It’s Me…..Random and Sugar Free……

Lack of sugar has given me headaches and made me cranky. (Okay….crankiER).

No energy to do anything. Not even blog. I was on a downward sad spiral….but last night I watched the season finale of the best show on TV and I was somehow rejuvenated.

I have watched this show since it’s beginning and without a doubt, the plot twists and turns, the character development, the attention to even the most minute detail truly make it one of the best shows in the History of TV. Do yourself a favor…..grab the dvd collections and catch up. You will thank me later.

Also in the news, Tali 2 has final exams today. Yup, Kindergarten Final Exams in Handwriting, Reading Comprehension, Spanish and French. Save your What the Fudge’s for later…..I already said it to myself. We have been studying all of his little words for a week. LOL

Sunny: 6 Days, STILL ALIVE

Did you guys watch that kid slap his moms on National TV? Now you already know…this needs an entire blog post. I don’t get how she sat there with a little kid and allowed him to argue with her for so long much less escalate into a full out slap. As soon as he started huffing up his chest like a rooster, he would have gotten snatched up by the collar and given the “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SPEAKING TO?” “YOU MUST HAVE ME CONFUSED WITH ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS.” Remember that? And you KNEW that if your lil behind didn’t calm down real quick what was next right? Yeah. I’m gonna leave that whole situation alone.

Mr. 1969 copped some tickets to THIS. June 7th…..no kids…just a grown up date night. Nice!

And tomorrow….dressing up in the sundress snd stilettos to hang out with Carrie and Co at the SATC movie.

I come alive in the summer and I am so glad it’s here. Enjoy the weekend!

 

 

Nothing sweet about it.

Lack of sugar is indeed making your girl feel lightheaded and tired. My commute home was terrible. Traffic was insane. I really needed an iced coffee with LOTS OF SUGAR. A cookie. Something.

I finally get home, walk in the door and this is the sight that greets me.

Your boy Tali 2, sitting on the couch with his head propped up, a pillow under his feet, wrapped in a blanky watching Rat.atou.ille. *sigh* The boy needs Jebus. I swear.

So in addition to the matchbox car we found floating in the fishbowl, today we found a rubber band. I tried to tell NinaMM and what was my brilliant Soror’s response?

“Clearly the fish had some errands to run. He needed the car to get around.”

“And what about the rubber band?”

“Yup, he also needed some office supplies. Tali was just making sure the fish had what he needed.”

Yup, Nina needs a slight sprinkle of some holy water too.

So before he kicks the bucket, here is a picture of Sunny the fish.

 

His days on the earth are numbered and so are mine unless I get a cookie.

(Welcome Back from the Cannes Film Festival CreoleinDC!!!! Did you bring me a chocolate croissant?)

Bye Bye Sugar!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Holiday weekend. We had a great one. Hit up all of the parks, played with the kids, got a new fish and grilled every day.

Today marks the beginning of NO SUGAR. Yup, you heard me….I am not eating any sugar. Fresh and I have a pact that we are going sugar free (to include no white bread, pasta or rice) for the next couple of days. We are detoxing and stepping up our workout.

Now can you imagine how erra….special, it’s going to be to be near me after a week of no sugar? Yeah….Mr. 1969 is scared for his life.

If anyone has done this before and has any tips, leave them in the comments and forgive me this week if I snap out at any of you for no reason. It’s not me, it’s a lack of cookies.

Holiday Weekend

I have been sooo busy. After Thursday’s meeting where the Red suited wonder proceeded to appear unprepared (LOL), I decided to work from home on Friday.

I ended up leaving the house to run lots of errands. Bought a couple pairs of shorts and a few t-shirts. Some new run around flip flops.

I have spent most of the weekend outdoors. We did lawn work, had the boys at the park Saturday and Sunday. We visited our friend’s new R.ita’s Wa.ter I.ce store on Girard Avenue. And we grilled.

So far I have made: Shrimp Kabobs (delicious), turkey burgers (for me), beef burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, grilled veggies and fresh fruit (mango, pineapple and strawberry fruit salad).

Why did they wake up asking for steaks today? **CRICKET** How could they still be hungry?

If all of this activity weren’t enough….we have a new addition to the family.

We now have a fish named Sunny. Tali 1 bought it for Tali 2 for his birthday.

Let the countdown to poor Sunny’s demise begin. I woke up to find a matchbox car in his bowl *sigh*.

Hope you are all enjoying the holiday.

 

D-DAY

Based on yesterday’s post….you already know that today will be a hectic one for your girl.

The Regional VP is here. I have meetings scheduled all day and my personal state of the union meeting kicks off at 3:30pm where I will be shining the spotlight on the red suited wonder.

I don’t know what she’s wearing but I am rocking a light gray pinstriped pantsuit (and croc patent pumps) courtesy of the fine folks at Ta.h.ari. My hair is slicked back in a cool chignon. No pearls today….diamond stud pendant necklace and earrings (a gift from my hubby a few years back that always bring me luck).

So yes, I am feeling good and ready to knock em dead. Thanks for all the support yesterday. We’ll play catch-up tomorrow.

Not Gonna Be Able to Do

Regular readers will recall my attempt to post for another position this past fall. I didn’t get the position. It came down to me and the red suit wearing individual.

Basically, I had the skill set for the job. I knew the five systems necessary to do the job ( I helped to roll out two of those systems here in Philly), I currently am the person that sets the guidelines for that department as far as what business they can put in the hotel and at what rates, I know the sales teams’ strengths and weaknesses and I am familiar with all of the key players on the Exec team that supports that department. In addition, I have sold in this market for 8 years and brought in well over $5 million in booked roomnights per year.

The other candidate? She was a Regional Sales Leader for the select service hotels we have in PA under 200 rooms. My current role is Director of Group Strategy for five downtown full-service hotels all over 400 rooms (the largest is 1400 rooms).

Basically, we had a panel interview. The panel consisted of three GM’s from her hotels and two from mine. The two from my hotels voted for me, the three from her hotels voted for her. The reason they chose her was….she has more “Leadership” experience and I have more practical experience. Ahem.

Fast forward…..this individual has been in the job a few months now and guess what? She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She has no knowledge of *gasp* the systems. She is not connecting with the stakeholders. She is managing a team that doesn’t respect her because they know more than she does.

Now take a wild guess who she is turning to for help? Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Yup. She is emailing me and asking me for help. She is floundering and doesn’t even know BASIC sales stuff. I wouldn’t have hired her as a regular sales manager let alone a Director.

So I copied my boss on her latest email asking me to help “prepare” her reports for our weekly meeting. Background: The Regional VP will be attending our weekly meeting tomorrow. A meeting that I typically run. She has come to this meeting only once despite the team requesting her presence on a weekly basis to report out on her team’s progress. Of course, she has no idea what to present and she doesn’t want to show her ignorance in front of the Regional VP.

Her email today is asking me to help her prepare her reports for tomorrow’s meeting. My boss sent me a note saying “Tell her that you are busy preparing for the meeting as well. Heck, it’s YOUR meeting. You don’t have time for that. Let her use all of that LEADERSHIP knowledge she has and figure it out.”

LMAO! I love my boss.

 

Fortunate

Children develop in stages.

The first stage is the newborn stage. They rely on you 24-7. They are the tinyest, cutest little beings. They eat on schedule, they don’t sleep and they are attached to you at the hip all day long. They have that sweet baby smell and they love to cuddle up in your arms.

Next is the baby stage. They are learning to sit up, they learn to eat baby food, they say their first words, crawl and take some steps. The first tooth emerges and you get those drooly smiles. Everything you do causes them to laugh hysterically.

After the first steps? Toddlers. The independent little miss or mister. They want to do everything by themselves, wave their emotions like flags and are not afraid to yell, cry, throw a tantrum, pee on the floor or test your parental limits. If you make it through this stage….you get a kid.

For me…..it has all been an enjoyable ride and I have learned so much about myself. While my little Tali is teetering on the verge of crossing over from toddlerland to kidville, my oldest is now a full-fledged kid.

He had a class trip to the zoo yesterday. He came home and told me all about his adventures. I sat there enthralled as he explained all about snakes and other reptiles. He described the crocodiles in full detail and asked me if I knew anything about anteaters or ostriches. He was so excited and I just felt this overwhelming feeling of accomplishment.

I don’t know the exact moment that my son transformed into a kid but he has arrived. This phase is awesome and I am truly enjoying it. We are bonding as I discover new aspects of his personality and vice versa. He thinks I rock because I love scary movies and superheroes. He loves that I am a sports fan and he laughs whenever I beat him in a race and tells me that when he grows up….he is going to beat me everytime.

He astonishes me with his love of animals, the plight of people all over the world, his ability to count money, his fascination with Barock Obama and his knowledge of all things Ben 10. He really is a cool kid.

Today, he has the day off from school and we are having Tali and Mommy day. We woke up, I made my world famous breakfast burritos, we walked to the library and finished his book report, had lunch at Larry’s and we are back at home ready to watch Fanta.stic F.our: R.ise of the Si.lv.er S.ur.fer.

I can’t believe I get to relive my childhood experiences with such an awesome kid. He’s fun to be around, makes me laugh and enjoys a good joke and great conversation. You know what the icing on the cake is? The kid is mine.

Chiggety Check Yo Self

Barack was on GMA this morning and he had this to say about anyone going after Michelle…

“If they think that they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful, because that I find unacceptable — the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family,” he said.

“For them to try to distort or to play snippets of her remarks in ways that are unflattering to her I think is just low class and I think they — most of the American people would think that as well,” he said. “I would never think of going after somebody’s spouse in a campaign.”

“If that’s something I start seeing during the course of this general election, I will have something to say about it. And I will say something to the Republican nominee, [Arizona Sen.] John McCain, about it because I would never consider going after his family,” he said. “If I saw Democrats doing that, I would call them out on it. And I would expect that he’s going to do the same thing because I think that family is off limits.”

If you are down with the GOP, let me explain something to you. YOU DON’T MESS WITH A BLACK MAN’s WOMAN, HIS MAMA OR HIS FAMILY. Did you get that?

If they are trying to test Obama cause they think he’s soft….they don’t understand that he is still a black man. He will flip from refined to negro in 2.4 seconds. LOL

Seriously, they don’t want none. Be warned GOP.

Monday’s HOT TOPIC

Several Philadelphia daycare’s have a policy regarding Father’s Day. On mother’s day, the kids all make cards and bring home the usual homemade goodies.

In an effort to not traumatize the children, they are no longer making Father’s Day cards at school. It turns out that the majority of mothers in the city are single mothers and the kids were upset at not having Dads. The mother’s in turn voiced this to the schools and now several schools are no longer doing Father’s Day projects.

What do you think about this policy? If you were a single mom to a child under 5….would you be upset by school having a Father’s Day celebration or project? Would you prefer the school to do nothing and leave it up to you to celebrate or not celebrate the day at home?

Slim Shady Please Stand Up

Do you see this? This is the stuff that makes even the most confidant woman feel insecure. Magazines and shows that showcase perfect looking women. Always fabulous, always laughing. Wearing designer clothing and not a hair out of place.

It forces us to look in the mirror and become our harshest critics. “My skin is terrible, I have bags under my eyes, are those wrinkles?”

Now if magazines would show real, untouched pictures once in a while….

I know I would feel better. How about you?