Spring Forward

Even though I'm "sacrificing" an hour of sleep each night, I'm SO EXCITED we sprung forward on Sunday morning!  I get to see the light of day when I leave work and I feel motivated to get things accomplished in the evenings.  The weather is getting warmer and it's made nomadic life a lot easier, with rummaging through the trunk of my car, lugging around bags, etc- not so much fun in the cold and dark.  The trees around my office are blooming, making for a lovely commute in the mornings and evenings, and they're so beautiful I felt compelled to take some photos when I left work today.

Sun and Sin City

One Friday last month, I had to go to Phoenix to host some of our corporate customers in a suite at the Suns game.  Coincidentally, the Suns were were scheduled to play the Oklahoma City Thunder, my favorite NBA team.  I’m from Oklahoma City and they are the sole professional sports team we have; luckily they’re good and really fun to watch!

My boyfriend happened to have the day off work thanks to the snow that fell the night before, so he was able to join me on the trip.  We were lucky to be booked on one of the few flights that wasn't canceled so after getting delayed at Love Field for a couple of hours, our plane was de-iced and we were on our way.  When we arrived in Phoenix it was sixty degrees and sunny, a welcomed change from cold, snowy Texas (what an oxymoron)!  We cabbed it to our hotel downtown, the Wyndham, and had just enough time to unpack before we headed to the US Airways Center.

Lobby at the Wyndham Phoenix downtown[

Top Reasons to Go Nomadic

This month is my fifth month of nomadness.  The past two months, I've been feeling ready to settle down into a conventional living situation but have refrained due to a gut feeling that now isn't the right time to get into a lease.  To help myself keep the momentum going, I've comprised a list of the benefits of being electively homeless.  In case you're considering this path (or are wondering why the heck I'm still doing it), here's what all of you potential nomads have to look forward to:

1.  There are no bills to pay.  (I'm FINALLY building up my bank account!)

2.  There are no chores to be done.  (Although, I clean up my friends' bathrooms when it's needed.)

3.  There is more money to spend treating your friends.  (Buying them dinner/drinks is a great way to thank them for crashing at their places.)

Big D Tour

A friend who lives in London had a twelve hour layover in Dallas this weekend on her way home from Chile.  Julie is a travel professional (check out her fabulous blog) and has been all over the world, but this was her first visit to Texas.  (Technically, it was her second.  She had a similar layover situation on her way to Chile and used public transportation- yes, it is possible to do here!- to get from DFW to the Uptown area of Dallas.)  I absolutely love living in Dallas, so I was excited to share some of the fun things the city has to offer.

Public transportation options are limited on Sundays because the Trinity Railway Express, the train that connects the airport to Dallas or Fort Worth, doesn’t run so I made the quick trip to DFW to pick her up.  My immediate concern was eating, so we joined some friends for brunch at State and Allen Lounge in Uptown.

Photo from www.buywithme.com/dallas/deals/1621-state-and-allen-lounge

Vancouver Vaca

After my worcation in Seattle (which was more work than cation), my boyfriend and I took the Amtrak Cascade to Vancouver for a full-on weekend vaca.  I’ve only had one other experience on Amtrak (you can read about it here) so train travel is relatively new to me.  This was my first time to cross our northern border, but my boyfriend had visited Vancouver before, so it was nice that he was somewhat familiar with the city.

Photo from www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/cascades

Snow Day

Greetings from a winter wonderland! I'm currently sitting in an airport waiting to see if my flight, which has been delayed multiple times, will be canceled. Who knew we'd wake up to six inches of snow in North Texas?



If all goes well, I'll be in Phoenix soon where the high is sixty degrees. Keeping my fingers crossed!  Hope everyone is staying safe and warm today!

Seattle Worcation

Last week work took me to Seattle so to make the most out of my time I added on a day of vacation [(work + vacation) x travel = worcation].  I’d been looking forward to this trip because it involved a lot of firsts:

1. It was my first time to visit the Pacific Northwest (prior to this I hadn’t ventured north of San Fran).
2. It was my first time to meet with our corporate accounts on my own (I’ve always shadowed a manager).
3. My boyfriend was able to take off work and it’s the first time we’ve taken a trip alone together.

We arrived in Seattle late Tuesday night and took a cab to our hotel downtown.  The Warwick is in a prime spot.  It’s an easy walk to great shopping and dining and Pike Place Market.  The hotel’s building is old and the interior isn’t as pristine as it appears on the Warwick’s website.  Fortunately, management is renovating all of the rooms from the top down.  My boyfriend and I snagged one of the newly upgraded Executive rooms on the 15^th floor.  As soon as we got off the elevator we were hit with the smell of new carpet in the hall (almost as good as new car smell).  One side of the room was outfitted with a long desk (great for work), another corner had a small seating area, and the majority of the space was taken up by a comfy king size bed.  The best part of the room was the view of the Space Needle from the balcony.