Mel

Sunny Arizona – Part 5 of the Series

Sunday was my niece’s 1st birthday at Surprise Park. That’s the Royals/Rangers Spring Training home in the background. {pic removed} What a beautiful day! Had the boy I met in Scottsdale call me in the middle of the day asking to see me before he left for home. I will not reveal which one he was. So, I spent the latter part of the afternoon with him. Then spent the rest of the day with my...

Mel

“I couldn’t hear you through the flashlights and explosions” (Phoenix Part IV)

Saturday in Phoenix was just as beautiful as the day before. If not just for sake of temperature increasing to 90! Woot! I set up plans for Scottsdale bars with T-Cupp for later that evening. In the meantime, I’m going to work on my tanline… Had a few funny text messages from Ian asking me about afterhours again, making fun of me being in Scottsdale bars (“GROSS!”), and asking my...

Mel

It’s pronounced Tem-PEE (Phoenix adventure Part 3)

Let’s get back to the adventures. Since I flew into Phoenix so early, I was able to have brunch, see a movie, get some sun, and plan my night out in Tempe. I think the University-crowd bars were a little more my “scene.” Majority of the fun bars are on/around Mill Street. First to cross off the list was The Tavern — reminiscient of a Blind Pig, but with an outdoor patio. I make eye...

Mel

“How are the eggs here?”

I surprised my sister last Friday at Cracker Barrel. You’re probably wondering: what is the significance of this post? Well, the restaurant in mention was in Phoenix. Yes, I hopped aboard the Frontier express and took a vacation to my former (short-term) residence. My sister had no idea I was coming as my family is headed there over Easter weekend. It took a tedious covert operation (good thing I...

Mel

I’m going to Pa-hoe-nix

Let’s start with day one. I heard great things about Frontier airlines (especially about their rather witty crew staff) and was able to get an extremely reasonably-priced last-minute ticket directly through the airline’s website — even if it did leave at 5:30 Friday morning. iPJHiser (my iPod), the baseball preview of Sporting News, and I spent some good quality time together at the...

Mel

You’ve been upgraded! (Part TWO of Phoenix Adventure)

Arriving at a balmy desert temperature of 68 degrees (was it really warmer in Cleveland?), I had to be shuttled out to a parking garage full-o-cars. One special baby would be waiting for me courtesy of Enterprise. The counter agent was fully friendly and intrusive, but I had the opportunity to bump up my car rental for a couple bucks a day to get a bigger car (puh-leez don’t give me a Toyota...

Mel

How many times do I have to make the naughty list?

Christmas was completely different this year. Infact, it was pretty lonely. I love being out in Arizona and being able to spend the holidays with my sister and her husband, but missed all the things I normally bitch about every year. I held on to my Xmas tradition of going to the movies. I understand that this is a huge opening every year. In Cleveland, no one seemed to be interested in such things on a ...

Mel

Hate to rub it in…

…but it was around 70 today. Breezy. Sunny. Bright Sunshine. I almost feel guilty that my friends in Cleveland are digging cars out of giant drifts of white stuff. I have arrived in Arizona. The trip here, of course, could never be without incident. I delayed the drive by one day (well worth it to spend one more day with that certain special someone) and of course the entire state of Ohio was under some...

Mel

Yee-haw!

I could ramble on for pages about my mini-vacay to Nashville. Day One It took Stef and I around 7.5 hours to drive down a couple states to visit Miss Spider in Nashville. I passed the Maker’s Mark Distillery. Half-tempted to stop… awaiting the sign for Jack Daniels. Along the way, Stef and I took in some spelunking activities in the WORLD’S largest cavern: Mammoth Cave (Kentucky). Here I saw...

Mel

9 hours, 34 minutes, and 12 seconds later…

The road trip to the Jersey Shore! I left Cleveland Thursday night around 6:30 pm and headed to Pittsburgh to spend the evening at my sister’s. I already needed gas and coffee before even crossing the Oh/Pa line. I was greeted by a homemade alfredo manicotti dinner. My sister is the best. Adge and I left around 6am Friday morning to start the longest part of our journey—the beautiful hills of...

Mel

Chicago, etc.

I forgot to mention my incident when riding the train on my own in Chicago: Some kid is sitting across from me, and I’m not paying much attention because I’m seated in the opposite direction. He tells me I’m beautiful, titilating, infact! Then proceeds to ask if I’m hungry (because, he says, I LOOK hungry). Thankfully, he gets off at the next stop, but not without shaking my hand,...

Mel

My kinda town, Chicago and my kinda man!

I’m back! Chicago was a blast. I ended up extending my stay an extra day, and it was well worth the change flight cost. Starting with the flight, I still cannot understand why a 55-minute flight is always delayed.  I got through flying on my own; I realize it doesn’t bother me too much. I just get bored. I don’t mind the turbulence—it’s just annoying when I’m trying to...

Mel

Toasting to me!

Toasting to myself. I’m going to St. Thomas for the holiday. I’ll be looking for easter eggs in the Caribbean blue waters. Ahhhh…