I'm Back

After spending 8 days in Indianapolis (with an unexpected layover and stay in Dallas) I'm finally back home! It feels good to sleep in my own bed and be surrounded by my own stuff. I think what I'll miss the most is having my bed made for me every day by housekeeping... wait, that happens at home (substitute the word housekeeping with Sean). So, what I will miss most is coming home every night to find 2 chocolates on my pillow.

Rather than write a novella-sized recap about the week, here are a few things that I can remember. As the cloud of exhaustion clears from my head and I recall other funny or memorable moments, I'll add to this list:

• Walking to dinner Tuesday night I was reminded why I left Minneapolis for Orange County: I saw a guy scraping ice off his windshield and digging his car out of the street. Looks like the snowplow came through and cleared the street. Too bad his car was still in the street.
• Carrying a box cutter in my back pocket during set up was the best idea ever. Next year, I'll take the Gerber tool. (Do you hear that? That's the sound of my dad beaming and realizing that I am in fact his daughter.)
• Indianapolis does not plow its side streets!!! According to the newspaper article I read, the city does not make it a habit to regularly plow side streets. So when the mayor made an announcement saying they would (due to the horrendous storm that hit the city) it made the paper. Do these people not have family or friends in Chicago? Mayoral elections have been lost due to unplowed streets. People of Indianapolis - rise up! Demand that your streets be plowed!
• After 8 days of setting up and working the show, the connection between my brain and my mouth slowed down to a crawl. I would think of the words in my head but they wouldn't quite come out of my mouth. I sounded like a drunk 3rd grader speaking a language that wasn't native to my tongue.
• My brand new show pants from Banana Republic? Great. Cramming a walkie talkie, box cutter, cell phone, chapstick, keys and pen in the back pockets of those same $100 pants? Not so great.
• Some how my body found a "college lifestyle" reserve somewhere hidden within the recesses of my body. Even though I only had 2 hours of sleep the previous night, I was able to function like a put-together, well-rested, competent adult. I haven't been able to function on no sleep since college. I have NO idea how I pulled that off.
• Sleeping in a hotel room 8 nights has completely dried my skin out. My skin was never this dry when I lived in Minnesota or Illinois, so it's not the winter weather that did it. Next time I travel I'm going to bring my humidifier. Seriously, my skin is so dry it's scaly. Any suggestions?
• I found another dim sum buddy! Although I think I freaked her out because, and these are her words, I'm 'hard core.' Hard core = getting to the restaurant before it opens to stand in line for 30 minutes (as opposed to getting to the restaurant an hour after it opens and waiting in line for 1 hour and 30 minutes).

All in all, we had a great a show and I'm pleased with how it all turned out. I'm happy to be home and sleeping in my own bed.