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by Valynne | May 31, 2011 | Photography, Travel |
Joshua Trees
Paul and I left the 4Runner in New Orleans and flew to Arizona. We rented a car and drove through Arizona (see above) to get to Las Vegas. Seems strange, but it saved time and was less expensive than driving ourselves, seeing as we had to be back in Lake Charles, Louisiana for a sit in two weeks time.
The Venetian
Paul had never been to Vegas, and that was the big draw. It is one of those places that most of us want to experience, if only that one time. This was my second time there, and I definitely appreciated it more as a thirty-something than a twenty-something (i.e. I actually remember most of it). It was my bestie’s bachelorette, after all. Like you never woke up on a roof before?
Venetian Gondolier
You don’t need to be a gambler these days to enjoy the casinos. They are completely over the top. Staying at the Venetian was a treat. This gondola scene was a bit surreal, especially after having been to Venice, Italy in 2007. Weird, but fun…like Epcot for grown-ups with money to burn.
Ferris Wheel in the Bellagio
The casinos were all decked out in honor of Memorial Day. This ferris wheel at the Bellagio was my favorite.
Riviera Hotel & Casino
The old school facades still appeal to me most ~ they just scream Vegas, don’t they? Makes me wanna see Swingers again. Was that really filmed back in 1996? Sigh.
The Wynn
I just wandered around with Paul our first day there…he had this glazed look in his eye. It is always fun finding places that fascinate Paul.
O'Sheas Casino
I played cards at the Flamingo, or was it the Riviera? Paul isn’t a gambler (although he did hit up the penny slots at O’Sheas) and I only had a few bucks to play with and the Venetian really wasn’t my scene. It was a beautiful place to stay, though…the room was the size of my old apartment, and I do love a good soak. So luxurious!
Caesars Palace
We went to Caesars palace and ended up in the shops and it was a serious challenge, finding our way back out. That would normally freak me out but one makes exceptions when in Vegas.
Denny's
Yes, we ate at Denny’s. Don’t judge. Can’t eat every meal at the Venetian. Well, you can. If you win big. No such luck with us, but that is OK – we had a blast at Denny’s! I reminisced over my Denny’s days (like the year I ate all three free Birthday meals there and got sick) and explained to the Brit what a “Moons Over My Hammy” is.
The Bellagio
We were wandering again when this Paris Hilton look-alike practically ran into Paul with her sign. It would have made his night had he had any recollection of the encounter (again, no judging…it was his first time in Vegas, after all).
Free Hugs
The highlight of our stay was the Phantom of the Opera, which I have been wanting to see for decades. I dressed up in a black and white polka-dotted dress and everything. It was fun to alternate between high society and…Denny’s.
The Phantom of the Opera
Meanwhile, the twenty-somethings were standing in a miles-long line to get into TAO. I know this makes me sound old, but holy crap, the dresses worn left nothing, not.a.thing. to the imagination. Note to young women wearing short dresses – the look is ruined when you are constantly pulling down/up said dress and stomping around/teetering in your brand-new stilettos. Practice at home first! OK, I am done.
Home of the Brave, Indeed
Have you been to Vegas? What did you love about it, or what freaked you out about it? I would love to go back and play a real poker game…it’s on my bucket list.
Hoover Dam
I am a little bummed that we didn’t manage to fit Grand Canyon into our schedule as I have NEVER been. I know! I will get there, eventually. Stopping at the Hoover Dam on the way to Sedona was a consolation.
Hoover Dam
“High Scaler” was sculpted by Steven Liguori in 2000. Can you imagine having a job like this? I have a hard enough time climbing up a twenty foot ladder.
High Scaler, in honor of those that built Hoover Dam
Feels so good to be out and about again. Six months in Tennessee didn’t exactly fly by. Open road, how I’ve missed you…
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by Valynne | May 27, 2011 | Music, Photography, Travel |
Dining Room at the 1896 O'Malley House
Dancing in the Street
Early Dinner at Muriel's
Chandelier Envy
- Cafe Du Monde for Cafe Au Lait and Beignets
Beignets Zoom
Who Dat?
- No Cover
- Erin Rose, NOLA
A Friendly Reminder from the Erin Rose
Sitting at the Bar
Sudden Downpour
House of Voodoo
- V’s Late Night Voodoo (Chips)
- Throwing Beads
- Jackson Square Banana Tree
Rice n' Beans
d.b.a. on Frenchmen Street
- Jesus Saves – St. Louis #3 cemetary – New Orleans
Balcony Bikes
Jackson Square in the French Quarter
Enjoying Jackson Square
Marching Band
Too Late For Help
NOLA RISING
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by Valynne | May 25, 2011 | Friends of Caretaking Couple, Travel |
Celebrating the last day of our Signal Mountain sit in Downtown Chattanooga
This picture of Paul pretty much sums it up…happy to be done with the Signal Mountain, Tennessee sit and ready to move on with our lives. Our last day was spent in Chattanooga, at the 2011 Nightfall Concert Series. Dawes played that night and we left the area feeling a little bit better about things.
Dawes Rocks Chattanooga
We visited our friends Peg and Owen just outside of Memphis for a few days before leaving Tennessee altogether and driving to New Orleans. They have a Georgetown motorhome and let us sleep in it while we were there (woo-hoo!). I haven’t quite convinced Paul that he wants to live with me in an Airstream yet, but all in good time.
A Drive Around Munford with Owen and Peg
Greeter at the General Store
True Southern Hospitality, a house full of snuggly dogs, and stormy weather allowed for us to decompress a bit before heading on to New Orleans, Vegas, and Sedona before taking on our next sit in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Storm Brewin' Out Back
Puppy Love
Paul and Owen, atop The Peabody Hotel in Memphis
We enjoyed driving around Munford (although seeing the water levels of the Mississippi was a bit scary, especially after riding out April’s tornadoes) and hanging out in Memphis, on Beale Street for the most part. Don’t try this at home, kids…
Young Beale Street "Flipper", Mid-Flip
Beale street is known for it’s Flippers. Earlier on, they had younger Flippers, and the older ones came out at dusk. I doubt this Flipper was more than twelve years old. To see what these guys are capable of, watch this video. SO cool.
Owen & Peg on Beale Street
Thank you, Peg and Owen…can’t wait for you to come visit us now that we are hunkering down in Portland, Oregon!
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by Valynne | Feb 27, 2011 | A Quick Question, Caretaking / House and Pet Sitting, Travel |
Oregon, home of our next sit (Summer 2011)
It is official – our next sit is in Portland, Oregon (beginning in late June). We have been dreaming of the Pacific Northwest for a while now. Neither of us have actually been to Oregon, but we continue to hear great things. Have you been? If so, we would love to hear from you as well!
We have a little more than a month between sits (this one here in Tennessee ends in May) and are unsure what to do with it. Our first choice is Europe (England, Italy, and Amsterdam) but I would have to find us more sits before we can justify a trip like that. So, I am on it…looking for long term sits (preferably in OR, WA, or NorCal) that begin right around October 2011.
If I do line up more sits on the Pacific side, we will most likely road trip it out to MA to get the rest of our belongings from storage, and fly to Europe from the Atlantic side. If not, we are thinking we will take our time driving from here to there (TN to OR), stopping to see loved ones in Colorado and California for sure. Hopefully I will firm up the deets in the next week or so.
Please leave a comment if you have anything you would like to share about Portland, or anything, really…
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by Valynne | Feb 13, 2011 | Travel |
Not Far Now!
Paul and I wanted to do something special in honor of five wonderful years together, so we spent a day in Atlanta. Neither of us had been before and this gave us just a taste…we are planning on going back for more when our sit here in Chattanooga ends in May.
Statue of Andrew Young in downtown Atlanta
We were admiring this statue when a man named Aloyis happened to be walking by. Aloyis stopped in his tracks when he saw the quizzical looks on our faces and gave us an impromptu history lesson on Andrew Young and the remarkable life this man has lived so far.
Andrew Young was mayor of Atlanta from 1982-1990. Politician, diplomat and pastor are just a few of the hats he has worn. Mr. Young and Martin Luther King, Jr. were friends. He was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to Atlanta. The list goes on and on.
By the way, Aloyis is an engineer from Michigan who is currently waiting tables at Ted’s Montana Grill, which is only steps away from the statue. We will be sure to ask for him when we go back, and leave him a big, fat tip!
Paul stocked up on some British staples at The Corner Shop
Marietta is just northwest of Atlanta and we spent an hour or so strolling around it’s charming Square in the sunshine. How fun it was to discover the The Corner Shop, which is full of goodies one does not typically find here in the States.
Paul happily piled his basket full of items like Irish bacon, British bangers, HP Brown Sauce, lemon curd tarts, beef and onion pot pie, pork pie, kippers, potato cakes, etc.
Can’t wait to visit England with him again…in the meantime that food is all his (except for the potato cakes). I deliberately stayed away from the candy aisle and am very proud of myself.
Paul sticks a thumbtack in Ashbourne on the visitor's map at The Corner Shop
Thank you, Yvonne for a fun few minutes with you in your daughter’s lovely shop. And, if any of you Brits out there are wondering where to go for the goodies you see above, be sure to visit this website as there is an online store : ).
Paul is sitting next to me reading his Union Jack paper as I type. He is a happy man! It doesn’t matter where we go, we meet the coolest people. Life is good.
Valentine Stamps at Rubber Stamp Fantasy in Marietta, GA
Rubber Stamp Fantasy is located on the other side of the Square. I thought is was sweet that Paul wanted to go in (he was lured by the handmade cards in the window). He bought me a stamp for Valentine’s Day (waiting for tomorrow to find out which one).
My cousin Jenna makes the most beautiful cards (of course I have kept every one of them) and I like to think that I will one day get my act together and follow in her footsteps. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy shops such as this one. There is no website, but Debbie and Gary are the owners and can be reached at 770-590-8500. The phone didn’t stop ringing while we were there; bet people were getting their Valentines ready!
I am sorry to say I do not know the name of this church. If you know it, please share in the comments section. Simply. Stunning. Architecture.
OK, people. you know how I love my meals, right? And I have been slowly and surely cleaning up my act when it comes to caloric intake and the like. That made our dinner at Nikolai’s Roof extra extravagant in every way. It was Russian/French perfection. We started out in the bar (see pic below). This restaurant is at the top of the Hilton in downtown Atlanta.
Paul gets the party started at the bar at Nikolai's Roof
The meal was four course and at one point our Bulgarian waiter presented us with a wooden cheese cart. (I wish I had written his name down…he has been at Nikolai’s for seven or eight years and is the epitome of polished. White gloves and everything!). So, we chose three cheeses each, from all around the world. The cheese, along with our bottle of Row 11 Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley, was so.dang.good. Everything was AMAZING.
And that is all I am telling you about our combination Anniversary/Valentine’s Day celebration in Atlanta : ) Here’s to LOVE,
V&P
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by Valynne | Jan 31, 2011 | Caretaking / House and Pet Sitting, Simple Living, Travel |
Paul and I love Signal Point (here I am trying to keep up with him, as per usual)...
Traveling from place to place is great if you can swing it. Everyone tells me this, then asks me how we pull it off. So, I am going to explain it. Keep in mind that this is simply what works for us, and if you really want to live a similar lifestyle, I am sure you can get creative and find something that works just as well for you.
We didn’t commit to becoming “Caretaking Couple” until Paul’s house was sold. That was the first big step for us. Some people own a house and do what we are doing, but it wouldn’t have made sense in our situation. So, we sold the house and one of the cars and just about all of our earthly possessions.
Paul had already transitioned from commuting to Denver each day to working from home. All he really needed to maintain his job was his laptop and a reliable wireless connection. I had a small bath and body products biz as well as bartending and seasonal jobs while in CO, so the income issue was more tricky for me.
Last fall, I sold Mountain Girl Organics and decided to focus on ways to make a living online. This little blog is simply a labor of love at this point (although it has great potential in my humble opinion) so I needed something more. I wanted something I could do from anywhere (versus getting a new bartending gig every few months), something I could take with me.
I recently found what works for me and have become a full-time Beachbody Coach. The main benefits for me are that I am able to do this from anywhere with a wireless connection, it provides extra motivation for me to keep on track with my own exercise and nutrition goals while helping others with theirs, and I get paid to do it.
I have only been at this for a couple of months and I don’t make nearly as much money as Paul (yet) but right now I am making up for that difference by finding us incredible sits all over the US and saving us thousands of dollars a month. In other words, we are partners, and it all evens out.
Signal Point...this spot is known as the "Grand Canyon of the Tennessee".
That is not to say that you must have a partner to do what we are doing. I went from sit to sit in Southern California while I was in my early twenties. I was limited to that vicinity because I commuted to work and school, but there were plenty of people literally begging for my services in a fifty or so mile radius.
There are so many possibilities…so many opportunities…all over the world. People say to me all the time, “Yes, but ____”. Drives me a little nuts. Seriously, there are all kinds of opportunities for all types of people in all types of situations….all over the world. Trust me on this one.
Finding said opportunities can be tricky…but that is all part of the fun. Nowadays, there are even house and pet sitting sites you can subscribe to in order to find sits or sitters (it was all word of mouth when I started out). I’ve actually made most of our recent contacts virtually. Example: If I find a blog or a facebook post or an article or whatever online, I go out of my way to contact the person/people behind it and establish a rapport with them.
I like to feature people on my blog that are interesting and living a similar lifestyle. Friends feature me on their blogs every so often, as well…here I am in two recent posts; Linda’s blog (Evergreen, CO) and Raj’s blog (San Francisco, CA). This is a great way to cross promote. I leave comments on other people’s blogs, and I always answer e-mails/facebook messages, etc. that come in. It is all about give and take.
Wherever we go, we meet people who want to know more about what we do. Obviously, I love talking about this stuff. I make sure people know about our blog and that they can correspond with me via various social media platforms (just click on your symbol of choice at the top of this page!). The more open the lines of communication, the better the odds are for finding that perfect sit for you.
Our friend Peg lives in Tennessee. She brought us pickles. I love pickles! Thank you, Peg XOX
I hope this post has been helpful…it seems I am getting this question more than all others these days. So many people are realizing their dreams by earning an online income from the road, and you can too. We’d love to hear from you so please share what is on your mind by leaving a comment here. Oh, and be sure to go to our facebook page and “like” us. You never know when we might decide to run another prize drawing… ; )
