Goodbyes are so hard for me!

I just saw Craig get on his plane and now I am waiting for mine. As a bonus I think that I have a huge group of teenage girls on my flight. They are sitting in the floor near my gate doing something that makes them burst into laughter every couple of minutes. It reminds me of my senior trip to cancun, I really felt sorry for the regular people on that flight. Anyway, so yeah, waiting for the flight and being really sad. I wish that I wasn't as emotional as I am but I just can't help it. I love seeing Craig and spending time with him but the leaving part is really hard on me. It doesn't seem to bother him nearly as much but maybe that is because he is a guy. The saddest part is that I am going to see him again next weekend because I am flying there for the weekend and really I will be in Albany all week so it is just two nights I am missing with him. I just get so used to being with him when it has been a week and I have gotten to sleep next to him every night. I have plenty to keep me busy all week to so really I shouldn't be so sad. I think that I look to the future too much and after next weekend it will be almost a month before I get to see him again and we have barely gone that long this whole year! That is when it really starts to get hard!

I must say that our trip was a lot of fun! The weather was beautiful the last two days that we were there! Yesterday I even got to wear one of my sundresses so I was excited about that! When I looked at the weather before I left it was sunny and 70-80 everyday. I packed all the shorts I owned (all 4 pairs) and my various colors of tank tops, needless to say, I had to do laundry while I was there cause it was so cold. Hopefully our next vacation will be warmer! We got a park pass on this trip so we are going to try to hit a few more of those. I really want to go to Death Valley National Park and to see the redwoods so hopefully we will do that at the end of the summer or in the fall depending on thebudget season for Craig's job. Teenage girls are laughing again. Good times! Looks like I won't sleep on this flight....oh well, guess I will work on sorting throughtthe pictures from the trip so I can upload some of them. All this brought to you curtesy of my blackberry :-)

5 miler!!

well, ladies and gents..I hiked today...forever!! It was 5.3 miles round trip!! I was proud of myself because that was the longest hike I have ever been on. It was actually really a great hike because in Colorado you don't have to hike straight up a mountain so you sort wind through it all. Actually, when we were coming down I realized just how much we had gone uphill during the hike. My feet were pretty tired by the end of it all but it was fun! I am still working on getting together the travel blog of the trip and hopefully I will have it mostly done by the end of the weekend or the beginning of next week. I have enjoyed reading all of your blogs though!

For some reason Craig and I got talking about websites today on the hike and then he was playing with my blackberry on the way back and was reading stories from the onion and then we started talking about websites again and how I wanted to expand my daily websites so when we got home we started looking at some that he visits when we got back to his parents house. When looking through some of the websites that accumulate stories from different areas we found this gem. Enjoy ladies!!

Straight Cash Homey we laughed for a while about these!

Travel Blog

Ok, I have gotten one post done on our travel blog...I can't promise anything exciting and I definitely have better pictures from other days but this is the first one I got done...I still have to do the Niagara ones...I just have the day before we went.

Traveling with Craig and Melissa

patience....

How do you get it if you don't have it? Molly, got any patience exercises that I can do? (by the way, love the creative exercises and plan on doing them once I am not on vacation anymore). I find that I get really impatient really easily....I can't help it! I just don't know how to stop it....I know it is much better to be relaxed and go with the flow and not get impatient when people are late or when it takes an hour to figure out what we are going to do for the day or when people want to take a little longer than I do at something. Why can't I just stand and listen to someone's stories even though I might not want to hear them just to be nice? I just can't figure out any way to make myself be more patient. I actually think that I have gotten better about it since I started dating Craig but lately I feel like I am losing it again and starting to get worse! Anyway, if you have any suggestions, let me know.

One of the boys...

Hi guys...I know some of you have missed me when you start telling me that my post titles are misspelled :-) I am here in CO still but I have a little bit of time right now since Craig is fixing his dad's computer for him. They always have something that he looks at every time he is here. I actually have been working on another blog that is about the travels that Craig and I take (so it will include this trip but so he doesn't have to read this one or share this one with his family or whoever he wants to know about our travels) but I haven't actually finished a post yet so I haven't been able to get any of them up for you guys to read....but here is this....

Today was a day with the boys. Craig's friend Jason came with us and we went into Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a lot of fun but have you ever noticed how different boys act when you are the only girl? I think that it is made worse by the fact that they have known each other since childhood so they sort of have their own language that I don't really get or understand and they have all their old stories. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun with them, but I definitely was quieter today than other days when it was just Craig and I. Craig also likes to climb everything and explore everything so having another guy there doesn't discourage it like I do...I spent a lot of time waiting on him and hoping he didn't break anything...again, not that I mind. It is just so funny to me and it made me start to wonder if guys feel that way when they are with a group of girls...do they feel sort of lost like they don't know what is going on or do they just not care cause they are with a group of girls? Hmmm....I would think that it would be a little of both. I am also very tired because today was a long day with many altitudes and many different climates! I am sort of ready for bed but I want to be social (even though I am typing while his mom talks on the phone to someone and he helps his dad with the computer). Tomorrow we are supposed to go hiking which I am happy about because the last few days have been in the car and even though the scenery has been beautiful, my body is tired of being in a car...especially one where I can't figure out how to lay the seat back so I sit straight up most of the day. Hopefully it will not rain on us or I will be back in the car again! Tomorrow we are also supposed to hang out with his sister who I love so I am excited about seeing her! Ok, I am going to go and work on my travel blog for a little while...hopefully I can get a post or two up soon with some pictures for you guys....

Start of the trip....Saturday

(I typed this in my blackberry on the plane but since the darn internet on that thing doesn't work I had to email it to myself and then copy and paste it). This morning started out a little hectic. I forgot that I needed to allow extra time for marta and I forgot that I wasn't flying delta (who I normally fly) so I wasn't sure how far in advance I needed to check my bag! I got scare because when I got to the airport I had to walk a ways to get to american and there seemed to be lines everywhere. Not good. Then the good luck started. For whatever reason the lines were not for the domestic check in that I needed. Score. I checked in t 7:52 for my 8:45 flight! Then there was security and again I lucked out because that only took 5 mins and since I was at the t gate I was already at my gate. Yay! Then I got on the plane and all is good until the devil child got on. He was about 3 or 4 and he was screaming. Now, I don't have kids but most people I know do and I am pretty sure that they would not let a child that old scream like that on a plane but the mom was acting like nothing was wrong! The I was lucky enough to have them sit across the aisle and behind me. Super! The lady next to me had a theory at first that maybe he was kidnapped cause when she got divorced from her first husband she told her daughter to scream if her dad tried to put her on a plane the first time that she went to visit him. It actually wasn't a bad theory, this kid was going nuts! He was also saying something (or screaming it) but it was chinese or japanese or something so we didn't know what it was. It seemed like he wanted something so I told that lady next to me that they should just give him what wanted. She said that was a bad idea because he would pitch a bigger fit next time and I said I didn't care as long as I want on a plane with him the next time. I also told her that the mom wasn't the best parent to begin with because when I was that age and I started to pitch a fit all I would have needed was one look from my mom and it would have been over really fast! This kid was too old for this for this long in my opinion and had the mom done anything I would have thought it was just one of those moments where the parents really can't help that their kid is having a meltdown but this seemed more like a regular occurrence that they ignored and that I feel like is bad parenting! Luckily after 40 mins of this he fell asleep and was fine after that. If had written this then, it would have been a lot harsher! I think that I told Craig I would see him in denver if I didn't get arrested for killing this kid!

(from later that day) All flights were on time so that was good. We didn't do much once we got back to his parents house and instead just took a nap for a couple hours since we had gotten up so early. After the nap we got a shower and then headed into Boulder to meet up with one of Craig's friends from when he was growing up and his girlfriend. We decided to go to downtown Boulder and ate at this awesome Italian restaurant...mmmmm, pesto cream sauce with gnocchi!! Yummy. I also had two glasses of house chianti and was amazed how tipsy I got from it...darn altitude! We didn't get back to his parents house until midnight CO time which is obviously two hours earlier than our time so it was really 2am for us...needless to say we went to bed really fast, I barely remember my head even hitting the pillow. I will keep you updated!

Vacation Time!!

Well guys, the time has finally come for my vacation...of course in tune with the week Craig called me tonight and told me that they cancelled his flight tomorrow (we were meeting in Dallas to connect and fly to Denver together) so now I am on my own :-( Not a big deal but I could have flown direct for a little more if I wasn't trying to meet up with him. Oh well.....my crackberry's internet isn't working right now (no idea why and did a search and couldn't find anything)....keeps giving me an error message that it has a connection error to the data service and that the network might be busy but it has said that since 4pm today. My plan was to keep up while I was traveling but now it is not looking very good. If you don't hear from me for a few days then do not worry that I choked on a UTI pill....I just don't have internet! Hopefully I can still sneak away at Craig's parents house to get my fix if I can't get the crackberry working....if I don't post again then I hope that everyone has a great weekend and week!

Al and I got in a fight

He got so mad at me that he refused to talk to my computer and tell him what exercises I did this week....I tried to get him to do it last night and he would get halfway there and then he would stop...last night he even teased me and went to 99% and then stopped with an error!! I think that we just made up though because he just talked to my computer and I got credit for all my workouts for the week and even made my goals :-) Weird that I made the time and calories goal but not the heart rate goal...oh well, maybe next week (or the week after since next week is vacation).

Blast from the Past (for one of you)

You guys know I have a storage problem here so when I saw an ad for a storage unit in my building I got excited! I pictured a room where I could store all my extra stuff so I could actually use my closets for my everyday stuff instead of having it all over the place...turns out it is not quite a room but more like a huge cube...that is ok, that will do for now maybe. I have to decide whether I want it or not but that is besides the point. When he emailed me back it was from GA Dawg so I asked him if he went to UGA (could have just been a fan) and he said yes...asked when he graduated and he said 2000 (me too) asked what major and he said marketing...hmmm....then I said something about how it was funny cause I only knew of one other Judd and he went to UGA too...he was like "yeah, I knew a guy too and he works with me at Delta" WHAT? How nuts is that...he said that he only sees him once a month to give him some report but then I told him how I knew Judd through Carrie who was one of my sorority sisters and we got on that whole kick and after more conversation he asked if I knew Meghan Wolf and said that he went on some dates with her freshman year...I said "yep, it is Meghan Holbrook now and she lives in Charlotte with two kids" HAHAHAHA!!! Small world...you just never know where I might see someone that Meghan went out with!

This also makes it harder to negotiate the price down...darn you Meghan!!

I will play...sites I visit everyday..

1. My business email though I just learned how to forward that so now I don't have to check that one anymore.

2. My business card website to see who has logged in to look at their stuff or to check orders.

3. Usually read an article or two in NYTimes....I get the email and if anything looks interesting or like it might not piss me off too much then I will look.

4. My etsy account.

5. All of the blogs that I like to read (and I check these a few times a day) and maybe some links on their blogs.

6. I used to check a couple of forums about my business but I haven't had time lately.

7. Bank but usually not every day...I usually check my bank, my ING and my stocks and my credit cards on the same day...I usually download it all to MS Money :-)

I feel boring cause I can't think of anything else that I look at...hmmm, I need more fun sites!

10 things I have always wanted to do.....

I started this a while back and just thought I would post it today cause I have been so negative lately and that really isn't me...I thought that this post would be more fun for you guys to read. Some of them are things I will never do and some of them I could easily to, but just some of the things that come to mind when I think "I've always wanted to....." I wouldn't have regrets in life if I didn't get to do any of them (except the last one..that one I do want to have one day!) but just things that I think would be fun to do.

1. Start a charity, not sure what type of charity it woul d be but maybe something around helping people who are extremely poor to learn how to get out of it and build a financially sound life or to educate people on preventative health (importance of exercising and eating healthy). I think that these types of things are the building blocks of having a healthy society but are often ignored and thought of as someone else's problem.


2. Organize a 10K...not sure why I want to do this one, but it just seems like it would be fun.


3. Use my Delta Skymiles for their "Around the World" ticket....I used to have enough but I didn't want to go alone...I would like to take a year and travel around the world while I am young and it can still effect me and teach me to appreciate what I have.


4. A triathlon...I started to train for one once and even got the nice Nike bathing suit but then I got mono and never started training again.

5. Learn a foreign language. I wish I had tried harder in my language classes in high school and taken a language in college.


6. Have my makeup and hair done by a professional like famous people do and then have a really awesome photographer take my picture. I just want to see what parts they would airbrush and what I would look like when they were done with me.


7. Be one of those really witty writters that people just love to read and like all those chick lit books that are just so good. (this one will never happen)


8. Know a famous person. I don't actually have a desire to be famous myself, but I think that it would be cool to know someone who was famous and to hear all the stories that they have.


9. Get a personal trainer that would really work with me and have me in really good shape....I know I can do this one easily, but I just haven't ever done it.


10. Get married and have kids (not a goal in that you set out to do it, but something I want one day).

This cheered me up...

I guess for every thing that frustrates me there is one thing that makes me feel good....I just got my sister's bridesmaid dress tonight and it fits...no alterations needed...and the best part..it is two sizes smaller than the exact same dress I ordered for Drena's wedding a year ago (different material but exact same dress and I did have Drena's altered but still!!)

UGH!!

So it looks like I will be paying Home Depot after all (if they can get it together!) Robb came over to help me like the nice guy that he is but after we drained the hot water tank and he started getting in there to work he realized that one of the pipes was cracked and that the previous plumber has fused something together (which you are apparently not supposed to do) so he couldn't really fix the hot water heater for me, nor could he unhook it completely because it was fused...oh well...so I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with Home Depot and their house service and everyone else and finally got a guy at the local Home Depot who would help me and said I came up there he would set it all up for me (something the lady at the special services desk claimed she couldn't do so I had to call a 1-800 number but they said they couldn't do it and I had to call the store...hence the 45 mins). We went up there and I am supposedly getting a new hot water heater but have to pay for labor...at this point whatever. So after we go there I take my sister and Robb to dinner and then come home. I forgot my wallet so Jenn had to pay for dinner and I had her come inside so I could pay her back and my floor was SOAKED....Literally I have soaked 5 towels to the point that they were dripping and it is still wet! We don't know what happened cause we had the water off or so we thought...what we finally figured out was that we either 1. have no idea where to turn off the hot water or 2. my valve to turn off the water is broken. Either way causes my floor to be wet. Robb rehooked up the hose so at least it would all drain out the bottom and we made sure the hot water was turned off and now it is just dripping...still annoying cause I still have to empty it but WAY better than the soaking wet floor. I am drying the towels now so I can sop it up again....hopefully I can get most of it up and just monitor it until Home Depot can get out here...I am supposed to wait for the lady to call me tomorrow but I think that I will call her when I wake up..this is driving me nuts and since I leave in 3 days and obviously can't turn all the water off, I need to get it fixed. I did feel bad cause Robb spent 3 hours out here between trying to fix it and eating and then helping me figure it out when we got back...so sad but I was grateful....sorry for another negative post, but hopefully it will be fixed soon!

Random thoughts...

I was visiting the blog that Carrie talked about reading Rocks in My Dryer and just looking through stuff for a quick second...I am at work doing the least favorite part of my job so I need a mental break every so often....this is one article that I found and it grossed me out! I can't imagine sitting around making pads with my friends...

Here are some pictures that Robb sent me of his and Jenn's place with the storms last night...Their place is fine other than a shutter but isn't that crazy that it was 80 degrees out and there was that much hail!!!

My final random thought is that today I actually missed riding Marta. I find that I am much more relaxed when I ride it. I get a nice little 5 min walk to the station in Midtown and then can do some things on the train and then a nice little walk to work...it is nice. Today I drove cause my pass had run out and my sunglasses are ready at the eye place (another story I will tell). On the way here I nearly got merged into...literally. I had to honk my horn at the Jeep Cherokee that was coming straight for me and then the poor lady overcorrected and her car was swerving back and forth. I felt so bad for her but I also didn't want her to hit me. The thing is, I don't even think that she was on the phone or anything...hmmmm. It is nice out so that might help with the ride home, Midtown is just such a mess right now and normally I would just hang out around here but I have to get home to get the darn hot water heater drained and ready for repair! Good times! I have a list of things that I would like to get done tonight so we will see how many I actually get done. I did start the packing process last night and Craig has made a couple plans for us so I might finally get to break out some of those sundresses that I never seem to get to wear :-)

Fat Albert won again...

Thanks for the name Drena! Al and I went to spin class today (Fat Albert is my heart rate monitor but I call him Al for short). I have no been to spin class in a VERY long time. I have been out of town on Wednesdays and haven't had a chance to get down there and then last week I made some lame excuse but this week I decided to go and plus, I wanted Al to experience it. I set him to the "normal2" setting which means my second workout of the week where I am supposed to stay between 70-79 for 40 minutes and it only counts the minutes that I am between that zone. WELL, little miss spin instructor (who I absolutely love) didn't really feel sorry for the fact that I had not been there in 6 weeks and we had a really hard class, all set to Prince music (sidenote: do not try to sing along to Prince when you feel like you might pass out...just not a good idea). So, for the first 4 minutes my heart rate was right where it was supposed to be but this was the warmup!! Once we got into the real workout it was all over! Here are the stats for the class:
Length: 53 mins
Highest HR:90%
Average HR: 80% (I think that the only thing that saved this was the cooldown cause everytime I looked down it was in the high 90s)
Calories burned:433 (you always hear you burn more but I guess they are just averages)
Time in the "zone": about 12 (don't have this stat until I upload it to my computer)
As you can see, we had a tough time and I didn't get in my 40 mins of "zone" time...I wonder how that will count against me for the workout and for the week...I guess I will find out on Friday when I sync it all up! Al is still very much a mystery to me!
I also had to refill my water bottle during the class after downing all of it...that not drinking water for the last few weeks has really caught up with me now that I am getting back into the exercise portion of my life. I just hope I can keep it up next week when I am in CO and then the following week out of town in Albany..luckily Al packs up pretty small so I will be taking him with me.

You can't fool the Polar F11

I tried today! I don't know if you guys are sick of hearing about my heart rate monitor (hrm) but it helps me to stay on track when I talk about it so I will try to name the posts something so you know what it is about and can skip it if you want. I need to name him. I have decided that even though it is pink it has to be a girl because I have to strap it to my chest really close to my boobs and no girl gets that close to those. Any name ideas are appreciated!

Today I was debating on whether to do the step class at lunch or not but my knee was hurting yesterday and step can be sort of bad for your knees so I opted out...I debated about it a lot though and finally decided that I would go down after work (gym in basement of work and free...can't beat that) and ride the bike cause that is good for the knee and then tomorrow I would do my spin class because I know my teacher misses me. I also decided that of the 3 workouts I had left according to Polar I was going to do the "short" one. This one is only 30 mins so how bad could it be? look it up and for the first 15 mins I have to be between 70-89 and then for the second 15 I have to be between 80-89. I Well, I get down there and start on the bike but after pedaling as fast as I can at the highest resistance I can handle I can only get my heart rate to 69, so after 4 mins I had no "in zone" minutes...plan two is the elliptical so head to that and get my heart rate up. I have to go pretty fast at a pretty high level to get it up...and it is really hard to keep it there.

My lesson learned is that, yes, I used to work out but apparently I wasn't working out hard enough to make a difference. Since I got this heart rate monitor I had to walk a lot faster than I normally would (but couldn't run) and up an incline, can't ride the bike anymore cause it doesn't do enough and have to do the elliptical about 2 levels higher than I used to. I will be interested to see if all of this makes a difference in my fitness. I am sore today (and all I did was walk yesterday) so I am encouraged since walking has never made me sore before. This little device is perfect for me because there really is no way to cheat at all.....it keeps up with it all and you can't change it....I love it and I highly recommend it. I didn't really believe in the website www.polarpersonaltrainer.com but it definitely lives up to its name and it pretty close to having someone standing there telling me to push it, only this little guy uses blinking numbers and alarms (which I turned off until i get the hang of my zones).

In other news, I have a 3 inch scratch across my face that looks like a kitty scratch. How did I get it you ask, when I don't have a cat? Well, I was doing laundry and due to the fact that I live in a shoebox I have a basket that hangs on the back on my laundry room door that holds food (crackers, cereal and the like). In said basket is a box of oatmeal packets (and the big sam's like pack though it is from Target). This morning I had no more latte mix so I grabbed a packet on my way out the door and apparently left the industrial cardboard flap sticking out. After changing out laundry I turned to leave the room and the corner of the box scratched me across the face...what a dumb way to get a 3 inch scratch...can't wait to explain that tomorrow....

two guys on marta

Guy one: I think that is the building I work at (shouldn't you know that)
Guy two: what do you do there? Are you like an intern or something.
Guy one: yeah kinda
Guy two: how many hours do you work?
Guy one: 8 hours a day
Guy two: how much do you make?
Guy one: 12
Guy two: that is bank
Guy one: yeah, I know it is bank
Guy two: that is like 100 bucks a day give or take.

Oh to be an intern! Oh and they are total frat boys with beer in a clear water bottle and are talking about how they can beat the tornado at the braves game! Marta is fun! Typed with my new blackberry :-)

Sex and the City Trivia

Here are your fun items of the day. I got 9 out of 10 on the two quizzes so not too bad:

Sex and the City quiz 1
Sex and the City quiz 2

Advice Day

I am looking for some suggestions/advice and who better to turn to then you guys :-) I realized that I have a couple of books that I could read sitting next to my bed but they must be sitting there because they have not grabbed my attention enough for me to actually read them. So, what books are you reading or have you read lately that you really liked (besides baby books :-)). I like a lot of different types of things....chick lit (think about Devil Wears Prada, Confessions of a Shopoholic, books where I learn something (think the following Fast Food Nation, Intuitive Eating, A Million Little Pieces), or some biographies/autobiographies (haven't read many of these though). Not much for the really sad sappy stories or the trashy romance novels. I like to read about real people with real struggles in life. I also think that I might pick up that cupcake book that Carrie talked about..it looks cute and I have clients who will be turning one this year so it would be fun to make them little cupcakes :-)

So in exchange for these suggestions and advice from you, I thought that I would tell you about something that I love. The other night that Sex and the City episode was on where Carrie loses all her information on her computer (sort of made me wonder how she had the book later but maybe she used the paper copies of her column). A while back I was super paranoid that I would lose a client's pictures either before I edited them or before I ordered them so I would back them all up. I put them on my computer but then wouldn't delete them off of the SD card until I had backed them up to a CD, then as I got more clients it became a DVD and then I started to have so many sessions in a weekend that I needed all the SD cards to be ready for use and needed to clean them every week. As you can imagine, this got to be a lot of DVDs and I have a really small place so I needed another option. I had heard about external hard drives but being so technically challenged as I am, I wasn't sure which one to get. What do I do? Send Craig to research for me...you know how boys love their toys! 15 mins later he had three options for me and off to Best Buy we went. One of the choices was the one I have linked to here and since it was on sale it was the one that I got. I absolutely LOVE it!! It holds 320GB (though they come in other sizes) and my computer is only 100GB to give you an idea. You don't need a power supply, you just plug it into your USB port. Once you plug it in it will show up as another drive that you can copy and paste items to. It is literally that simple! It also comes with a little case to keep it safe. I thought that some of you might be able to use such a device (with all the baby pictures or work that you have on your computers) so I thought I would share. I can't remember how much I paid for mine but I know they go on sale quite a bit. There are also other brands that I am sure are just as good but I don't have those so I can't vouch for them.

Sorry Guys...

that my post earlier today was so cranky...I don't like being that way at all so I am trying to get over it...the state test and the funny blog I found helped...I also noticed that in some of her comments there were other nurses that had blogs so I will have to check those out at some point. Maybe this is how blogs get discovered...I do wonder how they pick those "blogs of note" on blogger...some of them seem so random to me. I really need to stop wasting time reading blogs....

So my heart rate monitor and I are still trying to get along. Today it took my under 43 mins to get in my 40 mins "in zone" and 2 of those minutes were warm up. I also noticed that there is a calorie target too...so not only do you have to be in the zone but you should burn a certain number of calories (maybe if you stay at the low end of the zone the whole time you won't?) I covered my zone and calories today so I am proud. I also made the observation that when you are on the treadmill it will over estimate your calories when you run but will underestimate them when you walk fast..interesting. One thing that I am still trying to figure out though is the time after I finish my official workout. It keeps on tracking time but it gives me a new zone that is lower. At first I thought that this was the cool down but I did it for over 10 mins today and it was still going...guess I need to look that one up! I do like the monitor though and I really think that it will help me with keeping in shape on the road!

Tonight I finished my second clients proofs so only one more to go and then on to Jackson and Ella and Emma! I got some close ups of them and I can't wait to share them :-) Maybe I will try to get a few up tonight :-)

Glad you all enjoyed the state game...maybe I will look for someting fun for tomorrow....

Holding true to the name of my blog....

Here is a quiz that only takes 10 minutes...you are timed and you have 10 minutes to see how many states you can name without a map. You just type them in the space provided and as soon as you spell them right it will be ready for you to enter the next one...no hitting enter required. Craig sent it to me to cheer me up...I got 48 states, how many can you guys ger? 50 States Quiz

This blog cheered me up...

I was reading my friend Beth's blog or more reading some of the blogs attached to hers since she hasn't posted in a month and I found this one...it is pretty funny. Obviously this writer is a nurse in a labor and delivery unit of a hospital. The stories on the first page are not gross or scary but they are funny..I haven't gotten beyond that...so for your enjoyment Tales from Labor and Delivery

Today isn't much better...

I had a good weekend...I was busy but I got a lot done. I went out with friends to dinner on Friday, had shoots and a wedding on Saturday, more shoots and a visit to the twins on Sunday plus I got a ton of editing done yesterday.

The hot water heater is still leaking and my sister isn't feeling well so we are now going to do it on Wednesday. I was getting a little nervous because Robb hasn't done it before and I wanted a few days to have it running and to make sure that it was installed properly before I left town for a long time, but Craig told me that I could just turn off the water while I was gone and not worry about it. Since my sister isn't feeling well and I thought that maybe I could get a deal, I called Home Depot. They started telling me about a permit that is required and an expansion tank (which I don't have and is supposedly a requirement in GA but I just had this installed 2 years ago and I doubt it is new since then) and their grand total came to $375 adn she couldn't even tell me if they could remove the old one. UGH. Then I am trying to order a prescription but since our healthcare system sucks in the good 'ol USA, I have to order it through the mail cause it is $100 if I get it at the store for a one month supply and $20 if I get it through the mail for a 1-3 month supply. I think that this is ridiculous, but besides the point. The real point is that Aetna feels that they shouldn't give you the actual website to the mail order pharmacy but a link instead. This link doesn't work today...it should take you to another page where you login AGAIN, but instead it takes you to a FAQs page where they tell you to login to Aetna (where I was logged in to find the darn link to begin with) and look under the "shortcuts" where you will see a nice little link to the mail order pharmacy...funny thing though, this link is no longer there and half the ones that are there don't work...they have changed something on their website and clearly there was not enough testing performed. I don't think that I would be bothered by all of this normally but I am about to leave town where I will literally only be back in town for 5 business days (will be here on some weekends) between now and July 14th...I don't have time for links to not work or for hot water heaters to leak...

hopefully the link will be fixed soon and my sister will feel better (not just so I can get my hot water fixed but because I worry about her and don't want her to be feeling bad). Sorry for the yucky post...it was going to be a happy one when I started the day today....but then one thing after another and now I am cranky....

I heart Robb Sutton and I hate GE

So, came home early today because I was paranoid about the hot water heater and for good reason...water still leaking. I called GE cause it is still under warranty and they make me call back when I have taken off the power panel (which they have to explain to me because contrary to their tech support's belief, I do not sit around examining my hot water heater!) Anyway, call back and they ask if inside there is wet....NO, and come to think of it...wouldn't that have been REALLY bad if the electrical panel was wet...but anyway. They say that they will replace it....all I have to do is disconnect it and take it to any Home Depot, get a new one and bring it home to install it...sure..and how do they propose I do that????? I don't have the first clue on how to disconnect it and then on top of that couldn't carry it to my car and even if I could....it wouldn't fit. They say that the labor isn't included...fine. I am a little sketch on it because they just said to take it in and I would get a new one but when I had called the plumber they said that GE would want to come it to test for the leak. I guess they don't care because they gave me a confirmation number but somehow I still feel like I will have an issue when I get to home depot. I called a plumber to see if they could help me remove it and replace it and they said it would be $500 to come and remove it and turn it in and get another one and then install it...what the heck..it only cost me $700 the first time and that included the price of the hot water heater and disposal of the old one...ugh. Of course when I called that plumber (cause I found the invoice in the third place I thought it might be) that installed it the number didn't work anymore. At this point I am beyond upset but then I remember my sister's fiance and how he is a manly man and has a big car so maybe he can help me. I called her and luckily he can...but not until Monday, but it is a slow leak so I should be fine. I just think that it is ridiculous that the thing is under warranty and yes, you can get a new one but it will cost you $500. Isn't the point of a warranty to give you a working whatever because the company that made whatever it is you are turning in screwed up? Shouldn't they cover the cost of having to replace it? I mean if they had proper quality control on their stupid hot water heaters to begin with then I wouldn't have this problem. My having to pay is absolutely directly related to their f&^* up......clearly they don't give a shit though. Luckily Robb (hence the title) will come to my rescue...thanks a lot GE!!! By thw way, it has two different capacities on it...the one sticker says 42 gallons but the other one says 30 gallons and the serial number is 30 gallons...oh and my carpet is wet which smells fabulous and I have clients all weekend!!! Luckily I am experienced in leaks and I have a fan on it hoping it will dry soon and not smell by tomorrow....I need a drink tonight!

Another NKOTB update!

I just saw them on the Today Show this morning but I forgot to mention it because of my plumbing issue but then I just got an email from Morgan that they are going to be in Atlanta on October 29th!!! I wasn't sure if it was just a rumor or not but it looks like it is true... http://www.nkotb.com/tour/ YAY! I definitely want to go so if any of you want to go let me know. This morning they did a medley of their old stuff and there was dancing involved an actually there were people in the audience that had their stuff from the 80s....remember those splash painted painter hats...oh, they had them!! I bet it would be a lot of fun...you guys probably all think that I am nuts, but I don't care...if you want to go then let me know...Meghan, it is not that far of a drive :-) and it is in Gwinnett!

By the way, I added a place where you can subscribe to my blog to get messages when I update it...just if you wanted...

Oh yeah, and my goal just became HUGELY important because I just went over my schedule today and it looks like I will be out of town all except 5 work days between now and July 14th!!!! I will be home some of the weekends but YIKES!

Rough Morning...

I got up extra early so I could get to work on time and still ride marta but when I was about to dry my hair I walked across my floor and felt wetness at my feet. Some of you know my history with water leaking and floods and stuff so immediately I get worried. I had my backpack sitting right there and he had gotten wet the day before when I walked home but the water seemed like too much for that....then I realized that it was right outside my closet where the hot water heater is..uh oh! I opened it up and the hot water heater sits in a little plastic tub that is only about 3-4 inches high but it was filled with water....and that had overflowed and gotten on my floor. I didn't really know what to do so I got a shot glass (only thing that would fit in the tub between its edge and the hot water heater) and scooped out as much water as I had time to scoop out. The thing that sucks is that I got a new hot water heater when I moved in (literally a week later) about 2 years ago so it should still be fine. I emailed Craig and called my mom to get both of their opinions on what could be wrong...they both said that it might just be a slow drip but that it shouldn't be doing that at all....UGH. Before I left I tried to find the invoice for the plumber that installed it since it should be under warranty but I couldn't find it in the two places that I thought it should be....goes back to that whole not being organized thing...but I really thought it should have been in one of the two places so now I have to find it again. I liked the plumber because it was $35 to come out and look and then if they did anythign they would apply the $35 and if they didn't then you just paid $35 and he did a good job. I need to find him. I did find the plumber list that my hoa puts out but when I looked them up on http://www.kudzu.com/ they mostly had bad or just ok reviews...yuck. Then I got nervous so I looked up a plumber on kudzu that did get good reviews and called them. I explained the situation and he said that it sounded like a slow leak and told me some things to check. I guess I will know when I get home today whether it is a slow leak or not by whether the tub is filled back up or not....I hope it is not. This good review plumber said that I should try those things because he didn't want to charge my a couple hundred dollars to come out if nothing was wrong...a couple hundred dollars????? What the heck..I need to find that $35 plumber...I think that I got the name from Dudley so I emailed her but she has been MIA..I emailed her yesterday to see if she was alive and still haven't heard back...so, if any of you Atlanta ladies know of a good plumber that would be reasonable if I had to call them, please let me know. I am going to search for the invoice when I get home and luckily I keep all my finances in MS Money so I can look in there and see if I can find them that way. I really hope it is nothing urgent cause I have clients all weekend and don't have time to sit around waiting for a plumber or to have plumber crack with my clients there....so, yeah, rough morning!

EDIT: I think that I found my cheap plumber and I think that I am going to go home early today and check on it in case I need to call them...I still need to find that invoice though....

I did well tonight

I cleaned up some stuff, organized all the crazy props all over my living room and cleaned up the project I was working on! Those are steps toward my new habits (but I was also done editing for the weeka and had already answered all client email so I had free time I don't normally have).

I also walked in the rain back to Marta...that kind of sucks by the way, but I am proud of myself for doing it. It was either ride the shuttle and not get to workout or workout but then have to walk the 10 mins to Marta in the rain. I chose to workout and then walk (I did have an umbrella but I need a bigger one). I used the heart rate monitor again today. The other day I was supposed to stay between 64 and 83% of my heart rate for 40 mins but today I was supposed to stay between 70 and 79%...that is a lot smaller range and harder to keep in....I kind of wondered why it has you do that at a slower pace, but maybe it is to build the muscle and endurance part of working out because you have to go slower to get the heart rate down but it still burns in the legs more than going fast which is a little strange. It took me over 43 mins to get in my 40 mins in the "zone" I was supposed to be in...tomorrow I am going to download my stuff for the week and see how I did....I have one more workout I am supposed to do for the week and it is an hour and 10 mins! Yikes, and I think that the heart rates vary during it...another yikes. At least for now it has me intrigued enough to make me do all the workouts...hopefully I can make it last when I go on the road!

Hope everyone had a good night...good posts today..it was fun!

I have a goal....

So Drena wrote a blog that related to my 10 habits post and now I am writing one after reading hers...so funny how things work, well, not that funny, but anyway.....my goal.

So I realized that some of the things in my post are easier to do than others, and I could do them. Others will be a real challenge for me so I am going to make a goal of doing the hard ones and see how well I do by the end of the year. Calling my dad more is easy, so is wearing lipstick and hopefully if I ever get my place cleaned I could try to keep it that way....but the two things that affect me the most are the exercising on the road and the drinking water on the road, and I might as well throw in the eating healthy while we are at it. When I am home I eat pretty healthy...breakfast is usually a chai latte that I make at home around 8:30-9, fruit for a snack around 10:30-11, lunch is usually a mixed greens salad with oil and balsamic vinegar and a lean cuisine pizza or maybe a chicken wrap downstairs around 12:30, and then an afernoon snack..those vary but usually involve some fruit and some sort of chip or cookie or something and then I have dinner at home...that varies too..this week it has been fat free bologna on double fiber wheat bread with low sodium rice a roni with a caffeine free diet coke. Might not all sound appetizing to everyone but I actually like this food.....I don't feel like I am missing out on flavor and I feel good when I eat these things. I also used to drink about 80-100 oz of water a day but I have been bad about that lately and have only had about 30-40 a day.
Now, when I go out of town, I still get the latte (except I have to go to Starbucks) and I have the morning fruit, lately it has been subway or panera for lunch on the good days, but other days it is bad things, and then dinner (outback or chinese or something else)....I don't really drink the water as much and since restaurants don't have caffeine free diet coke (except panera) I usually get regular diet coke which dehydrates me even more. This eating is not terrible and will be ok for a little while but when I will be gone for 5 weeks in a row coming up it will not be acceptible. I think that most of you know that about a year ago I went to see a nutritionist because I got sick to my stomach almost every time on the road. I discovered that my blood sugar was suffering because I didn't snack and I would eat too much at lunch so it would last until dinner, be starving at dinner so overeat then too. It was a little pattern that I had and that she helped me with. I can honestly say that since I went to see her and followed her advice I have only gotten sick to my stomach about 2 times in a year on the road....so obviously it works for me. I want to take it a little further though and just try to cut out those days above where I said I ate somewhere that wasn't good for me. Again, I am not talking about being super strict and if I crave a burger not having one...I just mean I want to try to make good decisions on the days when I don't have any cravings. The biggest problem that I run into is that I don't like what the restaurants offer for healthy choices...so i guess I need to broaden my horizons in that area....that might be the biggest challenge for me. The water thing I need to work on too...I was so good about it before I started traveling that I would have about 2 20 glasses before I went to my aerobics class at lunch! Now I barely finish the same 20 oz glass I get when I get in in the morning...my one from today is still half full on my desk. I can tell a huge difference when I don't drink the water but it is frustrating because it does make me pee a lot and when I am traveling I am not always able to run to the bathroom with leaving a meeting, interrupting something someone is showing me or learning from me or climbing over someone on a plane. I need to be better about it though. As for the exercising....I like to exercise and I like how I feel afterwards but I haven't gotten into a good routine on the road unless I am in a cool city with people who also run and we sort of help each other...I haven't been in one of those cities with those people in about 8 months! I think that I need to find some good DVDs that I can do in my hotel room. I can use the hotel equipment but it is not always the best and it makes me not want to work out....if you have any suggestions on DVDs that I can do in a hotel room with no equipment, let me know.

Ok, that was my whole life story just to say that traveling and keeping healthy is extremely hard for me...I gained 10 lbs when I started working for Cox and when I had 6 months of no traveling I got rid of it all...i would like to keep it gone and I would like to be healthy on the road.....that is my goal...to conquer these obstacles by the end of the year.....not sure how I will really measure it but we will see.

Crocheting....

Remember how I said I was crocheting on Marta? Well, I set up a little etsy shop. Actually, my mom made most of these but you get the idea. Nothing exciting but I have seen them used a lot in pictures and I love to knit and crochet so I thought it was a great thing to keep me busy and make a little side moola at the same time (well, to make my mom a little moola...she drives 70 miles to work everyday!!! ONE WAY! So I told her to crochet hats and I would set up the shop. I made some too but I haven't taken pictures of them and posted them yet).

http://melissasknits.etsy.com

10 Habits I Wish I Would Pick Up and Keep

1. Putting everything away right after I use it.
2. Being organized and clean in general.
3. Washing my face and flossing my teeth every night.
4. Calling my dad more often. I love him but it is tough to get off the phone sometimes so I don't call him as much as I should...I could at least email him more!
5. Wearing lip gloss/lipstick every day, I like the way it looks (with the right color) but I just never remember
6. Remembering to vary my accessories because I rarely do and I have them.
7. Exercising when I am out of town (I am good in town but not on the road).
8. Drinking water when I travel...I lose so many habits when I go on the road.
9. Sending thoughtful cards/notes to my friends/family.
10. Be able to throw things away instead of keeping all kinds of stuff I don't need and won't use.

I know that most of these I can easily do, but I just can't seem to ever stick with it...especially the organized one and #10. I just struggle and I think that they go hand in hand. One of those closet organizer people would die if they came to my condo and I actually let them see any of the closets. I am going to work on cleaning stuff out though if I ever have a weekend when I don't have people here all weekend and I can actually pull stuff out to throw away. Thank goodness Craig hasn't come to visit in a while!

I have discovered that with me, I need to make everything a routine or it will not get done. That is sad but it is just how I am.....I am not really anal but I just need to be able to remember things in order to do them and I remember them when it goes in a routine. I don't know if anyone else is like that or not.

My sort of interesting ride....

So after my comment that nothing ever happens on Marta when I ride it, you knew that something would happen today..it is not a big deal at all but just more excitement than I normally get on there. I walked the 1o mins to the train listening to my iPod and when I got to the platform there was a group of three guys that were dancing all around, freestyle rapping, and tipping over the platform. It was odd because I catch the train from the 'burbs and these aren't the people that hang out there normally but whatever. I am just hoping that they don't get in the same car that I am in. I just don't feel like dealing with it....I am usually a minority on Marta and sometimes people feel the need to say "hey blondie" or whatever. Not normally, but sometimes. If anyone would do it, it would be the type of people that these guys are so I just want to avoid it. They are standing a bit down from me so I think that I am safe, but when the train actually gets there they run to the car I am getting in..that sucks. They were actually a lot calmer on the train than on the platform but they did freestyle rap about the guy sitting across from me reading his book. They might have said something about me to but I had my earphones in so I wasn't listening too intently. All of a sudden the ring leader pulls out a magazine, what I will call a booty magazine because that was what it seemed to focus on....and started showcasing it to the train. I was sitting in one of those single seats that you ride sideways in so there was a forward facing seat right next to me with a postman in it. He thought it was hilarious that they were showing all these pictures and his loud laughing was actually what made me turn to see the booty magazine in all its glory. Sadly they got off one stop later :-( Like I said, not a big deal but I hadn't ever heard rapping or seen a booty magazine on display on the train and since I had said my rides were always boring I felt that I needed to share!

I was busy at work today so I need to catch up on all the blogs and make sure I have replied. I am also still trying to think of ideas for my finances blog. It is sort of hard because most of my friends have it together in that area....oh well...we will see where it goes! I think that I just find it interesting and want to feed some of my own knowledge and thoughts. Blogging has made me think a lot more than I used to...it is really weird to explain but I constantly think about how I would right this or that and how people will react or if it will get any comments or anything..sort of sick really.

I am done with all my editing from last week's clients! YAY!! That means that tomorrow night I can get some cleaning done, visit the twins (yay) and just get some other things done that I need to get done before the cycle starts all over again. Tonight I went and played trivia with Morgan, Jimmy, Drena, Adam, and my neighbor. I had a good time...I am not sure why, but I always like to play trivia...maybe I will luck out and be able to gather some people for next week too :-)

Maybe this is why people in Atlanta don't use Marta

This lady went nuts on Marta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NZtGz_7WI0

Funny cause after 3 weeks of not riding, I rode Marta today and this guy I work with told me about this (not that it discourages me from riding it) and I thought I would pass it along.

Mostly for Molly...

since none of the rest of you seemed excited about NKOTB's comeback (which I find hard to believe so maybe you were just being shy)...Here is their new single...It is no Hangin Tough or Step by Step or even Please don't go Girl, which Joey was singing to me! What do you guys think of it? By the way..I have ordered the old video from a concert of theirs in the 80s on blockbuster.com....I can't wait to watch it again and see how cheesy it is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohjzVshK_nY

I joined the Crackberry nation

Yeah so I finally had to get one for work...it is sort of expected that I have one and people get annoyed when I am not on email for 8 hours cause I am traveling so I got one. I hate to admit it but it is actually sort of fun right now..I have internet access on it and everything. I am sure I will not feel the same way in 11 days when I am on vacation and people are sending me emails! It is cool that I can blog from it so that will be fun when I am in the airport! Meghan, I am interested to see what kinds of ads come up with this one with crack in the title...it could go so many ways.

Just some random thoughts/questions: Does anyone else have trouble getting the letters right when you are trying to leave a comment? Has anyone checked out the "next blog" link at the top of your blog? Some of them are strange and for some reason most of the ones that are there when I click are not in English....just wondering if anyone else has checked it out.

Off to edit again...I am about to post some pics from my weekend sessions on my private blog.

Update on the Heart Rate Monitor

We fought like cats and dogs during my workout! I thought that maybe it didn't know how to keep time. I was supposed to do 40 mins at my at between 65-83% of my max heart rate. It keeps track of the percentage for you and then if you get below or above it, it will beep really loud until you are back in the target zone. At first I didn't realize that when you are out of the range it will stop counting the time until you get back in it. It took me almost 43 mins to get in 40 mins in my zone. Then, I finished the 40mins and was done so I went to do some situps....I still wanted to record my heart rate cause I was still working out and it shows you calories too...well, it had these weird ranges I was supposed to be in and if I was doing situps it was too low and then if I walked around it was too fast. It was all really bizarre cause I was done with my workout. Oh well. Maybe I will figure it out as I go. When I set up my "program" online it started next week for some reason and didn't have anything for this week so maybe that is why it kept going.

I will say this though, it really kept my mind off of the workout because I was constantly looking at it. It was also hard because I kept having to slow down and that just seems counterintuitive to me...I need to look up how these target heart rates work...overall, I would still recommend one, but I still think that I have a few things to figure out...I will keep you posted.

I heart my heart rate monitor

I just got it today cause I had it shipped to my office since I was going to be gone so much and I didn't want it sitting outside my door at home. I set it all up and did my 'fitness test'. It says that I am literally exactly in the middle on the chart of fitness. I am not sure how I feel about this. I am obviously happy not to be in the poor or fair category but it would have been nice to be in the good or very good category. Oh well. I set up an exercise program with it and now I will see how hard it is to stay within the heart rate percentage that it says I should be in. I am very interested to find out how it works out. A couple people I know say that you become addicted to them so I hope for my fitness' sake that is true! It syncs with my computer ...throught the microphone of all things, but I have to figure it out....my work computer only has a microphone plug in place and my home computer has Vista which it might not be compatible with. I think that I could put the webcam into the work computer and do it that way though...should be interesting considering how tech savvy I am NOT.

This morning I was listening to the radio and this woman was talking about how her ex-husband had not been in her kids' lives for a year and a half. I started thinking about it and I just don't get that. I don't understand how a parent could do that to a child or not want to be with or even know their own kid. I know men and women do it so I am not saying that it is just men (though i would be interested in the statistics on that), but I guess I just don't understand it at all! I listen to those of you who have children talk (or write) about them and they just mean the world to you (as they should). Then I see my niece and I love her to death. I honestly never knew that I could love a child so much that wasn't mine, but I do. She is so cute and sweet and it just makes me happy to be around her. No matter what kind of a mood I am in before I see her, once I do I just light up. She is in the cutest little phase right now where she smiles when she sees you and she reacts to everything and she giggles hysterically! Her daddy has a really loud laugh and whenever he laughs she starts laughing, even if no one is around her or interacting with her (which is rarely the case cause we are usually fighting over who gets to hold her), she just knows that daddy is happy so she should be too. My sister and her husband are great with her and you can tell by the way her little face just smiles and laughs when she sees them! I just don't understand how anyone would want to miss out on all those little moments......they are a part of you and they look up to you. I just don't get it...not that I wanted any of you to explain it to me because I am sure that you don't get it either judging by your posts, I was just thinking about that this morning so I thought I would think out loud.

One reason that I can't stand businessmen!

My day started out ok. Then I was trying to fix a stapler and stapled a staple THROUGH the edge of my finger. It hurt. Off to the airport. Flight is on time, that is good.

Waiting in line to board the plane and there are two people that line up to get on the plane....normally I would laugh at these people and just stand back but since it is a REALLY small plane and I have two things I want to put in the overhead I want to get on sort of early. While waiting in line the guy in front of me (who has a deloitte backpack and a tag on it with his name on it -pratical, yes- dorky, DEFINITELY) asks the guy behind me if he changed some password on some server. The guy say yes cause he couldn't get into the server and needed to. Guy in front says "well, you crashed the server and an email just went out". I thought that was really rude. The guy behind me felt bad and was explaining a little bit and how he forgot to change it back (and I have learned WAY too much about this stupid server in the process). Guy in front will not let it go...keeps mentioning it- in line at the airport-until the guy behind finally says "yeah, I know, I messed up, it is totally my fault". Guy finally drops it and says "I won't tell anyone" and looks at me and says "you don't know anyone at Vp server do you?" and I said "no, but I used to work at Deloitte in Atlanta" Just being funny, and then I said "I used to work in audit" to which he replies "yeah, I figured". What the hell did that mean? I don't know why I took offense but it was just the way that he said it. He was short...probably had shortman syndrome. Then I realize I have to sit next to him...great. He smelled and slept most of the time so that was ok, but he just got me to thinking.
I started a list a while back of the top 10 things that I can't stand about businessmen and he just brought one of them to the surface. They have no respect for women my age. You either have to be some stuck up bitch or some manly woman or complete dork for them to respect you. They can't seem to grasp that just because I carry a red backpack, or blue messenger bag or wear jeans or flip flops on the plane that I am not a professional. The ironic part about this is that my job (since I started working following college) has been to tell men (and women) just like him what they are doing wrong at work or how to do things better. Maybe that is why they don't like me....maybe they think about that movie "In Good Company". I don't know but it really annoys me. I also get this a lot "do you have your CPA?" and when I say yes they act like I just grew a third head in front of them. I don't get it!! I guess I am going to take Molly's advice and just start telling people I am a photographer...I am sure that they don't consider that a profession at all so it will go right along with their judgement.

I get back to my car and find that my battery is dead...well, that sucks. I have been gone a week and a half and I have no idea why I would have turned on a light but maybe I did. I had to call the little van to come and jump my car...it was so dead that my keyless entry didn't even work!! Crazy...never had it that dead before. When he jumped it my alarm started going off and two lights in my car came on. I am not sure if I left them on or if I turned them on while trying to figure out if I had left any on while waiting for the guy to come jump the car. Either way it was running again and had plenty of time to charge while I waited in traffic to get home. Matter of fact, it was so dead that it reset my radio..I had to dig out the manual and type in a code to get the radio back! So silly!

Well, I am getting ready to go and hang out with Terri and Jen and Morgan for a little while. Also, don't know if anyone has talked to Erin, but it looks like the twins might come home on Sunday..Mother's Day..how perfect! It is not set in stone yet, but I hope that they will get to because I know she is ready and so are they!! I am crazy..I offered to babysit some time (down the road)!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies!!

Its Smarta

I just emailed our lady at the office that gives out the Marta monthly passes ($25, such a steal for unlimited, all you want to ride all month). As long as I ride Marta 8 days a month it pays for itself. She just informed me that she was out of the passes because since the gas prices have gone crazy everyone wants one. I was sad. Then I was glad. I hate that gas prices are so high but I do love that it is forcing people to use public transportation. As all of you who live in Atlanta (or ever have) know, our public transportation SUCKS. I use it because it is cheaper and I live really close to my station, but once I get to my stop it takes almost as long to get from the Marta station to work as it did from my house when I drove, but I do enjoy not having to sit in traffic in the afternoon. It is more relaxing to just sit on a train and crochet and listen to my iPod (yes, crochet). Honestly, if I could give up my car and never use it, I would. I am very jealous of people who can do that. I do try to walk most places since I can walk to the grocery, post office, bank, park, and restaurants from my house. I just hate having to drive everywhere. It is funny to me that I will tell people that I am going to walk to Target (25 min walk) and they think that I am nuts, yet people in NYC and other "walking" cities will walk that to work everyday.
I guess that I just hope that if more people use public transportation here in Atlanta it will improve. Makes logical sense, right? More money means they can build more stations and stuff? Or is it just a pipe dream? It sort of makes me wonder what other sorts of things will change with the gas prices up so high. I haven't even bought gas for my own car in 2 weeks so I am a little out of touch with what the price even is....

Chinese Takeout

yes, I know I need to eat better on the road, but I am working on it....I really need to get a plan together because there is a very good chance I will be out of town for all of June...if you guys know any websites that give you ideas for working out on the road (besides just the running) please let me know....
Anyway, I just ordered Chinese (healthiest stuff I could) and the guy reminded me of the soup nazi on Seinfeld....he just said one or two things for each question:
him: what you want
me: egg drop soup
him: next
me: steamed dumplings
him: done
me: yes, can I give you a credit card to charge it to
him: number
me: 37........
him: mastercard or visa only
me: oh yeah, I always forget that, give number
him: 45 min

I mean, I guess he gave me all the relevant information but the transaction just seemed so cold...the Outback people are so much nicer, but I couldn't have that again...I just had it last night!

Snowing Dandelions

Ok, I always thought that the pollen was bad in Atlanta, but it is nothing compared to what is occurring in Albany right now! Literally it looks like it is snowing outside but it is dandelions ...you know those ones that you thought were so fun to blow on when you were little and then the little seeds would fly away. Apparently here they have a mind of their own...they also have the green/yellow pollen that we have but not as much. I have always heard that it is the pollen that you can't see that will get you and I guess they are sort of right! I take Claritin almost religiously from April to June but even that is no match for these evil dandelions! They come out with a vengence! I know it is not just me cause the other girl here is carrying around a tissue and sneezing constantly...luckily my nose is not running, but my throat does hurt and my breathing is tight or something..it is seriously weird.

Wife Swap

Why do I watch this show? These people are crazy!! Do they really think that their lives are normal? I think that I watch it because 1. there is nothing else on, and 2. they put such opposites together and they are funny when they think that the other one is crazy when really they are just as crazy!

On to Supernanny! Wednesday night programming needs something else!!

I am on a roll......

I have gotten a lot done today and it feels so good!! I still have to work on the website some but I posted some of my ideas for the pricing page on my private blog if you guys want to check it out...let me know which one you like the best! I still have to get about 10 orders entered into the accounting software but I did at least put my Niagara pictures on my computer, confirmed all the appointments for the weekend, gave directions to the new people, made a couple options for the pricing page, exercised, and ate dinner. I feel a lot less stressed now that I can get all these things done while I am here and will actually have some time to myself this weekend :-) That makes me happy!

Website

I have posted pictures of my website pages that I have worked on in the private blog. Let me know your thoughts. My, my I have a lot of posts tonight!!

Anyone else...

ready for this democratic primary to be over? I am so tired of the back and forth and just want to know who the nominee will be. I know that most of you are Hillary fans, but I am just not. I don't know why but for some reason she just rubs me the wrong way and has long before she was a presidential candidate. I wish that I could like her but I just can't. I think that the longer that this goes on the less time that is spent on the actual issues and I just hate listening to all the spectulators. They said that Obama would win NC and that Hillary would win Indiana but now Indiana is too close to call and so it drags on.....they all throw their 3 cents in. I guess part of me is jealous that I don't get paid to just make shit up about what I think will happen, but oh well. My favorite is when they report something that they predicted with surprise...like even they didn't believe that they were going to be right. I can't even imagine what the general election will be like in November. Right now it seems like it will never get here.

By the way, I also hope that none of you are super excited about the ridiculous gas tax holiday that they are talking about and if you are, please educate me on why this is a good idea (maybe my republican friend Molly can explain it or do you think that it is dumb too?). I feel like these politicians are just pulling at straws to get attention and that is what turns me off of politics. I admit that this is the first year that I have paid attention at all (and I still have a ton to learn) but I am starting to get frustrated for the same reasons that I didn't really research anything in prior years. It seems like it is all talk....UGH....

I am sleepy....

After saying I was going to go to bed at a decent hour last night I still found that I was up at 1am...I was tired and as soon as I finally got in bed I fell right asleep...not sure why I didn't just get in bed earlier. It is a really good feeling to be all caught up on the business side (at least the client part of it). I still need to catch up the accounting stuff. You would think that I would be good at that part considering my background but I just never find the time to enter it all in...oh well, that will be a project for tomorrow.

Tonight I went into Saratoga for dinner again. The place was alright but it took for freakin ever!! It was a two hour dinner and there were only two of us. A girl that I used to work with is out here so we caught up on old times.

Watched Gossip Girl last night and I don't know how many of you watch it but I was glad we finally found out what S's secret was...that was driving me nuts and I thought that I was going to have to wait for a really long time to find out.

I meant to write this yesterday but I was very sad about Eight Belles. Since that I happened I have learned how poorly the horses in those big races are treated (even though they try to say it isn't the case and we normal people just don't understand). I had no idea that was the case. I thought that they were just good runners and they liked to race....I guess I am just naive. The fact that they are bred to runner faster than they should, and that they will push themselves beyond what they are physically able to do if the horses around them are running (which is what probably happened to Eight Belles since she was the only girl), and that they are really too young to be competing in those types of races makes me sad. It is just like the time that I found out what really makes the bull buck all around at the rodeo (if you don't know then I will tell you, but it is not nice!). I know people want to make money but don't they care about the animals at all? I could never be mean to an animal :-( It upsets me that they had to kill the horsey right there on the track...it just doesn't seem right....I know that you have to with horses when they have broken legs...with one they might have been able to heal it but with two it was probably impossible and apparently they get all sorts of internal problems if they lay down all the time and can't walk around. I think that maybe I just sensitive to it because this weekend was the first time I went to Ohio after we had to put Jeremies down and I missed him greeting me and getting all excited...he was as big as me so you notice that he isn't there.

Blogs seem slow today so you guys must all be up to something really fun...can't wait to hear about it! Oh, and my google ads are starting to work so yay!

Hooray!!

I just finished all of my work for my business! I am pumped. It has been a long day so I will be heading to bed soon.

This weekend was a lot of fun! It was chilly at Niagara so I was wearing a coat all weekend. It is hard for me to adjust to that when it is so warm at home. The drive was pretty long too....6 hours each way. It rained the entire time on the way there but was only cloudy when we got there. We checked in (and you have to see this place...it was something special) and started to head out. As soon as we started walking it starting pouring sideways rain so we had to duck under the awning and wait it out. It looked like it was going to be a while so we went back to the room to see what our dinner options were. Finally it stopped and we decided to walk around a little bit. It was really pretty there, even with the clouds. I took lots of pictures so I will try to get some of those posted soon! Now that I have finished my other work I will have some free time at night until I do my sessions this weekend! Craig had never been to a Hard Rock before and there wasn't much else to eat around there so we went and ate at the Hard Rock. It was good. After that we went and got our cameras and headed out to see the falls and to see them light the falls at night. After walking around for an hour we thought that surely it was time for them to light the falls but it still took a long time. My hands were freezing so I kept sticking them in Craig's jacket pocket to warm them up. Finally he just held my camera for me so I could put them both in my pocket. I will post some of the pictures from the falls at night all lit up but I am horrible at nighttime photography and not good at landscape photography in general. Usually photographers are better at either landscape or people...I think that I fall in the people category. I will post some anyway though, once I get them off of my card.

I am back in Albany this week...it is chilly at night but not too bad during the day. I think that after tomorrow I will be good with the stuff at my regular job too, so that is good. I really needed this past weekend and it revived me so I got a lot done today and tonight...now only 19 days until a week of vacation.

For those who asked to see the other blog, I posted there today, and if you want to read it but haven't then just let me know and I will "invite" you. I am going to work on my website this week so I will post some updates over there as I get going...I need some major help for one of the pages. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

TGIF

Things are definitely better today! I found out that the registered letter waiting for me is just to tell me that I am grandfathered in and that my dad can stay there...just if he moves out I have to follow the rules...that is good. I get to see Craig tonight and that is good. I am getting stuff done at work so that is good....yes, much better today...I still have 3 airports to be in today but hopefully it will provide some funny stuff..

Oh gosh...I forgot to tell you guys that yesterday I saw a true live transvestite or cross dresser at the airport. It looked like a guy with a dress and wig on. He was so tall and had base on that was definitely not his color and like 4 inch heels...yikes! I don't know many girls that wear that to the airport, let alone guys. It reminds me of how impressed I was at the gay pride parade in NYC. There were all these guys walking down 5th Avenue in 5 inch stilettos! I was impressed!

Anyway, sorry to complain so much lately, my life really is good and I need to complain less....I think that I have just been tired and cranky. Craig promised me a massage this weekend so I am sure that will help ;-)

More Airports, making friends at Outback and trying to run!

More airports today and a mechanical problem on the plane (which is never a good thing) that delayed us quite a bit. I was sitting next to some President/CEO and his employee across the aisle...they talked EXTREMELY loud the whole time we were flying....it was really annoying. That is why I hate that you have to wait so long to "use your approved electronic devices", cause you have to listen to people like that. The girl sitting in front of the employee actually shushed them during the safety demonstration..they didn't listen but I thought it was funny. I have started a whole post on businessmen at the airport.

I tried to get together and organize the sessions from last weekend cause I am a little behind. I just finished all the ones for last weekend and have started on the ones from this weekend. Work wasn't that bad today, but there is just getting to be a lot to do. I haven't really ever been in charge of a department where I decide what projects to do and when and who will go and all that so it takes a little getting used to but I like it. I had some issues with one of the ladies at the meeting I was in FL for but more on that later.

The thing that really frustrated me today was that my dad called me and told me I had a registered letter from some law office that is about him living there but me owning it. That sucks. I am sure that a lot of you are aware that at most condos there is a set number of units that can have leases, well, back in the fall they sent out letters to everyone to see who has a lease. I don't officially have a lease with my dad but he can't own property because of his disability (and he couldn't afford the entire amount anyway) so I own it and he pays me rent. Technically this is a lease but just not in writing. I called the management company and discussed the situation and she said I was fine and she would make a note but I didn't need to do anything. Now I have a letter from a law office waiting for me. I swear that it is always one thing after another. I deal with these people all the time (various bills that he has since I do all his finances) and it seems like our situation is something that completely baffles everyone. I didn't know it was so rare or maybe it is because it is Cumming, I don't know but it really gets me frustrated.

I did run 3 miles today so that helped...I forgot my running shoes though so I had to wear my hiking shoes that I brought for Niagara Falls (they are not high top kind and look sort of like running shoes) but they are not as comfy to run in! It hurt my knees. I wanted to run a lot more but just couldn't....I was all motivated to run because yesterday I was telling Terri that I was walking at that field and she said "walking doesn't do shit". Hmmm, maybe she is right so I am trying to get back into running..UGH.

I have a couple specific posts that I am working on and some stuff in my other blog for those who wanted to see that, but right now I need to edit some more....I am trying to get to bed before 1am tonight. I CAN'T WAIT for the weekend....it will be so nice to just hang out with Craig and not have to deal with anything else.

Is it sad that I have ordered so much from Outback while I was here that they now know me? And my order (since I get no butter on everything...di you know they cook everything in butter)?

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles....

So here was is what my schedule looked like in the last 36 hours:

1:15pm yesterday - leave work
3:25 catch plane to Tampa
4:45 get to Tampa wait for shuttle to hotel in St. Pete
5:30 Shuttle finally gets there but we have to drive around the airport 4 more times to get other people
6:10 leave to go to hotel
6:40 get to hotel only to find out that I am not staying in the really nice hotel that I showed you guys the other day...I am staying 3/4 of a mile down the street at their sister property called the Beach House. I will definitely let you know more about this later, but let me just say "crunchy comforter"
6:50 get to the Beach House
6:55 shuttle back to main hotel for cocktail hour
8:40 leave cocktail party for dinner
11:00 get home from dinner...finally call craig, check my email from work, and business. Answer critical emails and edit some pictures
1:15 go to bed
7:15 up and at them to get a shower and meet downstairs
8:00am at meeting site.
9:45 find out I am giving a presentation that I didn't know about or prepare for (more about this later too) after lunch at 1pm
1:15 give presentation
1:55 presentation and q and a ends
2:10 picked up by taxi to go to the airport
2:45 get to airport.
4:20 flight delayed till 4:30
5:50 Get to Atlanta
6:30 get home
7:15 Terri and I leave for Bon Jovi
11:45 Terri and I get home from Bon Jovi (DEFINITELY more on this later)
Then I packed, answer client emails and caught up on blogs...it is now 12:50 and my alarm is set for 6:30am so I can get up and catch a 9:50am flight tomorrow....Goodness...I am tired...and it doesn't stop there cause Fri I fly to OH and then we go to Niagara Falls and then back to Albany!!

I have thought of lots of things to write about and to fill you guys in but I just haven't had any time to actually write it. I slept on the plane the whole 2 hours last weekend when I went to Albany but maybe this time I will stay awake for part of it and write some of my stuff and then just copy and paste it all or something.....