Bummed

I am so jealous!

The friends who traveled with us to London in March are headed to South Africa for a family visit over the next two weeks. First stop? London for two days. They are staying at The Carlton Towers and will have tea, scones and clotted cream there -- without us! Bummer!

They called tonight on their way to the airport to be reminded of the name of the fabulous Indian restaurant we ate at while there (Veeraswamy). Oh, sure, rub it in!!

I'm so bummed that they're going without us! :( But I do hope they enjoy, all the same.

Urban Bliss

It's Friday night. We spent the week moving into downtown Dallas from the 'burbs. 30 miles later, bliss. It's a really good thing.

Even though I'm in Florida working most of the time now, I'm happy to have the "other place" in a more dynamic part of Dallas. I feel like an urbanite, a city dweller now. Shops and cafes are nearby. Buses go down my street. I can walk to Starbucks. Things are just more interesting here. Yesterday....I saw a biker dude type with long blonde braids and a bright blue beard. You have to love whatever hallucinogen-induced thought process is behind that combination, God bless him. :)

I'm going to try to work from Dallas one week out of the month (which equates to about ten days when you include weekends), and three weeks from the Florida bungalow. I've discovered that my "escape" is wherever I'm not working....the place where the job is NOT. So Florida used to feel like the escape, and now Dallas does. Funny how that happens.

Tonight, I am incredibly tired. I have a million things to do, to organize, to put away. And instead, I'm sipping a glass of chardonnay, listening to the sounds of the city outside my window, watching the skyscraper lights twinkle. The Dallas skyline is right outside my window (see photo above). It's a really good thing.

What would make tonight better? I could really use a new Daniel Craig flick. That woudl be divine. Daniel, lover, hurry up and hit the cinema again soon. I'm ready and waiting.

More Than Enough Stuff

I'm in the midst of moving my "stuff". Several thoughts leap to mind:

- I have too much "stuff".
- All of my "stuff" is dusty.
- It's hard to look at this pile of "stuff" and imagine how it came to be.
- A lot of my "stuff" will be in the trash soon.
- I have sworn off buying more "stuff".
- "Stuff" is wildly overrated.

You just don't know how much crap you have until you try to box it and move it. Ugh.

More later.

London Tomorrow, by Proxy

I'll be in London tomorrow....by proxy. My brother and his wife are touring a few places across the pond over the next 10 days. Next stop -- London.

Now I'm not sure where they are staying or what they'll be doing, but I can guess that it wouldn't probably be what I would pick. We're family but different in many ways, one of which is the way we choose to travel.

I always go for an interesting hotel, an unexplored area of town, a list of new and chic restaurants and foods to try. I don't think they do those things so much. I think they go a bit more by the tourist manual and are probably a bit more budget minded than I. And that's okay, as long as they enjoy themselves. God knows they'll probably spend half of what I do on a trip like that and will have a great time, all the same.

And while I don't really wish to travel with them -- we'd be in a constant clash of cultures -- I can't help but be a little envious that they will be in one of my favorite cities tomorrow, and I am here working. *sigh* How things have changed. :)

Dallas Week

Working from home in Dallas today. Although it'll only be "home" for a few more days, as we are moving our things out and into the townhouse downtown on Thursday. While the move is grueling, it hasn't been as grueling as dealing with all the real estate issues and decisions over the past year. That's been the hard part. Brutal is the only way to describe it.

And I know people must think we are crazy. Moving, not moving. Selling, not selling. On again, off again. Dallas, Florida. On and on. But what they don't know is that we haven't exactly been in full control of the helm this year. We've had several unanticipated things happen to us to cause us to make odd decisions, change our minds, go back to start, move left and then right. Through the uneducated eye, we look like complete dolts, for the most part. Can't get a direction, can't make up our minds, don't know what we want. But, what they don't know is that our usual direct path has been tossed about by things out of our control. And they're very personal things (like a miscarriage and the current disaster we are dealing with), so I do not wish to explain them to the world. So I'll just go on and let them think I'm flighty and an idiot. What can you do?

I'll be here the balance of the week, through Sunday, then I'll return to Florida to work from the HQ office again. Technically, Florida is now home, although as a native Texan, one never quite leaves the big state for long. Have to touch base often or they won't renew my visa. :)

In the future, I am hoping to be able to work remotely for one week out of the month from Dallas. I should be able to, as pretty much everyone in the office does that sort of thing. And that would be bliss! Three weeks a month in Florida, one week a month in Dallas. Perfect.

Just Lucky, I Guess

In a spare moment yesterday, I flipped through a Lucky magazine to take a peek at the latest fashion trends for Fall. I don't generally buy this magazine, as it's just another collection of junk ads geared to make us buy things we don't really need to try to make us look like people we don't really need to be....but that's another blog post for another day. Sometimes when I travel on business, I pick up this magazine, because I can escape into it and make it last for a 2 or 3 hour flight, cover to cover. Often, I toss it in the trash at the arrival airport, but this time I kept it. And yesterday, I perused it again and came away with some general thoughts about it.

If you're not familiar with Lucky, it's a magazine "all about shopping", and it puts together outfits and looks and then tells you where you can find all the pieces and at what price, etc. That is, in between pages and pages and pages of ads filled with 12-year old models trying to sell us wrinkle cream and overpriced handbags (just like every other fashion magazine out there).

Yesterday, I spent some time looking at the outfits created and some of the individual pieces that had come together to make 'the looks', and it occurred to me that most of it makes no sense. For example, they'll put together an outfit with a skirt from Christian Dior for $2400, paired with a blouse from J.C. Penney for $50 and a $7500 bracelet from the latest jewelry maven. Now who wears this, really? If you had the money to spend $2400 on a skirt and $7500 on a bracelet, would you be caught dead at J.C. Penney? Conversely, if you were a JCP shopper, would you be inclined to buy the blouse and then suddenly bolt over to Neiman Marcus to pick up the Christian Dior skirt? Would that ever even cross your mind? Nope, didn't think so.

I'm also quite amused when they try to show us "fashion for less'. They'll pair together an outfit -- blouse, skirt, shoes, jacket, jewelry, etc. -- all for a fairly reasonable price. And about the time I think, 'well, that was clever', I'll get to the last piece on the list, and it'll be a Louis Vuitton handbag for $3,450. Now, hold the phone. I'm spending $250 on my entire outfit that I cobbled together from the discount stores at the mall, and I saved so much on it, that I'm now going to waltz over to LV and splurge on a $3500 handbag? Uh-huh. Yeah, sure, that's how my budget works.

WHO is writing this stuff?

My Friday

A glass of wine, some cold pasta, the sofa and a chick flick.

This is my Friday night, sans husband, sans pup, sans all cares for a while.

It's not too exciting, but I'll take it.

Good, Bad, Ugly All Day Long

Today was good, bad and ugly.

The Good: I sold a townhome....finally. The extra one. The one that was under contract before and fell through. Finally sold, for real this time. Closed and funded. And I sold it, not the realtor. I reeled in the buyer, nurtured them for weeks on end, negotiated and closed the deal. The realtor did nothing but the paperwork, and for that, he got paid handsomely. Made far more money than I did. Total highway robbery. Note to self: Don't ever hire a realtor, ever again.

The Bad: The buyer who raped and robbed us on the sale of our home in the suburbs (it's under contract at a disgustingly low price) decided to come back today for more. She wants us to lower the price yet again because some jerk-face appraiser she hired said we should. Guess what. We're not doing it. She already stole the thing, but apparently that's not quite good enough for her, so she's back. Tough. No deal. Take the ridiculously low price we agreed upon two weeks ago or take a hike. Game over. And my realtor is not helping the situation at all. Note to self: Don't ever hire a realtor, ever again.

The Ugly: The ugly situation of which I do not speak specifically continues to rear its horrid head at us. It keeps me awake at night. It's something we have to live with for now, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone. It's a terrible situation to be in, and all we can do is pray, try to keep our emotions under control and our heads clear... and endure. I don't know what else to do with this hell. It's a wonder I can function at all, and I attribute my ability to do so to two things: 1) the ability of the mind to remain in denial as a defense mechanism, and 2) the amazing grace of God. For those of you who don't know Him, I feel sympathy. His grace and generosity are boundless, and He gives me hope. I am nothing without Him.

Don't Forget the Sunscreen

Just read in the newspaper that 800 people posed nude in Miami today for a photo. Note to readers: I was not one of them.

While a crowd of 800 nude people might be alarming in some places, in Miami, they call that Monday.

Grazie Christopher!

I am so happy, I could just....smile. :)

I just found out that I have a three-day weekend ahead. Three wonderful, beautiful days where I do not have to work. No alarm clocks, no sleepy showers, no rushed half cup of coffee, no traffic to fight for THREE WHOLE DAYS.

Personally, I think every weekend should be three days. And I salute Christopher Columbus for making sure we get at least one in October.