Hold music...and my personal tips to various establishments

I've been listening to a lot of hold music the last few days as I have been trying to determine whether I would travel to Bangkok due to protests. I've also had to register my credit cards with a travel notification so they don't flip if I start making purchases in "Ten buk two".

So here are my basic thoughts:
Korean Air---your hold music sounds like your representatives just started a techno club in my ear drum. Way too loud and splotchy. Yeah I used splotchy. It means that all of a sudden I've got a club scene happening in my eustachian tube and then silence. I think I possibly have gone deaf and then a minute later a polite Korean accented woman says she is sorry for my wait. Then the club techno beats launch up again.

Bank of America...your hold music reminds me of the end of a charlie's angels episode when the angels are all laughing in a beach scene and they just solved the case and suddenly a helicopter lands behind them and they gasp at realizing the chopter picked up their creepy but beloved old handler that they have never seen. Yeah...so your music sounds a bit old and nostalgic.

So those are my most recent hold music reviews. I am on hold currently with Bank of America rounding up to about 15 minutes now. It's great to be on hold.

That's all for now.

Oh Thailand...maybe next year.

Anti-government protesters gather in front of the
departure terminal at Suvarnabhumi airport in
Bangkok, Thailand, on the morning of Nov. 26
Chumsak Kanoknan / Getty Image

Due to the continuing escalation of the protests in Thailand, I have made the decision to not postpone my journey to Southeast Asia anymore. I was supposed to leave tomorrow for Bangkok,Thailand but recent news reports that now there are 2 protest groups gathering at the airport I was planning on arriving to. Those protest groups now number approximately 30,000 people protesting in and around the airport. I will have to give credit to the protest groups for their colorful display. The PAD protest group (people's alliance for democracy) is wearing yellow to support the King and to support the request to have the current prime minister leave office. The DAAD protest group (Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship) is wearing Red to signify it's support of the current prime minister . I found it rather funny when reading a twitter from someone in the Thailand airport warning tourists "to not wear Red or Yellow so as not to be identified with one group or the other. And definitely don't wear orange", they commented, "or you will be whacked by both sides."

I have contacted the airline and they were generous to extend my opportunity to go to Thailand anytime between when it opens and February of 2009. However, I have friends in other places so myself, my mother, and a close family friend will be traveling to another country instead of Thailand. We leave on Tuesday and will return to the states on the 17th. I look forward to sharing stories as I can. Thanks for your interest in what I am doing and where I am going...I look forward to all that I see and all that I do on this experience.

Today will be a busy one of unpacking, scrapping plans that we had, learning new things about the place we will be visiting, and getting clothes that are appropriate for the temperatures we will be experiencing. I will keep you posted as I can.

I am hoping to obtain a visa on arrival to the country we will be visiting and to not experience further protest issues.

So I have my visa...now I just need an airport to open.

I am getting packed for a trip to Thailand to visit with some friends. Currently though, I am awaiting news for the airport I am supposed to be flying into to be reopened. It is one of 3 airports that has been closed due to protesters since Tuesday. I am still planning on going. Please pray for the people of Thailand as this is causing them great economic stress to have their country transit system shut down.

Happy thanksgiving

Hanging out with the coolest nephew

Here is Jacob Girardier...the coolest nephew.

Fall retreat prayer experience

Fall retreat 08

ZUMBA and hijacking of my twitter

Tonight some friends and I tried out a new excercise class called Zumba. From the experts that went with us, (and they are truly experts as they know latin dancing straight from Guatemala) we got more of a ZALSA and less of the umba. :) Actually that's my way of communicating that they said it was more of a SALSA class. Regardless, I sweated. Yeah---I'm not ashamed to say that. It was a cardio workout. I am interested to know what true ZUMBA is though.

After ZALSA class...some of us went to a mexican restaurant and Reuben who is the cutest 5 year old I know currently, was there with us. He gets big points because he knows how to use my iphone to play etch-a-sketch with. He is really very good about passing the iphone back to me when there are "weird" things on the screen like a phone call or a text message. It did make me laugh though because following our meal, I got a phone call from Darrel asking me if I knew my twitter/ facebook status had been hijacked. Sure enough, unbeknowst to Reuben, he was sending out messages to the world. To some, it meant nothing...but other texts were very readable like the word: Red or Rein. My personal favorite was what appeared in this screenshot I took:
Thanks Reuben. I couldn't have said it better.

And that's why from now on, Reuben will be my ghostwriter. :)

My husband is sarcastic...but i love him. Check out his "Going back to paper" video.

My husband is sarcastic...but I love him. IF you know anything about The Girardiers, you know our detest of paper and love of the digital world. Darrel makes a little joke of what some movers randomly placed in his office during moving week without his asking...and it spurs some sarcastic thinking which led to this video:
Going back to Paper from Darrel Girardier on Vimeo.

Today you could say I have a couple of screws loose and it wouldn't be wrong.

Here are the 3 screws that were in my foot holding my bones together
until they re-formed.  I had completely forgotten that it stinkin' hurt to have screws removed from your foot.  I think I blocked the pain.  I also had forgotten that i had to wear a surgical shoe again while I had stitches and swelling. How can someone forget all of this? I mean seriously why didn't I remember this.  I wasn't mentally prepared to be a lame person again.  So I have been kind of a big baby tonight.  Darrel is being very nice to endure my whining but I have whined.  I can't believe I have to wear this dumb surgical shoe over the weekend but at least I won't have screws in my foot because when it rains those things feel like they are heating up in my foot. Can't quite explain why that happened but I may have been a temporary mutant superhero for the last 3 months and never explored some secret powers...nonetheless---the screws are gone and now I just have a swollen foot with stitches.  I will be so glad when this whole foot ordeal is done with.

Staff meeting in the marketplace restaurant

It's True...Sara Groves Christmas album

I haven't listened to all of Sara Grove's Christmas album but as I was doing some writing, I needed some new inspirational tunes so I downloaded the song "It's True" and I'm not sure if I was just in a sappy mood but to hear her little boy reading the christmas story to intro the song somehow just brought the gospel story alive to me in a fresh way I wasn't ready for. I am now mad at Sara because here I am not ready for all that bookends this song, and I started to just cry. I thought I was safe because Darrel had already gone to bed but he happened to come downstairs and caught me in my sappy moment. I explained I was fine and that this was my writing moment...my "me time" and he should just hush. He laughingly went upstairs but I suspect I will hear of this incident again.
So here I am: Guilty of tearing up over a sappy Christmas worship song but I don't care. It happened and so go download it and join me in my tearfest. :)

Getting ready for travel...

Got my visa pix today and rushed it off so that I can go to the places I'm preparing to go. I'm getting really excited. I tried not to look too excited in my visa picture as you can see at the picture to the left...but at the same time I wanted to communicate how friendly I was. You know...I want to make sure that when they are flipping through those visas that they see my face and think...now that is one friendly person. She should really be granted a univeral pass to visit anywhere her heart desires because she just has the look of coolness while at the same time the preciousness of a newborn baby rabbit. Well the kinko's guy didn't think my picture conveyed all of that but he said it was good enough.
I said, if it passed his careful assessment, then it was fine for me as well. Now it's just a couple of weeks before i am gone for 7 weeks. I'm really struggling with leaving and at the same time not being gone yet. But I am excited to share with you many things I see and experience. YAY for sabbaticals!

Recovering from lex-lag...

It was a great weekend of hanging out with teenaged girls at the You and Your girl event which was held in Lexington,KY at Immanuel Baptist Church.  As you can see, both Diesel and I are still a little groggy from our travels. He has been toast all day today as I don't think he got much rest at the Pet Resort.  Darrel and I are still catching up on sleep as well as we both felt this phenomenon we have dubbed "lex-lag".  It feels like jet lag but we didn't get on a jet...we just travelled from one timezone to the next and back again. That is what is sucking the energy right out of us.  So we are hoping that tomorrow our bodies will be regulated from "lex-lag".

Connection center hall in the construction stages

Session 2 begins now pray for me:)

And you and your girl event has begun

The summit room in Immanuel baptist where I am leading conferences today

Pictures from franklin merc at dinner

A night in Franklin...a trip to Lexington,KY and...sabbatical update

Darrel and I have both been the having some not so awesome weeks and have been guilty of eating "crabby flakes" the last few days. Tonight we had our date night and it was a spontaneous night of goodness. It's amazing how getting away and just talking can make the craziest of days seem good.
I actually made the decision of where we were going to eat and I did it so fast it scared me. I remembered that Franklin Mercantile located in the square of Downtown Franklin had just started having dinner 3 nights a week. I couldn't remember if it was upscale or still their regular meal.
We decided we would check it out online and the prices seemed comparable to that of say a macaroni grill or other place we might go to for a dinner out. So we ventured there and upon walking in felt like we had walked into the set of a gilmore girls episode. Sure it was still the good ole Franklin Merc that we go to grab a quick lunch or breakfast at but it was candle lit and a different yummy menu where you are served at the table. There was only one other table occupied and so it felt like we had the whole place almost to ourselves. We order tomato basil soup and upon touching the warm bread---we could have just paid for the check then. However, we kept going. We then ordered these cute lil Tapas Burgers which were served on Bruschetta bread with crumbled cheese and tomato basil I think. I had the cutest club rolls. We thought we were full but then we still had stuff to talk about and share about our week since Darrel had jury duty this week it made it hard to really get a chance to share. So I got coffee and fruit with a chocolate dipping sauce and Darrel got Heaven's cake. After that, we just walked downtown and enjoyed the christmas lights that are now draped on the lightpoles. It was the perfect evening.
I do not take tonight for granted. I think Darrel and I are being blessed with a season of being together. We may punch each other at the end of it but for now...I can't get enough of hang out time. We are headed to Lexington, KY for a conference at Immanuel Baptist Church. I'll get the chance to be a breakout leader for a girls conference called You and Your Girl. Darrel gets to see it from a production standpoint for his work since he is Creative Director for Lifeway Training and Events. We're looking forward to the trip away.
And then in about two weeks I will begin the 7 week sabbatical. I am excited, nervous, and a little bittersweet about leaving. BUT I am really looking forward to it.
That's it for now. I'll add some pictures from tonight later.

office renovations...

So yesterday and today I was in the midst of cleaning out some things before my sabbatical. On the list---the big screen tv that had been moved out of storage to make more room in the student ministry area. At first it felt weird to have it gone. Then I didn't realize how cluttered it truly made my office feel. Isn't it weird how we pack things into our lives and we don't realize how unattractive they truly are until someone says "yeah....that really made your office cluttered."
Sometimes I do that with my heart and mind. I allow thoughts and feelings to settle in. At first it's just something I'm thinking about, and then before long it attaches itself to my attitude towards a person or thing. I had a conversation with my friend Aaron this week and even though he wasn't addressing my attitude, his words shook loose some things that I became uncomfortable having in my heart. It's not big dark scary stuff that we're talking about. Just little petty things like frustrations or anger...but if left alone it becomes bigger and bigger until one day you have this monster life-sized tv of a problem and you don't even realize it.

Well I'm glad I was able to make a spiritual application out of my office renovations...but seriously---take the time to invite Christ to walk through your "heart" and "mind" today to help you realize if there are things in there that need to be moved out in order to make room for better things.

Here are some pix of the before and after:
BEFORE---















AFTER:

Here's my "Phony" costume...

I don't typically dress up for halloween. 1. Because. and 2. It scares Diesel and Darrel.
But I got an invitation from the uber cool Barnett's and knew if I went uncostumed I would not hear the end of it from Jackie. So we printed off an iphone screen and darrel and I both wore black with the copy taped to the front of us. Pretty smart huh?

In other news...I did some massive office cleaning today. Perhaps it was a little bit of activity avoidance partnered with wanting to clean. Regardless, my office is super clean today.

Today I did have a phenomenon happen to me.
I was driving down a road and it felt like "Home".
I haven't had that feeling since driving on the backroads in Illinois. There are 2 roads I absolutely love to drive on here in Nashville. I love the way the trees cover over the road so that it feels like you are driving through a mysterious forest. AND it's so beautiful in the fall. That's where I love to crank the radio and listen to the song of the moment and repeat it over and over again. It's good to have a "road" that feels like a friend. Maybe that's weird but I just have places that feel good to me. It's kinda like the writer of the hymn "In the Garden". It's the places I can walk and talk to God the most freely and share everything that is in my heart and mind with Him. Anyways, that's what I was thinking about today.

Connection center workday

Woot woot the girls represent!