Operation Tubetop

Good morning everybody! I am going through another round of insomnia... I am not sure why because I have been avoiding cheese. It is early Wednesday morning and I have been kicked out of my bed by the Kid. Not sure when totalitarian rule took over but apparently a 3.5 foot child owns me. That's alright, this gives me time to write. As I just wrote, I am unable to sleep and I think some of it has to do with the fact that I have a ton of things to do for the center. While I always have a ton of things to do for the center, I now have a much clearer plan thanks to some expert advice I received yesterday. A few weeks ago I attended the fundraiser gala at the Intercontinental with some friends. We of course had the coolest table because all of us are pretty fabulous and of course "trouble". A friend had brought one of her oldest friends and while we didn't chat much, he made a great impression on us at the table. Turns out he has been involved in opening a few businesses i...

Hello Monday! It was great to have a few days off of work. But I am happy to be back at it and to finally feel like I have beaten this cold. I even went for a run last night and while I only lasted 20 minutes, it felt great to be back at it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am signing up for the Frauenlauf in May and I definitely want to beat my time from two years ago. I have been a little lazy these past couple of weeks due to the cold, so I need to kick my butt into gear... and stop having WELCOME BACK PARTIES for my old friend alcohol. Heh. I also have a lot of e-mails to catch up on as always so I need to catch up on those!This week is going to be a pretty quiet week which is good and just what I need. Tomorrow evening I am meeting someone to talk about business: I should probably wear shoulder pads and fifteen pounds of hairspray and think of good questions using words like "Capital" and terms "Return on Investment" instead of saying things like "I wa...

Hello Saturday! This is the first morning in over a week that I woke up not feeling like a sorority girl on Spring Break. This cold has been kicking my ass and I have been exhausted... but this morning, I am definitely back in the land of the living. Or the Nyquil is still in my blood stream and I have written all of this in emojis. Lol. Heh. No, this is going to be a good Saturday. I hope to get some yoga in and maybe maybe maybe a run in and of course, not eat as much as I did while I was in Salzburg. Which I will write about in a minute... I don't have many plans this weekend except to work a little more on the Autism in Vienna Beacon Beach House website and of course send the current website to a friend who will help me link the domain name that I purchased last week. This type of stuff is beyond my comprehension and my little pea brain will stare at website information and will start to wander. I am not good at this stuff. No bueno. I even wrote a message to two guy friend...

Well, there it is. I made it until day 23 of my no drinking 30 day challenge. Usually I would be beating myself up over having not completed my challenge, but actually, I feel ok about it. I survived over 3 weeks of not drinking and attended: several dinners out, an event with an open bar, a ball, my birthday, a concert, Valentine's Day. You try being sexy and sober. Impossible! I did well and I proved to myself that I am just as charming and witty sober as I am tipsy. Well, I am biased of course. I wasn't worried about my drinking because I actually don't have a drinking problem (it's hard to believe, I know), but I was getting a little tired of celebrating EVERY.LITTLE.THING with a drink. Europe is the home of casual drinking and quite often, a glass of wine can be cheaper than a Coke. This was a good challenge to see if I could adapt socially and if I do say so myself, I passed with flying colours. What made me cave yesterday? My dear friend K.P. was back in town an...

It is no secret that I love this city. It is the longest that I have lived anywhere in the world and I could not imagine leaving it unless they decide to deport my ass. Of course there are days when I am frustrated. Actually, yesterday when I got home from the Billa on our street, I dropped my groceries on the ground and yelled "DID EVERY OCTOGENARIAN DECIDE TO SHOP AT OUR BILL AT 1:30 TODAY?!?! COME ON!" Literally 15 permed fur clad women descended on the Billa and all wanted to pay with a coupon and in pennies and one forgot her wallet oh wait no she didn't because she remembers talking to her grandson and putting it in her purse and can the cashier please count the 1 million coins she is holding. Thank you. I ranted a little at home and then I felt terrible...And then I murmured "I am not being ageist because I know I will be doing the same thing when I am that age. And just to piss off people, I will try and pay in Monopoly money." So to all you octogenarian...

Happy Sunday everybody! As I mentioned last week, I am on the search for guest bloggers! There was a lot of interest which is fantastic! Every week I want to feature a different person living in Vienna. This is the very first guest post of Operation Tubetop and the guest blogger is Cornelia Miedler; author of "LAlien - From the Austrian Alps to the Hollywood Hills". Please check out her post which includes an excerpt from her book and enjoy! ‚LAlien-From the Austrian Alps to the Hollywood Hills’ When I tell Europeans that I lived in Los Angeles for ten years, I often get asked if it’s really like seen on TV. Baywatch, Beverly Hills 90210  and other shows have shaped the opinions of what it’s like to live in sunny Southern California. Great bodies, Prozac-happy people and shallow conversations? Sure, but also an international community, a lust for life that is not found anywhere else, and a the beautiful Pacific ocean with it’s incomparable sunsets. In my book, I ...

Hello rain. Thank you for making this Saturday dark and gloomy while I battle this cold. I'm feeling better than yesterday but I am still feeling sick and delicate. My white bathrobe has been my shield against having to move too much. I slept off and on yesterday which is a clear indication that I am no bueno. Plans for today include some light cleaning, some grocery shopping and making our living room look like the royal wedding. Office Twin is coming for dinner and as I mentioned yesterday, he isn't big on the aristocracy so it is my time to shine. Trolling. This weekend will be a crafty weekend. I'll be making more hibiscus paper flowers for the Tiki themed baby shower that I am hosting in March. I will also stop at the amazing art supply store I stumbled upon the other week. I ordered a ton of leis from Amazon and brace yourself for all the jokes I will be making "Sure glad I got leid. Hardy har har." Dad jokes. I sent another query to a literary agent and...

My little boy is 6 today. It is hard to imagine where all the time went. I am incredibly proud of him and of how far he has come. The Kindergarten asked for some old pictures for his birthday celebration: looking through them was a combination of joy and heart break. For those of you who don't know, he has regressive autism. He reached all of the milestones and was speaking until he was about three, and then lost it all over the course of a few months. It was the darkest time of my life and the Husband and I struggled through it. People deal with grief in different ways. I dealt with it by throwing myself into work. For the past 18 months, I have been building a platform, asking for favours, staying up late and getting up early and have been working towards creating an autism center that will support families and people with autism. I work a full time job, narrowly avoid alcoholism and of course try and have fun. I dedicate many many hours to creating something that will benefit no...

Boy! That post title sounds ominous! I hope you all had a great day yesterday! Whether you ate pizza, or watched Netflix or enjoyed a 5 course meal or drowned in a bouquet of roses or cut the head off of your ex in pictures, or made a Voodoo doll or whatever, I hope it was a good one. Since I am still on that 30 days of no drinking, Valentine's day was less 50 Shades of Grey and more 50 Shades of Earl Grey Tea . I jest. My parents read this blog so no more details. But it was a nice night and I got flowers and we ordered take out. The end. As I wrote on Monday, I am now looking for guest bloggers... and the good news is, is that I have about 9 people lined up for the blog and that is very very exciting. I have to say that it is important as a blogger to try and get more people featured. I know that many things have helped bring me readership: a guest post on a popular blog about 3 years ago, a mention in the New York Post (thank you, you know who you are) and of course, most ...