Happy Dancer!!

Happy Sunday everyone! Today I am on my way home, so yep I am flying across the country once again---how many miles have I racked up this year? A LOT--to tell you the truth I'm afraid to count them all up LOL!  But I have earned some free hotel rooms and flights so I'm saving them up for a family trip next year :)  I had a wonderful time "somewhere in the US"--the weather was perfect and the company was great!  But the traveling was NOT SO GOOD--for any of you that follow me on Facebook you probably know some of the story about my trip this weekend and the DISASTER that it was to get there, LOL!  I kid you not I HATE CHICAGO O'HARE AIRPORT, every single time (and I mean every single time I've ever been here) I've had a flight delayed by 5 or more hours or cancelled.  I start my trip off at Washington Dulles airport my hometown airport, arrive 2 hours ahead of time and sit down to work.  Not there more than 20 mins and I hear my name announced on the speakers LOL--now I know you are thinking "what did she do now?".  But they wanted to bump me up to first class (uh yeah) to accomodate a family traveling together---I said sure (duh) as long as I got a window seat.  I slept the entire flight to Chicago (2 hrs) so not too eventful after that.  Arrive in Chicago and board says FLIGHT IS ON TIME and I literally had 20 mins to get from 1 gate to the next--if you've been there you know what a trek that can be.  So I'm running with my bags in my heels (yes heels duh cuz I wear them always and I had a meeting to go to straight off the plane so don't shake your heads lol) looking like a maniac I'm sure!  Sit down and they announce the flight is delayed 30 mins-1 hour due to "mechanics" ummm yeah.  If you travel a lot you know this usually means ONLY TWO THINGS---1 they have to fly in a new plane which could take HOURS (or) 2 that the flight will be cancelled.  And yep the darn thing was cancelled---so the mass of people run to the counter me included and I literally (no lie) trip on someone's bag and fly forward into this huge guy who catches me LOL.  Thanks to him I was #10 in line hee hee--and yes I have a tendency to trip and fly into people A LOT.  Alexa is hoping its not a hereditary trait LMBO!  As I'm standing there I'm reaching out to a few people to have them look up alternate flights for me and contacting my American Express travel agent (perk of having a gold or platinum card so if you do remember they will help you out in time of crisis and they are GOOD at it).  Counter lady announces that she can only accomodate the first 8 people--WHHHHAAAAATTT???  Ummmm no not working for me, so everyone goes running to other terminal to the United Customer Service Desk.  At this point I might be SLIGHTLY SWEATING AND HAVING A SMALL MELT DOWN IN MY HEAD.  But by the time my turn comes up I have 3 flights booked alternatively by Amex, my hubby & a friend LOL--and I'm updating peeps in the line with other options cuz' nothing was leaving O'Hare until 6:30 pm and it was 10:40 am at that point.  It was like I was a freaking TRAVEL AGENT for our flight LOL!  Best choice of flights happened to be.....yep you guessed my fave Southwest (why oh why did I abandon you for United this time) which only flys out of .............yep Midway Airport which is at least 45-50 mins away.  So Suzanne decides to make an executive decision and go for it---this flight would get me in at 3 so I could still do my meetings and not be too delayed.  YEPPERS, I tore outta that line like a bat outta hell and raced down to the taxi stand (now United tells me my bag will be sent ahead of me to my destination like normal).  I give the taxi stand guy a big tip and tell him to find me the fastest taxi to Midway cuz it was 11:05 and flight was leaving at 12:30 and I had to get thru security.  So he's like "Oh I know a guy" LOL (it was a like a corny movie at this point and I was the unlucky star of it)---so I get in and tell the guy "if you can get me there in 25 mins or less I'll give you the biggest tip of your life!".  His response "YOU GOT IT!!"---we went 95 mph all the way and at this point panic had seized my body so severely that I don't remember much other than asking the driver if he had "tequila" in the cab so I could have some LMBO!  Well he got me there in 21 mins FLAT--whoo hooo--excellent so he got an $80 tip.  He was so excited he got out and grabbed me, hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks and said he was taking his wife out to dinner--aww! See I do believe some things in life happen for a reason even if they are sometimes a PAIN & DETRIMENT to ourselves LOL.  Run into the airport, grab my boarding pass and get thru security in 5 mins flat---gotta love Midway, never over crowded and easy to navigate (my home away from home).  So yes I made my flight and yes it was on time and yes because I was booked so late I was the BUTT LAST PERSON to get on the plane but I couldn't care less.  I actually got a middle seat in an exit row that was fabulous.  BUT wait.....wait.....this is not a conclusion.  THIS WAS THE LOUDEST FLIGHT OF MY LIFE---I kid you not and you know how much I fly so this is not an exaggeration.  There were so many crying babies (16 to be exact & yes you can shed a tear for me now) and it was like "Battle of the Crying Babies" on that flight which was over 3 hours lord help me.  PEOPLE WERE DRINKING LIKE IT WAS AN OPEN BAR LMBO---I've never seen so many alcoholic drinks on a plane--it was FRIGGIN' TERRIBLE, LIKE A SLOW TORTURE OR DEATH FOR SURE!!  I really wanted to sleep but there was no way, the lady beside is like "hey you better start drinking now" but I had to land and work so I couldn't--I stuck to my Coke.  I had my headphones in and was working on my laptop but it couldn't stop the news of crying from infiltrating my system.  There were 2 sets of twins on the plane both under 1 year and they were behind me and beside of us, it really was like torture.  The military should look into using this human-friendly kinda of terrorists for sure---they'd break in no time---hell I'd tell them anything to shut the noise up myself LOL.  Now I'm a mom and I feel for the parents but REALLY, REALLY--most of them weren't even crying they were SCREAMING---yeah like for fun kinda SCREAMING. My kids NEVER did that, never, never! I would've smothered them for sure---NO--I'm just kidding but for real they never acted like that.  I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY to land somewhere in my LIFE-I wanted to kiss the ground, kiss someone.

Go to get my luggage and guess what---yeah---NOT THERE.  They tell me it will be there on the 8:40 pm flight---ok I can deal until then, so I left for my meetings.  Get to hotel before dinner and no luggage, ummm now I'm worrying.  I "con" (no not really but I do find that if you ask hotel shuttle drivers nicely they will take you anywhere lol--yes I do this a lot) the hotel shuttle driver to take me to Target to buy some "essentials" so I can clean up for dinner.  He was so nice, he waited for me while I ran thru Target (see a running theme, this is why I HAVE to work out so I can keep up during my travels).  Grabbed some stuff, cleaned up & headed out to dinner with friends---get back and yep NO LUGGAGE at 11:30 pm.  I'm not a happy girl at this point, no way jose! Morning comes and I'm due to meet people for breakfast at 9 am---NO LUGGAGE--OMG!  Thankfully I had bought underwear and a shirt from Target (just in case, cuz I'm a "just in case" kinda gal, thankfully right) and go meet for breakfast.  Call hubby to see if he can get a hold of someone because they promised it would be to me the night before----well I won't get into it but I'm pretty sure hubby got some people fired or gave them a bad day because 1 hour later they arrived with my very, very late luggage.  Whew----yes that's a long story I know, but trust me you had a much EASIER time reading it than I did living it LOL!  But I got to see some sites that day, had a great dinner and went to movies to see "Crazy, Stupid, Love" with a friend, which I HIGHLY recommend.  It was fantastic and a great way to end the night.  So now I'm writing this from the airport (my mobile office) and headed home hopefully with no delays, no issues at O'Hare (yes I have to go thru there again, pray for my soul).  Tomorrow is a new day right?  Live and learn, live and have fun and just live and DEAL WITH IT I say :)  Hope your weekend was trouble free and pain free LOL.

NewsBitz:

-Blog Candy on post below this thru Monday night!  Its sweet & calorie free!

***********************************************

Happy Dancer!

Today I'm sharing a very sweet "Gilli Stamp" with you all -- this line is designed my one of my BFF's Anary Baumgarth.  This one is called "Girly Gilli 2" and she is from the newest summer collection---I love her hair and dress, fun to color!  Images that give me lots of area to color are always good in my book ;) 

**The layout is for my current sketch challenge at House of Gilli---hope you can participate in it!!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Corrosive Challenges (girly)

Speedy Cat's Challenge (embossing)

Send a Smile 4 Kids (punche/die cuts)

Cuddly Buddly (swirls & bling)

I love this color combo too---the papers are from Kaisercraft and I loved the funky mix of patterns.  If you have trouble putting papers together those 6x6 paper pads are a easy way to do it quickly.  Just match tones, and mix prints by sizes and you're good to go.  The swirls are from a Heartfelt Designs dies (Bella Rose)--they actually are hooked together in one large pattern with leaves but I like to chop my die cuts up to make them more versatile.  The flowers are layered Prima and that polka-dot paper is flocked which makes it even more textural and fun.  The aqua mat behind her is done with patterned paper that I embossed with a CB folder.  Some PTI ribbon and pearls done with my Viva Decor Pearl pen in Graphite finish it off.  She was colored with Copics and then I added some more Viva Decor pearls to her dress to add a bit more detail along with Stickles on her underskirt and shoes.

Alrighty, I'm getting ready to board but just heard storms are headed to the DC area so pray my next flight is on time, no funny bizness and of course no crashing LOL!  See ya soon!