Well folks, I finally made it home and am happy to say that my feet will be firmly planted on the ground for three whole months. I just got back from Portland on Friday and little later than expected but home nonetheless. It was one of those flights where we backed up from the gate and the pilot comes on and says a 'light' is on so they had to call the mechanics. Turns out the engine was (and I quote here) "broken" so we had to pull the plane back into the gate and they didn't know whether to cancel the flight or fly in a part from Seattle. We all got off the plane and formed a line at the check-in desk to be rerouted on to different flights. After about two hours, they suddenly said they had it fixed - Viola! So, most of us got back on the plane and made it in a few hours late.
I have so many stories to share from my week in Portland, I don't even know where to begin. The weather was beautiful when I arrived and I had an awesome view of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood from my hotel balcony. It was beautiful for three days and then it rained for four days in a row. I spent Saturday afternoon at
Portland's Saturday Market. It was very neat and I could have spent a lot of money there. I ended up buying a handmade fleece coat with puppy dogs on it for Meredith.
Part of my job involves hiring temporary staff to help in registration, watch meeting rooms, etc. Well, I had no idea if one of my workers was a man or woman. The name was Sharra leading me to believe that it was a woman but I just didn't know for two whole days. This person had a buzz cut, voice that could go either way, a body that looked like It's Pat (an old SNL skit from around 1990). On the last day of the event, she (yes she!) was talking about how she was in the ladies room and another woman in there pointed her in the direction of the mens room across the hall. I couldn't even imagine! She was joking about it and was saying she had to get lifters for her boobs. I'm sure she's well aware that she looks like a man - thus the reason why she was joking about it. I was just glad the gender mystery was solved because I accidentally referred to her as a 'she' in front of her before I knew she was a she and I would have been mortified if she turned out to be a he.
Some may think I'm a bitch for this but I was in Starbucks one morning and there was a man in there with his miniature pinscher. I went up to the counter and asked if they allowed animals in the store. They said only service animals and I kind of snorted and said that I really didn't think that this man had a service animal. They proceeded to go over to him and ask him to take the dog out. I just don't understand why some owners of lap dogs think they can take their animals in wherever they want - especially in an establishment that serves food. That's just gross. There was a mall across the street from my hotel that had a sign saying that dogs were not allowed there except for people bringing them into portrait studios (and service animals of course).
I had a great Mother's Day. Thanks Greg and Meredith for the great gifts.
We played around.
Some kitty lovin'. This is odd because whenever Tabitha comes anywhere near her coloring book, she has a fit but she was just dishing out the kisses today.
Check out this wispy hair. She is nowhere near ready for a haircut but it looks like a mop. I guess I just need to have it grow out a little more. She's really working towards a nice mullet.
We had to keep telling her that she couldn't touch the butterflies.
I thought the Panormous was supposed to look like this: 
