Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

I had to get up at the crack of dawn on Thursday, June 26th to take a plane to Austria. Wouldn't you know it, the one day I have to be up I over sleep and have 5 mins to shower and meet the taxi? Yep, it happened. Thank God I had packed the night before. So at 7:45AM my travel buddy and I flew Austrian Airlines (which is not in my top 5 of favorite airlines) and flew into Vienna. Our soul purpose for this leg of the trip was to check out a printing facility. The printing guys ( Steve and Shrek - I will tell you why we call him that later ) had actually been to our tradeshow in Amsterdam so it wasn't like we were meeting anyone new. Steve, the sales guy, picked us up at the airport and we drove for another two hours to Gratz where the facility was. The drive was amazingly beautiful. Remember the movie THE SOUND OF MUSIC? Well, it was like I was watching that movie for two hours. Austria seemed to have lots of space land wise. I saw nothing but green hills with gr...

In case you are wondering, I am off this week so don't worry that I being bad writing during work. I am not. I have been napping all day and dong nothing. It's wonderful. Ok, time to continue my story.... As you can imagine after hanging out in the Red Light District to the wee hours of the morning it was hard to get up but get up I did. After another 4 hours of sleep I woke up at 7AM. Apparently I had made it to Europe for some of the longest days of the year so I was experiencing early morning sun as well as late night sun. Even though my room had really good black out windows I still woke up early. I just couldn't sleep. In fact on Sunday, June 22, I didn't have to be up until 9AM but that didn't stop my brain from waking up. That Sunday morning, I meet my friends for breakfast along with two VP's from the LA office. They all laughed at me because I was tring to peel a soft boiled egg. Who knew there was a special way to eat a soft boiled egg? The...

From the hub's travel book: Hotel Okura Amsterdam - This multi-storey, multi-tasking, very smart business-class stopover has everything captains of industry need: a top-floor, top of the range French restaurant, a full-sized pool and health club; and sushi bars. Rooms are done up in suitably masculine style and range from small standards to the huge (and hugely expensive) presidential suite on the 21st floor. After arriving via Mercedes, I checked into the hotel and was informed by the clerk that all room charges would be taken care of by the company. (Can you say sweet? And...what's in the mini-bar?) This was the first time I didn't have to fork over a credit card for any charges I may incur. I was further surprised to find I had a Deluxe Room. The room itself was perhaps one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. The bed was huge with white fluffy linens. The desk was made of some fancy wood and the bathroom was marblized with a huge sunk in tub with a TV (that ...

It's 4AM and I can't sleep. Jet leg has gotten the better of me. I couldn't sleep in Europe and now I can't sleep here. Hopefully, trying to jot down some thoughts will make me tired. Anyhoo, where to start? I have lots of story to tell but no idea where to jump in. So I guess I will start at the beginning. I left the USA on Thursday, June 19th at 6PM on an American Airlines flight to London's Heathrow. The travel people at work had given me the choice to stop over in London or Frankfurt, Germany. I chose London. Heathrow in my opinion, is one of the best airports to visit if you are flying Business or First Class. Why? The lounges. Simply said, they are amazing! During my first business trip to London a few years ago I had the distinct pleasure of flying Virgin Airlines, which I believe is the most awesomest airline in the world! I was amazed to find a rather large luxurious space to relax in. The lounge was equipped with large comfey chairs, all...

Brokencandy hopes you have a fabulous birthday! Thank you for all that you do for us! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday dear Faith! Happy Birthday to you!

For Purdy (make sure to close the curtains :)): "It Takes Diff'rent Strokes" by Alan Thicke, Gloria Loring and Al Burton Now, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum, What might be right for you, may not be right for some. A man is born, he's a man of means. Then along come two, they got nothing but their jeans. But they got, Diff'rent Strokes. It takes, Diff'rent Strokes. It takes, Diff'rent Strokes to move the world. Everybody's got a special kind of story Everybody finds a way to shine, It don't matter that you got not alot So what, They'll have theirs, and you'll have yours, and I'll have mine. And together we'll be fine.... Because it takes, Diff'rent Strokes to move the world. Yes it does. It takes, Diff'rent Strokes to move the world.

So yesterday afternoon, after a WiiFit workout :) the hub and I headed to the Target in the Glendale Galleria to pick up a few things for my trip this week. We ended up walking around the entire mall and landing in a Banana Republic. Most people who know me, know that I don't really dress up much. Work is pretty casual so there isn't really a need for me to wear really nice things. Which is cool because I am lazy when it comes to clothes and make-up. I really want to be one of those "Sex In The City" ladies but I wouldn't dare spend hundreds of dollars on clothes unless it was a special treat. The clothes I wear tend to be comfortable looking and I tend to wear them over an over until they wear out. I think the one thing I am known to wear are white tank tops. Heck, it doesn't even have to be white! I wear tank tops in a million colors cuz I love them! Anyhoo, since the marriage I have ummm..... put on a little weight. Ate too many cheeseburger...

Yesterday I slept in until 11:3OAM! This is normal for my hubby, but for me it was amazing! See I usually wake up pretty early. If I am lucky I can sleep-in till 8:30-9:00AM on the weekend. I haven't been able to break that bearer in a long time. It must have been due to my late night weekday projects of late. You see when the hubby is home we make dinner and watch TV and I normally fall asleep on the couch around 10. Since the hub has been on nights, I find myself doing little projects to keep me entertained like clean some random cubby, organized my scrap book crap, read some books or log into I-Tunes to buy music that I can work out to. Anyhoo, when the hub realized it was 11:30AM he got up too. After making sure the dining room curtains were shut (cuz, last week a bunch of people visiting the open house next door got the pleasure of the hub and I dancing in our underwear - what can we say we like the opening bit of Different Strokes) we got the WiiFit out. The hub ...

I'm an officially going to Amsterdam and Vienna June 19-28th! My tickets were purchased and approved today! Woo hoo! Had a most excellent sushi lunch at a place ihaven't been to. Tried a few new rolls that were fabulous! Finally, I came home today and the hubby bought WiiFit. Exercise here I come!!! I hope I can figure out how it works on my own. hehe

For months now work has been trying to send me overseas to check out a printer in Vienna, Austria. As you can gather from the title of this blog, it's been a long journey. The trip was on and off for months and then the trip was merged with a convention trip in June. As of this past Friday, per corporate, my trip was cancelled because they felt it was not ok for a vendor to pay my way. They saw the plane ticket as a big ole gift and thus a conflict of interest. I wasn't really mad as much as tired of being on the rollar coaster of it's on and it's off. As of yesterday, I was greenlighted to go to the convention in Amsterdam, Netherlands via good ole corporate cash (apparently my trip was accounted for in our yearly budget) and today, my luck must have held out because I am now tacking on the vendor visit as well (seems they found more cash in the budget). The actual tickets are not purchased yet but I am told I should be good (we'll see). My boss really...

Can you believe gas is an astonishing $4.46 a gallon? It cost me $50 bucks to fill up my car this week. It really was painful to know that I had to work more then an hour to put that gas in my Jeep. I am starting to spend a lot of time calculating when I will do errands and how I can get them all done at once. I find myself questioning trips to the mall and trips to the grocery store. Unless I am going to work, I question the trip. Something is sick and wrong with the world when you have to take out a loan to buy some gas. Scientists of the world must unite and put their thinking caps on. There must be other forms of eneregy we can use that are cheaper? I am pretty sure scientists have united but the big oil people, rich people and government people of the world have their buddy buddy aliances in place, ready to suck out every last dime that us poor working class people make. Sure they gave us the Prius but I am pretty sure they can do better. The funny thing is I think I...

I am tired.

Believe what you want but I am happy for my friends Mike and John along with their little girl, who are able to get married later this month and be recognized by the State of California. Unlike Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn who don't want the paper, I like having that little paper. Sure it's just a paper but to me it means that the world recognizes me as part of a union and for me, its conforting that I am not in the world alone. I am not knocking Kurt and Goldie because it's their right not to want one. I think all people should have the right to love who they want to and get married to that one person who they want to be with for the rest of their life. It's all about having the rights. I am glad that people who love each other are (for now) able to get married and have it recognized by the state. I hope that ballot initiative to amend the state constitution doesn't go through in November. Love is love. Congratulations Mike and John! I know you have be...

Can't believe it is June already! In 26 days we will celebrate one year of being homeowners! I must say I was very worried about purchasing a house. Seemed like a lot of responsibility. But like most things you are initially scared of, they aren't so bad once you do them. It's really great to have a place and a plot of land you can call your home. Anyhoo, had an awesome night out on the town last night! Believe it or not, we have made friends with another Montez and it was his birthday last night at The Red Lion. The Red Lion is a German bar we have frequented a lot in past years, mostly due to our pal Krueger. She loves that place (cuz, she is second generation German) and usually celebrates her birthday there. Last night was a surprise party and the story they told the birthday boy as to why he had to go there was quite interesting. Apparently, he was told he needed to move a couch from his girlfriend's, friend's house to his girlfriend's house. ...