junk drawer

and counting...

Well...time is certainly of the essence. 

Less than 2 days until I am out of the US but will be surrounded by american flags.

This is a photo I snapped last night on my way up to Fairmount to have some cocktails with my old roomies at the Bishop's Collar.  It's a huge mural on Columbus Boulevard and is one of the first things you seen when you cross the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philly. These murals are one of my favorite things about the city.  They are everwhere and everyone who lives here has their favorites.

Last night was a beautiful night and the people in the bar spilled out onto the sidewalk  Lucky for us we had gotten a table so we could sit.  Overall it was so nice to have such a lovely spring day. Guess I better enjoy it while I can cause it will be hotter than you-know-what in the desert.

As far as my trip goes I am crossing my t's and dotting my i's.  Today it dawned on me.  JCOC will be the first trip that I will be taking solo. Funny that in all of the hub-bub I didn't realize that till today. Usually I have at least one partner in crime while traveling or in the case of Trading Spaces, 23. I'll do fine though, all that experience on those backpacking and hiking trips with strangers should come in handy.

Off to pack and finish last minute errands! Thanks to all for their warm wishes and sweet thoughts. It means so much.

3 days to go....

The countdown begins.  I have been making lists like mad, thinking about doing laundry, and packing in my head

What do you wear in the desert in a muslim country?  Guess it will be a trial by fire answer. 

For all who don't know....early sunday morning (I mean early. gulp) I am headed on a trip called JCOC with the department of defense.  yowsa.  It will be a whirlwind week with some ceo and soldier types including trips to the US military installations in the middle east.  As my my friend Gary said, it will be a Disney World-esq field trip into a war zone.

Right now when, where and what I am doing is a mystery to me.  According to the coordinator lady I will find out everything I need to know when I get to Tampa, FL on sunday morning.  I don't even know what hotels I will be staying in..yikes! or that I will be staying in hotels at all.  double YIKES!

But the people going on the trip look interesting and I am more than honored to be included on the list.  Of course, my biggest concern will be what to wear and how my video camera will survive the desert heat and sand.

Everyone is being very supportive.  A special thank you to my Dad who had his own birthday gift (noise canceling headphones) shipped to me so I can use them on my very long and noisy flight to a middle eastern country which I can not name right now in a very big plane (C17).

Also special thank yous to Sara, Phil, and Gary who offered me their DVD player and DVD's respectively.  A girl can only knit for so long.

Otis and I are off to see "thank you for smoking." fun fun I don't think I could stomach "why we fight" tonight.

Stay tuned.  I will have more updates on my trip and I plan on writing while I am away.   computers should come accross my path at some point.