A weekend in San Diego

Mary Janes Coffee Shop San Diego

Mary Jane's Coffee Shop

Is a MUST dine at stop for breakfast

San Diego's anti-elitist, democratic ways cater to all turn-ons. So does the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego's coffee shop. Featuring a classic American style with a contemporary twist, Maryjane's Coffee Shop showcases iconic furniture and textures alongside the latest in high-tech elements. When night falls, Maryjane's shows its modern flair, with a focus on the circular bar and outdoor patio. Signature menu items include LA sticky buns, burgers, chopped Cobb salad and chicken pot pies to enjoy while dining at the restaurant or to order from the convenient grab-n-go counter. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner weekdays and non-stop on weekends, Maryjane's features a fun style and fresh attitude.

No reservations required. But if you have questions, drop us a line at (619) 764-6950.

Hotel Solamar

Is Pet Friendly....all Kimpton Properties are...the are one of our favorite hotels to stay at. If you can find one where you are going....We highly recommend it. Sign up for the e-mail notices for good deals.

Hotel Solamar, a pet friendly San Diego hotel right in the heart of the Gaslamp District, wants to make sure you don't have to leave your favorite friend at home. Complimentary to all our four-legged guests:

• Restful accommodations in our spacious guestrooms and suites
• Welcome treats for your pet
• Food and water bowls place in your room for use throughout your stay
• Pet sitting, grooming, walking and massage services available through our concierge

There are great deals out there now....

We also went to dinner with a colleague at a great restaurant called Confidential on 4th Ave. Very trendy place, great service, small plates. We ordered lots of *small plates* to share and including drinks, (non-alcoholic), coffee, desserts...We spent 2 hours there and spent less than $18 per person.... Before 7pm EVERYTHING was 50% off. The hotel room was also on special and we received $100 in credit to spend on room service, by the pool or in their restaurants....It helps to keep your eyes open for these...!!!

Sooooooooo VIVA LAS VEGAS !!!!!

Sooooooooooo, of we went to Las Vegas for an overnight to meet with my brother and his beautiful soon to be wife. They had flown in for the weekend from Montana with a friend and since we are about a 2 1/2 hour drive away we drove out to meet them and have some fun!

Vegas is having awesome deals for obvious reasons and the Venetian sent me an e-mail deal for a suite for $119. including $50 in casino money which we brought home, $50 in drinks and 4 passes to their private club. Pretty sweet deal... for a suite....

Anyway we went to a dirty hypnotist show that was pretty good. Had a really nice lunch in the Venetian Courtyard at one of my favorite restaurants there, and generally caught up and had a great time.

I really wanted to see him as by the time we get the call for transplant I could easily be in surgery before he gets on a last minute plane out of Montana....

I will post photos of us when Kelly sends them tomorrow.....

It really was nice....so I wanted to post this too.... 3 flat screens, huge marble bathtub and remote control drapes....gotta love Vegas....

Venetian Rialto Suite

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Beauty and grace embrace you at The Venetian, a masterpiece of exquisite luxury and impeccable service. The 36-story Venetian hotel tower sets the standard for suites and upscale amenities.

• Approximately 1100 square feet
• 130 square foot Bathroom
• Double door entrance with all Italian marble foyer
• Two plush queen-sized pillow-top beds
• Egyptian cotton sheets and a 400 count wool throw
• One 42” flat-screen plasma HDTV in the Bedroom
• One 32” flat-screen LCD HDTV in the Living Room
• 17” LCD HDTV in the bathroom
• Roman tub with separate glass-enclosed shower
• Adjacent water closet with telephone
• Double sink vanity
• Bath amenities by Agraria San Francisco™
• Comfortable robes and oversized bath sheets
• Sunken Living Room
• Spacious walk-in closet
• Separate Living Room
• Dining table with seating for three
• L-Shaped full-sized sofa-sleeper (based on availability)
• Oversized coffee table and ottoman
• Private work area with:
  - Dual-line telephone
  - Wireless high-speed internet access
  - Personal fax / printer / copier
• DVD player
• CD player / alarm clock
• Remote-controlled Roman shades and curtains
• Fully-stocked refreshment center
• In-suite safe

Viva Las Vegas....

It's Oprah's Fault !!!!

Ok, well really it is my technological addiction...... But she aided by making it one of her FAVORITE THINGS and giving everyone $50 off until the end of October..... (hurry, hurry if you want one!)

I have had my eyes on this since I first saw it but didn't want to part with the $$ but as my books started to pile up and I have been waiting in many Dr's offices with no end in sight...actually increasing in sight.... I decided to take the plunge....

and WHAT IS IT ???????? Why a KINDLE of course....................

It should be here next week and I have my wish list all ready of some books to kick me off with... You can check my *good reads* section for some that will be loaded soon.... I may even put up an amazon wish list........so you can see what I want to read ......

Here is the KINDLE link for those of you who want more info or want to click the BUY button... (enter OPRAHWINFREY for your $50 off)

Plus it will pack easier than all those magazines and books I lug around with me when I travel ....

Elation to Cabo San Lucas

Well, that was fun.....making the slide show, I mean!

Anchors Aweigh..........!!!!!

Okay, this is the secret............We are off this morning and be back on Monday......The day they are taking *me* before the committee in San Diego...Then the ankle bracelet goes back on....

I will take lots of pics.... BON VOYAGE !!!!!!

What we should be doing........

Joe and should have set sail yesterday on the Celebrity Mercury for my conpany's annual conference at sea.........





















We had reserved a beautiful SKY SUITE - CONCIERGE CLASS with a beautiful balcony........ All of my friends at the company are onboard along with all the various cruise lines that host parties and events for us. Believe it or not we also work very hard at conference and learn tons as to what is new and upcoming withing the changing industry......

That is what we should be doing this week...............................................

Scripps San Diego Transplant Class

On Wednesday I drove down to San Diego..... I left home at 10:30am for a 2 hour class and got home at 8pm...I only stopped for gas/potty break twice and a 30 minute shopping break at the pottery barn outlet. It was a very long day...It's a 5 hour round trip.

I enjoy the time alone....I always have liked to drive and when I am alone I have lots of time to think, sing to the radio, talk a bit on the phone.......etc.

The class was very good....very different than the class I took at LLU. I find the differences interesting and an opportunity to learn more from different people who are very knowledgeable.

There were 2 classrooms being used at the same time next to each other. One for Kidney Transplants and one for Liver Transplants. During that time the transplant coordinators spoke to us about what transplant entails regarding the organ that you need replacing...The why's, what, when, how, etc ....etc. Very informative.

Some differences between LLU and Scripps. I am not sharing opinions here just facts...

LLU only does whole liver transplants from deceased donors as do the majority of transplant centers.

Scripps does whole liver transplant, and also will split livers from deceased donors. I.E. If a liver were to become available that could be used by a child and and adult....(same blood type, etc) They can use, say, 20% for the child and 80% in the adult. Both grow to full functioning organ within a year and save 2 lives. It can be a longer and more difficult time of recovery for both as the liver has been severed and also has to heal... They do this rarely as the opportunity doesn't always present itself but that is sometimes an option.

They also do a small percentage of living donor transplants.. In kidneys this is common but in liver, not so much.....I am not going to go into detail as I am not very educated about this... I do know that it is a very serious surgery and recovery for BOTH the donor and the recipient. It can be even harder for the donor during recovery. Both need full time caregivers and it goes on and on....Not something I am interested in doing to a loved one even if I did qualify.....

Another thing that is different is that the anti rejection drugs used post transplant and forever...
Scripps tries to use a steroid free approach which helps avoid a lot of the complications that can arise just from the steroids...(I will talk about that later when we get to a *medication talk*)

After our individual classes they opened the dividers between the rooms and a couple of other speakers talked to all of us as these things would effect all of us.

The Social Worker on the support we would need, housing issues, follow up appointments, support group, compliance to appointments, medication, etc. Insurance....

The Pharmacist talked about all the different types of drugs, what they were, how they were used and combined, side effects....THE SIDE EFFECTS!!!!! If anything scares me that is the biggie. It is one thing to think that your organ that controls so much of how your body operates is not functioning well......another to face the traumatic surgery......another to deal emotionally with having your body cut wide open and have another persons organ placed inside your body,.....another to deal with the months of physical recovery and the fact that you will most likely never have the health you once had......BUT...for me the thought of being place on these drugs which YOU HAVE TO TAKE FOREVER......AS LONG AS YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP YOUR NEW PRECIOUS ORGAN..... which is a good idea.....but all the things that these drugs that will save your new liver will also CAUSE to happen to you..... (again...when we have the drug talk....) But....of course it is manageable BUT that doesn't mean it doesn't scare me or I have to like it.................................................................................

All in all it was a very informative and well taught class! Kudo's to Scripps and the Transplant Team there.....They did a great job.

My friend in Liver Support and Education

Dr. Richard Darling, a California dentist, founded the FAIR Foundation after surviving hepatitis C, diabetes, cirrhosis and cancer of the liver, coma, heart attack, hepatorenal syndrome, Muscular Dystrophy (myasthenia gravis) and three liver transplant operations.


Doc Darling as he is known is a wonderful, knowledgeable, compassionate man.

He started The FAIR Foundation because of the inequities in disease research spending by Congress and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and because of America's organ-donor crisis. Here is a link to the Fair Foundation's website. I highly recommend you visit the site and support the foundation.

I met Dr Darling at our Loma Linda Liver Transplant Support Group and he invited me out to Palm Springs to attend the local support group that he started and runs there. He and I have also had conversations regarding the benefits of my getting listed at Scripps in San Diego as well as LLU.

I decided to go visit his support group earlier this month as I wanted to meet some of the patients that are listed or have been transplanted in San Diego at Scripps. He had told me that quite a few of his group are patients there.

I had a wonderful drive out there. I love Palm Springs area. It is such a different desert than ours. I know that sounds really weird to those of you who aren't familiar with deserts....

We live in a HIGH desert, elevation 3000 ft. temp ranges are 100* to 60* summer and 60* to 30* in the winter. YES, we do get some snow in the winter. It is hot but not unbearably. For you gardeners the freeze in the winter kills us, well, actually it kills most of our plants that can survive the summer heat.

Palm Springs is a LOW desert, elevation 475 ft. temp ranges 115* to 75* summer and 70* to 45* winter. It is blistering hot in the summer, making difficult to get in your car let alone touch the steering wheel. But because it doesn't freeze there in the winter the landscaping is beautiful. Lots of Desert and Tropical Plants, Palms, Bougainvillea, Citrus Trees, Cactus and wildflowers. Oh, and the grass. Do you know how many golf courses they have? Well, I don't and I am not looking it up but there are plenty...Anyway, it is very green and beautiful for a desert with some majestic mountains as a backdrop that turn shades of purple as the sun sets.

Our deserts are divided by the San Bernardino Mountains and a 90-120 minute drive. Loma Linda is between us.

Ok, back to my visit there. I really enjoyed meeting the people in the group out there and seeing how it is run. It is so helpful to me and to be with others who are living with the same disease as I. We all have different diagnoses and reasons for having our livers fail and will experience different versions of the same symptoms as we go through this. We will also have very different stories as to what happens to us and where are futures end up.

I find the more I learn the more I want to share as I remember how extremely difficult it was for me to get ANY good information on what was happening to me.

Dr Darling made me feel right at home as he introduced me to his group. I do plan on attending when I can.

Regarding his book, Coma Life, I am in the middle of it right now and it has me riveted. Here is a link to how to purchase it...All the proceed to go support the FAIR foundation.

Our Day in LA playing tourist

We have decided that besides working on our garden projects...(more to follow) that we would spend our summer time exploring new things locally. There are so many things to do local to you/us that we never take time to do and especially being in So Cal there are a multitude of places to go and new things to experience within driving distance....(of the transplant center) for a day trip or a weekend.

On this day which started as two.....We had a very full day. I was a bit worried that I would get awfully tired trying to fit this all in but we took it easy and I did fine. We had a great day!

We saw something on the local news about The Getty Villa. Not the museum but the villa which in actuality is a museum unto itself. Here is a another link for details on free admission, etc.

It was designed and built by J Paul Getty to house his collection of ancient Greek and Roman Sculptures and art. It was designed after a villa in Rome that had been partially dug out. It is very beautiful in structure, art and location which is in Santa Monica with views of the ocean. Not to mention the gardens.

They also have a really nice outdoor Mediterranean cafe to enjoy lunch on the patio.

Next we went to a historical, famous Hollywood hot dog landmark. PINKS

It has been in Hollywood since 1939 serving hot dogs to the stars and star struck.... We stood in line for 1.5 hours for a dog...it was great fun visiting with everyone in line and the dogs were great. Their menu was even better..You have never seen so many different options.

Then it was off to the Greek Theatre, an amphitheatre in the hills and pines of Griffith Park under the stars. This is a park where they house the LA ZOO, Gene Autry Museum, A great planetarium and observatory, travel town for the kiddies and The Greek Theatre. We saw Crosby, Stills and Nash and it was a wonderful night. They sounded so good. I was surprised how good actually.

As most of you may remember David Crosby is a liver transplant recipient who received his new liver in 1995 and I couldn't help but think how lucky he was to be standing up there singing. He has had so many years that he would not have had without the selflessness of a donor and their family. I also wondered how many other people he had given hope to that he was unaware of, like me. I sat in the audience wondering if we were the only 2 who new what it was like to face the fact your liver is failing and you need someone else's to keep living and I thought not...There are many of us who are waiting or have had successful transplants...But it was somehow comforting to just watch and hear him sing those beautiful songs he wrote with his friends in perfect harmony.

Quick trip to the Bay Area

My best friend, Kimberly lost her mother to cancer. It was very fast and tragic. I made a trip up to the Bay Area to spend a few days with her and then she came back home with me for some R & R. While we were there I had been invited to a Travel Agent tour and luncheon aboard the Celebrity Ship, Mercury. It also included and invite to bring a guest so she and I went to San Francisco on a gorgeous day to tour the ship. This is a ship I have been wanting to sail and we actually have reservations on for our yearly Cruises Inc conference to go to Alaska in the fall. I would get to spend time with associates and friends, get in touch with all that is new and coming with the various cruise lines, sail in a sky suite with Joe, see Alaska AND write it all off. I am cancelling that trip with sadness because even if I get my liver tomorrow, I won't be able to travel that far or in a confined ship with so many people. But it was so fun to get to see all the beautiful amenities and the 5 course lunch they served us was just to yummy to describe. If you get a chance to cruise Celebrity or the new Azamara line GO! When I get photo's from Kim I will post some.

Also on that day, after the several hour tour I wanted to go down to fisherman's wharf and walk around but soon discovered I didn't have the energy. I am NOT enjoying this trend. From someone who was so healthy a few years ago and ran in the San Diego Marathon....well, makes me feel pretty weak.

Kim did come back with me and we made a trip to Glen Ivy Hot Springs f(see photo) for the day before heading down to Rosarita for the night with the family for another memorial service.

During this time we also learned that a friend who had been very close to us in the past had suddenly and tragically just, well, died, while working on his car in his garage. Jeezzzzzzzzzzzzz,
We pay our respects and head to Rosarita to be with my Mom.

enough medical stuff for now

During the last couple of months we did have a few short cruises booked so we decided to see how I would do since we were close to home. I did take it easy, we had fun and to follow Dr's orders it was easy to eat several times a day. The point of this is not to gain weight but to provide my body with enough incoming fuel so that it doesn't have to break down fat cells to get energy which could be extremely harmful to me. It is great to have healthy (and not so healthy) food available and made just for you 24/7!

After a couple of local cruises, one with some of our best friends, Tom and Kim, we went on a one night *party in the pacific* on the brand new NCL Pearl. What fun. 2 weeks later Joe and I boarded her again in Miami for my annual Travel Agent Conference for a week. We also sailed with some good friends that we met on a previous cruise up the coast and some friends I met in FL at my training in June.(that is where the Grand Cayman photo came from). They had a run, run, run schedule from dawn until late. I went to about 1/2 of the meetings and events and spent some time enjoying the ship, the sun and my husband. Time is short, have fun...Although, no disco for me and we were in bed by 11 most nights.

Some weird observations by me....I have lost quite a bit of weight, look very tan, (even though I haven't spent much time in the sun) and feel quite good. My local friends keep telling me how good I look and I thank them and think to myself...How can that be when my Dr's keep telling me how sick I am and am worried I could fall into a coma.....?????

I go through things in my mind like..........do I just enjoy every moment, every ray of sunshine, hug and play with my puppies and spend all the time I can with my loved ones? OR Do I sort the mail, pay the bills, book my clients cruises, do laundry, run errands.... Will this be my last Christmas or will I live to a ripe old age...?????

One other comment. If I had the big *C* there would be information, support groups, books, websites and all kinds of stuff on what to do, eat, etc.....etc...

Just try and look for information regarding Liver Failure. There isn't much.......takes a lot of digging.