Picture of the Day: Bull Statue in Cuzco

Cuzco, Peru
11.10.2007 

Picture of the Day: Row House in Amsterdam

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
08.11.2004

Picture of the Day: Market in Singapore

Singapore
12.25.2008 

Picture of the Day: Cuttlefish in the Gulf of Thailand

Phuket, Thailand
08.14.2008

Picture of the Day: Tea Cart in Istanbul

Istanbul, Turkey
11.27.2009 

Picture of the Day: Eucalyptus Leaves in Federal Pass

Federal Pass, Blue Mountains
New South Wales, Australia
11.2010 

Picture of the Day: Dragon Roofline on a Temple in Taipei

Taipei, Taiwan
04.10.2009

Hello from Las Vegas

After only being back in town from New Orleans for the weekend I had to head out to Las Vegas for work on Monday evening. Currently, Las Vegas is hosting International CES (Consumer Electronics Show), American Beekeeping Federation - Beekeeping Conference, Photo Marketing Association 2012 Show and the first round of the Miss America pageant. Can you guess what I am in town for? Yes, this nerdy girl is here to check out the lastest and greatest electronics.

Vegas is crazy right now with over 140,000 people in town for CES. We had to wait for forty-five minutes in the taxi line to catch a ride to our hotel and our taxi driver said that the busiest time of the year is always CES. By the time we checked in it was late and we were starving so we decided to head to In-N-Out Burger for a quick bite. I love In-N-Out from my days of living in California so I was excited to get my standby favorite of a double-double animal style (double cheeseburger with added sauce, pickles and grilled onions) with animal style fries (fries with sauce, cheese, and grilled onions). Yum!

After we finished eating my co-workers hit the strip, but I had other pressing matters at hand. In my hurry to pack I stupidly forgot my power cable for my MacBook Air so I headed off to the Apple Store at the Forum Shops which was luckily open until eleven. I love the customer service at the Apple Stores. They are always so nice and helpful and the woman I was dealing with gave me my corporate discount without me even asking for it.

Armed with my new power cable I started walking to the entrance of the Forum Shops on the strip when I was enticed into Banana Republic and Ann Taylor by some sale signs. Nine dollars for a long black sweater? Okay, I'll get it. Eight dollars for a cute red shrug? Well, if I must. After paying for my ridiculously cheap purchases I checked out the cool entryway to the Forum Shops with spiral escalators and headed back to my hotel room to pass out asleep.

Tuesday was my first day at CES and I couldn't believe how busy it was. I had to wait over half and hour in line just to get on the monorail to take it to the convention center. With over 1.6 million square feet of exhibit space I only saw a fraction of it and was exhausted by the end of the day. One day down, two more to go!

Picture of the Day: Llama at Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu
The Andes Mountains, Peru
11.09.2007 

NOLA Road Trip Day 7: The Long Road Home

Unfortunately, Wednesday was our last day in New Orleans. We had a really wonderful time so we were sad to see our trip coming to an end. Frank even joked that we should come back for the NCAA Final Four even if Michigan (his alma mater) or Duke (my alma mater) wasn't in it. I think any excuse is a good excuse to visit New Orleans. 

Before leaving town we had to take care of a few very important things, like eating breakfast one last time at Cafe Beignet. It is amazing how a person can eat beignets for breakfast three out of four days and still want to go back for more. Someone seriously needs to open a beignet shop in Ann Arbor. 

Of course we ended up getting beignets (just as delicious as ever!) but I also got a croissant filled with ham and cheese and Frank got a crawfish omelette with bell peppers and Swiss cheese since this was going to be our last sit down meal of the day and we needed something a little more hearty than just beignets to fortify us for the very long day of driving ahead.

Being the day after the bowl game all of the Michigan Sugar Bowl gear was on sale for half off in the stores around Canal Street. I had to take advantage of this and got a sweatshirt and a t-shirt for a grand total of thirty dollars which is a steal compared to the prices that are charged for Michigan gear back home. I couldn't believe that they even had t-shirts for sale with the final score on them less than 12 hours after the game was over.

We also had to make a stop in a praline shop so we could bring some of the famous sweets home. French settlers to Louisiana modified the original French recipe by substituting readily available pecans for almonds and adding cream as a thickener. Yum!

By the time we hit the road it was nearly eleven o'clock Central Standard Time and we had a 1060 mile drive ahead of us. Frank was a superman and drove the whole way, making it back in just over fifteen hours.  When we finally arrived in Ann Arbor it was nearly three in the morning and we were both absolutely exhausted. It was a wonderful trip but it was nice to be able to sleep in my own bed again.

If you are interested, check out the rest of our road trip to New Orleans here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6