Thank God It’s Friday

I keep thinking that my life will get easier and slow down soon, but it doesn’t seem to be happening. I’m still spending way too much time on that thorn-in-my-side book. And the worst part is that Karlo is completely off the hook now. He’s having a ball playing in the garage every night while I’m chained to the laptop. Where is the justice there? Just when I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel, both Karlo and the publisher remind me that I need to make the master CD that will be included with the book. This is a whole separate big project that I, quite honestly, forgot all about. Nothing can ruin my day faster than the reality that I’m not nearly to the end of the tunnel. This will now drag on until the end of July.

It’s a good thing this was a short week. I have been in a daze trying to figure out what day it was. Yesterday I completely screwed up (thinking it was Wednesday) and didn’t realize that I had my dance class until we were halfway finished with our bike ride. Ooops. I missed the class and guess what I did instead? Worked on the book! Uuuugh.

Yesterday, I put some pasta in the microwave for lunch. While it was cooking I sat in the kitchen and ate my secondary snack. Then I completely forgot about the pasta and went back to my office. My lunch sat in the kitchen all afternoon as I sat at my desk trying to figure out why I was so hungry! I don’t know what day it is and I’m forgetting to eat my meals. This is getting scary.

Dear Lisa . . .

How scary is it that I talk to most of my friends more via internet technology than in real life? So Lisa, I know you're listening . . . First I want to wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY today.

I also want to explain why I thought chickens couldn't fly. You see, one of my all time favorite movies "The Chicken Run" clearly showed the chickens trying to learn how to fly. I think this is why I took it as gospel truth that chickens couldn't fly. After all, I did see it on TV. It MUST be true. If the clay chickens couldn't fly then how could the real chickens fly?

Can everybody tell that I REALLY need a vacation? Sigh.

Did You Know?

That chickens can fly? I just made this discover today and I'm still in shock. I, personally, have never seen a chicken fly. Have you? Not sure why this struck me as so amazing. Amazing because 1.) I didn't think chickens should fly and 2.) it took me this long in life to find it out.

Yes, another very busy day at work without much time to dedicate to the blog. I'm sorry.

I'm Back

Sorry for the lapse in blog postings. It’s been one busy week and weekend. Last week was consumed by our trade show at the Big E. Long days and nights, but it was a very productive show, both for our company and for our book promotion.

This weekend was such a treat. We actually took time to have some fun. We hiked, biked, lounged, watched a parade, and went for some motorcycle rides. In addition to all the playing we also got lots of work done around the house and on the book. All in all it was a very good weekend.

The dogs were happy to get out after being alone most of the week. This was a special treat because we convinced Karlo to actually leave our yard. We hiked a blue blaze trail very close by and it was awesome. Most of the trail is lined with Mountain Laurel that will bloom at the end of June. I can't wait to see the trail then. Poor Bentley had a tough time. I hate to say this, but he may be too old for real hikes now. Breaks my heart.

We took our first 'real' bike ride of the season. I mapped out a great little 20 miler, printed out a very small map of the route and off we went. The ride started out spectacular. I couldn't believe what a great job I did with the route. We were in heaven . . . until we realized that we were lost. We had no food, no money, no food, no real map, and no clue where the heck we were. We had to use the sun to figure out which direction we were headed and our 20 miler turned into more of a 30 - 35 miler. Oh well. I was just happy to find Rt. 44. It's both exciting and scary to be biking in new territory.

We also took in some local Eastford entertainment. I guess you could say the parade was 'entertaining.' It had to be the smallest and lamest thing I ever saw, but that in itself was entertaining. The highlight was the llamas, oxen and chickens. I got to pet a llama so that made my day.

We finally got to see the house in Haddam. We stopped by to visit the family who was working hard rewiring the electricity to the dock. Karlo lended a helping hand while I caught up visiting with Dad, Penni and Nicole.

Now that I’m back to work I’m buried under a week’s worth of backed-up emails and work to do. Uuuugh. Here’s a very short (and lame) pictorial recap of my week.

Sad News

It is with great sadness that I have to write this . . . Karlo's mother passed away today. We are both still in shock. Less than three weeks ago we were all together having a ball. I finally got the chance to get to know her, and now that I feel close to her, we lose her. We are trying to focus on the fact that we got to spend so much time with her and Karlo's last memory of her is very recent and very pleasant. I'm looking at my hand-knit hat, computer case, pillows, vest and all the other little things that she left us in a whole new light. It really is amazing how you can have something one day and it can be gone the next. Life is so precious. We really do need to slow down and enjoy it more.

Gone, but never forgotten. We will miss her greatly.

When Will It End?

Wow, time is flying and, as usual, I’m completely overwhelmed. I think I have some catching up to do. We spent most of Friday at the Big E, setting up our trade show booth. What great fun that was – not!

Our weekend was a blink of an eye. Saturday got off to a very rocky start. We were supposed to have a medical exam (at home) at 10 AM. This exam required fasting for 6 hours so I requested the first available time slot. 10 AM was the soonest I could get. We rearranged our entire day and starved ourselves all morning. It got to be 10:30 and still nobody showed up. Karlo insisted that we give them until 11 and we did. I thought I would pass out from hunger seeing as I skipped dinner the night before. Well, those rotten buggers never showed up and never called. I was irate.

After that ordeal we went outside to finish the landscaping and that was when I SAT ON A CACTUS. Don’t ask! My day was getting worse instead of better.

Luckily it did improve. Karlo and I went out on a date. What a concept. We went out to dinner, did some shopping, and went to see a fabulous dance show. It was nice to get out.

Yesterday we got a short break from the HELL that is working on Karlo’s book. We worked all morning and all afternoon/evening. We skipped dinner and I shut my computer down at 9 PM. To say I am sick-to-death of that book is a gross understatement. But on a brighter note, we took our very first bike ride of the season with my favorite biking buddy and his wife. We also got a chance to sit outside and have lunch. A very nice and much needed break.

Here is my picture recap

Forgot to Mention

Since Lisa mentioned me in her blog today (in quite an embarrassing way . . . I’ll get you back Lisa) I will mention her in mine (too bad I don’t have a way to embarrass her yet). We were chatting this afternoon and I mentioned that I was going to do my Ab Ripper X exercise and she questioned, “Aren’t you done with P90X now?” That’s when it dawned on me that I never talked about it my personal blog. I have every gory detail outlined in my YogaDudes blog, but I never made the official announcement here of my great accomplishment. So if I may . . . .

I SURVIVED P90X! Does anybody remember when I was hemming and hawing trying to decide if I should commit to this insane 90 day workout routine? Well, I did it. Today is actually my one week anniversary of the completion date. That is why we were able to get out and play last night. I’m tellin’ ya, not many things in life feel as good as having that ordeal behind me. I made it through the entire 90 days, never missing a single day. I worked my tail off and I’m very proud of myself. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been and I feel great. Add that to my list of “things that I just had to do to see if I could do it.”

Life is Almost Good Again

Today was the first evening of the year that Karlo and I went home and played. Actually, we played before we even got home. I drove my own motorcycle to work today and to my surprise, on the way home, Karlo took a sudden turn off our dirt road into my favorite trails. We took a nice little detour, just for the fun of it. It was bliss. For once we weren’t rushing home so that we can open our laptops and work. I can get used to this.

Once we finally meandered our way home, we loaded up the kayak onto the new rack that Karlo has been busy building and took off to Acadia National Park. OK, maybe we didn’t drive all the way to Maine, but it sure felt like we did. I was in awe at how beautiful the lake at Bigelow Hollow was – and this is our backyard. I remember being sad that we don’t have Coventry Lake nearby. That was my favorite place to kayak after work. Well, I am kissing Coventry Lake goodbye and I wouldn’t be sad if I never saw it again. This blows the pants off of Coventry. It was the closest thing to being in Maine. It really is incredible how much our dream of moving to Maine has come true by moving to Eastford. We are basically living in Maine, while still being close to family & friends and keeping our good jobs. Life is good after all. And it’s only going to get better once the book is done.

New Shopping Discovery

This past weekend we went out exploring and, to my delight, we found a brand new shopping plaza. It never occurred to me to travel east from our house. After all, we live in the middle of nowhere and the further you go East, the further you get from civilization. At least that’s what I thought. Well, low and behold . . . if you go far enough into nowhere, you get somewhere. Exactly 20 miles from our house (and I know that may sound far to most of you city folk, but that is just about the minimum we must travel to shop) we stumbled upon a huge new plaza. So far there is a big Lowes and there is soon to be a Super Stop & Shop, a Staples, a Target (heaven) and this is the best part, a Michaels (drool). Oh and I forgot to mention the 2 Dunkin Donuts on each side of the new plaza.

We made a nice scenic-drive shopping loop. From home to Dayville (that was the first I ever heard of that town), then from there we hopped on the highway (not sure I ever used it before) I395 for two exits. That put us in front of a Sears, a TJMaxx (yippee) and a Walmart in Putnam. The drive back from Putnam is beautiful. It was a happy shopping expedition. It takes great lengths to get Karlo to agree to go to Manchester. Must be something to do with his growing dislike for people and traffic. But getting him agree to take this scenic loop is a snap – especially with all the Dunkin Donuts on the way. I’m finally getting comfortable with living in the Sticks

Cuteness

I was going to write all about my weekend, but the truth is I didn’t take a single picture to show what I wanted to talk about so that is going to have to wait. It’s not just me slacking . . . I don’t want to show it off until it’s complete and we are 95% of the way there. Let me just say that we still need mulch, stones and . . . . FISH. There, the secret is out of the bag. Stay tuned for the big unveil.

But I do have some pictures that I wanted to share. My friend Jean, the Whippet breeder (wait, make that ex-Whippet breeder) had puppies a couple of weeks ago. It was a horrific ordeal that I won’t share with you, and that is why she’s never going to breed her dogs again. But here is the positive outcome of all the Hell and stress she endured . . . there are 7 all together. Lisa, don’t get any crazy ideas. How cute are they?

Catching Up

I was in Hartford again today and at one point somebody asked me what the date was. I didn't even know what day it was, forget the actual date. When it was finally determined that today was May 9th I quickly realized that I missed my brother's birthday yesterday. Sorry Angelo! And a happy belated birthday.

Here's a funny story . . . I was talking to Lisa this week and she told me that her sister called her and said, "Mom saw your comment on Paula's blog and wants to change the date of our party." Lisa's nephew's birthday is on July 5th and her family was planning a party. But lo and behold, Lisa's mother noticed that I was planning our little shin dig and changed their family party so that Lisa could make it to ours. I found this to be amazing on two accounts. One, she would go through that trouble and 2, Lisa's mother reads my blog???? Lisa's Mom, if you're reading . . . thank you and I hope you can also make it out here for the party.

And speaking of Lisa, this is mostly her fault and also a little bit of Jamie's fault. Lisa showed me a new blog theme a couple of days ago and it just happened to be right after Jamie complained about my lack of pictures from my Hartford report. So what am I up to now? Another new blog. Like I have time for that. Introducing my new photo blog: www.allaboutthephotos.wordpress.com.

My Week In Hartford

I’m taking a little hiatus from the conference today. It’s very slow and quiet around the office today as most of the Sales and executive staff are still in Hartford. I’ll be back there tomorrow, but today I’m trying to catch up on my life. I am, however, missing all the great free food. That’s the best part of work travel . . . all the awesome food. We got spoiled for the last three days and tonight we will be hurting for dinner.

Speaking of dinner, on Tuesday night we had a fabulous group dinner at a place in Hartford that was formerly known as “Joe Blacks.” I think it’s changing ownership and the new name may be “The Society Room.” It’s on Pratt Street. If you ever get the chance, check the place out. It was beautiful. The entire night, I just couldn’t believe that we were in Hartford. The atmosphere was very unique and the food was fantastic.

We also attended a little Cinco de Mayo party at City Steam. Also a fun night. Free drinks and yummy appetizers. What more can you ask for?

It wasn’t all play. Karlo is there now doing his presentations. And I had to shmooze with all our dealers just about every minute. I lost my voice on Monday. It’s incredible how exhausting it is to talk all day and night. There was a fair amount of business talk (boring), but most of the conversations were interesting. We had dealers from all over the world there and it was fun to talk to them. I reminisced about my travels to Singapore with that dealer. Yes, it was funny that Paula was the only person freezing in the entire country. I had a ball and spent an hour talking to my new best friend from New Zealand. I built him a website early this year and now he’s welcoming us down under for a visit. I got as much info about the country as I could. Fascinating. I can’t wait to visit.

I also enjoyed talking to our dealer in France about his hometown of Brittney (did I spell that right?). As it turns out, a leg of Tour de France will be held very near his home or office. Sounds like I need a good business reason to visit him in July!

And I can’t tell you how many conversations about motorcycles we had. Our dealer in Florida recently bought the same bike that Karlo has. He had lots of stories to tell and rides to recommend. So many places to visit and never enough time.

Here’s The Deal

So what’s up with July 5th? Karlo and I are thinking about having a party. I think we’ll have a few things to celebrate:

• Independence Day
• The book is going off to press on July 1st
• July marks one year in our new digs
• And I’m turning 30

But the problem is that I can’t seem to commit to the idea. Parties just scare me. Way too much work and stress. But we’ll see. I’ll keep you all posted.

Blogging for the rest of the week may be difficult as I’ll soon be on my way to the sunny and beautiful city of . . . Hartford (sigh) for our annual reseller conference. Most of my days and nights will be sucked up by this conference until Thursday. I’m actually looking forward to walking around downtown. I fear that I won’t even recognize it from my “Downtown Julie Brown” days. So much has changed. But for tonight, I’ll be flashing back to the good ole days with a Cinco de Mayo party at Hartford Steam. I could use a fun night out!

Happy Cinco de Mayo to all.

Just Curious

I'm wondering . . . does everybody already have plans for 4th of July weekend? Is anybody free on the 5th????

Computers 101

On Karlo's mother's last night here in the US we introduced her to the world of computers, email, and internet. Why we waited until the last night, I'm not sure. She loved it. We couldn't pry her away from the computer. It was the cutest thing.

First, I went online and navigated my way to some Hungarian websites. We decided to set her up with her very own email address. By the way Lisa, our little "Momakam" term is now her official online name! This was very exciting for her, as this was her FIRST TIME ever touching a computer. It was fascinating to watch her as she experienced this. I quickly realized that telling her to "click" on something was completely meaningless. Within five minutes, we established our own new terminology. I had to tell her to "push" when I wanted her to click and what we know as "dot" was now "point." We had some good laughs as she struggled with the mouse.

It was amazing how we progressed throughout the evening. After 30 minutes, I was sitting on the couch with my laptop sending her emails. And she was sending emails back! This simply amazed her. I can't describe how exciting it was for all of us. This can very well be the connection that we have been yearning for. We can send her letters in a more convenient and timely fashion and better yet, pictures. I can just see her, eagerly riding her bicycle to the library to check her mail. As if I wasn't already completely enamored with technology, this seals the deal. How did we ever live without it?