Melissa, Oh!

Category: Travel

  • An American in Europe after the Paris attacks

    An American in Europe after the Paris attacks

    This post was written on November 25, 2015, while I was on a train from Venice to Munich. I just never got around to publishing it until now. Thanks for your patience. — “Did you hear about the Italian girl who died in the Paris attacks?” Anthony asked us, his eyes glossy. When we told…

  • Europe travel: Hamburg, Germany, and beyond

    Over the fall, I spent 8 weeks in Europe. Jeff’s work called him to Hamburg, Germany, for a project, and I was dragged along kicking and screaming (as IF). I got to live it up, mostly in Hamburg, but on weekends, Thanksgiving week, and when our friends came to visit, we traveled. We had an apartment in Hamburg,…

  • Finding balance

    I told Kim the other day: I just need 30 hours in a day. When Rebecca asked me the week before, “How do you find time to both run and yoga and work?” I answered with something like Well, now you’ve found the crux of the matter. The topic of balance has come up a lot lately…

  • A New Look: The Hair and the Blog

      I’m not the only one who got a new look today. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen that my blog has a new look, too. Take a look around; make yourself at home. Kick your shoes off and grab a beer if you want. 2011 was a great year, and a bad year,…

  • Disneyworld. Disneyworld. Disneyworld!

    I’m going to DISNEYWORLD! Ok, that in and of itself is not all that exciting; I’ve been to Disneyworld a million times. So, let’s try again: I’M TAKING MY NIECE TO DISNEYWORLD! Mia is turning 5 in a couple of weeks, and I’ve always always wanted to take her and my other nieces and nephews.…

  • Have a bucket list. Check it off. Life is short.

    I was hanging out with Mom and Dad last week in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Dad had a rather awkward trip down the resort’s water slide. I felt badly that I’d convinced him to give it a try and he’d clearly not had a good time, but at the bottom, he turned to me and said,…

  • A moment of time in travel

    Some moments in my travels, thus far over the past few weeks … I edited all these photos using the Best Camera app, which I talk about a little more here if you want to see some “before” photos. I love that I don’t have to keep up with anything but my iPhone!

  • What if my friends hate each other? Hey, what if they don’t?

    So, I blogged recently about running a race in Atlanta and how much fun and motivating that was. What I didn’t really tell you was that it was such a fun weekend that I had a hard time choosing which parts to share with you. The background: It really wasn’t my trip to plan. Scott…

  • So close I could taste it (literally)

    Kevin reminded me this was not the first time I’d seen this. He says that when we were kids driving out west, we saw a dust storm that actually formed a funnel cloud. How did I forget that? No clue. But, there I was on Tuesday night, hanging out with Anil at his place in…

  • So close I could taste it (literally)

    Kevin reminded me this was not the first time I’d seen this. He says that when we were kids driving out west, we saw a dust storm that actually formed a funnel cloud. How did I forget that? No clue. But, there I was on Tuesday night, hanging out with Anil at his place in…

  • Cinnamon rolls may be good, but is it worth this?

    Cinnabon update: (If you missed what happened on Thursday, I wrote about it here.) A third-party representative named Jorge called me on Saturday. He was very nice and wanted to hear my story. He especially was shocked that the woman never warned me it was hot water that she was serving me. He also was shocked…

  • Cinnamon rolls may be good, but is it worth this?

    Cinnabon update: (If you missed what happened on Thursday, I wrote about it here.) A third-party representative named Jorge called me on Saturday. He was very nice and wanted to hear my story. He especially was shocked that the woman never warned me it was hot water that she was serving me. He also was shocked…

  • My mouth can’t catch a break

    So, I mentioned this on Facebook yesterday but it’s all I can think about today since my mouth is still absolutely killing me, so pardon me but I’m going to rant for a minute … I hope I don’t seem melodramatic with this, but with everything that’s been going on, this just about put me…

  • The great stripes fiasco

    So, two of Anil’s living room walls are covered in brick that has been painted white. The third wall was painted off white and the fourth was painted maroon. Walls before: Behind the living room is a nook that Anil had painted orange: All of the other walls in the hallway near the nook were…

  • It’s all about the details

    A few things to note before giving you the big living room reveal after Anil let me play decorator for the past couple of weeks. I gave you the kitchen organizing update a few days ago. There have been a few small updates since then: Anil got rid of his old plates and bowls and…

  • The time Anil was mistaken for a lesbian

    So, I met Anil and Megan at a pool party. But I met lots of people at that pool party. My friend Kyle was the person that invited me to the pool party and he met all the same people I did. I was the only one that kept in touch with them, however. So,…

  • Sniper cars and bomber shacks and photographs that will make you cry

    Ok, so I showed you the bathrooms of this place already. But that’s nowhere near the coolest part. I’m not a huge museum person. Well, I am and I’m not. I always enjoy going but I typically like to just visit certain exhibits that call my name. I don’t need to look at everything. This…

  • Sniper cars and bomber shacks and photographs that will make you cry

    Ok, so I showed you the bathrooms of this place already. But that’s nowhere near the coolest part. I’m not a huge museum person. Well, I am and I’m not. I always enjoy going but I typically like to just visit certain exhibits that call my name. I don’t need to look at everything. This…

  • Charlotte through another’s eyes

    Anil is the biggest jetsetter I know. And I totally admire and envy him for it. And when he visited Charlotte for the first time he fell in love with it. “I can’t believe it’s so green!” he kept saying. And it really opened my eyes to all the things that are beautiful about the…

  • Charlotte through another’s eyes

    Anil is the biggest jetsetter I know. And I totally admire and envy him for it. And when he visited Charlotte for the first time he fell in love with it. “I can’t believe it’s so green!” he kept saying. And it really opened my eyes to all the things that are beautiful about the…

  • You don’t dress for the start line.

    I took a little plane ride to Phoenix yesterday to help strip some brick for a friend’s remodeling project. And as I was packing, I realized I had a bit of a clothing dilemma. The temperatures in Phoenix are still reaching toward the 80s. Temperatures in Charlotte are dipping to new lows – as low as 12…

  • It’s Sin City, so why is everyone wearing so many clothes?

    So, would you have guessed this photo was taken just last month in Las Vegas – when temperatures were touching 110 degrees? This was one of the coolest (coolest, get it?) things I’ve experienced in Vegas. Anil, Jeff and I went to a bar called Minus5 Ice Lounge, located in Mandalay Bay. Everything inside the…

  • It’s Sin City, so why is everyone wearing so many clothes?

    So, would you have guessed this photo was taken just last month in Las Vegas – when temperatures were touching 110 degrees? This was one of the coolest (coolest, get it?) things I’ve experienced in Vegas. Anil, Jeff and I went to a bar called Minus5 Ice Lounge, located in Mandalay Bay. Everything inside the…

  • That’s what you get for wakin up in Vegas …

    Perhaps it’s better to show, not tell, why I haven’t blogged the past couple of weeks … Jeff and I were in Vegas for a conference for Jeff, and my friend Anil came up for a night. He comes to Vegas often, and when he tried to check into Mandalay Bay, they told him there…