Foreign Travel

I plan on starting a lot of foreign travel this year and so I'm looking at which is the best card to get.  I'm thinking about getting a Capital One because they don't charge conversion fees.  I also started look at what luggage for international travel would be best.  I want something with wheel, light, and medium sized.  I want to travel as lightly as a high-maintenance girl like myself can!

I continue to get messaged by guys.  That is three days of the new year and three days I've been getting messaged.  Of course, all the guys are no goes, but wow, maybe this is my lucky year after all.

Work didn't go as well as yesterday, but still okay.  We were evacuated from the building for 20 minutes around lunch.  Lets hear it for adventure.

I wasn't able to see the meteor shower this morning - too cloudy.

And lastly, I have an appointment with the dermatologist in two weeks to look into hair removal and removing a mole on my back.  Baby steps forward. 

I almost forgot the most important thing - I'm down .4 more pounds.  153.4!

Wednesday

Today went surprisingly well.  I got a lot done at work and my coding went smoothly.  Now, if the next few weeks go as smoothly as today, I might actually survive January.   

I got two new messages on POF today and one yesterday.  All were "no, nevers", but it is cool to see something in my inbox.  My horoscope did say I was be getting more invites than I'm use to this year so maybe it is beginning. 

I have planned some more for my Canada trip.  I had Tuesday just sitting there with nothing to do.  I'm sure I could have found something but it would have cost me an extra $300 to do so.  I ended up cutting a day off my trip and moving everything after Tuesday up a day.  Turns out, by flying home Saturday instead of Sunday, I save $100 on the flight!

I randomly found a blog that talks about how women should date - written by a man.  The man's attitude is so like G's that for a moment I thought I might have stumbled across his secret blog.  It's not him but it is eerie.  I look forward to reading the blog more.

Tomorrow there should be a meteor shower.  I'm going to try to take some time to look up at the night/morning sky and see if I can see anything.

Fake It Till You Make It

Hello 2013!

I listen to conservative talk radio on occasion.  Dennis Prager tends to be someone I consistently enjoy listening to.  I don't particularly admire or respect him, but I do think he makes some good points. He has a segment called the Happiness Hour, and if you listen to it for any period of time, you will learn that the bases is, he thinks that people have an obligation to "act" happy.  To a much much lesser degree, "be" happy.  He feels that people who act unhappily are narcissists and selfish.  I don't think so,  to say that you would also have to say that people who act happy are also narcissists and selfish.  No, I think people who act unhappy are simply rude.  And, so, I do agree that we have an obligation to be civil to those around us and that includes not inflicting your bad mood on others.

Now, it is argued that the simple act of "acting" happy will make you happy.  It is the same concept of faking confidence until you get confidence.  I have tried both, in the past, and I really don't think it is something you can fake and if you fake it enough it will suddenly just appear.  However, as we ring in the new year of 2013, I have determined that for 1 month, I am going to blog nothing but positive stuff.  No matter how bad my life gets, or if there is a death in the family, it is not going to be blogged about.  Nothing but happy, positive stuff is allowed for 1 month.  I am curious to see, at the end of that period, if I notice a difference in my self.

Anyways, I am planning a trip to Canada in March.  I have decided on  March 9th to 17th and to Quebec City and Montreal.  I don't have a lot of time to plan and book this trip if I want any sort of decent deals.  Since I don't have work today, I'm going to spend part of it planning things out.  I might be using this blog to sort through all my thoughts as I make the fuzzy clear.

Since I'm visiting Canada in the winter, I figured I should do something I can only do in the wintertime.  Enter staying in a Ice Hotel, Hotel De Glace, which I'm planning my whole trip around. 

So far, I'm thinking about:

Flying into Montreal.
Staying a Few Nights at Springhill Suites by Marriott
Taking the Rail to Quebec City
Staying a Few Nights at Four Points by Sheraton Québec
One Night at Hotel De Glace
One Night at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac*
Rail Back to Montreal
One Night in Montreal then Departing Home.

Socks, Two Quotes, and Weigh

I totally forgot about my Merino Wool socks.  I went to 3 different Academy's looking for these socks which have apparently sold out.  I found them, ironically, because I misplaced them in a store a month ago.   Before Christmas, I was looking to get some hiking socks.  I picked up the Merino Wool socks and almost purchased them but then saw some hiking socks I wanted instead.  I put the Merino Wools socks down in the wrong location of socks thinking that a stock person would put them back in the correct place.  Turns out, a month later, no one returned them to the proper place.  Which meant that the pair of socks I wanted didn't get purchased and were left for me to buy instead.  A pretty cool story.

I didn't make 150 by the end of the year, like I had hoped, but I did weigh in at my lowest yet, this morning, at 153.8.  I'll take it!

As we ring in the new year, there are two quotes I want to live by:

"When was the last time you rose, victorious, like a phoenix from the ashes?

Anyone can be burned, crushed, consumed. But not everyone chooses to rise. Grace is the air that turns our cinders to ashes and our ashes to wings. Rise. Then rise again."

and

"Be the Change You Seek."

I read my horoscope for the year on yahoo.  I couldn't believe how eerily it mirrored my feeling and hopes for 2013.  A lot of change in my life, for the better, good romance (in June no less!).  We will see... we will see...

Ski Bunny

I get 176 hours of vacation time at work.  That is not including federal holidays I get off or the 6 days that carried over from 2012 that I didn't use.  I don't get paid a lot or get a lot of benefits, but lots of vacation is one.  My carry over vacation goes away at the end of March if I don't use it.  And I don't want to lose it.

I have plans to go to Canada and Ireland this year.  So, I decided to go to Canada before March, probably in March.  That means snow, cold, and winter.  It's quite intimidating for a southern girl who faints when it gets close to 45 degrees.  But I figure if I'm going to visit Canada in the winter, I should do something you can only do in the winter, in Canada.

And that is when I spied it - Hotel de Grace, an ice hotel.  I admit, ever since I heard of the concept of an ice hotel 6 odd years ago, I've been enamored with the idea.  I wanted to spend the night in one and it just so happens that outside of Quebec City is the one and only ice hotel in North America.  Ding, I had a winner.  And since it is located at Quebec City, I had my location in Canada for my trip.

Now, I'm still planning it out.  I'd like to stay a night at Hotel de Grace and Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac.  I'd also like to make my way over to Montreal to see the Notre-Dame Basilica.  Tomorrow I'll do more research into what I'd like to see.

Anyways, the cold made me think that I need the appropriate clothing, which I completely lack.  Which prompted me to make a trip to Academy sports and outdoors.  They have winter and ski clothing right now, on clearance and they are getting ready to clear it all out.    If I waited, I know I would have a heck of a time getting any ski clothing.  I did do a price check online and Academy won for cheapest hands down.  I just hope the stuff isn't too too big 3 months from now.

I am, however, happy that I have lost as much weight as I have because otherwise, I doubt I would have been able to wear any of it.  As it stands now, it's a little iffy on the sizing.

I got a woman's XL pink ski pants.  There was a L in another brand that fit the same.  And, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten away with a men's M which would have only been too big in the waist.

I got a matching pink and gray ski jacket L.

And a gray fleece jacket that can line it.  Men's S.  They didn't have a women's in the color or size I wanted.  I wanted gray so men's it was.

I got boy's size 6 black snow boots.

Pink size small shirt and pants long underwear.

Total about $175 dollars.

If I decide not to go to Canada, I can always return the ski stuff.