{Queen City Travel} Las Vegas

leaving Las Vegas

You may have noticed that I went MIA last week. There was an occasional tweet, a few Instagram photos early in the week, a share or two on Facebook but that’s about it. I was in Henderson, NV (off the Vegas strip) for work. We had our big sales meeting and I was one of the presenters/trainers. Let’s say there’s a first time for everything and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to present multiple times. It was a lot of hard work leading up to the meeting followed by 16-20 hour work days with little sleep and a three hour time difference. It was worth it, both personally and professionally.

I tried to stop and smell the roses… or the food (it’s all about the food!). Take an occasional picture or two of my surroundings but for the most part I focused at the tasks at hand and having fun whenever possible. I had the opportunity to bond with my new boss and team, re-engage with former team members, and learn as much as I possibly could from others.

If you’re curious about my week, check out the #itQCtravel + #LAS hashtags on Instagram.

The next two weeks are going to be filled with eating with the #EpicEaters, "reading books" with my Book Club girls, and most importantly focusing all my energy on TEDxCharlotte. The remainder of the month is not looking shabby either: photoshoot with the lovely Jessica of JJ Horton Photography and Jennifer for J. Leigh Events, a Social Media Charlotte Meeting (From Idea to Impact), Water Cooler Wednesday with the Charlotte AMA, and Front Row Charlotte fashion show!

Cheers!

my favorite {Charlotte} things - Kennedy's on Monday Nights

I have a confession to make. As a kid I hated Chinese food and shellfish. At Chinese restaurants all I would eat was rice. Plain white rice. May be an occasional eggroll. May be. Throw in the fact that they served shellfish and it was enough to make me run for the door. I was 10 years old and couldn’t really go any further than out the door, into the cold harsh winter of San Jose, CA.

I hope you know I’m kidding about the cold harsh winter…

Over the years, my pallet matured and I quickly realized what I was missing out on. First came the love for Chinese food and then, in my late teens, the love for shellfish. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s that I fell in love with lobster.

My family quickly figured out that we had to go to Chinese buffets during the weekend if we want to enjoy all-you-can-eat shrimp and crab legs. The boiled shrimp on ice never disappointed, however, the crab legs were not something to write home about to the motherland. You considered yourself lucky if you managed to snag a set of legs from the long lines of people waiting to get their share from the small pan on the buffet. Or, the buffet was completely dead and the legs have sat under a heating lamp for hours. When you got back to your table you quickly realized that they were overcooked, difficult to eat, and not that tasty.

Our other option was to wait till the local grocery stores competed for our crab leg business by selling them between $3-5 per pound. Those were the days! We would buy a minimum of five pounds for the three of us and cook them all at once and devour them as quickly as we could. However, the tasty hot goodness didn’t last for long. It takes a while to eat five pounds and the legs get cold, fast. The joy was short lived.

Crab legs haven’t been on sale in a while and the last time we made a batch (a very large batch at that) we fell into the ice cold crab legs funk.

Our last crab feast at home in June of 2012... that large pot was filled to the brim with crab legs, corn, potatoes, and sausage. Ten pounds of food for two people.

So we evolved and found a new way to enjoy all you can eat, perfectly cooked, hot and delicious crab legs without having to clean up the mess.

After reading countless reviews and scouting locations we decided on Kennedy’s Premium Bar & Grill on Caswell in Elizabeth. Our first visit was last October for our one year wedding anniversary. It was a quiet Monday night and we opted to sit at the counter facing the bar and the TVs so hubs could watch the football game. It was perfect. The $25 got us a house salad with all-you-can-eat hushpuppies and crab legs. The legs came out in sets of two and the waitress was proactive in asking us if we wanted a re-order. We did. Each time they came out steaming hot and we definitely overindulged.

We went back again this past Monday with our good friends and the restaurant was packed! We elected to sit at the counter again so we could get our hands on the legs with as little wait as possible. The service was fantastic and the legs even more so. I made it through four reorders before throwing in the napkin.

We’ll definitely come back again in the summer, when the patio is open and we can enjoy our legs during the warm summer nights in Charlotte.

Round one.

Bucket #4.

...in the {Queen City Travel}

I traveled quite a bit last year and there was a joke among my Instagram and Twitter followers that my handle of inthequeencity needed to be changed to outofthequeencity. Now there's a new blog idea! (As if I need another blog idea...)

I am starting a new series called ...in the {Queen City Travel}. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to travel for both work and pleasure. I still find romance in all of my adventures regardless of all the un-glamorous moments we have to put up with (TSA, delays, people in pajamas). I want to share my adventures and my love for travel with you.

The first photo that I am featuring is from my travels to my birth city of Saint Petersburg, Russia in the summer of 2005. In my eyes, it's the most beautiful city in the world. This particular picture was taken the moment I finally saw the familiar blue green facade of the Hermitage. My heart skipped a beat and my eyes got misty. I basically grew up in the museum. It was my most favorite place as a kid and I missed it terribly for the twelve years that I was away from it.

Hermitage. Saint Petersburg, Russia. June, 2005.

It has been eight years since I've last stepped foot in Russia and I dream of going back soon.

Monday Motivation – MLK Day

Today’s whiteboard quote.

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – MLK

Rain Rain Go Away! - Week in Review

Another week has flown by and it’s finally Friday! If you’re anything like me you’re probably trying to figure out how to squeeze in everything that didn’t get accomplished before the clock strikes 5pm and it’s time to go home.

This week I had to make a tough decision and I hope that my gut is right. I finally had the opportunity to come out to #SMCLT’s happy hour and meet some amazing people and catch up with those I’ve already met. I learned about Intellectual Property laws at the Charlotte AMA meeting on Wednesday and enjoyed “Book Club” with my girlfriends last night. Oh, and I’ve also blogged THREE TIMES this week (counting this post). That’s pretty amazing in and of itself.

Today I’m going to be stalking my bff on Twitter as she graces the stage at the New York Times Travel Show for a panel discussion on social media and the travel industry and take it easy tonight. We have a busy weekend ahead of us!

And now for the short and sweet (M-Th) week in review:

It rained on Monday… Tuesday... Wednesday… Thursday…

The traffic on Monday morning was so bad on I-77SB that I made the executive decision to add 10 minutes to my commute and possibly save 30. I was rewarded with a gorgeous sunrise, a different view of Uptown, and getting to work on time.

I’ve moved into an office a couple of weeks ago. My old cubicle is still full of stuff, stuff, and more stuff. I’ll finish moving, eventually.

I collect books but don’t read them. Except for these.
My Moleskin has become my new favorite obsession. My short term memory is gone. There was an article on how we will no longer remember things, just where to find them. That future is now. I’m trying to write things down so I don’t forget them.

Speaking of Moleskin, they have a great website with these awesome PDFs that you can print out and add to your journals/planners/etc. The recipe planner is amazing and I love the international size chart.

Monday night I went to the SMCLT happy hour, devoured sushi, and talked to amazing people. I left inspired.

Tuesday I braved road closings due to railroad maintenance and heavy traffic so I could get my hands on some pelmeni, or Russian dumplings. I haven’t had any in forever and I’m bringing them to the Epic Eaters Eat in Month Potluck. Or #EEEMP for short. I made one batch for dinner to make sure that I still remembered how to boil water and throw them into the pot. Thankfully, I’ve still got it!

If you want to get your hands on these delicious little morsels, head to A&A International on Independence. The store is one of my favorite things about Charlotte.

I ate at Vietnam Grille twice this week.
#26 and #33

Brought a bag full of pelmeni to book club last night to not only share the goodness with my girlfriends but to also practice cooking them one more time before #EEEMP.

I don’t have any pictures of the snow. All we got was thundersnow and a slushy mix in the University area. Bummer, I know.


How was your week? Any fun plans for this weekend?

P.S. Theo asked if he can blog about his week here on my blog and I might just let him…