Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Overnight Reputation for IZEA . All opinions are 100% mine. A few years ago, I was given the opportunity to spend a weekend in Los Angeles. I arrived on Friday morning, and returned home on Sunday evening! Talk about a crazy weekend, and oh, the jet lag!!! I drove the employees at the hotel crazy, because I wanted to know why, at 3 AM, the internet wasn't working! Then, by 7 PM, I was ready for bed! Even with those issues, I loved my stay! Sunshine, warm weather, gorgeous skies, and gorgeous views! When I travel, I sometimes have a tough time not having every second of every day planned out in advance. I want to do touristy things, but I also realize that the "locals" know far more about the good places to eat (the ones that stay in business because their food is amazing, not just because the tourists frequent it), the neat sights to see, etc. This is where Justin Sather enters the picture ( http://www.justinsath...

Last week was rather crazy for me. I had a few deadlines at work and then I also had to prepare for the Dress for Success Professional Women's Group Success Summit. That was this past weekend, in Miami. We stayed at EPIC - A Kimpton Hotel, and it was amazing! Due to how crazy my week was going to be, I opted for very quick and easy meals last week for dinner. One of those was the Savannah Grill Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries. Mac is not a fan of sweet potatoes, so I knew the fries might not appeal to him, but I figured we'd try the chicken anyway. It was very easy to prepare, as I simply cooked the chicken in a skillet, then added the sauce, and baked the fries. I really enjoyed the flavor of the chicken and sauce, and I didn't mind the sweet potato fries. Mac said the fries were edible, although we both found that they were more enjoyable if we added a bit of the sauce to them. We did discuss that, with side items like that included with the entree, it would be nice...

We headed to Philadelphia on Monday afternoon for the Mark Knopfler/Bob Dylan concert. Since we have two dogs, our choices were: Drive out to Philadelphia and back immediately after the concert, leaving the dogs at home Board the dogs and stay at a hotel ($50-$75 to board the dogs for the night, plus a hotel room) Stay at the Hotel Palomar Philadelphia, and since Kimpton gives new meaning to pet-friendly, just pay for our room, no pet deposits. We opted to stay at the Hotel Palomar. The dogs LOVED it! When we arrived and walked into the lobby, one of the front desk clerks cooed all over both of them, and immediately knew their names. She kept them distracted while I checked into our room, a process that was complicated by a change in credit card, since I'd cancelled the card that I'd initially used to book the room. At check-in, we were given a sign to hang on the door that said, "Caution, pets at play" so everyone knew we had pets in the room. We were upgrade...

My travels out to Minneapolis and home were quite enjoyable, at times an adventure, and reinforced how much I love Kimpton and to travel in general! We left early on Friday, with Mac dropping me off at the airport, after a quick breakfast, and an adventure trying to find an ATM. The flight to Chicago departed a minute or two early, and I had a pre-departure beverage of coffee. Once in-flight service began, my coffee mug wasn't permitted to remain empty. As Mac said on one of his flights, "They kept offering another drink, and it would've been rude to refuse it." I also enjoyed a fresh, warm, cranberry scone as a snack. In Chicago, we landed, made it to our gate with over an hour to spare, so we opted to have a snack at Goose Island Brewpub. Granted, it was only 9 AM or so, but I opted to have 2 beers. It's one of the few times I'll drink early in the morning, so why not take advantage of it? We then returned to our gate, and boarded our flight to Minneap...