Say WHAT?!?!?!?!

Juniata is late this morning. She has a physical therapy appointment so I am in our windowless interior office all by myself.  My phone rings and I see "Juniata" on the display screen.  I answer and she says "Hey, what have you heard about the tornado."  "Say WHAT?" I said.  "Yeah, the receptionist at my physical therapist's office said there's a tornado headed for Fulton Street downtown.  I'm trying to decide whether I want to come down there or just go home."  "OH.  HELL.  NO."  I said.  "I am NOT going down with this ship!!!  "This is NOT the place I want to spend my last moments."  I then said "Well, I haven't heard any sirens or anything.  I'll google it."  If anyone can tell me whether a tornado is headed my way it's google.  I then googled it and it said a tornado could be headed to everyone's way in Georgia today - until 4pm.  Swell.  You know, I had a tornado follow me to work one time in Asheville when I was teaching pre-school.  Fifteen minutes after I walked in the door at the school a parent came in complaining about the road being out and her having to take an alternative route.  I was like " but I just went down that road" and she was all like "well, now it's covered with downed trees."  Huh.  So, maybe the tornadoes aren't out to get me since they let me pass by once before.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.  I emailed Lawrence too - he has a window in his office and can see the outside world.  I know he's in midtown and not downtown, but he probably has a pretty clear view of the city and can give me some warning if I am about to be sucked out of my temporary tower.  Anyway, I wish you all luck - this weather is balls crazy and weirdness can hit at anytime.  Stay safe and keep your eyes open!!  And please, if you have a window, let me know if a twister is headed my way!!!

On a different note, I had a lovely pre-birthday weekend with Lawrence and Rick this past weekend at the cabin.  Lawrence made me yummy chocolate chip cookies with frosting and ice cream and fish tacos - two of my favorites!!!  We relaxed, checked out a new restaurant in Mentone and played Yahtzee!!  I had a blast! 

UPDATE:  I put out an all-call to my friends with windows in down/midtown to keep me posted on our impending doom.  They all agreed to keep me apprised of the sitch.  Jenny tells me the airport has been closed.  Oh lawd get me out of here!!!

Up Up and Away!!!

Remember when I started this blog and it was partly about fitness (well, sort of).  Well, thanks to Lawrence, I actually did some fitness this weekend!!  Back a month or so ago I got a text from Lawrence that said "I got us a Groupon to do a beginners rock climbing class."  With frown firmly in place I responded "and by 'US' you mean????????  "You and me" - he said.  I couldn't even imagine why he would do such a thing.  I had half a mind to email back and say "Great!!  What a coincidence, I got us a Groupon for a beginners pole dancing class."  Actually, I still  might do that, so watch out Lawrence.  Anyway, I put off the inevitable climbing event until I was sure the Groupon had expired.   Knowing my friend like I do, I should have known that Lawrence would be the last person on earth to let a coupon to expire.   So Sunday I didn't have anywhere to run and we went rock climbing!!  I did a climbing wall about 20 years ago with Olivia and I remembered it kicking my ass so I was going in with very low expectations for myself.  But I was going to do it.  I wasn't backing out.  Given my hissyfit the night before, I think Lawrence was worried that I was going to back out.  I did WAY better than I thought I would do.  I completed 3 full walls and my arms didn't give out until almost the top of the 4th wall.  We had a great group of beginners sharing the experience with us. Everyone was very nice and supportive.  And even though I am sore as all get out, I enjoyed the experience and am glad I did it!!!  Don't know if I will do it again anytime soon. . . . . . . . but it was fun.  Here are a few pics.



Before the class (when I could still use my arm to take the photo)



So much confidence!!!  He can't wait to get inside.



Getting some cold feet!

 

Go Lawrence, Go!!!



Not a very flattering shot of the ole body, but hey - that's my body
and I climbed that damn wall so I am including the shot!!  Sometimes you just
have to embrace who you are.  It ain't always an easy thing to do.
Normally I would have just included the shot of Lawrence's skinny
arse climbing up the wall.
I am Gone With the Wind Fabulous baby (that won't
make sense to you unless you watch the Atlanta Housewives).



I'm Gonna Need You To Get Your Supervisor To Come Down Here

So Juniata and I were terminated.  At least that's what the computer said when we got to work yesterday.  I didn't think anything of it when my badge would not let me up to my floor.  I just piggy-backed off of someone else in the elevator going to my floor.  I just figured my badge wasn't feeling well or some such, so I let the paralegal in charge of our project know that my badge didn't work this morning - she said she would report it - and away I went.  An hour later I get an frustrated call from Juniata.  She couldn't find a single parking space in our outside parking lot (did I ever tell you that they raised the ban on Contractors parking in that lot?  Well, they did.  We are welcome back in the lot.  I feel all warm and fuzzy).  She wondered if that had ever happened to me and what she should do.  I had no clue, but suggested she go to the inside lot and ask if she could park there.  She said "This is a sign that I should just go on home.  It's going to be a bad day, I can just tell."  I went on about my business figuring she would eventually find a place to park . . . or that she would just go on home.  Anyway, I left our desk (oh, did I tell you that they moved us out of Conference Room C???  YES, it is a travesty!!!  We are both crammed into a small interior office now - me behind the desk and Juniata on the opposite side of the desk.  Juniata insisted I take the "behind the desk" spot since I am here more.  Regardless of where they put us, we will always be the "Ladies of the Conference Room"  - "Ladies of the Interior Office" just doesn't have a great ring to it).  Where was I, Oh yeah, I left our desk for a brief moment to grab some water and when I got back I noticed another missed call from Juniata.  I started to think "uh oh, maybe I should tell her my badge didn't work to get me up here in case hers does the same thing."  She was already in a suspicious mood and she would not be happy with me if I didn't warn her of potential additional morning annoyances.  Anyway, I tried to call her back.  She didn't answer.  So, I texted her "hey, my badge didn't work today - I just rode up with someone else."  She texted me back and said her badge wasn't working either and what should she do.  I said to see if security would buzz her up.  Next text said "they are telling me I need my supervisor to come down."  I ran to our supervisor's office and let her know that our badges weren't working and that she was needed at the security desk.  When Juniata finally entered our office - with a look on her face I won't describe - she gave me the full story.  Apparently when she went to ask the security desk to buzz her up, they took her badge and scanned it with something.  Juniata said the security lady looked at the computer screen and then slowly looked back up at Juniata and said "I'm gonna need you to get your supervisor to come down here."  When Juniata reached for her badge the security lady wouldn't give it back.  Juniata said "You gonna keep that?" The security officer responded "Yes, ma'am."  When our supervisor got down to the security desk the security officer said "Could you step over here for a minute."  She actually pulled her away from Juniata so she couldn't hear!!!!  Well, Juniata was straining her best to hear and all she could make out was our supervisor saying "But I'm her supervisor, I know she has not been terminated."  So apparently when the security officer scanned Juniata's badge - a big fat "TERMINATED" (probably in all caps and in bright red) came up on the screen.  In the security officer's mind, she was having herself a full blown sensitive situation.  She assumed that all hell was going to break loose if she told Juniata she had been terminated (maybe was even a little bit scared given the look on Juniata's face) so she needed to get the supervisor down there stat to explain to this poor employee trying to access the floor that she was no longer employed. Anyway, it was all straightened out - they didn't throw Juniata out on her ear - the security officer avoided a super sensitive situation - and our supervisor was allowed to take Juniata up to our very secure floor.  We now have our badge situation worked out.  We have not been terminated . . . .at least not yet.  Of course Juniata was annoyed that I was able to avoid the Inquisition - but hey, it just wasn't her day.  She should have just gone on home when she couldn't find a parking space.

Grab Your Fascinators Ladies - It's New Year's Eve in Rosscarbery

So, I am now back home in Atlanta.  Boooo Hooooo!  No, seriously, I am happy to be home in my own space and Earl the Cat is thrilled to have me back.  He hasn't left my side since I stepped in the door.  I intended to do one last blog from my Dublin hotel, but I was just too pooped after my four hour drive.  I dropped off the rental car, caught the shuttle to the Hilton, had one last fish and chips dinner at the hotel restaurant and then jumped in the bed. 

Now for the last couple of days in Cork....

We celebrated New Year's Eve - or Hogmanay, as Trace would call it since she is Scottish - at Trace's house in Rosscarbery.  Pam and I had purchased discounted Christmas ornaments the day before and we made them into Fascinators for each of the ladies!!!!!  We were fierce and fabulous in our homemade Fascinators!!  Everyone loved them!!!  While we waited for midnight, we played a game of Cranium.  I learned quite quickly that if you purchase your Cranium game in Europe, you have European clues and questions, which made it quite challenging for the Americans in the room.  I also learned that when you play board games with a 40+ crowd (of which I am a member, but I was the baby in the room) who have all forgotten their reading glasses it adds an additional challenge.  Trace had to dig out two old pairs of magnifying glasses to pass around every time it was someone's turn to read the questions.  A game that should have taken 90 minutes took us 3 hours!!!!   But Trace and I won!!!!  I never win board games!!!  Yay us!  At midnight, we banged pots and pans and then, in true Hogmanay tradition, held hands and sang Auld Lang Syne to the Scottish pipes.  After singing and toasting in the New Year, we all went outside to light one of those groovy lanterns that floats off into the sky.  Unfortunately, our lantern floated right into the nearest tree and started to catch on fire.  We all just stood there in shock waiting for the tree to catch fire too - unsure of what to do.  That's when Ger decided to climb the tree and save the day!!!!  Yay Ger!!!!  Most of the guests left around 4:30am, but Pamela and I spent the night.  Pam and I aren't known for staying up late so we spent the whole week before conditioning our bodies to stay up late!!!  We knew if we pooped out early Trace was going to kill us!  Thanks to our "stay up late training" we were able to stay up until 5:30am.  I can't even remember the last time I stayed up that late????  College maybe?  I was so tired by the time we finally went to bed I was shaky!!!  It will probably be another 20 years until I stay up that late again!

On my last night in Union Hall we went over to our friend Jean's house for drinks and desserts (more mince pies!).  We didn't get home until after midnight!  I have posted a few last pictures of my trip below!!!!  All in all I had a very lazy and relaxing trip.  I didn't do a lot of sight seeing or traveling around - except for traveling back and forth between dinner parties and gatherings.  It was perfect!



Boxing Day dinner party - Yes, the balloon Gillian
is holding is really quite phallic - Trace was modeling
balloons into a hat for one of the kids and couldn't get that
particular balloon to cooperate so she just handed it
off to Gillian - I couldn't resist taking a picture!



My hat!!  I used the phallic balloon as my sword (naturally)!
I was a Viking!



Fish and Chips at Moloney's Pub



Beautiful scene from Tragumna, Ireland



Me at Tragumna



Tragumna



Gorgeous sunny day in Union Hall



New Year's Eve with Gillian
(fab Fascinators on our heads)



The ladies wearing our Fascinators



The gang on NYE



Pam and Dennis on NYE



Lighting of the lantern



Lighting of the lantern
(Trace's Fascinator is looking lovely against the lantern)



Lantern goes in the tree



Ger climbing up the tree to get the lantern



After everyone else went home!!!!!