West Coast working is hard....

I am exhausted!!! It is now 1:11am Atlanta time and I just got back from dinner. I was in meetings starting at 7:30am San Diego time and then went almost straight to dinner! I did have time to catch up on some blogs during the meeting but I wasn't able to leave any comments so I have to go back and do that. It is just hard working on the west coast because by dinnertime you are so tired and there is still more to come. Oh well, I am going home tomorrow. I keep checking the delta website in hopes that I will be upgraded but it doesn't look like I have been yet.

Sorry, not much exciting tonight but I promise I will be better tomorrow.

It lasted!!

I survived my flight and all went well! The guy next to me was nice, the movie was cute, the seat was bigger enough for me to nap comfortably and we were on time! Tonight the "social" event was dinner and a battle of that band game on Xbox...it is like the guitar hero except you can also play the drums or sing...I am not going to say I am good but....well, I am good. A lot of people couldn't make it through the song. Each location had to play and the winner got to keep the xboxes! I didn't count as a location and my partner wasn't as good but it was still fun! It is not that late here but it is late back home! I am going to try to stay on Atlanta time and just get up early and work out in the morning....there are lots of hills and now I have some exercises my trainer gave me...I am hoping if I do them that means I will not get as sore on Wednesday when I go back to him (I know I am crazy and will still be sore but oh well)

I will probably regret doing this,

But I will do it anyway. Today I woke up a little stressed, or should say I went to bed stressed. Morgan and I went to Drena's last night and left sort of late. On the way home the exit we needed was closed and the one following it was also closed so we had to go way out of the way and ended up in a bad area of town at 12:30am. I am not one to get super squimish and sort of follow the philosophy that dangerous peopls can smell fear so if you act unafraid you will be better off. That being said, I also dont intentionally get in harm's way and last night felt like we were headed that way. Luckily Morgan has one of the most amazing sense of direction of anyone I have ever met and she got us to safety. By the time all this occurred I had not cleaned off and backed up my sessions from last weekend so I could use the card, had not changed the background at my place and had not packed a single thing for San Diego. This was problematic because as I had just discovered the highways were a mess and my first client was at 9. And 30 mins away, right through all that traffic, then I had to come back through the traffic around 11 to get back to my house by noon for the next shoot and then leave as soon as that one was over at 1 to go back through the traffic to catch my 3pm flight. Now you see how there was no extra time for cleaning cards, backing up, packing and changing backgrounds. I called Craig all stressed when I got in after 1 and as always he made me think it through and I did half last night (packing,changing background) and would do the rest (cleaning off cards) while drinking my latte. I was skeptical but I set the alarm for 7 and went to bed at 2am. Yikes!

So, today had all the potential to go wrong, but I was plesantly surprised... I got to the first client early and got all set up. The baby was AWESOME and I got some great shots and then was abler to leave early (I schedule 2 hours at the house for newborns cause they usually freak out at some point). Got back through town with no traffic and had 2 hours to take out trash and make sure I had packed undies and even to edit some pics. Second client showed up 20 mins early and again the baby was good so we were done by 12:30. Sweet! I was able to learn earlier for the airport and even though I sat in traffic I still made it in plenty of time! My flight is on time and I am in first class which includes dinner! I had dinner one other time on delta in first class and it was yummy so i hope this is too. Either that or I was just so tired of Australian food last time that it tasted good. I grabbed a snack in case. I also grabbed a photography magazine at the airport that has a section on portrait photography and the guy sitting next to me seems normal. Plus the movie is suposed to be Definitley, Maybe! I did forget my ipod but oh well. I will be back on Tuesday so I will deal. This has been the best flight experience as of late! Thought I should share and I hope it doesnt end with me on a runway for an hour before we take off. Tonight will be tough cause there is "lively" entertainment until 10pm and that 1am my time and since this is a PR trup for my department I need to go! At least I will gain 3 hours in the morning!! More later!

Sweet Treats

I have a real sweet tooth lately (I seem to go through these phases). I have been trying to think of something that will satisfy it that is not that bad for me...anyone have any suggestions?

Personal Trainer kicked my arse

So tonight was my first session with my new personal trainer...Dudley's personal trainer too so we did the session together. The best way to describe it is that I am sitting on my floor right now getting ready to do some editing from last weekend and I am not so sure I will be able to get up. I really should take a bath with epsom salt but I don't want to make sure my tub is clean and I don't want to take a bath in my tub if it isn't just cleaned. Anyway, he was tough!! The good part of it was that he showed us things that I will be able to do in my hotel room (squats, stairs, jumps, climbing on chairs). I wore Al and I burned almost 700 calories during the session. At one point after jumping through all these hoops (literally) my heart rate percentage was 101% of my maximum heart rate...how is that even possible?? I am not sure it is. Maybe Al was mad I was making him work so hard. I think that this will be good for me though because I hope that it will make me work out when I am not there so I am not in pain every time I am (or after I am I guess I should say).

Nothing going on tonight...editing, cleaning and watching the TBS version of Wedding Crashers...

And, yes, I had never seen Footloose...very sad, but I am going to get the soundtrack from Morgan this weekend.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Why I love this city...

Tonight Morgan and I went to Screen on the Green to see Footloose! I had never seen it (I know, I know) so it was a special treat for me. It is a lot easier to get a seat when there are only two of you so we left a little earlier and learning from last week we made sure we got a seat in the middle where it was nice and loud (the movie, not the people). The movie was definitely corny and I am pretty sure that in the scene where Kevin Bacon runs away with his beer and cigarette to dance that he is not really wearing jeans but instead he is wearing some sort of ballet tights that are made to look like jeans. I seriously doubt his manhood would survive jeans that were that tight. The best part of the movie was the dance scene at the end where people watching it all around us literally got up and danced...I didn't, but it was still fun to watch everyone! Oh, and they had free little cups of Cake Batter ice cream from Cold Stone!! Yummy. These are the things I would miss if I lived in a small town....we didn't even use a car to get there. 5 min walk to the train station, 5 min train ride and 5-10 min walk to the park....nice evening if you ask me. I was really sad that they moved Screen on the Green but at the same time I feel like they have shown better movies...definitely better than some silly Elvis movie that made no sense.

Also, just to clarify from yesterday, I don't want to live in the country....I want to live in a city, just not one with a 68 county "metropolitan area". I like the fun stuff a city has to offer, but when I flew in today and thought that it must be pouring on the ground cause I couldn't see the ground for all the rain/smoke/fog/smog it sort of disgusted me :-(

ups and downs of flying today

Ups:
--Well, this was going to be that my flight was leaving on time but then we were delayed.
--I have air on the plane unlike the other day so I am not sweating to death. --Security was short with no extras measures done to me.
--I tried the apple dippers at Mickey D's in an effort to eat healthier and they were yummy!
--No traffic on the way home at 4:15 (gas must be really expensive).

Downs:
--I have one of the most annoying kids ever with an annoying mother too. I knew as soon as the got on the plane that it would not be good. You can just tell. This little girl is very demanding. When we were sitting at the gate she wanted to go, when we were in the air she wanted to land, then there was a point with about an hour left where she just screamed that she wanted a nap. I was so incredibly frustrated. She was right behind me so I could hear her over my ipod! I know that parents sometimes can't help if their kid acts up but honestly, that doesn't make it anymore enjoyable for me to have a screaming kid in my ear. You can also tell who the good parents are (which all the people I know that read this are) and who the bad parents are and this lady was definitely not a good parent. I could tell by the way she interacted with the little girl and how she handled the whole 3 hours of screaming. These people also stalked me and even though I stopped to pee when I got off the plane I still ended up right next to them on the damn train. How often does that happen in Atlanta's airport?
--People sharing war stories of delayed flights and reroutes. I held my tongue in the one up game.
--These same ladies also think that they don't have accents which is ridiculous considering they sound like those actors in movies where you say "no one really sounds like that"
--The guy in front of me was like 7 feet tall and when he lean on the seat it reclined before he even reclined it but once he did actually recline it I was left with my knees in pain (not really that big of a deal though).
--Did I mention the devil child sitting behind me?

Smaller cities...

Tonight I took Al out and did my second 'normal' workout for the week...now I only have the long and short one to go. I feel good getting them all done because I actually do like how I feel when I exercise. After my workout I went to get some dinner and the sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful pink color. Yesterday when walking to Outback I noticed that the greens are greener here and the blues are bluer. They look like those landscape pictures that you see when you visit National Parks or that you see in the guidebooks. The ones that are taken with a large format camera and that everyone thinks were doctored up in photoshop but they weren't. I got to thinking and wondering why we didn't have colors like that in Atlanta. Then it came to me....we don't have those colors because of pollution...smog and light pollution. When I fly into Atlanta (and most major cities) there is a nasty hazy that just lingers in the air. It is so sad. This got me to thinking that maybe I want to live in a smaller city. I feel so torn....when I was in Philly I loved it there cause you can walk right out your door and 5 walking mins later be where you want to be...no car needed. But then when I am here and see how beautiful the colors are and wish that I had my camera it makes me want to live somewhere with no traffic and with less pollution. I can't hit 3 Targets in 10 mins here though....but there is one. Maybe as I get older and as I travel to other towns it just points out the things about Atlanta that annoy me. I hate planning my whole life around traffic. Smaller cities think that they have traffic but after being in Atlanta for 7 years it would seem like nothing. Atlanta is my home though...it is almost where I grew up and definitely where I did a lot of growing. Hmmmm....do any of you ever feel like you would leave the city you are in for another one?

Update on my client...

A few posts ago I talked about my young client who passed away. I still have no idea what happened but his wife called today to settle their bill and I asked her how she was doing. She said she was still grieving and she was worried about her finances with a new baby and house. It is all so sad. I told her I would contact her soon to schedule the next session and she said she didn't want to do it because of finances :-( I know a couple of you asked me about it and unfortunately I don't have an update, but it does sound to me that it was something they were not prepared for and that was not expected.

Not much in Albany

Not much to blog about today...I took it easy after the day that I had yesterday. I did take Al down to the workout room and did one of our workouts. It was good because I did the treadmill a lot faster than normal cause I had to in order to keep my heart rate up...that is good because at least I feel like I wasn't working out hard enough before and this is a true measure. It is funny because you learn a lot about your heart rate...like when you drink water your heart rate goes way up....it sort of reminds me of how when Erin's girls were in the hospital trying to learn to eat...something. Also, when you bend down your heart rate goes way down...maybe why they tell you to put your head between your legs when you are going to pass out. One thing that I can't seem to figure out though is the correlation between my heart rate and my breathing. The other day at the park I had a pain in my side cause I couldn't breathe but my heart rate was right where it should it be....weird....you would think that if I was breathing hard then my heart rate would be higher. I also finally talked to Dudley's personal trainer and think that I am going to have my first appointment with him on Friday. He even said he would do a workout plan for me to do in my hotel room...this helps me achieve my goal of a personal trainer so I am excited about that! Not much else going on here....but don't fear cause I travel again on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday. I hope that I don't have any stories for you but it hasn't worked out that way lately!

HERE!!

I finally made it to Albany..hungry and cranky....this is a less to me to get some snacks for the plane from now on. They didn't have anything on my last flight. I felt so bad for the flight attendant because she was trying so hard but there was just nothing else that she could do!

Thank you guys for cheering me up! All the replies made me giggle....Beth, yours was the least expected and Meghan I could just picture Caroline saying "that is the baby that poopied in the pool" and parents wondering if their kid really did or not. Drena your joke was very you so that made me chuckle too! I have now had dinner and a beer and am going to bed soon! I can't believe how crazy this day was and when I got here there was sun!! More storms tonight are supposedly coming so who knows what tomorrow will bring. I don't travel again until Thursday thank goodness!

Flying is fun, part 2

10:40am: Leave to go back to the airport.
12:15pm: Discover that I am sitting in the middle seat, second to last row of the plane ans the bathroom smell is overwhelming. Oh, and the girl next to me is picking at her arm...GROSS!!!!
2:58pm: Almost died cause the pilot thought it would be a good idea to try to land the wing before the plane. Any of you ever fishtailed in a plane? I was about to puke!!
3:15pm: Realize my flight is delayed which is a good thing because I doubt I would have made it otherwise. I had to leave the terminal, take a shuttle to another terminal and got back through security all in 40 mins until the delay. That is why I like Atlanta's airport, once you are in you can go anywhere in the air conditioning.
4:35pm: Board tiny ass plane to ALB. This plane is so small that is has props and my bag wouldn't fit up top. So I have my bag with two computers and my purse with me. The attendant tells us that it will not be full so the guy sitting next to me moves so I have room for my stuff. Then this guy whose was preaching in the airport got on with his son (my age) and he wants his son to sit next to me. No offense to anyone at all but after this day, the last thing I want to hear about is him!! I give a rude look, dont care at this point. The flight is 30 mins and there is no reason why I should have all my shit on top of me when they are not in their correct seats. The attendant is nice and suggests that the son sits up front after I ask where else I can sit with room for stuff and there is nowhere. He obliges (probably cause of the nasty look). Whatever, I am cranky!
5:20pm: I realize we havent moved at all!
5:25pm: It is hot as blazes (no air conditioning until we are in the air so only hot air blows!!). We have no number for take off yet! They have stopped all northbound air traffic because of weather! I wish they would let us stay here and I would call my aunt and uncle!
5:45pm: I am forced to use the nastiest airplane bathroom EVER!! The toilet paper has a corner wet with the blue stuff from the toilet and there is nowhere to wash your hands. I have to acrefully get paper around the blue wet part without touching the blue part!! Oh the fun! I suddenly remember why I dont drink all my water when I travel!! (Though I am on track for the day)
6:00pm: I notice that the flight attendant (who has been awesome but who cant do anything) is fanning a lady and giving her ice. Uh oh!! Please dont pass out lady!! Discussions of going back tot the gate are had. Preacher man knows everything and wont shut up. I have taken off my cute little sweater vest type thing (not argyle or anything) cause I am so blessed hot. Pants are also rolled up! I was cooler at the pool in the blazing sun than I am right now and my dinner date (not really) is going to go without me if I am not airborne by 7. Not looking good!
6:10pm: FINALLY we have a number and are 8 for departure! I got up 12 hours ago and this is where I am???

Stay tuned, the day is not over yet!! I would give a nice prize to anyone who could make me laugh right now!!!! Who is up for the challenge???

Flying is fun..NOT

This is how my day has gone so far:
6:30am: Got up for my 9:46 flight cause Atlanta's airport sucks on Monday morning
7:25am: Leave my house for the airport
7:35am: Realize I left my cell phone at home, oh well, at least I have a blackberry now. Hope no clients call.
7:50am: Get to the airport. No parking at my normal spot so I have to park further away, but not that big of a deal.
8:00am: See when I check in that my flight has been delayed until 11:50am...awesome.
8:05am: Decide I will check my bag so I don't have to drag it back to my car and then I will go home to get my phone and check the updates for flight status. Plus, I will stop at Publix to get the mix to make my latte. I was going to get one at the airport but now I just want it now and am going to make it at home. At least I get to avoid the long security line.
8:40am: Get home after my stop at Publix adn some traffic (light) on the connector.
8:45am: Check my flight again, now delayed until 12:50..hoping I get out today.
10:00am: Check my flight again and now see that I do not get to go directly to Albany but instead I get to go to LGA first. This also means that I will not get into Albany until 5:15...umm, the location personnel leave at 5. Problem. Another problem is that I checked my bag this morning. Are they going to move it? The lady on the medallion line says that they should but I should check when I get to the airport. I do not have a good feeling about this so I am packing an extra set of undies and a shirt (pants I can rewear if I have to and I don't have room for them since I already checked my bag!

I know you guys are entertained by my travel stories so I thought I would share this one with you. Hopefully the end result will end up ok but now I might be working tonight....that part sucks since I need to edit. Needless to say, the upside and downside of traveling today looks to be lopsided!

At least Dave and Erin's girls weren't this big!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_on_fe_st/odd_big_twins

In case the story is gone..the boy weighed 10 pounds 14 ozs and the girl weighed 12 pounds 3 ozs. My high school friend who I met up with last week told me of a friend of hers that had twines that were each 6 lbs but wow...these babies are huge even for a non-twin!!

This weekend, walks in the park and my storage unit.

This weekend was pretty good...I feel like it was really busy and I didn't get everything done that I wanted to...point in case is that I should be packing right now but I threw some things in a bag and I just hope that I remembered everything (checked and there are undies in there). Friday night was dinner with everyone at a Carribean place...it was interesting but the food was good. I hate how we always sit at long tables though because then I barely see or talk to the people at the other end of the table. Saturday was filled with shoots and then I went to have dinner with my mom, Richard, Alyson, and Zach and of course my little busy bee. We played at the table long past every else being ready to leave when dinner was over...she loves me, what can I say? She also loves to suck on my necklace.....the one Craig gave me for my birthday last year....it is nice when I get it back against my neck all slobbery. I love her though so it is ok :-)

Today I went to the park and did my exercise with Al...Sadly I never got around to doing my exercise yesterday so today I had to double up. For some reason the 101 goals keeps me motivated...I like to count the days that I have accomplished some of them :-) It has made me eat a piece of fruit every day, take a vitamin every day, and I have gotten in all my water (which I am now back to needing or I feel really thirsty). I also talked to Dudley about her personal trainer and we might do it together so that will be fun! If nothing else, these goals should help me get rid of the few pounds I put on in the last two months with traveling (that always happens for some reason unless I really stay on top of the exercising). When I went to the park I sort of expected it to be lively and full of activity. It was Pride week in Atlanta and I live in the more proud part of town, but there was nothing. They moved all the activities to the Civic center so they were not in Piedmont Park anymore :-( I also didn't go to the parade this year because I was busy waiting for a client that never showed up. Oh well. There is always next year.

Finally, I got my storage unit last Wednesday and I LOVE it!!! I have begun to clean out my closet and actually I have gotten a lot of stuff out. I need to get a couple more storage boxes for my closet to put some of my crafts in now that I have moved all the boxes from my camera stuff that I didn't want to get rid of into the storage unit. Other things that take up a lot of room: cooler, suitcase, printer I barely use, out of season purses/shoes. These are all gone!! I can see the closet floor. I actually took before pictures and will take after but I am pretty sure I will be too embarassed to put them up. I am also going to turn my coat closet into a prop closet (still have the coats in there but the rest of it will be props, I think. It is fun to reorganize everything, but hard at the same time. I had to do it in between sessions this weekend and I am hoping I can get all my editing done this week while I am out of town and then finish up the cleaning on Thursday. I told Craig that he would be so proud of how clean and organized it will be....now I have to make sure I finish :-)

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I am off to Albany tomorrow for a few days..shouldn't be too bad and it feels like my second home there now. I also got another employee so soon I will have two seniors working under me...it will really help to get all the work spread out! Sorry this was a bit of a rambling post.

My love/hate relationship with Lost

Do any of you watch Lost? I didn't watch it the first season but when I started traveling with people who watched I got dragged in. I usually DVR it because I don't really even know when it comes on. I would forget and then catch up and then forget and then catch up. I think that my DVR erases them sometimes if it gets full and then I miss them. Anyway, in the last two days I have watched the final two episodes and they just confuse me more and more. This show is so annoying because every time you finally understand one part they do something else to confuse you...what is that black smoke anyway and why are dead people reappearing in the future? Yet, despite the fact that this show annoys me to no end, I continue to watch it. WHY? So I can get annoyed all over again? I have no idea but I feel like I need Lost cliff notes! I am sure I could find a blog somewhere that talks all about it but why do I even care? It is a show for goodness sake.....I can't even remember when it is on yet once I watch it I want to know more and more. Just curious if you guys do this with anything.

Working on the 101 goals and finally getting some organization...

I am the proud new owner of a storage unit. It actually looks a lot bigger when he got all his stuff out of there so I am pretty excited about this...I started a list of what I could put in there and I started cleaning out my closet. I am not normally in a cleaning mood so I figured I should take advantage of it while I felt that way. Only downside is that I have pulled out a bunch of crap to sort through and I will have to pack it all away because I have 4 clients this weekend!

Also, trying to implement some of the 101 goals...it is a little hard!

Started on:
--Drinking 48 ounces of water a day but haven't done it consistently.
--Have done 2 of the 4 workouts with Al this week to start that one
--Asked people for book suggestions (though only 4 of 10 responded)
--Looked up my website stats and I only have 8 more states to go to hit all 50 states so that is exciting.

Tomorrow:
--Going to spend an hour a day cleaning out my emails and organizing them until they are done...this is hard because I also get 100 new ones a day (if not more)....I am going to implement Molly's suggestions and see if that helps me to get a ton knocked out at first. I also finally canceled my Cox address which seemed to be where I got a lot of the junk mail from so that should also help!
--If I have time, continue to clean out the closet of things that have not been worn in over a year...amazing what you find when you start doing that.
--As part of the moving stuff to storage I am going to clean out my crafts which will knock another one off the list.

I can't believe that tomorrow is Thursday already! Time flies when you travel, but I was extremely productive at work today and am very proud of myself.

Tomorrow Morgan and I are going to Screen on the Green to see E.T. I haven't seen that movie since 4th grade when they showed it at school and Stacie Dover cried....I remember that we all thought that was funny, but I know full well that I might shed a tear now...funny how she was the only one who had a heart back then!

Hope all is well!

This might be a problem....

currently I have over 3,500 emails in my inbox!!!! Yikes! I was thinking of a goal I could work on and remembered my no more than 50 emails when I leave work each day! I wonder how many days it will take me to get it from over 3,500 to 50.....this is just sad!

I AM HOME!!

I am so excited! Got home from Nashville early today (not early really, but earlier than I was supposed to) and traffic wasn't that bad so Al and I got a nice long walk in the park. It was just what the doctor ordered and there were lots of people in the park today! WOW! I decided that since I had the time I should do the long workout...an hour and ten minutes. The hard part was that I had to slow my walking down for some of it because you have to keep your heart rate pretty tight and for a while. It was a bit of a challenge, especially using the podrunner because the beat is fast.

I got to see my best friend from high school this morning. We were supposed to meet for a drink last night since she lives in Nashville but since my dinner ran over and she had to start rounds this morning at 6am (she is doing her last year of residency (I think) with Vandy in the OB/GYN area because she wants to do high risk pregnancies (at least the last time I saw her that was what she wanted to do, I didn't ask again this time because I am sure she gets sick of explaining it and we only had an hour)). She had a break from 7-9 so she brought a latte to my hotel and we hung out for an hour or so. I told her all about Erin's pregnancy (sorry Erin but she knows all that stuff) and she was telling me how she is so amazed that the women don't lose it more when they are on bedrest for that long. She said that sometimes the medicial students aren't allow to go in the patients' rooms because they are so on the edge that they try to give them special treatment to at least ease the pain a little bit. I just remembered how Erin looked forward to the sheet changing because it was an activity so maybe I should tell her that they should go in the rooms....then again, everyone is probably not as nice as Erin is, so maybe that isn't the best idea. Anyway, the point of all this was that I love how it doesn't matter how long it has been since I talked to her, when we get together it is like we never skipped a beat. I lived with her my freshman year and everyone told us not to do it because we would end up hating each other afterwards but it wasn't true at all...we had a blast! We left that year making promises to keep in touch since she was going to be in the sorority house next door, but it just never really happened. We would try to do lunches and stuff and we got together for our birthdays but overall we sort of lost touch. The funny thing though is that she is the type of friend that I can not talk to for 2 years, and then when I do we still have no problems talking to each other. I know that we have been apart for a long time and we have lived our own lives and we have matured but for some reason it just doesn't seem like anything has changed...it still seems like all those times that we would convince our moms to drop us off at each other's house or let us meet at the movies. I love friendships like that. I have known her since 7th grade and she saw everything I went through up until my second year of college...all the fun times, heartbracks, deaths of friends parents, cancer, death of friends, divorces, whatever it was and she still loved me for who I was....it is hard to find friends like that. Don't get me wrong...I love all of you for who you are but we met at a different point in our lives and I could tell you about all the things that I went through when growing up (good and bad) and all the things that I dealt with but it isn't the same as you being there. I just don't think that there is any replacement for a childhood friend. I wish that we could be better about keeping in touch....she has FINALLY joined the regular world and started responding to email so maybe that will help! It was definitely great to see her though!

Men and their golf...

I don't understand the facination! For those of you who don't know (or don't have a husband telling you), yesterday Rocco something and Tiger Woods tied at the US open, then they had to play 18 holes today and tied in that so they had to play another 18 holes and tied in that which finally sent them to sudden death. The first person to win a hole won the tournament. Well, today started our meeting and we took a break at 2:45 Nashville time and they turned the projector on with the match or whatever you call it on....we were supposed to have a 30 min break but since the contest continued we had an over 45 min break....it got me to thinking about how I just don't understand what is so appealing about watching golf. I love to play it, but I am not sure I could sit there for hours watching someone else play. I have to admit that I have never watched it so maybe I am missing out on something that is very entertaining but somehow, I doubt it!

Al and I are back together....

You might not have noticed, and I might not have told you what happened, but Al and I were separated for a while. I took a sin class at work about a month ago and when I was done I was so sweaty that I rinse out the strap that goes with Al and then wrapped it in a towel to dry it and accidentally threw the towel in the laundry at work. Uh oh!! I was so upset. I had just gotten Al and figured out how to use him. I figured it out when I was packing for Colorado because I was going to take him with me to see how the altitude affected my heart rate. I even went into a bike shop while we were in Estes Park to see if I could find the strap (I still had the watch and transmitter). Finally I emailed the girl at work that I normally work out with and she was able to get it from the gym. Unfortunately she put it in my office and I haven't been back there yet so today on my way to my dad's I stopped by the office and got it. As soon as I got home from my dad's I took Al out and we went to the park. There was good people watching in the park today...I don't understand how those couples lay all over each other on days this hot!! I missed him and it was fun to be back together! I used some new music that was recommended to me and I think that it helped me to pick up the pace a bit. I am a "to the beat" kind of gal...I can hear the beats in songs and I naturally gravitate toward them. With podrunner, the beat is fast and distinct and it keeps me at a little faster pace than my normal music. You can download it from their website but I am not sure how and being the non-technology smart person that I am, I just get it from iTunes. It is a podcast, free and a new one comes out once a week. They also have an interval one but I haven't listened to that one yet. For all you runners (or walkers or cyclists) out there, you should give it a try! So far so good for me.

As you can probably tell from my posts, I feel a little sad lately. I think that a lot of it has to do with being on the road so much lately and not getting to talk to anyone ever. Normally when I am on the road I get to talk to Craig every night and stuff but lately I have been having to go to dinners and he has been busy so we have barely talked....and I haven't seen most of you guys in weeks either :-( I head to Nashville tomorrow (where I am actually going to see my best friend from high school that I haven't seen in a while) but only for two days and then I will be home for 5 whole days!! YAY! Morgan and I are planning on going to Screen on the Green on Thursday since they are playing ET and I could be talked into trivia on Wednesday if anyone is interested and then there is the dinner with everyone on Friday so those give me something to look forward to and I am sure I will be in a better mood soon! This weekend already helped because I had dinner with Jen on Friday and went to see Sex and the City with Morgan, my sister, Jen, and her mom on Saturday. Morgan and I then hit the W hotel for drinks...the drinks were pricey but there was some good people watching! And we actually stayed out past 1....can you believe it!

On a side note, I am still a little upset not knowing what happened to my client so I tried to look up the obituary but it didn't have any information.....such a sad situation and right before his first father's day!

New blog feature....

If you guys are obsessed with blogs, like me, then check out the new page element, blog list. You just type in the address of the blog and it already knows the title of the blog and then underneath it you can see when the last time it was updated was. I like it because usually once I go to one person's blog, I skip around to the others and this way you will know if it has been updated or not....you can see it on the side of my blog....so check it out.

I love you all!!!

I am sad right now and just wanted to tell all of you that I love you! I had a client who paid online by eCheck and I got a message yesterday that the eCheck had failed/cancelled so I forwarded the email to the client and asked if he could resubmit. He usually responds right away so when I didn't hear from him I gave his wife a call today (my email sometimes sends stuff to their spam so I was just giving her a heads up). She called back and left me a message that said she wasn't sure what happened and the only thing that she could think of was that he passed away on Monday but she wasn't sure how the bank would have known. This freaked me out....this guy was in his 30s and they have a baby that is under 6 months old. The pictures I took 3 weeks ago might be some of the last ones that were taken of him. I have no idea what happened but I have to believe that it was something tragic because there was never any mention of him being sick or anything and these were pretty open people. It just makes you realize how short life is and how you should tell everyone that you love them. So, I love you guys!!

Safely in Dallas

My goodness, what an adventure!! I am safely in Dallas now. I am a little disappointed because we were right downtown in Philly and I loved it because I could walk all around and stuff but here we are right off the highway in a sort of industrial park type area. The hotel is really nice and everything but I just couldn't walk around this morning :-( I did get up and go to the gym so that made me feel a little bit better and now I am in my room trying to get some work done while the meeting downstairs is just a repeat of everything I heard the other day...I have to go back down there in a little while to mingle some more. Sorry for all the updates last night but I didn't know what else to do with my time!

update

I know you guys probably dont care but since I am stuck on a plane you get to hear anyway! So the guy had heart probelsm, lost conscienceness (spelled that totally wrong I am sure) and then had a seizure! He is off the plane but now it will take 30-45 mins to get a new route or something! This sucks but at least they said the guy is ok! Now I am dying of thirst cause they got just to us before it all went down!

Question: why is your boy standing in the aisle emptying his wallet counting 100s?? I should mention that he is also wearing a gold rope chain. Nice, but it is all the entertainment I have right now so it has to do!!

We got more fuel and now waiting on paperwork. Good news is that the new flight time is 36 mins! Sweet!

it continues...

So, after the hour on the runway we took off and now an hour later we have landed in Shrevport because of a medical emergency. I have no idea what the emergency is but half an hour ago they asked for a nurse or doctor and then 15 mins later I felt us decending and sure enough, next was the announcement that we were landing! I feel bad for whoever it is because 1. They aren't feeling well and 2. They just made a plane land that was alreay an hour late! Geez, I guess someone is having a worse day than me, but it has definitely been a rough travel day for me!

still on the runway

That's right, it has been an hour and we still have 5 planes in front of us!!!! Ridiculous! I definitely have some more downs for the previous post that I will add later! I have been thinking of them as I sit here!! Oh, and I saw the Judd video again :-). That at least made me smile for a second. Delta and Atlanta are sort of a nightmare together. I love them both and hate to day it but I have had 6 flights on other airlines lately and they were all on time or early. I also had Delta flights on time but not EVER through Atlanta. It is ok until you have to connect and then it SUCKS. Wish me luck, the wheels are moving and I will probably be in trouble using my electronic device. I bet the guy next to me would tell on me! That is ok cause as soon as we are airborn I have to pee. I should almost be there by now.

Today's ups and downs of flying...

Ups:
I saw the Delta safety flight information video that Judd was in.
I made my second flight and had time to eat even though my first flight was late.
On this flight I am in the exit row.
I was a good citizen on the first flight and switched seats with a kid who got separated from his family.

Downs:
I am sitting next to "that" guy. The one who is running his business from his phone really loudly and will until the plane takes off.
The other guy has his reading light on already which means no chance of sleeping cause it is going to reflect off the page and pierce my eyes the whole flight. I have a mask for these situations but it is in the overhead bin and I am two people in.
There was no good food in my terminal that didnt have a really long line and I had 10 mins so I had to eat Checkers... TOO MUCH grease!! Ugh!
The guy next to me is big and sighs every 10 seconds...eewww
After I ate yucky food my flight was delayed another 20 mins and that would be if we took off now.
I am ready to be home and coming through Atlanta made me want to just go out to my car and go home.

I think that I am cranky :-( At least some of you are back and it is not just Drena and I entertaining each other! Plus, I get to see Sex and the City on Saturday with the girls and I heard it was really good! I also might be getting a seconf employee at work! Yay! That means less recs that I will have to do! Ok, I think they are closing the doors so I have to go!

Off to Dallas...

I just finished up with my meeting in Philly and now I am headed to Dallas to do it all over again! I did just find out that I got upgraded to first class so that makes two flights in a row (just kidding,when I got to the airport I was no longer upgraded)! Pretty pumped about that, but I do have to connect through Atlanta and I fear that I will be one of those people that is running to their next flight. Hopefully not but you know how Atlanta can get!! I did hear that they cancelled the flight after mine so I hope my flight still goes. Hope everyone is having a good week...the blogs have been slow this week!

101 Goals in 1001 days.....my list

Ok guys, here is my list! I put specific timelines on a lot of them but I hope that it will force new habits that I will carry on for longer than the time limit that I have set. I am going to add a link to this list on the side of my blog and keep up with it to see how well I do! I love this idea! Can't wait to see the read the rest of yours. Hope you enjoy mine!

Health and Fitness:

1. Eat no fried food for 3 months straight (started on 6.17.09)
2. Use my heart rate monitor to complete all recommended cardio every week for 6 months.
3. Use all current beauty products before buying anymore of the same type (shampoos, body washes, makeup). Get rid of ones I will never use. I am still doing well with this and have been using up what I have and haven't bought any new stuff that I didn't need.
4. Do situps at least 5 times a week I did them today (started 6.17.09)
5. Complete a triathlon
6. Complete 2 half marathons
7. Complete 2 5ks a month for 6 months
8. Lift weights 2-3 times a week.
9. Develop a workout plan that I can use with my water weights on the road.
10. Have a physical where I am not told that my body fat percentage is too high.
11. Drink at least 48 ounces of water every day for 6 months straight.
12. Be able to do the plank pose for 1 min straight
13. Lose 15 lbs (goes with #10). Now is it up to 20lbs
14. Take my vitamin everyday for 6 months - Completed
15. Bring my lunch to work for every day I am in the office for 6 months straight.
16. Go to a personal trainer for at least 3 months. Completed
17. Be a vegetarian for two weeks straight.
18. Floss my teeth every night for at least 6 months.
19. Eat at least one piece of fruit every day for 6 months (started 6.16.09)
20. Buy only local food for one month.

Financial:


21.Start an education fund for my niece and any other nieces and nephews that come along
22. Buy only the foods that are on sale or that I have a coupon for one month and donate the savings to charity.
23. Pay all my bills with my photography business profit for one month. ALL bills.
24. Establish an emergency fund equal to one month's gross income.
25. Learn how to invest in the stock market on a short term basis
26. Start an IRA
27. Buy a house
28. Pay every bill for my dad on time every month. Completed...transferred to my sister :-)
29. Make an extra payment to highest interest mortgage every month for a year, no matter how small.
30. Don't use my credit cards other than automatic payments for one month.
31. Buy myself something every month.
32. Start an investment club with friends that might be interested.
33. Have a blog that makes money (besides the $3 I made on this blog from people clicking on ads)

Business/Photography:

34. Make sure that I have one weekend day a month where I have no sessions and am not out of town for one year.
35. Enter at least 3 photography contests Completed 1 and am entering another one in August
36. List a photography tip on my business blog at least every other week for at least 6 months.
37. Sell a photograph that is not a portrait.
38. Have a hit on my blog from each of the 50 states (42/50 so far)
39. Enter all business sales/expenses into accounting software within a week of when they occur for one year.
40. Increase average sale per customer by 50% over 6 months
41. Learn to use a medium or large format camera Completed..I have two MF cameras now.
42. Have a picture I take put in a brochure or made into a postcard
43. Be financially able to quit my corporate job if I wanted to.
44. Have my studio somewhere other than my living room.
45. Learn to shoot in manual mode for all situations. Completed, I never use any other setting now.
46. Design a website for my non-portrait photography. Completed- Melissascamera.com Need to update it.
47. Get an average of 1000 hits a month on photography site (average around 500 now).
48. Sell something out of my etsy account
49. Have every client order pictures within a month of their session


Travel:

50. Take one complete trip that I pay for all in cash
51. Drive across the country
52. Drive route 66
53. Go to the Tour de France
54. Go to 20 national parks 5/20 -Yosemite, Death Valley, Glacier, Banff, Jasper
55. Make a list of where I want to visit and start working through it.
56. Take Craig to 3 places that he has never been (he has been to all but 2 or 3 states, but not every single city I don't think).Completed - Vegas, Big Sur, Glacier National Park, Banff, and Jasper.
57. Make photo book for 2007
58. Make a book for every year of photos from all my trips.
59. Meet the children of all my friends who live out of state Completed until more come along!
60. Visit a foreign country every other year. Greece and Canada in 2009

Personal:

61. Ask 10 friends to recommend a book that they think that I wouldn't ever pick on my own and read them all. Gotten 6/12 recommendations (Drena gave extras)
62. Finish my stack of books to read next to my bed. On book two
63. Learn to play a musical instrument that I haven't played before.
64. Clean out my closet and really get rid of everything that I haven't worn in the last year (or in that season the last time it occurred).
65. Send cards to 15 people for random reasons (no holidays or birthdays)
66. Organize all my photos
67. Get married.
68. Move to Ohio - Completed!!
69. See all Oscar best picture nominations for next three years.
70. Read and then recycle all the magazines that have accumulated from subscriptions.
71. Go skydiving.
72. Go repelling.
73. Never lose a day of vacation at work
75. Buy a car that won't be practical when I have a baby
75. Keep an honest journal (have done this on and off)
76. Finish my list of housing projects.
77. Look into getting a safe deposit box.
78. Get all oil changes for my car done on time for 2 years.
79. Make homemade bread
80. Own a pet. Completed- Got a kitty for Valentine's Day
81. Keep in touch better with my closest friends from high school.
82. Make a cookbook of all my mom's recipes, plus my own, that I could pass on to my kids.
83. Eat at a new restaurant once a month for 6 months. 3/6 (Bazzar,R. Thomas, OK Cafe)
84. Clean out all my stuff at my mom's place. Completed before I moved to OH.

Self Improvement:

84. Obtain zero bags from any stores for 3 months straight. 1/180
85. Ride marta at least 4 out of 5 days I am in town. Completed because I never have a car here now.
86. Eat dinner at a restaurant by myself one night a month for 3 months (for some reason I really hate this so it is a challenge for me).
87. Learn Spanish at least enough to communicate somewhat.
88. Read all the books on the banned books list for the last 5 years.
89. Every week for 6 months I will look for a new song from someone that I have never heard of to download.
90. Keep less than 50 emails in my inbox everyday when I leave work for 3 months
91. Clean off every area where I stack mail/papers/coupons and keep them clean for at least 6 months (hopefully this will force a new habit).
92. Clean off my bookshelf and get rid of books that are extremely outdated and/or time specific and no longer apply to my life.
93. Organize all my crafts and get rid of the ones I will never complete.

Family:

94. Get all our old VHS taped movies onto DVD.
95. Take a girls trip with my mom and sisters.
96. Take a weekend trip with my Dad and sisters.
97. Call my grandma once every other week
98. Call my dad once a week
99. If I move away, come back to Atlanta at least every 6 weeks. Completed!

and finally....

101. Complete at least 80 items on this list. 13/80

Sweating in Philly!!

It is hot here....as a matter of a fact, it is so hot here that they had to close schools early today (at noon). The schools don't have air and they were broadcasting from a kindergarten room that was 90 degrees! Crazy. This made me think though....you know how all those cool people up North make fun of us when our schools, roads and work shut down for the snow? Well, now look who has to shut things down....you will never see school cancelled statewide in GA for temps in the 90s!! But, just like it is cheaper for us to shut down for a day when it snows, it makes sense for them to do it with no air when it is hot...I will just remember that the next time one of them laughs at us!

The ups and downs of flying

Ups:
My first flight took off on time.
I am sitting first class for my second (and longer flight) and it was a surprise because it didnt say it on my ticket.
I get a pillow on this flight.
The flight attendant just handed me Biscoff cookies!

Downs:
My first flight felt like a roller coaster cause it was so short that we never got above the clouds.
This flight is delayed. We were supposed to leave 45 mins ago and they are still boarding people!
I have an aisle seat (though it is in first class)

Hmm, seems like today the good outweighs the bad! Stupid people are funny! I am pretty sure I could fill this whole blog with people from airports and planes! They are just that funny. The problem is that I am a horrible story teller so they would never translate. Here is one anyway...on ther last flight these two guys get on significantly after everyone else and they have all their stuff in their arms, including their shoes..WHAT? Security in Dayton is quite a ways from the gate and it only takes 10 mins to go through security so what time did they get to the airport? I just have this picture of them running barefoot through the terminal! There was a young guy and an older guy and the young one dropped his phone right when he got on but didnt pick it up. When the older guy went to pick it up the younger one said "just leave it, throw it away, I dont care!". Really dude? I mean you are on the plane and so is the phone. Pick it up!

I need a new blog name....

I am about to leave Ohio again...I am always sad to leave. I have been pretty spoiled lately because Craig and I have gotten to see each other quite a bit but now it is going to be a few weeks before we get to see each other again. :-(

Anyway, I want a new name for my blog. I don't like the one that I have right now. I am not going to change the address or anything but I just want the title to be something better...anyone have any suggestions?

Headed to the airport soon....for some reason the Dayton airport always feels like they need to act tough and I have a hard time going through security sometimes but hopefully today that will not be the case.

I made it!!

Oh my gosh, this weekend was unbelievably hot!!!! I had a lot of fun at Mammoth Cave but I never expected it to be so hot out...as a matter of a fact, I just went to get us a pizza and was GLAD that it was ONLY 85 out!! That is just wrong! We had debated about going to Chicao for the weekend a while back and I am glad that we didn't do that...looks like they had really bad weather there this weekend. I will update more later on the trip! Hope everyone had a good weekend! Tomorrow I head to Philly for two days and then Dallas for two days! Still working on my 101 in 1001 days list.

Rough day at the airport

It is a good thing that I had a good week, am headed to Ohio, and that I travel enough to know the way things work because if none of those things were true I might have lost it today. First, I go to check in and the Delta kiosk tells me that I can't check in because it is a Continental codeshare and to either go to the Continental desk or the Delta representative will help me. I decide that since my bag weighed 59 pounds when I flew in and the limit is 50 unless you are medallion (which I am)that I should go to the Deta counter. Chica gives me a blank stare and says she can't help. Some codeshare! I ask if they will honor my medallion status at Continental and says she is not sure but Delta doesn't honor theirs. These guys do not appear to play nice. I am annoyed because I booked this all through Delta and if you don't have a choice in the matter then they should honor each other's statuses. Now I am quickly trying to calculate if my bag will weight less. Let's see, I brought work with me and paper weighs a lot but since I finished some of it I sent it back. I am also wearing jeans and regular shoes today instead of work pants and light slipons. I go to the Continental counter and the kiosk there will not check me in. Crap! I wait in line and go to the counter where I can finally be checked in, throw by bag up there and wait. It finally flashes 48! Sweet first disaster avoided!
In Albany they have this little cube thing you can step into and it blows air on you and then you step out. It is some sort of extra security thing. Today I was choosen to get in it. I am really funny about letting my bags go through before me and just sit on the other side where anyone could pick them up and walk away. Today I had computers, my purse, my wacom tablet, and my camera so there was a lot to lose! The guy was nice and held my stuff out while I got airzapped. When I did finally go through the line they held out my bookbag (with my camera) for additional screening. Apparently I looked extra threatening today. I go over to where they are inspecting and you can't touch and all. Find out the guy thought it was a camcorder cause it was so big (Craig got me the extra battery holder with the portrait shutter release for my birthday so it adds some bulk). I explained that it was just a normal camera even though it was big. They searched the bag and found nothing. The ironic thing was that when they were helping me repack it (at some point they got scared of the camera when they realized that if they broke it it would cost a paycheck to replace it and they let me repack it)then the camera got stuck on something and as I reached down to move it I discovered that it was a bottle of water - you know, the kind they screen for at security. Not only did they miss it in x-ray but they hand inspected my bag! Hmmmm. I will say that they were very nice through the process so that made it better but just a lot of extra steps at security today.

My favorite was when I got on the plane, and this is the only one that really mad me mad. We got on the plane and it was a puddle jumper with limited space. I have two bags, neither of which will be checked at the gate (camera or computers) so they have to go on the plane with me. Normally even the puddle jumpers have enough room up top for my rolling computer bag but this time the plane was miniature. I got on and saw this and knew there was going to be an issue and I was going to have to do some shoving. So you know how they tell you to step out of the aisle and let people pass and then get situated? Well, I was in the third row so I did that and this guy looks at me so I say "go ahead, it is going to take me a minute to get situated" to which he replies " I am trying to go therev(where I am standing) and you need to move". WOW! Nver had that reaction to trying to be helpful! He was so rude that I could resist, so I said "I was trying to help,you don't have to be so rude!". Then I sat down across the aisle from him and gave him an evil look!

Airports are fun!

I am on another miniature plane but no mean people here. I guess Drew Carey was right and "Cleveland Rocks!"

I hope that story made sense cause I typed it all on my blackberry and I don't want to scroll back through it all to proofread it.

Following my twin to the airport!

WOW! I just followed a car just like mine to the airport exit. He went straight to the airport and I have to stop and get gas. Darn! I would have loved to have said something to him or at least head nod like Jeep owners do! Now I am sure he is gone! I got a picture while driving. Super safe! I will post when not on my bb.
(By the way,this was typed at stoplights not while driving)

Struggling!!!

I am so bored...I have plenty to do but I am bored. When I get bored I eat and now my tummy is too full. I need some suggestions on healthy snacks! Actually, I have been really concentrating on drinking my water so maybe that is why my tummy is full. I have been working pretty hard on my to do lists..both the personal and business one and I am checking things off but for some reason I am still bored. I have gotten a ton done (still have a lot more to go though). Do any of you ever get bored when you are doing things? I don't know how to explain it any better than that but that is how I feel. Any suggestions from anyone who feels this way sometimes?

By the way, I joined the Facebook world tonight. I am not really sure what the point is or how to work it...seems like there is a lot on the screen that you can click on but not much information. Hmmm..

This week has flown by (despite the fact that I feel bored) and I am happy to say that I am headed to Ohio tomorrow!! I actually get in at a decent time too...6pm. Pretty excited about that because normally I have to connect through Atlanta and stress about my connection and then I end up getting in around 11pm in Ohio but tomorrow will be much more relaxed. It is funny cause I try not to connect through Atlanta when possible...the flights always seem to be delayed and I am always worried about missing the next one. At least if I miss my flight in Cincy it is literally a one hour drive to Craig's house so I feel less trapped. Craig and I are going to Mammoth Cave, KY this weekend...that is what is fun about us being so different. I wouldn't really pick that as a place to go but I am sure it is really cool and now I have someone who "makes" me go. I put that in quotes cause I could have said no and we would have gone somewhere else but I like to do things that I wouldn't choose myself so it works out.

Oh and my bright car saved me yesterday. Here they close up at 5 everyday but the Controller and I have been working a little later so he has a code to the alarm. Yesterday I had a 4pm conference call about another location so I went into the conference room and closed the door (no windows) and no one really knew I was in there except the Controller. All of a sudden at 5:35 I freak and remember no one knows I am in there and that the Controller had peaked his head in about 25 mins ago and said he was leaving and he was probably the last person upstairs. I run out in the hall and hear someone so I say "hello" and there comes the security guard and the collections lady. She had stayed late and gone out to her car but then saw my car and realized I was still there somewhere so she came back looking for me!! Whew...had that not happened I would have set the alarm off as soon as I walked out the door. Talk about embarassing!! Oh, and when I sent a picture of the car to my boss she informed me that my car was famous and was Bumblebee in the movie "Transformers" so I am now called Bumblebee at the auction! Awesome....

Ok, enough rambling! I AM BORED!

Helping some of you reach your goals...

Last weekend I was telling Craig that it would be a brilliant idea to start a business that could turn your online blog into a book. My blog wouldn't be that interesting but for people who have kids and who blog about them all the time and about them growing up might be interested. Some people basically document their kids' lives online. So today I got curious and did a search to see if there was any such service out there. I figured that there was and I would have no idea how to go about it in the first place anyway.

Here are two sites I found:
Lj Books This is a site where you can turn your blog into a PDF book for free!
Lulu This is a website where you can have the above PDF turned into an actual book. They can even get it together enough so that you can sell and they will do that for you, for a 20% fee.

Didn't know if anyone else had "to publish" a book on their list but technically I think that this would count :-) Good luck.

Finally!!!

Anyone else glad that the whole Democratic primary is over? I am....now I am curious to see what will happen with a running mate for Obama, anyone have any predictions?

Traveling in the Summer Sucks

There is nothing good on TV. I am working on my lists (working on the stuff from Colorado last week) and I normally like to have the TV on and to watch it but there just doesn't seem to be anything good on tonight. I can't watch "So you think you can dance" cause that means I actually have to watch it so I was watching Wife Swap but it was a pretty boring one where both women admitted they could change stuff so there aren't even any big fights to listen to. Now who knows what is going to come on because I have already seen the SuperNanny. I miss all the shows and I feel robbed because of the writer's strike. There were only like 5 episodes of anything before it went back to reruns or just not on at all. It is lonely here when I don't have something good to watch adn Craig is at soccer so I can't even talk to him....maybe I will take a trip out for some yummy yogurt.....there is your food talk of the day girls :-) Now, who wants ice cream and yogurt :-)

Someone entertain me!!

Sugar free Candy

I am trying to work on this whole eating better out of town thing but I find that the foods I eat are a little saltier than at home and then I always end up craving something sweet. Today, in order to curb that craving, I decided to go to Target after lunch and get some candy that is halfway good for me instead of the stuff I can get in the vending machine or the chocolate bar that the GM will bring by every day. I tend to like sugar-free candy so I headed to that section and made an odd discovery. The candy is more expensive AND you get less in a pack. I wonder why this is....is it cheaper to put more sugar in candy than to not? No wonder people don't eat healthier if it costs more...I could have gotten a jumbo bag of chocolate for $1.50 or the 6 pieces that I got for $2.59. I am sure that most people go for the quantity for cheaper than the quality for more...kind of like how at McDonald's everything kept getting bigger and bigger but no more expensive. It sort of makes you think about why this country (and others that our culture is spreading to) have such an obesity problem. The 6 pieces are really good and well worth the extra dollar...plus, I can only eat 2 total cause I gave away the other 4 to other employees so it really is a win all around. I am doing better with eating well out of town..I am going to try to write an update on what specific goals I have come up with so far.

Do not be jealous....

of my awesome rental car this week. Actually this picture doesn't quite do it the justice that it deserves. It is UT orange in the worst way. The security guard at the auction laughs when I come in and says it looks like a taxi. It is loud and someone figured out how to use the base in the car but I can't figure out how to turn it back town...I am super cool in this car and I know the tenancy is for you all to be jealous, but please try not to be!!

Very surprised I didn't get any comments on the video link from yesterday!

More later....

Disturbing Video!

This is a link to a video about a family in England where the mother is still breastfeeding her child who is 7 years old....she breastfeed her older sister until she was 5. It is just a little strange for my blood!

Thinking about my 101 in 1001 brought me to banned books...

I found that a few of my goals revolved around reading more books and different ways to decide what books I wanted to read. For some reason this morning while waiting in the airport I went to Mental Floss and came across their banned book list. In some of the comments people mention other banned books so this got me even more curious about what books are banned and for what reason. I remember there being a big deal over Harry Potter and I never really understood that. Yes, it is about witchcraft but I don't remember any claims ever made about it being real...or did I miss that Oprah. It seems so silly to me that people are so afraid of other people's imaginations. Why is that? I thought that Harry Potter was fabulous and it teaches lots of good lessons like loyalty to your friends, defending evil and all that good stuff. I don't see what the big deal is. If I look at some of the other books on the list, I am faced with the same 'who cares' reaction to having children read it as I had to Harry Potter. I just think that it is a shame that everyone is so afraid of anything that is different from the way that they think and that people are so sheltered. I looked on the ALA's(American Library Association) website and discovered that every year they have a banned book week! Excellent! Here is more information on it. Don't be too surprised when you see on my list that my plan is to read all these books and see what is so controversial about them. I guess I can cross Harry Potter off the list since I have read all 7 of them! Since you guys are all intelligent and like to read, I thought that this might interest you as well. If you look at the bottom of the page you will see that they have lists for 2007, 2006, and from 2000-2005 and a top 100 list from 1990-1999. The top 100 list seems to include a lot of kid's books so not sure I will read all of those (I know my sister had the whole Goosebumps series when we were little- she read those like I read the Babysitter's Club).

Anyway, just some food for thought....banning books just seems so Fahrenheit 451 to me....anyone have to read that in school...I hated it, but it makes good points if you aren't forced to write an essay on it.

Really?

I just went to the bathroom at the airport before my flight and a man was walking in as I was leaving. Funny thing is that this is the second time in two trips to the airport that this has happened to me. Hmmm

New Website

For those of you who don't check the other blog of mine too often, I posted up a link to the my new website..it is not live on the web but all the links should work so look around. If you don't have access to it and want access leave me a comment here and I will set you up!

Goals for the next two weeks

Seems like there have been a lot of posts on goals lately so here is another one....I have two weeks with no sessions on the weekend so I am going to try to get caught up on some of the things that I need to do. I made a list of about 11 or 12 items that I wanted to do for my business and now I am going to make a list here of some personal ones.

1. Figure out this whole eating well on the road thing and set some specific goals related to it. - I have been thinking about this one, but I haven't gotten a good plan down. I have been good about my water this week though and I have not had any diet coke (other than caffeine-free).
2. Make a list of my 101 things that I want to do in 1001 days. - I have 28/100 done
3. Finish the travel blog from my vacation with Craig. Got 1/5 posts done.
4. Finish getting together all the pictures from my trip to Australia (yes, it was almost a year ago).
5. Finish getting together all the pictures from my trip to Yellowstone (yes, that was definitely over a year ago).
6. Work out a plan for my end of summer trip with Craig out in California (figure out when we will go and where and all that). I feel like every time i turn around I am saying I want to see this or that and we do better with a set plan...otherwise we end up not getting to half the list, which is fine and is what we did in CO so this time I want to be more organized. - Been working on this a lot and I think that I have a rough plan. I even looked up to see what hotels I can get free nights at and everything.
7. Update my songs on my iPod - Done.
8. Make a cheat sheet for Craig's mom and sister on how to do a few things in Photoshop

That list doesn't seem to be too bad so I hope that I can get it all done. I am supposed to be in about 5 different cities in the next 12 days so we will see how it all pans out. I just found out that the conference that I thought was in NYC is actually in Philly....oops and I already booked the ticket...I hope that it will not be too expensive to change it. I will tell you that I am not ready to go back to work at all!!!