I have been tagged as well....

The Rules:



1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog. (My tagger was kiki - http://doingmorethanjustsurviving.blogspot.com/

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.



Here are the facts:



1. I am cat lover and have been since I got my first cat at the age of 3. They are best friend anyone could have and will forever keep your secrets. They will also love you unconditionally!



2. I am a huge hockey fan which I know is strange for a girl.



3. My favorite food is Mexican.



4. I am starting to gain a respect for sushi or more specifically rolls.



5. I have always dreamed for owning my own used book store so that I would have adequate space to store all of the books that I own. It would also give me an endless supply of books to read. Who knows maybe I will write my own book someday! (Ha! not likely since I can't keep up on my blog!)



6. I love the original "Star Wars Trilogy"and it is my favorite movie. The new one just can't hold a candle to the original even if it completes the story.



7. I love a beautiful sunset across the western colorado skies and it turns from pink, red to dark purple.



I now tag the following bloggers:



http://nobsthoughts.blogspot.com/

http://www.teampologeorgis.blogspot.com/


dontsqueezethejj.com

Mile High Girls' Weekend

This weekend I had the opportunity to get away from it all! I spent the weekend in Denver with my mom and we attended the Women of Faith conference! This was our third year to go and it was just as fun as the first time we went. I really look forward to this weekend because it is actually a pretty special time for my mom and I. It is nice to spend a few hours out of our busy lives to be encouraged and challenged by such an awesome group of Christian women. We laughed, we cried and we laughed some more. The weekend always begins for us on Thursday night after my mom and her friend have arrived in Denver and ends on Sunday when we all go back to our homes. It usually consists of late nights and early mornings as well as fits of giggles throughout the whole weekend! This time was no exception!



The conference was awesome and included some new guest speakers this year and the return of one who has been absent for a while. The theme this year was "Infinite Grace" and each speaker was phenomenal. One of my favorite speakers is Patsy Clairmont, she is such a dynamite woman and her spunkiness in her Christian walk is inspiring. I find that I have some things in common with her, the biggest one being my mouth! It is refreshing to see how God continues to work through Patsy to speak to those of us who aren't always mindful of our tongues. My other favorite guest speaker is Nicole Johnson - she is a dramatist and her sketches about life, love and the pursuit of happiness is always emotionally charged and heart wrenching. It was a pleasure to have her back with the Porch Pals this year, as she spent most of last year out on maternity leave being a new mom to her son Elliott. (who by the way is just adorable!) We also had the opportunity to hear some beautiful singing by Mandisa (season 5 American Idol contestant) and Nicole C. Mullen, their voices are so powerful and to hear their stories about how God has worked in their life and the journey they have been on was very encouraging. One new speaker this year was Louise Duarte, a female comedian/impersonator who had us all rolling with laughter and I had tears streaming down my face I was laughing so hard! It is such a blessing to have such awesome women in this ministry who give so freely their time to come and speak to thousands of women each weekend. What an uplifting experience and it definitely gets my system recharged!

Blog Extraordinaire...Parenting 101

I never set out to be a blog extraordinaire...that title actually is bestowed to my dear friend Jodie who is blessed with a wealth of BM's (bloggable moments) that she can tell stories for hours and hours and it is all due to the lovely family she has that keeps us all entertained! Yet I still get some flack from friends because I don't blog regularly enough! I have come to find that some days my life isn't all that exciting and I don't have too many BM's to share. I also find that I actually spend more time blogging when I am traveling or on business trips. Go figures. In the end, I do what I can with what I have! So on to the topic!


I recently had an opportunity to meet with a girlfriend and be introduced to her children. In the time we were able to spend with each other I was once again privy to some parenting skills that I am not sure I would use in my own home when the time comes. Not all of them were the skills that she demonstrated but we were in a public place with other families.



Question: Do you give a sugar cookie to a child that is already hyped up and running around the restaurant like a banshee?

Answer: I think not!



Question: Do you give dessert to a child who didn't eat their meal, but rather shredded it into a million pieces?

Answer: I think not!



Question: When said child begins to throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the restaurant do you simply ignore it or punish with a time out?

Answer: I think not!



I realize that I am not a mom yet and so some of you may comment that I am looking through the situation with my rose colored glasses, yet I think the above questions demonstrate that the parenting that was dispensed was clearly inappropriate and I don't have to be a mom to say that!



Matthew and I have had many discussions on how we would be the parent is certain situations when we have observed our many friends who already have children. Some of those skills we would definitely incorporate and others not so much! I personally am not in favor of the "time out" method for punishment! I simply don't believe it truly works in most situations and instead I believe that the child needs a firm swat on the behind! Like with the questions up above, I could see myself or Matthew taking the child out of the situation and talking to them about their behavior and if it persisted, then a good firm swat would be in order. Keeping in mind that the discipline would happen away from every one's prying eyes. (There is nothing worse than to have everyone in the restaurant looking at you while you try to deal with a screaming child.)

I am not saying that parenting is easy by any means, it just seems that sometimes parents simply don't think or are way too cautious and end up making unwise decisions. I am sure when my turn comes, I will make my share of mistakes and it will lead to someone blogging about it but I also hope I can set some good examples of parenting for those around me.

Traveling Again

Today marks the beginning of another business trip. This time I am in Denver. Which isn't too bad because the weather is still beautiful in September and it also coincides with getting to see my mom. Every year in September we have a girl's weekend in Denver and attend the Women of Faith Conference. This is our 3rd year doing it and it is always a lot of fun! Now I just need to focus on the work appointments for tomorrow before I can play!

Flying the not so friendly skies!

I would like to say for the record that most times I actually like to fly! However sometimes the whole process of packing and checking in with the airlines is crazy! Yesterday evening Matthew and I made our way to the Maui airport! After passing through agricultural inspection (God forbid you should take a Pineapple home!) We then went to the TSA check-in and ended up having a problem passing through because they consider jams and jellies to be explosive devices and we couldn't carry them on the plane! Boy was Matthew upset! (Okay that is a huge understatement!) After having to take the bag back through inspection we had to check it on board! OH BOY! I wish I had know this would be the beginning to the worst ending of a vacation because I would have stayed at the resort for a few more days!

We finally both boarded the plane and headed to Honolulu! We were scheduled to have a two hour layover! When we got to our gate and checked in to get our seat assignments, we learned that our flight was delayed until 2:15 a.m. due to mechanical problems that delayed our plane leaving LAX. This was not a good thing! I was already exhausted after a day in the sun at the pool in which I got a little too much sun on my face, now I had to sit in Honolulu for 6 hours!!! We also couldn't get in touch with anyone in California to tell them what was happening because of the time change!

We finally arrived home from Maui at 11:00 a.m. this morning and our ride unfortunately was not at the airport! I don't blame her because it wasn't planned for us to delayed so long and she does have a job! It was just a bit inconvenient since I had been crammed into a small space for 6 hours at the airport and crammed into an even smaller space for 6 more hours on a plane that was completely full! (Have I ever mentioned I can't sleep on planes?) Yep you guessed it still can't sleep on planes!

I do have to say I had to roll my eyes everytime the crew apologized for the delayed flight and in the same sentence would say "Thank you for flying the friendly skies with United, we hope we can be your carrier of chose for your next destination!" Yeah right!

A Drive to Haleakala & Tedeschi Winery

On Thursday we packed another picnic lunch and headed out towards Haleakala on the east side of Maui. The drive, at times was just as narrow as the drive to Hana. Although the was only one 1-lane bridge; however, this time you had to watch out for the crazy bikers who were either biking up to the crater or coasting down from the crater! (Matthew wanted to do this activity! I wouldn't even consider coasting down this road!) (I also won't mention Matthew's driving as he was a bit mad at me from the last blog!)

The scenes below in the valley as we ascended the crater were awesome and you can definitely see it change literally right before your eyes! At times we were driving in the clouds! When we left the resort the air temperature was 82 degrees when we got to the top of the crater is was 55 degrees with a major wind which I am sure dropped at least another 10 degrees! I was sure glad I brought a sweatshirt with me! (because some crazy tourists didn't)

After our picnic lunch at the top we began our descent and drove to Maui's one and only winery. The Tedeschi Winery or Maui's Winery! We got there just in time to partake in their wine tasting and ended the visit with buying some really nice bottles of not just grape wine but a pineapple wine too! You will also see that Matt made friends with the locals while at the winery as well!

Our evening was spent going out to dinner at Tomato and Basil! This restaurant was recommended to us by the staff at the resort and they were not wrong! The food was excellent (okay I was a bit disappointed in my entree but the appetizers, dessert and Matt's entree were awesome!)

Enjoy the pictures!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Molokini & Turtle Town

On Wednesday we went Snorkeling! This was a first for Melissa! We also used our new underwater case for the digital camera! Some of the pictures turned out awesome!

The Road to Hana

On Tuesday morning, Matthew and I took a self-guided tour "The Road to Hana". It is an interactive CD that has its own map and tells you about all of the wonderful spots to see along the way! It was our intention to get going early (mind you, early in the Poulin Household is 10:00 a.m.) Thus after a very quick and unsatisfying breakfast we took to the road about 9:30 a.m. By the time we had stopped for gas and beverages it was 10:00 a.m. Not very early as we eventually learned!

The drive is very scenic and is indeed winding! (Next time: Melissa's drives). Each site is a recommended stop and there are about twenty of them along the way! They are in fact beautiful and very different from the previous stop. It was about 2:00 p.m. when we finally stopped for lunch and we were still 3 miles from Hana and had a lot left to see. It was then that I decided we had left too late! We would definitely be driving down the mountain at night! (Ever seen Melissa scared? Drive down a winding road with crazy drivers behind you and your husband is zipping along the curves like it is a straight-away! I wore myself out just from the stress of riding down hill! This is why Melissa drives next time!!)

Below are some of the pictures from our many stops!

Unfortunately you can no longer drive around the entire island due to a major earthquake in 2006 that took out part of the road! Thus when we were ready to head back home we had to go the long way! It was 3 hours! It was very obvious that there are a lot of locals who drive this road on a regular basis, maybe even daily and they would drive like crazy people! All of the bridges are 1 lane and do you think they would yield...heck no!

All in all we survived and it is something I would do again! One funny note: on our CD the lady narrator began speaking about the Charles Lindburgh grave site. (He is buried on the East side of Maui). All of the maps we have been given indicate the site, many people mention that it is one of the stops you should make, yet the CD tells you not to go there out of respect for the family. ??? Then why is it printed on every map? If you don't want people to come to the grave site, then don't publish it!!! Enough said!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Maui Day 1 - Slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We Have Arrived...

Yes folks it is official we are on vacation!! (Although a few of Matthew's friends have forgotten that fact as he received 3 phone calls from the guys about Monday Night "Guys Night"). We arrived in Maui last night about 5:00 p.m. after a very long plane ride. The flight was very full, but luckily the layout of the plane allowed Matt and I to have a row to ourselves. We had a 2 hour lay-over in Honolulu and took a 21 minutes flight to Maui! The only disappointed is that we did not receive any lei's when we stepped off either plane! (It's a myth...something they do for the movies!)

Our first stop was Costco to stock up on food supplies....however it was Sunday and Costco closes early...thus we had 20 minutes to run around and get everything we needed! Craziness!! The drive to the resort took about 45 minutes and it was dark when we arrived. I will say that the long day was worth it as we drove into the circular drive and stepped out of the car we were greeted with a gorgeous view! The whole reception area is outside. The resort is absolutely gorgeous!

This morning we went to an orientation breakfast. The concierge staff gives a brief presentation on some of the activities that one can do while visiting the island of Maui. After breakfast, I decided I really wanted to spend the day relaxing by the pool. Matthew wanted to check out the disk golf course (yes he dragged his whole bag of disks - 15 of them.) We left the room and headed to the elevator. As we were waiting for the elevator, Matthew realized he had forgot the disks in the room! (those darn disks...) Anyway my morning was spent by the pool: reading, listening to music and people watching. Matthew went to the course, which he learned is not very developed and only had a few baskets. Plus the wind was pretty bad and he eventually gave up....the bonus...he found 3 more disks!

Not too bad for a first day! We will drive to Hana tomorrow...stay tune for pictures!

I am List person

I am a crazy, detailed oriented, list person. My husband calls it anal! I make lists for all kinds of things. "To Do" lists, grocery list, Wal-mart list, and travel/vacation lists. As some of you know we are getting ready to go on vacation to Maui so I began working on my lists about 3 weeks ago. (Yes I said lists as in multiple) My first list is for the items that we still need to buy to go to Maui like sunscreen, batteries, travel size toiletries, etc. My second list contains all the kitchen items we need to take with us because we are staying in a condo with a full kitchen. (Our friends advised us to take some things with us so we didn't have to buy them in Maui.) Like paper plates, plasticware, paper towels and spices. My third list is for first aid/medications to take, again so we don't have to buy it in Maui. My fourth list is for our activities to take like books, camera, games, computer and dvd's. With my final list being of course my clothes. These lists do not include what needs to still happen at home while we are gone, like cleaning, paying bills, doing laundry, etc. The only thing I can say is that when I write a list I actually use it and I cross things off and the list is then thrown away.

However the same can't always be said about my dad! You thought I was crazy about lists, you haven't seen anything yet! This man has lists like you wouldn't believe, again organized by project. Millions of lists that are on little 3 X 5 cards, some can end up in a notebook, but mostly it is the 3x5 card. They are all over the house. Anyway, it seems when we go home to visit, I keep seeing the same list on the counter and not much has been accomplished on it! Hmmm! Maybe it is just my imagination, as we only get home about 2 -3 times a year but it sure seems strange to see the same list over and over again. The other thing that is funny about the way by dad works his list is he can't simply mark through the item. He has to create a grid of sorts when he marks through his items. Everything is so neat and tidy! Sometimes he writes something on the list that he has already done just so he can mark it off the list after the fact! Talk about...well you know what I mean!

In the end the list is what keeps us from forgetting the important things! (if you remembered at the beginning to write it down). Gotta love the lists.

Reconnections...

A few weeks ago I blogged about being a victim of Facebook. Well, I will admit that are some great benefits to being part of the Facebook world...the reconnections with old friends! I have had the opportunity to reconnect with some friends from all aspects of life: high school, youth group, college, church, etc.


One of those reconnections was a complete surprise to me and I find that I am completely blessed with the opportunity to start a new chapter with her. We haven't seen each other in about 4 years, basically since her wedding and my wedding shower. I can honestly say that our friendship was on the rocks. Both of us were pretty selfish (yeah, I know...hard to believe about me) and were not mature enough to weather the storm that cast our friendship on the rocks. As we made plans to meet for dinner that eventually led to a coffee date due to scheduling conflicts, I found myself getting nervous about seeing her again.


All was well, within 10 minutes of being together, it was truly like old times. We both had some great stories to tell that had both of us laughing. We also both had some challenges and trials in which we both tried not to cry. I can see that we both a done a lot of growing up in the past few years. I guess getting married and having a child can do that to some of us! We have been able to move forward and it is amazing to see what God has done with both of our lives. I really enjoyed our morning and look forward to many other outings!

Thanks Rebecca is was great to see you and I cherish this gift from God to start the next chapter in our friendship!

A Day of Scrapping

Yesterday I had the joy of spending the entire day Scrapbooking with one of my girlfriends and met some new friends all while doing it! We had quite a bit of fun (even if it was loud and I didn't know the other ladies very well) and I was able to accomplish a lot in those hours! While I spent the day scrapping, Matthew was kicking it with men and children of the ladies who were at the Scrapbooking Day! However I believe some of the men got lost along the way as only one other man showed up! Oh well. As I understand it great fun was had by all and everyone got a little freaky with the "Sun In" and mouthwash...

The two albums I worked on were our engagement photos and our recent visit to the Getty Museum. Here is a sneak peak:

Do's and Don'ts for Dallas

Since I have now had the opportunity to visit the great city of Dallas three times and each trip has been a little different I decided I would compile a list of those things to do and not to do while in Dallas!! Keeping in mind this is only my opinion!

DO's

• Fly into Dallas-Love Field Airport (check in 10 minutes, security 10 minutes, wait for plane 10 minutes)


• Shop at the Galleria or outlet mall.


• Visit the JFK Memorial and Museum


• Take a trusty GPS


• Stay at the Embassy Suites on Northwest Highway or Hilton Garden Inn off I-35


• Eat at Pappadeaux's Seafood Kitchen


• Eat at Pappas Brother's Steak House


• Drive through Highland Park area of Dallas as it has some very beautiful homes.


• Pay someone $10 to change your flat for you!


• Do go to Sonics during their Happy Hour for a Cherry Limeade (as like Starbucks, there is one on every corner!)


• Eat dinner at Texas de Brazil

DON'Ts

• Fly into Dallas-Ft.Worth Airport - it has the tendency to close down after the smallest of rain storms


• Don't shop at the 24-hr Wal-mart with a clothes snob!


• Don't stand on the spot that JFK was shot as it is a major freeway on ramp!


• Don't rely on the cheap GPS you brought with you as it will most likely have you running around in circles!


• Don't stay at the Holiday Inn down the street from the airport


• Don't eat at Taco Cabana


• Don't eat at Pappas Bros BBQ.


• Never let the engineers from Associated Air pick the steakhouse to eat at as you will run up a very expensive food/bar bill.


• Don't drive around the neighborhoods of downtown as they are very scary!


• Never believe that AAA will show up in 60 minutes to fix a flat.


• Don't eat at Texas de Brazil if you have had a big lunch!

Footloose and Fancy Free!

Okay so maybe not those words exactly. This week marked my first solo business trip in my new role as Regional Sales Manager and all I can say is I want my partner back!!!

Sunday I flew out of John Wayne airport at an ungodly hour - a time when most people are still sleeping before they have to get up and go to church! My flights were both uneventful and I arrived at my destination (Dallas, Texas) without any hitches. I picked up my rental car, checked into my hotel and settled in. The hotel that I am staying at, is 1/2 mile from the airport and the main customer that I will be visiting while in Dallas. So, after unpacking my clothes and taking a bit of a cat nap (to overcome the exhaustion of being up so early) I proceed to head into the city for a bite to eat! Alas, this was not to be the case and upon arriving at my rental car I discovered I had a flat tire! What! Now how did that happen? Again, I remind you, that I had driven the car maybe a mile total. The 1/2 mile to the hotel and around it a couple of times before I parked! There was no way I could have caused this tire to go flat in 1.5 hours and only driving it for a mile. So I called Hertz and asked for Roadside Assistance, where I proceeded to tell the service lady my troubles. Nevermind, that I had to keep repeating myself and ask her to repeat herself because we seemed to have a bad connection or she was not connected to her headset properly. (Not sure which it was and it explains a lot further down) She managed to tell me that someone would be there within 60 minutes. She also mention that they usually arrive sooner than that but she has to quote 60 minutes. Also, during our conversation she informed me that Hertz considers a flat tire as damage and thus I would be responsible to pay for it! EXCUSE ME!! How can I be responsible for a flat tire when I had only driven the car a mile? I also told her that this car would not do for the week rental as I would be traveling out of the state and I would need a replacement. She said, "not a problem, I will call your rental location and request an exchange rental and while you are there you will need to file a incident report on your flat tire. " I re-iterated how could I be held responsible for a flat tire on the car when clearly there was something wrong with it prior to my picking it up in the first place....

So 60 minutes comes and goes...I receive a call from the driver telling me he is on the way and he needs to verify my location! (Nevermind, that I gave my location to the Hertz service lady 3 times) So I repeat the address of the hotel and where the car is parked. 15 minutes later I get a call from AAA dispatch telling me the driver is having a hard time finding me. By that time I had reached my boiling point and the gal at AAA got an ear full! The conversation went something like this: "How hard is it to get to the Holiday Inn down the street from the airport?"; " Airport? Which airport she asks me." "Dallas-Love Field, I am 1/2 mile away from the airport and the Hertz rental center. I have now given this information 5 times to you people....can someone please explain to me why this is so difficult?" " Well you haven't given me this information 5 times and if you don't stop yelling at me I won't send anyone!" " Oh yes you will because Hertz confirmed someone would be within in 60 minutes and your 15 minutes late!" Yet again, I reconfirmed my address and the location of the parked car!

I couldn't believe how hard it was to get a darn tire changed! For all of the time I had spent waiting I could have paid someone $10 to do it for me and drive it back to Hertz (which again is 1/2 mile away!) The driver finally arrived 15 minutes later and I was soon on my way to Hertz where I received the best customer service ever! I spoke with the manager about what had happened and he apologized profusely! He told me he never received any calls from Roadside Assistance about my problem and would have actually sent someone from his office to fix the flat instead! In the end, I received an exchange rental (upgraded) for 50% less that what I was originally going to pay and he made a note on my account about the flat tire not being my fault! I also received a $50 dollar voucher that can be used on my next rental with them! How cool is that! I am so glad things turned out the way they did, because I will be, honest I was prepared to fight dirty!

See, in the past when we have traveled, my partner took care of all these details! I simply had to show up to the airport with my luggage and we were good to go! Not to mention when I travel with my partner there is generally good conversations and much laughter between us so the trip goes faster! This time was much different and not for the better either! This time I actually had to plan, things like the trip budget, customer visits etc. Then I get the trip and budget (hotel, car and air fare) and cash advance approved. ( I also find that I talk to myself a lot!! Hee! Hee!)
I have a whole week of this... Good Lord help me now!

Life is a Rollercoaster

Okay not really, because I don't care for them much. However, I do firmly believe that we are definitely not in control of our life and every once in a while I get a gentle (sometimes hard) reminder of that fact. A few weeks ago my husband and I had a crisis arise. It was in fact, a big one! Matthew came home one night tell me a story about rumors floating around his office about a possible sell of his office. As some of you know, Matthew is an office administrator/receptionist for a corporate branch of Coldwell Banker. He has actually been working for them about 7 1/2 years the first 2 as an licensed agent the remaining time as office staff. Well, eventually the rumor proved to be true. An affiliate/franchisee had sent a proposal to the corporate offices about purchasing the Yorba Linda office. It apparently caught the right person's attention because next thing you know there were a series of meetings and phone calls about the purchase. In the end, the sell of the office fell threw; however, this didn't stop the powers that be from deciding to close the office all together. As you can imagine, Matthew and I waited on pins and needles ever so patiently (NOT!) to see what was to become of Matthew. Several of the agents began looking elsewhere, speculating and creating additional chaos that it did not help Matthew and I in our nerves. The President of Coldwell Banker, finally scheduled a meeting at Matthew's office to discuss with the staff and agents what had transpired over the previous week and what the final outcome was to be. In this case, the office was in fact still closing and the agents were being given the opportunity to transfer to the Tustin office along with Joe and his staff. Yeah! We were going to be okay, Matthew would still have a job and would transfer to the Tustin office. Actually this was good news for us in that it would be closer to our home and we could take advantage of carpooling a few days a week to save some money! The other good thing is that Matthew would be able to move forward with some of his real estate plans that were finally falling into place with a couple of the agents in the office. All in all we were pretty happy and knew that we had dodged a major bullet! We even celebrated at our friend's on the 4th (albeit a bit too much maybe...) but we were very content.



Fast forward to yesterday...



It would appear that my husband will actually not be transferring to Tustin as we believed and is in fact without a job as of the 18th of July! Apparently the individual at the Tustin office who holds the same position as Matthew has seniority and therefore is going to retain her job! Imagine my shock, surprise, hurt and confusion! What the heck just happened?? How could this happen? The President of Coldwell Banker firmly told the agents a couple of weeks before that Joe and his staff would be taken care of and would transfer to Tustin?? I don't believe there is ever a time that one can be prepared for this type of situation. And I will be honest that I was more prepared for it two weeks ago and I was yesterday! The HR gal was nice enough to mention to Matthew that he was eligible to apply for 3 openings in the corporate office but there was not a guarantee he would be hired! Again I say WHAT! I know that he will at least pursue them but at this stage we are not putting all of our eggs in one basket and will be looking at all options. He does have an interview for one of the openings on Friday morning and it is the best option of the 3 so we hope it will work out but won't know for sure at least for a few more days!


I will be honest, this is a very scary time for us. The prospect of not having the second income for awhile it a bit more daunting than I can handle right now! So your prayers are welcome! Job leads are also welcome! As is Money! Matthew's first reaction has been to sell everything we can on Craigslist. I told him to wait! It also doesn't help the fact that we just planned a Hawaiian trip that we can't cancel because we won't get our money back.

In the end, I know that this is totally in God's hands and he will provide; it is just hard to give up that control! But as I said we really aren't in control now are we!!

Handsfree and a Smartphone

This weekend I finally broke down and got a handsfree device. It was the most expensive device I have ever purchased! See the thing is on July 1st a new law comes into effect in California. All drivers must have a handsfree device in use for their cell phones while driving. Not a problem, I actually agree with the law, the problem is I also really like my phone and in order to go handsfree with a comfortable device actually means a new phone as well. I had tried several hands free devices in the past (wired, since my phone wasn't blue tooth) however I never found one that was comfortable and would work well with my phone. So I have put it off forever.

Well with the recent increase in my travels, I have been getting pressure from my boss about the need for a Blackberry. He believes that all the managers and sales/engineering people should have one. I am not opposed to the idea, just the execution. The thing is the company wants everyone to be under one carrier, with the same plan and same device. Unfortunately, the carrier is not my current cell phone provider. Thus I am stuck with either giving in or carry two phones and honestly who wants to do that? The problem is, not everyone is going to agree on one device, as I believe your cell phone is a personal choice and is selected with that in mind. The tool that is best for me, may not be best for someone else. I also don't like being told that having the phone is a perk only to be told in the same breath that I would be monitored for my personal use. I am sorry? Excuse me, but my cell phone IS my phone. It is the one I use the most. In fact, the only one in our house that uses the land line is me when I talk to my parents. We talk with everyone else on our cell phones.

Anyway so Thursday night, Matthew and I went to Sprint to look at phones. I spent an hour in the store looking at every Nextel and Smartphone they had. I narrowed it down to 3, but in the end wasn't 100% sure. After talking with a couple of people on Friday about their smartphones, Matthew and I went back to Sprint on Friday night. We decided on the Mogul. For two reasons: Matthew liked it and it was the best smartphone they had. (After playing with both the Treo and Blackberry neither of which I liked). In the end, we figured that if my company forces me to get a Blackberry as well as move to Verizon then Matthew can use the Mogul. The down-side to the Mogul, is no more direct-connect/walkie talkie feature. This was a hard feature to give up as this is what really drew Matthew and I to go with Nextel 9 years ago. However Nextel phones just don't have the smartphone features that I believe will be needed for our jobs. Guess we shall see!

I also got a Bluetooth headset and now look like I should be a crew member on Stargate or some other sci-fi show. At least I am not the only one!

A Victim of Facebook

Okay so this last week I fell victim to Facebook. Have you heard of it? If not, beware! If so, then you all can sympathize with me. I had actually been warned about Facebook by a couple of my friends a few months ago. In fact, it was my husband who actually found out about it while I was visiting my mom back March and made a pact with my friends not to tell me anything about it. That was until I saw one of those friends a few weeks later who told me the whole story, as well as about Facebook. No big deal, I was strong and I had already decided that I really wasn't interested in joining, seeing as I am really not into the "myspace thing" anyway. Also, as many of you can see, I have had a difficult time keeping up with my blog lately; thus didn't need another time consuming activity! So fast forward to a week ago, I received an email from a dear friend of mine announcing a new family album. I thought...cool...I can see pictures of the new baby boy they are fostering as well as new pictures of their daughter. The only catch...I had to join Facebook to see it!! What?? Here I had tried to stay away from it and like a bad penny it turned up again! So I signed up and within 5 days I have 30 new friends, 10 applications, and umpteen million gifts....bottom line, I'm addicted. Every night I have raced home to see what new friends looked me up or have confirmed me as a friend; read emails from old friends and played some fun games. It is just Craziness!! Pure craziness! I will say that it has been really fun re-connecting with some of my old college friends! (some I haven't seen in 12 years). So for those of you who haven't joined yet, beware! Enter at your own risk, on the other hand in small doses it may not be so addicting. Ultimately that will be up to you!!

A Trip to the Getty Villa

While Matthew's parents are here visiting for a long weekend, they just one request! They wanted to go to the Getty Museum. While the actual museum has changed quite a bit since the last time I was there (14 years) we had a really nice time! We went to what is now called the Getty Villa and is home to all of J. Paul Getty's Roman and Greek antiquities. Here are just a few of pictures I took while on our outing!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Southern Apology!

I know, I know, it has been weeks since I last blogged. I just seem to loose track of time. Actually the last two weeks I was traveling and let's face it, the last thing I want to do is be behind the computer screen! So I am sorry it has been so long and will do better to stay on top of this!

Our business trips were successful and we even got to do a little bit of sight-seeing and fun activities on both trips. The first trip was to Little Rock Arkansas and our second trip was to Savannah Georgia. The plan for the next few months will be to travel 2 out of the 4 weeks to visit our customers. Currently I am traveling with our other Regional Sales Manager and it has been very pleasant! We work well together and so far haven't killed each other in our travels, even if he is a horrible driver!!

While in Little Rock we did take in a single A Minor League baseball game. We watch the Little Rock Travelers play against the Springfield Cardinals. In fact it was one of the farm team for the Angels, which kind of made Matthew a bit jealous! (although I did bring him a shot glass and baseball hat with the team name and logo on them!!)

This was actually my second trip to Savannah but last time we were there our schedule was pretty tight and it didn't allow for any sight-seeing or eating at a really nice restaurant! However this time we had some extra time and that was nice. On our first night there we drove into downtown Savannah and ate dinner at the Shrimp Factory on the riverfront! Food was absolutely delicious and they are pretty well known for their peach daiquiri! (Yes I had one!) On our second day there, after our meeting was finished, we drove over to Hilton Head, SC and Tybee Island to look around. We ended up eating dinner at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House (Paula Dean's brother's place.) The food was fabulous and I even tried the house special chargrilled oysters. We sat outside on the back deck and found that the restaurant is home to about 6 cats. They hang out around the place and will even sit at your feet if you feed them. The weather was actually really nice and not what was predicted by the weatherman! I could definitely spend a lot more time in downtown Savannah the next time I am there! There is so much history and some great buildings and Victorian homes. So with that being said, enjoy the slideshow!

On the road again...

So this week I was officially launched into my new role as regional sales manager and am currently on my first trip for the year. Never mind that we found out last minute that we needed to be in Little Rock this week (like last Friday) but it never fails as we had an extra passenger. Yes, Murphy decided to grace us with his presence this week.

Our flight left beautiful Southern California at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday. We were scheduled to have a brief visit, albeit 34 minutes, in Houston and then on to Little Rock. We left OC on time, but somewhere in the take-off the Houston terminal informed the pilots that our flight was rescheduled to land at 2:20 p.m. not 2:10 p.m. (now if you are paying attention this means 24 minutes to get to the next gate/flight!) So we finally land in Houston which is very cloudy, raining, etc. We landed early and arrived at 2:00 p.m. so now we are back up to 44 minute window. I can work with this. I knew we had to change terminals and this would be sufficient time to get to the connecting flight. Anyway during our actually landing there was this terrible screeching sound around the tires/brakes and about 100 yards from the gate our plane died. Yep, died! Here is where we got the first hint that things may not so well after all. We waited for 15 minutes on the tarmac for the electric carts to hook up to the plane and tow us the rest of the way in. The it took awhile to unload from the plane. I was off the plane first, so I headed to nearest counter to confirm our gate assignment and directions to the tram/shuttle to other terminals. By the time Mike was off the plane it was 2:24 p.m. (our connecting flight started boarding at 2:12 for a 2:47 departure). So we were off and running. Never mind that the drop-off point for the new terminal is the farthest place for the gate we needed, we hustled and got to the gate. The only problem, it was for a Guadalajara flight. Now we were in a pickle. We are looking all over for our gate. The screens are showing we are in the right place and the flight is on-time. So Mike, my co-worker steps up to the next gate over and asks the gentleman about our flight and was simply informed it had been cancelled. Hmmmm!!! (Why couldn't the lady that confirmed our gate assignment have shared this information??)

Long story short...Murphy was lonely and wanted to travel with us!!! We were delayed in Houston-Bush International Airport until 9:15 p.m. and didn't arrive in Little Rock until 10:30 p.m. only to discover that Mike's suitcase wasn't on our flight. Luckily it arrived on an earlier flight but never mind the poor customer service that we received from Continental who made us wait at the counter for 40 minutes before anyone came to help us. Some excuse about setting a plane up for flight tomorrow...who knows. We arrived at the Hotel and were checked in by 11:30 p.m. (I will pass over the fact that for the last 20 minutes of the flight,I was actually sick!)

Don't you just love traveling???

A "Cheesy" Night

Matthew and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary in style. We decided to do something completely different and go for fondue. I don’t how many of you have experienced fondue but let me tell you it is wonderful and a lot of fun! Our destination for the evening was a restaurant in the Brea area called “The Melting Pot”. Our reservations were for 6:30 p.m. and we arrived a little early. So to pass the time, Matthew and I walked up and down Birch Street Promenade. If it wasn’t for the fact that we actually had reservations, (I think Matthew would have headed straight into the Edwards Theater to see the advance premier of “Iron Man” that he has been talking about none stopped for weeks), never the less I managed to drag him away from the theater and we arrived at the restaurant. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by two lovely hostesses who wished us “Happy Anniversary”. We were escorted to our table where they had placed a white rose and card for us. How cool is that!

Onto the menu, the fondue experience is one that can be simply enjoyed if one can understand the menu. I was glad we had our waitress there to explain things. They have several options available to you but we eventually selected the “Big Night Out”. The Melting Pot believes the complete fondue experience should be experience in four-courses. They are very flexible in that you can pick any cheese course, salad course and dessert course and substitute them in place of what they have already selected. We began with the cheese course which they prepare for you at your table. The first course was our Caribbean Cheese Fondue which is Gouda and Gran Queso cheeses blended with garlic, sweet and spicy Peppadew peppers, topped off with scallions and a lime zest. They serve this course with refillable bowls of bread/ chips, fresh cut veggies and apples.


The second course is salad, Matthew stayed with the Caribbean theme and had the tropical salad and I chose a spinach salad.


The third course was the entrée which again is prepared for you at your table. They bring at the pot with a broth already in it and then add the seasonings depending on the cooking style you chose at the beginning. In our case we again stayed with the Caribbean theme and chose Mojo Style. For our entree we selected the Fondue Fusion which had: Lobster Tail, Filet Mignon Medallion, Jerk Seasoned Sirloin, Vanilla Rum Chicken, Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Zesty Pepper Shrimp, Butternut Squash Ravioli and Fresh Vegetables. You cook everything in the pot at your leisure and then dip into the 8 different sauces they bring. Everything was a tasted wonderful and we saved the Lobster for last.


The final course is the chocolate fondue. You may choose your own chocolate creation or one of the nine that they have created. We selected the flaming turtle with dark chocolate. It is served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice krispy treats, brownie bites, pound cake bites and cheese cake bites. The whole thing was heavenly! The only bad thing is that it came to an end!


The evening was a lovely experience but I think Matthew and I would both say that the four course experience is simply too much. We were both so full by the end! Next time we go it will be just for the cheese fondue or chocolate fondue experience!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

"The Princess" vs "Just One of the Guys"

Lately, some of my female co-workers and I have been having a debate on how I am treated by the male co-workers in my office. The topic came up as they have been inquiring on how I am adjusting to my new office space. For those of you don't know I moved into a new office space back in February. Our sales and engineering depts had outgrown our current location thus the search for additional space began. We were lucky to find some office space in one of the neighboring buildings and we are renting out their second floor. I now share this new office space with 7 other men! So as you can imagine at times it is not the most pleasant of environments. Don't get me wrong, I like each them on an individual basis but collectively as a group they can be a bit much. And yes, we all have to share the same bathroom! Let me just say, that somedays I will make a special trip to the main building just to use the Women's restroom!

Anyway one of the lady's indicated that she would love to work in an office with just men because they would treat her like a princess and she assumed that was the same case with me. To which I replied. " Are kidding me, they don't treat me like a princess. In fact it is just the opposite. They treat me like I am "just one of the guys." Meaning that I am subject to their colorful language, off handed comments and sometimes crude sense of humor. Oh no there is definitely nothing "princess" about it.


I don't believe that any of the guys do intentionally (except for not putting down the toilet seat)and I don't feel uncomfortable in the environment. In fact most days I just let it roll. There are some advantages. When you work in an office full of women there tends to be more gossip and back-stabbing which I don't care for. You also have to be careful about who spend more time with because eventually someone's feelings will get hurt. I don't ever have to worry about that with the guys and that is refreshing! So in the end it I don't mind that I'm not the princess of the office and that they feel comfortable treating me as "one of the guys"! I also know that deep down they respect me for me and not just because I am a woman!

I.T.

So this week once again I have been living in I.T. Hell. You know most companies have an actual in-house IT dept that is usually managed by a reasonably intelligent person and will respond immediately to IT problems. Other companies are actually blessed not only to have an actual IT dept but also have additional people or a person on site who is intelligent enough to handle the lesser problems (thanks Matthew and Richard). Well not at my company, we have neither despite what one individual believes. Thus when we have IT problems we have to either wait for the next contracted visit, which currently takes place every two weeks, or we open a service ticket with the contract third-party (who tends to take their sweet time to answer the problem). Not to mention trying to get the service ticket open in the first place is about as bad as trying to pass the security check process get into to see the White House. Most times when I have a problem I have my beloved husband fix it!


So here it goes, if you will remember my work computers both crashed a couple months ago and had to be replaced with new ones. (Yeah me!) So a couple of weeks ago during our last contracted visit I asked the IT rep "shouldn't my laptop have anti-virus software?". To which he replied: "Yes, I loaded Symantec Anti-Virus". So when I got home that night I confirmed once again that there wasn't any such software on my computer. I then sent an email to the appropriate individual at my office stating that I needed to have anti-virus added to my laptop. The response was something like this..."Do you need that right now? It is really expensive to open a service ticket when we can wait two weeks for our next scheduled visit." Now I had to sit there a minute and think. (Hmmm, this is a company computer that is used on a daily basis and is frequently on the Internet. Can we really afford to wait to add anti-virus software?) So I replied, "Well you decide what you believe is appropriate at this time. It just needs to be done." Yep you guess it, I had to wait 2 weeks.


So fast forward to this week, Tuesdays are the days that we are scheduled to be visited by our IT rep. He usually arrives sometime around 9:00 a.m. and is gone by 12:00 noon. Well the morning flew by and I had realized that he had not made it to our office yet. So I called the individual in charge of our IT rep's action list to confirm that he was still coming. The response went something like this: "Yes your task is on the list however he won't get to it today and will try to call you and fix it remotely." As you can imagine I wasn't very thrilled with this idea especially since I had already waited for two weeks and was told it was too expensive to open a service ticket. I began to wonder, how come its okay for him to work on it remotely today but not two weeks ago! Mind you, when we were having this discussion it was 11:15 a.m. and the reason I was asking is that I was going to be away from my office and thus my laptop, to meet with a visiting customer. I got a little miffed and I guess it showed in my response, "What do you mean he won't take care of it today? This has gone on for too long as it is. It is not a smart thing to have a company computer in use without anti-virus software on it. This is for our company's protection. It would be my recommendation, that before he leaves in the next 45 minutes he finishes this task!" Well I guess this worked because the software was installed before he left.


Then came the next problem. I tried to log into it before leaving for the day and couldn't. The system didn't recognize my user name and password or the domain I was trying to log into wasn't available. WHAT THE HECK.... I tried several times before calling to the main office to complain. Which in the end didn't help because the person in charge of the IT issues had left for the day and the backup no longer had access to call the IT rep or open a service ticket. Again WHAT THE HECK... I eventually gave up, turn the computer off and went home. Magically (and a bit on the frustrating side) I didn't have any further problems with the laptop once I got home. I booted the darn thing up and it worked just fine. Go figure! As my co-worker said, "It was your computer's special time of the month!"

I guess what I'm trying to say is that IT issues are real and sometimes can be expensive. I just wish that I could get them resolved in a timely manner and without the hassle that it has become today!

It's Cup Time, as in Stanley!!!

Yes folks, its the hockey playoffs and my beloved Avalanche have made it to the first round. It is the time of the year when the best of the best begin the hunt for the elusive Stanley Cup! I have been Avalanche fan since they first arrived in Colorado in 1995. In the team's first 10 years in Colorado they went to the playoffs 10 times, won the division title 8 times and won the Stanley Cup twice. I would say that is a very impression feat for an expansion team. By the way their first Stanley Cup win came their first year in Denver. I will have to admit though I have a bit frustrated with the team since 2001 and especially in last couple of years as they have been in a bit of a slump. From losing key players either by free agency or retirement including the best goalie in the NHL (sorry Giguere you don't have anything on Patrick Roy) or the 2004-2005 lockout season the Avs have simply not been the same team! However that all changed in February when we re-acquired Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote and turned our season around. Go Avs! In honor of the playoffs I decided to share some interesting facts about the Cup:

The Stanley Cup awarded annually to the NHL champion, is the most coveted club championship trophy in the world. Commonly referred to as The Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug. Unlike the trophies awarded by the other major professional sports, a new Stanley Cup is not made each year; Cup winners keep it until a new champion is crowned. The original bowl was made of silver and has a dimension of 7.28 inches in height and 11.42 inches in diameter. The current Stanley Cup is made of silver and nickel alloy. It has a height of 35.25 inches and weighs 34.5 lb. The Stanley Cup is the oldest professional sports trophy in North America. The original cup is now housed in the NHL Hall of Fame and a new cup has been made in it place. The players do not touch the cup until it has been presented to the winning team. The cup is first presented to the team captain who then hoists the trophy above their heads and take a lap around the ice rink. The cup is then passed to each player on the team who takes a turn around the rink. (facts, comments, etc courtesy of Wikipedia)

This year was also the first year I got to see the Avalanche live and in person. My Valentine's gift from Matthew this year was to see a Avalanche vs. Ducks game. It was awesome. Our seats were in a great location and there were a lot of Avs fans in the stadium. We had a lot of fun! Check out my slide show above! Good luck to the Avs in their quest for the Cup, let's bring it home!!!

I told you so...

I really the love the I told you so moment! You know that instance when you have been proven correct with regards to a statement, belief or feeling. I had one of those today! I have to admit it wasn't too difficult to gloat to everyone else about that moment because I couldn't really gloat to the person that created the incident. In this case the "Chicken Little" incident from yesterday! So as I was indulging in my "I told you so" moment I was reminded of how a fellow co-worker conducts himself in difficult situations. See this co-worker isn't just any co-worker he is the son of the owner and happens to sit on our Board of Directors for the company. He has been working with us for about 1.5 years. Each day I am amazed at the graciousness he displays in doing his job.

Over the last several months I have witnessed him in some difficult and frankly not nice situations with a couple of managers at our company. To the point I am simply baffled at their audacity to treat him, at times, as they do. He has shared with me on occasion some of the conversations that have taken place and I simply sit there with my jaw on the floor. How can these managers believe it is okay to treat or speak to the owner's son in such a manner. My co-worker could very easily play "the card" but hasn't ever done that! He works hard to keep the fine line between employee/owner straight. He hasn't crossed it ever. Today I was witness to another situation in which our GM was put out of sorts by a comment that was made by this co-worker. He was so put out that he made a point to pull my co-worker aside after the meeting to posture his title "I'm the General Manager...." At which point, I know that if I had been the one is my co-workers shoes and would have retorted with a comment "yeah well what's my last name" to drive home the point "I am the owner's son". Alas this didn't happen and I admire his strength of character to once again not play "the card".

It sure gives some food for thought on how I can conduct myself when faced with similar difficult situations with the same managers.

Working with Chicken Little

I work with Chicken Little. Do you? You know the one - "The Sky Is Falling" Chicken Little (idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent). Anyway, this particular individual called me today in a panic over a recent email we had received from one of our customers. The email is an action item list that came out of a technical meeting we had with them this week. Yes the list is long and we have very little time to respond but it isn't impossible and definitely not disastrous in any way! Yet this individual insisted that the entire Sales and Engineering teams re-arrange their schedules tomorrow in order to accommodate a meeting to review the said email/checklist. The funny thing is that our main engineer is the one who attended the meeting and I am sure as the sun he is working on it as I am blogging this notion.

I have lost count as to how many times this scenario has occurred and yet we manage to get everything done with plenty of time to spare despite this individual. Go figure!

The Spark and a 2x4

I recently chatted with a good friend of mine who has decided to re-enter the dating scene and came to me with some concerns after her date. Her concerns focused on the issue of "the spark", she was worried about whether or not they were clicking because she didn't feel the spark with him. Now mind you it was a first date and she has only know him for about 6 weeks. However it got me to thinking, how many times have people missed out on something great because they didn't feel "the spark" at the first meeting. So let me expand on this thought for just a moment.


When Matthew and I first met back in college, I would definitely say there were not any sparks happening between us. In fact, if someone had told me that we would get married, I would have laughed in their face. Matthew and I knew about each other and had common friends, but in fact were not friends ourselves. When we became reacquainted a couple of years later through a mutual friend and began to hang out there still weren't sparks. Actually, I would be safe to say that Matthew and I spent about 1 year or longer hanging out as friends with other friends before we had any real sparks fly between us. It was probably another 4 - 5 months before anyone acted on those sparks to change the nature of our friendship. Truth be told it would take a 2 x 4 to make it happen! Most of you know the story as we shared it at our wedding, but for those of you who don't know it or may have forgotten it, here it goes:


Matthew and I both had previous relationships that had ended in disaster or had never materialized because of a lack of interest on the other party. So neither one of us were going to make the first move when the sparks started to fly in our friendship. One night in early December we were having a discussion that broached the subject of letting another person know when you were interested in them. I finally asked the question: "If you aren't going to make the first move and you know she isn't going to make the first move then how are you going to know you're interested in each other?" Matthew's response was. "well I guess my friends are going to have to hit me over the head with a 2x4 and tell me that she's interested in me and I had better do something about it." A couple of weeks later after a weekend trip to go to Matthew's home church in Santa Maria for a dinner theater, I made the decision to let him know that I was definitely interested in something more than just friends. So when we got home from the trip my parting comment to him was, "if you happen to find a 2x4 on your way home tonight, hit yourself over the head!" and then it began!


I am a firm believer that a good marriage is based first on a good relationship as friends and second on love. "Sparks," or passion as some call it, will come and go. These types of feelings will change and grow as the relationship matures. When those feelings aren't there what else do you have to rely on? Friendship! You will want someone that you can just sit and have a conversation with, you will want someone who shares your hobbies and interests. Most of the married couples we know married their best friend. After all when we are much older how much passion can one really have and be able to act on it?


I believe that I gave her some very sound advice with regards to her concerns and reminded her that right now she just need to enjoy the dates! I am very excited for her and what opportunities are ahead for her with dating, and who knows the sparks just might even be there for her?

Icky Tummy

Sorry that it has been awhile since I have blogged, this week has been a rather long one that has had my stomach in an upheaval literally. I am not quite sure if it bad food, stress, or a bug. There is nothing worse for me than to be sick to my stomach. I'll take cramps, back ache or cold any day of the week over being sick to my stomach!! There is something so vulnerable about being sick! Maybe that is what I hate about it. I don't get sick like this often. In fact that last time I remember being this sick was on my honeymoon! I firmly believe that was the combination of the stress from the wedding, my work, and eating/drinking in Mexico. I was sick the first two days of my honeymoon, which wasn't the best thing to have happen. It was the first time I had been really sick with Matthew around. What a trooper! He did really well taking care of me. Although I am sure it wasn't very pleasant!

Once again my husband stepped up to the plate, at least once the banging on the wall woke him up to help me early Friday morning. If any one knows anything about Matthew, he has a pretty quick gag reflex when it comes to that kind of thing! In fact he has told me over and over again the really nasty poopy diapers will be my job because he couldn't handle it. (Hmmm, I guess my quick gag reflex doesn't matter!!) Anyway I spent most the day Friday in bed once my stomach settled some only to have the whole evening Saturday spent in the bathroom again. I think I got about 3 - 5 hours of sleep in total last night!

So much for crashing a wedding reception which was our plan on Saturday! Just kidding!

Yardwork is...

You fill in the blank. I know for me the answer is tedious! Yardwork is much like housework for me. I hate it, will put it off until the last minute and if I were rich, I would have someone else do it. The work is just dirty, smelly from all the cleaners, and back breaking! I can think of a lot better ways to spend my time! Although right now, Matthew and I don't have much of a yard so I won't complain! In fact we have some ideas of what we would eventually like to do with our yard (it is about the size of a postage stamp) however then I think of all the maintenance that is required to keep it looking nice...but that's another story.

Yesterday, Matthew and I volunteered, (yes I did say volunteer) to help some friends get their backyard cleaned up from the winter. That meant the cleaning of all patio furniture, BBQs, putting up new flowers, etc. You get the idea, it was spring cleaning outdoor style! The main reason for major cleaning is due to the fact that they will be hosting a wedding in their backyard next weekend! So shortly after lunch, Matt and I made our way to their house and began on the marathon of cleaning! At least that is what it seemed like, or it maybe it was the perfectly orchestrated dance of bumble bees! We bounced for once activity to the next in what appeared to be chaos but our fearless leader knew better! We finished the majority of his list of chores by 5:30 p.m. with only a few items that were left for his second in command, (who was mysteriously absent yesterday!) We were convinced she had run away and wasn't coming back until after the wedding and all the family had left!

We ended our evening with a nice meal of pasta and a pretty decent bottle of red wine and then retired to the living room to watch "Sweeney Todd". Interesting movie...loved Johnny Depp and was impressed with his ability to sing! I will say that the movie was very different that I thought it was going to be. For some reason I had in my head that the main character was dead and had come back to exact his revenge as a ghost (which would account for the strange coloring)...actually come to think of, that might have been a better plot! Anyway we learned something new...our friend is very squeamish when it comes to blood and gore. Who knew! It was actually kind of funny and my husband will tease him endlessly about it from now one! All in all the day wasn't too bad and we did have fun! We hope the wedding goes well and the visiting family members appreciate all the hard work to make it happen!

Check out my Slide Show!

Prince Charming

Recently when I was home to visit my family, I had the opportunity to interact with their two cats. Interact may not be the appropriate word, more like, tolerate at least on their behalf. Their one cat, Celia, is more of a scaredy cat than my dear Cinnamon. She runs for the back room if she even sees a flash of the person at the door and definitely if the door bell rings! Most times she manages to hide under/behind the pillows on my parent’s bed and sometime even manages to wiggle her little butt underneath the cedar chest. Their other cat, Homer, aka “Mr. Hissy-Face” is another story all together. Sometimes it is hard to believe they are siblings. Each and every time that Matthew and I have come to visit my parents, Homer hisses at us for the first 3 – 4 days of the visit. However by the end of the visit he is just fine. What is actually funny is that my parents have claimed he doesn’t do this with any other quest that comes to visit them. He is always sociable and even sits in their laps, inspects their bags/purses and in fact is a real charmer. Since this was a phenomenon that we had yet to witness I didn’t quite believe them.

Well this last week I witnessed first-hand this other Homer aka “Prince Charming”. (On two separate occasions mind you!) Both cases were ladies who came to visit my mom and had been to our home on a number of occasions. Within 5 minutes of their arrival, Homer was prancing around the living room and moving between them they were old friends coming to see him. I couldn’t get over the reception. He even laid down on the carpet at their feet begging for attention! (He has never done this with me!) It was the weirdest and funniest thing to watch. I mean here was this cat that at times is so hostile to me and Matt, now in his Prince Charming mode. The only other time I have seen him in this mode is when he has gotten in trouble and he is trying to make my parents forget why they are mad at him (which honestly never lasts long anyway!)

Back into the Swing of Things...

So it has been awhile since I actually been able to sit my butt down and blog. Last week I was in Colorado to be with my mom during her surgery. It was a very long week filled with many emotions! I am very glad that I was there to be with my mom. I firmly believed it was good for both of our spirits as we continue down this medical journey called "Cancer." Good news her surgery went well and now it on to the next step: radiation therapy!

One of the things I always have to take care of when I go home is my parents computer. My parents broke down and purchased a computer about 5 years ago and let's just say they are both computer illiterate when it comes to understanding them! So each time Matthew and I travel home we have to "Fix" things. This time my dad was having problems with his mouse and DVD drive. I fixed the mouse problem....(helps to actually plug it into the USB port not the PS2 port with an adapter) The DVD problem will be fixed soon with the assistance of our friend Richard. Then I got the opportunity to teach my parents how to use their new digital camera and printer which was a Christmas present from Matthew and I. It was fun to show them how easy it works and how quickly they can be emailing and hopefully scrapping pictures soon!

I always find that when I have been gone for a week or so, it takes a while to get back into a normal routine aka "Back into the swing of things". My sleep schedule gets off and I get real accustomed to being lazy! So when it is time to go back to work, the snooze button gets hit a few times before I actually get up and I find that I need a mid-morning nap! Here's to vacations! It's too bad that I only have 4 weeks a year!

Cancer and Gossip

So some of you know that my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer a couple of weeks ago. The last 30 days have been a real whirlwind of tests, doctors, more tests and eventually a plan of attack! When I first found out about my mom's cancer, I reacted like most people would in this circumstance: I was angry, mad, discouraged and afraid. I mean we are talking about my mom, things like this don't happen to my mom. They happen to other people's mom's but not mine!


As we have gone through each step and eventually have learned the dreaded news I have been strong for my mom because I know that is what she needs at this time but on the inside I was falling apart. My dear husband simply didn't know what to do for me and I couldn't give him an answer as to what I needed. On the actual day we learned the news, I was at work and I calmly listen to my mom explain to me the situation. Once I was off the phone though, I was a goner, I ran to the bathroom and sobbed for 15 minutes. When I finally emerged, I simply packed up my stuff and went home. That was a long drive home. At that moment all I needed was to crawl into my bed and pull the covers over my head. I wanted to ignore it because it simply wasn't possible. However when a loved one tells you the dreaded news that they have cancer, every possible situation will play out in your head. (Believe me it does.) Some of those images and thoughts are not very pretty either. However through this I have had to maintain a certain maturity about the situation and remain positive. (After all I am a 12 hour/750 mile drive away from my mom and there isn't much I can do for her but be strong and move forward with life.) However I knew that there would be and still may be moments that I am simply not myself and those around me would be affected by it. Especially those people I work with. So with that I elected to only tell a couple of people at the office and swore them to secrecy. Why the secrecy? Simple, the people in my office just "LOVE" to gossip. In general, I tend to be a private person anyway and I don't like to share everything that is going on in my life. Frankly, I don't like to be the topic of gossip and this is especially true at my office. However I learn that it doesn't matter who you swear to secrecy, in the end someone still talks. Maybe because it is the dreaded cancer and people let it slip out. I don't really know. All I know is that I hate being blind-sided by another employee who inquires about my mom, when I know I didn't tell about her situation. And it is equally frustrating when that employee won't tell who told them, just that they had heard it from a lot of people!!



Unfortunately, my mom had a similar experience this week, only the problem was actually worse for her because she hadn't told anyone at her office, especially her boss. She wasn't planning on telling anyone at her office about her cancer yet until the final treatment plan had been put into place. My mom, like me, is a private person, so she didn't want to tell her boss about anything until she knew for sure. The other reason she didn't want to tell him, is that he isn't the most supportive of individuals and my mom and he simply don't get along. However, my mom was planning on talking with him this week since her surgery is next week. So my mom approached him on Monday to tell him and actually learned that he already knew about it. Apparently, someone from outside the my mom's work shared the dreaded cancer new with someone else who knows my mom's boss and that individual told my mom's boss. Talk about being blind-sided! He has known about for almost as long as her and he never approached her about it??? The one good thing that did come out of her meeting, was he did tell her to do what she needs to in order to get better! (That's a first!) I imagine in the weeks to come, he may come to regret that statement! Oh well!!!

Double Dates

Whoever said double dating wasn't any fun, obviously did not have good double daters! In what has become a monthly ritual for us, Matthew and I embarked on double date night with our good friends Jodie and Richard. This time our double date consisted of movies, dinner and Texas Hold'em. Yes I did say movies! Our group could not collectively decide on a movie to go to, so the girls went one way and the guys another! The ladies decided on a "Girlie Period/Historical Piece" aka "The Other Bolyne Girl" and the gents decided on the "Manly man adventure". (Although we did learn that 10,000 BC does have a love story woven into the adventure and in fact is the whole basis for the plot! Hmmm!!!)

Then it was off to Johnny Carino's where we indulged in a love dinner, even if our waitress was less than enthusiastic! I am not sure it had something to do with Richard trying to do her job or the fact he planned to drink his way through the menu by having one of each flavor Italian sodas. (I personally am going with the doing the waitress' job, after all you did sling olive oil all over the table!!)

We then returned to their house for a game of Texas Hold'em. Eventually Richard will learn that this isn't a game to play with Melissa! Why? I have won each and every time we have played. I am what you would call the "silent but deadly" type of player. I won't win each hand but I win when it counts and usually when the pot is big! (Right Richard!) We also can't forget to mention the drinking! Yes the gents were double fisting it again! A few months ago, Richard introduced my husband to a select reserve of Southern Comfort! Now mind you this is Matthew's favorite spirit! So of course being introduced to it only makes one want to have it more often. Unfortunately, this rare selection is only available in England and it is unclear when the next dosage is coming. The gents did end up finishing off the bottle and the pictures below depict their final salute to that great bottle of liquor.

(In the end I was convinced that Richard was going to fall asleep with the bottle tucked into the crook of his arm, because every so often after the bottle had been emptied he would pick it up and suck a few more drops of that precious peach brandy and then caress the bottle!)

Rough Week

This has been a rough week for me. It started off alright but in my efforts to get my home ready for a new dining room table and chairs, I over did it and wretched by lower back. (I was out of week one full day and partial on two days which is never good!) I also sure that some of my back problems are attributed to stress as well. I have been waiting for about three weeks to find out more about my new job including title and who I would be reporting too! Yes this is extremely important to me, because for the last 3 years my boss has been a complete moron. It was my hope that I would once again report to our President. However over the last couple of weeks I began to get concerned that there was new direction our company was taking and I would be reporting to another complete moron whom I don't get along with at all. So much so that I began to consider getting my resume ready as I refuse to report to this individual! But the end of my worries came today. My new title is "Regional Sales Manager" and before anyone asks (except Matthew who beat me to the punch) I don't know what region! Originally my team mate and I had made a suggestion for Director of Business Development titles but apparently that was overruled for some lame reason! In the new organization chart both of us will be reporting to the President which is a very good thing! Now if we get just start with the traveling bit of the job I may find myself of some use in the weeks to come!

Acts of Kindness

I know it has been awhile since I have blogged, I guess that is the problem with having an extremely busy life and a computer that is partially works! Last week I was approached by a good friend and co-worker to inquiry about my blood type. It seems that my co-worker's daughter who is scheduled for surgery later this week needed to stock pile some blood. So without thinking and really knowing what my blood type was I jumped up and said I would donate. (Side Note: I've never donated blood before!) So began the worst bureaucratic nightmare that I have embarked on in a very long time. What we believed would be a simple blood donation at our nearest Kaiser facility turned into a 3.5 hour trip to Hades. In the end things worked out well and we finally we able to donate at yet another Kaiser facility. All I can say is that someone should have warned me about the needle and I am really thankful I am not a member of Kaiser.

So on Monday I was approached by the same co-worker who once again wanted convey his heartfelt thanks at my willingness to donate and that he and I needed to talk. He came into my office and proceeded to tell me that he and his wife had a very ambitious travel schedule for this year and that they wanted to give Matthew and I their timeshare in Maui. With their other travel commitments they weren't going to be able to use the timeshare and didn't want to loose it. So as a way to say "Thank You!" they decided to give us the timeshare. I was dumbfounded! I never in million years expected anything so extravagant for simply donating my blood. Of course I gave the appropriate response and said it was too much and we couldn't accept it. But I knew I was in for a loosing battle, so I graciously accepted the gift! Can you believe it! I have never been to Hawaii so this is like a dream come true! Warm sand, cool beaches, beautiful flowers and great food!

Anyone have the "must do" list for Maui? Please share!

Uncle Sam's Take

So today I worked on the dreaded income taxes. Yes, I still prepare our income tax filings. However, I really do hate this time of year. The process is tedious and each time I sit down to do it, I cringe! I firmly believe that Uncle Sam has all he needs and he doesn't really need to have the precious amount of money that Matthew and I contribute involuntarily each year! I could do so much more with that money if it stayed in my hands rather than with those imbeciles on Capitol Hill. I will say though, that Matthew and I have been lucky over the years to not get hit too hard and we manage to get a return each year! The only problem is it gets smaller and smaller each time.

Now I know what you are all thinking, have a kid! Yeah right! With this year's election just around the corner, I have to wonder if even having a kid will help us for next year's tax return or not. I seriously doubt it! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if next year Matthew and I will have to pay back the nice refund we are getting this year along with the refund we are going to get from the Bush's Federal stimulus package. Oh well...I guess I will enjoy what money we receive from the government and do something FUN with it!