when it rains. it pours... and hails!

I never talk about work on here, but last week's adventure is worth repeating. But it's a LONG STORY!!

Friday, June 12th was supposed to be a normal, excruciatingly long but normal, day. A 12 hour day with 4 flights. It also didn't help that Thursday night's overnight was cut 2 hours shorter.

This is how it was SUPPOSED to go down...

*Seattle 8:50am - Denver 12:25pm
*Denver 1:20pm - Kansas City 3:50pm
*Kansas City 4:30pm - Denver 5:20pm (wait for 2 hours)
*Denver 7:10pm - Kansas City 9:45pm (overnight in KC)

Yuck right? Yeah, it didn't even happen that way. Here is the real day...

*Seattle 8:50am - Denver 12:25pm
*Denver 1:20pm - Kansas City 3:50pm
*Kansas City 4:30pm - PUEBLO, COLORADO!! 5:45pm

OK. So we didn't make it to Denver. The weather, hail, rain, thunder, lightning and such closed the whole airport.

-So, after 1 hour in a divert situation you give out water.
-After 2 hours you break out the emergency divert kit, ie. granola bars.
-After 3 hours, due to the new passengers-stranded-on-planes-for-hours law, the airline gets fined per passenger still remaining in the plane. We are talking about over $20,000 per passenger. And in Pueblo there were 4 Frontier planes so it would cost us about $3.7 million per plane!

Our amazing pilots got us off the ground with 15 minutes to spare. I felt like we were racing against the clock in some action movie. More tiring than exciting though.

*Pueblo 8:28pm - Denver 9:07pm

At this point we had no idea if we were still going to Kansas City for our overnight or not. Where is our plane? How late are we going to be? Won't this be too long of a day if we go?

We found our gate, plane, passengers to head right back to Kansas City. We boarded and headed out into the outrageous line of planes. We drove around for an hour, still waiting in line, and finally the captain told us we were 4th in line and to be seated for take-off. About 5 minutes later his next announcement went something like this...

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are number 2 for departure, but we just got a call from operations and they said your crew timed out for the day."

You should have heard the passengers grumbling. I just sat on the jumpseat and cried. If we had taken off it would have made it a 16 hour day and that is illegal for us. I was so tired I could barely walk or talk and I felt so aweful for the passengers since they had been waiting for us and now who knows when they were going.

So our last "flight" of the day was just driving around the tarmacs and runways of Denver International Airport.

*Denver 10:15pm - DENVER 11:22pm!!

It was too brutal of a day. But the best part was that once we got to Kansas City we were supposed to do a Cancun turn back to Kansas City the next day, well we got the rest of the weekend off since our day had been too long we couldn't go back to KC.

Tony and I had an entire Saturday off together and even got to go to a party down the street that some neighbors had!

We had to come back on Sunday for a Jackson Hole turn. And if you know me at all I would go and see the Grand Tetons any day of the week. I brought my camera and we all walked around the plane to take in the spectacular sight.

So all in all one rough day turned into a great weekend and I guess it's kinda cool that I got to experience my first divert. I just don't want to do it again EVER!

I need a new job. ASAP!!!

I must confess... I HATE my job! I know there are tons and tons of people out there that hate their jobs and that have terrible profesions, but I think mine is gonna make me crazy! It is also making me sick. I have developed Vertigo over the last year and a half and flying everyday and feeling nauseated is crap! I have to take meclizine before I go to work. Not only is it making me sick its really killing my spirits.

I am a flight attendant. Sounds like a dream job, right? NO! Long hours, low wages (that keep dimishing due to cut backs and bankruptcy), cruddy passengers, being alone all the time, rushing here and there, sitting and waiting for hours, ass-hole pilots hitting on you, forgetting things in hotels, eating cold meals bc there is no access to microwaves.

There are great perks too (loads of down time, being in a different city every night, free flights, tons of days off, great friends, a beautiful view from the windows!) but I am soooo over them. I have been everywhere I want to go and any new places I want to visit I want to experience with my husband. I am ready to be home everyday. I don't mean not working, I love to work and will always work full time, but I want to be HOME every night! I want to eat home cooked meals, be with Tony more than just 3 days a week, work in the yard, play with the pup and cat, and sleep in my own bed and take a shower in my own bathroom.

I have applied to a bunch of places, but of course no luck.

And the real reason for this whiney post... I WANT YOUR HELP!!

*26 year old female searching for a full-time job with benefits earning about $15/hour. Job can involve retail, office work, bank, hotel, library, shoe department at Nordstrom's, cosmetics, anything. Server/waitress positions will not be accepted. 10 years customer service experience.

Seems like a lot to ask for, but I am willing to work something part-time to split up the time I have to be away. I can work part-time with Frontier and part-time somewhere else.

Does anyone know of anything in the Denver area?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know if you know of anything. I am going to dress up one day and go door to door at the mall since I have no idea what else to do.

birthday, easter, and los angeles...

We have had quite a busy week!

*Friday, April 2nd... Tony's Birthday!
He is now 29. Yikes! We are getting old. We had a really exciting day and he claims this to be his best birfday evah! He received an iPhone (from me!), new bowling ball, a Wii, GQ magazine subscription, and the series "the States" from the History Channel on DVD. I think he did pretty well! Of course Tony, Matt and I went bowling with his new ball and ate some great bar food while we were playing. For dinner, we decided to try something new with tapas. If you aren't familiar, tapas are spanish style appetizers and are FANTASTIC. We tried The 9th Door in LoDo and just happened to be there during happy hour! Basically $70 got all three of us drunk, stuffed and happy! If we went for normal dinner it would have been outrageous. All in all a fantastic day!!

*Saturday, April 3rd... Flying to Los Angeles
We decided to take a vacation just to get away and it was great timing with Tony's b-day. We have so much family in L.A. and thought it was a perfect opportunity to crash couches. I have an aunt, an uncle, six cousins, and many friends to see. We arrived at 8:30am and were ready to go...

-picked up by cousin Bo from LAX
-while leaving Bo and Hannah's house in Silverlake, saw January Jones at a restaurant
-to Chinatown, bought me a fantastic (cheap) oriental robe
-Olvera Street where it was "Bless Your Pet Day" and, yes, we saw dogs, birds, cats on leashes, iguanas, turtles in carts, and even a huge snake on a little girls shoulders
-attempted to layout by the pool at KK and Trudie's house (aunt and uncle), but it was too cold :(
-the Griffith Observatory for sunset with the most spectacular view of all of Los Angeles
-a late dinner at Malo with Bo, Hannah, and our good friends Elena and Shannan

*Sunday, April 4th... Easter
We have so many cousins here that it takes some serious planning to see everyone. We stayed with Bo and Hannah in their crazy house on Avocado St. But we needed to see the others. We decided on brunch for Easter.

-Gladstone's on Santa Monica Beach (very pricey seafood place) for brunch with the Kemm family cousins, Josh, Chiara, and Jessica. And we saw a dolphin!
-driving back from the beach along Sunset Boulevard, through Beverly Hills, detoured to Rodeo Drive, then the Sunset Strip
-an Easter cookout was in order with tons of roommates (from the Avocado house), more family (KK, Drake, Bo, Beata, Josh), Dodger Dogs, and kebabs
-not only did we have a great cookout there was also an Easter Earthquake! Tony's first!
-we met a friend of Bo's named Bill. Now Bill was super familiar to me. Turns out he was on How I Met Your Mother which of course we love and watch religiously and we knew his part very well (and of course we could quote his line back to him)
-apples to apples, a game of celebrity and talking late into the night rounded out the day

*Monday, April 5th... Lazy day
We didn't do much of anything and had no plans.

-got coffee at the Coffee Bean and had to run back to the house in the pouring rain
-had breakfast with Bo and Hannah at Fred 62 and happened to see the kid who played Elliott from ET. He is all grown up with a little girl and a wife. I think he knew we were talking about him. But apparently its his fault for being a child actor.
-the rent was due at the Avacado house and due to roommate drama we were hiding upstairs when I came up with our new names of Anne and Frank!
-to get away from the drama, we got a beer at the Cha Cha Lounge. A rediculously furnished, dank bar with the greatest vending machine items (jiffy cornbread mix, 21 Jump Street trading cards, naked lady greeting card...)
-to Elena and Shannan's for pizza and beer. My Tony got to meet their cat Tony!

*Tuesday, April 6th... To the beach!
-we took off at about noon and headed to Santa Monica Beach for a day in the sun!
-lunch at Hot Dog on a Stick, only my all time favorite corndog eatery!
-a stroll through the arcades and boardwalk
-off to Venice Beach to see the crazies and the drunkies
-dinner at Red Lion, a great German restaurant, with Hannah, Bo, Elena, and Shannan

*Wednesday, April 7th... home again
We had such a wonderful and relaxing trip and we got lots of great family time in. We did come home during the drama with the "Shoe bomber/smoker" on the tarmac at DIA. But luckily we landed fine and all was well!!!

busy little bees...

I have been pretty busy lately. Obviously. Since I haven't written in quite a while.

I will give you a good overview of the last three weeks. Ready? It's long...

oct 25-30
One of my oldest and best friends came to visit for the whole week! Anneliese and I met in 2nd grade at a friend's birthday party and in 4th grade she transferred to my elementary school. We have had a trillion sleepovers together with barbies, crafts, Fish Food ice cream, and movies. We have partied, traveled, cried and laughed together. We went totally separate ways after high school, but have kept in touch all these years. Even if its a year between our chats we can catch up just like it was yesterday.

She arrived on Sunday and left on Friday night. We had a very eventful week, minus the huge blizzardy storm that made us house bound for a full day.

We shopped at Cherry Creek Mall, Nordstrom's Rack, Target, Park Meadows Mall, Joanne Fabrics, and Halloween stores. We went to Lookout Mountain and Golden, CO. We cooked a few meals, did some crafts, cleaned house, decorated for the party.

The big Halloween party we had been planning for months on Wednesday the 28th, was of course ruined by the crippling 2.5 foot snow storm that started the night before and ended Thursday night. Luckily we had cooked and cleaned all day. We had 5 people at the house already; Tony, Matt, Carly, Anneliese, and me. Our neighbors stopped by with carmel popcorn and the one other guest is our friend Adam. A total of six people partied in the snow and in the garage with the keg for hours and hours!

We had sooooo much food for the 6 of us. We made...
72 mini cupcakes
chex mix
peanut butter cup cookies
sausage rolls
Rotel and Velvetta cheese dip
9 layer dip
cranberry bread
little smokies with bbq sauce
and we got a keg!

Ultimately we had a blast and I fully understood why people didn't make it out for the party. When it snows 2+ feet there aren't too many people that wanna drive to go drinking at a party! Shocking!

oct 31
Work. Blah. Cruddy Halloween.

nov 1-5
Work done by Wednesday morn. Because of the storm last week we threw together an impromptu Post Halloween party to attempt to finish the keg.

I cleaned the house all day to perfection because I knew people were actually coming this time. I asked people to dress-up in hopes of recreating Halloween.

The first couple of guests showed at 6. Then 6:30 Carly showed up. Soon after that, more and more people were appearing at the party. There were some really great costumes; M&M, Russian mail-order bride, Mario (from Mario Bros.), sexy cop, zebra, catholic priest, and more. I think there were about 20 folks in our little house/awesome garage.

We not only had pitchers and pitchers of keg beer, but some girls brought wine, champagne, and vodka. All in all there was a lot of drinking going on. The party went on until midnight. Seriously a fun time and I drank A LOT!

Thursday I probably did something important, but now I don't remember. Oh packing for our weekend vacation!

Later that night, I had a friend's birthday party to attend downtown. I got all dressed up and told myself I wouldn't spend any money or drink. I spent 25 cents on parking and of course there were free drinks.

Someone made me a drink and we danced to the music. We requested some Cyndi Lauper and the DJ said "who?" I then asked for 80's music and he said "what does it start with?" OK. Great!

nov 6-10
Friday morning, Tony and I got up super early to head to the airport. We were headed to Portland for the weekend to visit my dad. Elizabeth flew into Denver earlier that morning to meet our flight out.

Amazing rainy events in Portland...
friday
*Ikea. good shopping, good food and now Tony is in love with the store too!
*Bonneville fish hatchery to watch the spawning salmon in action jumping up the fish ladders
*Multnomah Falls. basically a double waterfall nestled into a lush green forest.
*Kell's Irish Restaurant and Pub. Tony and I love the Seattle location and we had been telling dad about it for years. It didn't disappoint. Corned beef and cabbage with good Irish beer and soda bread ::drool::
*VooDoo Doughnuts. If you go to Portland you have to have VooDoo. The old dirty bastard is AMAZING!!
*POWELL'S BOOKS. That's all I have to say. The best bookstore I have ever been to. When you need an obscure book like Red Dragon first edition or Angels and Demons Illustrated Edition... it's there.

saturday
*pouring rain, actual flooding
*Saturday market. It is a weekly outdoor craft show which might be great except for the cold wet rain.
*back to Kell's for a warm-up drink.
*a beautiful vintage store with Chanel suits and a Karl Lagerfield jacket and much much more. I almost died until I looked at the prices and we left :(
*powell's books again. I just can't get enough.
*Bridgeport Brew pub. Seriously what other kinds of sight seeing are you supposed to do in the pouring rain?
*more vintage stores but in our price range. new patent leather lace up shoes!
*chili for dinner at Dad's house. Nice dry warm evening with family.

sunday
*Elizabeth was supposed to leave, but got really sick in the night so we got one more day with her!
*basically football all day. hmph.
*downtown Vancouver, WA. Thrift stores, antiquing, and more vintage stores.
*Blind Onion Pizza. delicious.

monday
*Tony and Elizabeth left today to go back to work.
*Pittock Mansion. A beautiful house built in the early 1900's. So much history and a fantastic view of the rivers, the mountains, and downtown.
*Powell's one last time :(
*McMenamins on the river for dinner.

tuesday
*home.

Wow. The last couple weeks have been crazy, and now there is just work. Darn. I dont think the next couple weeks will be exciting at all, even though Thanksgiving is right around the corner!!

Here's to the next posts and lets hope they are shorter!

road trip, wedding, birthday, national parks and family time...

All in one week!!

Starting Wednesday, September 23rd at 5:00am we are heading to the great north. To Eau Claire, Wisconsin for the Strozinsky-LaFollette Wedding. Our great friends, Phillip and Alicia are getting married and my husband is a groomsman. Matt and Carly are flying out to WI while we are driving and they are road trippin back with us.

This morning we were planning on running errands when the car wouldn't start. Yes. The very car we are taking TOMORROW for a 15 hour road trip! JEEZ! But, thank goodness for AAA and their roadside assistance for jumping our car and getting us back up and running (literally) for the big day!!!!

Today, I stocked up on great road trip snacks: trail mix, beef jerky, fruit, water, and other sundries. We already got The Lost Symbol (the new Dan Brown book), Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, Utopia, and The Great Gatsby all as books-on-CD. We are gonna be getting our read on, or listen to, while we drive.


9.23.9
We are starting in Denver (obviously)
EAST through ALL of Nebraska
NORTH through Iowa
to Bay City, WI (really Red Wing, WI) to visit Matt's (Carly's husband) parents.

9.24.9 - 9.27.9
NORTHEAST to Eau Claire, WI for the wedding and all that entails. Dinners, wedding celebrations, breakfasts and Phil's b-day!

9.27.9 - 9.28.9
WEST to Minneapolis, MN for some IKEA time!!!
Then WEST to Brookings, SD to see my mom for the night. Pork tenderloins, Geoffrey, and homemade sugar donuts!!!

9.28.9
WEST to Rapid City, SD to visit the Black Hills, the Badlands, and Mt. Rushmore. I have been to all 3 places but Tony, Carly and Matt have not!

9.29.9
WEST to Wyoming
SOUTH to DENVER!!!

WOW! Its gonna be a really long week with too much car time, but it will be so great! I must say that I truly love road trips. ANYTHING to get me off a plane every once in a while!!

More than anything I am soooo excited to spend the entire week with my husband. Sadly it has been a while since we have had a week together and it will be fabulous.

Here's to wedded bliss, great friends, family, and a safe car ride. CHEERS!!!

Breckenridge or Bust...

This weekend is the big Barrett family reunion! FRI, SAT, SUN, MON, and TUE!!! Thank god for a weekend off!!!


All the aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings and parents are coming in from Oklahoma, Colorado, Oregon, and California. There will be 17 in all in one very large house. Luckily there are 6 bathrooms!

We just happened to plan this on the 150th anniversary of Breckenridge as a town! There will be street fairs, fireworks, bands, time capsules, and much much more. I cannot wait!

My sister, Liz, came in town last night so I thought I would throw a dinner party! We had some other friends in town, Nic, Kirsten and baby Daphne, so they were also invited. And like always Matt and Carly were here too!

We had grilled shrimp, grilled corn on the cob, lemon-butter pasta, and angel food cake with strawberries for dessert. We ate every bit of the food with no leftovers. The marinade for the shrimp was fantastic! Way to go Food Network!

Today, my dad comes in at 2:30 and then we are off to the mountians. He is bringing me his old Pentax K1000, (a film camera if you remember those) to replace the one that was stolen, and some lenses! Tony got his new camera yesterday, a Minolta Maxxum 9. We are so anti-digital. I feel like this weekend we will take SEVERAL rolls of film (too bad our hobby is so darn expensive). But we may get some beautiful shots in the mountians, on a hike or just in town.

I will report of the weekend activities once its all done...

yup. 4 more to go...

I flew into Fargo, ND today and it is a winter wonderland. There are no mountains, no trees and not a whole lot to look at really, but it is all white and lovely. Deer, open space, and many beautiful views of the horizon.

I now have been to North Dakota and it was thrilling :)

I have only 4 states to visit now! Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Mississippi!

While writing this, I thought I still had 5 states and boy was I wrong. I already hit up Idaho earlier this year when we began flying to Boise and it really is beautiful up there.

I guess I better get myself down south and to stupid West Virginia (sorry)!