women's lib and other adventures...

I have been terrible when it comes to blogging lately and for that I apologize. It's been a busy couple of weeks.



This week, I traveled to Scottsdale for a women's leadership conference for women in the energy industry. If you are familiar with the energy industry, you probably know that it is heavily dominated by males. That's why I was so excited by the invitation to join a group of women from my company.



We stayed at the Fire Sky resort and it was heaven. They brought a goldfish named Mimo to my room, I had my own patio...popsicles at two...sangria at five...



But back to the conference. It was small in size ~100 women and a few fabulous men looking to understand women better. A few of my favorite things included learning how to change my context, negotiation workshops and a panel of successful women leaders (including a vp from my company!). What I learned was that I work for a progressive company and that gender equality in 2009 is still a huge issue. One of the most interesting discussions centered around off-ramping when women have children and the dilemma of on-ramping (often way behind their male counterparts). That's a discussion for another day though.



They structured a lot of down time in the conference so we had time to actually get to know some of our fellow attendees. It was a great time.



The flight back was pretty entertaining. 73 businessmen were on standby and a battle of ego ensued. They managed to get a lot of them on. After they boarded first class and platinum/gold passengers, there were about 5 of us left to board. Very humbling. Good thing I checked my bag - the plane was 95% male. The most unusual flight I've ever been on.



Today I took the day off and went bridesmaid dress shopping with Ashleigh, Stacey and Caitlin. It was a lot of fun.



This weekend will be filled with yard work and getting my dad's router and DSL set up at the nursing home. He got a special laptop for his wheelchair so he can talk to us no matter where he is at in the nursing home. He just needs the wireless router for internet access all over the nursing home. Fun stuff!

Eat dessert first.

I have been totally remiss on my posting lately. With good reason. Robert has had a short break from classes in between semesters and tonight he starts his summer session in the B-School. Getting those electives out of the way for graduation in December - yay!

To recap - we took a very quick trip to OKC over Memorial Day weekend on behalf of my 14-year-old sister. When we went to AZ for spring training, she missed the beginning of a concert tour in Dallas so it was only appropriate that we caught the end in OK. We stayed at the Renaissance on the edge of Bricktown which made walking to the concert venue easy. We were upgraded into a two bedroom, two bath suite which was very sweet. Not to mention the room service we indulged in.

I have this thing about trying the french toast at every hotel I stay in (I'm talking nice hotels). The version here was french toast bread pudding. I was intrigued but disappointed. Def not what I wanted for breakfast. Maybe someday I'll be able to give the sooner state another try at french toast but it won't be any time soon.

Back to the real story - Caitlin had a blast at the concert and so did Robert and I. It wasn't too crowded and the venue had air conditioning...sweet, sweet air conditioning. Caitlin caught a guitar pick too!

Sunday night of that weekend was Sprinkles night. We had the "Ashleigh" version of the key lime cupcakes - they rank up there on my top flavor list. She also made some really delish food that I need to recreate!

Monday was spent by the pool getting some sun and mentally preparing myself for Tuesday - the dreaded root canal. I was in pain the entire weekend and I was convinced that I would suffer so bad on Tuesday that I'd have to stay home from work. My preconceived notions were so far from true. I felt zero pain throughout the procedure and afterwards. I didn't need any pain killers - nothing. The next few days I just took Motrin but nothing...I repeat nothing...compares to the pain BEFORE the procedure. So there you have it, myth busted. Root canals are awesome.

Last weekend I had to work the go green home fair. I picked up some green home swag and spent the rest of the weekend napping. I haven't done that in a while so it was much needed.

This week has been great so far. I was selected to go to a women's leadership conference for my industry in a week or two in Scottsdale. My second trip there within a few months. AZ must be calling my name. Or maybe it's the Sprinkles next to my hotel...

Oh, and now that it's official, I can announce that Stacey and Russ are expecting a little one roughly two weeks before my big day! Congratulations! I cannot wait to meet baby Mensik - I have my fingers crossed for a Christmas delivery.

Rock n Roll Root Canal...

I see something in my future....happening Tuesday morning....

A root canal.

I got a toothache this week. A terrible toothache. After a lot of running around to my dentist and then to an endodontist, it looks like my very back tooth needs a root canal. In the words of my dentist, "welcome to the world of adult dentistry..."

A fabulous way to end Memorial Day weekend 09.

Very lazy weekend...

How about a picture-less update?

I had a fabulous week even though we're still crazy busy at work. I found out that I will be going to the U.S. and British Virgin Islands again in July. I have been dreaming about going back since I went in 2007. I've been all over the Caribbean but the BVIs are the most beautiful, unspoiled islands I've ever seen. Paradise. I'm also stoked that I'll get my super tan back.

I also finally mailed *most* of the save the dates. I have been agonizing over the guest list because our space is so limited. It was a pain to find a post office that would hand-cancel them and luckily Ashleigh has a few connections in her fair city :)

Friday night Robert and I went to look at wedding rings. I found the perfect one almost instantly (I'm pretty simple). Robert wasn't so lucky. He tried on everything from what I call the "superbowl ring" to the plainest of rings. I think he wants a really simple ring too but he's not sure what size yet. Then I convinced him to watch Twilight. I'm going through withdrawal and he's a good sport. I was filling in all of the holes for him with scenes from the book as we watched it. I think I was just really annoying.

Saturday I slept in. The first time in forever! I was so happy to have nothing on my calendar this weekend. I spent most of the day doing spring cleaning. Believe it or not, cleaning is relaxing for me. I feel stressed if the house is messy. Robert taught a sailing class at Cabela's with his dad. Then we had dinner on the patio at Rio Mambo, went shopping and picked up some ice cream from Marble Slab. A really sweet treat...

Sunday is pancake day so I made nutella pancakes....mmmm. I also made blueberry mango smoothies. Then we did the usual and went to visit my dad and grandma, got my car detailed, ate a late lunch/early dinner at Mi Cocina, made a PetsMart and grocery store stop and did yard work. Our grass is growing like crazy this year. I think the most we had to mow it last year was once every two weeks. Right now we're mowing and edging every week. I guess that's a good thing.

We also cleaned all of the grass out of the flower beds. I call them creepers...the grass that grows underground to colonize new areas. It's very time-intensive to clean out but it looks so much better. I also noticed a big sold sign on the house a lot over - so happy to get neighbors on that side. Now someone just needs to build right next to us and behind us.

Jack has a new bone and is heaven. He also ate Molly's bone so now she's mad. Survival of the "biggest" [dog] in our house.

This week should be awesome - Robert is on break in between spring and summer semesters. He's taking a few biz school classes this summer as electives so it'll be a nice change of pace from PA. We both have some fun things in the works for next weekend. Can't wait!

Word.

Another whirlwind weekend in the books.

Friday was supposed to be my 24-hour day at work because of Relay For Life, an overnight fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, in Hillsboro. Severe weather came in and we had to call it. It was pretty hairy trying to get hundreds of people evacuated in pitch dark but I really enjoyed serving on the committee. I have to admit, I kind of enjoyed getting home at midnight instead of 7 a.m. and getting a little sleep. We did break the fundraising record even though the event was cut short!

Meanwhile, Caitlin and Robert were bowling, watching Star Trek and being mall rats. Kind of jealous that I didn't get to see Star Trek.

On Saturday we started the day with pancakes (a must when Caitlin spends the weekend with us!) and went to Dallas to do a little mother's day shopping. Caitlin did a little shopping at Urban Outfitters and American Apparel at Mockingbird Station, we found super cute stuff at Swoozie's and made the obligatory stop at Sprinkles to get mom the "mom" box of cupcakes. My favorite gift that we found for mom was the flip flop fly swatter for her boat. A flip flop on a stick - very cute.

After taking afternoon naps we drove out to Addison for Taste Addison. We enjoyed delicious food and gelato and watched Bowling for Soup and a little Foreigner. Even when it started raining.

Today we woke up super early to get a little yard work in. Our grass has turned super green and is growing like crazy. I edged last week and it needed it again this week. Unfortunately, I think we're going to need to install french drains into the back yard next year and do a little resodding. Fortunately, the front yard looks fabulous.

The downside to having a cordless, battery-powered mower means that sometimes it just runs out of charge and your lawn has a faux-hawk. But hey, we're being Earth-friendly (and we recharged and finished it before going to grandma's!).

We visited my dad and grandma and she loved her candied apricots. Then we took Caitlin home and visited my mom. We gave her all of her boat gifts. Then we ran back to Fort Worth for an early dinner at Silver Fox with Robert's parents. They had a special mother's day menu - asparagus soup, III Forks salad, Chateaubriand with potatoes, cream corn and sugar snap peas, Texas pecan cake....mmmmm. Delish. And we're both so full - we won't need to eat for the next 24-hours!

Now I'm sitting here wishing I had another two days to recover from this weekend. I am looking forward to next weekend - nothing on the calendar and I'm trying to keep it that way!

Jack is in love with his tennis ball. He gets up in the morning and tosses it around the bedroom while I get ready. Without fail it rolls under the bed to a spot he can't reach so he lays down on his side, sticks his head underneath the bed and just stares at it until someone retrieves it for him.

Cinco de...Stacey!

Happy Cinco de Stace!

It's Stacey's 26th birthday!!

Kiss the pig...

This past week has been very interesting in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with the whole swine flu outbreak. I've been using hand sanitizer like crazy and hoping that my down immune system doesn't pick up something. I'm not going to stop doing my everyday stuff though...

Friday was Calvin's (one of Robert's older brothers) 30th birthday and we celebrated by grilling steaks. Delish. Saturday I had a little spa day to relax, did some mandatory yard work (in the rain - yuck) and then ran over to spend some quality time with Ashleigh shopping for 26 things for Stacey's birthday in Southlake. We found so many cute things to help Stace celebrate her 26th!

Today Ashleigh, Stacey and I went to Blue Mesa for brunch. Delish again. I love mimis. We watched Mamma Mia and looked through wedding magazines. What an awesome Sunday and what an awesome weekend. I can't wait for the next one.