Home Again, Home Again

Hello and happy Monday. I just got back from a week long trip to La Crosse Wisconsin. What a beautiful city La Crosse is. La Crosse is located on the banks of the Mississippi River in the southwestern part of the state. I was there for a work trip. I foolishly thought I could churn out a blog post or two while I was there, but people, it just didn’t happen. There was no free time.

It all started last Monday morning when I left my house at 5:15 AM. I had about an hour’s drive to the airport and my flight left at 8:00. I was very concerned because I only had a 45 minute layover in Chicago O’Hare airport. I considered only taking a carry-on but I was going to be there for a week and I just couldn’t do it. So I had to check a bag and then I was worried my bags wouldn’t make it.

Luckily, All of my flights were on time and getting through O’Hare was a breeze. I have flown through there several times and I am getting very familiar with the layout of the airport. Even my bags made it to La Crosse. The hotel has airport shuttle and they picked me up outside the airport. Easy peasy. Remember my post a few weeks back about travel? If not you can check it out here. I did follow a lot of those suggestions but sometimes I think it is just the luck of the draw when dealing with time zones and flights.

I got into La Crosse at noon on Monday. There was a one hour time difference. I took a little rest in my room and then met one of my friends for lunch. She had arrived for the meeting the day before. We walked into town and found a neat little restaurant, Bodega’s. We then spent some time walking through the town and visiting some of the little shops. We went to an amazing book store that was connected to a coffee shop. There was a young man playing a piano inside the book store and singing softly. It was just precious. We also got Ice Cream at a shop called The Pearl. It was so yummy. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you the temperatures that week were mid 60’s F. It was lovely. The trees were golden and had changed color much more than here at home.

Monday night we had an opening reception. This is an annual meeting so I was reunited with some of my friends that I don’t get to see often. It is always so much fun catching up. The following days were filled with meetings, seminars and a day trip into Minnesota where we toured two different caves. More on those in my next post. Let me tell you it was an exhausting, exhilarating, learning, and sharing week. Whew.

Before I knew it, it was Friday morning and my flight left at 6:00 AM. I was okay with that. I like early flights because that means I get home early. I did cringe a little when the hotel told me the shuttle to the airport would leave at 4:15 AM. Oh well, who needs sleep?

***Bodegas. A nice little brew pub with up to 400 different bottled beers and 20 taps. There were even games to play if you wanted.***

***The hotel was centrally located so lots of things to do within walking distance.***

***After being in a chilly meeting room all day a couple of us enjoyed a drink by the fireplace.***

***There was a beautiful park across the street from the hotel. People were walking their dogs and riding bikes and enjoying the chilly fall weather.***

***We were awakened early Tuesday morning by a fire alarm. Luckily it was a false alarm. Still a little scary.***

***Reuniting with great friends is priceless.***

How was your week? I had a great time but as I always say, There’s no place like home!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello Monday

Hello friends and happy Monday. I am stalling. I need to be packing. I am going with my sisters tomorrow on our annual Sister Trip. We always have such a great time and I love going but I absolutely hate packing. It is a short three day trip. I really don’t have to put that much thought into it. So why am I stalling and not getting to it? I have no idea. Actually I do have a couple of ideas and they are, that I don’t like making decisions, and I don’t like summer clothes and we are still having summer weather. So I guess I will have to resurrect a few summer things to wear. And here I thought those hot days were behind us. I should have known better. Wasn’t yesterday the first official day of Fall?

Can we talk for a minute about September? How is the month almost over? What is going on? It seems like it was April last week. You know, that might be a sign of aging. I have heard of these things.

I actually had a fairly slow week. I had a lot of catching up to do at work last Monday. The rest of the week was pretty much the usual things. I have slowly been adding some fall decor to my house. I don’t decorate a lot but I do love the fall colors. I didn’t do a lot of work on my projects. I did work a little on the Witches’ hat cross stitch. I guess I have been a bit lazy. I did spend some of Saturday with a good friend and two of her sisters. We had pizza and talked for about two hours. I felt like I was at Ms. Truvy’s Beauty Parlor. Steel Magnolias, If you know you know. We shared stories and solved all the world’s problems.

I finished this book, First Lie Wins, I guess that is where some of my time was spent. It was so good. It kept me guessing until the very end of the book. I had gotten it through my Libby app so I had only a few days left to finish it. Turns out I didn’t even need all of the days. I finished it about five days before it was due.

***So good you won’t be able to out it down.***

A couple of weeks ago I was driving down my road and a deer, I am pretty certain it was a deer, ran across the road right in front of my car and I hit it. Well I grazed it or it grazed my car. I screamed and looked back and it was gone. I felt so bad that it was probably injured. I felt bad because my car was injured. It wasn’t too bad, the car, but enough that you noticed it. My left front bumper is slightly out of kilter. I made my husband go back and search the area for a deer or blood or whatever, and he could find nothing. The deer in our area are abundant. When you drive down our road, you have to creep down the road because the deer will run across the road right in front of you, and there’s usually several of them. I have been planning to get a new car and I know this will hurt my trade in value. Oh well some things you just can’t prevent.

I got a picture of this guy this morning on my way to work.

***Looking so innocent. I still love them and it breaks my heart to hit one of them.***

We have been doing a lot of decorating at work for the fall season. A farm center near us had the most beautiful mums. One of the ladies at work and I loaded 25 into my car. It was a tight squeeze but we managed to get them all in.

We also bought several pumpkins and placed them around the property. We had a lot of fun. It was however over 90 degrees F and we got a little warm. I think cooler temps are expected later in the week.

So I am off to start packing. I will leave you with a picture of one of my outside baby girls. This is Izzy. She is ditzy, unpredictable, and a bit lazy. She loves mama cat and barely leaves her side. But here is a rare picture of her alone enjoying the sunshine on Saturday.

My Izzy. Her coloring blends well with the concrete color.

Have a wonderful week!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Hello Monday

Hello and happy Monday!! I was gone all last week on a work trip to North Carolina. Well most of the week anyway. I am so glad to be back to a regular routine. I was even glad to get back to work today. What???

I did take a couple of days off at the end of the week to sort of rest and rejuvenate. I did some work outside in my yard, and trimmed shrubs and some overgrown hedges. I still have a lot to do. I was just reading that and I was thinking, where was the rest? If you are like me working outside is restful. The temps have cooled a little and will be even cooler this week. I am loving it!!!

I stayed home most of the weekend. On Saturday, Mark and I drove to Knoxville with my niece and picked up her kayak from a friends’ house. It was in an area I had never been to before. I just love looking at homes and yards in places I haven’t been.

We also worked on the house a bit and it seems so clean and shiny. Too bad it won’t last long.

I thought I would show you some of my projects I am working on. You know it isn’t me if I don’t have several going at one time. Sorry for the wrinkled comforter. The color is a great background for my projects.

***This is the granny square afghan I am working on for my nephew. This is Tennessee Titans colors. One of his favorite teams.***

***My Hats off to Halloween cross stitch. I really need to get to work on this one. I want to get it finished, framed and out before Halloween.***

This is a shawl I started yesterday. It is sort of a trial and error. I am going with a pattern as I go along. I’m not sure if it will work out. I used an inexpensive yarn so if it doesn’t work out, it’s no loss. I just realized it looks sort of like candy corn. You see where my mind is. There’s several other colors as well.

***This scarf. I love the pattern and I love this green color.***

I am also reading a couple of good books.

***First Lie Wins. I just started this one on my Libby App. It is already full of secrets and suspense. I will let you know what I think of it.***

Isadora is a University researcher. On her 30th Birthday she reads an article about 31 ways to be happy. Being the researcher she is she tries to prove the article may not make everyone happy. A lot of things happen for Isadora along the way. I have heard a lot of good things about this book. I can’t wait to read it.

That is pretty much what I have been up to. A little boring I know but just the way I love it. I have a sister trip coming up in a couple of weeks and a work trip in October. So for now I am just going to hang out at the house and enjoy some quiet time with my husband and the kitties. Speaking of kitties, I will leave you with a picture of Kitty Kitty. She was very cool to me when I returned home. I think she was mad that I left her behind. She’s starting to come around. Silly kitties.

How is your week? Do you have lots of plans and fun things to do?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Hello September

Happy Labor Day. If you work in tourism, as I do, there’s two very important days in the season. Memorial Day is very important because it is sort of the kick-off to the summer season. And then Labor Day is the last big hurrah for the season. Whew!!! I am happy to see you Labor Day and the start of a slower work pace.

I have to go back and give August its due, all thirty minutes of it. That’s how fast it seems like it flew by. August was a very busy month.

I started August in Las Vegas at the Star Trek Convention and then had a short visit to Utah and Zion National Park. It seems like as soon as I got back home work was busier than ever and I was trying to juggle everything again.

We are still dealing with a lot of final issues with my mother in law. She passed away in July. We are still settling things with the nursing facility and continuing to clean out her house, which is going to be quite the undertaking.

We had a quick day trip to Nashville for the Time Traveler’s Vintage Expo. That was a lot of fun. And then last week we, hubs and I, had a quick overnight to Nashville for a four month doctor visit for him. We always eat at a nice restaurant and spend the night in the same hotel near the hospital. That makes our trip over and back, about four hours each way, much easier.

Because of my job the summer months are really hard and stressful. Luckily, I have amazing and wonderful co-workers. We try to have as much fun as I can during these times. Life is way too short not to try and enjoy something about every season. But I’m always happy to see the fall season arrive. What is your favorite time of year?

Labor Day is almost over. I am home where I love to be. I just came in and fed the kitties and had some dinner and gave all eighteen orchids a water bath. Now I am off to work on a knitting stitch that I just learned from a YouTube video. Life is good, precious, wonderful!!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!