Halloween and hostess

Sorry this is such a late update! I've been busy at work.  Halloween was sober fun; all my friends were in Eugene.  I was a Mardi Gras person and I danced sober, which is hard to do around a bunch of drunk people. 

Adria and I in my awesome masks

On monday, I started my job and I've worked 28 hours this week.  I also made good tips! I've basically been working and working out all week; it's been good!

I started the LifeWorks seminar a week ago and have quite a lot of homework to do.  I think I have ideas of what I'm going to do next.  Maybe move to phoenix and transfer my job down there, and stay with a family friend til I get some money saved.  We'll see, just an idea for now.

CrossOver Seminar and Life update

I just finished the CrossOver seminar on Sunday evening.  I start the last of the 3 seminars on Thursday.  Some special person on the back up team for CrossOver loaned me 1000 dollars to do the seminar, that I will pay back in 5 years.  I couldn't past that up.  LifeWorks is one weekend a month for 4 months, which means I will be in Eugene until at least the end of January. 

More good news... I got a job at McGraths today as a hostess.  I start on Monday and should get about 25-28 hours per week.  My life is sorta figured out for the next 4 months or so.  I'll have another update after this weekend to let you all know about halloween with my masks from New Orleans and the first weekend of the LifeWorks seminar.  It's on my life vision, so it should be good.

I Am a Deserving, Committed and Powerful Woman!

Continuation of the Blog!

I will have updates to the blog every so often to keep you in the loop.  I will have an update after the seminar for sure.

PS everyone should take a minute to admire the sky, for some reason it looks much bigger!

.... Going Home

In the morning, Cynthia made me breakfast and coffee, which we ate on the porch.  Then I got ready and it was time to go.  We said the tearful goodbyes.  We will cherish this time we had forever and hopefully there will be another similarly awesome time. 

The drive home wasn't so interesting even though I was shocked by the fog.  I didn't get tired or hungry the whole way.  I actually made it home in 7 hours, which was amazing. 

This was the crazy fog

This is a glimpse at Lake Shasta

This is Oregon the beautiful at its best in the fall

Sacramento again...

There were three really interesting things we saw driving next to the great salt lake.  One was the huge mounds of salt at the refineries.  More interesting was these fields of what we thought was salt in some form.  It looks like snow but its rock hard and grainy.  The third thing was this water we would drive alongside.  It was incredible! It acted as a mirror better than any water I have ever observed.

Mounds of Salt

Me standing in the middle of a salt field

 

The salt stuff up close

The mirror water, we thought there must be a film a the top.

It was bazaar to look at both sides of the road and see the sky in the water.  It felt like we were floating.

 A sculpture in the middle of nowhere

We stopped in Elko, Nevada for lunch.  We drove down the main street for find food and what we found was a walk-a-thon with blocked off streets.  We parked and got out of the car to walk the street the wrong direction in search of food.  We didn't find any, so we asked a lady and she said to go to Machi's or The Fish.  We went to Machi's and it was closed on Saturdays.  We saw a "Stray Dog Cafe and Pub" but it wasn't open til 3pm.  We asked a guy where to go and he sent us to the Star Hotel.  It looked really sketchy, not windows and we couldn't find the door.  So we tired to find The fish and come across a mexican place called Sergio's.  We split a $10 meal, wasted an hour and got out of that town.

We needed gas when we got to Reno, so we stopped.   Cruella gave us the run around here trying to find a DQ.  We gave up and I settled for M&Ms.  We arrived in Sacramento around 6:30pm and Chris, Cynthia's Husband, was making us a healthy dinner.  We decided that we needed a little bit of healthy food considering all the country cooking.  We had a nice evening and when to bed.

Sunset at Cynthia's

The drive from Cheyenne and Salt Lake City

In the morning, we got up and went to the coffee shop and ordered breakfast sandwiches and DC (Diet Coke).  Then we went to The Wrangler, which was a store before Wrangler was a brand.  I needed some cowboy boots.  We probably tried on half the selection in an hour and we bought boots.  They weren't cheap! We also went in the train station.  Cheyenne has these decorated boots all around town just like Eugene has the decorated ducks.

The Wrangler

Me next to a big boot

The outside of the train station

Inside of the train station

The Plains Hotel that we stayed in

On the way to Salt Lake City, we stopped for lunch in Rawlins, Wyoming.  Penny's Diner was so cute!  I saw steak and mashed potatoes when I walked in, so I got a mound of mashed potatoes and gravy for my lunch... and it was only a dollar! 

Penny's Diner

We arrived in Salt Lake at about 6:30pm and went to dinner with Carolyn and the kids.  The next morning, I got ready for my interview/meeting.  It went pretty well!  Afterwards, Cynthia and I went to Squatters Brewery for lunch.  We had cocktails, I was needing one, and we shared calamari and chicken quesadilla.  Then it was time for our nap, but I watched Grey's Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters instead.  Carolyn got home and we all headed down to the family history library.  This was pretty cool, I called Grandma Holly to find out some stuff about my dad's side of the family.  Then I looked it up and found more stuff.  I'll have to continue looking stuff up when I get home.

We went back to Carolyn's and had a delicious dinner of steak, zucchini, rice and sourdough bread.  Then we had double fudge brownie ice cream.  As 9 o'clock rolled around Cynthia and I headed downtown to see the nightlife.  We didn't really feel like going but if I was going to consider moving to Salt lake I had to see the nightlife.  It was worth it because we talked to this guy bartending at Gracies who told us all about the city.  He said theres hiking, rock climbing, snowboarding and lots of lakes, which is all the things I want to do..... and it doesn't rain!  We went to a few more places just to check it out and went home to bed.

Cheyenne!

Cynthia and I left Omaha at 9am and headed for Cheyenne.  We got there at 5:15pm and needed to get the oil changed.  We went to Midas and the guys there were so nice to us.  We asked them if they knew of a nice, cheap, safe hotel, and they happened to know the people at the historic downtown hotel.  They got us a great deal on a room right across from the historic train depot.  Everyone was so nice! We got cleaned up and had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was a really fun experience. 

The Plains Hotel!!

Cynthia and I at dinner

Then we walked over to The Shadows Brew Pub and had a drink.  We chatted with this guy Jerry and he took us to the Drunken Skunk, which was a block away.  We played a game of pool and went back to the hotel.   

This happened on the walk...

Iowa Farmland... first day of harvest

We arrived in Clarion to stay with Cynthia's aunt Carolyn and uncle Dean.  We had a home grown meal that included roast and pumpkin bars. The next day, I saw the farm!  I rode on a combine and learned all about how to farm corn.

The Combine

 The corn cutting and sorting

Corn going into the holding tank of the Combine

 The corn going from the holding tank to a semi

 

From semi to truck that takes it to the storage bins

Truck emptying into the storage bins

Then we went back to the house and Dean taught me how to drive a tractor.

Me driving an antique tractor

That evening we drove to Huxley and stayed with Cynthia's cousin Rod.  We had a nice dinner and evening.  We went to bed early because we had to get up at 6am to take Shelley to the airport in Omaha, NE. 

Shelley, Me, Colleen, Rod, Cynthia

Nashville and on to St. Louis

In the morning we got up and went down to Wild Bills Beignets and Bikes for coffee and beignets of course.  We then walked around Nashville to take pictures of some of the really cool buildings.

Wild Bill's Beignets & Bikes

The front of the customs house

A high school across the street from the customs building

This is Union Station Hotel

This is the beautiful inside of the hotel lobby, we wish we could stay here...

Then we headed for St. Louis.  We stopped and ate at a Cracker Barrel.  I tried chicken liver and didn't like it.  I also had dumplins, country green beans, mac n cheese and mushroom chicken soup, which was the best.  We were all full and got back on the road.

 

This is what we saw of St. Louis.

NASHVILLE!!!!

In the morning, I had coffee with cinnamon, grits and a piece of chocolate pecan pie, so good!  Then Cynthia, Shelley and I were off to Nashville, TN.  Our first stop was a cotton field, because I had to pick some cotton.  We had to climb over this fence to get it.  Cotton is weird, it just doesn't seem like a fluffy thing should come out of a bud.  I took some for the road and we kept going. 

We stopped for lunch at the Waffle House, which are everywhere in the south.  We figured that we had to try it at some point, now was the time.  We all 3 ate for $15.  Then we crossed the Chattanooga River and headed to Nashville.  Ya'll should know that we have named the GPS, her name is Cruella, we think its fitting. 

We arrived in Nashville at 2pm and drove around for a bit to see the city and figure out where we were going to stay.  Thats when I decided I should probably move here.  The buildings are beautiful and country music is everywhere.  We saw the Gulch, which a sustainable neighborhood, Vanderbilt University and the Cumberland river.

Beautiful old customs house on Broadway

We found an America's Best Value Inn just outside of downtown for $45, so we went there and changed to go out on the town for the evening.  We parked near Broadway and walked around on that street.  We ate dinner at a bar called Rippy's that was on the corner.  Almost every place has live country music, that was pretty cool! 

Cynthia and I with Elvis

 

We ended up at this place called Paradise Park, because there good music, room inside to stand, and it was the first woman singer we had seen.  This real cowboy, Wendell, started talking to us and he had a group of 5 with him of all ages.  They asked us if we wanted to go to Cadillac Ranch with them; they were going to ride the bull.  We thought we would like to see that so we went with them.  On the way we stopped and helped some people sing Rocky Top, which every Tennessean knows.

Paradise Park

Johnny is on the far left and Wendell is on my right, I forget the others names.

Cynthia, Shelley and I

When we got there, the bull didn't open for an hour.  I didn't want to wait since we had a lot to see, so I said, "if you buy us drinks, we will stay and wait."  They agreed.  When it came time for bull riding, I decided I better do it too, for the experience.  Wendell let me barrow his real cowboy hat and I told the people running it that I didn't want the slow girl ride, I wanted the man ride.  I stayed on for 9 seconds, which was pretty good. 

 

We all left Cadillac Ranch and walked around for a while.  We decided to go into a side bar where they were playing southern rock.  I quizzed everyone on what Tennessee is like.  Then we left and went to The Stage, which was a bar on Broadway and they had country music. 

I don't know why these people were all dressed like Indians

We went back to the hotel at 10:45.  We had been out since 5pm and it seemed late to me, surprising considering the actual time.  We had to get up the next morning and look around before we headed to St. Louis.

Savannah.. a safe, humid town

In Savannah, we got up pretty early and had our complimentary breakfast in our very nice hotel.  We went downtown to the Savannah River to walk around and check things out. 

 

I loved this stone, especially mixed with the brick

Then we drove around to see the parks, that are surrounded by houses and buildings, throughout the city.  Savannah seems to be a very safe town with nice people, but still as humid as every city since dallas. 

Once we got our fill of that, we decided to drive out to Tybee Island and put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean!  This was totally worth the 30 minute drive.  The water was refreshing and from the second I walked away from the water I was headed home.  I am now on my way back; headed to the northwest. 

Atlantic Ocean

Cynthia and I at the Atlantic Ocean

We needed lunch since it was noon and we wanted seafood because we were on the ocean.  We found this place that had alligators, exotic birds and seafood called the Crab Shack.  It was awesome! They had 60 gators and the birds made noises as we ate our half pound of shrimp and half pound of crab with our bare hands.  It was so good and so messy!  The table had a hole in the center with a trash under it to throw your shells in.  I think this is one of our most happy moments, oh and we were able to sit outside comfortably because there were misters and fans, that was a big part of the happiness. 

 

The hole in the table

After that we decided that we didn't want to rush to Charleston, SC and only spend an hour there, then get to Shelley's really late.  Shelley is Cynthia's sister.  So we drove straight to Shelley's in Danielsville, GA.  The entire drive we talked about this home cooked, southern meal that Shelley was making. 

Chatting on the Porch!

When we got there, we realized that we were having a thanksgiving feast!  We sat on the porch and chatted before dinner.

Menu:
pulled pork, with homemade BBQ sauce
squash casserole
spoon bread (which is like cream cornbread)
mac n cheese
pickled okra (which tastes like vinegar and okra)
zipper peas
cole slaw
deviled eggs
sweet tea
chocolate pecan pie (amazing!)
sweet potato pie

After dinner, we all hung out in the living room.