Jul
16
2008
The previous 3 flights I have taken over the past month or two have been miserable because of screaming children on the plane.
On my flight to Denver we had the best seats on the plane… I thought. We were in the very first row and had about the same amount of leg room as we would have had in an exit row, except it wasn’t! The plane takes off and my chair starts bouncing. I realized the 3 unaccompanied minors that I saw board the plane are sitting behind us. Oh great! They are using the trays as drums. They continue to kick our chairs and beat on the trays the entire flight to Denver.
Then it gets better! After a few days in Denver, we have to get up at 7 am to catch our flight back. Neither one of us is feeling like a million bucks. We board the plane and pick two seats next to a nice older gentleman. I looked around and said, “No kids behind us, were gonna catch up on some sleep on the way back.” There was smiles from all three of us until we realized two verocious kids had moved in to the laps of their parents sitting behind us. I overhear the dad say that he hopes that the daughter would fall asleep on the flight. I was thinking thats a great idea! Then mom says, “No I want a quiet car ride and for the kids not to be awake until midnight tonight.”
Oh great! Were going to make 200 people on this plane miserable (I am on the plane as I am writing this post). We had a 3 hour flight back to Orlando and the entire flight was nothing but two screaming kids behind us and kicking our seats the whole flight.
My solution to this problem is to place all children and their parents in the back of the plane. This may sounds harsh but it is only fair to the other passengers on the plane. We shouldn’t be punished because of unruly children on the plane. Ugh…
Jul
16
2008

Jen Fluker, a good friend of mine and co-worker and I joined a group of affiliate marketers, Affiliate Marketers Give Back, to walk 60 miles in September for breast cancer research.We have been blogging about our training at MarketLeverage 60 Mile Walk.
My grandmother on my father’s side was fortunate enough to beat this horrible disease. I am walking in her honor.
We are required to raise a minimum of $2200 each. MarketLeverage is matching all donations that are made in either of our names. So far Jen has raised $1200.00 and I have raised $884.00. The deadline (August 27th) is fast approaching for all donations to be in and we aren’t quite there yet!
According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 40,000 people die from breast cancer in the US each year. Globally, according to the World Conference on Breast Cancer, 400,000 people die annually from this disease.
We need to raise more money so families don’t have to watch their loved ones die from this horrible disease.
To donate in one of our names click the link below.
Debby Phillips
Jen Fluker

Jul
15
2008
I rarely step out of my comfort zone and try new things. So I decided that today would be a good idea since we are going for sushi for dinner.
I haven’t ever eaten sushi before and never wanted to either. Something about it has always grossed me out. I love seafood but never wanted to try sushi.
We went to a place called Sushi Den in Denver. It is supposed to be the 5th best place to eat sushi in the country. We were seated fairly quickly and I was a little nervous about eating. I made sure I had a good appetite before we went so the food would taste better.
One of our friends order the chefs special for us. He told the chef that he had friends from out of town and to make it special for us. So the chef made up various plates and sent them out to our table. I probably couldn’t recall any of the names of foods that we ate but I loved all of them. I know that we ate some of the largest shrimp I have ever seen along with huge scallops. The last time I had scallops they were served cold and that turned me off from eating scallops. I thought I would give them another try since they were being served warm. They turned out to be really good.
We ordered Saki that is served in a box. I thought this was weird but it was the night to try new things so I went with it. The server placed a box in a plate and poured the Saki into the box until it runs over in to the box. I think this is supposed to have some kind of meaning but I wasn’t really listening when he told us.
The Saki was better than I had remembered. It was still a little rough drinking out of a box and off the plate but tolerable.
We finished off this awesome meal with dessert. Two of us ordered green tea ice cream, which sounds gross but it was really good. I don’t know what the other dish was but it was definitely something I hadn’t had before. It was also good.
So the first night of stepping out of my comfort zone was a good start to many more!


Jul
14
2008
Our final day of our vacation in Colorado we took a ride with some friends up to Boulder. When we walked out of the hotel to wait for our ride, we realized it was the most beautiful day of our trip. It was cool and breezy and in the upper 80’s.
The previous days were really hot with no real breeze. We didn’t have the humidity like we do in Florida so that was nice.
We drive up to Boulder and the view of the mountains was breathtaking. We drive up the mountain and stop at various places to take pictures and look at the scenery. I think at the highest point we were at about 7,000 feet of elevation. We walked out on some of the boulders and took pictures with the mountains in the background.
We decided to go to a bar and restaurant called The Rio. They have rooftop seating so we could continue to enjoy the beautiful weather.
After we ate we walked down Pearl Street. It was a brick road with lots of trees and shops. There were various musicians playing for tips and one guy that juggled fire and put on a pretty nice show. One of the unique “acts” was a woman dressed up and she was posed perfectly still. I don’t know what you call these kinds of “acts” but I thought it was pretty cool. I couldn’t ever pose in a position for that long.
Pearl Street was beautiful. I wish we had more places like that in our area.

Jul
11
2008

A friend of mine and I are spending a few days in Denver for a little R&R. We had appointments at the Ritz today at noon to get a massage. They left no detail left undone. I picked out an oil that the massage therapise would use while giving me the massage. I don’t know the name of it but it was a relaxing scent. When I first laid down on the massage table I immediately said how comfortable it was. The massage therapist told me that it is a Tempurpedic. The table was amazing. During the massage they put an extremely hot towel on my back and feet. It felt so good! When I flipped over on to my back an eye pillow was placed on my eyes. I haven’t ever had that done while getting a massage. When the massage was over the bed was moved into the upright position and I was told me to take my time getting up. When I put the robe on I realized that it had heated during the massage. It was so nice and cozy.
I will definitely go back to the Ritz!