Hello Cleveland!

After such a relaxing and fun Saturday with my baby I had to leave him early today to travel to Cleveland... on a Sunday! Uuugh, I hate having to give up my weekend for travel! But at least Julian is just home with Daddy, so he's in good hands. It was still hard to leave him.

It was surprisingly cold this morning in Tampa... 39 F! I was glad I wore a long sleeve sweater, long pants and my boots since it was supposed to only be 25 F in Cleveland with some snow today.

First I stopped at Panera to get a nice toasted whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and a hot Chai tea Latte. I got to the airport way too early, but that was okay, I'd rather be early and sit down and read or shop than be late and worry about not making it. I got myself ready last night, downloaded a movie on iTunes to watch on the flight, and downloaded a bunch of magazines, both German and US magazines, and a few new books on the Kindle. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever get to read all of my books on the Kindle??? There are just too many cheap and free books!! And I keep downloading them! I have close to 300 books on the Kindle now, many of them free or costing less then $2.99.

The direct flight was without any turbolence, I only napped during takeoff and landing and avoided talking to the annoying guy next to me, who tried to talk to me even as I started watching my movie on my iPad and already had my earphones in... and he saw that I had to take them out to hear him! The movie was "Double" with Richard Gere and Topher Grace... pretty good! And I was able to finish it on the flight!

I was excited to use my new suitcase with 4 wheels :D so now I was able to just roll it upright instead of having to drag it behind me on two wheels. Very cool and convenient! And I managed not to have to check my bag, which was hard since I only took miniature version of everything... lotion, facial cleaner, etc. I was brave enough to trust that the Hilton Garden Inn would have reasonable Shampoo and Conditioner for me!

Apparently it had been snowing since Friday so when we got there, everything was white... beautiful! And it was pretty cold at 25 F!! I got into the rental car with my two coworkers who flew up with me... and yes, I had to throw a snowball at one of them, hehehe.

Usually I love going out to dinner with my friends and coworkers when I travel for my job. Time to explore something new, new hip restaurants, trendy new food, a little gem of the city, then have a cocktail or two, a glass of wine after dinner, enjoy the company and have a great, great time. But this time I just wanted to be a hermit in the hotel room. I also wasn't quite as close to these coworkers than some others who I actually am friends with outside of work, so it made it easier to stay in.

I changed into my pyjamas (we got to the hotel just a little after 4pm), had a great Skype date with one of my best girlfriends in Germany who told me everything about her new love interest, then watched TV (the Grammy's were on tonight, and since Whitney Houston just died last night it was full of tributes to her... gosh when was the last time I watched the Grammy's??), in between surfed the Internet and Facebook on my iPad and ordered room service. The company spoils us anyway with our dinner allowance, so I enjoyed a juicy steak with a soup and salad and an ice cold diet coke lol. No alcohol for me tonight!