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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Work Trip to Daytona Beach

Quick aside: I realized that my last post might have been two depressing when I lost two followers shortly after posting it...so, my apologies if I upset anyone.

One thing I love about my job most days is the fact that it gives me the chance to travel to parts of the country that I wouldn't have normally seen on my own.  Sometimes this is a really good thing (Colorado) and other times not that great of a thing (Kutztown, PA - nothing wrong with the town per se, just no gluten-free options readily available).

This week my sister, who is one of my direct supervisors (and an avid reader of my blog, hi Meg!), and I traveled to Daytona Beach, Florida to meet with a client about some training materials we've been working on over the last few months.  First I traveled to Boston so we could catch our flight out of Logan the next day.  Megan still had a little bit of work to do on recording her voice for tutorials, but she looked pretty awesome with her headset:



The next morning we took the T to Logan and flew out to Daytona Beach Before you ask, let's get a picture of the huge eyesore racetrack out of the way:



We were fortunate enough to get our company rate at a really nice resort right on the beach.  The view from my room:



We didn't have to work until the following day so of course, we immediately went to the beach:







That night we found a restaurant that had an entire gluten-free menu.  I ordered some chicken dish and edamame, plus a flourless brownie sundae (and the obligatory martini...don't judge me)!



It was a really busy few days so I didn't get a ton of pictures until we were ready to leave:




We got in to Megan's apartment a little after midnight and crashed.  I woke up early to catch the train to Portland and drove home to my darling husband and beastie beast.

A lot of people tell me how envious they are of my job, and while I do enjoy the perks of consulting (money, travel, airline miles, sometimes working from home) it can be a little grueling to be away from your comfort zone for long stretches of time.  2011 has been a pretty calm year, but in 2010 I was traveling to and from Cleveland, and then Houston, for pretty much the entire year (coming home on weekends, of course).  I had some great experiences and met some great people, but my heart ached for home. Regardless, at the end of the day I'm really lucky to have a job (thanks Meg!) that allows me so much freedom and so many great benefits.  For now it's perfect, and I can't wait to see what I'll be working on next.

Also, for anyone who is wondering, I would not necessarily recommend Daytona Beach as a vacation spot if you're looking for a lot of fun things to do.  No offense to people who live there, but some parts are pretty ugly and there isn't a ton going on, at least that we could find.  It took us a long time to find a decent supermarket that actually had an "all natural" section or any gluten-free items at all (thanks Publix!). However, if you just want to beach it, which tends to be my and Rob's inclination while on vacations, I personally think it's a great spot to go.  The beach was positively deserted (though I'm sure it isn't during Daytona 500 time), and there were lots of nice resorts directly on the beach, some of them pretty decently priced.  And if you eat gluten-free like me, the Bonefish Grill and BJ's Restaurant both have gluten-free menus and there's always a Carrabba's if you're desperate.

Please keep me in your thoughts on Sunday as I have to photograph a wedding in Portland, where Irene is supposed to hit Maine the hardest.

Final note (for reals this time): this was another break where I brought my point-and-shoot instead of my Nikon.  I find that when I bring my Nikon I spend too much time getting the right pictures instead of just living in the moment.   I didn't want any pressure on myself and I don't want photography to be a chore.

Have a great weekend!

12 comments:

  1. ok, next time you're in cleveland please tell me....I'm not that far!! i would totally come up and meet you :)

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  2. Oh you and your sister are so cute together! Makes me miss mine so much.

    Don't worry too much about the followers - I've noticed since I've gotten more followers the number tends to go up and down every so often. I heard you can have an unlimited number of followers on blogspot, but each account holder can only follow up to 300. So the ones who mostly follow blogs for giveaways will often unfollow so they can keep entering others.

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  3. i never understand why people 'unfollow.' it always leaves me wondering what i did wrong, because i feel like i'm a pretty likeable person. (and so are you!)

    "And there's always a Carrabba's if you're desperate." this made me laugh so hard. peppy has been picking up weekend shifts at carrabba's for the past four years. i hate the place, and loathe the way that our bed sheets smell after a night of peppy at work. but for some reason, everyone around here thinks it is the most awesome place in the world. it's so crazy. i just don't get it.

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  4. I've never wanted to go to daytona beach--I'm not a racing fan--but it looks like a nice beach from what time you spent there. Sorry about people "unfollowing"...I need to keep up with your posts, sorry I have been slacking!!! I won't unfollow you though :)

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  5. I loved the photo of your shoes and suitcases.

    Very cool that you get to travel around a bit, but I know what you mean about aching for home. I'm such a homebody. It takes a lot out of me to travel out of "my element".

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  6. What a super cool job, looks like an amazing trip! Don't take the "unfollowing" personally. If someone did that, they probably weren't anyone you'd want to connect with anyway. Quality, not quantity my friend!

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  7. Looks like fun! Isn't finding new GF restaurants just incredibly exciting!?

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  8. Thanks for the shout-outs, Keke! And for showing the world how devastatingly beautiful I am in a headset...

    Wish we did all our work travel together!

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  9. Ahh - so awesome you got to travel for work with your sister. And, it does look beautiful! I love the beach so much.

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  10. I hope the Wedding was beautiful! Love these photos :)

    xoxo
    Katie

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  11. Hi! New follower. Your blog is darling!

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  12. What a fun trip! You look adorable on the beach.

    xo,

    Sarah

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