What I'm Loving!

I'm loving...

THAT BASEBALL SEASON IS FIVE DAYS AWAY!!! CAN YOU TELL HOW EXCITED I AM?? Lol. On Monday I'll be at the Ballpark in Arlington (don't make me call it Globe Life Park) watching my Rangers play! **happy dance**

I'm loving...

That I can cross another state off my list of states to visit. I had to fly to Pennsylvania last week on a business trip (I ended up in Lancaster, to be more specific). For those who have missed the map at the bottom of my blog (and on the sidebar), here is an update on the states I have visited.

We flew out of Dallas to Philadelphia, where we caught a connecting flight to Harrisburg, PA. THIS WAS THE PLANE I HAD TO GET ON IN PHILLY (I'm not a good flyer). It was so small that I thought that Tim Daly was flying it (bonus points if you caught that Wings reference).

There was still snow on the ground from the blizzard two weeks ago

The first night we were so tired we opted to stay in our rooms (we each had our own room) and order room service. The chicken on this Caesar salad was amazing. The dressing wasn't that great, but the ice cream made up for the whole meal. Lol. Oh, and I tried sparkling water for the first time. Not a fan, reminds me too much of Alka Seltzer.

Despite having to work hard the majority of the trip, I did have fun. I enjoyed the team that I worked with, and I met some new friends (even though we all work for the same company, we are in different departments, and some of us even different building locations), so this gives us a chance to meet and work together. We got together twice for a team dinner.

My awesome team!

Me and my friend Jan. We actually met on a business trip last year. She lives in Delaware so it had been a year since we had seen each other.

After our conference one night, we went out for karaoke and I made new friends there (yes, I make friends wherever I go). Lol. It was a great little pub. I would totally go there all the time if I lived in Lancaster. Oh, and I should mention that they were showing the Texas Rangers spring training game on the TV (granted it was on ESPN, but still). Lol.

New friend Tony 

New friend Ed

I'm loving...

That even while I'm out of state on business, I find time to find SOMETHING historical in the town I'm visiting. We had about two hours to walk around Lancaster before our meeting on Wednesday so I did the best that I could. Despite being in "Amish Country" I didn't see ONE Amish person or buggy. I was kind of disappointed. Lol. 

This Methodist church was built in 1890

This is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Penn Square in Lancaster. It was originally dedicated on July 4, 1874 to pay tribute to soldiers killed during the Civil War. But today it also represents those who have served in subsequent American military conflicts

It was FREEZING on Wednesday (like 25 degrees). And it was super windy. We visited a few of the shops (just to get out of the cold) and also had an amazing cup of hot chocolate at some place called Cafe Onions, which was a Korean and American food cafe. We didn't try the food, but I'm serious that the hot chocolate was on point. We had lunch at a little French restaurant. The food was great. And for dessert they had these donut hole type pastries sprinkled with cinnamon. And it came with chocolate or raspberry dipping sauce. It. Was. AMAZING.

I'm loving...

Flight delays. Okay, I'm SO NOT loving those. On Sunday morning we had JUST sat down on the plane to leave when the pilot told us there was a mechanical issue so we had to get back off the plane. I ended up having a SEVEN HOUR flight delay in Pennsylvania. We all couldn't get on the same flight, so we were divided up. I ended up being the only one on the latest flight out. My flight was supposed to have left at 9am and I didn't leave until 3:15pm. I had a connecting flight in Charlotte (I had 20 minutes to get off the plane from Harrisburg and two terminals over to catch my flight to Dallas). As we were getting on THAT plane, we were told of bad weather in the Dallas area and to be prepared for a possible delay. Can I just say that flying during a thunderstorm was NOT SOMETHING I wanted to cross off my bucket list. Not long after my flight finally landed in Dallas (at 8pm) DFW airport was shut down for almost an hour due to horrible storms. I'm SO glad we landed when we did. 

Ho-hum. Flight delays.

Flying into the storm over Dallas. There was a lot of lightning, but of course, I couldn't get a picture of it. The flight got bumpy about this point and my prayer life increased. Lol.

I'm loving...

Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett. Last week I sent out a tweet asking people to take a picture wishing my mom a happy birthday (she turned 80 on Sunday). He responded with this picture. He is the GOAT.

I'm loving...

My new bathroom sink. Hey- little things make me happy. My old one was chipped and looking a little rusty. Now it's all pretty. :) 

I'm loving...

That I was able to read a book and a half on my plane rides to and from Pennsylvania. Book reviews to come shortly! :)

XOXO!

What are YOU loving??

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday my friends! It is time to link up once again for What I'm Loving Wednesday! Please be sure to check out my co-host Jodi's blog as well! 

If you would like to participate, grab this button over on the sidebar or link back to our blogs. Be sure to leave a comment on the blog listed before yours (it's always nice to meet a new blogger with these link ups!) :)

I'm loving...

That by the time a lot of you read this post, I will be in Florida. Sadly, not on vacation, it's for business. BUT, it's always nice to get out of the office every once in a while. :)

I'm loving...

That a lot of my friends sent me this story last week (they know me so well). Click here for the article.

I'm loving...

That I got to have dinner with two of my sweetest friends this week. It's been a while since the three of us have been able to hang out together. I had a rough day on Monday, but being able to laugh and talk with them for a few hours ended my day on a good note. And getting hugs from them didn't hurt either. ;) 

I'm loving...

That I've been busy planning some summer road trips. I'm so excited about them! :) 

I'm loving...

That one of my favorite authors sent me this book. She saw on Twitter that I was looking for a book of hers, so she asked for my address and mailed me a copy. Thank you again Rocki!! :)

I'm loving...

That I'm actually writing this post early, and not at midnight (like I did last week).

Hope everyone has a great week! I'll do my best to get to your What I'm Loving Wednesday posts today, but since I'll be away on business, it might take me a few days!!

XOXO!!

Mobile Monday!

Like I mentioned last week, I had to go out of town on business last week. I left Wednesday morning and returned yesterday afternoon. I really wish I had taken today off work, I'm exhausted! I thought I would post some pictures of my trip to Des Moines. 

As some of you know, I'm not a huge fan of flying. I got to the airport probably about an hour and a half before my flight was supposed to take off (I know SOME people like to make fun of me for that). ;) I was flying American Eagle and the plane was really small (I don't know the type. It had 18 rows, with two seats on one side and only one seat on the other side). When I booked my flight I was supposed to be in seat 5B, which was near the front. I guess since the flight wasn't completely full, they had to move people around to "balance" the plane out, so I got moved from 5B to 18A. Yeah, the last row. I wasn't happy (I mean, if they had moved me a few seats back, I would have been okay, but all the way to the back? Come on). I'm not a fan of sitting in the back, but oh well. I didn't cause a scene (okay, I sent American Airlines a bitter tweet, but that was all). I had a seat to myself and the row across the aisle from me was empty too, so that was nice. 

This was right behind my seat. I was tempted to call the pilot, but I figured that was probably some federal offense, and who has time for that?

The view behind me and out my window

Leaving Dallas. I think that big building is the Great Wolf Lodge.

This was my reaction to the kid in front of me playing some video game with the volume turned up and no headphones in it.

The flight went okay. About 25 minutes before our landing, I had the worst pain in my ears, it was like my head was being squeezed. I've had ear problems my whole life so I'm not surprised, but this was the worst out of all my flying experiences. Another co-worker of mine was on the same flight (the rest of our team flew out earlier that day), so she and I took a rental car to the hotel from the airport. I had about three hours to kill before the team met for dinner, so I was lazy and got caught up on social media while chilling in my hotel room. Oh, and I found a Boy Meets World marathon on TV (score!)

This bed was so comfortable. I'm so glad my company gives us our own rooms when we travel.

View out my window, I was on the 30th floor.

My team went to this restaurant called Centro's for dinner. It was really nice. I ordered a rib eye (I know, you are shocked that I ate steak). It was okay (not the best rib eye I've ever had, but it wasn't too bad). I ate SO MUCH that night. I even tried calamari for the first time (it was okay, but I don't see me just ordering it on my own anytime soon). 

Steak... :)

I won't bore you with all the details of the convention (mainly because I'm not at liberty to). :)

Thursday night my team didn't need to work, so I was able to meet up with my sweet friend Micah (check out her blog here). Micah and I originally met through Twitter, than started following each other's blogs. We met up in person two years ago at a Rangers game, but hadn't seen each other since then. It was so good to catch up in person! :) Micah drove me by the minor league baseball stadium that is in Des Moines (they are a Cubs affiliate). We then went to an awesome burger place called Zombie Burger for dinner (they had good cheese fries). After that we went to el Bait Shop to watch some March Madness and have after dinner refreshments.

Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs

Me and the lovely Micah!

Friday was a super long day, we didn't get back to the hotel until after 11. It was a short night because Saturday morning I had to be at the convention by 7am. But I was able to catch a beautiful sunrise while on my walk! :)

This was taken from inside a walkway, so ignore the dirty window. :) Downtown Des Moines has a covered skywalk that connects hotels, parking garages, and other businesses. It's nice because we didn't have to walk out in the cold. I wish Dallas would make something like this- it would be nice during the summer months! 

I noticed a picture of Elvis at the location of our convention. :) 

On our last night, my team and I had a wonderful dinner together. I'm so glad I got to meet these people, we all work in different departments, so I didn't know them before this past week.

My wonderful team!

So we went all the way to Iowa and we had Mexican food (I know, it doesn't make sense to me either). I noticed this on the menu (look at yellow box). It made me a little nervous. I asked our waiter what it was, turns out that is a kind of cheese. I told him in Texas, we just list it as cheese.

I was once again at the airport an hour and a half before my flight (most of my team was flying back together, so we all rode the shuttle from the hotel to the airport). And then this happened to me going through security....

The same thing happened to me when I left Boston last year. Seems states up north like profiling Rangers fans... Lol. 

The flight back was painless (and they kept me in the seat I had originally selected). It was nice to get back home and to a little warmer temperatures!! :)

Flying over Texas, or as I call it, God's Country. :)

I'm very excited about temperatures being in the 70s later this week!

So, quick update on my 101 in 1001 list:

#9- Now in progress since I went to Iowa, only four more states to go!
#37- I can completely cross off! YAY!!!

Hope everyone has a great day!

XOXO!