Tackling the Globe…

So … I had this whole draft ready to go more than a month ago, requesting your help in my redesign endeavors. And then! And then, an angel in spy’s clothing, Secret Agent Josephine–she of crafting ingenuity who spawned the adorable Baby Bug and half a million brilliant Etsy projects–dropped me a line, an e-mail declaring me a winner of her banner contest!

Me! A winner! If you’ve followed my bad luck at all, you know these things simply don’t happen to me. Well, unless you count the Super Bowl XLII when SVV and I were still living in Denmark and purchased tickets for the CINEMA where we went and first viewed the highly underrated McConaughey and Pacino flick, Two for the Money, before watching the live airing of the game, which started at the insane hour of 2am. We were the only non-Danes there, and accordingly hardly knew what was going on, as even the commentary was in the hot-potato-in-the-mouth-sounding language that was so foreign to us, despite our resident permits. The host drew seat numbers for prize packs, and I, one of two Americans and the only female in the theater, was the proud winner of a Seattle Seahawks jersey. Only I didn’t know it because, umm, they announced it in Danish. So there SVV and I were chatting away–”I never win these things,” I actually grumbled to him at that very moment–when the entire theater turned around to look at me, and my seat neighbor gently prodded me forward to collect my prize (a XXL footballer’s shirt–hey, it makes a fun nightgown). Well, I thought that was exciting, but being SAJ’s August banner winner makes my previous contest win seem the equivalent of finding a penny in a sidewalk grate. Tails up. The funny thing is my initial draft, written way before I knew anything of being a winner(!), linked to various SAJ products because I really dig her style and wanted one of her cartoon creations. How’s that for “ask and ye shall receive?”

When I started this site a little over a year ago (picture from original conception post above), it was simply a way to keep occupied in CubeVille. I didn’t think I’d become this obsessed invested in sharing my life with the Internet (if so, I might have spent more time coming up with a more self-explanatory title), and as with any obsession, I wanted more. I bought the URL www.camelsandchocolate.com ages ago, when GoDaddy gave me a discount to renew my subscription for my professional page (designed by my cousin John), but I’m just not Web- or design-knowledgeable like so many bloggers I know who are laying out their own pages like it ain’t no thang. I also didn’t have the excess funds to hire someone to do it for me.

Enter SAJ, who kickstarted the effort for me and gave Camels & Chocolate a little Botox injection, before it received full-blown liposuction and even a nose job, too (deviated septum, you know; it’s all the rage these days), from Kelly, my adorable cousin-in-law and an extremely talented graphic designer who has her own company, From Scratch Design. Earlier this summer, Kelly designed me these cool, new business cards to match my other site, so I don’t have to keep giving out the cheapies I bought ages ago from 123print.com. (She’s a freelancer like me, so feel free to contact her if you’re looking for anything design-related!)

Lucky for me, Kelly and my med student-soon-to-be-resident-slave cuz Andrew were living on the Travis base nearby in Fairfield, California, for a month this summer while Andrew logged his Air Force hours, so with a super-awesome banner ready to be used, Kelly helped me make the transition from Blogspot to Wordpress (because sorry, Blogger, but you fail me way too often) and designed this fun new site. Isn’t it cute? Kelly (and SAJ, too, of course!) kind of rock my world.

So with no further ado, you’re now cordially invited to bookmark this here page, the brand spankin’ new Camels & Chocolate! Whew, I’m glad that’s over! I’ve been stressing about having a boring old, childish blog for way too long; welcome to C&C’s teenage years! What you have to look forward to in coming months:

-Ask Away: Occasionally, I get e-mails from you guys requesting advice on which airport to fly into, what airlines are better than others, what countries are at the top of my travel list, what would I do if I had just 36 hours in Amsterdam, etc. Lucky for you, I LOVE planning other people’s trips–almost as much as I like going on my own! (If ever I tire of this whole travel writing biz, I’m all about starting my own travel consulting company.) So send me an e-mail with any quandary you may have (travel-related, of course! I don’t deal with financial problems, marital issues or misbehaving children, unfortunately), and I’ll try to do my best to answer your every query (or find someone even more knowledgeable who can if it’s out of my scope of expertise).

-Steal of a Deal: Like any travel writer, I’m the recipient of a couple dozen press releases a day–some go straight into the trash can, others I keep around not knowing what to do with them, but yet they’re just to good too go unmentioned. So I guess this is sort of a mini-PR gallery here, only I’m not getting paid and I’ll only pass along the ones I feel are truly worthy of you guys. Peruse as you please.

-Travel Tidbits: Consider this your Cliffnotes version to the jetsetting world. I’ll be posting (hopefully helpful) news blurbs, product releases and the like. And please alert me if you know of something that I don’t (I promise to credit you!).

-Trip of the Week: While I give you the highlights, along with the good, the bad and the ugly, of most trips I take, let’s be real here, not everyone has a travel publisher paying their way on a lavish vacation. Others have families of five that make a holiday virtually bank-breaking. The goal is to choose a different destination each week–a wide mix of domestic and international places–and break it down to you by price points: where to stay, where to eat, what to do, how to do it. Call me the Dr. Judy of globetrotting.

I think that’s about it for now. I may add a photo gallery and interactive map of where I’ve been in coming weeks, as well, but a girl can only do so much at one time. (And by “a girl,” I mean Kelly,  clearly, as I really can’t take much credit for the majority of this site!) Is there anything else I’m missing? Anything you’d like me to add? There are still some minor kinks like paragraph spacing that will hopefully be resolved in coming weeks, as we figure out how to navigate around Worpress a bit more, but bear with me. Oh, and if you’re not into traveling at all, don’t worry: The primary posts will stay the same content-wise (random and full of snark); I’m just giving you a little extra distraction time to get you through the long work days!

Tags: All About Me, Working Hard