Comment on my favorite drive.....

This morning I had to leave one of the most peaceful places on earth....

To embark on one of my most favorite drives...

I had all my favorite driving necessities....

My sunroof open to reveal the most beautiful clouds

I think deep down I might be a country girl at heart-I love the smell of the fresh-cut hay, the open sky, and the feeling that you're the only person on the road.....

Just me and the possible road hazards-it was open range country after all....

Until I hit construction outside of Lava.....

But before I knew it I was taking my last exit....

And my last turn before finally arriving home.

Comment on taking things a little too far???

So I love to read. Once I get started on a book I turn into an obsessed woman who can't put the book down. This summer I took a book to the Lehi Roundup Rodeo (let's be honest-does anyone REALLY enjoy barrel racing? I don't think so. I'm there for the action of bronc and bull riding) and to the Kenny Chesney concert. Now let me say this, I did not read during Kenny (how could I while dancing, screaming, and singing like a schoolgirl at an 'NSYNC concert-it's been 2 days and my throat still hurts) but I did read during the intermissions and Miranda Lambert because I was unimpressed. In fact, the lady next to us (my brother brought a book too) said she should have done the same thing.

DJ and I and our books at the concert

But I digress......

Books like Confessions of a Shopaholic-or LA Candy are fluff-aka books to read at 3am at work when you can't stay awake (not that I read or fall asleep at my place of business). Other books with more substance are books that I will finish, put my book down and then think about it for awhile. Sometimes I will get insights into my soul (I'm trying to sound deep here). I love when I can think about how the character's lives change and how I can be bold enough to make changes. Or on the flip side how the experiences they've had have shaped their lives which reminds me that I can't judge someone's actions because of the experiences they've had. Plus when you read it's much more engaging than watching tv. You're imagining how the characters look and developing the scenes in your mind. It just keeps all neurons firing on deck. So great. I just don't get it when people don't like to read*.....weird.....

Well, I'm going to sign off-I've got a new book to start.....

*I don't mean to offend any of my blog readers who may be non-readers, this is merely my own opinion which is what blogs are all about-right? I'm starting to sense some ideas for another post...

Comment on customer service.....

(pic taken by Jon the waiter-the reason you can't see Jamie is because he didn't warn us before he snapped the pic and then refused to take another one)

So in the last week or so I've had some two very different experiences with customer service.

The first was last week in Park City-at my favorite PC mexican restaraunt-Baja Cantina. Fab food I tell you-and the diet coke definitely did burn on the way down and cause my eyes to water. Doesn't get any better.

However the service could have. Our waiter-I think his name was Jon, looked, as my cousin Jamie said, like an out-of-work construction worker (due to the economy) who could get no other job than being a waiter at the restraunt. Jamie is too kind. I decided he was an aging ski bum who was attempting to make money on tips to subsidize his winter lifestyle.

But I digress.

Jon struggled with his customer service skills. It took him like 5 minutes to figure out how to write out that Jamie and Jessica only wanted 2 beef tacos with cheese, nothing else (do you want tomatoes? no. Do you want lettuce? No, I want them plain). I was told that I ordered the wrong quesadilla because I requested chicken instead of pork. I was mocked for wanting a plate of limes, Elisha had to literally flag him down for us to get refills, and in the end he mixed up all of our checks, which I think was his revenge for the fact that we wanted the bills separate. And what did he receive as a tip? Well, since we had a party of 6 or more they automatically add a 15% gratuity. Disgusting.

Fast forward a week. Today I decided to take my car to the Mike Hale Acura Dealership where I purchased my car to get the oil changed. I did this because they do a free car wash and since I never wash the car myself this worked well for me.

I got to the dealership and parked my car and went to check in. There were desks inside the service area where men dressed in shirts and ties were ready to assist me with my service needs. I found out that I was actually supposed to pull my car into the garage, I said I'd go get it,
but service man went and got my car for me. He then told me I could sit in the waiting room while my car was taken care of. I proceeded to the nicely air conditioned waiting room where I sat in a nice leather chair and enjoyed the complimentary beverages while I read my book, or if I'd taken my laptop I could have enjoyed free wifi. Maybe next time.

When my car was done I saw a mechanic park it in all of it's clean and shiny glory. I started to get ready to go when one of the tie-guys ran to my car and pulled it up in front of the door and then ran back in, came to me and said my car was done. He told me that he had it turned on with the a/c going since it was such a hot day. Seriously? Does this really happen? I went to pay for the oil change and my bill was actually $5 than what I pay at Jiffy Lube. I left very happy with my experience and I plan on going back again-I mean how can I not?

And so my point is-you gain customer loyalty by excellent customer service. If only everyone could understand that. I'd like to start with my flex spending account company.....

Comment on the latest in gym attire....

Oh how I wish I had a picture of this.....

Today was just another day at the gym-I got started about 4 hours later than I wanted but if I had gotten there any earlier I would have missed out on quite possibly the most amazing thing I've ever seen at the gym in my entire life-

A woman, running on the treadmill, in black exercise pants, and her bra. Now this might sound normal-I mean lots of women exercise in a bra and pants. But this was no sports bra-it was a regular white bra. Clasp in the back, regular straps, no support. Things were flailing about everywhere. I think my mouth has never dropped open so far.

And this is the clincher-she had a baby bottle instead of a water bottle-and she was using it!

Wow. Just wow.

Comment on how it went down.....

I appreciate all the support I received to step-up and break-up with my trainer . This is how it all went down:

I went to the gym for my 1:00 appointment with trepidation-would I actually be able to do it this time?

I go into the gym and head upstairs-and the trainer is nowhere to be found...

I warmed up and then still couldn't see him-so I got very excited because we must have had a scheduling mix-up somewhere-which 3 months ago would have bugged the crap out of me but now I looked at it as a gift. So I started my own weight routine.

About 20 minutes later I spotted the trainer and he came over to me and said that he had messed something up-blah blah blah-and when could we reschedule. So I rescheduled and then asked how many more sessions we had. He said this would be the last one. And I said, ok, and after this one I'm done.

It was so easy! I'm so excited! So I'm going to let him know any exercises that I want to go over for our last session so he can write up some plans for me and then I'm on my own. Yea. So excited. And so glad that I finally did it!

Comment on breaking up....because it's hard to do

A long, long time ago, I was actually in a dating relationship with a guy who was very nice and I liked him, but we didn't have much going on in the form of conversations, instead we, well, my mom reads this blog so you do the math. The time came that I figured we should probably not date anymore, yet it was impossible for me to break up with him. Every time we went out for over a month I would swear that tonight would be the night I'd end it, and every night I would lose my will to do it. So I broke up with him over email. Yes, that's right-I'm that girl. In fact I couldn't even write the email-one of my co-workers did it for me. Please don't think less of me.

Fast forward to the present. I've been in this relationship for the last 4 months or so, and I need to find a way out. I've tried breaking up with him before, but it just hasn't worked out. I get all psyched up to do it, and then I find myself getting sucked back in. And just who is the 'him' I'm referring to?

My personal trainer.

Yes, that's right. I've been working out with a personal trainer since February. I always said I wouldn't get sucked in to personal training, seeing as how I was trained to be one myself, but I got caught up in post-depression recovery and thought it would be a good idea. It hasn't been bad-in fact I even enjoyed it for awhile. Then I started dreading our workouts-too much pressure to perform. Then my therapist recommended getting outside, so lately I've been less inclined to go to the gym and more inclined to go outside and work on my running and becoming one with nature.

I tried ending the relationship before summer hit with the excuse that I would be really busy with vacations and such (all true) but the next thing I knew I was agreeing to dropping from 2 sessions a week down to 1. He told me that he was afraid if I didn't keep up with the sessions I'd go downhill. So back I went. Kicking myself later of course. Seriously- I worked out before he came along and I'll continue to work out after.

So my time with my sessions are coming to a close and I'm sure the subject of me continuing with him will come up again in a week or so. He should see the signs coming-I've rescheduled more often than not or cancelled at the last minute, so really it should be no surprise.

I hope I've learned my lessons from the past and that I'll be able to be straight forward and say we are done. It's over. Wish me luck......