Saved by the bloggers

Blogging this year saved Valentines Day!!!
YEAH!!!!
Normally I have a great post about my Valentine but this year I no longer have one so I was prepared for a sad and depressing heart day...
But, instead, I have an awesome gift and post - YEAH!!!
So, I got home yesterday and found this at my door
...it is my swap gift from Kelly at KellyisLosingWeight.

Here is my awesome package...

Of course YUM and it is Dark Chocolate so it definitely fits the bill of "good for you"!!!



And my favorite....coffee!!!!!!!! I love and live off of coffee!!!! Never tried this so I am way excited - my sister says that Dunkin is "THE BEST"!!!!!

And another fav - seriously!!!! I love Starbucks and Sumatra is the ultimate!!!!!!!!!!! AWESOME!

And finally, this little gem!!! I love lemon and this is the tartest and best smelling lemon ever!!! A new fav!!!

Thank you soooooooooooo much Kelly!!! I could not have gone out and shopped for myself and did any better!!!!!!!!

It was soooo nice to get a package also! I hope you enjoyed your swap gifts as well!!!

I love new bloggy friends!!!!!!!!!

Hospital :-(

Daddy's in the hospital - ALL prayers welcome!!!

Thanks in advance - little bloggy break also...will keep you all posted!

:-)

Thursday at Training in Tempe

Happy Thursday yinz!!!! I cannot believe that I am leaving tomorrow already!!! This week flew by!!

This picture is Team JAR (Jeff, Ann and Richard-in that order in the picture too!!) in class...we split into three teams and compete throughout the week in knowlegde games, etc. At the end, we have a class presentation due with all te data and research we have been doing all week. My team decided to get a great picture on the patio of Roly Buly for our team photo on the front of our PowerPoint presentation...here we are...




This is a few pictures from my walk this evening right after dusk I walked across the bridge from Tempe to Phoenix (it crosses the Rio Salado River) - soooo pretty!!

So sad I have to leave tomorrow :-(

I will miss you soooooooooooo much Tempe and your stable temperatures of 70 and above!!

But, be back very soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!

Wednesdays Class Update - Live from Tempe, AZ

Well, still at training and still having a wonderful week- all in all!

Another shout out to Tempe Mission Palms - seriously, amazing hotel and food and atmosphere!!!! They are so great to fix any issue we have and just an amazing, classy hotel!!!!

AWESOME PLACE - if you are ever coming to Tempe or Phoenix or Mesa or Scottsdale; you may want to consider staying here - you will NOT regret it!!!

This is breakfast from the "full on buffet"!!!! This hotel is soooo amazing!!! I got an egg white omelet with veggies and fruit!!!!!!!! YUM!!! But dont let this fool you....I ate candy, chips, chocolate and ice cream the rest of the day....that is why there has been no posting of exercise or food intake!! Waiting until I get home - HA!!



And this is the sky at lunch break!!! I heard it was snowing at home in Pgh, PA so I decided to facebook this picture to family back home - mean, I know!! LOL!!!!

It was like 75 here and sunny - again, awesome!!!!!!!!!!!



I dont have any pictures but after class I hopped into the Jetta rental car and went to the Arizona Mills Mall to have my fake nails removed!!! Yeah, I can function again....my fingers feel great and clean!!! Also had a quick pedicure when I was there of course!!! Pink toes for Valentines week!!!




Happy hump day yinz!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday at Training

Happy Tuesday all!!!!!!

Checking in from class and the evening adventures...

Here is just a little touch of what we do all day in class here in Tempe, AZ...


After class, packed these in my fanny pack and then proceeded with the rest of my class to...

this place below...Tempe Bicycle! Where...we ....proceeded to NOT ride bikes tonight!!! DO NOT EVER rent a bike from TEMPE BICYCLE!!! If the manager Yvonne resolves this tomorrow I will let you know, however, until then...seriously....save yourself money and go elsewhere to rent a bike in AZ!!!!

Quick explaination...a guy in my class named Jeff called yesterday and reserved us five bikes for today at 4:00PM (we culd only ride after class from4 -6PM as it gets dark at 6PM). Jeff paid all of our rental prices (about 30 bucks each) and the lady on the phone said we were all squared away and pick up biked tomorrowq at 4PM. We showed up at 4PM...they said they had to get our bikes ready...we waited until 4:30 and still noone had a bike....then we said ...we are in a hurry so could we start signing wavers so as soon as bikers were ready we can go. The guy says sure...each person has to gve a $500 deposit (it will drop off your acct after 72 hours ifthe bike is returned)...well, no one brought credit cards as we thought we were paid up...it is now 4:45PM and they would not let us leave with bikes as we could not do deposits....we even offered our rental car keys as collateral..

We then said bikes were not ready at reservation time, no deposit payment way available so we decided to nix the bike riding....we asked the clerk to reverse the charge on Jeff's card and they said they cannot refund reservations.....R U KIDDING ME>!>!>>!!

Then with not even a sorry, Doug (our salesman) said call the manager tomorrow her name is Yvonne. My idea was to call Tempe cops and not leave the store until they contacted their manager....what a rip off!!!!
So, again, DO NOT USE TEMPE BICYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We left and will be calling Yvonne tomorrow...will keep you posted on this!

So we met our instructor from class and all went in our rental cars to Papago Park and they got to see the Hole in the Rock that I saw on Sunday...

Here is a cool little tree growing right out of a rock!!!!!!!

Cool little den in the rocks...

My class climbing around on the rocks...

Another view..

And another...

Cool giant rock ...

This is Michael on top of thew rock pile!!!

A wider view of Michael on the rocks...

There was a huge bees nest in this crack of the rocks....

A view from the rocks...

We got back from the Park around 6PM and the rest of class went to get a beer and I decided to go here...Target is awesome no matter where you are....I needed to do a little more shopping for my valentine swap partner, Kelly!!!!!!!!!

I dropped my purchases off at my hotel (Tempe Mission Palms)......

Admired how pretty the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel fountain looks at night (this is where I am staying)...

And then went and got dinner her in downtown Tempe....it was soooooooooo yummy!

I also checked out this place that I have been dying to browse through...very interesting

And this place was hillarious from the outside and PACKED full of people on the inside....very interesting if you are even in the area...

And, last but not least for the days events, this is my valentine swap partners package - I will be mailing tomorrow morning from Tempe, AZ....Happy Valentines early Kelly!!!!!!!!!

Happy soon to be hump day!!!!!!!!!

Sunday - Day 1 - Part 1

I am heading on a work trip back to Tempe, AZ. I was there last month and am on my way back for more training.




I will miss these cuties soooooooooo much for the next week - my house sitter will give them tons of loving but they wioo be missed...is this the cutest picture ever?!?!?!?









And look at this awesome sleeping position...upside down and twisted...HA!

And anothere..same pose :-)

Here is the view from my plane in Pgh....before takeoff...

And here is landing at the airport in Tempe, AZ. I had the greatest pilot...he was soo funnny "Captain America" was his name - HA!! He got us in 45 mins early but we sat on the plane for an hour until a gate opened! WOWSA!

Here is my snazzy rental.....cute hugh?!?!? So for this week only...I am fron California!! GO ME!

And this is a ding I found on my rental upon arrival at the hotel...just wanted to document...

And the total view....

I was walking at a park near thew hotwl on Sunday and saw all these holes...snakes??? scorpions?????? What lives here?????

A view further away from the holes....

The park sign...

Beautiful picutes on the way up....Part 2 has the second part...