Using my company's new software, I created a photobook of our October 2010 trip to Disney. I know we went to the Wine & Food Festival while we were there, but this is just pure Disney in the autumn. I figure I'll make a separate book for the wine & food festival.
I'm now working as Director of Marketing for a company called Panstoria. We produce a software called Artisan that is tailor-made for digital scrapbooking. I'm not one for the paper and glue and mess of traditional scrapbooking, so I love the idea of digital. I just ordered my first photobook, made with our software, from Shutterfly. I've embedded it below, but the physical one should be in my hands by the end of the week!
Click here to view this photo book larger
I went to San Francisco at the beginning of November to present at DevLearn again. I didn't get to experience much of the conference, as I was still down with bronchitis. I spent several days just curled up in a ball in my room, with my cough medicine and stuffed platypus. I'm convinced that air travel makes bronchitis worse and extends the whole experience.
I stayed in an adorable hotel across the street from my conference, called the Mosser. It was very European in style, with tiny rooms. But I loved it - it was incredibly confortable and everyone was incredibly friendly. It's definitely one of my favorite hotels I've stayed in this year, just for the ambience. I also managed to make it to the Fluevog shoe store (of course!) near Union Square, as well as take in a movie (The Social Network) at the Metreon while I was killing time on Friday afternoon.
Friday evening, I transferred to my friend Jen's apartment in the Mission and we had a fun, low-key weekend. We had dinner with our friend Thea at an upscale pub called The Monk's Kettle (where I ran into a friend from Cincinnati, of all places!). Then on Saturday, Jen and I went to St George Distillery on Alameda, where we had a tour and an extensive sampling session before ferrying home.
Slide Show: San Francisco 11/10
As much fun as I had, I was glad to be home. I finally took a couple of days and did nothing, just to recover from the bronchitis, which at this point, is finally, mostly gone.
Now we're planning for a trip to Chicago for Thanksgiving and a trip to Knoxville to judge a wine festival in early December.
My work travel kicked into high gear again in October. I spoke at a conference in Richmond, Va, where I also visited my friend Nicki. Last time I saw Nicki, she lived in Alaska and we were visiting there.
Slideshow: Virginia and New Jersey
I had three days at home and then Kevin and I took off for Orlando and our yearly trip to Disney's Wine & Food Festival. Disney wasn't quite as wondrous as usual, if only because some stray peanut flour sent me to the Celebration Hospital in an ambulance.
Slide Show: Disney World, 10-10
I was home from Florida for 1 day when I started getting my yearly bout of Bronchitis. It was bad timing because I had to get on a plane to Newark, and then a train to Long Branch, to speak at a conference. It was probably one of my worst presentations ever, if only because I was so sick and lacking in energy. I am not a fan of New Jersey (with the exception of Springsteen and Bon Jovi), but I had to admit, the beach was gorgeous. However, I spent most of my 24 horus in Jersey curled up in bed, coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose. Flying with a stuffed-up head and a fever is terribly unpleasant - I was glad to get home.
Of course, I was only home for 3 days again, and then I hopped back onto a plane to San Francisco for another conference, bronchitis and all.
Kevin & I have officially made the switch to using our mobile phones exclusively. It just seemed silly to have his mobile, my mobile, and a home phone line. By ditching our home phone, we have also ditched the home office line and fax line (who faxes anymore?) as well.
If you still have a phone number that begins with 859-426-XXXX, zip us an email. We'll let you know what the new phone numbers are (I just don't want to publish them on the blog).
Happy end of summer!
Image from Dan Brady via Creative Commons licensing.
In August, I had my class reunion. I hate class reunions, I really do. But one of my girlfriends sucked me onto the organizing committee and it was an uphill battle from there. It should never be that hard to organize something. Regardless, we finally pulled it off in the end, and it worked out beautifully. The best part? Pam flew in from Florida and stayed with us for the weekend! It really was great to see everyone, but it's always a little weird.
In late July, I had to go to Chicago to attend a craft show for a client. I know that sounds strange, but the client creates a digital scrapbooking application - thus, craft shows. Kevin and I made a weekend of it, stumbling into a street fair in my favorite little shopping area called Wicker Park. (Wicker Park is where you'll find Fluevog, my favorite shoe store on the planet.) We also spent a day taking a walking tour of some Chicago architecture, including many Frank Lloyd Wright creations.
When I was in Seattle earlier in the year, I fell in love with it. It does help that one of my close girlfriends is there - I miss her! - as well as some of my other friends I've met in my travels. Seattle has a big city small town kind of feel, which I love. It never felt too big or overwhelming for me. I knew the weather in the Pacific Northwest was just perfect for Kevin, so I was excited to see what he thought. Turns out, he fell in love with Seattle too.
Our vacation started in Walla Walla, WA, an adorable town near the Oregon border and pretty much the heart of Washington State Wine Country. We attended the 3rd annual Wine Bloggers Conference, touring vineyards and attending conference sessions and dinners. Once the conference was over, we hit the road and drove to Seattle, stopping in Prosser, WA, to visit my favorite winery, Airfield Estates. After our trip to Airfield, we seemed to switch over from a weekend of wine to several days of beer tasting. A large amount of the nation's hops are grown in Washington, so it only made sense that we'd find some microbreweries along the way.
I highly recommend visiting that tiny little corner of Washington State. The climate is almost desert-like in places, so utterly different from Seattle, yet only a few hours away.
We had a great drive from Prosser to Seattle, and crossing the mountain was absolutely gorgeous. Did you know Northern Exposure was filmed just over the mountain from Seattle? We didn't have time to stop in that little town, but we did find things like an abandoned teapot-shaped filling station. Washington State is filled with wonderful oddities.
Once we were in Seattle, we spent a fair amount of time exploring the city, including Pike's Place Market and the Space Needle. Because we have a soft spot for Duck tours, we even "Rode the Ducks" in Seattle, which took us out on Union Lake, near the Sleepless in Seattle boat. We managed to fit in dinner with my friends Laura & Jon on the first night and Mark & Cinnamon on our second night. Our last day in the city, we took the car and drove out to Snoqaulmie Falls. It's this beautiful waterfall sort of in the middle of a suburb. It's also right by where Twin Peaks was filmed. Since we were out and about, we also found our way into the Microsoft Campus and Visitor Center, where we geeked out a little bit. Our last stop was Pyramid Brewing on the way to the airport.
I love Seattle. I hope we get the chance to live there someday - it's the first city we've ever both agreed upon.
In June, I traveled a lot for work. I had a conference in San Diego followed by a meeting in DC. In between there was personal travel. But for a period of 3ish weeks, I think I was actually home less than 24 hours. I just changed suitcases and ran back to the airport.
I started out with my first trip to San Diego for a conference. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see too much of what I suspect is an amazing city. I had to present 7 different sessions, so I was pretty busy.
I was supposed to fly into Dayton on a redeye leaving San Diego on Thursday night. Kevin & Steven were to pick me up in Dayton around 8 am, and we'd all head to their cousin Katie's wedding in State College, PA. In the first of many Delta Airlines flops this year, my flight didn't work out. We were delayed, then we finally got out to the runway and oops! It's after "curfew" for airplanes in San Diego. Can't fly out until the morning.
By this point, it's midnight. I get in line with several hundred other passengers, all trying to get somewhere else. While I'm in line, I call Delta and manage to rebook my flight. Because I was flying in later, and we were trying to make it to the rehearsal dinner, I re-booked to Pittsburgh instead of Dayton, arriving around 3:00ish. I still had to stand in line to acquire my hotel and taxi vouchers for the evening. By the time I arrived at the awful hotel Delta put me in, it was 3 am. I had to be back at the airport by 5 am. I pretty much took a shower and read a book before hopping back in a cab. I should have just crashed at the airport - it would have been less hassle.
When I finally arrived in Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon, my luggage (my brand-new gorgeous luggage) was destroyed. I was tired. I was angry at Delta. When I went to the Baggage Office, I was informed that they couldn't do anything and "tough." Wow. Later, my angry letter from Delta netted me $250 to replace my luggage and 10,000 oh-we-screwed-up frequent flyer miles.
On the up side, we had a really great time in PA for Katie's wedding. We poked around State College a bit. On the way home, we took a side trip to Punxatawney - home of Groundhog Day - to see Punxatawney Phil the Groundhog. When in Rome (er, PA), right? Below is a slide show of our time in Pennsylvania:
When we got home Sunday night I had to switch suitcases. The next morning I flew out to DC for a meeting. When I got home from DC, I had to switch suitcases again (I chose not to sleep and instead do some laundry), as we were leaving on vacation first thing in the morning.
