Pick the Ponies

Last night, we hosted our friends at Funjet Vacations (and a few assorted others) to a night of fun at Lone Star Park.

On the third race, each team picked 4 horses. Whichever teams horse won, got to take home this lovely trophy. A Philip Banks original, this trophy is deemed the "Fun-Leg Award". A horse picked by Team Legacy won the race. It was a proud moment indeed.

Now, this beautiful award will grace our office until Funjet challenges us and tries to take it from us.

Please. Take it. Really.

More Soon.

Thank Goodness for IP Phones

At Legacy Travel we use Cisco 7960 phones powered by Onit Communications.

Whenever our internet goes down at the office, which seems to be frequently especially during heavy rains, we have the ability to conduct business from anywhere with a live internet connection. I have an office phone at my house, we have one at another staff member's home, and we have another extra at the office that anyone could take home and plug into an ethernet port and be ready to roll.

More Soon.

Brochures

We have a whole room in our office dedicated to brochures. It is quite a job keeping up with the sea of various paper brochures that flow in and out of our office.

For years the industry has been moving toward virtual brochures and information coming from websites rather than paper brochures. People still tend to like the paper though. I guess there is something exciting about leafing through travel brochures.

It sure is a lot of work to keep up with though.

Sass and Sage

Kimmy was the first little person I ever loved. Barely an adult myself, she was the firstborn of my older sister. I remember going to the hospital and seeing her for the first time laying underneath the warming lights.

I immediately started sobbing without any warning. I cried and cried and cried as I walked to my sister's hospital room. I looked at my sister through watery eyes and she nodded that she understood my reaction. I just knew, as I looked at Kimmy's scrawny little body that she was someone I would always love.

She is 23 years old now and is married. She attends college and works. Her husband is good to her. She owns a home and is part of a church she enjoys. In short, she's doing well.

I wish she lived closer to me now. She's in Oregon and I am here in Texas. I'm so proud of how she's grown up, where she is in her life and where she's heading.

Oh, Sass and Sage? When she was little I was "Ann Sass" (Aunt Cathi). We used to call her KJ (Kim, Junior - since I have a sister also named Kim). My daughter pronounced this "Say Jay" when she was little..then on this trip it was shortened to "Sage". Thus, "Sass and Sage".

GearFest '07

This weekend, my entire family (except my older sister and her husband) will gather at my house. Sixteen people spanning three generations will be here shortly. I have ordered this bounce house. I have a 4 year old niece and a 2 year old nephew coming. The Disney Princess theme will make points with her, and the bounce house itself will make points with him. It's all a part of my diabolical master plan to be the coolest Aunt ever.

It's been such a busy week that I haven't even been to the grocery store yet. Do you think that 16 people might, at some point, want to eat?

More Soon.

I was on the news last night!

I've been waiting to see if the clip would be posted on the Fox 4 website, but I haven't seen it yet...I'll add it if it comes online later.

Jason Overstreet was doing a story about how people's vacations are getting shorter and shorter and came out to interview an expert (me) on the subject.

It was the third time in a year I've been on the news. Fun!

More Later.

It's Jelly Season!

Little Known Fact About Me: I am a prize winning jelly maker.

It's true. I've won a blue ribbon, a 2nd place ribbon, and an honorable mention ribbon from the Texas State Fair. I was actually home economics student of the year at my high school during my senior year. I'm quite the Susie Homemaker.

So, Saturday morning we woke up at 4:15am and drove up to Sadler to Bailey's Berry Patch to pick Blackberries. This has been a yearly tradition for us for several years now. I was able to make 47 jars of jam from the 2 gallons of blackberries we picked. Saturday night for dinner we had the still warm jam on our biscuits.

Next: We go to Dallas Farmers Market for strawberries for strawberry jam.

Passport Relief!

From the State Department website:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security announced June 8, 2007 that U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda who have applied for but not yet received passports can nevertheless temporarily enter and depart from the United States by air with a government issued photo identification and Department of State official proof of application for a passport through September 30, 2007. The federal government is making this accommodation for air travel due to longer than expected processing times for passport applications in the face of record-breaking demand.

This is GREAT news for everyone who has either been sweating out waiting for their passport, or those who have avoided booking due to Passport Stress.

We are on top of the latest passport news, so we can give you all the details. The bottom line is: It's time to book your vacation! The hot deals we've been seeing are bound to evaporate now that this relief is in place.

More Soon.

Travel Articles

A couple of articles have come to my attention lately that I've wanted to share with you.

• Travel Agents Are Staging a Comeback. This article from Smart Money details how Travel Agents are coming back. (I never knew they left :-) )


• Will Your Health Coverage Cover You Overseas? A subject near and dear to my heart, the need for travel insurance.

More Soon

We Have A Billboard!

If you are driving south bound on Central Expressway near Park Boulevard by the National Tire and Battery - take a look!

More Soon.

I got a Macbook!

Mother's Day weekend I finally made a purchase I'd been planning and contemplating for quite some time.

A new laptop.

I've never even touched a Mac prior to this purchase. I have to admit there has been somewhat of a learning curve, but I've managed to learn how to do everything I normally do. In fact, most tasks are actually easier to accomplish, once I learned how.

I also purchased a "One to One" membership. For $99.00 I get to go to the Apple Store once a week and sit with a personal trainer for an hour and learn about anything I want to learn. Today I learned about the application called "Garage Band". I am using it to edit my newly resurrected podcast.

I've also purchased Photoshop Elements. Last weekend I created a new masthead for my blog (see above).

The Macbook boots up completely in 35 seconds. It's beautiful.

Call me a convert!