Atlanta

My first "Business Trip"

My company sent me to Atlanta for eight days for some training. I'm actually going back this week for an additional three days of training. I'd never been to Atlanta before so I was very excited! Everyone kept calling it Hotlanta but it was neither hot (temperature) nor *hot (like Paris Hilton would say). It was pretty fun being in a new city, driving a rental car and staying in a hotel room. It was weird eating dinner by myself, but with all of the yummy restaurants around, I couldn't complain!

My hotel room was pretty nice. Here is a tour if you are interested in seeing my suite... (yeah i was bored enough to record a tour of the room.)

My hotel was right behind a mall- which was a great thing for me! I could easily walk there and go shopping or just walk around.

Over the weekend I did the touristy stuff with this really cool lady who was doing our training. Paula, who was also from California and I went to The World of Coca-Cola, the Aquarium (which happens to be the world's largest), and a tour of CNN. Everything was very close, in walking distance of each other. The weather was really nice that day. Most days I was there it was cloudy/rainy but we had beautiful sunshine that day.

The world of Coca-Cola


This was the "tasting room". There were stations set up such as North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America with all kinds of coke products and you could help yourself. Some were pretty good and others were incredibly disgusting. I choked on a couple of them... literally.

The cute Coca-Cola Polar Bear. This guys little eyes blinked and mouth moved. He was sooo cute!

A picture from the beautiful aquarium

There's a story behind this one:

So we went on the CNN Tour, and security is super tight, they wouldn't allow photos; they even made you turn your phone completely off. I was bummed because I really wanted a picture there, because I did broadcast journalism in college and this place was very exciting to me.

One of the first stops on the tour was this mock studio where our tour guide explained to us how the teleprompter worked (I of course already know all this, having worked the teleprompter in my internship at the TV station in Vegas) and other interesting things about the biz. Then they asked if anyone wanted to sit at the anchor desk and take a picture that we could purchase later. I was hesitant because I didn't want to hold up the group and have everyone on the tour stare at me while I took a picture at the news desk. But Paula encouraged me, "oh come on! you are having a great hair day." That was apparently all I needed to hear because the next thing you know I volunteered to take my picture at the desk. So I sit down in the rolly chair and situate myself at the desk (I must say I felt pretty comfortable there) and I struck my best news anchor pose, and as soon as they clicked the picture, EVERYONE on the tour started to laugh. I was so confused- I thought, "there must be something happening behind me or something," but I had a feeling that wasn't the case. So I addressed the group (yes, 40 complete strangers) from the news desk and asked, "why is everyone laughing at me?" and the girls who took their picture before me said, "it's because you looked so cute because you got all serious and professional when you took your picture." Then Paula basically told me the same thing. She said it looked like I knew what I was doing and it was funny to see me striking my pose. Ha ha ha. So I had to buy the darn thing of course, cost me more than the actual tour... but now I have a lovely souvenir. This is a picture of a picture, I think you get the gist.

Anyways... on to good eats:

I took this picture for Heather. Yes I had yummy Chick fil-A for dinner one night!

Why did I post this one sideways- oh well, I'm feeling too lazy to change it. This was breakfast in bed. Thank you room service! Yum!

Chili's (obviously) at the airport. At least I had my book to keep me company. BTW- 1776 was really good. I highly recommend it! Especially for all of you history nerds.

This was our office building. Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee. Literally it was right off of the Chattahoochee River!

It was completely surrounded by trees.

Happy Independence Day

This year we went to Long Beach... like we did last year. It was a PERFECT beach day! We had a great day.

Kelli was our independence day mascot. She was very patriotic.

This yellow ball found its way to us in the ocean, and it matched Jenny's cover up!

The sky was so amazing!

Waiting for the train

Jenny and I on the train. (Feeling gross and crispy)

What HAVE I been up to?

Besides looking ridiculously cheesy...I mean fabulous.

Parties with my friends where we put on ties and pose like this... oh yeah and we also watch Arrested Development, aka: the funniest show I have ever watched.

Enjoying gorgeous sunsets! (SO happy that i have my camera back)

Watching the scary storms from my office roll in EVERY DAY! Look at that crazy, evil cloud!

This was just a shot of the apartment that I liked.

"Window" shopping at fancy furniture stores

I took this from the window whilst shopping for shoes

And this fun one (with a super zoom)
I love NY in the summer!

The Ballet

This week we went to Lincoln Center to see the New York City Ballet perform A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was a beautiful performance. I don't know a lot about ballet, all I know is I could NEVER get my body to do what they do. They are incredible! I think thy thought so too, because although we were finished applauding they kept coming out for encores. It cracked me up. I couldn't stop laughing at them coming out and bowing long after the applause was over. Seriously!

(photos courtesy of the websites I borrowed them from)

Jenny, Kelli and Rachel

Fun sculpture inside

That's me... not a sculpture.

Photo of Ballerina's. They had a bunch of pictures like this posted all around the theater.

A view from the top looking down at the cool steps. Our [cheap] seats were in the "fourth ring" aka: the very top.

Flat Stanley also made it to our performance. This was a project for Kelli's nephew, but I think it's a good shot of the stage.

BFF's (we are on the same steps as the photo from above, above)

Did I Make The Grade?

In the busy/craziness of my life I don't think I mentioned that I took an HR Class at NYU last semester (or maybe I did and I'm just looney and too lazy to check my old posts). Anyways, I just got my grade back and I thought I would share the experience that was my HR Class this year, or as I affectionately refer to it as "Night School".

For starters it wasn't on the cool, hip, NYU campus. It was in a High School. Not like the high schools that I am familar with. This was very, very different (see photo). My classroom was on the 7th Floor. Keep in mind that my high school didn't even have hallways!

So every Wednesday night I would pass through security and take the escalator, littered with candy wrappers, mayonaise packets, lint and gum up 7 flights. There were cages to cut you off from the DOWN escalators. The walls were beige tiled and most of them were covered in graffiti. It smelled a bit like wrestling mats. The girls bathroom was just that, the door literally said "Girls", which I found amusing. There were pad locks on the toilet paper rolls and signs up about hand washing.

The classroom took me back to my childhood days. There were all kinds of colorful posters and work on the walls. They had vocabulary words like "mingle", "betray", "isolated", "chaos". I hoped this was a freshman english class. I realized that I have been out of school for a long time. I found myself wondering what it would have been like to attend a high school like that.

So the class itself was pretty good. There were only 8 of us, and we were all women. Boys, if you want to meet some smart, cute girls, take an HR class.

We learned about employment law and fair employment practices. It was all very interesting and applicable to my job. I ended up getting an A in the class!

Virgin

First of all let me say that I am a loyal Jetblue flyer. But I found a good deal with Virgin Airlines and even though I've never used them, I thought I'd give them a try (yes, that makes me a virgin to Virgin).
When I arrived at the large, open JFK terminal I passed the rows and rows of cold, impersonal airlines. Then I see a red banner in the corner that says Virgin Atlantic check in here. How inviting! It's like a birthday banner. I round the corner and it's a little airport-check-in sanctuary. They have these modern "kiosks". Sleek screens on this very smooth white counter. I think there were even red carpets. I checked in with ease and my little square boarding pass pops up from the counter. I go drop off my bag to the friendly attendant. He was this older, German gentleman (a la President Dieter F. Uchtdorf) and he informed me that I had a window seat and that as of now, no one was sitting next to me. SWEET!! I thought that it was really nice of him to tell me that.

The next leg of my experience I do not blame on Virgin. Must remember to wear socks to the airport! There is something so skeezy about walking around barefoot through security. I might as well lick the pose on the subway. Another thing to blame myself for is my case of being chronically early. I ended up with a lot of time to kill. It's okay tough because I got to eat breakfast, read Vanity Fair, listen to Kelly Clarkson and stare out the window, although visibility is about 30 feet, it's very foggy outside...needless to say my hair looks pretty bad. Also, I wanted to mention that the bathrooms at this terminal are small and icky. AND there is NOT a great food selection. I can get any kind of duty free perfume but can't find a decent muffin or orange juice. Where are you Dunkin Donuts? Starbucks? McDonalds?

It's time to board the plane, so far its like every other time. But then, I get on the plane and it looks like a club! The seats are black and the cabin lights are purple (I expected the lint on my dress to start glowing!) There's this cool, jazzy, techno music playing. There's a screen at every seat. The backs of the seats including the tray tables are this smooth, bright white plastic (although in this lighting nothing is 'bright'). I woke up pretty early, maybe I'm dreaming? Airplanes aren't supposed to be purple!

I squeeze down the aisle to my window seat. Hmmm... I look at the top- 18A. Look at my boarding pass- 18A. Why is there a passenger in my seat? Could Virgin fail me after all? Noooo, turns out it was a misunderstanding. After we got it worked out I settled into my chair... One thing I noticed and it sounds very silly, but the seatbelt buckles were VERY shiny. The belts were black like the seats, and the buckles were just so sparkly! The plane is also outfitted with WiFi! It's $12.00 though... no thanks.

I also discovered the magical entertainment they have. It is a touch screen with all sorts of goodies: TV, music, music videos, games! And the other amazing feature is the controller to the tv. It comes out so it feels just like a real remote control. Yay for channel surfing! The flip side of the remote is the controller for the games, including a full keybord.

They have to pause my game of Mahjong for the safety information which is this funny little animation.

The rest of the flight was pretty standard.

Part Two of the story has nothing to do with the airline, but it was funny to me and needed to be included. I documented this on the flight right after "the incident" here is what I wrote:

Flight VX251. 9 May 2009. Somewhere over the Rockies

OMG this "crusader against the swine flu" just turned around shoving napkins at me shouting, "Miss! Miss! Could you cover your mouth!" which she repeated again. I had no idea what she was talking about. I had my headphones on, minding my own healthy-proper-hygienic-etiquette business and apparently someone in the vicinity was coughing, causing her to freak out, blame me and try to save the rest of the innocent passengers from some kind of disease. Sheesh lady get a grip!

After we landed the woman turned around and said to me in her cool, raspy, slow, Los Angeles voice, "I apologize for waving those napkins at you like that." I forgave her of course and thought the whole thing was pretty funny.

Overall I had a great experience with Virgin. I am not forsaking Jetblue- but the times I don't flywith them, I'll probably be on Virgin!

Top Model

My friend Emily is a designer and she recently completed her first line of wedding dresses. She did a photo shoot and asked me to do hair and make-up! Check out the photos on her blog: http://thebalcon.blogspot.com/

Oink Oink

Apparently there was a confirmed case of Swine Flu in Brooklyn... I wanted you all to know that I'm OK! It is in a neighborhood far from me and I have been excessively washing my hands and talking necessary precautions. I'm safe! Don't worry!
I think people are really freaking out too much and the media is perpetuating this fear. Yes, be prepared and try not to spread germs, but let's not panic! Today the news said, "all of humanity could be threatened." Wow- all of humanity could be threatened with all sorts of things! Why the ominous language?

Be safe out there.

Late Night

Most nights I'm safely tucked in bed by 10:30pm. I don't really consider myself a night owl these days, but last Friday I defied the old lady in me and stayed out late and had the best time!

Friday the 13th...

My night began with the taping of the Jimmy Fallon show. I met my friends at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (yes, THAT 30 Rock). While waiting for them to show up, I saw two guys dressed as the Joker from The Dark Knight, in the Lobby. I thought it was completely bizarre, but I learned later that they were part of a skit on SNL!

Eventually my friends all showed up and the adorable NBC pages filed us in to the studio. While waiting for the show to start we got to listen to the house band perform, the band Roots, and they were AMAZING! We are already energized when Jimmy Fallon came on and (attempted) to deliver his funny monologue.

Then came the "Shared Experience". The idea was to have a bunch of people do something at the same time to create this shared experience. The audience all had warhead candies and we ate them at the same time, on camera. Lucky for you, you can see our reactions. I made it on national T.V. (woot, woot) Not so lucky for me, as my sour face is not the cutest... oh well!


The second "Shared Experience" of the night, and arguably the best, was when they asked us to reach under our chairs and take out our prize. It was the official blanket with sleeves, the SNUGGIE!!! We all put them on and snuggled up for the rest of the show. Little did I know that this blanket with sleeves would change my life. If you don't have one, ORDER ONE NOW! (I believe you also get a free reading light.) You don't think you need one, but you do. Even as I sit on my floor, laptop on my lap, blogging the night away, I'm covered in soft, thick, luxurious fleece, yet my hands are free to reach out to all of you!! I'm losing my train of thought... oh yeah! Jimmy. So Tracy Morgan was on the show, and he was hysterical. Then this funny animal guy with all of these neat animals. And then Trace Adkin performed. It was a great show and so much fun. You can watch it here: http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon/video/episodes/?vid=1061185#vid=1061185

Here we are in our snuggies at 30 Rock, posing with Jimmy

But my night didn't end here. We were four girls with the city at our disposal. Next stop. Dinner in Brooklyn...


We went to a favorite place in the DUMBO neighborhood called Superfine, and it was just that. We were all still so obsessed with our snuggies that we couldn't just ignore them. So we put them on! On the train, in the restaurant, at the bar, at the pool table... And we weren't the only ones obsessed. "Is that a snuggie?" "Can I touch it?" were the frequent requests from strangers.

Next stop on our journey was a hair dying party. We had to make some stops on the way, pick up a car, pick up the bleach, take it to our friends apartment. By this point the show came on, (12:30) and we watched it . We screamed when we saw ourselves on the screen, it was pretty funny. My friend Sara has a DVR so we watched the episode several more times during the evening while we streaked our hair. Here are some pics of our dying mania!

The finished product. Well, almost. We added another chunk of blond to my bangs.

Wow! It was a fun night. I didn't get home until 4:30am!

Anyways, my old lady bedtime is approaching so I'm calling it a night. Peace!

Getting Older

In good news the weather has finally warmed up!!! After a crazy snowstorm on Monday, it's finally getting warmer. Today was 68 degrees :) and I couldn't be happier. We went out for a lovely brunch at this Mexican restaurant and we sat outside in the sunshine. I felt like I was in L.A. or something. Then we went to the park where I rode around on my bicycle. Now I am sitting in my apartment with all the windows open, and I may or may not be watching a Harry Potter movie marathon... (okay, I am!)



I had to tell you about my concert experience last night. Now I love going to see concerts, in fact, back in Vegas my friends and I would go all the time! So when I heard that Missy Higgins was playing in Manhattan, I promptly purchased my ticket. I met my friends Amber and Sara at the venue. I had to walk there (1.74 miles), the weather was nice so I didn't mind. The tickets said 7:00, which I took to mean that it started at 7:00... No, it meant they doors opened at 7:00. So we had to wait outside with all of these other crowds of people (and smokers, ew!). Then we waited inside for what seemed like forever before the show started. The opening act was this cute Australian girl, Lenka. Then it was this cute American/Asian boy Justin Nozuka. Then Missy Higgins came on- hours later! By this point I was completely annoyed with everyone around me. There is no such thing as personal space in a venue like this, but people were just being ridiculously up in my business. The other issue was my feet. I am not accustomed to standing for long periods of time and my feet were KILLING me! (pathetic, I know). I was also hungry and ready to leave. Then it occurred to me! I AM GETTING OLD!!! I wasn't like this before. I didn't understand people that would leave before the encore. Or why they complained about being shoved around. Now i was one of them!!! Also keep in mind that this isn't some "wild" rock concert. It was all very mellow music- anything you find on your light, adult music station. And I couldn't even handle THAT!
Anyhow, we made it through the concert (and the encore) then we limped our way to an overpriced diner (the only thing open) and scarfed on greasy food and chocolaty drinks. I didn't get home until 2:30AM, and I felt like an old lady! But, the concert was great. She put on a good show and I really liked it- after all was said and done.

In other sad news, my sister hasn't been feeling well. To read more about it: http://brandonrobison.net/2009/03/06/ashleys-ordeal/. Feel better Ash!

I also included a link to Heather and Nathan's new blog. Check out their cute little boys!

Baby it's cold outside

I don't like the idea of whining about the cold in my blog, but as most of my readers are enjoying warm west coast weather, I thought you should be aware of what I have to endure. (I am also known to get a bit depressed in February, so I consider this a good way of dealing with it)

It is 27 degrees right now. But that doesn't factor in the wind chill. 20MPH gusts of freezing air in your face is no fun at all! I wear layers upon layers every day. However, my office is really, REALLY toasty, so I'm usually dying of heat in the afternoon.

-as I write this on the train, someone smells like a bacon cheeseburger- YUM!-

Anyways, the heat in my office just makes me want to curl up for a nap after lunch.

In other sad news I lost a glove today. A very special glove.

When I moved to New York I had a pair of black, fingerless, Volcom gloves. They had a cute bow tie on the sides of them. About two years ago I came home from work and my old roomie Erin said, "Did you lose a glove?" I reached into my pocket to realize that I certainly did. She informed me that she found it on the street about three blocks away from our apartment. She immediately recognized it as mine and picked it up for me! So I was wearing these special gloves on this bitterly cold day today and when I transferred trains on my way to work I took them off to put my hair up. I shoved the gloves into my pocket and fixed my hair up. Then I read my book while the train took me to my stop. I got to my building and I was in line to order some oatmeal when I reached into my pocket only to find the left glove missing!! It is now on the V train making its way to Queens. Sad times :(

I feel like it might make its way back to me... then I could call it The Parable of the Lost Glove.

I'd hate to leave you on a sad note, so I will fill you in on all the fun things going on.

-I loved the Oscars this year! (yay for Kate Winslet and Slumdog Millionaire)

-My ballot won. I picked out most of the winners

-A couple weeks ago my two friends and I went up to Cornell University for a Church YSA conference. We had a really nice time! And took cheesy pictures, like this Abbey Road one...

-I am taking a class at NYU that starts tomorrow (an HR course on employment law)
-I ended up going out for a burger for dinner (Thank you Mr. Bacon Cheeseburger on the train)
-And I need to give a shout out to my sister from another mister, Miss Brittany Warnock. Her birthday is Thursday. Happy Birthday!

This is a pic from when she came to visit me in November. We are at the movies waiting for Twilight to start. It was probably around 11:45PM that this photo was taken.

I will try to be a better blogger and keep you up to speed on my life. I feel like there are a lot of good and blogworthy things on the horizon... TTFN