Brown Boots

Picture of the Day for 11/26/2012. For the past couple of weeks, I've been single-minded in my attempt to find flat-heeled brown dress boots. It's consumed my every waking moment because it is DEEPLY important to have just the right pair of boots. Duh. As you can see, I was successful.

Here's a thought- maybe I should use this ability to hyper focus on a task for good- like work or exercise or service. Hmm...

Nah. It requires too much effort to use my skills for good and the benefit of mankind.

Late Invitation

Picture of the Day for 11/26/2012. Take a look at the 2nd text down from the top and you'll see an invitation from my niece Michelle to go out to dinner in Park City. She issued the invitation last Saturday, but as you can see the text did not arrive until 12:32 am this morning. Needless to say, I missed the party. I'm kind of wondering what the text was doing for 2 days before making its appearance. I have an image in my head of the text getting distracted and going out and partying before grudgingly deciding to go where it was meant to. 

Cool Christmas Decorations

Picture of the Day for 11/25/2012. The Christmas decorations at my favorite bagel shop struck my fancy. 

Special Bonding Time with My Niece

Picture of the Day for 11/24/2012. My niece Chantal and I went out to lunch and spent the afternoon shopping. She's a fairly faithful reader of this blog so my hope is that the overly gooey title of this entry will make her gag. It's fun to torment her. It's also fun to spend time with her.

A friend of mine who saw this picture accused me hogging the picture. Yeah, so? I don't see a problem with that. ;-)

Henchspy

Picture of the Day for 11/23/2012. At my great-nephew Dane's 15th birthday celebration tonight, my great-nephew Ethan informed me his status has been upgraded from "henchman" to "henchspy." It's good to know Ethan is ambitious and not resting on his henchman laurels- prodigious as they may be. He's pictured here with his spy tool-belt. It's good to be prepared with the necessary equipment. 

Thanksgiving 2012

Picture of the Day for 11/22/2012. As the lone unmarried sibling in my family, I get passed around for holidays. This year, I was my sister Robynne's responsibility for Thanksgiving. She cooked a fabulous meal and as a bonus we went to see the movie Skyfall after dinner. Daniel Craig was positively oozing manliness as James Bond. Good movie.

My niece Rachel is currently living in New York and did some Thanksgiving cooking of her own. She's pictured here showing off the astronaut oven mitts I gave her last Christmas like a nerdy aunt should do. Rachel said they were a hit with everyone. I was pleased to hear that!

Suburban Horse

Picture of the Day for 11/21/2012. I'm seeing horses in the most unusual places. A couple of months ago I saw one tied up to a bicycle rack at an urban strip mall and today I saw a couple of horseback riders in my neighborhood while I was driving home.

Cooking Alert

Picture of the Day for 11/20/2012. Now, don't get all alarmed, but I might actually turn on my oven for the first time in a few months and try a recipe for a pumpkin cake recipe I saw online.

Toy Dog

Picture of the Day for 11/19/2012. This tiny little dog was staring me down from the car parked next to mine in a strip mall parking lot. At first I thought it was a stuffed animal until it eventually blinked. 

Coca-Cola Vault

Picture of the Day for 11/18/2012. Visited the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta today. One of the exhibits is the actual vault where the secret formula/recipe for Coca-Cola is housed. Given my unholy fondness for Diet Coke, this was the equivalent of visiting a religious shrine. 

Georgia Aquarium

Picture of the Day for 11/17/2012. The speech therapy conference's closing gala was held at the Georgia Aquarium. It is the world's largest aquarium and a fantastic place. I'd love to go back and spend an entire day there. 

Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint

Picture of the Day for 11/16/2012. While my sister Robynne, brother-in-law Will, and I are in Atlanta for the speech therapy conference, we're trying to eat at "authentic"-ish southern restaurants. Last night we ate at Gladys Knight's restaurant, Gladys and Ron's Chicken and Waffles, where we were seated right next to Evander Holyfield. That was pretty cool.

Tonight we ate at Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint where there was live entertainment. Regina Troupe was the featured singer and she is a fabulous performer. I even ended up buying her CD. Very fun!

Speech Therapy Conference - All Set!

Picture of the Day for 11/15/2012. The speech therapy conference begins today. Our booth is all set up and we're ready to start selling Robynne's speech therapy materials!

 

It's a massive exhibit hall. Fortunately, we're right next to the entrance which should drive a lot of traffic our way.

Speech Therapy Conference - Setting Up

Picture of the Day for 11/14/2012. We spent the day setting up the You Can Teach Speech Now booth where my sister Robynne and I will be selling her speech therapy manuals at the 2012 ASHA conference in Atlanta. One might think from these pictures that we forced Robynne's husband Will to do ALL the work, but we did help out!

Window Seat

Picture of the Day for 11/13/2012. Readers of my blog are all too aware that I like to post pictures I've taken from 30,000 feet above the ground. I find the view from an airplane window to be endlessly fascinating. That's why I always request a window seat even though aisle seats are far more convenient.

I loved the flat expanse of white clouds as seen from my flight to Atlanta today. 

Killjoy

Picture of the Day for 11/12/2102. I signed up for Google Voice which texts you a transcript of any voicemails you receive. Sometimes their translations are hilariously off-base. I liked this one in particular that spoke about banishing hospital plans and letting me know that "joy maximum attempts reached." What a killjoy. I didn't even realize there was a maximum threshold for joy!

Snow!

Picture of the Day for 11/11/2012. It's been snowing non-stop for over 24 hours now. I think this is the most snow we've had in one fell swoop in about two years. 

My Worst Clown Nightmare

Picture of the Day for 11/10/2012. Look at the featured entertainment listed on this sign. My. Worst. Nightmare.

Brides to Go: Ready When You Are

Picture of the Day for 11/9/2012. My friend, Melanie Reese, posted this picture on Facebook. Boy- talk about memory lane. This photograph was taken over 20 years ago at a Halloween party that Melanie and I and two other friends attended. We dressed up as "Brides to Go: Ready When You Are." We even wore roller skates to show how mobile and ready we were. We were a BIG hit at the party.

I'm the 2nd one from the right. I can kind of see a faint resemblance to my mother in this picture which surprised me. I'm so used to thinking I look like my dad. 

Moving Map

Picture of the Day for 11/8/2012. Flew home from Florida to Salt Lake today. I love when the planes have the moving maps so you can chart your journey's progress. 

I Swear I'm Not Stalking Elaine Viets

Picture of the Day for 11/7/2012. One of my favorite authors is Elaine Viets and by sheer coincidence, she always happens to be having a book signing for her latest novel whenever I'm in Florida for a nerdy space event. I wonder what cosmic forces are at work to make those two disparate events collide.

Do I Look Like Camryn Manheim?

Picture of the Day for 11/6/2012. One of the gentlemen I run into at the annual astronaut autograph show I attend each November has been telling me for the past two years that I remind him of a TV actress, but he can't quite place the name of the actress. On the final night of the show last Saturday he told me he finally remembered the actress- Camryn Manheim. Hmm...didn't expect to hear that, but now that I see pictures of the two of us, I can get where he sees the resemblance.

(The picture of Manheim that I'm posting here comes from rottentomatoes.com.)

Last Minute Lunch

Picture of the Day for 11/5/2012. I'm in West Palm Beach for a few days before heading back to Salt Lake City. Called my friend Diane to see if she happened to be free for lunch today and she was! Yay for friends who can meet you for lunch at the drop of a hat! Whenever we are able to meet up for lunch, it's ALWAYS at the Tiki Waterfront Sea Grill in Riviera Beach. Today was no exception. It's great to eat outside along the water and get my usual shrimp po'boy sandwich.

Diane's second novel in her "A Black Cat Bookshop Mystery" series is being released tomorrow. She publishes these novels under the pen name Ali Brandon. You should check her out on Amazon.com!

Flames of the Sun

Picture of the Day for 11/4/2012. My last day (for this trip) at the Kennedy Space Center. The Brevard Astronomical Society was there with telescopes specially fitted to allow you to look at the sun. One telescope had a filter that allowed you to see the flames coming off of the sun. The flames look tiny, but in actuality are 100,000 miles long. Wow. 

Astronaut Nurse Romance

Picture of the Day for 11/3/2012. One of my favorite people at the annual Astronaut Scholarship Foundation autograph snow is Dee O'Hara who was a nurse at NASA for several years from the very beginning of the space program. Someone had brought her some torrid astronaut nurse romances from that time period and Gene Cernan (commander of Apollo 17) who was sitting next to Dee at the show was having a field day with the romances. He kept quoting from the books to her. It was pretty funny.

My Name is Michelle George Mary Pete

11/2/2012. I attended a reception tonight where I was able to mingle with several Apollo and space shuttle astronauts. My favorite encounter was with Jim McDivitt- commander of Apollo 9. I introduced myself and asked if I could have my picture taken with him. He replied that he refused to have his picture taken with a Michelle, but it would be a different story if my name were George or Mary or Pete. I said, "What a coincidence- my full name is Michelle George Mary Pete." He agreed to have his picture taken with me after that.

The Shuttle is Coming! - Part 3

11/2/2012. Promise- this is the last of my space shuttle Atlantis entries for awhile. In the late afternoon the shuttle completed the journey to its new home at the Kennedy Space Center complex. The route passed by a canal along the side of the road which provided a great reflection of the shuttle in the water. 

The Shuttle is Coming! - Part 2

11/2/2012. As part of of the Kennedy Space Center's celebration of the space shuttle Altantis' "rollover" to its new home at the visitor center complex today, the final crew of Atlantis (and the final space shuttle crew ever) spoke and answered questions from the audience at the IMAX theater. My favorite of the crew was Rex Walheim. He looks so boyish, but he's actually older than I am by a couple of months. Someone asked the crew if they noticed any difference between the three orbiters (Atlantis, Endeavor, and Discovery). Three out of the four crew members said there was nothing noticeable, but Walheim, who had flown exclusively on the Atlantis for all three of his missions, indicated that the Atlantis had a unique glitch. Upon re-entry, the bathroom door would fly open with a crash. The crew was talking about how on the re-entry into earth's atmosphere they heard a loud bang and were rather concerned until Walheim said, "Oh, that's the just the bathroom door." Cute story.

The Shuttle is Coming! - Part 1

Picture of the Day for 11/2/2012. The Kennedy Space Center hosted several festivities to celebrate the space shuttle Atlantis' "rollover" to its new home at the visitor center complex today. I was able to snag a ticket out to Exploration Park (located on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center) where there were dignitaries, speakers, and exhibitors in attendance. The main attraction was seeing Atlantis' arrival at the park where it remained for a couple of hours so the public could get a close-up view of the shuttle. By sheer accident, I happened to be in a great location to view the proceedings. One of the shuttle wings passed by directly overhead and I just about had a nerd fit of ecstasy over that.