Flashback Friday (82)

Today is a day of reflection........

Hello, Luke!

Can't wait to meet Madeleine. Luke and I had a very nice snuggling session this afternoon. He could not be any more perfect. Yay, nephews :)

October Updates

UGH.... After a banner blogging year in 2010, 2011 has been disastrous. Just scrolling through the pics on my bberry, I can see how uninspired I've been. Normally, even if I'm not blogging, I'm snapping pics of random stuff that might inspire at a future point. Anyways.... it is time for some big updates, though!

• I finally have a real job!!! (I hope) Don't think I blogged about it, but the first week of September we lost the sales pursuit I'd been working on for the past 10 months. It was honestly a really hard time for me.... for someone who is as much of a planner as I am, it was really hard to have everything in my life up in the air. I got the official word that I was being offered a new role on Friday, and I have just been feeling 100% more settled since then. I will be in SoCal next week to meet the customer, with the hope of return trips every 6 weeks or so!
• Luke (aka Twin #2) is scheduled to bust out of NICU tomorrow! I am so excited to finally get to meet one of them - yay! Madeleine will hopefully be joining him later in the week. 
• Rangers are in the World Series.... so I've become a repeat bandwagon baseball fan ;)

Flashback Friday (81)

This is funny... I have absolutely no idea what year nor what location this picture is from. But check out the early years of the freakishly long toes :) And I do like how my hot elbow got cut off to make room for my legs/toes!

Poor Doogie

Life as a single parent is difficult.... even as a single parent to two dogs ;) I have had enormous guilt over the increased amount of time they spend in their crate, the fact that there are now only 2 hands in the house to pet them with, one lap to fight over, one body to snuggle up to at night. There have been two outcomes of this guilt.... (1) we go for walks far more often than ever before and (2) I try to get Doogie some extra activity by playing fetch with her regularly.

She is a great fetcher.... she knows that mama is lazy and that she has to personally deliver the ball to my hand in order for it to get thrown again. Mama does not even lean over to get it.... that would be work and mama doesn't need any more of that ;)

The funniest thing that happens during our games is if the ball somehow bounces into her food bowl. She is like terrified of retrieving it from in there (despite her constantly licking the bowl throughout the day in hopes that a morsel has been left behind). She stands over/around it for like 5-7 minutes until she determines she can pounce and retrieve it. Funny girl

Thoughts from 22A

Subtitle: The Barf Bag Post

On my flight home from St. Louis I was bored, tired, restless, and probably still a little bit drunk from the night before. I began exploring the seat back pocket in front of me. I thumbed through the Sky Mall magazine, the American Airlines magazine, the Spanish language magazine, and some new magazine that they are now wasting money on publishing. I was looking for one thing.... the barf bag.

Haha, at this point, you probably think it is because I was still a little drunk (ABBA, I know you are fretting about this!).

I was really curious to see just how deep the airline cost-cutting had gone. Did they still provide barf bags to all passengers? In 31 years of flying, I do not recall ever having partaken usage of a barf bag. I also do not recall ever having seen a fellow passenger utilize this resource. It seems like people don't really get air sick anymore? I would LOVE to know the annual cost of barf bag purchases by American Airlines.

And.... success. They do still provide barf bags. They even now spend more money by printing messages on them!

After reading this article about all the crap people dump in seat back pockets, I can see the benefit of providing these and suggesting that they be used for diaper disposal. ew

I am REALLY interested to hear/read Straight Guy in the Queer Skies take on what he has found when cleaning seat back pockets. I asked him about barf bags on fb the other day, and Agent Dragonfly (also a flight attendant) immediately replied about how they were so much more effective than dealing with people throwing up on the way to the bathroom. I obviously don't fly enough!


SERIOUSLY, check out Straight Guy's blog.... if you thought My Life with 2 Carry-ons had any potential, he just blows it away.

STL - Day 3

I can't believe how long it has taken me to blog about a 51 hour trip ;) We are officially about to wrap it up!

I woke up Monday morning at 8:30am to the sound of my phone alarm going off. I spent about 3 minutes stumbling around the room, trying to figure out where in the heck it was. I finally found it in my purse (ah! another reason not to have a purse.... it hides things from you). I was REALLY confused on why the alarm was going off, although I vaguely remembered having set it a few hours before. I fell back in bed, pretty proud to have found myself in my pjs and without any make-up on. I'd done good!

I next awake at 9:43am. I was FRANTIC because I then remembered why I'd set my alarm for 8:30.... I was meeting Paige's parents in the hotel lobby at 10:30 to go to a brunch. I had no idea where the brunch was nor had an address for it nor had phone numbers for her parents. OK.... ready.... set... shower... pack.... get dressed.... and done.

I was down in the lobby around 10:30 and no sign of her parents. I began to question on if we'd really had solid plans to meet or if my drunken brain had exaggerated the plan. Whew, there they are.

The brunch was really nice. Salad, pasta, caffeine, bread, cake, present-opening, laughing with the bride/groom about the shenanigans of the night before. It was a fantastic end to a really fun weekend. I left the house promising to come back to visit next summer when we could go out on their boat, and Paige and I planned to be all touristy and do the top of the arch and some other tours.

How cute is this pic from the brunch of Paige's parents? She got married on their 40th wedding anniversary and surprised them with a mini-wedding cake to celebrate.

Got the rent car turned in, made it through airport security (successfully dodging getting in line behind the chick with 2 water bottles in the side pockets of her backpack), and went to gate D16. Yep... that was my departure gate. 3/4 gate assignments for the trip.

STL - Day 2

I woke up at 6 and realized that I’d fallen asleep with the TV on. Turned that off and vowed more sleep. I woke up at 7:45 and just started thinking about all the things I needed to do. High on that list was buying some bottles of water. Big mistake that I didn’t take care of that on Saturday. I started thinking about breakfast. I really wanted to go back to sleep. I started thinking about The Arch and about how I needed to buy a wedding present. Out came the laptop…. Wonder what time The Arch opens on a Sunday. Hmmmm….. apparently it opens at 8am. Bed, Bath, and Beyond opens at 10. I could just go knock all that out and be back to the hotel by 11.

Ran into some issues early on. I’d GPSed McDonald’s, but the street it was on ended up being under complete construction and inaccessible. I got a nice detour through the early morning homeless crowd. I basically gave up on breakfast for the moment and headed to The Arch. It’s hard to miss ;) but I ended up kind of on a back road to the entrance. More driving around through the homeless crowds. The area was literally empty except for homeless people. The parking lots were empty, and I never really found the “Park here and enter The Arch” sign. I talked myself out of parking in one of the public lots. I was a little freaked out. I was at a stop sign, vowing to myself to come back and try again at a more reasonable hour on Monday, when these Asian tourists flagged me down (and I hate to use a stereotype, but literally they had their big cameras hanging around their necks and visors on and just completely fulfilling the stereotype). The man was holding a small boy, and the lady gestured for me to roll down my window. I did… she says to me, “Hi, our son really needs to use the bathroom, but we cannot find one around here. Can you drive us to our hotel? We are staying at the Hyatt.” Um….. what?! I felt really bad, but I told her no. Sorry! My self defense training apparently overtakes my kindness.

It was at that point that I had had enough of downtown and was crying out for SUBURBS. I headed off in the direction of Bed, Bath, and Beyond… feeling very confident that they would have a McDonald’s nearby. Civilization, please! So… I visited the golden arches rather than the “real” arch ;) It was a huge success. There was also a Wal*Mart in the parking lot, so I headed there to get some water, a Diet DP for later, some snack bars (just in case!). Um, outside the store, there was a lady sitting on a bench knitting. What?!

Got back to the hotel, watched a little football, and got ready for the WEDDING. The wedding was so beautiful. It was in a greenhouse structure (though well air conditioned!) and just full of gorgeous plants and flowers. There was even the requisite memorable moment when the Matron of Honor began speaking urgently to Bridesmaid #1 just as the minister began his speech. The bridesmaid was not understanding what she was saying but then mouthed very clearly "RINGS".... yeah, they had forgotten to grab the rings before walking down the aisle. The MoH's husband quickly came to the rescue.

The reception was fun – her friends literally kept me entertained all weekend – totally great group of people. This picture kind of sums up the post-wedding festivities.... we ended the night around 3am with the bride and I walking through a casino (while the groom was off gambling), telling people that we had gotten hitched.

Flashback Friday (80)

1989 (?)

I think I was inspired on this week's Flashback Friday because ANTM did a carousel runway this week.... seems fitting!

At least there weren't 3 year olds being terrorized!

STL - Day 1

As I mentioned Friday, I jetted off to St. Louis Saturday for my final wedding trip of the year. The weekend was beyond fantastic. I was in STL for a whopping 51 hours but have already vowed a return trip – probably next summer when there is boating involved J I will also be dragging Paige around to do touristy things. I did not make it to the top of the arch, and she’s never been up there either!

The trip got off to a really strange (imo) start. I left DFW airport out of gate D16. When I exited the plane in St. Louis, I discovered that we landed at gate D16. I don’t know how many gate options there are with American in STL, but I’m thinking the odds of this are pretty rare. I was really fascinated by this ;)

I picked up my rent car (where the VERY talkative shuttle driver was going on and on about how exciting it was to have the Cardinals in the playoffs… hello, Rangers!), was disappointed that I was directed to slot 121, found the hotel, unpacked, and got a text from the bride that she would be taking me to the rehearsal dinner. Woohoo – talk about some special treatment!

The highlight of the rehearsal dinner (aside, of course, from love and happiness and the bride and groom blah blah blah - OH, and the hot bartender) was the groom’s grandmother. She is just the funnest li’l lady to begin with…. But she got TANKED. I am actually really surprised that she did not end up dancing on the bar because there was awhile in there where it really felt like it was about to happen.

I did not enjoy the libations quite as much as grandma did, but I definitely had to think very hard when I got back to the hotel on what my room number was. You guys that travel a lot – do you forget your room #s? How does that conversation usually go at the front desk? Do you ever have that conversation at 2am?

Flashback Friday (79)

Plano Dance Force, 1996

This week's Flashback is in honor of my friend, Paige, who is getting married this weekend! This (I believe) wraps up the "4 weddings" portion of my 2011. It definitely is my 4th wedding - all travel ones, too boot - and according to current plans is the last one I'll attend this year.

I will be heading to St. Louis tomorrow.... my first time ever to visit the city. I have stopped over in the airport once, I believe, maybe. I am so lucky to be included in tons of the wedding festivities, but I do plan to make it over to The Arch as the one item on my STL checklist. I'm gonna have to try some barbecue there, too. Ok, 2 items on my checklist. Sounds doable!

Paige was my bff in high school. We had a huge falling out our senior year and did not speak for like 10 years. I got mad at her for something, and I guess after 10 years my anger had subsided. Well, that, and the fact that I had NO idea why I was mad at her to begin with!

Several years of catching-up and reconnecting later.... I'm off to her wedding this weekend :)

Free Agency

I was dialed-in to this random Lunch-and-Learn-type event last week. I admittedly was not paying huge amounts of attention. The topic, I think, was on finding a new job? Would the company do a seminar on that? Interesting.....

Anyhoo, I'd had a discussion with an old boss earlier in the week about how one of the side effects of my 2011 was being indecisive. I have NEVER found it difficult to make decisions. I have always been very quick about weighing pros and cons, contemplating constraints, making a decision, and following it through. At least, in my mind I have been ;)

But now I have no constraints. Having been with Chris for my whole adult life, all of my decisions were at least made with him in consideration. Now... it's all about me. I don't even have anyone to really weigh-in on decisions. I just have to be a big girl and make 'em on my own.

With all that in mind, this slide from the presentation really caught my eye.

Toe Jam

My toes continue to create their own drama in 2011. You will remember when my right and then left baby toes got attacked by walls this summer. The right one looked far worse, but the left one STILL hurts (60 days later and counting).

Today -TWICE- I managed to crush my left toes against the bathtub. It must have moved itself during the night, and I am just not used to it's new location, right?!

So.... baby toe will probably permanently hurt and now 2nd from last toe appears to be bruising. ugh

PS: please pardon the peeling polish ;)

Crazy Things Happen When You Carry a Purse!

I rarely carry a purse. Only exceptions, really, are occasions where I wear a dress and don't have pockets (side note: KT, if I do dresses regularly, do I carry a purse full-time?!). I had such a situation at Sam's wedding.

I think I might have glossed over just how much "fun" was had at the wedding.... champagne turned into wine, which turned into White Russians. Seriously.... who drinks White Russians?!

Anyways, Sunday morning ABBA and I woke up still a little bit.... um.... happy. Food (good, greasy breakfast food) was #1 priority. I grabbed my purse to grab some mascara before scampering to the hotel restaurant. I reached inside.... and....

.... pulled out Sam's garter.... which, yes, I vaguely remembered being tossed the night before. I had NO idea who had caught the garter, if I had even talked to this person, and how in the heck it got into my purse.

Strange things happen when you carry a purse!

Luckily Sam cleared things up later by letting me know that the guy who had caught it had returned it to her, and she had given it to me for safe-keeping. Oh, my.

Twin Update

First of all, thank you to EVERYONE for your prayers for my tiniest niece and first Martin nephew. They will be a whopping 2 weeks old as of tomorrow and continuing to vacation at the NICU. My SIL is home, doing great, and spending her time juggling the 2 precious older nieces and caring for the new babies... all while not being quite cleared to drive yet.

I haven't gotten to meet Luke (with my parents in pic 1-left) and Madeleine (pic 2-right), yet, though! I cannot wait for them to get sprung from NICU, but they can only have 4 visitors while there. They are so blessed to have so much friends and family in the area, and of course the 4 grandparents get first access. Initial rumor was that they would be there until the end of October, but it is sounding like it could be as early as October 19th. Keep praying!

They are doing fantastic - fantastically "stable". There are still on monitors, are in the process of adjusting to normal room temperature, eating good, and just growing.

So, that's the update. Thanks everyone for asking!

PS: Ine or David, feel free to correct any misstatements via comments :) Love you guys!