Furloughs and Vacation

Today everyone in North America received a notice that a mandatory furlough was being instated. For those of you who are unfamiliar a furlough is mandatory unpaid time off.
I have 2 options. I can either take off a solid 2 weeks, or I can take off one day a week for 10 weeks. The furlough must be taken during the summer as this is typically our slow time.
I've decided to approach it as I would approach taking off a band-aid. I'm taking the 2 weeks in a row and just ripping that sucker right off.
Although furloughs truly suck, the one positive is that you have time to do things that you might not otherwise do. I think I'm going away. I've wanted to visit Europe for some time now, and I just have never made it. This is the time. I'm taking my furlough at the end of August so that I can have as much time as possible to save up. I haven't decided where I'm going yet, but I'm leaning towards Spain. A few reasons. My last name, Cordova, is Spanish. According to my dad when his great great grandfather came to Mexico from Spain his last name was Cordoba, it was changed after a generation. To be honest, I prefer the V to the B, but the point is, Cordova is a place in Spain that I have always wanted to see. I also want to see Barcelona, Madrid and Seville. Also, although my Spanish is plenty rusty, I'd have a far easier time in Spain than any other non-English speaking country. I'm going to work on getting my passport situation all squared away. Many of you know I officially changed my name to "Tina" earlier this year, however when I got my Virginia licence I didn't have all the documentation I needed to have it changed. So, I must go back to the DMV, get a new licence and then get my passport. It'll be an annoying process, but in the end, I'm going to look at this whole experience as an opportunity to see a new place and explore a new land.

From the Foodie in Me

Tip from the Murphy household:
In the instance that you don't have confectioners sugar, you can put regular sugar in the blender and it will work the same.

Weird Personal Fact of the Day

I don't like smelly lotions. I prefer unscented things.

Books/ TV/ Movies

I admit it, although I spend a lot of my time reading, I often find myself indulging in crappy chick lit/ beach books. I cant help it, they are easy reads that don't require a lot of things. So for your pleasure, my chick lit author recommendations:

Jane Green - The Beach House, Jemina J, Mr. Maybe
Emily Griffin - Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Lauren Weisberger - The Devil Wears Prada
Marian Keyes - Angels
Meg Cabot (younger fiction)- The Princess Diaries

Around Town

Rock Creek Park
"Screen on the Green"
Marley and Me
7:30pm

Grinds My Gears

The Metro

Yeah, I know you have all heard the metro ranting before. Tourists don't stand on the right, walk on the left, the trains are always breaking, the trains are late, etc etc etc.
My rant is more about the way things are run in general. I would like to take control of the metro system. I would guarantee a profit in 3 years time. I think the metro's biggest problem are the employees. The job market is saturated with talent right now. I would take advantage of that talent, employ marketing campaigns, and feed off customer satisfaction surveys to have everything running much better.