Monday, July 30, 2012

Giveaway Winner

We have a winner for our Marley Lilly giveaway!!!  Hey sissypoo...our winner is the lovely Emily Rehse!!! 

Sorry I've been neglecting you, my darling friends, but it's a bad time to be a spoonie.  Nothing will keep me down for long!

XOXO
~CAT

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Official 40 Before 40 List

40 Things I Will Do Before I'm 40

I should have started this list long ago...many of the suggestions I've gotten are things I've already done.
Learn to Scuba Dive
See Mt. Rushmore
See a Space Shuttle Launch
Learn to knit
Fight a fire
Go to a Phillies/Flyers/Eagles game/NASCAR race
Be in the paper
Be on the news
Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer!
Become an organ donor
Join the NRA
Swim with sharks (literal and metaphorical)


1:  Hire a housekeeper
2:  Be a "Groomswoman"  (cheater alert...I will be on 11 Aug.)
3:  Start my Post-Grad work
4:  Re-read at least 3 classics
5:  Finally start learning a new language
6:  Volunteer...because you should ALWAYS give back
7:  Not get ANOTHER speeding ticket
8:  Fly from John Wayne Airport (SNA) to Reagan National Airport (DCA)
9:  Visit the Ronald Reagan Foundation and Library
10:  Lay a rose at Ronald Reagan's grave
11:  Lay a rose at John Wayne's grave
12:  Have a better health regimen
13:  Be a better friend
14:  Have a matching pill box and flask...definitely pink, preferably monogrammed
15:  Make Sitch Happen
16:  Have a pink, monogrammed knife (any and all weapons fall under this umbrella)
17:  REALLY clean out my shoe wardrobe (throwing out one pair and calling it day doesn't count)
18:  Purge my house
19:  Spend more time with old...scratch old...longtime friends
20:  Shop (a little) less for things I don't really need
21:  Accept that women of a certain age and station, with the initials CAT, will inevitably be called Kitty
22:  Have tungsten rings engraved at Tiffany's...a la Holly Golightly
23:  Give up trying to explain to people that, in the book "Breakfast at Tiffany's," they're prostitutes...people!!!  Yes, I'm going to let that go...
24:  Clean up my language
25:  Be less judgmental (never going to happen)
26:  Get my Cartier Love Bracelet
27:  Be grateful, every day
28:  Create the perfect pink cocktail
29:  Be a stronger woman
30:  Learn to refinish that gross table in the garage that DH has dragged everywhere since the Colorado School For Wayward Boys
31:  Start taking yoga classes
32:  Learn how to get my car to talk to me (No, I don't read instruction manuals...don't judge me)
33:  Have a better poker face
34:  Learn to play poker
35:  Stop stockpiling things (unless they're on sale or hard to come by)
36:  Finally learn how to use my Kindle Fire
37:  Stop taking things so personally
38:  Clean out my email 
39:  Start a 50 by 50 list
40:  Look much younger than 40!!!

And the list goes on:
1:  Visit the Vatican
2:  Go to the World Cup
3:  Learn to Fly a Plane
 
 

Friday, July 13, 2012

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Daytona

I think we can all agree that, since 9/11, the face of terrorism has changed...I just failed to realize how much! 

Husband and I have just returned from the family's annual trip to Daytona.  People say "getting there is half the fun."  And that's generally true...as long as you upgrade, of course.  This time, forget "getting there"...just getting to our seats was about all the fun I could handle.

We had an uneventful drive to the airport...but for the fact that we had to fly out of McCarran (LAS) not Ontario (ONT)...as there were no upgrades available for ONT.  I always check ONT first because it is easy to get to, easy to navigate, and closer to my home.  Also, because I know that if terrorists ever try to take it over, Jack Bauer will rescue me...and the other people there, too, I guess...but, whatever, not my problem.  The drive to Vegas isn't that much longer and...thank you nice people at Sirius...I have 80s on 8.  

We park, easy peasy, unload the car, and, as we head from parking garage to airport, J began to question the wisdom of not having called ahead for a wheelchair.  It was too late at that point, so as a friend would tell me, I Rangered Up, and continued.  At the ticketing counter, no one was manning the First Class line, so we waited far too long.  But...onward.

At this point, we reach the TSA Agent before the metal detectors, who compares your ID to your ticket.  J and I presented our military IDs and tickets.  He compares DH's ID picture to his face and name to ticket and hands it back to him.  My turn.  He stared!!!  Used different angles and lighting!  He finally asks for a second form of ID...dude...are you kidding me?  I hand him my driver's license.  UH-OH...it's expired.  He lets the expiration slide with a stern warning and then starts the comparison dance again...both IDs and me...back and forth...squinting, staring, doing the hokey f*cking pokey.  With a dirty look he returns my documents and sends us to the metal detector line.  Again...this was the First Class line!!!  Seasoned travelers, everything is neatly in bins, all computers out, quart size bag of anything even semi-liquid, shoes and sweater off...let's roll. Then we get pulled out of THAT line to go thru the body scanner thingy. 

Don't get me wrong...I am a safety nut.  I have been since I worked with a wonderfully security conscious (read: paranoid lunatic) officer for 2 years at the Sheriff's Dept. back home.  J is also a bit hyper-aware (read: slightly obsessed) of Force Protection.  I'm all for any safety measures necessary to keep our nation safe...at the airport...or anywhere else.  I understand and support the need for our Govt. not to lay everything bare to the masses.  Though I disagree with the way most gun nuts interpret the 2nd Amendment, I AM a gun nut!

HOWEVER...am I the new face of terrorism?

Let me set the scene...
All 5'1 (if I stand up really straight and the nurse is nice, I'm 5'1, damn it) of me...chin length, ginger hair, pink, monogrammed, polo dress, matching monogrammed cardigan, pearls, and my new Marley Lilly Monogrammed Penny Clutch.  Really?  There's a rosary in my bag!  The only person I look like I could terrorize is a Protestant midget in Ireland!!!

From the front?  A basic, flat, clutch that is deceptively large enough to fit the current issues of Town & Country and Vanity Fair
 and still look flat with loads of room for your essentials.

 This back pocket?
Fits your favourite E-reader with room to spare!

Just to make more versatile, 
There are wristlet and cross-body straps included!
When traveling, the cross-body strap makes life SO much easier!

I love the bag so much...that Marley Lilly is letting me give one away!!!

So here are the rules:
1:  Follow Marley Lilly on Twitter
2:  Follow me on Twitter
@PrincssPrepPink
3:  Like Marley Lilly on Facebook
4:  Share your "favourite" travel story here
And because Marley Lilly is so generous
5:  Like The Queen of Hearts on Facebook
6:  Follow The Queen of Hearts on Twitter
7:  Tweet about the giveaway
8:  Blog about the giveaway


Good Luck!
XOXO
~CAT