Rain and Green in Pacific Northwest

What? Two weeks in a row of work? It was tough, but I managed to get through it. We got called Tuesday evening to leave at 8:00 PM. We didn't get wheels-up until 10:15, and then had an almost-three-hours flight ahead of us! We landed at a small strip in Kelso/Long View, Oregon, about fifty miles from the Pacific coast. It was rainy and dreary, but it was a welcome change from the gorgeous, cloudless skies here in Phoenix! Wednesday brought several short hops all over, including a twenty-minute stop at Portland, a trip up to Port Angeles (prom-dress shopping for all you Twilight fans), and then back to Portland for the night. As always with Joe Weeks, we had really late nights and very early mornings! He surprised us on Thursday by returning home after a stop in Ontario, California near Los Angeles. I was going to crawl into bed and surprise John, but he was still awake when I got home at 11:00 PM!

As we approached Phoenix, one of the runways was preparing to close after a KC-135 Tanker (Boeing 707) had a dual hydraulic failure! Luckily, they landed safely and everything turned out alright. It is pretty tough to have two separate systems fail on an airplane like that! There is so much redundancy! We landed without any failure. Phew!

Mother Nature - Backyard Version

I woke up this morning feeling rather crafty...in a good way. I was just overwhelmed with a desire to create something with my hands. Charloe, my sister, sent me a link to a blog last night (www.bakerella.com), which gave me oodles of ideas for baking. Since I am trying to eat healthy and work out daily, I didn't think making a bunch of cake balls dipped in chocolate would be the best thing to live out my craftiness. Seeing how beautiful her photography is on her blog gave me reminded me about how much I love taking pictures.

So I grabbed my camera and tripod and went outside.

And this is what I found. I played with some coloring to make some of them really pop. I kinda like them. I still want to do something more to get this crafty feeling out of my system today, but this will have to suffice for now! Besides, it was free. And we are watching our money closely because last Friday, John got accepted to the Masters of Science in Information Management at ASU! It is an executive program and lasts one year, including night classes and most Saturdays. It will be a tough year, but I am excited to think about how many doors it will open for us down the road! He starts in June and finishes next May. My little braniac. So proud of him!

Back in the Air Again

I have to admit, after having several weeks at home, it wasn't too terrible getting back on the road for work this week. We left Monday morning at 6:00 AM with Ron and one of our Board Members. The non-stop flight to Chicago was uneventful, but it felt great to be flying again! I sure miss it when I am not doing it regularly! We checked into our hotel after stopping at Giordano's Pizza to order our deep-dish lunch. They have the best pizza I have ever tasted, but it takes 50 minutes to bake! When you are hungry after a three-hour flight, you can't wait at a table for that long! So by the time we checked in to our hotel, the Marriot Courtyard, we headed back to Giordano's just in time to get a Greek salad and have our pizza delivered. It was a windy day in Chicago, but it is ALWAYS windy there. We had Tuesday off, which I spent doing mini projects from my hotel room that are difficult to get done at home. I also walked up the road a mile to the mall, Costco, and Marshalls to wander around. On Wednesday, we took three passengers up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is only 80 miles away, but we have to get vectored all the way around the Chicago O'Hare Airport airspace, and that made the flight last about 40 minutes. Terry and I enjoyed a very cheap and yummy breakfast at a local family restaurant, Andrea's. I really take for granted our Clean Air Act here in Phoenix! Wisconsin doesn't have that same rule, and you can't escape the smoke smell when you are eating. Honestly, how can people have a fork in one hand and a cigarette in another? Crazy! We ferried the airplane up to Oshkosh in the early afternoon to pick Ron up there. They arrived by 5:30, and we headed back "home" to Chicago. Thursday was another day off. It was nice and warm (well, if you can call 54 degrees warm), but it was a beautiful day because it wasn't quite so windy. I had a delicious lunch at my favorite sandwich shop, Jimmy John's. They had one in Grand Forks, North Dakota where I attended college, and I got addicted years ago! I also went to the mall to try to find a Verizon Wireless store because my phone has been acting up. The replacement phone should arrive today! Friday morning, after a workout, I met Terry in the lobby to go to the airplane. We got it ready for our 1:30 PM departure, then he grabbed us some sandwiches at a local deli near the Midway Airport. I didn't eat mine until I got home that evening and shared it with John! I flew home both legs, and it was a windy stop in Grand Island, Nebraska. Everywhere else in the midwest was getting blizzards and Convective Sigments, which means thunderstorms. What a mean mix! So we found the only good airport to stop for fuel. We landed in Phoenix at about 3:50 PM. After dropping Terry off at the Stake Center near the temple, I went home to the arms of my sweetie! He likes when I come home, and I can't say I don't mind it either! It was a great week!