Is Facebook taking over????

I didn't realize that it'd been over 6 weeks since I'd posted here - that's AWFUL. I feel terrible that the poor peeps that check in haven't had anything to read. So, while Trev is watching pre-season football (groan!) I figured I'd check in. This update is clearly going to take longer than I thought it would!

Now I realized that it was at the beginning of July I posted I'm trying to figure out why. I'm thinking that I'm blaming Facebook.... I check in daily, I have the app on my blackberry and can post comments easily. However, it's not the same as a long rant and rave about things here.

My quick catch up is as follows:

Our biggest news of the summer is that Trev was laid off in the middle of July and is searching for a position that a) keeps him local and b) he will enjoy. It'll be a few months before we get into crisis mode - although his mind is getting bored already.

For me - I've had a couple of very brief trips to England for work, but as it always seems I'm so busy I really don't feel that I'm using my vacation time well. I need to book some time....but I'm going to save it for when people are visiting. I'm really hoping to get back to the UK this year, but I'm not sure it'l lhappen.

Labour Day weekend we'll be in Iowa for Rachel batchelorette party....it should be fun. I"m so excited that laura and BJ are coming into town - and I'm also able to squeeze in on the Friday night a "Muddy Waters" night in Cedar Rapids with all the ex-APACers..... fun!

Recently my job has been awful - so stressful right now. Too many hours, not enough time and shitloads of stupid people!! At least I'm employed though, right? That's what I keep telling myself.

Anyway - I promise to update as things happen - and I'll get better at it!

June Update

So, I've been bad - I got totally out of whack of updating and, you know how it goes, it's so long that you just don't bother. Now i feel bad - I keep reading everyone else's blog....and even make comments on occasions, but I'm not organized enough to do mine.

I posted our Mexico trip separately....but then so much else has happened - so grab a cup of tea, a biscuit and happy viewing/reading:)

Work has taken up a lot of our time - especially as I had a business trip smack bang in the middle of the month to the UK....that's a whole other story, of which I'll write separately about that when I have enough time to be coherent. Seeing friends was awesome - work was not so fun!

So first, we went into NYC for dinner at the Blue Fin with our friend Carla and some of her her relatives from Toronto. The pics are below. Carla amazes me - she's so fit and skinny and gorgeous. And for 48 years old she looks incredible. These pics were not photoshopped at all....I'm sure it's because she eats almost nothing and permanently detoxes herself! We had a great time!

06-12-09 Out with Carla

That same weekend I'd had enough of my humid hair....I'd had a terrible time in Mexico - it looks bad left alone, if I dried it etc etc etc.....so I went and saw my stylist and she nuked it. I'm now blond and beautiful and short.....it's awesome!! It's easy to manage and while it's not as straight as shown here it's much easier. I'm just waiting for humid weather to really try it out:)

06-14-09 New Hair

That same weekend we had a mammouth training session with Billy. As he now comes to our house our hourly sessions go on a bit. I am pleased to report that I can now do 60 pushups (proper ones, not the girly type!!) and then 250 sit ups in a row. WITHOUT STOPPING. I know - I'm even amazed at myself:)

After that I headed to the UK for about 10 days (weekend at home, working the week, another weekend at home, travel back the following Monday). These pics are a combination of home and work! The weather in England was almost perfect, it only rained a little bit and then it was sunshine the rest of the way. My goal for any remaining trip I have this year is to figure out how to get fitness into my routine when I'm away from home - I know I can do it....I just have to figure out how. Maybe my family should exercise....

06-18-09 Trip to UK

The month went by in a whirlwind and I can't believe it was over so fast! I feel like my ass never had a moment to sit and chill.

On a more sombre note, my knee is giving me grief - my medical insurance won't pay for physio and therefore they won't take me in....so while my ankle is pretty OK my left knee is not so good. I'm still trying to figure out what to do - but I feel a call to the lawyer is in order.

I promise to post our July 4th celebrations soon:)

May 30th - Nick and Jackie get married in Mexico

We left Memorial day for a trip to Mexico - and we had a great time. While it felt like a 6 day frat party it was a lot of fun. The hotel was awesome and the definition of "all inclusive" was incredible. Room service was even included. We ate too much, drank too much, sat in the sun too much etc etc and we had a blast - I did post the pics on Facebook, but just in case you didn't see them....here they are.

It was the first time i'd ever gone away with a big bunch of people - to be honest we didn't have too much in common with a lot of them - way too many fraternity and cheerleader types for us....but we did meet some nice people to hang out with, and really enjoyed it.

I didn't like the humidity and the crappy hair i had all week - but you'll see dresses are my thing this summer...I'm so excited! I can't stop shopping. it's a pretty good incentive to keep going!

Nick and Jackie's Wedding

Our 12th Wedding Anniversary

Wow! Where does time go? It only seems a little while ago that we moved to America, got married, headed to Disney, raised teenagers etc etc etc. And now look at us....

Trevor bought me a beautiful new ring to celebrate - so now my 3 stone ring is on my right hand and this new one replaces my wedding band. It's beautiful.

No-one ever said that marriage was easy but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? I love you Trev - let's have many more years!

My first attempt at a spray tan;)

It's always so busy and I really feel like I'm out of the groove of writing. It's nuts. I started writing this post before we headed to Mexico, and managed to lose it all...so here's the precis! Just before we went friends convinced me that I should get a spray tan so I didn't look like the fat, white English one at the back. So, duly on the Thursday before we left I headed out and got sprayed. Now... I did what they told me and exfoliated like mad the day before and applied moisturizer but it still didn't turn out as planned.

We headed out on the Friday to celebrate our friend Sharon's birthday - see our pics below. You can check out my tan there. On the plus side, I really do think a tan makes you look thinner. It was also the first outing for the new camera.

05-22-09 Sharon's Birthday

New camera and new hair

Check out the pics... the ones off the balcony are zooming in and out of the Empire State......amazing. I love it. Then later on you'll see new hair!!!

New Camera and New Hair!

Busy busy busy....still

I feel like life is going by in a flash right now. Last weekend Trev organized a weekend in the city to celebrate Mother's day. It was great. We went and saw the new Star Trek movie which was AWESOME.....and I mean AWESOME, then we went off to the Joshua Tree for cocktails and dinner. The bar is great - it's all 80s music and lots of dancing. Was a lot of fun.


On Sunday we went out to the new "W" hotel where we live. Very swanky. Brunch was great too - and it's priced just right to keep out the skanks (if you know what I mean...). We met up with Rich, our neighbour for the afternoon.


Back at work time just flew. I had a colleague/friend over from the UK so Tuesday night we went out for drinks with some colleagues to a fabulous bar - http://230-fifth.com/ The views were stunning - right under the Empire State Building. Such a great place - it's an outside bar but if it's chilly there are both blankets and heaters. Very nice. Tuesday I also moved my desk - now I look at a wall and no-one can find me - it's PERFECT!!!!


Wednesday Trev and I were out supporting Rich. He was taking part in a bachelor auction in town on behalf of a charity (it's where guys get up on stage and people bid for them and their prizes). We went to Splash (http://www.splashbar.com/) where the event was taking place. Rich was worried that no-one would vote for him.....so he gave us money to make sure that we bidded for him. Needless to say it was a gay bar so there were some hunky topless guys serving drinks, the host for the evening was Hedda Lettuce (http://heddalettuce.com/), a famous drag queen. Was a lot of fun - we won our auction along with a "bag of booze" and a 90 minute massage. AWESOME.

On the following weekend we tried to rest - saw Angels and Demons, very disappointing. I'll re-read the book while in Mexico. From what I remember the book was far better than Davinci Code....not so with the movie. Weird.

Only a week or so til Mexico. Hopefully my health will keep the pigs away. On the fitness front I've been doing really well - I can now do 200 situps and 50 pushups (not one after the other!)......how cool is that. I actually feel pretty darn good!

Work work work work work and work

I'm starting to get realistic. At the beginning the year I thought this mayhem would last a month, maybe 2. It's May....and nothing has changed. It's crazy.


I have managed to hire someone to help me out - and when I first started working with her she took ownership and like projects. I'm beginning to think it's me. She was a consultant, now she's hired (since Apr 13th). Just stupid stuff like I've asked her to set her PC up to work remotely and get a Blackberry. Why is it on May 8th this is not done? Why is it that I've told her for 3 months to get our performance reports out a week after month end and it's still not done? I really think I'm the problem. I've tried setting goals and saying "it needs to be done"....but it doesn't. WTF - my boss is already pissed I'm not as productive (esp with double the headcount!!!!).


I have to take this weekend to figure out how to set objectives and expectations and not interfere. This month I'm wrestling, while sitting here Friday night having worked until 7pm (when getting to work at 7.15am), with whether I check what she did today or I just ignore it and send people to her with questions. She has to learn that I can't carry her and ME. I think I'm sending people to her -and I'll do the one report my boss looks at. That way, I've got both bases covered.


Enough about work. Tonight I have zero energy to go out -I'm watching Biggest Loser (I'm a geek, what can I say), drinking a cocktail and catching up with you all.


Last week Pia visited and I had so much fun. She worked out with Billy alongside me - and he was soooo great with her. She's getting married in July and wants to lose weight. Being Italian she eats so much pasta so I'm convincing her to try my diet. In 18months I've lost 35lb.....and I feel (and look) so different. I love it. She did really well - Billy was great, she was so enthusiastic, but I did feel bad when she couldn't sit in the afternoon.....and worse when HER BOSS messaged me to say she was raving about us and her legs still hurt several days later. I've never seen myself as a diet and exercise guru....or that anyone would listen to me in this regard....I guess because I'd not seen Pia since last summer there was such a difference.

And on rain.....we're on our 7th straight day of rain. Fed up to say the least - it's like England in summer. Not fair - c'mon, bring the sun!

Pia visits

My friend Maria Pia came to New York last week and we had a blast! She was here for work, but we got some socializing in....! First we walked around Soho, then made our way to China Town for dinner. Then, on Friday she came to our town, we had drinks and dinner at Sushi Lounge. On Saturday Pia worked out with Billy and I and after she'd recovered we went off shopping....what a blast!

04-30-08 With Pia in NYC

Trip to Chicago

Trev and I had a great weekend in Chicago - we spent time doing some wedding planning and then socializing. Check out the pics.

04-24-09 Trip to Chicago

On Friday we visited Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs (baseball team) and the restaurant is where the wedding reception is going to be held. It's sooo "them". It's a lovely place and we'll probably be able to go out of the field for pictures. Very cool.

Then, Trev, Rach and I headed downtown so that we could check out what the Chicago skyline would look like in their wedding photos. The plan is for them to have a photo right at sunset - we tested by the water, up on the grass, halfway down the grass etc etc. We decided we liked down by the water the best.

After that we headed out to dinner. Following day Mike and Trev stayed in the bar while Rach and I went to check out linens for the reception. Didn't take too long, and then that was all decided which was great.

That afternoon we rested well and then headed out to dinner with Paul and BJ (who'd come up from St Louis) and Denise, Mike's Mum. Had a great time.

Today we're hanging out before taking a late afternoon flight home. We had a great time, and it was really nice relaxing with them both and seeing all the plans they've made. The wedding plans are so under control which is awesome.

Back to work tomorrow....

I'm a Great Aunt!

Welcome to Abbie Janet Wilson, born April 20th at 1.42pm weighing 8lb 2oz. This is the most beautiful pic of Liz and Abbie - Colin took it. Liz is Trevor's niece.

Britain's got talent

You just have to check this out.....not that I ever watch this program, or the American version, but this woman has had millions of hits on youtube....and deservedly so. Oh my - I hope she makes it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

And here's a UK article following up to that show... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1170309/I-wont-let-Simon-Cowell-Hollywood-makeover-vows-Amanda-Holden-TV-angel-internet-hit.html

Spring Blossom 2009

Check out these beee-uuuu-ti-ful pictures of the Spring blossom. These are taken over 2 days at 6.30am by my bus stop. I'm in awe....

April 13th 2009 - 10 year anniversary

Today is an important day for me. The last 10 years have flown by .... when I think back it seems like just yesterday. A lot's happened since then.

10 years ago today I had a hysterectomy, age 31. It wasn't all plain sailing but I can truly say that it was one of the best decisions I made. No periods, mood swings, food cravings etc etc etc. I've learnt to deal with the other stuff (hot flashes if I don't take HRT etc) and it's really not a big deal.

I'm healthier than I've ever been and I know that at some point the endometriosis will return and I'll end up with bowel surgery - the doc said 5-10 years at the time....and I'm getting no symptoms that means I have to go through with all that.

Every time I think of that I know that the investment (ie Billy) I make in my health is worth it.

Wooohooo! Here's to the next 10 years!

Ladies, if you're ever in doubt - don't be. Just do it! While recovery takes a little while, it's worth it in the long run!

Clearing out the closet

Growing up I was always used to celebrating Easter - and still do, it's just different here. In England Easter starts on Thursday lunchtime where you clear out of work and then Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. None of these days are public holidays here - I get Good Friday off, but Trevor has always had to work. That makes it a strange holiday.

So today my original plan was to work the morning, then go into town to meet Trev for lunch before heading off to physio. Next I thought I'd head off to the mall to go shopping.... then I decided I had enough clothes. So I spent most of the morning clearing out my closet. At work there's a been a clothes drive the past couple of weeks, especially for business wear as it goes to an organization who focuses on women who are on welfare and getting back into the work place. Last year I participated and gave some stuff away, this year I have even more reason to.

While I've stalled in weightloss during March due to all the trips and parties since last fall I've lost about 20 pounds. I've gone from size US 14/16 to size 10, and even that's getting loose. I've also been working out well and it's really beginning to show. Not only are my pants getting smaller, and the bra size shrunk (which I'm so happy about!!) but now all the sweaters and tops I have are starting to get too big. Rather than ditch everything I've just spent the morning going through everything - trying it on and putting in piles that stuff that I just can't wear.

I'm happy - but what's awful is all the money spent on these clothes. I have suits and jackets I've just got to give away because they don't fit. I do have the "woo-hoo" going on - but at the same time I'm just thinking of all the money I'll have to spend to replace it all.

For now as long as I have 2-3 pairs of work pants, 2-3 pairs of jeans and a dozen tops or so for work then I'll be good. I don't want to buy too much in case I keep shrinking.

Certainly the brown jeans I bought in England last summer with my friend Debbie, that were just way way too tight are getting to the point where they're too loose. Yippee! Hopefully I'll get back soon so I can show off!!

This has given me the motivation to keep off the chocolate and partying and start focusing on my butt. I have a wedding in Mexico at the end of May and I'd like to drop at least another 5lb by then.....let's see if I can do that!!

The one about the screaming woman....

Looking back, this is pretty funny..... but at the time I was so, so mad. It's been many years since I've been yelled at (and I mean YELLED at!) in my job. Funny how some people react.

I have to preface this with what my job is..... for this particular story. Not only do I run a global team of peeps (one reporting directly to me, the others in a matrix style), but I am responsible for the detail of the programming when it comes to performance reporting. This is not something that I've trained for - I've picked it up over the years. I've said many times that learning this has given me several career opportunities and I'm always floored about how easy it can be to WOW people:) That's my secret....and I'm keeping it. I'm forever thankful to Trevor for refusing me reporting resources when we worked together when I first joined my current company. ..... because without that I wouldn't be where I am today.

Anyway.....back to the weirdo. In one of the projects we launched this quarter a new team lead in the UK was responsible for co-ordinating with everyone globally to ensure that all requirements were taken care of. Two things happened. First in order for this project to execute the team needs a list of clients for their teams to go and visit. Seems easy, right? Yeah well.....not so much. Second, it's important that all the regions agree. What I should also say here is that my boss had distributed "final" documents to some VERY senior people around the company. What I didn't know when this happened was that a war was brewing under the surface.....trust me to be the catalyst!!

Let's take the first one - the list of clients. Now the thing that's really important is that the list is accurate and relevant to the topic of the project. I spent time on the phone with the owner of the project asking for the criteria. I explained the information I needed and tried to walk her through the process of a) why she needed to do it and b) how to do it. I had a Webex running so she could see what I was doing (it's a tool where she can go to a website and watch what I'm doing on my PC) but it was clear from right at the beginning that she had already decided my role in this..... which wasn't quite what I had planned! Hahhahahaha. Anyway..... she wanted a number of clients by product and country. Easy enough.....except that I know when dealing with her colleagues that while they will want that information they will want other information also (like exactly WHO to go and see and WHERE they are located). What a freaking dumb ass. So, after about half hour of me trying to explain this I gave up. She complained that I asked too many questions - as I explained to her many times it's important she's specific so that she can give the team the CORRECT information. In the end I sent her what she asked for..... I still can't believe she was screaming at me down the phone....no joke.

What got me was this. I took time out to give her information and recommendations (especially as I already knew what my boss was after.....because a) I confirmed my thinking was correct and b) I know her too flipping well!!) but it was ignored. She took what I sent her, deleted half of it, and then sent out basic info that was totally no help to anyone. Overnight all the other people asked for the specific client information that I had originally recommended. Now, I have no problem providing it - I'm just too damn busy to do things more than once....and would have preferred to do this originally. What really peed me off was that when someone emailed her with a request she had the audacity to reply to an email and said "well, Phil is our data whiz, so i'm sure she can provide this information". WTF. Who am I? Her admin? C'mon people....get with the program. What I didn't realize at this moment was that every other person in the team was already peed off with her - and I had no idea. I thought it was just me - and that maybe it was the moon or something giving me no tolerance. Everyone was coming to me with questions because they trust me. So, I fixed the data and sent it out. Problem over.....or so I thought....

The second thing that happened was even worse.....well, it took longer to fix. I was looking at the detailed programming to make sure that I could report correctly at the end of the month. I took the "final" documents my boss had distributed and started reconciling with the previous information. I had given this task to the person who works for me - figuring it'd take her about 2 hours to get this information together. Well after a day I was getting VERY frustrated with her that she didn't have the answers. So, at the end of the day we both sat down with the information in order to figure it out - my view being at that time was "blinking heck, give to me I'll do it myself!!". What I quickly realized was that it wasn't us.....it was the project owner. Hmmmmphf. To confirm my thinking I quickly sent emails off to people in Asia and Europe to give them the two sets of info I had and asked them to confirm what I should be programming. Well......this gave me the confirmation I needed that this woman is a total nut job.

So to finish the story....the following day at our global team meeting I asked her to present the project. I confirmed with her that all the regions had signed off on her project and that they were all happy. She said "yes". Now....given the story above AND the fact that all the regional heads were on this conference call I was pretty surprised she confirmed they were all happy. Well, can you imagine what happened when I said "Thanks....I'm not sure that's correct - and then opened it up to the regions". Sit back and watching the fireworks..... was pretty funny to me. Luckily everyone else trusts me - the question is do I try and turn her around, or just wait for her to bury herself.

Maybe this woman just needs some mentoring, maybe she's nuts - who flipping knows. All I know is that this coming week all these people are in NYC at a global management meeting - and she has to face all these people that she's peed off. This should be fun! How dumb must she feel? Or maybe she's too stupid to even know.....

Luckily I'm a smartarse and I can fix everything.....it just means there was loads of stuff I couldn't get done and I have to work over my 3 day weekend! That said....that's why these guys trust me - they know I have their back!

Ok, ranting and raving over....

Rhubarb, bikes, my ankle and hair

The week went by in a whirlwind as always. I'll get onto the crappy parts later, but let's start with this weekend. So first, check out the pic below - if you remember back to last year I thought I'd killed the rhubarb. It had blackfly and totally died. I figured that I'd just start again this year. Anyway, we went out on the balcony this weekend - and CHECK IT OUT! I'm soooooo excited we might be eating it this year!















We also achieved something else this weekend - Trev bought a bike. I'm excited about that too - Billy (our trainer) has a new bike, I have mine from last year, so it's looking like we'll have lots of trips out and about. That is so cool. At the same time we got bike shoes - and they make such a difference in spin class. I never thought they would - but now my toes don't go numb!

I've also had my hair done again - getting ready for Mexico in May I've had it brightened for the summer - so while I'm still red, it's definitely brighter. When I get my act together I'll take a pic!

Onto the ankle....which is coming up for it's first anniversary.....I saw the doctor again last week. I got stuck with a needle of cortizone. The doc thinks that it'll help. What I wasn't ready for was a flipping big kick ass bruise that hurts like hell! Anyway.....we'll wait and see:) You never know - it may do the job!!

Trip to Cedar Rapids

Sorry I've been so absent - between trips and work, I've got out of the habit of writing. I'm hoping to rectify that right now. We had a riot in Iowa - check out the pics below. We just had so much fun - with catching up with everyone, to our friend Jane's 40th birthday party. It's great to see so many friends come out for us. Makes me want to visit more often.



It was also great to see Carrieanne in her own world. She's got a great house and a wonderful set of friends. I got to visit where she works - and everyone LOVES her! While she may not end up staying in her house (forces not under her control...blame the landlord!) she clearly has carved out a great lifestyle. It was fun to hang out - even with Louie, the weird ass cat!

Work is still nuts. I don't have time to eat or sleep. I feel like I'm permanently sick and that I'm even giving up important classes at the gym. I'm turning over a new leaf on April 1st - I have to limit work and start doing the things I love - especially as it's spring and I want to get my bike out.

Trip to Colorado

So, last weekend we headed out to Colorado to see Peter, celebrate Trev's birthday and meet Stephanie. As you'll see from the pics, we had a blast! We were tired all week trying to recover, but we had fun.

03-07-09 Trev's B-day in Colorado

First day Peter, Trev and I went ski-ing. It was a little slushy but not too bad. I was totally paranoid regarding my ankle but did OK after a while. I did stop after lunch and let the boys carry on as I didn't want to hurt myself - gave me an excuse to sit on one's behind and do nothing much. Lovely.

Friday we hung out in Boulder all day. We went and saw Peter's office, had a great lunch, did a little work (well c'mon....it's not like I couldn't), and then ate ourselves silly. Stephanie and I spent a great deal of time shopping at Ann Taylor (or Ann Taylor Loft) as she gets a fantastic employee discount - woooohoooo! Love it. I think over the course of the weekend I was in one of these stores at least 6 times:) I have the bill to prove it. I just keep telling myself it would have been a lot worse had I not had the big ass discount!

Saturday Trev and Peter went ski-ing again while Steph and I went shopping again:) It ended all too soon with us returning home late on Sunday. It was fun!

We're off to Iowa this coming weekend - so it'll be another round of catching up and partying. Can't wait.

I knew it was true....

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2316487.ece

Hahah - I'm a stickler for this. I like my tea "just so". This is a cup of hot, strong, English tea.

Boiling water has to be put on the tea, a little milk. It must be strong and hot. I am happiest when I drink it from a favourite mug.

Now it's in print - I know I'm not nuts!