Crispy bacon, potatoes, fruit, eggs - always a good send off breakfast in Phoenix.
Wow, what a whirlwind trip! Friday around 2 in the morning I woke up sickly. I honestly think it was from eating so much as we had appetizers, salad, steak, a huge number of sides, and dessert. Oh my. I actually sat up for two hours and drank decaf coffee as I could not sleep. And then thank goodness we had a late meeting. I was able to go back to sleep and George woke me up 5 minutes before my alarm was to go off with his text Good morning. So I was able to finish out some sleep but was groggy. And to make matters worse, the hotel had not put any coffee in there with caffeine. Dang them!
Another huge meal. What the heck? Loved every bite. Was thinking thoughts of "will never eat again", lol.
Then back for another meeting and a few good byes and then on to the airport.
On to the airport can be a simple thing or a little more complicated. Gas has to be put in the rental car, turn in the rental car. Often it is at another location instead of at the airport which means tour bus travel to the airport. And then onto security and such.
Then a flight to St. Louis and then a 2 hour layover and dinner spaghetti - which was quite good and a flight home.
So we got back to BNA (Nashville Airport) about 10 p.m. And so did every other plane in the universe. Our baggage was put out VERY LATE and behind many other planes. We had to wait about 45 minutes for luggage. I was beginning to wonder if they forgot it. Maybe they did. Maybe it flew in behind us. Who knows. We had to wait for it - that's for sure. Finally luggage came and George picked me up. He was in the furtherest lane over and I had to struggle with getting the suit case in while traffic waited. Couldn't get the back open as it wouldn't open while the car was running. Had to go to the side and try to throw my luggage in. Maisy was trying to jump over the seat to get to me. STRESS!
So not the pleasant greeting I had hoped to come home to, with George getting my suitcase for me, and me getting to put my arms around Maisy, ha - but home regardless. And I dang near just about left the damn suitcase on the side walk b/c it was so heavy and I had a time trying to lift it in the car. Next time I am going to stay on the inside where he can pull in properly and pick me up in the right lane and he can just go around and around if he has to, to get there. I will never do that again.
So then immediately my arm began hurting from the lifting. The bad arm that always hurts and gets inflammation when I eat bad things and when I lift heavy things. It had been hurting the day before also and had to take Ibuprofen as the nerve or tendon or whatever was just aching and about a 4 or 5 on the pain chart. Not able to concentrate without thinking of the pain - but since I don't take Ibuprofen often, it helped - both times. Still hurt Saturday morning and took another Ibuprofen as well so I could get through the day.
I slept so good Friday night too - slept til about 7 and a much needed sleep but still tired. I unpacked suitcase yesterday, began laundry, drank coffee with caffeine in it, fixed a shake (thank God for my Isagenix). I watched a couple of shows on You Tube (We're the Russo's) and then later watched two shows of Sister Wives to catch up. I think the season is about over.
Last night we had dinner with friends at Sammy B's in Lebanon. It was a really nice place. And the food was great. However, the service was very slow I guess b/c our server was not very attentive. I held on to my menu (they were huge) for 45 minutes and finally put it on the floor b/c it was in the way. Appetizers came, drinks sat empty for 20 to 30 minutes. Order not taken for a long long time. Finally time to refill - drinks of the same came round again, but I had wanted to switch mine. It appeared that she only talked to one or two people as to what to bring back to the table and did not ask each one of us what we wanted. I wanted a different drink that I was excited to try- not the same. And would have told her had I been given the chance. Someone in our group went to tell her to switch it but I ended up with another of the same drink and my new drink too. lol So we ended up paying for a drink we didn't order. But I made the best of it and tried to drink it anyway. :-P It took a while for dinner to come, plates to be cleared, checks to be brought. And so forth. I am normally pretty laid back when it comes to snafu's in restaurants. However, when you are dropping 100 bucks for dinner - you expect better service. This was pretty noticeably off. Also some of the groups potatoes were not done. So - a nice place - but it took 3 hours to eat there. They were not prepared. I'd love to recommend it. If you are in a patient mood and have 3 hours to kill and don't mind slow service - you should be fine. Just make sure they understand what your order is before they leave the table as you might not see them for a while. They were busy, but I've known other restaurants to be busy and the server not miss a beat. So they obviously were not on with their game last night. And perhaps a few people short. I smiled and tried not to say anything about everything going wrong but I was really irritated that the service was so bad. Even if someone else tells her to order us things - she should still check with the person to see. No one else knew what I wanted to drink so it would have made sense and have been nice for the waitress to have asked. I also couldn't hear as it was loud. So it was one of those nights where you wanted to enjoy it but nothing was going right. And you knew it wasn't happening like it should. I probably should have sent the wine back and said "I didn't order it", but other than telling our group, I just kept my mouth shut - so we paid extra for a drink we really didn't order. The whole thing just rang my bell, but whatever. We were just an "afterthought" to the waitress, I think. So I was really disappointed over all at such a lovely place but a lousy experience.
So if you read this blog at all, you know I give honest reviews of our places out. And this is mine. I wanted to love it and I loved the building, the ambiance, the location, the food, the menu, and even the waitress herself was nice. But the service sucked - at least last night, for whatever reason. Would I try again? Probably. Maybe they just had a bad night. However, I did enjoy seeing our friends. And always do. And that was the special part of last night. But it was loud in the restaurant and I sat among the men as it ended up that way and couldn't really converse well with the ladies. But the main thing I guess was getting to see everyone. So that was the blessing.
I had a very limited experience of seeing Portland. Only a pass thru really. I'd have loved to have had time to explore. Matter of fact, I'd have thought we would have. We did have a few hours to kill. I spent some of the time in the hotel working - after all it WAS a business trip. Late afternoon headed for the shopping in Lake Oswego nearby at an upscale shopping center. I did need a few things but couldn't touch the prices there with a 10 foot pole. So disappointed at not being able to see more, explore more and make use of the time. I was by myself for this excursion and so I felt uncomfortable venturing out further back into Portland by myself. I missed George and Katy horribly at that moment b/c I knew the line up of things we'd have experienced had they been there. I didn't have that much of a window of time anyway. I would have loved to see Cannon Beach and or explore, hike or shop at lower priced stores. But that is ok. Like I said it WAS a business trip and no time.
1. It wasn't as pretty as I expected.
2. The river was muddy. Is it always like that?
3. There were homeless tents all over the side of the banks by the interstates. Was surprised this would be allowed.
5. I loved knowing that beauty lay just beyond the city.
8. I loved our dinner that night.
9. The Quilt wine my friend told me to get was too expensive and I was disappointed not to get to try it.
10. I left sad, but resolved, that I was not able to make more of the time while there. But I did get to go to their whole foods and buy Oregon roasted coffee.
11. The pizza we had there was really good and the Kolsch I had to go with it.
12. I wish I'd had more time. Would have loved having a stay over the weekend to see more. Tried working it out that way but fate would not allow it. So I got over it.
14. My room was in a weird place.
As I sit here and type today in this chair at my desk. It feels like I'm in an airline chair. And it feels like my body is swaying and we are in a descent about to land. Much like being on the water all day and you feel like you are still floating - I feel like I'm still flying. I guess we had 7 flights in 4 days.
So I'm glad to be home. It was great trip. Meetings were successful I think. Got to meet some folks.
I have been thinking that I needed someone to give me some make up tips b/c I look like I don't have any about as soon as I arrive at work, lol. So I've ordered some more things to try to see if I can up the look a bit. I rarely spend much on cosmetics and it shows. So have ordered some things and we'll see. Mainly a different kind of concealer, a primer for eyes and for my face, and some new lipstick and we'll see how it goes. She listed some pretty pricey products but I looked up ingredients and found similar ones that were not pricey. And also ordered an exfoliating mud mask. She said you could get Retin A and some other things from your dermatologist but I think I'll skip that part, for now anyway, lol.
I need to iron today and also finish up some laundry, and vacuum and clean bathrooms. Then if I have time I'll do some planning, working for the business for next week or so.
I am still working on my customer sheets. But I need to plan my posts for the week. And plan on who I'll be having conversations with. What training I will do and so forth. Time to hop back in on that bandwagon a bit. I've kinda taken a break the last two weeks.
And I predict work this week will be a stinker. I still have two more open enrollment meetings and will have bombardments of things thrown at me this week after being gone. And it is a full moon at that. So it is nice to be home. It was nice to do something different. See part of the country I've not seen before. Thankful for that. And also just thankful to be home and will do a bit of planning and cleaning this afternoon to prep for the week.
This is all I have to offer for now. ;-) But the wind is going to blow us away I think.
Off to fix a shake. Yum!
Sounds like a busy trip. I don't blame you for not liking where the room was at. It is not safe for a woman alone to be in a room like that. They should give you an extra day there just to relax. That is a long way to travel with no down time. .
what a bad restaurant experience you had. i'd give them a second chance at a later date, maybe during a weeknight when it's not so busy. i understand what you were saying about the hotel room. i had a similar experience once. those hallways can be long and dark. scary for sure.
Next time in St. Louis, try the Ted Drewes. It’s the best!