We call this Tuesday in Manzanillo

Today I slept in. Till 9:45. That is a ton of sleep and it felt great.
I was totally relaxed... Finally.

Got up and went for a run on the beach. The best part of my run was
the sprints on the way back down the beach. I am running as hard and
as fast as I can ( a pretty good clip if I will) and vendors still
approah me to sell me things. Ummm really? I would shake my head no
and keep running and wonder at their tenacity.

I went with the aunts and uncles into Santiago to shop for dinner.
Bought some fresh shrimp for everyone (but me) and bought myself a basso
fish filet to have.

We relaxed by the pool the rest if the day reading and then Amy and I
headed to the Oasis happy hour. Yep. It's our favorite. We met up with
Canadians and folkes from Grand Forkes, ND. It was good fun. The
manager, Diago, was great and trying to be my new friend on facebook.

Amy and I stayed there watching the Canada vs germany hockey game till
we thought "better get back for dinner".
We headed out to enjoy the fabulous dinner by our aunts and uncles and
then we all headed back to the bar for pie. Diagos GF (from Colorado)
baked pies and they were fabulous!! In fact pat and sue put in an order in for pecan pie for tonights dinner.

Mauro (Italian bartender) kept pouring me and Diago lemoncello (yummy!) as we discussed Cinque Terra italy and our love for it.
It was fabulous.


for pecan pie for tomorrow already.

The As and Us left us at the bar and Mauro poured me 2-3 glasses of
lemoncella to toast Cinque Terra (a fabulous place in italy!). I got
to know our new candadian friend Bobby better and found he was not
truly candadian but originally from serbia. Good guy and fun, and 39
how nice :)

Must sleep. Amy and I have been invited to a party tomorrow by some
canadians and also we are getting pool side massages tomorrow. Yay!

Adios!
KK

Local Fundraiser - Sunday

Sunday: we got up early to a beautiful sunrise and did my Terri (my
pt) Mexico workout she created for me. It felt great however, we
worked out on the lawn and didn't realize we were being attacked by
Mosquitos (u should see me today-Monday)!

Amy and I went for a long walk down the beach to the shops. Bought me
new flip flops and both of us got cowboy hats. Umm yes we look like
twin sisters. We stopped at a place on the beach for lunch and a
corona. Life is good.

Mi familia all went swimming in the ocean the waves are fantastic and
fun with boogie boards. Later that night at sunset we saw what looks
to be a sting ray out there ... Umm it's gonna take all my strength
to overcome thr and head back out, I have an irrational fear of oceans
and lakes and I know it. But I will go back in today :)

Last night we went to the Lions Club of Manzanillo for a fundraiser.
Carman is a woman who cooks and cleans for us and it was her churchs
fundraiser. It was a lot of fun. Authentic Mexican dancing and food!
Yum!

Adios!

Sunday morning :)

Day 1 take 2

> Amy and I wondered down to Club Oasis for a drink. Great place to
> see olympics we learned. We met Bobby from Canada, nice guy and even
> better my Italian bartender was working that I met two years ago.
> We all know how I love Italian... Anything. Men. Purses. The
> country. (hope to be back there this fall!!)
>
> The rest of the family ended up joining us and relaxing and catching
> up.
>
> We are now back at the house and getting ready or Carman to come and
> cook for us. And I know from years past Its gonna be yummy!!
>
> Looking forward to a whole day in the sun tomorrow. Amy and I are on
> missions or new cowboy hats. Giddy up Mexico!!
>
> Adios!
> KK

Day 1

We arrived safely at about 2pm and got to walk down the steps to the
airport outside (I do love that about Manzanillo!) the sun on my face
felt amazing and the warm breeze was just what the doctor ordered!

We grabbed a cab to casa aurora and were greeted by my auntie Sheila
standing in the road waiting for us :)

In minutes we were in suits and had a margarita in hand. We caught up
with everyone and then jumped in the water. The water is perfect and
the waves are amazing.

Manzanillo, Mexico 2010

Description
In the 2005 census the city of Manzanillo had a population of 110,728 and its municipality had 137,842.[1] It is the second-largest community in the state, after Colima, the capital. The municipality covers an area of 1,578.4 km² (609.42 sq mi), and includes such outlying communities as El Colomo, in addition to many smaller communities. Manzanillo is also a beach resort and, as the self-proclaimed "sailfish capital" of the world[citation needed], hosts a yearly sailfish fishing tournament. The Revillagigedo Islands, off the west coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean, are part of the municipality.

Manzanillo is a sister city of the U.S. cities of Flagstaff, Arizona; San Pablo, California; and Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Icicles. A week till Mexico.

Philadelphia & A New Beginning

I arrived in Philly early Tuesday and my meeting with a DM was canceled due to him being ill... so I met up up with my friend Cyndi and headed out to take some cancer sucks photos. But before that I got to see her lovely new home they are renting out in Narberth. What a great area, I had not been to that area of Philly... it is not far from where Andy works at the local station 94.1...a great station! If you are out there program it in. 80's rock :)

I got to meet Haley and Harrison, Cyndi's twins and they are soooooo adorable and between their love and their golden retrieve Liberty's love... I was feeling all warm and fuzzy, gotta love that :)

Cyndi and I headed out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.... a/k/a the Rocky statue and stairs!
I have been wanting to go there for the past year of travel to Philly and finally made it :)
We had a fantastic talk. It was just what I needed. We laughed a lot and of course solved some worlds problems :) I am blessed to get to travel for work and be able to also tie that into seeing people I care about.

I went out with 3 other DMs, 2 from Philly area and 1 who flew in from Boston as well as one of our Territory team members in from Long Island. It was a really fun evening. We went to Buddahkan. I had been there before and it is good food, everyone shares a bunch of dishes. huge Buddah in room (however after being to Thailand- not all that impressive).Its "ok" food. Some dishes better than others. You pay for atmosphere.

We headed out to a bar not far from there for a while and eventually all back to center city to crash at the Hyatt.

Today was spent with a different DM in Philly at a store that is struggling. I felt like I really did some good work there today. The GM seemed really open and I was able to get her to think through her growth plans in a new way. The DM was pleased too... so in the end it was a VERY good business trip.

So beyond all the great business that took place, I decided today is October 1st, time to start new. Coco moved out to her own place today (yippee Coco enjoy!!) and the bigger move was that I removed some energy in my life that was pretty toxic. It had distracted me from what is good in my life, so today I felt like a weight had been lifted. I lost my voice for a bit, but I have it back and hope to never lose it again. This is the new beginning I refer to. I am blessed with friends and family that reminded me of this the past few weeks, and I am also blessed to be at a place in life where I can see the lesson from it.
Always trust your instincts people, there is a reason for it, don't let anyone convince you not to.

So in the end Philly was a really good trip both personally and professionally.
This was in an email I received today - sometimes the timing is ironic on what pops in your inbox - kismet if you will:
- We are unaware
- We become aware of facts, data, information.
- We comprehend meaning from the facts.
- We can personally apply the information in our lives.
- We have wisdom, enlightened, we can lovingly apply our knowledge to world affairs.
- We live in truth.

KK

Denver or Bust - Mel turns 40!

First let me welcome any new followers... even if you are not officially following me - but like to find me and read my blog, I hope it inspires you to be true to yourself and travel the world too!

Now, lets talk a girls trip to Denver shall we? My girlfriends (and Jason) headed to Denver to celebrate Melissa's 40th birthday last weekend. Jenni and I flew out Saturday (everyone else flew out Friday). Jeff and Julie picked us up at the airport and we headed to Mels to hang out for a while.

Later we all headed to Evergreen, Colorado where Dawn and John were hosting a gathering for all of us (there were 9 of us total who flew in for this). On the way to their house we stopped at Red Rocks to see where Mel and Jeff will be married next June, and to the reception hall.

We all had our Cancer Sucks t-shirts on for a gorgeous shot up in the Red Rocks... what an amazing place! The Allman Brothers were playing so we were a bit out of place not being tailgaters...

We had a great night and headed back about Midnight down the long winding road of the mountains... thanks Jenni who got us home safely!

Sunday I knew I would be up early so Jason (also an early riser, but dating Heather who is not)and I made plans to meet at 7ish at Starbucks. We grabbed a Starbucks (herbal tea for me of course - no caffeine) and then headed out for a walk to scout out places for brunch.

We walked all over and asked a local the best place. SNOOZE - she said without hesitation.

So we walked back, and gathered Terry, Jenni and Heather. Walked to SNOOZE only to find an hour wait...ugh. At that point Jason and I had been up and walking around for hours- so we bailed and went to the place right next door to the Courtyard where we were staying... best decision ever!

We got seated and found out they had bottomless Bloody Mary's and Mimosa's.... enough said. We spent the morning into afternoon there drinking...it was a blast :)

Heather and I ran out of the bar when the firemen came collecting outside for the Jerry Lewis telethon... I mean come on- hot fire fighters doing good for MS.... of course we got out there! Jason just sat and laughed at us.

Eventually we all headed back to our rooms to get ready for Mels big birthday party (Sunday was her actually birthday - so a Sunday party it was!). We all made t-shirts with fun photos of her on them and gathered to celebrate HER :)

It was a really fun night and so nice to meet all the people in her life in Denver. She is blessed to have so many great people in her life :) We laughed a lot, shared some tears, and reinforced our wonderful connection of friendship.

I am reading the book The Girls from Ames right now - it is all about the amazing connection of women and how womens friendships are actually good for their health, how we support each other in ways that family and men rarely do. That we hold each other to being themselves... it reminds me of all the amazing women in my life that I am blessed to call friend.

This trip was just what I needed, and I think the others would say the same. We headed out early Sunday and were back home to enjoy our Labor Days at home... a bit hungover :)

last night in holland

Weird how 8 days can feel like it flew by, yet at the same time feel like forever....in a good way.

Matt and I took the #9 tram into Den Haag last night as shopping is open later on Thursdays....meaning 8pm. Things close down early in the Netherlands.

We walked all over, Matt bought some great sandals and then he took me to dinner at Gouchos, an Argentinian steak house. The food and wine he ordered were great....photo to come. Actually we thought the wine was bad at first, but after letting it breathe it was really good... which is exactly what they recommended.

I am not a big red meat person....but damn if the steaks were not fabulous! Matt had the fillet, which was the better of our two, and I had the "featured" steak...in the end both were Yummy!!

After dinner we walked back through town to central station, grabbed the tram back to Schevengin, and decided to have Lou (Matt's coworker) over for a drink and for me to get to know him a bit. He is from Canada, but is Italian. Really nice guy and it was great to get to know him as I hear a lot about him.

We slept in a bit today before I had to get packed and to airport. Leaving sucks. Matt drove me to airport and walked me to security which was nice as I did not expect it. Did I mention leaving sucks?

I am now on plane. We should have departed 30minutes ago....but there is a medical emergency, so medics are on board and....oh hey the just said we could go! Giddy up.

Good bye :)
kk

PS_ In Minneapolis now. Weird to be home and getting everything in order after being gone for 9 days. I have a lot to do, including unpack... the least favorite part of coming home. Off to NYC Monday for work... then Philly...then back to NYC, 3 solid weeks of travel. Back to reality.