Kevin is at his first ever out of town (actually out of state) conference. I considered going with him (I really want to be a tag along on a conference), but several factors - including it being a week earlier than we first thought - made us decide it would make more sense for me not to go. Which means, that for the first time since his grad school days I'm home for a few days without him.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm excited -- total TV control! plus I can starfish across our bed if I want to. Sure I will miss him, but making the best of it - no sports and I can watch the shows that pile up on the DVR since he's not a fan...
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Space Center Houston
I just got back from my annual professional conference. This year it was held locally - Clear Lake - and while I'm a bit bummed I didn't get to go to another part of the state, it worked out pretty well as I was able to minimize my nights away (good since our dog needs pills every morning and night now) and still get to participate in the professional development and networking opportunities.
One evening I also got to spend time at Space Center Houston, I haven't been there in at least a decade and before that my last visit was probably a grade school field trip. While there, I kept thinking why don't I come here, its so close! I'm already looking at planning a trip back with Kevin.
One of our general session speakers was sick and they were able to get an ASTRONAUT to come to speak to us in her place. I have to admit I was more excited about the replacement speaker (though I do wish our original speaker a speedy recovery). He (Col Ken Cameron) was fascinating (and funny!) to listen to, and it was interesting to hear about NASA as a company, they have communication and bureaucracy problems, like any employer. I loved his pictures and stories about time in space -- they took Blue Bell ice cream with them when they docked with the Mir space station....Blue Bell has been eaten in space!!!
I highly recommend you visit Space Center Houston if you are ever in Houston, and I also brought back many ideas to try out at work.
One evening I also got to spend time at Space Center Houston, I haven't been there in at least a decade and before that my last visit was probably a grade school field trip. While there, I kept thinking why don't I come here, its so close! I'm already looking at planning a trip back with Kevin.
One of our general session speakers was sick and they were able to get an ASTRONAUT to come to speak to us in her place. I have to admit I was more excited about the replacement speaker (though I do wish our original speaker a speedy recovery). He (Col Ken Cameron) was fascinating (and funny!) to listen to, and it was interesting to hear about NASA as a company, they have communication and bureaucracy problems, like any employer. I loved his pictures and stories about time in space -- they took Blue Bell ice cream with them when they docked with the Mir space station....Blue Bell has been eaten in space!!!I highly recommend you visit Space Center Houston if you are ever in Houston, and I also brought back many ideas to try out at work.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Super Bowl Festivities
We've been enjoying the Super Bowl festivities in downtown, leading up to the big game on Sunday.I asked Kevin just last night if he found it weird he's been into downtown 3 times this week - I go every day (for work), but he doesn't generally get down there this much! It is weird but in a good way -- one trip to take it all in (so much hustle and bustle doesn't even feel like the same city), another trip to meet me after my volunteer shift (we intended to go to NFL Experience but ran out of time after grabbing dinner at Biggio's and deciding it better to go on a night we didn't have work the next day). We had fun people watching and happened to see the red carpet to a gala, lots of NFL hall of famers; and then last night we finally made it inside.
I was glad to finally get to see NFL Experience as a spectator. We wandered the whole area -- lots of football events, green screens, even a Skittles locker room! We stopped into a section to see the referee calls and were able to watch a panel discussion of a former QB and former referee talk about their experiences and answer questions, even my lifelong football fan of a husband learned a few new things.
We also wandered through Discovery Green (park) and the city blocks connected that are blocked off for free events --- the area is unrecognizable! Some of the best things we saw are not even part of the event, just kids being kids -- an impromptu dance-off, and they were good!We saw a lot of food options - food trucks galore, but opted to head out of the festivities to eat at a restaurant, sitting and having the food brought to me was a winner!
I have one more shift today, should be busy being the weekend of the big game. My volunteering is going well -- it has made me feel more of a part of the festivities; my assignments have all been at "NFL Experience" inside the convention center. Seeing the kids so excited to do anything football (I helped retrieve and set up balls for punt, pass kick one shift) is the best! Some kids are so tiny, and some adults become like kids again.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Resolutions
oops. I just realized this never posted -- two weeks late but here are my new year's resolutions
Looking at my past resolutions, I probably need to quit making resolutions...oh well....I like to make these declarations with the turn of the year, and want to work at keeping them, here they are:
Looking at my past resolutions, I probably need to quit making resolutions...oh well....I like to make these declarations with the turn of the year, and want to work at keeping them, here they are:
- work related: begin reading chronicle of higher ed
- stop cursing -- its gotten a bit out of control in recent years...
- move this year - this is a big one, I hate that we are going to move again so soon, but while the townhouse is fun (and we LOVE the area), its not going to work for us long term -- lack of yard, little storage, and so many stairs (main level has no bathroom, so any time we need to go to restroom its up or down a flight of stairs)--sadly I have this situation at work right now TOO!
- take a cooking class
- read 17 books this year
- Participate in online weight loss program I signed up for through my health insurance
- Stop wasting time on computer.....figure out plans and do those things - I can spend so much time on the computer and not have any idea what I did, so I want to plan what I want to do -- even if that is skim facebook, pinterest...
- Finish a crochet project - I've got a good start on this one!
I've actually finished a crochet project (beanie for K), and we've started on moving plans (well, at this point selling plans) -- got a storage unit to help with getting place ready for showings. I've also been to two online meetings with my
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Viva Las Vegas
Happy New Year!
Its hard to believe the holidays have already come and gone and I've been back at work nearly a week (how can it only be Thursday?!?)
We had a great Christmas with family, and took advantage of the time off to take a trip to Las Vegas! I've been resistant to taking trips during the holidays, but finally realized/accepted we need to align our trips with the school year since Kevin teaches, and we'll take full advantage of the time we get off at the holidays. We are lucky that we both work for colleges so we get similar days off.
I'd been to Vegas as a kid, and Kevin had never been so it was really the first trip there for both of us, and we had such a great time. There is so much to see and do I don't know how anyone could be bored in this town.
It was an easy, non-stop flight and we stayed just off the strip -- at Signature at MGM, we'd wanted a non-smoking hotel, and while it was a walk to the strip it was nice and quiet at the hotel, and a gorgeous hotel - room even had a fridge, microwave and even a small stove (we only used the fridge and coffee maker, but good to know).
We booked our shows/excursions before the trip so we could work out the best schedule for ourselves, and I think we did pretty well, a mix of things to do and time to explore. Our planned itinerary was as follows:
Tuesday - arrive, explore
Wednesday - explore during day (and pick up show tickets), Cirque du Soleil show at night (also makes sure we get to bed early since we have an early morning)
Thursday - Jeep tour (early morning, so booked it midway through to adjust to time zone); nap, dinner with Kevin's coworker who was also in town
Friday - explore during day (and pick up show tickets), comedy show at night
Saturday - head home
We've learned to be flexible on trips and while we stuck to the itinerary pretty well, we adjusted as needed, We didn't make it to the comedy show, we were just too tired when we got back to the room and decided to stay in and have room service. We did let Kevin's coworker convince us to go check out Fremont Street Experience and are so glad we did - we had dinner at a spot right along it and though we were wiped from the Jeep tour and a busy day (missed our planned nap) we walked around to see it, a pedestrian only street and an overhead canopy with a music and light show on the hour.
Other highlights from the trip:
Cirque du Soleil show - we chose the Love show, can't go wrong with Beatles music, and it was amazing to see the interpretations to the songs, and in addition to the songs they had audio from recording sessions that we'd never heard before.
Jeep tour - Kevin wanted to get to do some off-roading, and so we booked this excursion, and midway through our trip it also worked out to be refreshing to get some time away from all the hustle and bustle of the city. We were a smaller group than I thought - only the two of us and one other family and our tour guide, in 3 separate vehicles, and we went to a nearby natural area, Red Rock Canyon. We had a beautiful day for it, and we were able to sight see a bit, and Kevin was able to get more experience with rock crawling. We did not expect to be driving in snow! that definitely made it more challenging.
electronic craps - We've known from our few trips to the casino that we like the game craps, and this time discovered the electronic version. We liked it for several reasons: minimum bet is lower, you can sit (standing at the table gets tiring), predictable pace of the game, and it also has spaces where you can get descriptions of what the various parts of the table mean, great since we are still learning!
roller coaster - as soon as I saw some of the casinos had roller coasters, I knew I wanted to ride one. I really mix Six Flags Astroworld and haven't been on a coaster in years. I got some ideas of which ones to do, and chose based on which sounded good and which we were closest to, Manhattan Express at New York New York won. It was just what i wanted, had a loop and a barrel roll, and amazing views since its on top of the building (when I could keep my eyes open). $14 for like a 2 minute ride, but worth it!
We also did a fair amount of just walking around and exploring, and i couldn't get over all the shopping! We also gawked at a spiral escalator in the Forum shops, I'm still not sure how its possible! and the food, we ate well on the trip...
Tips:
use uber, we also saw a lot of coupons for lyft, but have never used it so stuck with uber. We did take a taxi once (from airport to hotel) and the same trip back with uber was one third the price!
If you want photos with the Beatles Love signs, take them when you go early to pick up tickets - we had the place (including the store) to ourselves
Its hard to believe the holidays have already come and gone and I've been back at work nearly a week (how can it only be Thursday?!?)
We had a great Christmas with family, and took advantage of the time off to take a trip to Las Vegas! I've been resistant to taking trips during the holidays, but finally realized/accepted we need to align our trips with the school year since Kevin teaches, and we'll take full advantage of the time we get off at the holidays. We are lucky that we both work for colleges so we get similar days off.
I'd been to Vegas as a kid, and Kevin had never been so it was really the first trip there for both of us, and we had such a great time. There is so much to see and do I don't know how anyone could be bored in this town.
It was an easy, non-stop flight and we stayed just off the strip -- at Signature at MGM, we'd wanted a non-smoking hotel, and while it was a walk to the strip it was nice and quiet at the hotel, and a gorgeous hotel - room even had a fridge, microwave and even a small stove (we only used the fridge and coffee maker, but good to know).
We booked our shows/excursions before the trip so we could work out the best schedule for ourselves, and I think we did pretty well, a mix of things to do and time to explore. Our planned itinerary was as follows:
Tuesday - arrive, explore
Wednesday - explore during day (and pick up show tickets), Cirque du Soleil show at night (also makes sure we get to bed early since we have an early morning)
Thursday - Jeep tour (early morning, so booked it midway through to adjust to time zone); nap, dinner with Kevin's coworker who was also in town
Friday - explore during day (and pick up show tickets), comedy show at night
Saturday - head home
We've learned to be flexible on trips and while we stuck to the itinerary pretty well, we adjusted as needed, We didn't make it to the comedy show, we were just too tired when we got back to the room and decided to stay in and have room service. We did let Kevin's coworker convince us to go check out Fremont Street Experience and are so glad we did - we had dinner at a spot right along it and though we were wiped from the Jeep tour and a busy day (missed our planned nap) we walked around to see it, a pedestrian only street and an overhead canopy with a music and light show on the hour.
Other highlights from the trip:
Cirque du Soleil show - we chose the Love show, can't go wrong with Beatles music, and it was amazing to see the interpretations to the songs, and in addition to the songs they had audio from recording sessions that we'd never heard before.
electronic craps - We've known from our few trips to the casino that we like the game craps, and this time discovered the electronic version. We liked it for several reasons: minimum bet is lower, you can sit (standing at the table gets tiring), predictable pace of the game, and it also has spaces where you can get descriptions of what the various parts of the table mean, great since we are still learning!
roller coaster - as soon as I saw some of the casinos had roller coasters, I knew I wanted to ride one. I really mix Six Flags Astroworld and haven't been on a coaster in years. I got some ideas of which ones to do, and chose based on which sounded good and which we were closest to, Manhattan Express at New York New York won. It was just what i wanted, had a loop and a barrel roll, and amazing views since its on top of the building (when I could keep my eyes open). $14 for like a 2 minute ride, but worth it!
We also did a fair amount of just walking around and exploring, and i couldn't get over all the shopping! We also gawked at a spiral escalator in the Forum shops, I'm still not sure how its possible! and the food, we ate well on the trip...
Tips:
use uber, we also saw a lot of coupons for lyft, but have never used it so stuck with uber. We did take a taxi once (from airport to hotel) and the same trip back with uber was one third the price!
If you want photos with the Beatles Love signs, take them when you go early to pick up tickets - we had the place (including the store) to ourselves
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