#1) I am a SUCKER for advertisements. Specifically cosmetic advertisements. I picked up my standard airport trash mag (Us Weekly) and the very first advertisement after the cover was for a new Cover Girl product: Wetslicks Amazemint Lipgloss. Not only could I not shut up about how awesome I thought that lip gloss would be (it has Crest peppermint oil in it!) I landed and found the first CVS I could and bought some. The verdict? It really IS that awesome. It’s not super sticky, good color, and the mint oil feels and tastes amazing. Go get some.

(Also, Cover Girl? We both know that we do not have some kind of deal and that you did not pay me for this glowing review – but maybe you should. I would like a case of this lipgloss delivered directly to my house. I enjoy “Slaphappy” but any shade will do. K? Thanks.)

#2) I have some kind of weird internal GPS. Well, this is not new to me. In Boston, I know back roads, side roads, secret alleys, side access roads …. but I always assumed that came with the territory of, you know, growing up here. When traveling to San Francisco recently I found that I somehow just knew that city too. And coming back from this trip, I confirmed that I must have some kind of satellite chip stuck in my head or something. I had to do some fancy driving through DC and Virginia, and never got lost. Without a map, I hopped the subway into DC to the Capital Building and figured out a way to walk back to my hotel by cutting through the Arlington National Cemetery and finding a path that ran next to a highway …. My friend Meaghan jokes that this is a gift that my mother and I both have. She always says “You could blindfold either of them, drive them to the center of an unknown city and not only will they find a way back, they’ll find the fastest way back.” Now I kind of believe her.

#3) I prefer to travel alone. This was another thing that I think I already knew about myself. I’ve gone on trips with friends or boyfriends and they’ve been great! Really. But there is just something about flying into a city that I’ve never been to (or, in this case, a city that I hadn’t been to since I were a preteen) and just figuring it out myself. While a portion of this trip was work related, I did all my traveling and spent the majority of my time on my own. I got to get up when I wanted, go where I wanted, stop for coffee and hang out in a sidewalk cafe when I wanted, totally lose track of time wandering in and out of interesting looking streets as I wished, have the whole hotel room to myself … It was great. I am also someone who absolutely loves to go out to eat by myself, and I think that makes a huge difference. Some people (my sister included) hate the idea of going to a restaurant and dining alone – I LOVE it. I also can (and will) talk to just about anyone. Throughout my trip I ended up making no less than 4 new friends. Two at the airport, one at the hotel and one while waiting for the subway. They were all from different parts of the country and all had some awesome recommendations for me – and that’s just a huge part of traveling that I think you would miss if you were with someone else. I won’t stop traveling with people (who turns down a trip!?), but I’m definitely booking a bunch more solo trips.

So anyway, as you’ve gathered I’m sure, I’m back. The trip was great. I saw a lot, ate some amazing meals, watched my beloved Boston Pops (and confessed my love of Keith Lockhart to the Director of Sales for the Pops. She was going to take me back stage to meet him, but I was too flustered. So I’m going to meet him up here soon. HA) – all in all a terrific trip.

Tonight? Dinner on a yacht in Boston Harbor. This weekend? Maine. Next week? North Carolina.

I get around ;)