worth smiling about

The one that makes my heart leap at the very sight of text message, a relationship, if you will, that has gone on almost as long as I have lived here. Our fourth time seeing each other was initiated by him wanting me to join him for Memorial Day weekend in CT, however he didn’t tell me this until I was in LA in the middle of trip. Even if I faked sick, I would still be clear across the country. I instead made the effort to go and see him in the city on my day off. I knew that he had to get up super early and my time with him would be short but sweet non-the less. We talked on the phone all day and finally I was walking down 5th Ave when I called and told him I was in the city. He asked for twenty minutes to clean up his desk so I occupied myself with a glass of champagne at the St Regis. He called and asked to meet him at Tao’. I settled up my bill after listening to the regulars discuss their weekends in the Hamptons and charity benefit, it shouldn’t have shocked at the thirty dollar bill, however I gulped as I signed the receipt. Carefree from the champagne but butterflies from seeing him, I ran the five blocks. He managed to get a table in the lounge and there he was dressed in a pinstriped suit with a pink shirt, oh so handsome. We talked, flirted, held hands, and ate dinner. He told me that I made him nervous. I must really have my act together around him?! An early night ended in a fantastic kiss as his car dropped me off at the Path. Two days later and I am still smiling.

uno, dos, tres...

Five days, four nights, three gals, too many beers, and one goal: Fun in the sun. What I live for in this job is my week vacation I take once a month. This month’s destination was Puerto Vallarta with my gal pals, Nichole and Janene. After barely making the flight to IAH, I had to check my bag, which left me with my uniform on exiting the plane into the Mexican sun. I changed quickly into my swimsuit as soon as we reached our all-inclusive resort and had a beer in my hand in record time. A day of lounging by the pool followed by a siesta set the tone for the rest of the week. We did mix it up a bit in the evening by heading into town. The first evening we pretending it was Janene’s birthday while we dined at Pipi’s, we served as the whole restaurants entertainment. We met up with some LA folks and hit a couple of bars with them until we held up the white flag and passed out in our beds. The key to a good holiday is a swim up bar, we took full advantage of it and the waiter that was around every five minutes. Water aerobics in Spanish set the background for our sunning, “uno-dos-tres” as arms flailed about. The next night was spent at Senor Frogs playing name that tune (three beer winner here), taking jello shots, and dancing in foam. If you have never been to a foam party, I highly recommend it simply for the weird feeling of dancing in bubbles up to your waist. And what is the best way to clean off from a foam party? Why skinny-dipping of course. Our third night was spent watching Dirty Dancing with Spanish subtitles and ordering in pizza. Our final evening included two couples from AZ who joined us back at Pipi’s and then Carlos O’Brien’s. Once again we played name that tune but they would only allow one beer per person so I had to give the answers to someone else. I was chosen, however, to participate in the beer chugging contest, which I won in time, but they counted the teaspoon of foam left against me. Damn it that would have been a title I would have been proud to have!!!

Well back to reality as I am in the middle of a fantastic trip, picked up by Carol, that allows me to spend two nights in LAX. It is a very productive trip that takes me from home-LAX-IAH-LAX-home. The rest of my original crew is enjoying a 42-hour layover while I have to work today. I am standing in position while the safety demo plays, spacing off when I hear, “excuse me”, I turn to answer the woman’s question. “Can I have a pillow?” I look down and see a pillow in the empty seat next to her, “there is a pillow next to you” I reply. “I know, it has been used.” “Here’s a little secret, they have all been used, sista!” Still I went and got her another pillow that she proceeded to sniff for the remainder of the demo. Takes all kinds, I tell ya. Yesterday we had Connie Chung on our flight and she was super nice and has gorgeous handwriting as she spent the flight filling out thank yous. I am waiting to see if there are any more celebs on my flights this weekend. Maybe Jude or George will be going back to NY and realize how much they need me in their lives. Here’s hoping!

stop thinking...and let life take over

Aries
It is possible that the last few weeks have allowed you to become a little bit clearer concerning certain questions you have about your vocation, dear Aries. You may even be a little clearer about your feelings in regard to what you think your destiny is. It would now be better for you to stop thinking about such things and let life take over for you. Ariess are well armed for this kind of thing!

Down here in FLL and I can tell you the past two days of this trip haven't been pleasant. I am blessed with a fun crew who have banded together to get through the headache. The gorgeous storm which darken the skies caused havok at the old airport as hundred of people sat around awaiting their flight. We were among them as our plane was diverted thus making us four hours late getting to our destination. I hid in the back galley, grateful for my position on this trip while people mumbled how the weather was our fault and blah, blah, blah. The load on the flight last night was a total bitch and almost ending up throwing down with our lead who requested that she refrained from reading a magazine in the aisle during boarding. Needless to say we had her back and made the loads life miserable for the trip...don't mess with one of the pack... after three FL flights we are tight!
Not sure what is on tap for the weekend. A part of me hopes I don't get used as I would like to go and play in the city. Got a new boy on the line, he will be dubbed dance partner, as we meet way back in September while Dave May was in town and this guy and I danced all night. I recently found his business card and today gave him a ring. Spring is definatly in the air!!

chuckle

The jingle of the ice cream truck fills my ears and signals the start of a hot, sticky summer in New York. It is still in the spring phase for now and it is the perfect time to meet for date, drive with the top down, and dine outdoors. He was in a new red Mercedes convertiable this time and we made our way through town to the MPD we we sat outside and ate antipasta while watching all the limos, Bentleys, and nice cars drive past. Something good was shaken in the neighborhood. The table behind us was talking about ribs, and I told my date it had been a long time since I had ribs. We quickly paid our bill and headed to Houstons for what I can describe as one of the best plates of ribs I have ever had. A quick call to my madre informed me of a crappy three day to FL with a late check-in, perfect! C and one of her frinds meet us out for a drink and we bar hopped all over. We wrapped up the night at our fav spot, Cafeteria and then headed home. Her car was parked in Hoboken and when we got off the train, a cop pulled up. We thought we were in trouble and looked at each other wondering what we had done. Turns out nothing, he just wanted to make sure we got to our car alright and if that wasn't enough, he then gave each of us his number. This gave us a chuckle the whole way home. Where I come from, cops aren't allowed to hit on people, what a strange place I live in.

sucks

26 people, many of which don't even have their transfer in, is what stood between me and getting into international this month. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper what-so-ever.

twenty-seven hours

Talk about a trip from hell...ironically it involved SLC.
For my last day off of the week, I decided to spend the warm spring day enjoying one of my favorite things in life, baseball. The Yankees were playing an afternoon game so I made my way out to the Bronx, grabbed a dog and beer, and sat sixty feet from first base. Four beers later I headed back to the city and made some phone calls; dinner plans didn't pan out so I decided to go home. It was a wise decision as a trip was dropped into my line. I had to look at it several times to grasp what they expected from me. Check in was 0430, the trip went to IAH, one hour sit, then onto SLC, where we stayed for nine hours before getting up and doing the red-eye home. I was gone for 27 hours from door to door, worked a seventeen hour day with twelve of it directly in the air. I am exhausted to say the least. It would have been a little more manageable if I would have had some one I wanted to talk to but the pilots were not too friendly, the first class girl was brand new and didn't have a mind of her own so she repeated what anyone else said, and the lead...well she was a few cards short of deck. The kicker was when one of our engines won't start and I thought I would be stuck with these people in the land of no caffenine even longer.

village date

It is my goal this week not to have to pay for dinner. I am doing pretty well so far as I was pretty girl extra Sunday, had a date with mobboss Monday (we watched the game at ESPN zone), and last night had dinner with jamguy. I met Jamguy on the way to PDX via LAS and was finally able to meet up with him last night. We arranged to meet at Starbucks on Sixth and then we hopped into a cab and headed over to a quaint cafe in St. Marks square called Cafe Mogador. The food was middle eastern meditarrian and we shared a bunch of appeitizers including cumber yogurt and eggplant purree. Then we headed to a place that was thtow back from the opening scene in the second Indiana Jones movie, very cool Asian place which served killer cocktails. To end our evening we then headed to the otherroom on Perry which, I am proud to say, offer Sierra Nevada on tap. It was a great beer and wine bar and everyone there, besides us, was making out. He rang the company car to come and get us and then take us home, he only gave me a peck on the cheek but it seemed to fit his personality as I the more outgoing one between us. Will I see him again, yes he knows great speakeasy places. Am I in love, not really. But what the hell, a girl's gotta eat!!

pygmalian

A random Sunday evening and the trouble seekers of the house have nothing to do. So we decided to get dolled up and head into the city. No setforth plans, just going to see what the night brings. I made a call to mobboss but he didn't seem interested in going out so we tried C's guy. He was in town and invited us to dinner with his clients at some fancy Chinesse place. Basically we were the pretty faces at dinner but I ended up getting along great with the client and his girlfriend. A random model showed up for a shirley temple and four bites of food and then left. I soaked in the scence and thought about the random stuff we tend to find ourselves apart of. We convienced the group to go out to the MPD and party with us, we ended up being driven in some random Mercedes to Club One. We soaked up the scene but wanted to move on. However, there was nothing else open so after the limo drivers fought over us, we picked one and he took us to la Souk (what we thought was the animal hostipal prior). This club hard to get into by reputation, however since C was out to meet her pygmalian as her horoscope predicted she would, the owner came and escorted us inside telling the bar anything we wanted was ours. It was an interesting club that we just seemed to walk around over and over again without stopping for more than a second to mingle. After C ended up losing her purse and I had to recover it, I drug her to Cafeteria for some soup. The sun was rising as we made our way home on the train that seemed to take years to drop us off.

vegatarian

I arose to 9th Street West in my pink coat looking for my date for the evening. I saw what I thought was him in a black Mercedes convertible, but it was not the white one I remembered from the other night, so I called to see if he picked up the phone while I peeked around the corner. I climbed into the car and soaked up the sun as the wind brushed my cheek and the sun poured down upon as we drove around the village with the top down. I told him he had to pick a place in which my dress would fit in, he choose the BlueWater Grill and we dined outside, at Carrie and Miranda’s table over looking Union Square. It was a very nice evening. This evening however is being spent in Tulsa, Oklahoma watching the storm clouds pass. My crew is kind of strange with the lead that is from somewhere in the south and a little off her rocker, the captain who is the definition of a nerd, who is infatuated with my classmate and myself. The saving grace is my jumpseat time with the classmate.

This day took us to BWI not too exciting of a place but it did take a while to get there. I was up front with my 12 passanger offering lunch options of shrimp salad or a steak sandwich, by the time I reached the back row all the steak sandwiches were already claimed. This is was explained to the couple who seemed disappointed and only the wife placed her order. While handing out drinks and mixed nuts, I asked the husband if he was sure he didn't want a salad or perhaps a sandwich from the back. (Mind you, I don't hear very well) He started pointing at his cheek and saying he would be okay and what I heard was that we wanted a kiss. I gave his wife a puzzled look and then when in for peck on the cheek. It must have startled him because he pulled away and asked what I was doing. Finally I heard correctly, that he had a dip. He asked if I was trying to give him a heart attack. Luckily we all found humor in the situation and they asked for a comment card. "You are not going to tell that I tried to kiss you, are?" They chuckled and say no, just wanted to tell someone how I made their trip.

YYC...we arrived and mapped out our evening. Although I was invited to a comedy show from the comic in first class, it seemed almost impossible to make our way to the other side of town. Instead we got the van driver to give us a ride to the mall and then we asked younger people where the hot stops were. We convinced the driver to take us back to the hotel, wait for us to change, and drop us by the train. After a stop at the 7/11 for road soda, we boarded the train and set out for the city. We had to ask for more directions and ended up a places other than our destination because we couldn't figure out the damn streets. We walked by a place called Tantra which looked intriguing so we flirted with the doorman to bypass the cover and went in. Great scene and we took it in will sipping martinis from the corner booth. We stayed there until a drunk guy kept talking to us and told us about the bar down the road that won't let him in because he wasn't tall, dark, and handsome. Sounds like our kind of place so walked over to Whiskey and sure enough, it was poppin'. We called it an evening around 0200 and got a cab home. Our drinks fueled the conversation of what is it all about and if we would find our way in life soon. The cabbie, obviously listening the whole time, told us he had figured out life because he found out that Jesus was a vegatarian.

beth and lynn together again

Watch out people! The duo with alternative personalities that come out with booze are on a trip together once again. We are missing the catalyst of our lead but we are ready to take these cities by storm. It is the first time I have been able to pick up a trip since March. The next five days will be spent on the road to TUL, BWI, and YYC. Unfortunatly the O's are not in town to pick up a game and I don't have a clue what is shakin' in Oklahoma but in Canada we are assured to have a good time with a 22 hour layover. Stories are sure to follow...