A photo meme of my life, inspired by Bluesleepy. Because I want to be cool like Karyl!
The rule was do an image search on Google using the answers to each of the following questions, and then post one of the search results after your answer. Here's mine:
1. My first car: 1994 Toyota Tercel
(Though mine was missing its passenger's side view mirror and was a pretty sea-green!)
2. Where I grew up: Fort Walton Beach, Florida
God, I miss this place.
3. Where I live now: Atlanta, Georgia
4. My first name: Chelle
That would be sooo tasty right about now.
5. My grandma’s first name: June
June Lockhart=so pretty.
6. My favorite food: Sashimi
Yum!
7. My favorite drink: Ice water with lemon
Boring, I know.
8. My favorite song: "Mandolin Rain," by Bruce Hornsby and the Range
I want this song played at my funeral someday. Yes, I am morbidly weird.
9. My favorite smell: the salty smell of the ocean
Ahhh...
10. My favorite pair of shoes: flip-flops
Wish I was wearing them right now.
11. My first pet: Katie, the cat
Meow!
12. My favorite color: Blue, unless I am wearing it, then Black
This pic is...strange.
13. My least favorite smell: Rotten anything
Ha! Completely unrelated...or is it?
14. My biggest fear: Helplessness
I think this is how Dave pictures our marriage in his mind!
15. My favorite hobby: Reading!
Yay!
Photo Meme
Ahhh, sleep...
Dave is sick. He has the same thing I had two weeks ago. So that sleep I'm supposed to be catching up on is. not. happening. I don't want to be a bad wife and insist we sleep separately while he is in agony, but I think I'm going to have to...at least for tonight. I am beginning to feel like a functional zombie and pretty soon I am going to want to kill someone if I don't get a good night sleep.
In other news, my new assistant is catching on quickly and I am ahead of schedule in terms of making the initial post-trade show contact with all of the people we met at the convention in Las Vegas. I am SO GLAD I was able to talk my boss into hiring a full-timer. It is exactly what this marketing department (can you call one person a department?) needed!
The only downfall is that the only managerial experience I have is limited to a shift manager at a shoe store and a high school English teacher. So I will be learning as I go. The plan is to teach her how to do everything I can do. I don't believe in compartmentalizing duties within a department. I am all for sharing the love, baby. I want her to know that I am perfectly willing and able to do the mundane stuff and that I'm not shoveling all that shit-work her way every time there is shit-work to do. Plus, if i train her to do everything, I won't feel so guilty when Dave and I finally figure out where we want to put down roots and he transfers.
Tonight I am supposed to have dinner with a friend I haven't seen in a while, so that should be fun, if I can will myself to be excited by these plans. I just have not been in the mood to socialize lately. I get the itch to make plans with friends and then when it comes time to implement said plans I just feel...blah. Maybe I need a pick me up along the lines of Xanax or Ativan. Or maybe I just need some sleep!
Homeless in Las Vegas
So my trip to Vegas was good. Not much to write about, except, MY HOTEL CAUGHT ON FIRE! And I was homeless in Las Vegas. Well, for a few hours, anyway.
This is what happened: I was at the trade show for it's final day when I received a phone call from my boss letting me know that the Monte Carlo, the hotel at which I was residing, had caught fire and was being evacuated and had I heard from Dave? This was at about 10:30am. I tried calling Dave, who was still at the hotel. No answer. I tried again for several minutes with the same result. Eventually he called from a pay phone to let me know he was okay. He had been out for a quick run before he was to head over to the convention center to help us tear down the booth. He was told about the fire on his way back from his run. Since they were already in the process of evacuating the hotel, Dave was forced to stay in his stinky running clothes and head over to the convention center without the tools we needed to tear down and with only $20 for the cab fare.
We finished up the show and got the booth all packed up and finally headed toward the Monte Carlo at about 4:30pm. They weren't letting anybody in the hotel, telling us to head to the MGM for more info. We arrived at the MGM Garden Arena, only to be given a hotline number to call for updates. They put us on shuttle buses and distributed us around to the various MGM Mirage owned properties. Dave and I ended up at Mandalay Bay, which was actually a pretty nice upgrade from the Monte Carlo. But we still didn't have any of our stuff.
I kept calling the hotline and they finally let us back into the Monte Carlo to retrieve our stuff around 9:30pm. We were escorted to our room and had to fill out a form indicating whether or not anything had been damaged. Luckily, our room was on the 15th floor, far away from where the fire started. Our floor smelled like smoke, but that was it.
All in all, we were pretty lucky. My coworker was on the 17th floor, where there was a bit of water and smoke damage, but his stuff was fine. Floors 26 and up were still closed when we were there retrieving our belongings.
I will say that the Monte Carlo did a great job organizing our distribution to other hotels and also the retrieval of our stuff. The whole thing could have been a lot more chaotic and it really wasn't more than an inconvenience.
It is good to be home. Though I would have paid good money to have been able to keep that bed in Mandalay Bay...it was SO COMFY!! Totally made the whole moving-to-another-hotel-because-mine-caught-fire worth it in my book!
Viva Las Vegas
D and I are in Vegas. We arrived Sunday after 6 hours in a very uncomfortably full airplane. It SHOULD have only taken 4 hours, but they made us board a broken plane, where we sat for two hours while they fixed the navigational system. I had to use the teeny tiny bathroom on a plane TWICE before we even left the gate, that's how long the fixing took. Then our plane needed to be de-iced, so that added additional wait time before we were finally airborn. Our 9:53 arrival time became 11:45, so we grabbed a quick bite before heading straight to the convention center to start setting up work's trade show booth.
Set-up went extremely smoothly, thanks to Dave. He is very good at putting things together and I'm not sure my coworkers and I would have been able to put the booth together so quickly if he hadn't been there to correct our mistakes.
The first day of the show was busy! We got lots of good leads and I found 40 bucks on the floor of the convention center. I decided it was to become my lucky money and needed to be gambled with, though it's more accurate to say it was gambled away. I think all I have left of it after an hour at a $5 Blackjack table is 3 fifty cent pieces. I hit 21 three times and the dealer "rewards" you with a dollar-fifty.
Since arriving, we've eaten WAY too much food, spent more money than we should have on clothes, gambled away someone else's money, and saw "Zumanity" which is a Cirque du Soleil show that is pretty risque. It was beautifully done and has probably been my favorite part of this trip. I also experience a moronic moment when I jumped into a cab to head from my hotel to the convention center only to remember that I had no cash on me. I had to get the cabbie, who spoke very little English, to drive me to an ATM. The ATM was "out of order" so I had to run across the street to a Walgreens to get some cash back, all while the meter was running. I think a ten dollar cab ride ended up costing twice that. But hey, it could have been worse!
Tonight I finally convinced Dave to stay in and enjoy a quiet night in the hotel room. I have been able to catch up with my awesome flickr group, answer some emails, and take a nap! I am finally beginning to feel human again. Hopefully, the break will be good for my poor little abused feet. Only one more day of working the tradeshow booth. Tomorrow we pack it up and can have some fun before getting on the airplane Saturday afternoon. I can't wait to get back home and see how my furry kids are doing. The pet sitter I hired is excellent, but I still worry about my babies when I am not there to take care of them!
I need to remember to take my camera with me tomorrow and actually use it! I am sad to say I have not taken a single picture the whole time I've been here. I wish we had been allowed to photograph parts of Zumanity, but at least I have a show program.
So to wrap it up, I am going to take a note from my beautiful new friend, Catie, and list the 5 things I have most enjoyed about Vegas:
1) Having Dave here with me. It is much more fun with him around, even if we have to share a hotel bathroom.
2) The sushi buffet Todai in the Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood. All-You-Can-Eat-Sushi=Happy Chelle.
3) my new jeans from The Limited. Even though I had to buy a larger size than I usualy wear, they fit BEAUTIFULLY and I think I am in love with them.
4) The sanctuary that is my hotel room. When you are constantly surrounded by people, and are not a people person, there is nothing better than returning to the serenity that is your space.
5) Zumanity. The sensual side of Cirque du Soleil.
Again?!
It is snowing. Again. One of the cats sat at the window, fascinated by all of the small white dots floating to the ground outside. So I decided to properly introduce Gavin to the wonders of snow. Here's his reaction:
I felt sorry for him, because Dave was barring him from the safety of the garage. Dave is just mean like that. So I picked him up to carry him back inside, as Dave took photos. I think we can safely say that Gavin does not appreciate snow.
Poor guy. At least I have someone in the house that feels the same way about snow as I do.
The White Stuff
I drove home last night in the snow. I live in Atlanta. Those two things should not go together, but last night they did.
I am not a fan of snow, so I suppose it is a good thing that I live in the south. Here are the reasons I do not like snow:
1) Snow makes people stupid. They forget how to drive cars. They forget how to work. Around here, they make a HUGE deal out of it.
2) Snow is wet. I do not like to be wet. My feet especially do not like to be wet.
3) Snow is cold. It requires you to wear a lot of clothes. And a big coat. Which makes it hard to move. I do not like to wear coats. I don't really like wearing clothes, come to think of it.
4) Snow is slippery. Who knew?!
5) Snow is tempting. The snow tempted Dave to throw snowballs at me. Please refer to reasons #2 and 3 for why this is a problem.
Reasons I like snow:
I documented this spectacle for posterity. Here's the footage of my neighborhood being besieged by snow:
A busy week at work
This has been the first full week back to work since the Christmas and New Years breaks and it has certainly been a busy one. I have caught up on most of my projects, though there are still a few here and there that I need to complete. That's what comes with being the only marketing person for three separate companies.
But not anymore.
As of today, we have made an offer to a young woman who is going to be my assistant. Yay! I plan on teaching her every aspect of my job so that she can help me with anything and everything that comes up around here. In addition to helping me, she will also provide administrative support for our sales force (something that has also fallen to me in the past). If everything goes according to plan, I will become preggers soon, so she will be here to assume my role once I give birth, or if that doesn't work out, D should be transferring to another facility in the next two years because we are DESPERATELY wanting to get out of Atlanta.
When I first got to work on Monday, I also found out that the only two people that are a nightmare to work with have both been let go...one of them happens to be the boss' son. This is such unexpected news that I actually celebrated (inside my head, of course) until the guilt set in. No one should be jobless, no matter how rotten their attitude. So I hope they both land on their feet soon. Though I am glad that they will no longer be around her to harangue me. I attribute these sudden fortunate events to Janet Power. That Janet Power is some magical stuff, let me tell you.
The craziness that is my life
My little brother, Chris, came for a visit this past weekend and is leaving today. I really enjoy spending time with him and wish he didn't live 37 hours away. While Chris was here, my older brother, Mike, drove down and we all went to dinner with our dad and stepmother. The dinner went really well, all things considered. My father hasn't really been interested in our lives until only just recently. A part of me is glad that he is now trying to establish a relationship with his children, but another part of me would just like to tell him to Eff Off. I mean, why the sudden interest? Were we really that awful as children? He's also really into showering us with expensive gifts and emptying his wallet of cash and giving it to us every time we see him. The situation confuses me, but I try not to give it too much thought.
The best part of dinner was Chris' rendition of his drive from FL in a rental car. Dad has asked him how he got to Atlanta, since he had gone with mom to Florida when she left after Christmas. Chris told him he rented a car and drove up, then preceded to tell a story about how the steering wheel vibrated and pulled to the left. The hand motion he used looked like he was jacking off. Now, my father has a pretty perverted sense of humor, which is probably where the three of us get it from, but he is ubber conservative around my stepmother. The two of them together remind me of the Mr. and Mrs. Focker in "Meet the Parents." So to watch Dad try to keep all somber while Chris was making that hand motion was almost too much. I remember D and I looking at each other with identical facial expression that could only be interpreted as "That.Is.Awesomely.Funny.Don't.Laugh."
In other news, D worked a full ten hour day yesterday and before leaving, was told by the new temp boss that he was scheduled to work overtime in order to "escort" contractors around the airport from 11pm until whenever. This is in addition to having to work a ten hour shift today. When D told me this, my question was "When are you supposed to sleep?" The answer: tonight. This evening I will have the pleasure of being around a guy who has not slept in 36 hours and has worked approximately 27 of those 36. I wouldn't be able to do it, that's for sure. Hopefully, I can make D a nice dinner, then persuade him to go straight to bed.
December was...quiet
I only blogged once during the whole month of December. I can't blame it on being too busy or that I didn't have anything to write about. I am just lazy. Therefore, it is official that I am a horrible blogger.
Since I am new to this whole blogging thing, I wonder: do most bloggers blog when they feel like it? Do they schedule their blogging? Do they only blog about something that is blog-worthy?
I'm not really sure what would work best for me. I think I'd rather read what other, cooler people come up with than try and blog myself. Eventually, I'd like this to turn into a journal documenting the lives of my not-yet-born-nor-conceived children. There is only so much you can write about when it comes to owning five pets. Or a Scottish-Gaming husband. Not that I own him. He's just on loan from the 16th century where he would love to be if it weren't for the lack of electricity, running water, or indoor toilets.
I will now attempt to recap my December. I had a surprisingly pleasant dinner with my dad and stepmother, both of whom will never be in contention for "Best Parenting Award". My birthday was wonderful, thanks to my awesome husband. We went to a Falcons game...though I'm not sure the Falcons players were actually present. Centennial Olympic Park was decorated for Christmas, so after the game, D and I played around with my camera a little and I was able to capture some great shots. I am attempting to brush up on my photography skills now that I have a digital camera with a full manual mode and so far it's been a lot of fun. I got a lot of great birthday gifts: a beautiful silver necklace from my in-laws, an awesome sake set from my SIL, a gorgeous green leather purse from D, comfy pj's from my aunt and uncle and their family, flowers and brownies with cream cheese frosting from D, pretty earrings from my friend Emilie, accessories for my Dept. 56 Halloween collection from my mom and other items that were wonderful. I am spoiled rotten, I know.
Christmas was a lot of fun. Mom and my brother were here. We played Guitar Hero and Scategories and drank a lot of tequila. Mom and I went to Stone mountain to check out the Christmas lights. I can't really remember much else and I will totally blame that on all of the tequila!
New Year's Eve, we went to bed before the ball dropped. Because we are THAT EXCITING. And that's a wrap for December. I will have to make it one of my New Year's resolutions to try harder to blog in '08. Though I am making no promises and if I fail this resolution, I plan to place all of the blame on tequila.
