The best things in life aren't free

Yes we can, indeed. And if you drank the Obama Kool-aid, there's no need to read further.

I openly acknowledge my high maintenance lifestyle. I consider pedicures and massages to be necessities in my monthly budget. I don't color my own hair or mow my own lawn. I insist on nice hotels, great meals, and fabulous handbags.

In other words, my life ain't cheap.

Luckily, I went to college and despite all the partying, managed to graduate and go on to earn a master's degree. My job is stressful and often it's more than 40 hours a week. But I don't mind because I'm fortunate to have a job I love, and because I am well compensated for thinking about work 24/7.

With a nice salary comes some nice perks, like a nice home and a dependable (albeit recalled) vehicle, cosmetics from a department store counter, and the opportunity to travel. See, I'm obsessed with weekend shopping trips and concerts and nice dinners. I find myself planning months full of weekends to Dallas and Kansas City. Right now I'm saving to buy my nephew a laptop for his high school graduation. I have 20th row tickets to see Bon Jovi in Tulsa next month. I'm headed to Temple twice in April, once for a race and once just because I miss Jen. I'm currently trying to talk Scott and Alisa into Dallas in May to see Jimmy Buffett, and I want to schedule girls' weekend with Sorne, Kelly and Amanda to see SATC2 Memorial Day weekend.

Ruth's Chris for dinner? That's just a Wednesday night for me and my pal Lori B. And in December, Krista and I will be happily ensconced in our Times Square hotel suite in NYC.

If you're going somewhere, I want to go. If a great band is playing, I want to see the concert. I like stuff. I like places. I love spending time with my friends.

But often, I find myself having to stop planning things. Not only do my weekends fill, but I run out of funds. And when you don't have money, you have to stop spending it.

Unless you're Congress. Then you can continue to spend money you don't have on people who don't need it.

See, when I use credit to pay for things, I have to pay it back with interest. Where's my blank check?

But you know what? If someone gave me a beautiful new red patent leather Louis Vuitton bag with the understanding that it was totally free to me, but someday my niece and nephews would have to pay for it, I'd say no. Because I believe in paying for my lifestyle, even if it means doing without.

You listening, Nancy Pelosi?

Let's make plans for July, when I might be solvent again!

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.

There's no place like home

It occurred to me today, after being in the car for seven hours, that I pay about $30 a day to own a house I seldom see. Granted, it's cheaper than a hotel (at least one that I'd sleep in), but that's some pretty expensive furniture storage.

Now don't get me wrong, I have a major sense of wanderlust and had a fabulous time in Mountain Home this weekend with friends, but I've spent a grand total of two nights out of the past eight sleeping in my own bed.

I am tired. And I want to spend a few days at my house. After all, my name's on the mortgage and they don't pro-rate for the nights you actually stay there.

The good news is that I managed to start running again tonight after an injury and travel-plagued couple of weeks. It's not a coincidence that I have a massage appointment in the morning. I hope I can actually get out of bed. But if not, at least it's my bed. Home sweet home.

Weekend update

At least one person has been waiting for me to post (thank you, Debbie), but I've been out of town since Wednesday, staying in hotels and with family, eating out and in my car, and driving. And driving some more. I filled up my car three days in a row.

Last week I momentarily considered renting out my extra room as a bed and breakfast. Granted, a Diet Coke is considered breakfast in my world, but still... I paid 120 bucks for a hotel room on Wednesday night in NLR that was less than luxurious. My guest bed is more comfortable than a hotel's. My towels less scratchy. I could totally slam some doors in the middle of the night and turn the TV up loudly, so I think it could work.

On Thursday night I checked into the other end of the spectrum... the Hilton at Branson Landing. Thankfully it's off-season and I got a great room rate, but it was one of the nicest rooms I've seen in quite a while. Too bad I was there a mere 10 hours. Upon arrival, the desk clerk asked me if I wanted self-parking for $8 or valet for $12. HELLO... it's 9 degrees outside and I'm a pretty, pretty princess, so what do you think I chose?!? I think the valet was in keeping with the comfortable bed, flat screen TV and fabulous tub. The couple yelling next door? Not so great.

After a productive meeting and lunch at Macaroni Grill (yum!), I attended the big Hartford vs. Hackett game Friday night, and it was painful. Let's just say the mercy rule was enforced during the fourth quarter. Good for Taylor, bad for my alma mater.

I was so tired that I slept until 10 a.m. on Saturday, then Taylor and I went to see Chance play basketball in the afternoon. Chance had 20 points (AKA 75% of the team total) and got the offensive award for the day. He really, really wants the ball... so much so that he follows his teammates around while they dribble and yells for them to throw it to him. If he could pass it to himself, he would.

Brad and I went out to dinner last night, then I drove back to Siloam. Today I've just been doing laundry, taking naps, and catching up on my DVR. Thankfully there's no travel this week, and it will be great to get back to my routine. I haven't been on the treadmill since Wednesday and I can feel my rear end getting bigger.

Great expedition

I'm in Pocahontas. It smells like chicken here. I was in the car for five-and-a-half hours AFTER my 10-hour day at work.

Too pooped to post... sorry.

Balancing act

Life, like an ecosystem, is a delicate balance. Too much of any one thing throws the whole thing off. It's a series of give and take, this and that, and trying to keep all your balls in the air. While riding a unicycle. On roller skates. In the rain.

{Disclaimer: I made a "C" in each of my two science classes in college, so I'm not quite sure about the ecosystem analogy. But I'm sure Jen can correct me if I'm wrong. Or Lon can get out his "Science for dummies" book he reads to prepare to teach Biology.}

Perhaps this is the reason I have a love/hate relationship with traveling for work. I love that we have offices near friends and family. I hate that many of my trips are so tightly scheduled that I feel like the Pope. It would be much easier if I had a personal assistant who could call everyone and make them grateful for 15 minutes of Lori time.

In a few moments I'm leaving for Little Rock. My plan is to have dinner tonight with Lon, Jen, Huey, Dewie and Louie; coffee after that with Joe; a lunch meeting tomorrow for work; dinner tomorrow night with Brent and Dave after a work meeting at 5 p.m.; lunch on Tuesday with Alisa, Shauna and Amy; a Tuesday afternoon visit with Ashley and the twins; stop by the Fort Smith office to check on things; dinner with my grandmother; and Chance's baseball game at 7:30. After that I'll come back home in time to unpack and fall into bed, exhausted. Oh, and somewhere in that time I need to figure out how to get some work done.

Anyone else want a piece of me?

P.S. Dad, lest you feel left out, remember that I'll be seeing you for hours next weekend. Aren't you lucky?

Death by meeting

While I do enjoy traveling and getting to be out of the office, I don't necessarily enjoy packing and unpacking or catching up at the office. Nor do I enjoy the multiple meetings per day I get to attend when I'm actually at the office. Today I had 9 a.m, 10 a.m, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. meetings. In between those times I got to read about 200 e-mails and check various voicemail messages (all sales people).

Tomorrow I have meetings at 8, 10, 11, 3 and 4, then I'm headed south to get ahead of the ice storm. Ugh... meetings.

But at least I found a great Thai place in town tonight. And I got my grocery shopping done. Yay for small steps.

I'm back!

Heatfelt apologies for my absence. I've been driving around the world... well, at least northwest part of the state, since last Thursday. I spent Friday in our Little Rock office, then stopped at UCA to see some old friends. I was in Russellville on Friday and Saturday, emceeing the Miss Lake Dardanelle pageant. Here's me, Erin, and Paige, just after the pageant.



One of the great things about my job is that I do get to travel quite a bit, which gives me the opportunity to catch up with old friends. In addition to seeing Lon, Jen, Brady, Avery and Peyton on V-Day, I had lunch with Alisa and Grey on Saturday, and I got to spend two nights with Paige and her mom, Lynne.

Yesterday I left Russellville early to head to the Fort to pick up my grandmother for church. I usually attend the 8:30 a.m. service since I am not at all interested in being on TV. Yesterday I picked a spot far enough away from the camera, but of course I was caught anyway. Several folks e-mailed and/or called to tell me the news, and since I DVR church every Sunday, I got the chance to see me and my four chins for myself this afternoon. Ugh. Back on the diet.

I spent today in the Fort Smith office and got to have a tasty lunch at Blue Plate with Susan and Ashley. Overall, it was a productive trip, but I'm glad to be home, back in my own bed. For two nights at least. Then it's back on the road.