these are the days...

The days that make it all worthwhile. Being at home during the week rocks my face off. The sky is my favorite shade of blue. Not that gross winter blah white. It's spring and fall blue. I'm sitting on my balcony (unfortunately in the shade) listening to the sounds of the wind in the trees, the trucks on the road, planes overhead... All the beautiful sounds of nature :). I still feel funky but after being woken up by the sun burning me up I decided to go to the gym. Didn't do a lot cause I have no energy but by tomorrow my legs and shoulders should be joining my triceps in pain. I love it.

After the gym went with J to Moe's and sat outside and enjoyed the warm sunshine. I love weather like this when you can be comfortable outside. When you can drive with the windows down, top open, music loud. It makes me happy.

I also journeyed over to Newnan and got my hair cut and colored. I was looking a bit shaggy and since my hair grows so fast most of the color had been cut off. It's nothing ridiculous. Just like before where you can't really tell it's colored, which is how I like it. It just brightens up my not brown not blond hair.

My room is still a wreck. It seems like it always is lately. I wish Mary Poppins existed and would come magically clean it for me. Ha.. I should work on it now but it's too nice out here. Jamie and I are going to see Spamalot tonight, which should be lots of fun. Woo hoo :).

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

It is quite a frabjous day, but I don't feel like calloohing or callaying. Either I'm getting a cold or pollen has come to visit a bit early this year. Either way my face hurts. I'm eating wonderful homemade oatmeal cookies though which helps anything get better (right?). I've decided that God needs to make the sun rise in the west and set in the east so we'll have sun on our balcony all day, instead of until 10am. Sounds like a plan huh?

I like the way I ask questions on here like someone is actually going to answer them. At least I keep myself entertained.

Last year around this time some of my stuff got stolen out of my car when I was down in Griffin. They caught the guy because evidently he had stolen a lot of stuff. Now he's on trial so I got called to go to court this morning. Good times. Instead of going to court I actually sat around for almost 2 hours. Turns out the actual trial is next week so I have to go back and testify. Cool thing is, I was supposed to do a 2-day on Monday and Tuesday and since I have to be in court I can't do it. They're trying to get restitution but she thinks he'll actually go to prison, in which case he wouldn't be able to pay. It would be nice to get money for all the stuff he stole, but I also think he deserves to serve time. Not sure which I prefer. Good thing it isn't up to me.

After that I called the foot doctor. Every time I go to them the problem seems to get worse, which is pretty irritating considering the time and money invested. I want good results already!! I finally saw a different doctor who was much more informative and seems a little more proactive about sorting it out. It's just really frustrating. I hate spending $25 just so a doctor can be like "you have a problem."

Next I went to get my oil changed. My life is so exciting. I hate having to spend all this money, but I guess it's the beauty of being a responsible adult. So there goes half of a beautiful Monday. I like the way this man committed a crime against me and a lot of other people and we are the ones who, a year down the road, are having to take time out of our lives to make sure he gets punished. At least he's getting punished though. The sun is still out though so I should find a way to enjoy it.

This blog isn't turning out like I thought it would. I guess today was just an errand day so I can't expect much more. I think I'll go have some more cookies :).

I still need to write about China. It's on my to do list (along with cleaning my room and dumping out my fish tank). One of these days...

Oh yeah... I knew I had something good to say. Yesterday I actually ran 3 miles in just over 30 minutes. I thought I was going to die but thankfully I didn't :). I've been pretty consistent about running which makes me feel good, even though some days I can barely go a mile. Hopefully I can make it a habit. I did see a fellow flight attendant on Saturday (married male) who asked was it just him or was I gaining weight... ha... thanks buddy. I will keep in mind that this is the same guy that said "you look much better with long hair. I'm not saying you look ugly now, you just look better with long".... We celebrated my daddy's birthday yesterday too which was really nice. My mom made a fabulous lunch followed by carrot cake and icecream. Mmmm...

That's all for now.

profile music

I'm normally a hater of music on people's pages cause you usually only the beginning of the song over and over, but this song is too fabulous. It makes me happy. It reminds me of Queen which also makes me happy.

I'm going to sleep so I can be at the gym at o'dark early to ride a bike. I figure I need to take advantage of the new gym member enthusiasm I have, and having a gym buddy, and make it work for me.

I like being off work long enough to completely forget about work. And I still have a whole day and another night at home before I have to work again. Yay!

Today is my daddy's birthday and my mother is coming home from China. Good times all round.

Currently listening : Grace Kelly By Mika

there's no place like home

I just got back from a long, long trip. So glad to be home. And I am not just home, I'm home for the next 3 and a half days. Nearly 4 since I don't have to work until 1355 next Wednesday. This is the first time in over a month I've been home for more than 2 days in a row. It makes me le happy.

Things that don't make me le happy:
- We left for Atlanta 6.5 hours late this morning. Gotta love loading everyone up, getting out on the runway, and then having some maintenance issue. I guess the silver lining was that I didn't have to go to Witchita after that.
- Getting up at 4am. Especially not when it's -100 (at least) outside.
- Getting a jury duty notice. Last time I had jury duty I got a speeding ticket on the way there for going 42 in a 40, except it was during school hours.

Things that do make me le happy:
- I'm learning to enjoy running. It actually feels good. I spent about 50 minutes on the treadmill yesterday and ran for at least 30. I'm able to run longer and faster than before and it hasn't even taken much time. Still have a long way to go but for a running hater, I'm pretty pleased.
- I've lost weight. I think between walking miles and miles each day in China, eating lots of veggies and little else, and going to the gym a little it's beginning to happen. My uniform is fitting better as well.
- BEING HOME

I need to write about my China trip before I forget it all. It almost feels surreal to think of my mom and Israel still over there and what they're doing and how different it is from everything here.

I'm so happy to be home.

arg...

just wrote a blog and it got lost. pisses me off.

the moral of the story was, i'm going home tomorrow. leaving here around 930am to go to tokyo. then to atlanta around 430p. should arrive there around 240p (contrary to what my email said tanya and amie. hopefully i can get a ride.)

I'll write more when i get home and don't hate the internet so much.

you're so far away from me...

This is my last full day in Fenghua and it feels weird. It's been nice to be in one place for more than 24 hours. We've spent most of the time walking around, looking in shops, and eating. Everything is so cheap here. The other night the three of us went to eat with one of Israel's coworkers. We ordered 4 dishes and each had rice. The total was 70 RMB which is less than $10. I'm having trouble finding souvenirs because it seems all you can buy here are sweaters, coats, shoes, and food. And most of you back home wouldn't enjoy the food I could bring back for you.

We went to a market yesterday with fresh food and meat in open stalls. They even had live octopi. It's very interesting. I can't even begin to list all the different unusual foods. They even have dogs for sale out back (yes, for eating). Last night we ate at the home of one of Israel's coworkers. We had a really nice time and ate some really unusual foods. I haven't even seen a fork since I got off the airplane on Monday. I'm doing pretty good with the chopsticks but I always mess up when someone is watching me and manage to drop my food, or just not pick it up. When you eat you order several different dishes and everyone gets bowls of rice. The dishes go in the middle and you just use your chopsticks to put the food onto your rice and eat it from there. They do have spoons sometimes, which is nice, but the Chinese people usually keep the spoon in the left hand and and chopsticks in the right.

After we finish up online we're going to go back to this place we ate the other day where the ladies taught us to make dumplings. There is so much to write about but it would take me forever.

I think if I lived here for a while I would develop body issues. I am bigger than every woman i have met here. I can't find shoes big enough for my feet (and my feet really aren't that big!) I can't even imagine what it would be like if i tried to buy jeans here. Last night I was told that my legs are longer and bigger than the Chinese (which I already knew.) No one here has much of a butt either so they must think mine is enormous. Oh well. That's why I love America... haha Oh yeah, and my nose "is very high (long)".

More to come later. We go back to Shanghai tomorrow and then if all goes to plan I'll leave for Tokyo early Monday. I should leave Tokyo around 4:30pm and get to Atlanta around 2pm. Same day. How cool is that?

Peace from China.

it's Wednesday over here

Greetings from China. Last year at this time I never thought I'd be saying that. My mother and I left Atlanta Sunday morning and flew to Tokyo (BUSINESS ELITE - Woo hoo!!). From there we flew to Shanghai where Israel met us at the airport. We spent the night in Shanghai and after having a good wander around the city embarked on the remainder of our journey to his house. We took the train to Ningbo, which is about 4 hours south of Shanghai, and then took a taxi the rest of the way to Fenghua where he lives. I think it took us 48 hours to get there (granted we did take our time in Shanghai). Since Saturday morning I've been in 5 countries.

China is a really interesting place. I've only seen one or two other non black haired people and one black person. People often stare and even when I smile at them they continue to stare. I am once again reminded of how spoiled we are in the US. Endless supplies of hot water. Cushy beds. Central heat and air. Emissions control. People who follow traffic laws.

There's so much more to write but I'll probably wait til I get back and do a big ol' write up on it. My cell phone is roaming down here so I've received a few texts messages, though I can't reply to them. I even answered a phone call but I have no idea how much that cost me. I'll find out. It's nice to have some contact with the other side of the world. I still have my watch on home time so I can kind of keep up with what everyone is doing (assuming I can remember what day of the week it is). I slept for about 11 hours last night so I think I might be getting adjusted to the time over here. I'm sure I will just in time to head home :).

I haven't seen an of the typical Chinese take out boxes. Have eaten a lot of Chinese food but none of it is anything like the kind we have back home. And it isn't bad manners to spit things on the table here.. kinda gross if you ask me. but really, who is?

I'm off to pay bills and see if I can email Verizon about making my phone work.

Here we go a-traveling

I think I'm packed and ready. This is the first time in a long time that I've packed for mor than 4 days and it didn't involve any navy blue polyester. Scary but fun.

My mother and I are leaving for China in the morning. I'm surprisingly nervous. Surprisingly, because this isn't the most daring adventure I've ever embarked on. I'll even have my mom with me! I guess my main concerns revolve around getting stuck either in Shanghai or in Tokyo and not having enough money to get back to work in time. I believe this is the first time I've gone on a vacation without a credit card in years and years.

Other than that, I have my warm clothes packed. According to Peter's wise council, I've packed enough beads, hatchets, and mirrors to hopefully buy something equivalent to Manhattan. If Peter Stuyvesant can do it, why can't I?

I would love to write more but this week has been ridiculous and I'm exhausted. Today was the latest I slept all week and it was 6am eastern time (though it was 5am in Monterrey where I was).

For those who are concerned, we will be leaving tomorrow morning at 10am flying from Atlanta to Tokyo. We should arrive there around 2:25pm on MONDAY afternoon. Then we'll get a flight from Tokyo to Shanghai where Israel will meet us and we'll stay for the night. Then we'll spend the week around Ningbo where he lives. I'll probably fly back to Tokyo Monday morning and leave around 4pm for Atlanta. Crazily enough, I'll get back on Monday around 2.... Go figure. I'm supposed to work on the 14th but am trying to swap just to give myself some more time to miss flights and such.

That's all for now. I plan to be checking email and myspace and such. I'll try to update on how the trip is going but I'll have to see how that goes.

Currently reading : The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity By Lee Strobel

oh yeah

I'm proud of myself. The other day I ran 2.5 miles in 30 minutes which is not fast but my personal best. I haven't been able to run much because of my schedule but I ran for 25 min solid and went faster than I have before. And this is only my third time in a week. Hopefully I'll do enough walking in China to make up for not going to the gym. Hate to take a break so soon after I've just started back. As long as I keep trying, right?