Sorry Belmont...I was trying!!!

Most people who know me, know that I LOVE where I went to college. Belmont University, here in Nashville gave me 4 of the best years of my life so far. Because I had such a great experience (and because I've never met a stranger) I have dubbed myself an unofficial ambassador to the school whenever I come across a young person and their parents debating over whether to go there or not. This happened today...sort of.

A daughter, mother, and grandmother were all shopping in the store today, when I overheard them discussing what to wear for the Campus Tour in the morning. Partly because it's my job to help pick out the perfect outfit and partly because I wanted to find out the school, I headed over and asked. To my happiness, the tour was of Belmont!
"Where are you from," I asked.
"Little Rock," says Mom.
"What are you coming here in hopes of Studying?"
"Commercial Voice," says the daughter
"How cool! That's what I majored in," I replied.

I then went on, helping them choose a ton of potential outfits and headed off to the fitting rooms together. As daughter was trying on, I was majorly singing the praises of Belmont to Mom and Grandma...telling them ALL about what a wonderful place it was, all of the things to do, how great the teachers were, etc.

Mom interjects and asks: "Did you go to school with any famous people??"
Seriously?? (I think in my head) but aloud say..."Well I was friends with Josh Turner, and a good friend of mine sings BGV's for Carrie Underwood on her specials..."
Mom: "Ohhhh....he's that guy that sings Long Black Train..."

Seriously people!! It's Nashville. You see a famous person on every street corner! Can we talk about Belmont here?!?! I am finally able to get them back on track, and thinking about their daughters future...and we start talking about class size etc.

All is going well until Grandma utters her 1st sentence of the day: "So how are YOU using your voice degree?" OUT OF NOWHERE!!!

Caught off guard...my response was..."ME?! Oh absolutely nothing!! I changed that major 1st semester of my Sophomore year!!"

Oops....Their faces said it all...that was Not quite the answer they were expecting. I think they wanted me to say that I manage my store in my spare time, while singing in bars 7 nights a week or something cliche' like that. But honey...that ain't happenin' Needless to say, they wrapped up their shopping trip fairly quickly and headed out the door.

So the moral of the story is 1.) Come to Belmont for the kick-ass college experience, NOT because you think it's gonna make you a country star, and 2.) Don't try to relate to someone who is about to start something you quit doing years ago!! HA!

Hope I didn't lose you a recruit ole' BU. Go Bruins!!!

If I can't get a medal...I should at least get the T-shirt!

So I think the Country Music marathon hates me. Seriously!! I move almost every year and no matter where I seem to go...they run past my house. Not NEAR my house...actually on my street and pass my house. This year..my driveway was actually a water pit-stop. So without our knowledge, volunteers showed up at the crack of dawn with lawnchairs, tables, and 5 million cups! But thats not the point of the story. Here's my morning:

I've known for weeks that my road was going to be closed from 6am-noon this morning. I had to be at work at 8 so I knew that I would need to park in a different spot. This was going to be easy (or so I thought) because my next door neighbors driveway pulls out to Belmont Blvd. not Battlefield (my closed off street.) I got home from work last night, parked in their drive and went to bed. When I woke up for work and took Cashmere out for a little potty time...I saw a terrifying sight. People running down Belmont!!!! After realizing that my car was trapped, I had a mini panic attack. I then pulled myself together, called the other manager opening with me and explained that she was going to have to come get me. Mind you..the street was closed, so I was going to have to WALK to where she could pick me up.

Here's where it gets funny... I was dressed super snazzy for work (it was a Saturday afterall) in a jumpsuit, heels, and carrying a ginormous purse. The only way to get to where Courtney was waiting, was to walk WITH the runners!!!! How embarrassing! They were giving me the craziest looks a) because I was definitely NOT dressed appropriately and b) because it seemed as if I had just joined the race midway through! Even the people on the sides of the road cheering the runners along were confused! The final stage of humiliation: in order to cross the street to get in the car, I actually had to WEAVE through the runners path! So here I am, in my Party it up outfit saying "excuse me, sorry, excuse me, sorry) as I bobbed and weaved through the massive herd of people. NOT what I expected this morning!!

Anyway, I would like to say, that although this experience was NO WHERE near fANNEtastic, I do have one freakin-fantastic story to share! AND I get to say that I participated in the 2010 Country Music Marathon! So I want my shirt... Hope you got a laugh...at my expense. :)

Blessing in disguise...

So I'm getting a presidential visit at work next week... Very exciting, but Yikes!!! Lots of work to make everything perfect. :) I am a perfectionist after all. In order to get everything in order, I schedule myself 6 days of work this week instead of my normal 5. Today is my day off. My ONE day to myself. As I am leaving the store yesterday, my co-manager says, "I wont call you tomorrow unless the store is burning down." My response: "If the store is burning down, call 911. I'll see you Wednesday." :) Anyway...it's a big surprise when I get a phone call from him at 9 am this morning!!! Needless to say...the manager that was supposed to open, hadn't shown up by 9:15 and we open at 10. YIKES!!! 911 Co-manager offered to come in at work in the morn, but knew that he wouldn't be able to get there until around 10, so I decided to jump in the car (pjs, no bra, and electrocuted hair) to at least get everything ready.

Long story short, we got everything done by 10, and around 10:30 missing manager called frantic saying he'd mixed up his schedule and was at the Dr's office while we were trying to call. He covered the managers shift that had come in for him and all was good. Now, normally I would be very pissed that I had to go into work the 1 day I had off, but I chose to look at today differently, and that is why is was fANNEtastic, :)

On my days off, I usually sleep in until around 12 or 1. Now sleeping in is nice, but this is excessive. Because I had to get up and go in to work for an hour, I chose to treat today differently. I was back at home by 10:30 and refused to get back in bed! By noon, I had paid some bills, sorted laundry, and taken Cashmere on a mile and a half run! Today was gonna be a good day! I then, took a short nap, got up, went to the grocery and decided to de-weed our lawn. What a productive day so far!! Next, I relaxed at the house, was bored and then drove to get a pedicure (best one ever, by the way. A place called Illusion, and he worked on my feet for an hour and 15 mins!!).

So here's the moral of the story. You can be pissed that your "quiet time" gets switched up, and let it ruin your day, or you can embrace the opportunity, and end up making it the best "quiet time" ever!!! I chose the 2nd option and had the best day off in months!! You should too.

Nighty Night!
Anne