6710 Grand

March 13, 2017 9:45 PM I was on my own for dinner tonight.  Our Business Policy paper is due Friday and I have been tasked with the final edits.  We leave for Germany tomorrow and I am hoping to get some time with the team on the plane so we can tie up loose ends, make final edits and still have time to finish up our individual papers. I went to The Good Burger when I was FINALLY hungry again.  After our insane lunch, I wasn’t sure it would ever happen.  It was definitely a step up from Burger King that first night, but I’ve had enough authentic food that I don’t feel guilty just getting something quick.  It saved me from yet another night of shopping of places that could be found in the King of Prussia Mall and I easily avoided the drunk fest that I’m convinced is happening with some of my classmates—it’s just not my thing.  I told myself I’d go to bed early, but here it is just after 10 and I’m still wide awake.  We leave for Germany tomorrow and I’m sad to leave Spain.  I’v

March 12, 2017 7:25 AM, Madrid After a fairly restful night, I’m up and ready for coffee.  I’m going for a short run to the Starbucks…except it doesn’t open for another hour!  What’s a gal gotta do to get a cup of coffee in the AM around here?  This is the first hotel since the Waldorf where I haven’t had a coffee pot in my room.  Hopefully the hotel breakfast will do, though those tiny cups are never enough. Breakfast did not disappoint.  It was a buffet, but none like I’d ever seen.  Meats and cheeses, fruits and some kind of yogurt-like substance, pastries, bread and fresh eggs if you wanted them.  And the coffee!  I have decided that I do like Spanish coffee!  It’s thick and rich but not bitter.  I’m re-thinking my earlier impressions of Spain.  We’ll see how long it lasts.  Off to Mass—I haven’t been in years but the words and the ritual never really leave you. Church today was beautiful.  The shortest Mass I’ve ever been to but still beautiful.  It’s been decades

As part of my EMBA, our cohort went on an international residency to Madrid and Munich.  It was such an adventure.  As part of my assignment and course requirements, I kept a journal.  Some of it is dreadfully boring but I did want to share a few snippets.  I hope you enjoy. March 11, 2016 8:46 PM, Madrid I’m certain I could never live in Spain.  At least not in Madrid.  I’m lying in bed, fighting to stay awake to adjust my body clock after a very long two days of travel and touring.  I’m not the only member of the team who opted to spend the evening alone but we are few.  I’m not one for late nights.  Always a morning person, I hope to be up tomorrow by 6am—and that’s sleeping in! What threw me most today was the lateness to which people start an evening.  Restaurants aren’t open until 8pm.  Most of the group went to a bar and then out to dinner.  After these long days, I knew I wouldn’t last and would be looking for an excuse to leave and come back to the hotel.  I’d onl

Nick and I have started watching a show on Netflix called Life Below Zero .  It’s about people who live a subsistence lifestyle in remote areas of Alaska.  It something we like to watch while we’re enjoying a luxurious, civilized, lifestyle—cozied up on our couch, soaking in our hot tub, curled up in our California King sized bed.  It reminds us of how good we have it, how amazing our life is.  That, and we’ve always toyed with the idea of moving to Alaska.  We’re not social people.  We kind of like each other and that’s it.  We joke all the time about how we’d really rather not have to deal with anyone but each other (ok, the kids too).  It’s a little strange given the line of work we’re in.  He deals directly with customers (passengers) and my job is all about relationship building.  Maybe that’s why, when we’re home, we just don’t want people around.  There are usually four people/couples/family in a given episode (they rotate a bit so you get a full story on everyone)—the Ha

I really love books.  It's actually kind of ridiculous.  I don't buy a lot of them (well, sometimes I do).  Other people give them as gifts but I get a lot from the library.  It's caused a bit of strife in my marriage because they're just...EVERYWHERE!  I generally read three or four at a time and try to finish at least two books a week.  But I have sort of strange requirements when it comes to books.  I like to have hard cover books for the treadmill.  It's easier to prop them open while I run.  I use binder clips and rubberbands to hold my pages.  I like to have a large paperback up in my room because I like to read while I'm drying my hair in the morning (it's a lot of hair).  A big enough paperback will hold itself open and I don't have to resort to a balancing act with my phone or the nearby candle.  I'm not above doing this but it has resulted in at least one broken candle and near misses with my phone in the toilet.  I listen to audio books in

I've had a series of ailments lately.  In December I started getting these terribly persistent headaches that just would not go away.  No amount of over the counter pain meds would put so much as a dent in them.  Having spent so much time in the presence of seriously ill children, my imagination would run wild and suddenly it's not a headache--it's a brain tumor, an aneurysm, a blood clot.  After 6 days, I went to the hospital. "Are you under stress?" "Well, let me see--I just started a new job, it's Christmas Eve, my in-laws are visiting, I'm a mother of 3, my husband travels four days a week and I'm smack in the middle of graduate school.  Sure, I'm stressed.  Who isn't?" They scanned my brain (no tumor or anything else alarming) pumped me full of steroids and sent me home.  By morning, it was gone.  It's come back 4 times since and though each headache has stuck around longer, they've gotten much milder.  This past Tu

I'm not sick.  I don't suffer from seasonal allergies.  I do occasionally sneeze.  It's funny--lately I've noticed that I sneeze after I've overeaten.  If only it would happen about 15 minutes earlier I might be able to use it as a weight loss tool. Some people have tiny sneezes that sound more like the squeak of a mouse.  Others (like my dad) have a more horn-blowing sneeze (sorry dad!).  I don't have one of those violent sneezes that can take down a building.  They don't come on so suddenly that it's a shock--I usually look fairly ridiculous but am able to grab a tissue or cover my mouth and nose with something.  There's almost always more than one and I'm generally prepared for a series of 2-5 sneezes in a row. My point is, they're not monumental. I'd be willing to bet that you sneeze too--maybe not in the overeating prevention (or lack of) sense, but I'd bet you sneeze on occasion when you're not sick and that nothing ha