Busy weekend

It's been so much fun being back in the UK. I can't believe it's Monday already - the weekend flew by.

I arrived on Friday, a little late, but not bad. It went wrong on the M25, a major route around London as part of the road had closed. Rather than taking 90mins to get home, it took over 3 hours. Oh what fun - managed to catch up with mum and dad in the car which was nice. Met up with Tim and had a good ol' greasy spoon lunch (bacon, sausage, egg, mushroom, fried bread, baked beans....yummy). Rest of the afternoon just hung out - did pretty well with jetlag as didn't need to sleep. I even went out for a beer with Tim, Mum and Dad.

Saturday was a whirlwind. I met Diana for coffee/lunch at 11 - was great, a real girly chat. It's funny how the conversation changes when boys are around! Who knew I was a girly at heart:) After that I picked up my friend Lorraine (picture, top right) from the train and we hung out all afternoon in a pub chatting. We hadn't seen each other in 12 years so a lot to catch up on. We dropped in on Mum and Dad to say hi, hung out for an hour and then we went off to see another friend Debbie and her family (her husband Pete, kids Charlotte and Bradley - picture top left). We got takeaway (aka take-out) and drank wine and chatted until the early hours. The kids are so grown up now - Charlotte is 13 and Bradley is 10. So cute to see...I still remember when they were babies. Lorraine and I ended the evening with some cranberry martinis...yummy. The picture bottom left is Debbie, me and Lorraine. Can you believe Debbie and i are 40 this year? Our bdays are 3 days apart so we spent a lot of time reminiscing about what we got up to as teenagers....but only after the kids went to bed!

Sunday was not much better. Tim and I hung out in the morning swapping movies and music as well as hooking up ITUNES with his new IPOD. Then my cousin Caren and family came down and we all met for Sunday lunch at a pub in Woodbridge. Very nice that was too. We took Lorraine to the train so she could go home and Tim and I went back to play with the kids. Luke who's 5 and Ryan who's 3. So, so cute. The picture on the bottom right is of the whole family - l-r Luke, Ryan, Caren, Mum, me, Tim, Dad, Lee (Caren's husband). Great food at Wilford Bridge Pub - I had a full-on roast - lamb, pots, yorkshires, veg etc.

I'm supposed to be meeting up with Deb today (different Deb...) but I've not heard from her. I'm quite enjoying sitting on my butt doing nothing! tonight we're meeting Jenny and Frankie for dinner.

My plan today is to try and get some exercise in.... as I'm lardy already!

Can you believe it?

I'm sitting here at the airport....and I LEFT MY FREAKING IPOD AT HOME.

What an indiot! You'd think as I was so attached that I could have remembered that.

Thank goodness I have a PSP to keep me company.

Busy busy week

It's been a busy week. I leave tonight for England - I get back on the 5th. I'm so excited - I'm getting to see everyone I want to - and some friends are traveling several hundred miles to see me. I'm really looking forward to it - even though I'll be working in London next Thursday. That's an excuse to follow up with lots of people there for work and socializing.

After my great day off (a 2 hour massage I can thoroughly recommend) we had our first condo management meeting on Tuesday night. The guy in #3 is President, Trev is Vice President (hahaha) and there were a couple of other jobs (Treasurer and something else). The meeting was hysterical - not only was the guy from the management company about 20 and looked liked something out of The Sopranos* but he was not particularly responsive to our concerns and questions. Like, why does our garage door stop working at least 3 times a week (it gets stuck). Why do we have children doing the cleaning in the building (do we agree to child labour?), why do we all have lots of things that the builder has not taken care of? etc etc etc. We all agreed that we needed a different management company and they're all meeting for bloody mary's on Sat morning to agree the way forward. I'm sad that I'll miss it but I'll be having fun of my own!!!!! I'm so happy we have a lawyer in our building because he doesn't put up with any crap.

So another example of why this dude is weird - so he's going through the budget (that he created over 18 months ago!!!!), and when we got to utilities costs (ie water, electric) he told us how we should conserve water as it'll affect the bill (duh). He then went on to painfully describe how when he showers (ewwww) he gets wet, turns off the water, soaps (double ewwwww) and then turns on the water again. I have to tell you 7 pairs of eyes all looked at each other with a "triple ewwwww" look. How yukky and gross. Who on earth thinks it's OK to lecture professional people on water consumption. Isn't that down to the condo assn itself? Weird.

Then the other shady thing this guy did was get the new President to stay behind, waited for everyone else to leave and then had him sign papers to sign the company on for a year. How nice of him. The good thing is that our lawyer knows the bylaws inside and out and that he couldn't do that. So, it's null and void. Perfect.

Anyhow, it's a mute point as we're kicking them to the curb and getting a reputable company in. Hopefully it'll all be done before I get back from my trip.

My gym attendance has been amazing. Sat Pilates, Sun Yoga, Mon Billy, Tues walking, Weds Billy. I feel that I've done enough up front to offset my lardy-ness that I will be indulging while in the UK. Everyone I know in the UK doesn't really work out a lot so if we walk 100 yards then we're doing well. While I have every intention of trying to run around the block or something I know in my heart that won't happen. I will take my yoga DVD so I can at least try.....

I'm very excited about my trip. I get to see all my friends and all my family, something that really doesn't happen every time I visit. while I'm happy seeing everyone I'm spending a day with my friend Lorraine who's driving down from Blackpool, I have dinner with Terry and Fran (used to work with Terry at BT in England years ago), and Deb (used to work for me when I first became a manager). It'll be soooooo much fun.

Unlike my trip to Scotland I will have access to the internet so will be providing updates.

*My latest hot TV program. I know I'm several years too late but now it's on A&E I'm an avid watcher. It's hilarious...esp as I live in New Jersey!

A great day off

With Trev gone (he went to Denver last night for work), I had a whole day to myself. My company gives a day off for Presidents Day so I have done close to nothing. I started my day by meeting Billing at 8am. I then went to the mall/Target to pick stuff up for my trip to England. That took a lot longer than I thought and I didn't get home til about 11.20. I had a massage with Wesley booked for noon so no sooner had I got home, then he arrived.

I had a fabulous massage at home for 2 whole hours. I have to say I'm fabulously relaxed right now. I must remember to warm up our living room before I do that again as I got cold. Still, it was worth it. I'm so glad I managed to find Wesley.

The worst thing was I didn't have time to eat. A few almonds got me through til about 2.30. I've made up for it since.

So, until now I've been procrastinating about working. I had my team create monthly reports and I know they put a fair bit of effort into them. It would be wrong of me to not create mine from their report. I have until 11am tomorrow. I better get it done tonight!

More flowers

After my Valentines Day flowers arrived almost 2 days late - oh bless FTD*

Check out the pics. How sweet are they - on the left we have white and red tulips, in the middle the Vera Wang pale pink roses (the ones that got lost) and on the end Lillies and red roses. Ignore the red vase....it's very very tacky.

I'm cynical enough to wonder what I have done to deserve this many flowers.....

That said, they are so lovely - it's a shame i'm leaving on Thursday as I'm sure they'll be still beautiful then.

*A historical story. One year when I worked in Cedar Rapids one of my clients was FTD. They are very very difficult as they clearly have more demand at Valentines, Christmas, Mother's Day etc - and every single year they don't set up enough demand. That was one of my worst experiences as they screamed and yelled at me. 2007 was no different - the day after Valentines, they closed all phone numbers and email addresses so you couldn't complain. What bad bad service.

Labour Certification

At long last! It's only taken about 7 years, but the approval came through this week. The hardest part of the Green Card process is now over. We file for the next stage next week.

The great thing about it is that we won't be tied to the companies we work for. That also means we won't be deported if we are laid off. A huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders.

Something else to celebrate!

The Seal

So, for those of you who've done Pilates, there's a move called The Seal. I've done Pilates for years, but until today I haven't been able to do The Seal. It involves sitting on the floor, wrapping your arms through your legs and round the outside of your ankles. Once you're like that you rock backwards tapping your feet together 3 times while down and 3 while up. usually I have too much "collaterol" up front. today, i seem to have become more flexible enough to do it.

That's an achievement!

2 P's, an R and an S

I couldn't think of an inventive title today so that's what I came up with. Here goes:

First P. Promotion. Trev has been promoted to Director, IT at his company. He's very excited. His boss has also been promoted to VP, even so it's good to see a year after being hired his efforts are being recognized. Me? First question after giving congrats was to ask if a payrise was involved. HAH. He didn't know - how do you get promoted and not get a payrise....seems weird to me. Apparently they have reviews in February so I guess we find out then.

Second P. PBS. I love that channel. Right now I'm watching a legendary British comedy "Last of the Summer Wine". It's set in northern England is about 3 friends, all men at retirement age. It's the middle of Iowa so it's their exploits. Great supporting cast, and very very funny. Well, I think so.

The R. Roses. Trev ordered roses for me and had them delivered to work - so sad that they arrived 5pm tonight rather than yesterday but still they were cute. Should I read anything into it that they were pink and not red? they were Vera Wang...so got a sample of her perfume. I'll try it out tomorrow.

The S. Snow - too much of it, so much ice and they don't know how to clear the roads/paths in a timely way. It's awful. I clearly took for granted the magnificent way they take care of snow in Iowa. Roads are ploughed, paths cleared, melty stuff put down etc. Here I've had to walk through mounds of snow, get wet feet etc etc. I need to buy boots (oh yeah, can you believe I threw a pair away in St Louis coz I never wore them).

We're off out with the guys upstairs tomorrow, and going to a neighbours housewarming party on Saturday night. I've managed to touch base with Wesley, my masseuse and I have one booked for Monday (I have a day off).

While proud of doing pilates followed by meeting Billy - my butt hurts and the top of my thighs. Oh well, all to a good cause, right? I've been resting the past 2 nights, might go tomorrow but may hurt too much.

OK, I'm off to bed to celebrate Valentine's Day a night late:)

Good Luck Penny!

Ok my friend, you're off to Mayo for 3 weeks - you don't need luck. Keep positive, embrace the program and keep on fighting. I will be thinking of you - keep in touch if you can. Trev say hi too!
Love
Phil

Alone on Valentine's Day

So, it happened. I'm alone. On Valentines Day. For the first time in 12 years. I'm not really sure how I feel. Trev is stranded in Atlanta because of the weather - he tried his hardest to get home, but all flights were canceled. Our weather is horrible. What a bummer.

My gift is cute - I got a single rose and card. I then went to the store and bought Double Deckers, Flakes, Crunchies, Mars Bars and Cadbury's Creme Eggs. They're piled in the fridge for when he gets home. It's not much, but I hope he likes it.

I love Trevor very much, but over the past year we've not had enough time for ourselves. If we're not working, we're at the gym, or doing chores, or traveling to see the kids, or so tired we're watching TV. I'm hoping 2007 will be a better year than last. It's really not so much the traveling and distance as the hard work it is to get a life outside of work. I make sure I arrange events and even massages etc to be sure we're taking time for ourselves...it just doesn't seem to be good enough. It was fun when Rach visited last weekend - we visited a museum, went to a cool show - it was fun. We should do that when we're on our own rather than wait for guests. I'm making a conscious effort with all our neighbours to socialise - they're a great crew so it'll be fun getting to know them. Maybe I'm just 40 this year and getting a bit depressed - no idea why as I have no regrets, I'm the fittest I've ever been, i love my job, got a great husband, good friends, have enough money to almost do what i want.

I'm really looking forward to my holiday in England. Maybe that'll cheer me up.

Want to know the best news of the evening? Wesley (my massage therapist who left the gym) got hold of me. Yippee!! That has made my night.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm down...

Not really sure why - but I am. It's Valentine's day - I should be excited to spend the evening with Trev and get all snuggly etc etc. Trev is flying in this afternoon - except for the fact that we've had a kick ass snow storm and because of that his flight is already canceled. He's still hoping to be home by 9....but that doesn't really leave us a lot of time to catch up, have dinner, enjoy each other's company etc etc. That, and the fact he won't change his plans next week means I'm in a really pissy mood.

Hopefully by tonight I'll feel better. However...don't really see that happening.

On the Green Card front Trev has his application in with the labor certification people - so that should get approved in about 6 weeks. Once that's done it's just paperwork for both of us from here on out. So, by the end of 2007 we'll be free of staying with our employers and can do whatever we want. While I think he enjoys his job he's feeling the stress of traveling all the time. I have to say, while I like time on my own...I really feel that I'm managing too much stuff on my own. It would be nice to have time to call the builder and get our 25 things fixed (they're still not), or get another elevator key (we STILL don't have one), or get the place decorated etc etc etc. For my Green Card it's gone into a big black hole.

On the funny side - here's my subway story for today. So it's snowing here - big time. Most people look like Daleks (if you've seen Doctor Who you'll know what a Dalek is). So there was a woman this morning - about 5' 5", long blond hair, thin, UGG boots (beige), black tights, the shortest pale grey checked skirt you've ever seen, a black down jacket (short one) and a big bobble hat. Who the hell wears that kind of gear on the crappiest day of the year??????? The bobble hat and the skirt just didn't match. hahahahaha

You'll be proud of me. I managed to get my butt to the gym last night for a 7.45pm Pilates class, even though I didn't want to go. I even did 10mins of cardio before hand. Then this morning I got myself to the gym for a hour with Billy the Trainer. can you believe that - 2 hours 15mins of working out in a 12 hour period. Even I'm impressed!

What number are you?

You Are 1: The Reformer

You are 1: The Reformer You're a responsible person - with a clear sense of right and wrong. High standards are important to you, and you do everything to meet them. You are your own worst critic, feeling ashamed if you're not perfect. You have the highest integrity, and people expect you to be fair.

What Number Are You?

3 things...

It's amazing how I can wonder somedays what the hell i'm going to write, and then the next have loads of stuff to say. I remembered 3 things (but it could go on longer):

1) At the weekend when Rachel stayed we were in Manhattan on both Saturday and Sunday - what are the chances that you get the same cab driver to take us home from the train on both nights? I thought it was hilarious! The reason the guy recognized us is that he got our cross-street wrong the first night!! Hahahahahah

2) Anyone who's an 80's girl (or boy) will remember Blue Monday by New Order. I found today that the 12" version (and if you don't know what that is you're definitely too young!!) I can walk home to. That means the 7.5 mins it runs I can walk from the train station, all the way home, get the mail, wait for the elevator, get into the apartment and take my coat off. I'm impressed. A single track - and I can get my ass home.

3) I was very happy tonight at the gym when I was given secretly my massage therapists email and phone #. Hopefully he's still working here and not buggered off elsewhere. We'll see.... I'm not as depressed as I was.

My planning for my trip to England is going well - I actually have created a spreadsheet to make sure I know who I'm seeing when. Although I have to work on one of the days I'm there, it's no big deal because it means I can get my train ticket paid for:) I'm really looking forward to this trip.

I am really peed off at Trev. We have our condo meeting next week and he'll not be there. So, to pay him back I'm lobbying for him to become president of the association. I think that is fair payback - don't you?

Oh yeah, and at the gym tonight I was told I looked thinner - yeeeeehaaaaa - maybe one day I'll be thin.

What is it with husbands?

Man, you'd think I'd be used to this by now....but I'm not. It makes me madder each time it happens. Why do I have to do everything domestic?

Next week, Tuesday to be precise, we have our first condo board meeting. We have had a month's notice of this event and I sent the email to Trev to make sure he would arrange his schedule to be there.

I wouldn't mind if I was given the information, but this morning I asked (1 week before the event) "So, you're going to be at the condo meeting Tuesday, and remember I leave for England on Thursday so you'll probably be working from home next week, right?" I was expecting to hear "Of course I am sweetheart". Yeah well - that didn't go to plan. I heard "Well, the guys up there (where?) really want me to visit (why?) and I've been trying to put them off, and I'm not succeeding so far so I don't think I'll be there and anyway I must be back for when you leave for England so I have no choice. Ii've really been trying to not go, but you know how it is at the end of the quarter. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah"

Maybe it's because I'm coming up for both my 40th birthday and my 10th wedding anniversary - but I'm freaking fed up with this. I don't feel my husband has any skin in the game (ie our marriage) and it's just convenient for him. I don't like feeling like this but I will NOT give up what I've worked so hard for. Talk about feeling dejected just ready for Valentines Day. I really can't be bothered.

Testosterone

Most of my funny stories come from the subway - and tonight is no exception. My trip into the subway is down the escalator, turn right, down the stairs, turn left, turn right down the stairs, onto the train. Well in the middle of the "turn left" bit a guy comes flying down the stairs, hangs a left and charges straight into someone else. I mean, knocking the other guy over. Worse, he then just carries on down the stairs and leaves the other guy on the floor. Sometimes I don't like this city.

On the other hand, it's got a bit warmer - at 32 degrees it's much warmer than it has been, although I'm told it's supposed to snow a lot.

I'm wondering what to do for Valentine's day....we've agreed on no gifts, but I should find some chocolate at the very least and a card. That's my job for tomorrow.

What kind of English speaking country are you? (this was spooky!)

You Belong in the UK

Blimey! A little proper, a little saucy. You're so witty and charming... No one notices your curry breath

What English Speaking Country Are You?

Good evening

Rachel has been working in Boston so she flew down to NY for the weekend before heading back to Chicago tonight. Last night we went out to dinner at a French restaurant (Gavroche) which was excellent - certainly, I'd go back. Funny thing was the best thing was the side dish of green beans....they were so good we ordered extra.

After that we had tickets for a late night show for John Oliver. He's a British comedian who features on The Daily Show on Comedy Central pretty regularly. It was excellent. So, so funny - and only $20 tickets. Now, that made the evening!

Today we're off back into town to see our friends Bruce and Heather for brunch. Gotta love being close to the city.

Oh no...

I found out this morning while at the gym that my favourite massage therapist left.....this is BAD NEWS. I now have to find a way to find this guy. This now sums up my weekend:)

A busy busy week

Can you believe it's Friday tomorrow - it's been crazy busy this week. I feel like I haven't had time to breathe.

It started by blowing off Sunday with a hangover. Work has been crazy all week - I just haven't had time in the evenings. Monday I had a work Sales do - launch of the new year. Tuesday I had to turn up as a senior manager to a cocktail evening for a training class. Wednesday I met a guy for dinner who I hired who was in town from St Louis. Tonight, I had a client function for one of my teams.

I am EXHAUSTED.

Weird stuff i've observed this week

- why women in the bathroom don't check that everything has flushed. Weird - and eeeek all at the same time
- still weirded out by people running for a train that runs every 6 minutes
- that I'm not getting enough time to watch Tivo
- that whoever cleans my desk at work chucks stuff away that I want to keep, manages to unplug my phone, make my monitor not work and my keyboard unresponsive.....right when I need it all
- why can't I run down stairs and run for a train
- that I can still get my butt whoopped in the gym....and I always feel good when I leave
- that I'm lonely when I'm on my own at home - but at the same time have good friends
- I'm looking forward to my visit to England in a couple of weeks
- That at heart, I'm really a project manager and don't like managing 60 people
- That I get on great with my neighbours

I think that's enough for a week, don't you?

Don't like the cold...

OK, so picture this. Winter coat to the floor, big heavy scarf, headphones, woolley hat, sneakers, woolley gloves - all you can see are my eyes. It was 8 degrees fahreinheit when I left for work. The 8 block walk felt like miles. Sooooooooo cold.

Very different to both Iowa and Missouri - you have to walk. I love my car.

Damn, I wish spring would hurry up.

Red wine...

For the first time ever this weekend I cooked with Red wine. We had half a bottle left over from Saturday night so on Sunday when I was cooking beef stew I chucked the wine in. I am a convert - it was fabulous. I'm not a lover of red wine at all so was really worried it would taste like crap - but it was awesome. Yum - something new to do.

It's flipping cold right now (hence the beef stew) - it's going to be a high of 20 today - that's well below freezing level. No amount of scarves and coats make up for it at all. So, so cold.

I'm getting excited about my trip to England in a couple of weeks. My friend Lorraine is coming down from Blackpool and we get to spend the weekend together - that will be fun. I get to see everyone else too and do a lot of shopping. Tim is taking a week off so I'll have a riot. It never ceases to amaze me how all my old friends seem to drop everything to find time to meet up and hang out. It means a lot.

I think I will need to work for one of the days while I'm there - my boss has hired another senior manager in London - someone I worked with in my past job. Not a favourite of mine, so we'll see how it goes. Luckily we're continents apart so hopefully it won't affect me too much. I couldn't trust him, and that's important to me. My boss has done this knowing his reputation so we'll see how it goes.

It's Tuesday, Trev got up at 4am today which is why it's 5am and I'm writing this. How fabulous.

Our neighbours

Last night we finally got to have a few cocktails and dinner with all our neighbours. We met at ours before heading out to a place call The Sushi Lounge. They did brilliant martinis and food was fabulous too. We have great neighbours.

Mike and Shannon live in #1, Nick and Jackie in #2, Mike in #3, we're in #4 and Josh and Rich in #5. We managed to meet up with everyone although only some of us could do dinner too. We ended up falling into a cab having left a bar - went back to #5. Got to meet the dog (Moses)...who is gorgeous. The guys upstairs have completely remodeled their apartment - the kitchen is a different way around, the floors are different, the closets have been redone etc etc etc. It looked amazing.

We're both nursing headaches this morning, but we had a riot. We will enjoy living here.

My first pair of fat pants

Exciting....for the first time since I've been on this keep fit craze (2 years) I can say I have a pair of pants that are too big for me to wear again. About flipping time.

Even though I have a cold it makes me want to go to the pilates class today - maybe it's FINALLY paying off!

Now I'm not too excited as I realize I have a long way to go - at least another 50lbs, but it's a start. It means I should be able to find a way to keep this up when I'm in England....at least I hope so.

Gloves

Ok, so on my mammouth shopping trip last weekend I bought a fancy schmancy pair of Eddie Bauer gloves that I was in love with. Can you believe before I got my ass in the apartment I lost them?

I had them in the airport....must have left them in the taxi - but I called and theyr'e not there.

I can't find them on eddiebauer.com, eddiebaueroutlet or ebay. I am bummed.........

Funny on the subway

OK, this made me laugh out loud - let's see if I can make it sound good.

I was at the 42nd St subway making my way home walking down the stairs to catch the train. There was a lady walking down the stairs in front of me going a bit slower than the usual commuter. From behind a lady comes running down the stairs going "excuse me, excuse me, I need to catch a train"

I have to tell you my only comment was "you don't say...!"

Sorry, but I found this hysterical and ended up laughing out loud. Not sure it'll translate to the written word:)

Hypochondria?

So since spending Sunday in the emergency room when Penny got flu (and needed IV fluids) I've been wondering if I was going to get it. I worried on the plane, at work on Tuesday and through the week. Yesterday I just got to the point where I thought I was safe and I felt crap in the gym. Then I started sneezing and now I have a full blown cold.

Now, it is the first time that I'm happy to JUST have a cold. LOL