Monthly Archives: January 2006

Sorry…I kept trying to write posts along the way, and about half of this is a bunch of stuff written during the trip & saved, but either I’d fall asleep when trying to update before bed, usually at least 2:30am, or I just ran out of free time…so here is the full story of Squaw Valley 2006…

Sunday

Greetings from Squaw Valley!

This weekend was another choir rehearsal weekend, in which the law of diminishing returns sets in because my voice & brain are so exhausted by the end of the weekend I really don’t know how much good it really does vs. the complete exhaustion, but my opinion doesn’t count, I know, so I just go & deal with it. The bright spot was dinner for Melanie’s birthday Saturday night, but there were so many people there, and I got stuck in a corner not able to get out & talk to anyone else. I did get more stuff unpacked, took another shower with drain pipes held together only by metal tape, and had a really hard time getting up this morning, so I was mindlessly driving to work on the freeway. Someone was staying right alongside, then when I finally turned to look at them they pointed at my back passenger tire…uh oh…The tire looked & felt normal when I left home…I pulled over and yes, it was definitely flat. Thank goodness it wasn’t raining, thank goodness I didn’t have any extra stuff with me so that everything from my trunk could be piled in the front seat, and thank goodness I had a hair clip to keep the wind out of my face as I changed my own tire. I always have to laugh later because every time I’ve ever had to loosen lug nuts for any of my tires, they are on so tightly that I have to grunt loudly to put my whole body weight behind it! Why the grunt helps I have no idea, but it really just doesn’t work without the noise…*shrug*…I got the spare on & back on the freeway in about 10 minutes, including getting everything out of the trunk, and got to work okay…but have you ever seen a Miata spare tire? Think lawnmower or go-cart wheel – I’m not kidding! It says “not for use over 40 mph or farther than 40 miles” which of course is really helpful when I drive 30 miles one way for work… 😛

Tired of Tires…

New Years Eve was with Robin & Cyd at their friend Kevin’s house, just the 4 of us, but we had fun. Robin & Cyd insisted I finally watch Buckeroo Banzai to the end to round-out my “geek” quotient (I had seen it once way back when during a party so couldn’t hear well let alone there was alcohol of course!), so that was successful! Funny movie, definitely a cult geek movie, and hilariously early-80s hair & wardrobe…

I had bought a cheap fondue fountain I wanted to try out, so I brought it with me, plus I had come up with my own Candy Cane Martini recipe inspired by the crushed candy cane rimmer I saw for sale at Sur La Table a month ago. I decided I could easily crush my own candy canes (with powdered sugar so it wouldn’t clump), but I brainstormed my own recipe vs. searching online for any drink recipes. Friday night I came up with what tasted good to me, with layered white & red, and when I googled afterwards, amazingly none of the recipes I found online were the same as mine!

Chocolate Fondue Fountain and Candy Cane Martinis

Kevin C., Britta, Cyd & Robin with Happy New Year Candy Cane Martinis

After Buckeroo, we watched Murder by Death, a 1970s spoof on detective movies with a stellar cast, which was classically funny, but Cyd started snoring, then even Robin was dozing when Kevin decided he had to take a photo…haha!

Party Animals – heh!

Note the one eye you see of me is wide open! Granted, I did have my own trouble staying awake towards the end of the movie, but I blame the passive nature of TV watching vs. interactive fun when I can easily stay up until the break of dawn… 😉

But New Years festivities don’t end there! On New Years Day afternoon I went over to Lori & Rod’s house, now less than a mile away from my new house, for traditional Southern black-eyed peas, greens & cornbread. Delicious! A fun & laid-back afternoon while the blustery weather still raged outside, but the evening ended with a game of the Harry Potter Scene-It DVD game. Lori et al had played it New Years Eve and said to each other “I bet Britta would even be stumped by some of these questions!” so they decided they had to test me, so it was Lori, Rod, Kat & me playing. Well, as I was halfway around the board to the finish with everyone else far behind me, they decided to jump to the final question for me, which I answered correctly…big surprise! There were a couple questions I missed, but they were “Muggle” questions of other trivia about the HP actors…and no, I wouldn’t have gotten the flying Ford Anglia license plate, but none of us will ever forget it now: 7990 TD – heh!

Hope you all had a fun New Years too! Back to work in the morning…ugh!