tired traveler.

we got a new staff member on board that will be coordinating our regional programs. i have had the opportunity to go with her to orlando last week and atlanta this week to help her with our events in those cities. last week it was 80 degrees and sunny in orlando and we had enough time to get a nice lunch and i got a workout in before our event. after the lovely event we grabbed drinks and food and got to bed at a reasonable time. the next day we checked out late and went out for brunch. i didn't land back in chicago until 4 p.m. so i just went straight home and relaxed. it was great! for atlanta we had early flights and i was super tired when we arrived. all i really cared about was getting some quality comfort food and that mission was accomplished. first thing we did was go to Gladys Knight's Chicken & Waffles in midtown. the servers were so friendly and there was a good mix of locals and tourists. we both loved our chicken and waffles! afterwards we didn't have a ton of time before our event so we just did some work before heading to the venue. the event went well and afterwards we grabbed dinner with other staff at an american/southern tapas place. my favorite tapas were fried green tomatoes, bbq pulled pork egg rolls, spicy mac & cheese and krispie kreme bread pudding. we had a great time chatting and eating but by the end i was so tired! when we got back to our hotel i could not sleep. i had drank way too many diet cokes at the event and was totally wired so that 6 a.m. est wake up call was pretty brutal and so was not being able to sleep on the flight and coming straight to work. even though my eyes are burning, i'm so grateful to have the opportunity to visit new places, meet alumni in different parts of the country and get out of the city for a bit. i'm always happy to come home to my beloved chicago though!