I got to go out of town for a work event. I had extremely mixed feelings about this... I was excited to go because it was going to be at a really pretty resort and there would be all sorts of fun activities and delicious food. I was having major irrational anxiety about the fact that I couldn’t bring J... It’s not often that we are apart for long periods of time. He’s had to travel for work a couple times, but somehow that’s not as bad for me because I am home in my comfort zone...
It’s not like we don’t do anything without each other - I go to hang out with my friends and go shopping without him regularly... He goes to play poker with old coworkers/friends every so often. It’s just weird to be apart. This time was especially hard for some reason - I spent the week or two before it with my stomach in knots every time I even thought about it. It was even harder on him this time - he even admitted to not being able to sleep the whole time I was gone.
He had taken the Monday and Tuesday off while I was gone to do some stuff around the house... He cleaned and organized the garage, installed new shower doors in the master bathroom, and organized the office and music room. The organizing was all in preparation for getting new windows (FINALLY). Last year was new roof, this year - tankless water heater and windows.
So Monday, I had to head out early to meet up with Girl Boss and another co-worker to carpool. I made it out of the house on time with minimal tears - I have become such a GIRL! I never used to cry easily... Now all it takes is a stupid heartfelt moment on Glee or something like that and my eyes start burning... haha
We made it to the event, got checked into our rooms - I had a cute little balcony off of my room with a little man-made river running by. The room was pretty standard, but nice... (Although a little odd that there wasn’t a full-length mirror anywhere....)
The view from across the lobby
My room
My view from my balcony
That night’s dinner was Fleming’s steakhouse. I had a delicious filet that was so massive I couldn’t finish it. I went back and socialized around the fire pit with everyone just long enough to show that I was there and then slipped back to my room where I read my Kindle until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.
Tuesday was the main day where we went to a racing school to drive and ride in some cars. I spent my morning reading and lounging in my room. I went downstairs and had late breakfast / early lunch in one of the hotel restaurants - I had a burger with goat cheese on it. SO yum.
The driving was a blast - first we got to drive Corvettes through a track that they had set up to see who could get the fastest time. I was a couple seconds behind the fastest times, but at least I wasn’t the slowest... haha
Then they took us over to the “skid pad” and put us in Cadillacs that were outfitted with what are basically hydraulic training wheels. Using the hydraulics, they could raise the back end of the car to force you into skidding out. Our task was to get the car back under control... I was excited about this because I (KNOCK ON WOOD) have never been in a car that was skidding out of control... I thought it would be cool to see how it felt. I have to brag a little - I was the only person that never lost control of the car and spun out completely. I did have my instructor telling me that I was giving it more than enough gas - that it was about getting under control, not drifting... HA But it was fun!
You can kind of see the little training wheels...
Next up were hot laps around their real track in super fast Corvettes with a professional driver. This. Was. Awesome. My driver was crazy - he would drift around the entire hairpin and was going 110 - 125 on the straightaway. I actually got one extra lap because there was a car there (someone that was actually taking the course...) that got in our way and messed up the full speed lap. I could have stayed in that car until it ran out of gas. I very nearly disappeared back inside to get a different helmet and go again... haha
This shows a little bit of the cars going around the track... The speed on the straightaway and flying out of the pit does not come across as well as I hoped - it was FAST.
It was a perfect day... The clouds looked like a movie backdrop...
That night dinner was back at the hotel in their “fancier” restaurant. I had a heirloom tomato and goat cheese salad, a bison steak (so delicious), and goat’s milk ice cream with goat cheese in it over Indian fry bread. Have I ever mentioned my more-than-slight obsession with goat cheese? It’s out of control. After having the goat milk ice cream, I immediately researched and found companies that make it and stores that carry it. It’s really good... Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of my food - I was way too interested in eating it!
But I did get a beautiful picture of the sunset...
The next morning was time to go home! I was so happy to be home and we both we finally able to actually get some sleep.
And then this past weekend we spent the entire weekend lounging and relaxing. We ran a couple errands and J decided that he was going to make one of his gourmet dinners... He decided on duck. He didn’t want to do the usual orange sauce/glaze for it and decided instead to do a pomegranate brine overnight and then a pomegranate glaze. It turned out ridiculously delicious.
The duck - all sad and pathetic... waiting to be cooked
It's done!
He even loves to present the food in pretty ways... So delicious - the tartness of the pomegranate worked perfectly with the sweetness of the duck...
I love when he gets in the mood to really cook - he’s so good at it.
So how have you been?
