Windy City Weekend

Last weekend Ryan and I explored Chicago's sky-high towers and fall-colored parks. We both love Chicago. He'd been there for a week-long conference, and I was happy to join him (although I noticed flying cross country is not so glamorous being seven months pregnant!) This was our last "hurrah" trip before baby Beck comes - it's still crazy to think that our next adventure will include a stroller!

Ryan and his graduate school buddy let me act the part of tour guide to my favorite spots from my college intern days five years ago. It's funny how a place can embed itself in your memory - from the smell of bustling Michigan Ave. to hook-ups for free Ghirardelli chocolate samples, I felt as though I'd been there only a month before. Visit highlights included the architecture boat tour and seeing our warped reflections in "The Bean" of (my fav!) Millennial Park. Best of all, we met for brunch with my former internship supervisor and longtime mentor.

No matter where we go, we've found this to be true: Connecting with people is the best part of traveling.

We rented a rad apartment in the heart of the city, two blocks from the famous Hancock building and a 15-minute stroll to Navy Pier in the other. (Interested in scoring a great place for your next adventure? I share in this post how to stay like a local, while spending less than a hotel.) With it getting dark so early, we'd eat dinner and return for one of our traveling traditions: watching movies made in the place we saw that day. In Chicago, we watched the classic "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and mind-blowing "Source Code."

View from the base of the Hancock building - two blocks from where we stayed.

Trump Tower and Wrigley building - the juxtaposition of two very different architecture styles.

Pretty fall colors outside the Chicago Tribune tower.

Yeah! The Bean!

Almost like a scene out of "Source Code"

This art museum houses the often-mimicked "American Gothic"

The backside of the museum had this amazing array of vines - fall delights!

Cityscape sunset and winterized Buckingham Fountain

Pretty cool to find a piece of the building where we were married on the Chicago Tribune tower.

We saw the REAL St. Peter's Cathedral earlier this year - had to take a picture of this piece.

Goodnight, NBC building!

Planning a Trip? Two Travel Sites Recommended by a Former Flight Attendant

Working the airline industry for nearly four years taught me a lot. From knowing how to calm frantic travelers  during turbulence to serving the likes of Robert Redford in First Class, I came away with lots of stories.

And you know what else? I have loads of insider traveler knowledge. Lucky you: I'm feeling like sharing. Let me unveil two travel site gems with you, from a former-flight-attendant-turned-marketer:

Need a place to stay on your trip? Check out airbnb.com. 

Hotels are overrated! Why get just a hotel room when you can have your own place?

We've used this site this year to rent private flats in Paris, Venice, and tonight I booked our own private apartment for an upcoming visit to Chicago. Why? It's cheaper than a hotel, more spacious, and gives more of a "local" experience. For example, in Paris, we were only three Metro stops from the Eiffel Tower. In the City of Bridges, we felt like locals staying in this lovely Venetian getaway, going to the market each day to buy fresh food. Not to mention, we were serenaded by gondoliers outside our window (see Ryan below.) I honestly don't want to travel any other way to a foreign land!

Looking for a sweet airfare deal? Airfare Watchdog, my friend. 

Find yourself something to bow wow about at this deal-finding site. I know there are tons of them out there (Priceline, Travelocity, Kayak, etc.), but I find the simplicity of the site and low overhead costs (they don't worry about being too fancy) yield better airfare results. I have the Salt Lake City Flight Deals emailed to me once a week, often with round-trip deals at $98. Granted, if you live away from an airport hub, it's more difficult to round up deals, but if anyone can sniff it out, Airfare Watchdog can!

I'm really not kidding. Here's a snapshot of a recent Airfare Watchdog email:

Any travel sites you can't live without? Do share.

13 Staycations for Summer 2013

Memorial Day's this next weekend - helloooo summer!

Announcement: This weekend will be my very last flying as a flight attendant. I've been with the airline since 2009, and Ryan knows best how addicted I've been to those flight benefits. When it comes down to it, though, I've been working two jobs for two years WHILE attending graduate school. (Crazy, I know.) It's time to move on and take back our weekends together.

Thanks to my flying, Ryan and I have seen many of the world's greatest cities together - Paris, Rome, Sydney, New York City, Venice. I'll admit that being part of an airline for almost four years ingrained a mentality that the real adventure must be a state or a continent away.

Ryan, on the other hand, is perfectly content with a patch of grass, family, and a frisbee to throw around. That simplicity has bothered me at times, but I see how much more healthy it is to be content and happy where you are - with those who mean the most to you in the world.

He's right - there's much fun to be had right here in our own Utah backyard. National Geographic even named our own Ogden, Utah, as a "Best Adventure Town" in the United States.

This summer, we're here to stay. And with all of these fun events planned,  that sounds pretty nice to me.

Here's our 2013 Summer Staycations list:

1. Park City weekend
2. Go indoor skydiving (it's only two blocks from our place and we have yet to go!)
3. Attend a Sunday program of "Music and the Spoken Word" at the LDS Conference Center
4. Get color-dusted in the Salt Lake City COLOR RUN (Aug. 24 - you coming?)
5. Check out the Eccles Dinosaur Park 
6. Climb Ben Lomond mountain
7. Celebrate cousin Sarah Jane's wedding in SLC (July)
8. Stay at Snowbird ski resort for Ryan's birthday
9. Go camping
10. Attend the Brigham City temple together
11. Enjoy cousin Keala's wedding in SLC (August)
12. Day trip to famous Spiral Getty in the Great Salt Lake
13. Sleepover with cousins in Traverse Mountain

New Year's Eve at the Eiffel Tower

Paris for New Year's Eve? Check it off the bucket list, baby. 

The glorious thing about being a flight attendant is the ability to jump on an airplane on a last minute whim. While I didn't know if we'd be able to pull it off, we did get on the plane stand by, and had an incredible long weekend in the City of Lights to ring in 2013. It wasn't our first time abroad at the cusp of the new year - two years ago we went to Sydney. Yeah, I know: We're pretty dang lucky.

If you're working two jobs while going to grad school (I raise my hand here), then you better use your flight benefits while you can! 

What's it like under the Eiffel Tower when the clock strikes midnight for the new year? Check out what we experienced.  

And then come along as I take you on a little tour of what we saw in one of the most romantic cities in the world. Oh yeah...and I'm now officially 27 years old. 

The view when we got off our metro stop

Cambronne is just three stops from Tour Eiffel!

I saw these lovely flowers

Naturally, the flower shop is named "happy"

How cute. He got me a flower. I love him!

Such lovely bakeries everywhere!

I liked the Australia sign next to the Eiffel Tower

Ryan picked the Pompidou - lots of funky modern art

Another Gal Smooched My Husband at Disneyland

Well, that's if you count Minnie Mouse. (wink!)

Ryan kept bringing it up the rest of the day; he was pretty proud of his Minnie kiss. What would Mickey think about that? For me, I didn't feel too bad since I got plenty of smooches myself (see Splash Mountain picture below.)

When little girl in pink saw this picture, she said in a Southern accent, "Mama, look, they're smoochin' in the back!"

Although it already feels like a happy blur, we had a magical Disneyland day yesterday. It was one year (to the day!) since our epic Disneyland visit with our Kau and Pannell cousins, the true park pros. They taught us how to work the FastPass system. Thanks to their proven tips, yesterday we literally went on every big ride in both Disneyland and California Adventure - and never waited longer than 15 minutes for a ride! (I'll be sharing those tips in another post, if you're interested.)

Like the greeting sign says, we left today and "entered the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy." Nothing like truly being kids again for 24 hours. We made a splash with Brer Rabbit, yo-ho yo-hoed with pirates, had a jolly holiday with Mary Poppins, and watched Captain EO save the planet. In a cute moment, we saw baby ducks follow their daddy into the "It's a Small World" ride water, and the workers saving them. Just like last year, we were blown away by the beauty and wonder of "World of Color." If you've not seen it yet, click here to see a video - it's my very favorite park attraction.

We were surrounded by families with babies and little kids at the park, and mentioned quite a few times how it was likely the only Disney trip we'll ever make with just the two of us, with the grand adventure of parenthood coming in the next couple years. We both decided that although strollers slow you down, it'll be a blast to share Disneyland with kiddos someday. As a duo we lived it up, wore ourselves out and literally loved every second. 

Only year of our lives to have annual passes! (Thanks, mom!) We finally used them the day before they expired.

2011 Trip

2012 Trip

Bless Walt Disney for building such a magical place!

The mama scolding her babies to get out of the water, but they followed the daddy, right in front of our boat.

Disney workers helped get the babies out. It was cute! I heard one of them say, "this happens every year!"

As a Construction Management major, Ryan couldn't help but ask the Cars Land crew questions about their project.

I dreamed of being a Disney animator as a kid -  no wonder I love drawing at the "Animation Academy" 

I still have the song in my head, "When Mary 'olds your 'and, you feel so grand..."

We couldn't believe we ran into the Glenns! We met them in Dominican Republic -  it IS a SMALL WORLD after all!

Best part of the day - the night show!

Meet the shoe-shining legend of the SLC airport

Wanna meet someone really cool? Cancer-fighter, veteran, and card game shark, our pal  J.C. "Shine" has manned the SLC airport shoe shining booth for 22 years. Click here to read my feature story about him in the Deseret News, or check it out below.

 
Familiar to frequent fliers, J.C. "Shine" Wilson, 74, mans the shoe shining booth in Terminal One at the Salt Lake International airport. A cancer-fighting veteran, he has shined shoes and shared his heart with thousands.

Last fall, Wilson faced lung cancer with humor. Just before surgery to remove the affected upper lobe, he told the anesthesiologist, “Whatever you do, get it taken care of. I don’t want to be late for work.”

Six days later, he was smiling and shining shoes at the airport.

Wilson recalls a memorable customer.

“I was bent over, working on his shoes, when another traveler stopped by to say hello. They talked about military service, and I asked which branch my customer served in,” said Wilson.

“All of them,” answered the customer.

“I looked up to see Colin Powell’s face, our Chief of Staff at the time,” Wilson smiles.

For the past 22 years, Wilson has shined shoes for well-known customers like the late King of Tonga, former Sen. Robert Bennett and Jerry Seiner. His work and personality have brought him up close and personal with thousands from all over the world. He likes to learn about the people he serves.

“The closed mouth goes unfed. If you don’t ask questions, there’s a lot you miss,” said Wilson.

Airport employees also notice Wilson’s friendly way with travelers.

“He’s a really nice guy,” said Robert Heatherly, team leader of Paradies Shops. Heatherly works down the escalator from Wilson. “I’ve seen J.C. be courteous with everyone.”

In the “polish, brush, shine then buff” process, he’s known to strike up a story. Wilson calls himself “half comedian,” and loves to get to know his customers.

“He’s really got a great heart,” said frequent flyer Ed Galisewski, who has visited Wilson on his monthly commute from Denver for the past 16 years. “Whenever I go to town, I look forward to a shining when I land and a shine before I take off. He shakes my hand and gives me a big bear hug.”

Galisewski recalls years ago when Wilson shared concern for a friend who worked at the airport, a single mom who was struggling financially.

“J.C. has a real sensitive heart for people. That year, we got together and made sure she could take care of her kids at Christmas,” said Galisewski.

During their monthly visits, Wilson and Galisewski swap stories while Wilson shines.

“He asks about my life, and I found out about his Vietnam War stories. He’s sure led an interesting life,” Galisewski said.

Originally from Pecos, Texas, Wilson has served eight years in the military (with an honorable discharge). He has worked as a truck driver and at the post office, and has owned a janitorial business in California. He also used to own the “Jazz Hut,” a Salt Lake City club where he used to let George Foreman and his youngest brother play pool.

In his free time, Wilson likes to visit his family and participate in the Elks and Masons clubs of Salt Lake. He has six children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Nearly a quarter century ago, Wilson came to his shoe-shining gig when a friend told him about the position. He remembers when the Salt Lake International airport had “just a little dusty parking lot, and passengers walked straight out to the plane, with no jetways.”

Ever since then, Wilson’s risen at 4:30 a.m. and worked 11-hour days, six days a week. For the first time in two decades, he cut back to five days a week after his surgery last year.

The only thing he doesn’t like about his job?

“When I don’t have customers,” said Wilson.

During the writing of this article in March 2012, Wilson’s cancer relapsed. He had another surgery, and is now home recovering and plans to be back shining shoes soon.

If you want to meet a living legend the next time you’re in the Salt Lake Airport, be sure to get your shoes shined by the legendary J.C. “Shine” Wilson in Terminal One, at the top of the elevators.
  
Made it all the way, huh? Thanks. You're welcome to browse more of my published stories in the Writer Girl tab. ;)

Discovering ancestors on London study abroad program

Hurray, published today! You're invited to see my published article at Deseret News Online or read the text below. My story is printed today in the Mormon Times section today on page C8.

The day after I turned 20, I took my first international flight to London. My 42 study abroad friends and I lived in the beautiful BYU London Centre and spent four months befriending Big Ben, admiring National Gallery art, relishing British accents and snapping photos of real-life castles.

I also found a personal treasure — I found a connection with my English ancestors.

This quest began when our insightful religion professor, Dr. David R. Seely, assigned a family history project. Researching at the local family history center, senior sisters helped me navigate census files. I learned my 18th- and 19th-century ancestors were from Guilden Morden, just outside of Cambridge. I wanted to see Guilden Morden, hoping to feel closer to them.

With professor permission to go on a day trip on my own, I researched train and bus information. All semester I looked forward to the journey. The awaited day arrived, and I took a morning train from London to Cambridge, leaving just a short bus ride to Guilden Morden.

Unfortunately, that day the next Guilden Morden bus wouldn't leave until 5 p.m. —after my returning London train would depart. Scouting out my next option, I learned the 20-mile taxi fare was £27. I only had £25 — not enough to get there or back.

There I stood — 4,500 miles from my USA home — and just 20 measly miles were keeping me from my ancestor’s town?

The 40-mile roundtrip was too far to walk in a day, so I considered renting a bike. I imagined pedaling the blustery, unknown roads to a place I’d never seen and miraculously finding my ancestor’s grave sites; it could be a tear-jerker family history story repeated in Relief Societies everywhere.

Then reality hit.

My bike idea wasn’t practical. I was alone, tired, didn’t know where I was going or have means to get there. I couldn’t miss the train back to London. And would I fail my family history project?

Later, safe in the BYU London Centre, I received an email just before the family history project deadline. It was from Elizabeth Thomas, a distant cousin I’d never met. My Grandma Webb had asked her to send stories about the Squires, our other family line.

I learned Henry Augustus Squires, and his wife, Sarah Minnie Catlin, sailed to the United States with five little daughters in 1856. They crossed the plains with the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company. Sarah gave birth to my 4th-great aunt in Echo Canyon, Utah, naming her Echo. Miraculously, the whole family made it to Utah.

Adding their stories to my paper, I concluded, “I truly feel the Spirit of Elijah when I see those pedigree charts — I have love for my ancestors I never knew before. My quest for my ancestors will continue for the rest of my life.” Maybe I didn’t quite make it to my ancestor’s town on my study abroad, but I found what I was looking for: a connection to them.

And in case you’re wondering, I got an "A" on my project.

Sounds like Crystal Light

I just shared this as my 500 word "intro" in my online editing class - figured I might as well share it here too...

Nice to meet ya, I’m Crystalee. My name’s always given me a unique edge, serving as a conversation starter. Yes, it’s all one word. No, I’m not from the South like all those Southern belles with double names. At times I’ve been dubbed “Crystal Light” and “Sara Lee,” and no, I don’t mind being associated with likeable, sugary sweets.

While my patient husband will attest I’m not always sugary sweet, I’m quite a people-person, and an introspective soul. A first born, I naturally tend to be too hard on myself, with an insatiable drive to progress. With that insight, I’ll answer for you an oft-asked job interview question: what three words describe me? Friendly, active, and creative – here’s why:

Friendly

A fact about me I hope will be recorded in my obituary decades from now: I was voted “Friendliest” of my 750+ high school class. It was quite an honor to be recognized for my friend-making ability. It’s true that I love meeting new people, and have a personal motto that “there are no strangers – just friends you haven’t met yet.” Of course use caution with sketchy characters, but for the most part, I believe people are good and everyone has a unique story. I find that my life’s greatest joy is found in relationships, and when I look back at high school and college (I graduated with a communications degree from BYU in 2009), memories with friends and family are my favorite parts.

Active

It’s no secret I take pride in staying physically active and being an adventurous explorer. I was bit by the running bug as a track athlete in high school, and since have trained for half marathons. So far I’ve completed five, with the most recent in Maui. My husband, who can do impressive backflips, recruited me to try out two sprint triathlons. While he creamed me in the swimming and biking, I did beat him in the 5k runs. As for my wanderlust – I was a full-time flight attendant after college, granting me wings to fly. Last year, I made a big check on the bucket list when I finished seeing all 50 states at age 25. A year ago, my Ryan and I ventured across the globe to Sydney, Australia, a trip we’ll never forget.

Creative

While I’m a fan of color and design, words are my favorite palette. Mixing and molding them into power-punch sentences brings me great joy. I love, love, love to write. Words amaze me, and I get to wrangle them in my full-time position as Marketing Writer at MarketStar. I write for clients like Microsoft and Yahoo! and contribute to internal writing, all while monitoring social media. I purposefully chose this class as an elective and look forward to learning and sharpening my editing skills. I anticipate starting Weber’s Master of Professional Communication program this May, pending my acceptance…Dr. Josephson...wink, wink!

Feel free to reach out, connect on LinkedIn or Twitter – I'm all about keeping things social online and LOVE comments!

Photography by Tim Pannell. Check out his work.

Missing New Year's | Part 1 of 3

Got your detective hat on? Here's clues to our Missing New Year's Mystery:

One young couple, one flight, and one New Year skipped completely.

December 31, 2010 10:30 p.m. - we boarded a plane in LAX

January 2, 2011 9 a.m. - we arrived to our destination

New Year's never happened...how could this be?

The giveaway: As I wrote in my journal after gleefully boarding the plane: "Sometime between 2010 and 2011, somewhere between the USA and Australia...For us, New Year's isn't technicallyhappening this year. As we clink our sparkling ciders above the Pacific Ocean, we're totally okay with that."

You got it! We "started" the year in SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA! So much happened that week and a half, it really deserves more than one post...here's the first of three. My journal snippets are indicated in italics:

January 3, 2011

We woke up early today. I'm still on Utah time, and feel thrown off still with the sun

patterns. We went on an exploration run - past Hyde Park, down Macquerie Road, towards the looming white sails I'd be dying to see - the SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE came into view. It's a bit smaller in real life than it looks in pictures, but still magnificently unique. We scanned the perimeter, early enough in the day to beat the tourists. It was our own personal time with the world-renowned structure. As I told Ryan, when I run somewhere it makes me feel as though I "own" it in a small way. There's no understanding this sentiment until you try it yourself. He agreed later when we returned to the crowded Opera House grounds (the picture was taken when we returned later) that our quiet private time this morning with the great building make him feel a sense of "owning" it too. There's just something about running.

We made our way back to our hostel through the streets of Sydney, still decorated with Christmas themes. It's odd to have summertime mixed with Santa Claus, which Australia inevitably does, since they're on opposite weather schedules of us Northern hemisphere folks. We explored a lot today!

\
January 4, 2011

We did SO much today! What a great quarter-century birthday!

I'm too tired to write it all, here's a list:

* We topped the SYDNEY TOWER, a famous high spot on the skyline. (If you look at the far right of the pic, you can see a little white triangle, which is the Opera House).

* Saw the Hyde Park barracks and St. Mary's Cathedral

* Went in the Australian Museum, we loved learning about Aborigines and the native culture

* Free birthday Starbucks Strawberry Cremes while watching the giant game of chess in Hyde Park and people-watching

* Visited Circular Quay

(pronounced "key") and The Rocks

* Walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge at night, with view of Opera House:

Back and exhausted by 9:30pm (We feel like we've walked 20 miles. Our feet are killing us and even the hard, pokey surface of our hostel bed invites a restful sleep). Goodnight.