things i did on my "stay-cation"

1. read a book
2. camped by a pretty little creek
3. ate great food
4. drank delicious beer
5. went to the coast
6. caught up on some DVR
7. petted the cat
8. slept
9. hung out in our boat drinking beer
10. walked (a little)
11. went to an amazing concert
12. celebrated theboy's bday
13. got engaged!

i'll say it was a very successful time away from work making it even more difficult to come back.

nope, not stressed at all

wanna know how i know? b/c i just went to the bathroom to pee and looked down at my underwear only to realize they were on backwards. yep, i've been wearing them backwards since 6:30 this morning.

clearly my head is in a great place (not!).

side note, i'm going missing again. it's time for my crazy work travel schedule where i will be flitting around the US and the world until early december.

see you later alligator.

things are looking up...

focusing on the positive side of travel:

1) the hotel room i stayed in last night is bigger than my entire house and has not one, but two flat screen tvs. (my house has approximately zero)

2) getting to try restaurants and foods that my normally meager social budget could never fund.

3) leaving rainy pdx, to pull into chilly but sunny vegas on a sunday night (also knowing i'll still sleep in my own bed tonight)

4) for the first time in ages, someone besides my mom (and you few readers out there) actually cares that i'm gone and when i'm coming home.

5) my hotel room had one of those positively skinny mirrors where i looked like a size 0 instead of the slightly larger than 0 girl i am. can i get one of those installed in my house tomorrow?

hmmm, monday indeed.

notes from the road: barcelona

after 20 some odd hours of traveling, i arrived in barcelona early yesterday morning, local time. i'm here for a couple of events but will be detouring to london later this week. i'm hoping to be in my house in time for thanksgiving.

i'm currently sitting in a lime green conference center where they are piping in ambient techno music 24 hours a day (it's quite strange at 7AM). most interesting is to watch the people around you. a conference buddy and i (someone i see on the road a lot) keep laughing b/c we'll suddenly catch ourselves completely distracted bobbing our heads or tapping our pant legs in time with the music. it's an unusual event for sure.

in other news, highlights of my trip so far include:

• a truly princess di moment in a taxi cab yesterday - if i'm ever to die in a firey taxi cab crash it will be here, in barcelona.
• a delicious dinner at pla - last night. gastro-porn, for sure.
• seeing carmindy in the bathroom at the newark airport. don't worry, it wasn't under some unusual senatorial, foot tapping, toilet paper confusion (wrong airport, i know, but i still wondered) but when i looked up and realized who was washing her hands next to me, i nearly squealed - a celeb siting to me for sure.

i'll give you some other updates from this trip as soon as i have more to say.

UPDATE:

2 things:

1) the so called paper towels in the restrooms are the consistency of kleenex which makes for kind of messy hand drying.

2) i just ate the "vegetarian fajitas" for lunch. they were actually black bean burritos covered with tomato sauce. hmmm? i prefer all the delcious carpaccio i've been eating.

and another...an attractive spanish man, driving a cart of fresh croissants just winked at me...le sigh.

things i've learned...

guess what? i've been traveling again. but i had to share a couple of things i learned on my last trip (just got home last night, leaving again in 2 days!)

1. cell phones actually do work at 10,000 plus feet (in case you were wondering like i was) as evidenced by the fact that the man sitting behind me answered his cellphone not once, but twice on my plane ride home last night. i came so so so close to saying something to him as we deplaned, but i knew all of my fellow passengers felt the same way and they didn't say anything either.
2. it's apparently now completely acceptable to be middle aged and hit on the ladies just because they are occupying the seat in front of you on an airplane as evidenced by the fact that the minute i moved into my row on my departing flight last week, the man behind me starting speaking to me about how if i wanted to during the flight, i could recline my seat all the way and he would give me a massage in flight. i opted to sit straight up uncomfortably in my chair to avoid this scenario. the second we landed he informed me that it was quite a shame that i hadn't taken advantage of his in-flight massage. um yeah...b/c having some grimy strangers hands on my shoulders seems really relaxing. yum!
3. rhinestones are in as demostrated by the woman sharing my row on the above flight. rhinstones on her sweatpants, hairclip, phone, fingernails, etc. the minute we started our descent, she started primping and i almost followed her out of the airport just to see who she was meeting.
4. hollywood kisses in real life (meaning at the baggage claim) make everyone uncomfortable. thanks a ton fake red-headed lady and your boyfriend, luvah, whatever in a suit. i totally appreciate that you were excited to see each other, but we didn't need to see the tent.
5. there are some really genuinely nice people around when you least expect them. yesterday, when riding the BART to the airport from Napa, i met manny, an adorable 73 year old man who owns an italian restaurant, has 17 grandchildren and said i reminded him of one of his daughters. he gave me his business card and asked that i call him next time i'm in the bay area - he and his wife would like me and my friends to come to one of their family dinners (she only cooks mexican food at home). wonder what would happen if i actually called manny...

glad to be home, if only for a moment.

you might have noticed...

that i've gone missing again. it's what i do right before i head off to a big event; i hunker down and get the job done, working a million hours in the week or so leading up to an event, it leaves little time to do anything but come home to get some sleep at night. sometimes, if you're lucky, i might write a great big post on the airplane or at some moment during my travels, but i save the good stuff for when i'm living my real life at home.

newsflash: i have one major week-long plus work commitment every month through july so you can expect one major disappearance from me every month prior to my leaving. at least now you'll know where i am when i disappear.

things to note:

• i'll resurface next week back in pdx - after having spent last weekend without talking to a soul until arriving at the airport on sunday, this weekend holds b-day parties and girls' nights and fun (and actually a good chunk of work-like activities as well).
• i have one free weekend in february.
• i have to travel again soon, too soon.
• sometimes i get homesick for my bed and my space and the me that's me when i'm at home. i don't sleep when i travel.
• sometimes i hate the me that travels all the time. i hate that a man walked up to me today and asked about my job and then looked at my hand, said you're not married, so at least that explains why you do it. no, i do it b/c i love it and even though i sometimes hate the traveling me, the work fits me.
• i made myself more than uncomfortable the other day when discussing (with another foodie) the increasing cost of flank steak. my comment? perhaps you should only use flank steak as your "formal meat". who says things like this? formal meat? what exactly does that mean?

i'm guessing you're used to this "me" now.