this little life of mine

I'm trying to quit picking/cutting/chewing my cuticles (again). I had a nice manicure in Ohio, and have used that as my new starting point. Last Friday I went in for another one - my cuticles needed to be trimmed before I started trying to cut them myself! - and found a lovely colour (O.P.I. of course) called Nomad's Dream:

Along with the more-frequent manicures, I'm also using some lovely cuticle balm gifted to me by a former pod-mate. I'm not a huge fan of the scent, but this stuff works wonders!

I love how my fingertips look almost normal now. The area beneath the cuticles is still a little red, but they aren't as swollen and ragged and bloody and gross-looking as they used to be. It's very encouraging and I'm really looking forward to overcoming this disgusting, nasty habit!

According to Hersey's you CAN have it all!

Everything changed. Today we remember. God bless America!

Well, there's not much left in the garden; just bell peppers, Japanese Eggplant and tomatoes. Unfortunetly it's been so dang hot here that the veggies are basically cooking on the vine, and rotting much faster.

We're still getting peppers, many of them red now, but they're not getting very big before going bad.

The Japanese eggplants aren't getting very big anymore either. I think I'll try an eggplant parmesean as a side dish to my salmon tomorrow night.

The tomatoes are suffering the most, I think. They're tiny and red, but squishy and rotten. *sniff*

About time to call it a season, I think. It's supposed to cool down to the 90s this next week, so maybe we can pull out another week or two of produce, but it looks like the garden is on its last legs.

Well, I made it back from my Ohio vacation safe and sound. All my flights were on time and uneventful - unless you count upgrading to First Class eventful, in which case my flight from Dayton to Dallas was VERY eventful! - and even my luggage made it to SLO with no problems. I love when things work out that way!

I am exhausted, however, and apparently it shows, as a couple co-workers commented, "You look tired." Gee, thanks! Now get me some coffee! I don't know why I do this to myself every time I go on a trip. I don't know why I don't just take the next day off to rest, unpack, do laundry, grocery shopping, etc. I guess I hate the idea of wasting a vacation day just staying home, just like I hate the idea of losing a day of vacation to travel and opt for overnight flights. Still, I guess using a vacation day to recover from my vacation wouldn't really be a waste of time, and maybe I should consider it, especially since I have plenty of vacation time.

Maybe someday I'll do that.

Someday, but not today. I just booked my next vacation at the end of October/beginning of November and did the red-eye flight Thursday night into Friday morning and return on Monday and head back to work on Tuesday thing. Like I said, maybe someday I'll give myself a break!

And it's really good,too!

I can't believe I'm flying home already. It feels like I just got here! I had a fantastic time with my friend Jewel and her two new kitties Fester and Dash. (And btw, I had very little problems with my allergies, which made me very happy! I took a Claratin in the morning and used some allergy eye drops and Afrin nasal spray twice a day. I only had one little patch of itchy hives, but it went away as soon as the Claratin kicked in. My nose and eyes weren't itchy or runny at all, and best of all I had no wheezing!!! Perhaps I've grown out of cat allergies?? I can only hope!) Sadly Thelly passed away before I got here, but I did get to visit her grave (she's buried in Jewel's friend BloodBeth's yard) so I did get to say goodbye to her. Greatest cat ever. She is deeply missed.
After Jewel dropped me off, I used the self-check-in and was able to upgrade to First Class for only $90.00 extra! I've never flown so posh before and I'm pretty excited to experience how "the other half" flies!
I purchased a new book at the Borders outlet store yesterday (even though I'd brought an extra one to read when I finished "The Princess and the Hound" which was really good, btw!). It's "Eragon" by Christopher Paolini. There's a third book in this dragon series coming out later this month, and I hope to get through this book and the second one before it does. Jewel bought the whole "Twilight" series, and I'm curious to find out how she likes them.
Well, I think I might wander around a bit before we board. I'll update from First Class if I can!
Cheers!