So, I'm not a Reds fan in any way, shape, or form. However, I am a HUGE Brandon Phillips fan, and he just happens to play for the Reds, and I'm married to a huge Reds fan, so I went to one of their final games of the season a few weeks ago. Keep in mind, I was using my P 'n S camera, so I did not have a zoom lens. Yes, I was THAT CLOSE to BP himself. :)
During his warm-up...mmmm mmmm!
Signing autographs for everyone BUT my husband and Brian!
Mr. Red came up for a visit to the nosebleed section of right field!
View from the Stadium
Also, recently, Adam forgot his sunglasses at home while he was at work. Brutus had too much fun with them!
Our very own Ray Charles
A loving pose of the boys together... trust me, they're not thrilled...
We also got our house all decked out for fall and Halloween. Trick-or-treaters this year!!! Here are all our decorations from afar and up close.
Alright, now onto this weekend. Friday afternoon was my flight out to LAX from Dayton (because I was supposed to fly with Alex so we could review the material on the plane). I arrived at the airport just fine, plane was on-time (woohoo!) but Alex called about an hour before take-off and said she was a little behind. Okay, I know Alex - always (overly) prepared - she can't be that far behind. So, then the plane starts boarding. I get on and text her, "I'm on the plane, where are you?" She responds, "They won't let me on." I called her and sure enough she was too late to board. I was flying solo to Atlanta, then LAX. She ended up driving to Cincy to catch a non-stop flight, which apparently only landed about 30 minutes after ours in LA. When I was in Atlanta, she called to say there was another consultant who was flying from Atlanta and would need a ride at the LAX airport. He called me and we met at the terminal. Would you know it, it was the guy who was sitting next to me (Gary) the whole way from Dayton to Atlanta!! We had introduced ourselves, but it never clicked. So now I had a flying companion... however, we didn't talk much on the flight because he gets severe motion sickness.
So we arrived in LA after dark, and it was a chore to get our luggage, rental car, and hotel. By then we were going to sneak out to grab some food before the rest of the group got there for an evening pow-wow, but we caught them in the parking lot. We met up and planned to meet at 4:45AM the next morning!!! Gary ended up getting delivery hoagies, but myself and two other facilitators drove down the road for a late-night snack. Then it was time for bed! I had never reviewed the material - oops!!
Saturday morning I felt ready to go. My co-facilatator, Rich, said he'd cover any parts I wasn't too sure about. The class ran from 6:00am to 11:30am. I essentially ended up running the whole show. It was AMAZING!! It was SO fun, and I felt so professional being paid big bucks to share my knowledge and experiences. Rich gave me glowing praise all day, even from the first 15 minutes. He said I was far above any other new facilitator he had ever seen. He said I was mature beyond my age and that I was extremely skilled in working with adults. I had a great style and knowledge of the content. YEEESSSSSSS!!!! This is what I was waiting for - a chance to prove myself and erase all their doubt!! So, it was a great, but exhausting time!
After facilitation, we all met up for lunch across the street. It's this shopping center with various take-out restaurants and tables to eat outside. I had Subway. Then, half the group (including Alex, but not me) had to go back and facilitate the afternoon classes. I was ready to head to the hotel and crash in Alex's room. Well, I got there and it hadn't been made up yet, so I decided I'd do some sight-seeing while it was still light out. I first drove down to Long Beach (about 10 minutes away) to see the Queen Mary. It was quite impressive. I felt like I was in another era, looking at the Titanic. It is now a hotel and tourist trap (drawing in suckers to explore its hauntings). I didn't pay the admission fee to go on board, but I did buy a ridiculously expensive book on its ghosts. Adam and I will have to stay there sometime.
Queen Mary
After that, I drove up to Hollywood to see the Hollywood sign during daylight. What a DUMP!! It was a real disappointment, and I don't see how any celebs hang out there!! I was worried about getting shot. The Hollywood sign was miniature!! THIS is what you typically see on TV, right? However, THIS is what it really looks like. This shot really captures the moment I had of... ugghhh.... Anyways, then I drove past the Mann's Chinese Theater. I never stopped to take any pictures myself because it was so crowded and I just wanted to get out of the traffic and gazillions of people. I saw the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It just lined the street of Hollywood Blvd. as millions of people stomped all over it in ignorance. I didn't realize that, like, every person who's been in a movie has a star. I may actually have one myself and not know it, there's THAT many. So, that was Hollywood for ya. I guess I will have to go back sometime and give it a chance on a day when the whole city is not covered in smoke from forest fires.
Then I headed back to the hotel and tried to nap, but couldn't sleep. Once the facilitators were done for the evening, I finally got to see Alex. She and I drove down the road to the pier for dinner. We ate at the upscale Bluewater Grille (valet parking only!). While we waited for a table we relaxed in the leather chairs by the fireplace in the bar. Then our table was right in front of a HUGE picture-window that lined the whole backside of the restaurant. It was dark, but we backed right up to the dock with thousands of sailboats. It was a nice, relaxing scene. We got to chat a lot about work and facilitating and life. Alex told me about her first date with her studly chiropractor. :) She showed me pictures of her "babies" who are all growed up now. Jaime will be in college next year. She said, "Sheri, my students will be hitting on my daughter next year!!" Haha! Grant (the little cutie) now looks about like Ashton Kutcher as Kelso. He's like a teenager! It's unbelievable how time flies! Jeremy is getting older too.
We headed back to the hotel at that point and I got ready to go to the airport. My plane left at 12:55am. I got to the airport and found that the flight was delayed until 2:35am - making me miss my connection in Atlanta and therefore not making it to work at PetSmart on time. The plane left at the new departure time and I got back to Dayton around noon on Sunday. I jetted straight to PetSmart, cancelled my 1pm class and made it at 1:59pm for my 2pm class - whew! I was surprisingly not tired (oh, did I mention that I couldn't sleep on my flight from LA to Atlanta because they hung a giant movie screen about six inches from our noses that flashed bright lights from the movie "Nancy Drew" from 3am until 5am.... at that point it started to get light out). I headed home about 6:30pm and still was not ready to crash. I was SO happy to be home though. We watched some Ghost Hunters and I unpacked. Then it was bedtime.
Monday I worked all day. Last night we watched more Ghost Hunters, "Disturbia," and cooked dinner. Today I started tutoring Dustin again - yay! And that's about all - I got to sleep in! Tonight we are having a late agility training session. Adam gets to join us and see the progress the boys have made! Tune in tomorrow for a special Halloween Message! Until then....
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