Saturday, January 20, 2007

There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place...

First off...*sigh*. It is so good to be home. I love my girl E, but traveling with her is like living in the Gong Show.

HIGHLIGHT:
Orbitz called me the morning of the flight to tell me it was on time.
LOWLIGHT:
It was at 4 am - half an hour before my alarm went off (grr).
HIGHLIGHT:
We were staying at the hotel where the Reagan assasination attempt went down - and I had a meeting in the Presidential Suite...kinda cool.
LOWLIGHT:
We arrived at the hotel and never saw the light of day or fresh air until 4 days later when we were loading the cab to go home.
LOWLIGHT:
Dehydration. I woke up every morning with a hangover - without the night of booze. Never have I had such incredibly chapped lips. Dry. Dry. Dry. Now they are healing and my mouth is like Susan Lucci's. You know the look...sort of orangy-pink lip liner drawn on the outside of my natural lip line.
HIGHLIGHT:
Playing Mommy to Ryder while E worked the conference floor.
LOWLIGHT:
Playing Mommy to Ryder while E worked the conference floor.
HIGHLIGHT:
Seeing cousin S. and her 15 week twin bump. Lovely to see her so happy and excited.
LOWLIGHT:
After dumping 4 checked bags, we hauled a diaper bag, two brief cases, a baby, two sombreros, two computers, 3 pairs of shoes (yes, they made the baby take off his shoes) a car seat and a stroller that no matter how many lessons I had and how many times I tried, I could not expand or collapse through airport security only to have E get "pulled over" for having a bottle of Perrier stuck deep down in her bag.
LOWLIGHT:
E losing her conference notebook in the bar? The bathroom? The cafe space? Chasing it down with a fussy baby, a fussy baby stroller, a rolling briefcase and a phone that kept cutting in and out.
HIGHLIGHT:
Getting said notebook back from the Hotel Security Agent Service, although I had to track down E to get the guard to give it up, because I was not E and it had money in it.
HIGHLIGHT:
Getting a call from the same guard 20 minutes later saying he had the notebook in his possession again because E had left it in a conference room, then having him come up to our room to drop it off with me because he "knew us now."
LOWLIGHT:
Had lunch with KvM. We had a reach-off for the cheque when we were done. I (reachingly) asked if I was going to have to fight him for it and he immediately said no and snatched his hand back.
LOWLIGHT:
Nearly dropping my nephew in the shower. Soaped-up babies are slippery man! Makes me think twice about the responsibility of having children. In fact, the whole four-days-with-baby has drastically changed my perspective. I was internally starting to get a little manic about the fertility time that I have left...now I'm not so sure there is a need to panic.
LOWLIGHT:
cK - this one is for you. We had to change rooms on the second day because I saw a mouse run from the foyer to the back of the TV cabinet. A mouse! In a Hilton. Paris, tell your Pops to get his shit in a pile. You're not the only family member going down the shitter.
HIGHLIGHT:
We got to stay on the Executive floor wth free breakfast and a $50 food certificate.
LOWLIGHT:
The room was smaller, considerable smaller.
HIGHLIGHT:
It had free wireless.
LOWLIGHT:
I never got to use it because I was so busy with the baby.

There's plenty more, but my guy and I are going out to Morton's for a great steak dinner in 5 minutes. Not once did I have a decent meal in D.C., so I'm getting one now dammit. And if I see a mouse there I am going to scream. Then someone is getting sued.

2 comments:

cK said...

Yep, that's a conference alright! The mouse is a new twist, as is losing the notebook TWICE. Lord.

I put out snap-traps with peanut butter while I was in Wisconsin for the wedding. One of the traps drew the mouse...but he ate the peanut butter without setting off the trap! Crud.

Hey: Is Cousin S (with the 15-week TWIN bump!?) the S of S and T? 'Cause if so, that's awesome. I love those kids.
-cK

Lollie said...

Yep, S and T are having twins. AND she asked R and I if we wanted to be the Godparents - and not just in stature either...like seriously raising their children if anything happens to them. We are honoured. We have to wait to hear about the sexes, they are considering not finding out...