Food at a convention: trying to eat well and on a budget on a hotel convention floor

For work, I go on major, out-of-state business trips twice a year. Once, to the industry's major conference and once to an important recruiting event. Smaller trips may or may not occur throughout the year, depending on timing and the budget. My first conference trip, the hotel and flights and such were booked before I was actually hired, so I had little control over anything, and was a bit overwhelmed by everything. Since then, I've learned a thing or two about my business trips that work for me. One this is about convention food - conference/convention food is...well...enough to throw your stomach off-balance. There are usually enough events with free food that you could likely get away with only having to pay for one meal a day. This assumes that you are willing to eat nothing but hors d'oeuvres, cookies, and stale pastries for several days. Plus, that first year - I totally didn't order enough food for our reception, and we ran out within the first half hour. So, free food is certainly there, but the quantity, quality, and origin are all unreliable. If you are working the convention, and you're an introvert (like me), you find yourself exhausted after manning the booth, shaking hands, and generally schmoozing. After you finally make it up to your room, the last thing you want to do is face the restaurant downstairs. Yes, I usually eat room service at least once during these conventions. At the most recent convention, I managed to escape the re-circulated air of the convention hotel multiple times, and went out to local restaurants with colleagues and friends. This was by far a cheaper and tastier method of eating. As my hotel room had a fridge, I easily could have taken leftovers with me. But the best thing to do for these things? Go to a grocery store. My first full day in town (I actually arrived early to do some extra recruiting), I was able to go to a Whole Foods. I bought things like almonds, Luna bars, apples, and lime-flavored sparkling water (what, I love it, but don't get it all that often). Basically, healthier snack and breakfast-y food ($6-10 for oatmeal from room service or the restaurant is where I draw the line, even on a business trip with a per diem). I had more than enough food to keep me noshing for the duration of the convention (and even took some home). Instead of starving between meal times, which could be unpredictable, I was able to stay feed. And eat food that I at least had an idea about from whence it came. And sure, I may have dropped three quarters of one day's per diem* at the store, but you know what I didn't do, spend that much any other day. Plus, it feels satisfying to be able to nip behind our booth to snack on almonds or an apple when feeling a bit peckish, and not pay the outrageous hotel prices. *since we don't have Whole Foods where I live or work, I also bought things like shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, and tea tree oil. Experimenting with a few brands I can't buy regularly, and well, was low on tea tree oil anyway. Discovered that I prefer Thursday's Plantation tea tree oil, which local stores do carry. Weird, huh, to have a brand preference of a plant oil.

Limited choices, and you know something big is happening when it happens here

We have limited options at our in-town grocery and Wal*mart stores. You can find pretty much whatever you want, or at least what you need, but the selection isn't what it is at the larger (or smaller stores) in the town where we work.

It isn't so much the products that we can find (juice, soda, canned goods, frozen stuff, deli, produce, all of that), but rather the types of said products offered. Finding an organic brand of nearly anything at the local grocery is nearly impossible. But there are a few options for "natural" peanut butter. I think there is one barbeque sauce in the whole store that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. And that says nothing of my poor uncle who has a recently diagnosed soy allergy: out of  wall of salad dressing, there were maybe 5 bottles he could eat. One was a spice packet where you add your own oil and vinegar. The others were locally produced brands.

Since I've just started making the leap to baking soda/vinegar for some cleaning needs (certainly not all - yet), this has presented a challenge for us.

What has been exciting as of late, is the emergence of more eco-friendly brands and variants on the shelves, and at prices that are at least comparable to the conventional ones. For example, dishwasher detergent. I picked up one of 2 bottles that declared itself eco-friendly with no phosphates and my husband rolled his eyes. "Are we really that rich that we can... oh, it isn't that expensive." True, a smaller bottle of the store brand was much cheaper, but every other option was within 50 cents of the bottle I picked. Some were even more expensive. Score!

Then, at Wal*Mart (groan if you must) Tom's of Maine is being stocked. I've read a few places (can't remember now, so apologies for no links) that some people are upset as a result of changes since they were bought by a larger company, but I'm still very happy to see 2 different toothpastes (one with and one without flouride), and at least 2 different Tom's deodorants (plus a Crystal liquid roll-on). As we needed toothpaste, we got some. Still using the deodorant I picked up at Trader Joe's in California while on a business trip. (Really, my checked bag on the way back from these trips is hilarious now - shampoo, deodorant, all sorts of organic and natural personal care products I can't find easily in my small town.)

Small victories, I know, but I get a small thrill buying these products at my local grocery and Wal*mart because I know that somewhere in the vastness of information and reporting, another ping is going towards the more eco-conscious shopper.

In an attempt at full disclosure, I initially wrote this in June 2011. I tweaked a few tenses here and there, and it is up-to-date.

Carpets no more

In July, we celebrated our anniversary. Initially, we were planning to take a long weekend trip somewhere, but ultimately decided that new floors would be an even better present to ourselves.

In case you don't know, our house was completely carpeted, save for one closet and the bathrooms, when we bought it. Yes, even the kitchen was carpeted. Thanks to the one closet that was uncarpeted, we were fairly certain hardwood floors were just waiting beneath all that carpet. Refinishing the existing hardwoods worked for everyplace but the kitchen and sunroom. Since we didn't know what was under there, and didn't have the resources to address it if it was damaged or bare subfloor, we left those areas carpeted.

Walking through Lowes one day, we decided to scrap the long weekend-away plans for our anniversary (at that point, it was still months away), and get new floors in the bathroom, kitchen, and sunroom. (linoleum with a few rips, carpet, and carpet, respectively)

By the end of it, we had settled on a darker tile for the bathroom, which will work nicely with the redesign we have in mind; a slate-looking tile for the kitchen, and cork for the sunroom. (seeing other people putting cork in their kitchen sometimes gives me pangs of regret. I thought about it! But was talked out of it. I now live in fear of the day we drop of glass or plate on our pretty tile floor!)

There isn't much frugal to say about the floors themselves. Even though the tile will be freezing in the winter, I'm glad to be rid of the carpet. No carpet means that the vacuum isn't necessary, and that any Minnie-dog accidents can be cleaned up with a paper towel or rag. The steam cleaner may be retired. I also think that the non-carpet will benefit us when we do eventually sell this house. Cause the floors are so pretty!

While we may have been able to install the cork ourselves (it is a floating floor deal), since we were already having the installers come out to do the tile, we opted to let them do what they are paid to do! My husband did do a tiny bit of vertical tile work in the shower before we officially moved in. Learned there that tile layers get paid for a reason. Especially when it is vertical tile!

What we did do to save a bit of money was prep the areas, so all the installers had to do was come in (move the toilet) and lay the floors. This involved ripping up the carpet and carpet pads, removing carpet staples and tack board, removing any quarter round or base boards we wanted gone, and of course, moving furniture and appliances.

Everything was shoved into the dining room. It was an interesting sight.

We did run into a stumbling block, though. Turns out that our kitchen carpet had been laid during a small window of time when "they" used a rubber backing to essentially glue the carpet to the floor. That rubber backing was not fun. We didn't take it up, but the installers said it needed to come up. That stuff did not want to leave the floor! Our installers were awesome, though. They assessed the job, and were able to knock it out pretty quickly, and for less than we were willing to pay not to have to do it!

The lack of access to our kitchen for a few days made the endeavor more expensive than we had initially anticipated, but the floors are awesome. Overall, we are very happy with the new floors. Especially with the fact that they are not wall-to-wall carpeting.

Aloe there!

It has been a long time, hasn't it. But time passing means I've actually done a few things that could actually warrant a post or two.

Recently, my husband got some local college football tickets for cheap. Someone at his work was trying to get rid of tickets for (now this past) weekend. While watching a football game without the benefits of commercial breaks or other stuff to do isn't usually my idea of a great Saturday, my husband loves college football, and one or two games a season I can handle. At that rate, it can even be a fun day out!

The game itself started out with an exciting rush (a kick off return for a touchdown! against an undefeated team!), but ended on a high-note for the visiting, still undefeated team.

It also ended with the left side of my face and neck a little sun-burnt! I had managed to save my ears from a similar fate by keeping my hair over them (score one for long hair!).

Months ago, my uncle gave us an aloe plant. He had several, and we were fortunate to get a very full pot of aloe. (I still need to split some of the little plants into separate pots!) When we got home, I picked off a leaf, and squeezed. I was there in our living room, slathering aloe-straight-from-the-plant all over my face and neck.

Gotta tell you, it felt great. The aloe was soothing, cooling, and moisturizing. It is working so well that I've been foregoing my jojoba oil as moisturizer after washing my face since Saturday. Pretty sure I'll return to jojoba and vitamin E oil once the sunburn fades; have to preserve the aloe plants!

All in all, it was a great day. Inexpensive tickets (that were in a great location!), overpriced-but-budgeted-for stadium concessions, and a free, as well as natural sunburn remedy.

Small Town Shopping

We have limited options at our in-town grocery and Wal*mart stores. You can find pretty much whatever you want, or at least what you need, but the selection isn't what it is at the larger (or smaller stores) in the town where we work.

It isn't so much the products that we can find (juice, soda, canned goods, frozen stuff, deli, produce, all of that), but rather the types of said products offered. Finding an organic brand of nearly anything at the local grocery is nearly impossible. But there are a few options for "natural" peanut butter. I think there is one barbeque sauce in the whole store that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. And that says nothing of my poor uncle who has a recently diagnosed soy allergy: out of  wall of salad dressing, there were maybe 5 bottles he could eat. One was a spice packet where you add your own oil and vinegar. The others were locally produced brands.

Since I haven't exactly made the leap to baking soda/vinegar/washing soda and the like for all my cleaning products, this has presented a challenge for us.

What has been exciting as of late, is the emergence of more eco-friendly brands and variants on the shelves, and at prices that are at least comparable to the conventional ones. For example, dishwasher detergent. I picked up one of 2 bottles that declared itself eco-friendly with no phosphates and my husband rolled his eyes. "Are we really that rich that we can... oh, it isn't that expensive." True, a smaller bottle of the store brand was much cheaper, but every other option was within 50 cents of the bottle I picked. Some were even more expensive. Score!

Then, at Wal*Mart (groan if you must) Tom's of Maine is being stocked. I've read a few places (can't remember now, so apologies for no links) that some people are upset as a result of changes since they were bought by a larger company, but I'm still very happy to see 2 different toothpastes (one with and one without flouride), and at least 2 different Tom's deodorants (plus a Crystal liquid roll-on). As we needed toothpaste, we got some. Still using the deodorant I picked up at Trader Joe's in California while on a business trip. (Really, my checked bag on the way back from these trips is hilarious now - shampoo, deodorant, all sorts of organic and natural personal care products I can't find easily in my small town.)

Small victories, I know, but I get a small thrill buying these products at my local grocery and Wal*mart because I know that somewhere in the vastness of information and reporting, another ping is going towards the more eco-conscious shopper

Happy Tax Weekend, USA!

Happy Tax Weekend, USA! Remember that Tax Day this year is April 18th.

Anyone expecting (or already received) a refund?

Ominous clicking noises and happier endings

Know what is not awesome? Coming home from work after a day of storms to hear your gas stove clicking. The same clicking noise it generally makes when you've turned the knob to light a burner. Thankfully, no gas was leaking out. Just the incessant clicking. We unplugged the stove, and resigned ourselves to being stoveless for at least a few days.

What is awesome? Having a husband who realized (after consulting the internet) that water may have simply gotten in, and leaving the stove alone and unplugged for a few days may be all that is required. The same day we came home to a clicking stove, there was mysterious water on the plates in the cabinets above the stove, and in the ramekins living next to it.

After two or three days of leaving the stove unplugged to dry, when we plugged it back in, there was no clicking sound. Hurrah! Good thing, too. That first night, knowing I had no stove, all I wanted was to boil water for tea.

I am pleased to report that nearly a week later, and several stove-top heavy meals, all is in tact and still working splendidly.

*Whew! To replace the drop in stove, it would have easily been a few hundred dollars.