Au Revoir

We're heading to Paris, folks! I can't believe it's finally here. Lots of thoughts and a few apprehensions...will fill you all in on the journey when we return in 10 days!

Double the fun

I've mentioned before our group's theory about how everything's better with bacon, but this takes it to a whole new level.

Let me introduce you to KFC's Double Down, which tosses aside that thing we call bread for a "bun" of two pieces of fried chicken enveloping pieces of cheese, bacon, and the Colonel's special sauce. (Sorry, Dad, I know your stomach is growling but you can't get one of these puppies in Illinois yet -- just Omaha and Providence.)

My favorite is all the articles (like this one and this one) that talk about how bad this latest creation is for you. Wow...a sandwich made of fried chicken, cheese, and bacon isn't good for me? Gee, tell me something I didn't know.

The interesting part of the story for me is that our good friend Kevin, part of this original "everything's better with bacon" crew, works for Yum! Brands in Louisville, which owns KFC. I am wondering if this was his idea. If so, I want my cut -- or at least a coupon for a freebie when this comes to DC!

Ups and downs

It's been a newsy week in our group of friends. We welcomed Braden Thomas (yes, he finally has a name) on Saturday and Sophia Jane on Monday. Sophia and family are doing well, though I haven't heard how big sister Anna is handling all this newness!

Unfortunately, this week has also come with its share of loss. Within this group of guys (and our friend Brigid), taken at the wedding we went to in Florida in April, two of them lost parents this week--one mother, one father. This has been the first death of any of our friends' parents -- and two in one week just seems unreal.

If nothing else, it makes you realize all you really have.

Five seconds of fame

I was on Good Morning America this morning...for about five seconds. Still, if you want to see it, watch it here.

Change of plans

With Chad out of town for five days, I have been finding plenty to keep myself busy. This morning, I intended to go to kickboxing with a friend, have brunch with my girls' group, head to the mall with Rachel, and then take Lucy to the park with my friend April and her dog Cooper.

There was a slight change of plans.

Kickboxing was great, but just four of us went to brunch. Then we went here:

Meet Baby O'Reilly, the newest addition to our group, who arrived this morning at 3:54 a.m. at a healthy 8 pounds, 12 ounces. (Baby Sophia is due any day, but the O'Reilly kid came a week early and beat her to it!)

His only name right now is "cute," but his mom and dad are working on that.

Wet & wild

Much like every night about that time, I got ready to take Lucy for a walk around 7:00. It was cloudy, but I checked the weather and the radar was clear. And, besides, it's practically been months since we had any decent amount of rain. Tonight would likely be no different.

So we headed out for Fort Ward, an old Civil War site that is now a park, about a mile from our house. On the way there, the air was really still. It was humid. I was hot. I was thinking about all the reasons why I'm ready for summer to be over, and telling myself it would not be so horribly bad if a nice little sprinkle cooled everything off and brought the breeze back.

We walked a lap around the park and then I took Lucy over to a big grassy area where I can let her off the leash and relinquish some of that unwavering energy by throwing a stick. Just as she set out on her first sprint, it started to sprinkle.

It started to rain.

It started to pour.

At that point, there were three options. I could find a shed or shelter to wait it out, run the mile home and just get it over with already, or embrace it. Those of you who know me well will be surprised that I just said, "forget it," chose option three, and we walked home in the pouring rain.

I shared a strange camaraderie with all of the other joggers and dog-walkers who had gotten stuck in this sudden summer storm. Just when I didn't think the raindrops could get any bigger, they did, so I looked up at the sky, felt God giving me a big "well, you said you wanted rain..." speech, and laughed all the way home. The minute we crossed onto our street, the rain stopped. Talk about timing.

Lucy and I would not be any wetter if you threw us in a swimming pool. But it was kind of fun!

Not their best "Self"

On Monday, I read an article about an interview with and cover shoot of former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson in September's Self magazine. Clarkson, who has always had a love/hate/hate/hate relationship with weight, looked good and I remembered thinking she must really be working out.

So today I come to find out in another article that people are livid because her picture was retouched. And I don't mean "retouched" as in they took away a pimple and made her teeth whiter. I mean they Photoshopped the living daylights out of this picture, as is evidenced by the before-and-after shots. It reminds me of the brouhaha over Katie Couric's photo "retouch" a few years ago, also another brilliant example of "photojournalism" at work.

The magazine's excuse? Kelly's picture was "altered" to "make her look her personal best." What a joke. I guess even a publication that claims to embrace healthy lifestyles, eating right, exercise, and, well, "curves," still needs to sell magazines. And apparently Kelly was just too chubby for them. Glad I already canceled my subscription.

Here's to 35 more

I can never remember my parents' anniversary. I know it's somewhere around my grandma's birthday, but get confused on specifics. (I even blogged about it last year and got called out by my mother for having it wrong. Oops.) But anyway, today I knew for sure that today was their anniversary. Of course I forgot to send a card and being on a different time zone meant I was too late to call, but I did give them a shout-out on my Facebook status and I'd like to think that counts for something.

At any rate, today my parents have been married 35 years. They've produced four incredibly fun, accomplished, humble kids who love them very much. Three of them were home tonight to celebrate this monumental occasion with them (no I don't feel guilty about being "the one" who missed the festivities at all...).

I've written before how much I admire my parents. I'm not sure how people get their kids to become their friends, but somehow they managed -- or at least I think they did. (Then again, maybe this has just been a ruse all these years.)

Perhaps it's because I feel like they're my buddies, but I wish I could have been at their wedding. I know it was memorable -- especially that part where dad was late. (Mom acted surprised throughout my childhood when dad could never get anywhere on time -- but she should have known!)

Even though I missed their wedding, for...well...obvious reasons, I've been a part of their lives for 30 of those 35 years, which is something. Still, we're nowhere close to finished, folks. I'm rooting for 35 more!

All work and no play...

My little vacation is over. And while I work, Chad plays. (I'm not complaining, might I add: he's worked his tail off for the last month and could really use a break. He even slept in this morning!)

Chad had a good time golfing at Torrey Pines yesterday (see his group below). Today, he was taking a bus to the beach for the afternoon. It's probably a good thing we're leaving tomorrow because I think he could quickly get used to this!

Sight-seeing

About a month ago, I mentioned to Chad that I had to head to San Diego for four days for a conference. Since it was going to be recess, which is really the only time he can travel, I thought he might want to join me.

We left on Friday after work and stayed Friday night in this really darling little boutique hotel (that I found on Hotwire for $90 a night, thank you) that just opened four weeks ago. It was right downtown San Diego and just a few blocks from Petco Park.


Then yesterday, we checked into our hotel where our conference will be held, spent the afternoon by the pool, and met up with a few co-workers before heading out to dinner. Our room overlooks the golf course (which Chad will be playing on this afternoon and on which the U.S. Open was held last year -- seriously, that was his deciding factor on coming on this trip) and in the distance you can see the ocean. It kind of melts into the sky in this picture, but it's there.

And then we went out to dinner, stopping by this place beforehand that overlooks the water. I didn't want to irritate all the people eating dinner by the glass windows too much, but I just had to take a photo of the breathtaking view. Honestly, I was impressed that these people seemed deep in conversation with each other; I'm pretty sure I would have spent the whole dinner looking out the window!

A super slip-n-slide

This might be the coolest (yet, stupidest) thing I have seen since, well, ever. If I grew up in mountain territory, I'd argue that my brother would have already tried this.

Dan, if you are watching this, please do not try this at home.

Hooah!

Ok, so you know my admiration of and feelings toward our troops. (I blogged about this when my brother-in-law was serving in Iraq and have highlighted some cool things companies are doing to remind the troops we support them.) Brad came home safely more than a year ago, and since that time we've known a few co-workers' relatives and friends-of-friends who are deployed.

Late last year, one of my colleagues -- who is just an incredible guy in every way -- was called up by the National Guard and is serving now as an Army Sergeant outside of Baghdad. I think about him all the time and am always looking for goodies to add to the care packages NRF sends over.

Earlier this week, a few of my worlds collided, as I got the opportunity to profile my friend for one of our association's blogs. People from almost every department at NRF submitted questions for him about his experience and he tackled them all, talking about what the environment "over there" is like, how being deployed has changed him, and what he looks forward to the most when he sets foot again on American soil.

If you have a few minutes, read what he had to say. His optimism really fills my heart with pride.

Hear me out

Even though the House is in recess, the Senate is still going strong. Chad has had three major hearings over the last week, which have kept him really busy. In advance, he'll research the panelists and write questions for his boss to ask the people who are testifying. And then of course he'll sit in on the hearings when they happen.

I do my very best to care about and understand what he's working on, but most of the time, these things go right over my head:

Last Tuesday
e: What's tomorrow's hearing about?
c: systemic risk

Monday
e: What's tomorrow's hearing about?
c: prudential regulations

Today
e: What was today's hearing about?
c: regulatory overhauls of credit rating agencies

It is in these moments that I'm overwhelmed by how smart Chad really is. Just the ability to stay awake in meetings about topics like these is beyond my comprehension. I'm glad all I have to talk about is shopping!

Schedule of events

When I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'm not sure how The Pioneer Woman does it, I was serious. I got to thinking about my daily routine, trying to figure out why I never get anything done. Here's what I came up with. Someone please tell me how I fit in anything else in here:

5:00 a.m. - Wake up
5:10 a.m. - Go to the gym
6:30 - Come back from the gym
7:45 - Leave for work
8:30 - Mandatory meeting with our CEO (so you know I have to make sure I am at work on time!)
9:00 - 6:00 - Meetings, phone calls, lots and lots of emails, and, if I'm lucky, lunch. (juuust kidding, folks, I do eat lunch. Every day. Some days it's just better than others.)
6:30 - Get home
6:45 - Take Lucy for a walk
7:45 - Raid the fridge to figure out what in the heck we're going to make for dinner
8:00 - Make dinner (we'll be a little later than this tonight because Chad is still at work)
8:30 - Eat and clean up
9:00 - Read a magazine, watch TV, catch up on emails, etc.
10:30 - BED!

Dog-gone it

Every once in awhile, I feel a little bit guilty over the amount of money we spend on our dog. We buy her good food, Chad gets her treats and toys, and she's torn up her share of things around here we've had to replace.

Yesterday afternoon I went to our local pet food store, which I love, to buy a bag of Lucy's dog food. It takes her about six weeks to go through a bag, so even though it's a little pricey, it's not something we get often. In front of me at the store was a woman stocking up on all sorts of food -- wet, dry, cat, dog...it took up pretty much the whole counter. I wasn't paying much attention until I heard her say that she had several dogs--one being a bull mastiff--at least one cat (see, I told you I wasn't paying attention) and that the food would last about a month. Then the cashier pronounced her total: "That will be three-hundred-thirty-seven-dollars-and-sixty-eight cents."

Truly, I about died.

I was so relieved at the affordability of my purchase, in comparison, I almost bought Lucy a bone to go with it. But I decided my company for the afternoon was treat enough for her, so I practically skipped to the car with my 40 pounds of dog food and headed home.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

NBC called yesterday to tape a Christmas in July piece. The last several times they've called, I've run over and taped and the piece has never run. Apparently, it was a slow enough news day that the light-hearted news made it in. Go figure.

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