pictures

Long Weekend (Pictures)

/ pictures, weekend

I lurve long weekends! I really, truly do! McGraw-Hill treated me to an extra two hours by letting us go at 2pm on Friday. THAT TOTALLY ROCKED! I’m trying to think if I did anything special Friday evening, and you know what, I did! First, I was able to grab a nap Friday afternoon which was much needed and very nice. Then at 5:30, I had a massage. I needed it. My body felt like it was tied in knots, my head was hurting, and my hands felt like I’d been clenching them in fists for hours at a time. Heather really did some magic, plus talking to her is always calming. I was nice and Zen when it was over.

Afterwards, I met up with some friends at Tropical Bistro. It’s kind of a resurrection of Kahiki, which was a really cool Hawaiian themed restaurant. The food was just passable, but the atmosphere was to die for. It was so cool! Well anyway, Tropical Bistro was nice. The food was okay (best egg rolls I’ve ever had, and I don’t even like egg rolls!), the atmosphere was nice but not nearly as much fun at Kahiki. I’d go back, though. Anyway, here are a few pictures:

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Big Update!! (Pictures)

/ arizona, las vegas, pictures, recap, vacation

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a proper update. I’ve been busy, or out of town, or some combination of the two. Good times, great oldies, right? 🙂

On May 9 – I went to Kenneth’s and saw Cameron (code word for “I got my hair done by the best hairdresser ever”). I love my hairdresser. He’s the cutest thing ever and sooo funny. I love talking to him. Plus, he did a supurb job on my hair:

New Hair Again
This is even after it was windblown! 🙂

May 10 – took an insanely early flight and got to Vegas a bit after 9am. Didn’t check in to the Monte Carlo until a lot later, though. Visited the most ghastly Wal*mart ever. Ugh. I hate that store even more now, even though they have cute dresses. Finally checked in, got a bit settled (meaning: hooked up the internet and checked email), then headed out to the Strip. Saw the Bellagio fountains, ate good food, went to M&M World, shopped a bit. Ate dinner, then headed back out. Bellagio fountains and Paris Eifel Tower at night oh lovely….

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Chicago Spring Fling Conference! :) (Long & Lots of Pictures)

/ chicago, friends, pictures, writing

[X-posted at bananagirl19]

Hello! I am back from an amazing, exhausting, completely fun weekend in Chicago! The Chicago-North RWA chapter is incredible, and so are the people I met there.

FRIDAY

Mandy (mandywriter) picked me up from the airport and it was like we’d been friends forever, which we pretty much have. We started talking and joking right away. She took me to the hotel and chilled out while I unpacked in my VERY NICE hotel room. Let me tell you about this room. It was more like a suite. 25 inch TV, desk, easy chair, couch with a foldaway, king sized bed. Beautiful. I’d ordered strawberries and champagne, but I didn’t open it right away, and I’m glad I waited. More on that later. 🙂

Mandy and I registered for the conference (we were the first two!), then went out to lunch at a place called RAM. I’d never heard of it, but it was pretty nice. Of course, I got the messiest meal ever, but it was really yummy. By the time we got back to the hotel, Sara (sbennettwealer) was there! We went up to their room and hung out for a while, then headed down to the conference. I spotted Dia (agentobscura) right away, so we went to say Hi. She gave us all a group hug and seriously, we all hit it off right away. I felt like I’d been hanging out with these women my whole life.

The first thing we did was attend a “panel” of sorts. Four authors, open dialogue. It was interesting. Alesia Holliday, Mary Alice Monroe, Jennifer Crusie, and Bob Mayer spoke and it was funny and really nice. Afterwards, I went to Alesia to introduce myself and she recognized my name from the Yahoo! teenchicklit loop. She was awesome, and here I am with her:

We had a HUGE break, so Sara, Mandy, Gail and I went to an Italian restaurant. It was yummy. I got a half order which turned out to be a good decision, because it was the perfect amount of food. When we went back, there was class. Sara and I went to “Get Out of Deadwood” where we met Stephanie Hale (stephhale) and a really cool girl named Carmen. We went and had chocolate at the Chocolate Reception (um, check out this damn sign:)


DESERT????????

More pictures….

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Dawes Arboretum…! (Pictures)

/ pictures, weekend

First thing— I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA! It’s amazing. One of my favorite things about SLR is that there is practically NO shutter lag. And the manual focus option–LOVE IT. Oh yeah. I had a blast today. I got a polarizing filter, and I can really see a difference in some of the photos.

Second thing–Dawes Aroboretum is so nice this time of year. I didn’t see any mushrooms (ewwww), and many of the trees were flowering. It was just slightly cool, but not too much. A pretty day, perfect for taking pictures. Aidan and I went today for some Mommy/Son bonding time and also for a photo shoot of sorts.

Check It Out!

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Smiles! (Pictures)

/ aidan, pictures, recap, shopping


Double Rainbow on Easter morning 2006

Hola!

Late update, or early, I guess, huh? I’d planned to do it Saturday evening, but a trip to Best Buy beckoned me, where I picked up a digital SLR camera! I got the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT and I LOVE IT. I haven’t even gotten a chance to play with it fully, but so far, it’s awesome. I know that I’m going to want lenses next. Heh. I just really wanted a nice camera to take to the Grand Canyon with me. Not that my Sony isn’t nice, because it definitely is, but there is something magical about SLR. I’m going to be totally loaded down when we go out there. YAY for fun pictures!

Speaking of fun pictures, here are a few from the past week:


Another rainbow picture.


Dinner at O’Charley’s on Monday. SO yummy!!!


ROCK ON!!!


Morning Commute.

My week in review:

Monday – work, evening out with friends, including David who was in town for Easter. Yummy O’Charley’s.
Tuesday – work, the cookout at Craig’s.
Wednesday – work, then life group/party at my house. Cookout food, movies, fun.
Thursday – a trip to Half-Price books where I loaded up on CDs, a few books, and bookmarks. I spent over $30, so I got the free tote bag!
Friday – work, then RELAXING the rest of the evening. Reading, watching TV, just trying to dump my brain.
Saturday – wrote, relaxed, napped, shopped, at dinner at Red Lobster. Yummy. Aidan also threw a minor fit and broke the fish bowl (no fish were in it, thank goodness!). No fun. Ha.

So, here is the thing. Lately, I’ve been craving and eating a TON of fish. Well, I guess that’s relative, but yeah. Just fish drenched in lemon juice. That’s what I had tonight and it was sooo yummy. I feel kind of bad, though. I’m eating Freddie and Flossie’s relatives, in a way. but I guess not. Anyway, I’ve been TRYING to eat better. French fries are so dang good, though. However, I’ve increased my intake of fish, veggies, and salads, so that helps, right? I’ve been eating too much red meat, though. I should definitely try to cut that down.

I had the scare of my life. After we were done in Best Buy, we were ready to leave, of course. Aidan stood in the corridor and would not come out. When Chris went to go and get him, he took off into the store and disappeared. I went after him, and couldn’t find him. I alerted a couple of employees, and the guy at the guard desk locked the doors and everyone was on the lookout. Aidan finally came running back up to the front. I didn’t know whether to spank him or hug him. So I picked him up, hugged him and said “You’re in BIG trouble MISTER!” And I was NOT joking.

I get Aidan duty ALL day later on. That will be hard. I’m trying to figure out what we can do. I definitely have to call itskels to see if she wants to go to Old Navy, then I might take Aidan to Bob Evans or something. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. He was up Saturday morning at 7:45am!!!!

I also have to go to the library and drop off some books. I’d LOVE to go to the park, but darned if it’s not supposed to storm tomorrow. BOOOOOOO.

I need to get some rest, though. I’m going to have a busy day. ‘Til next time!

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