Why

Why don't things work out for you two?
Why?
Why?
Why don't you walk away?
That question I can answer.
Texts at 5:43 a.m. telling me to have a good flight (at 6 a.m.) make it impossible.
For me.
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Day 37: Headed Home

40 minutes between flights and a Wendy's cheeseburger as I make my way home.

There is no place like home.

There is no place like home.

There is no place like home.

Side note: Why do all airports have such heinous carpet?

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Day 36: Dinner on the Road

Day 35: Work Travel

And so begins that packing process. Again!

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Day 28: Workout Binder

When you eat like this:

You have to workout. I do not have healthy eating habits. My favorite foods are rich, creamy and fried. So I workout a lot to try and combat the effect that food has on my waistline. I am quasi effective.

In order to keep from getting bored I keep a workout binder on hand to change things up a bit. I read a lot of fitness and health magazines and when I see a workout I think would be fun/challenging/effective/hard/beneficial I rip it out. I had a fabulous binder about 2 years ago but lost it and have been slowly working on rebuilding. It has become my new Monday ritual.

So what do you need to get started?

A selection of magazines. While I use Shape, Women's Health and Health the most I pull workouts from anywhere. I have been known to use star workouts from US Weekly and routines/tips found in Glamour, InStyle and Real Simple.

Some friends to keep you company. 

Start tearing out the workouts you find interesting. 

Place the workouts in sheet protectors. 

And place in your pretty binder. 



I keep the various workouts organized inside the binder by utilizing tabs that keep them divided by body part. The tabs I use include:

• Abs
• Butt
• Arms
• Legs
• Full Body
• Bikini Body
• Running/Tri Plans
• Yoga

The binder goes with me to the gym and when I travel. Many of the workouts are designed to workout at home or with little to no equipment which makes them ideal for on the road.

Reader Notes:

Yes, the significance of the Surf Ballroom is that it is the place "Where Music Died." Great job. Gary Allan was my third concert at this historic location. If you like music history at all I recommend Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman. Great book.

Bud Light is a fabulous beer.

Day 8: Starbucks

When traveling for work you can almost always find me with Starbucks in hand. Today is the first time I have had the newly designed cup.

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Day 7: Meetings

When this is where you have meetings, you smile. A lot.

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Day 6: Work Travel

Yes, I missed Day 5. I blame the boots with the fur and a 30th birthday with a beer pong tournament.

Moving onto day 6...in what will likely be a popular picture in this blog I am off on another work trip.

As we are on the tail end of our fiscal year and working to ensure our contracts are back on time and thus superseding our goals I shouldn't have to travel too much this month.

Fingers crossed.

But right now, I'm leaving the flurries behind and headed to the sunshine state.

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Ski Trip

Part of the 2011 vision included a ski trip and this past weekend I did just that.



There were tumbles.

Wipe outs.

Crashes.

But for someone who hadn't skied in 15+ years and who had NEVER skied in the mountains. I did pretty darn good.

I never conquered the blacks but I held my own on the blues.

And I perfected the art of falling and having multiple cute snowboarding boys stop to help me up.

All in all it was a vacation success.

Note: the difference in the two pictures is best explained in the change of weather. The first day was ideal. High 30's, sunshine and no wind. The second day was overcast, heavy snowfall and winds. 



Only Me

Only I would be headed to Phoenix when a cold front is headed in.

Today? 88 and sunny.

Tomorrow through Friday? Mid 60's.

Saturday, the day after I leave? 88 and sunny.

My new swimsuit? Not needed.

Those afternoons the conference has carved out for free time at the pool? Unnecessary.

Sad is an understatement.

The Night I Almost Met Darius Rucker

The trip to Miami was amazing.

The sound of the ocean is soothing for the soul...

Monday was filled with conference sessions and an amazing key note speaker Ron Jaworski. He told tales of his career in the NFL and his experiences on Monday Night Football. A very engaging speaker even if you aren't the worlds biggest sports fan.

Monday night we had a yacht cruise with a poker tournament...and I got second! With a little group effort. But the best part? I won an iTouch! I have wanted an iPhone forever but since my work pays for my phone and I am well...cheap/frugal I thought I would never have one.

But this is the next best thing and so cool! I love it.

Tuesday was slam packed with meetings but then I got the news that I was hoping for...

I was going to meet Darius Rucker at a private meet and greet before our private concert at Mansion.

I was like a kid at Christmas. Excited would be an understatement.

We went for dinner at Sushi Samba but I couldn't really eat. I was too excited.

We were due to be there at 7:30.

The club was only a few blocks away.

7:30 came. 7:30 went. The others at dinner who would also meet him said it wouldn't start on time. We would be fine.

We got there at 8. It was over.

I was crushed. So sad.

But I was front row.

I got 2 guitar pics.

2 fist pumps.

I love him. He puts on such a good show!

Miami & 150

I am in Miami until Wednesday for work. That should be great right?

It is. Awesome hotel. And while the weather is warmer than home...its not south Florida weather. Boo. Was hoping for more sun and warmth.

But I love my hotel and the beautiful view of the ocean.

But the bar scene? Ick.

I am a reverse bar snob as I wrote back in May. Nicky Beach? Not my kind of place.

Paying $300 for a $40 bottle of Kettle One? Dumb. Who needs bottle service on a Sunday night? Who needs bottle service in general?

I mean, I do. In the form of a Bud Light (Select) bottle.

I can't believe this is my 150th post.

That people read this thing.

That I have survived.

This has been an amazing outlet for all of the things that go through my head. Here's to 150 more!

Random Musings

• Cookies + All 1st class seating on Midwest Airlines = happy traveler
• Someday Google will rule the world
• If I could only watch one channel the rest of my life it would be SoapNet
• Kiefer Sutherland is my number 1 on my "celebrity list"
• I don't understand people with entitlement complexes
• If you aren't saving 20% of your salary I don't understand you
• I think education is vital. If school wasn't your thing then learn a trade skill or learn a hobby!
• I hate liars and I hate people that cheat
• I love to read and subscribe to about 13 magazines. I read them cover to cover before starting a new one

NYC

I love New York City in the same way I love Las Vegas. It tends to be a hot love affair that fizzles quickly. I leave feeling as though I have been run over by a mack truck swearing to never return again. Only in six months I find myself wishing that I can recreate that magic and my desire to return intensifies.

Yesterday was my first day in NYC in a year. It started with an oh so magical and "nothing says NYC like lunch at the Olive Garden" promptly followed by an industry meeting. Joy. Off to a great start. In the evening I stepped up my NYC-ness and had dinner at Budakahn, drinks at Pastis with post drinks at Cielo.

Let me go off on a small tangent here....my own personal version of hell is a techno/house music bar where I can't hear anyone. Which is a exactly what Cielo is. That is exactly what I am not.

I am, for the record, a girl who drinks beer in a bottle, loves steak and potatoes, believes in the right to carry a gun, can drive a stick shift, understands odds at a sports book, can ride a horse, rope a dummy calf, has a masters degree in business and plays poker...in heels. To me this sums up my total and utter disdain for uber trendy bars where it is important to be seen and not heard.

Give me a dive bar with a dart board and a maybe even a shuffle board table. Scoff at the person who wants to know what kind of vodka you have NOT at the person who wants a Bud Light bottle.

But I digress.

Today was meetings and tradeshow. Oh how fun is that?

But dinner? Dinner was at Del Frisco's. Del Frisco's equals heaven. (Del Frisco's also apparently equals every New York man who wears a suit. Seriously, the male/female ratio was 60:1) Ah-maz-ing. Ah-maz-ing. Love it. Will return. Drinks at the W afterwards.

I am ready to go home to see my furry babies. Not ready to go home to my empty house. I don't feel like a failure on the road. I can pretend that my life is normal here. But when I return home...I am anything but normal.

Memphis

A city in Tennessee.

A place of chock full of memories where I thought my life began.

Tonight it was a song. Walkin in Memphis by Marc Cohn. Our first trip, the first place he told me he loved me. The first time I was ever scared by my feelings for someone. Tonight I hear that song and I am so consumed by memories it makes me tear up.

I tear up in a cab after flying to NYC, attending a meeting, dinner at Budakahn, drinks at Pastis...what a great life, right?

But all I can think of is what I have lost and how I would give anything to have him back. I know that is irrational, I know that at some point I will be able to look back and see it all happened for a reason but I am just not there yet. I just want the man that I love to come back to me and the life we planned.