You know what's awesome?

Nashville. Nashville is awesome.

The Grand Ole Opry is open again. Did you know that?

Whether you like country music or not, the Opry is woven into the fiber of American musical culture. There is a lot more to Nashville than the Opry, of course, but it's a pretty huge part of the city (as well it should be).

And it was under. water. just a few months ago.

Like, feet of water.

And now it's open.

You probably haven't heard much about it. There were no telethons. No famous actors. Probably a few country musicians...but no Brad Pitt. A huge natural disaster happened right here in our own front yard, and hardly anyone even knew about it, much less rallied to help.

And you know what? I didn't hear a single cry about the injustice of it all. The people in the Nashville area didn't go around feeling sorry for themselves. They didn't get on TV and ask why America was ignoring them. They didn't ask where the celebs were. They were too busy banding together, mopping up, rebuilding, replacing what was lost as best they could and coming together to mourn that which could not be replaced.

This, to me, is what America is all about. No wallowing, just fixing. Doing what you can for your neighbor and having them do the same in return.

I've been pulling for you, Nash-vegas.

And now the Opry is open again.

Which is awesome.

What color are you today?

I was at a meeting recently and groaned a little bit when they mentioned that we'd be doing an icebreaker. Visions of high school retreats and fake forced intimacy began dancing in my head. I started looking around to see if it was going to be the dreaded toilet paper game, or maybe something involving two truths and a lie. I hope I wasn't having any trouble hiding my inner monologue.

And then the facilitator told us what the icebreaker would be.

"Tell us what color you are today and why," she said.

Hmmm...this one was actually interesting! It required some serious thought, a little creativity, and allowed everyone to share at a level that made them comfortable (perfect for people like me who don't necessarily love telling my deepest darkest secrets to a group of total strangers).

That day I was blue. But not sad blue. Power blue. I was kicking ass and taking names that day, and I wasn't afraid to show it!

Today, I'm yellow! Yellow like the sun, which to me is a happy color. I'm working on a project that involves lots of yellow (it is the favorite color of the person I'm making it for). It's bright and cheery, as am I. It makes other people FEEL bright and cheery, which is something I'd like to do.



So, I ask you, what color are you today?

What color do you want to be tomorrow?

We Remember

I promise promise that after this I'll step down from the soapbox and get back to posting pretty paradise pictures (ahh, alliteration). I haven't ever jumped on the "write something about 9/11 in a public forum" bandwagon, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it today.





I couldn't have been any further from danger on September 11, 2001. I was in a tiny town in Eastern North Carolina, driving to class, when I got the first of many phone calls. It took a while for the news to filter down our way, and it wasn't until we were let out of class (early, because there were so many rumors and nobody could concentrate) and we wandered into a common TV room that we realized what exactly was happening. Going back and forth between the TV and the view out the window was just surreal. Total terror and destruction...sleepy little peaceful coastal town...smoke and fire...gentle sea breezes...people dying...a pod of dolphins swimming...it was really weird.

I'd never been to New York, I'd never seen the Pentagon. It was truly hard to comprehend. In the years since, I've begun to get a sense of the scale of what happened that day - the number of lives lost, the size of the heart of the city that was ripped away, the incredible bravery of those who tried to help...I still can't always put it into words.

I've since been to New York. Actually I was there about six months later. I went to Ground Zero and read the "Missing Person" posters and notes that were left for the victims. I spent some time at a firehouse and touched one of the fire engines that had been buried in rubble that day - restored perfectly, but with dings consciously left in the metal body. I've since lived in DC. I've been to the Pentagon Memorial, with the eerie glow cast by the lights under the benches. I've helped take down an exhibit in which there was one American flag for every person who died that day (and holy cow, you want to get emotional, take down these thousands of flags and realize, as you fold each one, that each of these flags is a PERSON - one who died too soon, one with a family who misses them, one from a community that will never be the same). I've worked within blocks of the White House and had a constant state of hyper-awareness become my new normal.

Since that day, like everyone else, I've heard so many stories. It strikes me that everyone - no matter where they lived, whether or not they knew anyone in New York, DC, Pennsylvania, or on one of the airplanes - everyone was affected. In the days after September 11, our country drew together in a way I'd never had the privilege of seeing. We were all Americans, first and foremost, drawn together by a horrible wrong that had been done to us.

I'm writing this not because I want to show people how affected I have been by what happened to our country that day, but because I'm afraid people will forget. I'm afraid that people will become complacent. I'm afraid that people will think that all the danger has passed. I know that our cars and smartphones and jobs and families and dogs and TiVos and workouts and shopping trips and vacations and hobbies consume our lives - I'm no better than anyone else in that department. All I'm asking is that you remember.

Remember that the men and women of the police and fire departments in all of our hometowns put their lives on the line every.single.day. to keep us safe. Remember that the men and women of our armed forces voluntarily sign up for a life of sacrifice - and sometimes pay the ultimate sacrifice - to protect us and our right to speak our minds. Remember that the families of all these folks have to give up lots of the normal family things you and I take for granted, yet their support and pride for their family members never wavers.

The very least we can do for these brave men and women and their families is to remember.

Maybe say a prayer or send a positive vibe or think happy thoughts or whatever your way of putting positivity into the universe works. It doesn't matter who you vote for, who/what you worship, what you wear, or what football team you love - we're all Americans. It's a shame that the ephemeral sense of unity we all felt nine years ago has all but disappeared, only to be dusted off like a Christmas tree and brought out on one day a year. Commit a random act of kindness in, like, February. Or because it's a Tuesday. Or because you're wearing blue today. Let's make this country one we can all have a sense of unity in - and not because of the negative actions of others - but because we are proud of each other. Because we're proud to be American.

I wish...

...that I could put my thoughts, feelings, dreams, and desires into song.

I just don't have that piece of brain that allows people to write wonderful music and lyrics. I'll just have to settle for listening to music that other people write, perform, and record.

Today's song? "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz.

Yup.

One of our radio stations here changed their format last week. Their new slogan is, "Old School that doesn't make you feel old."

It. Is. Amazing. And they play bands like Milli Vanilli (shhhh, for the purposes of this I'm just gonna call 'em a band), Color Me Badd, and yes, Nu Shooz.

And also, one of my girls is in labor RIGHT. NOW. And I can't WAIT to see pics of her new son :)

Allow myself to talk about...myself

So one of the reasons I never, ever wanted to start a blog is because I am pretty sure that nobody cares what I have to say.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do have a Facebook page. On this page I post things about my daily life that I'm absolutely CERTAIN do not matter to anyone else - so I really don't know why I've been so hesitant to do this in blog form.

And I LOVE reading other peoples' blogs, especially when they talk about the mundane details of their daily lives. But I have a total block when it comes to sharing mine. I just don't think my life is all that interesting.

But today, because P-Dub says that bloggers should blog frequently, I'm going to write something.

Yesterday was a rough day at the ole' office. Nothing special or noteworthy happened, it was just stressful. I am being asked to take on some additional responsibilities in the face of some stuff that's changing 'round these parts, and yesterday the full force of what is about to happen hit me.

Hard.

[Allow me to interject here with an important detail you'll need to know about me if what I'm about to say is going to be at all shocking to you.

I love my couch.

I love my couch a whole lot.

Not quite as much as The Good.Sport (but almost).

If you ask me what I'd like to do after work, my answer would be to curl up on the couch with [insert carby fatty food here] and [insert beer or wine of choice here]. Maybe, on a good night, I'd be knitting while I watch horrible reality TV that makes me feel better about myself. More than likely, I'd fall asleep within an hour.]

Last night, some of the stress had abated by the time I got home, thanks to an amazing drive once I get off of H1 get out of town. This was great! I wanted to sit down, study (I'll talk about this some other time), and pet my dog. But then it happened - a quick check of Facebook showed the status update of a friend who chose to go to the gym rather than sit around the house and eat.

And I knew what would make me feel better.

I changed clothes, put on my sneakers, and took the pooch on an epic walk around the neighborhood. I voluntarily spent more than an hour not just off the couch, but MOVING.

(I'm really not a lazy slug, I regularly engage in outdoor activities like hiking, stand-up paddling, snorkeling, and SCUBA diving. Just not normally on weeknights.)

My point is, I chose to do something good for myself - and for my pooch - rather than wallow. I won't say the stress totally melted away, but I did feel better.

So I also accomplished #4 on the list I linked to above.

Boo-ya.

I may have come home after the walk to sit on the couch with homemade mac 'n cheese. But if I had done that, at least I would have earned it!

I might even get off my duff and go for a long walk AGAIN tonight.

Perhaps I've turned a corner...




Side note: I don't even know if my friend knows the effect her post about going to the gym had on me. I started thinking about how, each and every day, we affect others in subtle ways. We probably don't even know it. I'm making it my personal goal to make all those effects I have on people positive ones. I want to uplift, inspire, and encourage all who come into contact with me. I want to make peoples' lives better. I strive to be a kinder person as I never know when someone is at their wit's end. Sometimes it's just showing a bit of kindness that can draw someone back from the proverbial edge. I'm going to work harder to smile at strangers (I promise not in a creepy way), to be happy with store employees even when I want to cry inside, and to "be the change [I] wish to see in the world." (Gandhi said that, in case you didn't know)

Civility and kindness are disappearing from our world. Won't you work with me to bring it back?

Photo Tour: Big Island - Kona side

Okay, okay, so regular posting is not really my strong suit. To be honest, this is why I never started a blog before. Like everyone else, I enjoy reading people's blogs. I use a blog reader and truly enjoy the people who have stuff to say, and say it regularly, so I get that bloggers who don't blog often are just not interesting. But I'm one of those people that tends to let myself be pulled in eleventy-five different directions at once, so I do what I can.

So anyways, if there is still anyone left out there :) I'm going to pick up where I left off about three months ago - back to showing you some of the Hawaiian Islands.

Since I talked a little bit about Hilo the last time I did this, I'm going to show you a bit of the other side of the Big Island. Kailua-Kona, commonly known as Kona, has quite a bit to offer. But this is me, and I only had one day there, so naturally I spent the day exploring what Kona has to offer in terms of food. Everyone knows the coffee, and I absolutely got a chance to experience that, but did you know that the Kona side also has amazing chocolate and vanilla, too?




My day in Kona started just after sunrise...and who wouldn't love waking up to a sunrise like this??

And this was the fantastic first view I had of Kona!!

Our first stop in Kona was the amazing Holualoa Kona Coffee Company. This company runs a totally organic coffee plantation. They compost the husks of the coffee cherries and even have a flock of geese that help keep the mowing under control and provide pure fertilizer :)

While we were here, we had an incredible tour. We learned all about coffee production, from growing the coffee cherries...

...to how the beans are harvested, dried, and prepared for roasting...

...to the roasting process itself...

...and then we got to drink the incredible coffee!!!

If you ever want to try some of the best coffee ever, give this stuff a try. Even better, get thyself to Kona and take a tour! They made us feel so welcome and were so knowledgeable and passionate about sharing their coffee expertise with us!

After we had our way with the gift shop and said our goodbyes to the geese, we were on our way.

The next amazing stop in our tour de Kona was the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Company.

This company is another small, family owned- and operated cacao plantation and chocolate maker. They specialize in single-origin chocolate which is becoming increasingly rare in the chocolate world. That means that all the cacao used in the chocolate comes from one place, instead of coming from lots of different farms and states and countries and who knows where?? They use the finest ingredients, no preservatives or other chemicals, and of course locally grown cacao that they personally follow from the tree to the packaging. And it truly does show in their amazing products!!

Here are some cacao pods on a tree...

...and this is what you find when you open the pods. The beans are encased in this white stuff that the geckos find REALLY tasty!

Inside the white stuff, you'll find the beans!

So now we'd had this amazing chocolate and we were thinking that there was nothing that could even come close to topping what we'd had so far.

And then we arrived at the Hawaiian Vanilla Company.

This company is another small, family-run enterprise. I truly admire this family. They wanted their children to grow up on a farm, so they bought one (!). They didn't have farming experience, they just knew they wanted their children to have a childhood full of hard work, learning from mistakes, and being together as a family - and for them, this meant life on a farm. Their children, who are homeschooled, work alongside them on the farm. They've seen their parents' successes and failures first-hand and have learned from all those experiences. What an amazing way to raise a family!

And did I mention that their vanilla is incredible?!

They do a tour that comes with a vanilla-infused home-cooked lunch that shows the versatility and fabulosity of vanilla.

One of the young children came to our table, introduced himself very professionally, and asked what we'd like to drink. I decided on the vanilla lemonade.

You can see the vanilla in there!

After that, lunch was served. This was all lovingly prepared by the family, and each item had some way of incorporating the vanilla. It was all delicious and healthy and truly enjoyable!

While we worked on dessert (homemade vanilla ice cream with one of three toppings), we learned a bit about the family, the farm, and how vanilla is produced. We learned some of the easy things we could do with vanilla at home (vanilla-infused vodka, anyone?!).

Did you know that vanilla is an orchid??

The plants have to be hand-pollinated, which is a ton of work...but you can really tell when you taste their vanilla that this family has a passion for what they do. It was nice in this day and age of instant gratification and constant distractions to see a family working together, learning together, and translating all that into a successful product that they love to share with anyone who wants to learn.

And did I mention that the food was delicious?!

After a tour of the vanilla-growing area itself, we went back to that gift shop and picked up some great vanilla products to take home.

Between the coffee, chocolate, and vanilla, the bus smelled AMAZING!

After all this, it was time to say goodbye to Kona. As our bus headed back to the ship, we knew we'd have to make it back here. After all, we barely scratched the surface of things to do on the Kona side, but we certainly were happy and well-fed. We look forward to our next trip to the Big Island. If you do find yourself on the Kona side, check out one of these three businesses.

I took one last photo of Kona as the tender pulled away.

And we settled into the ship for yet another perfect sunset.

Bye, Kona! Hope to see you again soon!!

(Side note: None of the companies named in this post have compensated me in any way. In fact, they don't even know I'm posting about them. I truly believe in small-scale organic farming and in knowing where your food comes from, and all three of these companies are stellar examples of that. I wanted to pass along the wonderful experience we had on all three of these tours and highlight the wonderful work these people do. Just in case you were wondering. Ok I'm really done now.)