On the Bike Again: Dalmatian Coast Croatia 2009

Greetings from Brac, on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, where I am typing very clumsily on a Croatian (Hvartska) keyboard. As such, I plan to keep the descriptions of the last amazing week to a minimal amount and let the photos tell the story.I got here a week ago and what fun was it that Sheri Tarr from Melbourne was also in the region! We met up and had a great time, as always. Here we are walking around Dubrovnik last weekend.

The time with Sheri was too short. On Sunday, it was time to meet the Backroads gang! Here is our boat that we have been riding around on, I am not kidding about this. It is awesome, and has taken us to all four of our desintation islands (Mljet, Korcula, Hvar and now Brac). Tomorrow we will sail back to Split on it (and from there we split for home...ha ha ha...).

I am so excited to be back on the bike! Here I am in the town of Cara on Korcula, day 2...taking a break by the sea. All the villages are increadibly quaint and look like this:

We stopped to taste some wine at the Toreta Winery in Smokvica. Here is one of my guides, Lennie, tasting wine with one of the family owners. The following day, we visited the Lavender Lady (Korcula is known for fresh lavender) where we heard all about her trade and got to stock up.

There are many cats in Croatia, I have made frinds with some.

We have seen the most beautiful flowers, such as this bougainvillea.

Last but not least, we have biked really LONG WAY. Michelle Pearcy once told me, what goes up must copme down. In the case of this country, what goes up must come down, then go back up and down but up a lot more, and so on. Today was the first time I actually cussed at the hills on the route. I did 30 miles and more than 3000 feet before lunch, so I guess that is not too bad.

More to follow soon!

How I Spent My Summer, 2009

Every second counts ‘cause there’s no second tries

So live it like you’ll never live it twice

Don’t take the free ride in your own life…

-Nickelback, “If Today was Your Last Day” Dark Horse, 2008

Over time, this blog has evolved from an update on my adventures during my year off to periodic updates on what’s happening in my life, often in chunks of time since I’m not great at posting regularly these days.

On Labor Day 2009, I thought it would be a good idea to write about my summer. I’m on my way home from Las Vegas – one of my favorite spots, and we’re flying over the Grand Canyon. It was late afternoon and the sunlight turned the rock that beautiful pink tinge you see so often in photos. It’s hard not to feel patriotic and maybe a little nostalgic looking down on this. I was listening to a song by Nickelback, “If Today Was Your Last Day," which we heard in concert the prior night at the MGM Grand Garden arena. MGM is one of my favorite venues in Vegas and this concert did not disappoint. Chad Kroger is indeed hot in my opinion, and I suppose it was an adult concert so it did not matter if the f-word was like every fourth word out of his mouth. I’ve been known to drop that bomb once or twice so I can’t say anything about this really. But I digress.

I was in Vegas this past weekend with my good pal Tracy, and we were commenting the other day that we have spent a lot of the summer together this year. I’m lucky at this point in my life to have close friends and family whom I like to spend time with, and I guess that’s what summer 2009 was all about.

The summer started out over Memorial Day when Mom, Tracy and I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I bought a condo at the Paramount auction last year and it was time to take the trip at last. Despite an unusual amount of rain, we had a fantastic time. I had no idea that Santa Fe is the largest art market outside New York; I could have stayed another week and not even scratched the surface of all the amazing galleries. Highlights included the Georgia O’Keefe museum (http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/) and the legendary 10,000 Waves Spa, and a visit to the Chimayo temple where Mom But the most memorable part for me was dinner the first night we arrived when we went to dinner at La Casa Sena (http://www.lacasasena.com/). The waiters and waitresses in this place are all singers and will randomly break into Broadway tunes. The first song they sang was “Seasons of Love” from the musical Rent. It’s a song about how do you measure a year, and that the best way is to look around at your friends and how much everyone loves each other. (I realize this is getting a tad sentimental, but bear with me.)

After Memorial Day weekend, I got a roommate! My sister Laurel moved to Austin and is living at the Funston pad. It’s nice having someone around, and she’s a great roommate. Most of all, I am happier than a clam with my whole family here. To welcome Laurel to town, and to celebrate her 38th birthday, we threw a party at Funston in early June.

A few weeks later, it was time to hit the road again. I needed to spend a couple of weeks in London for work. As I was making arrangements and securing a really cool pad in South Kensington for the stint, my friend Mary Beth mentioned she was traveling to Leuven, Belgium for work. This was a little too weird, because I studied in Leuven when I was in college. So we arranged to spend the weekend there before I reported for duty on Monday morning. This was a huge score. As luck would have it, we were in town on June 20, the longest day of the year (De Laangste Dag) – a huge outdoor festival in town. All the streets were closed off. In addition to exceptional chocolate, Belgian beer and mussels we ate what we both agreed were the best strawberry pancakes ever.
I took Mary Beth all over town to see my old haunts. These include the pub, De Weiring, where we ordered the nastiest wine ever. I think the Belgians purposely serve nasty wine so you will have to order beer and not give the business to the French. We did not darken the doorway of De Rector, which was probably good since that’s where all the super drunk undergrads hang out (not that I would know). The town really hasn’t changed much except that the students are a lot younger and you can buy condoms from a dispenser on the street. The latter was especially of note since the university and therefore most of the town’s residents are Catholic. Sign of the times.
We spent Sunday in Brugge, Belgium. Brugge could charm the socks off anyone. In addition to the lovely canals and flowers, some of the best chocolate shops in the world are located there, in the opinion of this blogger. Of note are Dumont and Leonida’s (http://www.chocolatierdumon.be/). And the mussels and frites are without competition. I traveled to London on the Eurostar and found my office without too much trouble. The flat ended up being even better than I expected, and I fell in love with South Kensington. Maybe it was the lovely weather which brought people out to sidewalk cafes, maybe it was getting to pretend I was a local by riding the tube and shopping for groceries at the local market, or maybe it was my morning runs from the flat to Hyde Park. There was something magical about my whole time in London. Even though I was traveling on my own, there were plenty of people to hang out with. The Enfatico London team showed me a great time; here we are in a pub near the office. Elizabeth was in from Enfatico San Francisco working in London for the week. We spontaneously decided to go hop the tube Wimbledon one night after work and see if we could get in. Although we walked about 30 miles and my feet are still recovering, we made it in, and we even got to see a whole match (not on Centre Court, but what do you expect for 15 GBP). The stadium really is huge, just like it looks on TV. We are sure famous people were very close by, and we probably walked right past them, but we were not able to identify any of them. That weekend, I was committed to seeing some shows. And, as we all know by now, that very Thursday, Michael Jackson’s untimely death occurred (see my earlier post saluting the King of Pop on this topic). In addition to “Thriller Live” I got to see “Lion King.” I loved this musical and the story it tells about forgiving others and yourself. My favorite part was the opening scene where all the animals parade up onto the stage. On July 3, it was time to repatriate to the US of A, just in time to celebrate our independence from the Brits. Sharon graciously hosted a fantastic party at her house. Earlier in the day, the Brykerwoods July 4 parade was an event not to be missed, as it always is. Despite the fact that there has been next to no rain in Austin this summer and we’ve had record temperatures, it was a beautiful night. A week later, I turned 41! Crikey, how did that happen so fast? Luckily, Corazon at Castle Hill (http://corazonatcastlehill.com/) is open for business again, and a group of friends and family got together to help me celebrate. Note how great my friend Herb looks! Herb is the original owner of my cat, Wannabe. He (Herb, not Wannabe) has lost at least 30 pounds. Below this photo is a picture of Neil, Laurel and Kelle at the dinner. We gutted through the rest of the summer in Austin, where we broke a heat record with 69 days over 100 degrees (http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/08/30/0830heat.html).

The first week in August brought the annual KIPP School Summit in Orlando, Florida. I was really lucky that I got to attend and focus on the whole thing this year. I love working with KIPP Austin Public Schools, and have been spending more time on this which is a lame but noble excuse for not posting to the blog more. Here’s our board chair, Kin Gill, posing with the entire staff and faculty at the closing dinner. From Orlando, I headed to Vegas for Tracy’s 40th birthday party. By the time I arrived, the festivities were well under way. Here’s Tracy singing some of her favorite songs at the dueling piano bar in Harrah’s, and the four Vegas pals getting ready to attend her birthday dinner at Michael Mina in the Bellagio. As always, Mandalay Bay was a super place to stay, even though no one was really winning at the tables. The last night in Vegas, Tracy and I were playing Blackjack, and somewhere in the conversation it was decided we would return for Labor Day. I get a lot of ribbing for my frequent Vegas trips,but that's OK. You have to understand that a couple of years ago I went to Vegas twice in one month and so far this year I’ve only been twice. The lure of seeing Nickelback and Santana was too much to pass up. I’m lucky I have friends who are as crazy as I am.

Forget blackjack, I’m just pretty lucky in general.

Gretchen2dot0 Salutes Michael Jackson

Greetings all. I am just back from London, where I spent the last two weeks working and having a generally fantastic time.


The first week I was there, I received a call from Matt late Thursday evening letting me know Michael Jackson had passed on. Since then, it was “all Jacko all the time” in London. I’ll talk more about the rest of my trip later once we dispense with timely matters.
Before my commentary on London culture I just need to make it known that I am a huge fan of Jackson’s music and his life. In particular, I am in love with the choreography he brought to life in his concerts and videos. An arts commentator on the BBC this evening explained that the dancing in Michael Jackson’s concerts was timing and precision, and that if he did not hit everything right on “Billie Jean” it was all over. I can watch the “Thriller” video over and over again and never get enough of the dancing. Michael Jackson’s music is the music I grew up with. My mom, Carolyn, still tries to moonwalk like she used to do to embarrass me and my sister Laurel (it still works).


So, I was sort of obsessed with seeing the London show “Thriller Live” (http://www.thrillerlive.com/about/) even before the untimely death of the King of Pop. On Friday night of my stay, I got down to Liecester Square to buy tickets about 6:45. The guy at the ticket booth pretty much laughed at me and told me to forget about “Thriller” or pretty much anything else at that point, since most shows start at 7:30. (OK, I would have been there earlier but they brought out the beer cart at work so I decided to be a social with some of the local team, I wasn’t just working the whole time). You have to understand that on the tkts website, on Thursday evening prior to the untimely death of Mr. Jackson, tickets to “Thriller Live” could be found for any day and time for 50% off. So I was sort of mad about not buying a ticket the day before, but who could have known.


Having no specific other plans, I decided to walk to the Lyric Theater and see if I could get in or even buy tickets for another day. As expected, there was a madding crowd outside the theater which included this guy…he was on the local news that morning. Apparently he had tickets to 5 of Michael Jackson’s shows scheduled for London this summer.

The great news is – I got a seat in the 13th row! It was an amazing show and you should for sure go see it if you are in London. The entire cast including the director and producer came onstage and spoke about the life of Michael Jackson, then we observed a moment of silence. Here is what they said, now posted on the site:

“The producers, cast and creative team on Thriller Live are deeply saddened and shocked at the sudden death of Michael Jackson.
Thriller Live was created to celebrate the career of the world's greatest entertainer and undisputed King of Pop and the Jackson 5, and his phenomenal, unparallelled career was the show's inspiration.

After much deliberation and taking into consideration the views of Michael's legion of fans, we can think of no greater tribute to the memory of the man and his incredible music than for this weekend's performances at the Lyric theatre in the West End and Manchester Opera House go ahead as planned.All of the Thriller Live cast, crew and production team send out their love to Michael's family and children.

Thriller Live was conceived and created by Executive Director Adrian Grant, a long time associate of Michael Jackson, and author of Michael Jackson - The Visual Documentary.
He said: 'Words cannot express my deep sense of loss and sadness; I am shocked beyond belief that Michael has died. My full condolences go out to his family - his children, parents, brothers and sisters. The Jackson family have lost a son and a father, and the world has lost one of the greatest entertainers of all time, a true legend.

Michael Jackson has been a massive influence in my life - inspiring me to get into the entertainment industry and to produce the best work that I can. I have supported Michael for the past 21 years through my magazines, books and now Thriller Live, and I will continue to support and promote his legacy via this musical celebration. But my main focus right now is very much on Michael Jackson the person. He was warm, genuine, funny and smart, as well as the musical genius we all admired.

I have lost a friend, and I will be there for his family, friends and fans. Rest in peace Michael, I love you.'

The media had rented out all the opera boxes. Last I checked, the show was already extended from September to January - in case you're headed to London.

I’m not sure what it would have been like to be at the show on any other night, but there was something really special about the energy in the theater that night. I was completely mesmerized by the choreography and the voices, and it was literally three hours of high energy, including singing and dancing in the audience. The cast is amazing, especially Marias Lawson and Roger Wright. My favorite numbers were “Smooth Criminal” and “Don’t Stop til You Get Enough”. I think the temperature in the theater by the end of the show was like 85 degrees. A friend explained later that London is not big on air conditioning, but I don’t think it would have mattered.

That Sunday, I saw the “Lion King” (ticket purchased at tkts for full price after admonishment from the ticket dude for my late arrival). The costumes were amazing and the story was very moving. But it was nothing like Friday night at “Thriller Live.” Here I am at the Lion King theater.

After the show, I walked to the Lyric to see if the hordes were still paying respects (they were). Shots of the theater to follow.

RIP Michael. You have influenced many, many lives.

Beijing: Great Times and Great Walls

Those of you who have been reading the blog for the two years of its existence know a couple of things:

1. I like to write about travel
2. I'm not so good about posting unless I'm traveling

So, first of all - thanks for being patient. I will say in my defense that Facebook and its likes are sapping the will to blog from people such as myself. But that's a topic for another post. Today - I'm talking about May 3, 2009 - probably the most action packed travel day since Vietnam in June 2007.

Today, I am in Beijing, China - and I went for a 3 hour hike on the Great Wall. Then I spent the evening watching the city of Beijing wind down a holiday weekend. Like my first day in Vietnam, this is one of those days I know I will never forget.

To start out, I want to give a shout out to Cycle China Adventure tours (http://www.cyclechina.com/) and all the staff at Castle Hill Fitness in Austin, (http://www.castlehillfitness.com)/ but not limited to Corey, Mel and Jerry. If not for the latter I would not have survived the former.

My excellent guides, Jane and Reagan (sorry guys if I am misspelling your names!), picked me up this morning and we drove about 2.5 hours out of Beijing. From there, we hiked the first hour on a trail that was 100% the same steepness as the very end of the Mt. LeConte trail, on a good day. We took a lot of breaks and were super happy to have the dried mangoes from my new colleagues, Mel Dominguez and Idel Esagunde at Dominguez PR in the Philippines. Thanks guys! You also saved me today.

Here are my trusty guides, a the onset oour hike, on a 20% at least grade, while I was sweating profusely and taking a much needed break.

We arrived at the first watchtower along the great wall and were super happy! Here is Jane coming up the stairs (I use the term stairs loosely, this was steeper than the temple atop Siem Reap).

From there we hiked along the wall itself. The first part of the wall hasn't been restored and it's pretty broken up. You can get a sense from these photos.

About halfway through this part of the hike, we crossed into the restored area of the Wall. Reagan and Jane told me that the restoration was fairly recent, about 199o. The walking was still steep - up and down inclusive, but no major gaps in the road. You can really see a difference.

When we arrived at watchtower 8, after 3 hours on the go, Jane asked me if I wanted to hike to watchtower 15, or take the cable car down. Along with my tired legs, I picked the cable car. We rode on down, and I asked Jane how far we'd hiked. I was sure it was at least 10k.

"About 3k," she replied.

Great. But I am sure at least I burned 1000 calories.

Back in Beijing, it was early enough to see a couple of things. I showered, and grabbed a cab to the Alien Market, also known as the knockoff of the Silk Market (Beijing's famous designer copy market). Although the quality of product was not completely on par with the Silk Market, no one hassles you! That's because they are mostly Eastern Europeans and figure you don't speak Russian. Also, it was the end of a holiday weekend and you could tell everyone was partied out. I got a couple of things but I can't say what because people who are the recipients might be reading the blog, and it would ruin the surprise.

After the market, I walked back to this computer mall I'd seen where the new Adamo by Dell ads are being shown. Check it out here:

At Jane's suggestion, I went to the Ghost Street. I did not see any ghosts, and it was too crowded with people for me to stomach waiting in line for roast duck. I did take this photo, right before I got in my cab to the hotel (sorry Jane, you obviously had a great recommendation because the restaurant was packed).

That is a lot, and all for now. More soon and enjoy the photos.

Celebrity Encounters

So, my New Year's resolution to post to the blog more is not taking root. Damn. But as always, there is a great excuse - this time it's Celebrity Encounters!

Last weekend, Andrea and I went on our annual ski trip to Deer Valley. At least, it's an annual trip when we're not on legitimate business of hers in the South Australian wine region.

We were having a perfectly civilized lunch at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, when whom should we hear talking to the guests at the next table, but - you guessed it - Stein Eriksen! Andrea's dad, Carol, was bold enough to ask Mr. Eriksen for a photo, and he replied stoically, "With the ladies?"

Needless to say, we obliged. If you're like some of my friends who are not into skiing, you may not want to read more about Stein in his wikipedia entry, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stein_Eriksen.

When we asked Mr. Eriksen if he was having a good day, he replied, "Anyone who complains about the conditions today needs to take up a different sport." With the great weather we had, who could disagree?

Only five short days later - another great event occurred! Thanks to Sharon, we had a group together for the Jonny Lang concert at the historic Paramount Theater right here in good old ATX (http://www.austintheatre.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Home). Ken Stein and Maica Jordan totally hooked us up for a backstage visit with Jonny after the show! OMG!!!

I asked him what his favorite song is, and he replied "Red Light." I totally agree. We love you Jonny!

How much more exciting can 2009 get?

New Year's Resolutions & 2008 Images

2009 is not even a month old, and I'm determined to make my resolutions stick. Luckily, they were not that hard this year. The first one included ditching Costco brand mascara and getting something nicer from Sephora. That got done almost right away. Actually, I've been fairly productive in 2009 so far, I even have been honing my Facebook skills which is another resolution I made.

I did resolve to post to my blog, which I'm hoping will make me start writing again. I do a lot of writing at work but it's not the same thing. I need to get the creative juice and the voice going for the blog and for my book, which still needing its second round of edits by me. As an aside, the professional editing got done a while back by my good pal Jenny Meadows (http://www.mycopyeditor.com/). Please check her out if you're in need of copy editing services.

Like I did in 2008, I wanted to make my fist post in 2009 one that shows the great images from the year. I'll focus on the post-March timeframe.

My 40th birthday in Vegas was attended by me and 12 of my best friends from around the world - Sheri got the prize for coming from Australia (no not only for my birthday). It was a complete blast and have totally embraced being 40. I wore a gold dress which garnered a lot of attention. Sharon organized yet another fantastic party at Craftsteak in Mandalay Bay.

In August we surprised my dad with a party to celebrate his last stint as Operations Director at the Republican Convention. He has retired twice already and the joke was that this was the third one but it won't stick. We'll have to find out in 2012. It was a beautiful weekend in St. Paul, MN and a welcome break from Texas which was hot as hell this past summer.

The party happened right before the launch of the Latitude E-family, which I worked. It was great to be back with the old Dell gang.I'm on the board of KIPP Austin Public Schools. If you're not familiar with KIPP, please take a minute to check out the links at:

http://www.kipp.org/08/pressdetail.cfm?a=479
http://www.kipp.org/08/pressdetail.cfm?a=585

On October 1, the high school opened with ceremony at the school. It was a great day and really amazing to see the first freshman class and how proud they are of their school. To see the great coverage we got thanks to Trew Marketing and the dedicated staff at KIPP, go to:http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/Detail?contentId=7561401&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=5.2.1

Not long after the launch, Donna called to say she and John were getting married! The wedding was held at the Red Mountain Spa in St. George, Utah (http://www.redmountainspa.com/) and it was a complete blast. The bachelorette party included hip hop dancing and a drum session. I can say for sure on my blog with all credibility that none of us have any future as a dancer with Britney Spears. We are fairly sure the instructor quit not long after that. Luckily we were a little better at drumming.

John and I did water pilates the day of the rehearsal, and there was a great hike in Snow Canyon National Park the morning of the wedding. The wedding was in fact held in the park where we all went barefoot on the red sand. John and Donna were one of the happiest couples I've seen at a wedding. Congrats guys, and thanks to the Regenbaums and Kerrs for a great party.

The wedding was a great start to a fun holiday season. Dad and Pam were in Austin for Thanksgiving, along with Laurel. A huge meal was cooked and we all had dinner at Mom's. I think I am still stuffed!

After a busy December, it was time to rest and relax. We rented a house in Sonoma for a week with me, mom and Laurel. Check this place out - a great option if you're planning to go to CA wine country (http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p171072). We liked Sonoma because it is laid back and free of tour buses, but has many wineries and other fun things to do close by. Laurel got stuck in the snowstorm from Portland, but she made it! Highlights included Healdsburg, Bodega Bay, lunch at the CIA in Napa and the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa. Susan and Pablo were out visiting Joe and Soledad, Pablo's sister and her husband. We all head Christmas dinner together and drank lots of red wine...Lory even made a cameo appearance for a day at the spa and some great food and wine. A great wind up to a great year.



More to come in 2009...really. Happy new year everyone!