Jump for Joy- it's Friday

I love Friday's when i can wear jeans and sneakers to work and it's payday!!! YAY!

Oh our crazy Texas weather! So today it will actually get to 80 degrees here in Dallas. 2 days ago it was in the 30’s to 40’s.  We go back and forth from hot to cold a few times a week and my allergies and headaches are wreaking havoc like crazy. Please don’t think I’m complaining because many of my friends right now in Midwest and Pacific(Seattle) are being hammered with snow and ice. I am only seriously concerned because if it’s already 80 in January, what’s it gonna be like by lets say even May? HOT HOT HOT and that does not make me happy. Ok, enough about the weather.

Tonight I am going to a sold out rock concert to see Tool. I am giggly excited to rock out and lose my voice by screaming WooHoo all night.  I haven’t been to a rock concert in AGES.  Ya’ll remember I went to Robert earl Keen a few months back at Billy Bob’s but this is different. Now the funny thing is that I was supposed to go see Merle Haggard tomorrow night at mentioned Billy Bob’s. BUT, the poor old guy is in hospital with pneumonia and the show was cancelled. Part of me is very sad that I’m not gonna have a full on concert weekend –hard rock to pure country. The other side of me is relieved thought because I’m just not the wild crazy party girl (young) like I used to be and wondered if I could handle both.

I have an officer’s meeting with my CMA group tomorrow also in Waco and we’re meeting at 7am to carpool and follow each other. YAWN. I hope to sleep on the way cuz tonight’s going to be late night. I am looking forward to going though because I missed last year’s and I kinda felt left out. Being surrounded by my sweet CMA brothers and sisters always make for a great day.

Sunday afternoon I plan on visiting my folks. Dad seems to be feeling better from the stem cell therapy and actually thinks his breathing is better. I cant be happier for this my friends! He does have to be on strict Gluten free AND sugar free diet right now while he’s on a certain medication. He cant have dairy either and he misses his big glass of milk that he has every night. This little diet created a lot of extra work for my awesome step-mom Deb. She’s had to get pretty creative and careful on the meals she prepares for him and it’s not all that easy. It’s more expensive and every meal has to be looked at closely to see if there’s sugar.  It’s the small price we pay and is nothing at the end of day when it comes to Dad’s healing. I will do anything humanly possible to see him feel good again.

I also want to mention that my project at work I’m rolling out is going so good. It’s great to not travel and to work with all my Dallas coworkers. I rarely get to work with them on actual project with interaction as a trainer.  Usually its just in the break room while getting my coffee.

Last note of the day, I bought a new mattress set this week and it was delivered today. I hope I like it once I get to really lay in it.  I did buy from place where I have 1 year to return and exchange if I don’t like it.  I gave my old set to one of my best friends and her husband. I love love love my bed but it was too soft for my jacked up back now. I am so glad it went to a happy home. My friends had a water bed that ended up leaking a few months ago and they had to throw it out. They ended up sleeping on an air mattress ever since and that made me sad for them. I love a win –win situation that my friends and me get a new bed to us.

Y’all have a super weekend!!

Another day in Dallas

I am just so happy to be at home right now.  When Sunday’s come around and I DON’T have to pack my suitcase , it makes me a happy girl.  I really really love my job and I actually love to travel but it’s also nice to have this break. I try to take advantage of this time to schedule my dentist checkups, Dr’s appts, etc.  That part is not fun.

I used to be one that would make New Year’s resolutions. This year I decided that my life is just too busy and crazy to set myself up for failure. There are things that I definitely want to work on but if it happens it happens. I would LOVE to get healthier this year. Maybe not just skinnier but actually able to go up 3 flights of stairs without breathing so heavy and sweaty. I have never been so out of shape.  I just simply don’t have the energy to take that walk, or jog, and to go oh at least a few yards where my apartment has a mini-gym.  I got to do something!

My eating habits is my destruction. I don’t like to cook, I rarely cook at all , so that means fast food or quick unhealthy things I can pop in microwave.  I don’t like vegetables either. I know- I am like a 4 yr old being stubborn at dinner time.When I eat a salad I feel so good about myself. I ignore all the facts that I have bacon, egg, cheese, and fatty dressings with croutons. It makes me feel healthier anyway. Being around my family has been great because my grandma and my stepmom are amazing cooks. I just cant hurt their feelings and not eat what they have prepared so maybe I can do better once I do start traveling. Who can pass up home cooking?

I  want/need to read more of my books that are crowding my book shelves. I am addicted to buying books and it will take me forever but I do read every night. I read alot but not enough. My goal is to stop buying books until I read a few more. I have no room at all to squeeze one more book on my shelf. To add to the books, I want to work on my quiet time with God. I have done this before and I feel so much closer to God when I talk to him every day in quiet time. Most of the time its in my car but I do want to read more spiritual books too.

My apartment is overflowing in many unstarted crafts projects. I get so many ideas and go buy the supplies. Then I get it home and don’t complete it. I really need to finish (start and finish) what I have or get rid of some of my junk that’s taking up room. I have done a few and I’m happy for that.

I get home after work and it’s a choice between start a craft or read. I usually end up doing neither and watching TV.  hmmmm

My goals this year are also monetary. I desperately need a new bed and soon. My back is still hurting and probably always will. My TV is still the huge old-fashioned tube tv that I had in storage all the while living with my ex-boyfriend. My DVD player is on the fritz and if i buy a new one it wont get along with my antique TV. So i want new television AND a blu-ray player.  I am looking for an ipod alarm clock too. I can do all of this but no time soon. Did i mention that the week of Christmas i had to buy a brand new windshield and 4 new tires for my truck? My truck was up for inspection and I had to do all that in order to pass.  i had a few days to get it done before January and that was all very expensive!!  Once i pay some of that off ,i can focus on this wish list i just mentioned. Wish me luck.

Well Hellooooo Again

Happy New Year! I am such a complete slacker on my poor blog. I had so many good intentions to post at least a little something here and there but never made it. I went thru Christmas without so much as a peep out here. Soooo, how was your Christmas and New year’s? I will just say that in the past few years I was more on the Grinch side that the Jolly side of holidays. This year was a little of both.

I mentioned many posts ago that my Dad is suffering from a very rare lung disease and in on oxygen full time. His breathing has got much worse and it is very hard to watch him suffer. I spent as much time as I could during my days off to be at the ranch near him. Why do the holidays make what our hard times seem even larger?

On a VERY personal note that I have ever mentioned about myself in this blog- I had been in a relationship for nearly 8 years and it too was struggling. I ended it recently which was never an easy thing to do but every bit the Right thing to do.  My emotions this year had been at its highest due to my Dad’s health. I have NEVER been married my fellow blog readers. For the most part I thought I was ok with that fact. I’m really not trying to be negative and doom and gloom but here are my thoughts. I want my Father to walk me down the aisle to whomever my husband will be. We never know how long we will be here and Dad is losing strength. This has become very important to me and my Ex was not interested in ever being married. I REALLY want to be married now (to the right person of course)!As a Christian woman, I really want to try my best to live the right way in relationships and by that I mean no more living with my boyfriend until marriage. Yep- I also lived with my Ex for a while too. Don’t judge- I had my reasons.

I did have such a great time with many of my family members during the holidays. My sweet cousin Lauren (you’ve seen her in other posts) flew to Texas from Georgia for a few days.  I just have so much fun with her. I took her on a small tour around downtown Dallas. She had never really seen Dallas and i love showing her around. I took her to Sprinkles cupcakes and got a few of my faves. Dallas is so lucky to have one in our city. There is an area called Deep Ellum that has many clubs and restaurants and very fun place to go. Lauren and I met up with our other cousin Jadona and her boyfriend Roy. We went to a fun bar called the Doublewide and yes it was decorated as cheesy as you can imagine. Too fun!

Lauren and I at Snuffer's

Jadona and I at Doublewide

I never did post about my trips that I had to make to Minnesota. I spent two weeks there before Christmas and it was COLD! One day the high temp was 15degrees. The highlight of that trip was a work Christmas party I attended with our vendors in downtown Minneapolis. One of the appetizers was Rabbit. Now before you say Gross! No way! If you truly knew how picky and finicky eater I am. I just have to say that it was DELISH and I would eat it again right now if I could. It was paired with artichokes (which is my fave) and it was creamy and not gamey at all. Really!!

I love trying new things and it being successful.

I really do want to get back to posting often and I have so much to get caught up on. this was a good start though. Ok- one quick brag is that I have literally ached and envied all those with iPad’s and I got my own for Christmas! Woohoo- thank you daddy. J

Turkey and Stuff

So how was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was very nice. Pretty uneventful and I have no complaints about that at all. I have my own tradition i started several years ago by volunteering on Thanksgiving day and feeding the homeless. My friend Pam and her husband Ed own 2 very successful cafes called Norma's in Dallas. The original one is very close to downtown Dallas in area called Oak Cliff. Ed started this tradition in his cafe 23 years ago. How it works is anyone is welcome to come to the cafe and we serve the standard meal of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, salad,cranberry sauce, rolls, and a slice of pie. We serve until we run out.  They dont take orders that day from the menu and all the meals are free! It's amazing to see the line of people around the block starting that morning. Most of all patrons served are homeless, jobless, and hungry. I can't remember if this year was my 10th or 11th time to be volunteering. We get a shirt every year with the sponsors on the back and the year on the front. When i moved last year, i donated a huge heap of shirts and so i can't go back and count the shirts. Oh well- it doesnt matter - i just love it! I also like the fact that i have something to do for me. When i have family spread out around the city , i dont hurt anyone's feelings by not coming by. You know what i mean?  Anyways, this year has been all about my Dad so i went to his place after volunteering. My stepmom Deb made an amazing meal and the Dallas Cowboys won the game! WOOHOO~~  An awesome day for sure!
Before i left Dad's i grabbed my Christmas decorations box to sort through and decorate. My apartment is kinda small so i'm not going to put up my tree. I am going to use a few of my little tiny trees around the place.
I grabbed a ton of stuff that i will use and my place looks like Christmas threw up in here! lol.  I have a lot to do but i look forward to it helping me get in the Christmas spirit. When do you put up your decorations and when do you start taking them down? I typically wait until after New Year's.
I can't go and not see my sweet grandmother Nanny during the holiday weekend. I know i mentioned in past that she lives 2 hours one way. My uncle had Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (Saturday) at his place because my cousin's could be in town. Uncle James lives a mile from Nanny. My one cousin Cody lives in Austin with his wife Christie and it was great to see them. Shane (my other cousin and Cody's brother) was also there with his wife Reagan. Can you believe i didnt take any pictures? i'm so bummed at myself!
I rode down there with one of my best friends Todd on his beautiful Road King. What a great ride it was! That's 4 hours on a Harley round trip and i was in heaven. My only complaint is that we had a cold front come in throughout the day and it was CHILLY on ride back to Dallas. I have all the riding a gear a girl could need but it just so happened to be boxed away at Dad's and i wasnt prepared well for the ride. I made due because Uncle James gave me a pair of flannel lined jeans and Todd had rain jacket with hood that fit under my helmet. I went to Dad's today and got my box of leathers. It was like Christmas opening it up and finding my chaps, vests, and jackets that i bought at Harley. I will be prepared the next time i ride again- i sure hope its soon!!
I have a busy week ahead as always but i'm not traveling. I'll be working in Dallas and it's so nice to be packing right now. Have a great week.

Montreal This Week- Oui Oui

Hey Y'all!  I'm having a super busy week already and it's only Tuesday. I'm working in Montreal, Canada this week and it took me forever to get here yesterday. Well, it just seemed like forever because my plane left at 6:10 am which involved me getting up at 3:30 and being at airport by 5. I am still so tired! I think i've mentioned already that i'm NOT an airplane sleeper. Why is it that when i'm in public on a plane, i jerk and scare myself and neighbors from jumping. Oh, i did make it interesting by spilling my full cup of ice water directly on my right leg and soaked my seat and jeans. I havent done that in years. It was nice and cool the rest of trip for sure. So my flight had a layover in NYC and man was it so hard to look at the window and see one of my most favorite cities right in front of me. This Texas girl LOVES some New York City life! It hurt just to be in LaGuardia airport. Oh well, one day i may come back and stay longer in NYC.
You know i am all about the meals when traveling. Do you know about Poutine? That is french fries with cheese curds and brown gravy. It's very different but tasty none the less! We were taken to a popular dive called Lafleur and had the officical Poutine. It's a dish made popular in Quebec/Montreal. Just got to say not to knock it till you try it!
Last night we had our Meet and Greet with who we were going to train this week. We had dinner at one of Gordon Ramsey's restuarants. We ate at Laurier's and i have totally mixed reviews. Here's what happened: we made reservations for 14 people so they gave us a "group menu" that we had to order off of. No one had any problems with that for most part but when we wanted to order a different side that was on the real menu, the waitress literally yelled at us and told us we cant deviate off the menu. Only a few people wanted to make changes so it was crazy that she yelled at us. Last time i checked, WE are the customer and we're paying nicely for this dining experience. Anyway, i wont bore you with more complaining but the service was the worst i ever had but the food was AMAZING!  After watching Hell's Kitchen just a few times, i have a feeling that Gordon would NOT be happy that his staff was terrible and mean. Or would he?
Tonight we had a nice dinner at a local cozy Italian Restuarant and everything was wonderful. I'm on a roll because tonight i spent my glass of water on my boss AND her phone. NICE! Anyway, I had a seafood pasta in white wine sauce and man was it good! Next time you're in Montreal look up Bellissimo and you wont be sorry! I'm staying downtown and there is SO many beautiful buildings and architecture around. Sad thing is that it's dark when we return to hotel and too late to take any pictures. Maybe tomorrow....
Here's a few pics i did take. :)

NYC from plane at LaGuardia-made me hurt to look

Gordon Ramsay's Lafleur

The biggest pork schnitzel ever! oh yeah and mac n cheese

Poutine Baby!!

Garage Sales,BFF'S, Family, and of course Eat!

Time is flying by! I had intentions of blogging sooner but just didnt make it. I'm back in Toronto this week (Mississisauga) and we're staying downtown. It's very cool with all the lights and billboards -like a mini Times Square. We walked to our restaurant last night for dinner. I love that kind of atmosphere and the convenience of not driving. Speaking of dinner, we ate at Milestones and had the BEST meal ever. It was frozen Bellini night and we had one of those. They topped it off with Sangria and oh my! Delish. I had a pasta with mushrooms and chicken and a wine sauce. Heavenly!!

Tonight we had a Meet and Greet dinner with the department we're here to train. We trained half of them today and the other half tomorrow. This is my favorite part of my job when we get to meet new people. It's such a melting pot here in Toronto. One of the gals was from Croatia, another from India, another from Italy, and another from Portugal. Isn't anyone FROM Canada? People can say the same thing though about Dallas. I'm part of special crowd that's actually a native Dallasite. Dinner tonight was at The Keg Steakhouse and Bar. Funny because i had another awesome Bellini tonight too. It was mango and peach together-so yummy!My steak was a little bloody for my taste but still had great flavor all in all. I havent had a steak in ages. It was good to have it.
So i just have to tell you about how much fun i had actually GOING to garage sales last weekend. After recently having one of my own it was fun to be on the other side. I had been searching and asking everyone to keep an eye out for me on a fireplace poker set. I found one on my own and guess how much- yep! only 3 dollars! yay-woohoo! One of the pieces was missing  the handle and it is a little rusty but i wont even use the tool anyway that's broken. I landed last Friday and i called my high school BFF Kimi to see what she was up to. She lives in Fort Worth and that ought to be in Mexico because of the distance. We were going to meet half way for dinner but she didnt have a sitter for her youngest son Nolan. I went ahead and drove out there that evening and we had the best night! Her daughter Kati is pregnant and she came and spent whole evening with us too. It was so fun to just eat spaghetti at the house and sit around to talk all night.
The next morning (Saturday) i was going to leave early but Kimi suggested going garage huntin. She rocks at the negotiation side of things. I am so uncomfortable to ask for lower price and why is that? No one certainly didnt bat an eye to talk me down to price. I totally scored on some Williams and Sonoma ORANGE mixing bowls for ...drumroll...5dollars$! My most awesome and biggest win was my dining room chairs. I really wanted a little something different to add a punch to my room. Check them out!! Orange cushions-sigh-i die!

Williams Sonoma 5$ bowls

Really?! I love my chairs.

Now for my stroke of luck to continue, after i left Ft Worth i had to drive to east Texas for a family get together. I was totally driving 70+ but ONLY because i thought the speed limit was 70. I actually pulled behind a squad car and went around him. We were at same speed so i thought i was cool. I wasnt. He pulled me over. I just have to say that i NEVER have been able to get out of or talk my way out of ticket. I didnt even bother to try this time either. He gave me a break and let me go. Its because i didnt slam on my brakes and try to fake that i wasnt speeding. I willingly admitted to passing him. LOL. So happy for that.
My cousin that lives in London is visiting here with his husband and we only get to see him once a year. Many of us met at my one cousins house Monya and we had a nice night. Another cousin that i never get to see came and brought his lovely family too. Who was missing was my sweet baby brother and his family (jeremy got sick) and Jadona with her new man and her sons. Home cooked meal was a plus and i saw my sweet Nanny.

Cuzn's

I threw my back out again on Sunday and it's totally sucked since. I am so sick of being in pain. What do i do now? Grin and bear it-Literally!  Happy Tuesday.

Survived Halloween and back in the saddle again

So how was everyone's Halloween? I had so much fun! I love love love Halloween and i decorated both my home and office with everything witchy and skulls. I need to buy another storage container to hold all my decorations i have. Over the weekend i made the cutest skull headbands and they were a hit! I had a few friends even ask me how much they were because they wanted one but i gave them for free. Yesterday at the office I wore my headband and i spray painted my hair purple just for the heck of it. I had a cute tshirt with a skeleton couple on it that i found at Walmart. I didnt get a picture though. I just have to say that I also outdid myself making Treats too. I asked our department to all bring Treats to the office to celebrate. I bought NutterButter's and dipped one package in milk chocolate and the other package in dark chocolate. I decorated them like ghosts with black and white icing too. I also made sugar cookies in shapes of ghosts and witch hats. I seriously always go for grabbing store bought cookies or cupcakes but Nope- did it myself this time!
I am the luckiest girl-my neighbors LOVE Halloween as much as i do. They went ALL out and decorated our hallway into a haunted house. Did you know there was zombie baby dolls out there? There are many and they all do different scary things. Some shake with red denom eyes, some have sharp teeth and squeal, some have fake blood and eat bones. Anyway, my neighbor hung baby cribs on the walls and the ceiling and had a zombie baby behind all them. They had scary music, fog machine, cobwebs EVERYWHERE with a Giant Spider and little spiders everywhere. We put all our candy in a baby basket and had the kids reach in and grab it.  I enjoyed hanging with the neighbors eating sandwiches and looking at the kids costumes. Too fun! I will post a few pics but i took a ton.

Our Punkins lined up

This gave me nightmares and i dont scare easy

Our zombie baby candy keeper

Night before-Wendy and i with our headbands i made

After my fun night of Halloween , I still had to pack for this week in Canada. Which is where i am now. I'm with my boss/friend Wendy and coworker Mark this week and the next few weeks. After we landed around 2:30 we drove to Niagara Falls. I drove there by myself a few years ago from New York and it was so nice to see it from the Canada side this time. We couldnt have picked better weather tonight to be there. It was a little chilly but sunny and not windy or cold. Wendy is so awesome because she knows how much i love to find Harley Davidson shops and we find one on the main street where all the shops and restaurants are.  We ate dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and had the yummiest blue crab and shrimp dip. yummy!

Wendy W, me, and Mark at Margaritaville

Niagara Falls on Canada side

Awesome rainbow

I really enjoy working in Toronto. I hope this week goes smoothly- I'll most likely blog again in this fun hotel room.