Footloose and totally free

My good pal Krista scored some free-to-us tickets to see Kenny Loggins in Fayetteville last night. Before yesterday, only two of the 6,000+ songs on my iPod were Loggins tunes, and one of 'em was an obscure song from "One Fine Day." So I wouldn't call myself a super-fan, but I was excited about the concert anyway.

Turns out Kenny is a great show. Granted, I didn't enjoy myself as much as the drunk people all around us (free booze at the VIP reception), but I knew all but one song. And when he did "Footloose" during the encore, even the uptight blue-haired ladies in the audience sashayed and clapped along.

We also enjoyed a fabulous pre-show dinner at Bordino's in what was my first--but certainly not my last--visit to that great restaurant. Overall, it was an awesome night!

My apologies for neglecting the ol' blog lately. I've become so high maintenance that I don't have a lot of time to write. Between all the running and tanning and looking fantastic all the time, my pithy self-reflection and random observations have been suffering.

I am packing to head to Hot Springs in the morning for a student meeting, then it's on to Little Rock for more work stuff mixed in with dinner with Joe at Pei Wei and lunch with the Tullgren's on Friday. And then I have... praise Jesus... nine days off in a row! Ok, so I'm doing some random work in there, but I've scheduled a whole week off. Need to burn some time. Need to de-stress. Need to be still.

Taylor made

Rick Altes took this pic of Taylor Tuesday night in Carlisle. Check out the acrobatic move. And check out Arney up there in the stands holding a sleeping Hope.

I'm still tired, but I made it back to NLR. I need to go to bed.

I did manage to run three miles tonight on the hotel treadmill. The unfortunate part is that it was the grand opening of this hotel, so they kept parading Chamber folks through the gym to watch me sweat. It is very motivating to run in front of a mirror. Two miles in and my thighs still looked huge, so I kept running.

Hopefully there's time for a nap tomorrow before the game. If not, it's going to be a long Saturday.

Broken odometer

I've always been blessed (cursed?) with wanderlust. I love to travel. I spend half of my time living out of a suitcase, and most days I'm okay with that.

But right now I'm really, really exhausted. I took a three-hour nap this afternoon and am already ready to go back to bed.

After my three days in Atlanta, I was in Hector on Saturday, Hartford on Sunday, jury duty yesterday, and Carlisle last night. I got home this afternoon in time for a couple of meetings on campus prior to my nap, and now I'm doing laundry and getting ready to unpack and repack my suitcase for tomorrow.

I have a luncheon in the Fort and then I'm headed back to NLR tomorrow afternoon for a Friday morning meeting and another jaunt to Carlisle Friday night for Taylor's state Elite 8 game.

So. Very. Tired. Thankfully I'm in Benton County all week next week. I hope.

This is how I currently feel.

Big time in Little Rock

It was a great weekend in the capitol city. The hotel was first-class all the way, from the three valets who scampered to park my Toyota to the turndown service and chocolates on the pillow, the Capital Hotel exceeded even my bratty expectations. As I told Estella, I just felt fabulous walking through the front door.



The Race was great as usual (Little Rock has the best RFTC of all those I've done, except Jen's not there), and we finished a full 30 minutes under last year's time, which is miraculous considering how hard it is to walk while sandwiched among 50,000 other people.



Estella and I met Joe and Kevin for dinner at Ya Ya's on Friday night, which was yum yum, and we had a fabulous brunch of fried green tomatoes and lox and bagels on Saturday before my return to NWA.

This morning I left off the deodorant and perfume in preparation for my annual boob smashing extravaganza, but they called me when I pulled in the parking lot to tell me the machine was broken, so I get to skip smelling nice on Wednesday now too. I didn't have time to do yoga with Pam today, but I did do six miles on the treadmill to make up for the excessive calorie consumption of the weekend.

In a mere 10 days I get to go to Temple. Wahoo! Can't wait.

Oh, and Taylor texted me today to ask if he could borrow a pageant dress for powder puff homecoming on Friday. Yes, I will be attending, and yes, there will be video. Especially of halftime, when they'll be performing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" dance. Heh.

Halfway there

My life is full of dichotomies. On the one hand, I get to travel all the time. On the other, I have to travel all the time. Room upgrades are fun. Sleeping in a strange bed not so much. Sometimes it's awesome to be me, but sometimes it sucks. I suppose it all evens out in the end, right?

This morning I had a massage (nice) then worked through lunch (not so nice). After office yoga with Pam and perky Bethany, I worked a bit more then went to a business after hours event. Now I'm sitting at the Fairfield Inn in Russellville, where I got upgraded to a suite for no apparent reason (they know I used to be Miss Tech, I'm sure). But when you arrive around 10 p.m., there's not much time to enjoy the luxury.

Tomorrow I'm working in the Little Rock office, then it's dinner with Estella, Joe and Kevin before my night at the Capital Hotel (which is very, very nice). Saturday's the Race for the Cure in Little Rock, so I'm happy to be staying downtown and not fighting traffic.

The point of all of this, you wonder? I spend half of my days thinking how very lucky I am to have a cool job where I get to stay in nice hotels and eat at nice restaurants, and the other half of my days thinking how uncool it is that my job stresses me out so much. I get sick of the car. I forgot to pay my house payment. I obsessively check my BlackBerry. But at least I often do it in a hotel suite or while eating a fabulous meal.

My boss was right. I do need to get a life. And perhaps sleep in my own bed.

Hello... anyone home?

Girl is full of it. Yeah, I called him back. He was as excited to hear from me as one can be when they're awoken from sleep. In my defense, it was just past 10 and he is not that old.

Last night I had an amazing dinner at Michelangelo's and got to catch up with my friend Joe. The only drawback was that they were out of tiramisu, but my rear end is probably thankful. If only I'd hadn't eaten that three cheese pizza and shrimp brandisi. But oh, it was so yummy.

Now I'm sitting at a job fair in NLR and so far, there are no degree seekers.

Yesterday I subjected myself to searching for a dress at the mall. I don't even own one. But when you wear jeans to church and pants to work, the need to show your knees diminishes. Anyway, it was totally a depressing endeavor. How is it I can lose 30 pounds and still look like a stuffed sausage in this season's cute belted dresses? I may have to wear my housecoat to the wedding next weekend. Memaw would do that, right? (Just kidding, Memaw... love you!)

I'm determined to find a dress this afternoon before heading back northwest. Perhaps a muumuu would be in order. If I put an orchid behind my ear, it would be festive. Aloha!

I so need a Diet Coke...

No rest for the weary

I'm really, really tired. After staying up 'til midnight four nights in a row, I was so excited about going home tonight, taking a hot bath, and going to bed early. You have no idea how forward I was looking to that.

Until I got a phone call this afternoon and had to go home, repack the stuff I just unpacked last night, and drive back to Little Rock. Sad times, friends.

But this pic makes me laugh. These are my friends Tony, Josh and Shane, last week at the Capitol. What is up with the BlackBerry addiction?

Late night gumbo

Wow... it seems like years since my last post. Probably not for all of you, but for me, because I've been all over the state since Tuesday.

I'm exhausted from staying up 'til at least midnight four nights in a row, but I've had a fabulous five days, hanging out with some great new friends and getting to see some great old friends as well.

I won't bore you with too many details about my trip to the state capitol since some of it was dull and some of it not fit to print, but it was memorable both personally and professionally. I got the chance to tour the Clinton library for the first time, and after witnessing my second legislative session ever, I have less confidence in my state government than before. Somebody with a clue please run for office.

Here are some pics of two of my favorite new friends, Terri and Tony (and yes, I have more chins than a Chinese phone book in that second pic... what's up with that?)





Thankfully Schluter was also in the Rock on Thursday, so we got to hang out at the Supreme Court for a bit and then got to visit because we skipped out on the committee meeting we were supposed to attend.

On Friday I got to see my good pals Alisa and Shauna at Tech, as well as my great love, Feltner's Whattaburger.

My friend Paige's husband Bryan made me french toast yesterday morning and we happily ate it while watching Paige do tae bo in the living room. I then had a very rough day of getting a massage, a pedicure, eating cheese dip from Stoby's, going to see Alisa, Grey and Scott at Mount Nebo, and then taking a nap.

Last night I emceed the Miss Lake Dardanelle pageant, after which we went back to Paige and Bryan's and stayed up talking until 3 a.m.

Now I need to be catching up on work because I was gone for three days, but I don't wanna.

Oh, and congratulations to the Hackett Hornets, who won their conference tournament last night 50-29. Taylor et al will be playing in the regional tournament in Danville next week.

Perspective

It's amazing how time can give us a little perspective. Last week I was stressed out and unhappy at work, and this week I'm back in love. Yeah, it still makes me tired sometimes, but after touring a factory floor last week, I realize that my job rocks. Even when I have seven meetings in one day. But at least I don't have to staple something eight hours a day, five days a week, 50 weeks a year. Year after year after year. Bring on the meetings!

And the travel. Tomorrow I'm off to Little Rock for a couple of days, then back in Rogers for an event Thursday night, after which I'll be driving to Branson for a Friday morning meeting. And staying at the Hilton at Branson Landing.

So now I'm packing and catching up on the DVR. And feeling grateful.

The long way home

Jen's probably the only one who cares, but I'll try to update my blog for the rest of the masses who might care about what's going on in my life.

I've been in Central Arkansas since Friday, and I got the brilliant idea to go home north by northwest this morning rather than my normal west then north route, which showcased the beautiful fall foliage but made my trip 4.5 hours from Little Rock to Siloam. It was a gorgeous drive, but by the time I got back to my beloved NWA, I napped through the entire Cowboys game. Turns out that wasn't such a tragedy.

To catch you up, I was a moron who gave myself a mere 24 hours to recover from anesthesia and being sliced open with a large knife, so I presided over a day-long meeting on Wednesday and marched into the very large home office of the world's largest retailer on Thursday to pretend that I'm a big girl with marketing prowess. Luckily both meetings went well and were very productive, but I was in pain for the whole two days that I pretended to be invincible. Sometimes the Superwoman cape feels a bit snug.

On Friday I stopped in Russellville to say hello to Alisa and Shauna before meeting my friend Erin for coffee in Conway to discuss politics, violence on college campuses and the need for responsible choices. Oh, and world peace. When you're getting ready for a pageant interview you have to work that in, right? Joe and I had dinner at Kobe on Friday evening (he brought me some gorgeous pink roses because he's amazing).

Yesterday I spent six hours talking to people from all over the state who want to be teachers. Okay, I talked to two. So it was a very long day, saved by the fact that two pals from the Center of Learning were there to catch me up on my former coworkers and eat lunch with me so I didn't look like such a loser. Then, last night, I went to dinner with my good friends Dave and Brent at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Sonny Williams.

Now I'm home, punch drunk from the long nap and needing to do laundry. But at least inquiring minds no longer need to wonder what's new with me. Not much.

Under pressure

Well I suppose today was a bit better than yesterday considering nobody tried to put any body part in a vice, but it was still filled with a lot of pressure. The metaphoric kind, not the literal kind.

So I had a stinky morning and came home for lunch to feel sorry for myself. It was tough considering I'm on day two of my 48-hour fruit fast, but alas, I did not succumb to chocolate. I did, however, succumb to a long talk with God, during which He told me to get over myself. (That's just how God rolls, I'm convinced. I don't think He always talks to us in KJV lingo.)

My afternoon was much better. Less talking, more action. But also more meetings.

Tonight I'm doing laundry, ironing and packing to hit the road again. I'm relying on the hospitality of friends for the next four nights. Tomorrow I have LBC, then speaking at a board meeting, then back to LBC in the afternoon. Tomorrow night I'm driving to the Fort for a Chamber dinner with Ashley. I'll be crashing at Vance and Sorne's.

On Friday I'm driving to the Rock to have lunch with Ann, then Brent and I are going to Cold Stone to celebrate his natal anniversary. That night Joe's meeting Estella and I for dinner, and we'll be getting up early on Saturday to walk in the Race for the Cure in Little Rock. I've always wanted to do the Race and never have. I hear it's indescribable and I'm very excited.

Saturday afternoon/night I'll be driving to Nebo to stay with Scott and Alisa. On Sunday afternoon my ol' Tech friends are coming up for gumbo and good times. Then, late Sunday evening, I'll be driving to Rogers to stay with Kelly so that I can be at a 7 a.m. meeting on Monday.

Good grief. When did my life become so crazy? But I love it. And I'm grateful to have good friends (with spare bedrooms) to share it all with.

Big trip to Little Rock

I'm not quite sure what it is about the drive from Siloam to Little Rock, but I loathe it. I even loaded up my iPod with some new music, thinking it would make the drive go by faster, but I was wrong. Ugh. Three-and-a-half hours in the car with my own company is never fun, even with new music and cinnamon bears along for the ride.

At least I got to see the fam and have dinner at Mi Burrito. Jen finished her last class of med school on Friday, and they sold their house last week, so she has a fun week of packing to look forward to.

I can already tell that keeping up with two blogs is going to be challenging. I've run out of things to say.

Excess

It's been a day of too much sitting, too much shopping, and way too much eating. Lindsay and I started at 8 a.m. and had three marketing workshops today, plus we did a job interview over lunch and went to Conway to shop.

Lunch was a the Capriccio Grill at the Peabody and it was one of the best meals EVER. Here's a pic of my lunch, the salmon and greens special.



It was truly a feast for the eyes and the palate. I'm surprised I managed to ask a few interview questions in between falling in love with my lunch.

After our last session, we headed north to my former hometown and the world's best TJ Maxx (sidenote: Lindsay's husband says she's no longer allowed to hang out with me lest she catch my shopping addiction). We also went to Wilkinson's to shoe shop and had dinner at my favorite place, Michelangelo's. I was quite full after the fried zucchini, bread, and shrimp pasta, but we each ordered a piece of my favorite desert ever, tiramasu. Joe was going to meet us, but he got stuck at work, so we missed him. :(

Then we headed back to NLR to stop by the office and shop at Stein Mart.

It was a great day, but I'm pooped. Just one meeting tomorrow before we do more shopping (sale at the Gap!) at the mall and Fresh Market.

George Clooney and the Ducks

My friend Lindsay (who should be sainted, by the way) and I just got back from taking Huey, Dewie and Louie to the movies. We saw "Leatherheads," which was a decent flick (George Clooney and John Krasinski in tight pants... who's complaining?), but there wasn't enough football to keep the boys' attention for long.

Before leaving the hotel we caught the famous "duck walk" at the Peabody. Those ducks have more fans than most people.



Now I'm hanging out, watching OT of the national championship game and thinking I should be sleeping.

By the way... Peabody beds are NOT as great as promised, and definitely not worth $189 a night. But at least I can think about McDreamy tonight.

From Siloam to Little Rock in 8.5 hours

Lindsay and I are finally in Little Rock, a mere eight-and-a-half hours after we left Siloam. We took a little detour through Fort Smith to see Ashley and the twins. They are so beautiful! I got to spend time holding and bonding with both of them today. I'm sure they already think their Aunt Lori is pretty cool.

Larry took this pic after they brought Emma and Parker home on Friday. Isn't it just cool?



Both of the babies are just so good. Emma let me hold her for awhile, but ultimately just wanted some time to herself in the crib (I guess she's not used to "alone" time). Parker is just the sweetest and will let you hold him for hours.

We finally left the Fort around 5:30 and headed east. We stopped in Altus and ate dinner at the Wienkeller. Lindsay was quite impressed with our waitress' leiderhausen and clogs.

We're finally at the Peabody, where there are ducks everywhere. These are supposedly the best beds in Little Rock, and for $189 a night, they should be.

Tomorrow night we're hanging with Huey, Dewie and Louie. Just like old times.