A time for mourning

Today, while most people were talking about Michael, Farrah & Ed, I was mourning my great Aunt Cill. My Aunt Cill was my grandmother's sister - they were thick as thieves. Lucille was born in 1923 to a family with a penchant for picking unusual names. Perhaps in those times they weren't all that unusual. My grandmother was named Gertrude, there was Lucille, my other aunt Ruth and my uncle Horace.

Aunt Cill was married to my favorite uncle for 42 years. He passed away years ago when I was little. She and my uncle Henry and my grandparents used to hang out together. My grandparents passed away a few years ago and Aunt Cill was my link to them. Over the last few years we've seen her suffer from age related dementia - some may have even called it Alzheimers.

Her funeral was today and Mr. Potts and myself took my mother. It was a beautiful service and she was laid to rest beside her husband in the shade of a great oak tree. There was a breeze blowing in the 90+ degrees and the bells were ringing for her. I know she was looking down on us and gracing us once again with her love.

I love you Aunt Cill. Give my grandmother and grandfather a huge hug and kiss for me when you see them.

Wednesday randoms

In trying to organize this post in my head, I realized it just wasn't going to happen. So my random Wednesday thoughts/musings/wishes.

** Mr. Potts told me last night that his aunt's biopsy had come back malignant. She has already faced and beaten breast cancer, resulting in a double mastectomy. Both his aunt and uncle are doctors and don't seem to be as concerned as they would be if if had returned in the breast area. Me not being a doctor, I think I have the reaction that is typical of most people. "Cancer?" Eyes go wide & thoughts run rampant through your head of what could happen.

My thoughts turned to her babies. Not really babies any more - one will be a senior in high school next year, the oldest, a junior in college. My next thought? She's my Carolina Girl! We're both from NC & love our state (and our Tarheels) with a passion. She's my buddy when Mr. Potts and I go to Louisville. I've been praying for her that God will keep her in his hands.

** I've been praying for my brother. I know that so many of you have been keeping my family in your prayers and I truly appreciate it. Thank you all so very much for your kindness.

** I'm wearing a black and white skirt that I've had a little over 3 years. I fit into it. It isn't too tight. Maybe I'm making some progress. I'm also wearing a bright pink t-shirt top that fits wonderfully!

** I am so so ready to go on vacation. We're heading to the Outer Banks and will be staying here:Neither Mr. Potts nor I have ever been. We'll be there a full week. I've stocked up on some books to read. I tend to take a lot of books to the beach so I must share my secret for getting books to read that could potentially be ruined without paying too much. Half.com If you haven't checked it out, its wonderful! You can find books for .75. Now I tend to go uber cheap for beach reads, so I don't spend too much on the books themselves. The other tip is to find a seller who has a lot of the books you're looking for. Each book after the first is cheaper for shipping.

** I wish I could win the lotto. I've got it all planned out - but that is a different post.

Where do you get your books from?

Ahhhhh......

This weekend in the mountains was totally relaxing.

We drove up on Friday afternoon and grilled out with his dad and step-mom. Had a bit of wine. So nice to sit out on the screened in porch & not wilt!An interior view - the living room.

Slept in on Saturday and then "hiked" to a waterfall. I say "hiked" because it totally wasn't. I was in flat flip-flops. Hiking...Ha!After our waterfall viewing we went back to the cabin (don't you like that word?) and changed to go to the pool. I was able to lay by a pool & enjoy 85 degree weather with no humidity. So nice! The pool area:


For the grand finale, we went to dinner at a restaurant on Saturday and had a wonderful table on the Verandah. Absolutely beautiful view & the food was fantastic!

After I leave the office today, I'm on my way to a massage.

Le Sigh! I think I should get a massage every week.

Honesty is the BEST Policy

Brittany Ann over at Living in the Moment shared this Honest Scrap with me. I'm supposed to list 10 honest things about me & pass it on.

Here goes!!

1. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding if I've spelled simple words correctly. Words like THE & GOES. I don't know why, but I end up looking at the word for at least a minute before I finally decide that if spell check didn't tell me it was wrong, I must be right!

2. I had a police officer talk to me over his loud thingy on top of his car (I think most people would call that a speaker?) this week. He was informing me that my tag was expired.
His exact words? "You're lucky I'm on my way somewhere. These tickets are usually $150."
My response? "I had no clue! I'll get that taken care of."
As he began to drive off, I had to stop him to ask him how to take care of it. And yes, I just looked at the word CARE for a minute before deciding it was spelled correctly.

3. I secretly think that Hayden wishes I'd not come along. Then she'd still be able to sleep on the couch, sleep on the bed, etc.

4. I'm eating (or trying to eat) less processed foods and fewer simple carbohydrates. I feel better (& less bloated) when I don't eat them as often. Although Mr. Potts had a baked potato the other night & I begged him for a few bites.
5. Speaking of food, I have to be the last person to order when out with a group. I like to hear what everyone else is getting and I can't make up my mind 100% until I hear everyone else's order.

6. When stressed out, I pick at my fingernails & toenails. I don't bite them. I just pick at them. I know, it's gross, but it's a stress reliever for me. My toenails never look nice because of this!

7. I look like Kelly Bundy right now, my roots are so out of control. Enough said.

8. I have wooly caterpillars crawling across my forehead right now. Yes, my eyebrows are that out of control. And my waxer didn't have an opening until next week. I googled fuzzy caterpillars & the images kind of grossed me out, so I couldn't put one on here.

9. I got sucked into The Real Housewives of New Jersey & DVR'ed all the episodes so I could watch them. I LOVE Theresa!!10. This list was REALLY hard for me!

I'm passing this on to whomever has not had this or who would like to do it.

Mr. Potts and I are off to the mountains for the weekend to see his dad & step-mom. I'm so looking forward to getting away!!

Did you know?

Did you know that in the course of your lifetime, you'll spend:

• seven years in the bathroom
• six years eating
• five years waiting in line
• three years in meetings
• two years playing phone tag
• eight months opening junk mail
• six months sitting at red lights
  

And on an average day, you’ll get interrupted seventy-three times a day, take an hour of work home, read less than five minutes, talk to your spouse for four minutes, exercise less than three minutes, and play with your kid for two minutes.

I'm researching for a Time M*nagement course and this interesting tidbit popped up. Where does your time go?

The part about spending only 4 minutes talking to Mr. Potts a day made me sad. I'm going to shoot for 5 a day! He'll wish it were only 3....HA!

***NOTE***
Totally kidding about the 3 minutes. We talk a ton. Honest.

Last night's dinner

This past weekend friends of ours had us over. They've been concerned about me too & wanted to "take care of me." Which I'm ok with every once in a while. I'm the person who takes care of others. I don't typically cry in front of people and I don't like to talk about/dwell on things that are going on. Especially now.

While over there eating, they may broccoli. When we were leaving to come home Mr. Potts looked over at me and asked why we don't eat broccoli more often. I told him I would make him some this week. Which led me to yesterday perusing Cooking Light. I'll often pull my recipe inspirations from them and then tweak it.

I found Broccoli with Red Pepper Flakes and Toasted Garlic. I didn't even tweak the recipe - I thought it would come out well as it is. It was a perfect side to a Peppercorn crusted Pork Tenderloin & some brown rice. Mine was a brighter green than this pictured below - from CookingLight.com.
For those interested, the recipe is below.

Broccoli with Red Pepper Flakes and Toasted Garlic

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 6 cups broccoli florets (about 1 head)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup water

Preparation

• Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
  
• Add sliced garlic and saute for 1 minute until beginning to brown.
• Add broccoli, kosher salt, crushed red pepper, and sliced garlic.
  
• Sauté 2 minutes.
  
• Add 1/4 cup water.
  
• Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 2 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender.

Enjoy!

Not Me Monday!

MckMama started this fun idea for Mondays and I picked it up from LittleSack (who is back from Italy! Go tell her "hi!"). MckMama began this as a way to admit some of her imperfections and reveal a few moments she'd rather forget. She thought others may find it therapeutic to join in and do the same thing - I did!

I did not open a bottle of white wine as soon as I got home Friday afternoon. I did not proceed to have two glasses on our deck with Mr. Potts while we were waiting to get ready to go to dinner. Not me!I did not go Southern on a man when he had messed up my UHaul rental. Ok, yeah, I really did, but when you do it well, it works!!

I did not have two drinkies (as our friends call drinks) over at their pool on Sunday. I did not finish both of these 24 oz mojito drinkies and then promptly pass out on the lawn chair to "nap".I did not nap for another two hours when we got home while Mr. Potts went to the HOA meeting & then the summer BBQ for the neighborhood. I did not keep napping when the meeting was done & he asked if I was going to come down. I did make it down, albeit an hour later than scheduled.

I did not go right to bed after our BBQ ended - hey, it was 9:30 by then!

What did you "not" do this weekend?

Friday Funny

Too cute not to share

Beauty Confessions

Amber, over at Life As We Know It shared her beauty confessions yesterday. She's such a sweet person, so I knew I would have to do this as well. Plus, it was an easy post for me to write and perfect for a Friday.

1. What's your favorite make up look?
I tend to stay pretty neutral for work days. To go out, I usually play up my eyes with a more smokey look.

2. Do you have a beauty vice?
I de-clog my pores regularly. And, no, I don't use one of those professional tools. I prefer my pointer fingers. But I wash my hand before! Oh yeah, I pluck the little black hair that grows under my chin.

3. What part of your body do you love?
I like my hair. Does that count? Ask me when I'm down some poundage. All this food I've been consuming (I'm an emotional eater) isn't helping.

4. Who is your beauty icon?
I'm going with Amanda's answer. I like Reese Witherspoon. She looks fresh & natural, but can glam it up when needed.
5. What beauty products make you feel sexy?
I'm going through a bit of a slump right now, but I really LOVE the Smashbox gift set I won from Julie - Thanks Julie!

6. How do you look after your skin?
I drink tons of water (probably 2-3 gallons a day), I try to get enough sleep, I try to sleep on my back (so I don't add any more wrinkles than necessary), I wash my face every night, I use eye cream & face cream & I use night cream at night - duh. I also add a little Vaseline around my eyes at night to help seal in the moisture.

7. What is your signature scent?
I don't really have one. I was wearing Kenneth Cole Black for a while, but I'm onto Ralph Lauren Romance now.

8. What are your haircare secrets?
I use the Loreal Professional line for shampoo & conditioner. In the summer, I will add in the Bumble & Bumble Creme de Cocao masque.I use Redken Anti-Snap leave in conditioner religiously & I don't wash my hair but every 3 days or so.

9. How do you pamper yourself?
I either sleep or get a massage.
10. What is your beauty pet peeve?
When people have uber greasy hair because they put so much product in it to try & keep it from getting frizzy. I know, I know. I'm wrong for even judging, but c'mon. A little goes a long way!

11. What would your desert island must haves be?
I use chapstick every day, several times a day & I love the stuff with spf 15. Also, a good sunscreen & body lotion. And my hair masque. And pony tail holders. And sunglasses - we all need a good pair of sunglasses, right?
12. Do you have a beauty philosophy?
Smile. You'll always be prettier with a smile.

Happy Friday everyone!

About Mr. Potts

Since Mr. Potts has been my rock through this past week (well, he always is, but this week deserves some special attention) I thought I should dedicate a post to him.

I faithfully read Leaving and Loving on a Jet Plane (and if you don't, you should!). One of her older posts was the Low-down on Mr. Jetplane. I thought I'd share my low-down on Mr. Potts. Thanks Mrs. Jetplane for the inspiration!
1. He is sitting in front of the TV, what is he watching?
If he had his way, he'd watch as many old cheesy movies as possible. You know, Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, etc. Wrestling too.

2. You are out to eat, what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Ranch of some kind. Odd note - Mr. Potts was a super picky eater. I don't think he ate a salad until he was in college. No condiments until then either.

3. What is one food he doesn't like?
Tomatoes. What is wrong with him?

4. You go out to a bar, what does he order?
Beer. Miller Lite - I helped him switch from Bud Light to ML. He also used to drink Captain & Ginger, but doesn't recover like he used to.

5. Where did he go to High School?

High School was in Louisville, KY

6. What size shoe does he wear?
Size 8

7. If he were to collect anything, what would it be?
Not a thing. He calls me his clutter bug - he doesn't like to collect anything.

8. What is his favorite sandwich?
He gets a sandwich from one of our favorite delis that is Roast Beef and Turkey with provolone, lettuce, banana peppers, horseradish mayo & spicy brown mustard.

9. What would he eat every day if he could?
He likes my egg sandwiches that I make on the weekend. But it also could be my fried chicken

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Captain Crunch. Though we never buy it

11. What would he never wear?
Jorts!

12. What is his favorite sports team?
He'll always be a Hoosier Basketball fan. During football season we cheer for the Louisville Cardinals. When it comes to pro-football, we're Panther's fans all the way.13. Who is his best friend?

Me, but his childhood best friend & the one he speaks to most often is Jamie

14. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?
Not much - maybe pick up after myself more often?

15. How many states has he lived in?
3

16. What is his heritage?
I think a little Scotch & French-German

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday, what kind of cake is it?
Yellow cake with chocolate icing. Definitely not my favorite.

18. Did he play sports in High School?
He was a soccer player and played tennis also.

19. What could he spend hours doing?
Reading (he read all the Sookie books too!), lazing on the boat, lazing at the beach.

My Family

Thank you everyone who thought of me and my family over the last few days. My brother has effectively torn our family apart and my mother and I are struggling to pick up the pieces.

I talked to a friend of mine who is a pastor on Monday night and he walked me through some of the stages of grief. I'm struggling back and forth between immense grief and rage. My mother is slowly falling apart and while I'm trying to do everything I can to help her, I'm not equipped to help her and keep myself from falling apart.

Thank you again for thinking of us and praying for us. If you could continue to do that, it would mean the world to me.

You all are so wonderful for sharing your love. You amaze me with your kindness and love.

My Family

If you would please lift my family up in your prayers. I know I won't be able to share this, but if you can, I'd so appreciate it.
My mother, my brother and my niece and nephew.

Thank you...

Help Wanted

Advice Needed.

I may have mentioned that I'm having a lot of difficulty working with my co-worker. We'll call her DPH (Dirty Pirate Hooker). This week I was co-delivering a team building session. The following are some of the things I experienced:

• Slightly veiled arrows thrown my way (I've had 30 years of experience - I'm barely 30, so who do you think that was directed at?)
• Deliberately left out of needs assessment and pre-facilitation meetings.
• When I found out about the meetings, I told her I expected to be included and asked when the next one was - nothing.
• Deliberate withholding the feedback forms (which I developed) for me to review.
  
• When I finally was able to review them (I had to demand them) she told me she was going to review them with the two Senior Managers and share the feedback and observations. I told her that I should be included in this and asked when she planned to do it. She refused to answer. I thought maybe I may have had an email invitation for a time to do this, but nothing.

So I'm looking for advice. This is the same co-worker who has called me ignorant. She is the one who told me I was playing games and undermining her. She has insulted me and spoken to me in a demeaning manner.

But wait, there's more. My boss knows about all this & has her hands tied. DPH's husband in a VP in our company. Our President was called by DPH's Husband before she got her performance review (which was BAD) to tell him how great she is. So even though she sucks, she's protected.

If you have any advice or feedback on how to work with her, I would so appreciate it. I'm slowly getting to the point where I don't know if I can continue to work with her. Yet, I don't want to tell my boss that I "can't work with DPH". How would that look on me? I'm frustrated & upset because I've never been personally attacked in my workplace. I'm at a point where I dread working with her. My shoulders are always tense, I'm starting to get regular headaches.

Help Wanted.

(Cue music) Mama, mama I'm coming home!

Sorry to have disappeared for the week. The session I delivered with my co-worker was taxing and tiring.

There were no obvious insults this week, but several lightly veiled ones. I believe this woman will never change - she thinks she is perfect. Ugh. I get to come home today! Although I was woken up at 3:30am by an automated message that my flight was delayed.

I have a baby shower to attend this coming Saturday. I tend to give a gift like this:

I like to try and give gifts that I know will be useful. You can always use towels, bath things, diapers and onesies!

Also, I just found out that my best friend in New Orleans (he was almost in my wedding - he said he'd shave his legs, but not his beard. Had to cut him then.) will be having a new addition due around the 24th of December! I'm so excited for him and his wife.

What are some of your favorite gifts to give for baby showers?

Leaving on a Jetplane (cue music)

It's early Monday morning and I'm getting read to fly to Portland, ME to "work" with my co-worker from hell. Delivering a team building session of all things!

I promised pictures of my niece & Hayden from two weekends ago, but have not had an opportunity to upload them. I will soon.

So, for your enjoyment, here is the place I will be heading to today.I'll walk down cobblestone streets to get to my favorite restaurants.
Isn't this beautiful?