The Sister Rain

One of the really nice things about my company is they provide a car service for us to/from the airport when we travel for business. This morning a friend who lives down the street saw a Towne Car parked in front of my house and instant messaged me about it. Let's just say we don't see too many chauffeurs where I live in the suburbs!

I messaged my husband (does that sound dirty?) while I was in the car and told him it feels so strange to be driven like that. He wrote back "Trump does it everyday". Trump, aka "The Donald".

The title of this says it all. Wonder where we'll put the heliport?

Hand Cream May Not Fix This

What does it mean when you've been wearing an wedding ring and engagement ring for over 18 years and all of a sudden the skin under it begins to flake like a January snow? None of the other parts of either hand are flaking.

Last year the church I got married in burned down.

Is somebody trying to tell me something?

Not Rodeo Drive But Close

Today we had a meeting at work with a vendor who wants us to use them for a specific type of event that we might be doing. We were all in the conference room, listening to their spiel, when I looked down at the business cards the two gentlemen had given me. And it hit me.

I had applied at this company when I was searching for a job!

Click HERE to see what came to mind.

Probie No More

I completed my first meeting this week. My first day back in the office after the meeting was today and it coincidentally fell on my 3-month anniversary with my new company. No flowers were delivered and at the other end of the spectrum, I wasn't removed from the building either.

Goodbye probation, hello 401K.

My Nemesis

Painful
Accumulation of
Crap to transport and
Keep with you
Is
Never a
Good time

Counting The Blessing Of A Routine Friday

One morning you wake up and there are multiple Tweets telling you a natural disaster has occurred on the other side of the world and it’s not over yet. I see the pictures online and I hear the reports but I just can’t conceive of what is happening.

Meanwhile, my office is abuzz with activity; everyone trying to finish things up before the weekend. We’re all listening and watching and interested but I would be lying if I said life doesn’t go on. I don’t mean to be callused but it is amazing that terrible, unspeakable things are happening in the world and we continue to make hotel and airline reservations and pick food selections and off-site dining options. We are not “party planners” and I don’t mean to minimize what we do, but the same is going on all over where people are aware of the disaster and praying for all those who are and could be impacted (still dodging the effected/affected conundrum) and still having what is a fairly normal Friday afternoon.

The traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike is gonna be a breeze tonight . . .

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh, Rockin' To And Fro

Tomorrow is my last day in the office before I go on another business trip.

From the United Kingdom to Dallas, Texas – different accents and different time zones.

It’s a big ole world and in true Dallas fashion, I seem to be back in the saddle again.

And that saddle can also be a flotation device.

It's ASH . . .

I think people are confused today.

Everyone is acting like an *ss, thinking it's *ss Wednesday!

Laggage Claim

The jet lag has ffected me (that's not a typo, effected and affected are my worse words to discern between) and I'm still recovering. They say for every hour difference you experienced, it takes a day for every hour to get back on track. It was a 5 hour time difference for me so today is my 5th day of recovery.

I have not felt particularly tired, although I am ready to turn in at night earlier than normal, but I have found myself a little London Foggy and searching for words when I'm speaking.

At the end of the day, it's a small price to pay for waking up in London, England and going to bed hours later in your own bed in Pennsylvania. The ability to fly is something I think we all take for granted but when you stop and think about it, it is completely amazing.

As I got changed yesterday, I looked down at my sneakers and thought about how the soles walked the halls of Windsor Castle. Now they return, like me, to their life in Pennsylvania. No jet lag on them, just 1,000-year-old carpet remnants in their tread. Yes, I'd call that amazing.

Unicorn

My company is generous in that if you work on a weekend, you get to take a day off. Today I am off on my very first "Rest Day". Of course, though, if you're a woman, a day of rest is something mystical, like a unicorn. You may have thought you've seen one in the past but you're not really sure and if you were asked to describe it in detail you wouldn't be able to.

Ironic that you would have to work at making sure you rest on a Rest Day but I do. I have not turned on my work Blackberry or my laptop. I did clean out some closets in preparation of the Purple Heart coming this week and I've done a few small things around the house. But I slept in and plan to read this afternoon. If a nap comes a-callin', I won't turn it away.

Look at me, learning how to rest. Could a unicorn spotting be far behind?

Would The Queen Choose To Be The Queen If Given A Choice?

Rainy Sunday on the outside but a bevy of activity on the inside. I was in the UK last week for my job and today I am putting my luggage away and catching up on everything else at home, hopefully, including my sleep.

I apologize for the gap in writing; this new job is currently taking over my life and I am so busy I don't know which was is up.

This new job is OK but not what I would choose if I had choices, so this morning I went looking for choices and did a pretty extensive job search.

What I've found is that in the almost 3 months since I started this new job, monster.com has got a new look, hotjobs.com is now monster.com. Things have changed and yet something remains painfully the same.

The job opportunities are slim to none.

What does this mean for me? This means more sucking up, more plowing through, more keeping on keeping on and some gratitude that a) I have a job and b) I have a job in my field. Besides me and the Queen, these days who can say this?

Once Upon A Time . . .

. . . in a land far, far away, lived a Princess who was put into a high tower by a Evil Witch named Unemployment.

For three long years, the Princess was unable to continue her career in the Land of Opportunity. During her time in the tower, she wore sweatpants and a ponytail, and tried with all her might to escape Unemployment. Several times she almost freed herself, only to be captured again by Unemployment and returned to her prison.

Then, one day, the Princess was able to lower herself out of the tower by using her resumes, all taped together to create a ladder. She found a new King to work for and he asked the Princess to travel to a Land she had never been to before. The Princess traveled over 3,500 miles one night and the next day arrived at a beautiful Castle, one that looked remarkably like Windsor Castle in England.

The Princess could not believe that she was here after all this time, in a land so far from where she spent her imprisonment. She could not believe she was really looking up at Castle built over 1,000 years ago.

A Fairy Tale?
No.

A Happily Ever After?
Time will tell.

The End?
No way.

A Grateful Princess?
You betcha.