Random Tuesdayness And A Tag From Jaime

In case you haven't noticed, blogging hasn't been very high on the priority list lately. I'm being a good girl and RTT'ing though!

On Friday evening while I was wrapping up my work for the week, my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but thought it was someone from work I'd been expecting to hear from, so I was quite surprised by the time I hung up from the call.

I arrived in Oklahoma City last night. Surprised? Yeah, tell me about it.

I returned from New Mexico with Auri and the kids on Tuesday night and worked from home the rest of the week. I didn't have any upcoming travel plans for Alabama, so I figured I'd be working from home for the next little bit. Plans changed Friday night at 5:30. The project manager in Oklahoma asked if I was available to help for the next couple of weeks, so here I am.
In the last two weeks, I have physically touched a total of seven states (Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma)! Crazy!

Yesterday I used my new Ouidad hair gel and I love it! It's called Curl Quencher/Moisturizing Hair Gel and gives great control without making my curls all 80s-crunchyness. It. Is. Fab. I'd definitely recommend it.
I really miss the pool. I haven't been in weeks. The withdrawal is starting to kick in and I'm getting verrrry cranky.

I'm still having a hard time getting over the fact that I'm in Oklahoma. My life is weird. Too bad my new laptop bag came today and I can't use it 'til next week.
I was tagged by Jaime well over a month ago and never got around to posting it.... here are her questions and my answers:

1. If you could be any animal, which would you be and why?
Hmmm... I'd either be some sort of aquatic animal or a bird. I think being able to breathe under water or fly would be awesome! Plus, if I were an aquatic animal, that would mean I lived in the ocean, and therefore, by default, couldn't be afraid of it!
2. If you could go anywhere in the world (on someone else's dime, of course), where would you go?
Fiji 3. You've stumbled over a time machine. Would you go back in time or visit the future?
I'd probably go back in time. Going into the future would just cause me unnecessary anxiety. I'm not sure what "time" I'd visit, though. I'd consider going waay back, perhaps to the '20s or '30s... and I'd also consider just going back to my childhood and refreshing some old memories.
4. What's your favorite book?
Do I have to pick just one? If I were to pick a series, it would be the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but you already knew that, didn't you?! If I had to pick one book right now, I'd go with Dog Handling. It's a fun story that provides the reader a great escape and Claire Naylor is a fantastic writer. Jen Lancaster is my new favorite writer!
5. Everyone has a stupid human trick... What's yours?
I can make my tongue into the shape of a clam shell. I can also make my eyebrows go up and down really fast. Apparently this freaks some people out. Not very exciting, I know. Sorry, I'm not that adventurous.
Don't you think this would be a fabulous job? I should look into it. Although, then I wouldn't be traveling all over the damn country. Right?

A Few Recent Fabulous Finds

I've wanted a "cute" laptop roller bag for quite sometime... and by cute, I mean, not plain old black. The parentals bought me a gray Samsonite roller bag a few years ago for Christmas, and it's been great, but recently I've had my eye on a bag with spinner wheels, and possibly a bit smaller. After tooling around online I found the Samsonite Spinner Laptop Tote, in purple nonetheless, and it was in stock at LuggageBase.com. I wasn't sure I wanted to spend $150 for a new bag since mine is perfectly fine, but they're offering free shipping plus 20% off all of their products, so I ended up getting this for $118! I can't wait 'til it gets here!My next fabulous find was of a different variety altogether. I heard about Ouidad curly hair products quite a while ago, but I've never seen them for sale anywhere, until a couple of months ago at Sephora. I was at Sephora on Friday, and since I'm out of most of my favorite hair stuff, I thought I'd buy some to give it a try. I bought some styling gel and the Botanical Boost, and I'll have to get back to you on the exact product names. I haven't used any of it yet, but I'll let y'all know how it works. BTDubs, my BFF Cass doesn't know what Sephora is. I soooo can't wait to take her in Vegas!
My third fabulous find is the DERMAdoctor MED e TATE facial wipes for hyperhidrosis {which means you sweat a lot (and that's sooo me, and I'm sure you wanted to know that)}. I saw them in an email a few months ago and thought I'd grab some while I was at Sephora. Well, just my luck, they don't carry them at the store here, so I had to order them online. Therefore, I haven't used them yet, but once again, I'll be back with a full review and let you know how they work!

P.S. I'm officially done working in Alabama and I'm moving on to Oklahoma to help them out for a few weeks. I leave for my first trip this evening... and I got upgraded to First Class!!! Woo Hoo!

Random Tuesdayness - Red Red Whining - Guest Post

Please give a warm welcome to my guest blogger for the day, you all know and love her... Jaime from Red Red Whine! Jaime is a mom, wife and lawyer (personally I don't know how she does it) and an absolutely wonderful writer. We often discuss our love of books and vampires, but have yet to meet in person. Jaime is definitely someone I'm happy to have connected with! Now show her some love!

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Once upon a time, when I used to have more time to blog, I would do the Random Tuesday thing. Some of my posts were SO random you could barely follow them. Then again, some of Erica's posts were the same way. We bonded over boasting about who could be more random and, of course, our shared love of all things vampire.

Speaking of vampire...
...Kellan is my "celebrity freebie." Meaning that I have a free pass to screw his brains out should the opportunity present itself. Fair's fair. Hubby has a celebrity freebie too. And I wish him well if Drew Barrymore expresses her interest.

Hubby and I are both lawyers and right now, the law is kicking both our asses. I'm just coming down off preparing a major arbitration (it's my father's case, no less) and things are really heating up for him. So that means no rest for the weary.

Hubby went to Texas A&M. So this next pic is for him.
As a member of the A&M cult, he is sworn to hate UT (note: that's the University of Texas, not Utah). He also wears the largest hunk of gold on his right ring finger that serves as the sign of the cult. I swear the damn class ring is a homing beacon. No matter where we go, even out of the country, other A&M people find you just because of the ring. Hubby and I were sitting at a bar in the Bahamas when some plastered, half naked chick reaches over and grabs his hand. "OHMYGOD!DIDYOUGOTOA&MTOO????" she slurred. Then I looked down at her right hand. Sign of the cult, slightly smaller, but identical to hubby's. Even in the Caribbean you can't escape them...

In law school, I was one half of a group affectionately dubbed "the leather twins." I looked damn good in my leather pants dancing on top of the bar. But it was probably a little too NYC for New Hampshire.

I'm a Jersey girl. (Don't hold it against me.) So when it came out, of course, I had to watch Jersey Shore. The show is such a train wreck - horrible, yet I can't look away. What I don't understand about the show is why everyone gets so worked up over it. It's a stupid reality tv show featuring idiots from New York and Rhode Island who come to Jersey to get laid. Doesn't the real housewives of NJ paint the state in a far worse light??? Or the Sopranos?

One of these days, I'm actually going to get around to writing a book. I worked on a vampire story for a long time. Unfortunately, everyone else in the world has a vampire story these days too. So I decided to branch out with my new story - it's about a succubus. I'll write it until I get tired of it - or my readers do - whichever comes first.

I just put my son to bed. When I was little, my dad worked all the time. (I guess that part hasn't changed over the years). But he'd always be home before I bedtime and would sing me to sleep. "House on Pooh Corner" was the song of choice. Every night. That's also the song my dad and I danced to at my wedding. So it's only natural that I sing that song to the little guy. He asks me to sing it for him. Every night. Sometimes he sings along deliriously. It's pretty cute.

I'm thinking about calling out of work tomorrow. (Shhh...Don't tell) I'm just too damn tired to force myself to be functional. Plus I don't feel like pulling on a suit.

Well...I think that's enough randomness for now. I'll let you be the judge of whether Erica or I write the more random-filled posts.

Lil' Miss Thang! - Guest Post

Happy Monday, Everyone! As I'm off in LaLa Land {actually, I'm in Los Alamos with Auri and the kids (and yes, that's where the atomic bomb was made) and we're having fun with out you!}, I decided to enlist a couple of guest bloggers to entertain you for the week... First off, I've got Lil Miss Butterbean! She's one of my newest readers and adorable as can be... now show her some love!

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hey guys! i'm lil miss butterbean, and you can normally find me blogging over here. i'm so excited to be guest posting for ms. salti! when she said she was looking for guest bloggers, i jumped at the opportunity because i love her blog! plus i hear she has awesome followers! (btw, i'm great at compliments!)

anyway, when she told me that i could write about whatever my heart desired, my mind went wild with topics, but i decided to keep it simple. my favorite time of year is autumn. i love the colors, i love the smells, i love the toasty warm feeling that you get when you're watching a football game or when you feel the first chill of the season. so, i was going to write about that, but decided that writing about the last few lazy days of summer would be better.

these are my favorite things about summer

long days at the lake

(via)


flip flops
(via)


grilling with friends
(via)

a cold beer on a hot night

(via)

road tripping
(via)

combine these five things and you've got the recipe for a wonderful summer!

so what about y'all? what are your favorite things about summer? how are you planning on spending the rest of these hot days?

Salti Talk - Addiction Much?

I'm kind of a jerk of a host over here. I start an interactive blogging idea and then never post anything. Jeez! (In all honesty, I kind of forgot about 'Salti Talk' and haven't been thinking much about ideas for it.)

In any case, I'm writing a post now, so all is good, right? Right. Ok then. This addition of Salti Talk is about addiction. And not in the taking-drugs-drinking-yourself-into-oblivion-psychotic-OCD-headcase-ruin-your-life kind of addiciton... but a funny or strange addiction or slight-case-of-OCD type of thing.

I'm sure I have one of my own... so I'll be thinking of that in the meantime. But recently, I've observed someone else's strange addiction, and I have to say, I'm quite perplexed. This person has got to own stock in Ricola because he/she sits and consumes cough drop after cough drop ALL. DAY. LONG. like it's candy! I mean, those taste alright when you need them, but every day?

Now, if you've got a never-ending case of the coughs, maybe you should see your doctor instead of eating bags-at-a-time of cough drops, just a thought. (And maybe this person has a medical condition that causes him/her to cough a lot, but I've never observed it.) I'm very curious what is driving this person's need for cough drops.

So now it's YOUR turn. Tell me, do any of you have a strange addiction/obsession? What is it and why do you do it? I'm curious and want to hear all about it!

Jossy Baby

You know what's dumb? I promised and promised for weeks that I'd tell y'all about the Joss Stone concert I went to back in June... Yeah, today marks two months since the concert and I'm an asshole for not delivering the goods. As it's been so long, I can't remember anything (I'm going to request an MRI next time I go to the doctor to see if I have a brain tumor... that's the only plausible explanation for my shitty memory these days), so I'm just going to show you a bunch of cute/funny pics.

If you don't know who that is by now, I can't speak to you anymore...

Seriously, the woman can sing... and she puts on a damn good show!

(Our spot on the lawn was approximately 15 yards away from her)

Rachel and Auri

(Rachel was posing for someone else and I have no clue what Aurs was doing)

We met up with Rachel and Ginny in line after Odum's awesome friend (Stacey? I can't remember her name.... See?) held a place all afternoon for us!

Joss asking for some audience participation
Umm... I don't even know
(And she's gonna kill me for posting this!)

And that's Shmodus {aka Odum, aka my gay bunghole} and I... Our 3rd Joss show together!

If you ever have the chance to see her, do it. And if you ever find out she's in concert within a 500 mile radius of my location, you better let me know!

Things I Ponder While Traveling (or Shit I Think of While I'm Stewing Over Someone's Screwup)

Some thoughts on traveling from a mostly well-traveled girl...
~I've always had this glamorous picture in my mind about what I thought traveling for work looked like and what it meant... but the reality of it ain't so pretty. Sure it's fun for the first few or even dozen trips, but after that, it gets old very quickly. If you have the chance to do it, go for it and gain the experience, but be forewarned, it can be extremely exhausting.

~Overbooking - what's the point? I've heard of flights being overbooked but never a hotel. I understand that there will always be those last minute cancellations, but what the hell is someone to do when they're away from home and the reservation they made holds no merit? There damn well better be a back up plan. ~Cab/shuttle/bus drivers should NOT discuss politics with their passengers without prompting from their passenger(s) first. There's more than likely multiple issues we'll disagree on and I don't want to discuss them with a) someone I don't know and b) someone driving the car I'm in for fear things will get heated and I may end up dead as the result of a horrific accident because the driver went all ballistic about whether or not they should build a mosque at the site of the WTC. Ugh!

~There seems to be an inverse correlation between the appearance of a hotel's lobby and its rooms. Nice lobby=shitty rooms and vice versa... but maybe that's just my perception.

~There's always a surprise waiting for you on the other side of the hotel room door. It could range from a) very disappointing to b)what you were expecting to c) phenomenal... but you'll never know until you slide your key into the reader and turn that handle. Consequently, you can get a pretty good read of what your room is going to look like depending on the appearance of the door. Ugly/old door? Good bet your room will look like that as well. (Funny note: That's the room number I was assigned in the first hotel yesterday.)

~If a hotel is going to test its fire alarms, don't you think it's best to conduct those tests during the middle of the day when the hotel is least populated with guests? Why not do it when most people are off the property for the day? 5:30 PM is NOT one of those good times.

~Restaurants and room service in hotels are highly underrated... you tend to forget how nice those amenities are when you're used to staying somewhere without them.

~Why does a hotel allow me to check-in online the day prior to my reservation and then tell me there are no rooms available when I arrive?

~Is it just me, or do planes and elevators seem like time/space continuums? You get in, the doors close, and then either seconds or hours later, you've been transported to another place (and essentially you're transported to another time when you change time zones... but hopefully not in an elevator)!

~What's up with hotels with "smoking" rooms? What about the clean air act? Why is ANYONE allowed to smoke indoors anymore? More importantly, why are cab drivers allowed to smoke in their cabs? I can assure you, you'll have far fewer customers overall, and virtually no repeat customers if they have to shower after leaving your vehicle.

And that brings this bitch session to a close. What are things you don't understand about the travel industry? Anything like what I've described or other horrors I've yet to face?

Week(end) in Review - Semi-Random Tuesdayness

In the spirit of Cleveland's A Plum's weekly Monday posts, I'm doing a weekend recap. As I mentioned before, I was given the responsibility of puppy-sitting NeNe from Wednesday through Sunday night, so my weekend activities were extremely hampered by the fact that I had a "child" to look after. I managed to pawn her off on a few willing sitters so I could get a few things accomplished.My cousin took her Friday afternoon so I could go get my nails and toes did. This is my new polish from Essie called Lilacism and I lurve it! It's totally matte so I had to add some bling, naturally. I really love Essie polish... it goes on so smoothly and doesn't get goopy as easily as OPI does. And the plus side to this bottle of polish? It was free! By the way, have I ever mentioned how much I love Tori who does my nails? Well I do. She's wonderful!

(NeNe isn't trying to eat Fergie, they're cuddling in the back seat.)

On Saturday Kenzie offered to take the bubba so I ran some errands and grabbed lunch with my Mum. I tried getting a few hours of work done as well, but ran out of "free" time. I was supposed to do dinner and go dancing with the girls, but I didn't have anyone to tend my "baby" that night. I actually left her home alone for almost two hours and met the girls at Hopper's for dinner anyway. I was surprised to return to a clean, un-pooped-in house! Yippee!

On Sunday the parentals took off on their road trip, so I went and picked up The Ferg. Needless to say, she was less than excited to see NeNe, but quickly got over her Diva attitude. The pooches and I went to visit Aunties Rose, Noelle and Toni at the pool and then came home to take naps. We pretty much chilled at home all afternoon.

How's Sookie? She's lost a lot of blood...*Gasps* How much blood? Er, A LOT. Oh my God! Whyyyyyyy?! WTF? SOOKEH! My love! You've come back to me! Uuhh... AAAAAGG#!! MONSTER! Where!! I'll get them SOOKEH... Nothing will hurt you while I'm around!

Auntie Wikiball came over on Sunday night to play with the dogs (actually, she came over to watch True Blood and the dogs were just an added bonus... but don't tell them that). This season is superb! The above cartoon was from 3 episodes ago, but it's funny, so I thought I'd share. The print is too small to read, so here you go...
That brings me to today, which is Monday (even though you'll be reading this on Tuesday), which means I got to work from home again all day! I also snuck in an hour of pool time since it's FINALLY open again (it was closed from Thursday to Sunday for electrical maintenance or something - totally not cool).

I negotiated my days in 'Bama for this week so I don't have to leave until tomorrow and get to come home on Thursday! Then I'm off again on Saturday headed for New Mexico! I'll try to get some posts scheduled before I leave. In fact, do I have anyone who wants to guest post? Let me know ASAP!

Birthday Wishes - Mamacita and Aurs

Two of my most favorite women in the world are celebrating birthdays! Aurelia, my HLP had her 29th birthday yesterday... And my Mom, the best mom EVER, is celebrating hers today (I won't mention her age for fear of being disowned). Sadly, they're both in other states right now so I can't give them loves!

Obviously, I have more pics of Auri to use at my disposal because my mom threatens me every time I have the camera out.

I hope you girls have absolutely wonderful birthday weeks! I love you both and can't wait to see you soon!

Eye Candy for a Saturday Afternoon

My favorite part of True Blood Season 3? Alcide Herveaux, aka Joe Manganiello... Hawt Hawt Hawt!

Now wipe the drool off your keyboard and go back about your day!