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Since I’m finally back in town, I was able to go pick up my recently framed picture of Victoria’s Street that I bought while I was in Edinburgh last year (see post). The guy who did it is a man by the name of Jason Potter (the only reason I’m posting his full name is because I think he did such a great job- that maybe some of my neighbors and friends may use his services in the future). He not only makes frames with his art business, Silverstar Art, but he is a police officer for the city of Tooele. This is one reason that I knew I wouldn’t’ be cheated- he more or less has his reputation on the line as a cop. It ended up costing me $84. I gave him $85 since I didn’t have any smaller bills, and before he could find change I told him to just deduct it from my bail, in case he ever books me in jail. I didn’t know I could prepay for future bail.

 

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“Turning Right On Victoria Street, Edinburgh”

 

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The photographer’s name is Josh Vogelsang. I think he has some breathtaking prints- definitely worth checking out his site: https://www.joshvogelsang.co.uk/. I hope to get more of his work in the future. Perhaps I’ll run into him again on High Street in Edinburgh- you never know. I noticed that his site has some limited edition, signed prints available.

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This past week, I started to read Wicked again. I love this book! If you’re not familiar, it’s the story of the rise [and fall] of the wicked witch of the west. Please understand that I’m not a huge reader- so for me to read on my own, is a pretty big deal. When I read this book, it’s easy to understand why the witch turned out like she did. I know that some of you may have the musical in mind, but the book is very, very different. Come to think about it, the only similarity between the musical and the book is the fact that Elphaba and Galinda meet while attending college at Shiz University.

I started the book again because I really wanted to read the next book in the series, called Son of a Witch. This way, Wicked will be fresh in my head. There is so much that happens in the first book, I’m sure that Son of a Witch builds onto it.  I have set a goal, to spend some time in a book every day. We’ll see how long this lasts. I love reading it on my

I have set a goal, to spend some time in a book every day. We’ll see how long this lasts. I love reading it on my iPad because I can read it with a split screen- on one side of my screen is the book, and the other side is a screenshot of a map of The Land Of Oz- this way I can immediately understand where the characters are. It makes it more clear for me and means that I don’t have to constantly turn back to the beginning of the book, which is what I have to do when reading a hard copy.

After having worked the last six days in a row, I’m very thankful to be off for the next four. My plane landed just before 02:00 this morning and after about 2 1/2 hours of sleep at the crashpad, I somehow managed to get myself together and head back to the airport in Denver. The goal was to get home as quickly as possible. As I sat in the airport, waiting for my flight, I found it very hard to keep my eyes open. A nap would have been nice, but I don’t think my employer appreciates it when I nap in full uniform.

My nap came later in the afternoon- and it was a heavy, three-hour affair. Even though I feel rested at the moment, I can’t wait to fall back to sleep tonight! I think it’s going to be a very chill evening. I plan on popping some popcorn and watching a movie. Perhaps I’ll watch The Wizard of Oz.

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Just as I thought, today was a struggle of needing to get things done and wanting to relax. I woke up before the sun and had planned on driving into Salt Lake City to give Lyft rides to the morning commuters, but on my way, it started to rain. I decided to grab some groceries and head back home. I was back home by about 09:30 and I soon fell back to sleep and got a nice, long nap. This was great, especially since I’d been going since 05:30 or so.

Tonight I’m packing bags, getting everything ready. I have a work trip tomorrow morning. The reason I didn’t commute to my base is because the first leg of the trip is a deadhead from Denver to Salt Lake City. My plan is to call scheduling tonight and ask them to release me from the deadhead, and just meet my trip at SLC tomorrow morning. I’ve never tried this before, but I know plenty of coworkers who have. I hope I’m with a great crew- I haven’t even checked who I’m working with yet.

Number 18 on the bucket list is to raft on the Colorado River. I remember about 18 years ago, or so, my buddy James surprised me with a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What I remember about that trip is going to a dinner show where the Bar J Wranglers performed, camping, and rafting down the Snake River. There were two parts of the rafting trip, one that was slow and serene and the other was more rapids. Somewhere in my stuff, I have a picture of us rafting in the white water. Once I come across it, I’ll have to post it. I remember it’s hilarious!

I’ve been told that the Colorado River has some of the best whitewater around. I decided that I’d love to have this experience. I have enough coworkers who live in Colorado that I don’t think it’ll be too hard to find friends who are interested. This could be an amazing trip!

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I love the fact that I am sitting in my own home. I do love all of my travels, and it’s nice to stay in hotels (not having to make a bed), but I will never underestimate the comfort of my own bed! IMG_7318And just between you and I, I rarely make my bed at home. I don’t understand the point… I’m just going to mess it up anyway. Sadly I’m only in my own bed for two nights. On Friday morning I’ll wake up extremely early to head into Salt Lake City and join my work trip that will already be in progress. That’s the plan.

Usually, when I get home from working a bunch of trips in a row, I like to take most of the first day off and get some relaxation. You’d be surprised how your body just needs to shut down for awhile. I rarely feel what I would consider jet lag because of my work, but it still sometimes runs me into the ground. Normally, I’ll keep my phone off, at least for the first half of the day and just do light chores around the house- maybe even pop in a movie or something. Since I only have one full day off, however, this may be an interesting combination of trying my best to be lazy whilst simultaneously getting a whole lot done. We’ll see which part prevails in the end. I think I already know the answer.

Before I fall asleep, I want to discuss two more things on my bucket list. Number 22 is to attend 50 different state fairs. This is awesome. I remember growing up in southern Arizona- I would so look forward to attending the Graham County fair each year. This was even before my dear friend LaDawn introduced me to guinea pig night. Let me tell you- this changes everything! This is the first night of the fair, which was always a Thursday. You’d get to pay one fee and ride as many rides as you wanted. The other nights, however, you were required to buy tickets. The rider operators would take anywhere from one to four tickets, depending on how cool the ride was. But not tonight- tonight we are guinea pigs- but back to what I was talking about: this summer, I hope I’m able to attend a bunch of county fairs. I started to do the research a couple years ago, and most of the counties in Utah are involved in this.

Coming in at number 93 is to attend 10 different state fairs. Picture county fairs, but add way more rides and way more people. The entertainment is much, much better too. I remember once when I was in high school, a bunch of friends and myself road tripped three hours to Phoenix to attend that Arizona State Fair. This was so that we could go to a Vince Gill concert (Vince just so happens to be one of my mom’s country music singer crushes). There is just something wonderful about large gatherings of trashy people- I live for it.

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fullsizeoutput_36f9Today I’ve continued the long process of scanning all the loose sheet music that I’ve collected over the years. I started this process a few years ago, got busy doing other things, and am just now getting started again. The fact that that hard drive is now dead doesn’t help the situation, either. I was reminded about this when my cousin, Cindy Lynn asked everyone on facebook how they stored their sheet music.

This reminder was perfect timing since I’m not traveling for work at the moment. I managed to get so much done today, including about 15 songs scanned in, and I even got a decent cardio workout to boot! That’s two days in a row! This is getting close to a record for me.

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fullsizeoutput_26f5So- here’s to my next adventures: I just sent over all my information I just signed up to become an Uber driver. No, I’m not going to quit the flight attendant gig- I love it way too much! I’m thinking that maybe this will allow me to spend an extra night or two in my own bed. It’s not that I don’t enjoy spending most nights of my adult life in a hotel bed (literally), but there’s no place like home.

Do you use Uber? I have used it many times, in many different cities, and even once in Edinburgh, Scotland. For the most part, it’s been a good experience. If this works out, perhaps I’ll drive for Lyft too.

Need a ride somewhere?

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Tonight has been a great evening! One of my friends sent me a link to a song on YouTube and told me that I just had to listen to it. The one he showed me was good, but not as powerful for me, as it had been for him. The next thing I know, I’ve been sucked into the internet, looking for meaningful music videos. I love a live performance where the artist sounds every bit as good as he/she sounds in the studio. This has been going on for about an hour and a half now.

Tonight I’m thankful for the gift of beautiful music. I have no idea where or what I’d be without good music in my life. Actually, when I think about it, I know exactly what I’d be without music, and let’s just say that it not good. Music has saved me more times than I know. I’m thankful that my mom putting me in piano lessons at such a young age.

I thought I’d post a performance that touched me. On Kelly Clarkson’s album, her song Piece by Piece is much more produced- sometimes I pay more attention to a song when it’s stripped down to a simple, beautiful accompaniment, and a pure lyric. A full orchestra or studio production isn’t needed. Hope you enjoy!

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screen-shot-2016-01-29-at-01-58-33I will not advise you that you need to watch the movie In Bruges. If I were to do this, you would no doubt think less of me. The movie is filled with the absolute most foul language and a so much violence. The characters in this movie give no care for a human life. Truth be told, I haven’t seen very many movies this violent or vulgar. It definitely earned the ‘R’ rating that it received.

I also need to say that this is an excellent movie! I think this is so because of witty dialogue, brilliant acting, and my favorite part is the location. Bruges looks to be a very beautiful town. Check out the image search on Google. My brother-in-law Joe told me that he has been there and I’m a little bit jealous of this fact. Therefore, coming in at number 10 on my bucket list is to go to Bruges.

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I’ve been making backups of my old pictures, and I came across this priceless image. This was about 3 months after becoming a flight attendant back in 2005.  I knew it needed saving (and sharing)!

It reads:

BEHOLD THE BARF BAG

Hey everyone!

I thought I’d do my entry on this barf bag.

I thought I’d do my entry on this barf bag. You see, your barf bag is not only good for barfing in – people love to get messages on them! Nothing says “I love you” like a barf bag message.

So- you can propose to someone by writing “Will you marry me” on the bag and placing the ring inside! Or- you remember the little puppets that you made out of a brown sack in pre-school?

A barf bag is excellent to breathe into if you start to hyper-ventilate [si]. You can craft yourself a little hat… like a birthday hat if you so desire.

My point- barf bags are wonderful!!! And not just for barf!

ENJOY!!!

I once had this brilliant idea: I wanted to have celebrities that I meet on the plane sign the barf bag and then I wanted to take their picture holding the bag. Then I would auction it off for charity. I think I wanted to call it Barf Bags of Love. Classy, huh? I seriously think this could be a great thing, especially if I can get friends and coworkers to help. I may have to revisit this idea in the future.

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joey-rory-dvd-1482274298“In March of 2016, we laid Joey to rest in the cemetery behind our farmhouse. Though this isn’t the path that we would’ve chosen to walk down, it is the path that’s been laid before us. So we put our faith in God and our hope in a future that we can’t see. We believe that God will give us a great story.” – Rory Feek

Tonight I watched the movie To Joey, With Love. This is the true story of the last few years of Joey Feek’s life. If you’re not familiar with her, she was half of the country music couple- Joey + Rory. A few years before her passing, Rory, her husband, decided to start recording video that he put on a blog. He said he felt that this was important to do. Little did he know that she would soon be pregnant with their daughter Indiana, and soon thereafter be diagnosed with cervical cancer.

I was so inspired by watching this movie! There was no doubt that I had to add it to my collection. Even with a sad ending, I rejoice when I see people who try their best to put the things of God first in their life. This is something that I need to remember to do in my own life.

Here is one of my favorite Joey + Rory song: Enjoy!