Home Again Home Again Jiggety Jig

I have spent the last week touring.  I am going to give you a list of highlights:

LIST 1 – AIRPORTS (counting separate days as separate visits):

TUS  SLC  BOI  BOI  SLC   SLC   BTM   BTM   SLC   GEG  GEG   SLC   TUS

Or Tucson, Salt Lake, Boise, Salt Lake, Butte, Salt Lake, Spokane, Salt Lake, Tucson.

LIST 2 – SEATMATES: 

1. TUS SLC – Chick Cowboy Poet.  Sam and I had a wonderful discussion about writing, and inspiration.  Check her out here.  This is your Monday morning poetry reading assignment.


2. SLC BOI Seatmate – Penny.  Penny is a slightly older, Asian version of me.  Public accounting, to industry and lovely to boot.  We had such a nice conversation about all kinds of things, and we laughed the whole flight.  Two fascinating seatmates in a row?  Amazing. 


3. BOI SLC – I don’t remember, so it was probably a coworker.  Sorry guys.


4. SLC BTM – Small Business owner coming back from a baseball tournament for his son.  He was wearing shorts, and I asked why, because we kept seeing these crazy northerners wearing shorts.  He sat in something in Vegas and ruined his pants.  I could totally understand.  He gave us restaurant recommendations for lunch, which you will see below.


5. BTM SLC – All By Myself.


6. SLC GEG – I sat next to a nice young sniper, on leave from Afghanistan.  I couldn’t help but watch him sleep, and stare at those long lashes and think of his life.  He shared a lot of stories, and the mom in me just wanted to hug him.  He described his tour this way “You know how some things seem like they are going slowly, but in hindsight, it doesn’t seem like it was that long?  Afghanistan is nothing like that.  It feels 4 or 5 times longer than it is.” 


7. GEG Airport – the COMMODORES!  Hello!  Sold out show in Spokane, Man.  They flew on the GEG SLC flight – coach.


8. GEG SLC – I sat next to…… The YO YO MAN.  He is a motivational speaker for kids in elementary school and was on his way to a 10 school tour in Tulsa.  He was, shall I say, motivational.


9. SLC TUS – Civil Engineer from Alaska, visiting his parents after a Vegas training.  He was just kind of civil.

LIST 3 – GREAT FOOD:

1. Valentines dinner at Leku Ona.  It was good Basque food, and I kept my shirt on. 


2. Breakfast Tuesday – Starbucks, otherwise known as Trouble.  After chugging a huge coffee, halfway to our destination I need a bathroom break like NOW. I got a little whiny.  Here is how I think I acted. WARNING, PRODUCTIVITY DRAIN – if you are anything like me you will watch this 900 times:  What I acted like HERE.


3. Lunch Wednesday – Butte MT.  Pork Chop Johns.  Check it – battered and deep fried pork chop on a bun with mayo, lettuce and tomato.  Awe.  Some.


4. Breakfast Thursday – Right next door to Pork Chop Johns, we noticed the sign that said Cherry Shakes.  Yum.  So for breakfast Thursday, we had onion rings and Cherry Shakes.  I have to admit that there were about 9 other places I wanted to eat – like the Huckleberry Shake Shack, and the family candy store.  Next time.


5. Dinner Friday – Mom’s house.  She makes food I don’t and it was wonderful.  Organic roasted chicken (from the neighbor’s) with baked potatoes, tomato mozzarella salad and asparagus.  Just like Mom made it.


6. Dinner Saturday – Milford’s Fish House.  Beets. Scallops.  Yum.

LIST 4 – BOOKS I READ:    

1. The Fish Philosophy.  The point?  Morale.  Teamwork.  Fun.


2. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. The point?  Teamwork (obviously).


3. Good to Great.  The point?  There were many, but it was a great (if challenging) read. 


4. The Ultimate Gift.  The point?  There were many in this, too, but they are all good ones.   Watch the movie.  It was better.


5. The Witch of Portobello (I bought it in the airport today after I ran out my battery, wrote a Jerry Maguire type treatise, wrote 3 letters and ate lunch).  The point?  You must be true to yourself.

LIST 5 – MOVIES I SAW:

1. Up in the Air.  Seemed appropriate.  Seatmate – Mom.

LIST 6 – KEY WARDROBE ITEMS:

1. Navy Velvet Calvin Klein Blazer


2. Orange blanket/scarf – I think I wore this all day every day as a scarf, hat and blanket


3. Leather gloves with cashmere lining.  AAAAAA.


4. Under Armour black watch cap – they called me Navy Seal


5. The find (Thanks Beth!) Uniqlo Heattech tank – IT GENERATES HEAT WITH YOUR SWEAT.   How cool (and warm) is that. 

 

I spent the weekend with my Mom and Earl, and it is so peaceful and lovely at their house.  She took me to Nordstrom’s and I walked through, and within 20 minutes we found 5 shirts and 4 jackets and Nordstrom’s shipped them straight to my house so I didn’t have to pack them.  It was meant to be.  She was a great facilitator.

All things considered, and based on the fact that I actually worked a full week on top of all this, it was a pretty great week. In spite of that, I sure am glad to be home.  I hope you had a great week too.

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