Idaho Falls

Idaho Falls:

I've been here soo many times but have never ventured out around the hotel very much. Our hotel is right on the falls. Last night when we were here you could hear the water tumbling over the rocks. Amazing sound. Especially when you're ready to go to sleep. It's soothing. Tonight we have longer here and this gave me an opportunity to walk around a bit. So here it is:

A Possible End

I've been searching for jobs in Austin for quite a while now. I haven't been too aggressive but things are changing.

I've gotten to the point where I'm realizing how much more I want to be at home. I want to be home every night. I want to have regular meals every day. I want control over where I sleep, when I get up, etc. I want the stability of a routine.

I have applied for 26 positions with Progressive Insurance. Josh was originally hired with them after we moved as a backup. They have amazing benefits and it would have been a good opportunity. I have gotten frustrated because applying that many times and not ever getting an opportunity to pre-test or interview for any of those positions. I have also applied for several positions with Farmer's Insurance Group as well. While I'm still under consideration for a position with Farmer's I was still hoping for an opportunity with Progressive.

Over the past couple of months I even had Josh look over my resume' and even allowed him to make changes (yeah, that was hard for me). I knew he had my best interest in mind and at heart. Still, I wasn't being selected. Big Sigh.

I recently applied for 4 more positions. Again, within just days, I was NOT selected. I have every requirement they are asking for plus some. I finally came to the realization that my pay rate was probably high for the computer and it was kicking me out. My pay rate at nearly 5 years with my airline is $24.48 but it evens out to be about half of that when it comes to our annual salary. Josh luckily had some contact information from before and I called yesterday and left a voicemail for two different people.

I was really upset last night. I was having a hard time with being gone after being home a week. It hits me really hard sometimes. Then this morning.....aaahhhhhhh!!!!!

Here I was looking on the computer in the crew lounge in SLC, just minding my business when my phone rang with some odd number. It's loud and disruptive and then I hear it's a call from Progressive!

WWWWWWOOOOOOHHHHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!

I was so stinking excited. They did confirm that it was my pay rate and missing credentials that were found by hand in my resume' that weren't noted in other areas of the application are what caused me to not be selected soo many times. Kind of frustrating. But I am sooo thankful for this, especially after being soo upset last night. I have a pre-test to take and then it goes from there. But I'm hoping that with lots of good thoughts, prayers, and lots of criss crossed fingers and toes that this will work out!

I'll keep everyone updated!

Trash N Dash

There is a phrase that we use in the airlines industry called trash and dash. For us this is simply when we have a late aircraft arrival and there is a crew swap (where one crew gets off and another gets onboard to take the plane somewhere else). Once an aircraft has landed and everyone is deplaned we usually pick up all the trash-

YES, YOUR FLIGHT ATTENDANTS DO THIS!!!

along with placing the passenger safety card in the front of the all the other goodies in your seatback pocket, close the window shades, and cross seatbelts. Obviously when we are short on time and are late in somewhere this can't all be done without further delays. This is where this phrase comes in. We simply pick up the trash and get off QUICK!

However, this phrase does NOT ever refer or should refer to passengers. I recently had a flight from LAX-LAS on our Delta carrier. This is a no service flight in coach because it's a quick 30 minute flight. We do a service in first class and that's all. I'm pretty good about keeping an eye out on the rest of the cabin with frequent walk throughs to monitor. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing was abnormal. We weren't even half full. So you're talking maybe 35 adults on this flight going into Las Vegas and this is what was left on our aircraft:

UUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They shredded a newspaper into tiny little pieces and left in all over the floor. Then that little bottle of water that is in the seat...see that? Yup, dumped all over the seat. They DUMPED it ALL over the damn seat! Are you a 5 year old?!

This was soo frustrating. It's soo disrespectful. We work under very different conditions and it's part of of the job and part of the industry but it doesn't change the fact that you would not want someone to come into your "office" and leave a mess like that! It's sad what our species has become. We are lazy and ungrateful. we are coming soon to the terms where there will be an app for everything. There is not one for personal cleaners.

Hello Gorgeous! I've started a new adventure along with flying. I'm hoping that with this I can stop flying so much for income and can really start to enjoy it again. So what's my plan?

MARY KAY

Yup, Ladies. I've rejoined the wonderful world of Mary Kay. I did this about 11 years ago. I was fresh out of high school and didn't take it too seriously. Imagine if I had though?! what a different place I would be in! Although, this has been a journey that has taught me more that I can appreciate.

I'm excited about this new adventure and am deeply DETERMINED to be successful. I know I have the support that I need and am happy to have a new opportunity.

Soon I'll be able to stop flying so much, be home in Austin more, more quality time with family and work on my new own business!

If  you would like to check out the website click on the ling below!

Courtney's Mary Kay Link

I look forward to seeing all the new customer orders!!! Remember the holidays are around the corner!!!

Japan Meets Dallas TX

The hardest part of flying sometimes is something as simple as language. Being in the travel industry means coming across those that do not speak any English at all....period. There are a few routes that this is to be expected on. Dallas/Forth Worth is not one of them, unfortunately. We were going from Los Angeles to Dallas/Forth Worth and had a small load of passengers. Not even first class was full. It was was a long flight where we arrived at nearly midnight. The other flight attendant had family in the Dallas area and wasn't staying at the hotel with the rest of the crew. When we got off the aircraft there was a little Japanese man running around yelling at us in JAPANESE, which neither of us speak. We figured out that he was looking for baggage claim and since we walk through there to get to our hotel shuttle I escorted him there. He didn't understand the concept still of where his bag was going to come from. The pilots were still tip-toeing their way out of the airport behind me leaving me to manage on my own (they're always just a TON of help, HA!). I finally had found an airport employee to help assist him and wait with him for his bag. I felt good that I had helped him out or at least found someone that could assist him further so I could meet back up with my crew. Oh boy, I wasn't out the woods. He got his bag rather quickly and if only that hotel shuttle had been just 2 minutes earlier. He spotted me and made a bee-line for me and me only. I was the face he was associating help with. Me and me ALONE. He was looking for his ride. I still do not know if it was a hotel or someone personally. Everything in his bag was in Japanese. There was one single phone number and I tried calling it, until I realized that he was a digit short. I was falling short, too. I couldn't help him. There was my crew with additional passengers in the hotel shuttle waiting on me. Everyone was starring at us, just waiting to see how I was going to assist this man. I did the only thing I knew to do at the time. This was the last shuttle to the from the airport to the hotel and I didn't have a lot of options. I sent him back upstairs with the guy that assisted him before. I still feel guilty that I couldn't help him myself. I guess that comes with the territory. You're not ALWAYS going to be able to help. It's still frustrating for us though to not be able to manage small tasks like these on our own. I'm hoping he made his way to where he was going.

Show Me Kansas City

I just had an amzing overnight in Kansas City! It was 27.22 hours long! When we got there and started driving to the hotel I was ssooo excited. Driving towards downtown just gave me this wierd feeling. All of these memories came flooding back. The good and the bad. I thought we stayed at the Crowne Plaza hotel on the Plaza but I was wrong. We were literally 3 blocks from my old apartment and my old office building. That was even more wierd! I could see my apartment from my hotel room!

Once I got settled in my room I had to wait for my microfridge to be brought up. I found that there was an AMC theather only one block away that was playing The Help so that was certainly on my to-do list. I walked around the Power & Light district. It's new to the downtown area and I've never been down there since. There are soo many new restuarants! i was soo jealous that none of that was there when I lived there. However, I have to think that if it had all been there I may not have ever moved to SLC. Because, my goodness there is a Chipotle and we know how much I LLLLOOOVVEEE Chipotle!

After walking around I headed to the AMC theather. This theather has the Cinema Suites! OMG! It's awesome. It's like sitting in a restuarant while watching your movie in a nice compfy recliner. I could have fallen asleep! Just needed a blanket and a pillow! The armrest even moves up to cuddle with your companion. But I was alone :-( I need to find one of these in Austin for us to go to!

SWEET SUITE HUH?!

The next morning I went walking again and found my old apartment building and my old office building. Great memories! Looking forward to coming back to see some old coworkers next time!!!

Lost in Flight

Well, this last flying adventure was CRAZY!

My renuin was on Saturday August 13th. So I had planned for us to fly to Salt Lake City on Thursday when Josh got off of work. This was going to give us the opportunity to hang out with Sara and Rachel and have a light dinner with a few drinks. That part worked out well and although we didn't get first class we still managed to have a few cocktails and play a little scrabble. We wanted to have sushi at our favorite sushi restuarant but that didn't work out so well with the time we were left with once landing and getting to the car. So we hit up the Bayou for the night.

Originally the flights looked great. I even thought we would be able to get first class. Somehow in the middle of the night things went bad. We got to the airport Friday morning to find out that all flights for the day to Kansas City (MCI) were oversold. I looked at all other airlines and we had no hope. Frustrating!! I looked at flights for Saturday morning and it was a completely different story. Everything looked great all day long! SERIOUSLY??? I wanted us to get there Friday because we were going to go to the Missouri State Fair since Josh had never been to a state fair. I was excited for us to be going especially since I hadn't been in soo long. Needless to say we didn't make it on the flights. We went back to Rachel's and took long naps before heading out for our sushi. YUP at least we got that!!! Oh I can still taste it! We then decided to go to a triple A baseball game there in SLC. It turned out to be a decent night for being stuck in SLC an additional night.

Saturday we made it on the first flight into MCI and in first class. It was all about sleeping for us. Mom and Hannah picked us up and we stopped at On the Border for a late lunch before heading into Sedalia. We did make a short stop in Warrensburg to see Brittany and Ethan too. Once we got into Sedalia we started getting ready for the reunion. For certain reasons I'm deciding to not speak of this event. We ended up leaving earlier than planned and picked up Hannah and went to the fair. An old time photo, a ferris wheel ride and a lot of people watching made for an interesting but fun night. We got back to the house around 1 AM. Sad thing: we were leaving Sedalia at 3:30 in the morning! We weren't even there for 36 hours :-(

We headed up to Kansas City to the airport and were way ahead of schedule for our 6:20 AM flight to SLC.  Ha, doesn't end there though. Every single access to I-435 North was closed!!! I knew 435 went in a circle from living there for 4-5 years and we ended up going the long way. Troy didn't think that we would make it there in time. I checked us in online but was still going to have to check us in on the kiosk inside the airport to get Josh a boarding ticket to get through security.  Well that options shuts down 30 minutes prior to the flight. Lucky for me there were some extremely nice Delta agents willing to asisst me ahead of the long line of customers waiting to get us through. We had already been assigned seats in first class too. We were running which we have never had to do and made it to security when Josh then declined the new scanners and got a pat down. We still made it but whew it was close!

It was a long short trip if that makes any sense. All of that traveling for a mere 36 hours in Missouri. Hopefully we'll make it back soon!

Long Time No Write

Been a while since I've written on here. I guess I just needed some space! Things have been going well. There is no way I can even attempt to go back and try to catch up on all that has happened! But a few big things: In May Josh and I flew to Missouri and he met my family for the first time, then in July they were all able to come to Austin for the 4th of July (which was nice for them to see how things were going in TX for me), Josh's job is still going well and I'm still looking for something in Austin in hopes that I can stop flying and be home. I really want that.


We have a lot planned in the next few months. My 10 year high school reunion is this weekend. I'm not sure that we will get to go. It's still up in the air. We have a few days planned for Vegas before we go to San Diego to meet up with Josh's family for his cousin's graduation from the Marines. I'm definitely looking forward to that! It's going to be a lot of non reving but I know Josh can handle it now!


Work is well. There have been a few trips that I have had to stack on top of one another and those aren't fun. Then I end up being gone for 10 days and that's hard on both of us. So I'm hoping that I won't have to do anymore of that. I'm also trying to be home more weekends so we can do more on the weekends together rather than just errands and chores! ICK!


Well, it's time to put on the polyester and pantyhose!

Little Ones

The best part of this trip....the little ones. I've had sooo many little kiddos on our flights and mostly sitting in the last row. They usually behave soo much better than adults. I've always said I would rather have 76 five year olds rather than 76 adults. Sounds crazy to many but it would be the most well behaved flight ever in history I think.

The first round trip we did was to Reno and on the way back I had two small ones (5 years and 2 years old) non revs traveling with their mom who works for Delta. The little two year old girl sat next across the row from her mom and brother all by herself. We strapped the baby doll in next to her and had her all settled. Not once did she take her seat belt off. It was her first time flying and she was soo excited when we took off and kept repeating, "we're flying away!". So dang cute. She even sang twinkle twinkle little star to me!

That same night we had an Indian family sitting in the back. The two little kids were sitting on one side with the parents on the other. The little boy was 6 and the little girl was 4. They were soo smart! She was sitting there looking over the Safety Card making up rules and the little boy was asking me tons of questions about the aircraft and the flight. Well then we had this baseball team on board. I really dislike when we have teams on board and they are all sitting together because then they play off of one another. They had a hard time with rules of the seat belt, phones, and keeping seats and tray tables up. Even during the safety announcement I had to stop because they were being too loud. It's disappointing when they set such a poor example for their team and school. Well one young man decided to tell me that his phone doesn't turn off. RIGHT! So this little Indian 6 year old boy sitting right behind this kid says "All electronics have a power button. You need to listen to the nice flight attendant.". LOVED IT. His parents didn't but he got told by a 6 year old!!! Poor little sister threw up on landing though. They were awesome!

This morning coming back from Las Vegas I had another 5 year old sitting with his mom. They were connecting to SLC to MCI (Kansas City!). Although he loves flying he didn't want to go to Kansas City because that's where all the tornadoes are! His mom says he watches the storm chasers show too much. Funny how they pick up on little things like that. He was worried a tornado was going to hurt them while they were there. I told him that I lived there for 25 years and had never seen one. It seemed to help a bit.

We now have the Delta plastic wings for the little ones and they love them. They get soo excited about having them on and being like us. I normally, once we have landed let them talk on the interphone system so they can hear themselves over the speakers. They love that. Unfortunately, it's been really bumpy so a lot of them have gotten sick on landing the last few days. Now we have to fly United and they have nothing for kids. Kinda sucks, but those kids made my first two days of my trip. Ready to go home soon though!

A New Sweet Tea

One of the best things about Texas....SWEET TEA!!! LOVE IT! But I don't love the sugar and nor does my body. It definitely doesn't go well with Weight Watchers!

But there is this new commercial for this water enhancer called MIO.

I don't do well with plain water. Infact, I can't even stand for it to be room temperature. I like it to be flavored and ice cold.

And since you have to squeeze the little bottle you get complete control over just how flavored you want it. It's like the new best thing compared to actual sweet tea....and easier on my waistline!

So they're are in the drink selections by the crystal light and kool-aid and they are about $3.48.

Happy Drinking!

Allergies?!

Last weekend I wasn't feeling well. I thought I was just getting worn out from flying all week and then working at DSW. We had a full weekend from the time I landed until going back to SLC. I was starting to get a small cough and it just progressed from there. By Tuesday morning when I woke up in Cleveland I was feeling awful. I called in giving SkyWest PLENTY of time to get a flight attendant there to finish my trip and I started working my way home. I sat in the CLE airport for 4 hours before getting on a flight to MSP. Rushed from A to F in that airport and made it on the wide open flight to AUS. Josh picked me up and home we went. Well first he made me eat dinner at Cheddar's to make sure I had SOMETHING in me before taking meds and getting in bed. He was nice enough to bring me medicine and vitamins and even some green tea. Yesterday, I was still feeling pretty crappy. Although last night I started getting better. I still went to the urgent care center here to get something to make me feel better and a note for work so it won't count against me.

And they tell me I'm probably allergic to Oak and gave me a script for steroids. Eewww! I've never in 29 years been allergic to anything. Well there was that one medicine that they gave me after one of my surgeries that knocked me right back out instead of waking me up but besides that.....NOTHING. Apparently, even according to the pharmacist it's an Austin thing. So I'm considering getting an allergy test just to make sure that it is Oak for sure and not anything else that is in season! So I'll carry on with my coughing, headache, achiness, sore throat, etc.....

SouthWest Airlines

Watch Video: HERE  and HERE and HERE


What can we learn from this?
1. Listen to the safety announcement! Regardless of how often you fly the information is important every time. There are many different airplanes and airlines and all operate differently. Knowing where your oxygen masks fall from and locating that spot above your seat is vital! Knowing what you need to do with the mask is vital is as well. Some are different. Some you pull down firmly, some you have to remove a clip. This is important to know so that you can get it on quickly and start the flow.


When there is a rapid decompression like this it's vital to get your masks on immediately. You have less than 30 seconds of usefull conscienceness. The 30 seconds needs to be about you. Worry about the person next to you AFTER you have your masks on. This is also why it's very important that there is an adult next to each child. If not then I always make sure to take the demonstration masks and show them one on one how it works and what to do.


2. Keep your damn seatbelt on! Yes, it's uncomfortable. We realize that. But keep it on but just loosen it. That way should something like this occur you aren't scrambling to find your seatbelt and simply just need to tighten it. It's soo important. It's not just for turbulence. Many flight attendants have been hurt or even killed because they were sucked out of an airplane (see 2nd and 3rd video)


Common sense. If your plane rips open you have to understand that your crew is doing things behind the scenes that they have been trained on doing. If something like this happens your pilots are going to get down as fast as possible to a safe altitude where you won't even need the oxygen mask. When you have a rapid decompression such as the one that Southwest Airlines experienced the pilots did exactly what they are trained for and went from 36,000 feet to 11,000 feet, which only takes a couple of minutes. Yes you will have that roller coaster feeling in your stomach but it's not you crashing. It's you making an emergency landing quickly.Yes we have training on this and we're prepared for the unexpected and while passengers are not it's soo important to listen to us. While you thinkIt's not about power it's about safety. Some of us just care more than others but yes I will pick on you until you follow instructions because in the end I would rather have that then your dead body being pulled off of my airplane.

Barely

All 3 of us in my last crew were commuters. Me from Austin to SLC, the captain from Pocatello, ID, and the first officer from Cedar City, UT (granted it's still Utah it's still a 3 hour drive or a short flight).

It was day four and I just wanted to go home sooo bad! I was constantly thinking about how I could get out of my trip! Hahaha but I just sucked it up and continued flying. We got up early from our haunted hotel in Rapid City, SD and flew to Minneapolis. We got to the runway and had some error messages pop up that they had to reset. It took another 15 minutes or so but we still landed on time. We had a short layover before our nest two flights home and of course it included a swap of airplanes. We got all boarded up and the first officer realized that his crew oxygen mask in the flight deck wasn't working properly so we had to call maintenance. I was really getting nervous. We were suppose to land in SLC at 2:20 PM and the flight to Austin departed at 2:35.....

ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE AIRPORT OF COURSE!!!

Well this was only pushing us further back on time. I was thinking at this point that there was no way that I was going to make this flight and I would have to sit in the airport for SIX hours before leaving SLC and arriving at midnight. I wasn't excited. We were able to make up some time and still landed early back in Rapid City. I asked the ground crew there if we could quick turn our flight and they were supportive of that! So we ended up making up soo much time that we landed in SLC 22 minutes early!!!!

My crew was awesome and understand the importance of getting home when you're a commuter. So they did my seat belts and trash for me to that I could run to the other end of the airport. Only to find out that my flight was delayed 20 minutes. It was nice to get a chance to catch my breath before getting on the flight. I had been up super early so it was a chance to catch a small nap as well.

It's nice when you get a crew that understands that you commute and help you out. It's harder than what most people think. It doesn't get any easier each time you do it but a bit more stressful. I'm definitely looking forward to hopefully some day not having to commute this much!

Haunted Hotel

So I've stayed in this hotel once before. We're in South Dakota and we stay at this hotel called Hotel Alex Johnson. It's an extremely old hotel. There have always been rumors about this hotel being haunted in the SkyWest system. The last time I stayed here I kept hearing water running in the bathroom. Of course every time I got up to check there was nothing, not even a drop. The rooms here are normal except there are little things that make it wierd. Like I have a long hallway in my room. This time I am in Room 811.

Ghost Hunters (a pretty cool show if you like to get the chills!) did an investigation here at this hotel. I tried finding the episode online and it's not posted quite yet. Bummer!

However I did read a bit of the synopsis for that episode. Remember my room number? Uh huh 811. Well you can go here to read a bit about what goes on in this hotel. Some of these things happen in the room right next door!

Here are some pictures:

Here is a link to a youtube video here . Dude super freaky to watch and be sitting in the room right next to 812! If that bride bites me tonight.....!!!!

4 Inches

Today was probably not the best day for me to decide to get my hair cut. While I needed one extremely bad (dude, my bags couldn't be called bangs anymore!) I should have wait until I was in SLC.

There is a place there that I go to where this little super religious hispanic guy named Jamie doesn't such a great job that I normally fall asleep. He's used to it and I love being able to trust him enough with my hair that I can relax like that! Once he starts blow drying and styling I'm catching my ZZZZzzzzz's! I'm not very trusting when it comes to my hair. I've had plenty of people screw it up to the point of me crying and not paying... more than probably at least 3 occasions. So to trust him even with cutting in bangs after not having them for soo long...BIG DEAL!

However, this girl today. It took all my patience to not hit her and walk out and this started in the middle of my shampoo! She was soo rough with my head I thought she was trying to pull my hair out! I don't think she realized that my hair was attached to this things called a scalp and that's attached to these things called nerve endings! Not to mention I had water dripping down my back and neck because she was soo careless with the spout! Was this her first day?! She also felt the need to tell me how thick my hair was (hello, I know this!) and what a pain it must be to deal with on a daily basis. WHAT?! Are you kidding me?! This was becoming more like the time when my mom had a lady tell her that washing her hair was like washing a rug. I couldn't believe I was going to be paying for this! She then had me towel dry my own hair, take my hooded cardigan off, and remove my diamond earrings. I wasn't about to put those on the counter so I held them tightly for the next hour. Now, when I blow dry my hair I am fully capable of keeping my hair out of my face. This was too complicated of a task for her. This irritated me even more than being drenched and having my hair constantly pulled during the shampoo. She still kept pulling it. She needed more credit hours in the lesson of using a round brush! Her skills in the flat iron, we won't even go there. Let's put it this way; when I have to go home and RE-DO my hair we have an issue. Nor should my hair look worse than when I walked in which should have been really hard to do since I hadn't done ANYTHING to it.

Funny thing, she even gave me her card like she had done something amazing. It's taking all I have to not call and inform the supervisor. I definitely won't be going back. I really need to get my eyebrows waxed but hell I didn't trust her with that. My luck she would have taken them completely off!

So I just cut about 4 inches off the bottom, added some swopp bangs, and framed the sides a bit. Can't really tell a whole lot I guess.

Can't wait for it to grow back and I'll need to find a reputable place here or just fly to SLC all the time to get it done. Crappy dude!

Mini Austin Vacation

I was lucky enough to get another long overnight in Austin this month. We were suppose to land at 3:57 PM yesterday and have nearly 22 hours. We also got a new long overnight hotel here in Austin. We now stay at the Radisson downtown on East Ceasar Chaves and Congress. Perfect location!!!

Unfortunately, the weather in SFO didn't exactly cooperate with our schedule. We had spent the night in Edmonton Alberta Canada and since the rain was rolling in fog we sat with passengers in the penalty box for a little over 1.5 hours. Yea for money!!! But boo on time schedule. This pushed us back anb hour for the day. Luckily I have an amazing crew this time around and we quick turned the aircraft in SFO and got on our way to Austin since they new how excited I was. Josh was going to meet me at the hotel. Originally I would have been there before him but he got there before us and had an opportunity to meet my crew. The best thing was that our new hotel (which is really nice for being a Radisson and those damn sleep number beds) but it was also right next to wear the bats come out! At dusk hundred of bats come out from underneath the bridge! We'll get back to that in a second.

So we went upstairs and got settled, I changed clothes and we went and had a few cocktails and dinner at T.G.I. Friday's since I get 20% off as a crew member. We then took a small walk towards Sixth St. and then back to the Congress Bridge for the bat show! They hide underneath in the ridges and then circle out towards dusk. There are soo many that it looks like smoke trails! Just look!!!

Josh got to stay the nicht and we had a little mini vacation. It was great to be in Austin but not be at home caught up in everything that needs to be done! We had kunch together too and now I'm on my way to do two flights and he's on his way home. Boo I want to stay here! But gotta make that $$$$!!!

Complete 180

This trip is so much different than last week. Granted none of us got enough sleep before starting our trip we were all still pretty happy people at 5:30 AM. The captain is quite a sarcastic joker but we're all in the right mood to banter back in a healthy jokingly manner. The other flight attendant is pretty spunky too. We were able to joke around and be funny and not have to worry  about being told on. We established that quickly! We just had two flights today, SLC-SFO-YEG (Edmonton Alberta Canada). This first overnight is the only reason I had to bring my bulky coat! Tomorrow I'm in Austin though. Two long flights and then get to spend the night in Texas. I won't be going home though. It's too much of a hassle with there just being one car and with gas prices going up. So Josh is considering coming to stay at the hotel with me. The new long overnight is downtown. Which I think will be fun since I haven't really had any time down there.  I need to work on being on a tourist in Austin so I can learn where everything is to do and start doing some new things. I am concerned about how long we will get to keep this hotel since we have some seriously irresponsible people. the idea of being that close to Sixth street is dangerous. I'll enjoy it while I can!

Uneasiness

Somethings just not right today. I'm not quite sure what it is. But I have that overwhelming gut feeling that something bad is about to happen. I have a feeling of what it could be and am praying that's not it. Please let it be anything but this one thing. It would be devastating to me at this point considering I just moved to Austin. I'm eager to get home yet scared at the same time. It's been a rough trip, that got better over a little bit of time and as much as I was ready to go home and still am, there is hesitation.

If all goes well, well then it's the last weekend of SxSW and hoping we can go have a good time. It was this time a year ago that was my first trip to Austin with Josh to meet friends and ended up meeting a big part of his family. Who would have thought that less than a year from that weekend that I would move there! Craziness.

A Crappy Trip!

This trip really sucks. This other flight attendant sucks. I'm ignoring the fact that she's breaking rules and service guidelines. I catch a lot of grief when I mention that. But it's a refection of me as well and I don't want passengers to see me doing one thing and her doing something a different way that's not correct. It's frustrating to see this happen on trip after trip. There are soo many girls that are soo worried about how they look and showing off rather than doing what they are suppose to. They're shortening their skirts, wearing a ton of makeup, etc and it makes the rest of us look bad. Regardless, I can't do anything on this trip without this girl assuming it's about her. I asked her a question during our taxi to the runway on our first flight. Being flight attendant is suppose to be about being a team, having the availability to ask each other questions and learning from one another, it shouldn't be about finding ways to turn on one another! It's soo frustrating. I asked a question and she gets really defensive. I'm sitting in my jump seat and looking at things in my manual (there's a new announcement since we are now cashless and it's not in our announcement handbooks) and then I'm accused of trying to look my question up to prove her wrong. Our manuals are a reference. But I can't use my manual or even write on my trip sheet without her assuming and accusing that it's about her and everything she's doing wrong. I have done nothing of the sort.

That's where this job gets more frustrating. You work with such different personalities and are stuck with them for 4 days. I want off of this trip and I want to go home. It's only day 2 and I want to scream. I dread going to work even more now. Luckily today is just one flight to Canada. Granted it's a dreaded 3 hour one!

On a more positive note: I applied for 4 positions today. I am not giving up on Progressive! Hahaha! I bet they are soo sick of seeing my name. Three of the positions where there with them. I applied for all 3 and I have been denied for three previous one. My plan....apply until they give me the opportunity to come in. Surely at some point they'll give in!!! I also applied for a position with ACS in Austin. Unfortunately, it's the same company that Josh works for but we wouldn't be anywhere near one another so I guess that's okay. He was the one that told me about it. So maybe something will come out of one of those. I also have an interview this coming Saturday with DSW. I know I know...why retail? Ugh I know but hey it's shoes! Every girl loves shoes and oooohhhhh think of the discount! It would just be part time so that I can fly high paying 3 days Monday - Wednesday. It would allow more time in Austin to try to adjust.

I don't think I'm adjusting very well. I was excited about this move. It was something different. A leap. But with flying as much as I am I am never home for very long. It's like as soon as I get home I'm packing back up again. I'm home long enough to clean and do laundry. On top of that the whole time I'm stressing about how I'm getting to the airport and what flight I should take and if I should go in a day early, etc etc etc. This past weekend was the first that Josh and I got a chance to do something even though it was just a movie (two nights in a row actually). This coming weekend is the the music part of SxSW. I'm just hoping I can make it home. I really need to come home after this trip. It would be good for us to go out and just relax. I need to relax. Infact I might TRY, this is definitely a key word, to not clean what doesn't have to be done. Ha, yeah that just sounds ridiculous!

Well wish me luck. Hopefully the rest of this week goes by quick!

AAHHH HHAAAA!!!!

I had one of those moments today. Really, and of all places, my Weight Watcher's meeting! Today was a mile marker for me. I have officially by their scale lost my first 5%, aka 8 lbs, aka 1 medicine ball. Nothing gives you more of a natural high than meeting a goal like that and it was just in 3 weeks. That means I ma 1/3rd of the way to my goal of 24 pounds. That 24 pounds puts me at the high end of my healthy weight zone for my height and age. But regardless, I feel great and am extremely proud of myself!


I went to my meeting this week here in Austin, although I have been weighing in on Sundays in Salt Lake City. She asked if I wanted the recognition at this meeting or if I wanted to wait until SLC. I chose this one since the next couple of weeks I will be weighing in here in Austin. Once I was recognized for losing my first 5% they inquired what I had done over the week. One simple thing:

"For me I have worked on the same goal since rejoining WW. As a flight attendant, it's difficult to get 3 meals in one day. I was lucky to get two and even luckier if they were at normal meal times. Healthy, most likely they weren't. I've learned that I have to take time out for me, even if it's just 5 minutes.From a customer service point of view, probably not the best but I have to take care of me in order to take care of the passengers."

This is soo true. I didn't realize it or believe it until I said it out loud. I have to make time for me. Because when I start respecting what I need to do for myself, it will set the example that others need to respect it too. I certainly need to work on this simply because I'm always worrying about what everyone else needs or wants and put my self last so many times.

So now I am on my way to next 5%. When I meet that I will have lost 16 pounds. That is HUGE! I can already tell a difference in the way that my clothes fit. My pants are loose and I am constantly pulling them up. Funny thing: Now I'm constantly pulling them up rather that having to jump up and down and wiggle around to get them up! HA!

First 5

It's been a crazy week! We had Ethan and Brittany with us in Austin. More on all of that later though. We did get stuck in SLC on Monday evening trying to get them home to Kansas City though. So since I missed my weigh in on Sunday due to getting our tosies done.

Brittany had never had a pedicure before! Craziness! We had 5 us ladies, Julie (Josh's mommy), Bette (Julie's mommy), April (Josh's sister), me and Brittany got them done together on sunday afternoon. It was fantastic and relaxing. I need to make a point to get it done more often.

Anyways.....................!!!!!

I went and got my weekly materials and weighed in.....I lost an additional 2.4 pounds! I've hit a total loss of 6.6 pounds! That means I have lost my first 5 pounds AND I'm only 1.4 pounds away from meeting my first 5% goal which is 8 pounds! Dude, That is my FIRST MEDICINE BALL!!!!! Only 2 (minght try for an additional one after the first 3 are gone!) more to go from there!!!

Deep Thoughts & Goals

It never fails that once I am in a hotel room, away from home, all alone, the thoughts come like a flood. Sometimes, it's more than I can handle. I feel like I haven't been home in weeks although I spent two nights there last week. It just wasn't the same. I was stressed over repacking my bag, getting to the airport on time, and how I was going to get there. It was exhausting. So here I am, sitting in MSP (Minneapolis, MN) and it's too cold to do anything outside. I haven't pushed myself enough to work out today. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and I focused on some Weight Watcher stuff. Tomorrow morning though, I'm getting up because I will have no excuse. I will be well rested, fed, and hours before I need to report for work.

So there's the prologue. Now, sometimes I worry about just how much I share on here. This has become a good outlet most of the time for my thoughts and opinions but there is soo much that I still hold in. I question whether or not I should have kept this one private or had done a completely separate one just for me. I get in situations where I worry about sharing too much, who's reading it, if what I'm sharing isn't worthy of someone reading it, if I'm going to offend someone, etc. Sounds stressful huh? So the end result? I keep it all in. I'm sure some people would tell me that it's extremely unhealthy and I need to learn to express how I feel and think regardless of what someone thinks. They choose to read this and I shouldn't worry about anyone but myself. Because, honestly, at the end of the day it's just me and I have to be comfortable with myself. Some days I have a hard time with that.

Tonight I was working on my Weight Watcher's online tools and updating my paperwork. It really hit me that there is soo much that I want to do and haven't done. I feel like I have started to put myself on the back burner a bit, not even the larger one in the back but the smaller one. I need to upgrade to that larger back burner! I've said that I have wanted to do certain things for a while now and somehow I put it off or make and excuse. And WHY?! I'm hurting no one but myself.
1. Finish School- Life definitely threw it's challenges at me and made sure I was aware of the bad decisions that I had made. Life knew how to discipline me: broken bones and required surgeries. I got the point. But now I have to find a way to get back on track with paying the student loans in default and going back. I don't have that much left and I know I can do it. I will feel like I'm worth soo much more just knowing that I accomplished the goal of finishing my degree. Maybe then I can get a second one. We'll stick with one degree goal at a time though lol.

2. All debt paid off- while most of it is medical, it doesn't matter. It's my responsibility. Although I'm hoping that the settlement from my car accident back in September will be enough to clear that debt or hopefully at least half, regardless it needs to go. I feel like it's additional weight that I am carrying around besides my own body weight. It's the weight of failure on my shoulders. It's hard to hold your head high when you know what's in your closet secretly whispering your name. I need a plan and need to come up with it soon.

3. Increase 401K contributions- I need to prepare for my future now. I can't wait until my debt is paid off. I need to take care of myself and pay my self first. It's a bill that should take priority while I work on the others. I need to learn to live on less. Which I've done quite easily in the past. Not working for 3 months definitely took it's toll in every form possible.

4. My Weight- Obviously we know that I've already started that and for my first week did amazing! (Learning to praise myself!) I know I can do this. And while 3 medicine balls seems like a lot, I'm going to focus on my first medicine ball to lose. However, Josh's sister and I want to start Zhumba. I need to make time for me and do something for me. I know I can do this. Just hoping I can continue to have the support.

There are some other things that have weighed heavily on my mind this evening but not sure about sharing it quite yet. It's a topic I need to get answers to first. I need to figure out where some things stand for the future.

First Weigh In

Woohoo!

I had all day in Salt Lake City yesterday due to scheduling. I hate days like that. It's wierd being in Rachel's apartment since the Paris pictures that were once mine now hang on her walls. And without Josh there it's just wierd. Rachel hasn't been there the last couple of times so it makes it even more wierd since I'm there alone.

Yesterday was my week 2 meeting where you meet with a leader to go over how your first week went, questions, etc. I then stayed for the original weekly meeting. This girl lost 4.4 pounds in 7 days! My first week was SUCCESSFUL! I was on a natural high all day long. It was fantastic. I am extremely proud of myself. This week being my first, included Valentine's Day (Umm, hello CHOCOLATE! and don't forget the 3 glasses of wine I had!) and a dinner at Cheddar's the following night. However, Josh and I ate very healthy for our Valentine's Day dinner and at Cheddar's I made a healthy choice on dinner. It's been a rough week though. It's certainly trying on your willpower to pass up on the things that you would normally have 2 or 3 or an entire box of! I even passed up donut holes even though my entire crew and every other crewmember was sticking them in my face! But I didn't give in! It's also been hard trying to find things to put in my bag. Last night I went to Wal-Mart to get a few grocery items for my trip that I'm on now. I bought lots of veggies and fruits with some lean meats. I'm waaayyy under points today and didn't come close yesterday either. I need to make sure I'm getting enough protien though. I'm extremely excited for this week as well. I can't wait for Sundays now!
"If you kind of try, then it kind of works. But if you really try then it REALLY works!"

3 Medicine Balls

Yeah, get a load of this!


So I started Weight Watchers last week (the 13th). I had watched Jennifer Hudson on Oprah the Thursday prior. I had attempted to go to a meeting that night in Austin but couldn't find the building! Frustrating! Still learning the Austin roads. But when I was in SLC on Sunday I went there and signed up. Soo, Sundays will be my normal weigh in days. I signed up for the Monthly Pass, which allows me to go to all the meetings I want and all the e-tools online. This means I can go on trips and still make it to meetings in other cities and states. Perfect right? Yup, I thought so, too!


I've done WW before and am determined to do it again. It needs to happen obviously and Josh and I both want to get more in shape and healthy. So I weighed in at 163.3 pounds. Scary right? Pppsshhh being a mere 5'4" doesn't help my case at all. So my first goal is 5% of my wight which is 8 pounds. Then you shoot for 10% which will be a total of 16. End goal? I should be between 117 and 139. Now I certainly think anything below 125 -130 will be too much. So once I am in the 130's I'll be content. So that's a total of nearly 25 pounds that need to go. Now when I look in the mirror I don't acutally see that much weight. Where in the world is 25 pounds going to come from?! Now, I am noticing some areas that fat likes to sit a bit more easily than before.


Funny story. Remember that my first goal is 8 pounds. So Monday night while Josh was cooking out dinner I was cleaning up a bit. I happened to make it into the office where Josh's birthday stuff was still sitting. I picked up his 8 pound medicine ball. WHAT?! That's my first goal! Holy mother....ugh that's a lot! And to think, I need to lose 3 of them!!!! Seriously when you think about it like that, HOLY CRAP! I guess when you put it in a different perspective like that it looks a bit different! My first weigh in is this weekend. I'm hoping I've made some progress. I did make a goal this week to eat 3 meals a day. As a flight attendant it's hard to get 2 meals some days so this is a huge for me. But I've had 3 meals each day AND a few snacks here and there! I've certainly noticed that I'm hungry much much more because I think my body is learning that it doesn't need to store everything that I'm eating. So we shall see how this goes!

How many medicine balls do YOU need to lose?!

February 14th 2011

I was certainly excited about this day. Didn't expect anything but was I was extremely excited just to be home! I had bid for a specific trip that had back to back overnights in Austin on the 14th and 15th of the month. I had to fly in the day before so that I could start early in the morning. I was also flying with Cat (Caitlin) and her and I had flown together before so I knew it would be a decent trip! We started out super early and on our way to SFO and then a long break before heading to Austin. We were running a bit late but Josh was planning on picking me up. When we got close to landing I realized we were nearly an hour late. :-( But when I had texted Josh, he was already there and waiting for me. Makes me happy!

I had asked for salmon and sauteed veggies for dinner that night. I could eat salmon every night with veggies. Loving it! Josh had also picked up a bottle of wine for us. Yummy Yummy! When we got home we quickly started dinner since we were both starving. A quick change into something more compfy (hello!, I had been in polyester, pantyhose, and heels ALL day long!) and I even helped out in the kitchen. The goal is: for Courtney to be able to do this on her own soon so Josh doesn't have to cook it all the time. But here's my secret: he's good at so why should I butcher it by trying?! I like it when he gets in there and cooks for me. It's nice. So anyways, back on topic! So I sat on the counter and had a few glasses of wine. We had our baked salmon, sauteed mushrooms, zucchini, and brussels sprouts, along with some seasoned little red potatoes. Fantastic. It was what I had talked about all day to my crew was how much I couldn't wait to have dinner and it was simply, Fantastic. We even did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen together. Josh had slipped a little something onto the counter. I hadn't even noticed it because it was next to all of my little Valentine's Day decor. After dinner we sat on the couch and I opened a present from him. I was really excited that he had bought a card. One that he picked out and spent time on. Then there was a box of chocolates. And the best, DIAMOND EARRINGS! It was perfect, especially since I wasn't expecting anything at all. But regardless I was just happy that we got to spend time at home, TOGETHER.

This transition has been hard. We haven't had been able to spend a lot of time together because of my commuting and I just feel like I'm gone ALL the time. So for me to get ONLY this trip out of all the ones I had bid for, was just someone looking out for us because we needed that night together, for me to be at home, and for us to appreciate one another. We need more February 14ths!

Deadheading/ Commuting Crew Members

OK! So let's get something straight here. When there is a crew member sitting in a seat as a passenger, LEAVE US ALONE!

When we get to passengers, which most of the time we strongly dislike because we get bothered, we have our own agenda! It's normally SLEEP!

Unfortunately, there are times were the company has to reposition the crew. Crew Support has no reference to time so this could be early in the morning after having a long day the previous day and getting little rest, late at night after flying all day that same day or just right smack dab in the middle of our day. All of it is exhausting. When we get the chance to be passengers leave us alone.

Clues that we don't want to talk:

• We have our heads shoved in a book
• We have earplugs, headphones, etc shoved into our ears
• We're all cuddled up next to that hard surface wall, covering our heads with our coats trying to block out the cabin light to sleep
• OUR EYES ARE CLOSED (don't wake us up when the beverage cart comes around!)

Normally we'll wait until everyone is onboard before we get too settled. During this time, if you want a few minutes and I mean it, a FEW MINUTES to chit chat and make small talk, this is the perfect time.

If there are two seats open let us have first pick. This maximizes the rest that we can get and least interruptions from a seat companion. If we ask for the window, let us have it. This way you don't have to wake us up everytime you have to go to the bathroom and we're simply out of your way. Additionally, don't complain to us about your travel experience, how much your ticket costs, if you can have a buddy pass, what's going on with the airline industry, etc. We don't care, except that we have to sit next to you for the duration of our flight. Instead, say something positive! We always hear the crappy stuff. We like to hear the good stuff too!

Emergency M&M's

This changed my ENTIRE day!

We were working a flight today from Seattle to Salt Lake City. It's been a rough day and we certainly weren't in the mood for any BS from anyone, especially after yesterday. So I'm doing the service while the other flight attendant worked with first class. I had gotten to a row with two kids. With complete seriousness, the little boy asked me (he was 11, I found out) if we accepted cash or credit cards. I told him we only took credit card for food and alcoholic purchases. He turned to his female companion ( they were on a school trip and were flying home) if she had her credit card. I was cracking up at this point. Because this kid was dead serious. She said no and said, "That's okay, we'll use mine". I seriously thought he was kidding. When I got to their side of the aircraft and took their drink orders, he told me he would take some M&M's as well. The conversation went like this: I'm in Pink, he's in Green.

"What would you like to drink?"
" I'll take a Sprite and she'll have a coke. Do we have to pay for our drinks too?"
"No, just the premium snacks"
"I'll take some M&M's then. Let me get my credit card."
"You have a credit card?"
"Well it's my dad's."
"Where is your dad?"
"I'm on a school trip so he gave me a credit card for emergencies and a ton of cash."
"And M&M's are an emergency?"
"Yes"
"Do you need a receipt to take back to dad for your $2.00 purchase?"
"Nope"

With all seriousness, this kid really did pull out his dad's credit card out of a plastic baggy with a ton of cash in it. I was told if he couldn't pay for it in cash then to use his card. I'm pretty sure dad isn't going to like the $2.00 purchase on his American Express. He was soo darn cute using his dad's plastic to pay for M&M's and he was just so annoyed by my 20 questions regarding where he got, why he had, if he was going to get in trouble, etc. Especially about the receipt! I guess sometimes it's that little stuff that makes your entire day turn around! Every adult around him was laughing at the experience. Awesome night!

Everything BUT a Boat!

Well yesterday was an interesting commute to Salt Lake City. Exhausting! I think everything is exhausting anymore! HA!

Well, Josh couldn't take me to the airport for the early morning flight because he had to be at work early and the traffic would have been awful. It would have required very little sleep on his part. Let's face it, no man can handle getting less than 10 hours and be  expected to actually FUNCTION! So I had to find a different route to the airport on my own.

My trip didn't start until 18:49 last night and the 14:27 flight to SLC looked good enough and would still allow me some time in SLC before my trip was to start. So, I called a taxi around 10:35 and they got there really quick. I had them take me to the closest light rail station, which isn't far but too far with my bags for walking. So it's only like $8.00. Seems kind of expensive. I normally just round up and give them $10.00 to include a tip. But this butthead didn't even deserve my tip. He wouldn't get out and help me iwth my bags! Why in the world would I be tipping you then? Ugh not again. I'll be stingy with my extra $2.00 mister! Then it's a mere $2.75 for my two hour two zone light rail fee. (See that's where that extra $2.00 could come in handy!)....unfortunately, I had to wait outside for like 45 minutes because the cab had gotten to the apartment so quickly. It was soo cold, (yeah in TEXAS!). Then it was off to meet the bus! That was an hour bus ride and my least favorite part of the entire thing. I don't think it goes through a very good neighborhood and the people, a bit scary. The bus though is only $1.00. I love being cheap. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare before my 3 hour flight to Salt Lake City. Made a quick call to Josh to let him know I had made it there safe and sound. I'll talk about the flight and deadhead/commuting crews in the next blog so stay tuned!

I landed in Salt Lake City around 16:15. ICK! I still have like 3 hours before I was to deadhead (that's when crew members are positive space passengers on a flight to reposition them to another airport). So here I was getting on yet ANOTHER airplane! Then we worked our one 2 hour flight from Denver to Reno. That alone was an interesting flight. Dramatic passengers are the pits! So needless to say, it was a LONG effing day! And I was on everything BUT a boat. Now if only we had landed in the water! Hahahha!

OH MY GOD, THIS PLANE IS SOOO small!!!!

This seems to be a HUGE issue. Working for a regional airline means a lot of nasty comments about the SIZE of our aircraft. It gets old hearing flight after flight how small the plane is.
We get comments such as:
 "Is this plane big enough to make it there?"
 "Oh my god this is soo small!"
"This isn't a real airplane!"

I assure you that it is and it's financially smart for airlines to fly us rather than their own for little routs and hops from place to place.


How do you know if you're flying on one of these?


Very simple! Pay attention when you're purchasing your ticket!
When you start looking at flights you'll see all the information such as flight number, departure and arrival times, and even the airline.

Frontier Airlines 1735 operated by REPUBLIC AIRLINES

See the highlighted part? See where it says "operated by"? Yup, guess what that means. You're on a regional aircraft!


More examples:

Continental Airlines 2974 operated by EXPRESSJET AIRLINES INC DBA CO EXPRESS

United Airlines 7252 operated by UNITED EXPRESS/MESA AIRLINES


It's listed on every website. This is the way that you can find out what type of aircraft that you are on. If you are scared of flying then don't do this. Pay attention to what your fingers are doing on the websites and you clearly review ALL of your flight details.


Many of the regional airlines actually have better service than on a mainline flight. Most regional airplanes do not hold more than 100 people (mine holds no more that 76) making it so that only 2 flight attendants are required per the FAA (one flight attendant per every 50 seats/ passengers on an aircraft). The inflight service whether done by one or both flight attendants is more prompt considering that it is a smaller aircraft. If it's a regional for Detla, then the same service items are offered. The same for United, Continental, Frontier, etc. So you're getting the same service from most likely younger! One small fall back is the smaller overhead bins. Now, this still allows you to bring your carry-ons, just like any other mainline airline. What happens though when they don't fit? We gate check them. You get a tag from the airline that goes on your bag and it's left in the jetway as you board. They then go under the aircraft separate from the regular checked luggage that isn't screened the same way. When you land (and not necessairly your final destination) you re-claim these bags as you deplane the aircraft. These bags do not have ANY of your flight information noted on them except the flight number sometimes that you are currently one (good reason to get a new one for each flight. There is also normally a smaller portion that tears off that has the same number listed on it for reference in case for some reason the bag is misplaced. Best part of this? You don't have to struggle to get it into the overhead bin and you don't get charged for your luggage being checked! Now, listen up for a minute! Some mainline airlines, when checked in completely full will make customers gate check to their FINAL DESTINATION at no charge. This means if you're going from MCI-ATL-AUS  and your bag gets checked to your final destination then you will pick it up in BAGGAGE CLAIM in Austin. If it was gate checked on a regional you would pick it up when you got off in Atlanta and recheck it again when you board on your next aircraft to AUS. There is a difference so you have to pay attention to the announcements that the gate agents are making!

Josh's Birthday

......was yesterday. Now he can officially say he is almost 30. He can't be almost 30 until I'm almost 30 and I'm in no hurry! Right?! And I still have 3 more months to be 29 before I'm ready to be ALMOST 30! Anyways!

It was all short planning. We went to Joe's Crabshack for dinner because Josh really likes the steam pots. That's what he wanted so that's where we want. It was pretty good except their heat didn't work! Holy moly it was sooo cold!

We came back to the apartment afterwards. I had made a strawberry cheesecake. It was late and we were all full from dinner though. Josh opened presents and it wasn't too excited because he pretty much knew what he was getting which was most of the things he had asked for. These included, a subscription to Men's Health, a door gym (to do pull ups and such), a medicine ball, a heart monitor watch with pedometer, and resistance bands and a gift card to Office Depot to buy stuff for his new office at work. He also received a special flashlight that he wanted. The best thing though was that he had mentioned having a photo album of every school year picture of himself. Julie, his mom, went all out and scrap booked a small portion of it and it turned out great. Josh's reaction was great and he laughed at many of the pictures. It was a great gift! Hint Hint MOM for my 30th!

Now we have a ton of cheesecake to eat!