Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I'm in beautiful Seattle with my even more beautiful niece and wonderful family. I'm completely stuffed, have been watching Midsomer Murders for two days and have discovered how thoroughly exhausting two-year-olds can be. I'm here for a while longer so hopefully I'll get to visit some of my favourite haunts before I head down to San Francisco. I'll keep you posted!

Have a great last week of the year!
kat

TurlyTag

When I got the new job (see above) one of the first things I thought was "If I'm going to be flying 4 times a week, I need to make sure my stuff doesn't get lost!". So, I found TurlyTag. TT, as it shall henceforth be known, is an awesome service that helps you retrieve your lost goodies. For $3 a month they send you a sheet of sticker tags and a sheet of plastic tags with zip liner thingies that say "Return Me" and have a code on them and TT's website. Then, when someone finds your goods, they can just got to TurlyTag.com, enter the code, and you'll get an email saying that they found your items and showing you the zipcode. Then you can choose to either go pick it up or have them send the finder a prepaid envelope with which to return it.

I happen to know this works because like an idiot I left my BlackBerry at the concierge's desk yesterday. She immediately went to the TT site and entered the info. I got an email from them with the above information. Of course, by then I'd already figured out where I left it and picked it up so I ignored the email. I then got a personal email from someone who works at TT and a phone call until I finally responded and said that yes, I know where my phone is and I already picked it up. All this in less than 12 hours and for $3 a month. LOVE it.

If you're traveling, or even just forgetful, I cannot recommend TurlyTag enough. Check it out.

Toodles!
kat

The Blog Revival

Hello all!

It's been too long! I haven't written in a while because I started my new blog at AmericanGirlinWashington.wordpress.com and it was less travel-y and more blog-y. BUT, I have a new gig that requires mucho travel (sadly all domestic) and so I'm reviving the bapworld and taking you along with me. Yaay! The new blog will re-post a lot of the posts that I'm putting on AGinDC but will also include little posts about new travel sites and tools that I've found, airport reviews, tips and tricks, etc. The job is craziness personified so I'll do my best to keep up regularly but I'm really excited to get started again! So now, without further ado, the first post:

Sacramento

Today I'm in Sacramento! I have to admit, I was not at all excited about Sacramento. It didn't sound exotic, no one ever talks about it, and I was pretty sure it would be boring. I was soooo wrong.

First of all, my hotel, the Hyatt Regency, is gorgeous. Apparently it's just been renovated and I can tell. They have to bars, and cafe with a delicious breakfast brunch, and a restaurant downstairs. It's about ten feet from the Capitol, is right by great restaurants and two movie theatres (including an IMAX) and has gorgeous views of the city from the top floor (when the fog is clear).

Outside, the weather is sunny and cool, the way December should be. The Capitol is beautiful, as are the many sculptures, signs and random artsiness along the streets. Everyone I've spoken to here is super proud of how many local shops and restaurants there are and the airport even gives a rental discount to local businesses so they can compete with the McDonald'ses (?) of the world.

I've been doing my best to sample the local flavor and so far I've fallen so in love with the tangerine ginger tea at Temple Coffee that I bought a tin of it, I had amazing gelato at Hot Italian and I absolutely fell in love with Mayahuel, or, rather, Maya's Kitchen, the fab little takeout section where the waiter (who looked like Justin Timberlake with hair) gave me a free bowl of the most amazing lentil soup while I waited and I got three giant carnitas tacos for $8 which included a free bowl of soup (another, and I ate that too because it was soooo good). This place is fantastic and I will definitely be coming back with every visit.

Sacramento has turned out to be a pretty great town and I can't wait to come back next month.  One of the best things about the new gig is that I get to come back to the towns I'm visiting over and over so I'll really get to know them. Of course, tomorrow I'm heading home to Seattle and I could not be more excited. I haven't been home in two years and I get to see my ridiculously adorable niece Bella who is two and brilliant and  perfect. I also get to see the big people like grandma and grandpa and daddy and I'm sure that will be almost if not quite as exciting! I'm sure that most of my Seattle experiences will be child-themed, which means seeing the city from that perspective for the first time, since I was two in Arizona!

I'll do my best to keep up a little travelogue of my trips, somewhat because people might be interested but mostly because I'm traveling by myself and I want to tell people about awesome places like Maya's!

Until the next post, have a great night and, if I don't write before the end of the month, happy holidays!

=)
AGinDC