This One's For You Mom

Last week I had my first break down since I moved to Tennessee. As many of you know, I have not had a good relationship with my dad. In fact it has been over five years since I’ve seen him and three since I’ve had contact with him, all of it being his choice. Last week my Aunt (his sister) posted a picture of my nephew making his move to Idaho to become a Boise State Bronco. I was reading the comments on the picture and came across one from Joel (my ‘dad’) and his current wife. It was talking about how Joel was ‘beaming with pride’ and reminding my cousin to keep in touch with them (let me remind you that not once has he reached out to his own daughters to be friends on facebook.) It took every ounce of self-restraint I had to not remind him of his oldest daughter Courtney who had gotten married and had two BEAUTIFUL little boys, or me, his youngest (and only biological kid... that I know of) who moved to Hawaii, had her 21st birthday, graduated from the University of Idaho and saved up money and moved cross country all on her own, or my Mom and AMAZING step dad Gary who visit and help take care of HIS biological dad whom he has also abandoned.

At first I was angry with him. Angry that he legitimately sat down and decided to keep in touch with some family members but not others. Sometimes it hurts knowing I didn’t make the cut but then I am reminded of the silver lining to this whole ordeal. I often forget just how lucky I am to have the Mom that I do. My sister and I were forced to grow up sooner than most since my mom had to work three jobs to support us. If it weren’t for her I would not be the strong and independent woman that I am today. My mom made it possible for me to travel the country playing competitive soccer since I was ten years old. Through that I formed a support group, made life long friends, and learned all kinds of lessons on responsibility, accountability, and self-discipline. I am so very thankful for all that my Mom has done for my sister and I. I can honestly say that if it weren’t for her I would not have the confidence or strength to jump on opportunities like going to school in Hawaii, or moving cross country to build a life from the bottom up.

Not once has my mom doubted me in any aspect of life. When I told her I wanted to go to a four year University for Sociology she never judged me. She never told me my plan wasn’t solid enough. She never told me to rethink things. When I told her I wanted a job doing social work she never told me to set my goals higher, to find a job that would pay better. When we had the fateful conversation about me moving across the country she never played the guilt card, she never laughed in my face. When I arrived to Nashville and got a job working at a sports bar she never told me to pack up and move home. She never questioned my plan because she knew she raised a girl who no matter what adversity she’d face, she would be able to overcome it.

I truly believe our world needs parents like my mom. Parents who have faith in their children, parents who teach strength, courage, and independence. Parents who lead by example when it comes to taking risks and for not settling for the mundane. It’s because of her that not once have I second guessed my decision to move to this beautiful city!

As for life in Nashville two months later...I'm lovin' it : ) We've made lots of new friends, bought a couch, and starting tomorrow we have friends and family from home visiting us all the way up through Thanksgiving! Things are going real smoothly! 

Until next time!

-AK

Blowin' Smoke

Today marks one month and one day since I got to Tennessee! So much has happened since the last post! First and foremost we moved! Emily and I found a super nice apartment in Hermitage, about 10 minutes from where we were living before. We are 1 minute from a hospital, 5 from the airport, super close to an interstate, and even closer to downtown! Our apartment has two bedrooms, two baths, free coffee in the clubhouse, a 24 hour gym, a sauna, tanning, a car wash port, and valet garbage pickup! Melanie, the lady we were staying with before gave us a bunch of furniture for our bedrooms so we actually sleep in our own beds now! It’s been so lonely without our nightly slumber parties! We are lacking in the living room and dining room though. It’s been quite entertaining! If we ever decide to have people over we are going to strictly enforce the BYOC rule… Bring Your Own Chair!

I’ve been working at Buffalo Wild Wings for almost a week now. Man did I forget what working at a restaurant was like! I secretly love it though, I’m constantly moving, always on the go. Tuesday night I made $120 in tips…too bad I was training and didn’t get to keep it though : (  My favorite part about working at BWW is being able to represent the Seahawks... We get to wear any team affiliated hat, earrings, whatever during football season! I may be a season ticket holder for the Titans now but that doesn't change anything involving my love for the Seahawks <3 Emily also started working there! In fact she is on day two of training right now! She’s never worked at a restaurant before so it has been kind of an eye opener for her. Hopefully I can talk her into making a post this weekend to get her perspective! I think she can finally grasp the Kasey Musgrave's song "Blowin' Smoke"

Last Tuesday we found a Mexican restaurant that was advertising their $1.99 margaritas, so of course we decided to go in. Turns out Tuesday nights are trivia night so we decided to stick around and give it a shot. Two pitchers of margaritas later, we formed a two person team and called ourselves “West Coast Best Coast” and let’s just say we were terrible. In fact I think the exact words from the MC was “And ‘West Coast Best Coast’ with some of the best drawings but worst answers! Let’s just say they’re not winning…” We legitimately did not gain or lose a single point the entire game. The MC came up to us after the game to wish us words of encouragement for next time. We ended up talking to him and he volunteered to show us some more of Nashville! We went out that following weekend with him and his friend. It was pretty awesome; we got to explore “The Gulch”… which I guess is in-between Midtown (where Vanderbilt is) and downtown.

That same night I met a guy at the Hookah bar (which apparently we are regulars at now) who was trying to get people together for pickup soccer the next day. Of course I told him I’d join. We ended up playing at 4:00… holy moley the humidity was insane. I loved every second of it though : ) We’re working on putting together a team to play summer league!

Tomorrow will be our first Titans experience! Since we are season ticket holders we get free tickets to the scrimmage tomorrow. We're going to go for a few hours before work... I can't wait! Football season is here my friends!

Well I’m sitting at the pool now, and as much as I’d like to write more… I think it’s time to relax and enjoy my day off!

Until next time!

-AK

Picutres to follow... the internet is too slow right meow.

What 4th of July?

First and foremost, so sorry for the late post! It seems like we've been running around like chickens with our heads cut off for the last two weeks! I'm going to fill you in on the rest of the time Carly was here and let Em tell you about her first week in her new home!

*Apparently I should read my previous blogs before I start writing a new one. This one's going to be a more in-depth look at Carly's last days... which the blog before briefly touched on. I'm not going to rewrite this sucker so deal with it! Also sorry for the lack of pictures! 

Carly and I finally got to Nashville on the 1st of July. I mentioned in the previous post that we were way too anxious to arrive at our final destination that we completely rerouted our trip. The next day we hopped aboard the Red Neck Tour Bus (last time we visited Nashville we did the tour and met the tour guide and he was really helpful showing us all the local places rather than all the tourist hotspots). You're allowed to drink on the bus so naturally we did. After the tour Brian (the tour guide who you may also hear me call 'Tater' or 'Dougie Fresh') showed us the BEST burger joint in Nashville. It's called the Pharmacy and is located in East Nashville. If any of you lovely people come visit us, that's the first place we're going. East Nashville is full of hipsters and reminds me a lot of Seattle. Any time I feel like I might miss home I can just hop in my car, head to that part of town and quickly find a coffee shop, and find people in extra tight skinny jeans wearing black framed glasses and beanies. After that Brian took us to a bar called 'Douglas Corner Cafe.' Apparently it's Eric Church's favorite place in Nashville! Tuesdays are open mic night where singer/ songwriters come to play their songs. Carly and I instantly fell in love with the place. 
One of my most favorite things so far has been getting to know our neighbors. The two guys who live behind us, Jeff and Jeremy, are straight up rednecks. Carly and I somehow got involved in some intense golf cart races, golf cart doughnuts in the rain, sparkler bomb explosions and got our first lesson in fishing in the South. Their accents were just too much for me to handle at first. The best part about Jeff is the very first thing he said to me was "Washington? Yall like the Cougars or Dogs?" I told him I was a Husky fan, he agreed, and we became best friends!
Thursday brought us the 4th of July. The Band Perry was playing for free downtown. You can google "Music City 4th of July" just to get a feel for how crazy it was. The plan all along was to go down early, get a parking spot, bar hop until the concert started, and then watch the fireworks. Well as you know we don't do well with plans. It POURED all day. We got downtown with no umbrella around 1pm. Ran into BB Kings bar to escape the rain, grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered us a drink. Turns out our bartender used to be a cheerleader for the good ol' 49ers (gag me). She was trying to make a top to wear out after her shift with a couple of bandanas. Carly, being the art teacher, took her bandanas, some mardi gras beads, and a pair of scissors and whipped up a top for her right at the bar. Needless to say we got free drinks. The rest of the night was a blur. We met a group of guys from Chicago, some girls from Boston, and a couple more girls also from Chicago. We crashed a Bachelor party, drank straight from the pitchers at Paradise Park (a trailer park themed bar), got kicked out of Hooters, danced our butts off at the Honky Tonk and Tequila Cowboys (my two favorite bars) and ended up on the other side of town watching one of our friends (a guy we met at Douglas Corner) perform rather than The Band Perry and the fireworks.

Friday was a recovery day. We didn't leave the pool once.

Saturday we met up with the guys from Chicago. I'm going to paraphrase in order to keep this from being an even longer novel than it already is. Carly stole a bike, Carly stole a cell phone, Carly got drunk, Carly got lost, Carly was found in the bathroom, Carly had a shitty car ride back to the house, Carly got 2 hours of sleep, Carly had to be at the airport at 4am, Carly hated her life.

She's going to kill me for that.

I had four days by my lonesome until the lovely Emily arrived! Those days consisted of me sitting by the pool, buying Titans season tickets, finding a job working at Wild Buffalo Wings, lots of early morning runs, potato gun adventures with the neighbors, and most importantly, letting my liver recover from my adventures with Carly!

Until next time!
-AK

Carly's last day

LP Field

Honey I'm Home!

So our plans took a bit of a turn Sunday morning. Originally we were going to leave Chicago, head to Indianapolis, cut across to Branson, drop down to Little Rock, and then go through Memphis on our way to Nashville. When we eventually woke up Sunday morning we decided there was still more we wanted to see. We packed up and headed to the Shedd Aquarium in downtown Chicago. It was amazing to say the least! There were dolphins, sharks (my favorite), penguins, belugas, giant creepy snakes, and all sorts of other things. About five-thousand times bigger than our lovely aquarium back home. We were able to play with stingrays, and Carly got to see her first 4-D show, Ice Age the Melt Down. Since there was so much to see and do there, we got off to a little bit later of a start then expected. We finally made it back to the car around 1:00 or so and headed off the Indianapolis. 

The only reason we went to Indianapolis was to go and see the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. Man was it worth the stop! The stadium was HUGE. I thought the Seahawks and a nice field but this one kind of blew it out of the water. I decided when I get rich and retire I need to drive across the country again just to tour all the awesome stadiums. From Indianapolis we headed to Louisville Kentucky. Using our awesome brain power, we realized we could still use the hotel discount we had from Chicago and decided to stay downtown Louisville. It was a Sunday night so we didn't really have high expectations for the night life there, but decided to go out anyways. Well as you may have figured out from the previous posts, there is no such thing as a boring night with Carly and I. We headed to 4th ave., which is like a city all on it's own. We went to a place called the Sports and Social Club and took a seat at the bar. Seeing that they had bowling lanes for five dollars we decided to play. While waiting for lane assignment we ran into this guy who was frantically looking for his friends. Apparently his Army buddies were suppose to be at this bar and weren't. We decided to help the soldier-in-need by inviting him to bowl with us, at which point we became the three best friends that anyone could ever have. We bowled, we drank, and mingled to other bars, and once again, did not go to bed until at least 4am. 

Morning came and we decided to bail on the rest of our plans and just head to Nashville. We left around 10am and made our way to Mammoth Caves, which is the longest system of caves in the world, about 400 explored miles. 
Fact #1: caves are not made for almost 6ft tall people. I took on the alter ego of Gollum and gave a whole new twist to the tour. The caves were absolutely stunning. Way better then the Jewel Caves in South Dakota. We did the two-hour tour and then began our 2 hour drive to Nashville. 
Fact #2: Us Seattle people have not experienced rain like they have over here. We were forced to pull off the freeway and wait out the rain so we didn't die. Thankfully it only took a half hour or so for it to let up enough for us to keep driving.

And just like that we made it to Nashville : ) I have never been so happy. Right off the bat we found a Mexican restaurant that does 2 for 1 margaritas, which if you know me at all you know that that is my all time favorite thing. The last few days have consisted of us exploring the different areas of Nashville with a guy we met last time we visited. Conveniently enough he was a tour guide last time so he knew where all the good spots were. We had the best cheeseburger of our lives at a place in East Nashville called "The Pharmacy" found a local bar where singers and songwriters come to perform, and partied our little butts off on the 4th with all the random people we met. Life at my new house has been awesome as well. I have a ridiculous Mexican style pool that looks like a resort pool, crazy redneck neighbors who took us fishing in the dark, attempted to catch fireflies, had golf cart races and even went on a beautiful 2.5 mile run at the lake. 

I'm sad to say that Carly is leaving me Sunday, but she's promised to come back for  New Years Eve...which I recommend all of you do as well! I can't wait for Emily to finally be here and experience all that I've discovered and more : )
Until next time!
-AK

The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

Colts Stadium

My pool!

Old Hickory Lake, right down the road from me

Our redneck tour 

White trash Redneck 4th of July

Batter's up, Party down

Where to start, after leaving Rapid City, SD Thursday morning I drove straight to the east side of the state to pick up Carly in Watertown. She welcomed me with open arms, meaning tequila, friends, and BBQ chicken. We took a night quad ride to the ballpark where her parents were working the softball games and then headed to Kempeska lake…bad idea. A wall of Mayflies attacked us. Carly pulled over so I could look at the lake but there was no lake to be seen, just a bazillion pesky bugs. The only option was to peace out and head home. In the morning we went to breakfast with her wonderful family and then started our ten-hour drive to Chicago.

The drive was far from boring. In Wisconsin we hit a ridiculous rainstorm, where we couldn’t see ten feet in front of our face. We came along an asshole truck driver who was cutting people off left and right. Let’s just say he was presented with two deluxe death glares (and a little thing we like to call the bird). The next obstacle we came across were the annoying pay tolls. We missed the first one completely, were exempt from the second one due to construction, and finally managed to pull our shit together and make it through the next two. We made it to our hotel safe and sound at 8pm.

Now for the good stuff…

Thanks to Carly’s brother we were able to get the hook up with our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott right next to the O’Hare Airport and the Blue Line train station. After getting settled into our hotel we walked across the street to experience Chicago pizza first hand. It was quite delicious. We then decided to go to the bar in our hotel for a nightcap before calling it quits for the day. Well as you all know, there is no such thing as “just one drink”. Sitting next to us at the bar was Mike (a fifty something man from Laguna Beach) and a married couple from St. Louis who were in town for the Jimmy Buffet concert the next night. The lady (who we will call Piper because that’s her “bar name”) bought us Patron shots. Mike soon followed by buying us more Patron shots.  Add that to our two martinis, tequila sunrises and a daiquiri and that leads to a SPLENDID night. Mike talked us into all getting a cab and going out in downtown Chi-town (mind you it was mid-night…did I mention that bars don’t close until 4 there?) While waiting for the cab to come, “Piper” and her husband bailed and decided to stay at the hotel. We heard a couple guys behind us with an accent and of course our little South Dakota fireball had to find out where they were from. The answer was Australia…perfect! We decided that Mike and us would share a cab with Tim (not Tim McGraw although I called him that all night) and Gavin our new friends. When the cab finally came there were only four spots and Mike decided to stay back since he had a flight at 7am. Upon saying bye and wishing us luck Mike handed us cash to pay for the cab.

Somehow we ended up at a bar called The Wonder Bar…which Carly and I for sure thought was a strip club. It was not. We got in and it was a tiny (but hopping) jazz bar. I decide I needed to find the bathroom so I headed downstairs… the bathroom is NOT downstairs. There was some kind of 10-person rave going on, and it was super awkward. After successfully finding the bathroom I met up with the gang, we bought drinks and sat at one of the tables. The tables had white paper for tablecloths and crayons to draw on it with, our kind of bar! Carly tried to set the bar on fire by putting the paper in the candles, the cocktail waitresses were not down with that. Tim and I played tic-tac-toe, which intrigued the guy next to us and just like that we found another couple offering to buy us drinks all night! The couple was from New Orleans and come to Chicago once a year. The husband was a nuclear chemist and the wife never worked a day in her life.  We drank and danced all night, even exploring the creepy rave that was going on downstairs. We then ended up going to a second bar just for the hell of it around 3am. Drunk and tired Carly got the wonderful idea to buy Jimmy Buffett tickets for the four of us. She found some for FIVE DOLLARS each …if it sounds too good to be true it’s because it was. She ended up purchasing them just to find out the next day, when we were more coherent, that they were indeed not entrance tickets, they were simply just the “fast passes” so you didn’t have to wait in line. Welp, you can’t win them all! A crazy night that we somehow still remember thanks to all the awesome people we crossed paths with.

We got off to a late start the next morning seeing as how we weren’t in bed until around 7am. After one set back of confusing the Cubs stadium with the White Sox stadium (*Cough Cough CARLY) and getting off at the wrong stop on the Blue Line we finally made it to the ball game. We may or may not have only made it to the 4^th inning of the White Sox vs. Indians game due to a lack of sleep and nodding off in the stands. We decided we had to get up and walk around if we were going to make it through the day. We got back on the train and explored the rest of downtown Chicago. We saw Cloud Gate, or as I like to call it “The Bean,” walked through Millennium Park, meandered through a really awesome art fair, walked along the bay, and went to the very tip top of the Willis (Sears) Tower where we were able to watch an amazing sunset! We got back to the hotel around 10 o’clock, somehow finding a third wind and buying the movie “Chasing Mavericks” leaving Carly crying herself to sleep. The next morning we’d be checking out and heading on our way to our newly rerouted trip.

-AK

 The house wife from New Orleans at the Wonder Bar.

 Trying to figure out what was going on

Cellular Field

The Bean!

 Chicago from the Sears Tower

Out of Order...But Tim and Gavin did their part in getting us all free drinks as well! : )

Things we've learned along the way...

Experiences and words of advice from those we crossed paths with along the way (more to be added)

1.     “There’s a quite one and there’s a loud one. There’s a rider and there’s a driver” (Couple from St. Louis)

2.     You only live once (Common quote, but not from a 45 year old lady with a “bar name”)

3.     No one goes the speed limit on the freeways in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Kentucky

4.     A planned trip is not always the best trip; sometimes you’ve got to throw the plan a way and just go with it.

5.     It is ridiculous to ask an Australian to move faster than “6mph” in the morning. Australians are not morning people

6.     DO NOT go to basement raves in the bars of Chicago unless you want a creepy dude with glasses, high on drugs to dance up on you.

7.     You don’t have to work if you marry a nuclear chemist

8.     Don’t be shy. You don’t get free drinks, cabs, and amazing memories by being a wallflower.

9.     DO NOT expect much out of a town called Baraboo Wisconsin.
10. Ain't nobody got time for plans!
11. The best places in Nashville are the ones the locals don't know about.
12. It is an absolute pain in the butt to change all your information when you move to a new state.
13. Gas can be 3.17 one day and 3.49 the next in Tennessee
14. ( Learned from my ABC class) You can also get a DUI in the passenger seat if your driver gets a DUI.... if you let someone drive your car while you stay at the house and they get a DUI... the cops can come back and give you a DUI as well... SO DONT DRINK AND DRIVE IN TENNESSEE... or anywhere sillys!
15. If you think a situation is sketchy, it probably is.
16. Accept the unexpected
17. The giggle ghost will attack when you've had zero hours of sleep.
18. Knowing football will get you a job in Tennessee

Dude, Where's my Co-pilot?

Well well well, the road trip is well underway and I've already seen so many amazing things! Let's start from the very beginning though. Last Friday my mom and I road-tripped to Clarkston, Wa. to stay at my Grandpa's for the weekend. The whole fam-bam was in town so there were lots of stories, guitar playing, card games, and LOTS of food! Saturday Emily and I went to the Kamiah Rodeo with our friends Lacey, Curtis, Topper, and Joe. That was a riot! Let's just say that the beer garden did not let us down! 
Sunday came along and hit the whole family hard with a tornado of emotions. We had a memorial for my Grandma, who had passed a few months back, which also served as a family reunion (hence why the family was in town!). We put together a service on the river where we spread my Grandma's ashes. My Grandpa was so strong and was a huge inspiration to me. Seeing how my family came together for such a bitter-sweet moment really made it hard for me to leave, in fact I ended up staying Monday night at my Grandpa's just for a little more time with him. OOH-WEE saying bye was hard! My Mom and Gary (her boyfriend of a BAGILLION years) left Monday morning leaving just my Grandpa and I to say bye on Tuesday. It was so hard because I have such a new and unique relationship with him that I felt like I was abandoning him, but when it comes down to it, I know that this move is what's best for me right now!
Which brings me to my move! My journey did not start off on the right foot, but if you know me at all you know that I have the worst luck when it comes to traveling. It was raining Tuesday morning when I left Washington (the only rain I've seen so far of course) and you know what I went and did? I got myself a big, fatty ticket. OK it wasn't that bad... I was going over the speed limit while passing a semi (big whoop!) but it happened, and I thought for sure the rest of my trip was doomed but boy was I wrong! Within a few hours of that happening a car with plates from Tennessee passed me with four really really good looking guys! It was a clear sign that everything was going to be OK!
Yesterday (Tuesday) I drove straight from Clarkston to Billings MT.. Originally Billings was just a goal and I was hoping to making it to Gellette WY, but damn I was tired! I decided to just call it a night and wake up really early with hopes of doing a lot of exploring the next day. 
I woke up at 4:30 this morning. My mom is probably shitting her pants right now because rarely do I wake up before 10 am on any given day, but I was on a mission. First stop was Devil's Tower. I am SO obsessed with this place. I don't know what it is about it but it's by far the coolest thing I've seen. The stories behind it are just miraculous and when you see it in person it really just blows your mind! Yes it's in the middle of NOWHERE but the drive to nowhere was absolutely stunning! I could make that drive five thousand times and never get tired of it. I then ventured through Deadwood SD where I went to the 76 Museum. It was OK, nothing too crazy; however I could see myself spending a lot of time in that town... it's basically the Vegas of South Dakota! From there I went to Mount Rushmore. Dare I say...AMAZING! I was expecting a million people there but today must have been a slow day, it was rather nice. I hadn't ate lunch yet and was trying to decide between getting food afterwards or going to the Jewel Cave National Park. After a really intense argument in my head, I decided on going to the cave : ) Now when they say "bring a coat," they definitely mean it! As soon as we took the elevator down into the cave it dropped like 20 degrees! I was only able to fit into the "discovery tour" which was only 30 min. long but it was phenomenal. Apparently it's the third largest cave in the WORLD. Right now 166 miles of cave have been explored there, but it is predicted to have much more!
On the way to Rapid City I decided to make a pit stop at the Crazy Horse Monument. I'll be honest, I had no idea this existed until my Sister asked me if I was going to it. It was amazing to see such an incredible piece of art being built right in front of my eyes. If you were to put all of Mount Rushmore next to the Crazy Horse sculpture, Rushmore would only be as big as Crazy Horses's head! I then hit the road again and finally made it to Rapid City around 6:30 pm where I treated my self to a couple drinks and a nice steak dinner : ) I plan on getting a solid night's sleep and making my way to Carly in Watertown SD tomorrow! It will be nice to finally have a co-pilot so I don't have to keep taking selfies all the time!
Good night wonderful people!
-AK

 Devil's Tower... BEAM ME UP SCOTTY!

 76 Museum in Deadwood SD

 The fella's looking great as always!

 Inside the Jewel Cave National Park

Homeboy Crazy Horse being sculpted right in front of our eyes!