2011 - Book 12 - Definitely Dead

I'm still loving the bring candy that is the Sookie Stackhouse series. I just finished the 6th book in the series and here is what is posted on the Amazon.com site about this book:

Sookie Stackhouse once tried to keep her mind-reading capabilities secret, but the word is definitely out in Bon Temps, Louisiana, her hometown, leading local police to call on her to help find a missing child. There's a new man, were-tiger Quinn, in the picture, too, but on their first date, two were-people attack them. Sookie isn't sure whether she or Quinn was the target but is soon distracted by a more pressing problem. Cousin Hadley, a vampire, has been murdered, and Sookie has inherited her apartment, meaning she has to go to New Orleans to uncover the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death and meet with Hadley's lover, the Vampire Queen herself. Though not quite as driven as past entries in Harris' Southern Vampire series--Sookie doesn't get to New Orleans until a third of the way in--this is a gratifying read for Sookie's fans because of a major surprise for Sookie about one of her old lovers.

So, I'm down to two left in what I've downloaded to my Kindle, and while I stated above that I'm enjoying these books, I'm about ready to be done with them for a while and move on to something else. Maybe this weekend I'll focus on a non-e-book and finish something completely different....
I also think I need to put the Trueblood series on my wish list because I've very, VERY intrigued as to how these characters translated into "flesh and blood" so to speak....but not until I'm done reading about them, I hate to be tainted by someone else's vision....

2011 Book 11 - Dead as a Doornail

As mentioned before, I am tearing through these Sookie Stackhouse books on my Kindle!!
Here is the write up from "the back" of the book (as known as what amazon.com says about the book):

Sookie Stackhouse just can't seem to stay away from the supernatural denizens of Bon Temps, Louisiana. In Dead to the World (2004), she found herself embroiled in vampire politics; this time around, she's involved in the machinations of the Were-people, whose pack leader has just passed away. -Alcide Herveaux asks her to accompany him to the funeral, where Alcide's father declares his candidacy against a slimy, calculating rival. Angry at being drawn into the conflict, Sookie can't distance herself entirely, because a sniper has been taking shots at Were-people, and the community suspects Sookie's brother, Jason, a new shape-shifter. Sookie's love life is every bit as complicated as usual, and her collection of would-be beaux continues to grow. Also, someone wants her dead, which she learns when an assailant sets fire to her beloved house. Harris' southern vampire series remains one of the best of the breed, concocted out of just the right mixture of humor, intrigue, and excitement. Its latest entry does not disappoint.

Unfortunately, like so many other things with empty calories, this brain-candy is starting to possibly decay my synapses and I probably need to shift gears and read some other genre shortly.....
Oh, who am I kidding, I've only got three more of these to read and then I find something else to tear through!!

It Is Getting a Little Better

So, I've now made it through 3 days here and yes, things are starting to turn up a little bit... Okay, maybe not looking up so much as no longer looking down.

1. I've conquered the Metro. I have figured how to get on the correct train to take me to the office AND the right one to get me back to the hotel. Trust me, this is a big deal.... Momma - your baby's growin' up!!


2. I took a great walk yesterday evening. I left the hotel and walked down to the National Mall and then the length of the Mall down to Capital Hill and back up. Walking along the Mall was so very cool. There is so much activity going on along the mall; I saw people running and walking, laying around reading, teams of interns playing softball, Frisbee football, and dodge ball. The air was warm with a nice breeze. I saw baby ducks in the water feature at the Ulysses S. Grant memorial. I have to say that I do love this city.


3. I had a very unhealthy, yet tasty, hot dog from a snack truck for lunch.


4. And, today, I was mistaken not once but TWICE as a "native" and was asked for directions from "tourists" as I crossed the Mall on my way back to the hotel. Sadly, on said walk "home", I somehow tweaked my hips and now my lower back hurts and should probably get out of this chair and more around rather than continue to write about my day...

Let's keep our fingers crossed that tomorrow continues on this upward trajectory.

So Far, Not So Good

Perhaps I got a little full of myself when I had such a great day on Saturday. I think karma has decided that I deserved a little smack down because so far, this trip to DC has NOT been stellar. And, yeah, I am only on my first day, but I'm ready to throw in the towel and if I could only stay in bed the rest of the week in my hotel room, it might actually approved. But, let me start at the beginning....

My Flight -

It was a jam-packed flight and I knew it was going to be bad when 1/2 the flight loaded when they called for the Priority Access group. Now, I splurged on myself and paid the extra money to get the bulkhead seat, so I was still feeling pretty positive. When I got on, I noticed that the air was a little funky, like stale bathroom, so I was pretty happy that I wasn't in first class and having to face that for 3 hours. I get to my seat and there is a guy on the aisle and I'm by the window, I have my fingers crossed that maybe, just maybe nobody will sit in the center seat....yeah, that didn't happen. First across the aisle from us a lady and her son and their companion realized that they weren't actually sitting together so for some reason they gave the 9 year old the bulkhead seat without him actually understanding that he couldn't have his computer out until after takeoff and he couldn't keep it on the floor at his feet. So they completely blocked traffic until they finished their conversation and got settled. Finally, the center seat person arrived.... A lovely lady with her one year old son, who traveled on her lap. He was a cute little kid who managed to kick me almost the entire trip. If he wasn't kicking me he kept grabbing at my shoulder. I accept my fate and hunker down with my book and wait to take off. We finally head out to the runway and start taking off. Now I've been staring out the window up to this time, but I kinda realize that the kid next to me is pretty quiet, so I glance to my left to just see how everybody else on my row is doing. I'm glad to know that the mom read that it is good to have a baby feeding during take off to help with the pressure in their ears; my sister did this with Kathleen when we flew with her when she was a baby. Unfortunately, this lady was not feeding this cute little boy with a bottle....she was breast feeding him....without a privacy blanket. Yep, you read that correctly boob whipped out on the plan with the kid clamped on. Do NOT get me wrong, I'm completely okay with natural feeding, but I think there needs to be some sort of privacy blanket or something. I felt really bad for the guy sitting on the other side of her because he was totally blushing as the boob being used was the one closest to him (ergo, I was being kicked by the kid). So, we get in the air and the lady pretty much took over all of our space, she ended up using my tray to hold her drink because she had the kid on her lap. She pulled a brownish banana out of her bag and ate it next to me. Again, I have nothing against bananas, but I don't like the lingering smell. Time went on and we finally approached landing, well, you guessed it the kid got his treat to help with the ears we landed, but this time she switched boobs, so this time it was the one closest to me. I didn't even mention yet the fact that the flight was bumpy and late and I swore at one point that the little yellow oxygen masks were going to drop from the ceiling and I was going to be forced to elbow the lady if she tried to take my mask and give it to her kid....Luckily, that didn't happen. (I did have one sick thought though when the kid's little bare baby foot was kicking me.... Wouldn't those make the cutest little keychains, kinda like rabbits feet, except they wouldn't stay cute and plump once removed from the body....) So, all in all, perhaps one of the most uncomfortable flights that I've been on (aside from the one where the woman went into seizures in the aisle right next to me.

Additional Travel Day Issues

1. Stood in line 30 minutes to get a cab and ended up sharing one with a stranger.


2. Stood in line to check in to the hotel.


3. Was given the worse room.... I am in the room RIGHT NEXT TO THE elevator on the backside of the building so that I have no phone reception on either of my cell phones.

First Day In the Office

Okay, so there really wasn't any one thing that was horrific when I got to the office. In fact, the day ran pretty much as expected, meaning I managed to get absolutely nothing done because I was running around trying to put out fires. However, about an hour before time to leave as I was headed to yet another meeting, I stopped to chat with one of my folks and did something with the heel of my shoe and managed to break it. These were some of my favorite shoes that I've had for a long time. I was surprised that I was able to break is because it was a pretty substantial heel. I left the office and walked back to the hotel. About a block from the hotel, it started raining....not a big deal, but just a cherry to top off the day. I did run up to my room, quickly changed, and ran out in the rain down to Filene's Basement and found a replacement pair of black heels to get me through the rest of the week. I stopped at this little deli next to the hotel that I've stopped at before every time I've been in town and picked up a chicken margherita pizza. After it was cooked and the girl was putting it into the box, she turned around and kinda gave me this look. I didn't think anything of it, although I probably should have. When I got back up to my room and settled in to have dinner I opened the box and realized that the reason she was giving me that look was because somehow as she was putting the pizza into the box, she managed to drop part of it on the floor (or somewhere), so I was a slice short....maybe that isn't a bad thing, but still....
So, do we think the week is going to improve?!?

Yesterday was a Good Day!!

Nothing overly exciting happened to me yesterday, but as I crawled into bed last night, I was happy. Here's a quick recap:

Morning - I got up and participated in an official 3-Day Training Walk. I did one last week as well and met Shannon Kmak. Last week when we showed up at the training walk they told us that if we hadn't come with a friend that we needed to have a walking buddy just so we could have somebody to watch our back and vice-versa. She and I turned to each other and introduced ourselves. During the walk as we got to know one another, we learned that we both worked for Dell and both knew the Queen. This week we walked and talked and made plans to work in the afternoons when I'm in town. I also came across her blog, Crazy Pink Life, after I got home. So, yeah, it was a good morning with a good walk, new friends, and some laughs.

Afternoon - I have finally admitted that I'm never going to have a clean house, which means, I'm not going to have anybody come over to a dirty house. Okay, so this isn't really something new. My entire family can attest to the fact that I suck at housecleaning and in general turn a blind eye to my own filth... yeah, ewwww. Yesterday, I had a maid service come in and they made my house sparkle. I LOVE having a clean house and not actually having to do the work myself. I now have them scheduled to come every other week when I'm in town, so hopefully this clean house happiness will last!!

Evening - I met up with one of my oldest friends, Anna Marie, for dinner. We spent a couple of hours eating some good Italian food and catching up, laughing, and sharing.

So, yesterday was a good day!!