confession: i was at the saucer last night in nashville. a song was sung. that song was the growing pains theme song. i’m pleading the 5th on whether or not dc talk was involved.

dear chicago marathon,

i hate you for being so hot the year that i decide to run and so cold the year that i don’t. i also hate you for my toenail which has still not recovered from last year. and the 3 months of physical therapy. and the end of the race where there is no crowd except a few random people yelling blatant lies like “you’re almost there” and “looking good”.

i don’t regret skipping you this year, but you better watch your back because i’m coming for you. someday. when you least expect it.

xoxo,
crystal

ps. i got a shot of this year’s winner at mile 7!

don’t freak out, i didn’t get fired again. but i do work from home again. our company asked the two of us if we’d be willing to make the jump to home office and we were totally up for it. this is nice, as i’m training for a half marathon in nashville next month (yikes) and i can do my runs midday. i usually have a decent number of meetings during the day, and all my coworkers are on IM, so its easy to stay in touch, but i will admit that i made it from 8am to 3.30pm one day this week without uttering a word aloud.

i consider it one step closer to my lifelong goal of becoming a hermit.

the fda banned cloves today. that’s right, they’re illegal. i’m not “a smoker” but i buy a pack of cloves once a year, in the fall. its kind of a tradition. if its 45-60 degrees, kind of misty out, they’re perfect. last year’s pack still has two left.

but as of tomorrow, i become an illegal drug trafficker as i comb the city trying to find out where to buy some.

strangely enough, smoking a clove is now illegal, but the CTA and mcdonald’s have paired up to deliver us free 800 calorie burgers tomorrow, complete with 41 grams of fat.

at least before we could choose our own poison.

all my favorite bands of yesteryear seem to be celebrating 10 year anniversaries of pivotal albums that i loved when i was 20.

i just got tickets to see the get up kids. they are going to play something to write home about start to finish. this makes me want to scream in a high pitched very girly voice.

first, jimmy eat world, now this. also on deck for the next month: david bazan and mute math. come to find out, sunny day real estate is here on thursday, but we can’t seem to secure tickets at a reasonable price. that is pretty much my last missing piece for “concerts i wish i’d have gotten to go to in the late 90’s early 2000’s, but didn’t”. blast.

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.