My Modeling debut

A couple of months ago I was asked to be a part of a photo shoot for Alaska Airlines. I was thrilled to be asked and excited to be a part of it. These are the first adds I have gotten to see

Flight Attendant Drill Team

It was such a blast to be a part of the Alaska Airlines Flight Attendant Drill Team and walk in the Rose Parade. We met several times to practice and then I also practiced from a video that was sent to us but I soon realized that joining the team was for all my unrealized cheerleading attempts and why I never made any team..... I am not very coordinated and a slow learner. sigh.... I did finally {mostly} learn it and figured out how to fake it where I needed to and all in all had so much fun! I will defiantly do it again next year.

Photo Shoot

I had an exciting opportunity to be a part of a photo shoot for Alaska Airlines yesterday. I got a call from one of my supervisors last week asking me if I wanted to be a part of this special project and I was thrilled to be asked. I got up at 2:30 in the morning and flew on the 5:05am flight to Seattle and flew home at 5pm so needless to say although it was a fun and exciting day I was EXHAUSTED! 

The airplane was brand-spanking-new and had never flown a revenue flight. It was scheduled to go on-line later in the month however before we even left for the day those plans had changed and it's first flight was later that evening for the 6pm flight to Los Angeles. A brand new airplane smells like "new-car" smell. It was so clean and shinny too!

There were essentially two photo shoots going on at the same time. One in the main cabin and one in first class. There was another flight attendant there and they switched us between the two spots. I got to be a part of the shots with three different little kids and that was really fun. My favorite was one giving a little girl a pair of wings. I asked what these would be used for and was told that they would be used on the web site, print ads, and community events. It was amazing watching the technology they were using. As the photographer took a photo it was instantly sent to computers and iPads for other people to see what there were getting. Seriously amazing! 

Towards the end of the shoot I was standing outside the door of the airplane and was looking at the engine and I wondering if I could get anyone to help me tick off an item on my bucket list. I have always wanted a photo of me in an airplane engine and even after working for TWA for 13 years I have never been able to do it. I mentioned it to Tim {the other flight attendant} and he too wanted to do it and we managed to pull it off right before we left the hanger.

What a fun crew

I worked PDX-LAX-YVR-LAX-PDX again this week except this time we had a flight attendant listed on our pairing as FS. None of us knew what that meant until Katie showed up {2nd on the right} and she told us this was her fist flights after her IOE flight and she was our "extra"position. The idea is to help the new flight attendants ease into the job. She was such a pleasure to work with as was the rest of the crew, Heather and Laura. It always makes for a great trip when your working with a great crew!

Wine Time!

I was signed up to take the CARE training class with Alaska Airlines and they allowed me to use bump-able business class passes to go there and back. I had planned to go there and back on the same day so I didnt really tell anyone I was heading up to Seattle or make any plans. I checked the loads at about 7pm the evening before and was shocked to see all the flights in the morning until 10am {too late for the class} were over booked by 2 or 3 people. I panicked and decided to head up that night even though I wasn't even the slightest bit ready to go. Once I got to the airport I called Debbie and asked her if I bought a bottle of wine would that convince her to come get me and take me and let me stay at her house. So Debbie and I enjoyed this very yummy bottle of wine and some snacks, we had some much needed friend time, and even watched a move. In general we were up waaaaaay to late but it was so worth it.

One Year Ago Today

1 year ago today I interviewed with Alaska Airlines and was offered the job as flight attendant. What a journey I have embarked on!

PinkaBella CupCakes

I met the owner for this cupcake place on my flight last night and she invited me to come by for a free cop cake. She is an amazing woman and these cupcakes are so YUMMY!!!

Vegas Baby

After stalking the call list most of the day and watching myself move up I was finally assigned a trip..... And a 3 day trip at that with my first Vegas layover! Yea Baby!

I was super excited for the layover but bummed that my brother and his family was out of town.

The trip was a 3, 2, 1. Meaning 3 legs the first day. 2 the second and 1 the last. It's nice to get the longest day over with first but every day started at the crack of dawn and I was perpetually tired.

The first night we had a layover in SFO and had the pleasure of waking up to the fire alarm going off at 1am. Such excitement! After I put clothes on to head out when it was determined to be a false alarm.

I flew with a great crew and worked in the back with Kelly who was so much fun to work with.

Once we got to Vegas it was a quiet and less exciting layover if you can believe it. The hotel is a mile or more away from the strip and doesn't have a casino in it. It did have a small pool and Kelly and I hung out there {mostly in the pool} in 106 degree temperature for a few hours before meeting the other flight attendant for dinner later. Then it was bed time and one leg home the next day. 

It's tough work but someone's gotta do it...

Ahhhhhhh Maui! One of my favorite places. For obvious reasons like the sunshine, the blue water and the relaxing but I love it also for one of the most comfortable layover beds EVER and for the Starbucks in the lobby {even if the latte is a freaking arm and a leg}. The things that make me happy =D

Yep, thats me! Dressed and ready to work my flight back to the main land.

80.40 TFP by the 19th of the month!

And this is how you do it.....

I had quite a busy month for March flying 80.40 TFP {trips for pay} by the 19th of the month. I'm sure if I had not dropped 4 days they would have managed another 20 TFP out of me. At any rate, I did drop four days and now will have a little more than a week to enjoy Spring Break with my family in Cabo. 

My trips this month included a Newark, Dallas, Stika, Oakland, Lihue,  Kona Oakland & Las Vegas.

DFW

We stay at the Nylo in DFW which is an amazing modern hotel made of concrete and brick. The room was described to me by one of my coworkers as Paris Hilton's prison cell if she were to go to jail and it think the description hits the nail on the head. 

I got to fly with one of my classmates on this part of the trip. It was a lot of fun to catch up with her.

We arrived on a Saturday and as it turns out the hotel bar has all day happy hour, serving $2 beers, $3 house wine, and $4 well drinks. Those prices fit right in with an airline employees wallet! There were no happy hours food items but we managed to find a few very yummy things to much on as we enjoyed our $3 wine.

Tag your it!

There is a little thing called "tagging" and it works something like this. You are flying a trip and you either think your done for the day or you simply come through Seattle and you get a message to call crew scheduling where you hear the magic words "We have some additional flying for you today". 

So after 3 months of working I had never been tagged, practically unheard of. Everyone gets tagged at some point and some more than others. I understand it was a given that you KNEW you would be tagged up until right before I was hired so I count my blessings that today was the first day I was actually tagged. I found that I wouldn't even say it out loud for fear that it would happen to me.

I had got up at the crack of dawn, 3:45 East coast time for a 6:10 report van to the airport. It was a long flight and a super early day so I was unsuspecting as I arrived in Seattle thinking about the nap I was about to take at my crash pad when I checked my phone for a message from scheduling, not really expecting one but THERE IT WAS! 

When I called I found that I would be continuing on to DFW. It was a super long day, 12 hours and 17 minutes to be exact! AND I missed being paid double time for the next day by 13 minutes {what would have happened if I had a day that was 12 hours and 30 minutes} however, I got to fly with one of my classmates and the flight was really a great one. I worked the A position and made the announcements and worked in First Class which is one of my favorite positions.

All in all, I was quite exhausted from this block of days worked but it was an adventure to say the least.

Massanan

A little Thai food with one of my crash pad roomies. Both of us were on call and didn't get used so we ran errands including getting my crew bag to the repair shop and then we had some yummy lunch.

Kimmy

As I was waiting for my van to go to my hotel in Sacramento I turned around and saw my classmate from training. Kim was one of my study buddies while in training. She is based in Anchorage and we haven't seen each other since graduation. I was super excited to run into her and we made plans to meet for breakfast the next morning.

The John & The Bean

My very first layover with my new airline was to Chicago and it was long enough to head downtown and lucky for me there was another member of the crew willing to see some sights with me otherwise I might not have gone. Once we got downtown we began walking mindlessly and ended up near a very tall building that happened to be the John Hancock Building. We paid our $15 and headed on up to view this beautiful city from one of the tallest buildings. Our fee to ride the elevator to the 94th floor, a 1000 foot ride in 40 seconds, included a guided tour using an iPod and numbers on the windows with David Shwimmer as our tour guide. A well spent $15! The views were breathtaking and the guided tour very informational. 

 Above is the view of some of the best real estate in the United States

I was lucky enough to fly with this lovely lady {Julie} who was happy to "take me under her wing" and show me the ropes both on the airplane and on the layover.

 After leaving The John we hopped into a taxi {limited time and it was a couple mile drive} and headed to Cloud Gate {its official name} affectionally called The Bean is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park within the Loop community area of Chicago. . Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It is 33 by 66 by 42 feet (10 by 20 by 13 m), and weighs 110 short tons (100 t; 98 long tons).

It was a beautiful November day, the weather was crisp and quite cool in the morning but warmed up a bit through the day.

Just me & Marilyn

Training

I have checked into my room and start training tomorrow. It has been quite a stressful road to get here but I am here. I don't have a roommate but met a few of the other trainees tonight and we went food shopping. I sure am missing the kids a bunch and although I think having my own room will be great tonight I am a bit lonely. Tomorrow is the first day and I am excited and nervous at the same time for this new journey I am about to embark on.

Last night I slept between the girls and before we went to sleep Emily asked me if we could pray and she brought tears to my eyes as she prayed that I do well in training and Sarah prayed that I pass my airport code test with 100%. I love my girlies and am missing all three of my kiddos.