Travel Style

Helloooooo down there!  I'm looking down at some beautiful "flyover states" right now as we head to another wedding.  This one's in a little Colorado mountain town so it's perfect timing.  We're looking forward to trading 100 degree temps for low sixties.  Do I sound like a country bumpkin or a really old person if I say it always blows my mind when I'm connected from 35,000 feet?  Our two hour flight is nearly over, and I've replied to multiple work emails and set up two contracts since I've been on the plane.  Crazy awesome.  (Crawsome?)  I wish I didn't  have any work to do so I could enjoy streaming live TV like my bf over here!  Kidding... he's sitting next to me closing deals too (after he caught an episode of 30 Rock)!

When Good Trips Go Bad

If you travel enough, you know (really, you expect) that every once in a while, a trip is going to go horribly wrong.  There are too many moving parts, too many uncontrollable variables in play, for every trip to go off without a hitch.  Let me tell ya about our journey to the Rockies yesterday...

First, I have the world's best boss.  I need to buy her that coffee mug... So when you get invited to her destination wedding, you go.  Yesterday sucked because basically, we left our house at 10:45am and arrived at our hotel in Copper, Colorado  twelve hours later.  To give you some perspective, the drive takes thirteen hours.  We flew into Denver International Airport (arriving on time), which is a very nice airport, but logistically, it's a beating getting from terminal C to ground transportation.  The rental car lots are all located off-site, so by the time your shuttle picks you up it's a fifteen minute ride to get there.  And on Friday afternoon (4:00pm to be precise) of a holiday weekend, you're gonna stand in a long line to get your car.  By the time we got ours it was close to 5:00pm and traffic was bad, to say the least.  Over four hours later, we completed the 100-mile trip to Copper.

At least the view (beyond the miles of cars) was nice!  The company wasn't bad either.  :)  I practiced taking selfies to pass the time, which I regretted this morning when my camera died.  And of course I didn't pack the charger.  Since our house is a wreck, I wouldn't have been able to find it if I tried.  (I apologize in advance for the crappy cell phone pictures I'm going to post later this week.)  Here's what ya get for now...

Vegas, Baby!

Today I'm allowing my brain a little break from work (as in my job and house work) for a virtual Vegas vacation. I mentioned earlier this summer that 2013 is the year of the wedding.  In fact, we're going to one this weekend.  With weddings come showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties, bridal lunches, etc... Basically, there are lots of ways to spend money on celebrate the betrothed couple.  Before one of our couple-friends walked down the aisle in July, I attended the bride's Vegas bachelorette party in May.

I've been to Vegas too many times over the last seven years, and some of my favorite trips there have lasted only twenty-four hours.  IMHO, that is the perfect amount of time for Vegas.  This is not my old age talking.  I've felt this way since I was 22 and made my second trip to Sin City.  Now, there are many different ways to approach a Vegas vacation.  The agenda can be centered around gambling, dinner/shows, partying (day at the pool, night at the club), or general entertainment (indoor sky diving, roller coasters, bungee jumping).  You can keep it classy on the strip, or go ghetto old school in downtown.  I've done Vegas on the cheap, staying at a place called Terrible's Casino (the name says it all), eating at convenience stores and Fat Burger, and playing nickle slots.  This particular bachelorette trip was Vegas done right.  Five girls + one room at The Cosmopolitan + (???) bottles of bubbly = one epic weekend.  I'll break down our trip into the following categories: restaurants, pools, and clubs.

Working from Home

Two years and one month ago, I landed a sales job that requires me to work from home in my territory (Texas, excluding Houston).  The timing was perfect, as I had been "nomadic" until April of 2011, so I had a few months to settle into my place (at the time it was an enclosed porch of my friend's apartment) before I moved out of my cube.  It's funny to think that I spent over four years in this environment!  When this picture was taken I think I was on the brink of scurvy due to lack of sunlight.

When I interviewed for my current position, moving to a home office was the part that intimidated me the most.  Most of my co-workers also work virtually, so I've asked many of them how they do it.  Everyone's challenges and motivators are truly unique.  I don't think there is one formula that would help everyone adjust to this type of work environment.  In case any of you are like me (I'm ENFP according to the Myers & Briggs personality test), here are some best practices that have helped me be successful and not go crazy being alone most of the time (E stands for extrovert).

Moved In

Last Thursday was our first night spent at the new place!  Here's how we celebrated...

(Crystal glasses courtesy of our fantastic Realtor!)  We still don't have cable or internet, which might be a good thing since we need to finish our painting projects and organize our lives.

Chalkboard Fridge

Thanks to Pinterest, I've been obsessing over chalkboard paint for a while.  I've especially been lusting after a chalkboard paint-covered refrigerator, which sadly I could not have in my rental house.  Before we even moved into our new place, we painted the fridge black with chalkboard paint and it was everything I dreamed it would be!  I know, that's a little dramatic, but I was way too excited about this project and surprisingly the bf was too!  The primer wasn't even completely dry before we had the first strokes of chalkboard paint on the fridge, which I don't recommend doing.  You should always make sure your primer is completely dry before you start the next coat of paint.  :)  Here's what we started with:

Here's the almost finished product:

It could be finished, or we could put handles on it.  I'd love to buy some stainless steel or some polished wood handles to replace the boring white ones that were on it.

That's My Hood

Took a walk this morning for the last time in my current but soon-to-be-old (as of 4pm today when the movers arrive) neighborhood .  It sure has been fun and I'll visit you often, Henderson Avenue!  Thanks for the memories! 

Oh- if you're ever in Dallas, drop me a line.  I have some great recos for restaurants in the area!  :)

Lovely Lima

One of the many things I love Dallas is its diversity.  On a daily basis I am surrounded by immigrants from other countries.  One of my besties has a delightful new beau, who is straight up Peruvian (he became naturalized about five years ago).  He recently returned from a visit to Lima, his hometown, and I loved seeing pictures from his trip.  About three years ago on a whim, I visited Lima with some co-workers and after chatting with him I felt inspired to go through my photos.  His family lives in the beautiful neighborhood of Mira Flores, which is where I stayed during my visit...

Rental House Review

The bf and I move into our new (purchased) digs this week!  As I'm sitting in my living room of our rental, it hit me that there will be a few things I'll miss about this house.  Our new place is about 300 square feet smaller and would appraise for less than our rental, but regardless of the size and value, we feel like it's a step up.

The yard at the new place is smaller, so it should be a lot less time-consuming to manage, but I will miss the beautiful kockout roses that surround our lawn....

and our neighbor's pomegranate tree that straddles our property line.

My Midwest Weekend or Debs, Gamers, and Airport Hotels

This weekend the bf and I went to Cincinnati (his home town) for his youngest sister's summer time debutante party.  I mentioned this was a summer time deb party, because there's also a winter party, which I attended as the bf's date in December.  You can read about it here, but all you need to know is it was pretty, pretty fancy.  This is me at the winter deb ball making my fancy face.  This look says, Don't get in my face when it's fancy or you'll get a martini in yours.

I am a total stranger to the world of high society so I have no idea how it works.  All I know is, if you're part of the inner circle you do a lot of hob-nobbing, boozing, and dancing.  I tried my best to participate in all of the above so I wouldn't stand out.  This time that involved dressing the part for the party's Soul Train theme.

Living Room Paint

This week has been completely house-centric.  We only have a few days left to prepare before we move our stuff in, so we're hustling to get as much painting done as possible!  On Saturday we picked out our paint colors at Home Depot, and I was shocked when the bf agreed to go with Tropical Coral for our living room!  We got the paint mixed, and as he was carrying it around in the store a woman approached him to say what a "pretty" color it was!  Her seemingly innocent comment started an avalanche of second thoughts.  The woman working the cash register did not help the situation by telling us the color was "awfully feminine."  Yeah, I was pretty annoyed by that.  Don't judge our paint color!  Just take our money, lady!  Here's a pic of the living room when we saw the house for the first time (and no, we didn't get to keep Bambi's head).

Here's the living room now with one coat of Tropical Coral on the walls...

I'll admit, it looks kiiiind of pink in this pic, but I promise, it works in real life!  We're keeping the trim white and we have dark wood furniture that will contrast nicely with the coral.  Life is too short for white walls, right?

A Healthier Cookie

I've made these grain free cookies a couple of times this summer when I had a craving for a doughy dessert and I'm obsessed!  (Disclaimer: Honestly they're like eating cardboard compared to my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies, but I have to wait until after bikini season to eat those!) They're not very sweet because they don't have added sugar, and but have a hint of banana flavor to them (due to banana being one of the main ingredients).  If you can get past the fact that they are not sugary sweet, and just enjoy the bit of chocolate and the doughy consistency, you'll love them! 

Have you tried grain free or Paleo cookie recipes before? How did they turn out?

House Update

What a week!  I got back from San Diego Wednesday night and the bf and I closed on our house Thursday morning! It's such a relief to have the everything in place.  Since officially becoming homeowners, we haven't wasted one second working on our place.  We'll move in at the end of the month, so we have a great opportunity to paint while it's relatively empty (we've been moving our stuff into the new place each trip we make).  We literally worked all weekend and I'm exhausted!  We are thrilled with the progress we've made so far in the kitchen.  Check out our handiwork!  Here are some before shots...

 And this is what it looks like as of 8:30pm tonight...

I am such a DIY nerd.  I woke up at 6:00am Saturday morning because I couldn't wait to go to Home Depot to get paint!  We're going to spend the next three nights this week painting the new casa, then we have to leave town for the weekend for a family event, which will be a welcomed break from our house project.  Now I'm off to scrub paint off of my arms and legs and get some sleep so I can be ready to get back at it tomorrow night!

GBTA in San Diego

Every year I attend the Global Business Travel Association convention.  This year it was in sunny San Diego.  No complaints here!

The view from my room at the Manchester Grand Hyatt.  This is the only time of year that we get to stay at a fancy hotel because we always stay at the "official convention" hotel.  The rest of my trips are typically at La Quinta, which is fine.  But this is better.  :)

Orange County Weekend

This weekend I went to Orange County to visit one of my favorite people ever!

Monica, my pot luck roommate from college, moved out here a year ago.  I think the Cali lifestyle suites her. :)

Dark "Chocolate" Smoothie

Chocolate has been on my mind this week.  Something happens in the summer with my sweet tooth.  It's out of control!  Instead of buying a 300 calorie sugar-laden café mocha to quell my cravings, I've made a couple of "healthy" chocolate smoothies this week.  These things all over blogland as of late.  I first learned about them from Kimberly Snyder but have recently seen similar recipes on Eat Yourself Skinny and Sea of Shoes.

 It's pretty simple.  These are the ingreds- almond milk, cacao powder, a frozen acai berry packet, avocado, and stevia.  Throw them into your blender (I swear by my Vitamix) and you have a chocolate-y, filling little meal!

You can find the recipe here.  Enjoy!

Summer Bucket List

Earlier this summer I made a short list of things I want to do before fall arrives.  Here's my list with my progress so far...

1.  Try windsurfing.  Done!  It was a blast and the bf and I hope to buy our own windsurf boards (after we buy our house).
2.  Try stand up paddleboarding.  I'm doing this very soon thanks to a coupon for one free rental at White Rock Lake Paddle Co!
3. Visit the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.
4.  Have at least one picnic in a park.  My bf and I had one lovely picnic at Klyde Warren Park.
5.  Visit SMU's campus and see the Meadows Museum of Art and the George Bush Presidential Library.
6.  Take a day trip to Galveston Island.  Planning to go later this month
7.  Purchase a bike.

What new things have you tried this summer?