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24 Hours in Santa Monica, California
I’m going to preface this post with saying… Yes. I am a loyalty points snob. Ok, now that I got that out of the way….. A few weeks ago, I was evaluating my 2021 loyalty points achievements and realized I was only about 5,000 miles away from earning the next status with American Airlines, and I needed to earn the points before the end of January. I was SO close! I talked it over with Dono and we decided that I’d take a quick weekend trip to earn the points. He had suggested flying to Miami and back in a day for a quick “mileage run,” but spending all day…
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New Year’s in Chicago
Every year, we usually host a party at our house for New Year’s Eve. I cook a massive pot of chicken and sausage gumbo and everyone shows up “as they are.” Some people stay for hours, some just show up to say hi and leave. It’s always fun and a great way to connect with neighbors, friends, and family as we go into the new year. This year, we decided to abandon our annual get together for a winter trip to Chicago. Donovan had been to Chicago once or twice for work, and I had never been – as long as you don’t count flying through O’Hare on my way…
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2021: A Year In Review
Every year it blows my mind how fast time goes by. What’s the saying…”the days are long, but the years are short”? Sometimes that’s how it feels – bogged down in the day-to-day monotony of errands, day jobs, keeping the house clean, exercising, walking the dog, trying to eat healthy, wash my face, keep up with the news, and stay current on tv shows and movies …. but looking back, there’s SO much more that happens that fills me with utmost joy — traveling! Donovan jokes that I have the most expensive hobby with traveling – I mean, he’s not wrong – but it truly does fill me with so…
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The Narrows | Zion National Park
It’s always been a dream of mine to hike The Narrows in Zion National Park. I’ve always seen images of tiny slot canyons with a river rushing through it, and I wanted to experience it myself. A few weeks ago, one of my cousins and I decided to meet up in St. George, Utah and do a few hikes in Zion National Park. To say I was excited was an understatement! Our first full day in Zion we wanted to hike The Narrows. I had done a bit of researching online before we went to see what all we would need. I mean, I knew the water would be freezing,…
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Great Sand Dunes National Park | Colorado
Leading into Labor Day weekend, I was really itching for another trip. We had been home for 2 months (the horror! ha!) and it was time to get away for a few days and enjoy new scenery. After our trip to Taos a few years ago, we were interested to get back to the desert! While we spent most of the weekend in Santa Fe and Taos, on Sunday we wanted to do some driving and exploring new areas. Donovan had read about this beautiful scenic drive on Highway 64, so that’s where we started! From Santa Fe, we headed north to Taos, and then headed west on Highway 64…
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Bonneville Salt Flats | Utah
A few weeks before Memorial Day Weekend, Dono and I were debating whether or not we wanted to take a quick weekend vacation. We didn’t want to spend a ton of money and wanted to go somewhere sort of cooler than Texas – so we opted for Salt Lake City! The last time we went to Salt Lake we stayed in Draper, UT at an Air B&B and stayed mostly around town. This year, we wanted to get out and about and see things we’ve never seen before. One of the highlights of the trip was driving to see the Bonneville Salt Flats! I have watched many influencers go to…
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Salt Lake City, Utah
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San Salvador | El Salvador
It’s so hard to believe that 4 years ago I went to El Salvador on a Compassion Vision Trip with my work colleague. A few years ago, the company I work for created a relationship with Compassion International so employees could sponsor children. Some of our company dollars were even donated to support the building of new bathrooms and kitchen areas at local churches in El Salvador. For a few years in a row, we participated in Compassion’s Vision Trip where some of our employees were able to go to El Salvador for a week and meet sponsor children and see our dollars at work. I was fortunate enough to…
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Pirate’s Tower | Victoria Beach, California
A couple of years ago for work, I had the privilege of representing my company at a conference in Newport Beach, California. I volunteered to get there a day early so I could pick up the rental car and all the material we needed for the exhibitor booth. On my first day in Newport Beach I wanted to find a fun, trendy lunch spot. I googled a few places and found a restaurant called Sqirl. Sqirl was in East Hollywood. If you’re not from LA like me, East Hollywood and Newport Beach only looks like they’re about 30 minutes a part. Boy, I was wrong. It took me an hour…
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Culebra | Puerto Rico
A few years ago, Donovan and I traveled to Puerto Rico for a conference he was attending for work. Since the conference was a week long, I decided to tag along and enjoy some time on the beach. We spent the first few days in Puerto Rico at Wyndham Grand Rio Mar, east of San Juan. Unfortunately, our hotel room didn’t face the ocean, but we did have a pretty awesome view of the rainforest, which was literally across the street! We really enjoyed our time at the Wyndham, albeit I did spend one of the days completely hungover from too many painkillers at the pool bar. But that’s another…
