Huh?

Um. 

Yeah.

Daylight savings time really did a number on us this week.

Night and Day

Tuesday night. Wednesday day. Wednesday night. And even Thursday morning.

Those are the nights and days I spent in New York this week. The cutie patootie nephew was out of town so this was purely a work trip. The itinerary went something like this: train, meeting, event, dinner, snooze, wake, snooze, wake, snooze, breakfast, meeting, meeting, lunch, swoon, nap, meeting, drinks, dinner, sleep, breakfast meeting, train.

See that there "swoon" after the snoozing and waking tango? Swoon. Ess doubleyou oh oh en.  Swoon on a business trip? Why, yes indeedy! It was precisely 10am on Wednesday when there was a full-fledged swoon. Let's do a quick step back to Tuesday to set the scene:

The sun was low on the horizon the evening chill was setting in when I entered the hotel. It didn't take long to realize I had stepped back in time a few decades. My first clue was the credit card swiping machine -- the ones that make an imprint of a credit card on multiple sheets of carbon paper. Shocked me. I thought they were all in the Smithsonian -- followed closely by what the desk clerk handed me:

A key! An actual room key! The room number was even taped to the other side of the green plastic thingy. Yes, taped. Not etched. Not imprinted. Taped! How ... ghetto quaint. The key even fit into a door knob. Not a handle, but a knob. Bless their hearts.

The hotel adventure got better from there. The room was teeny tiny, the bed consisted of an old lumpy mattress with 2 flat pillows, the furniture was scratched and scuffed, the radiator was difficult to turn off making the room feel like a sauna, the window doubled as the air conditioning unit which would have been better if there were a screen to keep the pigeons out, no room service, no internet, tiny thin towels, and the whole place even smelled old.

As I paced the room and tried to figure out how to get out of this place masquerading as a hotel, I snapped a few pictures for you, my pink peeps.

 

The phone and clock were on the dresser and not in reach of the bed, so there was nowhere to sit if one was on the phone or needed to reset the clock. Oh yeah. The room was dark, too.

This was the view from the door. Notice the abundance *cough!* of room to maneuver around the bed.

The work station in the corner of the room had no light and no space. If one did manage to put a laptop there it would be next to impossible to sit on that chair while working. Look - the seat of the chair is just a couple inches from the bottom of the desk! 

The window air conditioning unit had peeling paint and *gulp!* no screen. (Between you and me, I think this was for easier access to the pigeons hanging out on the window sill.) The radiator cover below had to be removed to turn off the radiator in hopes of mitigating the sauna effect.

But not all was questionable. For instance, if you leaned out of the window and looked left there was a great view. 

That's St. Patrick's Cathedral and the building across the street was Rockefeller Center. Gotta give it to this place, it was in a terrific location! If only they were in the current century.

Back to my pacing on Tuesday evening. A quick phone call to my favorite hotel in the Big City (first mentioned here) and I discovered they were totally booked. Wait. Maybe not. She put me on hold and came back with the news they could fit me in. Ohsweethallelujah. There was a catch, though. They didn't have rooms for my colleagues who were also unwittingly booked in 1970's grandeur and the current hotel had already charged us for the night. What to do? 

I did what every hotel diva who is trying to be professional would do -- I whined but I stayed the night, safe in the knowledge that the morning would bring a new hotel. 

Cue the super hero music.

Michelangelo to the rescue! Hooray! At dawn I quickly packed and schlepped the 3 blocks to my favorite hotel and was greeted by the doorman as he held the door, the front desk staff said "Good morning, Miss Last Name," I was given a key card, had a delightful breakfast, and was relaxing in a sumptuous room by 10am. Sweet holy mother of relief! The difference was like night and day.

 

 

Light. Airy. Elegant. Comfortable. Lovely amenities. (Bath sheets, anyone?) Open work spaces with internet access. Velvet couches. Upgraded linens. Classical music greeting guests on arrival. Room service. Even the ceiling was elegant! (That last photo is truly the ceiling of a hotel room.) 

Swoon!

But I saved the best for last:

Turn down service was not just simple chocolate on a pillow but an entire box of Godivas accompanied by a card from the hotel's GM! Squeal! They had also replaced the towels I had used earlier in the day, upgraded the toiletries, closed the blinds, and turned on the classical music. Ah. With the prospect of pigeons far, far away I slept like a baby. Or a queen. Definitely like a diva. The difference was night and day.

Hi. My name is Jess and I'm a hotel diva. 

Cattywompus

Androids schmandroids. 

They didn't work. All my plotting and planning and hoping they would magically get things done and take some of the pressure off was for naught. The two droids just sat and said "hi" to the visitors who dropped by this week. NOT what I had hoped. They have been fired.

So I altered the plan a bit and headed out for some fluff-a-doodle-do magic yesterday. A new cut and color should lead to a new outlook, right?

 

So far so good! I'm definitely feeling lighter and brighter. Fingers crossed the mood continues and the need for the androids becomes a thing of the past. And I'm loving the blond! While I adore the natural brunette with the red highlights, the blond is just ME. As to the photo ... well, the cattwompus polaroid frame also matches the mood o' the moment so that's ME, too.

Hope you are having a great weekend, pink peeps! 

Droid

Holy moly. Creepin' cows! Whew! The other turkeys in the pen are getting to me today. Meetings, meetings, phone calls, emails that couldn't be returned fast enough, and piles o' papers everywhere was just my morning. The afternoon wasn't much better. It was about the time my afternoon run to the little girls' room was interrupted by an "urgent phone call" (yes, it has been THAT kind of day) that I decided it was high time to come up with a creative solution.

Enter androidify! That's right peeps, this is my solution. My personal android. She will do everything for me at record speed, not letting the turkeys get her down. Nope! She will hover unemotionally over any situation, find the appropriate app and, voila!, things will magically happen! Even with those earrings on her antenna looking like huge zits she can still make things happen.

Letters signed - check!
Agreements proofed - check!
Phone calls returned - check! (even if they sounded somewhat electronic)
Lists made - check!
Emails sent - check!
Nails bitten filed - check!
She even made a droid version of The Turkey:

Let's hope the Turkey's droid will complete his NHS application that's due tomorrow. ;-)

And if anyone figures out a way to effectively name these personal droids without sounding like a hemorrhoid cream -- Jessoid, anyone? -- they get some serious bonus points! Preparation H optional.

Hearts v2.0

Last Friday I found a box of chocolate goodies on my desk. This Friday - today - I walk in to the office and find a bowl of conversation hearts waiting for me. *Squeal!*  Thank you to my staff who know my candy cravings and help maintain the sugar high!

Pink turkey peeps might remember last year's fiasco when NECCO changed the classic formula for their ubiquitous conversation hearts. It was not pretty. There were tears, fussings, fumings, lots of sulking, letters exchanged, emails sent, and a big boycott of the classic sweethearts. All my coworkers and cohorts knew how I had been wronged and suffered through the story on multiple occasions. As far as breakups go, it was a bad one. Bad!

One year later my heart is mended and I am with Brach's now, but here is what I want to say to NECCO on the anniversary of our tutti-fruity split:

You were my first love, NECCO. I will always have a sweet spot for you. You were generous with your sayings and calories throughout our years together but that can't overcome a lousy taste and how you ignored my pleas for you to change.

While our break-up was bittersweet and tasted all too fruity, please know that I am a fatter person because of you. When you get over the need to be a trend setter and realize you are really a classic at heart, I will be willing to talk. If things work out I might even consider the holy grail of liking you on Facebook. Maybe.

To quote your own hearts: SEE YA. And when you are ready to have a classic relationship: EMAIL ME.

Eat your heart out, 

pink turkey

The box

Check out what I found in my in box today:

 

Yep. That's my in box. That's my in box with a present in it! A present! For me! Woo hoo! 

And I know you're staring at that picture saying, "Huh? THAT'S your in box? It's too huge to be an in box." There might even be some head scratching or a furrowed brow.

See, that's much more than an in box. It's also the I-don't-want-to-deal-with-it-yet box, the ignore-it-and-maybe-it-will-go-away box, the don't-have-a-file-for-it-yet box, and the ever-popular plain-but-loved out box. 

Before I need a twelve step program for hyphen usage let's look at that box again:

 

Ahhh. If smell-o-vision were turned on you would get a good whiff of chocolate at this point. Chocolate? Chocolate in my in box?! Chocolate AND a present?! What could be better?! (Don't answer that.) 

Every year one of our favorite caterers brings these Valentines boxes o' yummies to our office. Apparently today was his delivery day. Who am I to argue? My in box loved the non-traditional interloper and my taste buds screamed for some coffee while I went on a sampling mission. 

Yum. Yum. Yummo! The heart shaped cakes on the left were my favorites. Gooey cake with a white chocolate glaze - mmmmm, mmmm, good! The strawberries were sweet, cookies moist, truffles great, chocolate covered pretzels to die for, and the chocolate straws melted in the mouth. 

 

 Yum! *sip of coffee* Seriously yummy.  *bite of chocolate* Thank you, Charles and company, for this delectable Friday afternoon treat. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too!

A new post

 

Technically it's New Hope. New Hope, Pennsylvania to be exact. That's where the weekend adventure began. Like the train station? 

It was a cold day with a biting wind but we walked around the downtown area, had lunch overlooking the Delaware River, poked in a couple stores, picked up new coffee mugs (or tea if that's your preference), and then headed to New Jersey. 

New post.

New Hope.

New mugs.

New Jersey. 

See a theme?  ;-) 

In New Jersey we toured the power boat show for a -- pause for effect -- New Boat! (Gotta love the themes.) Regal, Formula, Sea-Doo, Bayliner, Kawasaki, Yamaha, yachts, sports, racing, in board, out board, dry heads and wet heads, we saw a lot. The mango colored Sea-Doo was the front runner by the time we left a couple hours later.

But let's get back to the New Theme, shall we? Because then I can show off my New coffee mugs. (Or tea mugs if you prefer; Pink Turkey is all about equal opportunity beverages.) 

Ta da! Thank you to the very fun New Hope store Mechanic Street MUGs for these awesomely funky and fun New mugs. If you are ever in the neighborhood I highly recommend a visit to this unique shop. Just click on the store name for the address and other info. Be sure to say "hi" to Joel when you're there! 

The weekend adventure ended just in time for a trip to the grocery store before unpacking and settling in for the Super Bowl. The Turkey and I have munchies and bottles o' beverages, and we're hoping for some great New commercials. 

Cheerio!