Differences

Things that I have noticed after being here for a little over a week:

--It is dark here....as in when I walked to the dumpster last night to throw out the trash, I couldn't even see the sidewalk. I could see a lot of stars but I am not used to that. In Atlanta (at least where I live) there are lights everywhere. My eyes are having to readjust to this darkness :-)
--There really isn't any traffic. I mean, they say there is but it is nothing like Atlanta and unless you leave right at 5-5:20pm you will completely miss it. Even when there is "traffic" it still moves, it is just that you go 60 instead of 80.
--People here tend to drive sort of slow, and in the fast lane. It drives me nuts. They are going faster than the other lane but they are still going slow.
--There seem to be more heavy people here (I mentioned this in another post).
--Groceries are cheap!
--Everyone eats fast food, all the time! They are always packed (as are most restaurants).

Work lately has been a nightmare! My presentation didn't go a well yesterday because people decided that they didn't like what I was presenting and they would just give me the silent treatment..super mature. Oh well, I knew it wasn't going to go over super well. Unfortunately when you have the job of making new policies and enforcing rules, you aren't always the most popular person on the block :-(

Last night Craig wanted to go and take some pictures and since I haven't taken any in forever, I went with. Unfortunately, that meant that I left work at 5:45 and wasn't home until 8:20. I have had a hard time finding a good wind down to my day here. I am going to join the gym at his work and I am hoping that will help. I just feel a little stressed all the time, like I can't get anything crossed off the to do list. This past weekend I went to visit my cousin in Columbus and while I really liked visiting them, it meant that I went to Columbus two days in a row (it is about 70miles) so I really spent a lot of my weekend driving around. I will not make that mistake this weekend :-) I can't wait to just relax and if they weather holds up, plant my garden :-)

Soccer and Snow

NO, it is not snowing...but it is drizzling and it is supposed to get down to 31 tonight so add the two together and I could see snow, right?

Today I got up and came home to get some unpacking done...I did a pretty good job and my "office" is almost done now, and my bathroom is done...next will be the closet in my bedroom. I also went for a run today (day two this week) and then found this cool website where you can type in your route using a map (after you register for the free membership) and it will tell you how far you have run and it even saves it. I am one of those obsessive people who has to know how far they run..I always use my car to clock it but this tool is way more practical. I ran a little over 2 miles today and I felt pretty good. Since I am just getting back into it I decided to run for 5 mins and then walk 1 min and then start running again. There were a couple parts that were uphill but other than that I didn't really get that tired...it made me excited.

After all of that we went to a Crew game. They are the professional soccer team here (the league that Beckam plays in here in the US). They were actually the national champions last year. I got us season tickets to give to Craig for his birthday. We had awesome 7th row seats so I can't wait for Becks to get here...not until September though. I have to say, I am not one for watching soccer on TV really but I did enjoy going to the game and seeing it in person. Those fans are nuts!!! Both sides (we were playing Toronto) had these sections which reminded me of a student section at a football game. They would chant and bounce the whole game! And, every time the keeper (I was informed today that it is only called goalie when you are like 6) from the other team would get the ball to kick back the "club" would shout in unison "you suck asshole". It was just like when we call the dawgs at kick off...they would go 'OOOOOOHHHHHH (until he kicked the ball), YOU SUCK ASSHOLE" It cracked me up! They also have cheerleaders for soccer...what the heck?? They were in one of the endzones on a stage and you couldn't hear them over the chanting so I am not sure what their purpose was. The other thing that was funny/weird to me was that the Toronto fans kept letting streamers go that would go onto the field and tangle players, yet no one said a word and the game didn't even slow down. They also decided toward the end of the game that it would be cool to light flares/smoke bombs in their section and throw them on the field....again, the game didn't even slow...there was just a guy who would jump over the fence, run on the field and then get it and jump right back over. Can you imagine what would have happened if that had occurred at a UGA game? Those people would have been gone. I did take my camera to practice my natural light and sports photography so I will post some pictures later when I have the energy to get my camera back out.

On the way home we were driving down the roads in Columbus and were on the OSU campus. I noticed a sorority house on the street we were on and then two blocks later I saw the DG house :-) They had a purple anchor...so funny. We were sitting at a light and I had already looked for the house on the last block and was trying to explain to Craig what the letters looked like so he could look too and then I said "they will have an anchor" and right as I said it I saw the purple anchor...funny.

I think that I am headed to bed. Tomorrow is a crafty day for me (if there is no ice on the roads). I am excited!

One work week down....

and many more to go :-) I sit here STARVING!! I literally don't know if I could be anymore hungry right now if I tried. I was so nervous about my presentation that I didn't really eat lunch (well, I guess I just simply didn't) and then my presentation went really long with all of the questions so by the time it was over and I had my follow up with my employees it was 4:10 and I wanted to go home, so I left....no lunch. This morning when I stopped at my gas station for my morning latte they were out of the fat free so I had to get the full fat one....it was like drinking syrup. That would have been ok for the first 4ounces but after 20 my tummy was in a little sugar shock..oops.

Tonight Craig and I are having a pizza and movie date night :-) I have been really trying to get all my editing done this week so every moment that we weren't running errands involved me being on the computer. Tonight I am looking forward to just laying on the couch, cuddling with the kitties and watching a movie. We had the rain all you guys are getting now yesterday and the day before and I think that it is coming back tomorrow but for now we just have a little chill (think 40s) in the air....still seems like a good movie night :-)

editing

I am still editing but am down to just E&E and Oliver :-)

Isn't this one of the cutest faces you have ever seen?? Obviously I need to fix the booboo....

3rd day is a charm??

Today I didn't hit the 4:00 wall...why you might ask? Well, that is because I have a MAJOR presentation tomorrow and been working on it today and then we did a practice run to make sure all the electrical stuff worked (it is over the web with the talking on the phone...high tech). You might remember me talking about this a month ago when it got delayed, well, it is back on! I guess the key to not getting bored it to make sure I have plenty to do.

Other than that, not too much. I found a nice nail place today but they didn't have time for me at lunch so I went to the mall. My nails look ok but the place wasn't really nice and the girl wasn't really friendly so I think that I am going to go back to the nice place next time but just make an appointment in advance.

Tonight Craig has soccer so I think that I am going to go home, go for a run, and then finish editing pictures and have a camera date with Ariyana. My sister and I both have webcams so I am going to try to see Ariyana periodically on it and talk to her and stuff so I still get to see her. Tonight is our first try so we will see how it goes. If I get done with all of that then I will start unpacking some more...I think that it is starting to get to Craig :-) I don't know why he cares because we don't spend that much time there but I guess he likes to have everything clean and put away. I was just a little more worried about keeping my clients happy so I have spent all my free time editing lately. 10 sessions plus a move is turning out to be a lot but I will get it done.

I have also discovered that the ride home goes a lot faster if I talk on the phone to someone (handsfree) so if you want to be on my call list and are available between 5:30 and 6:30 (and will answer your phone), let me know!

So far, I am liking Ohio :-)

Wasting time

That is what I am sort of trying to do right now. The end of the day here is a little hard for me to concentrate. I am not sure why but right now I lose my focus right around 4:00. Hmm.

So, a lot of people have asked how things are going with Craig and I here since I moved. Now, it has only been a few days, and not much longer than a normal vacation for when I might come to visit, but things are really going well. I have been a little stressed because I just feel like I have a to do list that never gets any smaller and it stresses me a bit. I haven't finished editing several sessions (sorry Erin and Drena, but I promise them soon) and it isn't because I haven't tried to make the time. I haven't gone to bed before about 12:30am yet. I think that I thought that all the stress would go away when I moved...you know, all the stress was building up to the move but now I realize that I still have a lot to do. Craig assures me that it will be better by the weekend...that is when I should have everything done that is a 'must do' and then I can work on some of the other things. The weather is supposed to be yucky here this weekend so he is probably right and I probably will get a lot done. Other than that though, things are good. I feel like there is a lot of tension gone. Maybe tension isn't the right word, but that feeling that you have when you know you only have 10 hours left with someone and then it will be weeks or months until you see them again. It makes it harder to enjoy the time because you worry that it is going to end (or at least I do). Now, it is not a big deal to say goodbye because I know that it will not be long before I can see him again. I know that probably sounds silly to those of you that haven't done the long distance thing ever, but for those who have, you know what I mean.

On the agenda tomorrow is to find a nail place. I dread it. It is so hard to find a good place and I dread it so much that I thought about not getting my nails done anymore. The trouble is that they are so brittle and they break and one of them is all rigid from my lovely eczema :-( None of the girls that Craig knows get theirs done (either not girly enough or trying to save money). I can't decide what I want to do but my nails are really too long now! It even makes it difficult to type (though not quite the extreme as some cashiers we all know and love). I might just not do it anymore and see what happens to my nails and whether they break a lot again. I miss my nail place at home where I could actually understand the people when they asked me questions :-(

Funny---I am now streaming the Atlanta station that I listened to in order to have some noise in my office. The traffic report just said traffic on 75 south and I thought "thank goodness that I am going north"...yeah, wrong city!

Day 2....

Today is yucky and rainy here, so I feel like one of those kids in the movies who is peering out the window with the rain trickling down. That is how my trailer window looks.

This morning the traffic was much better than yesterday morning. I left around the same time as yesterday but I guess since it was raining there was not as much construction that involved people walking around (they were on the other side in the middle in their machines). It only took 45 mins from Craig's house and that included a stop for coffee at the speedway :-)

I also have been so busy today that I haven't had time to notice that I am all alone...of course the GM did come down to see how everything was going and whether I was comfortable and stuff so that was nice. I also am having lunch with the Controller so I hope that will help to break up the day a little bit and I have had my radio on all day so that definitely helped too. Maybe it will not be so bad.

They didn't really appear to have any offices up front and most of what I do is a little secretive so I can't really have a cube in the middle of the auction or run to a conference room everytime I have a call I need to be on. It would be a little better if there were at least some people right outside my office in a cube but really, this is the best place for my job function, just maybe not my personality. I am sure I will get used to it as time goes on....

So, weird thing this morning...on the highway (which is most of my commute) there was this white car that kept pulling right up to me with a guy in it. Every time I would look over he would be looking right at me and then he would pull back. At first I wondered if it was someone that worked here that I met yesterday (some of them live up near me) but then the last time we had our encounter about a mile before my exit, he pulled back and was gone. So, he didn't get off at the same exit as me..hmmm.

I love the fact that I get to cook every night now for me and someone else...I know that sounds weird but I am a dork like that. As I mentioned last night on FB, the groceries are cheap here (or they have gone down in Atlanta and I just haven't bought any in a while) because I got a gallon of milk for $1.99, half gallon was $.88 the other day. I know I have never paid under $2 for a gallon of milk in Atlanta. The chicken was also $1.88 a pound for Tysons and not just the breasts with the fat, but the tenders that are already trimmned. Ground beef -$1.49 a pound, and not the 50% fat one and this was all at Kroger, so not like it was some sketchy grocery store or anything. It is pretty sweet. The funny thing is that there are a TON of fat people here (pun intended) and I don't understand why if the food is so cheap. I guess I am used to Atlanta where we have fat people but in the city if you go to a club it seems like every girl is a size 2 (except me of course). Here it is quite the opposite...interesting.

The next project I am going to have is a garden at Craig's house...of course I just looked at the weather and it is supposed to rain all weekend so that might have to be put on hold....we will see. Do any of you have any experience with gardens or any ideas of what to grow?

Amended first day....

this trailer bit sucks!! There is no one to talk to! I did stream my Atlanta station and that helps but now I have it in my head that it is too quiet so I can't stop thinking about it.

On the other hand, this has been a really productive day, YAY! The next few days will be stressful workwise so it was nice to get a lot done today!

First Day at Work

Well, not really my first day but my first day here. The commute wasn't too bad all until the last 5 miles. They are doing construction on 75 here and instead of waiting until it is not the time of day when there would be more people on the road, they just go ahead and do it when they want....oh well. I think that there is a back road that I can take. I am a mile down the street from Ikea...sweet (though I was disappointed the other day when I went, but I don't know if I was just tired or whether they just didn't have what I was looking for. A bookshelf at Ikea was like $70 and one at Target was about $20. I thought that Ikea was supposed to be the cheapest place ever).

My "office" is in a trailer down at the 'lower lot'. I have the whole trailer all to myself. That is good for getting work done I guess or for writing my blog entry while at work :-) but I am one of those people that doesn't do too great with it being so silent at work so I am definitely going to have to figure out how to get some sort of radio in here. The only problem is that there are not any stellar radio stations around here. I guess I could put iTunes on my work computer so I could listen to that music.

Other than that, yesterday is sort of a blur...I know I ended up driving to Craig's house about 4 times by the time the day was over. (Twice was to pick up Chloe to get her stitches out and then to take her back). I am really behind in my editing and really have to get some of that done tonight for sure!! I don't see it being a late day for me here at the auction. I am definitely going to get more done that I normally would and I think that I will be more productive once I get some of the stuff at home all settled.

I am here!!

Wow, who would have thought that when I requested the 8-11am timeslot for my internet and cable to be hooked up that it would actually happen in that timeframe?? The guy showed up while I was drying my hair a little after 9am and by 10 I was fully functional! I can't believe it. He was really nice too. Also on the to do list for today was to call the truck company to see if we can drop it off after hours, call the vet to see if I need an appointment to take out Chloe's stitches, call comcast to cancel my cable back home and to tell the office here that I have a hole in my fridge (on the inside, but still). Also on the list, Target (4th time since I got here), grocery, home depot to make an extra key for Craig, bank to set up an account, and find a nail place :-) We will see. I also have a full day of work that I need to get done and a headache I can't shake.

The move was really not as bad as I thought it would be. My mom, Dudley and I packed up the car on Friday in about 2.5 hours. It would have been nice to have a few more hands to help but we had a cart so that helped a lot because we could just roll out several boxes at a time and then load them up. After we finished my sisters, Zach, Ariyana, and Morgan showed up and we hung out, ate pizza and watched basketball. After that my mom and I headed to Dudley's for the night. The next morning I somehow woke up at 7:15 and could hear Dudley and my mom already up so we just all got up, cooked pancakes, showered and hit the road right at 9am. At about 6:15pm we pulled into Craig's house. The drive was not that bad but it was really long. It took longer than it normally does but we also didn't rush. I had Shopoholic and Sister on CD so I listened to that the whole way after I lost my radio in Atlanta (well, TN before I lost it). I also put a John Grisham book in mom's car. It worked out well. That night we unloaded my car and went to Target and to eat while Craig went to his soccer game. The next morning our plan was to get up, make breakfast and then be at my place by 10am to unload. We told my cousin and my aunt and uncle to be there around 10. They told my mom they were leaving at 8:30 because it would take them an hour and 20 mins so I decided we should get here a little before 10. We left Craig's house while he was going to shower and then meet us over there. By the time we got to my place the family was already here and we began unloading immediately. By the time that Craig got here at 10:20 it was almost done. He felt bad but after I had told him that it took us 2.5 hours in Atlanta, I think that he thought he had more time. Oh well. After that everyone started unpacking while I ran to Target for shower curtain rings and cabinet liner. By the time I got back my entire room was set up (bed put together and made) and then about 15 mins later my whole kitchen was done. After that I treated everyone to pizza at my favorite nearby place! YUM YUM!! Then we made a trip to Ikea (very disappointed but maybe I was just tired) while Craig went home to do yard work (it was beautiful here yesterday). My mom and I went back to Craig's to hang out last night to watch TV and cook dinner, then we came back after Desperate Housewives and went to bed. She had a 6am flight out this morning because I didn't know that I was going to work from home when we booked it.

That is about it for me..more later....

halfway done

Thanks for all the well wishes! We got the truck packed up in a couple of hours and it is packed! I never knew I had so much stuff!!

Driving the truck will be interesting. It is hard to see anything on the side of you!! It is going to be a long trip tomorrow!!!

Less than 24 hours

That is how long I have left of being an Atlanta resident. It is sort of weird. I am very excited but also a little nervous. I am not sure what I am nervous about though, it just seemed to creep in. I guess it is all so new that maybe that is the reason behind the jitters, who knows.

Anyway, I wanted to get in one last post because my mom is going to be here in 40 mins to pick me up and then we are going to get the truck....

Here are some things that I will NOT miss about Atlanta, there aren't many:

--extreme pollen...gross and my sinuses hate it. I want to sit on a clean outdoor chair in March
--TRAFFIC...ugh, I can't wait to be rid of the awful traffic that we have here.
--extreme humidity...this one I can deal with but would still rather not have it.
--ad valorem taxes on my car...hello $25 car registration!

Favorite Quote of the Day..

"Do you think that there is any way you could have these done by Sunday?" --My client from today.

This is my favorite because we had already discussed that I had 9 sessions last weekend (only one of which is edited) and she had wished me luck in my move, which she knew was a 3 day process....gotta love people :-) In reality, it took all I had to actually say no. I hate telling clients no but I really would have to kill myself to get them done......

Please Don't Tow

Last night Drena, Carrie, Erin, Dudley and I went to Nuevo Laredo for dinner. There was NO parking anywhere when Drena and I got there so we parked down this side street near it. Of course as we walk up to the restaurant we see that people are pulling out but since I didn't see a sign that said that we couldn't park on the street that we had parked on, we just left our cars. Fast forward to the hour long wait for a table and the 30 min dinner and we are walking back to our cars when I see a tow truck right in front of where my car was parked. I was worried that they were towing my car so we started running and sure enough they had my car hooked up to the truck. It was the biggest guy I have ever seen that was doing it and I started screaming "that's my car!!!". He was nice enough to undo it and not charge me, which I was SUPER surprised by! Most of the time, if they already have it hooked up then you have to pay (and probably most of the time they keep the cash) so with this economy I was really surprised. He told me to hurry because he had another car to tow (it was probably Drena's). While all this was going on there was a girl standing there taking pictures with her camera phone of the street with the cars parked on it....I am sure she was the one who called them because when he was pulling out from my car she was yelling "hey, there is one more" to him. I am sure I am on a blog somewhere as the bi+ch that parked on her street. Honestly, I didn't see the sign (which the tow truck guy pointed out to me and it was pretty close to my car) and it was green, not like the normal red signs. I felt bad that I had parked where I shouldn't have but at the same time, we were not blocking a single thing AT ALL. No driveways, not in front of a house, not even in the street so I really don't see what the big deal was. Oh well. I am just glad that my car didn't get towed because that would have sucked and really put a damper on the night.

I am not sure that I will be returning there anytime soon...the food is ok but the parking situation sucks and I don't think that the food is any better than it is at a cheap Mexican restaurant where I can pull right up and sit right away. Having dinner with the girls was fun though...hopefully we can do it more often.

Progress

Here is my progress....
I feel a little bit better about getting a lot done tonight...the only trouble is that it is now 12:10 and I am still up...so much for that getting enough sleep thing this week!!

So, since it is late...I will leave you with this picture for those that didn't make it to Twisted Taco on Saturday (though glad you could come out at all since the weather was so nasty). I am such a rockstar :-)

Moving....

Today was better than yesterday as far as the being tired factor. I didn't want to get up this morning though and it certainly didn't help that it was pretty dark in my room when I woke up. I have this clock that my sister gave me a while ago for Christmas...it is a great clock but it sets itself by satelite or something and when they changed daylight savings the clock didn't get the memo...weird because I have unplugged it and the replugged it in and it will go through all the numbers and land on the right time, all except for the hour. So, for two weeks around daylight savings I have a clock that has the wrong time and right now it is an hour early. This morning when I got up it was so dark in my room that I had to do a double take on the time and then with sleepy eyes wander out to my kitchen to recheck that clock....yep 7:25..crap, time to get up!

The move seems to be going ok. I got most of my clothes packed up last night...all except for the pants. I decided to leave some of my "work" clothes here. I figured that it would make it easier if I could travel sometimes without luggage and I don't wear them out so I couldn't think of a good reason not to leave them. That helped with the packing a little bit. I think that the only major thing that I have left is to clean out all the papers and mail and then to pack up my bookshelf. I have other things that need to be packed but those are the two things that I think will take the longest.

I booked my flight to come back in April already. I had to be extra careful to start in Dayton and go to Atlanta instead of the other way around :-) I was supposed to help pay to fix an extra car my mom and her husband have in exchange for getting to use it while I was in town but now it is pretty ridiculously priced to get it fixed so I will just be using Marta and rides from people :-) At least I can ride Marta to work and walk most places so that works out.

Kind of weird that I have had my last weekend (at least for now) as a resident of Atlanta....so strange. I am really excited though, just wish I could be done with the packing. I am picking up more boxes tonight and hopefully can finish most of it tonight.

I made it....

I wasn't so sure I would but I did! I feel like I have a couple things to blog about but right now I am running to meet some high school friends for dinner.

Thanks for those who made it last night and sorry that some of you couldn't! I really can't believer that it is already 6:20 on Sunday night..I have no idea where my weekend went and I am exhausted.

As an added bonus, I realized that the NCAA tournament will be in Dayton next weekend...it is like basketball is following me...the ACC tournament was here this weekend. I need to do a bracket...I don't watch basketball at all during the year but I always like to do the brackets :-)

I'll be back...

Destressing and why moms are great!

I was extremely stressed yesterday (which you can sort of tell if you read the nonsense that was my post yesterday....weird). Anyway, I knew that this weekend I had to somehow come home today, clean up my place, pack what I could (and then find a place to put all the boxes once I did pack) and get everything ready for my sessions that start at 9am tomorrow. Since I so many this weekend that meant that I needed to cleaned off my cards, make sure they were all on my computer, back up the files on my computer so I could clean off cards if I needed to tomorrow between sessions. I also had to vaccuum and clean the kitchen, living room and bathroom. It might not sound like a lot but it was stressing me. SO, enter my mom....she offered to come and help me this weekend but with everything I have planned this weekend I wasn't sure when she could come and I didn't want her to drive all the way down here for an hour or two. I know she doesn't care but I do....so, since she was working today and that was only 30mins from my place she said she could come tonight and I took her up on it. By the time I got home she had packed up my whole bathroom minus the jewelry, all my dishes, most of my other kitchen stuff, my shoes and some of the boxes from under my bed. She also helped me set up a wardrobe box that she had from when my sister moved which allows you to put all your clothes in it hung up. Since she got all that done, I was able to get all the cleaning part done while chatting with her and by 9 she was on her way home and my place is clean (until the kiddos show up tomorrow) and the stuff that takes a while is all packed. There honestly isn't much more we could do until I can spread it all out in the living room but I really feel 1000 times better about it all. I only have two days this week during the week when I will be home before 9 (including Sunday) so I wanted to get as much as I could done today and we were successful. I feel like I can enjoy it a little more now.

Having her help me and being so selfless makes me realize that she still feels the way about me as those of you who have kids feel about your own children. I think that it is easy for parents to feel needed and to help their children when they are babies and can't help themselves, but it means a lot to me that she still wants to do anything to help me, even when I am a full grown adult. Warm fuzzies :-)

Chloe had her surgery today and she did very well....Craig is going to pick her up tomorrow but the vet said that everything went exactly as it should have...yay cause that was another thing to sort of stressed me.

My little sex kitten

I can only imagine the ads that will show up with this title...it is ok, no one clicks on them anyway.....

Today Craig took Chloe to the vet, she got her second set of shots and is very healthy. She is spending the night there so she can be fixed tomorrow. It was sweet of him to take her and I am really grateful that he did :-)

Tonight I am going to meet a friend of mine who lives here. I am really tired but excited to catch up with her. I just wish it wasn't such a far drive.

Work has been a little stressful....there never seems to be enough time and now I am going to have to come back here again. That just sucks because I am going to move to Ohio and then be in Atlanta for a week and then in New Orleans for a week...two weeks of wasted rent...grrr. I knew that could happen but I guess I was just hoping that it wouldn't be right away. Oh well.

BUSY weekend planned...my mom is coming tomorrow to pack up as much as we can tomorrow night and then I am doing all the sessions and my away party and meeting a high school friend for dinner that I haven't seen in 5 years! It will all be fun but I think that I will be a lot less stressed come Saturday night :-)

Kitty Drama

Ugh....so, last night Craig was commenting on how cute it was that Mu (his cat) was cleaning Chloe...then all of a sudden Chloe was on the floor in a crouch position wiggling her butt in the air. Craig kept asking her what was wrong because she seemed to just collapse and then after several mintues of making sure her paws were working (cause she wouldn't stand on them) he said she wasn't hurt (she jumps all over so it was very possible that she would hurt herself) and said he thought that it might be something sexual....so we get to researching (as Craig put the kitties in different rooms because Mu is not fixed since he never goes outside and hasn't ever showed any interest and is not aggressive) and sure enough, Chloe was showing signs of being in heat. We think that Mu wasn't cleaning her but was biting the back of her neck all National Geographic style. GREAT, one more thing that I need to figure out.....when we got her 2 weeks ago they said she was "around" 4 months...and cats don't normally go into heat until about 6 months on the early end (at least from our research) so I guess she was a little older than they guessed. The worse part is keeping them separated after they were such good friends, but I can't have Chloe preggo....so I called the vet literally as soon as they opened today and next Tuesday was the earliest appointment they had...a week of cats in separate rooms? So I asked Craig to ask one of his friends who doesn't use the same vet who she used and called them. They require a pre-visit and then will schedule the surgery so Craig has to take her in tomorrow for her pre-visit to establish her as a patient and then she can have her surgery on Friday. Now that I type it, it doesn't sound like that big of a deal but it was a couple hours today of us trying to coordinate it all. And, my poor little kitty is going to have to spend two nights at the vet (they said she can stay tomorrow after her appointment instead of going home at 4 just to come back at 8am) and I won't even be there to take care of her when she gets out. Craig has never had a girl kitty so he was asking me about stitches and all that...I have no idea what to tell him. I know he will take good care of her, but I do wish that I could cuddle with her when she gets home.

Jetlag

Chloe (my cat) has become quite nuts :-) Craig says that she uses his hallways as runways and leaps all over the place. The other night she didn't really let him sleep because she wanted to play. I would have closed my bedroom door but he didn't so she kept him up. She also carries around this one little mouse toy in her mouth like a dog and she will bring it to Craig. If he throws it she will go and retreive it and bring it back to him to throw again. Maybe she has an identity crisis???

I think that I am finally getting over jetlag. I am not sure the best way to go about recovering...I also don't understand why when I was over there I wasn't tired all the time but I am when I come home. Life's mysteries.

Last night I left work around 6pm CST (I am in Slidell, LA) and went back to my hotel. I ordered Chinese food, which was scalding hot, watched Dancing with the Stars and edited pictures. Because I am moving, and I wanted to get some sessions in before I went, I had 3 sessions on Sunday and I have 10 this weekend! WOW, that is a lot for one weekend...literally 9-6 both days. At least I get to see 3 of my favorite and cutest clients (Ella, Emma, and Oliver). Actually, I like all of my clients this weekend, they are all fun. A couple of the sessions are outdoors at the park which is a nice change with the weather we have been having. I did one in the park last weekend on Sunday and the park was CROWDED. There were a million people there. I did it at noon (which is the worst time for the sun so we found some good shade) and I thought that it would be less crowded because of church but I guess everyone went to the early service so they could enjoy the weather. The little boy was super cute and the pictures turned out well so that made me happy. Sometimes I get more worried with the natural light photography because I can't control all the light so I am always relieved when they turn out well. I am going to finish up the editing tonight but I did all the hard parts last night and then I am going to work on my travel blog about Greece and try to get some pictures up....we will see. Would it be so bad if I ordered Chinese again? I have to either get on the highway and drive to eat somewhere else or walk across the parking lot...hmmmm, maybe not two nights in a row.

What time is it?

I feel like it is 9pm but I know it is only 3pm at home and 2pm here. My body has no idea what time it is....and the weirdest part is that it makes my tummy hurt. I was starving today by the time I ate lunch and I think that I am nauseous because normally by the time I ate lunch today I would have had all three meals for the day...add that into getting up at 5am and getting on an airplane and it doesn't make for a very fun day for my tummy. I am counting down the hours until I can go back to my hotel and relax and get to bed. It was not a good idea to come here the first work day back...I am getting a lot done but I think that my body is a little worn out.....hopefully after tonight I will be all better.

I am back!!

Yesterday was a long day of travel! We got up at 1am Atlanta time and I got home at 10pm Atlanta time...yikes. Since we were flying during Atlanta 'daytime' I tried to stay awake on the plane, plus it was light the whole time so I was exhausted by the time I got home.

I have debated on what to write about and how to get in a week of vacation into one post so I just decided to do a pros and cons list here. I jotted down some funny/interesting stories for all the days so I am going to write those all out on my travel blog (blog that I keep of mine and Craig's travels that people read that I don't want reading this :-)) so I will link over when I get a chance to write and to get the pictures up.

I had 3 sessions today, which was such a nice welcome back (read sarcasm here). I decided though that I wasn't going to work on those pictures today so I could do some of the Greece stuff (I took over 300 pics) and just relax a little bit. Luckily all the shoots went well.

Pros:
-- We got to hang out with Jody Laird for two days in Athens...it was good to see her and I think that she liked seeing a familar f
--We had great weather for all but two days and even then it only rained for 45 mins...of course it was the 45 mins that we were trying to catch a cab but we still felt very lucky!
--The people were the nicest people ever! We didn't get any flack about being Americans (and they did all tell us that they liked Obama which just reminded me how involved they are with out politics)
--Water was super cheap for a bottle (like .50 Euros)
--Taking flights instead of ferries. We met a couple and saw them a few times and what took us 45 mins on a plane took them 14 hours waiting on a ferry and then 4 more on the ferry and it only saved them about $45. NO THANKS!!
--Their airline Aegean was the most prompt, efficient, and clean airline I have ever been on! We left on time for 3 of our 4 flights and landed on time for all of them, if not early (including the one that took off late).
--The food was really good. I was worried since I don't like feta or olives but I didn't see much of either.
--It was relatively cheap for the most part...most of our money was spent on cabs.
--Everyone, with the exception of 2-3 people, we met spoke English. I know that this is not ideal when you are looking for a true foreign country experience but it was really good since we had Dudley with us :-)
--All of the plans (hotels, flights) that I made online worked out perfectly!
--Dudley FINALLY got her luggage on day 4...which was even more amazing since we were in Santorini at that point.


Cons:
--You are allowed to smoke EVERYWHERE!!! It was so disgusting and it was not good for my asthma at all...I even saw a 9 year old smoking and people smoking right next to a no smoking sign. Luckily there was no smoking on the planes we took to islands or in our Marriott room but that was it! This was literally the worst part of the trip for me....
--So, apparently not the season to go to Greece and the whole town of Oia was closed-literally. I was really bummed about that because it was the most picturesque place and where you were supposed to watch the sunset. My one regret was not going back on the last day for more pictures. Other things were closed during the day for 3 hours (which they don't do in the high season). At the same time, this can't be a complete con because we still saw a lot and it was a lot cheaper and we still had fun. I think that May and June are probably the best times to go....everything is open again and it isn't too hot yet.
--We spent a ton on cab rides to and from the airport 4 times in Athens..that sucked but oh well.
--Cabbies didn't use meters always so you never knew what you would pay....made making sure you had enough cash tough.
--credit cards are not heard of there it seemed like...most places wouldn't take them....again, made planning hard cause we didn't want to be stuck with extra Euros that we would lose the spread on when we converted them again.
--It seemed like in Crete the fumes from the cars just stayed in our lungs....Heraklion is where we went and it is surrounded by a wall and it seemed to keep it all in. Yuck!
--If Dudley doesn't sleep at night then no one does...that sucked!

As you can see, the pros FAR outweighed the cons! We had a great time even though I don't think that we were able to do some of the things that people normally do in Greece. I would like to go back in the higher season.

I also think that I learned a lot about the way that I like to travel on this trip and really gained a whole new appreciation for Craig and the low stress way that we travel. It was great to spend time with my sister. We haven't really gotten to lately with all the wedding, her getting a new house and new husband but she was the same old fun loving, silly girl that I remembered and that made me feel really good. We decided that we didn't like the fact that Alyson didn't come and we think that it would be a really good idea to plan a trip with the three of us. It makes me happy that we are all getting to be really close again and that all the drama of growing up (nothing major, just all the petty stuff that sisters can do when they are teenagers or just too cool or whatever) is gone.

Now I can't wait to plan the next trip! I had this brilliant idea of the perfect job....planning travel photography destination trips! Think like school trips but with just photogs and to cool places where I would figure out the best times of year and best time to see the sights...it would be hard to plan but I would love going to all the places and I would love to do one if someone would organize it for me.

Funniest quote of the trip "It is so nice to be back in America where everything is in English" -Dudley as we were walking through JFK yesterday. The funny thing about this is that in Greece most things (or at least things that we needed) were in English over there too! Gotta love her!

Ok, on to the travel blog!