Minneapolis Love Mural

May 2018 Highlights: The Highs + Lows

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There’s no way to describe May other than: absolutely bonkers. In case you missed all the fun on the home front, we have a new investment property that we gutted and finished in under four months. While running three businesses. And traveling incessantly for work. And trying to squeeze in some time with my new niece. I’ll just be frank: I’m exhausted.

But it’s all good news, so I’ll take the fatigue as a sacrifice for success. We finished the house we’re calling Myrtle with about 10 hours to spare before turning over the keys to her new inhabitants. We’ve done some really fun campaigns, and we’re producing public-benefitting events under our new business aimed at community development. We can sleep when we’re dead. Or if we ever take a real vacation.

What to Do in Virginia Beach: Strawberry Picking

In May, I took a lot of whirlwind trips and spent 12 days in hotels or vacation rentals, about half of which were with SVV and half by my lonesome (our work is spinning up so much, we’re often having to choose to divide-and-conquer versus being-together-24/7). Here’s what else I did that month.

HIGHS

Forbes interviewed me on cheap summer travel. I shared my thoughts on where I’d go, and it should come as no surprise that I picked Lexington, one of my favorite Southern gems.

CardRates.com also did a nice profile on my blog and how I use points to travel. You can read it in full here. I love how thorough they were in covering my blog and also my backstory! That rarely happens in the media these days.

Interview with Kristin Luna

I had more traveling pals come through Nashville. This month, it was Rachelle Lucas and the Makepeaces, and I got to spend an afternoon with all of them showing them some of my favorite parts of Music City.

I went to Virginia Beach. On my first visit in Virginia Beach in the height of winter, I had a good time, but it didn’t really grab me as a destination (the gale-force winds could have something to do with it). But the second time I went to Virginia Beach? It totally lured me in. What a great coastal town to visit in spring and summer months!

And also Rapid City. Another InstaMeet in the books, another lovely time in South Dakota, despite another bout with bad weather. Am I just jinxed?

What to Do in Rapid City, South Dakota

I spent nearly a week in Minneapolis and North Dakota. The first part was with SVV, Lemon and her husband Keaney with my MSP native pal Emilie as our tour guide, the second part was to participate in the Fargo Marathon and complete a content project with North Dakota Tourism (coming next week). Both were equally awesome. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: I just love that area of the country. People are so gosh-darn nice!

We commissioned our first mural and saw it to completion. This might get its own dedicated post due to the pure uproar a couple local leaders caused when we chose to install a beautiful American flag on a building in a prominent spot on Manchester’s town square. Do you want to hear the whole story? If there’s enough interest, I’m down to share it with you.

Manchester, Tennessee Magnolia Mural

We partnered with our favorite rental car company, Enterprise, again on a campaign. We actually just got home tonight from Georgia, so I’ll be sharing tales of our “small-cation” on the blog very soon.

LOWS

Other than extreme fatigue, missing blogging with more regularity, sore muscles from physical labor that feel as if they might never bounce back and a general sense of forgetfulness (because see: this spring has been bananas), I don’t really have any complaints! I’ve gotten into a routine of getting up in the 5 o’clock hour then being totally zonked by 10pm, which shocks no one more than this traditionally nocturnal writer.

What to Do in Virginia Beach: Strawberry Picking

How about you? How did your May shake out?

All of my past monthly highlights can be found here.

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COMMENTS
  • June 1, 2018

    Congrats on that Forbes interview Kristin. Wonderful. Interviewed there about being a digital nomad a few years back. Looks good on your Seen At page for sure. Major media outlet methinks 🙂

    • June 4, 2018

      Ha! Well, I wrote for them for years, so no big deal, but I do like getting to be on the other side of the coin for a change.

  • June 1, 2018

    What a month you have had!! My month was actually much more quiet. I have my first sponsored product review on my blog, which I’m quite proud of though 🙂

    • June 1, 2018

      Congrats, Dominique—that’s great!

  • June 1, 2018

    I love your post and I love the artful flag. Very fitting for an American city. As a historian I love historic preservation, but this is an added feature that will be loved and hopefully preserved by future generations. – Jim

    • June 4, 2018

      Thank you, Jim! We’re all about the historic preservation, but that and community improvement don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

  • June 1, 2018

    Spent the first 6 days of May in Paris, then a week in Palm Springs, a holiday weekend exploring around Tucson and working on blog tech issues in between! Can’t believe June is already here!

    • June 4, 2018

      Me neither! How’d that happen?

      I *still* need to get to Arizona sometime this year!

  • June 4, 2018

    That mural is freakin’ beautiful & I would love to hear more about it, including the process of picking & commissioning an artist.

    Also, if you ever miss the gale-force winds of Virginia Beach, the Shamrock Half (and Marathon) happens there in March and it’s a great race. Sometimes it’s cold, sometimes it’s not, but the race ends on the boardwalk, there’s stew at the end and you get four beers and a bunch of other goodies. I missed it this year due to injury, but I’m really, really hoping to be back out there next year.

    • June 4, 2018

      FOUR beers? Count me in.

      And ask and you shall receive—I’m writing an op-ed for a public affairs magazine on the mural issue and will either repost or write a more candid play-by-play here later in the month.

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