Annual Marketing Meeting

Every January, my department kicks off the year with the infamous “Annual Marketing Meeting,” commonly referred to as “Annual.”  We celebrate our accomplishments from the previous year and hear from our leaders (including our CEO) on what they expect from the new year regarding goals and strategies.  This year’s destination was St. Louis, Missouri.  In January.  In the snow.  To say the least, it was cold.

St. Louis, aka “The Gateway to the West”, is rich in aviation history.  Charles Lindbergh and The Spirit of St. Louis, TWA, McDonnell Douglas, etc, put this industrial city on the map as an aviation maverick.  (My airline-geek friends could expound on this better than me!)   My employer has had a strong presence in the area since 1985 and St. Louis continues to move its way up the charts as one of our focus markets.

Tired of the Nomadness

Maybe it's the chilly weather and lack of sunlight bringing on my annual winter blues, but going into my third month as a nomad, it's beginning to wear me down.  The novelty and some of the excitement are gone.  The cold makes accessing the items in my car annoying.  I’m tired of thinking about what I’m going to wear days in advance.  (My previously chic nomad look has become repetitious as I’m getting lazy about digging through my rolling rack of clothes, still in my boyfriend’s garage.)

There are a lot of things I really miss about having my own place, like recording trashy reality TV shows and watching them with my old roommate on lazy Saturday mornings.  I miss leaving messy art projects on my dining room table.  I miss hosting house parties.  I miss my old house!  I miss my old routines!  (Gasp!)

Of course I’ve contemplated returning to my former, more conventional lifestyle, but I have too many solid reasons to keep on truckin, such as:

1.  I haven’t saved as much money as I should have.  (Oops!)  I’ve managed to stay out of credit card debt; does that count for anything.
2.  Life in general feels “temporary” right now for several reasons, so my gut tells me not to settle down in one spot for the time being.
3.  I have a unique opportunity to continue, and it could possibly be the only time in my life when I can, so I should suck it up and do it while the tools are at my fingertips.

LAX to PHX

I had another work trip this week, taking me back to the West Coast.  On Tuesday I flew to Los Angeles.  Every time I fly into LAX, I forget how massive it is!  When I landed, I walked outside of baggage claim to the hotel shuttle pick-up line to catch a ride to the Four Points Sheraton.  45 minutes later, I was checking in at the hotel and yes, it is adjacent to the airport!

Austin, Take Two!

Last week my friend visited me from London.  She’s been living there for about three years now, and I’ve taken advantage of her ex-pat local a couple of times, but this was the first time she’s visited me in Texas since she moved across the pond!  I wanted to show her a good time, and she wanted to eat as much Mexican food as possible, so the day after she arrived in Dallas we caught a flight to Austin!  My brother and his friend were there house-sitting for my cousin and her husband, so luckily they were nice enough to let us crash at their lovely home.  (Thanks April and Ben!)

NYE Staycation

I have a love/hate relationship with New Year’s Eve.  My immediate reaction is, Oh, NYE, you mean “Amateur Night”? It’s the most over-hyped holiday; an excuse for people who spend 364 nights out of the year behaving to go buck wild.  The past few years, I’ve kept things low-key to avoid the lines and cover charges at bars and drunk drivers on the road.

This year my boyfriend’s friends had a plan to go all out- get hotel rooms at the Gaylord Texan and see a local 80s cover band, The Spazmatics, play at the Glass Cactus, a nightclub adjacent to the hotel.  When I first heard the idea, I was immediately turned off.  This would be an extreme version of amateur night I thought, based on the band and the location of the club (Grapevine, Texas- if you’re not familiar with the area, it is quintessential suburbia).  After some debate, I decided to roll with it.  The group of friends going guaranteed a good time, and 80s attire became de rigueur.  Plus, staying at a hotel would keep us off the treacherous highways.

Photo from www.10best.com

The New Christmas

My family is extremely traditional.  My parents still live in the house where my brother and I grew up.    (It’s always refreshing and familiar to visit home and my mom always puts a package of Ferrero Rocher’s on my pillow before my arrival.)  Up until last year, holidays have been the same familiar routine.  We all congregate at my Grandparents’ home (built by my Dad and Grandpa in the 80s) on five acres of land with two dogs, ten chickens, one rooster, and eight vintage Farmall tractors (Grandpa’s hobby is restoring them) and stuff ourselves silly, no matter what we’re celebrating.   Last year things in the family started to change.  All of the grandkids are now adults.  The first great-grandchild, Baby Theo, joined the family last October.  My cousin Edward put down roots in China.  This year things are even more different.  Edward is now in India and Andrew, his brother, has joined him for a few months.  Elizabeth, their sister, is in Africa for a year, so the big family gatherings are considerably smaller.

My brother Nicholas is going to graduate from college in May and is spending a lot of time contemplating what he wants out of life and what is most important to him.  Thanks to his introspective reflection on what he truly values, he suggested that instead of exchanging gifts on Christmas morning, we buy presents for a needy family of four.  My parents and I loved the idea, so on Black Friday we braved the consumer madness and purchased Christmas gifts for our adopted family.  It was a lot of fun to shop as a family, and it was much more fulfilling to give to a good cause instead of giving each other silly presents like kitchen gadgets, coffee table books, or Snuggies.  This new direction in gift-giving was a relief to me, because as a currently homeless person, I have worried about storing Christmas gifts in the trunk of my car where space is limited as well as what to do with the things people give me that I don’t have a place for.

Staying Classy in San Diego

Anchor Man is one of my favorite movies.  The cast of characters is ridiculous and hilarious.  Ron Burgundy and his unapologetic skirt-chasing, hard-boozing ways.  Veronica Corningstone and her non-regional dialect.  Baxter, Ron’s bi-lingual terrier.  The cult classic has some interesting and shady personalities, similar to downtown San Diego, where I stayed last week during another work trip.

The Sofia Hotel is a darling boutique hotel.  The location is perfect: walking distance to Horton Plaza and the Gas Lamp district, and only a few minutes from the airport.  The hotel’s ground floor is home of The Currant Restaurant, an American Brasserie.  The decor is rich and sultry, with dim lighting, velvet upholstery, and ornately carved wooden furniture.  Overall, the interior has a sexy, French feel, swanky enough for Mr. Burgundy himself.  After a long day of sales calls it was an ideal, quiet place to relax and asses the successes and challenges of the day.  Mussels in white wine, tomato and shallot sauce with frites helped too!