I got an early birthday present...

Ok so it's a shared game console. My brother has been dying to get his hands on the Wii for a few years now. Well, he came up with a proposition that I couldn't reject.

I get an early birthday present and my share goes to buying the Wii console and accessories. While buying the Wii at Toys R Us, I come across this puppy:


And guess who has an itch to learn this game. I am HOOKED to that game too bad we have to share the Wii otherwise, I would have been playing it all night long. I'm going to try and get my little hands on a Wii Fit as well. Later on this Fall Guitar Hero is coming out with a whole band, ala Rock Band game. Since I already have Guitar Hero, I'll stick with them and get the Guitar Hero Tour.

I suck at the game right now, but I'm going to get better. It's hilarious, both my brother and cousin are pros at the game(either of them have never played the game before) while I get booed out. If you see me with blisters you will know that I have been playing this game too much. I really need to get my fingers to be more flexible so that I beat everyone.

Let the games begin.

Hopefully I can catch up...

Alright let's try to catch up on the last month worth of craziness in my life. Once I'm caught up hopefully I can go back to updating more often.

Ok, so I left off on my last post about my trip to France. I returned Tuesday, April 8. On April 12th, I have my first of two "Dear Mother" classes. They went great. I had 17 people in class and it was a handful to make sure everyone was able to get enough guidance so that they didn't feel left out. I have so many friends taking this class it was wonderful seeing everyone. My highlight of this class was the two grandsons of a lady and she paid for them to make the book for her daughter. I had a poem printed out that said "when I was a little GIRL" they laughed at that one and said their mother would find it so entertaining as she only has boys. They wouldn't stop laughing at that. I guess I need to be more careful and make them more generic next time.

By next Tuesday, tax day, I was on another plane, this time only to Nashville, TN, only 4.5 hours long.


I flew with Laurie G. and we met up with Veronica L. at the hotel. Which BTW was gorgeous, we stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort. We had dinner and off to bed as we had an exhausting day.

The next day we got up and headed to do some LSS shopping.


We ended up at 4 different LSS. All very different and unique. I think my favorite was the one in Clarksville, TN, I think it was called Memories in Bloom. While at the store, Veronica mentioned the song "Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees. The lady at the store says that the Clarksville in the song is the same town we were in. So it was a great trip to memory lane, given that I love the Monkees, only because my mom used to listen to them.


We had a portable GPS and noticed that Kentucky was really close we decided to cross the border and just hit another state. That was fun, we totally missed the KY border sign, so we turned back but I ended up in a road to Fort Campbell Army Base. It took me forever to get out. But we headed back and we got the picture.


After that we headed back to Nashville. We met up with Erin and Deb
at the hotel. We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. For the first 2 days I ate at 4 different places that I had never been to. It was a great experience.

On Thursday, we got our stuff for Scrap ETC and we went again on another shopping spree. We visited another 4 stores, including the Scrap ETC on-site store at the hotel. It was a busy day. We returned to the hotel and the Scrap ETC event began. We also took our first class. By the time we finished we were exhausted.

On Friday we took more classes and Erin and I stayed up and cropped at our hotel room. We finished some of the classes we had done in the day.

Saturday was another busy day with classes. And continued shopping. I was a bad girl on shopping. I needed a whole suitcase for all my shopping. Overall the event was just ok. I think it was their first time with this large amount of people and so it was a little disorganized. Also, they are in the process of switching owners so hopefully next year it will be a better event for them. My favorite class was Heidi Swapp's Class. Which I haven't photographed it, as it's all still packed in my suitcase because I have been too busy.

On Sunday April 20, I went and took a class at Scrappuccino from Debby Schuh. She is one of "Celebrity Teachers" that I stalk her blog constantly.



That class alone was so worth the trip. She is wonderful. I love her techniques. I love the store too. Lola one of the co-owners was also so wonderful and had that "Southern hospitality"

I also visited the Belle Meade Plantation on Sunday.


It's been restored to the 1890's era when it was at it's height of purebreed horse breeding. One of it's premium horses from that era is the great-great-grandfather to Seabiscuit. It was great to relive that era. Although I must say how sadden I am at the horrible housing and treatment of slaves.

On Monday, I headed down to Memphis. On the way I stopped at the LSS it was great. My all time favorite store in TN has to be Eclectica Scrapbooks in Memphis. It was a wonderful variety, with the latest and greatest. Oh I could had done so much more damage, but by then I had put myself on a budget and did good there. I also went to an Archiver's, and it was ok for me. I think I need to go to one that is huge so I get that feeling that everyone is talking about.

While in Memphis I cross the border to Mississippi and Arkansas. I visited 4 states in one week. AWESOME! I also got to see Beale St. But it's not the same being in that area alone. But I'm glad I got to do that drive.

On Tuesday I got to do one of the highlights of that trip. I went to GRACELAND! Wow that is just amazing. I have never been a crazy fan of Elvis, OK I know his famous songs but not much more, he died when I was 2 months old. But since I was there I needed to go. I am now an Elvis crazy fan. It was a lot of fun. My favorite place in Graceland is the Racquetball room, it's where they display his gold and now platinum records. Wow, it is amazing, those 4 walls are so tall and so many records to count. I learn a fact that he one of the greatest recording artist in the world without having ever performed outside the United States. Here are some pics from my fave places in Graceland.



Check out that date, June 21, 1977, I was only 6 days old. Born on June 15.









On Wednesday, 4/23, I had to drive back to Nashville to catch a 230pm flight. Got home safe and sound. But work has been super busy and I have had to work Mids (12am-10am) shifts since I was attending meetings with the French on their regular work hours. So for the last 2 weeks I haven't really been in the office during the day.

I have also been very busy outside of work. We had NSD events at PMP the first weekend in May. I even had to work at my regular job after the all day crop at the store. I was up for more than 28 hours that day. I was exhausted. Then I had to teach my 2nd "Dear Mother" class, oh yeah, and somewhere I had to kit this class too. I have been kitting my next class which will be on June 7th.

For Mother's Day we took my mom to Napa Valley, we went to see the Old Faithful Geyser in Calistoga. We also went to the Petrified Forrest and Lake Berryessa. She had tons of fun. We had a wonderful day as a family. I will post pics later as those are at home.

Last Sunday my cousin, Gabriel and I got to go to a Giants game. They lost, but it was a great day of fun at the park.

Which brings me to yesterday, as you all know we have zoo at the house, one dog, two cats and 4 parakeets. Well one parakeet, the gray one died back in January 9, 2008. We took her to the vet and got meds for her but still only survived a few more weeks. Birds at too small of creatures to figure out what is wrong with them. Yesterday, I found the green one dead on the bottom of the cage. He had never been the same since his partner died 4 months ago. We are not sure if he was sick, he didn't seem so, or if he died of old age. But I'm really sad to see them go, they are a big part of our family. Here is an old pic of the 4 of them together.


Now we are down to 2 birds, 2 cats and one old dog (who is in excellent health, took him to the vet and got a whole workup and he is in great shape).

Well if you have survived this motherload of update, one whole month worth of info. You are a trooper. Thanks for reading my crazy life. Now I promise to give more updates more often.

TTYL.

Fitting title of my blog...

So I know I haven't updated my blog since I got back from France. And I promised stories. Well life has been crazy as always. But I think I might be getting to a better place soon. So let me do a big recap of France. Next week I'll do a big recap of Tennessee and this crazy weekend coming up.

So stories. How about the one where I went to Carcassonne, I think that's where I left you all at. It was beautiful. Up on a hill 40 minute walking distance from train station, but still a beautiful walk. It was a bit chilly so I was wearing a scarf, jacket and gloves. Made it to the beautiful Carcassonne. Oh great pics. I go aroudn the castle and walk around the town that's within the Castle. So around 12:20pm, I decide to start heading back and try to get to the train station before it closes at 1pm for lunch. The TGV (the fast train) was supposed to leave at 1:15pm from Carcassonne and take me to Toulouse around 2pm. Enough time to enjoy a little of Toulouse. I still needed to find the French dictionary. Well I can see that there is a taxi and by the time I get there, it has been booked. So I wait a little to see if I can catch another one, there is also a bus station that I figured could get me to the station. Nope, it's now 12:40pm and the train station closes for lunch at 1pm to 230pm, yeah long European lunches. So I start walking down the hill and then I start running because I know I'm not going to get there in time and if I don't there is no train until 500pm. I didn't want to get stuck there for that time. So I'm out of breath and I get to the station at 101pm, thank God it's still open. With my little French I get a ticket for my planned train. But I keep reading this message on the board that I have no idea what it stands. "SUPPRIMER" I even ask the guy who helps you get to the correct track and I can't understand him. But he know little English and tells me that the train has been cancelled. CANCELLED.

How in the world am I going to get back to Toulouse, I fly out the following morning at 7am. Yeah, and my train isn't the only one who is cancelled, all of them are. So I'm at a total lost. I wait in line and I ask the girl in front of me, she was no more than 20 years old, so I figured she might know a little English or Spanish and can help me out. Luckly she does and she helps me as she is also going to Toulouse. There is a bus instead that will come around 2pm she tells me. It should take around 1.5 hours to take us to Toulouse. And she will help me. Well it turns out that I didn't have any luggage and she did so she ended up having to go on the next bus, as the first one was full and I never got to thank her in the end. She was an angel and got me back and safe to Toulouse.

I get back to my hotel around 5pm and relax a little and then I go around the town for a bit got me a baguette sandwich for a store. It was so cool. I had asked my hotel concierge to help me with finding used books. They sent me to this area which had 2 of them. I found a few used French books from the 1920s and then I also found a 1977 French dictionary and a gazillion vintage postcards, which I only bought 4-6 postcards. It was a great area. If I get to go back, I'm going to go back and get me so more postcards.

Flight back was great except for the people that were seating behind me, all three of them. They were the rudest ever. Since it's such a long flight we get served two meals. For this return flight it was lunch and dinner. Lunch happens right away after takeoff. I'm seating next to two girls who are coming to SF for the first time. We get to chatting and I give them hints of places to see and things to do. I feel this bump on my back from my chair (like someone punch the seat behind me) but I think it's just a mistake. I know it happened again, but really can't remember. So we have lunch and I get a little more comfortable and put my seat back. I sleep only 30 minutes. So I start reading Harry Potter, book 7, I know way behind but no time. We are a couple of hours away from arriving at SFO and I get sleepy again.

I fall asleep. I get awoken by this old woman (saying it nicely) hitting the back of my seat. Because she wants me to move my seat to the upright position so that she can eat in plenty of space, while I'm crunched in between my seat upright and the person infront of me having his seat back. So I do it, to be nice, but I'm upset, I have only slept another 30 minutes. I drop something and I'm reaching for and they start punching my chair again. Oh I'm boiling now. So my neighbors tell me that they are trying to eat. I tell them that I have already pulled my seat up I can't do anything else. Then I notice that my neighbors seats go about an inch more forward. So I do it to. I'm not awake and totally boiling mad. I realize that the steward probably already had asked them to move their seats forward but didn't asked me because I was sleeping. I'm enraged by now. I swear my BP was probably to the roof. And I notice that the son of the the old grouch was going to where the stewards grab our meals and set them up. I was ready to have a throw down. I hadn't said anything. I was boiling inside. The steward never came to me.

When our food was delivered, the guy who was infront of me wasn't asked to move his chair becuase he was asleep while the other weren't so they moved their chairs forward. So this confirmed my suspicions, I wasn't asked earlier because I was asleep and the grouch decided she wanted to eat in plenty room, while I was in little space and woken up. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I'm still mad about it. How can people be so selfish. I was asleep woman!!! I paid the same amount of money for my seat, I can decide whether or not to bring my seat upright while in flight. The only times, I have to have my seats upright are for landing and takeoff. I was so mad that I didn't want to exit at the same time as them. I let them go first. These people where so uneducated. I also believe it was their first time in the country. Rude!

And to continue with rudeness. I was waiting for my bags at SFO, granted 800 bags is no easy task for them. Then another international flight comes in, another 800 bags. Wow! Anyways, I was waiting for my bags, because since I'm a resident, I don't have to wait in the long lines, it was less than 2 minutes for that matter. And the immigration officer even talked to me in Spanish. I have a Salvadorian passport. Actually everywhere that I presented my passport, they would always answer me back in Spanish. It was kind a cool. Ok back to rude people. I was waiting with some space , maybe 1.5 feet in front of me. I have 3 people sneak in there and block me and I can't even get to my bags. GRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Trust me I was happy to see my second checked bag and head home. My flight was 45 mins late and by the time I got home it was 3pm. Wow what a way to end a great trip.

So there you have last few days in France. I'll update next week about Tennessee, because this is way too long of post.

Have a great weekend everyone.