The first time I ever visited Boston was spring break 2000 with my mom and my sister and we went all over Massachusetts seeing American History first hand. Despite the extensive history lesson, which in all reality I really enjoyed, I fell in love with that part of the country.

Saturday morning we took our time getting up and going but of course, since we were with Chase our first priority was getting Starbucks! Something neither Beth nor I minded.

With a 6 hour drive a head of us to the Valley, Beth and I decided we should get going pretty early, but after Beth hit yoga. I think we hit the road and left Austin about 10:30 with coffee and bagels in hand.

I had no idea, but shouldn’t have been surprised, that getting out of town to start our 1100+ mile road trip would have had a few snags. The brilliant idea of hitting the road just a few minutes after 5:00 was delayed by about an hour. I picked the most obscure rental car place with only one worker who left

It had been over 4 years since I went back to College Station for any length of time. This year I was determined to make it down for Brew-B-Q. As soon as I found out which weekend it would be I reserved a room at the Elliott Inn.

To be fair, I really had no idea what to expect from Blog World, all I knew was I wanted to go. Luckily I knew someone else who also wanted to go, my friend Whitney (if you haven’t read her blog yet you totally should).

Thursday morning, the keynote speaker was Scott Stratten, he was awesome. I had seen him on Twitter and knew the Social Media Club of Dallas had had him as a guest not to long before Blog World. After hearing him talk I was bummed I hadn’t heard here; if his Unmarketing book tour comes to your town you definitely need to go hear him! He gives you a great outlook on social media. He stressed, that people do business with people they know. As simple as that may sound, to me he really highlighted the importance of interacting with others and with being yourself.

That afternoon we got to hear Mark Burnett. I was a Survivor fan before going out there, even though they didn’t pick my friend Joe to be on it. But after hearing him talk, I’m an even bigger fan of it now. Hearing the creator talk about his masterpiece gave me a better understanding of what he tries to accomplish with the show. His key point was that when he selects the cast he is choosing the “content” he is using to tell his story, and how important it is to choose the right content.

After the sessions wrapped up, Whitney and I made our way back to our hotel, but first stopped to pick up our complementary tickets to see the Lion King. Disney gave us our tickets, and let me say, they were probably the best tickets I’ve ever had. Even though I love musicals, I can’t afford the close seats and always watch from the balcony, needless to say this was a real treat. Thank you Disney!

A few years back I saw the Lion King here in Dallas, but we ran late and missed the first 10 minutes. I was impressed with the show the first time I saw it, but this time I was blown away. I think we were on the 8th row and being that close to the aisles as the animals entered was breath taking. The actors moved with such grace it was easy to believe they were the animals they were portraying. I am quite convinced I will never have the words to express how amazing this performance was.

Throughout the entire show Whitney and I had to fight the urge to sing along, pretty sure our neighbors would not have been too happy with us. The actress that played Rafikki did such a good job that she stole every scene she was in. It was so much fun! In an effort to keep this post from getting to long, I am going to end here but will post more about the rest of my time at Blog World.

This weekend I went to Austin, TX for one of my sister’s best friend’s bachelorette party.
We spent most of the day Saturday shopping and roaming around South Congress until we could check into our hotel.

Saturday night, we headed out at 7 for our pedi-cab tour. I know what you’re thinking, pedi-cab, random. And I had the exact same thought, but it was one of the most fun things I’ve done in forever!
I think it was Claire that came up with this idea, but it might have been Sammie; regardless it was through Urban Taste Tours.

Since there were 7 of us we had to have 3 pedi-cabs and our guys were hilarious; they were Andrew, Andre (sp? I know there was a y in there somewhere) & Robert. Here is a picture of Mandy, the bachelorette with the guys.

We did the margarita/mojito tour instead of the “Bachelorette” theme because basically we would have just paid more money for the guys to pedal us around without their shirts on and I think a little toile would have been attached to the cars. Although after teasing the guys about it a little two of them did arrive at our second stop shirtless for an added bonus. See:

It had been just over 5 years since I went on an extended vacation. . .which meant it was about time for one. I went to the Dominican Republic with my friends Meredith & Melissa. We left at the crack of dawn Wednesday morning because we had a 5:40 am flight out of Dallas to Punta Cana (with a brief stop in Atlanta).

We stayed at the Occidental Flamenco, all-inclusive hotel. . .it was alright. . .nothing special, but I can’t really complain because we were less than 5 minutes from the beach. My plan for this trip was to relax so there really isn’t a lot to tell about the trip other than our excursion.

My sister had gone to Punta Cana a few years ago and highly recommended the Saona Island excursion. The only day we could do it was our first full day in the DR and it was a great way to start the trip. We were picked up at 7 am and had a 2 hour bus ride. . .that was a bit of drag but once we were on the water we forgot about it. Check out the view:

We took a catamaran out to the island and then had time to enjoy the beach and the water. While we were on the island we got to know the other people on our excursion that were a lot of fun. In fact if you are up in Montreal and looking for something to do, check out our new Stand-up Comedian friend Daniel. After lunch they loaded us up on this huge speed boat and took us to the “natural swimming pull” and got to play with starfish.

It was the best day, after that we spent the rest of the time chilling on the beach and reading. I couldn’t have asked for a better vacation and most definitely will not be waiting another 5 years for my next vacation!

One thing I was definitely tardy to the party on in life, was floating the river. I’m really not sure how I never knew about it; it’s so much fun!

Not that long ago we decided we wanted to float the river this summer and picked last weekend. So I went in search of a place to stay. After scouring numerous vacation rental properties, I stumbled up what I think was a great find; a cute little house in New Braunfels that sleeps 10 called Hausita.

It was perfect less than 10 minutes from both the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers. Last year we floated the Comal so this year we decided to float the Guadalupe. It was high this year so we didn’t have to get up, lift our tubes and walk around rocks. . .for the most part the water took us right over them, every once in awhile a few of us did get stuck.

We did the 5 hour float and had a blast, just a few bumps and bruises and a little sunburned. Can’t wait for next year! Here are a few pictures I borrowed from: www.RiverFotos.com.

If you haven’t ever floated the river you should. Although let me recommend you go with someone who’s been before and hopefully you won’t lose anything like we did (take rope & tie everything down). Last year my friend Joe recommended taking a Camelbak instead of worrying about a cooler. . .best idea ever!

So. . .it’s been 5 years since I have been on a trip that was longer than a weekend getaway. . .which means when my friend gchatted me and asked, “Do you want to go to the Dominican Republic in August?” I said yes. That was back in May, a whole 70 or 80-something days away. . .

Last week I realize I should probably get off my butt and go get my passport because I’ve already paid for the trip and I’m not going to miss it because of my passport and it is just over a month away. It’s a good thing I went when I did, because the cost of a passport just went WAY up. And since this procrastinator waited so long, I had to pay double and get it expedited, yuck!

As I stare out my window (on my lunch break), this sunny day in July I can’t help but wish I were, here:

The countdown is on. . .

I have always wanted to see New York City at Christmas time and finally got to do just that. Meredith and I flew up to New York early Saturday morning and met Adam at our hotel. Then we headed out to see all the decorations.

Unfortunately the weather was awful; originally we had thought it would be it would be snowing and we were excited. But instead it was raining and freezing! I was the only one that didn’t bring an umbrella with me so I’m pretty sure my hair froze to my head.

Just as the rain turned to snow we found a great wine bar and grabbed a table right by the window so that we could watch the snow fall. Then we headed out to find all of the fun Christmas decorations around the city. These pictures will be from Saturday night and Sunday morning:

Sorry, that’s all you get for now because I’m not on my own computer and this Mac is a little smarter than I am so I can’t figure out how to rotate pictures. Enjoy!

So much for the fall like weather, it has been downright hot here, which can only mean a chilled white wine was what I needed.

Back in 2005 on my first trip out to Napa I visited Artesa with my friends. I thought the winery was absolutely beautiful covered with fountains and providing a beautiful view of the Napa Valley.

Here are a few shots from that trip:

When I visited Artesa, I was strictly a white wine fan and hadn’t yet learned to appreciate red wines. I actually fell in love with their Riesling and actually bought a bottle to bring home. But other than that I don’t really remember too much about their wines.

This week’s wine is the Artesa Chardonnay. I really liked this wine; it was a refreshing mix of sour and sweet. I shared this bottle with Meredith over the weekend and we had absolutely no problem finishing it off just the two of us. On a hot summer day this wine definitely hit the spot!

There is this really great gas station/wine store not too far from my house that always seems to have a great selection of wines at a great price. The Artesa Chardonnay is normally about $22.99 but I was able to pick it up for $14.99.