It Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time

It's 6:30 a.m. local time and I'm up and at 'em! I wish I were still sleeping but well, let's say my bunk mate can be a bit on the loud side when it comes to snoring. >:-(

It's all good for now. We'll see how chipper I can be if this keeps up for longer.

Budapest is lovely. We're headed to the countryside to see some more of Hungary before we depart for Vienna.

But let's start at the beginning. I met up with MomH with no problems in Detroit. Brother Ray and DadH were there to see us off. How sweet!

Upon loading the plane, it's discovered that my seat is double booked with an occupant in it already. So MomH sits down and I'm in the back galley chatting with the gals in German (on Lufthansa). No biggie to wait, since I'm already on the plane so I can't imagine they'll kick me off. After a long wait and much discussion, they haven't figured out what to do with me as they want to keep Mom and I together. I see an open seat, on the aisle, next to a really cute age-appropriate guy in a Detroit ball cap. "Why, hello there - how 'bout them Tigers?"

I'm ready to be told to sit there, looking forward to it, when I'm told - MomH and I are headed to business class.

That's right, mofos. Business class. The booze tray came by every five minutes and seats were fully reclinable. Awesome. So long to those suckers in steerage!

What a great time. The gals in the back came up to say goodbye to me before we landed and my attendant in front came by and gave me some daisies and a piece of chocolate. Super fun! I'm going to write the airline when I get back and thank them for such a wonderful experience. The staff went out of their way to be nice. Mom said it was probably because I was being pleasant about the whole deal and not getting irritated by not having a seat. Well, what good would that have done? No reason to get all worked up before an eight hour flight. Sitting up front in semi-luxury with MomH was much better than sitting next to the cute guy, even though that would have been fun. :-D 

I'm pretty much over the jet lag and looking forward to some great euro coffee as soon as the dining room opens.

We did some sightseeing yesterday, did a little shopping (expensive! Damn useless American dollar!) rode the subway and went to the art museum. I wanted to go to the hot baths/spas but Mom forgot to pack her swimsuit. Last night we did a river cruise to see the lights of all the amazing buildings lining the Danube.

Our group is full of really nice people. So far no one seems to win the award of Most Irritating. Yet. I need to have more patience, I'm working on it. There are a couple of people who will ask questions about something random while the guide is talking about something else. Or they'll ask a question but keep talking without listening for an answer. It's rude in any situation, as far as I'm concerned.

But that's the drama as it stands today. All in all, I'm excited to be here and can't wait to see more of the region.

Hope all is well! Ciao!

Last post before I hit the road. Nothing really to say but adios! Ciao! Auf Wiederschreiben! Adieu! Cheerio! Later gators!

6:00 a.m. flight manana. Blech.

I'll try to pop in and say 'hi' when possible. I'm trusting everyone to hold down the Vox fort in my absence. Don't have too much fun without me! :-P

What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

PACKING!!11!! w00t!

I'm feeling pretty good about being ahead of the game this time. When I was booking my flight out to Detroit where I'm meeting up with MomH, I thought about flying out tomorrow so I could see the family for a day and a half. As much as that would be, I'm really really glad I have all weekend to wrap everything up.

I'm headed out tonight to the fun that is First Friday, where thousands of people descend on dowtown Phoenix for one of the country's largest art walks. It's full of crazy fun artists, musicians, street performers and a stop at some of the coolest new bars and restaurants around. I usually get asked by First Friday newbies to give my patented AmyH Tour. I know a lot of the artists and the spaces and can give more background than you would get wandering around on your own. I really should start my own tour service one of these days.

So here's the rest of my weekend:

Saturday:

7:30 a.m. Hair appointment
11:30 a.m. Baby Shower
afternoon - return books to library, stop by bookstore for Rick Steves' travel book (I've been reading an old copy and must have it for the trip), clean house, create currency conversion cheat sheets, print out addresses.

Hoodies - if you want a postcard - PM with an address! Sometimes I'm good about sending them out, sometimes I just buy them and send them when I get home. But I promise to try and be good! I heart postcards, both sending and recieving. See? (I have a new, naked fridge right now. I'm going to start fresh with new cards so feel free to send any my way as well!)

The rest of the time will be spent getting my crap together and lovin' on Elvis. No last minute running around in the foreseeable future!

Except for today at work. Yikes - I forgot I had meetings all day Gotta run!  

That's how I'm running around these days.

Do other people use that expression? I use all sorts of normal FamilyH phrases that no one else does. Huh.

Anyway, back to my craziness. I have today and tomorrow to get crap done here and at home. At least the cat care coordination is all set. Yay! After that, I suppose all is easy.

I had a rough start this morning because I had a great time last night. Original Airplane Boyfriend was in town so we went out with some of my gal pals to tear up Old Town Scottsdale.

I met OAB in 2004 when I was on my way to Peru via Miami and he was on his way to party with friends in South Beach. For someone who is always in the air, he said I was the first cool person he ever sat next to on an airplane. Aww. It was great to catch up (we haven't seen each other in a year) and he dangled a couple of trips in front of me (he has flight benefits) that I would be all over - except I'm out of vacay days for the year. DAMMIT!

As as been noted before, I have great luck meeting great people on airplanes. Sure, there was the skeevy guy trying to feel up my leg. Ugh. But then there are super fun guys like OAB and my friend John (Hi, John! *waves*).

I wonder what fun awaits when I hit the friendly skies again on Monday!

That's a rhetorical question, but get a load of these milk jug supporters.

Dairy-comfort-bra

Thanks to my lovely co-worker Justin for sending this along. Good thing we don't have any Internet Police around the office! Or any HR staff!

Baby DadH

For one day, I'll refrain from nagging you about getting your exercise. That is a gift in itself, isn't it?

Have a great year and 'we'll see you when we see you'.

Love,

Amy

DadH circa 1991

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Elvis earned another point toward his Scorpion Badge tonight.

Elvis Scorpion Badge

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In Elvis'/guest bathroom, with a litter box scoop

Team Elvis: 5

Scorpion Invaders: 0

Jay wanted a picture, so here you go. Enjoy!

Tail-ed and Dangerous, Crush to Kill

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For the easily freaked - don't worry. This particular scorpion looks like this, but is now flatter and floating somewhere in the Tempe Sanitary Sewer System. He knew something was up so it took awhile to get a good shot as he ran in and out of view. He didn't have any place to go so I knew I wasn't losing any good chances for a clean shot. Scorpion Sniper Assassin, that's me.

I am getting a little disturbed by the recent frequency. I've never kept track before, but this seems like a lot all of a sudden. Time to ramp up defensive manuevers.  

When was the last time you drove out of town?

My usual route to work was shut down today due to an accident on the freeway. So this morning I drove out of Tempe, through Scottsdale and into Phoenix.

Does that count? I took the scenic route, after all.

I stopped by REI on the way home to buy the cool shoes I saw on their website. Yay! They were there and in stock! Nice brown leather lace-ups, very Euro looking and ready to hit some cobblestone streets.

But what was this? Green suede shoes? My heart lept.

I tried on both pairs. I walked around in both pairs. I stared at the pairs. I couldn't bear to choose one pair.

All attempts at rhyming aside, I just couldn't decide. After spending a seeming eternity struggling over the decision, I decided to not decide. Or to decide for both. I figured I needed more casual out and about shoes when the weather turns cold/chilly/under 75 degrees. I only have two other pairs of closed-toe non-sneaker casual shoes - brown and black leather in the exact same style. I guess I had a hard time deciding then, too (about six years ago). They aren't good for long walks, hence my shopping trip.

I blew my shoe budget for the next two years. I can't believe I actually bought something - ANYTHING - that wasn't on clearance. I better go on my trip soon or won't have any money left to spend while I'm there.

Good thing George W. is sending me a big chunk of change any day now. It's more fun to ignore the national debt when you have shoes the color of money. :-P

I think I did everything I needed to last week, which really came down to finishing my leadership application. Done and turned in. Whew. One monkey off my back.

Now I'm getting down to crunch time with work and with trip preparation. I'm set with clothes after a trip to Target. My current wardrobe is woefully inadequate for casual out and about clothes. It's 90% suits/work outfits and heels, 7% workout gear and 3% other stuff. It's also hard packing for anything other than really hot or really cold. So I'm going in lots of layers and now just need a good pair of city strolling shoes that don't scream "AMERICAN TOURIST".

So here goes my list for the week:

1. Confirm cat-watchers

2. Alert credit/bank cards to my itinerary. It would suck to have my cards shut down while away. This is something I highly recommend anyone doing if you are going to be traveling. Although I didn't have a problem buying tequila in Tijuana one morning and wine in the San Diego vicinity that same afternoon. Hmm. Maybe they recognize a pattern with me.

3. Buy baby shower gifts. Should have done this during my Target trip. Duh

4. Hold on mail and newspapers.

5. Read up on travel books, decide if I need to buy a book for Vienna/Poland. I have my Prague and Budapest guidebooks already.

6. Check out exchange rate info and create cheat sheets for each country. These are vital to international shoppers/hagglers like my mother and me.

7. Go to REI and buy shoes.

I know there's a lot more I need to do, but I feel like I'm ahead of the game by getting the clothes part done and out of the way. Despite having my helper provide Feline Assistance, of course. 

On ur clothz, helping u not pack