Unintended Consequence of Traveling Alone: Selfie Abundance

Amsterdam was awesome. The city was beautiful, the people friendly and the food (for the most part) delicious. It was a great work trip and I was really lucky to be able to go. The only thing that would have made it even better was if Chef was able to go. Maybe if I'm lucky enough to go back to this conference I'll plan far enough ahead to bring him along too.

Anyway, one of the things I learned after looking through my pictures was that I apparently took a lot of selfies. I think this was mostly because I was alone, vain, and have been taking them before they went digital and had a name. I literally have hundreds of pics from holding the camera out in front of me all my life. So it really is no surprise that I have selfies galore from the trip.

Since I had them, I thought I'd tell the story through myself. Or my selfies.

This was right outside of the Anne Frank House. It was touching and amazing. And no photos allowed inside. 

Me and a piece of art at the Rijks Museum. I wanted a Rembrandt selfie or a selfie with Van Gogh's self portrait,
but they were always busy with crowds.

Selfie with a Kendra, my DC co-worker on our last night

Last Dinner selfie. I have to say that the tablescape was prettier than any wedding I've been too (sorry, friends)

"I'm on a boat" selfie. We getting ready to glide through the canals with champagne.

Selfie with my NYC colleague, Ed, while we made some pastries and chocolates.

Not technically a selfie because my hands were full. Here I am filling chocolates with a ganache.
Chef would've been so proud. 

Again, not a selfie, but me and another DC colleague Amaris making Dutch Apple Pie (of course)

So, I went to McDonald's. So what. After 4 days of meals with 10 ingredients per dish, you'd probably want a cheeseburger too. Plus they're a client, so that's technically just doing my job, right?

This used to be the Capitol building in Amsterdam
but the prince decided at one point it was too nice to be government and took it over. It was pretty sweet. 

Some large statue that someone told me was important.
There were always people gathered around it, so I bought in. 

Why I Shouldn't Be Single Again

KaBoom volunteers

If there was any example about why I shouldn't be single again, today is that example. I got up at noon. I watched TV all day. I ate junk food most of the weekend because I didn't have to cook it. I had no problem watching the Jodi Arias movie on Lifetime; no shame or embarrassment. I've talked to the cats more than normal.

Happy, not Sad, Pandas

And that is only ONE day. Not so say that if something didn't happen that I couldn't learn to live the single life again, but it would take a while for me to get back in the swing of things. Luckily, I did spend most of Saturday working on a KaBoom playground build. It was for a client, which I have to disclose even though this is a personal blog. It's an FCC law and I'll use another post to talk
about that.

Anyway, Chef is out of town until tomorrow night, working on a photo shoot that a client sent him on. It makes me proud to say that, but getting a taste of my own "I'm traveling for work" medicine is interesting.

Mostly I realized that I would be about 100 pounds heavier without some accountability. I'm getting fluffy again, which translates into pudgy which means that the last three weeks that I've spent traveling for whatever reason and not exercising have caught up with me.

The treadmill begins again tomorrow.

Khubla and I were both lazy as hell this weekend. Or at least today,

Regaining the Will to Live

I wish the headline was an exaggeration, but it's not. yesterday I had the will to live slowly drained from me as I had a migraine for about 12 hours. It was my longest migraine to date and the only one that got so bad that I had trouble seeing, which caused me to be nauseous and sent me home from work. I figured it would generally be frowned upon to lay my head on my keyboard all day and pray for the sweet relief of sleep. Not exactly billable hours.

I drove home and then curled up in  bed with the blinds closed for a few hours. I drifted in and out of sleep and then got up and moved to the couch. When I could deal with sound again, I laid there with my eyes closed and tried to keep the room from spinning. About 5 pm, I was able to not want to die. At 10 p.m., I could read again without feeling nauseous and this morning I was back to normal. Or as normal as I usually am.

I'm happy this happened yesterday and not last week. I was in Las Vegas for the second time in two weeks for work. By Sunday, I was ready to be home. The sounds of slot machines would ring in my ears at night (not that I was gambling. I prefer to keep my money in the mall--where I'm always a winner!). I did, however, get to take a 5 mile walk and see the new Twilight movie in between the convention and a lot of eating. Mostly I just wished I was at home with my hubby. :)

Here are some shots from the trip:

Stayed at Caesar's and saw these t-shirts in the gift shop. They made me chuckle.

Walked over to the Bellagio to visit the work of one of my favorite artists--Dale Chihuly

The Bellagio also had this cool Fall scene with a beautiful talking tree

The tub in my room was large and jacuzzi. I took about 2-3 baths a day while I was there.

Playing Catch Up (Part Two)

I got too frustrated placing the pictures so I needed a second post. Besides, I don't think one picture of cheese and one of my girls in one of my favorite places on earth (the IU campus) are enough to tell of my trip back to Indiana.

Anne and Amanda and our campus visit. I love visiting Bloomington. It's a beautiful place that whet my appetite for places that encompassed different cultures of people--including the ever-annoying hipster. I got to remember what humidity feels like (as it melted off my make-up) and what it feels like to have friendships that are relevant and loving no matter how much time passes between our visits.

I was lucky enough to go to the Capitol and work with a group to brief Congress on the issue of workplace flexibility. I got to listen to how Blackberrys are making us more flexible and more accountable (to our detriment) while obsessively checking my Blackberry for emails. Oh the irony!

I got back in town late Wednesday, but it wasn't until Friday when I was able to go walking around Beverly Hills with Chef that I remembered how beautiful LA is and how great it is to be warm without sweat. I missed my husband and kitties desperately, but was glad that even after spending time in beautiful cities, I still love this beautiful city.

Day 2 in Dallas

I'm still in Dallas for my second of 4 1/2 days here for work. I've been trying to take pictures as I find the things that are kinda cool. Here's my favorite picture from today's Downtown Dallas adventure.

Not too shabby from an iPhone camera.

And I'm back. . .

So I've been gone for almost a week and sporadic internet connection plus not wanting to waste valuable time away from my friends and family to blog. I know that I'll go into more detail tomorrow and the following days to explain what an awesome trip it was and why I have the best friends and family members ever, but today I thought I'd start with a wrap up from last week's goals.

• Chats with Chef this week: every day. Mostly via text or sporadically while I was gone but I did manage to call every day. Which was more a feat that it sounds like.

• Pages of fiction read: 111-- I was about 7 pages from hitting my goal on Saturday morning, and I sat down and made a conscious effort to finish. And did so!

• Fiction read:The Art of Racing in the Rain (it's getting good--and sad)

• Fiction listened to via audiobook: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (just had a few hours last week and started back today)

• Creative writing every day: not so great--travelling is my not so good excuse on this

• Five pages written:Nope. Not even close. About 3 paragraphs written and I feel horrible.

• Calorie tracking: Nope. I sucked. I lapsed. I am starting again diligently tomorrow.

• Exercise:Took a break. Not a deserved break, but I didn't have a gym and running now kills my hips. Plus I am busting out all my excuses this week.

• Friends and family: This is one that I met!! Finally! I had the best visits with my father, stepfather, uncles, stepmother, grandmas, aunts, cousins, co-workers, friends and nearly every person that means a lot to me. It was worth every minute, every dollar, and every tear I cried afterwards from missing them all so much.

The theme for this week is: Excuses you make while travelling. Clearly I have not established enough of a routine and drive for a goal that it could survive the complete disruption in my normal schedule. And I had to reconcile that with myself. In fact, I gave myself permission to have a bad schedule today too in an effort to spend some quality time with Chef and steel myself for the reckoning that will be tomorrow's back in the swing of things routine. Wish me luck!

Day One done, Day Two begun

First days are always funny at new jobs, aren't they? You cram about a week's worth of learning into the first 8 hours and hope that some of it sticks. So far, I think I'm absorbing more than I realize. Or should I say I hope that I'm absorbing more than I realize.

Unbeknowst to me, my counterpart from the UK flew in to help acclimate me this week. That's because my boss, who is also based in the UK, flew in for a conference and wasn't going to be able to spend a ton of one on one time. Apparently, his next trip to the US after this week is in April. So, this is going to be a sink or swim test. And I'm fairly certain I can swim just fine. I might just need some water wings for the first week or so.

So, because of this flurry of foreign activity, I've been booked solid for the first week. Happy Hour cocktails for two nights and a dinner on a third. It's probably a good thing because the extra time gets me out of traffic. The only downside is that I'm learning names from people I'll probably not meet or see again for months and am probably going to forget them. Then I'll have to act like I remembered them from my first day when in all likelihood, I won't.

The only other thing that I noticed is the accents. I'm good throughout the day, but around 5:30 and with a brain full of mush, I was having to concentrate. The same thing happened in Murfreesboro, though.

So I sit here and begin and realize that there aren't a lot of people who are outside the education arena that work here. Most have backgrounds in colleges, teaching or sales connected to colleges and teaching. It'll be interesting to see how quick I'm able to catch on...