Music to My Ears in Music City

Ahhh, Nashville. How I’ve longed to see you... And you didn’t disappoint!

After a lazy afternoon of working out at the hotel and hanging out at the airport in St. Louis, I arrived in Nashville in time to meet up with Heather and Lisa. We checked into our fabulous hotel (the Homewood Suites, and it was SWEET) and headed out to Broadway to see what was going on. There really was music playing everywhere, even from some speakers inside metal boxes on streetcorners. After some scary horse statues at The Wild Horse and watching some line dancin’ and two steppin’ from a safe distance, we packed it up and headed to The Stage, where we got our own dance on. Lisa and I knew most of the rock songs the band played, while Heather knew all the country ones (and we knew a few...). Singing and dancing along, enticing some fun flirtations and a free beer, we closed down the place and decided that we had started off our weekend quite well.

Saturday, we were off to do some hard-core boot shoppin’. Heather and Lisa both located perfect boots while I, ever the picky and frugal one, decided they neither fit into my wardrobe nor my suitcase. I did find a perfect pair of jeans however, and was quite happy with my purchase. While Lisa and Heather went to find a FedEx to ship themselves each a box of their new purchases, I napped (oh glorious sleep!). When I called them up, they had found themselves priced out of the country music museum ($20, who do they think they are? The MOMA?) and scoping out a more pricey ($40), but more exciting ticket--to the Grand Ole Opry show later that night! With the last few hours of Daylight we wandered around Vanderbuilt’s beautiful campus, and then headed back to prep for our second night out.

Dinner at Sambuca (on the recommendation of a Nashvillian who Lisa met in DC... gotta love how PM’s get around and get things done!) was off-the-charts amazing. Lots of small plates of tastyness--salads, lamb

meatballs, sweet potato melt-in-your-mouth gooey goodness, giant tater tots of greatness, puffs of italian cheese and ham, crab-stuffed avacado, and more, plus wine and cocktails came out to less than $50 a head! Plus there was live jazz. Yah, it really does get that good sometimes.

We snagged coffee to keep our full tummies from putting us to sleep and shopped for a bit more at Urban Outfitters (in which I wanted everything, but thank god for full suitcases!), then it was off to the Opry at the

Ryman theater. While we were sitting waiting for it to start, I wikipedia’d the Opry, realizing that none of us knew anything about it. Nothing could have prepared us though... The sparkley jackets! The honest-to-goodness twang! The folksy old radio commercials every other song! The Cracker Barrel jokes! The amazing and surpisingly diverse music that just kept on coming! “Devil Went Down to Georgia” played by Charlie Daniels himself! Really, we were grinning like idiots the whole time and when the two hours were over, we were half shocked it had gone by so fast.

But the night wasn’t over yet! Off we went to the bars, ending up at Tootsies, a dive the local girls in the boot shop had recommended. The place was jammed, and not necessarily in a good way. It was like a mosh pit of people of every age, shape, color, and creed imaginable. There was Obviously-Implanted Lady, and Douche-with-boobs-almost-as-big-as-hers, Stuck-in-the-80’s Man with curly long hair under his cowboy hat, and plenty of You-can’t-be-21 girls. Everyone was pushing and pulling and crammed into this tiny alley of a bar. We stayed for a bit, and then when we decided to bail, it was 5 minutes before we could make it the 20 feet to the front door. Seriously, a fire code nightmare, but a great story.

The next morning, we warded off of our hangovers with a brisk walk to the Copper Kettle, a great brunch spot (and only #3 in Nashville according to their own sign). Everything you could ever want was there for you... and we definitely took advantage. It really topped off a wonderful weekend. Nashville, I love you.

Before the Boarding Door Closes

SeaTac has free wi-fi! I'm typing on my computer as I'm sitting on the plane waiting for the masses to board.

A few thoughts about this weekend:

• A 7:20am flight to Newark isn't sooo bad, until you find out the seat you got is in a "limited recline" row in front of the exit row. I tried to check in and change seats, but with holiday travel the flight internets just laughed at me.
• Being in town for 4 days is just a tease. All I want to do now is not be flying out.
• I have hot pink toes just in time for MIAMI!
• After ogling netbooks at Best Buy I'm going to have to try to partake in cyber Monday festivities.
• Holidays centering around eating as much food (especially potatoes and desserts) do not leaving you feeling better.
• Holiday travel complications make me wish we all celebrated on different days.
• Limited recline SUCKS.

[Edit:] Turns out it's not so bad. I slept almost the entire flight without reclining, most of it curled up with my feet resting in the seat-back pocket. Yes, I sleep very oddly on planes.

It's A Love/Hate Relationship...

I hate my job when I start to have anxiety whether the company will even make it to May.

I LOVE my job when I get to do a stay-over in Nashville and do everything from party on Broadway to see a Grand Ole Opry show at the Ryman. No matter how tired I am today, taking advantage of flying all over the country starts again, NOW.

Before the Boarding Door Closes

(Trying out a new phone app for posting blogs without wifi proved to be ineffective Friday evening, but here's the post anyways. If I can get it to work, this might become a feature.)

Thoughts before taking off:

Having an 8pm flight is not as bad as it sounds. Things I've done since the seminar ended--

• Worked out for an hour.
• Got my amazing winter schedule. Oklahoma and Arkansas are on it! As are really great presenters and Hawaii!!!
• Ordered my first espresso straight up, since I can no longer bring myself to order 12 oz of hot milk. (I added the tiniest bit of milk, cinnamon, chocolate, and nutmeg. DAMN FINE.)
• Had a beer (or two) and dinner at the airport.
• Found headphone covers that will allow me to continue to use my iPhone earbuds longer.
• Got really excited to be going to Nashville for the first time.

Isolated Self-Portraits

It turns out, it's tricky learning how to take decent photos of yourself while you're completely alone. Asking strangers isn't going to give you any more than one shot and half the time, no one is around to help. So I've tried a few other things in the last two days:

#1--Framed mirror portrait.

The Outfit:

• Black Pants (Gap, ancient)
• Blue and white print blouse (Old Navy, thrifted)
• Oatmeal swing cardigan (Ann Taylor, thrifted)
• Belt (thrifted)
• Yellow headband (Fuego)
• White plastic earings (gift)

This was my attempt to show that I tried belting my new cardigan. I'm not sure it worked that well, since I looked a bit floppy around the midsection... potentially creating that "preggers" silhouette that I end up with so easily if anything has an empire waist. Since I didn't have any natural light, the photo ended up horribly colored, but I like the framing.

#2--Moving furniture to act as a tripod near natural light.

The Outfit:

• Black Pants (Again)
• Black and white print shell top (H&M, from a clothing swap)
• Ivory cardi (Nordstroms)
• Black headband (Fuego)
• Pearl drop earings (gift)
• Black buckle flats (Nine West, Thrifted)

One thing I've noticed: I didn't spend money on pretty much anything I'm wearing. The pants were hand-me-ups, the cardi was purchased with my nordstrom rebate coupons last fall, the headband and the shoes were each less than $4. This is ubsurd. Both of these outfits cost me under $10 (except the Report Wedges that you can't see in the first photo, those were real money). I've always gazed at fashion blogs and cringed at what it would cost to buy all those pieces, but now I can clearly see that this is not the case. It's all about your own wardrobe, and finding your style within that. Although, I'm nearing the one week mark of things living in my suitcase, and it's starting to show a bit.

In other news: Grand Rapids' downtown has stolen my heart. It is so freaking adorable and has so many restaurants that look spectacular! I had lunch from the Pita House, and it was mighty fine. I've been posting about my restaurant experiences at BERfoodblog.blogspot.com (the link is to the right as well), and I've had some doozies. Check out my post about southern food in Detroit, and if anyone thinks they can make sweet potato muffins, CALL ME.

Last night I ended up eating at my hotel after getting wine ($2 off wine on wednesday!) and enjoying the free wi-fi in the lobby, but it was the Amway Grand Hotel, and luckily the food was pretty grand as well. Anyone else notice that the nicer the hotel, the more you have to pay for every little thing? It stinks. Why would some random holiday inn in Fishkill give you free wireless and not the Amway Grand?! The Amway Grand does have amazing bathtubs though, one can immerse fully, and closets big enough to sleep in. I guess you win some you lose some.

P.S. Just because it's local wine doesn't mean it's good.

When Worlds Collide

Sometimes when I'm on the road I happen to be in the right place at the right time. This was one of those times.
Sarah Palin is holding her first book signing in Grand Rapids, MI tonight, and I happen to be in that very city. Of course my presenter and I had to do a drive by and see what the security detail would be, and whether the line would be long.

The TV contingent was really the most impressive part, but there was definitely a crowd gathered outside the Barnes and Nobel in question. This morning, my presenter had prompted me to do a search to see if what one of the participants had told her was true, that the former potential second-in-command of the USA was going to be in the same city as we were that night... And Oh, what I found (scroll to the early morning stuff).

Celebrity is always fascinating to a segment of the population, and honestly, I was a bit curious to see what she'd do or say. A bit. If my presenter wasn't really sick, I'd probably have tried to wander over there and see what all was going on. But I was not interested to the point that I was going to stand outside in the chilly weather any longer than it took to snap some photos or sit on a cramped floor for hours waiting to Maybe get a glimpse. Much less interested to the point that I would wait outside all night. Those days are far behind me. I've waited in line to be at the front for a concert, I've done black friday at 5am... I've done the experience and no faux-politico is going to entice me to do it again. Even a chance to see Obama speak wasn't enough to entice me to wait for an indeterminate amount of time and to change my train ticket.

After all, I've gotten a hug from Jesus.

Take that Palin.

Fashion Blogging from a Cramped Suitcase

Since I have to operate out of a suitcase, my clothing choices become very repetitive over the course of the year. My fall back packing plan is black pants, black skirt, two tops, and a cardigan or two. This week I not only packed too much stuff for the number of days I'm out, but I also went thrifting, which was bad for the cramped space I already have. I find it fun putting together different combinations of the same stuff every morning, and so I thought I would start attempting to blog about it.

Today's outfit:

• high-waisted black skirt, Macy's
• white ruffle-front blouse, Banana Republic/thrifted
• oatmeal colored swing cardi, Ann Taylor/thrifted
• black Report wedges, Nordies
• shell earings, Hawaii souvenir

New clothes always call out to me and as such, here are a couple of my thrift store finds. I liked playing with the completely neutral palate today, and showed restraint in not belting my cardigan, even though the skirt itself is designed with a belt. However, I must note that it is incredibly difficult to take a fashion photo of oneself without a tripod, so please forgive the fact that I propped my camera at an awkward angle on the couch of the hotel lobby in Akron and then cropped the hell out of the photo. After 7 tries, I settled for what I got.

It should be fun to see what I come up with as the year wears on... (horrific pun not intended)

Re-routing and Overloading My Way Through Chicago

Instead of flying on a painfully long flight home on Friday night from Burlington, VT I had planned on an easy direct to Chicago to spend the weekend with Krista and CJ. Oh, if only that had been what had actually happened.

The two days out on the road before this weekend were pretty good. Sadly, I gave up my free day on Veterans Day up to fly trans-con to Manchester, NH. In Manchester, I sat in on a seminar for the first time. I was out with Ken Vieth, who is an amazing artist and art teacher. Unfortunately I was really not feeling creative for whatever reason and what I created that day during the hands on part of the seminar was disappointing. It was a great project though, and I intend to attempt the art on my own time at some point this coming week. We had a great talk on the drive to Burlington, VT as we drove towards a sparklingly beautiful sunset. He was the kind of guy who’s had amazing life experiences that he’s willing to talk about at length, but he also is a question asker and was interested in what stories I had to share as well. I really appreciated talking about my own issues with figuring out what my life’s passions are and what direction to go in after this BER year.

Burlington is on my list of favorite places in the country. I got him to join me out for dinner on Church Street, a fun pedestrian area of town that also has a Ben & Jerry’s store (pumpkin cheesecake ice cream anyone?!) and we wandered a bit just enjoying the college atmosphere and New England architecture. After the seminar the next day, we had a while before our flights so we went down and parked downtown and walked to Lake Champlain, which was staggeringly beautiful with mist and late-afternoon sunlight streaming across it. After one more scoop of Ben & Jerry’s we headed off to the airport, where we were greeted by the most glaringly awful flashing screens I’ve seen in a while.

Turned out, there was the remnants of a hurricane sitting over all of the major east coast hub airports. Ken’s flight to Newark was outright cancelled while my connection flight through Philly was delayed 6 hours. By working my PM magic and working with a brilliant US Airways ticket counter agent (she is getting a commendation letter from me, she was THAT great in the crisis!). Ken and I both flew on a US Air flight to LGA, I got him a car to get to Newark while I changed terminals and got on an American Airlines flight to Chicago, arriving barely half an hour late. Considering the situation was pretty shitty overall, the feeling I got after managing the whole thing seamlessly was amazing. This job has really given me skills that are real world applicable. If anyone wants to know exactly what to say to a ticket counter agent in this kind of situation, call me. :) Also, I was capable of getting my presenter from one airport to another, while getting myself from one terminal of a huge airport to the other terminal, through the correct security line, and still have a front of the plane aisle seat.

When I got on my American flight to ORD, I was pretty excited to actually be making it to my destination, but definitely planning on downing a glass of wine. When my seatmate sat down next to me though, I realized the universe was making it up to me for the previous stress of my day. The cut,e 24 year old NYC equities trader next to me who has family in Seattle was not only fun to talk to, but also all about proving himself to the older, better traveled, attractive female on his right. After he started name dropping celebrities I knew I was about to get my drinks paid for. And that is another thing this job has taught me: let them pay, even if they make fun of you for knitting. That way I get to keep my per-diem for exciting hotel stays in places like Nashville and Miami.

When I arrived in Chicago, Krista and CJ came and picked me up for a chill weekend in Chicago. I’ve already done all of the touristy stuff, so I just wanted to see their new neighborhood and maybe go thrifting. And did we! CJ is the most amazing chef ever... she whipped me up a salad to make up for the fact that I’d barely had time for a luna bar for dinner and then the next morning, after a trip to the most amazing ukrainian deli/grocery store, we had a scramble/fry that was potentially the best thing I’ve had in weeks (excepting my mom’s squash soup... *hint hint*). She also figured out the proper name of the coffee drink I wanted--a coranado or a wet macchiato... damn it I wan to be back in a place that understands “flat white.” Krista took me for a terrifying yet exhilarating scooter ride around the neighborhood and showed me her super-secrect favorite gift shop which was definitely worthy of being favorited.

Then we went to the thrift store. I am not allowed to disclose the actual location of this amazing treasure trove (as if I could find it myself if I tried), but Oh Damn. Thank god I threw a space bag in my suitcase to crunch down some of the amazingness I purchased. I got an extra pair of black flats (Nine West and brand new), a knock-off yet adorable Prada bag (which I call affectionately Frada), tons of sweaters and tops, and an American Apparel skirt, nevermind the already squished contents of my suitcase. We had a blast, and then to top it off, we went to possibly the world’s largest whole foods to grab dinner and to gawk at the rich Lincoln Center folks. People actually get glasses of wine and drink as they shop. How yuppie-fabulous can you get?

Now I am in the Pittiest of Burghs, about to meet an old friend for dinner before starting a week out with one of my favorite presenters from last year. It makes up for the fact that I’m headed to Akron and Detroit this week as well.

The Nagging Netbook Conundrum

Cross posted on Facebook, because I really do want to know what people think...

A question for anyone who knows/cares: Would a netbook be a worthy purchase? My 6lb MacBook weighs me down and I’m not about to buy an Air, but I’m starting to wonder if a $250 netbook would allow me to blog, catch up on my shows, skype, and browse the internets sufficiently to make me want to deal with Windows. I could also switch to using hotel business centers (often dirty, dank, suffocatingly warm rooms with ancient hardware), but that won’t allow for skype, working on documents without eternally emailing them to myself (or using google docs), or watching TV shows in my room or at the desk. My phone does a lot, but it doesn’t have a real keyboard or a way to pull photos off of my actual camera. In my happy little mental world, I’d get a cheap, colorful little netbook and load OSX and iPhoto/iTunes onto it, so that it would be able to run all the programs I already have figured out. Yet, I’m suspecting that since the little computers lack A) the DVD drive to load the OS onto the computer, and B) the processing power of my current computer, having my ideal world come together is not going to happen.

So non-techy me has some Technical Questions:
1. If you have a netbook, do you love it? Is it worth it if I already have a laptop?
2. Can you load OSX onto it?
3. Would my phone get angry if I was trying to hook it up to two computers, especially one being Mac, one PC?
4. How complicated would it be to basically sync the two computers together? I’m guessing lots of emailing of documents and jump drives...

If only apple would make a cheap netbook, bigger than the iphone and with a nearly full-sized keyboard... then I’d be a happy camper.

The Never-Ending List of Hobbies

While I’m not doing NaNo this year, I think I still feel the need to get more things written down lately, and thus the reopening of the blog. This job can sap all of the will to live out of me, but there are enough things that I get joy out of that I should be able to manage--if I can find space in my suitcases. This week, I’ve got my moleskine, my three books (novel, self-help, poetry), my knitting project, my computer, my art kit, and my sewing kit just in case I lose my coat buttons. Really, that should be enough to keep me occupied for two weeks, especially considering I want to go out and see the places that I’m going (not so much Akron, but you get the idea). It’s almost too much to bring, but in a way it’s better to have all of these options so that I don’t end up completely absorbed into TV or the internet, or TV on the internet (damn you Hulu).

This week I have an added excitement--an art presenter. I’m really considering sitting in on his seminar, and tomorrow (Thursday) would be the day to do it. I have no paperwork to do, I’m at SERESC, and we’re not exactly in downtown Manchester (the only other place I would go would be to Target, and I really don’t need to fill my suitcase any more than I already have). I really like painting and getting some color down on paper and although sketching isn’t really my thing, I want to see what the seminar covers. I’ve never sat in on a full seminar, or even really sat in on even part of one. I think it’s time to change that up.

Otherwise, in hobby land...

• I’ve only finished one book this year, a book from the clearance rack of Half-Priced Books: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. It was an interesting and easy read. Now I’m on to a similar clearance find: The Shipping News.
• I’m toting along a (lightweight) poetry book in the hopes that I will get around to reading and writing a bit more than prose. Expect that instead of NaNo, I’m going to think of a different challenge involving poetry, probably for December
• My Knitting is going along fine so far since getting restarted back into it. I finished with a scarf before the BER year started, and now I’m working with a yarn I got in New Zealand. It’s merino and possum and a lovely, soft, deep black scarf is finding its way out of the ball. I’m working with a real pattern this time, a lace called “Branching Out” and I’m on ravelry. I should get going on some christmas gifts though... and put this one aside until those are finished.
• TV is way too captivating... I have been sucked into Hulu and trying to keep up with the following shows: HIMYM, Big Bang Theory, House, Gossip Girl, Castle, ANTM, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, Flash Forward, Fringe, The Mentalist, The Office, and 30Rock (thank god Psych went on hiatus). This is ridiculous. Even subtracting out commercials and reducing them 20/40 minute standards, this amounts to over 440 minutes, or over 7.5 hours a week when they are all showing. There are clear winners for what I watch over anything else (Castle, Glee, The Mentalist [due to CBS’s draconian internet posting rules]), what I hurry to catch up on (The Office, Gossip Girl), and what has been going by the wayside (Fringe, 30Rock). In theory, I have an hour to watch every day right? Well, the first 5 show on Monday, then two on Wednesday, and all the rest on Thursday. It’s like one massive tempting block of TV every couple of days... and not much else gets done sometimes.

So that’s what I carry around for entertainment purposes. Add in the yoga mat, resistance band, tennis shoes and swimsuit all curled up and stowed in my checked bag and you’re looking at WAY too many hobbies and not enough time to do them all. When they said I was going to have free time with this job, I took them too much at their word.

Swept Along for the Ride

And here we go again...

While the first few weeks of getting back on the road for BER were exhausting, frustrating, exhilarating, and stupefying, I didn't feel like getting back to the blog right away. I tend to fall into the trap of complaining a lot when I'm surrounded by inefficiencies, or rather, things that I would do differently. The company is changing up a few practices in the interest of saving money, and my first couple of weeks were sacrificed to the alter of making it work:

I started out the year on the road alone, setting up my seminars and piecing together my paperwork at the agonizingly slow speed that only 4.5 months away from something can provide. As the week progressed, I added a second presenter to the car and therefore a second seminar to my morning responsibility, and nearly melted down while waiting for my voicemail to be set up to ensure I had reliable contact with the office.

The second week out was more or less fine, although the finer points of getting along with a presenter took some refreshing... although the memory that all mistakes are forgiven if you make a Starbucks run was the quickest to return.

This last week, once again burdened with two seminars, I managed as best I could while FedEx attempted to foil me over and over. Problems that I had never run into in the whole of the last year cropped up--the missing tech case, the wrong CEU paperwork shipped to me, and a box packaged inside of another box with all identifying information destroyed. That along with managing the personalities of two male presenters, one of whom was extremely hard of hearing, with two opposing senses of humor was a lot to handle. My sanity was saved in Manchester, at my Hampton Inn with a Sauna and at the best meeting facility in the whole USA--SERESC. There will be future posts about SERESC, perhaps even an ode.

This week, I had already had my Monday seminar cancelled when I got a call Sunday night letting me know that my packing procrastination had paid off--no Tuesday seminar either (sadly, due to a death in the family of the presenter). Two days working in the office in Bellevue, and a flight out tomorrow morning. I only regret the time I didn't get to spend christmas shopping in Manchester.

All in all, I think the complaining can come to a rest now, and I can go back to buzzing around the country marveling at how great life can be. And since my photos from NZ, Fiji, and Sydney are all up on Flickr now, I think I can start taking pictures again. Hope you're all ready for this...