Tag: travel

A Little November Recap

November was a very busy month, and December isn’t looking much slower.

Shane and I went to Atlanta to see Monet Immersive and had a great time. We discovered that Atlanta has several Super H Marts, and a bunch of other fun farmer’s markets that we got to check out. A few days later I headed back to ATL for a couple of days for work reasons. I ended up getting stuck there for an extra night because I would have driven directly into Tropical Storm Nicole and while my car is getting a bit old, I didn’t want to wreck. During my time there, I missed our 16th dating anniversary, but since we don’t celebrate much, it wasn’t terrible.

That same week Shane’s grandma died, which was expected but still very sad, so we packed up and headed to her funeral that weekend. It was nice to see his family, but the circumstances were unfortunate. I did learn that she really liked true crime tv shows, so now I wish we had watched those together.

Shane had a birthday on the 15th but his best birthday present didn’t come until that Friday – his best friend Matthew flew in from Portland for Friendsgiving. When we started our drive upstate, we swung by the airport and picked him up. I made the sacrifice of sitting in the back of the truck so they could have quality time. Friendsgiving was fantastic. There was a BBQ Around the World theme and we took banchan (naturally) and bulgogi. Everything was so delicious and it was so so good to see our friends. The majority of the group has known each other since college, but the additions this year were awesome people, and I hope we made them feel welcome and part of the crew. There was Matthew in from Portland, a couple in from NYC (Queens, to be exact), and one from San Francisco/the Bay Area. More locally, we came up from Savannah, and our other friend drove up from Columbia, so a lot of people made a lot of effort to be there and it was worth it (for me anyway). We dropped Matthew off at his brother’s place, then scooted on home. On Wednesday, we met up with them again to get Matthew, and I took him to the airport on Thanksgiving.

I insisted on a “real” Thanksgiving dinner, so we made some stuffed chicken breasts, devilled eggs, brussel sprouts (for Shane), carrots (for me), and mashed potatoes and gravy. It was super tasty. I think my goal of celebrating all the holidays was definitely met for the Thanksgiving portion.

We spent the rest of the month cleaning, organizing the garage, and decorating for Christmas. His mom and aunt rolled on November 30th (yesterday), since Shane has some days off.

It was an exhausting month, but full of so much happiness and good times. November 2022 was a solidly good month.

-S

January Shenanigans

Boy, January was a whole month, wasn’t it? Let’s do a little Top 5, because I don’t feel like doing this in paragraph format. Also, I don’t think I have enough individual shenanigans to fill out a Top 10. This month has been crazy though.

1. Trade Show Madness

The biggest trade show in my industry happens in January & it was so much fun! The leadup was pretty stressful – we’re an extremely new team and we had a lot of responsibility at the show – but we pulled together and it was an extremely successful show. Everyone is incredibly proud of our work.

2. Team Building

I got to know my team (and some coworkers on other teams) SO well. We got to hang out at the show and after, grabbed food, complained about our feet together, and honestly got to bond in a way that I don’t think I’ve done with any coworkers before. I’ve never been to a trade show before either, though.

3. Covid

Even though I’m vaxxed and boosted, used so much hand sanitizer, and kept my mask on even when everyone else took theirs off, I brought home Covid. My symptoms have been pretty mild – sinus congestion & drainage, cough, severe sore throat, fatigue, and loss of smell/taste. I honestly think that I also got a sinus infection on top of Covid, because the sinus symptoms have not stopped. I have gone through several boxes of tissues. The cough had calmed down a good deal, but it still pops up sometimes. Thankfully, the fatigue was gone after a few days. The loss of smell/taste is the biggest bummer. What a depressing thing.

4. Shane & Covid

My guy had Covid SO MUCH worse than I did. He struggled getting enough oxygen – he even blacked out a few times. His throat was exponentially worse than mine as well. He didn’t have as much sinus trouble though, and no cough. He can also still taste. We’re both on the mend, though. Both of us get tired pretty easily, but it’s a lot better.

5. Fake Nails

While frequenting CVS the past little bit, I wandered into the little beauty area and decided to get some glue on nails. Since I was waiting on a prescription that visit, I had plenty of time to consider all of my options. I’ve literally never had fake nails before, and it turns out I love them. They’re so fun. Have I had to replace 2 in the past 2 days because the glue kind of sucks? Yes. Am I really enjoying them anyway? Also yes. Will I keep buying them? Absolutely. Will I one day go get acrylics at a nail salon? Probably, but I kind of the like the cheapy ones for now.

-S

In a Not At All Stunning Turn of Events…

I’m sick. I’ll get a Covid test tomorrow, but it’s probably Covid. Though since Omicron and a severe cold are super similar, it could be either at this point. Now I’m glad I left my mask on even when no one else did – hopefully I kept it to myself.

Anyway, I’m not really up to writing posts this week so here’s another Vegas photo dump. Mostly from Cirque du Soleil Mystère.

Las Vegas Photodump

I’m in Vegas for work, but was able to spend a lot of this afternoon just wandering the Strip with a coworker.

Thoughts on Travel

Soon, I head out of state on a work trip. I’ll be flying for the first time since pre-pandemic and I won’t pretend I’m not ultra-conscious of the fact that there’s a current spike going on. I’ve decided to do what I can to protect myself and others, but not fixate on it. I want to be safe, but obviously can’t be 100% sure I won’t catch it.

I’m fully vaxxed and boosted. I also mixed my shots – I got J&J for one and Pfizer for the other. I read that doing that might be better than sticking to the same brand for both. Is that true? I don’t know, but I’m sure that it doesn’t hurt. I also got my flu shot, so there’s that. There is no way I’d be traveling without being vaccinated.

I also have 3 N95 masks for my flights and the days I’ll be in a large crowd. I have surgical masks for when I’m indoors but not in crowds (as best I can predict, anyway). The only time I plan on being mask-less is while eating/drinking. And I’ll be going outside to eat as much as possible. There will be easily accessed Covid testing, so if I do start feeling crummy I can get tested and hole up in the hotel room.

I have 2 packages of disinfectant wipes – one strictly for wiping down my seats on the airplanes, and the other for general usage. I’ll obviously have multiple hand sanitizers stashed in multiple bags, and one in my pocket at all times. And lotion in my bag because my poor hands struggle with all the washing and alcohol.

I’ll also be semi-quarantining after I get back. I’ll be going to work (everyone I work with is also going to be traveling) and kayaking, but not going to the grocery store at all or visiting anyone.

Anyway, this post is probably more about me trying to feel better about going than trying to explain how to be safe. I’m really looking forward to the trip and I’m so excited because it’s a great opportunity for me, I just also want to be as safe as I can be without locking myself in my apartment.

2018 Recap

This is my end-of-year stat blog post. Mostly for future me, so sorry if you’re hoping for a thrill.

Coffee & Crows

First post: 10 Books to Pull You Out of a Reading Slump – August 21
Number of views {as of today}: 559
Number of visitors: 361
Number of posts: 60
Number of comments: 41
Favorite search term used to find the blog: “crows and coffee grounds”

Read

Books read: 53
Favorite book: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
Least favorite: Home for Christmas by Holly Chamberlin

Watched

Favorite Series: The Rain, Lost in Space, Altered Carbon
Honorable Mention: Death in Paradise
Favorite Movie: Set It Up {though it’ll probably be Bird Box once I watch it on Sunday.}
Watched way too much of: Forensic Files and King of the Hill

**Note: I didn’t watch many movies in 2018, and I’m not sure I even went to one in theaters. I stuck with Netflix titles here (except King of the Hill) because I didn’t track the movies I watched and Netflix’s watch history is the easiest to use.**

Travel

Washington DC for Code4Lib (Feb 2018)
- I spoke here!
Atlanta, GA for Code4LibSE (?)
Myrtle Beach for Shane’s interview (April 2018)
- Then we moved here.
Mountains of NC, to flee hurricane (Oct 2018)
Nashville, TN for WordCampUS (Dec 2018)
A bunch of trips to my old hometown to go to work on-site.

I didn’t know I would be making one of these, so I didn’t do a good job tracking anything but my reading. I guess that’ll change with the bullet journal, regular blogging, and keeping a journal.

Nashville Trip Recap!

I had to go to Nashville, TN for a WordPress conference, and since Shane had some vacation time and the weekend off, he decided to come along. Between the conference, driving the 9 hours from here to there, and the weather being gross, we didn’t really have much of a chance to explore much. We did some, though.

The gallery down below has pictures from the Nashville Farmer’s Market, the Bicentennial Capitol Mall, a coffee shop, the Sponsor Hall at the conference, and our AirB&B (which was amazing).

My favorite painting!
I love watching Shane in an Art Museum.
This mocha was fabulous.
I learned to screen print in the Sponsor’s Hall.
There was a SWORD in our AirB&B.
At the park.
The townhome we stayed in.
The most pretentious coffee I’ve ever experienced.
Taken at the Nashville Farmer’s Market.
This just makes me laugh – at the Frist Museum.
The super comfy couch in the condo.

We also really enjoyed visiting The Parthenon and the park it’s in. There’s a train engine, a pond, white ducks, and bee hives! I was so pumped to see bee boxes, more places need them. Save the bees and all that.