sweeet

I would first like to thank God for quickly answering my prayers about my trips for next month. Last month I joined a community group at the church I’ve been attending. It meets every Monday night. I went at the beginning of February, but because of my schedule I haven’t been able to go again. I was feeling really bad this morning because I hate that I’m missing out on this (they’re about to start working on a book) and I also feel like I’m letting down the other members of my group (even though I really have no control over it. The schedules have been terrible lately and because we’re short on flight attendants they have been denying all my swaps.)

This morning I wrote an email to my group members and explained this and asked them to pray that I would be able to swap. After that I offered my trip to someone on the tradeboard, even though it wasn’t the dates she was asking for, and posted the rest of mine up there. When I got home just now and checked the flight attendant had accepted my trip and someone had offered me a great trade for another trip that also gives me 5 more hours of time. All in all it’s amazing. I’m really thankful and happy right now.

I was going to write a whole other blog when I got online, but this has pleased me too much. Today was a great day. Life is good.

PS. There seemed to be some confusion about the catering job. The lady said I did have the job. I was just saying it was tentative cause I don’t really want to be too excited about it until I’m actually working (things have a way of falling through). So that’s very good.

Tentative success

I feel good right now. It’s the beginning of a new week. I worked a dayline yesterday and made a nice chunk of extra cash that can go toward my debt. I also had an interview on Friday at the Sun Dried Tomato. I didn’t even want to go there in the first place because I don’t want to wait tables and it doesn’t seem very busy anyway, but J convinced me to. The lady called me back and I considered not going. Just thinking about having to tell another person I’m only availabe to work two days a week was filling me with dread. I’ve been rejected for that a lot lately (understandably). I was really frustrated because I’ve finally, two and a half years later, been able to get Sundays off (sometimes), and I didn’t want to have to give them up. I went anyway and the lady told me no, she doesn’t hire people for just two days a week. BUT, they have a catering company out of their restaurant that only works Friday and Saturday. Seems perfect so far. It’s more money than I would’ve been making at the spa (more work too, but that’s ok). They’re also going to be catering all the concerts at the little amphitheater here in PTC this summer, so that could be fun. She’s supposed to call me this week and give me some dates they already have down. It’s also nice because it isn’t every Friday and Saturday, which will still allow me to travel and have a life (some).

Yesterday I did two fairly easy round trips. The weather turned nasty about halfway through the day which slowed things down some, but we survived. On the way back from Norfolk we had about 15 men and a lady from Mali - which now I see is a really large country in Africa. They all spoke French and had that dark black skin and bright white smiles African look that I love. Some spoke English, but it was mostly a lot of hand motions and smiles trying to serve them. They had a translator who told me how to ask if they wanted a drink and if they wanted ice in their drinks. They also taught me how to say "you’re welcome", or "it is nothing" according to them, in French. I left my planner on one of the planes yesterday which is really terrible, but I’m praying someone will find it and return it to me.

This weekend has been really pleasant. After seeing Matt and the Sirotas on Wednesday, I had dinner with some of the Charles on Thursday. After that I went over to Mr. Fuji with J and watched Amie and Jay and some friends eat to celebrate her birthday. Friday I went shopping with J and helped him find great deals on new bed stuff, then went thrift-storing with Mama and Michal. I had to cut that short for my interview at the Tomato. Then I met Kathryn, Charity, Tanya, and J at Thai Spice for a scrumptious dinner and some good times catching up. Kathryn is visibly pregnant now and looks wonderful. I’m very fortunate to have so many fun and fabulous people in my life :-D.

I went to Canadia and what did I see

I saw some Canadians. I didn’t really have a witty answer. I just wanted a way to use Canadia in my subject. That’s all.

I’ve decided that sometimes being an adult sucks. I had to buy new glasses the other day. Of course if I had been a responsible adult and not lost my last pair then I wouldn’t have to buy new ones. Bye bye $194. And since I was irresponsible, and since I haven’t found a second job yet, I decided to take advantage of the premium pay their offering this weekend and picked up a dayline. I pray that I don’t end up hating myself for it. I stil have 3 days off. I’ll still have time to rest AND have fun. Plus I’ll be making a lot of money. Sounds like a plan to me.

Today I spent a lot of time waiting in airports. I made the journey from Tri-Cities, Tennesse (still not completely sure where that is. I was shocked to hear it was near VA), then sat in ATL for 2.5 hours, flew to Toronto, sat there for almost 2 more hours - which meant we had to clear Canadian customs, then come back through US customs - then fly back to ATL. It only took about 11 hours. Throw in a self professed, high maintenance passenger with peanut allergies and you have yourself a jolly good day.

After I came home I drove for longer than I flew to Tri-Cities, and only made it to Stone Mountain. My life-risking, rapelling, rock-blowing-up friend Matt is working on Stonewall Jackson’s beard and someone else’s lapel. Evidently they’re in a state of disrepair so Stone Mountain called in the rock doctors to fix them. His family got to watch him rapel down the face of Stone Mountain today. Wish I could’ve. For someone who isn’t from, or hasn’t lived in Georgia, this may not seem like a big deal, but for the rest of you - that’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I did get to see the Sirota parents as well as Erin and Chris and their small, blond herd :-D.
And now I’m in my very own bed, hoping I’m not getting a cold, ready to go to sleep. Life is good.

blogging to remember

I realized that one of the things I like about blogging is that it helps me remember the tiny, but interesting, or significant things that happen on a daily basis in my life. I’ve had some busy days lately, some interesting passengers, good times with friends and family, but for whatever reason - too tired, no internet (yes, I’ve heard of paper), too tired, too busy - I haven’t been blogging about it. Now, looking back over the past week, I’ve either forgotten a lot of things, or they just don’t seem as noteworthy anymore. Maybe they weren’t to begin with? Maybe some, but not all.

I’m in a La Quinta somewhere in Tennessee. Unlike almost every other trip I do, this one has flown by. I want to figure out what has made it happen that way so I can make it happen again.

I’m going to try to sleep now, but I have a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully I can do some on my four days off this weekend. Woo hoo.

I could work like this every day

Work today has literally been a day at the beach. We flew into Ft. Walton Beach last night and for the first time ever I am enjoying the long overnight down here. We don’t leave until early tomorrow morning and my toughest decision today is trying to decide if I want to go to the pool or the beach. It’s a hard life. There are a few drawbacks - it’s spring break so it’s really crowded down here and it’s very windy today so sometimes it feels like you’re being sandblasted on the beach. I’d still rather be here than on a plane. The rest of the trip won’t be nearly this fun. We do four flights tomorrow and five on Thursday.

I went to Puerto Vallarta last week. It was a really last minute trip, but I had an awesome time. I’m going to blog about that separately since there’s a lot to tell.

I just got back from walking about 30 minutes down the road and then back up the beach. The wind was kind of rough at times, but I mostly love it. People were flying kites which always makes me happy for some reason. There were blue jellyfish washed up on the beach. I couldn’t tell what it was at first. It just looked like a blue plastic bag blown up. I also didn’t know jellyfish came in blue. I’ve only ever seen clear ones. It was fun to walk on the beach with the salty wind blowing in my face and watch the people.

headed for the border

I feel like a big jerk. I got the opportunity to go to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow and I’m taking it. But in doing so I’m ditching a lot of people. Lots of people are telling me I should go, it’s a great opportunity, free place to stay, free ride, friends down there, won’t come along just any day. I still feel bad though. I wish I could be more excited. Instead I feel nervous. I don’t know if it’s age or what but I’m finding it much harder to be adventurous these days. It’s not like I need to worry about getting back in time for work. I don’t work until Monday and am coming back Saturday. I guess part of it is disappointing people. I also feel like since my work days are so chaotic and subject to change, maybe I hang on to the stability of my off days a bit more. Who knows? I was really looking forward to being home for 4 days in a row, but when Matt called from the coast of Mexico, how can I say no to that? Gotta do it while I can, right? I’m even taking a bag pack. That right there is enough to make me a little bit excited. No suitcases. No uniforms. I might not even take my makeup... Okay, maybe mascara. I should go to sleep so I can get up in the morning.

I like cities with rivers

Tonight was the first time (that I can remember) that I complained and had the hotel give me a different room. There were hairs in my beds. Both of them so I couldn't just sleep in the other one. And when I pulled back the sheets, they were all pressed into the mattress pad like they would be if someone had slept on them. Not the way they would be if the sheets had only been on the bed for a few hours. Gross. Gross. Gross. And for those who knows me, you know I'm not really fussy about germs or anything. But this was too much.

I'm in Rochester. It's thrilling. I can see a river outside my window. There's about a foot of snow on the ground and it's really pretty. Tomorrow is day 4. It's going to be a long day. We work from 7am until 6:30pm and do 5 legs. At least I'll be off until Monday after that. (Kathryn, I'll be in town.)

Today when we were leaving Newburgh there was another ASA flight that was leaving a few minutes later. A lady with a little boy accidently got on our flight instead of the other and was sitting in someone's seat. When we figured out why there were two people in one seat and I told her she was on the wrong plane she said "son of a bitch", and as only a 2 year old little boy can do he repeated her exactly. It was really sad cause she's teaching her child to swear, but it was hilarious how he copied her. I was laughing inside. Maybe I'm a jerk. It still makes me smile to think about it.

I got a call from the lady at the spa tonight and I didn't get the job. She said it's cause I'm only available certain days a week. Doesn't really surprise me. I have a feeling I'm going to come across that a lot when I'm looking for another job. I'm disappointed, but what are you going to do? At least she told me why I didn't get it so I don't have to feel personally rejected (even if I was and she lied to make me think I wasn't :-P). I guess I have four days coming up to find another job.

My sleep schedule has gradually shifted to the back of the clock. I haven't been able to go to sleep before 2 or 3 am lately. It's ridiculous. And because of that I don't get up before 11 or so. Tomorrow I have to get up early though so I need to get started on sleep.

peanuts, crackers, or cookies?

I hate when I write a bunch of stuff and then hit the wrong button and it all disappears. So frustrating.

After 3 short but lovely days off I'm back at work again. The breaks in between trips are never long enough. I'm in Virginia tonight. I'm lying in a king size bed on pillows the size of chicklets. You'd think they could splurge and get some big kid pillows.

Tonight, for the first time in my career as a flight attendant, I had a passenger with enough nerve to put his hand on me. Not once, but twice. When he first got on the plane he said to me that if I was nice I'd give him some crackers cause he was starving. I told him since, not if, I was nice I would. He was probably in his sixties, white haired and wedding ringed. A few minutes later I was standing at the row behind him talking to the passengers and I felt a hand grab my calf. I was shocked, but thought maybe he was grabbing for something else. I turned around and just said "excuse me?" in the tone of voice you use when someone has just inappropriately grabbed your leg. He was sitting near the front and during my announcements was mouthing things at me. Again, people try to mess me up when I'm talking a lot so I just tried to ignore him and assume he was innocent. Then later when I was doing the beverage service I was stopped at the row behind him. I had thought about the first incident and what I should have said to him (you always run those things over and over through your head), but didn't know cause it could've been an accident or he might deny it. I was tense cause he kept saying things to me, so when I felt him grab my calf again it made me so mad. I turned around and put my finger in his face and said not to do that again. (At the same time I had another guy taking peanuts out of my drawer - my biggest pet peeve.) I was sooo mad. Then when I got to his row he had the nerve to ask if I was mad at him. I said yes. I still can't believe it. I've heard of flight attendants being touched much more inappropriately and always figured I gave off enough of a "back off" vibe, but maybe he was too dense to be catching any vibes. I'm glad today is over.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to mention that I have an acquaintance who does not see the problem with playing an instrumental version of Timbaland's "Apologize" while her bridesmaids are walking down the aisle. Am I the only person who things this is wrong on many levels?

I interviewed to be a receptionist at a spa in PTC. I'm supposed to get called tomorrow or Tuesday to find out whether I start work on Thurs. Please pray that I do. I've been saying I was going to get a second job for a long time and finally applied for a couple. I really want this one and hope I get it.

working in a winter wonderland

Tonight, as we rode from the airport to the hotel, I tried to pretend I was in a sleigh. You know - sort of "dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh." The roads were all white. The snow was falling heavily. I could almost hear the sleigh bells. Still wasn't enough to convince me to give up the heated, enclosed van. I think anyone around me can tell that I'm from a place where snow does not often fall. The roads were either not plowed or not thoroughly plowed and sometimes we had to drive through a big pile of snow. I had to keep from acting all amazed and enthralled with it (even though I was). I'd hate to live in the stuff, but riding around in it one or two nights a week can be interesting. A semi got stuck in the snow and was having to be towed out. That never happens in Georgia.

I was reminded again today that it's much easier to be an amazingly nice flight attendant when you only do two flights a day. Lots of my passengers said nice things about me. I didn't want to point out to them that I had only been awake for about 4 hours when we did our first flight at 3 something. When we left Toronto there was another flight to Atlanta next to us that had gotten canceled (due to a dent in the wing - sissies.) Because of this the gate was in a tizzy and was having a hard time getting anything done. After they got all our passengers on there were 5 open seats and they were trying to shift people from the canceled flight. We waited and waited and waited. My captain explained what was going on but there really wasn't anything we could do about it. A man stopped me and asked if we realized that by helping these people we were causing others to miss their connections in ATL. I said that I did. We were sorry. We wanted to leave but they wouldn't let us. All true. What can I do? Then he says "Well I know this isn't entirely your fault......." Whatever he said after that I just missed. I'm wondering how this is even partially my fault? Then I slapped him and that's how I lost my job as a flight attendant...

After two of our notoriously cold overnights (Syracuse and Toronto) ended up being warm I was a little confused about the time of the year. Had spring come already? Then we flew to Fort Wayne where it's snowing like the north pole. I think it's pretty, but it better not interfere with me going home tomorrow. That's all I have to say about that.

Pretend like it’s the weekend now, and we could pretend it all the time

I'm listening to davefm in Toronto and delaying the inevitable preparation for departure. I'm back at work after barely 48 hours off this weekend. I did cram quite a bit into those hours. Got to see my family, ran errands with my mama, had a date with Amie and Jay and Jamie, applied for jobs at two places, cooked supper for Jamie and Jonathan, and went to church. It was a good few hours off.

Work has been fairly quiet. The passengers have been behaving themselves. I am noticing more and more who says please and thank you. It's ridiculous how many grown people don't. Then there are the friendly and amusing passengers. Last night my front seat guy were from Ireland, Cyprus, and Scotland. They were funny and talked to me every chance they got. Makes me want to travel more. Oh wait, everything makes me want to travel more. Israel is in western China right now and wrote a really cool blog from a monastery on the back mountain somewhere. The other day I was made aware of something I never would've thought of before. A lady got on the plane in freezing weather wearing flip flops. I learned that it isn't a good idea to get a tattoo on your foot in the winter.

My addictions

They're getting worse. First it was flica. Now it's... banana chips. Yes, you read that right. The worst thing possible. And I just. Can't. Stop.

You should all be pleased that I had a terrible internet connection yesterday. I was going to write this huge rant about how stupid people are. I still think people are stupid, but am a little less steamed up about it. The headache I've had for almost 2 days now has kind of put a damper on any strong feelings I could have.

In keeping with the last two month's trend, our flight this morning was canceled. There's nothing quite like being woken up at 4:20am by a calling telling you to go back to bed. I'm not sure why it was canceled, but it meant we only did 2 flights today instead of 4. Not bad.

I'll tell you a few of the most outstandingly annoying things that happened yesterday. One lady told me that she wanted some cranapple - no ice and just a little (held up fingers to show about an inch). I poured her about that much and handed it to her. She looks at it, says it's too much, and hands it back. Are you kidding me??? I'm thinking, can you not just drink what you want of it and leave the rest?! So I pour about a quarter of an inch off and hand it back. Seriously... A few rows later I get to a couple. The man tells me what he wants, but the lady is sleeping. I ask if he knows if she wants anything. Tomato juice. And the lady, without moving her head (she's facing away from me sleeping) or opening her eyes says "tomato juice. No ice. No cup. Just the can." Call me crazy, but I think that's extremely rude. I can't stand when people can't bother to look at me while I'm serving them. It's not a whole lot to ask. I was trying to be understanding and thought that maybe she was sick or something. Then toward the end of the flight she wakes up and starts laughing and talking loudly. Not sick. Just rude. I'm also sick of people who don't ask if they can have something or say please. I give them a cookie and they say "one more". Excuse me? No please. No thankyou. And these are grown adults. There are so many more things that people do to drive me crazy. People are just thoughtless. They think they're the only ones on the plane and I have nothing better to do than wait on them hand and foot. And I'm the one who's concerned about getting people bent out of shape...

Today's people were much nicer and more polite. It would've been a great day minus the headache. Now I'm in the Hampton Inn in New Burn, NC. I've never been here and never heard of this place.

I'm finished complaining now.

The good word from A-town

Asheville, of course.

Lying in this bed in the front room of my grandparents house takes me way back. I remember when I came to camp up here in NC and I was so miserable and homesick I cried the whole time. I missed my parents so much. Not that I don't still miss them when I'm gone, but I can at least be away from home for more than two weeks without crying the whole time. In retrospect I know that a lot of what I thought was homesickness was just one of the side affects of intense sleep deprivation from being in the "big girl dorm" where no one ever slept - but how was I supposed to know that then?

This week was a long week. I'm so happy to have four days off this weekend. I ended up getting a lot of extra flying in, which is great financially, but it wears you out. Yesterday we flew to Mexico and back. It was just over 7 hours of actual flight time. I enjoy going down there for the most part though. The people are usually nice and not demanding. Those flights also seem to be more interesting for one reason or another. On the way down we had to deport two men. I think it was a paperwork thing in customs and they weren't dangerous or anything. One of them got airsick twice, becoming the first grown man to puke on my flight. I don't think people really believe me when I tell them I feel their pain. We also had a 94 year old deaf lady who didn't speak English. I don't know who lets people like that fly alone. It would scare me so bad to send my mother/grandmother/aunt out on her own like that. She couldn't read or write, which we come across a lot on there, so we filled out her forms, for her. Then we found out she couldn't even write her name so we tried to put her fingerprint on there by writing on her finger and stamping it. Evidently this is a very common way of signing your name if you can't write. I scribbled on my fingers trying to find a pen that would work, but it was a lousy print. Hopefully she didn't have any problems getting through customs. It always surprises me when I'm handing out forms and have someone tell me they can't write. I don't know if it's just Mexico or that generation (most of them are older). I'm sure if we had to fill out forms on US flights I'd find out that a lot more people can't read. One man was really embarrassed about it and was explaining that he had moved back and forth between the US and Mexico a lot as a child and never got a chance. I felt bad for him and fortunate that it's such a given here that we read and write.

After a delicious salmon dinner this evening, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy, we had finally got the wireless connection set up and had a crash course on computers here at the grandparents house. It's fun to open people up to what computers have to offer. I'm proud of my grandparents cause they're willing to learn and try all these crazy new technological things.

Another day, another dollar fifty.

I'm once again being paid $1.50 to enjoy the airport. And this time without the fabulous conversation of my favorite older sister Christine :-D. She's instructing me on how to make hummus since I love it and it's not the cheapest thing to buy. I have to find a food processor first though.

My life seems uneventful these days. I started my trip on Monday and in keeping with the trend that's been going for the last month and a half I had something canceled. Unfortunately it was my 18 hour Key West overnight - the entire reason I got this trip. So they sent us home and added a Cozumel round trip the next morning. At least I made money off that one. Flying down to Cozumel made me want to take a week off, take my backpack, and just go wander around down there on the beach. Last night we were in Baton Rouge for a short night and had dinner with my friend Cooper. We had red beans and rice and boudin balls. I'd never had boudin balls before and they were so good. It seems like the cajun version of hushpuppies, but with rice, bits of meat, and more seasoning. Tonight (after a combined 5.5 hours of airport appr. time) we end up in the oh-so-exotic Maconga. And for those of you with a brain, that's Macon, GA.

I had a passenger this morning ask me about my job. How long I had been here, how much I made, etc... I told him this wasn't a job you do for the money. He said he only worked for the money. So he started telling me about his job. He makes $12/hr and is gone 6-8 weeks at a time so his wife can stay at home and he can buy a Harley... I wasn't impressed. I think if I was doing a job "for the money" I would expect a little more than that. Then on the flip side, another lady told me she doesn't believe in car payments. After a few questions I found out that what she does believe in is being with a man who makes enough money to pay cash for cars. It's funny how people have such different ideas and perspectives on money.

A man got on the plane the other day with Samantha tattooed on his neck - with a line through it. I couldn't help but laugh and ask him about it. He said he'd made it really obvious that he was with her when he put her name on his neck so now he wanted to make it really obvious that he wasn't with her anymore. It amused me.

I'm going to eat my wasabi peas and wait some more.

PS. The $12/hr guy also says that you can go to a bar and get sloshed and get on your motorcycle and be fine in an hour because of the air in your face. It gets the air in your system which sobers you up evidently... Someone needs to tell the cops that so they can stop worrying about drunk cyclist. Jamie pointed out that with that logic you could get drunk, then drive with your head out the window and be fine in an hour. I didn't want to burst that guy's bubble by pointing out that even if this were true, you have to survive that first hour of driving before you sober up.

Coming up with a subject is the hardest part of writing for me.

I'm sitting here at Amie's house watching her talk about cleaning - I mean watching Amie clean. I think I live out of my car these days. It's okay though.

I finished my trip right on schedule last night. It was a decent trip. My captain was kind of "special". I'll leave it at that. I can give you details later but this is public so I'll be nice. After I went to Newport News it was on to San Antonio. I was disappointed cause no one wanted to go out that night but the other flight attendant and I went out the next morning. We walked down to the riverwalk, which wasn't anything like I expected it to be. The part that we walked along is more like a canal than a river. The river is lined with restaurants and shops and feels very European. The weather was windy and warm and the sun was out. It was really a beautiful day to be walking around. A lot of the shops were opening as we walked through and people would be shouting across the river to each other (in a friendly way). This is another one of those cities where it's easy to feel like you're in a different country. We came across a place where there was kind of an amphitheater and it was set up for a wedding. It was Thursday, but it was also Valentine's Day. Cheesy. (Side note: If I ever get married it won't be on V'day, my birthday, Christmas or New Years.) We decided to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Our table was right next to the river and there were a lot of little boats going by. Most were tour boats but one was a wedding party complete with a mariachi (sp?) band - trumpet, violin, guitars and all. It was really festive though and everyone was clapping and waving at them. When we got to the airport there were some people with Ambassador buttons on handing out yellow roses to all the ladies. It made me really happy. Happy Valentine's Day from the state of Texas :-). It was a really nice layover and I'll add it to my list of places I try to go.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. I had a lot of airport appreciation time thanks to the amazing schedulers at my amazing airline. Yesterday I had a child on my flight who screamed the whole time unless I was squatting next to her and letting her play with my id badges. I don't know about anyone else but I'm getting too old to squat in the aisle of an airplane for long periods of time. She was quiet though which made everyone else happy. I felt like I did my good deed for the day. People thanked me when they got off the plane :-P.I'm only home for two days this weekend so I'm going to try to make the most of it.

Maybe I'll watch Amie clean some more.

Rain comes pourin down, fallin from blue skies...

After spending so much time lately in places where their precipitation of choice is snow, it's a little strange to see it raining outside. I'm here in Newport News. I've never been here before. I just had to look at a guide book to find out where it is. Last week I spent two nights in Burlington, VT watching the snow fall. It was really beautiful and peaceful. After a quick stop in Key West where I chased the sun around the pool I ended up back in the snow.

Saturday morning I flew up to Portland to go snowboarding with Amy, Shane, and Adri. I was really apprehensive about spending one day doing a sport I've never done before with people who have done it a lot, but ended up having an awesome time. Four days later I can still feel the pain in my muscles a little, but it's a wonderful pain. We went for the night session and got to Shawnee Peak around 4:30. After getting bundled up and strapped in to my boots they started trying to teach me. I would have felt a little embarrassed about how much time I spent flat on my back but there were a lot of other people who seemed to be having an equally difficult time remaining upright. The most frustrating thing for me was getting back on my feet. I'm not sure if it's just cause I'm really out of shape, but there were times when I absolutely could not stand up facing down the mountain. It's much easier to roll on your stomach and get up that way but if I start going down the mountain backwards I'm much more likely to fall again. Which means I'm going to have to go through the whole process again soon. I did end up going down the mountain quite a few times and the last two times I was actually on my feet for a long time. The conditions were perfect as well. The glittery snowflakes that were falling the whole time were the cherry on top for the awesome time we had.

Monday I made a trip to Chattanooga for yet another hair color. They didn't cover up the platinum but added a lot of lowlights. I think I like it. I also think I need to get back to a more normal color for a while. Not sure though.

Yesterday I woke up pretty late and I was preparing to start rushing around so I could get ready for my trip. I didn't have to leave home til one but had a lot to do. Then I noticed there was a voicemail from scheduling. Turns out my first round trip to Cleveland had been canceled and I didn't have to be at work until 7:26 that night. I love it when that happens. Not that I don't love working... And not that I want anyone's flight to be canceled... The weather up there was terrible so we couldn't have made it anyway.

Now I have another 3 hours here in NN. Not sure what I'm going to do since it's raining. I'm sure I'll manage. I feel so content lately it's almost scary. Joy met a lady who is looking for writers so I wrote and sent her a couple of things. I haven't heard anything yet but it's been great for me to be writing more and thinking in that mode.

un-lazy Saturday morning

It's so nice to be home on the weekends this month. Because of holidays and vacation the last several months have been crazy with my schedule and I'm really happy to have it settle down - at least for this month. It seems that my Flica addiction has paid off and I'm almost perfectly content with my schedule. I have two Key West overnights that I'm really looking forward to. I'll also be in Burlinton, VT for a day and a half this week. I hope that I love it as much in the winter as I did in the summer. I need to do some research so I can do something besides sit in my hotel room.

My trip Thursday and Friday was really frustrating. The fact that it was my fifth and sixth days of work and that I was exhausted didn't help. I did a Providence round trip and remembered why I try to avoid that part of the country. I wish I could just yank these people's headphones out of their ears and say "It's rude to talk to someone with earphones in." Is it so difficult to give me your full attention for 30 seconds so I can SERVE you?

It's all better now. I'm home. I cleaned my room a whole lot this week. It looks pretty decent. Now I'm cleaning out the half bath that is mine. I seem to have a lot of toiletries and it needs to be gone through and organized. I don't know how I accumulate so much. Actually I do - I have a hard time getting rid of something that is perfectly good. I need to realize that my sanity is more important than hanging onto some body wash or something just cause I paid money for it at some point. Whenever I get frustrated enough though I just start trashing it all, which is kind of where I am right now. I guess I should get back to it.

a little too early. a little too cold. good time to break a plane.

I have spent over two years now traveling to northern parts of this country and I am still amazed and confused at why people choose to live here. This morning when we made our way to the airport it was 2 degrees. Thanks to our lovely little windy weather system that came through the windchill was -17. That is officially the coldest I've ever been. Even colder than that day my hair froze in Minneapolis (or Minnianapolis depending on who you ask).

Speaking of hair, I'm trying to decide if when it's time to get my roots covered I want to go back to a more normal color or stay blonde for a while longer. I think because I still have some remaining red from last fall on the ends it makes my hair look yellower than I like. Maybe once that grows out (probably my next hair cut) I'll like it better?

Oh yeah - we got to the airport for our 6am flight, got all the passengers on, got the plane warmed up, and found out something didn't work. So I'm still here in Peoria. At least I'm inside where it's warm. Otherwise I might cry. I even considered wearing my pj pants under my work pants this morning. Unfortunately they're fleecey and a little thick, otherwise I definitely would've.

This just reaffirms my last day of the trip theory...

addictions and millions of little decisions

I'll start off by admitting that my addiction to flica has returned. I thought I was cured of it, but now I seem to spend every minute online searching for better trips, more hours, better overnights, etc...I haven't even turned on the tv tonight (partially because that's addictive as well and I can only handle one addiction at a time.) Part of the returned addiction to flica is that my schedule next month had me wasting too much time in terrible places. Have to change that.

Now I'm in Peoria, IL. I was in Moline earlier today and between these two places I can't remember the last time I was this cold. The worst part is the wind. It's blowing so hard none of the snow that's falling can even land on the ground. I've never heard of a blizzard where the ground didn't get covered with snow, but that's what they're saying is going to happen tonight. Weird midwesterners... All four of my flights today had terrible turbulence as well (thanks to the wind). I had to stop serving once and nearly spilled coffee all over everything another time.

This trip has been far less eventful than last week's. Everything has gone mostly according to plan. I've actually flown all my flights for a change. Since the first night in Newburgh, NY we've been hanging out here in the midwest. My crew is really nice and interesting to talk to. My captain has lost 40lb in the last 4 months. I've really enjoyed picking his brain and hearing what he's learned in the process. I asked him what happened to make him finally lose weight and how he did it. His brother had lost a lot of weight and learned about nutrition and exercise. This made him realize it was possible and gave him the information to do it for himself.

The main thing, though, that has really stuck with me for the last few days was him saying "It isn't one big decision. It's a million little decisions every day." I've really thought about that a lot. I seem to think about it every time I put something in my mouth now. I also realized how that is true of every part of our lives. When it comes to practicing your faith, many people have a point where they made a "decision" but it's really the million little decisions you make every day that determine whether it's going to last. The same with love. I can tell someone I love them one time, but all the little decisions that I make every day show whether I really love them. It's been inspiring to me in a lot of ways. I still ate way too much pasta with alfredo sauce tonight, but I skipped the donuts at breakfast yesterday so hopefully it evens out :-P. I think the million little decisions idea is a good way for me to deal with things as well because I tend to get discouraged if I've made a big decision (eat healthy) and I eat junk. If I view each decision, each choice, as separate from the last one then if I make a bad one it doesn't affect the next one. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does in my head.

I think that's all for now. I'll be home tomorrow if all goes to plan. Then I work again Thursday and Friday. I'm enjoying work more this week. Not sure what's different. It definitely isn't the weather (though Atlanta did feel wonderful for the 45 minutes I was there today.) Whatever it is, I like it. I hope it stays for a minute.

Currently reading : For Whom the Bell Tolls By Ernest Hemingway

It’s easy to be happy when life is this good

It truly is - easy and good. In the last few days I've been reminded what amazing family and friends I have. I got to see most of my family and spoke to the rest of them and have heard from so many different friends of mine. We're into day three of cake day. There are about 25 muffins (4 different flavors, 4 different icings) upstairs along with a "suicide cake" which is all the leftover batter cooked together iced in stripes with the remaining icing. Matt and Molly are really into cake. I love it. And birthdays. Yesterday morning they woke me up with breakfast in bed. I was taken shopping yesterday and got a beautiful dress that made me feel beautiful. I've had all sorts of lovely gifts given to me and been reminded again and again how blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life. I could go on and on but I need to go get ready to have lunch with my parents and Michal before her game. I have to say, my sisters are the prettiest girls ever :-D. I know this isn't particularly interesting or profound or funny but I like to document the mountain tops so when I'm in a valley I can go back and be reminded of how good my life is.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

I may have used this subject title before, but today truly is a frabjous day so I'm going to use it again.

Today is my birthday and for once my company was nice (not on purpose of course) and I'm home nearly 10 hours early. I'm quite pleased if you can't tell. Yesterday we ended up staying in Tulsa the whole day. The plane we were supposed to fly to Atlanta and then on to Oklahoma City broke in Memphis. They were going to bus us over to OKC but decided to just have us work the flight back this morning instead. I couldn't believe it. Actually I refused to believe it until I was actually on the bus going to my car. But now I'm home and am so happy.

My birthday began last night when we went for Mexican and the captain bought dinner for us. The waitress gave me a scrumptious brownie (with a cherry on top, of course) and a margarita. I don't understand how people don't like celebrating their birthdays. It's so much fun :-D. Now I have a whole extra day at home and don't even know what to do with it. It's fabulous.