Over the hill

I knew it was all going to be downhill past my 21st birthday, but what I didn't know was how quickly I would race down that stupid hill! I found out this week that I HAVE to get braces and soon. No getting around it. I tried and failed. The position of one of my teeth means that should I get a cavity in it (very likely because it is wedged in by another tooth and there's no good way to floss, etc) there are not a lot of options for filling it. Guess what the dentist found on Monday? You got it- a cavity in that tooth. Great. So come January I get to have some of that tooth REMOVED in order to take care of the cavity and eventually that tooth will need to be pulled. So, unless I want to walk around toothless I'll need to get braces to pull my teeth back in line. Perfect. Since I refuse to resemble the stereotypical Arkansasan (toothless and cannot pronunciate) looks like I'll be getting braces next year at the ripe age of 28. Can you see me shudder?

And to top it all off, it looks like I probably cracked my hip in that spectacular mountain bike wreck a couple of months ago. I went back to the doctor because my hip is still bothering me some: a lingering hematoma, some swelling, and pain if a lot of pressure is placed on my hip. According to the doc I probably cracked it (when I got the initial exam after the wreck no one bothered to x-ray my hip) and now it was really too late to do anything about it. So I get to live with it and hope the swelling goes down and everything returns to normal.

Did I mention this is all Jeremy's fault?! The love of my life has a sick and twisted sense of humor because he thinks its hilarious that I have a broken hip at 27. I told him it wouldn't be funny when I started looking like this by 30! Ha! Whose laughing now?!

Adrenaline Junkie

It's official-Emma is a bonafide adrenaline junkie. Do you see the gray starting to show up in my hair?!

Saturday night we went to Malvern Elementary's Fall Festival with our sis-in-law Holly, nephew Holton, and MeMe. Holly and MeMe both work at the elementary and we thought it would be fun for Emma to go and play with Holton. One of the major attractions was this huge 18' inflatable slide, something very similar to this:

Emma kept wanting to run right to it and I was steering her away from it about 20 times a minute. Don't judge-She's not even two for crying out loud! She's still my little baby! Eventually I gave up and let her give it a try. You have to climb up this ladder thing in the back to even reach the top, so silly me I was thinking this would deter her. Not one bit! She climbed up that ladder like a little monkey on a mission (and there were 5th or 6th grade kids who couldn't even climb up this thing!). I stood behind to make sure she wouldn't fall and then I fully expected her to make it to the top and turn right back around once she looked at how far down it was to the bottom. Nope. She turned around once to smile at me and then off she went. Jeremy was waiting at the bottom to catch her and was laughing his butt off. As soon as she got off she wanted to run around and do it again so Jeremy took her that time so I could watch her come down. She was loving every minute of it and went about 7 times before the older kids started getting rough and I made her stop. Guess she's not such a little baby anymore. Boo!

Sunday the weather was so nice we spent almost all afternoon outside after church. Emma insisted on swinging for about 30 minutes and she wanted to go HIGH and FAST. If you let her slow down she would demand "MORE!".

I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of broken bones and bruises if this keeps up!

You want me to what?!

So, when I started at the railroad 5 years ago I tried pretty hard to blend in with all the testosterone because my estrogen stuck out like a sore thumb. "Don't apologize for using foul language in front of me. Chances are I've said worse." "No thanks, I can carry my own little 5 pound bag, you're such a peach." Not that I mind chivalry, in fact I love it. It's a dying art. Manners are great too. But five years ago I needed to be one of the guys. Sometimes I think that was a big mistake- hence the shovel in my office.

The other employees at my office are used to me now. They accept me as one of their own but are (shock!) ok with the fact that I also happen to be a girl. In fact I think it surprises them at times. You should see their faces if I wear a skirt; they always assume I'm on my way to a funeral.

So, why does a manager for the railroad have a shovel in her office you might ask? I had been working on a project to locate a new transload customer on our line and he needed to dig a hole and install a wind sock (safety procedure) as the commodity had some hazardous qualities. He asked ME if I would dig the hole for him. Seriously?! Now granted this guy looked like he had not done any manual labor IN HIS LIFE, but really! Just so you can get a mental picture- dude was wearing prada loafers, Polo collar shirt, and had a manicure. With clear polish. yeah. So I suppose compared to him in my sweet heels from target and TJ Maxx scored ensemble I looked more apt to perform manual labor. Boy did he get a surprise.

Needless to say yours truly did NOT dig any holes and superfly was outside digging in his shiny prada shoes. Ha! Wish I had taken a picture . . .

MIA

I'm still alive, don't worry. I've just been super busy and haven't been able to blog dutifully. I've got a lot to catch up on so here we go. . . .

First, I'm back from Omaha safe and sound. This should be my last business trip for the year, knock on wood. I have supreme guilt every time I leave Emma so it's nice to be home and cuddle with my little monkey.

Jeremy turned the big 3-0 on Sept 26th. I felt kind of bad because I didn't plan him a big blow-out bash, we just went to eat at Fisherman's Wharf in Hot Springs (best seafood ever. period.) and on Saturday night we had the normal family dinner at his mom's house. When I apologized to him for not making a bigger production out of his birthday he laughed in my face and said "why? It's just another day!" That eased my guilt considerably. Here's Emma feeding the ducks that like to congregate on the water right off the outdoor dining area at Fisherman's Wharf.

She thought this was fantastic and it took a lot of patience on our part to keep her seated long enough to eat any of her meal. (I really need to start counting all of the pictures I have with Jeremy in a razorback shirt. Perhaps it's time to make him buy other clothing.)

The next morning we got up at 6:30, Emma's preferred time to start the day, and made Daddy some sugar cookies. His fave. I got her this awesome pink apron at Williams and Sonoma. Love. She was a little ticked off at first that she had to wear it, but she got over it quick enough. (The first picture shows her wearing her mad face.)

Decorations for Emma's b-day party are coming along slowly but surely. I still have a lot to do and only a little time left to do it. I'll post some pics of the finished product, but for right now just pray for me that I can recreate a Wild West town in my yard. And that it doesn't rain.

Over the weekend we went to Garner Family Homestead Farm for our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. PopPop was at the Razorback game so it was just the three of us and MeMe. Last year Emma really didn't care about the outing but this year she had a blast. She was so excited about getting her "punkin" that she could hardly stand it. And the weather was kind of crisp so it was perfect fall and pumpkin weather.

I've decided that I desperately need new clothes for fall. I've reverted to Jeremy's favorites-a razorback t-shirt. Aargh! Jennifer-guess what we're going to do next month when I come to Fayetteville (hopefully!)?!

And finally, I'm trying to become more involved with our chruch so I joined a Beth Moore bible study class and to my surprise I'm really enjoying it. I didn't know what to expect but we're almost half way through the course and I'm really learning a lot. I was really involved with a youth group when I was in high school, but didn't really learn alot. It was more of a little learning here, a lot of fun activities and trips there. We may do another bible study in the spring that I may sign up for. I have a lot of things in my life to be thankful for, so its probably time I really start showing it.

Complete Randomness

I'm not a number cruncher. Hate budgets. Hate sticking to a budget. Unfortunately I have yet to discover a money tree so, budgets it is. Same goes with work-I hate budget season-and it is fully upon me. I sat all day yesterday staring at numbers and trying to come up with a traffic and revenue forecast for 2010 that would not have my VP tying me to the tracks ala Wile E. Coyote style and waiting for one of our trains to run me down. Sigh. The economy is in the dumper kiddos and all the number crunching in the world is not going to make my revenue projections look any prettier. I'm dreading my meeting at 1:30 today. (If you don't hear from me again you know I'm sitting tied up on the tracks somewhere just hoping the train crews can stop in time . . .)

I truly cannot tell you where September went. How is it almost October? I don't even have my fall decorations up yet! Aargh! Pure craziness. Jeremy's birthday is this Saturday (the big 3-0 ya'll!) and we still haven't made plans! He already has his present because he ordered it himself. Can you tell we're well past the surprise stage in our marriage? So I can check that "to-do" off my list. But beyond that I've got nothing. Looking back I probably should have offered to throw him a big b-day bash, but it's a little late for that now. Honestly, he probably wouldn't have cared anyway. Turning 30 is no big deal to him. Me-totally dreading it. I'm going to be one of those women that claims I'm 29 to the point of being ridiculous. Emma will be having her own children and I will still slap the person who dares say I'm past my twenties! Ha!

All of my awsome bike injuries have cleared up with the exception of my hip, still wonky and painful. But, I refuse to go back to the doctor. So what if its still swollen and has weird knotty bruises under the skin? I'm fine . . . I'd rather be wonky and in pain than go back to the doc. Severe white coat syndrome for 1 please. And just to prove that I'm completely and totally insane I'm about to buy my own mountain bike so I can try it again! I'm not about to let a silly ol' mountain get the best of me! (Add extremely competitive to my list of attributes) Don't worry-my life insurance is up to date.

I'm hoping that life can return back to a normal pace in October. Maybe then we can settle down and enjoy the fall, and hopefully cooler weather. Only one more business trip for this year, Omaha, Nebraska here I come!, and then I can retire my luggage and repress my hatred of making small talk on airplanes until 2010!

A What Not to Wear Friday

I love love love What Not to Wear. (Clinton totally reminds me of a guy I went to high school with.) So, since I love the show you would think that I would try really hard not to get caught in a what not to wear moment, right? Well, you have all heard me bemoan the clothing pitfalls of working for the railroad. It's very hard to find an outfit that will function for a meeting with high-profile customers and also blend in at a construction site. An outfit like that just. doesn't. exist. period. So, guess what our roadmaster, who has a wicked sense of humor, decides to pull out the other day? This little beauty:

I know, I know. The cropped pants with work boots is horrid enough but then you add in the slime lime safety vest and it's a TOTAL DISASTER!! But, in my defense I was not planning on going out to this construction site that day; I had a few low key customer calls to make and was dressed semi-casual to blend in. It just so happened I was needed onsite for something. Just my luck.

I'm good natured and can take a lot of ribbing, which is a good thing considering our MOW crews love to pick on me. There was total and complete silence when I came into view and the guys got a load of my ensemble. It was actually hilarious because several were in the middle of driving spikes with very large sledge hammers and just stopped mid-swing. Then, came the laughter. For a full 20 minutes I let them get it out of their system, laughed graciously at the cat calls and insistence that cropped pants be made part of their new uniform. I was not aware though that our roadmaster memorialized my little fashion faux pas. I can see this coming back to haunt me for a looooong time.

In happier news though I got to do something that I have always wanted to do-drive the hi-rail truck! Woo hoo! Even if you don't know what I'm talking about you have probably seen one around-it's a vehicle (typically a truck or suv) that has equipment that will allow them to ride on the rails also. It's a weird sensation driving a vehicle on the rail becuase you don't touch the steering wheel, which is a natural inclination anytime you're in a vehicle. One more thing I can check off my to-do list!

Black & Blue . . and Purple and Green Oh My!

This morning I counted no less than 22 bruises on my body. And as much as I normally love the color blue I am not so thrilled with it right now. My horrible misadventures started innocently enough last week . . .

I had a work trip of a lifetime to a little town called Festus, about 50 miles south of St. Louis. Festus is home to one of the best kept secrets in the world, a Union Pacific owned retreat named Selma Farms, and one of the most beautiful and relaxing places I've ever been. This 2500 acre facility is located on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi river and is fully staffed 365 days a year. The UP uses this retreat to wine and dine their special customers. It is very exclusive to get an invitation and we are one of the first shortline railroads to get invited. Oh la la! This place was amazing, the "hotel" was an antebellum mansion designed to look like a castle, there was a pool house (and pool), a conference center, a clubhouse, stables, an 18 hole golf course, and a couple of ponds. Not too shabby. I don't want to bore everyone with the history (if you want more info just let me know-it's really neat). Our hosts did an excellent job of mixing business with pleasure and I got to do several firsts while there. Selma Castle:

This is me skeet-shooting. Big first-both shooting at moving targets and shooting a 12 gauge shotgun. (This would lead to bruise number 1 on my right shoulder. 12 gauges pack quite a punch!) But, I've got to tell you, there is something totally bad-ass and sexy about shooting a shotgun.

The next day following our meeting I opted to go horseback riding with a couple others. This would lead to bruise number 2 on my leg and bruise numbers 3-6 on my bottom. I was lucky enough to get the frisky horse who pounded the hell out of my haven't-ridden-a-horse-in-10-years butt. Just about the time we got used to each other the ride was over. We also went to a St. Louis Cardinals game that night at Busch Stadium. Absolutely wonderful venue. This is me and our other marketing guy, Rob. See the arch in the background? The game was a ton of fun, especially considering we got to use the UP's skybox. The folks at UP definitely know how to entertain! And did I mention that every room in Selma Farms was stocked with this? Every. room.

Our last day there we did some golfing on the UP's private golf course. I've decided to take up golfing; I've avoided it in the past because I thought it would be boring. I'm starting to rethink that and may give it a shot if I can convince Jeremy. And we did do some work at this work retreat-promise! Needless to say, I wanted to get home to Emma and Jeremy but I was loathe to leave my new found paradise! Best work trip EVER! I took tons of pictures but can't post them all her so I'll put them on facebook if you're interested.

Now, if you're keeping count of bruises I'm up to six so far. I got the remaining 16+ yesterday in a bike wreck that would make any Youtuber proud. Jeremy has been after me for a long time to go mountain biking with him, so I finally gave in yesterday and got my mom to watch Emma. We went with two other guys from work, and one of them let me use his wife's bike since I didn't have my own. I was doing pretty good, holding my own, and actually enjoying myself until "the incident." Keep in mind I was not familiar with this bike and hadn't actually ridden a bike probably since I was 16, but there I was racing down an incline at about 25 mph when my front wheel simultaneously catches a hole followed by a tree root. Next thing you know I'm flying over the handlebars, then the bike flies over me and I go headfirst into some nasty rocks. I completely trashed the helmet I was wearing, tore up my shoulder and hip pretty bad, and accumulated bruises 7-22+. It was not pretty. Jeremy and the others were ahead and didn't see what happened but as luck would have it I did this in front of around 15 other people. Super. I have to admit though that I'm glad they were there. I was stunned for a while from the blow to my head and couldn't get up for the longest time without feeling dizzy or nauseous. 3 of the guys ran over to help me while someone tried to track Jeremy and the others down. Needless to say that ended my biking for the day. Here are some shots of my helmet, shoulder, and hip (the angles are a little funny b/c I was taking the pics with my camera using my right hand). The majority of my injuries are on the left side.

Yucky right?

I will try mountain biking again, but I'm going to get some practice in before hitting the trail again! And yes, today I'm so sore it's unbelievable. My pride is badly bruised too because I can't even claim that I was doing some awesome jump or stunt when I wiped out- just going down a hill. Ugh! Perhaps golf would be a better bet for my new hobby . . .