Best Birthday Gift Ever

When it comes to giving gifts, people fall into one of two categories. There are the well-meaning but uncreative people like me who, while wishing to give a good gift, invariably end a shopping trip for a friend's birthday or graduation with a scented candle and a gift-card to Starbucks. I mean well, but I'm just not creative when it comes to gift giving.

Then there are people like my friend Kay. Kay is the QUEEN of gift-giving. She's the type of person that if you mention once, in passing, that you've always wanted to try rare macadamia nuts grown in Hong-Kong, flavored in Peru, and shipped from a tiny store in Maui, she will spend weeks tracking down those exact nuts to surprise you with on your birthday. Plus, she'll probably have had the growers sign the nuts and include a picture of their plantation where the nuts came from. She's just incredible that way.

Yesterday before our run, Kay handed me a bright pink bag stuffed with tissue paper and stated she was giving me a belated birthday present. Inside the bag was the coolest birthday gift, ever. A hot pink running sun visor with KMKB in fancy cursive font on the front. Get it? Kiss My Kitty Butt... the title of my upcoming book. Kay had read my blog where I'd mentioned (again, causally, in passing) that it would be cool to have Kiss My Kitty Butt fashion wear and she wanted to be the first to offer a piece of the coutre attire. I LOVE IT.

She also gave me a gift card to a gourmet chocolate shop and a hilarious card that shows a cat staring into a blender that holds water and three fish, and a furry paw is reaching for the "blend" button.

Chocolate, cat card, and cat-based fashion attire. Pretty hard to beat. I'm going to have to do some long, hard thinking for her birthday because a scented candle is just not going to cut it.

Pushing the Limit

I accepted a couple of magazine assignments a few weeks ago and immediately put them on the back burner in order to work on the book proposal that's been occupying my time. Then I left town for the reunion and have spent the last two days playing catch-up. Which is why I almost fainted this morning when I realized I have less than 2 weeks to get the interviews I need and get these puppies written. 

One article requires I interview 5-6 different people. Ideally, I wanted them all together to do a group interview but I was doubtful. What were the chances I could gather 6 busy individuals on the same day, at the same time, with less than a weeks notice?

Strong, apparently. Every single one was free at the day and time I proposed and all are eager to meet. After hanging up the phone with the last person to confirm I turned to my cat, Lucy. "God loves me," I informed her.

The second article is about the Chinqua Penn winery. I called and spoke with the marketing director who suggested I speak with their wine maker next week at a wine tasting event. Sigh. Sometimes as a writer, we're just called upon to make these sacrifices in life. I told her I'd be there.

I'm only leaving myself a few days to write the articles, but they are not complex topics and if I come straight back from either event and start writing, I usually find that's when the images and words flow most readily. It's a struggle though, as writing is usually the last thing I feel like doing after an interview. But I'm just so excited that these interviews came together so quickly, I don't mind a bit. I'll probably throw myself into a writing coma by the end of next week.

Always something to look forward to. That, and the wine...  ;)

The Reunion

I have pictures to share from my 20th high school reunion but that requires me to figure out how to use the scanner with the new Mac which is something I'll work on this weekend. For the moment, we'll have to make do with a text version.

The reunion. In summary: not so bad. Fun, even. As a whole, I'd say the women are holding up better then the men. But everyone looked pretty good. There was no one that made me gasp and say, "What happened to him?"

Most people were recognizable, but nametags helped. But not always. At one point, I went over to say hi to a guy named Gordon. 

"Hi," he said, obviously with no idea who I was.

"Gordon, it's me! Dena. We both played clarinet. Sat by each other in band for three years?"

Nothing. No memory of me whatsoever. But it gets better. At this point, my friend Brett (a girl) came up to us.

"Hi Brett," said Gordon.

"Oh wait, don't tell me your name," said Brett. She stared at him. "I feel like I should know this."

"I took you to prom," said Gordon. 

The great part is, Brett never remembered his name. He had to tell her. Even better, the story circulated through our group and soon guys and girls alike were coming up to Brett and saying, "Hi, remember me? I took you to prom..."

Too funny.

Here's something I found amazing. I'd say a good three-quarters of the women at our reunion were stay-at-home mom's. Most had worked and then stayed home when they had their kids. I don't know why that shocked me, but it did. My friend Trisha asked me if I thought they were wasting their potential and at first I thought that was it, even though it's not PC to admit ti. But on further reflection, it's not that. I'm a big fan of having a parent at home with the kids and I recognize it's the hardest job on the planet. (Hence, my avoidance of it.) But in my mind, these were all still the really smart kids and I went expecting to hear about the great jobs they had and what they'd accomplished and when almost every one to a person said, "I'm a stay at home mom," it threw me. I don't know. I'm not explaining it very well. 

Anyway, the reunion was fun, but it's great to be home. I've got half a dozen projects gasping for attention so I'd better stop blogging and start working. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to go to the reunion. You're right. It was fun.

Speedwork... Sucks

No points for originality in today's blog title but I'm much too tired to care. I drove in 8 hours today from Ohio. I'm at a loss how to explain that it took me under 7 hours to drive to Columbus which is further north than Cincinnati and 8 hours to drive home, but whatever.  

I left Trisha's house at 5 am with the hopes of getting home in time for an extended relaxation period before driving into Greensboro for today's track workout. I made it home but rebelled physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually at the thought of getting back in the car, so I did the workout at home on my treadmill.

I hate speedwork. Just... hate it. All running is hard, but speedwork makes me want to throw my body down in the middle of a run and throw a temper tantrum worthy of a 5 year-old denied her favorite toy. "NO! NO! NO! Wahhhh!" is pretty much my mentality.

As I was heaving through a lap, I decided I needed an attitude adjustment and told myself to think of things I hate worse than speedwork. Maybe it was the lactic acid build-up kicking in, but I only came up with poison ivy, the Republican party, and artificial sweetener before I blanked. 

I'm spending tonight trying to catch up on e-mails and paperwork so I can hit the ground running with work projects tomorrow. Much writing to be done. 

Cheers.