Monday, March 23, 2015

MiLB Married Life: ST 2015 & Making a Hotel Room a Home

Our time at Spring Training is already halfway over.... What!??! Camp breaks on April 6th, two weeks from today. I can hardly believe the time has gone by so fast!

Yesterday Cy had his first outing and it went great! He pitched two innings and was really happy with his command and ability to pitch inside like his coaches were wanting to see. Right now pitchers are on a pretty small pitch count limit in order for them to build endurance and pace themselves before the season, so he will have longer outings as time goes on. Cy pitched after 2 big leaguers (Jonathan Broxton and Jim Henderson) who came down to play in minor league games in order to get more work in, which is pretty common since big league camp is winding down and some of the guys are finishing up rehab and need to be able to pitch on their schedule, which is hard to do in big league games. (yikes that's quite the run on sentence, sorry)  It was pretty cool to see him come in and throw after guys who have been playing in the big leagues for years! Cy will pitch again in about 5 days, so he will probably have 2 or maybe 3 more Spring Training outings. And no, we don't know where they will send him to play this season and probably won't know until a few days before we actually leave here :)



So we are in Phoenix for about a month total, and are staying at an extended stay hotel. Next year, hopefully we can find an apartment, but we are content in our little hotel room! Our apartment in Dallas was pretty small, but downsizing even further to a hotel room (in a brand new city) has been a little bit of adjustment! Now that "home" is more about being together than it is about an actual place, I am doing what I can to keep some sense of familiarity no matter where we are.

First, I unpacked. It was tempting to just live out of suitcases since we aren't here very long, but hanging up clothes and getting things out of boxes really makes me feel more organized and therefore  grounded.

Second, I put our mattress topper and pillows on the bed! This seems like a lot to pack around, but space bags made it pretty easy. Making the hotel bed feel a little more like our own really helps with getting a good nights sleep. I considered putting our own sheets on the bed too, but I don't want to do the extra laundry each week for that when it costs $4 per load haha.



Third, essential oils. Every night we put lavender and wild orange essential oils in the diffuser to help relax and sleep more soundly, and having the familiar smell every night makes sleeping in new places a lot easier! Our room also had a really funky smell when we first arrived, so I had the diffuser running Purify all day to get rid of the funk in no time.



Fourth, I bought a humidifier. The air here is so stinkin DRY, and getting some moisture in the air in here just made life more pleasant in general.



Fifth, I make an effort to keep the place tidy. When you're living in a tiny space, it gets messy real fast and messy makes me cranky. I am a big fan of "a place for everything and everything in its' place" and for me that meant bringing my nightstand basket and my bathroom counter organizer. Keeping things contained and tidy is a big part of keeping my overall stress levels down, so every morning I make the bed and tidy anything that's out of place, and it makes a huge difference!





If you ever find yourself living a baseball gypsy life, hopefully these little tidbits are helpful ;) If you have any other questions about spring training or anything, leave me a comment!

xo,
Hannah

6 comments:

  1. I’m so glad I found your blog; I love it! I used to work in minor league baseball, briefly, so I can imagine how crazy the season’s start is for you! Glad his outing went great; it’s always nerve-wracking to watch I’m sure. Glad you’ve made your hotel room homey; all that matters is that you’re together :) Looks like you’ve done a great job making it look less hotel room, more home.

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    1. Christina, thank you!! Yeah you know all about my crazy world then haha!!

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  2. Great job, Cy! Keep up the good work.
    It looks like you have made a nice "home" for yourselves. Hang in there - you'll be headed to your next stop soon.
    Questions - about how many outings does a pitcher usually get in all of spring training? How late in training do you get your assignment?
    I enjoy your blog and IG - thanks for sharing.

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    1. Jen, thank you!! For a minor leaguer, I would say about 3-4 outings is average (at least this year, this year seems to be a little shorter than usual for some reason). Big leaguers have a longer ST so they throw more. Cy said rosters will pretty much be set next week, but in baseball things can change at any time so it's hard to really know *FOR SURE* until it's actually time to head out!

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  3. Did you get a new blog design? I love it!! Who did it? I'm thinking about re-doing mine, but I don't know what I want to do. I should learn to do as much as I make changes. :( How's AZ? I miss it so bad.

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    1. Hey Jessa! Yes I did! it's from 17th Avenue Designs, they have tons of cute designs and it was pretty easy to install by myself. Gosh I love it here, so sunny and gloriously warm!

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