Home to the Islands...

Work will yet again take me to a fantastic locale... home. If you didn't know, I spent the first 10 years of my life in Hawai'i ne'i. How I love it! I will be there for work, but am excited that I'll be no more than 10 minutes from my home town.

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So, today was good. It was a busy day at IMEX, but I got a lot of appointments in and made lots of good contacts for work. You know, I’m different. I know you were going to say, ‘no, Erin, you are completely normal’. However, friends, I am not. I especially am not in Europe. Ok, this is how it goes:
Everyone: drinkers
Me: non-drinker (never had a drop in my life)
Everyone: f-bomb droppers (ok, not everyone, but lots)
Me: nope
Everyone: Smokers (ok, again, not everyone, but lots)
Me: nein
Everyone: Coffee drinkers
Me: nein otra vez (you like how I mixed the two languages, eh? That’s how they do it in ol’ Europe)

These differences could possibly make me feel really awkward and very out of place – especially when they ask why. However, no one has asked me. I’ve been able to simply say, no thanks, I’ll have a coke. No questions asked. Isn’t that nice?! So, being different is not so bad. I’m rather happy with the decisions I’ve made to not drink, smoke, etc – especially after I returned from a Visit London party tonight. Mucho alcohol, and mucho smoking. The smoking really got to me after a while. On my way home in the taxi, I seriously felt as if I would throw up. Not pleasant, folks. However, I had a great time with the people I was able to meet. Also, I won an Ipod Nano. Woohoo! This was the second time winning a Nano. Funny, eh? Remember my passed post… here.
Like I said, I met many a funny/nice person at this party. The Barcelona/Manchester game was going on in the background which made things particularly lively. I love fun people. Here are pics of some of my new, fun friends. One is Kiwi (NZ), and the other (tally) is German. One thing I do love about Germany… many tall men! Amazing!

Deutsch Land

Guten Tag! Here I am in Frankfurt, Germany. So, It's not totally for pleasure. I'm here for a rather large scale meeting conference. It's the first day of this 3 day shindig, and I'm happy as pie just to be here. I've been to Germany before, but it has been a few years (7, I think). So, here are a few things I've learned in my day and a half here. Come to think of it, most of these things I've learned before, but just figured I'd share anyway.

Bread and cheese is a wunderbar breakfast.
Nutella is also a great addition to breakfast.
Coca Cola Light needs to be manufactured in the states.
I'm not going to lose an ounce of weight while I'm here.
Orange Fanta is yum!
Not a fan of the sparkling water. Never have been, and still am not.

M'kay, I'll share more later.

Bis bald!

Happy 40th Ma & Pa!

How many couples these days make it to 40 years together? So happy that after 40 years and 8 kids, Doug & Colleen still remain. Love you both mucho!

Here they are on their honeymoon at the Plaza Hotel in NYC back in '69. What a beautiful couple!

Bret & Jemaine, thank you.

Salt Lake City hosted two of my favorite actors/singers/performers, Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords. Best thing about the concert - being on the 2nd row with my brothers (and their friend, middle). Thanks to Quinn for that!
Here is some footage from one of my faves. More to come.

Lush Life

I heard this song as a teenager and liked it. However, when I hear it now 15 years later, I go through a whole range of emotions. The song seems simple enoough, but is actually quite complex. It was written in 1915 by Billy Strayhorn, a 16 year old boy. I'm amazed that he could feel this song so deeply - both musically and emotionally at such a young age.

Hope you enjoy.

Here's Natalie...

A week with da boys

I've been in Charlotte hangin' with my sister Caiti and her cute family this week. It has been nice. There is never any big fan fare, or any rush to visit the sites of the city. It's just a time to chill and spend time with family I don't get to see more than a few times a year. This time around Caiti decided she wanted to make my visit a surprise for my nephews. It was a surprise indeed! Shown are the pics after I arrived at the doorstep as a long awaited "package". I sure love my nephews Gavin & Ryan. They are adorable, smart, and very TALL boys! Go figure! A tall Curran? No!



This pic is a little hard to explain. This is their imitation of what I do when I run around and scare them. I don't know what they're doing with their hands, but apparently I did something like this a couple of years ago, and it stuck.