The Other Maggie

It's moving week here at Maison de Mean Girls and we are all SO super sad and depressed.  This year has been nothing but rainbows, butterflies and sunshine and now we are moving to a ......*cue the music* -crashpad.  Ugh.  

Paige and Brittany were willing to sign a year lease last year on this amazing apartment of ours in Kew Gardens.  Well guess what?  The lease is up.  None of us are sure where this year is going to take us, and so after diligent searching and apartment looking-we cannot commit to a year long leasing agreement so a crashpad is the next best thing.  

Crashpads are an interesting breed.  For those of you who don't know, crashpads are temporary housing/beds for flight crew members only.  Because we spend 65% of our week in hotel rooms, a true commuter only spends 12 nights or less at their crashpad.  They are offered at a reduced price, and include a shared room with a bed (often a bunk bed), a bathroom, access to the kitchen, living space, and all wifi and utilities included for anywhere from $200-$300 a month.  They will gain reputations as being "quiet" or "old" or "the partiers" or even this week we found "organic."  The crashpad is there if you have an early sign in, get stuck in base, or maybe have one day off and are not able to make it home....but it is very clear the crashpad is NOT your home.  It's like a rotating dorm for flight crews.  You pay monthly and keep your bed, with your sheets and a few of your things.  There are such things as "hot beds" which are crash pads that charge nightly and you pay $25 or $30 for just a bed-no sheets no anything.  Basically like a hotel, but without the sweet comforts.  

The owner of the crashpad we looked at yesterday told us that there were three people living there that she hasn't even seen since September.  But at $260 a month, if you get stuck in New York two accidental nights a month-you will pay more than that for a hotel.  It's figured we should have the room to ourselves most nights, which is an added bonus.  

It's not at all what we want to do....there will be no pictures on the wall or dishes left in the sink accidentally.  But, we have to do what's in all of our best interests.  If someone decides to leave, we don't have to find someone to fill the empty spot.  Which has been a huge burden on us all this year.  Even though my name wasn't on the lease...I wasn't going to leave Paige high and dry with rent money to cover-that's just not me!  So let's see how it goes....let's see how the airline industry throws us around this year....and just give it a chance.  Roll with the punches...

Oh, my life....

Happy Saint-Valentin

It has been a trying week here at maison de mean girls in New York. Our moods have drifted from highs to lows for certain circumstantial reasons and we are trying to find a solution to making Valentine's Day a happy one this year.  

Tenee, Paige and I all have the day off....and since we all really do love Valentines Day for the meaning it shares between loved ones, friends and family..we want to send 2014 off in style.  Maybe a love filled movie marathon day filled with fruity red cocktails and heart shaped cookies to boot.  Maybe a night in the city celebrating single-dom/partial single-dom/waiting for years to be engaged (even though only 1/3 of us are actually not taken...).

My mom always made a big deal about Valentines Day.  We had heart shaped pancakes and decorated breakfast tables in the morning.  There were always small boxes of chocolates in our lunch boxes and flowers sent to school.  As the years go by those packages and flowers seem to dwindle as I age into the crazy adult that I am....it doesn't mean that not a Valentines Day goes by that I don't think about the pink and red tulips that showed up at the end of the school day or the red napkins and heart shaped candies that adorned our table...but that my mom cared and loved us so much that she wanted to make the day seem special.  That, in turn, has carried on into my adult life, as I get just as excited as my friends that have significant others...maybe even more so! 

I remember in France that Saint-Valentin is only celebrated between "lovers"...not between friends or family.  So it was to their surprise that I showed up on the 14th with heart shaped confetti and glitter cupids for everyone.  Red and pink glitter strewn all about the floor, while Marie-Césare and I made Valentines for her family.  

There's no wrong or right way, and single or married...friends, family, or "lovers" it is a beautiful holiday to remind everyone around you that you love them.  That they are appreciated and loved.  It may be a "Hallmark Holiday" but its one that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.  

How are you spending your Valentines Day?  Out for a romantic evening? Or just spending a quiet one at home?  I hope everyone is spending it around people they love.  

**update**

They cancelled the flight at 4:30pm, after making all the passengers sit around all day and wait and think they were getting to New York.  We have to stay another night in Toronto and hope to get out tomorrow at some point on company time.  

Oh yea...did I mention tomorrow is my day off? 

Yes, just so glamorous dah-ling.  

#ihatesnow

I have been fairly lucky lately.  I haven't been to Toronto since before Christmas.  I didn't go to Toronto at all in January...which is very strange for a reserve flight attendant based out of New York.  My lucky streak ended yesterday when I got in from snowy Detroit and scheduling extended my trip to a Toronto overnight and a Nashville overnight.  It was a 23 hour layover in Nashville, and if it weren't for that...I wouldn't have been so nice about going to Toronto.  We only had 15 passengers scheduled for the flight; 3 in first and 12 in coach.  Easy peasy, right?  

It's never as it should be.....

So here I am again for the second night this week in Toronto (what did I do to deserve this?) it is my last day before a streak of four days off.  We were scheduled to leave at 9:20 this morning, I go downstairs for our 8:15am van and the rest of the crew has just found out we are delayed because of winter storm number 592 this winter.  After I set my alarm early, after I got dressed, after I put on makeup, and after repacked my tote so things were "just so."  They couldn't have delayed it before all that-just to make it easy on us and the passengers...certainly not.  So we re-claim our room keys we have just laid on the front desk and head back up to our rooms until a new 11am van time.  

11am rolls around, our departure time is still noon....so we head through security and customs.  We get to the gate and find out we have a "wheels up" time of 1:51pm.  Board at one, head to the runway and wait for the heads up from air traffic control at 1:51.  A half an hour later...ATC has pushed us up to 2:34pm.  Then 2:44pm.  Then back to 2:40pm.  Then its pushed to 3:33.  Then 4:05. Now its 4:29.  We've already cleared customs so we can't go back to the hotel, and they could move the time up so we have to be around and ready to go.  

I steer clear of the customer service desk because people ask ridiculous questions over and over.  Since I don't have access to our reservations systems I can't answer the questions they are asking...so its best if I just slink away.  I pay $15 for an overpriced salad, run the battery down on my ipad and iphone, worry if scheduling is going to tack something else on the end of my schedule when I get back to New York, and check the weather radar 136 times.  

Our aircraft is here (thank heavens)...which is why we haven't cancelled and our entire crew wants to go home to New York.  I am tired of sitting in these crazy chairs where I can't make a phone call and the wifi is less than par.  

It's like Toronto is welcoming me back after a long hiatus....... and all I can do is mutter, "thanks..."