Cleveland.

 

Ahh, Cleveland.  Home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Indians and Browns.  And what I quickly learned may be the best place on earth, Melt Bar & Grilled.

 

I'll get that back to that in just a second.  I have to vent for JUST a second first.  I lost my headphones a few days ago, I'm sure they are somewhere in my apartment, heck, I am not entirely sure I didn't look right at them and not realize it.  I forgot to get new ones yesterday, so I had a panic moment and bought some at Hartsfield this morning.  Worst. Idea. Ever.  They were super expensive, don't fit and the quality sucks.  Oh and then there's the fact that they sell headphones at the airport in hard plastic containers that you need a degree to get into.  I literally went to 4 stores in the concourse asking for scissors (they all gave me strange looks like they might run away screaming), finally found a pair and it still took 2 people to open the dang container. 

 

I really tried to be smarter than the packaging, this just wasn't my day. 

 

Then I get on the plane and I am SURROUNDED by the used car sales types, but they were amusing - made me think of "Tommy Boy".  I would have peed my pants from laughing had one of them done the fat guy in a little coat thing. 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, pretty uneventful flight to Cleveland - until the 12 year old pilot had us in a fairly smooth descent when he inexplicably pulled us back up so hard I'm pretty sure this is what I looked like:

 

 

Maybe not a stellar beginning to my day. 

 

Thank God for lunch and this one redeemed the entire shit start to my day.

 

Melt Bar & Grilled

 

I have to first admit, I have NO idea which location I went to - I'm not driving nor am I from here.  I was still trying to fix my face, so I zoned out during the car ride.  I had no ideas of what it would be, but 2 steps in the door and I knew I was in love. 

 

There's fun art work and decor everywhere - not gaudy though.  There were cartoons playing on a huge TV next to sports.  There's beer.  And the menus are printed on the back of album covers. I was  mildly amused that I had a Village People menu.  Anyone who knows me might even say that was fitting. 

 

I was a little overwhelmed at the grilled cheese possibilities!!  You can put THAT in a grilled cheese?  Heck yes, you can!!  I had the Parmageddon, pierogies, kraut and cheese.  SERIOUSLY?!  Now might be the time to let you know the portions are HUGE.  I have half of the dang thing & it's little fry friends staring at me right now.

 

 

 

I have heard they had the most amazing deep fried Twinkies.  I will have to take everyones word for this, because of the national Twinkies shortage/crisis I didn't get to find out for myself.  That's OK.  I'm already going to have to run like 10 miles tonight to undo the work of the Parmageddon and I will gladly go again!  If you find yourself in the Cleveland area - do your taste buds a HUGE favor and go to Melt.

 

So now I will have to run those miles and I can't do that without music...  You know I went to the local Best Buy and bought yet another pair of headphones.  That don't suck.  And were half the price of the turds I got this morning.  Two purchases of headphones in one day is a bit ridiculous I will admit, but I can't live without my music.  Period.  Besides, a back up pair never hurt anyone.  Just a thought, but some people might want to start looking at underwear, pants or deodorant that way.  If I know you have holes in your drawers, you need a backup plan or upgrade.  And yes, that totally happened in the Cleveland airport this morning. 

 

Not enough brain bleach in the world some days.

 

 

 

 

 



Toiletries.

Stand in a security line at any airport in the United States and you will likely see the "3-1-1" postings and maybe even hear the "3-1-1" recordings.  If you are flying through Boston Logan you may even get the hologram explaining the "3-1-1" process.  She's really creepy. 

Her name is Carla.

"Carla"

What is the "3-1-1" business anyway??  This is your liquid allowance (3 oz), toiletries basically.  Medicines, stick deodorant, toothpaste and make up don't count towards this allowance - though it is very amusing to see how much crap people try to, and sometimes successfully do, cram into a 1 quart bag (1-1 qt bag per 1 passenger).  I still wonder if the TSA has some kind of contract with Ziploc because it seems that they hand those bags out at nearly every airport I've been in.  Anyway, this "3-1-1" limit is not unreasonable if you are on a short trip, don't mind refilling those 3oz bottles or using the supplied toiletries at your temporary abode.

 

I have learned that those little bottles of liquids have minds of their own.  If they're too hot, they explode.  Too cold, they explode.  Turbulence?  They explode.  There's nothing like getting to my hotel, opening my suitcase and discovering a mass of mystery liquid goo in that 1 quart bag.  If I wanted it all mixed together I would have just done so to begin with. 

 

I personally carry my own toiletries everywhere because I don't like to use HBA's that are tested on animals and most hotels don't provide the non-tested brands, though I am seeing more who do - including some who use Aveda (LOVE!).

 

 

After trying several variations of and much troubleshooting with the pesky bottles - I have found my travel soul mate. 

 

LUSH 

 

They have the most amazing solid personal care products!!  That's right, SOLID.  I love that I don't have to mess around with the "3-1-1" business AND I eliminate some of the potential mess factor.

 

Let's start with the hair care, shall we?  I am completely addicted to the Squeaky Green & Jumping Juniper shampoos and the Jungle conditioner.  These small rounds pack quite a punch!  Great lathering power, super cleaning and best of all - last longer than the liquid stuff I had been carrying around (maybe in part to my inevitable spillage).  LUSH does claim that one bar of shampoo lasts longer than 3 medium bottles of regular shampoo.  I use the Squeaky Green nearly every day; the one in the picture below is about 6 weeks old now.  I have a chunk of the Big Solid Conditioner, but I don't usually travel with it because I have naturally thick, curly hair and this one is meant to encourage volume and curl.  Kind of makes straightening my hair in the morning a test in patience.

 

Squeaky Green, Jumping Juniper, Jungle

 

I spend a lot of time in hot, stinky warehouses - it's a dirty job.  I leave work covered in dirt and sweat and want nothing more than to shower it all off and feel like a girl again - these hair care products completely satisfy that need.

 

Also, if I am in a rush or need a quick "clean up" I go to the No Drought dry shampoo.  This stuff smells so good.  I would say it's a bit messy to work with, but please consider that I may not be the most graceful person around.

 

 

 

 

For the face, I can't live without Coalface.  I have combination skin and after a recent surgery, my skin was freaking out a little bit.  This Coalface cleanses and leaves my skin feeling great.  A word of warning on this one though, if it's left in the heat (suitcase in car while at work 8+ hours before hotel check in, maybe?) it starts to soften and it seems to separate a little bit.

 

Coalface

 

For the body -  I am all about the Sugar Scrub.  Travels well, smells amazing and I love the way my skin seems to glow after my shower.  Do NOT put this under the running water in the shower, it will melt!!

 

Sugar Scrub

 

So there you have it.  I'm beginning to think I should have just called this my love letter to Lush.  I can't help it.  I am a die hard LUSHie.  I originally looked into them for the solid products but have fallen hopelessly in love with everything they do AND they are cruelty/testing free.  What more could a girl ask for??

 

 

 

 

 

 



City of Angels.

Ahhhh Los Angeles.... it's been several years - 7 to be exact, since we last saw one another.  After dealing with the nasty people at Hertz and the ridiculous traffic, I remember why I dreaded this trip.

 

Let's start with LAX. 

Can we please have more than 3 stalls in the only restroom in each terminal?  Regardless of time of day or night this place is jam packed with passengers - there's only so much these tiny facilities can handle.  Other than the lack of facilities and  very few seating areas or charging stations, it's not a terrible airport.  I'm sure the story would be different if I had been connecting through a different terminal, but for the one stop it's ok.
 

 

I landed around 10pm local time; ran outside to catch the bus to the rental car counter.  That ride took nearly an hour with all of the stops and traffic on airport property, maybe because I was at terminal 1.  Once I arrived at Hertz, I learned my reservation wasn't on the outside board so I had to go in to see an agent.  After waiting in line for what felt like an eternity, I was informed I didn't have a reservation.  Not so!  Instead of waiting patiently for me to pull my reservation, the counter agent tried to up sell me into a luxury car then got upset when I declined and asked her to give me a minute to find the information needed for the reservation.  She literally got up and walked away for almost 10 minutes.  After I gave her the reservation information and got things sorted, I had to walk across a very dark, sketchy parking lot to find the car.  Cute little Jetta, must have been in the stars - I'd had Jetta's all week.

 

The 405 is under construction; it was a bumpy ride but that late at night the traffic was almost non-existent.  I was well on my way to Camarillo, CA for the night where I stayed at the Hampton Inn where the staff were fantastic and my room was great.

 

  I am absolutely in LOVE with Camarillo and Thousand Oaks (where I worked).  What a stunning part of the state, heck, even the country.  Breath taking.  Relaxing.  Perfect weather, low 80s, low humidity, chilly enough at night to sit by a fire pit if you wanted to. 

While I was in town, I had the pleasure of working with some really amazing people.  Highly intelligent, funny and genuine.  That's what makes all of this travel and time away from a personal life worth it.

 

I of course, need to mention food here.  Being an east coast girl, I am like a kid in a candy store here with so many options!  Let's start with my favorite...

 

in-n-out

Do they even MAKE bad food?!?  I think not.  I am a bit of a creature of habit, I love a good cheeseburger.

 

Next, and still in the burger family:

 

Islands

Big Wave cheeseburger on wheat, fries and a coke?!  Don't mind if I do...

 

  

Lastly, a bit of a departure from the norm for me, BBQ:

Billy D'z

 

I had the Tri-tip sandwich with sides of slaw & mac-n-cheese, it was pretty good!  There are several sauce options here, I went with Blonde.  It amused me there was such a creature.

 

 

As always, this trip had to come to an end.  I was on a red eye home to ATL out of LAX.  While I was sitting in traffic on the 405, I thought "hey, they have great radio stations out here" - which might be why people just deal with the traffic, certainly made the 45 mile 2.5 hour trip more pleasant for me.  If I had to sit in that mess every day I'd probably have even more road rage than I do. 

 

 

 

OH!  That reminds me...  honkaholism.  This is a thing! 

 

 

 

The commercials for this crack me up, the honking quotes on the website are priceless.  I think I need a honk suppressor for my own vehicle.  I may even need a honkervention.  Admitting you have a problem is the first step, isn't it?

 

stop honkaholism

 

 I left the LA area with a very different perspective than I had going into it; no city is without their own set of issues.  So LA has crappy traffic and an "OK" airport.  They also have fantastic people, beautiful scenery, great radio stations and good food.  I'll visit again, but I will probably fly into Burbank or Ontario depending on where I'm going...

 

Houston

After a few hours delay in Atlanta due to weather, I made it to Houston, TX.  I have been there a few times for personal trips; I have nothing bad to say about it!  It's Texas, the roads are like nothing I am used to (the frontage road just throws me off), but it's big and beautiful out here.



I flew into Houston Hobby Airport - this is such a clean facility!  Unfortunately, I had to drive over to the GBI side of town since my office is over there.  I didn't realize my hotel was 1-under construction, and 2- at the end of the runway... guess I shouldn't have been surprised when I walked into my swampy room and found ear plugs.  I have to admit, this was the first time I've seen this and at that point in the day I was so completely slap happy all I could do was laugh!

 

 

While in Houston, I did get to go eat at a few places unique to the area.  First, "Chinatown" is pretty much Bellaire Blvd - there's a lot of construction, and some of the locals think it's kind of a sketchy area to go, but I met up with a friend for dinner at Tau Bay  I had noodles with chicken and shrimp - fabulous.  I can't say enough about the great food and wonderful family who runs this facility. 

 

On my last day, I stopped at a little drive-in near my office called Lia's  That might have been the best cheeseburger and fries I have had in a LONG time, and I LOVE some cheeseburgers and fries people.  Ever want to know WHY I run a few miles each day?  Partly to destress, but mostly to justify my cheeseburger intake.  Hey, I'm honest.

 

If you ever find yourself in the area, stop on in for a bite to eat and enjoy the local personality.