Back in the Saddle Again (and by Saddle I mean my own home)

The Visitor's Center in Charleston
across from my Hotel.

I had a few short hours in Charleston yesterday morning before I was hopping back on planes (yes, multiple) to get back home. Even with the gain of three hours on the trip back, I still didn't get home until about 7 p.m. And I was happy to be back.

Cute shopping on King Street.

Hung out with Chef and watched the end of the Alabama-LSU game. Sad to see Alabama crumble in overtime after a pretty damn strong game. But then I'm used to watching my teams much earlier than overtime this year. Ended up going to bed at about 10 p.m. but I had already turned my clocks back so it looked like I was going to bed at 9. Which made me feel old.

The back and forth between Eastern and Pacific time zones finally took its toll on my sleep. I work up at 4 a.m. and had trouble getting back to sleep, so I threw on Twilight from the DVR (yes, it's my go to movie for sleep). I ended up watching the whole thing and an episode of Law & Order before I drifted back to sleep.

Khubla doesn't think this game is
very interesting. But I do.

Got up this morning and was a little pissed. It was raining and chilly in LA. HELLO?!?! I just left cold and dreary and was very much looking forward to returning back to my 72 degrees and sunny. Chef reminded me this morning that it's the LA winter. Patchy rain for weeks. Oh well. I guess it's time to bust out my cute "winter" clothes.

And now I'm blogging while listening to the Colts game. As you can see from the picture, Khubla has lost interest in the game and cheering on the Colts. He's a typical bandwagon hopper, and he's hopping off. But not me. I'm in it through the joys and pain. And this season is my penance for years of success.
At least there's chili simmering on the stove to console me.

Happy Sunday!

Charleston Love

Can you hear me over
this shirt?

I adore this place. It is super cute, has great shopping and a plethora of local restaurants. What's not to love?

I was up super early for a 7 am breakfast meeting, hit the conference at 8, had 9:30 and noon meetings and then about collapsed. But instead of collapsing, I went to the local AHA office and dropped in on a former business friend who got a job at the AHA in Charleston. It was fun to surprise her. I then spent my lunch hour wandering around downtown. There's something very cool about shopping in local boutiques. The neat thing was seeing a lot of cute stuff. Sadly living in LA now means that I actually have access to a lot of those brands.

I did fall in love twice but both were winter coats. I don't know if it was a subconscious nod to being cold or if I really liked them. Either way, I have a winter coat that I never took out of the closet last year so I'm not investing in another one until absolutely necessary. I also saw the ugliest shirt in existence which is pictured.

Hit the same place for dinner tonight that i went to on Wednesday. I probably should've hung out with coworkers but I've been sneezing for the last three hours so I'm afraid I'm either getting sick or having a fall In the south allergy attack (which I did not miss).

And now my hotel Internet isn't working so I'm relegated to blogging on my phone and watching football on a fuzzy ESPN. The only channel I want to watch is the one with snow. Oh well! Back in LA tomorrow!

Day Two: Charleston

The intersection that my hotel is near.

I walked about a mile in heels, which to me should count for double the calories, right? I think so. Today was my first day of the conference. It was actually fairly interesting and one of the great benefits was that I had some breaks in between sessions to get some work done. My hotel was about three  blocks away from the conference site, so I could easily run back and forth. It makes me feel so much less overwhelmed if I'm able to clean out the inbox of stuff and get a few easy things done while I'm away.

The decal that caught my eye.

As I was walking back and forth, I noticed a red dress. It was daylight and the sticker caught my eye. It was a Go Red For Women decal from my AHA days. I didn't pay much attention to the building, but moved along. Going back tonight I noticed that the building had the AHA office in it. And I was reminded that a friend from Murfreesboro is now the AHA Communications Director for the Charleston office (I gave her a recommendation which I hope didn't hurt her in getting the job). I might pop my head in tomorrow to see if she's in. Memories.

I had a nice day. Learned a lot and had some good food. Not too shabby. This place is super cute. I may have to come back again without a work excuse!

Day One: Charleston

Coast Restaurant
--very French Quarter feel,
except less smelly

I'm travelling to Charleston, SC for work and although I've only been here a few hours, I have to say the place is pretty darn cute. And there are a plethora of little local restaurants and shops within walking distance of my hotel. If I can successfully navigate a business trip so that I don't have to drive once while being there, it's a good thing. 


Hit a restaurant called Coast tonight that was just a block down the way. Seafood which is awesome. I had a lobster and crab gratin with blue cheese mashed potatoes and green beans (pictured). They helped make up for the calorie gap since I ate two Fiber One bars while travelling today. Calorie gap and belly successfully filled. Delicious. If I didn't already have dinner plans, I'd probably go back tomorrow night. YUM!!


 Hopefully I'll have a few more pictures to post tomorrow after the conference, but in the mean time, here's my weekly update:

Lobster and Crab gratin.
Was much better than it looks.
Bad lighting.

• Pages of fiction read: 33% of a 432 page book (World War Z) So, that's technically 143 pages. 
• Fiction read: World War Z by Max Brooks. Pretty good so far.
• Fiction listened to via audiobook: Six hours into The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larrson. Maybe I can do via audio what I couldn't do reading--finish it!
• Five pages written: Yup. Had 6 on the plane trip alone last week.
• Calorie tracking: Check.Crappy road, world series eating.
• Exercise: 225 minutes of exercise in the last week. 
• Friends and family: Yup. Called a friend to chat and tell her that I was missing her lots!
• Weight Loss:0 lb
• One revised section of novel per week:  Check! Have bridged the beginning to what I've previously written, so now it's just revise, revise, revise.I will get a rough draft done by my Birthday. I keep chanting that.

On The Road Again

I will definitely miss the palm trees and beautiful sunsets as I head from LA once again to Charleston, SC. I'm actually excited because there seems to be no snow in the forecast for Charleston which puts it a leg up on DC last week.

Off again, racking up some frequent flier miles so hopefully I can use them for a trip home. I'm missing my friends and family a lot the last couple of weeks and am mildly rejuvenated by the potential to have authentic southern cuisine this week. I saw grits on the menu and it nearly brought a tear to my eye. Add a few "y'alls" in there and I'm sure I'm gonna be a goner.

But for every minute of missing things, there are two of new experiences and discovery. I'll look to my left on the ride home and see a beautiful sunset backing the palm trees and have a peaceful moment in the middle of rush hour traffic. Not too shabby.