Archive | TRAVEL RSS feed for this section

appreciating: minnesota, soup & ROF

18 Jan

so i’ve been struggling lately on what to write about.

first i thought about: soup.  moderately obsessed with soup right now.  but nah.  i can do better than soup.

then my mind shifted on where i am right now.  i’ve spent the past week in minnesota.  and, boy, this is beautiful country.  my home base was in minneapolis and then drove down to austin, mn south of minny for a meeting then had a minny meeting this morning then headed 3 hours north (i think i’m close to the north pole right now) to duluth, mn.  it is just about as cold as it can get right now.  i know i’m being dramatic but not really.  i’m traveling with beth and i said to her “boy, i bet there is A-LOT of drinking being done up here in deez parts.” and she said that this county has the highest dui arrests in the state.  can you blame them?  it’s cold!

here are some pics i shot today at a quaint italian restaurant in edina, mn (awesome lil city!) we went to for lunch and then some other shots i took.

 

this friendly guy (a bit stiff!) welcomed us to the restaurant

so now i’m warm and toasty in my bed in duluth with it snowing outside.  unfortunately, there are a couple of very intoxicated girls in the room next to mine (why not? it’s wednesday!) whom seem to have had a little bit of a falling out.  pressing my ear against the door is not beneath me but i couldn’t get the jist of the tears to be able to share.  now they have left.

but what i really wanted to talk about

was how much i appreciate my husband, ROF.  i’ve told two people today about how he drives me to the airport and picks me up.  when i tell him “thank you” it doesn’t quite capture how cool i think he is for doing that.  we also have an unspoken rule that we don’t text, answer the phone or do anything but talk with each other.  in the past 2.5 years, i’ve driven to the airport exactly one time.  it doesn’t matter what time it is – early early morning, late at night.  it makes me feel so loved and special.  i’m not typically on the road this much (4 days a week the past two weeks) but seeing him pull up at the airport makes butterflies fly in my stomach.  that’s a good thing, by the way.  sometimes he had even gone to the quik trip and got us drinks of diet dr pepper.  i’ll tell you what… God sure answered my prayers when it came to sending me a great husband.  it is this time in being away (cold duluth hotel room, loud, drunk girls next door) that i get teary eyed thinking of how very blessed i am. 

Tags: , , ,

funky, hip hotels

11 Oct

nothing is better than a cool hotel room

well, there are better things, but don’t you just love staying at hip hotels? it is the ultimate pampering and splurge and luxury. here are some hotels i love and admire.

we’re going to start our journey with a place in dallas. the place we stayed at for two nights during our wedding weekend – the loft suite at the joule hotel downtown. now, that was fun without a doubt. i wish my mom and sister had a chance to see it. pictures do not do it justice. ROF and i decided that we could have definitely lived there forever.

if i had to pick a place to define who i am or better yet who i’d want to be...i’d pick new york city. there is this energy that is like none other the minute i land. it’s funky, chilly, full of life and adventure, history and confidence. the music dropped in the background would be some downbeat house music. i get to go there twice this fall and i’m jazzed. already doing the research on what to do and where to go. when i go over christmas, i just can’t wait to hang with the prendevilles. so here’s one of my faves. i have never stayed here but definitely eaten here

the mercer hotel

not new, but still the place to be.

robert de nero’s place in tribeca looks uber awesome:

nyc is for me but i didn’t complain when i was put up at the sunset marquis in los angeles.

one of my favorite hotels in the world is hotel villa caletas in costa rica. we only had drinks at sunset at this amazing place, but always dreamed to go back there and would love to go with ROF. to give you a visual, we climbed a hill SO STEEP getting to this place. i really think i audibly heard the big giant cheesy bus holding all of us ford dealers say “i think i can, i think i can” trying to get up that hill. but this hotel high atop a mountain overlooked the rain forest and to the sea. once we got off the bus, no words were spoke as we were handed a cocktail and asked to gather around the amplitheatre where gregorian chants and enya were playing.

hope you had fun today. talk to you tomorrow!

Tags: , , , , ,

friendly skies

23 Sep

so i had a very interesting flight a couple days ago i had to tell you about.

i was a little disappointed (read: a lot) about not getting upgraded and had to smoosh in with all the common folks in the back of the plane.  it was so early, honestly, i didn’t mind,  but still. not a great start to the week.

i was sitting in the aisle seat of a two seat sider when my seat-mate got to our seats.  she was a young woman wrapped in scarves head to toe.  i didn’t really pay any attention as i knew the person sitting across the aisle from me and we were chatting it up.  flight took off and i opened a magazine and the woman sitting next to me commented on a photo in my magazine.    she pointed at an arrangement with two big leaves from an elephant ear plant were stuck in a pot.  she had never seen anything like that before, she commented.  she went on to tell me that in london, they had another kind of vase.  asking her where she was from, she proudly said “jordon”.  she had great english and was very easy to talk to .  she was so proud of jordon that as we began to talk about it – she started like this:

“Are you a christian?”

“yes!” (me)

“in jordon, we have a rock that jesus touched.  it’s so smooth and beautiful.  you can’t believe it’s been around so long!”

“really?  that is cool!”

“yes, and the jordon river is where john the baptist baptized so many people”

i found it so very intriguing that she started this conversation like this.  on so many levels.  what an instant connection she made with me from the get-go.  and i’m ashamed to say, i could probably say pretty few things about her religion.

we talked the whole trip and she told me the most fascinating things about her life and her introduction to texas.  both her parents got their PHD in the states.  she was born here then moved at 3 years old back to jordon where she was there through college and marriage and two kids.  her father died about 3 years after they returned home to jordon and when she was quite young.  her husband worked for the us embassy in jordon and the us ambassador to jordon convinced him to check out the US.  so they moved to texas about 5 years ago.  this was only the 2nd place she had traveled to by plane in her life.  she is a science teacher.

anyway, just a slice of life. 

it was fun to be able to have a small glimpse into someone’s life.  honestly, i hoped that we would be friends!  i enjoyed talking to her so much.  i gave her my card so who knows.  being down here in texas it’s so easy to slip into a texas way of life which is good but also very limiting.  i so appreciate sitting in first class, but obviously i was meant to sit where i sat!  i, of course snapped a picture of her so i could share with you!  (is that wrong?)

Tags:

best of houston: dana clover

16 Sep

i’m happy to have

the popular dana clover from the Homesteading Housewife blog.  dana is our chevy lma community manager in houston and i’m excited to get her take on that great city to my south – houston!

where in houston do you live  and how long have you lived there?
i have lived in several Houston area locations, but found fell in love with a small run-down farm about 35miles NE of town.  clover country farms is where I hang my hat and the Man-of-My-Dreams and i are working on raising our 5 kids and countless critters.

other than friends and family, what do you love the most about houston?
i love the fact that i can live out in the boonies in the middle of no-where, but am still within an hour of one of the best medical centers in the world, a theater district second only to new york and some of the best food anywhere!
In other words….  houston has it ALL!

if a friend was visiting you who had never been to Houston before, what would the top 3 non-food places you’d have to show them?
NASA (of course), The houston livestock show and rodeo , and the texas renaissance festival, wow! talk about diversity!

give us a great breakfast place, lunch place and your favorite casual dinner place?
well that’s easy!
my house
my house
and my house.
oh…  you meant the second best places to eat in houston right? heh sorry…

Hmmm, breakfast – there is a little place called the glass menagerie just north of houston that has an amazing sunday brunch, they have everything gourmet and beautiful, something VERY different from the farm and it is my “go-to” place when I can go out with my mother and sister and feel all fancy-like.

lunch- there is nothing better than hitting the kemah boardwalk for lunch on the water. i like the flying dutchman or landry’s for some yummy seafood right on the water.

oooh dinner! – hoffbrau steakhouse has the worlds BEST chicken fried steaks!  this is where i take all out-of-towners who were not born with a bottle of cream gravy in their mouth, they always fall in love with this texas staple!

so many people I work with and know are not from texas.  we’re constantly having to explain why texas is different than the rest of the country.  does your family have one tradition or activity that is truly texan?
wow…   that’s a LOADED question! i was born up north and got to texas as fast as I could, and the reason texas will always be home is the people.  i love the fact that when you pass another car driving down the road, they wave.  i love the how welcoming and warm texans are. texas is not just a state in America…. it is truly a state of mind!

if you couldn’t tell, i love to cook.  my BBQ cook-outs are as texan as they get. (my hubby built my smoker out of an old 500gal propane tank!) i spend more time cooking outside than I do cooking in my kitchen, and there is never a weekend where friends and family cannot be found getting all sticky w/ some BBQ sauce and having fun.  good foods & good friends is what texas was built on!

i’m a fan of BBQ. houston seems to be a great place to get it.  where should I go?  
well duh!  my back yard!
but, if i’m not home, i recommend  a tiny hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint called the “tin roof” they smoke some amazing meat!

Last question.  
if you could hold a happy hour with 5 people who would they be – living or dead – ?

Well…  it would be at my house for sure!

#1 & #2 would be my brothers dan and ryan, they died when I was younger and there is nothing I would love more than to introduce them to my boys.  they would have been the best uncles in the world!
#3 alton brown, because he is my boyfriend. (don’t tell my hubby tho!)
#4 carla emery, because I could have learned SO many homesteading skills from her!
#5 marlene, my friend from high school, so she could see alton and i together and finally admit that he is MINE!

by the way, dana, i love this photo from your blog

Tags:

jeanie’s best of boston

7 Sep

by jeanie hornung, president of touchstone marketing group

what do you love the most about boston?

wow, that’s a tough question because I love so many things about boston.  but if I had to limit myself to “the most” then I would have to say  family (and friends).  

do you miss it?

desperately.  but not so desperately in the winter!

if you brought a friend to boston who had never been before, what would the top 3 non-food places you’d have to show them? 

fenway park, the freedom trail and nantucket.

give us a great breakfast place, lunch place and your favorite casual dinner place?

doyle’s in jamaica plain has the MOST amazing corned beef hash…none of that canned stuff, big chunks of corned beef and they serve the hash on english muffins with poached eggs and hollandaise.

for lunch  I would take you to a great seafood restaurant.  we just had  great lunch at the mill wharf on scituate harbor a couple of months ago.  the view is spectacular and we enjoyed  stuffed quahogs, clam chowder, shrimp cocktail and lobster rolls.

for dinner I would take you to my cousin richard’s restaurant woody’s.  they’ve been honored with a “Best of Boston” award for pizza.   their pizza is spectacular...thin crust in a cooked in a scorching wood fired oven.   it’s a real neighborhood restaurant located in the fenway section of boston.

where would you stay and why?

i would spend a few days in Boston at the four seasons and then spend a few days on nantucket at the white elephant.

if you were going to have a ‘power’ business lunch in boston, where would it be? 

The bristol lounge at the four seasons is a great place for lunch in Boston.

i’m a fan of seafood.  boston seems to be a great place to get it.  what kind of seafood do i HAVE to try in boston?

you have to go LOCAL when it comes to seafood, so you must have clams casino, clam chowder, stuffed quahogs, lobster (any way) and you have to have baked scrod.  boy ….i miss boston seafood!

Last question.
if you could hold a happy hour with 5 people who would they be – living or dead ?

my dad, gandhi, eleanor roosevelt, paul revere, anne frank and harriet tubman. my dad died when i was three and i’d sure like to enjoy a glass of wine with him. i’m a big history buff and have admired the others for some time.  their incredible bravery and courage in the face of adversity is admirable and i’d love to be able to spend time and converse with all of them.

Tags: , , ,

appreciating the courteous flyer

28 Aug

today is all about appreciating people

that know how to fly well. 

from "bridesmaids"from "bridesmaids"

from "bridesmaids"

 

you don’t have to be a frequent flyer, to have the simple courtesies necessary.

case in point.  happening real time, right this very minute.  man in front of me on southwest flight from the st. lou to dallas love field.  he is scarfing his peanuts and taking the leftover, salty,  sweet crumbs from the honey roasted nuts and shaking his hands in the aisle dangerously close to my pant leg.  not once.  not twice.  FOUR TIMES AND COUNTING, folks.  I  just tried to snap a photo but he smiled and that was creepy.  busted.

men:  i believe that it is important

to do everything for women on a plane.  don’t worry yourself with this 1970’s women’s lib nonsense.  pick up her darned bag if she can’t put it in the overhead bin.  come on billy.  be a hero.  next (oh I’m not done with you ,mister) – help a mom juggling kiddos and bags.   grab that car seat and her kid play kit bag and march down the aisle.  ain’t no one gonna steal your seat.

now I’m gonna get gross

those burps you let out slow and low after the mexican lunch you wolfed down with the two margaritas.  yep.  we can smell them.  you’re not fooling anyone.  you are a millimeter away from our noses. 

from "airplane"

and speaking of gas, which we were, we can smell that too.  don’t try to rationalize it.  we know it’s not the baby, or the jet fuel, not the bathroom door that just opened.  it is you buddy and we know it.  I’m going to develop an app that is an airplane smell detector.  it will sense the molecules in the air and up will come an analysis:  BABY DIAPER, HAIRSPRAY, BAD PERFUME,  GAS FROM THE PERSON TO YOUR LEFT.  and then an alarm will sound.  and it will sound like this:

PEEEE-YOO  

you know you’re a courteous flyer when you do not, I said NOT, adjust your volume because of the roar of the plane.  don’t be a loud talker.  honey, you’re neighbor is right there.  unless you’re the woman on my last flight who literally yelled to her friend three rows in front of us.  in another language.  hey why not, it’s all about you.

from bing

speaking of talking.  thank you, courteous flyers for “testing the temperature” before launching full-on into your life story.  talking is not bad – after all many o love stories have been started on a plane.  so I’m not saying don’t talk.  unless you’re married.  then don’t talk.  but if you’re single then mingle.  but test the temp.  if receptive, launch away.  if you get a quick answer and a head turn – then please consider that a “I’d rather read this magazine”.

from friends, I’ve heard a lot of pet peeves that I agree with:

JG:  someone actually climbed over me in the aisle seat to get to the window seat.  really, I can get up, there is no need to squeeze.  gross.

from bing

“I hate it when people shuffle cards on a plane, it drives me insane”

“taking off your shoes is so inappropriate and not just for the smell.  for the grossness of it – seeing your hairy, ugly toes snuggle the carpet or worse the wall in front of you.”

from bing

 

that’s enough for my lil rant on flying.  once again, appreciate you, courteous flyer!  i have seen lots of unbelievably nice and fantastic people on planes.

have a great sunday.  thinking of everyone in irene’s path including the prendevilles!  love you guys.

Tags: , ,

lobsta, boston & gen y: saturday july 27 week in review

27 Aug

week in review

since this blog is more about me appreciating things,  i’ve decided i’m going to start a week in review in pictures on saturdays.

you know why?

because i appreciate being alive.  not kidding.  on my flight home from boston, i bought a magazine (SHOCKER) and it was a september issue showcasing people who lost a loved one on 9/11.  it asked them what they do on that particular day to remember.  now when i was reading this, I was scrunched, i mean scrunched, in the middle seat flying from boston to st. louis – why? – well that is another story.

anyway, i was trying hard not to full-on blubber reading these stories.  tears running down my face, there was a bit of a choked back sob that came out more like a soft snort.

it was really touching and reading it just made my heart ache for those people.  one story was a daughter remembering her 79 year old mom who was very much a vibrant lady with a great sense of humor.  her mom was going to come and live  with her and her family and moving day was 9/11.  her mom was flying.  you get the picture.  and you probably know similar stories.  so we have to remember. and appreciate every little moment.  so here is my first week in review.  

i hope you’re having a great weekend.

i saw this quote and loved it. my team is awesome. we created this really fun dinner bag for a friend where we all made dinner and packaged it up real cute.

was in boston this week and had to have a lawbstah roll and captured this pink coffee cup

i call this sleeping pearls. this sweet lady was so dainty until she fell asleep and let out noise like a fog horn.

this was the chandelier in the hallway of the omni parker hotel in boston

carpet at the omni

we held an impromtu focus group at TMG this week with 10 gen y'ers to see if we are on the right track. we are!

super funny. when i "checked in" on foursquare, there was one person already checked. i opened the picture and this was who had checked in. EEK!

really exciting to be at a young start-up like scvngr. what energy and drive. really pumped some life into me - very exciting. i refuse to get old.

Tags: , ,

best of dallas

26 Aug

by ROF

how old were you when you came to the big d?

first time was the summer of 1992, i was 22 years old.

why did you come here? 

i was a summer intern with fults companies – a bad ass commercial real estate firm. we were on the 14th floor in the crescent tower #300 in uptown, i thought i was jr ewing, it was a cool place to be.

what do you like most about dallas?

hands down – the entrepreneurial spirit that this city has is like no other in my book.

where is the best place to go for pre-cowboy game imbibing?

at the old stadium i have great memories of the blue lot. for years i tailgated with the same crew. my good friend todd jones a.k.a. the tailgate king was the best host for all home games. each week he would go out and set up as soon as the lot opened, sometimes before day break in the early morning. great memories!  at the new stadium the lots are so scattered and traffic is so bad, usually go inside the stadium and have a few drinks at the hall of fame bar. jerry’s “death star” is cool and big and has great seats and amenities, but I loved and miss the old times in the blue lot.

three best places to have a power lunch with a potential client?

in this order:

1, the mercury

2, sevy’s grill

3. kampai sushi & grill

if this one current deal closes that i am working on, kampai will move to the top of the list. all parties involved have meet there a few times for lunch meetings.

two really fun happy hour places?

st. pete’s dancing marlin, great vibe and atmosphere and primo’s, fyi – started going here in 1992 way before it was such a hot spot

best waiter in dallas?

very hard to say, this city is fun of great restaurant staff. if i had to pick one – my dear friend emma, the fun & sassy girl with the new jersey accent behind the bar at the original bob’s chop house on lemmon ave.

best mexican restaurant?

i would have to say ojetas, the original one on maple ave. great food and great staff.

if you could hold a happy hour with 5 people who would they be – living or dead – and where would you hold it?

a.j. foyt – hall of fame racecar driver
jim krause – amy’s father
amy fulford – the wife
bono – u2 front man and humanitarian
john wooden – former ucla basketball coach

at bob’s in dallas on lemmon.  both jim krause and i knew bob very well.

Tags: , , , , ,

san antonio – july 2011

9 Jul

having fun in san antonio. a much needed trip.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Newer Entries →