These are the Moments We Remember

And thus, we arrive to one of the most fabulous, and slightly ridiculous, weekends of my life. It went something like this; two days of camping in Joshua Tree National Park, dance practice in LA, then a red eye flight and (almost) three days DC.

I know, it sounds crazy. I questioned my own sanity as I was planning this weekend, but there was good reason for the madness. A good friend from out of town, who I hadn't seen in months, invited me to go camping, but I had to be at dance practice on Saturday (especially after having missed the last two weeks of practice for work...), and then I was offered a free ticket voucher for a flight anywhere in the US that was about to expire... Those of you who know me have probably noticed that I don't like to let opportunities pass me by, and this was no exception. Plus, I'm young and these are the moments we remember!

A Weekend in the Lou

This already feels like ages ago, but after Minnesota I returned to the office for a few days before flying off to another conference in St. Louis, Missouri. The conference was held a bit out of the city and, despite my best efforts, no one wanted to set foot near downtown to show me around due to their fear of the crowds that had been drawn for March Madness.

I did, however, get to see the home and office of one of the coordinators I work most closely with, and met her adorable St. Bernard puppy who diligently tried to eat my pants and jacket.

The picture above is of their office building as it was years ago when it was a hotel in the early 1900s.

I also got to try a few regional specialties, including fried raviolies, and some Mavrakos chocolate which claims to be "a Saint Louis tradidtion since 1913."

Missouri was also overrun with geese! They were everywhere! None of my pictures really turned out, but if you look closely at the grey blobs in the picture above and use your imagination a bit you might get an idea. It was fascinating, although, according to the locals they are quite a nusance because they get in the roads and disrupt traffic, and also because they poo everywhere. I guess I can understand the animosity.

I had a free hour between the time the conference was over and when I needed to be a the airport so I decided to take the metro and see as much of St. Louis as possible in that time. I was told that I'd never make it downtown and back in an hour so I stopped somewhere in between at Forest Park, which is the ginormous park with multiple museums throughout. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in front of the Missouri History Museum as I exited the metro stop. Really, I can't think of anywhere that would have been better to spend an hour (40 minutes at this point...) of free time in Missouri. I had time to check out an environmental exhibit where different organizations had made pieces of art with food cans and boxes, and an exhibit on the Worlds fair (birth place of the waffle cone), before heading back to the airport to catch my flight back to LaLa land.

Minnesota in the Spring

On the first weekend of Spring, I left perfect 80 degree weather in Santa Monica, and arrived to a freezing 27 degrees in Minneapolis/St. Paul. For the first time in my life the purpose of my trip was "business" and I was excited to represent my office at the conference and meet some of the local coordinators that work for our organization. There wasn't a whole lot of free time on the agenda, but I was able to finagle a mini-tour and saw enough of the twin cities to make my inner traveler happy.

One of the coordinators brought a some German fig flavored vodka for people to try, but, unfortunately, it was all gone by the time I arrived to the post-meeting party so I didn't get to try any, but I thought the labels were pretty awesome.

Friday night we ate dinner in Uptown Minneapolis at a swanky place called Chino Latino that served things such as nacho plates with fried plantain chips. Yum.

My guides drove me through the neighborhood were Abby, as in the woman who wrote the "Dear Abby" newspaper column, used to live. This wasn't Abby's house, they couldn't remember where it was, but she lived in this neighborhood.

There was a high school hockey team staying on my floor at the hotel and all of their doors were decorated with these personalized hockey sticks!

We had dinner at a restaurant in the Mall of America on Saturday night. Oddly enough, the amusement park in the middle of the mall seems to have shrunk since I was last there when I was 12 years old. :)

Million Dollar View

Hi, friends,

I should apologize for my absence from the blog world, the month of March has be ridiculously amazingly busy and as I write this I have only a few hours of down time before the next adventure begins (stay tuned, this weekend is going to be epic!). There's so much to share, but for the time being, I will take you back to a beautiful sunny weekend in the beginning of March.

Spring was in the air and beckoned us to explore Will Rogers Park and its famous trails that overlook the Pacific. According to a seasoned park ranger, we were in for a million dollar view at the top of the trail. Word also has it that Mr. Rogers used to take his wife up the mountain in a horse drawn buggy to take in the amazing landscape, how sweet. :) I imagine the view in the 1930's was significantly more spectacular that what we saw, since LA is perpetually hazy these days, but it was still pretty great. Standing on a mountain overlooking the ocean and a massive city always offers a refreshing perspective on life in general.

Hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend!

Deanna

Kogi + Kobe

On Tuesday, March 2, I had a few more "firsts" in the City of Angels, and was helplessly wooed by the city. It's true. I feasted on my first Korean-Mexican burrito from the Kogi BBQ truck, which was soooo good! Track the truck down if you have a chance, you will not be disappointed. Then I completed what might be a rite of passage for residents of LA by attending my very first Lakers game! The Lakers won, and also kept the Pacers under 100 points, so all the fans got vouchers for free tacos at Jack in the Box! I don't want to speak too soon, but I might be a little bit in love with this city.

Work and Pleasure

Last week we held one of our semi-annual National Conferences at our office. Typically, our conferences are comprised solely of intensive meetings and excessive food consumption, but this time we decided to add a few more leisurely activities to the agenda to spice things up a bit. We spent one afternoon walking around Venice, after a delicious lunch at Mao's Kitchen, and also took the crew bowling one evening at Mar Vista Lanes, where I unleashed my secret bowling skills (secret even to myself), and blew everyone away by getting 133 points!

Marquee

Is this some kind of spin off of, "Get high on God, not drugs"? I'm confused.