I never thought I'd say this, but Chicago is not bad. Not that I thought it was bad, but it was never on my radar as somewhere that I would enjoy going.
We had work a couple-day-long work meetings in Chicago this past week and I've been happily enjoying sunny weather in the 80's. And then I came home to beautiful Portland where there were piles of leftover snow on the roadways as I drove home last night from PDX and it was misting, as always.
The BEST part of Chicago, besides the weather and the awesome hotel and the food (ok, it was all pretty awesome) was the fact that we could "hipster watch". It seems to me that everyone else in the country is catching the "I want to look like I live in the Northwest" fashion bug. It was 80+ degrees and out and we were watching the kids slowly sweating their way down the block in skinny black pants and long sleeved flannel shirts and big bushy beards with knit caps rolled down their foreheads. Meanwhile, those of us from the ACTUAL Northwest busted out the shorts and capris and rolled up our sleeves as we walked down the sidewalk for lunch in the off chance that our 10 minute walk would expose us to enough UV rays to tint our lily-white skin.
The WORST part of going to Chicago was not Chicago's fault at all, it was mine. I stupidly left my crazy-expensive "I've got idiot adult skin"face wash kit IN THE HOTEL BATHROOM and forgot about it until I landed at PDX late last night. I called the hotel this morning and unfortunately they didn't have it because, oddly enough, they don't typically keep face wash and soaps that people leave in their rooms (weird, right?). So now I have to haul myself to the mall and get another stupidly expense face wash kit for my awesome (sensitive and all of the sudden acne-prone) skin so I won't turn into a giant pimple when I go to New York next week for Spring Break. Oh, the awesomeness of me.
You know you're ready to be home when instead of having a great time during meeting breaks eating and exploring a city (which we still did) myself and my coworkers were busting out our smart phones to share pictures of family, kids, dogs, homes and home projects, etc. We weren't taking pictures of Chicago at all.
Also, I had the bumpiest plane rides ever to and from Chicago- something about the Jet Stream and hot and cold fronts meeting each other. I'm sure there have been bumpier flights, but if you know me well at all you know I'm not the best flyer so it was a little stressful. Nothing makes me appreciate the earth more than leaving it's surface for a few hours!
So I'm back this weekend and hopefully BF and I will get to enjoy our home and puppies and maybe even head out to the coast and do some sightseeing (read: eating and drinking delicious things). Then next week I'm off to Buffalo, NY to see some family and generally appreciate where I currently live even more.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Me at 27- and I'm Back for a Few Days
I honestly don't feel old enough to be 27, if that makes any sort of sense... but here I am. I feel pretty much the same as I did a few years ago, like not much has changed between 24 and now. 3 years isn't that long of a period of time anyway, so it makes sense.
This year I defied convention and didn't really plan any birthday extravaganzas or week-long celebrations like I have in years past. I've just been so busy with everything that my birthday was almost an afterthought, but it's not a bad thing at all.
The past two weeks I've been traveling work meetings right after we finished moving in to our new home while at the same time moving our offices to a new location so my whole life has been in boxes and suitcases. Two weeks ago I went to St. Louis, a city in which I've never really spent any time other than layovers in the airport, and found that it really was a nice place to get away from the dreary NW weather for a couple of days. It was pretty sunny and warmer than I'm used to (so really in the 60's, but that's warm to me!) which was nice and after our meetings we got to take a tour of the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St. Louis. It was actually pretty fascinating and I love that they have the Clydesdale stables on site as well. After that tour we took a private- after-hours tour of the Busch Stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals play and I was surprisingly entertained for someone who doesn't know a thing about baseball or really care to.
I came home for a couple days and then headed out to Phoenix for my meeting and was so happy to be able to pack shorts and tank tops! I even got a slight hint of a "tan" on my pasty-white face and arms! That was worth the trip. But it was a crazy busy week filled with meetings and awards and food and line dancing and birthdays and more food and then some cake with a side of cake and then more meetings. I was more than ready to come home and sleep in my own bed and be able to hang out with BF and the puppies.
Some of BF and my friends came up from Corvallis to stay the night on their way to Seattle so we went out with them on Friday night for burgers and a great Black and Tan brownie with Ice Cream. Like I needed that! Saturday we just did house stuff (more unpacking and finally we got our bedroom curtains up- no more white sheet thumb-tacked to the wall!). Sunday we slept in and went to my parents' house for my birthday dinner. My mom made shrimp and my dad grilled steak and we had some mashed potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob, and some really awesome homemade cornbread. For dessert my mom got a HUGE red velvet cake that we enjoyed with ice cream. I love me some red velvet, but cream cheese frosting is RICH.
After the food came the birthday presents and some would say that I'm completely lame for asking for mostly house-related stuff for my gifts, but I don't really need anything else. I got a garden hose, some garden statues (owls of course, and one lights up!) a double boiler (to make yogurt), some fancy blush that I usually don't buy for myself, movie tickets and some to-be-purchased curtains- my mom wanted me to pick them out so once I do I will have them. It was an awesome night I was happy to just be with BF and my family, it was a nice change of pace.
This week I'm digging out of boxes to get the rest of the house and my office set up. Next week I'm off to Chicago for a few days, and then Spring Break! I took the whole week of Spring Break off so BF and I could hang out and so I could go visit family in NY for a couple days. Fingers crossed that the country starts warming up before the break!
This year I defied convention and didn't really plan any birthday extravaganzas or week-long celebrations like I have in years past. I've just been so busy with everything that my birthday was almost an afterthought, but it's not a bad thing at all.
The past two weeks I've been traveling work meetings right after we finished moving in to our new home while at the same time moving our offices to a new location so my whole life has been in boxes and suitcases. Two weeks ago I went to St. Louis, a city in which I've never really spent any time other than layovers in the airport, and found that it really was a nice place to get away from the dreary NW weather for a couple of days. It was pretty sunny and warmer than I'm used to (so really in the 60's, but that's warm to me!) which was nice and after our meetings we got to take a tour of the Anheuser Busch Brewery in St. Louis. It was actually pretty fascinating and I love that they have the Clydesdale stables on site as well. After that tour we took a private- after-hours tour of the Busch Stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals play and I was surprisingly entertained for someone who doesn't know a thing about baseball or really care to.
I came home for a couple days and then headed out to Phoenix for my meeting and was so happy to be able to pack shorts and tank tops! I even got a slight hint of a "tan" on my pasty-white face and arms! That was worth the trip. But it was a crazy busy week filled with meetings and awards and food and line dancing and birthdays and more food and then some cake with a side of cake and then more meetings. I was more than ready to come home and sleep in my own bed and be able to hang out with BF and the puppies.
Some of BF and my friends came up from Corvallis to stay the night on their way to Seattle so we went out with them on Friday night for burgers and a great Black and Tan brownie with Ice Cream. Like I needed that! Saturday we just did house stuff (more unpacking and finally we got our bedroom curtains up- no more white sheet thumb-tacked to the wall!). Sunday we slept in and went to my parents' house for my birthday dinner. My mom made shrimp and my dad grilled steak and we had some mashed potatoes with gravy, corn on the cob, and some really awesome homemade cornbread. For dessert my mom got a HUGE red velvet cake that we enjoyed with ice cream. I love me some red velvet, but cream cheese frosting is RICH.
After the food came the birthday presents and some would say that I'm completely lame for asking for mostly house-related stuff for my gifts, but I don't really need anything else. I got a garden hose, some garden statues (owls of course, and one lights up!) a double boiler (to make yogurt), some fancy blush that I usually don't buy for myself, movie tickets and some to-be-purchased curtains- my mom wanted me to pick them out so once I do I will have them. It was an awesome night I was happy to just be with BF and my family, it was a nice change of pace.
This week I'm digging out of boxes to get the rest of the house and my office set up. Next week I'm off to Chicago for a few days, and then Spring Break! I took the whole week of Spring Break off so BF and I could hang out and so I could go visit family in NY for a couple days. Fingers crossed that the country starts warming up before the break!
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