Yesterday I learned a new skill. I know! Surprise. There is a multitude of things I have yet to try in this world and one of those things was weed eating. Yes. You heard it hear first. I channeled my inner lawn and gardener and spent about an hour and a half yesterday weed eating my lawn. Eventually I had given my lawn a buzz cut that a marine would be proud of but during the process, at first I thought I was done. I had been so focused on one thing and got that particular weed nailed only to look up and realize that I wasn’t done. Not by a long shot. It got me to thinking about how I might be losing sight of the big picture. Ever feel like you need some time to truly reflect and see the big picture?

 

Oh in other news: Halloween weekend was spectacular. I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend surrounded by great friends, family and fun crazy nutty people. It’s just a good time.

 

Mel’s great post today summed it up pretty well. She mentioned that the rain was very similar to a purification and allows you to start over. Today’s rain certainly has that sort of feeling to it. It’s really purifying. Today I realized that I just want to start living my best life again which means finding some place to volunteer and give back, be healthier and recenter my energies around great, positive influences. I feel as though I’ve lost connection with myself lately …  my true self. It’s time to begin again and of course I can’t resist dancing in the rain.

I also realized that my health and fitness goals are within reach. They’re absolutely positively possible.  I’ve already accomplished one thing that a few months ago everyone who knows me would have deemed impossible. I gave up Diet Dr. Pepper. Haven’t had a drop since June 21. It’s amazing but positive, life changes do occur and people can change. I’m living proof. So now I just have to keep the forward progress going. So I sat down tonight and planned out all of my meals and workouts for the rest of the week. It makes it easier to stick to! Now it’s back to basics of eating right and exercising… and dancing. Anyone want to take dance classes with me? Any form or medium… I’m all for it.

Life’s like Texas Aggie Football…. Good, bad, or really ugly, it’ll always surprise you. Can’t believe we actually won in Lubbock over the weekend. I am still in shock even more so than the horrid loss we suffered against Kansas State. Talk about unpredictable! Crazy Aggies. Trix are for Kids.

In other news, I’m writing again. It feels good. Stay tuned for some great fiction I have a very active imagination!

We’re both speaking English. At least I think we are. But it’s as if we’re speaking entirely different languages. I’ve had this feeling a lot lately. Most recently I have been working with a travel writing community on several articles. And it feels like there’s some unstated rule or uncommunicated deadlines that are not expressed. One would assume that journalists and communications majors are effective communicators but I’m often finding myself unawares. As if I’m not asking the right questions or blindsided by their expectations. It’s like I’m learning a whole new language and one that I will master.

In other news, the A/C man finally came out to replace the motor. A whole month and a few days without A/C due to even more miscommunications and failures to communicate. After being stood up by him 4 times. He finally comes out to tell me he needs to order a part. It took 3 weeks to get the part he needed and of course I tried to make arrangements with him to see if he needed me to leave a check and access to the house for a friend since I was in Europe for a few weeks. He never responded. Then he calls while I’m gone. So I called me back to schedule a time and he tells me he returned the part because he couldn’t get ahold of me even after I told him 7 times I was in Europe BEFORE I left. For some reason there are days when I just think it’s me that is crazy and everyone else is sane. It’s like we’re all speaking in tongues.

Well really I’m in flight again. Otherwise it might take me a little while longer to arrive here in London. So you guessed it, I’m in London again. And this time around it’s really great. While London hasn’t changed very much at all, I certainly have. It’s become apparent just how much I’ve changed by coming back to London. I am much happier today than I was back then. And I’m keeping that forward momentum going. I have literally gotten rid of the most toxic relationships in my life and freed myself from anything that might possibly bring me down. It’s allowed me to be open to new things. It’s amazing.

Enough on the serious stuff. You should see my journals if you want the deep intimate details but I’m not going there. My flight to London was pretty routine. I was delighted to have a working video entertainment system and the man next to me who didn’t snore. It was a pretty routine flight. Pre-flight however was anything but routine. As many of you know, I’m trying to just meet new people so I’m practicing making eye contact and saying a friendly hi to all sorts of random people. Thursday I met the most hilarious person. I went to the duty free store to purchase a bottle of scotch ($20 for a single malt.. hell to the yes!) when I encountered this guy who we’ll call LiquorSam. LiquorSam was in charge of selling said scotch as it was on special and was hosting tastings in the duty free store. And boy was he scotched!

DFW was actually pretty slow for a Thursday and so I literally had little escape from his ministrations. LiquorSam gave me a free tasting of scotch and continued to regale me with his lifelong dreams. He told me about his failed relationships, his failure to remember his cell phone (as he wanted my number… after telling me he can’t stay faithful… uhm yeah… it’s a good thing I know the Papa Johns delivery number for Dallas just in case), and then he went on to tell me about his dreams. LiquorSam tells me how very logical he is. He then goes on to tell me that while his day job is to sell scotch at the duty free store in DFW, he’s really destined to do something great with his life and starts profiling all of the customers in the store. He wants to be a logistics analyst for the US government but his inability to keep his mouth shut keeps getting in his way. You would think this conversation took hours? No. this string of intimate details comes out within 15 minutes. In fact, my brother was texting me during the conversation and I wasn’t paying attention to half of it but I did have to excuse myself before he started in on the service men who had entered. It was here that I made the excuse that my plane was boarding and fled. I told him to keep chasing his dream. It certainly made me think twice about drinking too much scotch so he’s making a positive impact on life after all!

I promise to post more while I’m away. I have been posting to my health and travel blogs too. Look for more articles at Matador. I’m really loving it! Tomorrow, I’ll tell you the story about my 3 hour walk in Hyde Park including a bit of a nekkid surprise… so stay tuned.

I know! I haven’t posted in forever. You are so right. I have been neglecting you. Mea Culpa.

So the joys of home ownership continue. I’ve already won a war with the dishwasher. The arm will now stay in place and victory is mine! This week’s work revolved around a much greater arch nemesis, the dryer. Buit circa 1942, the washer dryer combo left by the previous owner leaves little to be desired. BUT, they work. Well kinda. When you do the prayer and rain dance around them. Ho – ya Ho – ya. But the dryer doesn’t dry for the life of it. Well it didn’t. Until SuperMetalchick intervened to save the day! Note: No power tools were harmed in this process.

When I noticed the dryer wasn’t drying, I asked around a bit. See! A girl can learn! And I was told that it’s possible the lint vent might be clogged. So yesterday I investigated a little more closely only to discover that indeed, it was full of straw!?! Once the straw was removed, the drying took on a likeness of having sheets that felt hot as the Sarhara Desert. Much goodness goes out to all those who helped out in my time of need.

Lint Vent Blockage

In other news, I recently became a published author! I was recently paid for my first online writing assignment. This project is what’s taken me away from posting more regularly here. But no worries. I’m renewing my interest in all of my blogs! So stay tuned! Changes are a coming. And remember… life’s a journey and only you hold the map! So go off the beaten path! Hugs!

I know. I have been poorly treating you my dear readers. Mea Culpa. And not really for a good reason. I’ve been working hard on some new blogging projects that have taken all of my writing time outside of work. And to be honest, I’m Loving it! (thank you mickey d’)

I’m working on a few new projects as an intern, contributor, and editor for various travel magazines and blogging sites. And I’ll be posting more about them when my contributions start to manifest moola.

In other news, I have successfully gotten off of caffeine. Well at least I’m not NEARLY as dependent upon it as I was before. How you ask? Well that’s my trade secret but I’ll divulge that it’s taken some slow process steps by first totally eliminating Diet Dr. Pepper from my diet. Yes that stuff that I’m soo addicted to. Then I substituted that with iced tea. Now I’ve eliminated all artificial sweeteners including Splenda. And to be honest, I like drinking water. I still drink iced tea but fresh, ice-cold water is so refreshing, especially after a nice long run. Oh and I rewarded myself today with a new pair of tennis shoes! Can’t wait to get back on the trails after being sick for the past couple of days! Wahoo.

Then in other other news, I close on my house in 2 weeks. I can’t freaking WAIT! I picked out colors and am all ready to go. It should be fantastic. OH! and if you remember this post about stars, I’ve already started pricing LED lit ceiling panels. I’ve got a plan! Don’t worry you’ll get an invite to the multiple house parties that we’re throwing! Should be fun times… had by all.

I got my first comment on my new Travel Blog today from someone who I haven’t bribed, begged, or pleaded with to take a look at my site. Now I just have to finish the header graphic, facebook integration, and Twitter pages. First things first. Travel blog. Then the world! Oh and I might get an internship position at Matador…. writing about sports travel. Keep your fingers crossed.

In other news. I’m taking my life. Putting myself into a snowglobe. And shaking. REALLY Hard. Stay tuned. I know you’re fascinated.

I’m totally delinquent in any updates. But fear not! I’ll update you really soon on the super secret project! But in other news, I haven’t had a Diet Dr. Pepper in over 7 days now. Amazing what a little determination and inspiration can do huh? Thanks to my good friend for continuing to inspire me!

This weeks goal: Climb Mt. Everest! Too ambitious? Okay okay. I’m committed to increasing cardio to an hour a day.

Hey everyone! I know it’s been a whole 4 days since my last post. And oh boy have I not missed you. Not once. Okay. Maybe a little bit. But I have had an amazing weekend. Through the awesome support of my friends and family, I was able to cross one more item off my bucket list. I competed and completed my first Adventure Race! Check out the video below. I couldn’t have accomplished so much without the amazing support of the Moxy Pucks team. Jim, Rob, and Darin rock my socks and so much more. Through their tireless effort and support, we were able to finish in 13 hours to be rewarded with steaks and fantastic beer. I don’t think a Lone Star ever tasted sooo very good. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. After crossing this off my list, I realize that I really can do anything. The world is my oyster and I’m the pearl. Yes. I even nasceate myself sometimes with my cheeriness.

Okay I know you’re dying to hear the synopsis. So here goes:

The first leg started out with us getting wet. Yes. We were drenched most of the day. Soaked. Stinky. Sweaty. I can alliterate. Who knew? We had an inner tube relay across the river.Leg 2 was a 9 mile Mountain bike section to be immediately followed with the big water slide and climbing the Iceberg and swimming. We made up some massive time with the ingenious efforts of our navigator through the hiking portion. Then had an awesome time working through the hike/bike trek section, the dirt section where my scooter filled up with mud. Our luck wasn’t 100% as we didn’t go far enough west for our last checkpoint before the final checkpoint. We were soo close. Yet so far. Eventually with the help of other teams, we were able to find it and complete our mission. Looking back over the weekend, I can honestly tell you I’ve never learned so much. I had some great teachers and it was an awesome experience. So who’s going to do the next one with me? You know you wanna. Oh and I gotta give some mad props to the people who put on this competition, too cool racing.

So again… who’s with me for the next one? You know you wanna!

For anyone who spends a modicum amount of time traveling, you will invariably encounter the ever elusive place called an airport. These places are not be confused with casual, carefree train stations. Oh no siree. Airports are a hub of activity day and night. Airports are as unique in character as the patrons that careen down their hallways (sometimes they run. And I just saw someone do a cartwheel). And today is no different. I’m not a fan of O’Hare. We’ve discussed this. Even though today I’m stuck a lot longer than I really wanted to be, I was able to find the ever-elusive power outlet. Thank goodness for small miracles since finding a power outlet at O’Hare is like trying to find a beer in Saudi Arabia or someone sober at Mardi Gras. It’s that rare. I kid you not. Today’s a fun day to be at the airport as it’s the start of Memorial Day weekend and more casual passengers are flying to destinations filled with sandy beaches and hopefully a few dozen cocktails with umbrellas! Gotta have the umbrellas so they don’t get hot!

No where else in the world can you see the savvy business man with his blue tooth chatting away about this new deal he’s going to close. I so desperately want to run up to him and try to get his slicked back hair to move. He’s sitting next to the indie rocker chick (which reminds me, I’ve GOT to find out where she got that belt. kick ass). There’s some navy sailors chatting it up with an elderly couple. And this one woman wearing white pants… who wears white pants? … complaining about the condition of the seats. It’s a great place to people watch.

You also get to see some pretty incredible moments while you’re here. The elderly couple just gave up their seats on the DFW flight since the navy sailors are flying standby and trying to get home on leave.The other day when I was departing Austin, I noticed that everyone (And I do mean the entire airport) was standing, silently, and watching out the window as a soldier was taken home to his final resting place. It was certainly a bitter sweet moment. I was proud of everyone for respecting him and his family. Okay enough of the sappy stuff.

Did you know that in a lot of airports you can start buying alcohol early? Seriously. If I wasn’t doing the race in less than 24 hours I would already be tossing back an ice cold bud. But I’m being a good girl so I can kick ass on the trail this weekend. Should be fun. So excited. But for right now I have got to go talk to Mr. TooCool and his slicked back hair. I can’t resist just messing with him a bit. Carpe Diem!

PS: Quick update. I just met this guy who’s trying to convince me to drink egg martini’s. He swears it’s the new ‘thing’ in Chicago. I wonder if it’ll catch on. The recipe sounds intriguing. I might have to try it. This is going on at the same time that I see a woman running to catch a plane in a full ballgown style wedding dress and veil. Man. Why did I have to forget to charge my camera?