i can’t lie. i really like the state of iowa. between the iowa state fair on sunday, and meals that rival thanksgiving dinner for business lunches, these people know how to pack some food away. my perceptions of iowa were shattered, though, in two ways:

1. the life sized butter cow (pics to come) at the fair is NOT made of solid butter.
2. the windmills in charming pella iowa are FIVE YEARS OLD. apparently a few years back they realized they could make some $$ by playing up the dutch-factor of their town (you should see the “v” section of the phone book…), so its all a facade. very epcot-like

even that won’t ruin iowa for me though. i ate filet mignon at a restaurant called Udders last night, where you grill your own meat. it is in the middle of nowhere. literally. there are no other businesses or buildings for that matter in sight. when we came out, it was pitch black. a little creepy, but i’m ok with it. you don’t get a lot of pitch black in chicago.

i had perhaps the most intimidating moment of my career on this trip. 3 of us had to do an executive presentation. i’m not sure what i thought ‘executive’ meant, but the night before as i was updating my slides it came to my knowledge that this meant the CEO, CFO, CIO, and 10 of their colleagues. um, what? this wasn’t really concerning to me until the part where i was waiting outside the board room (yes, it looked exactly as you think it did) and noticed the fortune 100 magazine covers all over the walls. one of my contacts at the company leans over and in a very serious voice says “this is a BIG deal”. of course they had questions for me, but it was pretty easy stuff and i didn’t choke. whew.

ready to be home. i’ve been told at least 6 times this week “you look really tired”. ugh!

its the home stretch. two flights today, one more on wednesday and i’m done.

after flying home from nashville this morning, i managed to sneak in a trip to the greek festival that happens about 2 blocks from where we live. pastichio, grilled chicken, salad, and a whole assortment of pastries. it was so good, i had a conversation with myself about it while i was eating.

hopped a cab to o’hare, where my plane caught on fire. we flew in it anyway. every non-southwest flight makes me love southwest a little more.

upon arriving in des moines, the fun started. you might be mocking me right now: “ha - what kind of FUN did you have in des moines?” said fun included a trip to the iowa state fair:

1. ribbon tater fries
2. hand dipped home made chocolate ice cream
3. journey. live and in concert.

yeah you heard me right. betcha wish you were in iowa tonight, huh? also on the menu(not all consumed by me personally): deep fried twinkies, deep fried oreos, deep fried snickers, walking tacos (small bag of doritos crushed up, add taco parts), chicken lips (fingers), a whole lot of corn dogs, gyros, and a fried pickle with cream cheese covered in pastrami.

points awarded to iowa.

(Typing on tiny phone keyboard. Prepare yourself accordingly).

Forgot to post yesterday. No travels to speak of besides carting around town.Most time I’ve spent in a car in quite some time. This morning, so far, I’ve been welcomed to the nashville airport by george straight and phil vassar. Say what you will about nashville-i can’t name anohtrh place with this much character. There are 3 live music stages between my gate and security and chain restaurants lie alongside local favorites. Love it. Even the airport is full of character.

Today above all days I need travel to go smoothly. Nash to chi. Airport to home. Change out luggage. Cab to other airport. Chi to des moines, then a 60 mile drive. Whew.

in nashville today. started out with breakfast at the phunky griddle near the 100 oaks area. griddle in the middle of the table and you make your own food. good idea.

after that we went downtown to broadway - a strip we actually didn’t visit much while we lived here. let’s just say my pink cowboy hat with built in tiara went well with the rhinestone nashville fanny pack i found. love it. pictures to come.

took a dip in the in-laws pool, followed that up with a 2 hour nap. travel is taking it’s toll. had to work tonight, that stinks.

still dreading monday. also possibly sunday.

woke up in my own bed today. unfortunately i woke up to a week’s worth of work that needed to be done in a day.

i have 3 executive presentations to do in iowa beginning monday morning at 9am. i have not yet begun to think about these. i am saving them for that special time between 8pm sunday night and 8am monday morning. let’s hope i find that to be a productive time. i like procrastination, because it pays off now.

left chicago this afternoon and am now in nashville. its too humid. not a fan.

today’s travel plans involved getting up at 4am to catch a flight from seattle back to chicago. i laughed so hard last night that i think its possible i had a sore face this morning as a result. that’s a pretty great way to wake up, by the way-sore from laughing. the culprits:

why are 2 of the 4 modeling their food for the camera? this i do not know, but its currently making me chuckle.

took a cab to the airport and got to watch sunrise while i ate my chicken, biscuit and has browns. i decided to check my bag. i bought about 15lbs of king salmon in seattle (they pack it on ice for you!) so i had to wait in line to check baggage anyway - decided to just check both items. (side note, please view the actual fish i selected, concealing the identity of the strangely attractive fish monger. do you watch deadliest catch? that kind of attractive.):

as we were getting ready to pull away to head to the runway, the plane stopped. the flight attendant, bingo (yes, that’s his name-o), leaned over my row (first row, suckers) and said “oh they’re putting one more bag on. must have missed it” yeah, yeah whatever. flight was fine, landed in chicago, was the first person off the plane. woo! i now believe that was actually my bag that was left behind initially…

baggage claim at midway is notably slow. when the bags finally came, my fish was first. so i’m waiting, waiting, waiting for my actual suitcase. no dice. eventually everyone is gone. the next flight’s baggage starts to show up. i decide to go to the baggage counter to see if there’s more seattle luggage coming. as soon as i walk in, i see my bag. “whew!”, right? i wait in line, it looks like maybe the zipper broke or something - crap! when i get up there, i tell them its my bag and the lady kind of has a look of horror on her face. she tells me to go through every item one by one and see what is ruined. um, what? this is what i find when i flip my bag over:

so they still aren’t sure what happened exactly, but based on what i have seen, i am nearly positive that the bag has run through the plane’s engine. i mean seriously. worst of all, i packed my camera in that suitcase, hidden snuggly inside all the clothes, inside a protective case. not. so. effective.:

that’s my 18-55mm lens. OUCH. the pics are a little crappy as at this point i was not sure how the situation was going to be remedied, so my mind was racing and i wasn’t necessarily taking good photos. anyway, all this to say: i still love southwest. we assigned values to everything that was ruined (strangely, the lens totally bit it, but the body was fine. the strap was frayed to pieces.) total value of everything ruined: $575. Unfortunately, they can only issue $500 at the airport, otherwise you have to fill out paperwork and wait for your money. they also are not supposed to reimburse for electronics, but said that since was one of the worst damages they’d seen, they wanted to make an exception. they immediately got on the phone to get the OK to do that. So they offered me $500+$100 voucher. they also gave me a new suitcase which was a lot better than my old one. i didn’t have to fill out anything. i didn’t have to sign anything. all i had to do was help them find a few items online to verify the price. honestly, besides ruining $600 of my stuff and setting me back about 30 minutes, the whole process was pretty painless. you can even cash the check at the ticket counter.

two points:
1. southwest is awesome. if you say otherwise, i probably hate you.
2. this lady really thought i was going to be pissed off at her. i wasn’t at all, and it totally made her day. honestly, after i started picking through the stuff, i had to laugh. “hey my coat looks okay….ohhhh wait, no, one arm is completely shredded to hell, that won’t work”. she picked up my frayed toothbrush and asked if i’d be willing to continue using it or not. it was mildly entertaining. it’s just stuff. once everything was taken care of, a guy came in, super angry about a pair of pants ruined on a flight. seriously? he gave her a way harder time than me, over a pair of pants. let’s get a grip, people.

and now, food recap from seattle:

beef cheeks:

serious pie:

halibut:

how do you not love this place?

still in seattle. forgot my card reader, so no pics until tomorrow.

today in food: breakfast included about 3-4 nauzene. rough morning. by the time lunch rolled around i was starving and we went to the newest tom douglas spot in seattle, serious pie (i heart tom douglas - lola cafe. best. granola. ever. - it inspired me) i’ve changed my position on truffles. i used to think truffle oil was disgusting, thanks to an uppity steak house in chicago. turns out, on pizza, its pretty tasty. this is some of the best pizza i’ve ever had. highly recommended. dinner was at steelhead diner. it was tasty, but the company trumped the food. after that we went to a pub near pike place market where i engaged in some lively banter with coworkers. a good time was had by all.

to top it off, on the way home, i walked by a place i’d been trying to find in seattle for the past year and a half. we honeymooned in seattle, and i remember going to this restaurant that was near the water, but in the 4-5 times i’ve been here in the past year or so i haven’t been able to find this restaurant (couldn’t remember the name). tonight, success. its tucked away in a little alley, but i recognized it immediately. next time i will have to return. i recall a stellar chowder.

key takeaway from today: my coworkers are so, so fun.

i knocked out the first 1800 miles of my 5500 mile tour of the country yesterday with a flight to seattle. not a terrible travel day, besides the plane being delayed because a row of seats needed to be replaced. lunch consisted of a burrito shamed only by the one i had in the detroit airport last year (ew), but i was in a rush. dinner made up for it. we stopped by a tapas place called txori where i got duck confit and beef cheek. yes, please! this morning, i’m on the lookout for a greasy diner, which i need in a way you can’t possibly understand. more to come. and pics.