9 posts tagged “business trips suck but not this one”
So, I'm in Tampa. Yesterday was awesome. I don't think we could've jammed more into our day. I've been in the hotel room most of today. First, I attempted to sleep in. Didn't exactly go as I planned. I think I have the most uncomfortable bed ever. Much tossing and turning occured last night. Steve didn't sleep well either, so it wasn't just me.
This morning, Steve's 11am meeting got bumped back to oh, 2pm. And the guys he was meeting with wanted to go to lunch. That left poor ol' me sitting in the hotel room. I was still stuffed from dinner last night (Awesome Cuban restaurant and dude, there was flan, I had to eat it). I didn't anticipate being hungry anytime soon. Steve tried to encourage me to go out to explore the city, ALONE. Seriously, women rarely go to the bathroom by theirselves and he expects me to walk around a strange city. Then he had the audacity to suggest I go buy myself a new dress and shoes. Tempting as that was, that would require me to figure out how to get across town AND spend the day wandering by myself far from the security of my hotel. Ok, I have issues, I'll admit it. So I didn't attempt it because I am a scaredy cat.
I did walk 4 blocks to get lunch and buy deodorant and hairspray. Sure, the hotel gave us complimentary deodorant, but it was made in china and with all the lead scare lately, I just wanted to get some of my own. I did put on the hotel deodorant before I left because having body odor is scarier to me than getting lead poisoning.
I stopped at a deli and got a Cuban. At first, when researching Tampa, I read in many restaurant reviews "and the Cubans are awesome!". I'm thinking, wow, I'm glad the local people are nice, but it seems a little un-PC to refer to them like that. So I did a little more research and found out that a Cuban is also a local sandwich. Me, I'm all about diving into local culture and cuisine so I braved the 3 blocks to the deli for lunch. It was good, but I don't think they made it right. I should've taken the hotel shuttle to Ybor City to get an authentic one, but, uh, yes, I was scared. And I had no cash to tip. That's downright embarrassing to me, so it sealed the deal that I wouldn't be venturing far from the hotel.
Tonight, I think we are going to try this Brazilian steakhouse I found on the internets. (I love yahoo's city search type stuff.) I'll leave all the picture posting to Steve. He's much better at it than I am. I am also too lazy to upload and edit the photos. I think I'll just nap while waiting for Steve to get back, shouldn't be too much longer.
After a particularly difficult week (which felt more like a month or two), I'm getting a break. Tuesday, Steve has business in Tampa and I get to tag along again! I've never been on the Gulf Coast side of Florida. I'm pretty excited. I even get to fly on a plane and I do love flying. I'm so thankful my mom is willing to come and play chaffeur and nanny to the kids while I get a mini-getaway with my best friend. Woohoo!
Things I loathe
- Forgetting to pack comfortable shoes
- Misty cloudy cold days
Things I love
- Going away with Steve on his business trip (it's like an all expenses paid getaway for me, not him)
- Parents that will come and watch the kids so I can go with him
- New comfortable shoes (forgetting my shoes was not part of an evil plan to get new ones)
- Clearance racks at the mall ($245 worth of clothes for the girls for $68, seriously, why do people pay full price?)
- baked sweet potatoes with gobs of melted butter
- finding over $100 in different gifts cards in an old purse
- Free breakfast and wireless internet at the hotel
- Finding a coupon for a free cup of coffee for Starbucks in the morning paper
- My in-laws returning from Florida
- Scramble (even if Steve Betz is getting better and beating me now)
- Peanut Butter Candy Cakes
- And last but not least, The Muppets. Seriously, who doesn't love the Muppets?
Steve and I are back in North Carolina. He's on business and I wanted to come along. My mom and dad came and stayed with the kids so I could go and get a little alone time with him. It's been quite awhile. Of course, what are we doing right now? I'm sitting at the hotel room desk typing away on my laptop while he's across the room on the couch watching a youtube video on his laptop.
Anyway, we got in really late to the hotel. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Steve had to stay up and doing some stuff for work. This morning, when the alarm went off, my eyes were puffy and I felt like I had only had a few hours of sleep. On the other hand, I'm cheap and I didn't want to miss the free breakfast. Somehow it just didn't feel like 8am. I decided to go hunting for my cell phone to compare the time with the hotel room alarm clock.
I wandered around the room, trying to find my purse in the dark. When I finally found it and looked at the time, it was like I was given a gift, 6am. I still had two more hours to sleep!
I nudged Steve to let him know, "It's only 6!"
He rolled over, put his arms around me and got comfortable again, "This is better than daylight savings time!"
And it was.
I would update, but I've got kids with Build a Bears to register on their online site (seriously, every stuffed animal seems to come with a virtual world nowadays!).
I do want to tell you that we got to meet Jamie, DeWitte and Nathan. They were among the first neighbors I added here at Vox. They are just as cool as they are on their blogs. So be jealous. Pictures to come later after all virtual bears are taken care of.
While Steve is off doing stuff to make sure our government can get on the internet in times of war or power outages (at least I think that's what he does, I'm not really sure), Victoria, Sophia, Josiah and I are hanging out in the hotel rooms. We have internet access, so that's good. Naps are fun too. We took a walk yesterday, but came back after finding a makeshift memorial in a ditch near a little shopping center. I can only assume someone died there.
After Steve got home, we picked a restaurant with ease. (Ok, not really it was a debacle that took over 2 hours, but all was forgotten once we had warm bread and olive oil to dip it in.) We ended up in Fayetteville at Carrabbas. I had this ridiculously good chicken, one stuffed with proscuitto and fontana cheese topped with mushrooms and a lemon butter sauce, the other piece grilled and stuffed with fennel sausage and ricotta cheese with a wine sauce. We decided to work off the calories by perusing the local SuperWalmart. Boy do we know how to live it up when we are out of town! Not that there is much to do in Fayetteville, well, unless you like girly bars. There are TONS of girly bars. I suppose that has something to do with being near a military base.
So today, we have games we picked up at Wal-Mart to keep us busy. We'll just chill here until Steve gets done. I'm thinking a nap and some fatback sounds just about right.
Things I loathe:
- Getting tired at 9pm
- Lack of warm blankets in the hotel room
- Leaving my water in the van
- Being thirsty
Things I love:
- Being able to go on Steve's business trip
- Spending time with Steve
- Country Fried Chicken dinner with okra, dumplings, and turnip greens
- Free breakfast
- Free wireless internet
- sleep
Sophia, Ashley, Alex, and Josiah on the steps of the Arch in St. Louis. I think Alex was serenading them or something.
Josiah sporting a lovely towel on his head after swimming at the "good" hotel.
I think Alex is tired of having his picture taken.
Ashley loves to smile for the camera when she spies Steve trying to take a candid picture.
Sophia looking at the exhibits in the Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center in Missouri.
At first, we thought some random woman had collapsed from exhaustion in the mall, but quickly realized it was Vox's own Hannahbanana.
I was so excited to meet her in real life, I burst into spontaneous song! She tolerated it very well, as you can see.
Nothing like having a camera to take random embarrassing pictures of your loved ones.
A picture Steve took of me shopping in a store in Arrow Rock, MO. I thought it was a very cool idea, but it didn't make the cut for any of his road trip posts.
So there you have it, some of my favorite pictures from the trip. I think I'll take the rest and actually put them on my flickr account that I've had forever and never used. I've realized we are some picture takin' fools. We have close to 800 pictures in our June 2007 folder. Of course, many are duplicates. We tend to take around 3-5 takes on each shot, just to make sure we get a good one. Maybe I'll be a good wife and go through and delete the bad ones for Steve. Or maybe I'll take a nap. Hmmm, now that's a hard decision.
