we've been going nonstop. between trips and visitors and making improvements to the house, we've spent more time being crazy than relaxing.

but that's typical.

there is lots of excitement ahead. visitors. trips. pre-wedding adventures. the next few months are going to fly by.

last night while i was out with friends, we happened to run into an acquaintance of mine, whom i haven't seen much of lately. he was friendly, but even in the brief moments he was saying his hellos, i couldn't help but immediately scan the room and locate his wife across the way...who, true-to-form, gave me a look of death while trying to pretend she didn't see me.

in the past, i probably would have made a point of trying to hightail it out of there to avoid the uncomfortableness of being in the presence of somebody who obviously still hates me. but...considering she doesn't scare me anymore, and i actually possess manners, i stopped by their table to say goodbye and wish them a pleasant evening when i headed out.

jeff would have been proud.

i can't say that i don't care anymore, otherwise last night's random happening wouldn't be something i'd waste time thinking...but i guess i don't feel bad. relationships, even with people who hate you, are evolving things.

camilles (9:24pm, 6.27.10)

i know summer technically doesn't start for a few more weeks, but as far as i'm concerned, it's here.

we had a fantastic time in hawaii, hiking, wheeling, eating, drinking, sunning, and hanging with family. feel free to take a peek at our hawaii pictures!

it's always hard to leave such a beautiful place, but i have to admit that it was pretty darned nice to come back to our own little house and our little dog in our funny little town.

totally random...

so, part of my job is to deal with people calling and asking for free stuff from my company. MAYBE i've complained about this before, but it's probably been a while, so bear with me.

i sort of look at calling a company and asking for free stuff as a similar situation as somebody going to an interview. if it were me, i'd probably do my research on the company, figure out exactly what it is that i want, be knowledgeable about both the product i want, and what i plan to do with it, and be prepared to make my case for how it will benefit the company in the long run.

i'd say that maybe 1 out of 10 people that approach me actually has their act together. most of the time, it's some yahoo calling, not even sure what it is that we manufacture, not quite positive on how they plan to use it if they got it, and totally clueless to the fact that i DON'T want to spend 15 minutes discussing the ins and outs of their hobbies.

now i seem to recall mentioning before that some guy who wanted free stuff a while back actually remarked that he was surprised at how knowledgeable i was about my company's products, for a girl.

yeah...that kind of stuff just doesn't go over so well.

i'm not really trying to make much of a point, other than that IF you or anyone you know ever feels like trying to get sponsored to do whatever, when you approach a company, please be prepared to at least have a somewhat intelligent conversation and a good business case...because we aren't in the business of giving stuff away just because it makes us feel good. we are still a business.

in addition to hawaii 2010 photos, i also posted up all the photos i took at the 24 hours of lemons race from last month.

peace out.

camilles (10:55pm, 6.3.10)