Stephanie

August 24, 2013August 24, 2013

Colorado and back again

It was a crazy week between recovering from BlogHer and getting ready for our Colorado Road Trip and squeezing in everything that needed to happen in between.

But we finally made it out the door. I thought I might be able to blog from the road, but time and wifi access turned out to be too scarce.

I did manage to journal about each day on my paper bag scrapbook, which I’m excited to tell you more about. In fact, I have lots to tell you about, so I’ll be mixing it up and sprinkling posts from our Colorado Road Trip (which I’ll tag Colorado Road Trip 2013) in with other ones that have been rolling around in my head.

For now, here’s the overview of our trip: We drove from Phoenix to Santa Fe the first day. The next morning, we did a little sightseeing before heading north to the Denver area. We stayed with my aunt and uncle in the Rockies for a few days, taking in mountain views, and catching up with family. On the other side of Denver, we spent a couple days visiting friends in Aurora and saw downtown Denver and the Botanic Gardens. Our route home took us through the mountains, detouring through Crested Butte, where Phillip had spent a summer in college, and stopping over near Ouray.

I wish I could have spent more time with everyone we saw. But I’m glad we went, even for a short time. And it was good to come home. (Wish I could’ve brought the people and weather back with me though.)

This time, I had my suitcase unpacked within 24 hours. Are you impressed? If not, you should probably go read my Unpacking post. That’s a new record for me!

And when I stood in my kitchen pouring hot water for morning tea into our new souvenir mug, I felt like everything had come around.

August 16, 2013August 16, 2013

Seeing the Denver Botanic Gardens

We really enjoyed visiting the Denver Botanic Gardens earlier this week! I would recommend it, if you’re in the Denver, Colorado area.

It was a beautiful Monday morning, and the gardens felt peaceful and uncrowded until about noon.

The main location is Denver Botanic Gardens at York Street. It’s made up of 42 individual gardens that you wind your way through. (“Make your own path!” the volunteer at the entrance said.) For most of our visit, we didn’t follow the map too closely. It was fun to be surprised at what we’d find around the next corner.

Currently, sculptures by Colorado artists are on display throughout the gardens, as part of the Catalyst exhibition.

There are lots of great little spots to sit and relax or take a picnic, as well as a couple of cafes. We ate at the Monet Deck Cafe, which overlooks a pool of water lilies. (And, yes, the food was delicious!)

There is also a children’s garden across the street (actually, it’s on top of the parking garage), which we didn’t visit but is included in the admission price. We spent about 3 hours in the York Street gardens, and you could easily spend 4-5 hours there – or more if you really take your time.

I wouldn’t mind spending a day there next time I’m in town.

August 5, 2013

Unpacking from BlogHer

I am back home and back to some sort of routine. I am listening to the news and heating water on the stove for morning cups of herbal tea while I pour cereal into a bowl. There is still a suitcase in the corner of my bedroom that clothing and swag and all these ziploc bags I used for packing are slowly seeping out of.

I have a bad habit of taking a long time to unpack. Sometimes a really long time. I promised Phillip I wouldn’t take so long this time, and then I remembered I couldn’t. I’ll be repacking that suitcase soon for our Colorado trip.

But it is taking longer than I thought for everything I brought back from the conference to find its place here at home. It will. For now, I’m still figuring out where it all goes. I’ll find a way to make it work and get ready for my next trip.

Even though it’s causing a bit of a time crunch, I’m so glad I went to the conference. It gave me exactly the answers I was looking for.

The night before I bought my last-minute ticket from my friend Mona, when I was still considering whether to say yes, I wrote a note for Phillip. He was already asleep, and I wanted to talk it all over with him. I knew I couldn’t count on my night-owl self to have a single coherent thought in the morning, so I wrote it all down.

Maybe instead of waiting to figure out what I’m doing, I should see if this blog to book thing could work for me.

So I went. I took a lot of notes (and a few photos), met a lot of wonderful people, listened.

I came back with answers, including another big yes.

Instead of thinking that I maybe want to write a book, I now plan to write a book. Maybe a series. (Yikes.) I have other ideas for this blog and for writing and traveling and crafting too.

I’m still trying to figure out where exactly this fits with the rest of my life. I know I’ll find a place for it all. I’ll find a way to make it work and get ready for what’s next.

August 1, 2013

Snapshots from Chicago (Whirlwindy City Photo Hunt results)

3 days.

16 sessions/keynotes.

5 Friday night parties. (Yes, 5.)

A whole pile o’ business cards exchanged.

With a super busy BlogHer conference schedule, I didn’t have time to see ~~all~~ much of Chicago.* But, the key question: Did I finish the Whirlwindy City Photo Hunt?

Oh, yes, I did.

Here is what I captured for each of the 10 Chicagoey items on my photo scavenger hunt list:

1. Windy city

2. Sears (Willis) Tower

3. Chicago hot dogs

Saw this stand after dinner…

…and got an actual Chicago dog at the airport and ate it at a phone charging station. It was surprisingly good, even though I usually don’t put yellow mustard on hot dogs. Or onions. Or unidentified diced peppers approximately the color of green jello. Somehow, it all worked.

4. Lincoln (Park)

Lincoln parked at O’Hare, waiting for his flight. Hope he gets a seat with extra leg room.

5. Wrigley field and the Chicago Cubs.

This is as close as I got to Wrigley Field (and most of those sites).

It’s hard to tell, but the girl in the background is wearing a Cubs hoodie. And struggling to carry like 4 mega-packs of toilet paper around the hotel lobby. Not sure why. It was a nice hotel. They provided toilet paper.

6. L Train

L Train as viewed from el shuttle.

7. Art institute(d)

Passed by the actual Art Institute in a cab but did do an art project at BlogHer’s Fly DIY party.

8. Lake Michigan

Now I’ve seen one of the Great Lakes! My friend asked if that was on my bucket list. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Maybe more like part of my duty as an American. Or something.

9. …And all that jazz.

Queen Latifah, known in Chicago as Mama Morton, emceed the Voices of the Year readings.

10. One more thing: Chicago River

It was really beautiful just sitting out by the river at night, watching the boats and feeling the breeze.

Melissa Lanz of The Fresh 20 found this on her Whirlwindy Photo Hunt:

Navy Pier.

…And there you have it! The #whirlwindyphotohunt!

The conference itself was amazing. And exhausting. I have a lot I want to write (and have started writing), but I am still processing it all. I’m also getting ready for our Colorado trip, which is just around the corner. So, with all these thoughts and ideas in my head, I’m not sure what will be ready to post next. I guess it’ll be a surprise for all of us.

*Just to warn you: Before you say “Awww, you didn’t get to see/go to _____?!”, you should know that there’s also a post in the works about just those types of comments.

July 24, 2013December 12, 2017

Whirlwindy City Photo Hunt

I am writing this from seat 12D, en route to Chicago to attend the BlogHer blogging/writing conference. In the past, I’ve driven by Chicago and had a layover at O’Hare, but I’ve never really been to Chicago.

Since the BlogHer conference agenda is so packed, I’m not going to have a lot of time for sightseeing while I’m there this time either. I’ll be staying right by Museum Campus, but there’s a good chance I won’t be able to visit any of the museums. Or go to the top of the ~~Sears~~ Willis Tower. Or see a taping of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.

So I thought it’d be fun to make a list of Chicagoey things to photograph, whether I get to visit the actual site or not. I know I’ll see Lake Michigan, for example. But will I get a chance to go up to Lincoln Park? If I make it there, I’ll Instagram it. If I don’t, I’ll Instagram a more broad interpretation – maybe a penny face-up in some other park or a Lincoln in a parking lot. See where I’m going with this? So I’ll hopefully capture everything on my Chicago list in one form or another.

It’s a whirlwind tour of the windy city in photo scavenger hunt form. I’m calling this my Whirlwindy Photo Hunt.

If you’re going to BlogHer, maybe you’d like to join in. See how many things on the list below you can find, whether you interpret it literally or get creative. Tag your Instagram or Flickr* photos with #whirlwindyphotohunt and the item’s hashtag (#lincoln, for example). That way, you can check out everyone’s Lincoln photos or everything from the photo hunt.

Windy city #windycity
Sears Tower, technically now called “Willis tower,” but even Siri still calls it Sears Tower. #searstower
Chicago hot dogs #chicagodog
Lincoln Park #lincoln
Wrigley field – Sneak in Cubs (or Blues Brothers) references here, if you’d like. #wrigleyfield
L train #ltrain
Art institute #AI
Lake Michigan #greatlake
…And all that jazz – this could refer to Jazz music or Chicago the musical. #allthatjazz
Something else awesome that is quintessentially Chicago but not on the list. #1morething

Bonus points for reenacting anything from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. #bueller

*If you’re not on Instagram or Flickr, just do a blog post next week with your shots and you can still link to the #whirlwindyphotohunt wrap up post.

[photo of me with suitcase by Phillip.]