Vacation is HERE!!

I MADE IT!!!! Vacation has started and tomorrow morning I will be boarding a plane to Seattle, where we will spend the day and one night. On Monday we will board the Disney Wonder and start our Alaskan cruise.

It seems as if it was many months ago when I booked this trip and it would never arrive – at least one of us (Ryan) was doing a daily countdown and reminding us of how many days we had left.

For a change I am leaving with peace of mind as I did everything that was on my “to do list” for work, VCI-Group and personally. Not only that I have advised everyone of what was important and needed to be focused on for the next week and a half.

I am looking forward to Pike’s Street Market, the Space Needle and just getting a flavor of Seattle tomorrow. And then to two days on ship where we can take advantage of what the ship has to offer; exercising at the gym, walking on the ship, seeing the shows, watching Ryan greet the Disney characters and just generally relaxing.

This is a short one this week – just to let you know that there will be no blog next week, July 29th as I will be in Vancouver enjoying high tea with Ryan at the Victorian Hotel and our last night on the cruise before we head home on Monday morning.

I hope you all enjoy the week – I will fill you in on all my adventures on August 5th.

Bon Voyage.

Re-Charge My Batteries

I am feeling as if I do not have enough time and/or energy and I need to put some batteries in my body so that I can make it through to next Sunday.

This past week has been hectic and I have to admit that I just did 2 hours worth of work before sitting down and writing this blog – that does not include the hectic messages sent this morning between two of my colleagues and myself.

I am trying to not hyperventilate or get stressed out – I am focusing on putting items down on a list and stealthily getting through them – as I also sit down and count the days left to next Sunday at 9:15AM when I will be on a flight to Seattle and to our Alaskan Disney cruise.

Whoever stated that things get slower during the summer???? Not for me, I had one person transferred to my department, I had a new hire start on Tuesday and I have interviewed and made an offer to another individual who I hope will begin on August 14th. That should make my life simpler – YES – in the long run; but, at the beginning it is my job to
1. ensure that they get acclimated to the Health System,
2. have a good understanding of the objectives of the department,
3. are introduced to key individuals in the department and our clients;
4. and, most importantly get them started on their projects.

It breaks my heart that I need people to come in and swim – FAST – there is no time to tread water here. I wish they had the luxury that I did a year ago when things were slower; but, we have too many deliverables at this time to let it happen.

Tomorrow we begin training the Health System on our web ex and IM connect services. We have been working on this for months and the day has finally arrived. We will be conducting training for the next three weeks as each week we provide a different group of individuals with their accounts. I can tell you I am a bit “spreadsheet” out from transferring information for billing, bulk uploads, etc. But, I am excited that it is finally occurring and teams will be able to work, communicate and collaborate instantaneously.

We are also working on the completion of our Executive offices in New York City. We continue to make recommendations to ensure that this facility will have all the technology that is needed to successfully manage the Health System. Touring this facility is like doing a final home inspection before you close – items keep being pointed out that need to be fixed or added; at this point we must have placed at least 8 change orders.

Yesterday I focused on vacation. I have packed all of Ryan’s clothing, sunglasses, goggles and shoes. I ironed all my clothes and folded them – I do have to review everything as I am unsure if I have too many clothes. I haven’t packed underwear, workout clothes, bathing suit or shoes – that is next. I did make our car service reservations and I have all of our paper work to place in my carry-on bag.

This week I need to set up my on line bill payments while I am away, suspend the newspapers, ask a friend to pick up my mail and get the lab orders from my Doctor so I can have my blood work done when I get back from vacation.

Also, for Visual Communications Industry Group (VCI-G) I want to make sure that the three Vendors I have been working with commit this week to their Membership; and, potentially to a sponsorship. If I can get that done I will be quite satisfied and then when I come back it will be to finalize the conference program and start the process of getting that information out to potential attendees.

I know that you can each empathize; and, can totally understand why I am looking for a couple of extra hours a day or for batteries to provide a "charge" in my body to keep myself going for the remainder of the week.

But, it is all GOOD and this too shall pass.

A Perfect Weekend

How often do your weekends turn out to be perfect? Not likely – BUT I just had a perfect weekend. And I will cherish it as who knows when the next one will be.

Now you may think that my perfect weekend would be full of activities; like dining, the theatre, going away or any multitude of things – BUT, my perfect weekend is none of that.

This weekend was full of exercising and really pushing my body to its limit – I did my High Intensity Performance class on Friday – it lasts for 30 minutes of pretty much non-stop exercising. It is done by the Parisi School and my friend, Linda is now joining me at these classes. I also took my 2011 CRV for its 15,000 mile checkup (although it has 17,500 miles) and am actually looking to see if I could trade this lease for a 2012 CRV – have you seen them??? It is gorgeous – so hopefully the numbers will work out and I can do the trade.

I finished a spreadsheet for our Web Ex and Instant Messaging program and got that off to our service provider. I am hoping that after my boss conducts an interview on Monday morning I can make an offer for my Video Architect role.

I also sent a message to my travel agent to see if we were able to get first seating for dinner on our cruise; and, we are in luck as YES we got early seating. I also ordered and printed our tickets for the Space Needle in Seattle. Lastly, this morning I stopped by Barnes and Noble and purchased a travel book on Seattle so that I would have a map and know where we wanted to go on the afternoon/morning that we will be there. Friday evening as I watched the Yankees SLAM the Red Sox I got my clothes ready for the next couple of weeks as next weekend I want to focus on putting my and Ryan’s clothes together for vacation.

Saturday is my aqua aerobics class with Abby – and my bigger surprise was that John, my boyfriend was going to stop by that morning. I would be home by 10:30 or a little later as I had a quick errand to run on my way home. It was supposed to be very hot on Saturday with predictions of us hitting 100 degrees. I was hoping to lie out in the backyard for a couple of hours and try to get a tan – my legs are fairly light for it being July. John got here at noon; but, couldn’t stay long as he had a family commitment but the time together was wonderful. But, wouldn’t you know it – the sky got darker; and, then the downpour. Back in May I had DVRd the last Harry Potter movie. I got to see it and I was able to close that chapter. And last night while watching the Yankees lose to the Red Sox (they did win earlier in the day) I cleaned out my linen closet. I realized that I do not need to buy any more travel size deodorant or toothpaste; I have plenty of dental floss and soap. Good to know that I will ensure that my breath is fresh and I will smell clean.

Today was Zumba class and our instructor was Kathy M. She has high energy and totally pushes you to the ultimate. What a workout – as usual I was soaking wet; but liking the fact that I might not have to slice my hips off that they are naturally becoming slimmer.

Home from Zumba and I was able to watch my DVRd CBS Sunday morning and then I was going to lie out in the backyard. I did – put out a towel on the chaise lounge, put on my sun lotion, took out my seltzer and my books – I lasted a total of 45 minutes as it was hot. I was very tempted to inflate and fill up the kiddie pool I have for the boys and get into it; but, thought my neighbors might commit me if I did.

Back in the house to post for my niece the fact that she is making a major push to sell Cutco this month. She is hoping to make her $10,000 mark so that she can make the conference and get her award there. So any of you who would like some Cutco just let me know and I can put you in touch with Siobhan. I can also endorse the product as I have just about every piece that they make. Let me know if you are interested and need her email address.

I watched the movie, “The Help” – again one that I had DVRd over a month ago but had not had time to see – I am now caught up on all the movies I was interested in. Lastly, I had a surprise call from my best friend, Pat. She starts her new job tomorrow and I am so happy and proud of her to be staring this new venture. I know that she will be fantastic at it.

What more can you ask for? To have been connected to friends, family and significant other and to still do those things that you enjoy.

So I won’t be greedy and ask for more; but, instead will say “Thank You” for the wonderful weekend.