Another Finger

I wanted to update my blog, but I have smashed my finger--a different one--again (note blog in June). So I can't really type. This is a picture of my poor finger--no it's not fingernail polish and my finger is all swollen. Not sure how productive work is going to be tomorrow. So when I can type well again I'll post some pictures and updates on my life as of late.

Amen

I walked into the gym this morning around 5:15 am and was still saying my morning prayers in my head. I was upset about something and kind of woke up aggitated so I had more to say than I normally do at 5:00 am. When I got into the gym a person greeted me. I was trying to finish up my prayer before I responded and at that hour in the morning I was having a hard time doing three things at once (walking, praying, and responding to others.) I looked up at the women and said 'amen' instead of hello. I covered myself by saying I wasn't really awake yet. She agreed and started talking about coffee. I don't know if she even heard me. I am still chuckling about me saying amen. :)

Gym

I joined a Gold's gym that is close to my house (I've walked there a few times already :)) even though I have a free gym in my apartment complex and a free gym at work. The problem is none of these gyms have classes and I miss my classes. I now take body pump which is an intense weight lifting class, cycling, and a body sculpt class. When I do the weight classes I get there early and do cardio for 30 minutes. I need to up it to 40, but getting up before 5:00 is very unappealing! It's hard enough to do 30 minutes. :)

On Friday I was doing the sculpting class and the instructor was having us do abs. We had been doing normal crunches and then he told us to put our hands stretched out above our heads and then come up to a sitting position. I knew I couldn't do that and just did a crunch, but I looked around and no one was doing it. We all started to laugh. So here we are about fifteen people laughing because no one had done it. The instructor got the picture quite quickly and changed back to crunches, but we were all still laughing. My stomach was sore on Saturday. I'm not sure if it's because of the crunches or the laughing.:) It was really funny to see--one of those 'had to be there' things.

I think the exercise and eating--doing my points--is helping. I weighed myself yesterday and I have shedded two pounds. I am going to 'shed' twelve more in the coming months. It feels good to be back on track. I am hoping they come off quickly so I can fit back in my pants when it gets cold and I have to start wearing them again.

Goodbye to Julie

Julie is moving to Atlanta Georgia to take a new job with the CDC. I'm very excited for her as she will finally get to live alone and decorate her home the way she wants to. I offered to take her to Williamsburg before she left as she has always wanted to go. We are in front of the Governors Palace after our tour. I was so interesting to be in Williamsburg. I have been there a few times, but it's been awhile.
We were lucky enough to get a private tour (as no one else was taking the orientation tour) with this very nice women. We were able to ask her tons of questions. It was great! She saw 'Thomas Jefferson' going by and started chasing him down to make sure it was him. He really had the poise and very gentleman thing down. She spoke to him about the political things of the day. Very interesting.
We went to the brick making area. It was very interesting to see how they made brings and when they fired them. We got to 'help' by tromping through the clay. I almost fell into it a few times. They had a wash area to clean up afterwards, but I had enough remnants for someone to comment that we must have been at the brick making area. :) I love this picture of Julie and I.
I had to post this picture! Whenever I do the stocks I always smile. We did that and then decided to do a picture with us being scared. Julie and I laughed and laughed over these pictures!
When you leave Williamsburg through the visitors center there is this sign on the ground. How it works is as you are going into the historical area every yard or so they tell you how you are going back in time--i.e., you have no tv or internet. When you leave the historical area it kind of brings you up to date and then has this sign. It really does make me wonder what difference I want to make.
Julie had a goodbye party and then a goodbye dinner at the Buddha Bar in DC. When I first walked in I wondered if I had my sunglasses on because it was so incredibly dark. When I used the restroom I literally had to search for the door because I couldn't see. Someone else in the party said she had felt around the wall to find the door. It was really kind of funny!

It did get a bit lighter later which allowed us to see a two story buddha and enormous chandeliers. It was really a cool place. The service was incredible! We would get done with a dish and someone was there to get it. Wow! I had a mocktail which was delicious! I love getting fancy drinks. It was a great send off for Julie. It was fun to talk to some of her friends. Later I thought Julie told me that her friend Paula in the white was a comedian. I was so surprised because she wasn't really funny the whole night--very nice, but not funny. I told Julie that and she said 'Canadian--not comedian.' It was SO funny!!!

Julie came to my house on Thursday night. I haven't been feeling well (no energy--SOOOO incredibly annoying!!!!!!!!) and she wasn't feeling that great (tired) so we had a relaxing morning. We looked at blog backgrounds (hence the change on mine) and really just kind of lazed around.
We went to the restaurant "Busboys and Poetry" in Shirlington and afterward looked around at a few of the shops.

I bought the cutest bag--as shown here. When I got up to the counter the person working there said something about it being a lunch tote. I said, oh no, I thought it was a purse. I almost didn't buy it. I do think it's multipurpose because it has a key thing on it and pockets for small things (not food related.) It was way too cute not to buy and use as a purse. The rest of the day Julie and I commented on my lunch tote. :)

We went to Great Falls because Julie said she had never been there during the day. The falls were really really low! It was such a gorgeous day!

I took Julie to the airport this morning. I will miss having her here in the area. She would invite me to do a lot of cool things in the city. It was fun! I also think it's a great new experience for her and want her to love it in Atlanta. It's a new city for me to explore too. :)

So now, I am finally all caught up with my blog. Yeah! Keep on blogging fellow bloggers. I love to read your posts.

Schofield Family July 2010

Isn't this just the cutest little family! :) Macyden (4), JL, Rick, Addison (2) and me at the falls in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was so beautiful!
Addison is really so adorable! I think we look like each other. For some reason the kids like to touch their faces when they smile for the camera. Addison doesn't always seem to have her balance and kind of totters around. It's really kind of funny. We would go down the slide at the park and she wouldn't spend the time to actually sit down, but would kind of plop down and go. Sometimes should would go straight, but often she would be completely off center. She would run off to get back on the slide. She would turn and say to me 'Debbie, come!' It was so cute! She just makes me laugh. She lives in her own world and does whatever she wants to do.
JL and I up in the high mountains of Colorado. Just above my head to the left a little is a glacier lake. It looks pretty cool (both ways cool :)) in person.
I love the mountains! It's so beautiful up here on top of the mountains. It's even a little hard to breathe.


I usually only get to see JL and her family once a year so I was very happy I was able to make a quick trip to see them between my two classes in Oklahoma . The kids are adorable—2 and 4. It was fun to see how much they have grown since December, play with them, and just be with them.

I asked JL if we could go somewhere pretty because people are always saying that Colorado is so pretty. I usually visit in the winter so I had never really seen the pretty parts. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park for the day with the kids. The mountains are quite different from the Utah mountains which is what I am used to. The mountains didn’t seem to have as many trees as the ones in Utah. Once we got into the park and to our destination it was gorgeous! We walked around a lake and had a little picnic. We then walked to a waterfall. It was really pretty with lots of cascading falls. Mcayden and I went up quite a ways to see all of the falls. He loves exploring.

Afterwards Rick drove us up to the top of the mountain. It was somewhat barren with cool rock formations and gorgeous views of glacier lakes. There were wild flowers in bloom that evidently are only in bloom like three weeks a year. It was cold up there! We left just as it started hailing and then raining—perfect timing.

I was just there for a few days, but it was great! Love you Schofields!

Oklahoma Trip July/August

Details about my business trip are below, but these pictures are much more interesting! I really love Chihuly (the glass blowing artist.) I have even traveled to NYC just to see one of his exhibits. (It was AWESOME!!!) Well, the biggest collection of Chihuly art, surprisingly enough, is in Oklahoma City. My work friend Jennifer and a friend of hers, Kirsten, and I went to the museum and then out to dinner. I had been with the guys in the class for the whole week (breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the in between) so it was realllllllyyyyyy nice to have some time away. :) The glass sculpture behind us is at least four stories high. It's really stunning!
I love the way they showcase Chihuly's work on the ceiling. It's so much better in person, but you can still see how cool it is.

This gives you a different perspective of the glass sculpture above.

Chihuly loves to display his work in boats. I'm not sure why, but it is really cool to see. It's so much better outside though. The way sunlight grabs the glass is so amazing!
This was the group that Sandy (front left) and I worked with to create the course. They were so sweet and wanted to take us out for dinner. I just love them! From left to around the table:
Sandy Wagner my project manager, me, Gordy, Stan Pitts, Dave Maloy, Leo Hollis, Leo's wife Martha, and Dave Porter.
This is a picture of my first class of the three weeks. Starting from the left, Dan Jenkins, Dan, John, Mike Foster (my project manager--the head in the back), John (in the back--we had a lot of laughs!), Bunky (yes that is what he goes by) John, front again on the left-Dan, ?, me, ?, Eric Friedman, and Gerry Milburn.

The Trip Itself

I just returned from being in Oklahoma City for three weeks. (Actually I wrote this blog when I first returned, but I haven't posted it--so pretend this is the first of August.) Before I left I knew it was a long time to be away, but I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. I love to travel and have spent a lot more than three weeks living out of a suitcase and typically I’m moving from place to place. Therefore I thought this would not be bad.

Let me say, though it wasn’t bad I am SO SO happy to be home—sleep in my own bed, have time to myself, and not be thinking of work all of the time. We left for work around 7:00 and though we would end at 5:00—we would then go out for dinner or a walk or shopping or whatever—every day. I don’t do that when I’m home and really it was exhausting. I had a book that I maybe got through ten pages because we were always going. I like to go home and chill out, but we wouldn’t get back to the hotel until around 9:00 or 10:00 most nights.

I had two different courses at the academy. What this basically means is that I sit in the classroom and take notes if there are changes to the content or slides that I have already developed. It can be super boring when everything is going smoothly--though I'm very glad when it's going well. Sometimes there are a lot of changes or questions that I need to bring up to the instructors after the class is over.

The first week I was there was a ton of work. There were a lot of changes that I was required to do on site and after work. The course was to teach the instructors so pretty soon everyone was giving me changes to the content. It became more like—too many cooks in the kitchen. I have a lot of work to do for that course and will be doing it when I get back to work.

Between the first and second week that I left, I flew to Denver to go see my sister JL and her family. I wrote about the trip in a separate blog.

The second and third weeks were the same course. I have been working with the instructors for several months. They are absolutely fabulous and we all get along really well. We just work so well together. They have another course they are going to be starting. The instructors, my project manager, and myself would all like to work together again. They have others assigned to them now, but my project manager is going to see if we can be reassigned.

There were several international students from China, a student from Croatia, Canada, and Jamaica. It was interesting to talk to them and hear their take on the course and other non-work related subjects.

After almost three full weeks I was able to go home. I was supposed to have a direct flight home, but they were having some pretty intense weather in DC so they closed the airport. We were diverted to Dayton Ohio. Luckily they let us off the plane to get something to eat. I didn’t get lunch because I had some snacks and figured I could wait until I got home. I was so glad they let us off. There was only one place to get something and so we all basically went there to eat. The staff wasn’t too happy about it. We had to wait a long time for our salads and were still waiting when someone came and told us we were boarding. I was really stressed we wouldn’t have enough time. Luckily they had a list and were crossing off our names making sure we got back on the plane.

When I finally arrived and after waiting for my luggage for an hour a friend came and picked me up. I was invited to dinner. All I really wanted to do was go home, but I accepted. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal and good company.

Headed to Oklahoma City --for 3 weeks

I was going through airport security on Monday and was somewhat annoyed (very slightly) by this couple in front of me that was moving slowly and taking up the whole walkway so I couldn’t go around them. I had arrived plenty early so I just thought, ‘oh I have plenty of time I’m just going to stay here and not try to get around them.’

I noticed they had some walking sticks with them and so I struck up a conversation with the wife. They were going to go hiking in the Rocky Mountains. Well at security their stuff didn’t go through at all. The security personnel had to keep coming back and putting it back on the belt. These security people were really intense. I think every person had their bag opened. They took away my yogurt. They said it was considered a paste—which is so incredibly dumb! After working for the federal government I am starting to understand why there are so many incredible dumb things we have to do.

When I got up to the gate this gentleman struck up a conversation with me which was very interesting. We noticed this guy walking around with this thing sticking out of his bag that looked like a bull horn. We talked about it and commented that it looked like a weapon. When he boarded the plane I went up to this other guy and asked him about it. He was so delighted that I had asked him. He had been at the World Cup in South Africa and was just returning. It was fun to hear about his experience there.

Then I finally got to board—I was in the last group—I got to my seat and the couple at security was sitting next to me. I laughed and comments on how funny that we. We had a wonderful conversation throughout the flight. They were from Belgium where I have lived so it was fun to talk about that. They had seen some things in DC that I didn’t know about so it was nice to learn about that.

I was so grateful that I had spoken with the couple and the other people I spoke with. It really made my trip delightful. When I got on my flight to go to Oklahoma, (for work), the person sitting one seat in front of me was a friend I had made at the FAA who works in San Francisco. I said, “Jen!” She turned around and saw me—took off her seatbelt and stood up to give me a hug. She is really such a nice person! We talked for awhile until the guy next to us rudely in a way told us to stop talking. She offered to take me to my hotel. So we met up with a friend of hers and went to my hotel, their hotel, and then to dinner. It was such a fun day!

Now, I had a great day, but my co-worker, Mike, did not. He was able to get a flight through Chicago, but his flight was full so I decided to take the flight through Denver. When I got through security and stopped at the monitors I noticed that his flight had been canceled. I called and asked what he was going to do. To make a super long story short, he didn’t get in until around 8:00 and his bag didn’t make it with him. He waited at the airport for two more hours. Originally he was supposed to be in two hours before me. I was so incredibly grateful I was not able to get on his flight!!!

I’m in Oklahoma for work for the next three weeks. I do get to go to see my sister and her family this weekend instead of going to DC. I haven’t seen them since December so that will be a lot of fun. I also haven’t been to Colorado in the summer so I’m looking forward to seeing how beautiful it is. My social calendar is filling up. I was teasing one of my coworkers that he needs to decide when we are going to go golfing because my time is filling up. He promised to take me to the driving range. So many fun things to do, but so much work to do too. Not sure if I have enough time for the fun, but I’m working on it.