it's the little things...

That's something we sometimes use in reference to my brother (who finally "came to town" about a year and a half ago after living in the country his whole life). Today, however, it refers to me. I should be asleep since I have breakfast at 7am and it's midnight here. Where is here? The Ritz-Carlton. South Beach. I grew up poor and in the country (which, incidentally, I think is better than poor and in the city). We didn't take vacations. We didn't travel further than Houston or Corpus. I didn't leave Texas until I was 17. Didn't fly until I was 20. Now I have a life where keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground for more than a week seems like an eternity. A life where I say things like "it's been so long since I've been to Miami--7 months!" A life where people valet park my rental car. Where people offer to help with my luggage. Where, when I'm out to dinner, someone comes and leaves me tiny chocolates on my ...

The days go by so quickly, don't they? The days off? Even faster. I had a rushed trip to Dallas last Monday/Tuesday so that allowed me to only need to work a few hours on Wednesday. However, I had to fly back to Dallas yesterday. I stay here until tomorrow and then am off to Miami for some training. Then back home around midnight on Thursday. Thank goodness November will be over. It's been a rough month. Random quote for today. No need to seek hidden meaning or link it to any other part of this. It's just the Real Simple daily quote. And a good one at that. "I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one." -Mark Twain Ok, so I got finished with work a little early today and caught about half of Oprah. It was the second half of her Pay It Forward show. Yeah, it was a sob fest. In a good way. She gave each member of her audience a $1000 gift card sometime in October. They were to use it however they wanted to but she asked t...

Just thought it would be a tad hypocritical of me to wax on about Thanksgiving and not acknowledge the actual day. However, I was spending it with friends and family and friends who are like family instead of blogging so maybe I'm not hypocritical afterall. I leave you with a quote... "Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude." -E.P Powell

Brisk weather. Live music. Naps. Warm beds. Safe travel. Downtown skyscrapers glowing pink in the sunrise. Coffee. Vending machines. A glass of wine. A good meal. An entertaining book.

It's November 19. Last Sunday, the 12th, was the first time this year that I heard Christmas music in a public place. I heard it again on Wednesday and saw someone putting up yard decorations yesterday. This makes me crazy. I do enjoy the holiday season for the most part. (It's kind of a mixed bag for me.) But why do we have to rush towards it? Why can't we just enjoy Thanksgiving? You know, the holiday that comes between Halloween and Christmas. The one where we're supposed to show gratitude. Gratitude, perhaps, for all the material things society is been pressuring us to buy for Christmas. Part of my annoyance regarding the extended holiday season is because I like Thanksgiving. It gets overshadowed since it isn't as profitable a holiday. No myriad of gifts to buy. No costumes and tubs of candy. It only requires food. And family and friends. But if you go into craft-type stores like Garden Ridge or Hobby Lobby, you may be able to find generic Fall...

1. You sometimes are ill-prepared for weather. You try to be prepared. You look, say, Sunday night while you are packing to see what the forecast is for the week ahead. It says the lowest high is 68. Not bad. You take a light jacket. The lowest high ends up being about 25 degrees colder than that with a wind chill in the teens/low twenties. You wake up in the morning and it is below freezing. There is ice on your windshield. You wish you had gloves. 2. You forget (Honestly! See #3 for reason why...) to remove small make-up bag from purse. You usually put it in the checked luggage, you really do. You know lip gloss and liquid foundation are contraband. You know someone somewhere knows how to combine those two items (or identical looking items) with some spit and maybe a paper clip to do some real damage on a plane. You ignore your oversight and hope security is lax. It isn't. You can't send these two small items through security on their own without being safely ...

Let's get the obligatory house update out of the way. The inspector came on Friday. Nothing major. There were two things we requested the owners fix and they said ok. The termite guy came today and no little pests living in the wood. He recommended preventative treatment (who wouldn't?) and also said he could collect the numerous feral outdoor cats living at the house. (Can you have indoor feral cats? That would really be scary.) So the next step is the appraisal. I hope it appraises for a little less and that the owner has to go down on the price. Our (meaning my agent and me) requests thus far have been called "reasonable" so hopefully they just want to get out of the house whatever the cost. The weekend was good. Got to visit two (count 'em, two) scrapbooking stores. Now, I'm not a huge fan of scrapbooking. I've made one in my life. I do love making cards and that lets me make use of the fun scrapbooking stuff. Well, at one of the store...

...to all my friends whom I have been ignoring. Especially the calls I need to return. November is a crappy travel month. And add on all the stuff with buying a house. I will try to call some of you back tonight (but it is Dancing with the Stars finale night so I make no promises) and hopefully send some emails. And maybe post for real. I could tell you that it is cold in Oklahoma and getting colder as the week goes on. Tomorrow? Highs in the 40s and wind chill in the teens. That's nuts. Ok, I better get going. Must get to work at some point this morning.

"Overheard in the Doctor's Waiting Room" or "How to Tell a Man is Gay" Man 1: Isn't that just like the first settee you recovered? Man 2: Yes. Before I get hate mail, see #82 . Happy Friday.

- I had 4 flights in 3 days (which is not my personal best). - Only one had what I deem a good landing. - Two had a bit of a skid (that's comforting) and one kind of just slammed into the ground. - I like to critique the landings and wish the powers-that-be would give me Olympic (or Dancing with the Stars)-type numbers to hold up. - I get excited and surprised when my checked luggage is the first bag to come out. - I dislike valet parking at hotels solely because they take my keys and I forget what car I was driving. - For the first time since the weird liquid rules started, I tried to smuggle a bottle of water through security. On accident. - I got a little misty watching some people get greeted at the airport. - If I ever have a significant other, please tell him that I would appreciate an occasional (maybe twice a year) surprise greeting at the airport. - I decided that sometimes all I need to put a smile on my face is a relatively cute boy talking with an accent. - Knoxville w...

Ever notice how you sometimes tend to let things go? Something comes up, whether you wanted it to or not, something that you don't normally have to deal with... Say, trying to buy a house, for example. Most of your energy goes to that one thing and all the little things go by the wayside. I really need to do things like take in dry cleaning and get my freakin' computer fixed. Maybe get a haircut (it's only been 3 months). Return an ill-fitting pair of pajama pants. Buy a cell phone that works. The thing that's driving me most crazy, though, is the computer. If it were fixed I could share with you how cool this hotel is. I'm in our great state capitol. I didn't early vote. I know, add it to the list. And I'm not going to be home tomorrow. I'll be here. You think they'd let me vote anyway? Cut out the middle man? I don't think I'd vote for the current governor so I doubt he'd let me sneak in a vote in the wrong county. I don...

I don't know...it's just the sound I'm quietly making. I just heard back that the sellers slightly countered and we have settled on a price. Now we just have the inspection and the appraisal. And then...I'll be a homeowner. The homeowner. Of the coolest freakin' house around here. Woohoo!

I made an offer on the house.

If I'm really only supposed to post about house stuff once per week (per my self-imposed restriction), I don't think I'll be able to post anything until Monday. It is an all-consuming, stressful, exciting, wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night, splitting-headache-inducing whirlwind of, um, fun? If you ownded a home very near the coast, do you think you would have some degree of worry in the back of your mind all through hurricane season? If (sticking with starting all paragraphs with the same word) you had a choice, would you pick what seemed like your dream home over other so-so homes if you knew it would make money slightly tighter in the short-run?