Spas, Horses and Romance

So I did not train a falcon, although I probably could have if I wanted to. Actually, I think we probably could have done anything we wanted to. While my honey hasn’t quite gotten the pics online quite yet and I can’t like to them. Let me say that the website to the Greenbrier does not do the place justice. Not only is it more beautiful , more serene and more elegant… the pictures do not capture the feeling. Picture the movie Titanic, as they walk into the ballroom and the ship changes from broken down and sunken to the most luxurious ship (or however they described it). That was what this place felt like. The main house/ mansion was extravagant in itself but the fact that it was also nearly empty – save the dozen or so staff members waiting to help you at every turn- so it felt like we were alone most of the time.  

As if just being there wasn’t enough, there were so many activities to choose from that I decided Peanut had to go train himself. We went to the spa each day, toured the famous bunker , ate atop the golf course, sipped tea in the afternoon, toured the grounds on our trusted steeds and enjoyed a relaxing carriage ride. It was amazing. I really felt like one of those 18th century noblewoman who made the place their home…. well except the noble thing and those really painful looking hoop skirts.

And while I can’t pinpoint my favorite activity, I can pinpoint my favorite moment. Sorry ya’ll but it was my anniversary so I’m gonna get a bit mushy. After our 5 hour drive to the grounds, we were starving and ran to the golf course to  get something to eat. We were both hungry and tired and so excited to be there and ordered what sounded like the most amazing food ever at the moment and relaxed. While my honey ordered himself a cup of french onion soup -my favorite back in the milk eating days– he received what can only be described as a pile of bubbling cheese with some soup under it. While it was very good, there was a bit too much cheese even for my Norwegian mouse. As he sat there carefully picking through the cheese in an attempt to find some onions, he suddenly exclaimed I found a patch. Then he asked if I would like a bite.. and since it was food, i of course said yes. So he fed me his soup and pushed away his bowl… to which I said why did you do that. He replied that was the last of it. And I looked at him and said well then why did you give it to me. And he simply shrugged looked at me and said, “because I love you,” just like that. It was like living one of those old lifesaver commercials.

Anyway, a good time was had by all but sadly I am back in the present day , where there is apile of work waiting for me…seriously.. I was gone for ONE day!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

I’m Gonna Train a Falcon

So before I get into why and how, let me pose this question. When you’ve just sent 7 emails to the same person with 7 different requests all marked urgent and with the same deadline of 2 hours from now, do you ever stop and think.. “hmm, how the hell is she gonna manage that.”

And thus why I will be training my new pet falcon to search and destroy. His name will be “Peanut” and his talons will be mighty. OK, I’m not really gettign a Falcon named Peanut but I may go learn how to train one this weekend. My husband and I finally decided upon a destination for our 5th anniversary getaway. As we had to abandon all hope of Europe for the time being for fear that the all-mighty dollar will kick our all-mighty asses into poverty. Stupid weak economy!

But alas, we have an alternative fit for a king. We will be headed to West Virginia, which until my good pal Pithy located for me, I had no idea existed beyond bad jokes. However, it turns out the lovely state is home to one of the highest ranked resorts: The Greenbrier.

Tonight I will be packing, tomorrow I will be driving and by Saturday I will be training Peanut to attack. I can’t wait.

Session 9

So once again, I disappeared. I know, I suck BUT it has been another terrifying week of drama and trauma. So I made it through the storm waiting from my husband to arrive back from the North Pole. Ok, so he was in Norway but still! It was pretty touch and go for awhile there but I survived. He’s back and bearing awesome presents I might add.  You know it was bad when my lunch conversation talking of Session 9, actually made me sad and think of when we watched the horrifying thriller about the old insane asylum leading to a killing spree. Very romantic indeed. I guess lobotomies and a crazed David Caruso = love. The only thing more disturbing than the movie was the context in which it was brought up. It seems we looked at an old abandoned insane asylum for our new office headquarters. Well, there’s a surefire way to get me to take some of my vacation time. Seriously, not going to happen.

Now in sadder news, my mother and I had yet another adventure this weekend. We headed out Saturday morning to the old homestead of Cherry Hill. Not much is still there from my formative years. What is still there is my grandmother. While I hope to not have to go through this in more detail anytime in the near future- it looks like her 94 years may have caught up with her. And I may be losing my last link to my NJ stomping grounds. Mom is back again today so we shall see.

In the meantime, my Cinco De Mayo anniversary is approaching and I am looking for some good and creative ideas for celebrating Five years with the boy. Aside from a lot of margaritas anyone have any good ideas?

 

 

 

 

Sorry about that…

I have been horrible about writing lately but perhaps it has been the whirlwind of activity in the last few days.. or it could be the more obvious just waiting for wordpress to put spell check back. Regardless of the stalling , here I am armed with a week and a half of events. For those of you who have been reading you know that the last few weeks at work may or may not have been traumatizing. The arrival of my long awaited hope was short lived. Flashback to last Monday if you will. Starting a brand new week, fresh and ready for work, all of last week’s drama behind me, I arrived at work. As the day progressively began to look much like the previous miserable week, it took on  a whole new misery of its own. As quickly as my hope came to me, my hope was leaving. As she broke the news to me that just one month later that she realized she needed to leave, I was happy that she wouldfind somewhere that better fit her. Perhaps I took the news better than the fearless leader with whom I have had my own not -so-fun encounters. This was worse, I could see him physically shaking as he heard the news. Ok well it was an hour later – but he was still shaking! And with that she was escorted from the building.

As the morning’s activity died down and we all got back to our daily routine. It occurred to me there was a bigger and more anxiety ridden departure that needed my preparation , my husband was going home for a week (actually 10 days.) So I went and got my cute remember me things together to send with him to his hometown in Norway so as not to forget his wife loves him and misses him. So armed with 4 greeting cards carefully marked with days of the week on which they should be opened, I headed home.

Two days later, our department had all settled back down from our latest loss, well all but me. My workload which had thinned upon the arrival of the new cutie and tripled upon her departure. Not only did I get a supplemented version of my actual work, i got her work which had also been augmented to justify two people’s attention. Mother F^&*^r.  And more importantly I have to take my man to the airport and leave him for ten days. This was not going well. But, after a teary see you in a  week, I arrived back at the office(well a teary goodbye and 2 hours of traffic) to make my load more manageable. And all had settled down.

The weekend was fun. Many hours of entertainment, not to mention sangria and empanadas, with the little blonde midget and the Sheppardess. New hair, new clothes and many long distance minutes later it was Monday again. Did get some bad news about my grandmom, who has been in the hospital for the last few days- she’ll be ok. She’s a tough little lady- plus the evil keeps her young.

Monday morning. Again I promised myself new week, better days right? Well right indeed, the doubling workload is obviously only one of the many issues I have been having here in the land of the paychecks. Repeated run-ins, which I am not even entirely sure by what they are being caused, with a particular individual had taken its toll on this fun girl. Leaving a rather bitter, extra bitchy, non-princess like shell. Well Yippee-Kay- Yay Mother F&(*&r, no more wicked witch! And as an added bonus both Bones and Gossip Girl were on last night!

Now if we could do something about the boy being gone still… sigh six more days..  

Oh and on a very sad note, this earth day marks the 19th anniversary of a family friend’s death .. as well as the 19th anniversary of the first (and only) time I saw someone die.. creepy huh? We miss you Ben.  

Shenandoah

Ok – So I had planned an exciting post about our trip the the Shendoah National Park and Skyline Drive this weekend, but I don’t feel much like writing it right now. I will sum it up though. It’s a beautiful drive and there is charming little restaurant in Skyland.  Ok , go plan your trips now.

Super Ninja Warriors to the Rescue

It started like any other Friday night, my husband and I just sat down to watch a movie. Suddenly, the secret phone rang (ok it was my cellphone) but it was an unrecognizable 800 number so we ignored it.  Ten minutes later the phone began to screech out- again. This time it was the distinctive ring of my lovely sister Ta. She sensed danger at the house of our dear mother. Ok, so she didn’t so much sense it as the alarm company called her and said someone had broken in. She had desperatly attempted to call the house to reassure herself and reached my mother but had been cut off moments later. No one had heard from her since. So, whisking into action, the ninja warriors geared up. As we headed towards the house, our lights turned down, it seemed quiet. Too quiet.  Parking at the bottom of the incredibly long and uphill driveway, we exited the vehicle and moved steath- like towards the gate to the house. As we approached the gate, ninja one effortlessly lept over the gate and motioned for me to do the same. As my legs lifted from the ground to leap, I thought to myself, nope not going to happen as I fell right onto the gate which emitted a horrifying noise that likely woke the neighbors.  Undeterred, the two ninjas continued up the stairs and into the house. Flying up the stairs to my parents bedroom, there was movement. Ninja one looked out, “Someones coming.” “Yes, it’s my dad.” As my father flicked on the lights, there was my mother, woken from her sleep. She looked at her ninja rescuers and said, “Bedtime. Go Home.” Eh, turns out she put the phone down and forgot to hang it up in all the confusion. Our heroes hung up the phone and all was right.

Also, this just: Green Beer makes you stupider than even regular beer. Case in point, I am neither from South Dakota nor did I come to Washington DC to save Buffalo. Also, I am not 17. As convincing as I’m sure these things sounded, indeed I believe green beer kills more brain cells or people are dumber than I thought.

Closing Down Shop

Closing Down Shop  It appears that I need to be closing the doors to my blog. To those of you who have been reading since I started and those of you who have recently begun monitoring me from afar, thanks. Unfortunately, this was intended as a place to air my thoughts about work and life. It was a safe place for me to chat and share my personal thoughts with the handful of you whom I have invited. It is very sad for me but this blog while meant to vent about work and other randomness on my mind, it has been interpreted by others in a way I never imagined. The twisting and bad interpretation brings me sadness but more importantly has made me feel as though I’ve been violated leaving me with feelings of betrayal and a loss of trust for my personal thoughts. They were not mean to be widespread or hurtful, I do not use names, I do not speak harshly about others, I do not know why one would think I have. As I have said repeatedly, if you are looking for trouble you are bound to find it, but my friends you won’t find it here anymore, We are Closed.

On a side note, I extend an open invitation to all my readers both new and old, near and far, active particpants and lurkers to freely comment to this post and on the decision to shut this down.

**PLEASE NOTE- This Post has been ammended and we are indeed back in business!!

The Saga Continues

I’m still overwhelmed and still preparing to launch a product with no information. You would think when preparing for something like this, someone would have said, “hey, maybe we should be in the office to give our PR person information, a spokesperson, a tissue to wipe away the tears of frustration” but alas, I am without all of these. I am suddenly flashing back to the conversation that went something like “My goal this year is to give you what you need to make your campaign successful.” Looking back I should have sensed the subtext, “Yeah right, see you sucker.”

Well, thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next happy adventure of “what the f&*^? is happening here.”

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Home Sweet Home

Since the crazy people at my building have decided to raise the rent $500 so I can stay in the same place that has neither been renovated nor maintained, I shall be packing up my life and moving once again. I am an expert, trust me. 14 years, 12 different apartments. I think I should get some sort of moving award because that is only counting apartments, not even counting moving back into my mom’s moving to Norway or any of my other random moves. Anyway, so the apartment is cheaper, nicer and waiting for a housewarming:) Coincidentally, this week marks the first day of the cash only budgetting savings plan. We’ll see how that goes.