Top 10 Things To Do In Boise

As promised to Kris aka @thewino on Twitter, I'm compiling my favorite things about Boise as a mini guide to her, should she be fortunate enough to visit my fair city.

1) The Greenbelt. Boise is a very fortunate city to have a beautiful parks system that runs on both sides (for the most part) of the Boise River. The Greenbelt is an amazing place to bike, walk, jog or lounge with a refreshing beverage. As long as the cops don't see you (if you're too close to the river, that is).











2)The Pen Not, not the one people are in NOW, the Old Pen. It's on Warm Springs Avenue. It sounds weird, but touring it is cool. It's got some really interesting architecture, and I always am amazed to be reminded that when it finally was "retired", I was, I think, 7 and my husband 10. It's not surprising that the reason we got a new prison is that the prisoners rioted at this one and burned a lot of it down. I can't blame them a bit. It's kind of out of the "Shawshank Redemption" except for there's no nice Morgan Freeman around.


3) The Boise Train Depot. The company I work for built this building many many years ago. (They also built the Hoover Dam). Looking at downtown Boise from the bell tower is amazing.




4) The Capitol Building. Our capitol is, I believe, one of the most beautiful in the 50 states. It's certainly a hell of a lot prettier than Nevada's, which is basically a rectangle of bricks with a teensy white dome on top. It's been recently remodeled and it's spectacular. Now if only there were more spectacular people in it.



5) The Idaho Shakespeare Festival, if visiting from June-September. Tom & Joe. The Fool Squad. They're amazing. That is all.

6) Table Rock. The brewpub or the hill, doesn't matter. The brewpub because that's where I met The Husband (and the beer is good, even if I'm no longer fond of their menu) and the hill because it's a great hike. One I obviously need to make more often, looking at myself in the mirror.

7) The MK Nature Center. Because you can see fish THIS BIG that you can't catch and they are laughing at you because of it. However, sometimes you get to see a mink catch one there and that is extremely satisfying for both mink and human. Sometimes you even see some of these guys.






8) The Crack. Get your minds out of the gutter. I'm referring to a piece of "art" that resides at the Grove Hotel. It's been the butt of jokes ever since it's unveiling, but we're all secretly fond of it. Here's how Boise Weekly describes it (much differently than Tom & Joe do, let me tell you):

BEST PUBLIC ART THAT GLOWS IN THE DARK Grove Street Illuminated & Boise Canal by Amy Westover-This is one of the better pieces of public art gracing our fair city. Created by one of Boise's own, it's just as intriguing during the day as it is at night. Westover masterfully combined style and substance to create an artwork that is aesthetically pleasing as well as historically illuminating. 9th and Front

9) The Museums (Art and Historical). They're right next to each other, (right by Table Rock brewpub, strangely enough) and I'm always happy to go see the two-headed calf, who's been there ever since I was a tot if not before and the art museum is fun - because believe it or not, we actually have art out here in the sticks!

10) Curtis Stigers. Well, you can't just go "see" Curtis. But he lives here. And I've seen him sing jazz and I've seen him eat croquetas at Bar Gernika. He's pretty cute eating croquetas. He's pretty cute any time, actually. My sons were appalled at my slack jawed gazing while sitting next to him. He was kind and ignored me. In addition to jazz, he also wrote the title song for the "Sons of Anarchy" series and had a huge pop hit back in the day. When he had long hair.

11) All things Basque. This would include Bar Gernika as referenced above (really a small restaurant, but there's definitely a bar there), Epi's Basque Restaurant (technically in Meridian, but that's worth a 15 minute drive, trust me, food is awesome and Chris, the owner, is the sweetest thing ever), the Basque Market and the Basque Museum.

Oops, that's 11 things. It's actually more like 20, since I kept throwing stuff in. Sorry, Kris, I've probably overwhelmed you. But I hope you get to come here and I hope you like it.

On A Lighter Note

Okay, there has been way too much doom, gloom and introspection on this particular part of teh interwebs lately.


Today, because I'm sure I'm not moving, and I think I'll have a job for at least three more years because that's when the lease on our office space runs out (I'm not kidding, that's my cynical self talking but it's usually not far wrong), I sprung for a toy for myself.


"Sprung" is an operative word, mind, because I got it for $9.99. But, my Crackberry habit is re-established as of Friday. World beware.


The last time I had one of these addictive toys, my job paid for it. I wanted one, and my job required it, but I had no idea how fast I would become a fan of this small device. TH and The Bits were not such big fans, particularly the time I had a "screaming" argument via e-mail with the Co-CEO of the LLC we worked for in Utah. Because, you see, I was standing in line at Disneyland. That's when they decided I'd had enough. Everytime I picked it up when off work from then on, I had one to three sets of eyes looking darkly in my direction.


When I got the job in Idaho, I thought I would get a Palm as part of my new job, everyone at my level or above has one. However, my boss, in a misguided bout of either economy or enforcing work/life balance, said "Oh, you don't need one". I underwent at least three months of serious withdrawal. I had to pay attention even in boring meetings. I couldn't keep abreast of Jazz scores at my convenience (I fondly remember tracking the playoffs in Singapore and updating my co-workers on how it was going - we were all avid fans). I couldn't have someone call me to get me out of a boring meeting. I couldn't make scathing comments about someone right in front of them (yes, sad to say, I did that sometimes in Utah. But Sybil deserved it).


We have had some need over the last several months at times for at least a web connection. We got TH a data package, but he has an old RAZR and it is pretty sub par at best. So, today I orderded my new baby:

I know, it's shallow to get pleasure out of material things. But a lot of my work clothes are from Fred Meyer and until lately I got my hair cut at SuperCuts. So it's not like I'm throwing money down the sink all the time.

And, TH wanted me to get it. Oh, ye of short-term memory loss.

It's Bear Week

So, we all know what THAT means. No Steve, I wasn't baiting you with #21 on my meme.

THIS is baiting you. Good luck Sunday!

Thank You, Mr. Utility Worker and Other Thoughts

It almost froze last night (our plants look like it even though we covered them up) and I thought it was going to be a horrible day weatherwise but now it's quite pleasant and I'm getting ready to go for a walk.

Why am I home at 3:07 p.m. you may ask? Well, some really, really smart guy who was digging a big hole in our parking lot at work DUG UP THE POWER SUPPLY. Call before you dig, guys, seriously. This happened around 11 a.m. The phones (sort of) works - you couldn't call in but you could call out, so after a couple of conference calls and lunch we all gave up and they closed the building. Our building is part of a bigger complex and of all of the buildings, who was the only one out of power? Ours. Who really wasn't in the mood today to work? Me. As my friend the Donnalama says "I didn't know you had such power". I KNOW! Me either! Now to turn my powers to good not evil, haha.

Other random thoughts - I hope Brett gets pounded just about as hard as you can without serious mental or permanent physical injury Monday night. I may have to squeeze into my T-Shirt that shrunk such that Little Bit wears it to bed that says "My Favorite Team is the Packers and Whoever Plays the Vikings". Special meaning this year, that. I am hopeful that when we play in Green Bay in November we will win because the "Old Man" doesn't like the cold anymore and has to play in a dome, but I'm not too sure about this one. Like when the "Loins" (t2ed's term) won, if the Packers win this weekend it may be time to "get right with the Lord" (again, his term). It may be the second sign of the apocalypse. Or third, if my power outage is a true sign of my power.

Bg Bit comes tomorrow which means a) Yay, we get to see him! and b) Four weeks until Disneyland and his college visit.

If you haven't yet checked out the Disney Channel's show "Phineas and Ferb", you most definitely should. It's witty for both kids and parents, and features a most awesome band doing its theme song and some of the musical numbers (Love Handel is one of my favorite episodes) - that is - the breathtaking Bowling for Soup. (Cele, Burp would LOVE it if he hasn't seen it already.)

Lastly, I heard this song coming home - how is it that a song that came out when I was but a few months old could be a) so fresh today and b) one of my favorite songs ever, much less of the band who plays it? Enjoy. Hope you're getting some sunshine in too where you are. Oh, it snowed in Utah and I wasn't there. YAY!!! (Pants, Yvette, I know it's pretty but come on.)

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I have been a bad, pathetic, blogger this summer. I don't have much to blame it on per se - Big Bit has been here (but he's 17 and doesn't always want ol' Mom around), Little Bit has been enjoying his first summer vacation ever (but he's 10 and pretty self sufficient, not to mention going to Just For Kids three days a week), Mom moved up which has been fun (but as Big Bit says, it seems like cousin Danny sees her way more than we do), I haven't golfed, I camped exactly once -last weekend - I went on vacation for one week - I went to Alive After 5 a lot - I rode bikes and walked some but that damned plantar fascitis has really cut into my resolution to get fit and healthy. I listened to a lot of jazz at Hotel 43. I saw Curtis Stigers sitting at a table right by me in Bar Gernika. Yes, he is that cute. If you don't know who he is, he's an Idaho treasure and you should check him out.

What else have I been doing? Maybe if I show enough, I will be off the hook for being a bad friend (in some ways) and family member (in other ways). Or maybe not.

We went to Kevin and Sam's wedding. Kevin is my cousin Danny's son. I don't know Danny or any of his family really well, but I love Danny to bits. He was out of touch with our family for many years due to his mom's divorce from my maternal uncle but resurfaced relatively recently and has established contact with us - my Mom and Aunt in particular. I wish we were closer. Kevin is a great guy and his wedding was really neat. Laid back and really of the essence of him from what I know.

Kevin's sister, Kelli, looks exactly like my cousin Connie who died when I was very small (3?). I remember her vividly because she was simply beautiful and always had these beautifully manicured hands (in my recollection). Plus she really seemed to like me, and for a teenager to really be delighted in me seemed unusual. The first time I saw Kelli was at HER wedding a few years ago and my heart literally caught in my throat. It still does when I see her because I've just never seen that kind of likeness. I always hoped Big Bit would look like his namesake, another cousin of mine, but except for a really pissy impish look he gets when he wants to be cute I haven't seen it.



Another wedding - (boy, with my father in law's escapades it's been a real summer of weddings - Little Bit kept saying "ANOTHER wedding?"). This one was really special though and to Little Bit as well as the rest of us. Our friend R's daughter got married. S was Little Bit's babysitter from when he was 8 weeks old until really just before we moved to Utah (so we could go out on date night) - she was I think almost 13 when she started. She watched Big Bit as well, though we usually spent all of our time with him when he was at our house. Little Bit loved her from day one. When he was two, he'd wander through the house saying shrieking her name at the top of his lungs, so excited was he that she was coming to play with him. She handled him like an expert. He has her senior picture on his bulletin board to this day.



In addition, I got to see my old boss from the Mothership (the Boise one, not SYBIL, for heaven's sake). I love Jenny, I didn't get any pictures of her, but her daughter, another graduate of the University of S babysitting service came to the wedding with her Mom and we got a picture for S to remember her former charges. I also got to have dinner with Jenny the following night and therefore got to enjoy her company and uplifting faith in me. I have the same faith in Jenny. We're neither of us perfect by any means, but we do have faith in each other's possibilities. That is a rare thing.




Little Bit took swimming lessons. He hadn't been to Wings for a few years, and we could never find a place in Utah for him to take lessons, so it was good for him to refresh his knowledge and learn to tread water. He did well and listened so good to the instructor! It's amazing what a few years and some meds have done for his attention span.



Big Bit got his senior photos taken...sigh. I can't post any of them due to copyright issues but you may get to see some of them in an announcement or here if I can get that part resolved. Ouch, said my wallet, but they turned out beautifully. In the meantime, here's "Diddy" in a self portrait. He looks stinkin' grown up and I feel stinkin' old. He got to go to Japan this summer which was a good thing for him. The good thing for me was when he sent an e-mail lamenting we couldn't talk on the phone (he didn't want to take a phone card because his friends weren't calling home) and he wanted to vent about something. And he missed me. It's nice to be needed, isn't it?





We went on vacation on the coast of Oregon with our friends the Hydes. We hadn't gotten to spend this much time with them in eons and it was fun - I think we all enjoyed it enough we'd do it again, eh?

The boys enjoyed the house.



Little Bit and his friend K Hyde had a lot of fun together. One of my favorite photos of them, I think then age 6 and 5 was at the Seattle Aquarium. This one's at the Newport Aquarium and it is very cute as well.



I think there's a picture of us all together - but it's not on my camera - please share Ms. Hyde?

On this trip I also met Cele! We met in the blogosphere a while back and I was excited to meet her, and as an added bonus we also met her husband, Ducky (he is just Ducky too). We all liked meeting Cele and Ducky, though as usual I was somewhat shy at first meeting. Big Bit mentioned just the other day how much he liked Cele. He, too, is somewhat shy at first meeting but we like the same kinds of people generally speaking. Other than the fact she likes the BSU football team for some reason, I thought she was simply awesome.

We went to Shakespeare with Steve, too, and I have a picture of the asshat we sat behind to prove it. (Actually, we went to Shakespeare five times, but once was with Steve, the only time we sat by an asshat...hm....). Since I think it's on my cell phone camera, and since you really don't want to see a picture of him anyway, trust me, with his beer bottles lying everywhere and taking up an acre of ground...but I may add it later. It's the great Idaho land grab, as Steve says. A Shakespearean tradition.

We went to Kaikoa's birthday party. He is Kelli's son, who just turned one, and he is a true Hawaiian (his dad is from Hawaii) - laid back, he all but exudes island charm. He's a cutie.

Now, Big Bit has jetted off to Nevada to start his senior year, we meet Little Bit's teacher tomorrow night and I have as yet not done so, so many things I wanted to do, including keeping in better touch. I'm about to embark on the attempted conquest of a variety of self-improvement projects, much as Little Bit embarks on a conquest of Fifth Grade as Big Bit gets ready to conquer the world. It's time to kick butt and take names, kids. Wish me luck.

The Men In My Family

So, I was watching TV (i.e. flipping channels) just now and saw Mac Davis singing a 70's song. It made me think of THIS song, which I affectionately dedicate to my father and my uncle Truman - the people who originally introduced me to this tune. (They were damn funny singing it around the campfire, too).

Love you guys.

Things I Got From My Mom

Again, not a complete list:

• My ability to be a very loyal friend
• My love of Labrador Retreivers (much against my will, might I add)
• Being able to tell my kids I love them openly and often
• My klutziness
• A good work ethic
• A fundamental feeling that my life has value - from day one
• Unwavering support - no matter what the personal opinion of my thoughts or shenanigans

Thanks Mom!

Just Because The World Needs a New Good Song

I know I have a few obsessions. However, though I've always liked Rick Springfield, it wasn't until I saw him last winter that he moved to that category.

Seriously, I've been in recovery on that subject. :) This week, however, I did stumble across this on YouTube. This is worthy of 80's fangirl screaming. Good song. Check it out.

P.S. He's 59 next week. Holy Cow!

At Last....

Something that, I suspect, no matter which side of the political fence we're on - we can all agree with. I know I do...and I'm glad I'm not the only person who still says "ain't" - college degree and all, there are times it just slips out. Must be my "suthin" Idaho accent.

Going Back to Cali

Wasn't that a LL Cool J song? Why is it I know a LL Cool J song? Scary.


Anyhow, The Husband and I used to go to Wine Country pretty much every year. We often took Big Bit, as he was small and enchanted with the birds, butterflies, flowers etc and loved, even then to eat at fine restaurants. (another good story about Big Bit I must post someday involved him eating very properly in a nice restaurant at 18 mos old).

Little Bit, we took once or twice and then we couldn't afford to get out of Dodge for several years. So this is probably our first visit in seven years, and the first one he remembers. He does NOT like to eat at fine restaurants. He likes cheeseburgers. Period. So we had to be creative. And buy a $10 cheeseburger here and there (ouch!!!).


As promised, pictures. Here's Little Bit at a store at Fisherman's Wharf, where we went immediately upon deplaning to have lunch:















Then, it was off to wine country. Here's the boys actually sitting together without fighting. It does happen once in a while:


It was so beautiful, warm but not too, sunny, etc. etc. This is a view from Jack London State Park, which was really cool:



Not to mention, we saw an exact replica of an Italian castle that V. Sattui Winery built a few years ago, it is used as a functioning winery but you can tour it. It even has a chapel that looks like a Renaissance period chapel. Remind me to quit drinking wine because these guys have WAY too much money.

Little Bit had fun pretending to be an archer:



Here's another view:




I hated to get on the plane. In fact, I did everything possible to avoid getting on the plane. Not really, but I did consider running off to become a server in a tasting room in Napa Valley while I attended the Culinary Institute of America.

First vacation I've had in years where I wasn't checking the BlackBerry every 10 minutes. And it was AWESOME. The boys had fun (all three of them) and so did I. Wish I was back right now.