a quick trip to NOLA

I knew for months and months that in February I would be going to NOLA for a work conference. I was looking forward to learning some new info and hitting Bourbon Street with my coworkers for some drinks.

Instead, I spent my few days in one of my favorite cities fighting morning sickness and the exhaustion of a brand new pregnancy! But I survived. While I was there I was able to sneak away with one of my managers and walk the city and eat a few beignets!

Here are some of my favorite shots from my quick trip.

yummy things I didn’t get to buy:

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/1233034406_PP9nV-L.jpg

St Louis Cathedral:

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/1233034671_iWPeW-L.jpg

yummy things I DID get to buy (and inhale happily):

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/1233034721_3A42w-L.jpg

A random chair in Cafe Du Monde (I just really like the shot):

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/1233034690_cGHZn-L.jpg

unfortunately, my return trip to NOLA in mid march was cancelled. I was SOOOO looking forward to spending the weekend with my best buddies acting like fools. Maybe in a few years when I think I can leave my baby for a weekend, I can go back.

-m

I could spend days in Pittsburgh, PA with just my camera

I was in Pittsburgh for 2.5 days for work. When you travel for work you don’t really get to do much sight seeing. We were pretty luck to be able to take a detour to Mars when we got there. We also spent an evening in downtown Pittsburg at the Heinz History Center.

I will be back later this week with some funnies from the museum. But for now, I am here to show you bridges and houses.

I don’t know the exact number but Pitt has A LOT of bridges. And A LOT of really old houses that look like they are going to fall down at any second. They also look like people actually live in them. I can’t imagine that many of the houses I saw were very “winter proof”. But I wanted to take pictures of them all. I am a sucker for all things old and falling down. I was also a passenger in a car when I was taking most of these.

I would love to go back sometime and just spend a day or 2 with my camera. I wish we had been able to explore downtown a little more. Maybe one day I can go back for fun, not work!

-m

I went to Mars in a tiny little space ship.

When I posted on facebook recently that I would be going to Pittsburgh, PA for a work conference, my friend Russ sent me an email telling me about Mars. Thank goodness for friends who can tell me totally random places to go!

“Awesome – if you’re actually meeting in Pitt, then you’ll basically have to pass right by Mars to get from Cranberry to Pitt. It’s a little town, and there’s a spaceship in the center of town, there’s a Mars cemetary, a Mars Vet, and the Mars Post Office had a cutout of a spaceship that you stand behind to get your picture taken (think the strongman at the beach cutout type of thing). Google directions from Cranberry to Mars – the town is only 5 miles off the main road.”

I immediately went to my manager and informed her that we HAD to rent a car, and we were going to HAVE to be late to the meeting, because we HAD to go to MARS. THEY HAVE A SPACESHIP. Thankfully, she is goofy like me and was laughing at the idea.

We flew to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, grabbed a taxi to the rental car place (b/c the airport had zero cars) and booked it to Mars. Fortunately Russ was right and it was only a few miles from where we  were  staying. I googled the town for info and found very little about it. But that wikipedia page informed me that population is a whopping 1746 and there was pretty much no where to eat. We stood in the town square and took our picture with the space ship. We laughed at the Mars National Bank. We tried to eat at Mars Pizza. But it wasn’t a “dine in” kind of place. I am sure the people of Mars (btw, are called Martians!) thought I was a total fruit loop since I took dozens of pictures in that little town.

Here are the few I snapped while we hung out in Mars.

Kristi with our tiny little space ship.

Wen went in this place to see if they served lunch. It was full of candy, chocolate, cakes, cupcakes, candy, candy and candy. It smelled heavenly. We left. Quickly!  

 

 I am glad we took the time out of our day to swing through Mars. Now I can say I have been if anyone ever asks!

-m

 

A birthday cupcake that rocked my face!

Sunday was Tracie’s birthday. ALL week she celebrated. On Friday she wore a crown. And we got cupcakes…

I took a few pictures of TPP wearing her crown…

This first one she didn’t think I got.

The second one was boring.

But when I reminded her that EDWARD was right behind her, I got this! (She loves Robert Pattinson. and by love, I really mean, obsessed with.)

Because it was TPP’s birthday, we had cupcakes. (We always need a reason for cake!)
But these were no ordinary cup cakes. These were DREAMCAKES and boy, oh boy, they were amazing!

That was a “Curious George” cupcake. I am a sucker for all things peanut butter, and I LOVE runts candy. When I saw those sweet little bananas in the box I snatched it up because I knew it just HAD TO BE peanut butter of some sort. The cake part was very banana nut bready in flavor, the icing was a sweet, smooth PB fudge flavor. I made myself completely sick from it and it was worth it!

Thank goodness I don’t know where this place is located in Homewood (and I am choosing not to google it), because I would camp out each morning for one of these. Check out their website from they link above and look at all the tasty, creative cupcakes they have. I may make it a goal to try them all. Then make a new weight loss goal.

Thanks for having a Birthday, Tracie!

-m

easily entertained by gumballs

Some days it’s the little things.

The little things that make you smile. The little things that make you laugh. The little things that can entertain the shit out of grown people and make you waste 15 minutes of precious work time!

I was in my boss’ office one day last month and this was on the desk…

It was a card. Now I can’t remember what it said. But something witty from some company wanting our business…

My boss and I had a laugh about it… wondering if they were going to send us a gum-ball machine like another company had done as a huge scam. Basically they called and got my name, then made a bogus order and shipped it to us via ups. Only after the poor ups guy had unloaded cases and cases of toilet paper, huge shredders and A FULL SIZE GUM-BALL machine, did we say “wait a minute… what the hell is all this stuff”. Then we had to refuse it and he had to load it all back on the truck. I am pretty sure he still hates us for it! It took me months of fighting with this stupid company to get the bill cancelled and us removed from their mailing lists and call lists.

So, the gum-ball machine has kinda been a joke.

Then we got this in the mail…

We opened it up and laughed. It’s just a tiny desk top one but it hold about 1lb of gumballs. AND they sent us 2lbs to go with it. MLL and I spent 15-20 minutes opening it, filling it up, looking for change to put in it, testing it out and laughing. She read me the instructions that stated “hours of entertainment and enjoyment.”

me: how in the wold could a bubble gum machine give me hours of entertainment?
MLL: Well I don’t know Melissa, it’s already given you 15 minutes!
me: oh. true.

Now the cute little machine sits in the pharmacy, with a pill bottle full of pennies next to it. And it’s almost ready for the next bag!

-m

a day late and a doughnut short

Actually I am several days behind on this post, but I couldn’t pass up sharing this.

Friday was National Doughnut Day. And though I thought it was just a day to celebrate doughnut… I learned it actually “was created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War I” (Wikipedia). Who knew!? And how have I missed this glorious holiday every year of my life!?

What I do know is that Krispy Kreme is God’s gift to earth. In the form of Chocolate Covered cream filled goodness!

Friday morning was a crappy morning all the way around at work. But I walked in the kitchen to see this…

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/894907684_x5baR-L.jpg

then I caught this scarfing down a gooey warm glazed doughnut…

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/894907898_688mT-L.jpg

I immediately grabbed my fav and headed back to my office to enjoy it in peace. (We won’t discuss how many more I ate throughout the day!)

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http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/894907302_VUM8K-L.jpg

Thank goodness there is not a KK near me. I would have to go get one right now!

-m

it’s been worse, but it’s really out of hand

http://melissagay.smugmug.com/photos/858390254_Ao9qr-L.jpg

that’s my desk as of Tuesday afternoon. I was so frustrated with it all, I took it’s picture. So later I could show it to my desk and say…”remember this, when you were all messy and covered with paper? Remember that time, you didn’t clean up, AND LOOK, you even made poor chair hold some of your things. What if someone wanted to SIT in the chair? Grow up and be more responsible!” right. yeah. I don’t think it listens to me.

What’s REALLY REALLY scary is that IS organized. It looks like a paper monster gave birth on my desk… but really those are “organized” piles of bills to pay, payments to post, things to delegate, drugs to deal, turvis tumblers to put more coffee, things to mail. This isn’t the best picture, but I wanted to include the one that showed the chair. The chair is part of the purgatory that certain paperwork has to endure before it’s moved to a basket to then on to the file cabinet in the sky. Sometimes I use both chairs. If you want to sit in my office, 9 times out of 10 you have to move the paper. Then I get really confused by the new pile of paper on my desk that I don’t know why its there.

The past month has been brain mushing with work. I have learned a ton and been overwhelmed more. As a matter of fact, its cinco de mayo and I don’t even care. It’s already 5 days into a month that I am not ready for. I am not done with The 1st quarter. Sure as hell not over April yet. I don’t have time for it to be May. Seriously.

Oh and I can’t sleep. therefore I blog stupid things about my desk. Thanks for listening to me rant.
-m

ps. oh and when you are really frustrated and trying to make a point, don’t flail the hole puncher around. You just make the little holes go everywhere, then your point gets ignored due to hysterical laughter! you gotta love comedy relief. Now I have to vacuum!

my one dream day

I want one day… just one, where I can not worry and fret about things I can’t control. One day where I don’t have to work, or worry about work. Or do anything for anybody or worry about doing anything for anybody. One day where I can just stay in my pjs if I want, eat ice cream if I want, stare at the wall if I want, and not worry about wasting the time that I could be using washing clothes, bathing dogs, cleaning dishes, setting price codes, learning new machines, new inventory workarounds, reports, meetings, etc.  One day where I don’t have to learn anything new, remember anything old, or talk to anyone. I just want one day to read a book all day, stare at the sky all day, watch mind numbing tv all day. 

I will never ever have a day like this until I figure out how to turn my brain off of all the things it thinks and worries about. And I don’t see that in the near future! 

Work is crazy, I am so behind I may never catch up. 

This was yesterday, today it's WAY worse

 

House is coming together, b/c Wayne is awesome and soon I will have a computer again. 

(I wish I had the picture of the closet contents scattered on the floor… it’s on another memory card) 

working man's feets

Life is what it is… insert all the worry for other people here. 

But after all of that, I still have amazing friends, wonderful family and I woke up this morning. That’s always a good sign! Oh and I’ve Got a New Camera! (imagine funny wiggly happy dance). Poor Wayne is tired of my “I gots a new camera dance”. I will definitely be posting about that soon. 

-m

ps… go check out this link… LME IMAGES this gal does some amazing things with pet pictures! new blog for me to stalk! yay!