Great Escape Meme

This is contest entry for those crazy folks at TodaysMama and Cricut. Be sure to check out Cricut's cool new cartridges and the chance at $30,000 in travel for you and your friends at The Great Gypsy Escape!

O.k. So usually I post something about what my cute kids are doing, or something that involved my family, and it usually involves pictures, but I couldn't pass up on this.

Great Escape Meme
If you could escape to anywhere in the world where would it be?

Right now, it would be anywhere my entire family could go together, enjoy themselves and feel safe. We, like many others this past year, have been hit hard but economic changes and job loss/changes. I missed taking the weekend fishing and camping trips we usually hit every summer. I miss the time outside my home and neighborhood.

There are many places in this world I would love to see. I would love to go to Paris and see the Louvre and the Eiffel tower. I would love to travel to Russia and all the beautiful architecture of times past. Walking along the great wall of China would be fascinating. Swimming near the great barrier reef would be fabulous. Seeing Victoria falls, or even Niagara falls may be a treasure. But if decided I needed to see my own country before I traveled outside it first. I would love to visit the grand canyon or the national monuments in Washington D.C. Seeing Broadway plays in New York City would be very entertaining. (O.k. am I'm sounding very home bound? I'm really not there's just so much to see in this beautiful world of ours.) But above all these wonderful places I would love to visit Alaska. I would love to take a fishing boat out into the ocean and watch the whales while fishing for salmon and halibut. Or fly fish (I still have to learn to do that) the streams. Or watch the bears fish the stream (from the safety of how ever far away I need to be) The beauty of Alaska is first on my list of vacation escapes I want to take.

What song do you play when you are by yourself in the car?

That varies from week to week. If I had answered that question a month ago it would have been "Dianne, by five miles out" I found that band on some obscure site a few months back and have never been able to find them again. Love their music and wish I could find more. A few weeks ago my kids told me I could no longer play "Creatures of Habit" by Judith Owen. But now I'm playing "Midnight Romeo" by Push Play. It's been the recent inspiration in the book I'm writing. (I'll post more information on that some other time)

If you had a night to yourself, and money was no object, what would you do?

I think I would book a stay at a location (yet to be decided) where I would be pampered. I could get a facial, a massage, sit in a hot tub, relax with a bowl of ice cream (with chocolate of course) in front the TV watching of an old movie. Time alone isn't a problem I get a lot of that now with the kids in school all day, but I spend most of that time cleaning, cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping and mending and cleaning. Did I mention cleaning (I really don't enjoy cleaning) Being pampered for a change would be like a little piece of heaven.

What is your guilty pleasure?

mmm. Chocolate, in any form except cake. For someone who should be restricting sugars it is definitely a guilt pleasure. I wait until the kids go to bed then I "sneak", and I use sneak lightly because they know that I have it, but they can't touch it. SO I sneak a small square of caramel filled chocolate. It's the perfect end to a hectic day. This remind me I need to add chocolate chips to my shopping list. Kenzie wants to make more zucchini bread this weekend.

What is the farthest place you have traveled away from your home?

My farthest travel from home was a trip I almost didn't take. In 2003 my wonderful husband won an award in education. As part of that award they send him to the conference to learn more about his field. O.K. So that doesn't sound like much of an award, and if he had won the year before or after it wouldn't as the conference those years would have been in Las Vegas, close to home. But in 2003 the conference was in Orlando, Florida.

So why didn't I almost go you ask? Well I had a 6 month old daughter, who was very attached to mom. And being that she was young and I was traveling my pediatrician talked me into giving her and her older sister (who was 4 at the time) the seasonal flu shot. Well the morning we were suppose to leave both girls came down with the flu. How was I suppose to leave them with my gracious mom-in-law while they were sick? Both Iris (MIL) and my dear hubby talked me into leaving, after all we had already paid for the flight (or so we thought) and the hotel and the Disney World tickets, (You didn't think we would go to Florida and not go to Disney World did you?) It was a fabulous trip. I kept busy and didn't miss my baby too much. I got to enjoy staying in a beautiful 4 star hotel and dining with many of Mark's co-workers, and taking my first flight (ever), to enjoy a week with Mark. (The conference was only 3 days). I would have deeply regretted not taking that trip, and love the memories I have of it.

Last book that you couldn't put down?

The last book I read was Ulgies by Scot Westerfled. I couldn't put it down, because it was good, but mostly because I was sick. If I were to truly answer that question I would say it was Hunted, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. It is book 5 in the House of Night Series. A sleazily teenage coming of age series about a young girl who is becoming a vampire. I've enjoyed the series, but won't even let my teenage daughter read it. I feel it is written well, but has conversations and side subjects that are too mature for teenagers (and sometimes those side topics make me blush).

When you want to escape into another time, what movie do you watch?

Brigadoon. I love that show. I also tune into Always. Humm, both are love, loss and find love shows. Humm.

What is your favorite local escape?

Now that my children are older and my teenagers don't enjoy the "Little kid" events anymore my favorite local family escape it the movie theaters. It's always changing, You can visit it every month, sit in the same seat and not get tired of visiting. Everyone can have different snack (if I'm feeling rich) and even the young ones enjoy the time with us.

How do you escape on a budget?

Escaping on a budget took on a new meaning this year. Typically we would just spend a weekend ore more away in the beautiful mountains of Utah, but this year the finances wouldn't even allow that. We found new pleasure playing games and taking family walks in new areas of our town. Time together, away from he electronics our world has become dependant upon is escape enough for me.

Best food you've ever had while on vacation.

It's funny how food always tastes better when you don't buy it. There have been a few time's where we have returned to a restaurant where we have eaten before and ordered the same items and it just wasn't as good. One day trip, on a weekend vacation, with Mark's grandparents we had lunch at a little restaurant in a small town in southern Utah (I've forgotten now both the name of the town and the restaurant) but they had the best cream pie I had ever tasted. A year later, Mark and I were now engaged and we traveled back to that little place (we had to get the "wandering" directions from grandpa first) and I again ordered that delicious pie as desert (ohhh I miss dessert) but it wasn't the same. The crust was just as flaky and the sweet vanilla very similar, but it just wasn't as good. I think I was missing the not having to my my self 'cause I sure wasn't missing the conversation or table manners of the companions with whom we had eaten there with before. (sigh) I miss grandpa and LaPriel.

Thanks Utah Mama for giving me this idea (the incentive wasn't bad either) It's nice to take time and think about life rather that just living in it as it passes us by.