AIRPLANE SUNSET

Last Wednesday, on my way home from Denver, I got stuck with a really dirty window on a later afternoon. No interesting pictures flying back to Houston or flying to Shreveport in the dark.

That was, until the sun started to set.

It was awesome to watch it sink below the horizon before my very eyes.

The horizon then stayed brilliant orange for the longest time.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Everybody loves payday!

DENVER AIRPORT

Landing last week in Denver, I snagged a beautiful (near) full Moon as it was rising over the flat Colorado prairie at the airport.

The Denver airport (DIA) was opened in 1994, and the architecture is supposed to mimic the snow-covered peaks of the nearby Rockies. Besides being about 10 million miles from downtown Denver, it's actually a really nice airport.

The inside is bright & airy, with lots of great artwork around and a plethora of shops and restaurants. See more great photos & read some fun facts about DIA on wiki.

All in all, not the worst place ever to be stuck. I'm just glad I wasn't stuck and made my flight to Shreveport that night.



Although initial troubles with the automatic baggage caused the airport to be mocked as "Dead on Arrival", they appeared to have plenty of baggage handlers working on my plane. At least 3 more disappeared from this shot before I could capture the loading party.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Happy Halloween!

AROUND DENVER

Arriving in Denver in late afternoon, I encountered some traffic as I drove through downtown. I again used this traffic trouble as an opportunity to catch a great shot of downtown Denver with the sunset reflecting off the buildings.

The next morning, I took off for a chilly 35-degree jog in my favorite Denver park. I started out in the dark, but slowly watched the sky turn from purple and bright blue to a warm yellow & orange as the sun rose.

I counted dozens of little bunnies and enjoyed the fall foliage and the snow covered mountain peaks in the distance.

I headed back to the airport to pick up my boss & enjoyed the view of the Front Range as I waited in the cell-phone parking lot.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: A perfect day in Denver- no snow!

NORTH HOUSTON FROM THE AIR

This Tuesday Travel edition will take us to my trip last Tuesday. Flying to Denver out of Houston on Tuesday afternoon, we headed directly north over the Woodlands super-neighborhood. Above is Lake Woodlands & the lower center (by the smaller lakes) is the Woodlands Mall.

Zooming in, I could catch the Woodlands Pavilion- where we watched the DMB concert. There is a 'waterway' where a boat will shuttle guests from the Mall area to the Pavilion to the hotel nearby. It's quite a swanky area & fun to hang out there from time to time.

Just north of the Woodlands is Lake Conroe- where I spent many of my day of summer as a youth getting into trouble on jet skis.

Since I was facing West out the window of the plane, I was able to catch the reflection of the afternoon sun on the literally hundreds of small tanks and lakes that dot the Texas countryside.

We even flew between Dallas & Fort Worth, and out my window I snapped a quick photo of downtown Fort Worth. Though I've been to Dallas numerous times for work, can't say I've ever been to Forth Worth.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My running buddy did awesome in the Marine Corp Marathon.

SILHOUETTE SHADOWS

Inspired by the Pioneer Woman's acrobatic poses, I tried a few shadow shots the other day while we were at the driving range.

This is my sexy pose! Oh, and my bad camera technique :(

And this photo is to brag on my friend Mr. Lightroom again. You can see the before photo on the left and the Photoshop magic on the right.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm so easily amused with my camera.

FAll WEEKEND ROUND-UP

Seriously! Where do these weekends go? They fly by when I'm not looking. I've really had enough of this and am going to write my congressman about a 3-day weekend. Lots of fun, but not too many photos this weekend.

Friday on my way back from Beaumont for work, I stopped at the Moving Wall (a replica of the Vietnam Veteran's Wall in DC) and captured a driving safety tip for my readers. We had a fabulous steak & potato dinner with my mom, step-dad and Gram.

Saturday I ran 13 miles in the frisky, cool fall air. I indulged my poor, travel weary body with a massage and then took the hubby shopping. He's got a style to keep up, so only the super-stylin' for him. That night we wished a close friend of ours happy birthday & enjoyed some home-cooked jumbo & jambalaya.

Sunday was church, a visit with the grandparents, a few hours of catching up at work, some yard work around the house, finishing laundry, grocery shopping & grilling up some burgers. We tried watching our movie about Cambodia, but gave up after about 10 minutes and watched Samantha Brown's visit to Southern Chile. Even though our trip plans for next year include Brazil & Argentina, we hope to hit Chile & Patagonia in the next few years too. In the mean time, I'm enjoying some great stories from a newlywed living in Santiago.

Coming up this week: More Houston from the airplane, beautiful Denver, spectacular sunset at 30,000 feet, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, a driving tip & some more Zoe pics.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My husband had his best month ever in sales!

DRIVING RANGE

Last weekend, the weather was so awesome that we decided to swing the clubs a bit before dinner with my parents since it's on our 101 list. I can't say I've ever played a real round of golf, but I do like messing around at the driving range. I had a great time (with about 80 photos) trying to capture the exact instead H hit the ball.

I actually don't own ANY clubs, and I have 1 driver that my friend let me borrow. H likes to practice putting but I refuse since it actually requires skill instead of randomly hacking at a ball on a tee.

The clear blue skies were even more beautiful with a late afternoon moon-rise. It's been a BUSY weekend, but I hope to catch up on going through all my photos from Denver & Louisiana & my work trip on Friday this afternoon, plus work a bit more on the old kid photos I scanned last weekend.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I have the *BEST* mom ever!

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

While it may not seem too monumental, it's really quite a historical day in my dad's house. Are you ready for the BIG news??

They finally got cable! My father is a quite practical man, and really never saw the need to join the cable revolution. Discovering he could use the VCR remote to change the channels was a huge thrill for him. I believe he took some measure of joy in this refusal to be bullied by peer pressure, and I have no doubt the whole situation was plenty embarrassing to my brother and sister.

I must give him credit though. He's discovering this digital world, slowly but surely. He upgraded the TV a few years back and indulged in surround sound. He reluctantly started using the computer and even internet. When he tired of throwing the kids off the computer so he could use it, he bought them their own. When he tires of hearing them whine about sharing, he finally bought another so each kid could have a computer.

After multiple service calls, they have cable installed on all 4 TV's! I didn't even know about the forth one. Besides the living room and kids play room, there is also on in the kitchen & breakfast area. It's mostly watched while getting ready for dinner, the kids eating breakfast or for poker games. He did actually have to get rid of the OLD TV in the kitchen. It was so old, it wasn't even cable ready ;)

Who's that taking a picture?

WELCOME TO THE 1990's DAD!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I think I can teach him to use the DVR pretty quick (~maybe~).

I'M OFFICIALLY A CRACK-HEAD

Last month, I mentioned that my old cell phone was nearing retirement. After much searching and a trip to the AT&T store, I gave into popular pressure and bought a Crackberry. As much as I lusted after the iPhone, I knew I would break it within days. I wanted something small, rugged and with a large screen for web browsing.

This phone is TINY & fits perfectly in my pocket or purse. It doesn't have a full QWERTY keyboard like many other Blackberry phones, but I do limited text sending so that was I great trade-off in my mind. It's really been fabulous the past few days on the road & not coming home to 496,303 messages I needed to read or check.

I've saved tons of time reading and/or deleting lots of blog feeds while I'm on the road. Some of my other favorite websites & Yahoo mail are viewable, but not fantastic. So far I am mostly thrilled with the phone. I wish I could turn the annoying green flashing light off. I miss the multiple alarms I could set on my old phone, and I haven't figured out how to give everybody their own ringtone yet.

Thought I'd throw in a little action shot of the Crackberry on the plane with me in Louisiana.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: It's almost the weekend!

WEARY ROAD WARRIOR

What a whirlwind few days! I had a fabulous visit with my Aunt & Uncle in Denver. Had a spectacular morning jog in my favorite park. There were 2 great inspection with my boss, plus a fabulous lunch on the river in Golden.

THEN- I flew back to Houston and on to Shreveport, Louisiana last night. We arrived at our hotel LATE and I was exhausted. I couldn't get the Internet to work on my laptop last night or this morning. BOO!!! After some chilly inspections that started VERY early today, we caught an early flight home.

I'm off to clean up, unpack and get ready to drive to Beaumont tomorrow! Maybe even work on a few pics from my trip if I have time ;)

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Fall is officially here & I'm loving the weather!

GOOD GRILLING

Sunday night, we did manage to do some grilling and enjoy our first home cooked meal in weeks. H picked up a recipe while tail-gating at the game and wanted me to try it on my sweet potatoes.

Slice them into wedges, cover in olive oil and season with garlic salt. Grill!

Not only were we treated to some exceptional weather, we had a gorgeous sunset while cooking.

In case you are wondering, #77 on our 101 List is to get a new grill. Maybe Santa will bring one...

All in all, a yummy dinner with grilled teriyaki chicken, squash and salad. We really enjoy cooking togehter & just hanging out being silly.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: My good friend Rachel in San Diego is surviving the fires. I hope today bring her & all the others in Southern California more good news.

DENVER-BOUND

I taking off for another great job-perk, a quick trip to Denver. Although I was able to visit with my Aunt & Uncle in July, I get to see them again! My Colorado vacation pics kicked off my blog a few short months ago. I've been traveling to Colorado since I was a wee baby- that's me with my Uncle Don many years ago!

Even though the are in their mid-80's, they made the trek from Denver to Mexico for our wedding. They partied like rock-stars & we were so blessed and honored that they traveled so far to watch us say our vows. The above photo is my grandma & (her sister) Sue & Don. This was one of my favorite parts of the wedding. My dad lead the whole group in a prayer before dinner and everybody gather in a circle and held-hands.

One of my favorite parts about going to their house (yellow pin above) is that they live very near a huge greenbelt. Sadly, we don't really have much in the way of parks or open-space here in Houston. I usually try to sneak in a 6 mile run along the little creek, and can see all sorts of wildlife. Last trip, I didn't manage a run, but managed a little photo break. See some photos on the ground of his fun little park instead of on Google Earth.

This park extends quite a ways and you can probably see all the (faint) trails that run along the park, including a horse trail. Running west, I can catch a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains most days. This trip I'm going to stay at a hotel because I don't want to burden them with a house guest.

A fabulous feature of Google Earth is to highlight all the parks near my hotel & show me my running options for tomorrow morning. Another reason why I totally dig Denver- check out all those parks everywhere. I'm too embarrassed to even show the map of Houston.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Yea for travel- more pics to come soon!

TRAVEL FUTURE: Alabama

This Tuesday's travel blog spotlights some of our upcoming travel. I am going to Atlanta for a work seminar, which starts the Monday after Thanksgiving. Some very dear friends of mine live in Alabama- only about an hour and a half from the airport.

When I was going to school at Wesleyan College in Macon, GA, I was able to visit their farm several times. It's such an awesome place and I am looking forward to taking H to explore some of the great South. So much so that it's #62 on our list of 101 to go for a visit to the farm. It's been in her family since it was purchased from the Indians, and she's kept detailed records of the history of the property through the Civil War to the present.

We plan on doing a small gathering with our family on Thanksgiving day, probably breakfast and then heading to the airport. We should arrive at the farm just in time for a big hearty, home-cooked Southern Thanksgiving meal.

For me, this is mostly a trip to the country. For long walks through the woods at sunset. For catching a glimpse of a wild deer or some turkey. For rocking on the front porch and listening to the crickets at night. Sort of like the joys of camping, but without roughing it.

Hopefully on our way back up to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon, we're going to stop into Callaway Gardens and check out the beautiful park. My political-science, history nut husband will probably also want to stop at FDR's Little White House.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: FALL IS FINALLY HERE IN HOUSTON!

ME AT WORK

This is a rare picture of me in action on the job in January of 2006. This picture also rocks because I don't have my super dorky yellow-neon traffic safety vest on *yet*. Don't worry boss- I didn't violate the company safety policy by not wearing one that day (see it in the case?).






Yea, so I was just getting set up and obviously was still getting the tripod leveled ;) I swear I really do know how to operate one!

Here's another oldie, but goodie. This was from a vehicle inspection in California in April of 2005. Sometimes my job would be easier if I was a wee-bit taller.

Sometimes I sneak into photos since I'm asked to hold measuring tapes or other props. Lesson here folks, just like earlier lesson- don't fight the trees.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm a traveling fool this week- Denver, Shreveport & Beaumont.