All I need is Your love
To come and fill this heart of mine
My heart is a desert that has gone dry
And I need Your love to carry me by

The house is a wreck. The noise has been replaced with silence.
The college kids have come and gone.
It was so nice having Jordan, Michael and Erin here for the last 5 days. But now the house seems so empty.
We celebrated 3 birthdays, 2 thanksgivings, we ate a ton, put up the tree, and got a jump on some Christmas shopping. A whirlwind week. That's now over :(

Countdown till Christmas break begins now...

<3

Perfect ending to a perfect day

It was a great evening. Everyone just left, except for my girls, obviously. As I was turning off the lights downstairs I heard them talking and laughing upstairs, then I heard J tell H, goodnight, I love you! Those are the moments you miss, the ones that take your breath away.

Today is Hannah's sweet 16!

The day started off wonderful, she went and took her drivers test and passed! So she has her license and her car. Then we went to her favorite, Olive Garden, for lunch, and then we went to the shooting range this afternoon. (and brought our friend Kenny along) My girl is not the traditional girlie girl, and I love that about her.

Now we are waiting for Jordan to arrive home for Thanksgiving, and then Hannah's friends for her "party". Basically a junk food movie night. :)

Well that was quite a week. I don't even really know where to begin to try and explain the craziness.
I don't think I'm eloquent enough in my written words to try and write it all down.
We had alot of things go very very wrong, and we had alot of things go very right.

On Friday I was helping out at the Embassy helipad downtown, which was pretty much a fun day. Hannah and I got to ride in a helicopter to the track at one point. When we got there, we hopped right into a waiting chauffeured BMW who drove us on a tour of the track, on the roads where most people weren't allowed to go. There were trials going on and the place was packed, but whenever we would pull up to a crossing the National Guard would stop all the people to let us through. Everyone was straining to see who was in the car, cause they "must" be important. :)  So we got a killer short tour of the layout of the track and then were taken back up to another helicopter for the ride back. Hannah was so excited that she went. She was so nervous and hesitant about getting into the chopper, but I was so incredibly proud of her fighting her fear and doing it anyway. It was an experience we won't soon forget. She thought it was so cool being treated like VIP's. It really was pretty darn cool. Our evening at the Embassy ended with getting to hang out with some cool Austin firefighters while waiting for Mario Andretti to land. Yep, I asked him and his wife how their day was when they got off the chopper, and they said "wonderful".

Saturday and Sunday I was at an FBO at ABIA. That was my designated helipad that I was in charge of. Saturday ran smoothly for us and was pretty low drama. Then at 4pm I headed over to Austin Executive airport for Josh's birthday surprise. He met me there and we took off on a helicopter to the Oasis for dinner. He was very happy since he had always wanted to ride in a helicopter. I can tell you, there is nothing like landing in a helicopter at a restaurant to get some attention. Everyone had their camera phones shooting pics of us landing, it was really funny. As soon as we got out there was a guy in a golf cart ready to take us to the front door. We actually ate at Soleil? I guess it's the nicer restaurant next door. It was really good and the manager came over and asked how our flight was and asked if he could get us anything. :)  Word spreads...

Sunday is when the chaos began. I had more people show up than were expected due to lack of communication on someone who shall remain nameless's part. But I still got all my clients onto birds in a very timely manner, and everyone was happy. not so at some of the other locations however. Some choppers were late and then the governor shut down airspace for half an hour at one location so he could fly, and it ended up delaying some people by over an hour. So there were some unhappy clients out there. Then on the way back from the race apparently for a while the wait was up to 3 hours to get back on a helicopter. Some people knew this was gonna be an issue considering they would only give us 4 helipads at the track, so they were just in no hurry and having fun. Others took it pretty badly and got into some faces with very nasty words. (I don't envy Ren today.) All the Embassy people were routed back to me because the city wouldn't let us land there in the late afternoon, so I had them in addition to my clients. They were all supposed to be put in limos and transported back to the city.  I got some more volunteers after the race and delegated some to hand out gift bags, others to coordinate with all my drivers waiting, and I took the job of greeting them at the helipad with my firefighters, and golf carting them back to the lobby. I wanted to personally make sure they felt welcomed and taken care of. Alot of them I drove straight to their private jets which were in the same parking lot. It was a crazy scene around me. Private jets by the hundreds, half of them all fired up and blowing jet fuel fumes on me and dodging taxiing ones, and trying not to get hit by fuel trucks or helicopter rotors. It was absolutely nuts. I kind of think it must have resembled some sort of military base in the middle of a war. It seemed incredibly dangerous, and I'm shocked I was allowed out there with free reign.
At one point in the night in the middle of the chaos, we had a lobby full of people and choppers landing faster than we could go get them, the parking manager came to me and said I need to show you something. He walked me out the back door and showed me his little parking lot FULL of busses. He said "they all say they're here for you!" I laughed out loud, literally. So did he. Apparently the limo company was trying to help and sent me their whole fleet. I had to send them packing though cause it was causing a traffic jam and we had enough transportation for our people. It was great. Everything went smoothly at my airport and I was so happy that we didn't have any major issues. At the end of the night my feet hurt so bad after spending 3 solid 12 hour days in new boots we were required to wear. This morning they hurt when I stood up. I believe the are bruised pretty badly.
There was one guy, the videographer on tour with Aerosmith that made my weekend. We hit it off on Saturday when he was there, and I made sure he was taken care of just like I did with all my clients. But Sunday morning he walked in at 7 something in the AM and I smiled and told him good morning. He stopped and smiled back and said "There's that smile. You are the reason I came back today. It was rough getting out of the track last night and I thought about just taking a cab today, but I knew you'd be here with a smile for me today and that you'd take care of me. So I came back." Then when he landed last night I was sitting there in the golf cart with that same smile when he got off the chopper. He smiled and said "what a great end to my experience here in Austin."     That is a return customer right there. I loved that. Even though this was just a meaningless race in the grand scheme of things, it got me to thinking about the skills that I seem to have acquired somewhere down the road in the area of event/guest services or taking care of people. (not being boastful at all, please don't misunderstand) We all have gifts and talents, you just need to figure out what they are and how to use them.
As do I.

 

I swear, I am so bi-polar. . . .
I'm so done with this event. I don't feel good. I'm tired, cold, lonely, sick, and I just want to crawl in my bed and sleep for a week, and eat mint chocolate chip ice cream, and M&M's, and movie popcorn, and a pumpkin scone from Starbucks (and not have to run afterwards to burn all those calories) and watch chick flicks, and snuggle with someone warm.  But I can't do any of that.

I know.. boohoo..bring out the tiny violins..

The craziness has begun. The city shut down one of our downtown helipads on race day. So everyone is having to be choppered to the airport after the race instead of downtown. Not good. Now we need tons of limos and cars to finish the trek. Office was a zoo today and will be all week. Ren had to turn off the phones and leave a message so work could get done. I'm working on passenger lists for like a 1000 people at 5 different helipads on 3 different days.  Gonna be a fun week/weekend!

Man, I miss my husband..

Hannah is going to the dr this week about her hurt hands. She hasn't been able to play piano because of pain in her wrists and hands and it's just killing her. Please join me in prayer that we would get some answers or total healing.

Soo excited for the next 2 weeks! Starting next Friday I'm working at the helipad at the airport greeting stars, ex presidents, and other wealthy types and escorting them onto our waiting helicopters. I'm told there is a whole list of celebrities and 3 ex presidents coming through my reception area. !!!!!!!!!! This is what you get to do when you're best friends with the CEO of Charlie Bravo Aviation, who happens to be the sponsored supplier for charter air travel for F1. Yep, and I knew her before she was famous. :)
Did I mention I get paid to do this?? And I get a free pair of Allens boots (they're helping sponsor our helipads)? And a jewelry collection from a local jewelry sponsor? AND I get to ride around in a helicopter to different sites, including the race site. I am so excited!

But something even better is happening Friday. MY HUSBAND comes home from Europe!!!!!!!!!!
He's been touring Nice, Paris, Munich, Helsinki, and Milan, meeting with clients. Because he's just cool like that and a total must-have hot shot if you want to sell anything at Ixia apparently. I miss him.
And ANOTHER awesome thing? My oldest daughter comes home in a week and half, and HANNAH turns 16! And I have a big birthday surprise for Josh, but I can't tell you about it yet, cause he happens to read my blog. :)  Love you baby!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some recent pics Jordan sent me... 

So adorable.. I miss her

@ her new volunteer job at Moody Gardens

her friends Maggie and Roka

Starting 2 days before before Thanksgiving:
Hannah's 16th birthday
(Erin arrives from Arkansas)
(Jordan comes home)
Erin's 19th birthday
Thanksgiving
Josh's 40th birthday

All in one week. But I really want everyone to feel special and honored. 2 out of the 3 are big birthday milestones, and Erin is our guest for the holiday weekend since her family is in Thailand, so I don't want her to not feel loved, but her birthday is ON Thanksgiving. I'm making a big turkey dinner that day for lunch for Josh's family, then going to my moms that night. I really don't know what to do for everyone. I used to be a great hostess and party planner, but I fear I've lost my skills. .



In other news:
Dance class # 2 - T minus 2 hours and counting...

On the weight loss front - I have been totally stagnant the last 2 weeks. I have to believe I'm just gaining muscle weight, (based on the solidness of my legs). If I don't believe that, I fear I will lose all hope. I have been running and stretching almost every morning. I DO think my flexibility has slightly  improved however. I guess we'll see in class tomorrow.

:(

How can half the country be so excited about the continuing decline of our country and our finances? How many more small businesses will have to close their door? How will we afford and survive our new healthcare system? We're about to give up even more money in taxes. And half the country is cheering about it, because they don't pay taxes. They don't own the businesses. They don't pay for their healthcare. They don't create the jobs. They don't care about giving our children more debt, they only want more given to THEM, Now.
Obama was just reelected. I don't like America anymore.
We need a new country based on the old America.

"All this pain

I wonder if I’ll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change at all

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found

Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us"

We spent all day yesterday car shopping for Hannah. We found one we love. It's a 2002 Mazda Protege 5 - manual 5 speed. (she absolutely did not want an automatic, nor did Dad want to buy one, so he's proud and she's happy) Got a great cash deal on it. Everyone's happy and we are thankful the process is over. (We had been looking for weeks) This is her 16th bday present, a few weeks early.

The first thing she put in it when we got home was a large wooden bat. Because, in her words - "she's too young to keep a gun in the car, so this is next best thing.." She cracks me up.

Just got home from my first ballet class. It was HARD. My hips, my knees and my back are killing me. "Why?, you may ask.. Because the whole time your feet have to go like this..

And since you probably don't know, my feet don't do that anymore.  Mine make more of a V shape. That's not good.  My knees just don't turn like that, nor do my hips. YET. I will work them until they do. Once the pain subsides that is. It really was alot harder than I thought it would be. Only because my body didn't work right. I was really struggling with flexibility, stability and control. But this class will be good for me. There are others like me in the class so I'm not alone.
I'm VERY happy to be there, despite the challenges that are in front of me..