Philly or bust

I leave today to spend the week in Philadelphia for a conference. It's my first national conference and I'm excited to see how things go. From what I hear, I'm in for a real eye-opening experience. There are going to be over 15,000 people there and little old me is going to be presenting for a total of about 300 of them. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I've never presented in front of more than 50 people or so at a time. I'm looking forward to it! :)

The really poopy part about this trip is that Wednesday is my birthday and I'll be away from home, working a really long day. That makes me really sad. I have a presentation starting at 8am and I'll be working the convention straight through to 6:30pm when we take clients out for dinner until about 10 or 11. ho hum.

But I'm still grateful for a lot of things this morning. I'm grateful:

- for books on CD that make me look forward to road trips

- that my company pays gas mileage at a rate that actually earns me money when I take a long trip

- that I know my family and friends will call me on my birthday, even if I can't pick up the phone

- that I won't have to worry about when my next cigarette break is going to happen.

Did I mention that I have three months and one week, cigarette free? Hard to believe, isn't it?

I've gained a lot of weight and I'm heavier than I have ever been in my life. That's the down side of it. And that's embarrasing because I can in other peoples' eyes that they're noticing the weight gain. It's easier to notice weight gain than it is to notice that someone isn't smoking anymore. I'm still struggling with the weight part, but I'm trying to give myself six months to get used to the no smoking thing before I tackle the weight thing....