Smells like escapism

Hi friend. Long time no talk. Remember when I said I was trying to stop doing things just because I "should"? Well, that included resisting the urge to blog when I was otherwise slammed at work. Sorry, I didn't mean to be a bad friend. But when feeling an obligation to blog adds to the sense of being super busy, I just stuff that feeling down and call it bad names. Anyhoo, I'm back. Not that I am significantly less busy. I'm just feeling that I have it a little more under control. I forced myself to have a weekend, this weekend. That meant going to the gym, catching up on recorded programs, um...what else did I do? I don't remember. And that is the sign of a good weekend. And also, how cute is Troy Polamalu?

So, I do have a bunch of stuff to blog about. A backblog so to speak (haha...get it?). The coolest thing going on right now is my Single Girl World Tour (TM). OK, well, it's really travel for work. But I add on some extra time to make it even more fun. On the agenda for March? Auckland, New Zealand and Fiji. The Auckland part is work. I'm adding a couple extra days on the front of this trip and then after the conference, jetting over to Fiji (I just always wanted to say "jetting over"). I'm going to spend a week there. I know it's rainy season, but still. I had originally imagined spending a week in a hut on the beach. But then I realized that those huts are a little more like camping than I desire. So I am spending the week in a very nice hotel, within boating distance of the huts. The point of this week is relaxation and thinking. Lots of things to think about. 

On the agenda for April? Turkey. Yeah! This is a place I have always wanted to visit and I am super excited that I am going there. I may have mentioned before that I am responsible for our Global Sourcing Training. That means that I own training programs that ensure that our recruiters around the world have the training they need to be awesome.It's a lot of work (I am in slide review mode right now), but I love it. We have 2 trainers flying to Singapore and Beijing in 2 weeks to deliver a 2 day training in those locations. In April, we are holding the Europe training event in Turkey. The fact that I had always wanted to go there is a coincidence. I didn't pick the place. We are checking to see if we can add India on to that trip. Whee!

I had always wanted to travel internationally and the fact that I do it for work now is so cool. What I generally try to do is add a week on and do some exploring. Because when would I ever get a chance to have my flight paid for to Australia, New Zealand, Turkey? It's such an opportunity, that I have to make the most of it.  At the same time, what a weird time to be spending money on travel, right? I mean, when I would normally want to be socking money away due to the economy, I'm spending it on hotels and the like. Well, I've told myself that these are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and they would be so much more expensive if I was doing them on my own. And I always wanted to use up my vacation days before the end of the year. I think that this is the year when I will do that, and then some. The flights are cheaper, the hotels are cheaper. I don't think that I will ever look back on this and be sorry.

I am super excited right now. And I expect to be so very tired come the end of April. I can't wait!