Life stinks, get Scentsy!

Julie and Sadie, stolen with permission from Facebook.

Sometimes life just really stinks, you know? There have been some pretty rotten things happening at my work recently and I want to try to make life smell a little sweeter. I generally don't talk about my work on my blog. That is partially due to a confidentiality agreement and if I told you, I'd have to kill you. Not really, but medical information is privileged stuff and it's safer for me, my employer, and patients whose records I come across if I just don't talk about it. I'm going to break that rule a bit with this post, but for a very good reason.

I work in the medical records industry and have been working in it for the past 13 years. During the past few years, I have noticed some major changes in the industry as a whole and at my work in particular. Speech recognition technology is better than ever before and hospitals are looking to cut costs wherever possible and have been sending work overseas, primarily to India. I have some strong feelings on the subject, but that's not the purpose of this post.

At my work, we recently lost a fairly large amount of work. As a result, my boss had to make some heart wrenching decisions and several of my coworkers had to be laid off. One coworker in particular who lost her job has been on my mind. Her name is Julie and she is a single mom to a sweet little girl with Down's syndrome named Sadie. I want to see all of my former coworkers land on their feet and I offered to do whatever I could to help them. Here's where I'm asking for your help.

Julie recently became a consultant for Scentsy. I am going out of my comfort zone and throwing a "party." I like Scentsy products and have a warmer (thanks Larren and Amberly!) that I got for Christmas a few years ago. I think they are quality products AND this "party" will give me an opportunity to feel like I could actually do something to help Julie. If you are familiar with Scentsy products and interested in purchasing, please log in to Julie's page and buy from my party by clicking here. If you live locally and want to smell some of the scents, I have the testers so contact me and I will meet up with you to let you see (and smell) what's available. There are several products that are very reasonably priced and would make great Christmas gifts. Thanks in advance for helping me to help Julie and Sadie. I'll be throwing my party for the next 2 weeks so the last day to order will be November 28.

Because vampires are getting way too much love these days . . .

Happy Halloween everybody! Please take a second to enjoy the Zombie Song by Stephanie Mabey. I saw her a few years ago in concert when she opened for Colors. I loved her then and I love her now. This song is so catchy and so funny. Watch out for zombies tonight.

Epic Canadian Vacation of Awesomeness - Day 4

On the 4th day, we meandered our way out of Banff back down through Glacier to Whitefish. We started the day with the breakfast of champions at Tim Horton's. I'm sure there are delicious doughnut places in the US, but I love Tim Bits from Tim Horton's. The first time I went to Canada with Hannah, we made a game out of who could yell Tim Horton's first whenever we saw a sign for one. It's still a running joke between us so a box of Tim Bits was a must.

Delicious!

The Canadian Rockies. This was taken on our way out of Banff toward Canmore.

One thing that I've always found amusing is that Canada is so very much like the US, but just different enough to keep it interesting. Recognize that blue box? Thinking that is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? Nope. That would be Kraft Dinner or KD. I'm fluent in Canadian.

Three Sisters, just outside Canmore.

Bears! Just kidding. Those are buffalo in the paddock outside Waterton.

Home sweet home!

I loved these waterfalls all through Glacier. I kind of wanted to go stand under one.

The way that the ice and snow melt from underneath is kind of fascinating to me. I can only imagine what this would look like in the early spring instead of late summer.

Lots of moisture makes for some pretty stunning wildflowers. This is a little meadow at Logan's Pass.

Hannah and I at Logan's Pass.

I tried to take this little guy's picture, but I think he wasn't feeling very photogenic. I think this is his version of mooning me.

I just love these colors.

The rest of Glacier we saw on our way north so that's why there aren't as many pictures. We saved a few things for the return trip. We got back to Hannah's and had a delicious dinner of orange chicken and watched Ghostbusters! We saw a guy running down the road in Glacier and from the back, he was very attractive. When we passed him, I turned around and the guy was a dead ringer for Egon. When I saw that Hannah owned it, it was the obvious choice. That movie is classic.

I drove home to Logan the next day. Another 9 hours in the car! I must say I gave a pretty impressive concert. It's just a shame that nobody else could witness it. Or maybe not. The vacation was so much fun, but way too short. It was so nice to see Hannah again, get my Tim Bits fix, and check Lake Louise off my bucket list. Now, I just want to go back and do it again. You always need something to look forward to, right?

Epic Canadian Vacation of Awesomeness - Day 3

This will be another picture-heavy post, but I don't mind because these pictures are amazing. It has nothing to do with my photography skills, but everything to do with the beautiful surroundings! Hannah and I were able to pack a lot into our day and had a blast together as usual.

On our way out of Waterton, we stopped at Cameron Falls. So pretty!

The first view of Lake Louise. We were there on such a beautiful day and the lake was everything I hoped it would be. It was worth a spot on the bucket list and I'm glad I was able to check it off!

Hannah and I had intentions of going to high tea at the Chateau, but we underestimated how long it would take us to drive from Waterton to Lake Louise. We thought on our feet and came up with plan B which I think we liked better anyway. We opted for a light lunch on the patio. This lady was playing the harp outside the lounge area overlooking the lake.

This is the view from where we ate lunch on the patio. Not bad, eh? Although that tree in the middle seems a bit misplaced.

Hannah waiting for lunch.

More from the patio.

Since we felt all fancy, we took pictures of our lunch. Those rolls were delicious, probably more so because we had to protect them from a very aggressive pigeon.

This is Hannah's chicken Caesar salad.

I had broccoli cheese soup and I think that is carrot puree swirled in there.

This little guy was awfully friendly and kind of cute. He never did try to steal our bread.

This is the overly aggressive pigeon. The stinker!

To say it was idyllic is an understatement. This pretty yellow butterfly was hanging around. It landed for a second on the flowers and I was able to snap a picture.

I really loved the grounds at the lake. The flowers were so colorful. These are Iceland poppies.

I have never seen a daisy like this before, but I like it!

The patio where we ate lunch.

There is a boat house where you can rent canoes to take out on the boat. If we had more time, I think it would have been a fun thing to do. Several people were taking advantage of the sunny day and beautiful locale out on the lake and it looked divine.

The day was pretty hot so we got brave and stuck our feet in the water. Lake Louise is fed by a glacier so it was pretty chilly, but fun nonetheless.

Hannah getting cooled off.

I am just clumsy enough to fall in so I opted for a little bit more shallow area for my feet dunking.

The Chateau Lake Louise. I am sure the rooms there are very, very nice! Maybe some day I will stay there.

Remember how I said that Fireweed was one of the few things I am not allergic to? I found some!

After a short walk at Lake Louise and wandering through the gift shops in the Chateau, we drove back down to Banff where we rode the gondola to the top of Sulphur Mountain.

We tested out Hannah's gorilla pod to get a picture of us together in the gondola. Not too bad!

The view from the top of Sulphur Mountain. That is Tunnel Mountain right there.

A real live Canadian! Home at last!

At the top of the mountain, there was a walkway that led to the top of Sanson Peak where there was a weather station. It was a lot of stairs, but the view was incredible.

That little round building is the observatory on Sulphur Mountain.

Hopefully I will learn how to take a cool sunset picture someday. This one isn't too shabby, though. I like it.

This is the view of the Banff Springs Hotel from the top of Sulphur Mountain. Pretty nice place, huh?

This is the inside of a little weather station at the top of Sanson Peak. A guy used to snow shoe up there to collect weather data. He's my new hero.

Me by the weather station.

Hannah by the weather station.

The same company that runs the gondola also does tours of the Columbia Ice fields. They take you out on the glaciers in that ginormous bus thing.

After we got off the mountain, we checked into our hotel and headed back into Banff for dinner. Hannah had a friend recommend this little fondue place so we decided to try it. This was our traditional Swiss cheese fondue with bread. Delicious!

I caught Hannah at just the right moment with this picture. The look on her face says how hungry we were. "Get in mah belly!"

For our entree, we opted for the hot rock cooking method. That rock had been in the oven for something like 6 hours. You smear the rock with garlic herb butter and then cook your meat on it. We opted for chicken and good ol' Alberta beef, but there were much more exotic meats available on the menu! The meats came with several dipping sauces.

I'm so proud of my meat cooking abilities. Hence the cheesy grin.

Our cute waiter took this picture for us. He was flirty and kept touching my arm. I remember telling Hannah that I knew exactly what he was doing (trying to get a good tip) and that I hated myself at that moment because it was working.

I was in charge of lodging for Banff since Hannah took care of Waterton. I found us an awesome room at Tunnel Mountain Resort. It had a fireplace, a ginormous king-size bed, and a couch.

This is the vanity area complete with microwave and fridge. Those tiles in front that you can't see very well? They are heated. How nice would that be?

A steam shower! It took around 30 minutes to heat up so we didn't use it, but how cool would that be?

And a jetted tub. Too bad we didn't have more time to spend here! We were exhausted and pretty much crashed.