The Best Cookie Ever

A letter to my favorite cookie company, Selmas.

Dear Selmas,

I love and adore your cookies.  I make trips to Disney parks just to eat your cookies.  OK, that might be an exaggeration since I don't live near a Disney park, but finding a Chocolate Chip Supreme cookie is one of the first things I do when I get there.  I've gotten other people as addicted to your cookies as I am.  I was browsing your website today and discovered that you also sell your cookies in Las Vegas Casinos, and it just so happens that I'm headed to Vegas next week!  Imagine my delight at thinking I can have a Selmas cookie without having to go to a theme park!  Can you tell me what casinos you are in so I can have my dream fulfilled?  (Also, are you by chance in any coffee shops or stores in the Salt Lake City area?)

Thanks!

A Devoted Fan,

Annie

Yes, friends that is how much I love Selmas Cookies.  I first became acquainted with Selmas when I worked in Walt Disney World.  I scoured all four theme parks and several of the hotels and could tell you every store they were sold in.  I did make special trips when I worked for Disney for these cookies, and whenever I came home I brought at least one to every family member.  When I moved back to Salt Lake I was so obsessed with these cookies that my bosses at my new job bought me a box of a dozen for my birthday.  It probably took me six months to get through the box because one cookies can seriously be three or four servings, they are just that good.  Needless to say, every time I go to a Disney Theme Park I DO make it a priority to get a Selmas cookie. They're harder to find now, they're not in every park, and they are also sold under the Disney brand, but make not mistake, it's a Selmas cookie.  It's been to long since I was in Walt Disney World, but in Disneyland you can only find them on Main Street in the Confectioners Shop.  They're sold individually packaged, and they truly are the BEST COOKIE EVER.  So, wish me luck on my quest in Las Vegas to find my favorite cookies.  And maybe wish Shawn some patience in case we have to visit more than one casino to find them.

North Carolina

I love to travel.  I love visiting new cities and learning how they work.  I love shopping in new cities and visiting restaurants.  I love maps and travel technology.  I love apps that help me find a place to eat.  I love using technology to find my favorite store in a new city.  And this is a love that Shawn and I share, we both love to travel.  We love to visit new countries and learn about new cultures.  But something changed in my love of travel when I began to love Shawn.  I know that they say that love can grow, but in some ways loving Shawn made me love travel less.  The problem is that now when I do travel I want to travel WITH Shawn.  I want to share new cities and new experiences with him.

I was in North Carolina for work last week.  Try as I might to convince Shawn to take a week off of work  and come to North Carolina with me, the romance of sitting in a hotel for a week by himself while I worked didn't convince him to join me.  Nor did the awesome hotel with an indoor waterpark.  And the week I spent in North Carolina was one of the longest weeks of my life.  It had nothing to do with the meeting I attended, or the person I traveled with, or the appointments I had.  It had everything to do with being away from Shawn.  I wanted to be able to share everything with him.  I wanted to sit at the table at night with him and tell him about my day.  I wanted to hold his hand while I fell asleep.  I wanted him with me to laugh at the strange pictures on the walls of the hotel.  I wanted to explore with him.  

But while I hate traveling without him, I love that we live when we do and have the technology available to us.  I can take pictures and immediately send them to him.  I can text him or email him about things that make me laugh.  I can call him at night easily.  And the best invention we found this week was face time from Apple.  When I travel for work I can take an iPad with me and I LOVE using facetime to chat with Shawn at home with our MacBook.  I loved being able to show him my hotel room. I loved seeing his face.  And that's what made this week bearable.  

Highlights of the week:

1) Staying at the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina.  It felt like a strange place for a meeting since they really cater to families, but the staff was amazing and the meeting went really well.  The water park looked like a lot of fun, and I would definitely stay there again.  And the little kid inside of me really wanted to go buy a magic wand and participate in their Magic Quest.  

2) My travel companion would not agree with me, but I loved our second hotel too, the Blake Hotel in Charlotte, NC.  I thought the lobby was swanky and loved my room and the view of the city.  I didn't like that it didn't have a gym but you had to go across the street to work out (which I didn't do).  The staff was also really amazing and friendly.  Is that a North Carolina thing?

3) The three hour drive each way from Charlotte to Raleigh.  OK, driving for 8 hours in a car with a colleague in one day isn't exactly what I would call fun, but I loved seeing the drive from Charlotte to Raleigh.  We didn't take the main interstate, but our Garmin sent us a less direct way that took the same amount of town.  We drove through the town Pittsboro, and I fell in love with it.  I want to go back and stop in this town!


Next time I'm in North Carolina I'm taking Shawn with me.  And I'm glad the next trip I have planned is a trip with Shawn to DISNEYLAND!