Waffle House...The Stories NEVER End

Yesterday, on the way back from NC, I stopped in Atlanta to have coffee my friend, Rich Williams. We decided on an exit and I was supposed to call him once I had arrived and let him know where I had stopped. The only non fast food place to stop was Waffle House, I was feeling a little college nostalgia and decided that it would be the perfect place to stop. I walked in and sat in a booth. Note: I was the only customer in the entire Wa-Ho. I ordered a cup of coffee from my waitress and in the process, hear another waitress say to a co-worker (in a tone where she wanted me to hear),
"See that girl over there? Doesn't she look like (insert a name that I couldn't understand because of an overly hick Deliverance-esque accent)? Ya know, from that TV show?" The other waitress says,
"Yeah, that looks just like her! I think it might be!" Waitress 1 actually speaks to me and says,
"Is that who you are? We have famous people come in here all the time." I reply,
"No ma'am, that's not me!" She says to me,
"Yep, that's what they all say!"
I mean, how do I respond to that! I just sat there being stared down for a few more minutes, praying for Rich to arrive.
Fast forward to 20 minutes into my visit with Rich...
He's telling me about life in DC, work, the usual, and waitress 1 comes up to us (actually behind Rich, he couldn't see her, I could) and starts taking pictures of us! Seriously!! She comes up takes 3 pictures and walks off! So I would like to state for the record that I have officially fallen victim to the paparazzi, in Waffle House, no less. I honestly have no idea who she thought I was, but I have a feeling somewhere in Hotlanta this Christmas Day, a Waffle House waitress is showing pictures to her family and is disappointed when they laugh at her for taking pictures of a random girl that was just passing through town.

Weekend Plans

I'm heading up to Camp Nowiczewski this weekend (an overdue retreat into the mountains of NC) to hang with Katy and her family and then back to the Salty on Monday for Christmas with the fam. Hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas!

Welcome to the Blogging Community....

JUSTIN MCKELVEY

Justin has fallen victim to the blogging world and for that, I am thankful. I met Justin in Vail during the winter season of 04/05. We really didn't hang out that season since just by looking at him, I was a jerk and automatically pegged him as snowboard punk. During the next season, I really got to know him and he has been one of my favorite people in the world since. I've shared some really great experiences with him (Winter X Games '06 and the occassional trip to Buena Vista). He was one of my few friends in Vail that actually understood being in the world, but not of it. So, check out his blog and welcome him to the wonderful world of blogging.

Music I've been diggin lately...

I've been loving some Joshua Radin, Sufjan Stevens, and Tom Brosseau as of lately. Especially Star Mile (Joshua Radin) and

Casimir Pulaski Day (Sufjan Stevens), here are the lyrics...

Golden rod and the 4-H stone
The things I brought you
When I found out you had cancer of the bone

Your father cried on the telephone
And he drove his car to the Navy yard
Just to prove that he was sorry

In the morning through the window shade
When the light pressed up against your shoulder blade
I could see what you were reading

Oh the glory that the lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth

Tuesday night at the bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens

I remember at Michael's house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse

In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
And you told me you were scared

Oh the glory when you ran outside
With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied
And you told me not to follow you

Sunday night when I cleaned the house
I find the card where you wrote it out
With the pictures of your mother

On the floor at the great divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom

In the morning when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low
And the cardinal hits the window

In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing

Oh the glory that the lord has made
And the complications when I see his face
In the morning in the window

Oh the glory when he took our place
But he took my shoulders and he shook my face
And he takes and he takes and he takes

P.S. Keep a look out for the next post. It will be all about the dirty little hotel secrets that I have encountered in the past few years.

Sad Night

It was a very sad night here at the Foshee house. I came home tonight from a holiday party for work to find that my cat had been hit by a car and died. One of my neighbors found him and let us know. I found Bailey, as a kitten, in a tree in Liberty Park at one of my Young Life girl's houses. He had been stuck up in the tree for over 24 hours. For some reason, after 30 minutes of coaxing, he decided to come down and jumped into my arms. I put up an ad in the Birmingham News, but never got any calls on a lost kitten. Bailey (or Pojo as my dad called him, because he was a poor joe of a partner and would always get in the middle of my dad's projects and knock things down) was the enforcer of the neighborhood. The story of his life was marked by constant trips to the vet to treat infections he acquired from fights with neighboring cats. He never lost a fight though. He was 20 lbs of muscle. We tried to put him on a diet one time and he started killing more chipmunks and rodents. You had to give it to him, he still had it being that he was 10 years old and overweight. Though at times he seemed like a menace to society (he attacked our neighbor once, but my grandmother thought she deserved it because she had a buddha statue in her yard) he was my cat. He was protective and seemed to have more dog like qualities than cat. He lived a very privileged life. My dad had set up a partially finished basement room for him, complete with a twin size bed (with a heating pad for the winter), cat artwork, numerous toys, a water purifying fountain, and a TV. Dad made sure that he was able to watch Auburn Football games and "Two a Days." Not kidding. He went to watch fireworks with our family every 4th of July and would jump up on the dashboard to watch them. Needless to say, I was attached. Funny, the past few nights when I came in late, I would spend some time extra time with him because I felt like he needed a little extra loving. I guess something was telling me that his time on this earth was limited. It's funny how hard it is when you lose a pet, the first feeling I had was that I don't want to have another pet again. I guess I just miss my friend. Rest in Peace Bailey Boo...we'll miss you!

Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.

Work has been crazy as of lately. None of my events though, lots of holiday parties that my co-workers have booked. Saturday night I helping a co-worker (Jeanna) get a chocolate fountain started in her party. Let the record show that I HATE chocolate fountains. I think they are the most vile creations on earth. They should be referred to as "Fountains of Communicable Diseases." I've seen some gross stuff in my event days and I will never ever eat out of one ever. It's one of those unknown hospitality secrets similar to taking off the comforter off of hotel room beds. P.S. I have a list of things that you should watch out for in hotel rooms. If you're interested let me know. I would publish them, but for some people somethings are best left unsaid. That aside, we had to get it up and running. The kitchen brought up part of the chocolate for the fountain (or what we thought was the correct chocolate for the fountain). We poured it in the fountain and it looked like this:

Obviously, it needed more chocolate. So Jeanna headed down to the kitchen to get the rest only to discover that we were given the wrong (one was dark and the other was milk) chocolate!!! Not sure what to do, we thought about it for a second and decided to pour the rest of it in, thinking that it would just mix and aesthetically would look funny for a few minutes, but would then just mix together. Not so fast my friend. What we didn't know was the kitchen had given us was not just two different flavors of chocolate, but textures as well. It started to back up and falling in clumps from the top of the fountain to the bottom, splattering chocolate everywhere! Then the top tier of the fountain started shaking and spinning. It had some serious volcanic action going on. So we had to unplug it, take it out of the room, and clean it in pits (dish washing room). Needless to say I never want to see, smell, or eat chocolate EVER again. Here is the after picture:

We ended up serving it fondue style out of a crock. Not quite the presentation that the client was looking for, but a little bit more sanitary.

Maybe I'm High Maintenance?

In my sales meeting today, our DOSM (that's Director of Sales and Marketing, for those of you not in the biz) asked each of us to fill out a short survey about ourselves for our Secret Santa ('tis the season for awkward work parties and gift exchanges!). The survey had the following listed on it:

Name:
Favorite Color:
Favorite Candy:
Favorite Soft Drink:
Favorite Magazine:
Favorite Coffee:

Without thinking, I answered with the following:

Name: Stacey
Favorite Color: White
Favorite Candy: Lara Bars
Favorite Soft Drink: Kombucha Tea (GTS)
Favorite Magazine: National Geographic Adventure
Favorite Coffee: Bongo Billy's Red Tea

After I actually started thinking about my answers, I realized that not only would my Secret Santa kick my booty, but that I am kind of high maintenance (we'll call it medium maintenance). I can't just have Starbucks (which I HATE by the way, big coffee burns beans!) I have to have a specialty tea from a small Colorado Mountain town with a population less than 2,000 people! And I don't drink soft drinks, so I want a tea made from fermented mushrooms. I also don't want just an InStyle that can be found on any news stand, I like to read a magazine that sometimes can't even be found in larger/specialty bookstores. I can't just have a pack of M&Ms, I like raw vegan bars that can only be found at Whole Foods here in Bham.

So I refilled out the Secret Santa Survey and turned it in. It ended up looking like this:

Name: Stacey
Favorite Color: White
Favorite Candy: M&Ms
Favorite Soft Drink: Diet Coke
Favorite Magazine: Real Simple
Favorite Coffee: Hot Tea

So there it is...the most boring Secret Santa Survey on the planet...my first one was way more exciting. We are having a Christmas party in 2 weeks, I think I might be Jewish that day.

Birthdays and Snowboards

So today is my 28th birthday. All day long I have been berated by my younger brother with comments asking me how it feels to be 30. It's been an okay day. I have learned in my now 28 years that it is not the presents or material things that matter, but the people in my life that I really want to talk to when my birthday comes around. I have had many happy birthday wishes today and am very appreciative of them, but a few friends that I would have expected to call first thing in the morning have not. I blame my parents for this, as a Thanksgiving Birthday is not the easiest to remember. Not the end of my world, but made me a little upset, thus setting the mood for the encounter today...

Two and a half weeks ago I drop off my snowboard to get tuned and have store wax put on it (a thicker wax applied when you won't be riding your board for an extended time). I took it to Steep and Deep in Homewood. I should have been suspicious when I dropped it off with specific instructions and the retail associate looked at me like I had 3 heads. I explained to her my expectations and asked if it would be possible to have this done and she said it would be fine. I also asked when it would be done, I was told next week.

Two weeks go by and I stop in Wednesday. Guess what, it wasn't done. I expressed my frustration as it had been well over a week from when it should have been done. I was then told the tuner would be in on Friday and should be done then. Fine.

I called today, since I was in the area to see if it was done and was told that it was not. Now I'm just plain mad. I told the sales clerk not to worry about it and that I would be over to pick it up and would wax it myself. I pull up to the store and go in and the guy from the phone tells me that they went ahead and started on it and it should be done in 5 minutes. Now I'm just pissed. There's not much I can do now that the board is 1/2 waxed, so I let them finish.

The manager of the store never says anything, but I see her send over this younger college kid to talk to me. I guess his job was to settle me down, but he sucked at it. He asks me if I am planning a ski trip, I let him know my situation and that I am planning on storing my board for the season. He then starts telling me about how he is about to move to Telluride and elaborates on how it is one of the last untouched ski towns, mentions how he supports the Valley Floor Preservation, blah, blah. I then ask him about where he is planning on working, as I do have several hotel/retail connections. He replies that his dad (who is a home builder in Bham) is going to start a branch of his company developing homes in Telluride. Seriously? Was he here for the conversation 10 seconds ago? I felt like I was talking to a politician, all about the conservation, but making sure you are taken care of foremost. Secondly, like that's going to work, does he think the two markets are ANYTHING alike? I have a feeling that this kid will be disappointed with life in about 10 years. Anyway, 5 minutes turned into 20, I get more upset by the minute, and 25 minutes later, I finally got my board back. I let the manager know that her customer satisfaction skills are completely inadequate and I will not be returning. For all of the curious readers out there, I ride a Burton Feather 154. Here's a picture:

Lessons for the day:
1. Do not get your snowboard waxed in a town that has less than 1 inch of snowfall annually.
2. If you have a birthday that falls near a major holiday, don't have any expectations for your friends. It's not fair for them.
3. No matter what your age, your siblings are the only people on the planet that can reduce you to acting like a 10 year old in 2 seconds flat.

Words to a song I like...

I was listening to this song today and forgot how much I love it.

Useless Desire
Say goodbye to the old street
That never cared much for you anyway
And the different colored doorways
You thought would let you in one day
Goodbye to the old bus stop, frozen and waiting
The weekend edition has this town way over-rated

You walk across a baseball field
The grass has turned to straw
A flock of birds tries to fly away from where you are
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye old friend
I can't make you stay
I can't spend another ten years
Wishing you would anyway

How the sky turns to fire against the telephone wire
And even I'm getting tired of useless desires

Every day I take a bitter pill it gets me on my way
For the little aches and pains
The ones I have from day to day
To help me think a little less about the things I miss
To help me not to wonder how I ended up like this

I walk down to the railroad track and ride a rusty train
With a million other faces I shoot through the city veins
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye old friend
You wanted to be free
Somewhere beyond the bitter end is where I wanna be

How the sky turns to fire against the telephone wire
And even I'm getting tired of useless desires

Say goodbye to the old building
That never tried to know your name
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye old friend
You won't be seeing me again
Goodbye to all the window panes shining in the sun
Like diamonds on a winter day
Goodbye, goodbye to everyone

How the sky turns to fire against a telephone wire
It burns the last of the day down

And I'm the last one hanging around
Waiting on a train track and the train never comes back
And even I'm getting tired of useless desires

Patty Griffin, Impossible Dream

Am I in a Bad Dream?

So the new Patty Griffin tour dates are up and the closest she comes to Birmingham is Knoxville/Asheville the weekend of January 11-14. I'll be in Denver for another show that weekend. Fantastic.

AND...to top it off, today is the opening day of Vail (yes, I am dressed in all black). I have installed the interactive snow report for Vail Resorts on my computer. When it's snowing in Vail, it snows in the bottom right-hand corner of my computer. It's snowed all morning. 6 inches fell last night and I'm not there. I'm not feeling too thankful right now.

UPDATE: After talking to several friends in the High Country, I realized that if I was in Vail I would not be up on the hill. I have NEVER gone up on opening day. Born Free is the only run that is ever open on the first day and 10 bazillion people are trying to ride or make turns down it. It is lovingly referred to as the "Ribbon of Death." It is a serious yard sale or a trip to the ER waiting to happen. It must be the excitement of opening day that I miss.

Shout Out...

I just finished reading Beeej's blog and had to give a shout out. Bryan Johnson is a college friend/Birmingham photographer phenom that I have mentioned before in the blog. He is currently in South Africa with Hanson/Tom's Shoes handing out shoes to kids in different schools. His stuff is pretty amazing, check it out.

Painting Southtown..

Yesterday I had the privilege of volunteering down in the Southtown Community of Birmingham. My QuEST girls and headed down and were able to help revitalize a mural that was painted over 30 years ago. Part of this mural is visible from University Boulevard and the other part is actually back in the neighborhood. We were fortunate enough to be able to paint back into the neighborhood and were able to talk with families. There was one child in particular that approached us and wanted to help paint. He name was DeMun (Mun for short). Mun decided that he wanted to paint our faces, so we let him! Here are a few pictures...

iPhone 1, Cell phone 0

Last night I was at Church and was sitting by Doug Clapp. If you remember from recent posts, Doug and I share a love of fine bluegrass music. Let me back up and explain that there was a concert last night at the Alys Stephens Center. Sam Bush, Edgar Meyer, and Jerry Douglas were playing together. For those of you not familiar with the bluegrass community, each one of these individuals is arguably the best international musician in their respective disciplines. It's a big deal when they play together. I had not bought tickets for the simple reason that they were expensive and I didn't have anyone to go with. So back to sitting in church...during the welcome time, Doug leans over and asks me if I had tickets to the show after church. I replied with the aforementioned excuses and he concurs that is the reason that he did not get them either. We sit in silence for about 5 seconds until he speaks up and says, "Well, do you want to go?" Ummm, yes!! We then wonder about tickets, how were we going to get tickets? The show selling out was a very real possibility, so I pulled out my iPhone and bought them online right there in the middle of church! Think about that for a second. I pulled out my phone in the middle of church and bought tickets online for a concert in an hour. It blew my mind that technology enabled us to complete our spontaneous act for the night. The concert was amazing. Words can't describe. If you have the opportunity to see any of these musicians individually or together, take advantage.

Weekend Update....

As I mentioned in my last post, this past weekend I met Katy and Laurie down in NOLA for Voodoo fest. Funny thing happened on my way down there. I called Katy to tell her I was leaving and to chat. I mentioned that I was going to leave to head back home early on Sunday, so I could hang out with Missy, Darren, Kayin, and the Carpenters. Well, apparently two weeks ago in the midst of my Clinton hysteria, Katy sent me an email stating that she was going to buy tix for Sunday instead of Saturday. I replied back "Great!" She could have told me that she was going to throw me into a pit of rabid wolves and I would have replied back "Great!" I was so wrapped up in things. But it was still a fun weekend none the less.

I got down to NOLA at 11pm on Friday night, seriously, it had not been 2 minutes since I turned off the interstate to go to Laurie's house when I saw my first drag queen. Not kidding. The largest gold sparkling dress I had ever seen in my life. Gotta love it! On Saturday, we slept in, went to lunch and then went to an art show. It hadn't been 15 minutes we had been at the art show when Katy realized that she didn't have her Blackberry. After retracing her steps for about 20 minutes, I called her phone and someone answered! Some lady seriously must have picked up her phone before it hit the ground, because she was already home in a suburb about 35 minutes away! We left, retrieved the phone, and came back just in time to catch the last 30 minutes of the show. I had not been back to NOLA post Katrina. It was crazy to still see such remnants of the storm. I talked to several local artists the show, it was sad to see how their lives are still upside down from it all and how refugee-esque their lives still are! It made me really thankful for the life I have been blessed with and was a reminder that, from everyone who has been given much, much will be required.


We then headed down to the French Market, checked out a body painting art studio, people watched at Cafe du Monde and then headed home. On the way home, Laurie kept saying that her steering wheel seemed tight. Well 15 miles later we stop for gas and had a flat tire. Awesome. In the middle of a bad part of town, 3 girls, and one flat tire. Luckily, we all knew how to change a flat and let me tell you, it was a good thing we knew because not one person out of the 15 that walked by offered to help. Let me take that back. One guy (completely metro-sexual and dressed up to go out) did take one look at us and said, "Oh Crap!" and this wasn't an, "Oh Crap, that stinks you have a flat tire!" this was an, "Oh Crap! I am obligated as a guy to help you out and I really don't want to!" Katy looked at him and said, "Don't worry, we've got it. I wouldn't want you to scuff up your shoes." Yes. She said it. I told her that I was going to make her a shirt that said "Katy Nowiczewski...Telling it like it is since 1980" We changed the tire, bid adieu to any chivalry thought to have existed in the south, and headed home.

We got home and Laurie had to go to a wedding shower. This left Katy and I at home, watching a movie (and the world series, we're not talking about that one, I'm subscribing to the theory, if we don't talk about it, it never happened). We had a dinner consisting of a greek salad, La Crema Chardonnay, chips and queso, sour watermelon candy, and candy covered almonds. That's right, the dinner of champs my friends.

Sunday, I left early to go and hang out with Missy, Darin, and Kayin. Here are a few shots of Kayin...

Everywhere is somewhere and nowhere is near...

Since I've been back in the 'Ham, the weeks have flown by. It seems every Thursday night rolls around and I can't believe how quickly the week has gone. Anyway, I'm meeting Katy Nowiczewski in New Orleans for the weekend for Voodoo Fest and I'm pretty excited about it. I have no idea who we're going to see, just looking forward to hanging out with a friend who knows me.
I've been missing friends lately. I, typically, am always on the phone. I never want to lose touch with friends that truly know me, where I've been, where I want to go, what I struggle with, what I love, you know. I feel that I'm at a point in life where I don't have many close friends in Birmingham and I want to be able to talk to someone and not have to explain myself. I've played some vicious games of phone tag lately. It's been frustrating to the point of being upsetting, especially the ones that I haven't heard from in a while. I guess I'm just missing Colorado these days...missing the mountains, the snow, the excitement of what the next season would hold. I've decided though, that I need to be content where I am in life, quit worrying about what I will do next, where I will go. I've lived that life long enough. With that said, I've tried to stay off the phone. So far I've done a good job, it's just made me pretty lonely.
I found a Patty Griffin song that I never knew existed, which is always exciting news. It was on the album, "It'll Come to You...The Songs of John Hiatt" I'm not sure how I missed this one as it came out in 2003! "Take it Down" is the name of it. It's pretty amazing, I'm addicted already.

What a fun weekend!!

I started off this weekend by attending a informal concert downtown at Bryan Johnson's studio loft. Bryan is a college friend that is now, in my humble opinion, the best photographer in the southeast and possibly the world! He had Katie Herzig, formerly of Newcomer's Home, play for about 50 people. It was one of those gatherings where I most definately did not feel cool enough to attend! The atmosphere was amazing. It was fun to hang out with people that I don't get to see everyday. I was able to chat with Katie after the concert. I had originally met Katie while I was working at Frontier Ranch, so it was fun to catch up with her and see what is new and exciting in her life. NCH broke up a few years back and she has since started her solo career and doing quite well. The past 18 months she has been on tour with The Fray and this coming Thursday her song, "Fools Gold" will be featured on Grey's Anatomy. Make sure you tune in to hear it!

After hanging out downtown, I then came back to the 'burbs and finally was able to see Into the Wild. Into the Wild is prolly my most favorite book of all time. I was VERY nervous to see the movie. Technically, it came out about 6 weeks ago, but with Birmingham being a little behind on the artsy scene, it just arrived here. Seriously, for the past 6 weeks, my Friday morning consisted of me jumping out of bed at the very first sound of my alarm going off (completely uncharacteristic of me), racing downstairs, furiously flipping to the City Scene section of the Birmingham News, and consistently being disappointed by not seeing Into the Wild listed. I would then go to fandango.com and see what the closest city would be for me to see it. Dallas, it was always, Dallas. And yes, then I would look at plane tickets and contemplate whether or not I should call a friend in Dallas and tell him I was coming. This went on for 6 weeks. But not this weekend!!! I went to the 10:20pm showing of the movie. I had avoided all reviews of this movie and went by myself. Amazing...never have I seen a movie that stayed so true to the book. It has instantly become my favorite movie. I have always seen a little part of myself in the main character. A friend of mine once wrote, "The romantic mind paints a picture that is far removed from reality." This is quote has always been a favorite of mine. It describes me so well. Who I want to be, where I want to live, how I want to live my life, but society isn't conducive to such a carefree, whimsical lifestyle. I can't stand the expectations and societal norms that are forced on all of us, that won't matter 100 years from now. This was the same moral dilemma that is faced in this movie. If you haven't read the book, I highly encourage you to pick it up and if you haven't seen the movie, go see it. It is well worth it.

Saturday, I drove over to Anniston to see a friend of mine, Lauren, from Vail that was visiting home in Atlanta. Lauren and I met less than a year ago, which is hard to believe. I feel like I have known her for years. She was hired to work at the Cascade as a Conference manager. She has become one of my best friends and I just love her! Every Friday when I lived in Vail, we would have "Dance Party Friday" (not to be confused with "Hip Hop Friday" that our friends at Vail Fire Station would have). Basically this consisted of us going into Karen's (our boss) office and dancing around for about five minutes. Lauren and I still have this tradition, only it's over the phone. So much fun! Here is a picture from Saturday...

Hi, Kettle? This is the Pot and you're black!

Please humor me and read the article below. A story ran in the Vail Daily on the rising expenses of Aspen, Colorado. Seriously? Vail is running stories about other ski towns becoming more expensive. I could go on for a while about this one, talk about the overpriced real estate market, the completely outrageous rental market, the 5 NEW hotels being built in the Vail Valley and the lack of housing for workers that will have to live in Vail to keep these up and running, but I will spare you.

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20071015/NEWS/71004034

P.S. Just in case you missed it, the ROCKIES ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!

Glad the Weekend is Over!

Remember a few posts ago when I was suddenly stressed and couldn't talk about it...now I can. This past Saturday, the Alabama Democratic Committee, was on property at the hotel and while planning this conference I was told that Senator Hillary Clinton would be the keynote speaker for the lunch. Let me back up and give some history with this conference. When I was given this contract to plan, the luncheon on Saturday was to be for 250 people. With the announcement that Senator Clinton would be coming this quickly jumped to 700 people. This caused some major logistical/fire code/operational problems. I had heard of Secret Service horror stories by other hotel meeting planners. Having to feed 700 people and flip an entire hotel that had run at full occupancy the night before, I knew that it would be a crazy day. I arrived fairly early for a prayer breakfast (note: At this "prayer breakfast" no prayer happened, hmmm...).

I then met with the Secret Service Agent that I had been working with over the past 4 days. He was fantastic...really, he couldn't have been more accommodating throughout the week. We had the same opposing political views from the ADC, both had to do our jobs, and had get through the day. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one in the ballroom rolling my eyes through lunch. I was really glad I came out of this experience without a SS horror story.

The function itself went well, it could have gone better. We had to hire several temp servers for the meal and some how 3 tables were not touched the first 30 minutes of the lunch...never a good thing. I had to jump in and help with service, which was interesting considering I still don't know where everything is located back of house. Oh, and an entire tray of salad plates were dropped, outside the room, thankfully!

Regardless of my right wing and sometimes apathetic political views, it was a really cool experience. Senator Clinton is a dynamic speaker and knows how to spin her message to the audience she is addressing. It was fun to think that I was able to take part in a small part of history. I did not have time to take pictures of the function, like some of my star struck servers did (seriously, camera phones out in the middle of the lunch, ugh!). I don't like taking pictures of high profile individuals. They're just people! After living in a tourist town, I never ever want to be a gaper (a nice Colorado term for tourists). Sure, it would be cool to show others, but at work, HELLO...highly unprofessional. In lieu of my own, I have posted a few pictures, courtesy of the Birmingham News.

Ladies and Gentlemen...the Grandfather of Telluride!

It was brought to my attention that I hadn't blogged about the Sam Bush show at Workplay! Sam Bush is one of my favorite artists of all time. A friend of mine, Josh Flowers, turned me into a Sam Bush fan while I living in Buena Vista, Colorado. Sam plays each year at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and is known to the Telluride Bluegrass family as the "Grandfather of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival." He started playing the festival in 1975 and has come back each year since. Sam is constantly pulled up on stage with numerous performers and has been known to pull a few up on stage with him. My favorite performance has to be a few years back when he pulled up Jean Luc Ponty on stage and they performed Ponty's, "New Country" that now appears on Sam's newest CD "Lapse in Seven." His set is typically Saturday night of the festival. Every year, it seems that I have some sort of headache on Saturday of the Festival (probably from camping for 3 nights and getting NO rest, dang festivarians!), my motto for this ailment has become, "It's nothing that a little Sam can't take care of!"

Anyway, I was privileged enough to attend this concert with an old friend, Doug Clapp. Doug was a professor of mine in college and through Young Life connections, we have stayed good friends through the years. The Greencards (what a band!) opened for Sam. Doug and I noticed during the show that all of Sam's equipment still had "New Grass Revival" stenciled on it. I thought it was pretty dang cool that I was staring at the mixers and monitors that had helped shape the entire New Grass movement for the past 35 years! It was quite a moment for me. (Yes, I know I am a dork.) Sam played mostly songs from his new album and every so often would throw in a Bob Marley classic! The crowd was mixed with old school Revival fans and new school jam band types. It was quite a mix.

All in all, it was a fantastic night, seeing great music with a fun friend.

The Most Fantastic, Little Radio Station in Austin...

I was introduced to KGSR, when I first moved to Buena Vista, Colorado to work at Frontier Ranch. Caroline Davis (now McGlade) had the majority of the Broadcasts CDs. Each year the various performances from artists that stop by the studio are compiled into one (technically 2) CDs and sold around Christmas time. I now listen to this fantastic station everyday at work and now I have an itch to move to Austin! Anyway, I have found several artists as of lately that I adore (or have adored for years, just fell in love with again). Here is a list...

1. Jimmy Lafave-Makes me feel like I have missed out by just now finding him.
2. Loudon Wainwright, III
3. Reckless Kelly
4. Eliza Gilkyson
5. Iron and Wine
6. Lyle Lovett
7. Cowboy Junkies
8. John Hiatt
9. Lucinda Williams
10. The Greencards

P.S. How 'bout them Rockies? First time they've headed to a NL Championship game!! Go Rox!

Rockies Win!!!

Man alive, what a game!! Of course, I leave Colorado and the Rockies get some post season action! Who would have thought at the beginning of the baseball season, the Colorado Rockies would have pulled together to win 14 of their last 15 games and then win the tiebreaker for the NL wildcard in the 13th inning? I don't think I've seen a game like that in years!! I've loved Matt Holliday for a while, but I think that I may be a Troy Tulowitzki gal now. If he doesn't win Rookie of the Year, I will be upset. Also, keep your eye on Ian Stewart, he was called up from Colorado Springs in August of this year and is one to be reckoned with, he is from Long Beach, as our friend, Mr. Tulowitzki is. He's challenged Garrett Atkins for 3rd as of lately and wouldn't surprise me if he took over next year. Next stop, Philadelphia!

Shaq Attack

Yesterday, I was so ready to leave work. It had been a really long day, I had a call from a client that pretty much turned my life upside down and will provide a very stressful next two weeks. Really wish I could share, but because of the whole hotel confidentiality VIP guest thing, I cannot. (Check out the blog in about 2 weeks, then I will be able to talk.)

Anyway, I walk out of my office and into the hotel lobby and there stands Shaquille O'Neal! I probably would not have recognized him, but he's a good two feet taller than I am. It was hard to miss. Apparently, Birmingham's own Charles Barkley is having a celebrity golf charity event and Shaq was in to help support it. Crazy!

p.s. Does anyone think there is entirely too much denim in this picture?

Bring 'er back...

4 years, 9 residences, 1 car, 24 roommates, and 3,000 miles later, I'm back in Birmingham. With all this new change, I am going to make a valiant effort to bring back the old blog.

A little update on how I'm back here....Last April, I started considering buying a house out in Vail, well little did I know the cheapest 1 bedroom apartment in the slums of Avon was $419,000. When I realized that the majority of my friends (with the exception of Lauren and Marissa) had moved and/or were thinking about moving, I decided that it was time to look for another job and another place to live. I didn't have too much drawing me to any one particular place, so I decided to look at moving somewhere down south. The first job I saw was in Birmingham a a local hotel. I applied, interviewed, and now I'm back in the Salty, doing primarily corporate meeting planning. That's where life has brought me back thus far. So far, so good, I can't complain. I'll keep you updated.