Today is the Day!

I completely forgot to get E to take a picture of me last night for me to post on my last day of work, but that's ok. I will get one at home tonight and post it later on!

But today is my last day for 12 weeks!! 12 weeks off to be with my new baby girl. I am really excited. I know it will come with exhaustion, frustration and boredom on some (most) days but I always think of something that a friend said to his wife many years ago about staying home with their kids..."Any bad day at home with your kids is better than a good day at work doing a job you hate!" DING DING!! He wins the prize for reading my mind! I know I will have to go back to work for a little while but hopefully not for long. We have some big life events coming up besides the baby, that will be revealed when they are all confirmed so I am hoping to come home for good soon enough.

I will try to remember to post my last pregnant picture tonight when I get home, but after that...this may be the last post before I am a Mom. Monday morning, 6am starts the beginning of a long day for the staff here at Everyday Bailey!! (HA...like I have staff) But I will post pictures and announcements as soon as I get a chance! Wish me luck!!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I know I haven't been around much lately but trust me, there are good reasons.

First, let's start with work. The twelve hours days are catching up with me alot faster than they used to especially when we work through the weekend. Such a drain on my "good attitude" and my extremely pregnant body! All this working makes me sour, fast and that goes double for E who has been working strange hours lately too. All of this schedule shifting has left Maggie INSANE!!!!! She never knows whether we are coming or going and with all of the uncertainty, she has been destroying our house once again.

Let me give a few examples of what we have encountered this week alone:

-She ate a bag of assorted chocolate bars
-SHE UNWRAPPED ALL OF THE PRESENTS THAT WERE WRAPPED UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!! (Ironically, she unwrapped all of them but only ATE all of E's gifts from me)
-She ate and DESTROYED a roll of paper towels
-She ate and broke our heating pad
-She nosed through E's bag and ate a pack of gum
-She has eaten the craziest things outside and then gets sick in the middle of the night, 3 NIGHTS IN A ROW LAST WEEK. (Another reason I am tired, from cleaning dog vomit off of the floor at 3am)

I thought you would enjoy a picture or two of what we came home to the other night...





I am too tired to give any more excuses any picture today so I will leave the rest for tomorrow!

Best Laid Plans

My trip to the Woodlands got cut short this week so I am back to the blogosphere earlier than expected. Due to an out of control heartrate over 2 days, I was told I needed to go to the ER and get checked out since I was out of town. To tell the whole truth, I was more worried about the baby because I hadn't felt her move since my heartrate had jumped up which was a bit unusual. But the ER said I was fine, but wanted me to go home where I could be properly cared for by my own OB and they wanted me to see a cardiologist. They also checked Baby Bailey too. No worries there either. She was stunning!! As soon as they started hooking monitors to my belly, she felt the need to start jumping up and down and kicking and hasn't stopped yet. In fact, E felt her move for the first time last night while I was sleeping. He was quite excited. He says he is still not in baby mode and probably won't be until all of his schoolwork is over with (which will be Monday evening!!!)

So we decided it was time for me to come home and my traveling days are over unless we are together. Fine with me. It makes me nervous not knowing where the nearest hospitals are in case something happens and now that I am married, I have no desire to be in an ER waiting room by myself. I like to think I am independent enough to handle certain things alone but at the end of the day, I don't want to be that independent. And I know it made him sick that all of this stuff was going on while he was at home waiting for a phone call with the prognosis. But we are back home now and hopefully life will get back to normal starting today!

Another Business Trip...

Well, we are headed out AGAIN on Sunday morning for, yet, another business trip. Yes! Another one! If you have lost count already, this will make four trips in four weeks. Hopefully this is our last...because this is definately my last one. The swollen feet have started setting in and I can take anymore traveling. But we are heading to the Woodlands in Houston until Wednesday night so I will be back to normal on Thursday. I hope you all have a great weekend!!

NY Recap

Me, Kimberly and Laurel had such a good time in the Big Apple! We couldn't have asked for better weather or better company! We ate lots of pizza and walked around until our feet were bleeding!! Here is the recap:

Saturday:

We met up at the hotel and then headed to dinner with my co-workers. We stopped at a few places in Times Square on the way back.

Sunday:

We had breakfast together and then headed to Chinatown to buy knockoff purses, jewelry and other crap. (this was the first of 4 trips to Chinatown for the other girls) We took the subway back and then had lunch at Grand Central Station. I had to go to work for a while so they walked around town a bit and then we met up for dinner. On the way home, we stopped at Rockafellar Center. It all made me wish it was Christmas and the big giant tree was already lit. They ice skating rink had just opened and everyone was on the ice showing off whatever skate moves they had.

Monday:

I had to work all day ...I still can't figure out why I had to go on the trip in the first place...I literally did nothing!!! We went to Columbia University and toured a little bit of the campus and then started the session. I read a book the entire time or did the Sudoku puzzles out of the USA Today. We headed back and then I took the girls sightseeing. First, we hit the Empire State Building. We took the elevator to the 80th floor and then walked up the next 8 flights of stairs to avoid a 30 minute wait for an elevator. WHAT A MISTAKE!! I need to realize my limitations these days! I am just too pregnant for that anymore. We then we and had some pizza and I let the girls try tiramisu for the first time. Then we got lost!! We learned all about the subway by mistake. We tried to go to the Staten Island Ferry but somehow ended up in Chinatown again!! I still don't know how that happened. But we finally made it and honestly, I am glad we got lost because we got to see the Statue of Liberty all lit up at night. It was great and free and so the girls were super happy about that!! On the way back there was an imperative ice cream hunt where we searched several venues but ended up at an all night market pulling butterfinger ice cream pops out of their ice cream freezer.

Tuesday:

The girls got up early and headed to the Today show set at Rockafellar Center, but not before calling me at 5:30am to ask directions...twice!!! They had the best time. I was really worried they wouldn't like it since Laurel didn't even know what the Today show was, but they stayed all morning and didn't come back until 10am. They saw Meredith Viera and Cosmopolitan Magazine's 50 hottest guys too. They came back on Cloud Nine after taking pictures with all of the guys. They were the only young girls there that day and so the guys naturally wanted to take pictures with them rather than women old enough to be their mothers and grandmothers. I worked that morning but got off early. We all met up for lunch and then headed to the World Trade Center Memorial. It was so moving to see everything the museum had in their exhibits. They also had a place where you could view the new WTC towers that are currently being built. I am really glad we went. We made, yes, another stop in Chinatown for last minutes gifts for loved ones back home and then headed back to the hotel early for frozen yogurt, godiva chocolate truffles and chocolate strawberries, then to change for the Broadway play we had tickets to. It was their first Broadway play and I enjoyed experiencing it with them. We went and saw Wicked. OMG...it was such a good story that put a different perspective on the Wizard of Oz. Amazing talent too...the lead girls had such beautiful voices. The baby was craving late night pizza on the way back from the play, so who was I to deny her. We stopped and pigged out for a few minutes before heading to bed for our last night in the city.

Wednesday:

I got up early and went to pick up breakfast before our last session started while the girls slept in and then went shopping for the last time in the city. We all piled into the limo and headed off the airport for home. My 3 hour flight turned into an 8 hour flight due to weather in Houston. Then because of the weather, there was flooding everywhere and car accidents at every intersection. Our hour and a half trip home turned into a 4.5 hour trip home. We finally got home at 1:30 am when I realized I had food poisoning from our stop at McDonalds on the way home. What a wild ride!!!

New York, New York

Hello New York!! Here I come. And just in time too. I am allowed to fly for a few more weeks. And yes, I have to go for work!!

Lots of fun plans while we are there. First off, my cousins Laurel and Kimberly are staying with me. Whew!! Thank goodness. I asked E but he had no desire to go. I asked my mom but she wanted to save her days off for when the baby comes, but Kimberly jumped in like a champ and roped Laurel in too. This settles my nerves GREATLY as I really didn't want to go alone only to hang out with the people I work with. Blah!!

World Trade Memorial, Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, Columbia University, Times Square, Rockafellar Center and Chinatown...be on the lookout for these chicks!! We are even planning to hit a Broadway show while we are in town. I am so excited that we got ticket (and cheap tickets at that!!) to go and see Wicked on Tuesday night. I have been dying to see this show ever since it came out. And it had just left the Houston Theaters when we moved to Texas. SO CLOSE!

In other news, I had to go and buy new clothes for the trip. First of all I needed jeans that actually fit. I am so in between sizes right now that it is aggervating. I really thought I would be bigger than this by now and would actually fit into my own clothes but, of course, that's not the case. (Why am I complaining that I am not fat enough??? Weird!) So I had to go spend more cash I could have been spending in New York this weekend on maternity jeans, comfortable walking shoes, scarves and gloves, and long sleeve maternity tops. (Yep, that's right, I am fitting into my maternity tops just fine...Thank goodness!) Here is some of the cute stuff I got!! (It's all Gap Maternity or Piperlime in case you see something you like)

Days of Dallas!

Well, I had been there for the past 4 four days. I came home last night and now I am leaving again to head back in the morning. Whew! What a long week! Just wanted to let you know the reason for my sparceness this week. Wish me luck!

The Night of Many Surprises

I have two friends from my old days when I worked across campus. We were all working under the same regime and we were all miserable beyond words. Well, we have all since moved on to greener pastures but still hang out and have lunch together 3-4 times a week. There's actually alot more of us but only 3 of us eat lunch together. Andrea (Andrea Unplugged)and Taylor are my lunch bunch. They have been dating for 4 and a half years. Well, Taylor set up an elaborate night for Andrea and a few of her friends. There was a fancy dinner and wine tasting at the top of the library here on campus and all of the walls are windows look out onto the city from the top floor. It's really beautiful up there. But at the end of the night, they raffle off bottles of wine. The contest was "a little" rigged for one of the bottles. They bought a special bottle of sparkling wine for Taylor and tied Andrea's engagement ring to the bow on the bottle. So when he won, he untied the bow and announced to the whole room how much he loved her and then asked her to marry him. It was so great! She didn't have a clue. We had all been planning this for weeks. Here are al few pics from the other night:

This is Andrea and Taylor.

Me and Andrea realized that we have been good friends for over a year and have no pictures to prove it...until now!

Cherrye from My Bella Vita was in town from Italy for a visit by chance when the whole thing went down. She actually won one of the raffle prizes.

Here is Taylor popping the big question.

Since I am not drinking these days, I didn't want to be rude, so I let them fill may glasses with all the different wines they were trying. At the end of the night I couldn't move because I had 10 full glasses of wine in front of me. They came around with 2 extra glasses after this picture was taken. But the ice water was good, as was the dark chocolate on the table and the spinach dip at the food bar.

Vacation Fever

Yep, I have it alright! I am having the hardest time focusing on my work, my duties at home, the laundry, the cleaning, you name it. All I care about it E coming home in a few days and then leaving for vacation. I feel like a kid during the last week of school.

I am having the hardest time concentrating on the tiniest tasks and find myself trying to look busy while I bide my time until the end of next week. The weeks need to fly by faster.

My parents sold their house when I was in college and some friends had a basement apartment that they offered to let them stay indefinately. They stayed there for a while with the idea that they wouldn't live in town very long and that this job was only temporary until he found something better. (coincidently, 7 years later, they are still there and love it so they built a house a few years ago) So they took the money from the sale of their house and put it into a beach condo closer to where they are originally from. It's up for rent most of the time but we all get to put in a week or two throughout the year and enjoy it when we need a break.

And boy do I need a break. I was telling E the other day how excited I was about vacation and he just looked at me. I asked him "Aren't you?" He answered "Well, of course, I just don't understand why you are as excited as you are. We went on vacation last year."

Well, I guess that he forgot that our whole vacation last year was an anxiety attack for me since we were between moves. We packed up our stuff and threw it in a moving van in Key West, then headed to the beach for a few days of vacation before we started moving into our new house in Texas. So most of my vacation was spent making phone calls to the movers, the electric company, the telephone company, etc. And to top things off, the water was ICE COLD and we couldn't stay in but a few minutes and the wind was furrocious so if you tried to get some sun you shivered.

My aunt took this picture of us last year at my grandparents house on our way home from vacation. Notice my lack of tan after a week at the beach. It was quite sad. But MY how skinny we were. I was running 4 miles a day 6 days a week at that point and E had stopped eating what they fed him on the boat in Key West and jogged with me some when he got back. (In case you are wondering...we still look like that...just about 10 pounds heavier...both of us)

Organization Tools

With so many projects going on at one time, I am overwhelmed with paperwork. And check out this picture...Do you see any file drawers or anywhere to put office supplies? Those cabinets maybe? Nope they came prestocked with binders that I can't get rid of!

As a organization counter-measure, I ordered a few of these from the Container Store. I hope they help!! Living in the mess causes me to die a little inside everyday!

Spring Cleaning and Other News

What started out as spring cleaning, turned into a fight to the death to throw away software and old equipment they have been saving for over a decade. And what's sad, is that I have already done this once already and will have to do this again before the end of the summer. Our supervisors fight hardcore to keep all of these storage closets, to the point where they make serious enemies out of people we will need down the road, that we don't need. We basically have 3 storage closets and one storage room that will all fit into our larger closet comfortably.

Have I mentioned that I hate being sweaty in an air conditioned room wearing work clothes? Gross! For those of you that might not remember the first pile click here to see. However, here is the second pile.

On the plus side, I talked them into buying the new Nikon D40 as our departmental camera yesterday. I am super pumped about playing with that (personally, not professionally).

Also, I joined a mixed doubles league today. We start playing in June and I am super apprehensive. Yes, I played high school and college tennis, but I haven't set foot on a court since May 2003!!! That was 5 years ago!!! I still think I am in descent physical shape and I have spent all week running harder and working out more to ready myself for this challenge. It's going to be bad! I always hate when people hear that you played college sports and they expect you to come out and be AWESOME and I know I won't live up to expectations!

I am Soliciting Help!!!

My boss had tasked me all summer long with a solution to his problem and so far I am coming up with nothing!! He wants to find a way for cell phones to be incorporated into the classroom.

Almost every kid has a cell phone these days.

Poor, rich, middle class, foreigner...everyone!!!

And yes, they are being taken up by teachers and administrators around the globe because kids are abusing them in the classroom with text messages and games, but, eren't calculators also banned in the classroom at first and now they are required for most high school and college courses. That's where his thinking is going and I am still unsure whether a communication device would help or hurt the focus of the kids in a classroom setting. We all know I don't have kids and things have changed so much in the 10 years (or less :) I have been out of high school that I don't know what the needs are of kids in school these days.

Does anyone else have any ideas? I could only come up with the basics: phonetrees (mostly for emergencies), voting (maybe for homecoming, etc), calling the homework hotline if you were absent from school that day...the end!! HELP!!

Bad Days...Good Apple Dumplings!

Well folks, hopefully I will have more time next week. This week I feel like a superhero in a post apocolyptic universe. So busy and so tired. We have hosted 2 conferences this week at work and those always make for incredibly long days. I also finished planting my front flower beds since we have company coming this weekend. Tonight, we are hosting a crawfish boil at our house for our Sunday School class so I wanted to get the front yard ready and the garage cleaned out (and of course the house cleaned) before everyone started stopping in. So the days are mashing together. With my right hand in the air, "I do so solemnly swear to purpose to be a better blogger in the coming weeks."

However, I will leave you with this since I gypped you all on What's Cooking Wednesday. I had my pictures and recipe all ready but can't seem to find the camera. This recipe is SO GOOD! I have more requests for this one than anything else I make. When I was in college, I worked at our church part time. One day the piano player called to say that she was going to bring the office staff lunch. This recipe was one of the things she brought and I immediately got the recipe from her and make it all of the time.

Apple Dumplings

At our house, we make it for dessert, breakfast, and if E had his choice, he would have it for lunch and dinner too. I don't have a picture of the end result...Sorry...I just got so darn excited about eating them that all other thoughts were shunned from my mind! But I do have a few pics of the process. Enjoy!

Hot Springs

Don't you love it when you end up with a swanky room at a super hotel that you didn't have to pay for? I know I do! I had a suite all to myself with a king size bed and 36 inch LCD TV with a separate living room/kitchen area that looked out onto the Hot Springs National Park. It was so nice. And for breakfast, none of that skimpy continental fruit. It was the big daddy. There was a cook-to-order chef who would make you pancakes, omelets, fresh bacon or sausage... MmmmMmmmMmmm. So good. But do you think I was able to partake in any of that? Ah...NO!! And that's a big fat NO! I was barely in my room long enough to enjoy it. And as for breakfast, they didn't open until 7am and we had to be out the door by 6:30. So much for getting all of the perks!!

We used the Hots Springs Convention Center for 2 of our sessions and another hotel in town for the third session. The convention center was very classy. Lots of art, photography, and modern furniture everywhere. However, the hotel we used for the last day did not compare to the convention center one bit! When we first met with the event managers, they scrambled desperately to find our file, and then notified us that they had to squeeze our event into a smaller room because the air conditioner in the building broke. The room they moved us to had A/C though. Their new A/C wasn't going to arrive for another 3 weeks. They were in the middle of renovations. Stained wallpaper, faded carpet, broken lights, dusty old chandeliers, holes in the walls, oh yeah...and this...

Luckily, the duct tape was only there for our preliminary tour and not the conference. But the stained carpet and walls weren't going anywhere.

Here's Viki performing "Delta Dawn" in front of our INCREDIBLY chipped podium.

This is me posing with some guys I met that let me go fishing with them. Look at that big fish I brought home!!

Here I am with Shannon, another conference helper, at the Hot Springs National Park.

In this picture, I am retrieving my purse that I dropped off of a cliff. After making my way down the mountain in flip-flops, I finally found it resting in a holly bush. OUCH!

I Promise I am not Dead!!

Well, I spent all weekend in Hot Springs Arkansas and then the next few days curled up in bed, sick with a cold. However, I am functioning almost as good as new but forgot to bring my pics today to share with all of you! So check back tomorrow and I will have lots of good stuff for you! However, I already had What's Cooking Wednesday ready so you will get that today!

Thanks for checking in. It's good to be back!!

Distractions!!

Well, once I returned home from my trip, that was it for me. I was so exhausted and wanted nothing more than life to return back to normal. What is normal though? I don't think I ever got a chance to figure that one out before I was buying a plane ticket out to Arkansas this weekend. Yes, I have to travel for work AGAIN this weekend. That's 2 out of three weekends. I am growing weary just thinking about what next weekend holds for me. I don't think I would mind the trips as much if they came with a day off when I got back. But we work 10-14 hour days all weekend just in time to go back to work on Monday morning.

So Hot Springs, AR??? Anyone have suggestions for fun things to do while I am there?

The Rest of My Trip

Here is the MUCH anticipated (HA) sequal to yesterday's post!!

Friday night, our speaker had given me quite a scare. He left so quickly trying to get to a baseball game that I thought he didn't notice that he had accidently taken the hotel's clip-on microphone with him. I completely ravaged our conference rooms looking for the mic. Nowhere. So I started making phone calls. I called the director (who has a habit of loosing things). Nothing. I called the speaker. Voicemail. Ahhhhh! I was screaming inside by this point. A microphone couldn't have just gotten up and walked away on it's own.

While you would think there is a happy ending to this story, in fact there is no ending to this story....When the speaker finally called me back 2 days later to tell me he didn't know where the mic was.

Saturday was the longest day. I got up at five to make sure I was downstairs working before 6 so I could have more time to look for the missing microphone. I really think I drove myself crazy about this. The hotel had already brought another mic for us to use just like we never lost the first one. I just kept my mouth shut. The last thing I needed was to have to pay for a microphone that they were charging 140 bucks a day to rent. There was alot of sitting and waiting for things to go wrong on Saturday. Once we got the all clear sign around 4pm, we quickly cleaned up the rooms and headed out to the Riverwalk. My travel mates chose a mexican restuarant on the Riverwalk that was the worst food I had ever had. So note to self...they don't get to choose anymore. So I made is a reservation at a restaurant called Pesca at the Watermark Hotel. I couldn't have chosen a better place. Cheers to me! I had a coffee, cocoa, and chayenne blackened swordfish steak with a side of mixed roasted corn, cilantro and roasted sweet potatoes. It was like being back in Key West again. The food there was always awesome and we have seriously been lacking that level of eating out since we moved to Beaumont. So this dish really went a long way in my book. Suddenly, alot of the home sickness was gone. It's amazing what food can do for you! This is a picture of all of us over the Riverwalk after dinner while walking back to the hotel.

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I crashed early that night so I could go ahead get my stuff packed for the next day. As soon as the session was adjourned on Sunday, we packed the car and headed back towards the market (sigh! I really didn't like the market...more pinatas, jewelry and t-shirts) so one of the ladies could pick a few things up along with a few more pastries.

After spending a good hour and a half in the same market we were in 2 days earlier we finally left to get food at one of the vendor stands. (BTW, I don't recommend this) I let Rosemary talk me into getting a gordita off of the street.

When she showed up with one full of chicken and ground beef, I tried my hardest to eat around the meat. Sorry, I just don't trust meat from a festival vendor anymore. I've been burned too many times. While they were in line for gorditas, I wandered over to another vendor and bought a glass of watermelon juice. Sooo Sweet!!!

Before I tell you where I wandered next, I need to preface these comments by saying that I am a city girl who eats normal things. I don't eat weird things so I don't pay attention to the names of things I don't eat. So I went over to this vendor.

Curious as to what these were, I walked over to the vendor and watched her cook a large pan of these mystery taco fillings. I watching for a while, I still couldn't figure out what they were. They looked kind of like mushrooms but more like squash. I was racking my brain and finally came to the conclusion that this must be a traditional mexican vegetable that I have never heard of. So I asked the old lady what she was cooking. She answered "Tripes Tacos." Well, I already knew that. That's what the sign says. About that time her english speaking daughter poked her head from behind her mother and said "Intestines!" I felt my lunch coming up very quickly. I felt so stupid for standing at her stand for a good few minutes eying these delicious looking "vegetables." I politely declined and returned to my group.

We walked across the street to YET ANOTHER market. Where the little girls were performing. They were so cute and I just had to snap a picture of them.

While we were in the second market, the strangest thing happened. I only know 2 people that live in San Antonio. My friend Erika's parents. And of all the people to see while we were there, I saw Erika's dad (click the link and go to the last picture. Hugo, her dad, is the one pointing towards the camera) in that second market. Hugo has a few shops in that second market. I heard his voice and was aware that I had heard that voice before but I wasn't sure where. I couldn't see his face for the longest time and then finally when I was able to catch a glimpse at him, I recognized him right away! So weird.

Well, we finally left and did a little normal shopping on the other side of town before heading back home. And boy was I ready to go home. I had fun, yes, but I honestly didn't know any of these people. These trips are much more fun with your friends, family or spouse.

My Trip

So when I signed on for my new job, I knew I would be traveling a little bit. Our San Antonio trip was coming up and my boss's husband has been ill for a while now. Well, things took a turn for the worst when he was hospitalized the day before we were to leave for our conference. So I (having only been working there for a month) had to pretend like I knew how to run a conference that I knew nothing about!!! I spent a few long nights working and stressing about whether I had packed enough legal pads and printer cartridges. I know...stupid!!!

The meetings with the hotel staff were brutal mostly because our director is VERY DIRECT, quite demanding and 100% to the point about everything even if that means being rude. And if you know me, you know very well that I don't deal with confrontation and I am probably TOO nice most of the time. I will just find a way to work around it. But this whole weekend was about me dealing with problems and confronting our staff and the hotel's staff about those problems. I did not enjoy being in charge!! All turned out ok once I got over a few rough patches like a broken printer, keys that didn't work, not enough food, a broken projector and the fact that no one had reserved me a room.

So for those of you that keep up with my blog regularly, the insanity started last Sunday and hopefully ends today!!! That's why I have been MIA for a week. I also just couldn't bring myself to pay $20 a day for internet at the hotel. But hopefully a few pictures from my trip will make up for my lack of posting.

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We pulled into town and Rosemary (having worked this conference before) knew exactly where she wanted to have lunch. Mi Tierra. So we went and as I was walking into the door, the decorations overwhelmed me. There were so many and they were everywhere. The first picture is the ceiling of the bakery. The second picture is the ceiling of the dining room.

As we walked into the door, my eyes went to the ceiling first and then quickly moved to all of the glass cases full of mexican pastries and treats of all kinds. This picture just shows one of the cases and there were 5 in all. I bought a pecan praline and Vanilla Creme Campechana. Once all of the work for the day was over, I retired to my room and gorged myself on my treats. Before we left to go home, we made one more stop to get a few more pastries to take home to friends and family. I bought a pinapple campechana, another vanilla creme campechana, a strawberry empanada, and 3 churros (plain, carmel filled and vanilla creme filled) MMMMMmmmmm.

We bought treats and had lunch at Mi Tierra and then headed over to the market. I assumed it was going to be really cool stuff but I honestly got bored really fast. Each market store had the same mexican pottery, pinatas, jewelry and San Antonio T-shirts. It was SO touristy!! Here is Rosemary and Diane leaving one shop and going to another within the market place.

After lunch and shopping, the meetings started. First with my staff, then the hotel staff, then the hotel event staff, then our combined staff with the director. Whew!!! I was exhausted by the end of the night. The director of our program took us all out to dinner to a German steakhouse called Little Rhien's on the Riverwalk. OMG!! I had a filet and grilled shrimp with a ceasar salad, asperagus and mushrooms. I don't think I have ever had a filet that delicious!! On the way to dinner, we found a stone sculpture in the sidewalk of the United States. I couldn't resist. Sweet Home Alabama...I miss you!!! Relax...I got a picture of Texas too. The second picture is Rosemary standing on the Capital.

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The next day, we all had breakfast and then worked our tails off getting things ready for the students and speakers to come in later on that night. After the sessions were over, we decided to take a tour of the Riverwalk. We hopped ont he first river boat and learned lots of cool stuff. We saw the bridge where Jennifer Lopez cried in the movie Selena, we saw the hotel where John Edwards and George Lopez were a few weeks earlier, we saw the hospital where Carol Burnett and Tommy Lee Jones were born, lots of baby ducks and so much more. Here are a few pictures I took while in motion (sorry) of the views.

Here is a picture of the stage where Sanda Bullock performed her talent int he preliminaries in the movie Miss Congeniality.

...And the rest I will tell you tomorrow. Make sure to check back in!!