Reasons Why I Don't Want Peyton Manning to End Up At Tennessee

My friend and Nashville resident,
Patty Clements, sent me this
screenshot from the media coverage
of the Pope, I mean, Peyton's visit.

My Nashville friends will probably not like this. Most have been letting me know Peyton's whereabouts in town while he's been there. Frankly, I'm a little surprised he got a direct flight from Indy to Nashville because I never could (Yes, I know he probably has a private plane. I'm kidding). Here are my selfish reasons why I don't want Peyton to end up with the Titans.

1. He'd have to play the Colts twice a year. And while that may only be four games, it would be four very painful games for my psyche.
2. I couldn't imagine cheering for the Titans when they aren't playing the Steelers or Ravens. Those were the only two games I cheered for them on. Unless the Colts needed them to beat the Jags or Texans for a division purposes.
3. I don't live in Nashville anymore. How can he move to town when I've moved out??
4. If he signs with Denver, he will have to play in San Diego at least once and Oakland at least once, which exponentially improves my chances of seeing him play.
5. It would kill me to not work with the Titans any more (who were fabulous) when I would have had the chance to meet Peyton. The highlight of my time working with the Titans was meeting David Thornton, because he was a former Colt.

So, since Peyton reads my blog, as I know he probably checks in daily (why wouldn't he?), here's my plea to him: Please pick the Broncos. Sorry, Nashville friends!

A Year Ago. . .

A year ago today (when today was a Friday) was my last day with the American Heart Association. It's actually pretty hard to believe that I've been gone for a year. Sometimes it feels like a completely different life. Some days it feels like I just left and am heading to a new Heart Walk or Luncheon or Gala at any time.

A year ago today, I was crying. Hard. And all damn day. I'm not a big "public display of emotion" kind of girl, especially at work, so it was both cathartic and embarrassing to spend all day as a hot mess. But in my defense, I had been at the AHA for nine years, almost my entire career, and was saying goodbye to my career thus far, but also a lot of good friends.

In fact, it wasn't until a few months later that I realized just how unique it was to have friends at work. Or at least several good friends at work. I still keep in touch with at least half a dozen (or more) current AHA staffers and at least 20 former AHA staffers. Working in the corporate world has some advantages over non-profit. Okay, it has a lot of advantages. Mostly the ability to plea for funding on strategic projects and know that you have a shot in hell in getting it, but one thing I've noticed is that the team concept is there, but a little more underlying than I was used to.And I think part of the reason was that I was lucky enough to have so many people that I liked hanging out with (don't get me wrong, i had plenty that I didn't like). When you like who you're collaborating with, the outcome of what you're doing tends to be better because we all try harder for friends than strangers.

Anyway, it's been a year. I miss my AHA friends and think (or speak) to them often. I miss my volunteers whose passion helped me through late nights of banging my head in frustration.

But I don't miss the Heart Gala. :)

It's Hard to Believe...the Countdown begins

I spent most of today packing. While I was hoping to pack for our upcoming trip to LA, I knew that packing up the apartment was probably the more logical thing to do. So, I popped open some boxes, threw some football on the TV and then went about tearing up our bedroom and bathroom in the hopes of making some sense of the madness.

It's not the packing of things that gets me. It's the purging of the crap that's been accumulated that I enjoy and hate at the same time. I love getting it out, but I hate the sorting and "where are we going to take that?" moment. Right now I've got about 10 boxes of our stuff packed and 7 boxes of things to have Chef take to Goodwill on Monday. I also made three big trips to the trash. There are times when I am sincerely grateful for the big ass dumpster in our apartment complex parking lot. Those times are NOT when someone dumps a dining room set or mattress in the alley for others to drive around (which happens about every other week), but is when we have massive amounts of crap to unload.

Aside from the purging of crap, I've also realized that we have very few items of real value. I think Chef and I should get married just to be able to replace all of our cutlery and place settings. We're pairing both of those down tomorrow when I start to tackle the kitchen. We merged plates, glasses and cutlery when we moved in together and in our laziness, never really paired them down. Our laziness really was two fold in that 1) we didn't want to take stuff to Goodwill and 2) by having massive amounts of dinnerware, we never ran out and only had to do dishes when the washer was full. Now it's time to choose only the most useful of the plates and cutlery to move on. Also, I've begun to notice that the best glasses Chef and I have are the ones that are designed to hold alcohol in them. Hmmmm. . . .

Tomorrow, it's Colts game, then Kitchen. Only two and a half working days until we'll be boarding a plane to LA to rent an apartment (and check out our new city). Wish us luck that we can find something suitable in four days time. I feel pretty confident that we'll be good to go, but there's always the chance for a hitch in the giddy-up so to speak. We land at about midnight a week from today.

Being that I'm a glutton for punishment, I scheduled our last hoorah for Sunday, November 21st. Anyone who reads this and wants to can come join us for a last drink at Sam's in Hillsboro Village. I'll be setting up shop shortly before the kick off of the 3:15 Colts-Patriots game.

And then we pick up the moving truck on Monday morning. I'm currently scheduling some moving help on Monday morning as well. In my old age, I've learned that $200 or so is not too shabby to save an argument and backache from loading your own van. I haven't scheduled help on the back end yet, but keep your fingers crossed.

So, that's the plan of the move as I can see it now. The apartment is starting to look bare. It's strange how most of the things that surround me are pure crap that I can do without. It's going to totally change my perspective on not just buying stuff to fill space, but surrounding myself with things that I really love. I mean, it's worked well with people, friends and cats, so I'm sure furniture is just the next logical step, right?