days in dallas

When one of my clients first suggested I start a blog, she said I should call it 'helen's crazy world' but I thought that was a bit much, I mean I'm not really that crazy.  But I realize now that she wasn't trying to say I was wild and crazy, but she was probably talking more about the crazy sh*t that happens to me sometimes.  Well I'm not gonna change the name of the blog, but let me recap the events of the past 2 days which I spent in Dallas at the International Toy Fair and I'll skip the boring work details.  Last night, I met my friend Valerie for dinner.  She had recently moved to Dallas right after we had just met back in NJ.   We ate at the hotel where I was staying which was so incredible - The Rosewood Mansion at Turtle Creek - out on the patio which was sooooo beautiful with gorgeous lanterns and outdoor fireplaces and it was a perfect evening weather-wise.  We had excellent girl talk about family, work, life and just good stuff, so great to get to know her even better...and the meal was delicious.  This morning, I woke up feeling very congested so I almost passed up on my run but I had read about the Katy Trail for joggers which was converted from the old train line so I thought I would check it out since it was such a beautiful sunny day.  As usual, I was snapping photos with my phone, pictures I thought I would post here.  The trail was lined with bamboo, which made it so nice and shady for the runners in that hot city, and there were some very quaint homes with backyards that faced the trail.  I stopped to take some photos of the ducks in the creek... and as I was walking by a policeman who was walking the beat, I was just about to ask him 'where the heck are the turtles of turtle creek?' when I noticed that I was literally pointing my camera at a NAKED DEAD MAN'S BODY IN THE CREEK!!!!!!!!!  I really wish I was kidding right now, but I'm not.  The policeman must have thought I was some kind of FREAK that I was taking pictures of it, the whole thing all happened so fast because he asked me if I was the one who made the call to 911 and I said omg no, I was taking pictures of the ducks and looking for turtles!  I didn't even see the body!   Can you believe this?  Honestly, it was surreal. There was no one else around, well a few joggers passed by here and there, but no one even noticed except crazy me, the tourist with an iphone.  Oddly, the scene reminded me of something you might see in an artsy photography book because of the way the body was positioned in the creek almost in a fetal position.  I'm sorry if this sounds gruesome and I'm the type of person who normally faints at the sight of blood, so it is strange to recount how it was not really as gruesome as it would seem (though there was some blood but I won't elaborate.)  ANYWAY, after chatting with the cop for a few minutes I figured I should move on since I had a flight to catch.  Ok, so now I will cut to the chase, as if that is not enough, I got to the airport and after going thru security, I noticed my iPhone was missing.... yup, gone, can't find it.  Went back thru security again, had everybody in the zone helping me during my breakdown, borrowed a stranger's phone to call my phone, no luck, completely aggravated since I just had the phone replaced a few days ago... then, mid-crisis, I ran into clients on the plane and had to make small talk while I was sweating from the whole frantic drama, and now I'm sitting on the plane sans phone and it just occurred that whoever has my phone also has the pictures of the DEAD BODY because I never deleted them!!!!!!   yikes... and therefore I have no pictures to add to this post because those are gone as well, but that is probably a good thing.