100 Experiences: Items 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 (aka Nashville 2013) - Part 1

Two weeks ago, I did something I've never done. I vacationed all alone. This vacation had nothing to do with my family. I did not have to take care of anyone or anything. It was all about me. Just me. (Experience #2)

And it left me asking one thing: Why the heck didn't I do this sooner?

Let's take a step back for a second . . . I agonized over this trip. I went back and forth on whether I should spend the money (I worried I was being wasteful), whether I should take the time off work, whether I was safe traveling alone, whether I would be seen as selfish by my family, and a whole host of other ridiculous worries.

I debated between going to Nashville and Sanibel Island. Nashville had the distinction that I'd only been there once about seven years ago for a Mary Kay retreat and only left the hotel long enough for a quick concert at the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium. I love country music and each time I drove through it on my way to Crystal Beach last year, I kept thinking I should go back for a weekend. Sanibel Island had the beach as its big "pro." We lived in Ft. Myers when I was little and my Gardner Grandparents lived on Sanibel Island until I was in college. I'd been there a million times, but not in almost 20 years. I remember loving Sanibel, but I've spent far too much time on the Gulf side of Florida over the past 13 years and I swore I'd never go back. It's going to take some time to be able to love Florida again.

Nashville won out. (Experience #3)

Immediately, I started planning every moment I'd be in town. I had a little over three days to spend in Nashville and I was going to make the most of every single second. Let's just say I had an itinerary any professional travel agent or tour operator would be proud of.

Thursday Night

My first night in town, I had dinner with my dear friend Kalee at Chuy's at Opry Mills. If you go, get the Steak Burrito with the chorizo sauce. Trust me. The food was amazing. The only thing better than the food was hanging out with Kalee. Kalee was my first boss after college, when I interned at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., and she quickly became my friend because we're the same age, we have similar backgrounds, and we both love politics. As an intern, I worked in her office. I remember we had the best conversations that sometimes had nothing to do with work. Now Kalee lives in Nashville with her wonderful husband Jack.

Until my first night in Nashville, we hadn't seen each other in almost 15 years. And trust me, after just a couple of seconds, it was like time had stood still. You know how there are times in life when you don't realize how much you missed something until you have the opportunity to experience it again and then suddenly you can't imagine it being gone from your life again? That's how hanging out with Kalee was. Fortunately, we were able to make plans to get together again on Sunday for brunch.

Kalee and Me. 

I'm not going to wait another 15 years before hanging out with Kalee again.

Friday

Friday morning, I got up early and headed into downtown Nashville for a tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame and RCA Studio B, known as the Home of 1000 Hits. Studio B was built for Elvis and he recorded over 200 of his songs there. Many legends recorded at Studio B, including The Everly Brothers, Dottie West, Dolly Parton, Elvis, Roy Orbison, and many more. Elvis was famous for recording late at night and into the wee hours of the morning.

The best part of the Studio B tour was being able to sit at and play the piano Elvis loved and played. He once tried to buy the piano he loved so much, but was told by Chet Atkins he didn't have enough money to buy it. I haven't played the piano in many years, but sitting at that piano and playing just a few keys was magical. I could feel Elvis in the room.

Me tickling the ivories of Elvis's favorite piano. (Experience #6)

One interesting note about Studio B is that it closed on August 17, 1977. If that date sounds sort of familiar, it's the day after Elvis died. That's just a coincidence though. The closure of Studio B had been planned for awhile.

After an inspirational tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame and RCA Studio B, I stumbled into the Dukes of Hazzard Museum, run by Cooter, of course, which it turned out, was around the corner from my hotel. If you're a child of the 80s, you may have had a crush on one of the Duke brothers or Daisy Duke. I liked Bo Duke. If you're too young to remember the Dukes of Hazzard, you may be impressed to know that Daisy Duke was the inspiration for Daisy Dukes.

Who's sitting in the General Lee? ME!

Friday night found me at the Grand Ole Opry for a taping of the 88-year-old radio show and post-show backstage tour. I had 5th row seats for one of the best shows I've ever seen. It opened with the Queen of Country Comedy, Minnie Pearl (well, an impersonator). Bill Anderson (member since 1961), Kristen Kelly, Riders in the Sky (members since 1982), Jesse McReynolds (member since 1964), Shelley Skidmore, Jim Ed Brown (member since 1963), Mike Snider (member since 1990), Chuck Wicks, Crystal Gayle, surprise appearances by Lone Star and Little Jimmy Dickens (member since 1948), The Whites (members since 1984), and The Isaacs.

One of the great things about the Opry is that they encourage you to come up close to the stage to take pictures of your favorite artists. When I took the picture of Crystal Gayle below, I was kneeling just in front of the stage.

If you're going to attend the Grand Ole Opry, you must take the backstage tour. You can take this tour in the afternoon, which I guess is fine, but if you have any desire to meet the stars, do it after the show. As we were on our tour, Crystal Gayle walked up, signed autographs for everyone, and took some pictures. She signed my show poster, listing her as one of the performers, and I got the picture below showing her famous floor-length hair.

Crystal Gayle and her famous floor-length locks.

At the end of the tour, I was able to stand in the center of the Grand Ole Opry stage where 1000s of performers have stood before me. What I loved about the center of the stage was that when the Opry moved to the new location in 1974 from the Ryman Auditorium, they cut a circle of the flooring from the entrance of the Ryman stage and placed it in the center of the new stage. The thinking was that  every artist to ever perform at the Ryman had walked across that piece of Ryman flooring, so they'd all now be part of the new Opry stage as well.

6-foot circle of oak from the Ryman Auditorium. I stood there. (Experience #5)

When I finally crawled into bed on Friday night, I slept better than I've slept in ages. I was exhausted, but happy and filled with wonderful memories.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Nashville adventure, including exploring the honky tonks, a tour of the Ryman Auditorium, more Kalee time, the rest of my pictures, and much more. Coming later this week.

100 New Experiences in 12 Months

Over the past few months, I've come to realize that I've stopped being as adventurous as I used to be. Once upon a time, I picked up and moved to Washington DC where I knew no one. That was just a few weeks after I flew out and spent a week pounding the pavement and knocking on doors until someone interviewed me and then gave me a summer internship working for someone else.

Almost three years ago, I created my Bucket List. I've made some progress on it and I'm proud of that progress. The items on my Bucket List still excite me. But my Bucket List lacks one thing: urgency.

Do you know the difference between a dream and a goal? Dates. Goals have dates attached to them. Dreams are "some day" things. Goals have a begin and end date. 

Because I need to find my adventurous side again and I want to live more fully than I have been in the past year, I'm taking some inspiration from Amy Guth, Social Media Manager at the Chicago Tribune. If you don't follow Amy on Twitter, you're missing out. Trust me. She's tough, smart, witty, and one of the coolest women on the interwebs. Amy has decided to spice up her life by doing 1,000 new things in one year. How cool is that?

1,000 new experiences feels completely overwhelming to me, but 100 feels daunting and exciting at the same time. In fact, since I had this idea early last week, I've flown out of bed each morning with new ideas. Some of the ideas listed below are from my Bucket List and some are new. 

Here are my ground rules: "New" is defined as something I've never done or have not done in more than 10 years. My list is ever growing. I will share stories and pictures of each experience. The year kicked off on April 11, 2013 and will conclude on April 10, 2014.

1. Attend a taping of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
2. Vacation by myself and take care of only me. - DONE 4/11 - 4/15/2013
3. Vacation in Nashville - DONE 4/11 - 4/15/2013
4. Go on vacation and leave work 100% behind (i.e., don't check email or voice mail) - DONE 4/15/2013
5. Stand in the center of both the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium stages - DONE 4/12/2013 and 4/14/2013
6. Play Elvis's piano at the RCA Studio B - DONE 4/12/2013
7. Sit on the stage at the Civic Opera House during a performance - Will be done 6/16/2013
8. Play with the beluga whales at the Shedd Acquarium - Will be done by June 30th
9. Take a cooking class - Scheduled for May 21st at David's Bistro in Antioch
10. Swim 1 mile without stopping
11. Climb the main dune at Sleeping Bear Dunes - Will be done in August
12. Learn a new skill - DONE 4/24/2013 Learned how to make a floral centerpiece
13. Increase by savings account by 2 months worth of expenses
14. Max out my employer match for my 403(b) in 2013 - DONE Increased my contribution to max out the match 5/2/2013
15. Try 20 new foods
16. Lose 50 pounds
17. Attend a concert in Millenium Park
18. Ride a mechanical bull
19. Sing karaoke
20. Attend a baseball game at Milwaukee's Miller Park - Will be done August 15th
21. Take the ferry to Muskegon or Ludington - Will be done in August
22. Run a 5K
23. Take a golf lesson
24. Have a full spa day - massage, mani/pedi, facial, and anything other fancy spa treatment I can find
25. Take an Ivy League Class
26. Stand on the sky deck ledge in the Sears Tower (don't tell me it's called Willis Tower now, I don't care)
27. Visit Mt. Rushmore
28. Do a polar plunge
29. Reupholster my dining room chairs
30. Visit the Museum of Science & Industry
31. Visit the Museum of Contemporary Art
32. Visit the National Museum of Mexican Art
33. Visit the Adler Planetarium
34. Visit the DuSable Museum of African American Art
35. Visit the Field Museum of Natural History
36. Visit the Notebaert Nature Museum
37. Give up Diet Coke (and all soda)
38. Drink a minimum of 64 oz of water each day
39. Have High Tea at The Drake
40. Serve meals in a soup kitchen
41. Tour the Chicago Tribune
42. Attend the Blue Man Group
43. Attend the Book of Mormon
44. Visit Chicago's Chinatown
45. Visit the Illinois Holocaust Museum
46. Reread my favorite books from childhood: the Little House on the Prairie series, Little Women, the Anne of Green Gables series
47. See Oklahoma at the Civic Opera House - Will be done 5/3/2013
48. Visit Galena, Illinois
49. 
    

Putting these ideas down on "paper" was the easy part. Now, I need to get to living life as fully as possible.

Do any of my ideas inspire you? Want to join me on my journey? Let me know and let's team up. Life's more fun when it's experienced with friends.

Sen. John McCain Makes Arlington Heights Mayoral Race Endorsement

Imagine my surprise today when I opened up my Chicago Tribune (online) during lunch, while I was attempting to eat, and discovered that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) had endorsed a candidate in the upcoming Arlington Heights mayoral race.

If you imagine that I was unable to stomach my lunch, you'd be right.

You'll recall that I grew up in Arlington Heights. I lived there from 1974 through 1989 and then, again as an adult, from 2000 to 2011. That's 26 years. 26 of my almost 42 years of life have been spent in Arlington Heights. For the 11 years I lived there as an adult,  I worked and ran my business in Arlington Heights, and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce where I served on the Board of Directors for three years. Additionally, my mom still lives there, as do a number of my friends. I still have significant interests in the goings-on in Arlington Heights.

I'm not a fan of John McCain. Yes, he served his country nobly in Vietnam. He suffered horribly as a prisoner of war. He came home and decided to become a public servant. I don't deny that he has given the majority of his adult life in service of his country in one way or another. That is to be applauded.

The biggest thing that trips me up about John McCain is the legacy that I believe spoils the rest of what he's done in his career: Sarah Palin.

John McCain gave us Sarah Palin. John McCain's first presidential act as a candidate for the highest office in the land in 2008 was to select less than one-term governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as his running mate. He failed to vet her. Now I know, he relied on his staff to do that, but they failed to do it and the buck stops with him. Ultimately, it was his decision and he chose a woman who was horribly unqualified to hold the second highest office in the land and be a heartbeat away from running the country.

And now, John McCain wants to tell the people of Arlington Heights who to vote for on April 9th. He recommends a buddy of his who served as the mayor of an Arizona town from 2000 to 2006 and who has only lived in Arlington Heights since 2007.

Given John McCain's reputation for endorsing wholly unqualified candidates, I will tell my mom to vote for anyone but John McCain's buddy.

A Perfect (Michigan) Summer

Spring is taking its sweet time to arrive in Chicago. Today, it's somewhere around 2 degrees. Oh, no, wait, my phone says it's 34. On March 23rd. Last year at this time it was close to 80. I had brunch in the Deerpath Inn Garden this weekend last year. But I digress.

Although Spring has yet to arrive, I'm already thinking about Summer. Specifically, I'm thinking about Watervale. Just under 5 months until I'm at Watervale and Lord willing, I'll be there sooner than that.

The 2013 Pure Michigan campaign kicked off this past week and each time I see one of their commercials, I'm immediately transported to my favorite place on earth. In fact, I don't even have to see the commercial. I just have to hear the music that opens nearly all the commercials and hear Tim Allen's voice and I'm there.

You'll appreciate my delight at discovering the 2013 Pure Michigan Summer Playlist on YouTube a few minutes ago. I squealed with happiness.

I love you, so here are my favorites:

Sand Dunes


Lighthouses

Betsey and Ross: Their Absence Makes My Heart Grow Fonder

Betsey and Ross died one year ago today. Well, I guess technically it was tomorrow because it was the 23rd, but it was Friday, so I think of it as today.

I remember thinking I'd never get over that loss.

They never judged me. They never said I let them down, disappointed them, or didn't live up to their expectations. They were never embarrassed by me. Of course, they couldn't say any of those things. They were cats, after all. But I knew they didn't think them either.

All they wanted was to love me and to be loved by me. They didn't care if I didn't wear make-up or failed to shave my legs. They would snuggle with me anytime, any place. They loved snuggling up next to me when I was writing or reading and they always purred me to sleep at night. They helped me work and gave me regular weather reports from their perch in the window, where they also guarded the house from blowing leaves and other threats.

I'd never before felt the kind of unconditional love that pets give us.  I'd never felt that kind of unconditional love before, period.

I don't have kids and probably never will. Betsey and Ross were my kids.

The last words I said to each of them were, "Thank you for letting me be your mom."

A year later, I still miss Betsey and Ross. Don't misunderstand me, it's not as intense as it once was. Mostly, I just think of them fondly when I see their pictures. Once in awhile, though, something will happen that triggers some sadness.

A few weeks ago, for example, I was awakened in the middle of the night by a sound I hadn't heard in almost a year. Zoey was getting ready to throw up, just like Betsey used to do regularly. Of course, I couldn't stop Zoey from coughing up her hairball, but as I knelt on the floor cleaning up the mess at 2am, I was immediately taken back to the nightly clean-ups of Betsey throwing up and I started sobbing. That bottom of the gut uncontrollable sobbing. Sure, it was a little ridiculous, but I just couldn't stop. All I could think of was how much I missed Betsey.

I remember that afternoon in the vet's office like it was yesterday.

Betsey was first. I did not want to say good-bye to her, but her little body was just worn out. She could not digest or keep down any food and her quality of life was pretty low. I just held her and talked to her until she was gone, and even then, I didn't want to let go.

The vet took Betsey out of the room and while he was gone, I just cried and cried. I questioned whether I made the right decision and wished I could take it back.

Then he returned and I had another decision to make. I wasn't 100% sure I was strong enough to say good-bye to Ross at the same time I lost Betsey, but he was terribly sick too.

I took him out of his crate, still wavering about what to do, and that boy just about broke his neck looking for his sister. I could barely keep him in my arms. I looked around the room at Craig and at my vet hoping they would give me some guidance. Neither did. It was my decision alone. As Ross continued to hunt for Betsey, I knew what I had to do. If I took him home, he'd die of a broken heart, I had no doubt. I was certain he'd look for Betsey forever and his loneliness and stress would cause his already uncontrollable diabetes would get even worse.

Just like with Betsey, I held Ross and talked to him, through my tears, until he was gone. He held on longer than Betsey did, but it wasn't more than five minutes. Again, I didn't want to let go of my boy.

In the end, I walked out of the vet's office with two empty cat crates and sobbed all the way home. Luckily, I wasn't driving.

Today, my house is filled with the sounds and energy of growing kittens. It's a happy place, once again filled with the unconditional love of pets. We remember Betsey and Ross with lots of love, fondness for all the joy they brought to my life, and the life lessons they taught me.

Given a Second Chance, I Still Screwed Up

As I've written about before, when I was 10, my house burned down. The Cliff Notes version of the story is that the fire started in the garage in the middle of the afternoon as my brother and I were coming home from school. My mom ran into the house and called the fire department. While she was doing that and against her explicit instructions, I ran into the house and grabbed my green stuffed rabbit.

Now to be sure, when we re-entered our home, the fire was still contained in the garage, but that's no excuse. Fire is unpredictable.

We all got out safely, but our entering the house the one thing you should never do. Not ever.  Let me repeat myself: Do not ever run into a burning building to retrieve anything. Well, anything except your child, parent, spouse, etc.

About an hour ago, while I was busy paying bills with The West Wing on in the background, I suddenly heard a very loud honking sound. Initially, I thought the noise was coming from the DVD, but then realized the sound was coming from the hallway of my condo building.

The noise was the fire alarm.

Still in my pj's at 2pm on Sunday, I changed clothes, put on shoes, tossed my laptop and all financial docs into my briefcase, grabbed my purse, winter coat and gloves, iPhone, and Bluetooth (plus chargers) and started to head out. Then I looked at Sammy and Zoey. I had to make a decision: attempt to get them into their crates and lug them and my other stuff down four flights of stairs or leave them here and hope the building wasn't really on fire.

I chose to leave them, but only because I was feeling confident I would see them shortly. The sprinklers weren't going off, so I figured the building wasn't on fire.

On my way out, I even stopped to lock my door. Because I was nervous, I fumbled with the keys.

It probably took me three to four minutes before I was ready to exit my condo.

This is where I failed.

If my building had been on fire, those three or four minutes could have been the difference between getting out and not.

All I needed to do was grab my purse, which was sitting on the table in front of me and get the heck out of my house in my pj's and flip flops.

Although the fire alarm was a false alarm, I learned a valuable lesson. I realized that I depend far too heavily on the fact that I have a corner unit and live immediately next door to a building exit. I have not planned for the possibility that I might not be able to leave the building through this exit. I'll create a plan tonight and then I'll practice it.

Always remember, when the fire alarm goes off, just get out. It's not the time to stop and pack bags. All the stuff is replaceable. And have a back-up exit plan. It could save your life.

Oh, by the way, I still have my green stuffed rabbit. He lives in the back of one of my dresser drawers. And yes, I thought about grabbing him too.

Gratitude List March 10, 2013

What am I grateful for today? The list is long, but here are a few of my favorite things today.

I'm grateful I didn't have to wear a winter coat today. I anticipate I'll wear it again tomorrow and I was wearing a long sweater over a turtleneck sweater, but I was without a coat today.

I'm grateful that today's precipitation was rain and not snow. Mid-March in Chicago can be pretty iffy. I'm ready for Spring. That's not to say this was was difficult. It wasn't. In fact, it was another pretty mild winter. It was never brutally cold and I think it was mid-January before we saw our first inch of snow, but I love Spring.

I'm grateful the 2013 Ravinia schedule is out. And it's divine. I'll spend some time in the next week studying it and purchasing tickets for the best shows. It's going to be a great Summer.

I'm grateful for brunch with my friends Tim and Michael today. Tim and I worked on our 20th reunion planning. Yes, that's right. It's been 20 years since we graduated from Lake Forest College. What a 20 years it's been.

I'm grateful for dinner tomorrow with Tim and Michael. Thirty-three years later, we're going to once again learn the answer to the important question: Who Shot J.R.? As you probably know, Larry Hagman died earlier this year when midway through shooting the second season of the new Dallas. There's really no better way to kill J.R. Ewing. I think it's either Kristin or Kristin's daughter. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read this.

I'm grateful for my friends who always check-in with me to make sure I'm okay. I'm also grateful they are so damn funny and keep me laughing.

I'm grateful for a clean house and two kittens who do everything in their mighty powers to ruin that for me.

After reading an article in the New York Times today about how people are letting their lives be controlled by their stuff, I'm grateful each day that I have a mortgage less than half of what I qualified for and that I never worry about being able to pay my bills because I live within my means.

I'm grateful that not only have we successfully sold Nana's house in Crystal Beach, but as of Friday, Dave and I also sold the lot she and my grandfather purchased many many years ago. We sold it to a man who is eager to build a home for him and his family. I wish them all the happiness in the world.

I'm grateful for my great insurance that allows me to sleep at night knowing that if I have any medical issues, they will be covered and I won't be bankrupted by them. I'm also grateful my thyroid disease is finally being treated and that the medicine to treat it has no side effects. Eventually, I'll feel better. So they tell me.

Although it made "springing forward" a bit more difficult today, I'm really grateful for the very long late night conversation I had last night with one of my best friends. I love the conversations we get into late at night, even when it means we're both dragging the next day.

As always, I'm grateful for my family. Yes, they're a bit crazy, but they're my family and (most days) I wouldn't trade them for anyone else's. Truthfully, I don't think my family is any crazier than anyone else's. Well, mostly. Still, I'm incredibly grateful for them and I love them a whole lot.

Happy Birthday Sammy & Zoey!

Sammy and Zoey turned one today.

They celebrated by playing with their new toys and receiving lots of love from their "Uncles" Christopher, Tony, and Michael at a very fun brunch.

To honor the occassion, I've compiled my favorite pictures of their first year. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Kittens.

Tuesday is BETTER than Christmas!

You read that right, tomorrow, Tuesday, January 15th will be better than Christmas.

Why?

I'm so happy you asked.

Tomorrow will be better than Christmas because Brad Meltzer's new novel, The Fifth Assassin, will be released!

I'm so excited to read this book not only because I'm personally a huge Brad Meltzer fan, but also because I loved The Inner Circle and this novel features once again features Beecher White as the hero. I also love how much research Brad does for his books to make them historically accurate as possible within fiction. Brad doesn't skimp on the details which always prove to suck me in by about the bottom of the first page.

You should buy and fall in love with Brad's new book because in addition to being a phenomenal writer, he's also just one of the coolest people I know. Yes, I know Brad personally. You can find that story here where you'll also learned about how I ended up in The Book of Lies. But I digress. Brad does a lot of incredible charity work with Big Brothers, Big Sisters and City Year Miami, just to name two of his favorite causes. And no, he doesn't just write checks. He gives his time and his talent and he encourages those within his circle of influence to do the same.

Sure, Brad Meltzer is a guy who's achieved a whole lot of success in his life, but he's never forgotten where he came from and he believes in reaching back to help others achieve their dreams.

So buy his book. You'll be glad you did. Personally, I'll be at the book store during my lunch hour and then I'll be a bit exhausted on Wednesday.

image from Amazon.com

It's the End of the World!

According to the Mayan legend, the world will be ending on Friday, December 21st, which is in just 24 hours, depending on your time zone.

In fact, that's one oddity that I don't know the answer to . . . will the world end when the first time zone on earth hits 12/21/12 or will the world end one time zone at a time or will the world wait to end until the single second when in every time zone in the world it is 12/21/12? How I schedule my day depends on the answer. If you know, please let me know.

Getting back to this whole end of the world thing, I have to be honest, I'm not so sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, I think it's a bunch of bunk. On the other hand, I'm not paying bills until the 22nd, just in case.

If the world ends, and this is a big if, I suppose I should say a few things to some important people in my life.

I love you.

Yes, you. You know who you are and if you're questioning if it's you, the answer is YES, it's YOU.

So that's out there.

Now back to the end of the world. In preparation for the end of the world on Friday, I'm headed to work on Thursday, then out for drinks with some co-workers to celebrate the holidays and then back home to hang out with a friend, have some dinner, and watch "2012: The End is Now," Brad Meltzer's new Decoded end-of-the-world special. Yes, seriously. You should watch it too. It's on the History Channel at 9:00 ET/8:00 CT.



The other day, my boss emailed me this cartoon to explain this whole end of the world thing. I think it pretty much sums up how I felt about it all.

But then I saw this picture on Facebook today. I honestly don't remember who I got this from, but I think it's hilarious and now I'm worried. I mean, if the Weekly World News says the world is ending, who am I to argue?

If it's really all over on Friday, then in all honesty, I've enjoyed writing Little Merry Sunshine and I've enjoyed knowing that sometimes I entertain you. Sometimes, I know we've disagreed and that's okay. I appreciate that you've always been respectful. More than anything, I appreciate that you keep coming back. If the world doesn't end on Friday, I've got some fun stuff to talk about before Christmas, so come back on Saturday.