DALLAS! It is not just a television show.

So, Snickers and I flew home to Dallas on Saturday this weekend.  Even though I now am calling Northern Virginia home, Dallas will always be my real home. This is for a couple of reasons but most especially because my family is all based in the Big D metroplex.

We had an early morning flight and simply for Snickers sake (yeah, right), I upgraded to first class on the 3-ish hour flight.

I can see Big Tex from here!

Snickers did all right on the flight with just a little bit of fussing towards the end.  To keep her calm, I ended up holding her carrier in my lap for the last 20 or so minutes and the landing only unzipping so she could stick her head out once we were on the ground.  Funny enough, no one other than the guy sitting next to me knew there was a dog on the plane so I deem that a success.  That and I honestly think I stress more than she does on the flights - me worried about her behavior on the plane.

After being picked up at the airport by the best of friends due to the parents and all other family still being on a "family" vacation (can you call it that if the whole family is not there?), we made it to the house and started on the all important laundry.  After traveling for two weeks and having a full week of business for work, I ended up simply packing mostly dirty clothes.

Then it was a fun girls night out drinking one of my favorite local brews that you cannot get anywhere else:

Oh Revolver Blood and Honey, why can't you sell in Northern VA?

This fun filled night was topped off by a morning brunch at a great little french bistro style restaurant serving a killer buffet on Sundays with another of the bestests of people.  Seriously people, there is nothing like the variety of the food they offer...oh, and $2 mimosas!  I topped off a sunny Sunday morning with a bit of retail therapy stocking up on t-shirts for the summer.

Sunday night was dedicated solely to the wonder that is Tex-Mex.  Most of you who know me well know I have been belaboring the fact that there really is no quality Tex-Mex food in the DMV.  Seriously folks...good, simple Tex-Mex from a family restaurant is such a gift.  Which is why the first official meal with the parents was dedicated to the wonder that is our favorite family haunts, Rafa's.  I basically ate myself into a food coma.

Well, that is it so far for this week.  I have been briefed on the upcoming rib smoke-off that is evidently supposed to take place on July 4th here at the homestead.  We will also be blessed with front row seats to the annual firework show that my parents club puts on each year. Which means I will be huddled in the house cuddling my Snickers since she HATES fireworks...ah well.

Sparklers all around, y'all!

Shelley

Friday. That is all.

So, I woke up this morning to the blaring of the alarm clock on my phone - don't know why I don't use the giant alarm clock on my night stand but there you go - and as I lie there in bed contemplating the fact that it was once again 5:30 in the morning, I remembered it was also Friday.  Friday, people!

And not just any Friday but the Friday before I head back to Dallas for a whole week.  I. AM. STOKED. I am crashing at my parents house and I am seriously thinking about asking the neighbors if I can use their pool (what, they have offered it to my nieces before so why not me?)  Do you think my mac laptop is waterproof?  Do they make a case for a mac that is waterproof?

To keep the happy Friday vibes going this morning, I received the coveted upgrade email from American Airlines...yep, it is First Class to Dallas tomorrow morning!  I see a really early bloody mary in my future.  The sad thing is that I only upgraded on this flight for my dog.  See, I have discovered when she flies with me, she would rather travel in first class (yep, you can tell she is in fact my dog.)  So seat 4F on the 7:40 AM flight will be our chariot to Dallas tomorrow.

Is the taxi here yet, mom?

In other news, I enjoyed watching the USA play in the world cup yesterday during lunch with some of my team and some of the partner companies that were in the office for meetings earlier in the day.  I have never been a real soccer fan but find that I am on the World Cup bandwagon when I am around others who like know what is going on in the sport.  So, go USA! (and Columbia for our Director of Marketing).

I also took the time finally to mow the front and back yards since they had not been touched since before I left for China.  The front was not looking too terrible (well, all is relative since it always looks terrible currently with the weed infestation) but the back yard looked like the great weed forest every time Snickers went out there to do her business.  I mean, when she is having to tunnel through the weeds to find a potty spot, things need to be dealt with.

I plugged in one of the batteries (yep, my yard is cut with green technology people!) for the string trimmer and gave it 30 minutes to build up a charge.  For those of you who don't know, I in fact use a string trimmer to "mow" my yards.  I found this one with a nifty "mower" attachment that is simply a plastic housing on wheels that allows me to keep the trimmer level for a better cut.

The tool of choice for tiny yards everywhere...and lazy people.  Thanks Black and Decker (I paid for this sucker so no promotional consideration was taken...this opinion is all my own)

I powered through the back yard and almost through the front before the battery started to die...noooo!  I made it through in fits and starts for the most part but lesson learned...let the battery charge more than 30 minutes!

Tonight we are on the kitchen rampage so that nothing is left in the house to spoil while we are away for a week.  Also, I need to tame the unruly beast that is the junk mail pile by bagging and removing to the garage for the next trash day.  Finally, it will be packing time!  I have a feeling this will be another trip to Dallas where I pack all dirty clothes.  Hey, mom and dad have a washer and dryer so why pack clean?

TGIF Y'all!

Shelley

Wednesday musings...

So I am in Crystal City for a work meeting today at one of my hotels and they busted out this for our afternoon break:

Nomm, Nomm....

How cute is that?  BTW, did you know why Crystal City is called Crystal City?  I was told it was due to the buildings in the areas....being all crystally with their glass windows and such.  Don't know if it is true so just throwing it out there.

I am in countdown to the next travel trip this weekend...but this one is an especially good one since me and the dog will be flying back to Dallas for a remote work weekend before the July 4th holiday.  I will get to spend time with my family, friends, and my favorite Tex-Mex restaurants.  I am going to come back to DC fully tex-mexed out since I refuse to eat any up here since it just does not measure up.

Last night we did a team building at Lucky Strike over in Chinatown.  Had a blast but bowled terribly.  Snickers was not pleased that I got home late.  I know I should have gone home to do things around the house but whatever.  It will be another late night tonight so I will really only have two nights to get a ridiculous amount of stuff done at the house.

 I realized today that I have not really been home the past three weekends and will be gone the next two so I am woefully behind on the whole DIY front.  I mean it is part of the whole theme of this blog after all.

Anyway, I am just free-thinking here.  That and I honestly just wanted to share the milk and cookies above with everyone.  I am pretty sure I will find myself taking some jars and painting them up with the chalkboard paint sometime in the future - but after I complete some projects that are woefully behind.

Happy Milk and Cookies Wednesday, Y'all!

Shelley

While You Were Away...

I always think of the nice pink "while you were away" sheets for phone messages when I travel.  It is like I expect to have them posted on my front door when I return home telling me all the cool or not so cool things that happened around my place while I was gone.

Case in point...when I got home on Saturday, and went straight through to let my dog out in the back yard, the gate was open.  Did someone stop by to rob me and turn around when they saw the state of my first floor?  Did the meter reader stop by and just forget to close the gate?  Did we have a violent windy storm that blew the gate open?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Also, sometimes I get the feeling that some of my stuff comes alive when I am out traveling and moves around a la Beauty and the Beast.  I mean, did I really leave that coffee cup in the downstairs bathroom - the one I never use?  I don't think so (though those of you who know me probably would say yes since I have lost my car keys in the freezer before.)

This week is hopefully a calm, quiet week - yeah right - and I can get a few chores done - yeah right - before heading back to Dallas for all of next week on a work remote/holiday week.  I really need to do dishes since I neglected them before I left for the second week of my travel mania tour.

I also need to bring up the clean clothes that did not get folded before I left for China, fold them, and put them away.  It would make my life simpler if I just did this when washing them but I tend to put off washing until I have like 8 loads of laundry and who wants to fold all of that?  I figure if I can fold the equivalent of one load each day this week before heading back out of town, I just might get all the clothes moved up into the master closet!  That is the plan anyway.

oh, and my shoes have disappeared lately.  I looked in the closet this morning to grab a pair to wear to work and I only had like 4 pairs of shoes on the shelves.  Um, I know I have more than that and not all of them were packed to take with me on my trips so where did they go?  Oh, they are downstairs near the front door where I kick them off when I get home.  Time to grab a few at a time this week and add them to the shelves.

In other news, I picked up Snickers Saturday when I got home from NYC and she has been a bit of a Velcro dog since then.  We essentially napped all of Sunday away - the both of us - and she would not let me out of her site until I left for work this morning.  Boy is she going to be surprised when I bust out the travel case for the flight this weekend!

Nothing new around the townhouse - not even anything new to my Pinterest account!  I have a ton of projects to do and even some of the items to accomplish those projects but I have been mostly gone the last three weekends and will be gone the next two so we are in a holding pattern on house stuff.  I am especially ready to finish up the kitchen cabinets and move onto painting the walls and doing something inexpensive for the backsplash.  I think having this one room mostly complete for now will give me a boost to figure out if I am really going to paint my stairwells myself (think 20 ft heights in some places people) or farm them out to a painting company.

Ah, well, I have now cleared out the clutter in my head.  Maybe I will quick-mow the back and front yards tonight when I get home before I lug clothes upstairs for folding and putting away and doing a load of dishes...then again, maybe not...the lazy gene is strong today!

TTFN Y'all!

Shelley

New York...The City That Doesn't Sleep. But I Do

Final stop in travelmania 2014 but this one is a fun one.  But before I get to that, I just have to share how much I love to travel for the sheer randomness of it all.

Bad news, I did not make my upgrade to business class for my transcontinental flight but I was in exit row bulkhead so a lot of good space.  If I had made it to business class though, I would have missed a first for me in a flights.  There were quite a few Hasidic Jewish travelers on my flight and about halfway thorough the flight was evidently prayer time.  Being that we were at the bulkhead space, it was the ideal spot for these travelers to do their prayer routine.  I was resting with my eyes closed and opened them to see several men in all black holding onto the bulkhead wall in a bit of turbulence doing their thing....was odd but the flight attendants were very respectful of them as were those of us sitting where they were praying.

Next was in the taxi cab from JFK to my hotel in Times Square...we blasted by a lovely Jewish gentleman driving along in his car (he was wearing a Yarmulke hence the knowing of his religion).  He evidently was not going fast enough for the guy behind him who honked and I watched this guy roll down his window and give the honker the bird...gotta love the NYC.

I rolled into the Times Square area around 11:15 PM and it was packed full of tourists as usual.  I love the area with all it's lit signs as it reminds me of Trafalgar Square and the surrounding area in London.  So what am I doing today while in the big city?  Nothing.  I got up and had breakfast, greeted our travelers, and sent them off to prowl the city.  Me?  I am back in my pajamas in my suite and chilling today.  Tomorrow I head home and finally get to pick up my pup and cuddle with her in bed. Oh and sleep.  Sleep is important.  Sleep is probably all I will do on Sunday.

Short post this time but maybe I will have some pictures from NYC to share once we head out tonight.  In the interim, here is a photo blast from the past on a previous trip to the Big Apple...

Empire State people...

Old school Times Square circa 2010

NYC love Y'all!

Shelley

What time is it? What day is it?

So, I am still on my marathon travel schedule here in June but this time stateside and on the west coast.  When last I wrote, I was crossing my fingers and toes that I was not going to have the same issue with China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai that I had when trying to depart Beijing....

No dice.  In fact, it was worse in Shanghai.  I admit it.  I shed a tear or two in the Shanghai airport while the ticket agent basically said once again I did not have a ticket or a seat and this time the flight was sold out.  I pretty much figured I was not getting on this plane and would not make the last stop of the trip.  So frustrating.

I once again called American Express Travel and once again, while the service agent was very nice, there was really nothing that she could do to assist...which was frustrating since I was calling the help line they advertise.  We had pretty much arranged to move me to the 4:10 PM flight out of Shanghai back to the states when my trusty translator pushed me through the standby list and I was issued a ticket! Score! Now with 30 minutes until departure I just had to clear immigrations, security, and make it to my gate - including riding a people mover.  Let's just say that it is really awkward being the last - and I mean the last - person to get onto an airplane.  But I made it.  Excellent.

We checked into our hotel with 20 minutes to spare before the tradeshow began.  Whew!  I was going to survive China.  I was so relieved and frankly at that point looking forward to my flights the next day that would take me home - even if I was only going to be at home briefly.

Not. So. Fast.

Me, a traveler who rarely, if ever, has digestive issues began to feel not so good during the tradeshow.  Yep, all of a sudden my stomach was no longer excited to be traveling around China with me.  Let's just say that my time at the tradeshow was cut short and the scheduled dinner was not a possibility.  Dinner that night consisted of dry white toast and a carbonated beverage in an attempt to relieve my testy stomach.  After all, I had like 17 hours of flying the next day broken up by two 8-hour layovers. I did not need a sensitive stomach with all that travel.

I broke down and took some Pepto tablets prior to my flights and for the most part, all went well.  I evidently was on the first leg from Taipei to Tokyo with a fairly famous Asian pop singer - male - but I had no idea who he was.  The funny part was when his handlers were trying to push by everyone so he could be the first off the plane and the flight attendants were having none of it and made sure that we all got off the plan in order of our seats.

I had an interesting layover in Tokyo - the lounge was nice and quiet until several families arrived with smaller kids - one oddly enough wearing bells on his tennis shoes.  I ditched the club and went to the gate - this time already in my travel pajamas since I frankly did not really care.  Faced with an 11 hour flight, a sensitive stomach, and a still-sore mouth from the food burns, all I really wanted to do on this leg was sleep - though I did have the obligatory American Airlines hot fudge sundae because they are simply just so good.  I broke down and took a pain killer to take my mind off the mouth pains - seriously people never burn the roof of your mouth or face the painful consequences.

Magic of all magic...I slept on this flight.  And when I say slept, I mean like 5 or so hours.  I was flabbergasted when I awoke to see the flight attendants starting the breakfast service signaling that we were only 2 hours from Chicago.  I felt...refreshed.  I had never felt this good on an overseas flight before.  What a wonder sleeping on these flights!

We landed in Chicago and I made it through immigrations, customs, bag recheck, terminal change, TSA security (thank you Pre Check!), and to the Admirals club shower in like 40 minutes.  It was a travel miracle.  I did change out of the travel pajamas and back into regular clothes after taking a shower and hit Nuts on Clark for the best popcorn on earth before my very last flight of the evening.

Meanwhile, here are some final pictures taken on the whirlwind China trip:

My Shanghai View and all I got to see of the city before going to the airport...

My View in Taipei - look there is McDonalds!

More view but with mood lighting provided by the spinning earth...

Taipei - land of the scooters...and they were everywhere!

And land of traffic...I am not sure who is going where or who has the right of way here...

High-five from the West Coast Y'all!

Shelley

When in Rome...learn to speak the language.

As written last night on the plan and transcribed today when I am awake:

So the trip through China for work is progressing.  We are currently in flight from Beijing to Shanghai as I write this (for later posting as wi-fi has not made it to the China carriers we are using).  Hong Kong was great and I only which I had some time to check it out more thoroughly but we really did not have any free time on our stop.  I did get this shot the next morning after I wrote the last post from the Executive Lounge at the hotel.  It is of Kowloon over the harbor:

Meanwhile, this was the side view out of my hotel room at the Conrad in Hong Kong:

Sorry for the iPhone shot through a dirty window...

When I last wrote, I had just arrived to Hong Kong and was trying to keep my eyes open as long as possible. Two days of jet lag later, I finally got a full nights sleep in our 27-hour stop in Beijing.  I mean, it was one of those nights of sleep where you wake up in a complete startled haze no knowing where you are or what you are doing.  Must have been the comfort of the new friend I picked up:

Beijing was great but with only 27 hours and 8 of those sleeping and the rest in transit to/from the airport or inside our hotel in meetings all day, not much for me to see.  I did have the opportunity to try some new dishes that I don't think I ever would have taken the opportunity to eat had it not been at a luncheon (and frankly not knowing what they were).  For example, ever had pickled jellyfish?  Here is what it looks like:

Pickled Jellyfish anyone?

It was surprisingly tasty if a bit sour.  There wasn't anything I was just completely disgusted by the taste of but there were a few items I probably would not try again.  All in all, those who know me well know I will try anything at least once.

One of the courses was some type of deep fried prawn ball that one of my American colleagues joked reminded him of fair food.  The batter was slightly sweet and reminded me of funnel cake surrounding the prawn and drizzled with a spicy sot of mayo.  Sounds odd but was really good. Dessert was a dark sugar honey cake and I so need the recipe! It was served by these sort of coconut jello pieces in the shape of hearts.  They were really tasty.

Here are just a few shots of Beijing that I was able to get in the brief moments I was out of the hotel:

That is the Conrad Beijing in the background.  Some of the most unique architecture!

The chaos started when we arrived at the airport in Beijing this afternoon.  A group of like 10 of us were taken around to the group desk at China Eastern airlines to check in..fabulous! We were going to speed through this process....yeah, until the ticket agent could not find my reservation. No problem as I had the confirmation number on my travel app and I had thought ahead and printed out my flight arrangements from AMEX travel.  That would solve the problem, right? Nope.  

Complicating the matter was the fact that the ticket agents did not speak English and when I called the travel help desk, she did not speak mandarin.  Lucky for me that two colleagues from Singapore and Malaysia both were able to translate and stuck by my side until we could convince the ticket agents to solve the problem.

What was the problem?  Well, apparently my ticket was issued all right but there was no name associated with it.  All in all, I can laugh about it now that I am somewhere around 30000 feet up and on my way to our next stop but it was probably the most stressful time I have ever encountered while traveling.  Huge props to traveling with gracious colleagues who were sticking by me no matter what.

Consequences are that I am writing from seat 71D but I am going so that is a win in my book. oh, and the in-flight meal is something with fish so imagine 300 or so servings of that and the smell in this metal tube.

Now I am going to kick back and watch the trippy monkey cartoon they are showing as the in-flight entertainment.  It is a total propaganda piece and the English sub-titles are hilarious. I get two whole nights in Shanghai - no free time though - before a final day and night in Taipei. I think I might just pray to this animated monkey god on the video screens that my next China Eastern check-in goes smoother. Well, that and I am going to call AMEX travel in the morning and have them scour their system to confirm all is well with my next reservation.

Xie Xie (pronounced "che che") y'all!

Shelley

UPDATE:  Called AMEX travel this morning to have them call China Eastern to confirm that I would not have the same issue tomorrow morning on the flight from Shanghai to Taipei...no dice.  There are all kinds of things happening in the background but no one can guarantee that I will not have the same problem due to another carrier needing to send some type of paperwork 24 hours in advance of the flight.  They can see my ticket and see me attached to the ticket but I could have the same problems.  Good news is my Malaysian translator has already said he would stick by me and make sure I got on the plane.  Hugs all around...

It's Shanghai People!  And late so I am going to bed.

Seriously what time is it again?

So, I have officially made it to China - specifically Hong Kong.  It is "hazy" today in Hong Kong which means that you cannot really see your hand in front of your face or like walking into a Vegas casino before people wizened up and stopped (or reduced) smoking indoors.  It is also eleventh million degrees with a humidity percentage of like 99.9%...I think if you could squeeze the hazy air, you could make water.

But I am in Hong Kong!  Holy buckets!

Flights were mostly uneventful getting here. Mostly.  That whole American/US Air combo took a surprise turn this morning at Reagan when they moved my shuttle on American Eagle from gate 34 to gate 35.  Sounds easy right?  Not at 6:00 AM when NO ONE knows that it has moved but my trusty AA app.  Even the gate agents in terminal B did not know the flight had been moved.  See, gate 35 is in terminal C...and the typical shuttle bus that runs between the two terminals does not fire up until 7:30 according to the airport authority.  Now, those of you who know me know I always get to the airport super early if my choice and it worked out exceptionally well when I had to go through security - non TSA Pre Check security because that is also not open that early - at both terminal B and terminal C.  Not super convenient.

THEN, when I got to JFK, I had to transition from terminal 8 to terminal 7 so you guessed it...another security search.  I was an extra secure passenger by the time I reached the Cathay Pacific Lounge.  By this time it was 8:30 AM and I had not eaten anything yet.  I mean, it is hard to get motivated about having breakfast at 2:30 AM when you wake up to head to the airport.   So, following the lead of some of my eventual fellow passengers, I grabbed this:

Yep, that is a ramen bowl and a glass of Sauvingon Blanc eaten with chopsticks.  And it rocked.  I saw these in Seoul as well at the airline lounge so super popular evidently for the asian flights.  My flight was to take off at 10:15 am so around 9 am I decided to head out of the club and to the gate which was just a brief walk away.  Happily they started boarding early which meant I could get on and get all my stuff situated!  Even better, we boarded mid-cabin which meant that I could turn left and not have a ton of people walking by as I tried to get situated.

Let me preface this next image by saying that I have the best bosses in the world who understand and respect the hardship it is to travel on long-haul flights in coach.  Why do I say this?  Because I was able to buy this trip in mostly business class - with the exception of the shorter inter-China flights!  So this is what I walked to as my living space for 16 hours...

Yep, I have already cluttered it up!

People, what you have to understand is that this space is stupid large for an airplane.  And super private!  In my business class cabin, there were only 8 of us in these beauties and there were separating walls.  There were storage nooks and crannies everywhere.  If you look on the counter, you can see my travel pajamas - you heard that right - that I take with me on long-haul flights.  I had two windows, a 15 inch television that worked amazingly well (including showing live feed from the video camera mounted under the plane!)
Two things I learned though...
1. No matter how nice the seats are, they just are too stiff for me to get comfortable enough to really sleep on when fully reclined.
2.  The airline provided nice headphones for me to use during the entire flight but no directions on where to plug in their speciality jack (hint, it is in the cabinet up there next to the chair buttons where the headphones are stored but n the wall nearest the seat and flush with the wall so you cannot see it.)

We stared off with brunch so I started off with a nice champagne to drink:

I really try to limit the amount of alcohol I drink and bulk up on water consummation simply because I am already typically dehydrated so it is magnified 10 fold at 35,000 ft.

During the first half of the flight surprisingly I got 2 hours sleep (drug induced by nyquil so I fully expect to crash while typing this) - so that is 2 out of 8 ours in people.  For my DFW friends, think about the flight to Hawaii and only being halfway done.  Yeah.  Anyway at this time, the cabin crew turned on the mood lighting as all of us in the window seats had pulled our shades down and it was pitch black.  It was time for Dinner:

Bloody Mary - it's what's for dinner

I had to have my obligatory bloody mary and guys - this one was exceptional!  I far outpaced the small cut of beef I had.  I should have just had the prawn appetizer and then the cheese and fruit plate but I thought I would give the entree a try.  Yeah, no.

Anyway, it was back to watching a movie - two only on this flight unlike Seoul where I watched 5-6 on the flight to and from.  I think I listened to just about every type of music they had on board and learned that Hong Kong Pop is not my thing.  I read, and tried to sleep a bit more but no dice.

In the end, it was a great first leg to my trip.  I am in HK (at the Conrad - company hotel plug!) for only really 1 1/2 days and working most of that as is.  But the hotel is lovely and they upgraded me to the executive level which meant I checked in upstairs in the executive lounge.

It is now 4:03 PM which means it is 4:03 AM eastern and I can tell.  I am going to try to push it for another few hours keeping busy and having a bit of room service and then it is lights out for this person.  We get started mid-day tomorrow and then it is off to the races! I will post when I can this week and especially share any unique pictures or experiences I encounter...

Keep Flying Y'all!

Shelley

Timing is everything...

So, yesterday my body decided it was an opportune time to get sick...like, headache, temperature, stomachache sick.  You know, like I don't have a care in the world and there is not a 16 hour flight to a foreign country in my immediate future.  After bravely driving into work and having a meeting, I conceded defeat at 10ish in the morning and headed back home where I dosed with copious amounts of dayquil and nyquil.

Seems to have mostly done the trick and I am feeling better today but am so woefully behind in everything that I need to do that I will be up supremely late tonight prior to flying...and flying... and flying.  Should be a fun and sleep deprived evening.  Maybe that means I will sleep for a time on the plane.  But probably not.

In other news, my house is still a mess on the "main" floor but I was able to finally recycle all the mail that I finally started getting delivered once the post office and I became friends.  The previous owners of my Townhouse got even more mail than I normally do...and now I am getting the mail for both of us.  I have tried the return to sender and all types of ways to get the post office to stop delivering their mail but have conceded defeat on that.  So my recycling bin will just look like I am exceptionally popular.

The dog made the trip into the office with me...with a side trip to the doggie day care. She was having none of it when they tried to escort her away and into the play room without me coming with her.  Always breaks my heart a little to hear her cry for her mom.  That and the fact that I will not see here again until the 22nd of this month is a bit hard to take.  She is pissed at me currently anyway as even in my sickness yesterday, I still gave her a bath.  Bathing Snickers is actually a bit of fun as I just fill up the ginormous garden sized tub in the master bath, plop her down in it and let her paddle/swim around to get wet, pick her up and suds her up with shampoo, and then redeposit her in the bathtub to let her swim herself free of soap.  All in all good fun for me - even if she does not like it.

Anyway, just a bunch of rambling thoughts today and a bit of dayquil induced nonsense thoughts but that is what is currently happening in my head - I know, sad right? - so you all get the benefit.

Oh, and props to Grace at Hilton Anaheim for helping me squeeze in a pedicure halfway through this travel marathon!  I have a short bit of downtime so I am having a mini-treat while I am on the road!

Happy Trails, Y'all!

Shelley

The To Do list has become a To Do book...

Ever have that feeling where your to do list has migrated from a list into a book? Yep, I had that issue this morning when I started looking at what I needed to do from work and personal sides before heading overseas.  It especially hit hard when I started drafting an email to our team Coordinator that I thought was going to be super quick and ended up with me creating a spreadsheet of people and attaching websites, etc.  Seriously what was I thinking?

The personal to do list left before I head out for travelmania is specifically longer today than yesterday simply because I was my usual lazy self and skipped doing anything chore-like last night.  I just was not feeling it people and if the mood is not right, it will take me FOREVER to do chores.  But, even if the mood is not with me tonight, it has to get done.

On the list is laundry as likely 75% of my washable clothes are dirty (and for those of you who know me, that is a significant amount of clothing!)  I got a jump start and threw in a load before leaving the house (now that I am relatively secure in the fact that the washer will not leak water all over the carpeted basement).  This means I only have like 5 or 6 loads left plus the folding and storing of said clothes. Crap.  There is something bad about having your closet on the third floor and your washer/dryer on the first.  Clothes just never seem to migrate to the closet as fast as they should.

Dishes are also on the docket along with bagging up trash.  Friday is the last trash pick up day before I head out anything and everything trash related must be put out.  It is terribleness to come home to a house with trash in the cans.  Dishes are not as bad but visually look like world war 3 in my kitchen.  With the cabinet doors still off and the small kitchen appliances forming a kind of electrical island in the middle of my kitchen floor, chaos abounds in this space.  I am just going to have to deal with it until I can get those pesky kitchen cabinet doors completed.

I have started on my packing list.  Yep, you heard me...a packing list.  Most people just select things from their closets, add to suitcase and thar she blows.  Not me.  I have to put things in a spreadsheet format accounting for each day as well as morning and evening for each day.  It is the only way I will make sure to pack everything.  Seriously.  I have forgotten an entire day of clothes before when trying to pack without a list.

And this list is major since it covers two separate back to back trips.  Essentially, I will separate each day into piles (that is a lot of piles people) and for those for the second trip, they will just stay lined up on the bed ready to be deposited into my suitcase after the first haul is emptied.  Goal would be to use a small suitcase for both trips but I am pretty sure that is not going to happen. We shall see....

I am also starting to contemplate what in the world I am going to do for 16 hours of straight flying.  In an industrious world, I would build and revise three separate presentations, read up on the business culture of China, learn Mandarin, and knit a throw blanket.  Reality says I will work up one - maybe two - of the presentations I need to put together and then spend the rest of the time lazing about reading and watching movies. Bonus industrious points if I watch the movies in Mandarin with subtitles...

Anywhoo, I feel like I am overcompensating posting on this blog simply because I am pretty sure that I will have zero to -5 free time in China to update.  I also do not know if their internet filters will allow for posting.  So those of you that have chosen to read this will probably get a break from my musings at least while I am overseas.  I promise to share all the wonderful goodness when I get back tho.

Finally, I have to share this photo because I am going to miss this munchkin very much while I am traveling.

Snickers with her favorite toy

She is in exceptional substitute-mom hands while I am gone but still.  Good news is she gets to strap on her flying wings at the end of the month along with me again.

Happy Planning Y'all!

Shelley

T Minus...

3 days to go (well 3 1/2 since it is just after noon today) before I take off on a trip of epic proportions.  We are talking 11 flights of various lengths - shortest of just over an hour and longest at just over 16 hours.  All this will be accomplished in 15 days.  Yep, that is almost 1flight per day people.

So in honor of my upcoming flying bonanza, I thought I would share with you some of my tricks to staying sane on flights short and long:

1. Upgrade on those long flights if you can manage it.  seriously people when you are on a flight that is over 8 hours and cramped in a small seat that does not really recline with other people sandwiched in all around you...that is miserable.  So upgrade.  It is worth the expense if you are paying out of pocket.
2. In order to upgrade, try to do all your flying with one airline or it's travel partners.  Gaining status with an airline makes upgrading easier and at certain levels of status, you will receive free upgrades.  Do it people. 
3. Noise Canceling.  cannot say enough about noise canceling headsets on long haul flights.  If you have not upgraded where the airline provides them for you, bring your own.  Don't have any?  Invest people.  There are multiple different companies at all price points. Just make sure they are comfortable for long wearing (I can't do in the in-ear ones for longer than an hour but some people can.)  Oh, and always pack spare batteries.  Voice of Experience speaking right there.
4. It is Cold. Or Hot.  Layer it up people.  You hear this so often but it is essential to being comfortable on a flight.  For example, on my flight to Dubai, I was sitting next to the big exit door and even though I had on socks, my feet froze on the first flight - even with a blanket.  I was so uncomfortable on that flight and kicking myself for not bringing my 2nd set of socks like normal.  You cannot control the temperature on the plane (other than that annoying little wind machine they call a vent) so control as much as possible your temperature with layers.
5. Travel Pillows are your friend.  On most long haul international trips, you are "given" a blanket and pillow.  That pillow is excellent for lumbar support and not much else.  To make sure you do not wake up (should you, unlike me, be able to sleep on a plane) with the worlds worst neck pain, bring a travel pillow.  I use mine for arm rest padding when I am not trying to fruitlessly sleep.
6. Entertainment.  Y'all if you are relying on the airline to provide your entertainment, be prepared to be bored to tears.  Even when I fly in business, I always come prepared with books loaded on my iPad, things to work or read on my laptop, etc.  Nothing like having the in-fight entertainment work for everyone else but you for 14 hours straight.
7. And finally, pack a snack.  On most long haul international trips you will be fed multiple times but have you seen that stuff?  I typically will only eat the tray set up in coach - the salad, roll, and maybe dessert on an off day.  Otherwise it is snack food central.  For domestic longer trips, no food for you so pack something to tide you over.

These are my main hints and most you have probably heard over and over.  I also pack in my carry-on for long (think 10 hours or longer) international flights a set of lounging PJs to change into - keeps me super comfortable and my clothes from looking like they have been balled up in my hamper before getting off the plane.

I also have a club membership to my carrier of choice.  I showed a fellow traveler the wonderful benefits to using their really nice showers during layovers recently coming back from Seoul.  People, after a 13 hour flight and during a 4 hour layover, there is nothing like being able to take a shower and get back to feeling human again before another 3 hour flight.  Nothing.

Great.  NOW I all I can think of is what am I going to pack for the 15 or so days I am traveling.  I have a sneaking suspicion that laundry is what's for dinner tonight.

Happy flying Y'all!

Shelley

Weekend fun and fixing..

So the crew was out on Saturday this last weekend fixing (hopefully for good) the leakage problem on my front windows.  Fingers crossed on that.  But, in order to keep from being fined by the HOA, I needed to address the paint situation on one of my decorative shutters...on the third floor.  People, there is nothing like the feeling of hanging half your body out the window 30 feet off the ground to paint a vinyl shutter.  Not recommended for the faint of heart...or anyone really.  It was a dangerous thing to do but I did it anyway while Snickers, my dog, looked on from the bed probably laughing hysterically in her head.

Problem with painting the shutter though is that they are the really inexpensive black vinyl shutters you can pick up from any big-box home improvement store.  So what you are saying...well, they are not meant to be painted and you can practically peel the paint off once it is dry.  I need to take them all down, remove the bad paint job, prime them with the appropriate primer, and repaint but we are going with the patch fix right now.

Also in DIY news, I broke down and bought a paint sprayer this weekend.  Supposedly I can use it inside the house on the walls without significant overspray but that remains to be seen.  It will help me paint the kitchen cabinet doors quicker however...when I get around to them.  The great window repair replay on Saturday trashed my plans to tackle this final part of the kitchen fluff-up but so be it.  The small kitchen appliance flood on the kitchen floor has to be dealt with though.  I have now kicked the Cuisinart twice causing much hopping around and cursing.

In other news, I went to my first concert here in the DMV out at Jiffy Lube Live.  Think of it as Smirnoff from the old Dallas days except not surrounded by the State Fair grounds.  Had a blast seeing the Steve Miller Brand and Journey last night but it was chaos trying to get out of the parking lot.  I thought it was about time that I did something other than work around the townhouse or lounge inside like a hermit.  I did make up for it by mowing the front and backyard with my Black and Decker String Trimmer with mower attachment...seriously, this thing is too funny to use.  I did discover that my backyard is a tropical drink waiting to happen though with 60% made up of Mint plants and 20% made up of strawberry plants.  Just at Rum!

This coming weekend I head overseas again to Asia.  First trip to China and I will be going, going, going so not a lot of site-seeing/tourist time but you never know.  Meanwhile, I am trying to put some semblance to the inside of my home so when I get home for all of a day, it will at least be less chaotic.  good luck with that.

TGMO y'all...thank goodness Monday's over!

Shelley