Whatta week....

Uggh....I'm absolutely exhausted and it seems like I'm only half way through this crazy spurt. So, last week I get a random call from the Dept. of Canadian Heritage in Ottawa asking me to come and work for them for a few days. I agreed thinking it was a great opportunity for my career and now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Ottawa preparing for a three-day meeting where I'm sitting on an "Expert Committee".

But, what a process to get where I am tonight. Monday I started reviewing grant applications. (That's what the government has dubbed me an expert in) I had 23 applications to review for funding of Aborignal museums and heritage centres across Canada. Seems simple - except each one is about 30 pages and I had to do this on top of my regular work load. So, I spend the first part of the week reading on average for 2 hours in the evening after work. Then Thursday hits me like a ton of bricks when I go into a three-day conference. Not a big deal - except I had 7 applications left to read and zero spare time. I became little miss anti-social and instead of chit chatting during breaks, I buried myself in paperwork.

So, I got through the three day conference (working until 9:30pm on Thursday and 11pm on Friday) - skipping meals so I could help organize and read applications. Wonderful. Attended Saturday's session where I got elected a Board of Director for the Federation of Nova Scotia Heritage. Which, I think is super cool and even I am impressed that at my age I was asked to serve as a B.o.D. Ran home after the session to pack and fall asleep while watching a movie - brilliant my only free night and I sleep through it. Got up bright and early Sunday moring to head to Saltscapes Expo (my favorite of all the tradeshows I do because after I spend time networking, I then move on to sampling the GREAT Nova Scotia wines, food and beer). HAHA (picture of me, Hope from Tidal Bore Rafting and Devin from Central Nova Tourist Assoc. attached)

Left the show and jumped on a plane. To no surprise, I was asleep before we left the runway in Halifax and woke up as we were hitting the runway in Ottawa. (Thankful for that power snooze). Now....I am procrastinating I believe I actually have one more application to read and an article to write for a local newspaper and my deadline is tomorrow. Uggghh. My career is keeping me busy and I love that....but I would really like to get a little bit of sleep and rest. Just a suggestion.

Cayo Coco, Cuba

Mom and I are slowly recovering from a wild and crazy vacation where we spent a week relaxing on the beach and sleeping probably way too much. HAHA! Ok, so we're slowly trying to come back to reality of getting up each day and having a purpose of more than just beach, food and sleep. Obviously vacation was rough.

Cayo Coco, I must say, is the most beautiful place I've ever been. The beach is absolutely incredible with sand like flour, turquoise water and a sun that shines 330 days a year. I've always said that I'd never go back to the same place when I travel - I want to see and do new things. Well, this place totally changed my mind on that. Will I ever go to Cayo Coco again? It may actually be hard to convince me to try any different Caribbean destination.

Now it's time to ease myself back into the mindset of working - luckily I chose my vacation the week before a 4 day weekend, so that helps. I need to find out how to land a job being the tester of various resorts and spas. That would be a job that I would enjoy. Sure, I'd miss my bed like I did all week in Cuba. But if someone wants to pay me to travel and test the services of various accommodations/attractions - I'd give up the bed for periods of time. Would a person who has a job like that take a vacation and stay home for a week? HAHA Interesting thought?!?!

Okay...here's a pic. My favorite from the trip. It's like a postcard. Wanna go to Cayo Coco?