A room with a view

This is the view from the 26th floor of the hotel. More specifically, the view from my room. Sweet! 

If I knew how to do photo stitching you'd have a panoramic view of the city from my little window on the world. Hopefully one day soon I can get that software to work. For now though, you'll have to settle with another picture taken while I was looking to the right: 

And here's the city when the rain cleared and the sun decided to come out and play:

When I got "home" tonight after a whirlwind trip to Chinatown, Little Italy, Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, dinner at Bistro Boudin, and a cable car ride back up the hills - whew! - well, here is what greeted me at 10pm:

Take the sight seeing list above and add a full day of conference sessions and you have one tired Pinkie. *Yawn!* Come back tomorrow (or another time that's convenient for you) to get more details on the trip, the conference, my impressions on San Francisco, and the usual zaniness. For now ...

Nite! Nite!

30,000 feet plus 8

Hi again. It's flight numero dos for the day. This one is a bit longer at 4 hours. Unfortunately, my layover wasn't long enough to fully recharge the laptop batteries so I'm only going to have power for 1/3 of the flight. Dang it. I also forgot to stop and buy a book or a new magazine. Double dang it. Ninety minutes in to the flight and I've already napped for the first 45 and read the airline's publication from stem to stern. After this blog entry, and with battery life down to 49%, I'm not sure what I'll do. Sigh.

But let's get to the good stuff, shall we? My final destination is ... can you guess? Maryland to Milwaukee and then a 4 hour flight somewhere else. Any guesses? Anyone? Buehler? 

Here's a clue: it starts with an S and ends with rancisco. And why anyone, much less me, would go through Milwaukee to go from east to west is beyond me. Oh wait. I remember. Milwaukee sounded easier than Atlanta, less risky than Denver, much less congested than Chicago, and there was a great chance of an upgrade to first class. Right! That's why I booked this particular flight.

That and in Wisconsin there's always the possibility of cheese. :-) 

From Maryland to San Francisco -- you figured that out, right? -- by way of Milwaukee, in first class all the way -- hooray! ... um ... I just lost my train plane of thought. Oh well. We're only at 41% battery life now so let's just say that the trip to San Fran is for work stuff and am looking forward to being there, seeing the city, and catching up with colleagues. Should be fun. Let me know if you have any suggestions for things to do. (Besides plugging in the laptop!)

Over -n- out from 38,000 feet.

30,000 feet

Hello from somewhere between Maryland and Milwaukee!

Thanks to the marketing minds at AirTran I am blogging from the friendly skies this morning. Let me tell you, I am loving.Loving.LOVING this whole free WiFi thing on the plane. At first I was all pooh-pooh about it. I mean, one of the joys of being on a plane is the relative freedom and disconnectivity from life, right? But when this pink turkey jumps on a plane at 7am with a to do list a mile long, well, the pooh-pooh's can take a hike.

The other thing that took a hike today was the wardrobe. My normal flight attire is something along the lines of slacks, nice shoes, work-appropriate top, and a blazer -- just in case I run across a professional contact, potential date, or otherwise need to look put together. (Remind me to tell you about the contacts I've made on planes before. Or, better yet, have Aimee tell you.) 

Today though, with the prospect of a 7+ hour travel day and nightmares of security lines dancing through my head, I pulled out the yoga pants, t-shirt, tennies, and *gasp!* sweat shirt. Add little/no make-up and barely dry hair and it looks something like this:

It's enough to make Stacy and Clinton scream! (The picture is small because it's sooo embarrassing.)

And, hey, I didn't even get charged an extra baggage fee for those suitcases under my eyes. Bonus!

Anyhoo ... all this noise lately about airport security had me a little edgy this morning as I approached the dreaded security line. Thankfully, the lines were short so it went quickly. Took off the sweatshirt and shoes, put all my crap items in bins, held on to the boarding pass with a vice grip, and waited for the pat down or the scan or whatever they were going to do.

And waited.

Here it comes ...

Nothing.

Nothing. Not even a wand or a gratuitous grope. An "OK" from the TSA guy was all I got. Honestly, I felt a little cheated. But then I realized airport security is the only place where no shoes and no shirt will still get you service. The entire security section from entering to stripping to screening to putting the shoes back on, took all of 10 minutes. I guess that counts as service.

Next stop: Milwaukee. Will catch you from the next plane, my peeps!

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny, a Christmas song will do. If you haven't got a Christmas song, then God bless you! 


The Thanksgiving holiday is coming to a screeching halt, shoppers are out in full force in the malls and on line, there is a smattering of holiday tunes on the radio, and Christmas is less than one month away. It all points to one thing ...

It's time to make the annual Christmas playlist! YIPPEE!

Yes, my pink peeps, it is indeed that time of year again. I am in full Christmas song, holiday hits, fa la la la geeking mode. I spent hours this weekend combing through the iTunes store and my own song library for potential pieces to include. While listening, singing, humming, finding new options, listening some more, and toying with some possibilities, the proverbial light bulb finally clicked on.

*ON!*

Yep, just like that.

I have a mega iTunes collection with goo gobs of Christmas tunes -- not to brag; it's a little more embarrassing than that -- and would like to share the Christmas joy. In song. I have lots of favorites but what are YOUR favorites? Do you have an all-time favorite holiday tune? Does it matter who performs it, or does the tune of, say, Little Drummer Boy transcend the performer? Do you like the classical Christmas vibe a la Handel's Messiah, or something more modern and upbeat like Mary's Boy Child? Peaceful and quiet or big and bold? What song comes on the radio and makes you think "NOW it's Christmas?"

Don't go tell it on the mountain. Tell me instead! Leave a comment with your favorite Christmas song or songs and any other information you want to share about your holiday tune tastes.  Maybe, just maybe, your personal fave will make an appearance on the Christmas '10 mix.

God rest ye merry, gentle peeps!

Welcome, Olivia

We have a new member of the pink turkey household. She is a big softie with a firm core, has a bit of a muffin top, is an expensive date, and is a pain in the butt to get up the stairs.

Meet Olivia:

Olivia is now residing in my room. My old mattress -- un-named, by the way; we checked -- is now in Turkey's room. The Turkey's old mattress with coils poking through the fabric is hitch hiking its way to the county recycling center. I have it on good authority it will have a ride by 8 tomorrow morning.

While Turkey's old mattress waits for its ride we have been busy moving beds around, cleaning, washing dust ruffles and comforters, and generally getting ready for the first night with Olivia in the house. It is very safe to say the Turkey and I are both looking forward to tonight's journey to Dreamland on new and new-to-you beds.

Thanks to my parents for the early Christmas present for both of us! And welcome, Olivia. I sincerely hope you enjoy your new home.

P.S.  Um. When did mattress companies start naming their products?! Does anyone else find this just a tad bit weird?

Williamsburg

Picturesque. Everyone always describes the historic Williamsburg experience as picturesque.

I'd like to add quaint, charming, colorful, and fun to the adjective list.

However you describe it, here's a glimpse at a weekend in the very picturesque, quaint, charming, colorful, fun, and very historic Williamsburg, Virginia:

The first stop on our journey - The Capital. 

More shots of the Capital from the street. (Can you believe that sky is not even photoshopped? It was a gorgeous day.)

 This was the fencing in front of the Magazine and Guardhouse.While I wouldn't want to run into it, I'm not sure how effective it would be at keeping people out.

The Courthouse with a very gorgeous tree out front. I stood across the street for a while waiting for the hordes of picture takers to clear out from under the tree.

....and then I became a total tourist and took a picture, too! 

(Don't pay attention to the hair. It was a windy day.)

 The Governor's Palace. And, yes, that is indeed a nametag. It was my admission ticket for the historic buildings. I committed a major sin by forgetting to take it off for pictures. Twenty "Hail Letitia's" were said as pennance.

Believe it or not, I got in trouble for taking this picture. We were in the study on the 2nd floor of the Governor's Palace, and I moved the blinds just a fraction to be able to get this shot out the window.  The docent .... 'scuze me .... the historical interpreter got very angry with me for touching the blinds. I apologized in due course and mistakenly referred to another worker in the building as a docent. Lordy! You would have thought General Washington himself was walking through the property by the way she fussed at me! Needless to say, I was very quiet and didn't touch the furniture or the blinds for the rest of our tour.At least not that she could see. *wink*

This is the back yard at the Governor's Palace. There was a boxwood maze off to the right (which I navigated successfully. Thankyouverymuch.), formal gardens on the left, a stage in the way back, and we even saw General Lafayette taking a stroll. I wish my back yard would look this good. Sigh. 

From the Palace we meandered through the streets a little more, stopped at Trellis for some Death by Chocolate, picked up some cheese (see previous post), were very much alive after devouring the chocolate, and skipped back to the Visitor Center before heading to the airport. 

The good news is, after 46 hours together, we were still smiling on the trip home. 

See ya' next time, Williamsburg!

Say "cheese!"

Cheeeeese! 

Before I snapped this picture it was so crowded that I couldn't even SEE the cheese, much less pick out some to sample or purchase. That's when the friendly Brenda came to my rescue. She saw me looking sullen and asked if she could get me anything from the counter. Um, there's cheese involved -- OF COURSE you can get me something from the counter!

Brenda and I chatted for a minute and then she disappeared behind the wall of people. She emerged from behind the wall a few minutes later with a tray of cheese. MY cheese! *Squeeee!*

I said my thank you's and then, miraculously, the sea of people parted. It was then that I really and truly saw the holy grail: cheese. Stacks and wheels and packages of cheese. The soundtrack of life paused while the angels sang. I had to remind myself to breathe. It was a profound moment.

Four hunks of that cheese came home and are now camped out in my fridge, waiting for tonight:

Glass of Wine, meet Cheese.
Cheese, meet Glass of Wine.

I have a feeling you two will be fast friends. :-)