All in Travel & Leisure
If you want to give someone a thoughtful gift that means more than anything money can buy, give them your recommendation. Whether you recommend a restaurant, clothing store, book, dog groomer etc. the research you have put into the recommendation matters and so does your opinion. Also, considering the time that you spent to try a restaurant or shop at a store is precious so when you share your findings, it’s like you are giving away gold.
Oh yeah, it’s time to get funky! Today, October 5th, is National Get Funky Day. So come follow me; we are going to “get funky” by learning a few things about this national day.
What do you think of when you hear the words “trail mix”? I’ll share what I think of: sunshine, 75 degree weather, mountains and a John Denver song playing in the background. Pretty much the backdrop of Colorado most days of the year. Trail mix is the perfect food for any activity that involves outdoors, hiking and/or camping.
Over the weekend, I took the kids to Minneapolis primarily to watch the Broncos play the Vikings in a pre-season game at U.S. Bank Stadium. While we were there, it made sense to see our friends. From the moment we arrived, my family was immediately pampered and cared for in so many ways. I counted the moments we were were blessed by being hosted:
I may be slow in getting things organized around my house but I am very thoughtful in my approach. I’m pretending that we just moved into our “forever” house and I’m using this time to put up safe guards to ensure that I don’t collect too many things again.
When we were deciding what to get my mom for her birthday, both of my kids gave me many ideas. I told them that when I was packing up to move, I noticed that their grandmother treasured their gifts so much that she never even used anything. Including a daily Jeopardy! calendar that was still in the packaging and the years is more than half way over! I told my kids that my mom had plenty of great things from them and so sending something that can not be bought in a store would be best.
Like most, I take advantage of not having to make my bed when I stay in a hotel. I also like not having to squeegee a shower door after I take a shower. And another task that I don’t have to do while staying in a hotel is take out the trash. All of these tasks are minimal and it sounds really lame that I enjoy not doing them while I’m away from home. Nonetheless, someone will do these tasks because hotel guests enjoy having clean spaces wherever we are.
Thank you coconuts for being so versatile that it seems like there is really nothing a coconut can’t be used for. I’m actually surprised that we can’t use coconut oil instead of motor oil in our cars. And even though coconut is officially listed as a tree nut (but it’s drupaceous fruit), it is rare for people to be allergic to any derivative of a coconut. Which supports my theory that we can use the coconut for so many things, it’s like the “thneed” in the Dr. Seuss book.
While we were in Denver a few weeks ago, I found myself totally clueless about bubble tea. We had been looking for houses (my least favorite thing to do) and it was suggested that I reward myself by having a bubble tea. Yes, please! Due to Covid, we had to use the drive thru at the bubble tea shop named Mini Moo’s Tea Shop because the walk-in or dine-in options were not available. Looking at all the options on a billboard, while in a car, knowing that there are cars behind me, made me panic. I didn’t know what to order because I didn’t know what bubble tea was. Everyone else in my car knew exactly what to get. I ended up getting a watermelon flavored milk tea with bubbles.
Surprisingly, leaving Denver after our 18 day visit was tougher than I thought it would be. Prior to our trip, the Type-A in me envisioned being there checking off a lot of boxes and getting things done. And we did.
I don’t want to assume that everyone knows what an empanada is but I also don’t want to bore everyone else with an intricate description. Let’s just say, if you know what a Hot Pockets is then you are on the right track. The difference is that empanadas are far better in quality than Hot Pockets and the flavors of the fillings varies from region to region.
Many people, including myself, consider me “old school”. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I would get so excited to learn about National Pencil Day. Pencils are so my jam - I can’t wait to celebrate this national day. I use pencils to write so many notes that I go thru them like water. Every Fall, when it’s time to buy new school supplies, my kids do not need pencils because their school provides them. But that doesn’t stop me from taking advantage of the low “back to school” prices and buying fresh packs of No. 2s.
