Hi there.
Happy Spring. Here in New York City we got a big dump of snow thanks to Nor’ Easter Toby. But it has mostly melted.
I got back at the beginning of the week from being away for 17 days. Away from home, away from Duncan. Needless to say it was tough. But it was for something very exciting…
Mr. SOTSS is opening a business. It’s a franchise called FASTSIGNS.
Basically a business that creates visual communications like signage for other businesses. In addition to traditional signage there is digital signage now added to the mix and even vehicle wraps. When Mr. SOTSS made the decision to do this I immediately jumped on board because I knew I could help him design the signs. He was really excited about the production part of it (actually building the signs). So this seemed like a great combo. This has been in the works for well over a year now and over that span it became clear that he, as the franchise owner, would be busy with many tasks at first, including the very important task of sales and that the production part is really more a dual role for the graphic designer…moi. I knew this would be a challenge for me, and as I learned while we were away, challenge is an understatement.
Let me back up for a minute and tell you about the trip which was to the corporate headquarters of FASTSIGNS, in Dallas, Texas. We had to complete a 2 week intensive training.
We set out back on March 2nd on a drive that would ultimately land us in Dallas, We were originally going to take our dogs which is why we opted to drive. We also thought it would be fun to see a bit of the country as we traveled (I think we covered 15 states total—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansa, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland).
We ended up not bringing the dogs (HARD THINGS #1: Leaving my dog for 17 days! and HARD THINGS #2: Leaving my home for 17 days when I’d never been away for longer than 8 days before.)
We started the drive through a snow storm and the first 6 hours of the trip were very stressful for us but more so for me. I legit had a panic attack in the car and asked if we could pull over. And so we found a WalMart and he got new windshield wipers and I took a few deep breaths. HARD THINGS #3 was definitely getting through the snow storm. There was an 18-wheeler trying to make it up a hill on the Interstate and kept rolling back. We were the vehicle directly behind it.
But after that we were smooth sailing and made it to Ohio where we slept for the night.
The next day we drove through Kentucky and into Tennessee and when we got to Nashville we walked around for a few hours.
Hi there. If you follow me on Instagram you know I have been on a road trip to North Carolina.
I drove down from NYC with Duncan last week. We left on Wednesday and after 6 hours (of total driving time including stops) we checked in to a pet friendly hotel in Richmond, Virginia and then on Thursday morning we continued another 5 hours to North Carolina.
My friend Sue (of 16 years) who used to live on Staten Island, moved first to an area of New York outside the city that was about an hour and a half away but this past summer her and her hubby and their dog Lucy (Duncan’s girlfriend) moved down to North Carolina. I wanted to make a trip down to visit with Duncan of course so he could hang too and since he’s too big to fly in the cabin of a plane, road trip it was!
Hi folks I’ll catch you up on my weekend and then tell you about a cool local event.
Saturday Mr. SOTSS and I, and the pups drove to Virginia and back (same day!) to deliver a sailboat that he had sold.
We figured it’d be just under 5 hours but there was some insane traffic that tacked on an extra hour+. Eventually we made it and passed off the boat and then headed back up into Maryland where we stopped in Annapolis for lunch and some play time for the pups.
I had done a little research to see what, if any restaurants that had been featured on Diners Drive Ins and Dives might be nearby. Sure enough there was a place by the water that had outdoor seating and allowed dogs. It was called Davis’ Pub and there were so many choices on the menu I had a hard time deciding. We started of with the Crab Pretzel Bread which was pretzel bread with amazing creamy crab dip on top covered in melted cheddar.
Then I had a burger with more crab dip and fries. And a spiked lemonade. Yeah baby! We also headed over to a park that had a dog park and was adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay. It was HOT and the dogs weren’t to happy about that but they were still excited to be out of the car and able to stretch their legs and get a little exercise.
Then it was about 3 1/2 hours until we got back home. And we were armed for the ride with Slurpees!
It was a successful trip.
I had plans on Sunday as well so I didn’t have time for a full length long run but honestly it was so hot and humid I barely made it 3 1/2 miles and wouldn’t have made it for 7+ miles anyway.
OK, now on to business:
If you’re local (NYC/New Jersey) but especially if you’re on Staten Island, NYRR (New York Road Runners) is spearheading FREE local runs in the park and they teamed NYCrunningmama for the Staten Island Location.
Every Saturday at 9am there will be a 5k open run at Conference House Park starting July 25th (and continuing every Saturday after).
Details from NYCrunningmama’s blog:
“Here are the details:
- The 5k is completely FREE
- 3 loop course (no requirement, however, to run all three)
- Registration opens at 8:30am; run begins at 9am
- ALL are encouraged to participate
- Walkers
- Strollers
- Dogs
- No minimum ages
- No time cutoff
- Run/Walk 1, 2 or 3 loops (3 loops = 5k)
- NYRR will help set the program up but it will continue because of volunteers in the community – so please come out and volunteer if you are able!”
So if you’re local come out for one of these open runs! And stay tuned for a giveaway coming in my next post!
Have a great week!
What did you do this weekend?
Do you like road trips?
Most hours you’ve ever driven in one day?
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