hatch chili's-they'll do one of two things (besides just clear your sinuses!)

alrighty then, i slept well, and was up early enough to enjoy the little breakfast area. i wasn't expecting too much, so when the girls arrived we looked over the breakfast bar, and it was good. i may have copied sabrina's biscuit/egg/sausage option and it was satisfying. from there, always a necessity: starbucks to start the day right. it always helps set the mood and pace of the day!

as fate would have it, we arrived at the location where they had the previous training, but there was no one there (a hotel meeting room), cue a frantic trail of calls to find out where the location was to be for today, as it was not in any of the emails, nor was it on their training site page...uh oh. panic...not sure how many numbers or persons were talked to (lost count) before receiving a text from the appropriate person. all i can say is that it is certainly a good idea to be early (as we were), and only minutes from the new location. no worries, a little shot of adrenaline is good for the body! lots of breathing and thinking... we were still early and sabrina and julie k were quick to set up, each jumping into action, doing what they do, like a well-oiled machine!

when it was time to begin, there was a pretty full room! they were very organized and helpful at the sign-in table, and they had more coffee. good sign. projector-check! mic-check (for now)! computers and internet-check! finding the right dongle...check! posters up-check! quick trip to the bathroom-check!

and so it began. with every training, there is bound to be a naysayer, at least at the beginning. most of the time, they just need reassurance, and to be able to see the benefit...and so we had ours. and of course, they wrote questions they had on post its so they could be addressed...and it used to bother me in our meetings and trainings when i felt that people weren't listening (i.e. cutting things, knitting...the like) but i've come to realize that sometimes it's the doing something with your hands that helps you focus...(not you, reader, but if you are knitting right now, not even offended). it's the sleepers you have to worry about (and we had one of those, bless her heart).

so, yes, the best thing you can do when you have a knitter is compliment them on their knitting, whether they're your colors, or not! the hat came along really well! in fact, she said she could teach me...

the mic was a little finicky. at first, it was doing really well, but then satan possessed it (i don't know how else to describe the shrill shrieking). and once that happened, sabrina had to be contained in her own little invisible box- i was hoping at one point that she'd come out of the box to wake up the sleeper. as i was getting ready to go to the back of the room (bouncer, crowd control), i saw her head bob, and her eyes peeked open, so i took advantage of it and leaned down as i was walking by, and said something to the effect of, "are you getting some valuable information?!" and from that point, she sat up a little straighter, and started looking at her neighbor's table. good times.

nobody puts baby in the corner! unless you're in farmington at this facility, then sometimes you have to put baby in the corner...

in the initial introduction, sabrina named us julie 1 and julie 2, and that was how the participants began referring to us as well-comical, i tell ya! it was good to be back with the participants to answer questions that came up throughout, and they had some good questions, so that was fun. one group was getting a little loud in the back, so i did the whole teacher-proximity thing, and when sabrina said something pertinent, i mean all of it was, but at this point, i knew a couple of the tables around them were unable to hear what was being said, so i addressed them, as they were talking about something non-relevant, and said, "hey, i'm not sure if you heard what she just said, but [repeat what was said]" and they returned to the training at hand. and before we knew it, it was lunch time!

now, i will say this, i had early warning about the seriousness of the hatch chili in these parts...new mexico ain't playin' around. the eatery was a really quaint little joint-very comfortable. the food-not comfort food, unless your stomach is lined with cast iron. so yes, it went kinda' like this:

straight up, enough to put hair on your chest or turn you into one of daenerys targaryen's dragons...and since i am not about to depict a hairy chest-ew, we're going with dragon. (sabrina, you can thank me later for that!)

 fortunately the server saw that it was not being consumed, and brought the tomato fennel soup, which was delicious! so he earned his tip! it really was a cute little place, as i said before-

upon our return, thankfully siesta is not a part of this culture, and everyone was on task as we really got into the reports and looking at their own information, resources, etc. by the end of the session, great reviews, and it never ceases to make me smile when "that one person" comes up and says, "yes, this was great! i was angry when i arrived because i HAD to use this, and now i'm actually really excited to use what i've learned!" yep, loving it! and as participants were leaving a couple favorites said: julie1 and julie2, like thing one and thing two! #tshirtsinthemaking?

so once all was said and done, we made our way back to albuquerque, with mario andretti at the wheel, we were going to make up time we didn't even realize we had to make up!!

a little more to finish up tomorrow-
ju1

driving, hoteling and hot tubbing...none of these things should be for children...

so...let us continue. i arrived at the airport and met julie k prior to the flight-going through security was a beast-dfw was terrible at this particular time, and add to it, the tsa agent made everyone go to one lane, but then people started getting in the other line---so i was watching people who were like 5 or 6 behind me going through the scanner, and i was not happy. jerks. so i muttered under my breath...and made it know to my inner imaginary friend that i was indeed pissed.

when i finally got through, ju had already gone to the bathroom, taken a nap, played a game of scrabble with another traveler...okay, maybe she just went to the bathroom, but still... we grabbed a snack for lunch, and then it wasn't long until we boarded.

on the plane, i had an aisle and an empty middle seat-which was pleasant. once we arrived, sabrina was waiting with the car. thankfully she was feeling a smidge better (kinda ?) than on saturday. and we were off on our drive to farmington-about 3 plus hour drive. and while it was quite a drive, the entertainment was priceless. albuquerque is endlessly brown. 1001 shades of brown and rather depressing. and that's not including the buildings and homes-which i was informed were brown due to city ordinance-to blend in with the surroundings. i mean, i never really thought brown was a beautiful color before albuquerque...come to think of it, i still don't! so there you have it, blending in is highly over-rated!

there were patches of 'pretty' as we got closer to farmington, but we weren't really holding our breath. what can i say about the actual travel to farmington that would be of interest and not censored...hmm...entertaining would be way too simple. these two and their stories and reenactments! some great songs-black velvet is always better when you have your own set of lyrics...and then there was the platypus song-a little more of a nursery rhyme-ish meets hip hop meets 8th grade....yup. but seriously, what kind of animal is this strange ball of fur with webbed feet and a bill? and i've yet to see the dance, as dancing in the car is hazardous to everyone's health. somehow julie had burned her hand (that's a story for her to tell), but for whatever reason, she blamed me-and kept pointing it out at various points throughout the trip-stopped feeling bad for her about the 918th time. own it, ju2.

when we actually arrived (sabrina got us there safely-thanks for driving!) with the navigation of julie k, we stopped first at the outback, as it was right in front of the hotel. i got out, and cursed my sweater-that one is going to have to either be worn with jeans, or donated to goodwill, because it sheds fuzzies all over my leggings-no bueno. i felt like a lamb. back to the outback, we were seated, and the server had the personality of a carrot. no eye contact-probably intimidated by our beauty (usually the case).  the food was great- salmon, chicken, soups- haven't been to an outback since heartlight! we then stopped at the store to grab some water and what-not, and ju amused herself at the checkout with the amazing sensor at the end-had we not had places to be (namely the hotel hot tub), she might have stayed there all night volunteering to bag, just in order to play with the sensor! silly charlie, you could lose a kidney like that, too close to the candy mountain aisle!

woah! ya'll check this out!! 

we were warmly welcomed- they even knew our code name:

and they are child-friendly which we would really 'appreciate' later...they even have a play area; apparently miley inspired...curious as to how many came in like a wrecking ball...

proximity of quarters were not in the cards-fortunately it was a relatively small hotel. so i dropped my stuff off, and made my way back to the gals' room and we gathered up the hot tub necessities. that was when i heard the finished rendition of black velvet-with passion. it was impressive-these two...like i said before: lyrical geniuses. we took our stuff outside, because we were welcomed by the screaming yelps of over a dozen children with a few parental figures in sight. so we took a minute to get ready, then went toward the hot tub, and there was someone in there at first (a lady with three kiddos), so we asked if she minded if we turned on the jets-okay. so it was and we got in! and they got out. good, good...i'm pretty sure ju was reading the rules out loud- no children under 16... so yes, we were in for awhile-more laughing, more re-enacting, more stories, sabrina putting on a little show with her suit-which neither ju nor i were able to duplicate...there was envy. but of primary importance-relaxing. after a bit, it was time to get out and cool off for a few minutes, so we went back to our area and relaxed-leaving the door cracked with a boulder. the towels to dry off were about big enough for a five year old to be comfortable with. ju and sabrina were smart-they tied theirs together and got more coverage-which was nice for outside, as the temps had dropped a bit. while outside, we tried to think of different ways to help thin the number of obnoxious children...

we returned to the hot tub once more for a few minutes before heading back up. one of the topics we broached was the online dating-and would i think about it...hmm. i've been asked this before, so i may be at the point of giving in-these people are breaking me. it was a really sweet and thoughtful way to approach it. i'm not saying never-it's just not how i ever imagined that i would meet 'the' right guy.

we went back up with our belongings, and then sabrina called it a night (she had some rest to catch up on, if you remember, saturday she wasn't great, well, still not a hundred percent), so julie and i went downstairs and before i knew it-life story (mine); it was actually a good conversation, but it was soon time to shut down shop and get sleep. i actually slept fairly well-the air-conditioner fan stayed on all night-life was good! i went to sleep flattered that these two were willing to allow me to appreciate the seldom-seen-by-outsiders fun that they have together.

black velvet-make your own lyrics!
julie