A Tiny House

As often happens during this time of year, the office that I work in is turned completely on its head for approximately 4 weeks while colleges and universities across the country welcome their students back onto campus.  Although being away from home for three of those weeks is NO excuse for not posting, I'd like to think it gives a pretty good explanation of where I've been hiding out :)  In a complete turn of miraculous events with all the stars and planets aligning at just the right moment, the schedule opened up in such a way that the J man and I were able to get a full Saturday/Sunday combo of days off--perfect timing for his cousin's wedding and the discovery of a Tiny House open house in NH!  So early on Saturday afternoon, we loaded up the truck and headed to Andover for a night of wedding fun that more than raised the bar for all weddings to come.  Bride and groom were impeccable and the pinkcentric (that means very pink for those of you unfamiliar with that word) color scheme spoke straight to my Barbie girl heart.  The paper accents were absolutely exquisite, and all designed and created BY HAND by J's sister.  If you're a member of that old website known as Facebook, you should totally check out her page for All On Paper because this lady is a master of paper!  The wedding took up all of Saturday plus some of Sunday because we had to get a delicious breakfast at the hotel before heading to Jackson on our Tiny House adventure.  Oh what an adventure it was!  Two and a half hours of driving might not seem like a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon, but for professional drivers such as we are, a scenic drive on a beautiful day with no arrival time looming is heavenly.  Eventually we made it to Jackson, NH, but the Garmin was not being super friendly and we struggled to find the site of the open house.  As we're driving in circles looking for The Lodge at Jackson Village, J suddenly blurts out, "wow...look at THAT tiny house..."  Talk about an AHA moment.  I took my attention away from the road for a few short seconds only to glimpse in person the Tiny House that I'd been admiring online for the past few days!  It was marvelous!  Tiny is certainly the right word for it; I think my current height might slow any plans that were forming in my head to build such a small abode, but it sure was fun to finally get to see what tiny really means.  As we were walking across the parking lot, we bumped into a few folks who were also checking the place out.  They told us they were from Boston (like us) and that they had seen the open house advertised online (also like us) and were really interested in checking it out (again like us).  They were super excited to find out that they weren't the only "crazy" folks who had made the drive up there, and I can assure you that the feeling was mutual.  Crazy as it might have been, the ends most certainly justified the means.  When we went inside the house, we met the owner of The Lodge who explained how she had started following Jay Shafer and his Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, and eventually was lucky enough to have a house built by Jay delivered to her parking lot to live for the next few months.  It's even available to rent for a night so that visitors can get the full Tiny experience.  What a great story, and what a great Tiny house:

Tiny House courtesy of The Lodge at Jackson Village and Jay Shafer

Back at it :)

This week proved to be MUCH busier than I anticipated.  I was hoping to have some great adventures from the road to write about, but with 4 events in 3 days, there was a serious lack of time and sleep on my part.  To make up for my no-writing-mostly-driving-through-the-mountains-of-West-Virginia week, I've decided to go back to one of my favorite weekend trips and reminisce about one of my best days off ever.  The trip started at J's house.  Normally Sundays are Paul's Diner days because they have the most delicious breakfast around and the wait staff there is second to none.  I've never seen so many smiles serving eggs and orange juice, no matter what time of morning you go in.  Unfortunately, we didn't quite make it before they closed at 1:00 so we had to move on to plan B.  We didn't really have a plan B but J was clever and he thought of something right there on the spot.  "Let's just drive," he said.  Just drive?  Driving is what we do for a living.  Why would we voluntarily drive on a day off?  Hmmm...because we don't have to follow a map, or be anywhere on time, or do any work when we get where we're going...genius.  Needless to say, it was only a few minutes before we jumped in the car to go off on our journey.  We started in the direction of New Hampshire since it's only a few minutes to the boarder from Justin's house, but then things changed.  Instead of hitting the highway like we normally do, we stayed on the main road past his house and just kept going.  I had never been down that part of the street before because I always stop at J's, so this was a real treat for me.  We saw things that I never even knew were down there.  And oh, was it worth it.  There were scenic woodland views and swamps and beautiful houses and adorable little shops, and this was all before we finally crossed the state line.  We had planned on stopping to eat right away, but nothing really caught our attention so we just kept driving.  In New Hampshire there was a little river running next to the road and a bunch of places to stop and park.  By that point, we had made it almost 45 minutes without eating breakfast, but the rumbling coming from our tummies was getting a little ridiculous so we stopped for pizza to calm the hunger beasts.  Now, it seemed like a real shame to have driven all that way past a river and a bunch of scenic spots without stopping at any of them.  Nature was right there calling to us and we had just ignored her!  So along came the second brilliant idea of the day, this time from me.  "Let's have a picnic."  Smart, I know.  With high hopes of finding just the right spot, we held out on the pizza a little longer and turned around to start our return trip.  Finally we found a great little place, right on the water and with just enough room for our car to park.  When we first pulled up it looked like we could sit right on the bank on our side of the river, but unfortunately some rather unthoughtful visitors had left a huge bag of trash there so we decided to get adventurous and jump rocks across the river to the other side (no trash).  There was a great big rock for us to sit on and we enjoyed our lunch while sharing a few bits with the minnows in the water.  Man do they like pizza.  Then we played.  There were so many flowers and pools and frogs to explore, we just had to check it all out...

rock hopping

being adventurous

flowers

pools

rocks

Lady Date

So, this posting belongs to last night, but I was so exhausted when I got home that I decided to postpone until tonight.  The reason that I was so tired is because it was Lady Date night!  What is a Lady Date you ask?  Basically it's one of the most fun nights ever because I get to eat and shop and adventure with my friend L.  Every once in a while when the stars align there are nights during the week when we hard working ladies are free to actually spend time together, and when that happens it's a night not to be missed because it's a rare treasure.  Our adventure last night was threefold: 1) construct and devour a homemade pizza 2) find a decent and affordable dress at TJ Maxx and 3) ICE CREAM.  Part 1 of the mission was a complete success.  Linsey has the most creative collection of pizza toppings I have ever seen in a home refrigerator and I was thoroughly impressed with her pizza creation skills.  It was delicious, and we each got 2 slices :)  Part 2 of the mission was a little tougher because of the parameters for the shopping trip.  The main reason we went to TJ Maxx is because I've done such a good job using my TJ Maxx card that they rewarded me with a couple of rewards certificates to tempt me back into the danger zone.  As it turns out I'm going to a wedding in a few weeks and I really needed a nice grown-up lady type dress, so having $20 "free" dollars to spend isn't the worst thing that could have happened.  Thank goodness L was there because I probably would have walked right by the dress that she picked out and ended up empty handed for no reason.  That lady has an eye for style.  The dress is a purple, crepe backed satin with a nice cut and a little stretch (which will be lovely when the dancing starts) and it goes just above the knee which is, as my friend Mark noted today, the perfect length to wear to a wedding.  We didn't quite keep it under the $20 price point, but I only had to pay $9.99 extra so I REALLY can't complain.  It's funny because on the hanger, this dress is so not the kind of thing I would volunteer to try on, but on me it looks totally different.  If you didn't catch this before, I'm very glad L was there, this was too good of a deal to pass up!  Ok, dinner and dress down, now it's on to ICE CREAM.  L is an ice cream expert so she knew exactly where to go and man did we get there in the nick of time!  They closed at 9:00 and we got there at 8:55, but we took our chances and waited for the line outside the door to thin out and eventually we got our 15 seconds of fame in front of the counter.  There is nothing that goes better with pizza and a new dress than mint chocolate chip and chocolate/peanut butter cookie dough.  It was the cherry on top of a perfect Lady Date :)

Math Facts

Tonight's after work adventure was dinner with my aunt, my cousin and my sister.  Normally my uncle and my other cousin would be there too but they are sneaking in one more summer vacation before school starts, so our gathering tonight was just a little more intimate.  In my time as a Trucker Girl, it has been hard to make sure I see my family as much as I ought to so tonight was a real treat, especially with a few out of state tours coming up this month.  One of the coolest things about visiting with my little cousins is the constant amazement I have at just how smart they are.  Example: math facts.  Now see, my cousin is 6 and like most 6 year old kids he has a lot of favorites.  Favorite color: pink, favorite animal: pig, favorite number: 34, favorite part of the news: weather.  His favorite activity (are you ready for this?) happens to be math facts.  A little different than most other 6 year olds I've encountered, yes, but he has a real knack for it.  He can even beat me with his multiplication skills sometimes (not always, but every once in a while...) and I love how much he loves math.  We can literally sit at the kitchen table for hours going back and forth with adding and multiplying double digit numbers without stopping, and it's great.  He is such a smart kid and he never misses a beat.  If I repeat the same number too many times, I know about it right away.  If my addition is off, he makes sure to let me know, and if the problems I'm giving him are too easy well, he'll make sure I know that too.  I know he's only 6, but I have high hopes.  Who knows what's in the future for a 6 year old math lover?  Teacher?  Maybe.  Mathematician?  Perhaps.  But if my cousin has anything to say about it, I can guarantee there will mountains of math facts involved, and I can't wait to see him go!  Hopefully not too quickly though because my long division is a little rusty and I'm going to be in trouble when he gets into that business...

Runner Girl

Although the best part of being a Trucker Girl is constantly being on the go and seeking new adventures, I have found that wheels are not the only means of transportation. Sometimes a Trucker Girl has to strap on her running shoes and take to the streets, and that is just what I did today after months and months of non-running. Needless to say, it was a tough trip. Going from being a dedicated runner in high school with a full twelve seasons under my belt to a lazy bum non-runner once I started college is probably is one of my biggest pet peeves. My memories of running 12 miles every Sunday afternoon are very bittersweet; I loved that time in the woods, but it's hard work running 12 miles and I just don't know whether I'm cut out for it anymore. That whole being cut out for it anymore part is generally what gets me every time I try to rebuild my running regimen, but this time I've concocted a brand new plan of attack, and I think it's working. I started off by running 2.6 miles everyday. 2.6 miles is easy enough, even for a slacker like me, and it seems to have been just the right amount to remind my body what moving really feels like. (2.6 may seem like a strange number, but I use it because it's the distance of a nice loop near my house and I feel like I'm cheating if I call it 3 miles) Let's move on to this week. This week is 4 mile week. The plan is to do 4 miles everyday (or at least every day that I come home right after work) and see how I feel at the end of the week to decide if I stay at 4 miles for a second week or move on to 5 miles. Judging by the way things went today, I'm fairly confident that there will be more than one 4 mile week. As it turns out, today was not only the day that I decided to really challenge myself...it was also the day that EXTREME humidity decided to return to MA. Must have been time for that since the past few days were so nice. In any event, it was hot. Brutally hot. And muggy, thick and muggy. None of these words describe good running weather, I assure you. However, I was determined not to let a little humidity ruin my run, and although it put up a good fight, I made it through and was victorious! Very exciting. I should admit at this point that my sudden urge to get back into running is not entirely of my own doing. One of my co-workers has also begun a running career and is using a program called "Couch to 5K in 90 days" to guide him. I'm so proud of him because I know this is something that he really wants to do and his dedication never wavers. Having been a new runner at one time long long ago, I know how hard it can be to take the trip alone, but I am so excited to see him succeeding in his journey and it's getting me all revved and ready to go along on my way too. The sneakers wont be a permanent fixture (it'd be a long run to work down the highway) but they sure are a good break from the wheels every now and then.

Vacation Recap: A Long Time Coming

The first week back from vacation is a tough one. Always has been, always will be. I won't go so far as to say that my week back was impossible, but the scenery in Vancouver, BC left me begging for more and it certainly would have been nice to get a few more days in. Since vacations only happen once a year, it looks like I'll be living vicariously through my collection of photos for the next 12 months instead. The story of our adventures is long and full of delicious details, so I think the only thing to do in this case is keep the entry short and to the point.

Our very first stop after getting off the plane...


Vancouver at night...


The best place in North Vancouver to get a facial (thanks Moe!)...


The chilly but BEAUTIFUL waters of Lynn Canyon...


Lost Lake up at Whistler...


The view from our hotel room (thanks Mom and Dad!)...


Beautiful, isn't it?

Finally some time with the family :)

This 4th of July, yours truly enjoyed the rare and oh so valuable vacation weekend. I didn't AWAY persay, but I did declare independence from my computer for 3 WHOLE DAYS. It was fantastic. If you've ever had one of those weeks that just feels like it will never end then you can understand how wonderful it feels to pack your bag and lock the front door behind you knowing that you wont be unlocking that door again for a few days. As much as I love being connected at the push of a button, this laptop can sometimes feel like a major ball and chain. Leaving behind all my work files so that I couldn't look even if I wanted to put a big smile on my face. Besides, I knew they'd be there when I got back. Now, on to the good stuff. The mini-vacation consisted of 3 events: a trip to the Cape, a wedding, and a cookout. It really doesn't get more summer than that. One day at the Cape is never quite enough, but we squeezed as much into our day as was humanly possibly. There was beach time, there was grilling time and there was going out to a local bar time and best of all was doing all of this with my boyfriend and his family :) A+ beginning to the weekend. So Cape day was Saturday which means that wedding day was Sunday. The wedding involved a high school friend of mine/my sister and the young lady's fiance. It was gorgeous weather for a wedding, sunny and warm, and it made the air condition in at the reception feel like a major treat! I've never been to a holiday wedding before and was a little wary, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. With everyone at the beach, we had no problems with traffic and our party was the only one at the reception hall that day which made it seem even more special. A+ for day two. With the wedding on Sunday, the only logical day for our cookout was Monday. Although I know full well that it could have been a touch warmer that day, it certainly felt like we had maxxed out the mercury in the midday sun. It was brutal. I was trying to work on my balloon animals but there was a lot of carnage from all of the unlucky animals who met the sun too soon. So sad. I was able to successfully pursue a second past time of mine with new beer brand sampling. It all started when my sister and I were shopping around for the July 4th staples at the liquor store. Once we had stocked up on the Mike's Hard Limeade for my aunt, we decided to poke around in the other cases and found Elephant Beer!! (Elephants are my favorite animal, I could not turn this opportunity to enjoy a combination of favorite beverage and favorite animal) It was a very good thing we went with the Elephant because it was deeeelicious. There couldn't have been a more perfect drink for that hot hot day. A fun new beer combined with the most fabulous backyard set-up made for the third A+ of the weekend and an absolutely perfect mini-vacation. Great weekends like those make the long trips on the Trucker Girl trail worth all the work.

Sometimes You Just Have To Burn That Midnight Oil...

My most sincere apologies for being such a deadbeat for the past few weeks. I have had things to write about, just not enough energy to actually get my fingers moving on the keys. Why? Because I've been working "All Nighters". You see, June is a special time of year at FUN Enterprises when high school seniors graduate and we supply the entertainment at their after-prom and after-graduation parties. It's always nice to shake things up from the usual college events, but it's not so nice when you get used to working midnight to 4:00am and sleeping when the sun is out. Not nice at all. Unless you get home just as a nearby diner is opening up and you get the first fried eggs off the egg fryer. I'll gladly take that breakfast any day of the week, even if it means eating at 6:30am (the time that I normally stumble out of bed). The high school events do have some perks I suppose. There's usually lots of free coffee and pizza. EVERYONE is excited so there is generally never a dull moment and the nights go pretty quickly. The coolest thing is when I have a job in Connecticut and I watch the sun set on the drive out and watch it rise on the drive home. It's sort of like playing tag with the sun, except the sun has a REALLY good hiding place for about 6 hours. There's not a whole lot more to say about the high schools, and since I'm working on getting my sleep recovery time in, I'll just leave you with these fun little GPS photos. (See if you can guess which one I took when I left the house and which one I took when I got home!!)

Rough and Tough NYC

My travels last week took me to NYC for some magical photo magazine covers. My Lovely Lexi and I drove down in the wee hours of a beautiful spring morning fighting Manhattan traffic and pedestrians with a boat load of death wishes. While we're on the subject, let's talk about the favorite pedestrian practice of crossing the street. It's a funny thing that street crossing. When I'm the one doing the crossing, it all seems so simple. The cars stop driving and I start walking or better yet, there are no cars coming and I run across the street to get to the other sidewalk before resorting to pushing the cross walk button. For those of you who are avid cross walk button users, I do apologize, but I am adamantly opposed to the use of such devises for two reasons. The first is that I often find myself crossing mere seconds after pushing the button because traffic has come to a natural lull. The second is that after the previously mentioned lull occurs, traffic is generally ready to pick up just as the cross walk symbol lights and by then there is usually no one crossing the street. I may be a bit biased because this happens so frequently at the intersections near my house, but I doubt this is the only place it occurs. That being said, I now have to give props to the crossing signal operators in NYC. Those folks have really got crossing and driving coordination down to an art; it is choreographed like the most professional of ballets. This was much appreciated considering the fine weather on the day of our travels. I didn't have one close call that Saturday. Not one bumper to human interaction. Shocking. This was not the end of my shocks and surprises for the day though, don't you worry. We had a great time at the event taking pictures of the passers by and enjoying the NYC scenery; fascinating folks in that city, simply intriguing. The best part of a city trip is the ride out, hands down. There's no rush to get to a job, no worries about being late because work is over for the day, and with the rate of traffic movement in the city you get a good long time to really take in the scenery. What was my favorite part of the trip out this time? That has to be the scariest UPS store sign I've ever seen. I'll ask you to indulge me for this one, it's just a fun thing for me. Never before have I seen a UPS sign with such huge spikes atop the letters--kind of like big dragon letters or something. It was simply fantastic, I couldn't help but take a picture. I know that most major cities like to keep the birds from roosting on their signs, but leave it to NYC to post these humongous spikes that would likely impale a pigeon from tail to beak. What a trip...

My Mission for the Month

Since the summer is a rather slow season for travelling (at least here at FUN Enterprises) I've got a new project in the works that I'm pretty excited about. At the suggestion of my boss, I'm writing an article about novelty programming trends that I hope to have published in Campus Activities Magazine. For those of you not in the bizzzz, Campus Activities Magazine is an entertainment magazine designed specifically for artists, agents, and those in charge of booking college events to keep them up to date with the newest artists and hottest trends in college programming. Right now we're running a FUN Enterprises summer ad in their special series at the back of the magazine, so hopefully this article will get us a little closer to the front cover. If all goes according to plan, this will be my first official publication and I'm super excited about it. The main goal of the article is to find out how many novelty programs students and their advisers book on their campus, how much money they spend on this kind of programming and when they book. These are some very simple but important questions that I for one had never really thought to ask. I always figured that my experience as a student programmer was enough, but as it turns out, every school works differently. Imagine that!! The first exciting find I've made is that the contacts I've been calling are MUCH more willing to answer survey questions than to listen to my sales pitch (hopefully that's just because they haven't met me yet??) As of right now, I have about a 20% success rate of getting responses between the calling and emailing I've been doing. This is a good start, but I'd really like to get that closer to at least 80% to have some solid stats for the article. Now the prospect of being published in an actual publication is very exciting, but it's also making me just a little nervous. How many people are going to read this article? How many people are going to love it or hate it? What if someone thinks that my theory is totally off base? This time I'm not just writing for me, I'm writing as a correspondent for FUN Enterprises. STRESSFUL. Despite all this, I am bound and determined to be the best correspondent that FUN Enterprises has ever seen! I will make them proud and I will knock the socks off all of those Campus Activities Magazine readers! Does that sound good for a daily affirmation? I think I'll give it a shot...

Special Edition: Trucker Girl's Birthday

Today's entry is purely self-centered. This one isn't about cars or fitness centers. This one is all about me. It's all about me because I turned the ripe old age of 24 yesterday and I had a pretty sweet birthday. Sure I had to work on my birthday, but does it really count as work if you're having fun at the office? I think not! The day started off with two birthday cards that I've been waiting to open since Saturday, and boy was that a long wait. I felt like I was six again waiting for everyone to finish their lunch at my birthday party while the wrapping paper covered boxes sat and and stared at me on the counter, just begging to be torn open. Let me tell you something, it is so much easier to get up for that 6:15 alarm when there are birthday cards waiting to be opened. Long story short, I went into the day with some cash for evening festivities and a trip to Target in my future--thank you Gramma and the Manions :) After all that excitement it's off to work where I get lunch on the boss (always a bonus), a sweeeeet bonsai plant named Butters and a full chorus of Happy Birthday from the office staff and artists who just happened to be in for the day (coincidence? doubt it.) When 4:30 rolled around I was on the road headed for Boston and the big plan for the day: Sox vs. Twins. This was my first game since July 2005 so I was pretty excited. We had awesome seats thanks to AceTickets and a lovely donor who decided to opt out of his/her season tickets for this game. I'm talking Loge 129 Row LL, perfect view of home plate. Not only did we have amazing seats, we also had swanky accomodations for the evening thanks to the lucky pull of a raffle ticket at last year's FUN holiday party. Ever heard of the Marriott Custom House in Boston? Here are the directions: go to New England Aquarium, turn around and find clock tower, enter clock tower. Besides the old Quaker-Oats-storage-siloh-turn-hotel that I stayed at once in Ohio, this was the tallest and most narrow hotel that I've ever stayed in. It was totally awesome AND super plush AND the best night of sleep I've had in a very long time. This story is leading to a trifecta of awesome that couldn't have worked out more perfectly and I'm so excited to tell you about it, so I hope you've been paying attention. Ready? Red Sox game--Marriott Custom House in downtown Boston--First Time Boston Visitor. Yes, that's right, we were travelling with a first time Boston visitor. It's sort of like Trucker Girl in reverse, instead of me wandering around a city I've never been to before, I spent the night leading a North Carolinian around Boston. It was incredible. My sister's friend is up here for my sister's graduation (that happened on Saturday) and she wanted the full on Boston experience, so we gave it to her. Imagine squeezing into a packed train full of Red Sox fans and strolling down Yawkey Way for the first time, all while practicing a Boston accent with the slightest of southern drawls. It just doesn't get better than that. Ok, that's sort of a fib, it does get better when the Sox win with a 2 run homer by Big Papi. The whole day was fantastic, just a series of glorious happenings and then this morning I come into the office to find a beautiful vase of pink and green flowers sitting on my desk--that's my cherry on top :) So, while reliving the glory of last night, I start thinking about birthdays and here is the conclusion that I've come to: if turning 24 is this insanely good, I'm going to really need this whole year to prepare for turning 25...

Why Do I Travel? I'll Tell You! (In Case You Don't Remember)

So it is certainly no secret that I spend much of my time travelling and seeing cool stuff. The one question that I have not yet answered is why. Why do I stay in crazy hotel rooms with wasps and drive Lego shaped rental cars? Why do I have strange encounters at rest areas and get bear hugged by Hall of Fame Baseball players? The answer is very simple. It's my job! Sort of. Here's how this all breaks down. I work for FUN Enterprises, a novelty entertainment company that sends me all over the country making fun swag like key chains and dry erase boards with people's pictures. Basically I bounce from college to college, invading campuses and bringing our programs to their events. It's SO MUCH FUN. (If there was sound on this, that would be really really loud!!!) In addition to loving the fact that I get to visit places all over the country that I'd probably never know about if it weren't for this job, I get to be the new kid on campus everyday and have FUN all the time. I mean, how could I not have fun taking a group of college students and putting their faces on a coffee mug? Seriously. Without going into too much detail now and giving away all the fun and exciting details, I'll leave you with this, a few examples of what I do for work:

A Good Night for a Bear Hug

Every once in a while, this job has perks beyond my wildest dreams. Tonight was most certainly one of those rare nights. The event was local, and at first seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary--take a few hundred photos of convention goers with some Hall of Fame baseball players. If I sound a slightly blasé about the whole scene, it is only because I find that the nonchalant attitude is best for celebrity situations such as these. It helps to focus the mind in order to better deal with large and potentially unruly crowds. One must not let the light of celebrity shine so bright as to distract one from the job at hand, that's what I always say. Or at least that's what I would say if I were to author a Miss Manners book. But I digress, please forgive me. So, the event is a convention and the entertainment is six Hall of Fame baseball players, two of whom we have been assigned to photograph with adoring fans or folks completely out-of-the-know but who believe they should get their photos taken because everyone else seems to think it's very important. People can be so sheepy sometimes...good thing we were only taking pictures and not, say, shaving heads. We'd have lots of baldies if that were the case. Again, I digress. Ok, so we're preparing to meet our assigned players when all of the sudden Wally the Green Monster walks in. Let me tell you, this is the kind of celebrity I get excited about! I mean, the guy is famous! He's all over the TV during home games and people flock to see him at public appearances. Wally is quite the legend and here I am standing right next to him!! Perhaps I feel some sort of costume character kinship with my past experiences as an Easter bunny and a lobster, I really can't say for sure. No matter. The point is that Wally was there and I was excited in a Christmas morning type of way, seriously thinking that it couldn't get any better than that. Little did I know, the best was yet to come. A few minutes pass and my nerves calm a little bit from all the excitement of my green furry friend just in time for our baseball players (or personalities as they prefer to be called) to show up. My co-worker TJ and I stroll on over to our spot to discover that our personality is Carlton Fisk. Now of course I know the name, and I know that he's famous, but other than those two facts I really have no idea who it is I'm meeting. He seems like a nice guy, kind of quiet, but happy to chat with fans as if they are all his long lost friends. I was actually pretty impressed with how personable he seemed, but I suppose this is just one of my celebrity stereotypes being blown to bits. The entire event only ran two hours and during that time it was my responsibility to take full camera chips to our printers, replace them with empty chips, rinse and repeat. The entire walk was probably only about 50 feet one way, but when you do it at high speeds while ducking and weaving through crowds of people, it truly became a feat of strength and endurance to last a full two hours. At 7:45 we shut down our booth to let the men leave for the night, but right before we left, Carlton asked if we wanted to get a picture with him. I have a dad, how could I not possibly want a picture with Carlton Fisk?? So I go ahead and grab TJ's picture first then step up for my turn with the legend. Perhaps it was his appreciation for my speed walking skills that caused the next great event of the night, or just the mere fact that there was a tall blonde standing next to him. I can't say for sure exactly, but what I do know is that before I had time to sing Sweet Caroline, the great Carlton Fisk had me in a bear hug. This wasn't just any bear hug either. This was a bear hug from a man who, even at a more mature age, clearly has not lost much of his former strength and probably could have squished me if he tried. It was so surreal and unbelievable that I couldn't help being starstruck for a few moments, realizing that I had just received possibly one of the best souvenirs from a great former player on one of my favorite teams. I started tonight with a Green Monster Encounter and ended it with the best Hall of Fame Hug ever. How can I not love my job?

The Midwestern Treasure Hunt

If you've never driven through MidAmerica, then you've likely never had the chance to get trapped in the maze of highways and county roads sandwiched between the major interstates out here. As a semi-full-time traveler I have had such an experience. More than once. And let me tell you, more than once is way too much. Here is the moral to this little intro: driving through Indiana can be hard. A big part of what makes the drive so tricky is the terrible navigational advice from my Garmin. Now I know that sentence may be a little confusing for some of you out there, but the Garmin is not always right, and sometimes it is very very wrong. In my wildest dreams, I have never imagined a world where tractor-paths-turned-winding-cornfield-roads were the BEST way to get from one interstate to another. Clearly I never dreamed in Garmin. Ugh, what a joke. All we wanted to do was find a casino to lose a little money at on a Friday night. Instead we ended up spending almost two hours driving through pitch black, deer infested woods and up a mountain. How a mountain got into Indiana I don't know, but I am sure that this was it. So we drive up this dark, dark mountain, dodge a few deer and then what to we come to find out? I'll tell you. Apparently, Garmin decided to forgoe the closest escape from the torture road to get us just a little farther west on the interstate. Uhh what? Did I hit the civilization avoidance in the settings? I think not. Thanks Garmin, thanks a whole bunch. Thank goodness my navigator finally figure out what was going on and got us pointed in the right direction, otherwise we probably would have ended up sleeping in the van and trying again at daybreak. Side note: how anyone lives out there, I don't know. It's a corn maze everyday and really those things are only fun for like, 20 minutes tops, so I am totally stumped on this one. Ok, back to the action. So we finally find the interstate, and we finally find a hotel (the only one for miles--no joke) and we finally think we're going to get to sleep when yours truly misses the turn and gets back on the interstate...in the wrong direction. The only thing worse than missing your bed for the night is missing it by 6 miles to the next exit and then another 6 to turn around and get back. Yeah, not good. However we did finally make it to the Comfort Inn and got a room and then proceeded to collapse into a deep, deep slumber. While enjoying our free breakfast the next morning, we notice a nice little rain storm going on outside but does it really matter? Nope! Why doesn't it matter you ask? Because there is no rain in the casino!!! Yep, after all those mountains and deer and missed interstates, we were finally ready for the casino. This isn't just any casino trip either. Our destination was well researched and put through a vigorous interview process before being chosen as the destination of choice that night. When it came down to it though, Indiana Live! really had everything we needed: penny slots, a bar, a fancy restaruarnt with creme brulee, coctail waitresses and a bar. I'd go back to Indiana Live! anytime I'm driving down Interstate 74 through Shelbyville, IN because they had the most generous penny slots I've ever had the priviledge of pulling the handle on. I'm not saying I walked away a milloinaire, but I did only leave $30 behind and that was after getting risky with my machine winnings and losing it all for a few high priced spins of the wheel. Sometimes it's just so hard to stop though. The best part about the night?? Creme brulee and dessert wine with the lovely Sam. You know you're in a fancy part of town when an $8.50 glass of wine is approximately 2 shots of liquid in a port sized glass. That dear sirs and ma'ams, is what I like to call swanky. Wine like that is not for chugging. It is meant to be slowly sipped and enjoyed while it enhances the flavors of our $8 dessert, and let me assure you, it did all that and more. That creme brulee was literally the best food we ate all week. Panera did come pretty close to the Maker's Mark Steakhouse dessert, but that delicious concoction absolutly takes the cake. It made our midnight drive SOOOO worth it, and although I never want to drive THOSE roads again, I'd gladly go back for seconds of the creme brulee.

The Joys of Air Travel

This week something very special happened to me at work: I flew to a job. For any of you who know about FUN Enterprises, this is a huge deal because 99% of our travel is driving, so when you get offered a plane ticket, you take it. With that being said, please note that any following complaints are not a commentary on flight choices made by the travel coordinators in the office but rather on the logistical plans designed by United Airlines. Now I know I don't work for an airline and I really don't know a thing about how flight plans are created, but I'll tell you one thing I do know: a flight from Boston to Atlanta that connects through Chicago just does not make an ounce of sense. Not one ounce. A trip from Boston to Atlanta should take 2 hours max, but instead I was lucky enough to enjoy a 5.5 hour journey including 3.5 hours of flight time and a 2 hour layover. Ugh. The day started around 2:00pm with a lovely trip on the Logan Express getting me to the airport at 2:30. I've been on several flights in my day, but this was my first time at terminal C, and what a delight! It was a nice quiet day so all I had to do was walk right up to the self-serve kiosk, push a few buttons and boom, there are my boarding passes. My first flight that day boarded at 4:52 so the question then became, "What do I do for the next 2 hours?" It didn't take long to figure this one out. I found myself a nice cozy chair and settled in for a little one-on-one computer time. Airport gates are the perfect location to get some really good people watching done, and here is my #1 observation from the day. When presented with the option of the usual airport chair or the decidedly New England white rocking chairs, it appears that the temptation of a little rocking time is just too great for some folks to resist. Of the 12 rocking chairs at my gate, I'd estimate that there were only 2 or 3 open at any one time during my hours spent there. The great thing about rocking chairs is that they don't discriminate. Anyone can sit in an airport rocking chair and still look fairly normal, posing as a tourist passing through the area. Once I was able to get over my fascination with the rocking chair lovers, I made my #2 observation of the day. A former hairdresser of mine, a woman that I had not seen for at least four years, was sitting a chair away from me. If you've ever been in one of those public sighting situations, then you know how tormenting it can be trying to decide whether or not to say hello to this person who may or may not remember you from years past. What made my ordeal just that much more difficult was the fact that there was a cute little baby distracting my hairdresser and her family, so much so that I couldn't get a good chance to interrupt and say hi. I waited and watched for the better part of an hour trying to get a word in edgewise, but it just didn't happen. Eventually, I gave up and started making my pre-boarding preparations including buying an $8 magazine and gum combo pack for the flight. By the time I got back to where I had been sitting, my seat had been claimed by a fellow passenger and I got stuck with the only empty seat in the middle of a college speech team. To put it lightly, these kids didn't take a break from warming up their instruments. Great. Finally our flight boarded and while walking down the aisle to my seat WAY back in the plane, I spot the hairdresser again, and I realized that this was my chance. I casually leaned over and asked whether she used to work at the Hair Condition and what do you know, she looks to her mom and says, "I knew it! I knew that was her!" As it turns out, she had seen me at the gate too and was trying to figure out why I looked so familiar. Isn't it funny how airports work? Granted I was in my home state, but still, meeting up with a hairdresser from a salon that isn't even open anymore? It was pretty cool. That was the most fun I had that day, it was such a great little treat. My third and final observation for the day hit me when I arrived in Chicago for my connection to Atlanta. As I was digging in my bag for my wallet, I pulled out my car keys and discovered that I had forgotten to take the little Swiss Army knife off my key chain. I swear I didn't mean to do it, I didn't really need it for work since I knew I would have plenty of scissors around and I had fully intended to leave it at work that morning. I just forgot. As it turns out, TSA didn't seem to think that it was a big deal and they let the little guy travel with me. How kind of them, in a scary sort of way.

PS (These are just funny: Q1 - Which door in the airport did this dino stroll in through? Q2 - At what other times have folks attempted to put their seatbelts on?)

You've made it to a rest area, now what do you do?

As I learned this weekend, some folks have very unusual answers to this question. And that's the tricky thing about an open ended question like that, you NEVER know what you're going to get. I wish I still didn't know. ::shiver:: Anyhow, here are two answers that I got, one slightly annoying and the other slightly awkward. I'll let you figure out which is which. Answer #1 (courtesy of NJ Turnpike, NJ, USA): Stand in the doorway of the ladies restroom and completely block entry by any other patrons while juggling two kids and giving the appearance that you are waiting in line when you indeed are not but are merely being selfish with floorspace. To put it lightly, I was infuriated. Most of this had to do with the fact that my bladder was in the danger zone after a gigantic water four hours of work, but the rest of it was this woman's blatant disregard for common courtesy. The worst part about the whole thing is that I was trying to be EXTRA courteous and not seem all impatient by sticking my head in the door to see if there really were any available stalls; I was content to wait my turn. I'm not saying I'm Miss Manners or anything, but I thought I was doing my part at making the world a more courteous place. Then this happens. Seriously lady, you know that 99% of people walking through this door are here to use the facilities. What voice in your head is telling you that it's ok to stand in the middle of the sink area and block the path to liquid build-up relief? (The voice in my head was pretty upset at this point) Now, you may be wondering exactly how I determined that there was no line. This is the the most irritating part of the story. I realized the truth of the situation when some other lady swooped in around me in line to look for an open stall and disappeared into the abyss, leading me to realize that I'd been standing there like an idiot waiting for an open stall that was already open. Gah. I believe that by now, we humans should be so used to waiting that we can recognize when those accidental lines start forming, like when you're really not waiting but rather, striking a pose in front of the counter/trying to figure out what to order at McDonald's or Starbucks or some place like that. Apparently this skill has not been passed along in every family. Fortunately, I was resolved the situation just in time to avoid any further embarrassment, but not without a few grumbles and some angry soda indulgence following the episode. Ok, deep breath and on we go. Answer #2 (courtesy of Interstate 64 East, VA, USA): Hike your skirt to it's full extent and expose appropriately named "granny panties" to restroom full of mothers, children and unsuspecting young adults in order to adjust fallen pantyhose. ::double shiver:: The first thought that went through my head after experiencing this phenomenon? And I quote, "Uuuuummmmm...WHAT??" Here's how it all went down. I'm taking a fairly regular stop along the interstate, making good time getting to my next destination, and I think things are hunky dory. I stroll into the ladies room, do my business and proceed to wait my turn behind a bunch of kids who are making sure that their hands are VERY clean. To my left is the mom, waiting to head out to the car. To my right is a young thirty something assisting a much, much older woman who is sporting a skirt suit and a terry cloth visor. Before I have time to shield my eyes, up goes the skirt! Did I mention all the children present? Now, I know that wearing nylons is a huge pain, especially in the south on an 80 degree day, but I have to admit that I was not really expecting her to resolve the problem in that way. However, one could also make the argument that it was a LADIES RESTROOM and we all have the same parts, just in different stages of disrepair. So, now that I've gotten past the initial shock, I look around the room expecting someone else to notice. Did they? I'm really not sure because NOBODY in that entire restroom reacted. I figured I'd get a giggle out of the kids or maybe a dropped jaw from the mom, but there was nothing. Nothing besides me nearly bursting a blood vessel in my forehead to keep from laughing at feeling so completely uncomfortable. I only hope that I'm that wild and crazy when I'm her age. So there it is, the beginning of my collection of answers to the question "You've made it to a rest area, now what do you do?" I'd venture to say that a multitude of answers abound, but overall this seems like a pretty good way to start.

The Wasp.

Every once in a while, you'll come upon a hotel room that has "guests" already checked in when you open the door. Sometimes they are hiding right under the pillows, sometimes they're on the bathroom floor and SOMETIMES you find out they're in the room when they buzz over your head. Last night falls under the third category. And it was terrifying. I've never seen a wasp that big before, ever. He was a beast and I'm pretty sure he had me in his sights. He didn't give up his position until about 20 minutes after I walked in the door and got cozy in my bed or else I never would have stayed in that room. This was not a very smart wasp though. After he flew over my head, he landed on the light fixture on the ceiling and then there was no hiding from my shoe. Or so I thought. When I finally worked up my courage, I grabbed my sneaker and tip toed over and then...WHAM!!! At first I thought I got him, but then he started flying around like crazy until he landed on the wall. He buzzed a little bit and then finally curled up into what I believed to be a death ball. What a tricky little bugger. He stayed in that position for at least an hour, silent and still, planning his next move. All of the sudden I hear the most dreaded noise a person can hear when locked in a hotel room with a seemingly dead wasp: buzz. My stomach dropped and I felt adrenaline rush through my body as I jumped off the bed and scrambled for a weapon. After completing my arsenal with the coffee service tray and a plastic cup, I debated whether I should give the little guy leniancy and try to set him free but after looking at his huge waspy body again, I decided that my personal safety was far too important and it was time to take him down once and for all. Up I snuck, tray in my right hand, plastic cup in my left, ready to pounce. WARNING: This next session is not for the faint of heart. Armed and ready, I rushed the wall and SMASH!!! (much more effective than WHAM) and then SLIDE as I smeared him down the wall to make sure that I really got him. The rest was quick to follow: scoop the corpse, dump it and flush the toilet. Done. Unfortunately, I was in too much of a hurry cleaning up the scene to grab a picture, but this is a pretty good resemblence. Scary. Very scary.

Pink Lightening

Yes, it's true, I saw pink lightening. It was awesome! I don't know if lightening is always pink when one is driving directly under a thunderstorm, but it certainly was in this case. I know when my mom reads this, she is going to want to know WHY I was driving under a thunderstorm--she really did teach me better, I just don't always listen. Let me answer that question for all of you, just for the fun of it. I was under a thunderstorm because I took a two hour detour that completely destroyed the head start that I had on the storm when I starting driving out of Illinois. Honestly, it's the most worthwhile detour I've taken in a long time. I took a chance on a little roadside sign for Cameo Vineyards and Winery and I am so glad that I did. Before yesterday, I thought Illinois was all corn fields and Wal*Marts. No no, not the case at all. In Greenup, IL you will find a gorgeous homegrown winery featuring some of the best wine I've ever had. Owners Sonya and Dan grow all of the grapes on their 10 acres, care for the vines and tend the store where they sell the fruit of their labor. I drove off the interstate on a whim and ended up chatting with Sonya for 2 hours about wine and being a business owner and following dreams and men and kids and what it's like to live in Illinois and, well, the list goes on and on. It was fantastic. She told me about how she and her husband had worked in corporate America for years when they suddenly decided that wine was what they wanted to do. They quit their jobs and starting spending everyday in the fields, cultivating vines and caring for the fragile plants. That was nine years ago. Imagine taking a major leap like that, not knowing what will happen, and then having it all working out? She was so candid with me, I almost forgot we had met only a few hours prior. That is one of the greatest things about the Midwest, instant friends. Sometimes, they are what we in the industry call IBFs: Instant Best Friends. IBFs are not really the kind of friends you want to make, they like to chat A LOT and they usually hover. In this case, Sonya was the complete opposite. She has that great Midwestern quality about her where she can speak to a complete stranger like an old friend just because it's the right thing to do. Bottom line, it was a great two hours. On to the winery. I wish I had some photos of the building but I didn't have a chance before I headed back into the rain, so I'll do my best do describe it instead. It's spacious for a smaller house, one large room out front with the tasting bar and then the production room and small office in back. The front porch is perfect with wooden rockers and a little grassy spot before you hit the gravel driveway. Off to one side of the building is a little patch of vines--just a fraction of the 10 acres that grow the rest of the crops. This house has a great story behind it. Sonya explained to me that all of the materials came from an old barn that used to stand on Dan's grandfather's land and when they decided to open the store, they took the materials and reconfigured them into a great little structure. It really was perfect. It had the old country feel to it, but it was absolutely immaculate and there was nothing kitch about it. The wall boards were aged, the tin on the tin roof was really tinny and the bricks on the display wall behind the counter looking like they had been there for decades. A girl could really get used to hanging out in a place like that! I apologize for the quality of the picture, it was raining really hard...so here's the link to their website to get a better view: www.cameowine.com. Check it out, it's fancy :)

As it turns out, you do sometimes get what you pay for...

You may remember when I mentioned that my hotel room in Rochester was a sweet $45 find. If you don't, news flash: I got a $45 hotel room last night. I think I may have figured out why it was such a deal. (please notice photo that features the one person shower stall) Yep that's right, a one person stand up shower stall. In almost two years on the job, I have NEVER encountered a hotel with a shower quite this small. Yes, I've stayed in teeny tiny rooms that only had enough space for a bed. Yes, I've been in bathrooms so small that my giant 5'9" body could barely turn around or close the door that had normal sized showers. No, I've never stayed at a hotel with a one person stand up shower stall. Having trouble picturing just how small this is? Let's just say it's a good thing I wasn't planning on shaving my legs today because that really wasn't an option. And now onto bigger and brighter hotel rooms! I've made it to lovely Mattoon, IL and the always enjoyable and always comfortable Baymont Inn. I have a desk, a chair with an ottoman and a full size shower. It's the little things people :)

The Fitness Center

"Fitness Center". That particular phrase can be somewhat deceptive, especially to the new traveller. It's always exciting to think that there might be a chance to get a little work out in isn't it? When you spend much of the year driving and living in hotels, exercise is not always an option, especially when you're pulling into places at all hours of the night. I have learned that the best way to up your chances of getting in a workout between hours of driving and eating gas station meals is to search for a little green rest stop book entitled "Room Saver". This book is green gold. Not only can you find super cheapo rooms -- sometimes you'll even find a good hotel at a reasonable rate -- but most coupons list the amenities featured at the location. Fitness center is a very rare find so when you see it, take it. It MIGHT be worth the stop. This Days Inn in Rochester, NY is a reasonably good find. $45 dollars, parking right outside my door, TWO Tim Horton's right down the road and of course the fitness center. For the remainder of this entry, please note the sentence above where I suggested that "it MIGHT be worth the stop" and focus on the word MIGHT. There is one thing that you should know about a fitness center: it is almost never a gym. Do not confuse the two, please. A gym is well A) built in a gym B) usually has towels and wipes for dirty equipment and C) at least one working TV to convince me to stay on the treadmill. A fitness center is completely different animal. If you find that you exercise best in a converted hotel room with a few giant mirrors pasted on the walls, TVs that usually don't work and a few pieces of miscellaneous equipment that were likely picked up at yard sales, then the fitness center is for you! The great thing about this particular Days Inn is that there are a few different buildings on the property, so I got to walk all the way around my building to get to the treadmill. It really doesn't make sense to have a hallway to cut through, you're so right Days Inn. So, after all that I have to admit that other than my rainy trek around, I can't really complain about this particular room because they DID have a working TV and a decent treadmill. I do want to point out one particular piece of equipment that I've never seen at a hotel before though: the AB Crunch. Again, I site the yard sale find. I really doubt that management here was watching late night shop-at-home, noticed this piece and thought "Finally! A machine that my guests will really be able to use!!". It's more of a decoration than anything else, I promise.

Monday is a good day to start something new :)

So, the first thing I should explain is that I am not ACTUALLY a trucker. I am a girl, but as far as that first part is concerned, I consider myself more of a professional driver than a trucker. What does a professional driver do when she's not behind the wheel you say? I am glad you asked!

The hours that I spend on the road are merely a means to an end, one that usually has me on a college campus taking pictures of students and putting them into FUN giveaways. This may be a little confusing if you've never encountered an orange polo clad FUN Enterprises employee, but it's really very simple. See, I work for an entertainment company. This company (FUN Enterprises) sends their staff to bring all kinds of fun to locations from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River.

The best part about my job is all of the travelling. In the past two years, I've driven through 26 states and worked in 22. This weekend I'll make that number 23 with my very first job in Virginia. The second best part of my job is the sweet rides I get from Enterprise. If this cherry red Chevy HHR doesn't make you jealous, then you've clearly never driven one. It is, in a word, fancy. And I'm not just saying that--I literally tapped the gas to pull out of the parking lot this afternoon and before I knew it I was zipping down the street. Very unexpected for this vehicle that looks like a strange cross between a PT Cruiser and a brick. The downside? Not quite as much cargo space as I would like. Barely any in fact, especially compared to what I usually get. It's going to be one of those "I can't see out of the back window" kind of trips -- love it.