Star Spotting: Bill Nye The Science Guy

OK, so I went swing dancing at PBDA for their Christmas Dance and spy Mr. Nye out on the dance floor. It took waiting around for a couple of dances to finally get to Bill, but I got to dance with him! He's smooth, great lead and thanked me for the dance. He also asked my name and I said I was Kyle's sister to which he smiled. Hope to dance with him again at another dance!

Note: I've told Bob G. he reminded me of a younger Bill... don't think he liked that comment... but he does, doesn't he??

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi everyone,

For those new to my blog, a big welcome! For those who have already wandered it's halls, welcome back!! So, what a year!! So man good and fun times! Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

The first half of the had me flying each week to San Francisco. We had a very successful project there and I am very happy to be part of a great team. During this month, I expanded my culinary skills by taking a souffle cooking classe at Draeger's in San Mateo and a cake decorating class at Sur La Table - I really, really enjoyed both classes.



February proved very romantic as Marc and I flew to Kauai, Hawaii and stayed at the Sheraton. As a Starwood Platnium preferred member, we were upgraded to a Oceanside room with the beach right in front of our room!

It was a very relaxing week and we even got to hike several miles of the famous and absolutely breathtaking Kalalau Trail.

For Marc's birthday, we went up to Napa for the weekend and did some wine tasting as well as visited my personal Graceland, the Culinary Insitute of America, Greystroke. We had a very tasty and memorable Birthday lunch there!

Spring time definitely catered to the dancing fool in me. Kyle, Rhonda, Mariah and I flew out to Oregon for the annual Portland Lindy Exchange. It was a lot of fun to see some old friends there. One of the highlights of the year came in May as I won two tickets to Dancing With The Stars at an online Charity Auction. Mariah and I headed out to the CBS studios in Los Angeles to see the hit show on ABC. ;) I expected to be part of the audiance, but never anticipated being seated front row right on the edge of the dance floor and only a few seats a way from the Judges. It was truly a fun and amazing experience to see the stars, especially my girl Kristy Yamaguchi dance a beautiful tango right in front of us! BTW - it is totally Live and all filmed in one hour!




Summer was here so fast. We spent my birthday at a little cottage bed & breakfast in Santa Barbara. We watched the Fourth of July fireworks from our balcony and the next day we had lunch in Solvang.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)

Rockapella in Phoenix

Sherry, Karla, Wendy and I flew to Phoenix to see Rockapella perform at the Wigwam Resort. The resort was awesome. Per its namesake, one would expect some sort of tacky Wigwam-type lodging, but to our pleasant surprise, it was a spacious resort on beautiful grounds.


Sherry and I arrived the night before and we were happy to see a Cracker Barrel nearby, so we had our breakfast there. I love Cracker Barrel and wished there were more in California. I think there is one or two, but never seen one.


Membership has its privileges, so the Wigwam being a Starwood property and being Platinum member was a perfect marriage! I scored a us 2-bedrroom suite - it was almost like having our own house on the property. Giving us extra room to welcome Ryan, Veronica and Brady to stay with us!

The grounds were impeccable, you can always see a gardener working on the lawns or the beautiful roses that define this resort. Big plus is that they have an excellent steakhouse and an Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa which Sherry and I booked the Aqua Duo Relaxation combo, we each started our treatments in our own rooms with big, jet tubs next to a fireplace. There were lemon & cucumber waters, teas and candied walnuts waiting for us. It was an relaxing milk-bath and I enjoyed every minute!

Before the concert, we ate a the property restaurant, Red's Steakhouse. I had a very tasty, ultra-satisfying meal. For starters, we each had house salad made of arugula, goat cheese, cranberries, pecans in a light vinaigrette. For the entrees, those of us who ordered the scallops, filet and NY strip polished our plates off - each were perfectly seared and cooked beautifully. The sides are served family style, we shared the cauliflower - served in a creamy white sauce and green beans with onions and fried pancetta - yum!

We all rushed to the ballroom where the concert was taking place. It was open seating and a line already started to form. When they let everyone in, I snakes pass a few couples was able to snag front row seats for all of us! The concert, as always, was fun, energetic and the boys were really on tonight.

At one point, Kevin even came down and danced with Sherry!! I was so happy for her, but got distracted then it was too late to get a picture darn! The smile on Sherry's face was priceless!

After the concert, we hung around for the meet and greet. One funny thing. The resort had spelled their name wrong. It was posted as "ROCKAKPELLA." So we all took WFT photos next to them... including Jeff!!

After everyone left, we went into the hotel lounge and had some drinks and dessert and just talked until we went back into the room and decided to stage a pillow fight - just for Kevin. (He mentioned earlier that a pillow fight between us gals would be a fantasy of his... lol) Well, there you go, Happy Birthday Kevin!!

All in all the weekend, like other Rockapella outings, went by too fast. I look forward to went they come down for their Christmas show at Rancho Cucamunga and at House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard!

To view all the photos from Phoenix, click here: 2008 Rockapella at the Wigwam