Day 3 - a little more off the top...

Disproportionate Dog - Day 2

Today, I cut her hair down to the collar on the right side only. She
is starting to look like a patchwork puppy!

Disproportionate Doggy!

I know it's a little hard to tell in this picture, but Noni's head now looks extremely disproportionate to her body.

The other day, I remarked at how much she looked like an Ewok... Seriously... She came inside and shook and her hair stood all out and I swear she looked just like Wicket...

I started the hair cutting process with her today. Mainly because I am tired of seeing clumps of dog hair all over the house. Step1: Trim her face (seen above)... Neither of us have the patience to endure much more than a 10 minute trim session, so I'll be cutting her hair in batches... I'll be leaving several areas longer than I normally do when I trim her, but it is winter and she needs fur on her legs... She'll probably end up looking more like a Schnauzer than a Lhasa...

More trip snippets...

My nephews are just too darn cute for words... I was informed that they waited and waited and waited and we were late (my step-mother and I were late picking up the older one from school the day after I arrived... but it works for my flight too!)

My new love affair involves a ceramic flat iron... (get your minds out of the gutter!) My step-mother, sister-in-law, and I went shopping the day before I left. We got sucked in to one of those kiosks that sit in the middle of the mall to hawk their wares... They were selling flat irons and gave us each a demonstration. On my step-mother and SIL, they demonstrated how it can be used to curl hair (it works pretty well, actually). For me, they went straight. I thought my hair was pretty straight to begin with, but apparently my "natural wave" is a little more pronounced than I thought. Everyone liked their hair so much, that we got flat irons for Christmas! Thanks again, Esta!

My brother made dinner for us, both nights that we were there. It was so great to sit around the dinner table with chairs having to be pulled from other rooms, and everyone squishing together. I miss big family gatherings and it was so much fun! My nephew decided he was going to tell us where we could sit (oddly enough, I HAD to sit next to him and Aaron HAD to sit on the other side).

While the women went shopping (what can I say, it's what we do...), the men-folk went to the aviation museum (imagine that! A commercial pilot, an FAA inspector, and an aviation enthusiast with 2 small boys in tow! who'da thunk!) They all had a blast! I love the pictures of my nephews sitting in the mercury capsule!

We also got pictures taken while we were there. They are very cute, if I do say so myself. Once the prints get here, I will send them out to the people on our Christmas Card list. If you haven't gotten a card from me before, and would like to receive one, please leave me a comment. Just keep in mind, they will not go out until AFTER Christmas... I know, I know... You'll just have to deal with it...

Travel Woes!

Upon trying to return home from Anchorage last Tuesday night, we were diverted to Sitka, AK due to fog in Juneau. We arrived in Sitka after 11:00 pm and stood around for a while to get our bags and wait for a ride to the hotel. We were advised to return to the airport between 4:15 and 4:30 the next morning... awesome!

So we arrived on time and got checked in for the flight back to Juneau the next morning. Even though we were told to be there at an ungodly hour, the coffee kiosk wasn't open and Juneau was still fogged in... awesome!

They started board for the 6:00 AM flight to Juneau at 7:00 AM... and we sat there and sat there and sat there... Meanwhile, in Juneau, Aaron was sitting on our scheduled flight to Seattle-San Francisco, waiting for the fog to clear in Ketchikan. When Aaron advised me that his flight would be leaving shortly, and we were still being told to wait out of Sitka for Juneau, I got off the plane (around 10:00 or so)... I rescheduled for the flight departing Sitka for Ketchikan and Seattle that left at noon, then went and ate some breakfast (and had some blessedly good coffee). The rest of the people going to Juneau were on the plane for another hour before they let them off to eat... It made for a very long morning for my associates that I was traveling with. (and they didn't make it in to Juneau until the following morning).

By the time I boarded my flight Sitka-Ketchikan-Seattle, Aaron's flight was already in Ketchikan. By the time I got to Ketchikan, he was already in Seattle, and boarding the flight to San Francisco. I arrived in San Francisco about 4 hours later than he did, which made my really long day, even longer...

Thankfully, the trip home was much easier.

Greetings... from Anchorage!!

I am spending the night in Anchorage tonight. I am attending my very first conference, and as a vendor no less. My feet are very angry with me right now, and the anger will continue through tomorrow. I didn't have room in my luggage to bring the necessary shoes with me for the conference (2 pairs of dress shoes - 1 brown pair, 1 black pair; and comfortable sneakers). I only had room in my luggage for 1 pair of shoes, so I had to wear one pair of "heeled" dress shoes and pack the other pair... Add to that, 10 hours on my feet today, and my dogs are screaming...

Other than my foot issues, the conference has been going well. It's a short day tomorrow, so I won't be on my feel all day. I am hoping that I can get a late checkout tomorrow, otherwise, I'll have to leave everything with the bellman for the afternoon. My flight home is not until 7 tomorrow night... Then, it's on to home to leave the next morning for a little Thanksgiving/Christmas combo with my family in California. It's the only time we could do anything during the holidays with Aaron's schedule this year.

It doesn't feel like Christmas-time...

Is it just me? I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the gift-giving season is upon us. It doesn't feel like it to me... Maybe it's because I've been so busy... Maybe it's because Aaron's been gone... Maybe it's because we don't have the tree up yet... Maybe it's because I'll be traveling a lot this December... Maybe it's because Christmas will be lonely this year...

I'm not entirely looking forward to this Christmas season...

I don't want to feel all "Bah-Humbug", so I think I'll force myself to listen to Christmas music at work tomorrow. I'll be putting up the decorations at work tomorrow, so maybe that'll help me get in the spirit.