The Official Wind Down

As they say, all good things must come to an end!  After an amazing 7 months of focusing on nothing but travel, exercise, diet, friends and family - I've decided to start winding down my sabbatical to start the networking process in an effort to get back into the work force.  As I have told many people over the past few months - I can honestly say this was one of the best times of my life.  I have been happier and more relaxed than any other time in my adult life.  Reveling in the freedom of owning my own time has allowed me to connect deeply with people, experience new cultures through travel, work on my own health and well-being (I have lost 38.6 pounds since August 31st) and really hone in on what I value in life!  I feel like a better, stronger, healthier version of myself and can't wait to move onto the next chapter.  But, before I do that I have some stories to share since my return from Las Vegas.  Many of you have been kind enough to tell me that you've enjoyed living vicariously through my blog, so I thought I'd share in a few fun times from the past 2 weeks.

Immediately upon returning from Las Vegas I had my friend Liz's 40th birthday celebration at The Wrecking Bar in Little 5 Points.  Cille, Shannon, April and I managed to pull together a motley crew of ~20 friends to meet up in honor of Liz'a BIG birthday!  She had specifically requested an informal setting where we could mix and mingle while enjoying some yummy cocktails.  We settled on The Wrecking Bar because there are a large number of other bars/restaurants within walking distance and we could wander about in the wee hours if we felt so inclined.  :)  We rolled into the bar right on time and spent several hours chatting, drinking, eating and laughing.  Around 11:00 pm a few of the celebrants decided to head home, while the rest of us decided to make our way to the next bar.  We walked (some stumbled) down the street to Brewhouse where we encountered a stranger who had CLEARLY been celebrating in a much more hardcore way than we had been thus far.  We snapped some photos of him for posterity (and your viewing pleasure) before heading inside for some pitchers of beer, nachos and tater tots!  It had been a late night when we jumped in taxis around 2:00 am to head home.  Happy birthday, Liz!

It is safe to say that taking photos wasn't a priority since this is the only shot from The Wrecking Bar!

How much do you think this guy drank?  And, was that pizza delivered to him on the curb?

(We did confirm he was alive before snapping this shot!)

Easter (and Annika's actual birthday) was upon us so Jonas and Cille hosted a pot luck dinner on Sunday. The Nettles and I headed over in the mid-afternoon, while Sue joined when she flew back in from Pennsylvania.  We did an Easter egg hunt with the kids before digging into a delicious meal and some basketball viewing on TV.  Of course, Annika and Charlie entertained us with some piano playing and singing.  Check out their rendition of Take Me Out to the Ball Game:

Well, they have the refrain down...

It was a great day and the weather was so fabulous that we were able to enjoy quite a bit of outdoor time throughout the afternoon!

I had earmarked the first week in April to work on my resume so I could begin the networking processing and as a result,  I actually sat at the desk in my home office for 3 straight days.  I hadn't sat at that desk for more than 30 minutes since August 31st.  WEIRD!  It wasn't nearly as difficult as I expected to get my resume up-to-date and after I got the first draft done, I passed it along to a bunch of people for feedback.  Once I got the resume to a viable state, I went back to my normal sabbatical routine - lunch with friends, swimming or jogging, cooking healthy meals for dinner and enjoying the great outdoors.  Friday was my birthday, so gifts and cards starting arriving on Tuesday.  For those of you who don't know - my birthday is my absolute favorite time of year because I have some sort of contact with everyone who I care about (phone calls, texts, emails, cards, etc.) in the weeks surrounding my birthday!  This year was no exception.  My generous friends and family showered me with flowers, gifts, meals and cake!  Sue and Cille arranged dinner on Friday night and surprised me with a 'Fudgie the Whale' cake from Carvel Ice Cream afterwards!  To say it was delicious would be an understatement.

Fudgie the Whale!

On Saturday, Jason and Frank took me out to lunch before we headed out for some kayaking on the Chattahoochee River.  The weather was absolutely perfect and being outdoors was our top priority!  We rented some kayak's for an hour and hit the river.  It was awesome:

Jason (and the front of my kayak) on the Hooch!

On Sunday my friend John came to town from Elon  He had tickets for the final game of the Final Four tournament on Monday night.  We met up downtown to go to the Dave Matthews Band concert in Centennial Olympic Park and then went to a late dinner at Mama Ninfa's.  It was great to see him and I am still in shock over the volume of people that were walking the streets at midnight on a Sunday night.  It was insane.  He recognized all sorts of players from the various teams, including the 3 players who are expected to be the top 3 picks in the next draft, but I can't even recount their names now.  I can tell you they were all very tall and chaperoned by men in suites!

My networking has been going very well this week and I have several promising opportunities to work through over the next few weeks.  I will definitely do a final post before I bring my sabbatical to an official end by going back to work.

Thank you so much to everyone who has read this blog over the past few months.  It's been so fun to write and I've enjoyed getting notes and comments from people along the way.  :)

Las Vegas, NV

I was shocked to be upgraded to first class on my flight to Las Vegas.  While I almost always get upgraded when I fly, there are two cities on Delta's route that it rarely happens with:  San Francisco and Las Vegas.  Whatever the reason, I was more than happy to take the seat up front and enjoy breakfast with my extra legroom.  When I landed in Las Vegas I called Aria to add my name to the reservation so I could check-in.  Rachel wasn't scheduled to arrive until afternoon and I was afraid I would have gone through my entire gambling allotment of cash if I spent the whole day in the casino waiting for her.  The line to check-in at 10:30 am was at least 250 people deep, so I got in line and waited just over an hour before reaching the counter.  The room was on the 32nd floor with a nice view of the mountains.

I grabbed lunch and unpacked some things before heading downstairs to do a little bit of gambling while I waited for Rachel to arrive.  Her flight was on-time and since I'd already checked-in we were able to head straight to the room so she could settle in.  We had early dinner reservations at the Wynn because we were going to see La Reve at 7:00 so we didn't have too time to do very much before heading up the strip towards the Wynn.  Rachel had never been to Las Vegas before, so we decided to take a cab to the Wynn and walk the length of the strip back to Aria after the show ended so we could take in the pirate show at Treasure Island, the volcano show at The Mirage and the water show at Bellagio.  All and all, the walk took 90 minutes.  Dinner at Lakeside was delicious.  We got an avocado and crab appetizer that was fantastic and we both got the scallops in celery root puree which was amazing.

Canopies and umbrella's inside the Wynn

Fountains outside Bellagio during the water shower

We rented a car on Monday so we could spend the day at Red Rock Canyon.  It was one of the things I had never done in Las Vegas, so Rachel agreed to check it out instead of Hoover Dam (which I've done several times in past visits).  We got an early start and stopped at a mini mart to pick up water and snacks since those items are hard to come by inside the hotels on the strip.  We pulled up to the entrance of the National Park before the crowds arrived and went inside the welcome center to get a map of hiking trails and some gifts for Rachel's kids (Lawson and Claire).  I had done some research before we arrived on easy to moderate hikes and we picked one that started a short distance up the driveable road inside the park.  As we parked at the first pull off spot along the drive we saw a family taking photos on a huge boulder.  Of course, we wanted to get our photo taken on it so we swapped favors and we took their photo so they would take ours!  The National Park was absolutely spectacular and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  We spent several hours meandering through the park and taking in the sights before heading back to the strip.

Rachel and me on the boulder just inside the park

Me along the trail in Red Rock Canyon

One of the cool multi-colored rock formations

After leaving the park we decided to make a stop at Gold & Silver Pawn which is the shop where Pawn Stars is filmed.  Rachel's husband Phil is a fan of the show and she thought she could grab him a T-shirt or souvenir.  We were shocked to see a line of people waiting to get inside as we pulled up.  The line was so long we decided it wasn't worth the hassle and since we were starving we continued on towards Fremont Street.  I had only been there twice and both times were for work-organized events, so I wasn't much help in navigating the best things to see or places to eat.  We were completely starved, so I pulled out my iPhone to find a place we could grab a bite inside one of the casinos.  It was nothing spectacular, but it served it's purpose.  We watched a few people doing the zip line above the street and headed back to the hotel for a brief nap before doing some gambling.  We made reservations at the Japanese place at Aria for dinner and hit the roulette tables.  Rachel was quite lucky and bet the actual number that was spun right out of the gate.  She doubled her money immediately.  Her lucky streak continued and eventually rubbed off on me.  I turned $100 into $252 in less than an hour and decided I had reached my gambling pinnacle and would walk away while I was ahead.  Plus, I had spa appointments booked for the next day that cost far more than my winnings and decided not to press my luck.  We called it a night relatively early and decided to hit the pool on Tuesday before Rachel's business meeting and my spa appointments.  

The line outside Gold & Silver Pawn.  Really?

As many of you know, I am a spa expert.  I have been lucky enough to enjoy many spa visits over the years and I must say that the Aria spa ranks in my top 10 of all time.  Not only was the atmosphere serene, but they way they had it setup kept me from seeing another customer throughout my entire 3 hour visit.  My 90 minute custom massage was absolutely perfect, followed by 30 minutes in the Shio Salt room which is constructed completely of salt bricks.  Supposedly this type of room helps with breathing and allergies!?  I don't know if it does that, but it certainly is relaxing.  I also did some back and forth dips in the hot and cold plunge pools.  It was a great experience from start to finish.  Well worth every penny.

I met up with Rachel and her teammates after their meeting let out at 9:00 and we were supposed to head over to the Bellagio for some Craps, but we were both tired and her business meeting started early the next day so we stayed behind at Aria, Rachel did some gambling and then we called it a night.

It was nice to get caught up with Rachel and have some one on one time for a few days, but all things must some to an end and I caught my flight back to Atlanta while Rachel stayed behind to finish her meetings.

I plan to start the networking process now that I am back in Atlanta with only a handful of trips yet to come in April, May and June.  We'll see what develops in terms of getting back into the grind of the working world.  It's hard to believe my sabbatical will be coming to a close in the coming weeks/months.  Stayed tuned for details on what's next!