Ramble On

I saw this and I had to write about it. No one ever picks my initials for any demonstration. This photo is from a Wal-mart print ad for personalized gifts. I think Wal-Mart secretly appreciates my frantic weekly shopping trips where I keep my head down and try and get in and out as quickly as possible. They heart KP! Note: this is not a hint for a Christmas present.

I've been taking a class at W&M just to get my feet wet in the academic ocean again and most of the stuff for the class has been due in the last few weeks and will continue to be for the rest of the month. I've been enjoying the business though it has kept me from my online thought sharing. The thing that I'm enjoying the most of anything in life right now is definitely the trees. I don't remember ever seeing a fall this brilliant and colorful. It's probably got a lot do to with my perspective. I keep thinking where I was in fall of last year. Working 70 hours a week, being fed lie after lie and promise after promise, dealing with issues that were WAY over my head, and feeling totally overwhelmed and lost. I'm glad I'm not there anymore. I missed fall because all I experienced from September to December 19th of last year was the walk to my car in the morning when it was dark and then at night when I left the hotel when it was dark again. I completely mi...

This past week was my first-ever experience making Amish Friendship bread. While the end product is delicious and the idea behind it is rather warm and fuzzy, I couldn't walk away from it without feeling a lot of pressure. I like to bake whenever I feel like it. I don't really like to have a schedule. This bread is definitely on a schedule. Here's how it works in case you've never encountered it before: Day 1, someone gives you a starter bag. The secrets of this bag are held by the Amish so in order to begin the process of friendship bread you have to either be Amish or get a bag from someone. For the next five days you mush the bag once a day and make sure you evacuate any air that accumulates in the bag. Day 6 you add milk, sugar and flour to the starter bag and mush it together. Then for the next four days you mush and evacuate as in the beginning. On the 10th day, you add more milk, sugar and flour, put some of the mixture in four bags to give away, and th...

Remember when you first went off to college? Remember seeing your cramped low-lit dorm room for the first time? Remember how it was like summer camp with orientation activities for the first week? I sure do. And I was reminded of it today. I had a day off today and list of errands to run that took up an entire piece of legal size paper. I managed to accomplish everything in my power to accomplish with not a whole lot of delays or problems. But I am going back to school too. I'm going to be taking a class at W&M this fall to see if the Education school would work for me. And in registering for this class and doing my errands today I came across freshman and their families in many different situations. 1) Wal-mart - the obvious one-stop shopping place for back-to-school. I got there at about 11:30 which was before freshman move-in was really over and so I feel as though the big rush hadn't set in yet. So many desks, lamps, laundry hampers, large bottled water pack...

My goodness it has been such a busy month. I left for Blue Ridge on the last day of June, and I feel like I was only able to take my first real breath yesterday. In the month of July, I traveled out of state 4 times, got the news I had to move, moved, and started grad school applications. I am very happy to be on the other side of this month because I feel like even though it was hard all the changes and things that happened are ultimately good. I had to move from my awesome apartment at one of my small group girl's houses and now I'm at another basement apartment. It's nice because I still have my own apartment, still have my own entrance, and I have just started decorating it a little bit. That's always something I've enjoyed though paying for the decorating it's that fun. But it's starting to feel like my place. The thing I miss the most is having my own kitchen. But I have access to the one here, and laundry, and that's all I need. So I...

Today was a rather slow day at work. I spiced it up a little bit by searching for this one handbag I saw a guest come in with that I totally loved.  Then I got to thinking about designers and brand-names and I also got to thinking about how it's been a long time since I had a date with fashion. I decided that I would go on a quest and today's particular search was centered on vintage couture. I managed to come across a bunch of awesome pieces on this website called thefrock.com and I decided that I would post some pictures and explain where I see these fitting into my fictitious ultra-fabulous millionaire life. The only kind of life where these clothes would have any kind of a place. Here we go: This little number would be used for cocktail parties at my super cool friends' houses and perhaps hitting a swanky club after. 1950 Norman Norell. Pierre Cardin circa 1960. This one I would definitely use for business meetings where I would show up looking impossibly chic, but also...

I just returned this evening from a missions trip just outside of Asheville, NC with my church and with four members of my small group of rising sophomore girls. We left on Sunday after church and drove for about 8 hours. My van had my girls, 4 freshmen boys and some junior girls. It was a long ride, and the younger ones were very excited. I tried to think of as many car games as possible, but I ran out of ideas pretty quickly. We played the game where you go around and each person says one word to contribute to telling a story. They made me die in every story, but I died in very creative ways. Once I was incinerated in a frog's uterus. Singing show tunes then became the entertainment of choice for the girls, which quickly put the rest of the bus on their iPods with pillows around their heads. We got their late, around 10pm, ate cold pizza, got a brief run down of our week, the next day's schedule and some of the rules. The living conditions were not bad considering other missi...

I just got back from one of my very rare self-pampering sessions. I just had a pedicure. Because I like to run my feet periodically work themselves into an abominable state and need some TLC. Tonight I managed to get them back to sort of normal. I went for a different color choice than I normally do and now as I'm sitting with my feet up on the couch and my polished toes are staring back at me, I think that they have surpassed the upper majority of me in style. My toes look way better than the rest of me does normally. Usually when I come home I immediately change into sweats and a t-shirt. I think I may have to try harder so my toes don't look so out of place. This may be a problem. I have been described as stubbornly low-maintenance by friends before. I think that is definitely true. I can't get cute haircuts because I won't spend the time it takes to keep them cute. I can't buy makeup because I never take the time to put it on. There will come a tim...

A follow up on the blog from May 6th. Today, from an elderly gentleman named Fred, I heard the life story of Thomas Alva Edison. Apparently Fred lives in Ft. Myers, Florida which is where Mr. Edison summered. He knows all about his inventions, his family history, and shockingly, more stories about people related to Thomas Edison. I don't even think this gentleman had a question to ask me. He just wanted to talk about Thomas Edison. It reminds me of those public service annoucements that NBC used to do that ended with the phrase "The More You Know" sung by a pretty voice. Their implication that the more you know, the better off you are. They were usually about drugs or not talking to strangers, but knowing about good ol' Tom is beneficial too, in my opinion.

I think one of my favorite parts of this job is the random stories I get to hear. The perps are generally elderly men, young wives, or women travelling together. This week alone I have: 1) Heard the story of a family originating from Sussex, England, who came over and started Bermuda Hundred (near Chesterfield Co. in Richmond) and their progressive family developments from 1780 on. After the story I was sent on a search for a weaving loom that the family brought over with them and donated to my alma mater. The gentleman I spoke with was quite dismayed that I wasn't familiar with his family's loom and asked if I would be kind enough to locate where it was on display. About 10 calls and 3 hours later, I had spoken with every Colonial Wiliamsburg operator on the switchboard, (confused half of them, and supremely annoyed the other half) 3 museum curators and one collection director and none of them had any idea what I was talking about. I finally got the e-mail of a curator of obje...

So a man in a leather vest just walked into the Concierge office gripping an unopened 16oz can of Budweiser and asked for a tee-time for tomorrow afternoon. I reserved one for him and in doing so, learned his name. Guy Bowmaster. It was like something out of a movie. What a hardcore name! I had to stifle a giggle as a modern-day Conan the barbarian movie unfolded in my head and I saw fur and leather costumes with wierd helmets and lots of running through forests. Obviously we have to have awesome Rambo-esque bows and arrows as his weapon of choice, for how else would Guy have earned his name? How is that not a really bad 80's movie already? Sigh. Missed opportunities.

I feel like a good week is drawing to a close. Spring is a time for rejuvenation. I mentioned it in my last post, but I always go back to things in the spring, and think about those same things and how they might or might not affect what is to come. As new life springs to Williamsburg and it becomes one of the loveliest places you could ever want to be, I am struggling to put some regrets in the past and move forward. I've gotten a lot of things off my chest, talked about things I've been holding in for a while, and I just feel like I'm coming out on the other side of a dark time. I have a wierd thing about the songs/movies/clothes that I love the most. I sort of like to save them. I like to reserve them for the times when I think of them and only THAT item at THAT moment is the right one. I rely a lot on the Shuffle feature of my iPod. I seriously do think God controls it sometimes. I'll be thinking about a song or a thing or a time and then the EXACT right son...

I realized that this weekend marks one year since I've been back from the tropics and one year since I've been in Williamsburg again. I guess I wish more had changed than it really has. I feel like I'm closer to KNOWING what I want to do, but as for actually doing it, I'm still a ways off. I made a recent trip to the Career Services center at William and Mary to ask them about things I should be looking at or doing. They were helpful in pointing out resources, but the most interesting part of my visit there was when I first began chatting with the guidance lady, she asked me "so how long have you been out of school?" I answered two years. She said "You're right on time". Its so funny how predictable my generation is. It seems a great number of us get jobs right after college that we don't intend on making our careers and leave them after about two or three years. So to update, in December I quit my job at the hotel. I feel like I have...

So, obviously anyone who reads this will notice that I haven't posted in about three months. There's a good reason for that: the hotel is open and operational.... sort of. I haven't had a life to speak of since then, and needless to say my blog postings have fallen by the wayside as well. Anyway, my day at work ended on a sour note. I won't go into the details, suffice it to say, I was left in turmoil. However, I had many tasks to complete that evening and I was set on completing them. I dragged myself to the gym for a very stale, uninteresting workout that I felt like I was only half a part of. Then to the grocery store where I had to steel myself against the temptation to buy foods that I knew would comfort my bruised spirit. I was almost home, when my favorite local radio station decided they wanted to play some Journey. And not just any Journey, but the ULTIMATE Journey. Those who know me well, (or at least those who read my blog) know that I have a shamefu...

Last night the winery hosted a dinner for the local Kiwanis club. They had requested a tour of Wedmore Place and we were only too happy to oblige. Things got going around 7:30 pm. We had had a series of very strong storm cells passing through, but it happened to be just at that time when there was a lull. We walked over and gave the tour in three different groups. At the end of the tours, I was actually ecstatic to be a part of this hotel even though right now there is so much to do and to anticipate. I'm up to my ears in code compliance and fire safety procedures, menus and packages. But when I saw the beauty of the hotel at night, and the excitement buzzing around the locals about the place where I work, I was really happy I was a part of it. I drove home feeling so blessed to be placed here and to be on this team. The storms kicked up again right when I started to drive home and they were STRONG. I'm sure this is redundant at this point but there are few things I enjoy more ...

I just got off the phone with Lauren. Lauren is my alter-ego. My friend who is the opposite of me but we just work. My best friend. She came to visit me this weekend and I have to say it was restoring. We spent a whole lot of time together just sitting around and talking and it was really really fun. Anyway.... She called because she wanted the link to my old blog from my year in France (referred to as "le Métropole" in Martinique) and while I was searching for it, we started reminiscing. When we do that, it almost always ends up with me groaning and her laughing hysterically. This time, we both ended up laughing. When I found it, I sent the link to her and then we both started reading the entry about when she visited me in Paris together. I just started laughing because my GOSH what a crazy trip that was. I mean, seriously, read the entry for yourself ( date: April 14, 2004 ). It was crazy. So we're reading over it and laughing and then we say bye and hang up. I...

This just happened to me at work. To set the stage, I had to call a phone company to inquire about the telephone numbers at Wedmore Place and how to switch our toll-free line over to the other building. Phone recording : Hello, you have reached Cavalier Telephone company. Please state the telephone number of your account. Me: 7-5-7-2-5-8-0-8-9-9 Phone recording : 7-9-7-3-5-2-0-5-9-9 (Pause) Is that correct? Me : Not even close. Phone recording : You can speak to me like you would a normal phone operator . Me : I don't think you want me to do that . Phone Recording: Please state the telephone number of your account. Me : 7-5-7-2-5-8-0-8-9-9 Phone Recording : 7-3-6-3-2-9-0-5-8-8 (Pause ) Is that correct? Me: Are you SERIOUS?? Phone Recording : You can speak to me like you would a normal phone operator. Me: Can I also punch you in the face? Phone Recording: Please state the telephone number of your account. Me: Heaven help us . 7-5-7-2-5-8-0-8-9-9 ...

Only because I work in an air-conditioned office and my apartment has an ambient temperature of about 50 degrees can I say that for about the first minute after I go outside does that blast of summer heat feel good. It embodies everything that I love about summer. The slight laziness that everyone feels entitled to because there's no school, it's too hot to do a lot outside that doesn't involve a water park. The feeling of the hot sun shining on you. The sensation that the beach is right around the corner. It's really the beach that I think of when I feel that summer heat. And when I say "the beach" I am thinking of only one place which embodies all that those words mean to me: Sunset Beach, North Carolina. I don't feel like a year has actually happened until I get to Sunset with my family. This year will be the first year in a very long time that I won't be in attendance for the whole thing, or possibly even any of it. And I'm starting to realize ...

I'll tell you what's awesome. It's a Tuesday night and I don't have to go to work tomorrow. Collin (my 9 yr. old new best friend for the sole reason that I have a bike and he has one too) and I are going on a bike ride to the duck pond at 10am. I have a new life goal: to compete in the world series of pop culture and to get respectably far, (at least past the first round), and I have people willing to help me accomplish this RIDICULOUS life goal. I laughed a lot today, and I like to laugh, especially when things are stressful and crazy like they are at work. I love barbeques and I get to go to one tomorrow. I broke one hundred when I went bowling last night. (Then proceeded to bowl a 46 in the next game... but that's not the point). I own Animaniacs on DVD... I'm sorry, but that is awesome. I have a pool in my backyard. this has been an unrealized dream of mine ever since I knew that you could have pools in your backyard and that I probably wouldn't ever....

Isn't the gym and the people who frequent it such an interesting sub-culture? I'm a gym rat, and I'm not trying to exclude myself or imply that I am somehow not a part of this subculture. I go all the time. I'm the one gets annoyed at major holidays because the gyms are closed, the one who will leave late for vacation so I can squeeze in an hour before I get in the car and will be away from my precious elliptical for days on end, the one who yearns to get to the gym after work each day and loves the feeling of total exhaustion and being drenched in sweat from a good long workout. I think I may be a bit obsessed. But I really like going to the gym after being in a chair all day staring at a computer. And I like the people who go to gyms. Just the other day, I was on a machine and a girl my age was on one next to me, and I noticed that she, like myself, was watching Braveheart on her TV. I happened to catch her eye and she said "there was never anyone hotter than Mel...