be mine <3

I really love Valentine's day! It's such a happy day filled with love, hearts and chocolate. Given mine was not so much love, hearts or chocolate but it was still good! In fact there was no chocolate.... wow, a day without chocolate... sadness.

And I definitely don't mind being single on Valentine's. I think it is a fun holiday no matter what. To me, the day is about loving others and being loved. I woke up to a few text messages (thanks Jared) and some video messages (thank you Jenn, Blair and Rebecca)! I also spoke with my mom and my closest friends.... there's plenty of love there to make my Valentine's great!

For Valentine's dinner Matt and I had a totally platonic, non-romantic dinner at O'Charley's! Rolls+Loaded Potato Soup+Riesling+ Salmon= great dinner! We were both stuffed and incredibly exhausted from working all day so we called it a night pretty early.

Me and Matt at O'Charley's

Our super nice waiter

And that is how I celebrated Valentine's Day 2009!

Now we are on the way to Memphis, Tennessee for the night... and hopefully to visit Graceland before we continue our journey west to Copper Mountain, Colorado. We will be working at a snowboarding competition there!!

'bama

We drove all day Tuesday from Miami and actually stayed in atl that night. It was a only a brief overnight visit to the Comfort Inn & Suites at Turner Field. (note: don't stay there... it's kinda dirty and the elevator jumps like it's hanging from a bungee cord-yeah, lil' bit scary)

On Wednesday we arrived in Auburn. Luckily my friend, Cassidy let us stay at her apartment for the night, which was really awesome. It was good to see a friend and great to save some of our hotel budget money!

We worked the Auburn basketball game on Wednesday night. The crowd was slim and not too many people stopped by. But it was still fun to be there!

Thursday was by far the highlight of my Auburn visit. Cassidy and her friends had been talking about this crazy 'restaurant' (I use the term very loosely) nearby called Out of the Box. None of them had been there but they had all heard it described as "Not bad, not good... but weird." So of course we had to try it out.

It is described as a "peanut butter and cereal cafe." Yes, you heard me correctly... peanut butter and cereal.

Here's how it works:

Choose your bread: I chose white, which would not normally be the route I would take but for a peanut butter sandwich it seemed like a good option!

Choose your peanut butter: So, you're probably thinking 'plain or crunchy'.... oh contraire, my dear friends. You choose from spicy, white chocolate, honey, maple syrup.... all together there are eight different options. I opted for the dark chocolate peanut butter (great choice).

Choose your Jelly/Marshmallow creme: My choice was the 'mallow creme (thank you Jenn for the inspiration)

Choose your toppings: Ladies and Gentlemen, here is when it gets interesting! You have your choice of two toppings from a pelethera of options, including but not limited to.... Skittles, Kit Kats, Fruity Pebbles, Special K with Red Berries and Apples... there were about 20 different cereals and 15 types of candy to put on this sandwich creation.

The five year old in me was screaming for Hersey Bars and Apple Jacks but my stomach and maturity level begged for bananas.... and won. Oh, and I got Crunch Bar chunks on the side.

So I enjoyed my dark chocolate peanut butter, marshmallow creme and banana sandwich, with a side of crunch bars while Matt scarfed down a white chocolate, raspberry jam, cocoa krispies and banana sandwich. And that was lunch. Yes, it was strange but also pretty good!

Matt's Sandwich Masterpiece

Me and Cassidy holding up the ginormous box of Apple Jacks

Luckily we had Matt there to carry the heavy box of cereal!

Cassidy's friend, Nik and his sandwich (equipped with Kit Kats)

Will I be back to Out of the Box? No, not likely.

Will I recommend it to others? Um, hello!? Yea! So if you're in Auburn... please, please- you must check it out!


After Auburn we headed to Birmingham for the Mercedes Marathon. We were set up in an auditorium where people picked up their race packets. It was like a expo/trade show. We were across from the Michelob Ultra people, next to a recycling group and diagonal from a runner's clothing store. We made up quite the corner of text messaging drinkers who recycled their beer cups and tried on running shoes!

The expo went well. We actually had our best event day thus far on Saturday. There were tons of kids who stopped by our booth to play games and download songs! We were definitely hoppin' at the Verizon Wireless booth!

bienvenidos a miami

You think I could come to Miami without rockin this song- ha, get real....

Thank you, Will Smith... haha!!

Anyway, right now I am sitting in the Sleep Inn in good ol' Miami!! Yesterday we had our first event at a Miami Heat game.

It was a great first event. Although we did have a few kinks (as expected for me and matt both being first timers). We were a little behind with getting the site set-up and the crowd was not as responsive as we had hoped. Lauren is still with us so she helped a lot and another guy from the office, Norm came to Miami to help with our event also. It has been so wonderful to have them here to answer questions and give us feedback in order for our next event to run even more smoothly!

Here is what our event site looks like.

We were set up in front of the American Airlines Arena. Unfortunately we were not able to go in for the game. We were given suite tickets but couldn't use them because as we were packing up our trailer hitch lock broke! So we spent the second half of the game troubleshooting that problem. It's almost better that it did happen because we had a great crowd response after the game and any time something goes wrong we learn more about how to make it better next time!

Here was the crowd after the game.

Miami has really been a lot of fun!! It is so diverse and a great place to people watch. The culture here is so different. I feel like I am in South America. Everyone is so fun and flashy!

When we got here on Saturday we immediately drove to the beach. It was a little windy but still warm. There were a few cruise ships going out of the port! We drove around South Beach and there were so many things to look at.... clothing stores, restaurants, tattoo shops... everything! And there were so many AMAZING cars- Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys... it was very cool!

Me and Lauren at the beach!

Me and Matt

Me and Matt on the lifegaurd stand

Then we came back to our hotel, got ready and went back down to South Beach for dinner. We ate at a mexican restaurant that was really good! Then we walked around South Beach and went to a place called Ocean's Ten. It was very cool, right on Ocean Dr. They had a live band and as it got later they had a DJ!

I felt really bad for Matt because his dinner didn't sit too well... he got pretty sick. He still toughed it out and hung at Ocean's Ten. Really there's no way that he could not have fun with 'Shoeless Joe' dancing in front of us. Haha... 'Shoeless Joe' was this flamboyant guy that was dancing his little heart out, unfortunately the picture does not do his amazement justice! He kept smiling at us and dancing near. He made a few wardrobe changes through the night- sunglasses with head scarf (made from his sweater), shirt tucked in; no sunglasses with a neck scarf, shirt untucked, and many other variations with the props listed! It was glorious.

Shoeless Joe breakin it down

The Band at Ocean's Ten

The dancers and DJ at Ocean's Ten

Lauren, Me & Matt at Ocean's Ten

As I was walking around I couldn't help but think how much fun I would be having if Angelina was here. She would totally love Miami and Miami would love her too! Angel- we are taking a trip to Miami next year!!

South Beach is a happenin' place. It would be a great place for a girl's weekend or a bachelorette party. Next time I come down I am definitely staying at Deco Walk. It's a hostel on Ocean Drive, which is a perfect location, right in the middle of everything!! And I looked it up- only $20 a night!!! So if you come to South Beach you HAVE to stay there!!

So Miami has been a BLAST.... now on to Alabama :)

race fans and flea markets...

Oh Daytona..... we arrived on Wednesday night, very hungry and excited to be in warm weather!

Thursday was a maintenance day for us.  So we had to go shopping for things we need and review important information that we learned during training week.  Lauren, our coordinator met us in Daytona to help us get started and guide us along for the first few events.

We actually didn't set up our event site in Daytona.  We were originally supposed to be at the Budweiser Shootout.  But it didn't work out, so on Friday we did guerilla marketing.  This is when we find a location with a good number of people and we talk to them about our products and services.

We decided to go to the race track, where fans were hanging around and we also went to a Flea Market nearby.

haha... this was a rack of t-shirts at the Flea Market... not 'On Sale,' not just 'Cheap'- these shirts are 'Damn Cheap'- love it!

These are some guys that we spoke to at the Flea Market.  They like to call themselves 'Nascarnies' because they travel from race to race!

Our sweet ride!

Verizon Wireless.. what, what!!

This is us talking to some people at the race track.

It is, of course intimidating to go up to strangers and talk to them about Verizon Wireless.  But once you get past the pain of rejection it becomes much easier :)

It would have been nice to have a tent set up at the Budweiser Shootout but it just didn't work out.  So Veal- you don't really have anything to be jealous of... we didn't actually get to do much with the race!  :)  But I did think about you and your NASCAR love while I was in Daytona!

It was a good time but gotta keep it movin'... now onto Miami!!

home sweet home

So on Tuesday I was able to spend the night at home with my parents!  We went out to dinner at Ippolito's (one of my favorites)!  It was great to get to see my parents already.  

Before my trip I had some luggage dilemmas.  Of course I wanted to get really cute luggage but it also needed to be functional.  So I found the cutest set at TJ Maxx.  

But after one week of two (incredibly cute) rolling bags I quickly realized that two bags plus a rolling case for our phones and two laptops was a bit excessive to be carrying around everywhere. So while at home I dropped off my small suitcase and traded it out for a duffle bag (thank you Bartz).

While at home I may have squeezed a little bit more into my suitcase :)  It was already packed pretty tight but now there is seriously no extra space!  And I know that I am going to go shopping soon... not quite sure where I'll fit any purchases.  I'll just have to make it work.

Also I noticed that that I only packed black, white and grey.  I am being dead honest.... the ONLY colored shirt I brought is a teal Georgia College shirt!!  haha... I thought it would be easier to dress my clothes up with a fun scarf or cute jewelry!  

Lastly I want to give a shout out to Rachel for keeping me company as I squeezed my clothes in my suitcase!!  :)

say cheeeese!

So, yeah... Wisconsin... pretty much what I pictured it to be... not much happenin'

Luckily we have an awesome group so no matter where we are we have fun together!



We got to Wisconsin on Thursday night and went out to dinner at B-dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings). We didn't really do anything else. But I love the group that I am training with... everyone is so fun to hang out with!

Friday::
We had a lot of training to still go over. The reason we went to Wisconsin was to have our vehicle training and learn to set up our event sites.



So pretty much all day we spent learning to hook up our trailer and other driving pointers. For dinner we went out to eat in smaller groups. I went with my partner, Matt, our coordinator and the northeast team. We had sushi and it was sooo good!

Nothing too exciting... sorry for the boring play by play!

Saturday::
Nope, still not a day off! We had more driver training and worked a lot with our event site.

Then on Saturday night we went to watch the UFC match at Champps... I have officially decided that I don't really like fighting! I just couldn't get into it and it made me kinda sad to watch people get hurt that bad!

Then we just went back to the 'ol holiday inn express and hung out playing catchphrase and other games!

Sunday::
Yesterday we worked for a few hours then packed our trailers and left Wisconsin. I was so sad to have to leave everyone. Luckily we are in the HQRover, which means that we will travel all over and hopefully get to see the other teams along the way!

We were lucky enough to stop at Mars Cheese Castle on our way out of Wisconsin. (I know you're all jealous) It looked like it was going to be cool- but do not be deceived... if you go to Wisconsin it is indeed not as neat as you think! It was just a gift shop with a fancy name. So that kicked off our first drive of the year! We drove all day Monday until we got to Louisville, Ky.





Then we woke this morning and are currently in the car driving to atl for the night!! Yay... I get to spend a night at home already!

I miss you all so much... but this is seriously such an amazing experience!

Matt and I are on our way to Daytona... we have 3 days to get there for the Budwieser Shootout!! It'll be exciting to get going on our first event!

chi town

Sorry, it's been a while since I have written on here but things got very busy very quickly!!

So I guess I will just try to hit the main parts from the last week...

We were in Chicago from Sunday till Thursday. Then we drove to Wisconsin Thursday night and stayed there until yesterday.

Monday::
Training all day (like I said in my last post) Then that night we went out to the Rush/Divison area in Chicago. We went to an irish pub then to a dance club for a fashion show. Unfortunately we left before the show started but it was so cool to see the models and the place where we were was really neat. Oh an I met my first transvestite on stilts… haha. wow.



Stilts... interesting.



Tuesday::
This was a GREAT day!! We kicked off tuesday with a scavenger hunt!! We had to find places all around the city like Buckingham Fountain, the Bean, 5 hotels, 5 schools, etc. And we had to use our new Verizon Wireless devices to take pictures and videos to send back to Marketing Werks. It was great to see a little more of Chicago outside of our hotel and the office.




Yes, it was cold… but not too terribly bad. I think the temperature today was a high of 20 degrees (apparently a huge improvement from last week)! Oh and my team totally rocked the scavenger hunt... we won Starbucks giftcards! It was Alison, Chad, Melissa and me.

Then the rest of the day was pretty good too. We had some phone training, Rhapsody training and we got to know our partners a little better.

Tuesday night was pretty low key. We went to eat at a place called Emerald Loop. It was delicious!


Wednesday::
This was a very long day... we had a trainer come from Verizon to teach us about all of the products and services. We thought that it would be a boring day but it was really informative and our trainer was very engaging!!

That night we went to play WhirleyBall with everyone, including the office people. It's really great that Marketing Werks is a very young company- everyone is in their twenties and early thirties. So had a blast together!!



If you don't know what WhirleyBall is... you are deprived and have not truly lived yet. WhirleyBall is what happens when bumper cars, basketball and lacrosse all get together and have an amazingly handsome baby... i'm talking cuter than Surie Cruise or Harlow Madden.

And... might I add that I killed at WhirleyBall... if it were an Olympic sport I would be on the team and USA would be Gold Medalist. Kirby, Travis and I basically are the dream threesome in this highly competitive and challenging sport.

Then after two hours of intense WhirleyBall madness we went to Howl at the Moon. Which was a really cool piano bar. We requested some pretty sweet jams... come on eileen...great balls of fire... and even single ladies. We all hung out and even made a stage appearance for single ladies :)

I was pretty tired so I called it a night but I wish I would have stayed out because 6 of the other people we were with got a ride in a paddy wagon to a diner!! My taxi ride back to the hotel just didn't compare to the awesomeness of convincing cops to take a group to a late night diner in the paddy wagon!! jealous.

Thursday::
This was another intense Verizon training day along with Motorola and BlackBerry Storm training.

Then we all packed into mini vans and headed to Wisconsin....