First Official Work Trip

So I'm on my way home from my first official work trip. Yes... right now... I'm on a plane. You gotta love technology.

So two weeks ago, I gained the Dallas/Ft. Worth market as my area to find and develop projects. This was an area I've never been before... I can honestly say, I expects Dallas to be very, how shall I say... Texas? You know... "Everything's bigger in Texas" and lots of trucks and boots and cowboy hats. You know... like the show, Dallas. I was surprised to see that is wasn't and really just like any other big city with lots of suburbs. Houston was more 'Texas' (IMO) than Dallas is. Maybe it was because it was just my first time there... but who knows.

My main focus was actually over in Ft. Worth this trip. I had a meeting with the City about a new project, and we wanted to make sure we were heading down the right path before starting the formal design/submittal process with them. Not that those reading this really have a honest care about it, but this site just seems too straight forward to be true... even the City Planner said it was a pretty straight forward looking site. Scary. So here's hoping that's true.

I did drive by some other potential sites and explore a bit. For those who don't know, the downtowns of Dallas and Ft. Worth are about 30 miles away from each other - straight show on I-30 between the two. And as Cities go, the two are actually quite different, from what I saw. Again, this was my first time and just my first impression. Over the next few trips, I'm sure I'm form a final opinion. Upon arrival to DFW, which is right between the two cities, I was hungry for lunch and had only my own schedule to deal with (driving to sites). So I found the closest Panera on my way to my first site. Which happened to be in Arlington. Which I didn't even think about being the home of the Cowboys. So without even looking, I found myself in the shadow of AT&T Stadium. I passed by it a few more time on my trip, as well - you can see it very clearly from I-30. There was also a Wet-n-Wild there, that looked just like the one I went to growing up in Orlando (Kissimmee). Only, this one had be sold to the neighboring Six Flags across the interstate and renamed. But it was still on Wet-n-Wild Drive. LoL

So Texas... I did not think I'd end up there (in a working sense), but there I am. For now. That could change at a moments notice when you're in development. But it'll be interesting while I am traveling down there.

Is It Really Spring?

I know I said I'd limit the weather posts... but it's finally spring!

At least on the calendar. But the weather hasn't been too horrible. Great, no... but not horrible. We've had some 'warm' days that have given us a hint of what's to come... but it still seems cold for March! And the weatherman agrees - we've had a lot of below average days. And there's still snow in the forecast. We didn't get a lot, but I'm so tired of the snow this year. I think it's because it's been so cold this year. And I had no garage. Still. But I digress.

So yeah... Spring is here and I'm really hoping it warms up quickly and stays there. We even threw some grass seed down today, in hopes of it germinating and taking care of some of the mud the snow left behind. And a few of the tulip are trying to poke through. But it's actually later than in years past... our neighbor's tulip tree is normally in full bloom by now! I'm so tired of looking at all the 'blah' browns/greys and lack of color around here.

Spring Break is the other thing... it seems like everyone but me is taking a true spring break vacation. How is it that the person from FL is the one NOT going to FL soon? Complete bummer... I think I need to plan something. Ha Ha I wish I could... maybe a late spring break? I don't know... nothing can be determined yet. Too many other things happening (mainly with work). But that's a whole other story.

A New England Wedding

I think we only have one wedding this year... as last weekend was it! And it was a destination wedding, of sorts, in that we had to travel. To New England in the winter.

I think everyone had heard about the monumental amount of snow they've had in New England this winter - near record setting overall total (with still a possibility of it being surpassed). So we had an idea of what to expect when we got out there... a lot of snow on the ground! And there was, indeed, a lot of snow, which was clear as we landed in Boston.

We headed out on Friday morning, with the through that we could actually have a day of 'vacation' before the wedding on Saturday. Last week, as I was trying to figure out what we should do, in occurred to me... New England is known for their lighthouses! Since we had to drive to the northern border of Massachusetts for the wedding, we might as well keep driving north for a bit and be a tourist. Besides, why not add two more states to my 'visited' list. I honestly had no idea where to start, so I found a guided tour a mapped out some of the lighthouses they had listed. So I knew it's be an interesting drive trying to actually find some of these.

And that turned out to be true. We drove as far north as Portland, ME, and our first couple of stops, while not complete failures, were disappointing. Either we couldn't find the lighthouse at all (bad directions from Google/Siri) or they were too far out to really see. But finally, I picked a sure bet based on reviews - the Portland Head Light. And it was about the most perfect lighthouse you could find. I was a happy girl, finally. And the next one, The Nubble Light House, was probably one of the more iconic light houses you see photos of... even with snow on the rocks around it! We decided to grab a Lobster Roll for lunch - because you always have to have a Lobster Roll, right?? Then we drove around to find a few more before heading to the hotel. It was starting to get dreary and windy... and we were getting hungry for dinner. We chilled out for a bit and freshened up before heading into the downtown area of Amesbury for some dinner. Yelp has become my friend when travelling... it really does help you find some good places you may not find, otherwise. And it, again, helped us find some good pub fare. But by the time we were done eating, we were wiped from our long day of travel.

Saturday morning, we woke up to some snow showers. Lucky New England! But they didn't last too long... they did turn to rain, eventually. So we had some breakfast at the hotel, and then found the only Starbucks in NE Massachusetts. No joke. They are Dunkin Donuts lovers in this part of the country. We used their Wi-Fi for a bit before doing some more exploring - no lighthouses, today - too cold! Instead, we drove out to Lowell to find some makerspaces Eric read about. And a converted factory and created a great reuse - apartments, small (local) shops, and even a small theatre! It was a very cool space. But then it was finally time for the reason we were here... Zeb & Heather's wedding.

The venue was in Groveland, about a 20 minute drive from our hotel. It was still drizzling a bit, but it was letting up. It was indoors, anyway, so it was just a matter of getting there. They had a really sweet (and fun) ceremony, where one of the guys who was responsible for them meeting was the officiant. There weren't too many people there that we knew, as Zeb was one of Eric's younger fraternity brothers... and we were in New England, not Indiana. But we had a good time, with good food and friends. They are a great couple and Eric and I are so happy they found each other.

Sunday morning we slept in after the late night. We decided to skip the hotel breakfast and, instead, find some breakfast as we headed back towards Boston. We found a truly local place (thanks to Yelp, again) and had a really hearty breakfast. We then headed to Somerville to find another makerspace Eric heard about - this one was supposed to be awesome! We were not disappointed at all. It was huge and I think it was everything Eric aspires to have his space be. Eric got quite inspired. We then went to Cambridge to scope out another space, which we couldn't fine, but we did find Harvard. It was kind of cool to see such a historic school - the campus was much more urban/dense than I expected... guess I'm used to Auburn.

But it was finally time to head to the airport and back to Indiana. It turned out to be quite the weekend for us, and just enough time away for both of us. Even if it was cold. We still had a great time.