Another week at work. And a fun one, too. We left Monday morning out of Willy-Gateway to Addison, Texas with Boss #2. Though he said he might call to leave for a pop-up trip during the week, I didn't stay very close to my hotel! By my calculations, I walked about fifteen miles over the three days in Dallas. The hotel, which we will never use again, is close to a plethora of restaurants and shops. I got my Keens on and walked around to visit them all.
Monday evening, I went to Pei Wei for dinner. I tried a pork pot sticker, and the ones from Costco are still the best I've ever had. I also had my favorite meal there, the Vietnamese Chicken Rolls. Cold, refreshing, healthy...it was a wonderful meal!
Tuesday morning was lazy. I spent time preparing my talk for church this coming Sunday (in our new ward). Then I walked about a mile and a half to see what the neighborhood had in store. Along the way, I passed some ritzy steak houses and gourmet chocolatiers. I happily settled for Panera Bread, an incredible sandwich, salad, and soup shack. I did their half-sandwich, half-soup combination and just about died from my "soup" of macaroni and cheese. The chicken salad sandwich was good, too. And the chunk of fresh bread? Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside...what more could be asked from a bunch of wheat? I continued my walk to a Barnes and Noble and read inside for an hour. I found some decorating magazines and looked through them for more ideas of when I finally get some time at home again. Then I went next door to Best Buy to purchase some cheap earphones to watch movies on Netflix using my work laptop. Though the screen is only six inches wide, it is still bigger than watching on my iPod Touch! This week at work provided the opportunity to enjoy a few movies. I headed back to the hotel, finished writing my talk (so I wouldn't have to waste my precious time during my weekend with John), and then headed to bed. It was a fun day. I think I walked around five miles, which felt great. And dinner at Outback Steakhouse also felt great.
Wednesday, I made plans to be active and gone from my hotel all day. I knew the Dallas Galleria Mall wasn't too far away, and I decided to be crazy by walking to it. It ended up being about seven miles round-trip, plus a few laps inside the huge mall. I figure I walked about nine miles total today. And my feet were certainly feeling it by the time I got within view of my hotel. I guess Keens are not cracked up to be long-distance shoes. I almost took them off to throw them at my shin, hoping that would help the pain! Complaining aside, I had such a fun day. I don't mind being all alone to explore towns like this. I DID spend two days at Disney World by myself a few years ago, after all...and had an absolute blast. While in the Galleria, I wandered through a bunch of my favorite window-shopping stores. Banana Republic, which is where I would buy all my clothes if I didn't care about price, had a beautiful collection out with frilly shirts. I wish I could justify $80 for a frilly shirt. Then I found Pottery Barn and admired all their recent fall displays. I ate a grease-free lunch at Five Guys Burgers near the ice skating rink, which was delicious but way too much food. I even enjoyed a treat from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory while I people-watched. It was easy to justify since I had been walking everywhere the entire week. As I left the mall, I swung by Crate and Barrel across the street and stayed for an hour. If I was filthy rich, that store would be in a lot of trouble. I always love everything I see in there, and I got some fun ideas for what to do in our new home. This is the main reason I prefer to shop alone...I wander and gaze and daydream...and I would feel like I was inconveniencing somebody else if I wasn't alone. I bought a ten-pack of candles for the dining table at home that I forgot to get last week. I hesitantly left the store...I would stay forever if they wouldn't make their security guards usher me out! Luckily, a fun store I had never visited was next door. The Container Store was heaven for a Type-A organizer like me. I bought a mat to fit in the bottom of our new cast iron sink to prevent scratches. And then I was on my way back to the hotel. For some reason, every street I tried to walk on today had no sidewalks. It just made the walk more of an adventure! On my way home, I stopped at Jimmy Johns to get a sandwich for later so I wouldn't have to urge my feet to do another walk for dinner. I knew they would be pathetic and puny for the rest of the evening. It was an amazing day exploring the city. For having no wheels, I felt like I got to see a lot and was very active.
Thursday morning, we got up early and prepared the airplane for a departure back to The Valley of the Sun. As we were catching a ride back to the airport from the hotel, I jokingly said to the line guy driver and Terry that I think my bed had bed bugs in it. The driver started to laugh because he had just been listening about a bed bug epidemic in hotels across the country. In my mind, this solidified that I hadn't been imagining my little buddies. We won't be staying there again, and I don't care HOW cheap the rate was!
The flight home was nice and quick. My passenger told me it used to take him six hours in his little Cessna 172 to make the same flight. My oh my, how I love doing it in just over two hours in a Beechjet.
