Another Hotel Room

In my boredom and in an effort to do anything except spend time in the hotel gym, I did a little research tonight.

I moved to Virginia on March 15. I actually didn't start my new position until March 26. That was 138 days ago, including today. In those 138 days, I have spent 82 nights in hotels!!! Oh, my God! That's alot of hotel rooms.

Most of those hotel rooms have been for work in such exotic locations at Laurel, Maryland; Manassas, Virginia; Durham, North Carolina; and Washington, DC. I have had some good hotel trips including the Waldorf Astoria in NYC, The Inn on T Street in DC, and this cute little place in Krakow. And we can't forget the B&B in Rome that gave us this view:






Really, we were standing on the little street in front of the front door to our B&B, and YES that's the Pantheon! Hello? 2,000 year old structure!









So, what was my point here? I'm not really sure. It's about 1 a.m. and I should be asleep on another strange hotel bed. No wonder I've recently acquired some sleeping troubles. I wish I was home in my bed with squishy the pillow, Patrick and the two baby cats. But, I gotta pay the man, and I do love my job, so that makes it easier.

I'll never be a...

food stylist or food photographer. Now, I probably give it a go at food styling. Just not today. Take no offense blog readers, I just don't have the time or patience today.

I went on a little cooking jaunt yesterday.

For dinner we had chicken tikka masala. It was good, but not great. I can do better. I just love tikka. I know, I know, it's not REAL Indian food. It was invented in a pub in Glasgow for goodness sake, but it's darn tasty. It's on Indian menus across the world now. I find the best is in England and Scotland. Delish. So anyway, this was a tasty dish, although I did overcook the chicken a little.

It's also cherry season. Patrick and I ate three POUNDS of Rainer cherries in one weekend earlier in the month. They were so delicious and juicy. We were at the grocery store last weekend and regular ol' Bing cherries were on sale for $1.99 a pound, the Rainers were $6.99. You know which we bought right?

Well, I ate my share of cherries last weekend and then left to go out of town on Tuesday. On Friday when I returned home, the same amount of cherries were in the "life is just a bowl of cherries" bowl. Hello? Patrick? You're not eating the cherries. To which he replies, I only eat the Rainer cherries.

I decide to make a cherry dessert. After a little research, I decide on a cherry crisp. I've never made a cherry crisp, or any crisp for that matter. I pitted (BY HAND) 5 cups of cherries yesterday. And in the end, I made this...
















The major bummer was that we didn't have any vanilla ice cream. It was so granola-y and crunchy and almondy that I felt like I was eating breakfast. A very tasty breakfast dish. So tasty, in fact, guess what I had for breakfast this morning.

This was a very easy dish to make. I ended up calling it my Cherry Almond Crisp, there are almonds in the "crisp" and a little almond extract in the fruit. It reminds me of the delicious Jergan's cherry almond hand soap and lotion.

I'm off to the suburbs to Washington DC today and I'm late already.

Shark Attack!

Yesterday was the first day of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. I love Shark Week. We watched a few shows yesterday, "Anatomy of a Shark Bite" and "RoboShark".

We were invited to our friend Sean's for dinner last night. I agreed on the condition that we'd be home for the Shark Week premier of "Ocean of Fear" at 9 p.m. Lame, huh?

"Ocean of Fear" is a docudrama narrated by Richard Dreyfuss. It's about the USS Indianapolis, a WWII ship that was torpedoed and sank in just 12 minutes in the Phillipine Sea on July 30, 1945. Intrestingly, the Indianapolis was the ship that delivered the world's first operational atomic bomb just four days prior.

Anyway, these were shark infested waters and this is suspected to be the worst every mass shark attack on humans. I highly recommend that you watch it when it's replayed on August 4th at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. EST.

Now, this is even more interesting, because my Pop was in the Navy during WWII and served on the USS Maham DD-364, which was sunk by a Japanese torpedo attack in the Phillipine Sea on December 7, 1945. Interesting, huh? Pop never talked about it much, but he did attend the Mahan reunions for many years. I'm doing more research to get in touch with other survivors of the ship. I found out last night from my mom that Pop actually saved one of his shipmates who couldn't swim. Can you imagine?

Impressed

I'm pretty pleased with myself. It's the 28th of the month, and this is my 25th post for the month. And, that's considering that I was in Phoenix for a week during the beginning of the month. I'm pretty much a regular blogger now.

Even though I don't get a huge number of comments. My guess is that my blog is a huge hit, that "So, What Else?" has a giant, international following and I don't even know it. Is that possible?

TGIF

I'm so glad it's Friday. I still have work to do...an appointment at 11 a.m. Then I'll have a four hour drive home later this afternoon. So, I'll be home late, but I'm so happy to go home to Patrick. I'll be home until Tuesday morning.

Here's a picture that I found on my camera from our trip to NYC for Patrick's birthday. We ran into "One if by Land, Two if by Sea" for drinks. It's a restaurant in Greenwhich Village. The building used to be Aaron Burr's carriage house. Cool, huh?

Did You Know?

Did you know???

The world's population is expected to rise from today's 6.6 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050?

Each year, the earth's population increases by 80 million people. That's the size of Germany. So, there's one new "Germany" on the planet each year.

That's 1.5 million people each week!! Consider that a new city the of 1.5 million people is created EACH WEEK!

That's 1.5 million people who need clean water, land, energy, etc. But they're creating waste in the form of used water, human waste, carbox dioxide, etc.

A new baby that is born today in a developed nation today, in her lifetime will create the same amount of carbox dioxide as 620 roundtrip flights from London to New York!!

Some things to consider.

(Source: Optimum Population Trust and NPR's On Point)

Poor Placement

Check out these poorly placed ads, courtesy of my friend Brian.

Hump Day

Yep. Wednesday. Nothing here.

Oh, and am in the process of trying to locate a Vosges Chocolate Bacon Bar. Sounds odd, I know. But I really want to try it. I think it sounds decadent and wonderful.

I have a couple of leads in the DC area for it. I'll report back when I find one.

Blech.

I have no interest in working. It's Tuesday and I'm just not into it.

I'd much rather:
Browse Chowhound
Plan a vacation with Leanne in January
Figure out where Patrick and I will take our next weekend trip
Research and make reservations for my trip to NYC in three weeks
Nap
Play with the kitties
Call my mom
Read my new book, "New England White"
Cook dinner
Find a beach umbrella, go to the beach and read my book
Take a walk
Go to Empire for dinner

Instead, this is what I must do:
Finish packing
Make the bed
Get in a car and drive for almost four hours to Baltimore
Meet with the Hungarian hussy at 3 p.m. today (she scares me)
Sleep in a cheesy hotel
Fight with DC traffic
See more clients
Drive home on Thursday night
Get my mid-year review with my boss (4 weeks late)


Which would you rather do?

Updated at about 6 p.m.

What I DID and did NOT do so far today:
I did pack
I did NOT make the bed
I did meet with the Hungarian hussy, she's warming up to me I think
I did not play with the kitties
I DID fight with the DC traffic
I DID call my mom and chat
I did pack my new book, New England White and I will read it tonight while
I'm in my cheesy hotel room

Mor. Ti. Fied.

Mortified. v. tr.
1. To cause to experience shame, humiliation, or wounded pride; humiliate.
2. To discipline (one's body and physical appetites) by self-denial or self-inflicted privation.
3. Gayle, because she seriously goofed up.

Patrick and I were invited to one of his classmate's birthday party yesterday. We actually received the invitation on Friday afternoon. Basically, 24 hours notice. This is a couple that I have met twice...once at a cocktail party that we hosted for about 40 people in November, they were only there for about 15 minutes, I did not get to visit with them. The second time I met them was about six weeks ago when Patrick arranged for us to go out to dinner with them. They are nice people, but probably not folks that we'll bond with and be friends for life. They gave a small gift to Patrick for his birthday in June. Very thoughtful. She new that we were taking a trip to NYC and that you need goodies for the trip. The gift was an assortment of snacks, i.e., chocolates, sunflower seeds, cookies, etc.

We needed to buy a small gift for her for the party last night. Now, we don't know her very well and she's not a complicated woman. We were at the little bit of a loss. We stopped first at a gourmet food shop, knowing that they like to cook. Nothing was striking us. And in light of the fact that this woman asked for ketchup for her meal at the Lebanese restuarant we went to with them, I realized that she may not be a super fancy gourmet cook. I didn't want to waste money on a gift that I would love, but that she would never use.

We decided to go to a very nice home decor/furnishing store. We know that they have been doing remodeling work on their home and thought a nice accesory would be the way to go. We've never been to their home, so we needed something thoughtful, but benign. Patrick spotted a very nice tea light candle holder. Something perfect for a bathroom, which we knew that they had remodeled all three in their home. It was nice, but a little small.

As we wandered around, I found another, lovely, candle holder. It was silver with four cups for votives. I really liked it and it was a little more substantial than the first one. Upon looking at the price, it was a little more than we wanted to spend. But then -- Jackpot! I realize that it's on a clearance table. We decide that based on the original price of the item, and the quality of the item, that it's not tacky to buy it even though it's on sale.

I talk to the clerk who finds a box that is the perfect size, we take of the price tags, wrap everything in lovely tissue paper, find four nice candles to complete the gift, a birthday card, and we're done. Gift wrapped, card completed we're ready for the party.

When we arrive, we find out that no one else has brought a gift to the party. We enjoy the party and linger to the end with the birthday girl and her husband. Patrick says, "Open your gift!" I'm excited that she will love it! I love it, quite honestly.

She opens the gift and the first thing out of the box is the silver base for the votive holders. Which is sporting...wait for it....

A. Gigantic. Red. "50% off" sticker.

I could have died! Just kill me. I got a little nauseated. I blushed. And I smiled like a superstar while I grabbed the gift and pulled off the tag and prayed that she wouldn't notice. She noticed.

I was mortified.

My Bro

As in, my brother, not as in, my "man bra" a la Seinfeld.

My brother is the best! He's a super busy guy and I don't get to see him as often as I'd like. He lives in Louisiana. He's the only guy I know who has only ever worked in the field he loves. Right after college he started and has never that field. And he's good at it too.

After college he moved to NYC to work for Dave Letterman, after a college internship there. Then he moved to L.A. and did lots of film production, commercials, videos, etc. He also worked at a cool product placement agency. You know that all of the brands/plugs, etc. in films come from somewhere, right?

Then, he was off to Chicago to film a documentary. After a short stay with me in Phoenix, he was back to Louisiana after Hurrican Katrina. His expertise was greatly needed and he provided it.

I was looking for pics of the bro, but all of them are just a little odd and require too much effort for a Saturday morning. You'll have to imagine.

Cheers to you, Lil' Buddy!

Thank Elisabeth whateverhernameis on the View is a-nnoy-ing! This week in hotel rooms, I was getting ready or working and The View came on, I'm not really watching it, but it's on. She's interviewing someone, but you'd never know it. She's just talking, talking, talking. Not giving the person she's interviewing a chance to say anything.

Talking, talking, talking. And talking fast, too. She's dumb.

Don't Touch Me

Or, don't let your groceries touch my groceries.

People's behavior in grocery stores just cracks me up. I spend a fair amount of time in grocery stores. I have alot of high end grocery stores as my clients.

When you got to check out, we all put our groceries on the belt. I generally give plenty of space after the person in front of me, then I start loading my things.

Inevitably, the person in front of me will quickly grab the "separator bar" to keep their groceries from touching mine. Come on folks, there's easily 10-12 inches between where your stuff ends and my stuff starts.

I think it's funny. Like I'm not gonna notice if the cashier starts taking my stuff, scanning it and putting it in your bags.

Behind the Times

I realized that I may not be the setting the trends, but I'm not stuck in the 80's. I've heard about bubble, or boba, tea for years. You know, tea with tapioca balls in the bottom. Well, I've never tried it.

Finally last night, I ran into a tea shop for a bubble tea. I got a hibiscus black tea. Oh my! It was lovely. Much sweeter than I expected. I was both intriqued and repulsed by the tapioca balls. Kinda like gummy bears in the bottom of your drink, but not quite as firm.

I'm deciding if I'll try it again today. There's a black milk tea I'd like to try.

Reusable

In my effort to be more green, for the baby shower, I used reusable things.

For example, for the game prizes, I used BB products. Rather than putting them in gift bags or wrapping them with paper, I used dish towels. All of the gifts were small. I bought 4 really cute dish towels and used them to wrap the prizes. Then, when people go home, they can use the towel in their kitchen and think of Sonja and Baby Delaney whenever they use it.

For the party favors, I didn't do gift bags. I bought little ceramic flower pots from IKEA. The pots were filled with lip balm, lip gloss, some type of lotion (all biodegradable) candies and a packet of herb seeds. So each guest can plant the seeds in the pot and use the herbs in their kitchen. No wasted paper and we're getting the benefit of more greens!

Love it.

Back from the Desert

I'm back from Phoenix, I've returned to the swamp. It was so humid when I got off the plane last night.

I had a great, but exhausting trip. It's hard trying to fit everything in. I ate lots of good stuff that I've been missing and I got see just about everyone I wanted to see. I met new babies and kissed cheeks and chatted (er, gossiped) and drank cocktails and hung out.

On Friday, Leanne, Laura, Sonja and I had a fabulous girls night out dinner at Coup de Tartes. It was wonderful. That fluffernutter tarte was amazing!

Saturday was Sonja's baby shower. Baby Delaney will be arriving in less than a month. Sonja is ready to have her now!



The "mommy to be" was beautiful.




The cupcakes were beautiful AND tasty!



And we played silly games.











Fun was had.

Look, I'm Famous

Don't you want my autograph?

Me on TV.

Random Observations

That jet lag thing is real. What is it with traveling the three hour time difference from the east coast to the west coast. I'm alseep at 10 p.m. (except now it's actually 11:30 or so in Phoenix) and I'm awake at 6 a.m. I never wake up at 6 a.m., but my body thinks I should be awake.

Oh, and I was on the news today. Yep, I did a news segment on the local news today. I was actually pleased with myself. Maybe I'll start at new career in front of the camera. But not until I'm a size 4. So, basically, that's never.

AND...105 with 5% humidity, is WAY better than 94 with 85% humidity.

AND...I went to lunch with my friend Brian today. We used to work together at "that evil place" I used to work. We've both escaped, obviously. Brian reads my blog, so I have to say something nice about him. Which, actually it's hard. Brian is funny and smart and I like those two things in a fella. He's also compassionate and he has a cat, so I like him very much. His blog is good, you should visit it. I'll also mention that we had sushi for lunch at a new place that I liked very much also. Cheers, Brian!

My 14 year old neice digs me. And apparently, I'm learning that it's odd for 14 year olds to like anyone who's not between the ages of 14-17 or something like that. So, apparently, there is responsibility attached to the fact that she likes me. I need to keep that in mind when I'm gossiping like crazy in front of her with her mom. And not curse so much too.

I'm going to bed now.

Ode to Pork

I love the pig meat,
Carne adovado oh,
I ate you last night.

Last night I had the pleasure of going to Richardson's. One of my very favorite restaurants of all time in Phoenix. I'm back in Phoenix for the week for work and pleasure.

I was pleased that it was only about 104 degrees yesterday, instead of the expected 112. But, on to the pork.

Last night at about 8, I headed to Richardson's with my friends Matt and Sonja. Of course, I had the carne adovado! My, my, it's my favorite thing on the menu. Slow roasted pork in red chile, so tender than it falls apart while you're trying to get it on the fork, for goodness sake. In a warm chewy tortilla, I'm in heaven.

I have a confession to make, I actually stopped by Richardson's at 11:30 on Monday night on my way from the airport. Usually the kitchen is open late, but at 11:30 on a Monday the kitchen was closed.

So, in my food adventure so far, I went to the Mediterranean House for lunch and had delicious hummus, baba, lentil soup and Greek salad. Then we went to The Gelato Spot for gelato and on to Richardson's last night.

I'm a happy girl. Full of pork.

Sleepy

Now I'm not procrastinating, I'm just tired. It's almost 4 a.m. Virginia time. I've been in Phoenix for about 2 hours and I'm heading to bed.

The sweetest thing was when I drove up at the Chappell's home, there was a big ol' sign hung on the front porch that said, "Welcome Home Gayle". And a cake too, yum!

Procrastination...

I'll do my post in a little bit.

Sicko

Yesterday afternoon, Patrick and I decided to see Sicko, Michael Moore's new movie about health care in the United States. I cried through a good portion of the film.

I've never been embarrassed to be an American. Not through presidents and wars and scandals, I've always known, known that I'd rather live here in the United States with all of its issues that give up my citizenship and live anywhere else on earth. That film yesterday made me embarrassed.

I felt ashamed at what I saw. People who work their whole lives only to be forced to move in with their children after medical setbacks and bankruptcy. A man who was 79 years old working at a drug store, because he has a sick wife and as an employee can get free prescriptions. Elderly, disoriented and poor people who are turned out on to the streets by hospitals before their medical care is complete but who have no or insufficient insurance.

I'm not sure what's the bigger problem, the people with insurance, or those with insurance who still are given a raw deal over and over again. People with insurance who assume that they will be taken care of if they become sick or injured or are blessed with the birth of a new baby.

Now, there's no denying that Michael Moore is a polarizing fellow. There are two sides to every story, but I don't even want to hear the other side to this pitiful tale. No excuse can jusitfy people's lives over money.

I am sickened.

Tacos, tacos, tacos...and maybe sushi

I'm leaving for Phoenix on Monday night. I'll be there until Sunday morning. It's a jammed pack trip with work commitments, a spa day, lunch with the girls and babies, dinner with the girls, a baby shower, a segment on the news and brunch on Sunday before I leave. I have stuff scheduled every second.

The most important part, however, is that I get to eat Mexican food. Tacos and carne adovado and tortillas, oh my! I love it. And there is NO good Mexican food in Norfolk. And I've not had luck in DC either. Although I did have a tasty corn and black bean tamale in C'ville, it wasn't the great stuff I'm used to.

And I haven't had great sushi either. Well, we did have a little sushi in NYC, but I need a real fix. Maybe I can fit that in. There's a new place in the old hood' across the street from the news station, maybe I can hit that after my television debut!

On to wash laundry, clean bathrooms and make beds.

Helpful or hindering?

I'm not sure how to read someone. I've got some great potential things going on at work and they could be great! Someone is either offering me help, or assumes that I'm incompentent and can't move forward without his/her guidance. I'm not sure how to take it and it's frustrating and I'm getting defensive and bitter about it. I guess that means I'm taking it as the assumption of incompetence, huh?

It's just so frustrating. I'm a creature of habit and this change is a little upsetting for me. I'm on the verge of some great things here, and I want to do them on my own.

Mine, all mine, dammit!

One word answers

I was bored, I tried this again. Interesting. Some stuff is the same, like the fact that I'm wearing a t-shirt and no pants.

1. Where is your mobile phone? Bed.
2. Relationship? Sweet.
3. Your hair? Blonde.
4. Work? Burt's.
5. Your sister(s)? None.
6. Your favourite thing? Kitties.
7. Your dream last night? Cat.
8. Your favourite drink? Milk.
9. Your dream car? Hybrid.
10. The room you're in? Hotel.
11. Your shoes? Stinky.
12. Your fears? Aloneness.
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? Mom.
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? Patrick.
15. What are you not good at? Confrontation.
16. Muffin? Cinnamon.
17. Wish list item? Togetherness.
18. Where you grew up? Louisiana.
19. The last thing you did? Email.
20. What are you wearing? T-shirt.
21. What are you not wearing? pants.
22. Your pet? Cats.
23. Your computer? Overused.
24. Your life? Full.
25. Your mood? Bitter.
26. Missing? Patrick.
27. What are you thinking about? Phoenix.
28. Your car? Poop.
29. Your kitchen? Cramped.
30. Your summer? Humid.
31. Your favourite colour? Pink.
32. Last time you laughed? Hour.
33. Last time you cried? Today.
34. School? Hated.
35. Love? Blind.

What is Wrong with Me?

Why am I so tired? I swear, I could sleep for 13 or 14 hours at a stretch, wake up feeling tired instead of refreshed and still want to sleep some more.

Besides being a lazy ass, does this indicate anything?

Happy 4th of July

We're laying low here. Patick and I. Considering we're our only friends. We really haven't met too many people here in Norfolk. Since I work from home and I'm traveling 3-4 days a week, it's hard to meet folks.

Patrick has met a few people from class that we hang out with, but not much. We did go out with a guy that Patrick met at the hospital in rounds. He was nice enough, but I'm not sure we have much in common.

Tonight there's a BBQ at the Pagoda for the Freemason District, about 8 condo buildings. We're headed there for burgers and dogs. Maybe we'll meet someone there.

Patrick announced today that he's going to seriously consider Chicago as an option for our move! Whoo hoo! That's exciting.

So far, our options include:
Rochester, MN
Chicago
Phoenix
and maybe, Austin...

We'll see!

I'm Conflicted

(what else is new?)

This whole nonsense of 4th of July being on a Wednesday this year really bums me out. What's a girl to do?

I was thinking of starting a petition to change 4th of July to a holiday like Memorial Day or Labor Day, where it's always observed on the first Monday of July. Which sounds great, but what about the year that 4th of July falls on a Tuesday or Thursday? If you just take one vacation day, you get a four day weekend.

But on the other hand, remember they years that the 4th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, then you don't get ANY day off.

Oh, what issues I have.