Alright. No worries. I met with my “boss” and she managed to see the numbers in a better light so I set everything up with the caterer and we are ready to go.
Thanks for the suggestions though. As for more suggestions? We are buying the beer and wine ourselves so I would love an idea of what you think 40 people would drink.
I had an amazing fourth of July, but when I sat down to write about it I hit the wrong button and lost my entire entry.
To sum things up: Dave, John, and Michael came up from Oakland. We BBQ’d, we ate the leftovers, we ate more leftovers, we ate more…you get the picture. Then we went to Bellingham and said hello to our past. Michael was a great sport.
I’ve posted some pics. Too many to put here so I made them their own special page. 🙂
Kris and I are over at Michael’s right now awaiting some scrumptious food prepared for us by the BBQ King himself. Michael has always blown me away with his cooking and his way with meat (I mean that in a clean, wholesome way). But tonight he has put aside the grill to cook up some pasta and brussel sprouts. Care of Tracey’s recipe.
Jody and I are chugging down the wine he brought back from his travels and Kris is pretending to enjoy it, but really envisioning a Guiness or something.
Ah, here come the brussels. I shall pause a moment to partake….
Yummmm….and hot! Ow! Burnt my fingers a bit.
I best go and help because I am known to squat my ass down on the couch and drink myself silly until the food is ready. Oh the lazy woman’s life.
Racine, WI
What a crazy couple of days. For those who know me best, we would all agree that I’m not shy, but I also don’t meet people on the road very often. I tend to sleep on the plane, therefore avoiding having to get trapped into conversation with a potential adulterer posing as an uber-Christian who then buys me the Left Behind book (this has happened). I also love the time of day when I go back to the hotel, usually with takeout in hand, settle against my headboard with my laptop and dinner and usually a terrible in room movie to keep me company. Thus, smiling, greeting, and any general “what’s your story, this is mine” kind of interaction is kept to a minimum. Just the way I like it. Or so I thought.
On Tuesday afternoon I decided that hanging out in the Wausau hotel with nothing to do was not going to hack it. I convinced the hotel to let me check out without a charge (it was 3pm in the afternoon) and I headed towards the Marriott in Racine enjoying the long drive and my book on CD that Leah lent me called Kitchen Confidential. Great book. I highly recommend it. Calling ahead, I begged the Marriott to let me check in a day early. As luck would have it, all they could put me in was their biggest suite. Finally, things are working in my favor.
According to Steve, this was going to be a great Marriott because it had a concierge level. I would say it is an old Marriott with a stale stank to it that makes my eyes tear up, but they do have a concierge level, which translates to free food and beverages, with alcohol to purchase. I decided I deserved a little hot tea and a glass of red wine (strange combination, but god I love the two). Upon entering the room, there were two gentlemen talking on the couch. The concierge was schmoozing it up with them and shamelessly showing them her glamour shots. I was going to take my goods and head back to my room, but the gentlemen seemed fairly approachable and interesting. One was gesticulating wildly about being a Master Colorist and Hair Stylist and I figured I’d settle in and eavesdrop.
Turned out to be a great idea; I ended up hitting it off with them. The hair guy, Lenny, was traveling for work, training stylists on how to properly color/highlight people’s hair with his product. He works for a big company that owns products even I am familiar with (and you know I have little or no knowledge of hair). The other gentleman, David, was originally from London {insert moan of passion over his accent here} but was now moving to Racine to work as an IT programmer of sorts for another big company. Long of the short of it, Lenny asked us to be hair models for him the next day and we accepted. My hair getting dangerously close to my butt and the highlights grown out below my ear, I was both embarrassed and anxious to get it fixed. Especially by someone who pretty much has his PhD in hair. 🙂
After sharing many glasses of wine, the three of us decided it was time to check out the bar scene and grab some food. We stayed out until almost 3am, enjoying the local gay bar where they helped us order some Italian delivery (can you believe I was able to find some non-pizza delivery after 11pm at night)? The next day we dragged ourselves out of bed for a day of beauty at the local salon. I felt like a princess. Everyone petting my hair, discussing how to make it seem more vibrant, less fine, and less frizzy…okay, maybe I felt a little picked over, but it was amazing.
We followed it up with another night of good food and wine, and then I worked their brains a little too hard with yes/no puzzles. Ah, the good life of meeting people. Tonight I might head up to Milwaukee for Jazz in the Park with David.
Moral of this story? When you have a good feeling about people, say hi. You could have great company and free hair styling for the rest of your trip.
The one thing people may be upset to hear is that I gave Lenny complete license with my hair and he cut off about 5 inches. No more long luxurious hair. But let’s face it, the hair was starting to get pretty nasty.
Better late than never. Here’s Lenny! He’ll hate me for showing the picture I took after a long night of wild dancing. At least it’s small.
Lincoln, Nebraska…still
I decided that even though I have to drive six hours west to Sidney for my next stint, it still wasn’t worth doing tonight. I contemplated driving the 8 hours to Boulder, CO but again, I decided it would be nice to rack up some Hilton points here at the Embassy Suites in Lincoln. I found a great mocha place called The Coffee House, I’ve scoped out all the theatres, and the room service here is outstanding if I decide to stay in my pajamas all weekend.
Which finds me sitting here on my computer for the sixth hour in a row. I’ve been trying to catch up on everyone’s blogs and news and other fun sites. I’m also working on my html skills and trying to design Ruth’s new page. Right now she is using a template, but when she starts her biking tour job we hope she will start posting her digital pics and writing about her adventures. So I’m getting stuff ready for her to do that. I’m sort of Ruth’s Kris Bell. Filling the role he usually takes.
Lincoln, Nebraska
I can’t believe how many amazingly supportive comments I got from all of you about my running. I think it might be enough to convince me to do it again. Except Aaron’s comments about running with a beer in one hand sounds kind of fun and challenging. I can see myself concentrating, “Come on Katie…don’t spill…don’t spill…don’t spill. Okay, now take a big swig! Way to go!”
With this much input you might all be wondering if I went running again last night or if my prophecy of sitting on my bed with a bag chips came true. The answer is neither. I ended up going for dinner and drinks with Steve and Todd. Drank way too much and then stumbled my way with them over to the new Matrix movie. Let me just say, don’t ever try and watch an action packed, fast paced, people flying everywhere kind of movie when you are sloshed. I had to go to the bathroom twice in fear of losing it and eventually I moved away from the boys into a row all my own so I could stretch out and stop the spinning. They looked at me sort of funny. I think they thought I was repulsed by them. 🙂 I was just getting a bit claustrophobic in the middle of all the people. 🙂
I’m such a ninny. But regardless of the fact I was close to losing my amazing dinner we had eaten earlier, I stilled really enjoyed The Matrix.
WARNING: SLIGHT OPINIONATED MATRIX SPOILER TO FOLLOW (very slight)
My only observation and I’m not sure how I felt about this was that the Matrix was focused more on sex and love this time. Which was both sexually frustrating when you end up having to go back to your hotel room alone, and exciting because well let’s face it, there are a lot of attractive bodies in The Matrix. I have more to say about the movie, but I’ll wait until more people have seen it.
That’s all for now.
Lincoln, Nebraska
Just got in tonight. Went to dinner with Steve and Todd at a Cajun restaurant and the highlight was the Bananas Foster. Neither Steve nor I had ever had it. Delicious!
But then I came back to the hotel and realized there were far too many mirrors in here. That might be nice when you have a little lover to play around with, but instead I kept catching my reflection and thinking, “Who let that fat girl in my room?”
Needless to say I threw my sneakers on and went running. I didn’t get very far and my lungs felt like they were on fire. Actually, it’s been two hours since I ran and my lungs still feel like they were ripped to shreads. Kris Bell once told me that if I decided to start running I could work myself into it and eventually it wouldn’t hurt as badly, but it’s hard to have faith. 🙁
Sometimes I understand why people have the fat sucked out of them. I would never do it, but I understand the desperation and especially the laziness. Laziness being the key word. It’s strange how I go about my days thinking I look about 120lbs. and then I see my reflection all of the sudden and am still shocked that I’m no longer that small. Is this the epiphany you were talking about Kris? You said it just hit you one night. Could this be my night where I really start doing something?
Knowning me, it will pass. I’ll be sitting on my bed eating chips this time tomorrow night.
I’m trying to get my laundry done while making mix cd’s at the same time, but I keep Kazaaing things and waiting to see what my progress is. Needless to say, my laundry is sitting behind me wanting to be washed and wondering if I’m going to pull the ol’ “pack dirty laundry and hope to wash it on the road” trick.
But I can’t because I leave tomorrow for Trenton, New Jersey and I’m staying at my Uncle’s instead of a hotel. Some of you may say, “well then you’ll have a free way to do laundry so no worries,” but my pride won’t let me show up at my uncle’s with laundry to do. That would just perpetuate the family belief that I am forever the procrastinator and irresponsible Toft girl. …which may be true, but no need affirming it. At least the procrastinating part is true.
Meeting up with some BMGF pals for dinner at Snappy Dragon tonight. I hear it’s great, but I’ve never been. You know me, always excited about food. I’ll give a proper review when I return.
So I’m 27 today. Wow. I feel so much older than that. Especially in the last two years. I remember when I started this job and I would be reading on the plane, people would always ask me if the book was for school and if I was on vacation. Now nobody even cards me when I order drinks. Argh.
Yesterday I had a great day. Brenda and I arrived in Bend Oregon and roamed the streets. What a great town! We had an amazing dinner at Merenda downtown. We shared Fire Roasted Mussels, an amazing veggie platter with acorn squash and brown butter, and a giant crab that was cooked in a way I’ve never had. SO GOOD! We shared a bottle of wine and some dessert as well. Really pampered myself, pre-birthday. Then moved on to Fiddy’s which was a total dive with local appeal, then on to the Winterfest where we relaxed in a Jazz and Java tent on this couch they had dragged in there. Then stumbled upon a martini bar where we really squatted for quite a while. A great time.
Today Brenda and Erin took me to the Deschutes Brewery which was great but we weren’t hungry enough for all the food we ordered. They also gave me bath salt, a barnes and noble gift card and two french translation and phrases books for my trip to Europe. I felt so special. I haven’t really celebrated my birthday in years so this was really nice. I can’t believe they got me gifts. Way too nice especially since I’ve been talking their ears off the last week and a half. They’ve got to be sick of me. 🙂
Thank you to everyone who called or e-mailed or gave me a shout out in their blog today. I’ve never felt so loved! Wow!
Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
My most recent addiction is Hot Tea. Every chance I get I’ve been ordering pots of tea. I love it. There is something extremely comforting in a hot pot of tea. I wish I had one right now. Usually in the hotel room I put the tea bag in place of a coffee filter in the coffee maker and it makes a nice big pot of tea. Unfortunately I don’t have a coffee pot in this hotel room. Oh the simple pleasures of life we take for granted.
One of my favorite trips was when I went on the Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder. They let us go into their peppermint tea room that is sealed off. They have to seal it or else you would be able to smell peppermint for miles around, they said. Which of course would taint all the other tea in the factory. Very cool tour.
Besides, I have a fetish for factories. It dates back to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Is it just me or did Lady Elaine in Make-Believe Land seem very much like a man. She reminds me of Eddie Izzard. Hmmm…
