{Vacation Recap} Updates & a St. Louis Getaway with Mom

Wow - I am not very consistent with this!  There has just been a lot going on - some great, some not so much.   There have been some health set-backs which I'm not quite ready to dive into at this point. I find when things are going south, I am much less inclined to want to share.  Mostly because it just takes some time to wrap my head around it.  It didn't feel honest to only post about the good things and not even mention the bad.  But then I decided I could probably use this as an outlet to keep myself focused on the positive so I'm just gonna roll with it.

On top of all this, I was hit pretty hard with whatever bug was going around and it took me out for a solid two weeks.   Not fun. Thank goodness my job allows me to work from home!

Speaking of which - I'm still loving my new role!  I have been plowing through training, doing job shadows and trying to get myself ramped up in general. It's been great and I am still really jazzed about it all.   I even completed another certification so should be staffed on some new projects pretty soon.  It feels really great to have a company want to invest that much in me.

One of the things that I love about my job is the travel.  Unlike my other role, this travel is much more manageable and enjoyable.  Sometimes it works out that I can piggy back off of my work deployments and turn it into personal vacations.  For instance, I was shadowing fellow consultants on a client in St. Louis for two weeks in March and was able to meet my parents for dinner and stay the weekend downtown with my mom.  I have been trying to figure out ways to take girls weekends with her and that seemed like the perfect opportunity. I wish I had pics!

We stayed at a fabulous Westin (although it was a lot more $$$ than I anticipated due to the Shockers playoffs occurring! But hey, mom is worth it).  It had a fabulous view of the arch and the Cardinals stadium.  It was a converted warehouse and the interior was beautiful.  We really enjoyed everything about it.   I especially loved having cocktails (old fashioneds) with my mom after dinner every night in the lounge.  Apparently I come from a long line of bourbon lovers :)

Source: hotelharbor.com

We didn't really sight see, as much as eat and drink our way through the city.  A highlight was brunch at Rooster (owned by the same guy who owns Bailey's Range) which was walking distance from the hotel and had has maybe the best breakfast potatoes ever.  It had a great gluten-free menu (hello nutella crepes!) and I especially loved the art deco converted building.  It seemed really popular too (lots of hipsters, ha) which was surprising because in general, I found downtown St. Louis deserted most of the time. Apparently they are all gathered there.

Toky.com

In general, we slept in, had great conversations and just tried to relax.  She has been busy as well so we both welcomed the opportunity to just sit back and catch up.

I can't wait to do it again sometime - hopefully somewhere new and in the not so distant future.  Santa Barbara?  Palm Springs?  hmmm...

Another vacation was piggybacked off of my certification in Pleasanton, CA.  Tom and I have been trying to squeeze in a quick ski vacay all season and realized we were running out of time.  We took advantage of being in Cali to hit up South Lake Tahoe and Heavenly afterwards.  I will be back shortly with a re-cap.

xoxo,
Meg