Trip to Washington D.C.

I have to say I enjoy traveling for work. Part of the reason is that I don't have to do it too often. So when the opportunity arises I am eager for it. On Sunday, October 26th I boarded a plane to Washington D.C. to attend a two day conference for work.
The conference was held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City. With the three hour time difference it was after 5:00 p.m. by the time we arrived at the hotel. I was traveling with one of my coworkers as well as the many conference attendees who were from my larger organization.

That evening a group of about 14 of us walked from the hotel through the Fashion Center Mall which is attached to the hotel, then outside to an Italian restaurant.

Monday I woke at 6 am and went to the fitness center. I worked out on an elliptical but the real reason I was at the fitness center was the sauna and steam room. I haven't been in either for many years and I love them both.

We had breakfast at the conference as well as lunch, both catered by the hotel. Also snacks in the afternoon. The conference was very good. It was about Global Trade Control Regulations and lots of discussion on International Business. We had speakers from a few government agencies as well as from the UK and Canada Embassies. There is a lot to learn so I was happy to be attending.

Monday night I had made reservations and arranged for our staff to have a team dinner at Morton's Steak House. Some of us walked the mile to the restaurant and a few took a taxi. We had a lot of fun. We have a new work group which combines four different groups. This gave us a chance to all meet. I did meet my new manager on Monday. She has been my manager for 3 weeks, but is located in California.

Tuesday morning, same routine at the fitness center and the last day of the conference. Tuesday after the conference Glenda and I joined a tour bus that did D.C. at night. It was a lot of fun. We stopped at many of the monuments. It was dark and a little bit cold but very enjoyable. We saw the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Viet Nam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, FDR Memorial and Iwo Jima and the Washington Monument from the distance.

On Wednesday we had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, leaving our luggage and took the subway from Arlington across the river to D.C. I'll see if I can remember all we did that day before catching our flight at 5:30 p.m. to go home.

We got off the subway and did some walking till we found the International Spy Museum. It was so cool. This is not part of the Smithsonian museums so it was the only one we paid admission too. http://www.spymuseum.org/ They have a gift shop and the museum is quite big. It's laid out really good with so much to see. I would have to say the highlight for me was a chance to crawl through duct work and look down at the people visiting the museum. Just like they do in the movies.

We went to an Art Museum, then walked over near the White House. Then we visited the National Archives, the Natural History Museum, ate lunch at the Indian Museum, and visited the Smithsonian Castle which was the original building and where the body of James Smithson lays in a crypt.

From there we found the subway, got back to the hotel, caught a taxi and made it to the airport in time. It was a long flight home, but I was sitting with a nice group, good company. We had three babies in our area and they were very good.

Here is a link to my pictures which I have posted on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1068406&l=1d9d7&id=747090221

Fall is Here

The leaves are turning shades of gold, orange and red. We have some already dropping to the ground in the backyard. The wind and rain come and go, but it's a pleasant wind and rain, not yet cold and heavy.

Yesterday I bought a pumpkin and put it on my front door step. This afternoon, I got out some of my Halloween decorations. It's different when you don't have small children at home. But I enjoy the decorations anyway and like the feel of fall.

And of course the Halloween candy has been in the store for weeks now. Miniature versions of all your favorite candies. I enjoy candy corn and even the marshmellow peeps, but I know I can't call them peeps, they are now pumpkins or ghosts, but sugary delicious still the same.

I can honestly say that today I have no Halloween candy in the house. However, I have an empty candy dish set out now just waiting to be filled.

I like Halloween being the end of the month, that way we can enjoy the visuals of it and the treats for the whole month.

Yes, fall is in the air. I feel it, I smell it, I see it, and I love it!

This is a photo of my brother's puppy from 2006.

Pictures from Vacation and Graduation

Road Trip

We left Thursday morning, Sept 11th. Keep in mind that Wally can't drive cause of his eyes. I did all the driving. We took Wally's small S10 truck loaded up with furniture for his daughter. We stopped to visit the Shasta Lake Dam, the second largest in the country. We had to ask what the first was and was embarrassed to learn it was the Grand Coulee here in Washington. We got to Bart and Autumn's about 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. Harper is just wonderful, adorable, smiley, just fun. Bart brought pizza home and we spent the evening visiting. They live in a small town outside Medford. They are one house away from the city park. They can walk to the grocery store. They really like it there. Friday morning we went into Ashland and had breakfast at harper's, which is Autumn's Mom's new restaurant that opened on Wednesday. She had the Avenues Bakery in Salt Lake, which they closed in August. Ashland is a great little town.

We stopped at The Olive Pit in Corning to do some shopping. Then we drove in to San Francisco and arrived at our hotel about 6:30 p.m. on Friday night. We were 30 miles away from the city and it took 1 1/2 hours to get into it. Wally's daughter picked us up at the hotel and out for Italian food for dinner. Saturday morning Wally and I walked down Union Street to a café for breakfast. Then we went to Carla's place in the Mission District. We lucked out and a got a parking spot right out front. We unloaded furniture and then spent hours putting it together. I walked over to the French bakery on the corner for treats. Then we walked around the Mission district, had lunch and looked at shops. We actually stood outside on the sidewalk for 15 minutes to get into an ice cream shop, which was really worth the wait. It was called Bi-Rite Creamery. I had toasted coconut ice cream and salted caramel ice cream with home made caramel sauce. It was delicious.

Later that night we went out for Chinese food at a place called Alice's restaurant. It was very good.Sunday was the same breakfast routine, check out of the hotel and then the afternoon spent in Sausalito, it was my first time on the Golden Gate Bridge. We basically spent 48 hours in San Francisco. Sunday night we drove about 3 hours north and spent the night in Corning. Monday we visited my friend Gail who just moved to Eugene in August. We've known each other since we were 8 years old. I hadn't seen her for a couple of year. As always it was great to see her and catch up on things.

From Eugene we drove to Corvallis then headed west to the Oregon Coast and 101. We arrived about 1 1/2 hours before sunset, which I anticipated watching on the beach. However when we arrived in Newport it was all fogged in. We found a nice hotel and a restaurant on the beach where we had dinner. I had crab cakes and brought a slice of cheesecake back to the hotel for later.

We woke in the morning to fog and headed north on 101. We did stop at Cannon Beach to go see the ocean.

We visited the Tillamook Cheese factory, had lunch (grilled ham and cheese on sourdough) and ice cream (rocky road on a sugar cone). We also visited a quilt/textile/museum/shop, which was fun. We made a brief stop in Astoria, the crossed the Columbia River to head home. We stopped at Black Angus for my free birthday dinner, which expired the next day. We were home by 7:30.

I had Wednesday to catch up at home and Natalie arrived Thursday morning. We had Wayne's portfolio review on Thursday, then we walked around Pike Place. Friday was graduation in the afternoon at Benaroya Hall. He now has his Associates Degree in Graphic Design now. Saturday, Wally, Natalie and I went to the Puyallup fair where we got very rained on but enjoyed the food. We visited Ian in his booth and thanked him for our free parking and admission. I hadn't seen him for over a year. He is doing good.

Natalie flew home Sunday morning. And Monday it was back to getting up at 6:00 a.m., working, cooking and cleaning. Back to routine. Vacation is great but routine can also be good.

Nature

I have the opportunity to work from home most days. I sit at my desk in the spare bedroom, which has been turned into my homeoffice/craft/sewing room. I have a window that looks into the front yard. We bought a wooden bird feeder in Oregon on our road trip which I wanted to use for the squirrels. We haven't hung it up yet so I sat it in my flower bed.

Here's a couple of pictures. It was fun watching the squirrels.

Road Trip

Tomorrow Wally and I begin our road trip to San Francisco. I am really looking forward to it. We will visit Bart and Autumn in Oregon. Meet Harper who is now three months old. Spend a couple of nights in San Francisco and hang out with Carla. On the way home we visit my friend Gail who just moved to Eugene, Oregon from Virginia. Great timing, except her furniture hasn't arrived yet!

We may drive a little along the coast, depending on how we're feeling by then. The weather should be great and I'm looking forward to a great trip.

I'll share pictures later. I bought my new digital camera about three weeks ago so I could learn how to use it, but let's just say I'll be bringing the instruction manual along, just in case.

Birthday

In celebration of my birthday today I joined an elite group. I've nicknamed this group the James Street Hill Walkers. James Hill is a mile long steep hill that I drive on all the time. I've walked up and down it once or twice a few years ago (when I was younger). My last attempt in January 2007, I didn't make it all the way up the hill.

Today I successfully made it up the hill and back down. I passed a few other hill walkers. I'm not sure if most people start at the top or the bottom. I choose to start at the bottom to get the worst part over with first. It takes me about 10-15 minutes longer to get up the hill then it does to get down the hill. Going up I have to stop and rest, catch my breath and stretch out my calves. Sweet success today!

Birthdays!

Happy Birthday!

To
My niece Katie Aug. 30th
My cousin Russell Aug. 30th
My niece Lillie Sept. 2nd

Remembering Mom, "Lc", who would have celebrated her 86th Birthday on August 31st.

Friday, the Beginning of a Four Day Weekend

Today I was up at 7:00 a.m. for a meeting at 7:30. I was able to make the call from home. After that I was at Curves by 9:00 a.m.. Then on my way to Target I decided to go to Great Clips for a haircut (actually to fix what I tried to trim myself). I did some quick shopping at Target then when I got home I decided I wanted to mow the lawn. They say we're supposed to get rain this weekend.

I mowed our front lawn and the front lawn of the house across the street which is vacant and for sale since our good neighbor Mike passed away in June. Then I tackled our backyard which hadn't been mowed in a couple of weeks.

After I "did my hair" and showered, Wally and I ran an errand to the credit union. We decided to go see The Dark Knight but since we had time to kill before the movie started we went across the street to AAA. There we picked up some maps for our upcoming trip to San Francisco.

The movie was good and afterwards we went out for Teriyaki. We were home by 7:30 which made for a nice day. Wally also waxed my car this morning, which was very nice.

I bought a new digital camera this week. The Olympus Stylus 1010. I'm very excited to have a new camera. It's my second digital camera. (That's not counting the digital I bought for 35.00 at an on-line auction that turned out to be really old and clunky.) If anyone collects old digital cameras, just let me know and I'll send it your way. It actually records pictures on a 3.5 disk or a regular card. I never paid the money to buy a card for it. I guess that's one good thing I did.

Tomorrow it's oil change for the car, laundry, vacuuming, clean the bathroom and grocery shopping. Just a typical Saturday. I'll also find time to run to the library to pick up The Kite Runner which they have on hold for me.

Things I Never Mentioned

Have you ever had something embarrassing, sad or just plain stupid happen to you and you don't tell a single person about it? I have two confessions to make right here and now. I'm not sure why I didn't casually mention them as an occurrence before. Maybe it was because when they happened my first emotion was anger, then it turned into "did I really just do that?". It's in the category of when something happens to you or you do something and you wish you could reverse time and prevent it from ever happening.

Both of my incidents involve glass, I guess that says something about me. The first one happened in June 2007 as I was getting ready to go on our family vacation. Our annual vacation takes some preplanning. We like to haul most of our groceries from home. It was a lovely June evening and I was shopping at WinCo. I remember taking my grocery cart out to the car. I started loading the bags in the trunk. I had bought two cases of Thomas Kemper soda pop. I think they were about 6.00 or 7.00 a box. There are the ones in the glass bottles and you get assorted flavors. These cases weren't as big as the ones at Costco.

Well I picked up one case from the cart and somehow it swung out of my hand and came crashing down between my car and the one next to it. I heard the tinkling glass and when I picked up the case, which was fully intact on the outside, soda pop came oozing out the corner.

There I stood in the parking lot with a cardboard box of broken glass and soda dripping on the pavement. I didn't quite know what to do. I wasn't going to go back in and pay for another case, I figured the other one I had would have to do.

So I did what I thought was the best solution and to save face. I took the sticky, glass tinkling, dripping box and put it in the bottom of a shopping cart in the cart station in the parking lot. Bless the store person who found it and cleaned up after me!

The other glass breaking incident I had was earlier this year. I was doing food at a wedding reception at a church I had never been to before. The nice man met me in the parking lot to let me into the building. I parked out back so I could unload the truck into the kitchen. I arrived about 30 minutes before my helpers were to arrive.

At the church you always have to prop the back door open with a chair and take the wheelie cart from the kitchen to the parking lot, load it up and go back into the kitchen. Well this kitchen cart had stacks of plastic trays hanging from the cart. I figured I could use them like shelves.

I had made a trip or two already and was loading up bags and boxes. I had a lovely glass salad bowl which I sat on a tray and then I promptly loaded another tray, slid it in, and you guessed it, knocked the glass bowl off the tray out the other end smashing it down onto the pavement.

That's when you just kind of take a moment, stand there and realize what had just happened and that it totally could have been prevented. And how much I was going to miss that glass salad bowl. Not just for the reception but for my holiday meals at home. Luckily it wasn't an expensive glass bowl, but it just should never have happened.

Then I had to go inside the church, find the maintenance closet, take a broom, dust pan and small garbage can outside and clean up my mess. Luckily it was in the back parking lot and it was all cleaned up before anyone else arrived. Not the most pleasant way to start an afternoon of making petite sandwiches and fruit platters.

I'm fine now. I've moved on. I haven't replaced the glass salad bowl yet and every time I drink soda pop from a glass bottle, I'll remember that June day in the grocery store parking lot.

Remembering Dad

Today would have been my Father's 94th Birthday. I woke up this morning thinking about him. He was born in 1914 and passed away 10 years ago, right before Father's Day, and two months before his 84th birthday.

Dad was 43 years old when I was born and I was only 40 years old when he passed away. Just think, he had lived half his life before I was even born.

He had 20 wonderful years of retirement with Mom. They traveled in their motor home, served two church missions, and enjoyed many summers at the cabin where they welcomed grandkids, friends and even a few strangers.

Dad loved to sing with the Barbershop Chorus, cooked great sourdough bread and of course loved cooking in his dutch ovens. He was a constant inventor. Always figuring out how to make some clever thing.

He taught me that I could do anything. Just two months before he died I was able to tell him I was going back to college to finish my degree and he was delighted.

Growing up in Boise Dad used to invite me to the auction with him on Saturdays. Of course he had gone down much earlier in the morning to see what he wanted to buy and estimated what time the bidding would be in that area. Then I would go back with him and get to watch the bidding. I'm not sure he needed all that stuff but he had a great time.

Dad was the oldest in his family and in retirement enjoyed many visits and trips with his brothers and sisters and their spouses. He loved being around people.

He was an example to me of how a life should be led. I'm proud to be his daughter. Happy Birthday Dad, I love you!