Phoenix, AZ, October 9-11, 2009

Friday, October 9th:

• While having breakfast in the airport, overheard some conversations that were nasty, including a guy telling his wife that she "looked good with something in her mouth". GAG
• Flight was horrendous. Probably the worst flight in a while - screaming kid, full flight, etc.
• When we got done the flight, I realized that I left my sister's very large and very expensive camera on the plane. Insert panic mode. I wound up running all throughout the airport, finally got back to the gate and got the camera. Whew.
• After that it was off to the hotel (amazing hotel - http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Phoenix/Information/Default.htm), into the meeting. Meeting went good - got done and rested a little.
• That night was a reception dinner. It was beautiful - outside by the pool, fire pit going, open bar, chocolate fountain. Very very veryyyyyy nice.
• After dinner we headed down to the bar in the hotel. We all proceeded to get a little wasted. Actually a lot wasted.
• I left before things got inappropriate and headed right to bed. I somehow think that the wine, red meat, and Grey Goose didn't agree with me...I got sick and had the worst hangover.

Saturday, April 10th:

• Breakfast call was 7 AM - I was finally able to make it down around 7:30. Meeting was ok in the morning. I wasn't feeling to swell, but I put my big girl pants on and made it through.
• My presentation was after lunch (which I was finally able to eat and felt 1000 times better). It went very well and I was so glad it was over.
• After we closed down the meeting, we all headed to relax. Steph, Erin and I all cuddled in her bed and watched "The Ugly Truth". It was a good but predictable movie.
• Went downstairs, called Rich(more info on dating blog) and got ready to go out for dinner. We wandered around and wound up going to California Pizza Kitchen. I have to say, I wasn't really that much of a fan.
• After that we headed back to the hotel to meet everyone at the bar again, except this night I wasn't drinking heavily.
• I made it up to bed by 11, slept until 3 AM and then was awake.

Sunday, October 11th:

• Flight home early in the morning, very quiet and peaceful flight.
• Got in earlier than expected and was able to have a great date night with my love :)

Tampa, FL: July 15-July 19th, 2009

Wednesday, July 15th:

• Packed our bags and headed to the airport for our 7:15 flight to Florida.
• Family vaca/get-together down there: Steph, Ash, Rich, Uncle Bruce and I all flew out that night, landed, got our bags and minivan and headed to meet the rest of the crew.
• Got to my uncles around 11:30, had some leftover pizza, a few beers and laughs and headed back to the rental house.
• Rich and I headed to the pool for some QT and relaxation.
• Got to spend night #1 on the pullout couch (thank god it was in a room with doors). Ouchie.

Thursday, July 16th:

• Got up and got ready to head to my uncle's house since the girls were going to the gym, my uncle and Rich were going golfing, and I had to work part of the day.
• Took my first Zumba class and it was AWESOME. Seriously I stalked out when they have the class at my gym and I plan on taking it sometime this week.
• Got done the class and headed back to my uncle's house. I did my conference call and some emailing and then we headed over to the other house to lay by the pool until the guys got done.
• Everyone was trying to figure out what to do for dinner/evening plans, and since no one wanted plans, the kids decided to go see Danae at work and watch the Phillies.
• Thanks to lots of mis-communication and too many cooks in the kitchen, we didn't get there until the 9th inning. We ordered some food, played some "cornhole" and had some drinks. Good times until Steph wanted to leave. We wound up heading home around 11, hit the pool again and then slept.

Friday, June 17th:

• Slept in a little late that morning and got up around 9:30. Real late I know ;)
• The tentative plan was to hit the beach that day, but I had a teleconference at noon that I need to be at a computer to have, so I told Steph to make other plans.
• I decided that I was going to cook dinner for everyone that night too. I'm not really a fan of the beach (well really the sand), so I was perfectly happy laying by the pool all day...which is just what we did!
• The guys went golfing again, some went to the beach, others hung out by the pool.
• I started cooking dinner when everyone ran some errands.
• We ate dinner - everyone said it was good, I thought it was missing a little something since it wasn't my kitchen - and we decided to have a game night.
• We played games on the porch, drank yummy wine and talked. Great times and great conversations.
• Got to bed a little late after taking another swim and cleaning everything up.

Saturday, June 18th:

• We got up early since we had to clean the house and be out of there by 12.
• Cleaned out the fridge, packed everything up and headed to my uncles.
• Game plan was a pool party at Peg and Joe's until we were heading to the Clearwater Thresher's game for baseball and fireworks.
• Their house is amazing and seriously has me contemplating buying a vacation home or summer home down there at some point in the next 5 years.
• Got to the game, tickets were cheap, seats were great, fireworks included, buckets of beer and we had a great time!
• Headed back to my uncle's to finish up the beer and food and hung out on the porch.
• Rich and I had a tense conversation that night, but since we were both tired and a little drunk, we went to sleep.

Sunday, June 19th:

• Got up early and was still reeling from our convo the night before, so we went into one of the rooms and had a talk. A lot was discussed...(good and bad), but it left us both with stuff to think about.
• We headed out around 1:30 to go to the airport and take our flight home.
• Uneventful and by 8 we were all safely nestled in our own beds :)

All in all it was a great time to see everyone and let everyone meet each other...but next time I'll rethink our sleeping arrangements and plans before we commit to going again. Rich noticied a lot of things from observing my family and we had a lot of discussions regarding future trips, etc.

Miami, FL, June 19-22nd, 2009

Friday June 19th:

• Original plan was to trek it to NY on Thursday to spend the night and fly out with the girls, however I decided to get a ticket out of Philly...just to minimize the 3 hour travel times for 2 days.
• Got up early and Rich took me to the airport on Friday morning, hopped on my plane and got there around 1. Sooooooooooo nice!
• The girls(Silka, Isis, Dani, Myra, Luli) were already there and hanging out waiting for me to arrive.
• Got to the hotel around 2, headed right to the table and ate some yummy food. http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Hotels/Miami-Beach-Hotel/Overview.aspx
• Checked in and our rooms were finally ready so we got changed, and headed to the pool. Hung out by the pool until around 6 PM when we wandered around to some stores and grabbed a quick dinner. Oh yeah, bought 2 pairs of shoes at Payless...whoops ;)
• Headed back to the hotel, took a 2 hr nap, got up and got cute and headed out.
• After wandering to 3 different places that had horrendous lines and too many covers, we headed to the Clevelander. AWESOME place! Its a hotel and then an outdoor bar/dance club at night! Such good music, good drinks, and great people. http://www.clevelander.com/
• We called it a night (well morning?) around 4:30 and headed back to the hotel.
• The girls met up with some boys on the plane, so we woke them up and went down to the pool/hot tub where we decided to sit there and sing! Great times. Finally crawled into bed at 5:30.

Saturday, June 20th:

• Woke up around 10 AM and decided that breakfast was what we needed.
• Headed to breakfast at the Palace. Sooooooooo good. http://www.jumponmarkslist.com/palace_food_bar.htm
• We headed back to the pool and planted our behinds there to relax all day.
• Dinner was going to be at a restaturant called Chocolate that night, but apparently it wasn't there any more, so we walked up and down Espanola Way until we found a great little place.
• We had a great dinner looking all pretty and then headed back to the hotel to change shoes and head out for another night of insanity :)
• Wet Willie's for Call-A-Cab and people watching. We saw a girl's buttcheeks, like the whole buttcheeks...http://wetwillies.com/
• After there, we went to Mango's. AWESOME place. We went upstairs and were shuffled into a room that had great music! We stayed there, danced, drank, danced, danced, laughed and danced. http://www.mangostropicalcafe.com/
• We decided to leave there around 3 or 4 (I can't remember) and headed back for sleep.

Sunday, June 21st:

• This morning we actually made it up and awake by 10AM and were at the beach sitting on the chairs. So relaxing.
• We stayed there pretty much all day, lounging in the pool and tanning.
• We decided we were going to go to dinner with the boys that night and all of a sudden, downpour. Not a 30 minute downpour, but more like a 2 hour. That in our time means naptime!
• Headed back to the room to catch a much needed nap.
• Got up and got ready to meet the boys at 8.
• Headed to Espanola Way when we determined that there was no one in the hotel restaurant, Emeril's didn't have a good selection. So we wound up right back at the little Cafe from the night before.
• From there it was back to Wet Willie's, Mango's and the Clevelander.
• Sleep came around 5 AM.

Monday, June 22nd:

• Up early and on the beach by 9 for the last few moments of sunshine.
• Headed to the airport at 11 AM and we all parted ways.
• Arrived home around 4 PM to be picked up by my baby...it was so good to be away and relax and so good to come "home".

Pictures are on facebook!

Decatur, Il: April 16-17th, 2009

Thursday, April 16th:

• Left for the trip at 7AM. First flight was fine - I slept most of the way.
• Second flight was entertaining. Flight was operated by Great Lakes Aviation. Weird trip, but we got there safe.
• Got to the hotel, checked in and got online. I had a lot of work to get done and worked from pretty much 2 until 7.
• I decided that it was time to eat, tried to contact the people I was traveling with (they weren't around) and headed down to the front desk. I asked what was around to go sitdown for dinner, they told me Taco Bell and McDonald's. Greatttttttt. Not happening.
• I heard from one of the assistants that I could get home earlier than Saturday which made me so happy.
• I headed to the mall which happened to be right across the parking lot from the hotel. Wandered around, found some semi-healthy chinese food, got a dress at American Eagle, then headed back to the hotel to finish up some more work.
• Had an awesome convo with the boy :) He totally made me smile.

Friday, April 17th:

• 6:45 meeting in the hotel lobby to start our meeting at 7:15 on site.
• Got on site, did our presentations and headed to the airport by 1 PM.
• The airport is so cute, it only has 2 gates!
• We got on our first flight, landed in St Louis and then had a 5 hour layover. I just hung out in the airport and did work since they had wireless and a place with good food.
• Finally got home around 10:30.
• The boy picked me up from the airport and was so sweet, he got me water and a pretzel :)

Padova, Italy: March 31st-April 3rd, 2009

Tuesday, March 31st:

• Flight from Philly to Frankfurt: Depart around 4:15.
• Upgraded to Envoy class - pretty friggin sweet for 30K miles :)
• Didn't get as much sleep as I wanted, but that's due to my sinuses flaring up and my mind racing.

Wednesday, April 1st:

• Flight from Frankfurt to Venice. Landed in Venice around 11 AM, got my bags, met one of the guys I was traveling with, and headed to Padova.
• Car ride was about 30 minutes.
• I almost passed out when we got off the exit. There was nothing around but car dealers and an Ikea. Seriously?
• Checked into the hotel (Sheraton - not too bad) and went to my room for some sleep.
• Took a nap til 3PM, got up and started working.
• Met some of the team for dinner at 8, came back to the room and passed out.

Thursday, April 2nd:

• Really, a 7:30 AM breakfast call? Ugh.
• Meeting from 8 until 4...which ran until 6.
• Decided to meet some of the team for drinks/dinner at 7:30, so I went back to my room to "unwind".
• Wound up getting stuck doing work until 7:30, so I rushed right down to the hotel bar.
• We decided to just hang out there and have dinner. Good meal, good wine.
• After dinner, one of the guys decided that since its my last night, we needed to have a few drinks.
• A few drinks turned into just him and I, 4 hours and 80 euro later. Wouldn't be too bad except he made a few comments about online dating, why I didn't accept his facebook friendship, etc. I've known him for a while and we talked about a lot of stuff...I think he's just at a frustrated point right now, so it was good for him to vent.
• 2:30 is when we finally split for our rooms.
• I had to get up at 4AM to pack and get ready for our 5 AM departure. Lovely. I wound up staying up, checking websites, (sent an email to Boston - haven't heard a response, guess I know where I stand now :), and packed my stuff.

Friday, April 3rd:

• Left for the airport at 5 am.
• Didn't realize how tipsy I was until I got on the plane. Slept the whole flight from Venice to Frankfurt
• Was able to upgrade again on the flight home, for 30K points. Again well worth it - I slept so soundly for 7 hours :)
• Landed in Philly around 2:30, got my luggage, thanked the dear lord for car service, and headed home.

Miami, FL: March 25-26th

Wednesday, March 25th:

• Got up and headed to the airport for a 10 AM flight.
• Arrived in Miami around 2, got to the hotel and checked in.
• Hotel wasn't that great, but it was ok for a night.
• Weather was wonderful so we met up with one of our vendors and headed to lunch.
• After lunch we headed to a mall, I needed to get a new suit since we thought the CEO of our client was going to be there, which we didn't know.
• Got back from the mall and went walking/running. Did a 6 min 1/2 mile.
• Headed to bed after that.

Thursday, March 26th:

• Got up early because we had to be on site at 8 AM.
• On site at this really nice hospital. Seems like they are going to be a good site in this study.
• We were on site all day until 3 PM. After that, we left and went to the airport.
• Boarded the plane and say on the runway for an hour.
• Finally got home at 11, took a cab home, and crawled into bed exhausted.

Detroit, MI: Mar 8-9th, 2009

Sunday, March 8:

• Flight to Detroit at 5:50, got to the airport and flew threw security....then realized I left my cell phone in the car.
• I panicked - a day without my cell cannot happen so I found a payphone and called my mom to bring it back down to me.
• Got on the flight, took off and then once we got to Detroit, we circled for 1.5 hours. I wanted to blow my brains out.
• Finally landed and then headed to the hotel - Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance. Once we got to the hotel, we checked in and headed right to the bar for a drink and some food.

Monday, March 9:

• Got up early, meeting at 8 AM.
• Worked until 4 - headed to the airport, got on an earlier flight and got home 3 hours early.