Visit the Virgin Islands!!
My husband, Andy Moore and I had a dream honeymoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here is the video we put together! And if you want more info about planning a trip to the Virgin Islands, go here.
American Idol
Ok, I admit it… I’ve been tuning in to American Idol this season and I really, really like Adam. His performance of “Tracks Of My Tears” this week was great. I love the song and he did an awesome job of making it his own. Here’s the YouTube video…
So, Adam’s my fave…. Megan needs to go. She’s a gorgeous girl but when she sings, I cringe. When she dances, I giggle. I actually do like her vibrato but she is so pitchy all the time and her stage presence is so weird. She’ll probably get signed anyway because pitch correctors can make anyone sound like a great singer.
What’s eating you?
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- The galls, or brown rolls on the edge of the leaf is where tiny midges and itch mites hide. When the galls open and the midges escape, itch mites are left with nothing to eat.
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- This is a mama mite with a huge sac full of baby mites. The boy babies are born first and wait around for the girl babies to come out when they immediately mate with the females. Mite incest. Yuck.
When the weather warmed up a few weeks ago, I started itching. Figuratively itching for spring to get here already. But I literally developed an itch.
I developed a slew of itchy red bumps on my stomach. Every day for about a week, I noticed a new batch of bumps on my arms, legs, feet, ankles and back. They were intensely itchy and painful and drove me crazy.
Chiggers, I thought. Or chicken pox, but that seemed unlikely.
So, I called the Oklahoma State University Department of Entomology to find out more about chiggers. I talked to Justin Talley, assistant professor who patiently explained chiggers to me. Talley said he doubted my bites were from chiggers because they occur in areas where clothing is tight such as sock lines, wristbands, etc. My bites were all over.
He asked if I have any oak trees around my home. I live in an older addition with hundreds of mature trees of all varieties, including oaks. He said he thought my bites might be from the microscopic Pyemotes itch mite.
Never heard of it?
Apparently, the itch mite is fairly new in the United States. They were first identified in oak leaf galls in 1954 but it wasn’t until 2004 that the mites made news. After a football game in Pittsburg, Kansas that year, 300 residents reported mysterious red welts and the outbreak became an entomology mystery. Eventually, they were identified as reactions to itch mite bites.
Generally, itch mites come out of galls in late summer looking for food but Talley said it could be an unusual early occurrence. He came over and took bags of leaves from my yard to dissect in his lab. He found some galls but no mites. Not surprising, he said, and that doesn’t mean they are not the problem. But he can’t say for sure.
Talley recommended ridding my yard of any old leaves but said spraying insecticides at this time of the year won’t help much.
To ease my itch, Bactine became my new best friend. And thankfully, when the weather got cold again, the biting ceased.
Have any of you been experiencing mysterious bites?
Talley wants to know if you’ve noticed any unusual bites lately. He said there could be a minor outbreak but the only way to find out is to get reports from people. Leave feedback here if you have been bitten and think it could be the Pyemotes itch mite.
Talley warned me that some people falsely report outbreaks of bites. These people suffer from Delusionary Parasitosis.
Delusionary Parasitosis is a heartbreaking condition that causes people affected to think they have worms, bugs, bacteria or some other organisms living on their skin, in their hair, in their homes, etc. Pest management companies say they get tons of calls from people claiming they are crawling with bugs. It’s a terrible psychiatric condition and is no joke. If you suffer from Delusionary Parasitosis, there is hope. Contact a psychiatrist or your general practitioner. Here is site with more information about the condition.
Here is a CDC page with good information on the itch mite.
Twilight release parties
Will you be among of the throngs of blood-thirsty Twilight fiend clawing at the poor Wal Mart, Hot Topic or Suncoast clerks who hold the key to your very own copy of the movie that releases tonight at midnight? Great movie if you can get past the pasty make-up, the awkward dialogue and uncomfortable love scenes. Loved the book.
Here are a few locations holding “release parties” where you can go to get your paws on the DVD before any of your friends except those who pre-ordered it and already have it. I watched it last night with my daughter and her BFF Esther who pre-ordered.
Walmart
2200 WEST DANFORTH ROAD
EDMOND (NW), OK 73012
Walmart
1225 W I-35 FRONTAGE ROAD
EDMOND, OK 73034
Books a Million
2300 West Memorial Road
Oklahoma, OK 73134
405-748-4999
Hot Topic
2501 W. Memorial Rd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73134
Suncoast
2501 W Memorial Rd
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73134
405-748-4049
Bush Memoir
Hope he has a good editor.
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President George W. Bush, who once famously called himself “The Decider,” is writing a book about decisions.
“I want people to understand the environment in which I was making decisions. I want people to get a sense of how decisions were made and I want people to understand the options that were placed before me,” Bush said during a brief telephone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press from his office in Dallas.
Bush’s book, tentatively (not decisively) called “Decision Points,” is scheduled for a 2010 release by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group. It is unusual in a couple of ways.
Instead of telling his life story, Bush will concentrate on about a dozen personal and presidential choices, from giving up drinking to picking Dick Cheney as his vice president to sending troops to Iraq. He will also write about his relationship with family members, including his father, the first President Bush, his religious faith and his highly criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.
Instead of having competing publishers bid, Bush and his representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, negotiated for world rights only with Crown Publishing, where authors include President Obama and Bush’s secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Barnett used a similar strategy in working out deals with publisher Alfred A. Knopf for another client, former President Clinton.
“Proceeding in this way gets the project going promptly, avoids the time-consuming process of multiple meetings and multiple negotiations, and preserves confidentiality for all concerned,” Barnett said.
Financial details were not disclosed, although publishers have openly doubted that Bush would receive the $15 million Clinton got for his memoir, “My Life.”
Crown Publishing is a division of Random House Inc. and the deal was handled by Random House executive vice president and publisher at large Stephen Rubin. As head of the Doubleday Publishing Group— a division recently dismantled in a corporate realignment — Rubin released Dan Brown’s mega-selling “The Da Vinci Code” and Kitty Kelley’s “The Family,” an unauthorized and unflattering take on the Bush dynasty.
Barnett said that Rubin and Crown had shown “great enthusiasm” and that a deal was made not long after Rubin and Crown officials met with Bush in Dallas.
The structure of Bush’s current book is not unlike his “A Charge to Keep,” published by William Morrow in 1999 as the then-Texas governor was preparing to run for president. In the foreword to “Charge,” Bush noted that he had no interest in a comprehensive, chronological memoir.
“That would be far too boring,” he wrote. “The book chronicles some of the events that have shaped my life and some of my major decisions and actions as governor of Texas.”
Bush told the AP on Wednesday that he was not “comfortable with the first book, only because it seemed rushed,” and that his current memoir would have “a lot more depth,” thanks to his years as president. Although he didn’t keep a diary while in the White House — he “jotted” down the occasional note — he said he began “Decision Points” just two days after leaving the White House and had written “maybe” 30,000 words so far.
Bush is working with research assistants and a former White House speechwriter, Chris Michel.
Once known for his reluctance to acknowledge mistakes, Bush said the book would include self-criticism, “Absolutely, yes,” but cautioned that “hindsight is very easy” and that he would make sure readers could view events as he saw them.
“I want to recreate what it was like, for example, right after 9/11,” he said, “and have people understand the emotions I felt and what others around me felt at the time.”
Asked if he might write about the ouster of his first defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, or about his decision not to pardon Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, choices both openly disputed by Cheney, Bush said he didn’t know.
“I made a lot of decisions,” he said.
Libby was convicted of perjury and obstructing justice in the investigation of the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. Bush commuted Libby’s sentence and saved him from serving time in prison, but Libby remains a convicted felon.
Bush said he has read other presidential memoirs, including Ulysses S. Grants’ highly praised autobiography, a book he enjoyed in part because it was “anecdotal.” He said he had “skimmed” Clinton’s memoir and had yet to read either of Obama’s books, “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.”
Like Clinton, he is a fan of “Personal History,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir by Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham.
Presidential memoirs have rarely satisfied critics or the general public, with exceptions including Clinton’s “My Life,” a million seller despite mixed reviews, and Grant’s memoirs, which didn’t even cover his time in office. Bush’s father also did not write a conventional memoir; he instead collaborated on a foreign policy book with his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft.
George W. Bush has been talking for months about a memoir, even while he was president, and has said he wanted to give people an idea of the world as seen through a president’s eyes. Publishers, noting Bush’s low approval ratings and questioning his capacity for self-criticism, have been less enthusiastic, urging him not to hurry. Still, Barnett said he received calls from several publishers about a possible book.
Virtually all the top officials in the Bush administration, from Rice to political strategist Karl Rove, have either completed books or are in the midst of writing them. Cheney has said he plans a memoir and former first lady Laura Bush has a deal with Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Her book, like her husband’s, is scheduled for 2010. Barnett, who represents both Bushes, said that Laura Bush’s book would come out first.
Stop the presses! Today’s headline celebs
Don't mess with Kanye! He looks a little nervous in this pic.
Kanye West arrested!
Kanye West faces more than just a “Love Lockdown.” Los Angeles city prosecutors have charged the rapper with misdemeanor battery, grand theft and vandalism over the videotaped destruction of a paparazzo’s camera. West was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport days after performing at the MTV Video Music Awards in September. The celebrity gossip site TMZ shot video that showed West breaking the flash of a photographer’s camera inside a terminal, and his manager breaking the camera itself and accosting TMZ’s videographer. West faces two and a half years in jail if convicted.
Hey, Brit! Can I get a toothy fake grin?
Spears restrains ex
A Los Angeles judge has issued a restraining order against Britney Spears’ ex-boyfriend Adnan Ghalib. Superior Court Judge Aviva K. Bobb signed the restraining order after a brief hearing Wednesday morning. The order covers the singer, her parents and her two young sons. In January, Jamie Spears sought protection on his daughter’s behalf against Ghalib, her former business manager, Sam Lutfi, and attorney Jon Eardley. Court documents contend the trio have tried to undermine the 27-year-old singer’s conservatorship, which was established after a series of high-profile incidents of erratic behavior. Jamie Spears’ attorney told the judge that Ghalib hadn’t filed any objections to a protective order being issued. Neither Ghalib nor his attorney have appeared at previous hearings. The restraining orders are in effect until midnight on March 17, 2012. It will be forwarded to several Los Angeles law enforcement agencies, and orders Ghalib not to have any physical, e-mail or phone contact with Britney Spears or her family. It also orders Ghalib not to try to act on the singer’s behalf. Ghalib faces felony charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, for an incident in which he allegedly hit a process server trying to deliver documents in the restraining order case. Authorities said Ghalib struck the process server with his car in February. Ghalib has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Look for his Harry Potter scar, top right forehead.
William reminisces about “what-ifs”
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Prince William discussed his childhood in an interview broadcast Wednesday, reminiscing about wanting to be a policeman and getting a “Harry Potter” scar on his forehead.
“A long time ago I wanted to be a policeman, when I was younger. I soon learned that probably wasn’t a good idea,” he said on the BBC’s Newsround program, a current affairs show for children.
The prince also said had to go to the hospital after being hit by a golf club.
“That was for my Harry Potter scar, as I call it,” he said, referring to the fictional boy wizard. “I call it that because it glows sometimes and some people notice it. Other times they don’t notice it at all.”
William said if he was invisible for a day he would go into a newspaper office.
“I’d hide in the background and listen to all the stories they talk about me,” he said.
William has been president of the Royal Marsden Hospital in London since 2007, where his mother, Princess Diana was also president. His appearance was meant to help the hospital raise funds for a children’s cancer wing.
Alice Marples, a young cancer patient, conducted the interview at Clarence House, the London residence of William’s father, Prince Charles.
In an interview last month, William spoke about the death of his mother as he became a royal patron of a bereavement charity.
Twitterlicious video!!
This video is HILARIOUS!!! BTW, Tweet me at OKHeather!!
Joaquin off his bean? Jack-O Back-O?
Here is the most recent episode of Entertainment Insider!!
Cagey Dog Inspires Resolution
A reader emailed me and asked why my dog is named David Blaine. Here is the explanation, from a column that originally published just after the New Year.
We’ve renamed my dog. Buddy is now David Blaine. No, he hasn’t attempted any death-defying acts involving ice, water or hanging upside down, and he hasn’t learned to levitate. But he is a consummate escape artist.
His most recent exploit was New Year’s Eve. We recently moved to a new home, and I thought the backyard was secure. Leave it to David Blaine to find the fence’s weakness. I put him out to potty that morning, and he was gone 20 minutes later.
I walked the neighborhood and drove around searching for him, to no avail. And, alas, I had to go to work. All day, I worried about David Blaine; I left work early to continue the search.
I pulled into my driveway and noticed a big sign on my front door: Found terrier. There was a number to call. It felt like a New Year’s Eve miracle!
I called, and the nicest man, Kurt Sampley, answered and said that yes, his wife, Andrea, had found David Blaine meandering in the middle of the street. She opened her car door, and David Blaine just hopped in.
Andrea and Kurt are self-proclaimed neighborhood dog rescuers; Andrea walked house to house trying to find David Blaine’s home. Apparently, she learned we were the new kids on the block, and when she approached our house, David Blaine got excited. She figured it must be his home.
So, Andrea printed signs and posted them at the neighborhood’s entrances and on my front door. Kurt even offered to shore up our fence so crafty little David Blaine couldn’t get away with his street magic.
The Sampleys’ selfless act touched me. The New Year’s Eve timing of the event inspired me to adopt a resolution to be more like them. For 2009, I plan to go above and beyond to help my friends and neighbors more.
Now, I’m not recommending you go out and grab up every stray dog you see. Some strays, especially hungry or scared dogs, are dangerous, and you should call an expert. I am suggesting that if you see a need in your neighborhood, step up! Ask yourself, “What would the Sampleys do?”
A Honeymoon To Remember
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- The Jeep tour was an adrenaline rush, for sure. Andy said he was never scared but I don’t believe him.
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- Villa Botanica is a beautiful event venue, perfect for a destination wedding.
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- Andy’s wedding ring lies buried in the white sandy shore at Buck Island.
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- On St. Croix, rum is big business. The Cruzan Rum factory exports its rum at 180 proof to Florida where it is flavored and bottled.
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- St. John is a real family vacation destination. We saw more kids there than on any of the other US Virgin Islands.
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- I thought this hear-shaped coral found on a beach in St. Croix was cool.
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- The Caribbean is so warm and clear.
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- The main streets of St. Thomas are lined with shopping opportunities.
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- More shopping in St. Thomas.
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- We watched this beautiful sunset on St. John.
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- Our crazy jeep tour of St. Croix culminated in an unexpected rock climbing experience.
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- From a mountain in St. Thomas, you can see the cruise ship port.
Have you ever daydreamed of spending blissful days alone with your sweetie on a deserted island surrounded by clear blue ocean? On blustery late winter days in Oklahoma, the warm, tropical Caribbean climate can be just what the doctor ordered. That’s exactly what we found when my new husband, Andy and I traveled to The U.S. Virgin Islands for our honeymoon.
Whoever invented the honeymoon knew that after the stress of planning a wedding and getting married, a newly married couple really needs a break from reality. I know we did. We couldn’t have chosen a more interesting and beautiful destination to get away from it all and just concentrate on being newlyweds.
Since the U.S. Virgin Islands are U.S. territory, you don’t need a passport to travel there but you do need a birth certificate with the official raised stamp to get out of there (a good reason to leave your birth certificate at home).
First stop: St. Croix
We began our journey in St. Croix, the largest of the four U.S. islands. St. Croix is the island for history buffs as it has flown seven different flags and has dozens of old sugar mills dotting the landscape, reminiscent of the more than 200 sugar plantations that were once the lifeblood of the economy.
We stayed at The Buccaneer Hotel, a historic resort on the site of a 17th century plantation. The grounds are beautiful with lush landscaping, an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts and open-air restaurants that sit right on the sandy beach. From our suite, we had a spectacular view of the hotel’s pool with gentle waves from the turquoise Caribbean Sea lapping the shores just beyond.
While on St. Croix, we visited the Cruzan Rum Distillery where you can tour the distillery and then taste the different rums. Cruzan Rum boasts no hangovers because they distill out all the fusil oils, which supposedly cause hangovers.
We spent an afternoon touring the beautiful St. George Botanical Gardens and historical Estate Whim Plantation Museum, two must-see destinations in St. Croix.
Christiansted and Fredericksted are historic seaside downtown areas full of shopping with art, souvenir, clothing and jewelry shops. After shopping and lunch at Fort Christian Brew Pub, we boarded a catamaran with Big Beard’s Adventure Tours and sailed 40 minutes to Buck Island National Park. It’s a tiny island, completely protected from any development, where visitors can picnic, walk the beautiful white sand and snorkel the amazing reefs. While snorkeling, my new husband lost his wedding ring! I trolled the sandy bottom of the ocean looking for it but it was time to move on so I had to abandon the search. So, somewhere at the bottom of the Caribbean, Andy’s lovely, shiny wedding band awaits a crafty diver with an underwater metal detector.
The most hair-raising adventure was a jeep tour with Tan Tan Tours. Andy and I found ourselves perched on the raised back seat of a rugged Jeep Wrangler, flying up and down treacherous cliff-side dirt roads, white-knucking the roll bar and praying for dear life. (OK, I am prone to hyperbole but it was scary!) After about 40 minutes of this death-defying ride, we careened down the side of a hill and ended up on one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. There, we climbed some treacherous rocks that led us to serene tide pools. The destination was worth the near-death experience — I would recommend the Jeep tour for the adrenaline junky type.
Destination: St. Thomas
We flew by sea plane from St. Croix to St. Thomas, the second largest island in the USVI. The most cosmopolitan of all the islands, St. Thomas is the place to shop, dine and party. It has more jewelry shops than I’ve ever seen and everything is tax-free. St. Thomas is where cruise ships dock daily so the island is always bustling. Visitors travel by safari, open-air public busses which you can jump on and cruise from one end of the island to the other for about $1.
We only spend the better part of one day on St. Thomas but it was great fun. We bought Andy a new wedding ring at one of the many jewelry shops boasting 85 percent discounts today only and ate a wonderful Italian lunch at Virgilio’s in the Charlotte Amalie area. After shopping, we took a driving tour of the island with a wonderful driver, Campbell Rey during which we visited a breathtaking event site called Villa Botanica. Like much of the USVI, it is the site of an old sugar plantation and the new owner has turned it into a fantastical botanical garden. It’s a perfect site for a destination wedding and renting the facility is actually inexpensive compared to many wedding facilities.
Final stop: St. John
After our day on St. Thomas, we took a ferry to St. John, my favorite of all the islands. St. John is tiny and two-thirds of the island is protected national park. Only about 5,500 people live on the 20-square-mile island but usually, the population is doubled with tourists. We stayed at the beautiful Westin St. John. The resort is very family-oriented — we were surprised to see so many kids of all ages.
St. John is the most serene, quiet and restful of the islands (with the exception of Water Island where only 100 people live). We loved the relaxed atmosphere. I can understand why it is a huge destination wedding location — with miles of silky white sand beaches open to the public, it’s the perfect place for dreamy, barefoot nuptials. We met with the Stacy Mulcare, the island’s only wedding planner, who showed us around. Hawksnest Beach, Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Beach are a few of Mulcare’s favorite wedding sites. She said she plans about 70 weddings per year.
After our tour of the island, Andy and I grabbed a bottle of Cruzan vanilla rum, our towels and sunscreen and headed to the Westin’s private beach. It was the last day of our honeymoon and we just wanted to soak up the tropical sun, swim in the ocean and sip some Caribbean rum. Of all the adventures we’d had in the Virgin Islands, lounging on beach chairs, toes buried in sand, talking, laughing and watching little kids build sand castles until the sun set was perhaps the most romantic of all.
