Another Break Coming Soon...

My type A personality benefits often times by just going with the flow and trusting the process. Sometimes not planning is the best planning you can do. I am so excited to have another brief get-away to one of my favorite places. Charm City here I come...and with a stellar view of fireworks to boot!!

Thursday 13 - Upon the Shelf

I would like to dedicate this weeks Thursday 13 to all of the books that are currently mocking me. Some have been doing so for a few years. The following is an ode to 13 books that are sitting upon a shelf waiting for me to read them. Enjoy...and it is quite a varied list of literary goodness. Welcome to the glimpse into my scattered interests...

1. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance - Atul Gawande

2. Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

3. Agnes and the Hitman - Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer

4. One Bullet Away - Nathanial Fick

5. One Fifth Avenue - Candace Bushnell

6. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

7. A Widow's Walk - Marian Fontana

8. The Gatecrasher - Madeleine Wickham

9. Handle with Care - Jodi Picoult

10. Acceptance - Susan Coll

11. Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin

12. The First Five - Henry Rollins

13. Thirteen Moons - Charles Frazier

If you would like to check out other Thursday 13's...have at it by clicking here!!!

I miss you...

It is so true that you don't know what you have until it is gone. In the spirit of my crankiness, I thought I would take a few moments to reflect upon how much I miss air conditioning. I admit it...I like a cool house and a cool car. I like to keep things cold. I don't open windows...to humid and muggy. I crank up the air...that is what I do. So, since this weekend the house has not had any AC...and it is freaking scary hot. Oppressive on the top floor...if you ask me. So much so that as you rise up the stairs a wall of hotness smacks you and then lingers for your entire stay.

I don't think I slept that well and I feel terrible for being so darn cranky about it. Seriously...in the grand scheme of things...this is no big deal. There are so many worse things to have happen to you. Yet...I'm still annoyed. I think part of it is because when I get really hot it sort of mimics what it is like when my blood sugar is low. Even when I try to think "igloo" thoughts...I'm still roasting. Even with a fan blowing hot air, I feel like I am outside under the sun. But I am hopeful...hopeful that on Thursday all well be right with the world because I can crank it up again. On full blast...

Thursday 13 - Theme Tunes

Maybe it is just me but sometimes as I meander through my days I my very own personal movie soundtrack running through my head. The songs that propel me through the day. The songs that spur writing ideas. The songs that cause a swirl within my soul. You know that feeling...songs that make you feel like you are flying or at least what it might feel like to fly. So, my Thursday 13 this week is a list of a few of those songs that are part of my soundtrack.

Many of them date back to my very beginnings...so I have decided to list them in the order of when they were added to my mind's movie soundtrack. It starts from the earliest time I can remember being obsessed with a song(age 2 or 3?). Hope you enjoy it. Hope there are some on here that you enjoy!!

1. Windy - The Association

2. Spunky Spunky - Bob James

3. Faith - George Michael

4. Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring - Bach

5. St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)- John Parr

6. Dyslexic Heart - Paul Westerberg

7. Appalachian Springs - Aaron Copeland

8. Buddy Holly - Weezer

9. State of Love and Trust - Pearl Jam

10. Tunnel of Love - Bruce Springsteen

11. Waiting Room - Fugazi

12. Kite - Ivy (although I think original version is by Nick Heyward...which is also good!!)

13. Change - John Waite

If you would like to check out other Thursday 13's...have at it by clicking here!!!

Veraholic Strikes Again...

I may or may not have purchased another purse that I don't need last weekend. But here is the thing...it was on sale. I had been lusting after it since this February when her summery nylon line came out. In a month a whole new set of things will be coming out and I'm pretty sure my Vera Girls and I will be spending more money on the Vera. There are totally worse things to be addicted too...and we will keep telling ourselves that. Besides, Vera is an instant happy for me. I love all of my pieces and now that I interchange them with bags...it is much more economical.

Here is a case in point. My current "diabetes bag" is in Pink Cupcake and I have a sunglasses case, wallet, and other assorting things in that pattern. They look adorable with my new pink purse and they looked good with my other pink plaid purse too. And...as if we did not need more evidence....they match with purchase too. So really, the fact that I already had a bunch of accessories that would go so nicely...it was a sign that I totally need to buy it. Did I mention it was on sale?

Thursday 13 - Reasons Why I Work So Hard

I hated cancer long before I ever had a personal reason to. I know the exact moment when it happened. I was watching a documentary on PBS about a little girl being treated by doctor. At the time I was watching it, I did not know that I would someday meet that doctor in person my first day on the job. The fact that I serendipitously ended up working for the very place whose work was highlighted on that documentary just shows that it was meant to be. I was captivated then and now. I’m a workaholic and feel very lucky that I can use my business-brain to help those with scientific ones.

My Thursday 13 this week is dedicated to the 13 reasons why I work so hard. Hope they are as motivating for you as they are for me...

1. Grandpa - He taught me how to work hard early on and I hope I make him proud. I miss him each and every day.

2. Joel West Baillie - He taught me how to live life in a bus ride conversation I know will stay with me in my heart forever. CAKE Rules!!! And thanks to him…there are some songs that I just can’t listen too without bursting into tears.

3. Chassity Flint - She taught me to go after what I want because it is silly not too. Every butterfly, dragonfly, and ladybug reminds me of her strength, grace, and love. Oh yes…and she helped me to find my inner diva.

4. Camp Fantastic Campers - Each and every lovely face that smiles and giggles in the most perfect place in the world that exists for just one week in August. The amazing energy they bring that fills the hollow the moment they make their way down the winding roads in the buses with the teams of motorcyclists that lead them in. How their strength and bravery surpasses all that faces them. How every year you are forever changed because of each and every one of them.

5. Camp Fantastic Volunteers - The energy, creativity, and unconditional love of a special group of people who gather for one week in August and make it happen. A team in every sense of the word. Willing hands to help. Smiling faces to cheer. And duct tape…lots and lots of duct tape.

6. Cancer Sucks - I don’t know that I need to give any specifics on this one. It touches everyone in one or another and that fact never leaves me.

7. Great Minds - I am so lucky to be able to interact with incredibly smart people who work tirelessly to kick cancer ass. If any little bit of what I do throughout the day helps them…then in some way I am kicking cancer ass too.

8. Caretakers - The strength, tenacity, and love of the folks who care is not always seen or out in the open…but it is there and it is strong.

9. The Horizon – There is something about my intuition that tells me that some of the ideas that I hear percolating now are going to bring good things in the future. When I sit in meetings sometimes I get goose bumps thinking about where things are going to go over the span of my career. Perspective is a very cool thing.

10. This Picture. (See #4 above)



11. Appreciation – Positive reinforcement goes along way so when people tell me that me I never “nag”, I “remind” it makes me feel good. Not everyone can keep things moving along in a “nice” way. ;) Maybe my first name helps…can you get mad at someone named Joy???

12. Writing – I may never finish any novels but my working writing helps to tell different kinds of stories and that is still satisfying.

13. Motivation – When I get tired or frustrated all I have to do is think of items # 1 – 10 and then I keep on going.


Do you have a reason for me to keep working hard? Drop me a comment and let me know...


If you would like to check out other Thursday 13's...have at it by clicking here!!!

Thursday 13 - Anxious Much?

Another Thursday, another list of 13 things within my brain space. Since I have been a bit anxious about things this week and some big deadlines fast approaching that I need to shake some action on, I thought I would list out some of the things that I have been anxious about...over my 32 year life span. With a bit of commentary on how things turned out of course. ;) Hope you enjoy them!!

1. Getting a baby brother. (I am so glad that I didn't!!! My baby sister was perfect...and not once after she was born did I ever ask about a baby brother again.)

2. Going to the hospital for any reason at all as a patient. (When I did finally go in 1987 when I was diagnosed with T1 Diabetes...I just took it in stride.)

3. Setting a bad example for my sister and messing up her life. (Think this one is ongoing.)

4. Getting behind on work if I ever missed school...even in Kindergarten. (Can one really comment on that? Type A much? Is this why I'll come in for a meeting on a day off?)

5. Having to get a shot. (This is quite funny considering that over the past 21 years I have been given myself 4 - 7 every day. There were 3 years there where I went on an insulin pump...but trust me...the infusion sets were way scarier...for me at least.)

6. Learning how to drive so that I could get my license on my 16th Birthday. (Totally happened...with a fun story/lore for my first time behind the wheel. Every success needs a tough beginning.)

7. Finding a summer job. (Somehow...my application was pulled from a pile of thousands and I have been here ever since. It will be 15 years on June 12.)

8. Finishing college in Four Years. (Since I was working full time while I was in college I was obsessed with finishing in four years like other folks my age. I started in September 1995 and finished in December 1999. Did not allow much time for anything else.)

9. Escaping the 11th Floor so that I could work in IT. (I did and it set off a chain of great changes in my life. Exactly how your early and mid twenties should be.)

10. Getting a good score on my GMATs so that my provisional acceptance to JHU could become a true acceptance. (This was such a huge thing for me...since I am not a good test taker. There is a funny story about how the whole thing go started too...which I had forgotten all about. Hmm...I should write about it sometime. Oh yes...back to the outcome...I got the score I needed but my essays were off the charts!! I think I got a perfect score on one of them. Oh yes...and I graduated with an MBA too.)

11. Finding my way back to the 11th Floor. (In perfect timing and without it being planned I ended up back at home...doing something so perfect for me. That is kind of how my career goes...it just unfolds before me.)

12. Finishing any novel that I have started. (Okay...still obsessing on that point.)

13. Volunteering for Camp Fantastic. (Each and every year I worry about whether or not I will do a good job and if anyone will actually like me in the process. Each year that feeling quickly leaves as soon as the buses round their way through the hollow. I am going to miss that this year...but will instead worry about whether or not I will be invited back in 2010.)

If you would like to check out other Thursday 13's...have at it by clicking here!!!