whose child created the interstate/road system in houston anyhoo?

wednesday morning, i had to get up early so that i could get some creamer for coffee. i spent the morning taking pictures of receipts and making some changes in plans...instead of staying in town-ish on friday, i was going to be flying to houston for a different training. that evening i messaged an old high school friend from HONDURAS, who now lives in houston to see if there might be a possibility of getting together...the response was overwhelmingly positive! once i arrived, i was going to meet up with her and friend/s for dinner, and then spend the night at her place. something to look forward to (apart from the training itself).

and now let me back up. that afternoon i was fortunate enough to participate in (and by participate, i mean listen in) on a live webinar. i'd listened to most of the recorded webinars, so it was especially fun to listen to one live! lori does a great job with these-very animated. in fact, i was thinking at one point that she would be a great d.j. and if she d.j.'d for a station that played music i enjoyed, i'd totally listen to the traffic-talk...but then of COURSE she'd be a d.j. for music i enjoy...right? and if not, i'd call in and say, "hey! play music i like, or i will have to switch stations!" 

so the plan was to get to houston around 7:05 and meet indi at the restaurant, but alas, my flight was cancelled and i rescheduled for the later flight. i didn't arrive until late, and they were done with dinner by that point, so i must made my way to her place, and when i arrived, it was a little dark, but i was pretty sure i was at the correct address, so i called, and she told me to meet her at her house. i told her i had arrived, but wasn't sure which house, or where to park, then turned the car lights back on. she said, "oh! it's you! i'm in the truck in the driveway, park under that tree!" (which is exactly where i was!) and before i knew it there was a figure running down the middle of the road, and i couldn't get out of the car fast enough!! good thing it was 11:20 and there were no cars in sight, because there was a huge embrace in the middle of the street! it was SOOOO great to finally get to see each other in person after all these years! we went in and i got to see the beautiful remodel, and i unofficially met her sleeping son-meaning: don't wake a sleeping football player who needs to get up early!

photo cred-indira selfies! has it really been so long??? 91 seems forever ago! but at the same time like just yesterday!

between her looking for a letter that she'd written, and grabbing some water, we got to talk and catch up before crashing on a most comfortable bed! i really wish we'd had more time because we barely got to the tip of the iceberg! i've missed this girl-nothing is quite as comfortable than being with friends that you've grown up with and known for ages-and that was exactly how i felt! thank you indi for just being you! can't wait to see you again!! the alarm didn't go off at 5:15, but i am light-sensitive and my body has this internal clock thing, so at 6:10-ish, i checked my clock because i could feel the sun coming up, and i jumped out of bed and was thankful that i had packed the way i did, because my outfit for the day was all rolled up and all i had to do was pull it out, put on some mascara and pee....then i threw everything into the carry-on and rushed downstairs, and gave indira a huge hug and goodbye, again,wishing i had more time! (never long enough)...and then i sped off to try to avoid traffic!

let me just say that i hate the routes in houston...i missed a turn and had to reroute more than once...it seemed to me as if some children had been asked to join the planning team and been given the task of drawing some roads and then the engineers looked and said, "it is good" and began to draw up construction designs...for real though. yikes.
         
and then some of the drivers...lets not even go there.

but i did make it to the training on schedule, and was thrilled when sabrina pulled up! this meant i was in the right place, and she hadn't given me a bogus address just to pull my leg! good way to start!

we chatted for awhile as we waited for the unlocking of the doors so that we could make our grand entrance. upon entering, we put our stuff down, i found the perfect place from which to observe and take notes. there was a spattering of participants settling in, so while she was working with the projector and sound system, sabrina asked me to pass out several handouts--my workout for the day. (working out my fingers-counting pages and meticulously maneuvering the phalanges as to not acquire any paper cuts-mission accomplished!) 

i thoroughly enjoyed observing sabrina, and seeing how she runs her training. it was very fitting. she did a great job keeping the crowd engaged and having them jump right in! very personable, and comfortable with the crowd. it really was a great group that showed up for the training, especially considering that it was the last friday of their summer break! the best part was hearing some of them say that it was so great to finally get training, as they have been using the program, but had never really had training, and it was more or less a compliance-thing.

lunch was lovely- due to the fact that we were pretty 'out-there' and we weren't sure what was going to be available, we looked on 'aroundme' and found a denny's--but it started to seem very far, and sabrina was cool with whatever, so at one point i said, "how 'bout we stop at the second restaurant we see from here?!" she was game, so we ended up at sonic-when in doubt, a route 44 goes a long way #comfortdrinks

i loved the drive because it was 'get-to-know-you-better' time. i love that she is so tight with her family and loves them so much! proud mama, with every reason!

great trainer-i see friendship in our future!

sporting the hawaiian shirt she purchased for her son-which i really think she might have to rethink and keep for herself-it's totally her color! 

the after-lunch crowd is always a doozy-same crowd, carb-loaded...snoozy.(as after-lunch p.d. always is because no one builds naptime into the agenda these days...) so it took some work to get past that initial after-lunch zombie-state, but once she got to the goal-setting, people started to perk up because this is something they were really interested in...well, most people...of course there is always that one table (there was at my school too!) and yes, this was no exception-the "we-didn't-go-over-that" table...and of course i looked at my notes and, yep, verbatim, we had gone over that...and of course that table gets the looks from everyone else, nodding their heads and saying, um..yes..we did..i know. sometimes it's hard to listen and multi-task at the same time, and it was ok, because they already knew the information; they were just doing their job of being the reminders to make sure that we went over it.

once all was said and done, i'd gotten answers to my questions, and after getting a couple of pictures, we parted ways. i loved observing sabrina, and i'm sure i'd pick up something new each time. i had to take off to make sure that i arrived at the airport in time to return my rental.

on the way back, part of the route was toll. i wasn't sure exactly how to do this, i should've asked prior to departure...when i saw the sign that said: LAST EXIT BEFORE TOLL, EZTAG ONLY/VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED...what does that even mean? prosecuted? sounds awfully harsh! water boarding... bamboo shoots/fingernails...why can't they just say you'll get a bill in the mail? (?) so i got on the service road and the lady in my phone maps kept trying to get me prosecuted! so i pulled over to a gas station, worrying about my time, and finally called the car rental to ask them about all of this toll-shenanigans...they set me straight, and basically said i was equipped  my car was equipped with tags on the plates, and to just roll on through, they'd send a bill...and i'm sure they will. so i did just that, and please let me tell you that the trip from our training site to the airport was where my child-map theory came from. i mean...it was ri-di-cu-lous!! puh-lease. but eventually i did make it to the airport and realized that my flight was actually an hour later than what i thought...this was good, because it meant i had time to grab some grub-thank you, peppercorn ranch burger, you blessed me more than you know. (burrgers, burgers-i think my life is about finding the perfect burger).

once i landed in dallas, i was driving home at 9 pm, thinking, "welp, everyone else is just leaving home to enjoy their friday night, and here i am ready to go home and settle in!" also in my thoughts was that my friend b.mayes was at the dixie chicks concert in dallas! (jealous) and i later saw on facebook that my boss was there as well, enjoying the festivities! (hope she doesn't mind the reference as boss, it's just so much shorter than the vice president of professional development...lookin' at you, lori!) and then of course i thought what if they were sitting near each other...then i saw something about hatin' on the karaoke-ers and immediately hoped they were nowhere near each other. not that i think bmayes would've involved herself in too much crazy loudness...or would she?

it's good to get home to the boys-i'm certain they were sad while i was gone, but they were immediately excited to see me when i walked in the door...too bad i couldn't say the same for the flowers...

up early-ish for breakfast at breadwinners at northpark, because that's what you do when friends are in town! it was great to meet sarah and her friend as well. it's always good to catch up, and there was a lot of catching up to do! something fun- b and sarah stayed at the double tree, and saw the istation building! (i mean, not as fun as like..a ferris wheel, or pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey fun, but it's all relative!) on the way home, i found myself behind this car, and i couldn't help but think that it looked like a character in a video game that lost a life//game over...

note the Xs in the eyes...

the rest of the day was somewhat productive...wait that was today...i meant for today to be much more productive! the most productive thing i did today was finish another letter and receive a call from sheryl who had just received a letter! (we never know how long it's going to take for international mail to reach its destination!) and talks with sheryl are always animated-touching base with her is always enlightening, and they change quickly, especially when you have teenagers! love the real friends who never change, just the circumstances...the love is always there #thosefriends

so tomorrow i will wake up early, as i am going to be taking off on the 1:00...so i need to get to bed!

sleep with the angels (many of you probably already are)
julie

if i'd had a compass and the coordinates, it would've been no big deal.

well. i'm back. i have not given up, i have just been a bit busy. thanks for waiting around!

to explain what happened today, i have to go all the way back to saturday. so, saturday we had an awesome day working in the garden at our school. it was a big deal because we wanted to make sure it was ready for them to work and learn in. (ok, major thrust to get it done because our Real School Gardens trainers are coming on Wednesday, and we needed it to not look totally in shambles. heaven forbid they call the 'garden cps' on us). 

so, yeah, some weeds had taken over 

teamwork is so much quicker and better than solo work!

look at all of those weeds!!! and that is only the first wheel barrow-ful!

i had gone out a few weeks earlier and spent about an hour and barely finished weeding one bed (not nearly as well as it should have been), and by the end of that time, i was drenched and thought i might pass out. so i was thrilled when 11 of our finest showed up at school to pitch in and give it the ol' team effort! linda's banana cake and the pizza made it all worthwhile, the weather was amazing, plus, i had some great conversations!

the best part is that it looks amazing! looking forward to the cabbage, broccoli, cilantro and garlic that will be joining us soon.

well, i thought it would be good to write thank you notes, so i decided to go up to school early this morning to put them into boxes. on the way to school i had to get fuel and a diet coke. so i stopped at the 7-11 around the corner. then i headed to the school and dropped off my notes and stopped in my room to look up the address one last time. when i got into my car i realized that my phone was not on my hip...uhoh. i thought i had brought it from home. so i looked through my bags and did not locate it.

hmm. i had planned to use the nav system on my phone...it's ok, i took a pic of the directions just in case i lost the signal...oh, guess what it's on the phone...so i went back to the apt to look for it. not in the 3 most likely places i had remembered seeing it earlier. not there. so i went to the 7-11 and the girl at the counter said no one had turned it in, and gave me that 'if-i-didn't-have-17-people-in-line-right-now,-i'd mourn-with-you' look. so i pulled out and decided i remembered just enough of the directions to get there.

well, the truth is: i knew just enough of the directions to get lost and frustrated.for those of you familiar with dallas...the numbers 121, and 114 stuck in my head, so i set off on my venture to the west with about an hour to spare. i was feeling like i had gone a little too far south, so i pulled off to a gas station, because all attendants know the area, and are super helpful, right? well...as a matter of fact, that would be FALSE. 

i purchased a map (for 9.98) and went up to the counter and opened it up and asked the lady where we were and how to get to keller. she folded it back up and scanned it as if she hadn't understood what i wanted (she was a foreigner, but i couldn't understand the accent, and her hair was dyed red, so i don't think she was really irish....); i opened the map back up and looked at her and asked if she knew where keller was and she said no. so i stepped outside and there was a guy out at his big construction truck. 

he wasn't a map-guy either...although he was able to point to keller...good job, big guy. i just needed to know where we were because i DO know how to read a map (we actually did that when i was in social studies class in elementary school); i'm telling you, kids need map skills...adults too. so i got back into my car and my clock was ticking at this point. so i got back onto the interstate, and went back to 635, unfortunately my map wasn't complete-it was mostly fort worth...so when i came south again on 121, i actually went through the dfw airport and exited down south. so i took another exit and decided to get off and try another filling station. this time, there was a young man at the counter-also not from around here. he said, "keller?" and he looked at the frito-lay guy who was stocking the shelf for a little think-pair-share, and that guy had a blank look. c'mon frito-lay guy! you deliver stuff, you should know the area. so finally i just asked the kid where i was, and he said, "irving." great.

at one point i was pretty sure i was glad that there was no one else in my car with me because the thoughts in my head were coming out of my mouth, and it wasn't pretty. (i'm glad there was no speaker on the top of my car like the old, old orange crush commercial). and at about the time i realized how frustrated i was, i had to remind myself of what maria reminds us every once in awhile: why get mad? there's nothing you can do about it; it won't change anything. so true. so true.

as natalie so eloquently put it: i took a tour of the major dallas suburbs today...not on purpose...people without phones are probably the most likely to suffer from road rage.

so i got into my car again and this time i stared at my map for a minute and looked for a cross road 1709 looked good. all i knew was that i needed to be going west first, so i kept the sun to my back and took off. i was so frustrated with all of those cars poking along...without a care in the world...80 would be good here, folks. so interestingly enough, when i finally found 1709, i was able to cut across 3 lanes in time to make a graceful exit. i figured i would eventually find keller parkway-even though it wasn't on my map. 

as i was driving, i noticed kimball. guess where i'd seen that street before. it was the first exit i stopped at the first time around, only a bit further south. if i'd known and simply taken it all the way up, i would've been early to my workshop. as i drove, i noticed, i had passed from euless into southlake. then before i knew it, i saw keller signs. i was in keller! i looked at the road sign, and it had turned from 1709 to southwest pkwy to keller pkwy...i mean, why not? then i saw an address close to what i was looking for, only on the wrong side of the road, so i had to make a u-turn-then i drove right past the place i needed to be, so i had to make two more u-turns to get back to the parking lot, which was full.

yes, there are three u-turns in there, and one of them may have had revving of engine and squealing of tires

it didn't look like a building that would host this training, but i asked a lady carrying a bag of ice across the parking lot and she said it was. when i got upstairs, fortunately i recognized one of the reps, and after i explained why i was an hour late, she said let me get you situated and get you a diet coke. soothing words. 

what a great training! at about noon, natalie showed up, and she, maria and i went to fuzzy's for a little-too-much lunch. on the way back from lunch, i was recounting-to natalie- my story of what had happened. at the end i was saying i really thought the phone was lost, but that i needed to stop by school to check and see if it had fallen in my room or something, otherwise i was going to need to purchase another one. at that point maria did her sales pitch for the iphone, and i said i would probably get a samsung like natalie's-i like my android. to which natalie responded, that she liked hers and probably didn't use it to its full capacity.

so we had an entire conversation revolving around my missing phone making me an hour late to the workshop and very frustrated.

when we got inside and linda had arrived at our table, she said, so you got your phone?

what? how did she know about my phone? linda looked at natalie, natalie looked at me, and then she said (mind you AFTER that whole phone conversation)...."oh yeah, i forgot to tell you, linda has your phone." as linda was handing me the phone. it had actually fallen in the room, and one of our other coaches found it and sent it with linda. what a relief! obviously someone had other things on her mind. smile.

i got home much more quickly, and i know i will be early tomorrow because guess what. they have croissants-real ones, not pillsbury...although those aren't bad either-bacon and scrambled eggs. tomorrow will be a good day. today was a good day, but tomorrow will be even better!