florida finale

is anyone else tired of hearing about my trip to florida? well i am tired of posting stuff from 2 months ago, so this is it. the rest of the trip in a post. we went to animal kingdom, where we saw a ton of animals. seriously. and all of my pictures were great except for this one, which i wish was great. i snapped a quick picture as we were driving away. [insert note about learning how to use my camera here]

{i loved seeing these big cats (cheetah?) and they looked scary!}

beyond the safari where we saw very cool animals, animal kingdom was mostly lame. definitely not a place to spend a whole day. the one other thing worth seeing at animal kingdom is "lion king the musical". good show (except we couldn't take our popcorn in with us so we had to put it in terri's mom bag).



we hit hollywood studios for two partial days. there is a lot to see there. "american idol" show, the stunt show, chip and dale (terri knew the difference between the two, i did not), high school musical show in the street, "backstage" tour, osborn family christmas lights, tower of terror, rock n rollercoaster, and the most amazing show of all, fantasmic (seriously, it's awesome) ... a lot to see.

{water tower on the backstage tour}

{mia and terri in the "streets" of hollywood studios ... now that's a lot of lights}

{mia and terri in line at the rock n roller coaster}

other florida favorites include cirque du soleil (love it!), downtown disney (home of the largest freakin disney store ever, where it is especially hard to find an exit door), the kennedy space center (well, the parking lot at least, as we arrived too late to go in), the cruise ship docking area at cape canaveral (i've never seen a cruise ship up close and i was seriously amazed), and the very salty ocean water and pre-hurricane waves at a beach in cocoa.

good trip people, a good trip.

the happiest place on earth ...

when we first walked into magic kingdom, we were greeted by a parade full of music, colors, and fun! have i mentioned that i love parades? well i do.



then we took a million photos in front of the castle.

{mia and terri - you may recognize these as their super excited faces}

then we checked out this ride. i don't know what it was called, but it was super lame. luckily, the line was fairly short. in my head, the ride was going to be super fast. i'm pretty sure i could have run faster than those cars, and i do not run fast. and, on top of all that, i got in trouble for not holding onto the steering wheel. i really didn't think i needed to though, since the car ran on a metal rail and the top speed was a crawl.

{terri, josette, and billy at the end of their ride ... approximately 45 minutes after they sat down. ha ha}

it was a good day. i'm pretty sure you can't get better than 2 parades, it's a small world ride, disney princesses, tom sawyer island (more specifically, the barrel bridge where i almost lost a flip flop!), a chance to wear our $14 ponchos (if only for a minute), and big thunder mountain railroad.

my very favorite part of disney ...

i am in love with epcot. my favorite part has always been the world showcase (with france and canada among my favorite stops), but this time we spent more time at future world than i have before ... and i loved that too!

we took the obligatory "pictures in front of the big epcot ball" ...

{billy and josie}

{well, i got 5 of us in the picture this time ... it's just not meant to be to have a picture with all 6 of us!}

we took pictures in china ...

{billy, josette, and terri ... all happy to have their photo taken once again (especially josette!)}

{mia and her hand-less imperial guard boyfriend}

we had lunch in mexico, listened to music in japan and morocco, ate eclairs, cream puffs, and ham/cheese croissants in france, slept through a movie in america (the air conditioned theater was the draw for me!)

overall it was a world-o-fun!

the faces of josette

while at seaworld, we went to the "believe" show (the shamu show), and were a little disappointed. they had made some changes to the tanks and the whales wouldn't go in and out like they were supposed to. so, rather than extend the show, they just cut it short and told us to come back later if we wanted to see the full show.

fortunately for me, i have the fancy "take-fifteen-pictures-really-fast" feature on my camera. so, josette and i experimented and laughed through the whole show. hey, we needed something to keep us busy! and while it might not be as hilarious for the rest of you, it's still funny to me. i. am. still. laughing.

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a day of oceanic goodness

florida 2009!! this year for our BJAMN trip, we decided on orlando, fl. we stayed in a condo about 10 minutes from disneyworld and ran around like crazy people for a whole week! i was worn out! attendees this year were billy, josette, mia, joe, terri, and me ... we missed ya aaron!

so monday we went to sea world. i love sea world. i just love the shows, the animal "tricks", everything.

we saw the dolphin show ...

the sea lion and otter show ...

{believe it or not, this is one of the only "group" shots they'd pose for}

fed dolphins, sting rays, and sea lions ...

{terri and mia about to feed the dolphins}

{billy and joe feeding the sea lions, even though the birds stole most of the food}

attended a less-than-stellar version of "believe" (more to come later) ...

and had an overall good time ...

{the uncaged "lizard" we found ... we're quite the detectives}

{don't they look like they're having fun?}

a little celebration ...

once upon a time (december 31, 2009), 5 people sat together for a countdown to the new year ...

no excuses ... just a post

Yes, I'm very very behind in blogging. Since I don't have a good excuese, I won't make up a bad one. But, I do want to be better about blogging ... doesn't that sound like a good new year's resolution? Which means I really have another month before I need to be good. However, it takes some practice. so, a month of practice, and then i'll be better. i promise.

I've had a bunch of pictures on my desktop from my last trip to Memphis that I wanted to blog about. Now that it's been a few months, I don't have a ton to say about it. But, I'll post the pictures anyway.

After my first trip to Memphis, i decided that before I left for the last time I would go tour Graceland. I don't know really why I wanted to, as I've never been a huge fan of Elvis, never really even knew anything about him or his life. I just thought it'd be cool, even though I had to tour alone.

And cool it was. I enjoyed every moment of the tour ... and was thrilled to see that it was an audio tour, so everyone was walking around with earphones by themselves!

There were so many things to see in there, not to mention all the awards (holy crap, there were a lot!) and clothes!

My favorites were:

{graceland's front room ... this white couch is 14 feet long!}

{the pool room ... that is fabric draped all over the ceiling and walls!}

{this is the award room now, but originally it was his personal racquetball court ... crazy!}

I didn't take any pictures of his personal planes, but that was another favorite!!

Anyway, while I'm sure that this wouldn't necessarily be on everyone's to-do list, I recommend it!

Travel Blog ... Memphis, TN

I feel like I've spent a great majority of my summer in Memphis. And we're not even opening a center in Memphis! We are, however, opening centers in Holly Springs, MS and Forrest City, AR, which are each about an hour away from Memphis. So, I've been staying at a hotel in Memphis, and driving every morning to whichever center I'm working on that day.

I made appointments with AT&T and with some furniture installers on Monday morning and therefore needed to fly in on Sunday. I really am not a fan of flying on Sunday, for multiple reasons, but I had to do it this time. My flight was at 9:00pm (I wanted to waste as little of my Sunday as possible), which would have put me in Memphis around 10:30. Except my flight was late ... and my suitcase decided that it didn't want to fly on Sunday and stayed in Chicago for an extra night.

So at 11:45pm on Sunday evening, I pick up my rental car and head to the hotel, with no suitcase. The front desk clerk looks in her drawer of toiletries and comes up with a toothbrush (no toothpaste) and a comb. That's it. I figured that I needed at least toothpaste and deoderant for the next day (and would still be sporting the "no make-up, wet hair pulled up" look), so I asked if there was a wal-mart or walgreens nearby. Nope, nothing that's open 24 hours, and it is, after all, almost 1am by now. My best bet will be the convenience store down the road. And by convenience store, she means the gas station that smells like sewage and sells toothpaste for $4 for a tiny tube. So, toothpaste and deodorant in hand, I head back to the hotel.

It is then that I realize I didn't buy anything for my contacts. I'm faced with the "would you rather" question ... sleep in your contacts all night or soak your contacts in water overnight. Seems that neither is a good choice, but at 2am I decided that the water would be better and went to sleep.

I did set my alarm so that I'd wake up at 6:00, be ready to leave by 7:00, and arrive at the center by 8:00am. At 7:45 I woke up, bolted out of bed, and jumped in the shower. I was late, I couldn't get ready, had to put on old clothes, and was worried about what I was going to find when I tried to put my contacts in. The contacts had turned from a shade of blue to an ugly green in the water, and my eyes did everything they could to reject them. But, I got them in and walked around with itchy, red, watery, sensitive eyes all day. It was pretty.

First thing I found at the center when I arrived ...

I'll just tell you ... cockroaches. And all the locals know how to kill them. We saw about 3 of them throughout the day.

By the end of the day my suitcase had been delivered to my hotel, my eyes had been relieved by my glasses, and I had another center open and crossed off the list. yay!

On Tuesday I hit the road again, headed towards Forrest City, AR. There's not a lot in that city, let me tell ya. Our IT guy found 3 pairs of underwear in the ceiling. I have NO idea how they got there ... but he pulled one out to prove it to me ... so I took a picture.

And, by the end of Tuesday, I had another center finished. Woo hoo! That's 5 centers down, 3 to go!

Before I left Memphis, I had to check out Graceland ... by myself, because Gina and Robbie wouldn't join me. It was excellent! I'll post about that next ...

Travel Blog ... Claremont, NH

This week I've got a couple trips planned ... I'm only in Claremont overnight, but I LOVE this hotel and wanted to share! It's brand new. The only hotel in town. The city has taken a deep interest in renovating a bunch of these old mills in the heart of downtown. The Common Man Inn just opened in one of them.

The hotel is right on the river and the rooms overlook the falls:



The rooms all have wood floors, antique(ish) furniture, flat screen TV ... it's awesome!

I plan to stay here anytime I return. I like it. Now if I can only figure out how to get to this hot tub!

GPS, lizard, and OOOOOKLAHOMA!

(thanks to taber for the catchy title ... i told you i'd use it!)

So Kim told me about this place called Discoveryland in Tulsa ... it's kind of a dinner and theater (OKLAHOMA!) kind of thing. We, however, opted out of the dinner and did our own thing, italian style. The night went something like this:


Kim, Taber, and I get in the car and head to Carrabba's for dinner. Mostly uneventful except for 2 things. The first was this conversation between Kim and the waitress:


Kim: I'll have the lasagna.
Waitress: soup or salad?
K: Salad
W: What kind of dressing ... house or caesar
K: Caesar salad
W: house salad with caesar dressing?
K: Caesar salad
W: house salad with caesar dressing?
K: Caesar salad
W: I'm confused


And the second was this conversation between me and the waitress (we should have known by now what we were dealing with):


Natalie: this diet coke doesn't really taste like diet coke, could you bring me another one?
Waitress: (picking up the drink smelling it) oh, that's definitely diet coke
N: well could I have another anyway?


I thought she was going to take a sip of the drink ... so i was happy when she only smelled it, but still. Can you really smell the difference between coke and diet coke? I think not.


After dinner, we were headed straight to Discoveryland for the play. We type it into the GPS and hit the road. Before we know it, we are "arriving at destination" according to the GPS. Except that we weren't actually arriving at our destination. Far from it, actually.


We call the real Discoveryland, they give us general directions, and we type a general address into the GPS. This time, as we're approximately 2 miles away, there's a "road closed" sign. Except Taber points out that it's closed to thru traffic. So we go down that road thinking that they're ok with local traffic using the road. A couple miles down there's a sign that says "bridge out ahead". What do you think ... only for thru traffic? Forge ahead. We get to the bridge, which actually is there, only it's rough ... dirt, etc everywhere. But there are tracks around the sign, and we can see the opposite side of the bridge, so we decide to go around the sign. On the other side of the bridge, there are also signs. Only there isn't room to go around them this time. We made Taber get out of the car, move the sign and sandbags, and help us through. All while laughing hysterically. I almost peed my pants we were laughing so hard!


We finally found the real Discoveryland! A little late, but it was OK. We bought our tickets and took our little hike down to the amphitheater. A quick trip to the bathrooms before we took our seats. I looked up, and saw this:


yes, a lizard, or some kind of nasty reptile! Luckily, it was dead. At least I think so.


Intermission brought snow cones. During the 2nd half, Kim and I were sitting there eating our snow cones. I was holding a spoonful of ice when I leaned over to say something to Kim. I believe I had gotten out "eating this is like chipping ice off the iceberg that sank the Ti ..." when a gun shot went off in the play. It scared me so much that I jumped enough to send all of the ice on my spoon flying! I think Kim and I laughed through most of that scene!

Here's a couple quick pictures of the show. The lights are too bright for the photo, but at least you can see the scene!





The return trip took significantly less time ... and all in all, it was a fantastic evening ... complete with good fun and great friends!

Travel Blog ... Tulsa, OK

I was super excited to go to Tulsa last week. It didn't disappoint!



Fact: It's easy to think "oh look, someone else named Natalie has friends meeting them at the airport" when you are generally headed straight to the car rental counter. And then when you realize that there are two adorable almost 3-year olds holding the "welcome natalie"sign, you look up to see smiling Kim, who you haven't seen in almost 3 years!


Fact: The first night in a new town is more enjoyable when it's a BBQ at an old friend's house, sharing laughs with the family and a short swim in the pool at the hotel.


Fact: When the Combat Vets are having a huge "meeting", there are still rooms available at the hotel. Don't think you're going to find a parking spot though, with all the motorcycles filling the lot!

Fact: A short meeting in the morning and receiving email on your phone constitutes a day of work. 2 days in a row. :)

Fact: Lunch at Chick-fil-A and the Oklahoma Aquarium with the Wilsons is a day of fun! And the air conditioned aquarium provides a cool afternoon on a REALLY HOT DAY (think 100 degrees and HUMID!)

Fact: Dinner and Discoveryland = a post all it's own. Get excited.

Fact: A movie and lunch with the girls is the perfect end (or so I thought) to the perfect 3-day!

Fact: It is smart to double check your flight status prior to arriving at the airport and returning your rental car. I did not, and ended up stuck in Tulsa overnight again ... which was fine because ...

Fact: Spending Friday evening and Saturday morning with the Smith family was like old times ... it brought back all the fun memories from the last 19 years!

Fact: Seeing old friends does not make you miss them less. It was so good to be with Kim & family again!

Travel Blog ... Aurora, CO

While it's not my first time to Aurora, CO ... with any luck it will be my last trip here for a while. Not because I don't like it, just because if I don't have to come back out here it means the center I've been working on is open and running as it should. Happy day!

I haven't explored much around Denver, but I spent a few weeks in Colorado Springs a couple years ago and LOVED it! I wanted (and still do) so badly to experience all of the "outdoor" stuff they're so proud of out here ... but didn't want to do it alone. Someday I'm coming back out here on a vacation and am TOTALLY getting in a couple days of Pike's Peak, some white water rafting (bigger and better (easily done) than what we did in Wisconsin last year), and anything else I can find to do! Who's coming with me?!?

I don't know if it's me or if it's just "regular Colorado weather", but days here seem to start out bright and sunny, but by 1 or 2 pm, the clouds have rolled in and it starts to rain, snow, hail, etc. Yes, I've seen all of it this year, in my 8 full days in Aurora.

In April, the weather started off gorgeous! By the end of the week, I found myself scraping 8 inches of snow off my car with a credit card in a lightweight hoodie. Lesson learned: take a coat, make sure the rental car has a snow brush, and don't trust the Weather Channel. The good part was my rescheduled flight was late departing, so I missed my connection in Salt Lake. Why is that good? I got a free weekend trip in Provo with Jay & fam!

So far this trip (that's about 27 hours), I've had rain and hail. But at least at the end of that storm, I saw this:

Maybe I just don't get out enough at home after it rains ... but it was kinda fun to see last night!

And now, before it starts raining again, I'm running out to get some schtuff for the center that's SUPPOSED to be open tomorrow.

Travel Blog ... New Hampshire/Vermont

I get to travel for work. Yes, get to. I like it. I'm allowed the opportunity to see new places & faces, while getting my lodging/car rental/gas/meals paid for. Could it be any better than this? Well sure, I could be doing it for fun rather than for work. But hey, it's pretty close to fantastic if you ask me.

This week I find myself working in Claremont, NH, which is right on the Vermont border. The place I'm staying at is the closest "chain" hotel I could find. It's in Brownsville, VT, and it's technically a ski resort. Snow skiing. As in, the-place-is-dead-and-creepy-and-there's-nobody-around. It's really quiet at night, and even though i wasn't hot (gasp! it's true, for once), i had to turn on the air conditioner so that i had a little white noise. But I shouldn't complain too much ... this is the view from my hotel parking lot:

The downside is the absolute lack of internet service. Already today I had to camp out at McDonalds and Chili's to allow myself a little internet surfing/email catch up time.

The people here are friendly ... what would a stay in Brownsville, VT be without a date proposition from a sweatpants-wearing, fanny-pack-sporting, 50-something man? And not just any date ... a "date" to walk around the empty ski-resort. Now if that doesn't sound like an invitation for date rape, I don't know what it is.

I walked out to my car today and realized it was the exact same model that Edward Cullen drives in Twilight. Imagine my delight! It's the Volvo C30 (he drives it in the movie, not in the book ...). I wouldn't buy it for myself, but it's kinda fun to test drive new cars through the winding, tree-lined roads of New Hampshire!

The area is awesome. I wouldn't mind coming back here on vacation sometime ... with someone else, of course. I'm thinking the fall season would be gorgeous ... with all the trees changing colors and all. Maybe I can swing a mid-semester check up on my new Claremont center?

Go-Kartin & Water Parkin!

So we just got back from the Dells ... Wisconsin Dells, WI for those of you who don't know where the Waterpark Capital of the World is! Way fun. And I'd recommend any/every thing we did to everyone!

We stayed in the Wilderness Resort. Can you say "most awesome hotel room ever"? I can. We had a 2 bedroom condo for 3 of us to share. And, where else can you find a moose walking around the lobby?

The Dells doesn't just have moose in the hotels, they're on top of cars as well!
We were guided through the Wisconsin River & Lake Delton by Jake on an Original Wisconsin Duck (a 7.5 Ton boat/car that weighs slightly less than Jake's Ex-girlfriend). It looks like this:

Jake had LOTS of fun facts and jokes for us ... they were never ending! I won't give them all away here, just know that you should take the tour and hear them for yourselves ... I laughed for the whole hour! The biggest joke of all being the "accidental" splash into Lake Delton, soaking Terri, Mia, and I (sitting unsuspecting in the front row like eagar tourists). At least we could go back to the hotel to dry our clothes! And I still highly recommend sitting in the front row regardless; watching the tour guide's face while he's laughing at his own jokes is almost as good as the jokes themselves.

After purchasing our matching "3-fer" t-shirt sets ... a short sleeved t-shirt, long sleeved t-shirt, and a hat for just $30! ... we went to Mt. Olympus! Big time roller coasters and go-karts!

This is me, on the go-kart:

That worker in the background was tromping around the go-karts with a big stick most of the day ... an intimidation tactic maybe? My favorite part of Mt. Olympus?

This bathroom. About two years ago a group of us (the BJAMN crew plus Sharla and Gretchen) went to the Dells for some go-kartin fun. Josette had to go to the bathroom so we headed that direction. She ran straight into the bathroom and into a stall. It was about that time that a woman walked out of the other bathroom, making us realize that Josette had gone into the Men's bathroom. She claims she didn't see the urinals, though it seems a little unlikely, since there are 6 of them! I'm still laughing about it!

This is me, in my new Ducks hat, showing you what a fantastic weekend we all had!