One Dozen Black & Gold Frogs

Instead of two horned frogs abroad this time, it was actually more like 12 Theta frogs, and just a couple of states west.  We just spent four-ish days in sunny Tucson, Arizona at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa for the 70th annual Grand Convention of Kappa Alpha Theta.

I always admire others who work in the social service arena (like me) and who still have the desire to volunteer and give back to other causes around people in need.  Unlike them, I just don't have that desire...I try to save that giving of time and effort for my marriage, family, friends, running and travel, just to name a few.

Theta is the one volunteer thing that I have and I love giving back to.  Grand Convention was a really fun and interesting experience.  It's pretty rare that anyone spends 4 days with 700 women.  Outside of the actual business that we needed to do, we had lots of fun together.  I enjoyed getting to know my fellow advisors better, as well as the current members of the chapter.  I think BK was surprised at how much of a vacation this turned out to be, but there's a lot of value in laying poolside or floating in the lazy river getting to know one another better!  Don't underestimate it!

Since I don't want to bore you with the business side of things, here are some other highlights.  KC, my roommate, felt that she was quite the practical joker.  Her best one was when she put a maxi pad on the wall next to the toilet to get a reaction out of me.  I think she wanted a scream or something from me, but that's not really me.  You should read her blog to really get a sense.  I feel kind of bad because I didn't realize what a light sleeper she was until about the last morning we were together.

Another advisor, KM, became famous for her version of the Soulja Boy done on the dance floor at western night.  Unfortunately I missed it, but there's a video floating around out there somewhere.  KC and I got lost on our morning hike the first morning we were there, but were thankful that KM kept track of us the whole time, so we knew she would send out a search party if we weren't at the first business session with her (mostly because she would be pissed that she was missing something).

Lastly, I feel quite certain that we convinced the college girls not to get married.  Nights on the patio bar usually turned into us telling stories about being married and about the weird, funny and irritating things that happen after you're married for a while- traveling, working together, raising kids, and many other adventures that everyone goes through.

For my first "girls trip" this was a pretty good one!  The only negative?  BK flew out to his second home in Switzerland about three hours after I got home from my trip....but don't worry we had time to squeeze in a trip to Joe T's before he left!

An unlikely occasion for a staycation

Married in Maui

So you may have picked up on this by now, but BK and I don't really do staycations; we tend to like to get out and go.  Strangely enough, for our anniversary each year we typically stay close to home.  Maybe it's that we're trying to avoid traveling when everyone with kids is going on summer vacation, or just the scheduling of other trips, but we are usually not far from home.  True to form, this year we headed to Dallas for dinner and hotel stay.

Another thing that people may or may not know is that BK and I typically don't do anniversary presents.  Now, if you're a guy reading, you may be thinking, "How crazy can BK be?  He should know that his wife wants an anniversary present."  Not the case.  We decided a long time ago that we did enough for ourselves and each other throughout the year that we didn't need to buy something random just because June 11 rolled around again (Valentine's Day is the same).

For anniversary number seven we decided to stay at the Stoneleigh Hotel and have dinner at The Capital Grille in Uptown.  If you've never been, or a few years have passed since you've been, the Stoneleigh went through a major renovation a few years ago and is really nice.  It only has 10 or so floors, so it's not huge, but the rooms are very well done and they have a cozy bar area right by the lobby.  The only downside is that it doesn't have a pool, so having a cocktail poolside is not an option.

Dinner was amazing!  BK and I really appreciate good food and the experience that you have at an upscale restaurant; I'm happy to report that The Capital Grille did not disappoint.  The best thing about dinner was that the steak was cooked perfectly (the way we ordered it- rare plus), which a lot of places don't seem to want to do.  The rest of the meal was great as well- fresh oysters, a great seasonal salad, lobster mac-n-cheese, sautéed spinach and their take on coconut cream pie to finish things off.

We ended the night by walking to the Ritz for a drink at their outdoor bar.  It has a good atmosphere, but better yet, has some great people watching.  Oh the things you see...

BK and I have a great time together no matter where we are.  Here's to many more years of having fun together, new adventures, and travel near and far!

What's a Paulista?

What's a Paulista you ask?  It's someone who was born in Sao Paulo.  So as I mentioned before, Rio was our vacation destination and Sao Paulo was for working (at least for BK- I was on vacation the whole time).  If I had to come up with one word to describe Sao Paulo it would be: TRAFFIC.  There is constant traffic, all the time, all over the city!

Sao Paulo literally goes on forever- skyscrapers and building as far as you can see.  It's a city of 18 million (estimates from Paulistas were all over the board) and is the financial capital of South America.

As I mentioned, BK was there for business, but before he started working we had the chance to have another English-speaking city tour and have a great dinner at Skye Bar with a colleague of BK's (named one of the best in the world by Yahoo Travel!).  Luckily, Sao Paulo is the gastronomic center of South America as well, so we had some great food too.

My days were pretty non-eventful when BK was working, but I did get out and wander around various parts of the city.  Of course, because of the traffic I couldn't really get anywhere until after 10.  I saw a great exhibit of Brazilian photographers at the MASP and had lots of sushi.  Another random fact: Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.  Who knew?

We had a great time over the last weekend.  The same colleague of BK's was kind enough to show us around on Saturday and let us spend time with his family.  We went to Ibirapuera Park, a huge green space in the middle of Sao Paulo (think Central Park) and had one of our favorite meals.  Bar do Juarez was great- we grilled meat and fish at the table and the waiters bring chopp to each table.

CHOPP- it deserves its own space.  Chopp (pronounces Shop, sort of) is draft beer in Brazil.  It is super cold and served in small glasses so it stays cold.  The grid below is how they keep track of how many chopps you've had.  Seriously, if you turn your head for a second, all the sudden you have a new chopp!

Lastly, we found the best bar game ever!  It's really simple, a dice game, but of course you can gamble on it too.  The goal is to get all of the numbers down through either one die or both dice.  You go out if you roll a combination you already have, but you automatically win if you get all nine numbers down (surprisingly hard).  We did a lot of first to five wins and things like that.  I have a strategy, but I'm not sharing!

My advice: head to Brazil if you ever get the chance.  It's a great place to experience!