, MI
The Lobby at the FireKeepers hotel is a Huge entrance with a light up tower at the center, and seven pillars of the Tribe and humanity surrounding it.
– Humility, Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Truth, Honesty. Love is my favorite. David’s favorite is Bravery.
Love the local Indian tribe history and will be sharing a book I purchased on the history of the Casino Indian Tribe the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi in the gift shop as soon as I am done reading it. You can read more on the Hotel History at this link: https://firekeeperscasino.com/about/our-story/
Weekend at FireKeepers Hotel and Casino, Battle Creek, MI
I had some work to complete in Battle creek, so we decided to spend the weekend at the local Casino and Hotel – Firekeepers. Typically when I work and stay in the area, we stay in downtown Kalamazoo – at the Radisson Plaza Hotel. The downtown Kalamazoo area has so many local places to walk to and if I am working all day, this leaves a lot of options for David. But we wanted to try out the Casino/Hotel even though David would be stuck there while I worked. He slept in late, then hit the pool and gym, the casino and I was back by that point to spend the late afternoon and evening with him. A great getaway weekend with my wonderful Husband. Oh and David played Pai Gow for a few hours and ….. only lost $40, ha! He was up for a few hours, but that is gambling, don’t play if you want to win.
Firekeepers hotel, Battle creek, mi – Date night
It’s my birthday weekend we decided to go to FireKeepers hotel to enjoy ourselves but as well as me work at the local hospitals in the area. New job through snow in 40 mile per hour winds to arrive at the hotel we decided to eat here at Nibi restaurant.
We enjoyed everything as if we never ate before. Incredible food and location. David ordered the meat and cgeese appetizer. Which had a delicious goat cheese, cranberry cheese, local honey and tomatillo pineapole berries.
I had the shrimp and scallops grits. Smboth and cheesy- perfection cooked.
Love my husband and our lives together.
We booked a Trip to China!
Thank you for the votes on our previous post, we took your advice and we are headed to Shanghai, China. We really looked into just traveling ourselves, and found out from many traveling for the first time to China you should really use a tour company. My brother has been to China for work a dozen times – he strongly recommended this advice. So our search for the best tour group started with TripAdvisor reviews, Groupon getaways, and Travelzoo deals. After weeks of research we settled on Stunning Tours. The 16 Day Panoramic China trip includes all our hot spot visits – Beijing 4 nites with the Great Wall, Xian with the Terra Cotta Warriors, a Small Cruise ship down the Yangtze River, (bonus of Suzhou and Hangzhou) then 3 nights in Shanghai for my ultimate – Disney Shanghai
Vintage Art Show Packard Proving Grounds, Mich
Wish we would have brought more money, there was so much to buy!
The Packard Cars were manufactured and tested hear, and now is a historical location with a Car museum and a large hall for weddings and events, a huge lot for community events and car shows. Check out more at this location: https://packardprovinggrounds.org/
Would have spent every dollar we had, so glad we only brought $25.00. There were art items, antiques, clothing, candles, oils, food trucks, popcorn booths, so much to purchase. Next year we will be back.
Family Trip to the Apple Orchard
Short family trip to the local Apple Orchard.
We had a Halloween Party
We had a Halloween Party this weekend, just sharing a few pictures.
Some of our friends and my parents enjoying the party.
Weekly Inspiration
David and I read this and we live this way, we shared this with all of our five children and now share it with you. This original post is at infintelyadaydreamer.com
Michigan Xray License Plate
Saw this driving from one work site until another, and since I work in radiology, had to share it!
Three Radiation lectures in one month
I was guest speaker at Henry Ford Hospital on “What to do if the NRC shows up at your facility”.
Then Guest speaker at Ferris State University on “The recent Authorized Users – Final Rules”. Then attended a lecture on “Creating Radioistopes for Strategic and medical application suing a superconducting electron linac” Liked the last one the most, because I was just learning, not speaking. but sharing some photos of my month of Radiation Lectures and my friends I was able to snap a few photos of.
Too much weekend stuff, looking forward to just relaxing this next weekend!
