Gobble, Gobble Gobble, Turkey day has come and gone but what a great time I had with my family. I haven't laughed that hard a holiday party in a while. My boyfriend George went to visit my aunt Jan's & Michael's house on the beach in Revere, MA. This was the first time that my family met George. My aunts boyfriend, Michael was there along with my uncle Sean, and my Mother. It was a small gathering but very quaint and fun. My younger brother called in from North Carolina, my Aunt Sue from Venice, CA and I talked to my Dad who was visiting my other aunt in Tyngsboro. My sister Lyn called from Montana and my Nana & G Pa from Florida chatted with us too. We had such a huge dinner. Everything from the fried turkey to smoked ham, veal parmesan, squash, potatoes, corn, beans, stuffing, and all the deserts. We all definitely should have worn our stretchy pants.

I'm baaaaaaack from the most magical, happy place on Efin Earth, Disney world with a side of slap happy! We had a business trip for the OR Nurse Managers http://www.ormanager.com/mtors/mtorsdocs/MTORS2006.pdf from Nov 8-10th at the Disney Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, FL and Wow I'm all out of happy. I think the kicker was my morning wake up call at 6:30 with a screaming Goofy on the other end shouting "It's a Freakin Sunshine Filled Day, Time to Get up and Smell the Disney!"! The show was a success though because we were able to meet with some very key influential OR Managers to review our variety of medical products and the 700 pg buyers guide. The show was run very well with ample breaks and time to interact with the attendees. I learned a lot at the show, but I'm still surprised it was at Disney. Apparently it is a hot spot for business trips too, but who would know when Disney Characters kept coming up to me and asking me if I knew where my parents were or if I'd like a cookie!

It's November 7th and its our 2 month anniversary. It's been a slightly rocky road at times but I know we'll make it through. It's been great to share our lives together and have someone who is so supportive of one another. I definitley feel like we are on the horizon of some major changes and I'm excited for what's in our future. He is a wonderful, loving man with a heart of gold. Here's to many more......

It's November 6th and after a weekend of Halloween debauchery, I'm still recovering. I had so much fun at Healther and Jon's 3rd Annual Halloween Bash house and they are truly wonderful friends. Every year that I have had gone I have had a blast. I know that we all get out of control (within reason) but everyone just thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It is so great to see everyone get invloved with the fun theme of Halloween. I dressed up as Dorothy Rocker Girl, (AKA Dirty Dotty) and George went as a Farmer Clown! We had such a hilarious time laughing at everything and seeing everyone's costumes. There are over 200 photos and they are all a riot! It's now Monday afternoon and I've been able to get through the day marketing medical supplies. Until my next blog, Steph

November 1st already! It's Holiday kick off time. This is the time when I'll start hearing Christmas music looking for cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. Even though "retail" is on its own clock, I tend to move through the Holiday season on my own time. I don't like to rush around and put together checklists and stress out. I like to wander about stores on off time (which is between 7-7:15 am and 9:15-9:30pm) and check out whats new and take my time. Eventually I'll bump into something shiny.

Last night was Halloween and sad to say but I got all excited to see the kids and not one came to the door. I don't know why it was so quiet last night. I saw lots of kids in other neighborhoods, but that was on my way home at 6:00pm. Maybe they just went out for an hour or so. Either way I carved a pumpkin anyway. I sat on the porch and created away. I think it was therapeutic because when you have a stressful day it's relaxing to widdle away at a pumpkin for fun. George came over to help me finish the job and light the candles. The semi-scary Jack O' Lantern stayed lit while George and I nibbled at the candy. George's little girl, Alannah dressed up as a princess and her Mom took her out around her neighborhood. I heard she looked precious. Little kids costumes are so cute!

Next weekend I have an adult Halloween party to go to at my friends Heather's house in Sterling, MA. Her and her husband John put on such a great party every year. The way the house is decorated is unbelievable and truly a blast. :)

Until next time........ Peace, Always Steph

George and I have been dating for close two months and we are getting so much closer to each other. It has been such a great experience and we are learning so many things and diving deeper in the journey. We are definitely in the honeymoon stage of our relationship and I look forward to each day with him. Neither one of us was "looking" for someone when we met each other on Sept 7th but we definitely bumped into each others life for a reason. We talk to each other for hours and we genuinely enjoy the time we spend together. He is a sweet man with a heart of gold. He makes me laugh and keeps me focused on whats really important. I am blessed to have him in my life. He is truly a gift to to me and I look forward to opening up with him more and more each day. I love him dearly.

You know you can only stick your head in the sand so many times before you realize that you just can't hide from your problems. Whether they are family, relationships, work related, financial, health, addictions, etc. the only way out is to face them head on and chip away until they are resolved. I have a history of hoping it will just all go away. Maybe if I just chant the same mantra over and over things will get better. They definitley will get better but a plan needs to be in place to dig myself out of this hole. I'm looking up from a huge hole called my life. I am really at the bottom with a ton of things in my life that have fallen to the bottom. I'm on the cusp of making some drastic changes, cause as they say "How's this working for you?", and "Well it's just not working". I could list out all the things that are wrong in my life but my headache would only continue to pound so I'll just say I've done a ton of things to sabotage my happiness and my outlook has been rather bleek for months now. I am trying to see through the clouds but it has been a challenge. Between my job and my financial situtation I feel like a failure. I feel like I am drowning in debt and I can never get ahead. Just shy of working a second job and working 80 hours a week, I know I need to make a serious change but at what price. I am fortunate that my relationship with my boyfriend is going well but lately that has been strained too. Something's got to give.

Back from Chicago from a medical trade show business trip, and what a great city to visit. I definitely need more time to see all the sites, but I enjoyed dinner at Carmine's (Authentic Italian) www.rosebudrestaurants.com complete with a multi-lingual piano player in the background. Another wonderfully delicious restaurant is Devon Seafood, www.devonseafood.com. Everything was cooked to perfection and the Almond crusted Tilapia was prepared with the finest ingredients. The Palmer House Hotel www.Hilton.com is a gorgeous old hotel and Miller's pub next door is a great little Irish pub for some authentic cocktails. The McCormick Center is a huge convention center and it's a great ride along Lake Michigan. The week I was there was a huge organized effort for the ONE campaign and 23 million people stood up and were recoded in the Guinness Book of World Records of the most people standing up for one case, to end poverty worldwide. It was great to see and even though I was there on business I was there in spirit www.one.org/node/202. It's amazing what the power of ONE can truly do. With so much affluence in this country the resources need to be allocated. It's time people are dying and need help and the US has the funds to do it if they chose to, just starting with getting at least 1% ($25 billion) of the US budget on the books to show they commit to ending this. We'll I don't have too many political views but this one is very worthwhile. I'm going to run but I'll chat again lata!

Good morning world,

It's one of those mornings where I wish I steered my car off of 128 S and cruised to the beach instead of work. It's been one of those days where all I can think of is lying in the sand with my toes squished in the sand, the waves crashing behind and the cool salty breeze in the background lolling me to sleep. I am very groggy this morning and although I have only had one cup of coffee, the caffeine jolt hasn't hit me yet. It is a beautiful, sunny day and as I peer out of my office window, I begin to daydream. As my thoughts wander about the life I could have led, like a high profile photo journalist or a big time Corporate Advertising Executive with a corner office overlooking the Manhattan skyline I begin to wonder. I have always been enamored with the allure of a high profile life. It's fun to fantasize about what it would have been like to travel on a yacht or eat breakfast with diplomats at a five star resort in Paris. I think the mundane tends to pull me into a routine that is so drab. My creative intuition just wants to jump for joy and the restless Palomino inside is just itching to be released from the gate.

Hi,

Well I'm a little timid as this is my first step into the Blog Cyber world. I thought I would learn how to get on this blog bandwagon, since I love to write and I have run out of notepads and stickies around my desk. Today is just a simple observation, while I comprise my thoughts and ideas. It is merely a mention that no matter what you are going through it is only for a time but the time we spend is so fulfilled when it's spent "Carpe diem". It is difficult to seize the moment when we are hustling around just trying to survive, but the beauty in life is all around us if we can just turn the volume down in our heads peacefully enough to listen.