And Possibly Dinosaurs

The best parts of being a homebody

Travel

Florida in February, Or: That Time I Met Joey Fatone

I’m writing this blog post more than 6 months after, and I still can’t believe this happened to me.

I work on the marketing team at Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and every February, we have the Sales & Marketing Awards, or SMAs, to celebrate our hard work from the previous year.

We all fly into Orlando from across the country and get together at Hard Rock Café at Universal Orlando. There’s a theme every year, and the company goes all out—decorations, costumes, food, drinks, and entertainment. This year’s theme was Mardi Gras, and the headliners were none other than Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone of *NSYNC.

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Aix-en-Provence for Athina’s Wedding

I just got back from the most amazing trip to France. It was my first time visiting, and it was for an absolutely beautiful reason—my best friend’s wedding!

Athina and I have known each other for 18 years now (yikes that makes me feel old). We met in high school, and had lockers next to each other almost every year. We still talk almost daily, even though she moved to France back in 2013.

When I found out she was engaged, I immediately knew I would do everything I could to attend the wedding. The pandemic made it a bit trickier, since we weren’t sure where the world would be at and whether we’d feel safe traveling. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, and French President Macron was highly involved in mediating the conflict.

Basically… it was just another year in this crazy world that we’ve somehow grown numb to.

Thankfully, everything worked out for Sean and I to attend Athina’s wedding and explore a bit of the country she now calls home. There’s a lot to cover, so I’m going to split our trip into two blog posts!

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Life Lately

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Well hey there! It’s been just over six months since I’ve blogged regularly, and I’ve really been missing it. A lot has changed since my last update!

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DIY Souvenir Keepsake Boxes

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One of the very first things I pinned when I first got a Pinterest account was a set of souvenir boxes from Martha Stewart. I loved the idea, especially because I’m a borderline hoarder when it comes to things like ticket stubs and brochures.

The thing that always tripped me up was the style; my favorite color changes so often, I couldn’t bring myself to commit to a paint color. I ended up buying some boxes from Michaels to put my souvenirs in… and then left them blank and unmarked for five years and three moves before finally finishing them!

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Florida in October

While most people were living up the fall weather last week, Sean and I headed south for a very warm week in Florida! And it turns out it was for the best, because Michigan had some pretty crazy wind / rain / snow while we were away!

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A Short Trip to Traverse City

And so continues my “A Short Trip to _____” saga that is 2019!

This past weekend, Sean and I went up north to Traverse City for my friend Lexie’s wedding! She’s one of my very first friends, and now we can officially say we were bridesmaids in each other’s weddings. 🤗

Because Sean and I had never been to Traverse City together, we decided to make a long weekend of it from Thursday afternoon through Sunday morning. And it worked out, because in the end that’s what a lot of the wedding party did!

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A Short Trip to Chicago

I feel like “a short trip to _______” is my theme for 2019. I feel like I just got back from Los Angeles, and suddenly I was hopping on a train to Chicago for Angela’s birthday! In no time I’ll be heading up north to Traverse City and then south to Charleston! What a crazy exciting year.

As I mentioned in last week’s Sunday Scratches, I headed to Chicago last week with Randi (who lives in Chicago) and Angela, plus two of Angela’s friends Rafa and Carolina (who I now consider good friends!).

Angela wanted to see Hamilton for her birthday, and we discovered that, because of Chicago’s residency since 2016, it was actually easier and cheaper for Angela, Rafa, and Carolina to fly all the way from southern California to Chicago and see it there. And since Randi lives in Chicago and I’m less than 3 hours away, we made a big trip of it!

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A Short Trip to Los Angeles

The past few days have been full and this introvert is so happy to be home. We had an amazing (but short!) trip to Los Angeles this past weekend, so I wanted to hop on and tell you all about it!

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How to Succeed at Work After a Long Vacation

How to Succeed at Work After a Long Vacation

Taking a long trip can be one of the best experiences. But returning to work after a long vacation? Not quite as nice.

For my honeymoon, I took three full weeks off of work. Getting back into the swing of things was rough, but using a few different tactics, I was able to make the transition a little bit easier.

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Honeymoon, Part 6: Tauranga, New Zealand

Honeymoon, Part 6: Tauranga, New Zealand

If Sean and I are moving to Auckland, we’re buying a vacation home in Tauranga. Or, more specifically, Mount Maunganui.

Tauranga was the one port we didn’t have a solid “plan” for; we didn’t book any tours, we just researched what was available in town and decided to wing it. And it ended up being our favorite stop on our whole cruise.

It’s interesting, the same thing happened on our Mediterranean cruise! The one port where we didn’t make a formal plan, Dubrovnik, was our favorite spot on the whole trip.

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