 |
 |
| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
My Goal
12 years ago
Friday, May 30, 2008
A Trip to the Getty Villa
While Matthew's parents are here visiting for a long weekend, they just one request! They wanted to go to the Getty Museum. While the actual museum has changed quite a bit since the last time I was there (14 years) we had a really nice time! We went to what is now called the Getty Villa and is home to all of J. Paul Getty's Roman and Greek antiquities. Here are just a few of pictures I took while on our outing!
A Southern Apology!
I know, I know, it has been weeks since I last blogged. I just seem to loose track of time. Actually the last two weeks I was traveling and let's face it, the last thing I want to do is be behind the computer screen! So I am sorry it has been so long and will do better to stay on top of this!
Our business trips were successful and we even got to do a little bit of sight-seeing and fun activities on both trips. The first trip was to Little Rock Arkansas and our second trip was to Savannah Georgia. The plan for the next few months will be to travel 2 out of the 4 weeks to visit our customers. Currently I am traveling with our other Regional Sales Manager and it has been very pleasant! We work well together and so far haven't killed each other in our travels, even if he is a horrible driver!!
While in Little Rock we did take in a single A Minor League baseball game. We watch the Little Rock Travelers play against the Springfield Cardinals. In fact it was one of the farm team for the Angels, which kind of made Matthew a bit jealous! (although I did bring him a shot glass and baseball hat with the team name and logo on them!!)
This was actually my second trip to Savannah but last time we were there our schedule was pretty tight and it didn't allow for any sight-seeing or eating at a really nice restaurant! However this time we had some extra time and that was nice. On our first night there we drove into downtown Savannah and ate dinner at the Shrimp Factory on the riverfront! Food was absolutely delicious and they are pretty well known for their peach daiquiri! (Yes I had one!) On our second day there, after our meeting was finished, we drove over to Hilton Head, SC and Tybee Island to look around. We ended up eating dinner at Uncle Bubba's Oyster House (Paula Dean's brother's place.) The food was fabulous and I even tried the house special chargrilled oysters. We sat outside on the back deck and found that the restaurant is home to about 6 cats. They hang out around the place and will even sit at your feet if you feed them. The weather was actually really nice and not what was predicted by the weatherman! I could definitely spend a lot more time in downtown Savannah the next time I am there! There is so much history and some great buildings and Victorian homes. So with that being said, enjoy the slideshow!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
On the road again...
So this week I was officially launched into my new role as regional sales manager and am currently on my first trip for the year. Never mind that we found out last minute that we needed to be in Little Rock this week (like last Friday) but it never fails as we had an extra passenger. Yes, Murphy decided to grace us with his presence this week.
Our flight left beautiful Southern California at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday. We were scheduled to have a brief visit, albeit 34 minutes, in Houston and then on to Little Rock. We left OC on time, but somewhere in the take-off the Houston terminal informed the pilots that our flight was rescheduled to land at 2:20 p.m. not 2:10 p.m. (now if you are paying attention this means 24 minutes to get to the next gate/flight!) So we finally land in Houston which is very cloudy, raining, etc. We landed early and arrived at 2:00 p.m. so now we are back up to 44 minute window. I can work with this. I knew we had to change terminals and this would be sufficient time to get to the connecting flight. Anyway during our actually landing there was this terrible screeching sound around the tires/brakes and about 100 yards from the gate our plane died. Yep, died! Here is where we got the first hint that things may not so well after all. We waited for 15 minutes on the tarmac for the electric carts to hook up to the plane and tow us the rest of the way in. The it took awhile to unload from the plane. I was off the plane first, so I headed to nearest counter to confirm our gate assignment and directions to the tram/shuttle to other terminals. By the time Mike was off the plane it was 2:24 p.m. (our connecting flight started boarding at 2:12 for a 2:47 departure). So we were off and running. Never mind that the drop-off point for the new terminal is the farthest place for the gate we needed, we hustled and got to the gate. The only problem, it was for a Guadalajara flight. Now we were in a pickle. We are looking all over for our gate. The screens are showing we are in the right place and the flight is on-time. So Mike, my co-worker steps up to the next gate over and asks the gentleman about our flight and was simply informed it had been cancelled. Hmmmm!!! (Why couldn't the lady that confirmed our gate assignment have shared this information??)
Long story short...Murphy was lonely and wanted to travel with us!!! We were delayed in Houston-Bush International Airport until 9:15 p.m. and didn't arrive in Little Rock until 10:30 p.m. only to discover that Mike's suitcase wasn't on our flight. Luckily it arrived on an earlier flight but never mind the poor customer service that we received from Continental who made us wait at the counter for 40 minutes before anyone came to help us. Some excuse about setting a plane up for flight tomorrow...who knows. We arrived at the Hotel and were checked in by 11:30 p.m. (I will pass over the fact that for the last 20 minutes of the flight,I was actually sick!)
Don't you just love traveling???
Our flight left beautiful Southern California at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday. We were scheduled to have a brief visit, albeit 34 minutes, in Houston and then on to Little Rock. We left OC on time, but somewhere in the take-off the Houston terminal informed the pilots that our flight was rescheduled to land at 2:20 p.m. not 2:10 p.m. (now if you are paying attention this means 24 minutes to get to the next gate/flight!) So we finally land in Houston which is very cloudy, raining, etc. We landed early and arrived at 2:00 p.m. so now we are back up to 44 minute window. I can work with this. I knew we had to change terminals and this would be sufficient time to get to the connecting flight. Anyway during our actually landing there was this terrible screeching sound around the tires/brakes and about 100 yards from the gate our plane died. Yep, died! Here is where we got the first hint that things may not so well after all. We waited for 15 minutes on the tarmac for the electric carts to hook up to the plane and tow us the rest of the way in. The it took awhile to unload from the plane. I was off the plane first, so I headed to nearest counter to confirm our gate assignment and directions to the tram/shuttle to other terminals. By the time Mike was off the plane it was 2:24 p.m. (our connecting flight started boarding at 2:12 for a 2:47 departure). So we were off and running. Never mind that the drop-off point for the new terminal is the farthest place for the gate we needed, we hustled and got to the gate. The only problem, it was for a Guadalajara flight. Now we were in a pickle. We are looking all over for our gate. The screens are showing we are in the right place and the flight is on-time. So Mike, my co-worker steps up to the next gate over and asks the gentleman about our flight and was simply informed it had been cancelled. Hmmmm!!! (Why couldn't the lady that confirmed our gate assignment have shared this information??)
Long story short...Murphy was lonely and wanted to travel with us!!! We were delayed in Houston-Bush International Airport until 9:15 p.m. and didn't arrive in Little Rock until 10:30 p.m. only to discover that Mike's suitcase wasn't on our flight. Luckily it arrived on an earlier flight but never mind the poor customer service that we received from Continental who made us wait at the counter for 40 minutes before anyone came to help us. Some excuse about setting a plane up for flight tomorrow...who knows. We arrived at the Hotel and were checked in by 11:30 p.m. (I will pass over the fact that for the last 20 minutes of the flight,I was actually sick!)
Don't you just love traveling???
Friday, May 2, 2008
A "Cheesy" Night
Matthew and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary in style. We decided to do something completely different and go for fondue. I don’t how many of you have experienced fondue but let me tell you it is wonderful and a lot of fun! Our destination for the evening was a restaurant in the Brea area called “The Melting Pot”. Our reservations were for 6:30 p.m. and we arrived a little early. So to pass the time, Matthew and I walked up and down Birch Street Promenade. If it wasn’t for the fact that we actually had reservations, (I think Matthew would have headed straight into the Edwards Theater to see the advance premier of “Iron Man” that he has been talking about none stopped for weeks), never the less I managed to drag him away from the theater and we arrived at the restaurant. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by two lovely hostesses who wished us “Happy Anniversary”. We were escorted to our table where they had placed a white rose and card for us. How cool is that!
Onto the menu, the fondue experience is one that can be simply enjoyed if one can understand the menu. I was glad we had our waitress there to explain things. They have several options available to you but we eventually selected the “Big Night Out”. The Melting Pot believes the complete fondue experience should be experience in four-courses. They are very flexible in that you can pick any cheese course, salad course and dessert course and substitute them in place of what they have already selected. We began with the cheese course which they prepare for you at your table. The first course was our Caribbean Cheese Fondue which is Gouda and Gran Queso cheeses blended with garlic, sweet and spicy Peppadew peppers, topped off with scallions and a lime zest. They serve this course with refillable bowls of bread/ chips, fresh cut veggies and apples.
The second course is salad, Matthew stayed with the Caribbean theme and had the tropical salad and I chose a spinach salad.
The third course was the entrée which again is prepared for you at your table. They bring at the pot with a broth already in it and then add the seasonings depending on the cooking style you chose at the beginning. In our case we again stayed with the Caribbean theme and chose Mojo Style. For our entree we selected the Fondue Fusion which had: Lobster Tail, Filet Mignon Medallion, Jerk Seasoned Sirloin, Vanilla Rum Chicken, Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Zesty Pepper Shrimp, Butternut Squash Ravioli and Fresh Vegetables. You cook everything in the pot at your leisure and then dip into the 8 different sauces they bring. Everything was a tasted wonderful and we saved the Lobster for last.
The final course is the chocolate fondue. You may choose your own chocolate creation or one of the nine that they have created. We selected the flaming turtle with dark chocolate. It is served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice krispy treats, brownie bites, pound cake bites and cheese cake bites. The whole thing was heavenly! The only bad thing is that it came to an end!
The evening was a lovely experience but I think Matthew and I would both say that the four course experience is simply too much. We were both so full by the end! Next time we go it will be just for the cheese fondue or chocolate fondue experience!
Onto the menu, the fondue experience is one that can be simply enjoyed if one can understand the menu. I was glad we had our waitress there to explain things. They have several options available to you but we eventually selected the “Big Night Out”. The Melting Pot believes the complete fondue experience should be experience in four-courses. They are very flexible in that you can pick any cheese course, salad course and dessert course and substitute them in place of what they have already selected. We began with the cheese course which they prepare for you at your table. The first course was our Caribbean Cheese Fondue which is Gouda and Gran Queso cheeses blended with garlic, sweet and spicy Peppadew peppers, topped off with scallions and a lime zest. They serve this course with refillable bowls of bread/ chips, fresh cut veggies and apples.
The second course is salad, Matthew stayed with the Caribbean theme and had the tropical salad and I chose a spinach salad.
The third course was the entrée which again is prepared for you at your table. They bring at the pot with a broth already in it and then add the seasonings depending on the cooking style you chose at the beginning. In our case we again stayed with the Caribbean theme and chose Mojo Style. For our entree we selected the Fondue Fusion which had: Lobster Tail, Filet Mignon Medallion, Jerk Seasoned Sirloin, Vanilla Rum Chicken, Marinated Pork Tenderloin, Zesty Pepper Shrimp, Butternut Squash Ravioli and Fresh Vegetables. You cook everything in the pot at your leisure and then dip into the 8 different sauces they bring. Everything was a tasted wonderful and we saved the Lobster for last.
The final course is the chocolate fondue. You may choose your own chocolate creation or one of the nine that they have created. We selected the flaming turtle with dark chocolate. It is served with strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, rice krispy treats, brownie bites, pound cake bites and cheese cake bites. The whole thing was heavenly! The only bad thing is that it came to an end!
The evening was a lovely experience but I think Matthew and I would both say that the four course experience is simply too much. We were both so full by the end! Next time we go it will be just for the cheese fondue or chocolate fondue experience!
 |
|
| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
