Sunday, August 14, 2011

The end of the road.

This is it, folks. Pull the curtain, kill the lights, the show is over. There is currently an hour or so standing between me and St. Louis. As much as I have talked about wanting to go home, this feels slightly premature. There I go with my "grass is greener" thing again. Will I ever be satisfied? The most positive thing about the summer: I have an awesome tan and my hair is blonder than it has been in years. That, and I now have a whole new set of experiences to make into exaggerated stories at cocktail parties and such down the road.

I have so much to say in my final blog, but I'm the type of person who needs to be sitting on the couch, drink in hand to really get my thoughts flowing so typing on a phone that only let's me see about 6 words at a time is not ideal for me.

For now, I will tell you that I am on my way to surprise my friends and family who didn't know that this is my last day of work. That is unless they read this before I get there, I guess. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Peace and Homecomings,

Allison

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Des Moines: French for The Moines

Today, we left Des Moines and traveled to Springfield. As always, we are more than ecstatic to be in Missouri because it is the least sucky of all of our markets. More than anything we are happy to be out of our DISGUSTING hotel in Des Moines. We spent a whole week there and I am pretty sure that we had a complaint for the front desk every single day. The worst of our troubles were that Kina's room smelled like mold and we kept finding moldy spots on the walls and I found TWO...yes, you read that correcting, TWO..roaches in my bathroom this morning. When I found them, I still had to pack all of my stuff but let me tell you, I was still packed and completely out of the room in T-minus 10 minutes after finding those little grossos. If packing were an event in the Crossfit Games (that I so sorrowfully couldn't watch because of our traveling) I would have won. forrr certain.

I woke up this morning with what looked like a pimple under my eye. After taking my makeup off this evening I realized that its an even worse version of the little rashes that I have been getting under my eye and it HURTS. I blame this in whole on our last hotel. I realize it didn't start this rash situation,because I've been getting them all summer, but I am certain that it somehow made it worse. AND it hurts. Thanks alot, Fairfield Inn of West Des Moines....because of you I look like a mutant.

We went out in style though with our RAYGUN tshirts on! Our goal for this week is to get back into the routine of working out so that those shirts will fit a little bit better! We have been so worn out after long work days in extreme heat the last couple weeks that we have given up on working out and replaced it instead with excessive amounts of sleep. There have been heat advisories basically everywhere we have been this summer and 90% of our work is done outside so we have been really tired! So, this week we are planning on making time for the gym every day to get used to making it part of our day again. Wish us luck, we will surely need it.

I am so close to home :) I am already counting down the days. While I am so sad to be leaving Kina alone on this adventure, I am totally looking forward to normal life where I can lay on my couch in the AC rather than sweat my butt off.

Okay, I'm going to go blow some giant bubbles off the balcony. I'm so glad I let Kina talk me into buying a giant bubble wand.

Peace and Bubbles,
Allison

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Bikes and Weiners

I sit here trying to decide if I should order a calzone or Jimmy Johns for dinner. I can without a doubt say that this is the hardest decision that I will have to make today. This leads me to to the thought that my life is so much easier right now that it has been in years...My job is finally starting to feel second nature and there is very little opportunity for conflict in a world that consists of Kina, me, and a big white van. So, why am I so ready to leave this world? I wish I knew. I am absolutely the type of person who thinks the grass is greener on the other side because while I was in St. Louis I wanted nothing more than to escape, but now that I am gone I am dying to return home. I miss my family, my puppy, my friends, my boyfriend, my Jetta, my crazy work/school schedule...everything really. I think I would rather work my ass off day in and day out and be surrounded by family than sit alone in my hotel room living this leisurely life. I hope I remember that when I get back to St. Louis. I doubt I will, though.

On another note, We are in Des Moines right now and finally got to pick up our shirts from RAYGUN! They are awesome and I am super excited to have a custom STL tshirt. Also, I bought a couple other shirts while we were there because they are just too clever and I couldn't resist! It hurt a little bit when the reciept fell out of the bag when I got back to the hotel and I had to relive how much I spent on TSHIRTS! What was I thinking? Good thing they are adorable. I am sad that I wont be back in Des Moines again this summer because RAYGUN is quickly becoming my guilty pleasure. I tried to add a picture of our shirts but the coloring doesnt really lend to being photographed.

One of my best friends, Katie Herr, and Pauly are coming to visit in about a week and we are going to go floating on my day off! I am so looking forward to seeing Katie because before I left we spent a ridiculous amount of time together and so not getting to hangout for about 7 weeks is starting to suck. I think she may have a spidey sense of some sort because as I sit here typing about my excitment I got a text from Katie saying "I am so excited for floating." Great minds think alike.

OH GOD! I almost ended this blog entry without mentioning the most important and exciting part of this week!! We worked an event called RAGBRAI which is a week long bike ride across Iowa and while driving around we ran into the Weinermobile. Highlight of the trip. I got a weiner whistle and a sticker and as I am typing this I am starting to feel like a 6 year old because I am far too excited to sound like an adult. The girls that were working were telling us that they are on tour for a year with only 4 weeklong breaks to go home, which definitely put my tour into perspective. On our way home from RAGBRAI, I got a speeding ticket. I guess I was on a Weinermobile high and was driving a little too fast. The cop didn't even give me the chance to explain my speeding. I was almost starting to believe that it was part of the constitution that speeders had the right to try to talk themselves out of tickets. "Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Outsmarting Cops" ...right? Not in Iowa. I miss Missouri.

Anyway, it's time for me to make a dinner decision and seek out some exciting things to write about so that all 26 of my readers (yes, that was my way of telling you that we got a new follower :)) can have wonderful things to read for my last few weeks on tour!

Peace and Weinermobiles,
Allison

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Oh, you betcha!

Before starting this trip I was told that the accents in Minnesota are nothing like I was expecting them to be. Well, I can honestly say that the person who told me that was a huge stinky liar. My favorite part of this trip so far has been listening to, and trying to mimick, the accents of these people. It got worse as I traveled to Wisconsin for the weekend where everywhere I turned I heard someone saying "doncha know" or "you betcha!" I cant get over it.

I had to take a day off to go to Wisconsin for a funeral. This summer seems to be clouded by death. I guess I am just lucky that I was able to be with my family while we celebrated a wonderful life. My great grandpa Burt passed away last week at 93. He was married to his wife for 71 years. I only hope that I can find the type of happiness in another person that they found in eachother.

While in Wisconsin, we spent some time at my great grandparents house which is located on a corn field. It was awesome for a little photo shoot that Emily and I had but terrifying because it seems that the bears in town also hangout there. My stepdad's mother was staying in the house while she was in town and mentioned that she had heard a bear outside at night. We went to get dinner one night and there were about six of us standing in the driveway when we got back. I looked over my shoulder and said "oh hey, guys. There's that bear" I said this in a tone so calm that no one even looked up for about 15 seconds when it finally sunk in. In an even more ridiculous move, NO ONE panicked. Like the idiots that we are, we got out our cameras and started taking his picture, never once considering that we could be mauled at any moment. It took a legitimate three minutes for anyone to get nervous about this outrageously large, angry looking animal.

Today, Kina and I went kayaking! It was a nice break from our normally hectic schedule. It was a pretty solid reminder that I need to get back in the gym because my shoulders were BURNING! Per usual, I came home after and took a nap and proceeded to eat a calzone the side of my head. Great job, Allison.

We are looking forward to this weeks events and getting to go see our friends at RAYGUN. Hopefully, I will have plenty to write about!

Peace and Grizzly bears,
Allison

Friday, July 22, 2011

Minnesooooooota

Minnesota has been far too entertaining to leave time for blogging, doncha know! We have been to the Mall of America and a ton of boutiques already and today we are heading to IKEA. It's like shopper's paradise. Also, we have been getting a ton of work done. Overall, this has been a pretty awesome stop on our trip. I am not used to this type of experience and I think now I am just looking for a reason to hate this place. Congratulations, Minnesota..you don't suck.

We learned a new method at work the other day that I have dubbed "the meaningful wave." There was an event that we weren't exactly welcome at...but no one told us we couldn't come so we were scoping out the area to see where we could sample without getting asked to leave. We ended up driving down the main entrance at one point and I assume the mixture of our branded vehicle and the fact that we just waved at everyone who seemed like they may have the authority to kick us out confused everyone enough that we got in not only once, but MULTIPLE times. As a result, we sampled more in that night that we had the rest of our time in Sioux Falls.

Tonight and Tomorrow we will be sampling at the St. Cloud Riverbats game and were given tickets to the games by our new friends at Viking (the bottler in St. Cloud) so that we could "enjoy" the games before we sampled. We aren't positive on what level of baseball this is, what a Riverbat is, or why we even agreed to take these tickets...but hopefully it will be entertaining.

Okay, off to IKEA. Will blog again, SOON! I promise

Peace and Bunnies,
Allison

Friday, July 15, 2011

Yo, brah. You like Vitaminwater?

Hello there, followers. I think I may start all my entries this way. Honestly, it makes me feel like I am writing a memo to my minions. I wish I had minions. Sometimes, I pretend Kina is my minion....my Amish minion. 

I'm in an uncharacteristically good mood tonight because we have FINALLY had a successful night of work in Sioux Falls. Tonight was the Sioux Falls Jazzfest and it is one of the biggest events of the year, they say. We sampled as people were exiting the festival and could not have been more excited at the amount of traffic walking by but equally disappointed in the constant stream of jokes that we were tossing straight over these people's heads. We were throwing jokes out there and they were sending them right back. It's not like we were making South Park jokes to elderly women and getting shut down...these were teenagers and grade A humor. Kina even told one kid, "once it hits your lips, it's so good" and NOTHING. so disappointing.

On a less infuriating note, Kina and I visited a local casino the other day. We had to figure out what the situation was with the million and a half casinos in Sioux Falls. So, let me set the scene for you. We park in a parking lot that holds 15 cars and walk towards a door with a hand written sign that reads Please ring bell. Apparently, there have been so many robberies that they keep the door locked at all times (comforting). We walked in the front door and looked around. There are 10 computerized poker machines and a woman with a smile. She explained to us how to play the games and then offered us free beer. Did you read that right? Yes, I said FREE beer. It's just like Vegas, minus the casino part. All bets were $0.25 and our game options were poker, keno, or bingo. Let me tell you what, I thought that there was nothing good in Sioux Falls up until that very moment. I can sleep soundly tonight knowing that at any time during my stay here i can get a beer for as little as a 25cent bid on computerized poker. f. yes. 

Peace and Sparkles,
Allison 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

A stop in Joplin

In a very uncharacteristic twist of events, I am blogging TWO DAYS IN A ROW.
How pleased are you guys? So pleased? Awesome. 

Kina and I are literally dreading heading back to Sioux Falls and after a full day of emailing and conference calls, it seems that no one really blames us. That being said, we made the decision to deviate from the plan and stay in Springfield for a couple extra days so that we could make a day trip to Joplin, MO today. As we drove in it seemed like nothing had ever happened. We drove down road after road of unaffected homes and businesses while looking for places to donate product which made the situation feel a little unreal. We found a few churches that were accepting donations and setting up a sort of outdoor market for people to come and pick up the the groceries and supplies that they need. The feeling of gratitude that we got from these people was unbelievable. At the first church we donated to, we met a woman with a huge spirit who explained that she felt compelled to come to Joplin from her hometown in Louisiana to help out and had come back multiple times since her first trip. She was so grateful for our donation and thanked us both with the kind of loving hug that you would expect from a family member. 

At the next church, we met a man who asked to pray with us as we finished unloading the product. While most of you know about my aversion to all things religious, I could not help but be touched by the prayer that came out of this man's mouth. He put his arms around Kina and I despite the fact that we were both sweaty and prayed that we have safe travels and thanked God for our presence in Joplin. I was stunned. Not because a man at a church would pray for me, no, that part makes sense. The part that got me was that given the situation, this man was praying for me as opposed to the people of Joplin. He directed us to the area that was hit by the tornado and as we drove over a hill, it all came into view. I was instantly overcome with goosebumps and as we drove further down this road my stomach started churning. This was nothing like what I saw on TV. 

There is one image that I am pretty sure will stick with me forever. 



Our last stop was at a station set up in a parking lot with free food and drinks for the volunteers. They were just as kind and grateful as the people we had met previously. We were able to donate product to them for the volunteers and hand out some cold bottles to those that were there eating lunch. All through this experience I felt like our contribution wasn't big enough, that is until we got to this volunteer area. Being able to hand out Vitaminwater to the volunteers made me realize that it takes all kinds to get through these situations and while manpower wasn't what we were able to give, at least we were able to give something. The way that people are willing to drop all of their normal responsibilities and donate all of their time and effort to this disaster is what keeps my faith in humanity alive.

I am so blessed. I say this often, but I mean it. The things that I am experiencing and learning on this trip are leading me to no other conclusions. 

Peace and Love,
Allison


Monday, July 11, 2011

needing a jump...

I am the kind of person who complains a lot. I accept this about myself and I am under the impression that my friends accept this also. I complain when it's too hot, too cold, too sunny, too cloudy...it's just my nature. That being said, I have never had more to complain about in my life than I do currently and I am trying my hardest to hold it all in which is a HUGE challenge. If it ever comes out, I am certain it will be like some sort of overly obnoxious Pandora's Box that will make peoples brains shoot out their ears from annoyance. This job is causing me a pretty significant amount of stress and I am thankful that I have someone working with me who can keep me sane. While Kina and I don't get along all the time (we're way too sassy for that) it is her random laughter and ridiculous games that pick me up when I am falling. That, and ice cream.

We are heading down to Joplin tomorrow to try to donate product to the relief workers and charity organizations. This is something that I am really looking forward to because it is a small way that I can help out. Obviously, being on the road for 10 weeks does not exactly make it possible to going down to help personally so this is at least a (very) small way that we can lend our services to those that are down there helping in a larger way.

I got an invite to Google+ today, and it has pretty much taken over my world. Luckily, I had plenty of time to tinker with it today seeing as we were stranded at a McDonald's for about an hour waiting for Penske to come jump the GTV and then sitting at the Penske office waiting for them to fix it. Granted, its just a google-fied facebook but I love anything that rumored to be bigger and better..I bet this is a real shock to you guys, huh? I am a sucker for the trendy...and the Amish. I'm aware that there is no connection between these two things but I am equally enamored with both. Speaking of, I saw an Amish family today at the gas station and they were giving Kina and I the dirty eyes for one of two things: the fact that we were exposing our knee to ankle area or that we were buying tall boys. Despite their judgement, I still think they are awesome.

Peace and Horse Buggies,
Allison

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

So close to home

I guess I should start out by apologizing for not blogging in over a week. It's amazing how little time there is to blog when we are in a market that actually has some work for us to do! We have now spent a couple weeks only a few hours from Saint Louis and while I wish sometimes that I could just go home, I am happy that I am at least in a place that makes a little bit of sense to me. Sure, the people to teeth ratio isn't quite as high here, but at least I know what to expect. We found a restaurant (kudos to Corbin Hoffman for the suggestion) that has delicious and inexpensive breakfast all wrapped up in an adorable little cafe, but they could just not keep the coffee flowing fast enough for Kina so we have had to go back to hotel breakfast. Luckily, the hotel we are staying in this week offers us breakfast unlike the one last week so there will be no need for our rebellious tanning here. OH WAIT. they have an outdoor pool, also. The Residence Inn has definitely boosted itself to the top of our list and I didn't even mentioned the delicious mid day snack they offer. I think I am in love.

Last week we worked an Art Walk in downtown Springfield. It was one of our most successful events thus far but it definitely brought to light a side of Springfield that I have never noticed before. It seems that during the summer the locals come crawling out of whatever hole they have been hiding in all year and take over downtown. I have never met so many unclean, unrefined, and unappealing people in my life and it's not like I am exactly from the classiest city in the midwest. While we were working I couldn't stop myself from pointing out person after person who was more ridiculous than the last. We decided to ditch the weirdos and head to the lake for the weekend to hydrate a whole different breed of people.

On Sunday, we worked a pool party at Shady Gators and as expected it was D-bag central. There were three types of people at this party: bros, older bros, and the girls who feel it necessary to wear heels and a full face of makeup with their swimsuit to attract a bro. Needless to say, I didn't quite fit in with this crowd but had a great time and spent a lot of time people watching! The lake was beautiful and warm and the weekend was a wonderful break from our normal, mundane week. Also, it was a great distraction from the sadness that I was feeling this past weekend. On July 4th, 2010 I lost one of the most important people in my life, my grandma. On the one year anniversary, the feelings are just as raw and it took all of my energy not to spend the whole weekend in tears. It constantly amazes me how connected my family is even when we cannot be together. Their love and supportive words carried me through that day from hundreds of miles away and that is something that not all families can experience. I am so blessed.

As for recent events (and by recent, I mean happened as I was writing this entry) I dropped my phone in the washing machine and didn't realize it until the water was on and it was just about fully submerged, so I would say there is a better chance than not that it is not going to be functioning when i turn it back on...super.

That's all for now. Hopefully my upcoming week will be full of fun, interesting, and note worthy situations so I can go back to captivating my audience (haha) on a more regular basis

Peace and Angels,
Allison

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Civilization!

I am happy to announce our arrival in the state of Missouri! It has been quite an emotional trip but we have finally made it and could not be more excited that we have left South Dakota, cold weather, and depression behind (for now). It has been only about 24 hours that we have been in Springfield and already the birds are chirping louder, the sun is brighter, and Kina and I are being even more obnoxious than ever. After a pretty tumultuous relationship with Interstate 29 (story to follow) we get to our hotel to find out that our worst fears had come true...NO CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST! How could this be, you ask? I wish I knew. Even worse, there's no outdoor pool. Its a travesty, really. Kina and I did what any normal, enraged women would do. We put on our swimsuits, headed outside and tanned on the hotel lawn like gigantic hoosiers. Don't give us the kind of service that we want and we will make your hotel look like it is overrun with people in town for a NASCAR race. take that.

As I mentioned before, our trip wasn't exactly easy. We saw a alot of flooding on our 10 hour trip and were eventually detoured off the Interstate and forced to take back roads through the rest of Iowa and into Missouri. As we were getting off the highway we realized that we had no gas and the street leading to the gas station was closed..due to flooding. I'm not pointing any fingers here (though if I were, they would not be pointed at me) but SOMEONE let the gas gauge get low enough that we were worried that we may run out of gas and be stranded on a country road. Luckily, we found a town with a gas station....that had no gas. The 7 inhabitants of this town, which were all standing outside of the gas station, gave us directions to the next town with gas. When we get to the second town, named Farragut, we drove around unable to find a gas station even though there were only about 4 roads. Finally, we ask someone and they point us in the direction of a gas station with no price sign, pumps that look like they haven't been used since 1972, and a building that seemed to be vacant. To our surprise, we pulled up and a man popped out from under the hood of a car that I would swear hadn't run in years and pumped our gas. He was even friendly enough to let me use his very sanitary bathroom (see photo).

Needless to say, I would rather risk getting a little pee on my hand than ever touch this sink.

As many of my friends would know from my recent facebook updates, I am currently OBSESSED with the Amish. They are fascinating and wonderful and I wish that I could spend all of my time observing them and watching TV shows about them (thankkk you A&E). Luckily, I have discovered that traveling from South Dakota to Missouri is Amish wonderland. I even saw a man on his horse trotting down the highway. In St. Louis we have "Share the road" signs...well, so does Iowa, the difference is that in Iowa they are asking you to share the road with horse and buggies. AWESOME. If I saw someone in a horse and buggie on the highway, I am certain my life would be complete and consequently I would have nothing left to live for.

After our tanning, we decided to head to the gym. Kina and I are struggling to stick to Crossfit in these hotel gyms because usually there are only a couple dumbbells. Today we reverted to a Bro workout and we did abs and bi's. Tomorrow..glamour muscles. We gotta get jacked and tan before the lake.

and finally, the part I am sure you have been on the edge of your seat waiting for....the MY COW update. In a thrilling game that literally has consumed our traveling, the bad guys are still winning. Kina: 2196 Allison: 1468. All I need is one graveyard and I will DOMINATE this game.


peace and brown cows,
Allison

Thursday, June 23, 2011

another dull day

Well, we have been in Sioux Falls now for four full days and I think that I may be in a boredom induced depression. I have spent so much time on my couch watching TV that I have started quoting episodes of "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and can tell you at least 7 facts about any or all public figures featured on E! News. Did you know that Rachel Bilson will be running a 5k next weekend? Nope? Didn't even know who Rachel Bilson was? Yeah, me neither. Well, there's a dose of hard hitting journalism from me to you.

My boredum has created a perfect situation to partake in some of my favorite activities: shopping and thinking up ways to upset my mother. Unfortunately, there are no stores in Sioux Falls that I feel deserve my money so I have resorted to online shopping. If anyone has a great website where I could find vintage-inspired or unique clothes please send them my way. So, since I've exhausted all of my online shopping options I turned my attention to upsetting my mother and started researching a new tattoo. I stumbled upon a phrase "she flies with her own wings" I feel like this fits me and my life persuits very well and think that it will probably be the next addition to my small tattoo collection.  :)

Work has been a little dull the past couple days. We have spent a majority of our time getting lost, which is completely ridiculous and entertaining if you have ever been to Sioux Falls because it is about as big as Affton, Mo. It seems that neither Kina nor I have a real knack for reading maps...even when we have a bright purple line pointing us in the right direction. It is possible that our constant misdirection has something to do with the fact that I am constantly pointing out the smaller and smaller locations that they are shoving casinos into so we aren't paying enough attention to our map. I am positive that if the local Subway were to close tomorrow, the spot would be filled instantly with a casino and I would definitely be so busy gawking at it that I would without a doubt miss the left turn that I was supposed to make.  The picture below is of a Little Ceasars...that little sign next to it is the casino. Thats right, it is half the size of a LITTLE CEASARS!

Kina and I have continued our game of My Cow... Currently she is in the lead 5 cows to my 4 but our trip to Springfield/Branson will be the real test of cow spotting ability. Stay tuned...


OH YEAH! how could I have forgotten? Kina contacted a Des Moines store that is quickly becoming our favorite find of the trip asking for a favor and mentioned that we were talking them up on our BLOG. We are now featured in the "in the press" section of their BLOG at raygunsite.com. Not too shabby since we've only been at this for about a week.

I hope I haven't bored you all to death...I really had to pull for material today. Good news though, next week brings news of Kina's Tough Mudder experience and our trip down south. The South Dakota long OOOOOs really entertain me, but I am ready to head somewhere where the necks come a little bit more red.

Peace and Flamingos,
Allison

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

PICTURE TIME!

I love explaining our outrageously mundane days through words, but some things can only truly be appreciated through pictures so I have decided to do picture entries every now and then so that you guys can really dive into our action packed days. :)

This is our GTV. I refer to it alot and realized that not all of you actually know what that means soo here she is! We have very much of a love/hate relationship with the GTV but in the end she gets us from point A to point B so we are thankful to her.

While in the GTV, we have seen a couple interesting things. Mostly, we just see cows and trees but the pictures above are some of the more entertaining things. The first is the Capital building of Des Moines which looks more like a palace. It caught our attention so much that we drove around downtown until we found it (not a huge task). The second is the leaning tower of ...Des Moines. I wish I had an explination for this picture, but honestly I don't.


While inside the GTV, we also felt the need for a little updating. This picture comes from when we talked the men at Best Buy into letting us borrow their tools and took out our stereo. We were so please that we documented the event...would you expect less from us?
Im not a player, I just BLOG a lot. Found this shirt in RAY GUN in Des Moines, IA. Awesome store with a very unique inventory for the area. check out their website!
And in the coveted "last picture" position (yes, if you haven't caught on..this is where my favorite picture of the week will go) are the men that Kina and I have left behind while on our travels. We miss them immensely and are lucky enough to have both of them joining us for a couple of days very soon!

Okay, so there it is..my first picture time post. I hope that you all enjoyed it because honestly it was a huge pain in the ass. On another note, I just wanted to thank everyone who is already following us for achieving the seemingly impossible. My mother has been telling me for years that my head could not get any bigger but (as I assumed) she was wrong. I have gotten so many compliments and positive feedback already in the my short blogging life that it has completely motivated me to keep blogging and try to make entries more often. Also, if you are reading this and aren't following us....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? There's no time like the present, folks! My head is still small enough to fit through doorways and such so I am fairly certain that we have more than enough room for you on our followers list!Seriously though, I am very very thankful that you guys are interested in what I have to say. I do love to write and it is pretty useless without an audience.

Peace and Pretty Pictures,
Allison



Monday, June 20, 2011

two goofy girls in a van

As we pulled into Sioux Falls, SD, Kina and I both thought that we might have finally found an interesting city that we could enjoy andddd unfortunately we were wrong again. Do you find this shocking? Nope...us either. We spent a couple hours driving around today trying to find whatever it was that we thought we were missing but we ended up just driving up the same 3 or 4 streets multiple times just hoping that the little rows of uninteresting stores would morph themselves into adorable boutiques, awsome t-shirt shops, and charming restaurants. We officially enjoyed Des Moines much more. There were at least a COUPLE of cool shops there. If you are ever passing through you should check out Domestica and Ray Gun..they are awesome!

So far, we've not met many people on our travels but those that we have met have made quite the impact. Our first traveling friends came in the form of 3 twenty something guys and their 14 or 15 year old younger brother that were in the pool/hot tub in Des Moines at the same time as us. We were all sitting in the hot tub together when one of the guys struck up conversation merely to cut the awkwardness of strangers having seperate conversations within three inches of each other. Kina and I merged into the guys conversation when one of them that looked older and was heavily tattooed started commenting on the crazy baby mommas (yes that means more than one) in his life and how one of them attempted to stabbed him once. The 14 year old looked up in complete seriousness and asked, "well, with scissors or a knife?" Apparently, this made some sort of a difference to him. Secondly, we met a young man in the mall who very slyly swooped into Bath and Body Works to try to talk to Kina. All was going well in the conversation while he asked us about the candles we were holding but quickly went downhill when he pointed to me and asked, "is this your daughter?" Clearly this dude isn't too wise on the ways of picking up women. Both situations made for endless entertainment for Kina and I.

It seems that the people of Sioux Falls are aware of the fact that they live in a land of vast nothingness. To cope, they have filled any open space, no matter the size, with Casinos. From the door to my hotel room I can see at least three. When there is nothing to spend your money on I guess casinos are the best way to keep the economy flowing? 

Kina and I have noticed lately that our thought are starting to merge. Before one of us can get out a complete thought, the other is either answering the question or shouting "I was just thinking that!" We are literally morphing into an old couple who can make it through the day without any verbal communication. Between our 4pm dinners, books on tape, walks after dinner, and ability to read eachother's minds it seems that maybe the fact that Kina will be out of town this weekend will be a good thing so that we can have a chance of converting back to normal people. Speaking of Kina going out of town......

I am SOOO proud of Kina for putting on her big girl panties and taking on the Tough Mudder this weekend. I only wish that I could be manly enough to be standing next to her on Saturday but one of us needs to be here to man the (very productive) ship. Everyone please go to facebook right now and give the girl a few positive words to carry her up to and through what may be one of the most difficult physical tasks of her life.

Peace and Muddy fun,
Allison 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

This place is weird

Today, we had to run some errands in the Des Moines area which turned out to be both frustrating and exciting for Kina and I. Frustrating because we are both so tired that we have lost all of our cognatitive ability to make logical decisions, and exciting because we achieved a seemingly difficult task rather easily.

We had to get tires on our vehicle and so we went to the local Penske which sent us to a tire and auto shop. He told us that the shop was close by and easy to find and gave us the address. We put this address into our GPS and headed into a 35 minute trip to the burbs never realizing that this destination was neither close by nor easy to find. We didnt catch on until we started driving on gravel roads and then frustratedly moved on to our next task, leaving the tires for later.

Our second task was to replace our Auxillary cord so we could plug in our Ipods and quit listening to the obnoxious techno CD that we found in the GTV. This was the one win for the day. The score is now: Des Moines: 11 Kina and Allison: 1. Anyway, it took us 2 best buys and a Walmart but we finally located the tool that we needed to get our stereo out of the dash (note: Best Buy will let you borrow this tool if you have Kina Coutavas shoot a smile at the creepy sales associate). We then successfully pulled out the stereo (easy part) and fished the new wire through to connect to the stereo and come out of the perfectly placed hole next to the steering wheel. This may sound unexciting to you, but we are thorougly pleased with ourselves.

More than likely, if you follow our blog regularly (which is what we are hoping for), you will have the pleasure of reading about our vehicle, which is slowly losing the battle with life. When we recieved the GTV we had a lot of issues with it but the most frustrating by far was the bungee cord that was holding the glove box shut...luckily, we have found a positive use for this bungee cord. It is now our in-car office. It holds papers, pens, our wifi hotspot, and notes as we research in the GTV. This is the one negative that we have been able to turn into a positive. We are hoping to find many more of these situations. At least we have our team mascots to entertain us everytime we get in the GTV.

We have started a perpetual game of "My Cow." A game played mostly by my friends that have been forced to travel between Saint Louis and Springfield. So far, Kina has 3 cows....unfortunately I only have 1. I will certainly prevail given my experience and impeccable vision. We will keep you updated over the weeks.

I leave you with a request to pray to any God that you may believe in (or to just keep in your thoughts if God isnt your thing) the family and friends of Stephen West as they celebrate his life this weekend. At least we can be sure that there is one more angel smiling upon us and waiting to greet us all when our time comes.


Peace and Rainbows,
Allison

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

This is it?

Kina and I spent the day traveling to Des Moines, Iowa. After a full day of being on the road we arrived to find...absolutely nothing. Literally.

I would think that Kina would agree that she and I share a need for being a part of the action. We are the type of people that like to find the biggest event, the most interesting people, and the most fun situations. Fortuntely, (and unfortunately) we ARE the biggest event, most interesting people, and most fun situation in this city so we should be pretty well received.

More to come tomorrow...I cannot keep my eyes open.

Peace and counted sheep,
Allison

Monday, June 13, 2011

Day 1

Well, it has started. Kina and I got into Chicago this morning and the adventure has begun. Tomorrow we will go to a kickoff event and then start our traveling. Like most things, it is not going as smoothly as we would have liked but we are taking this as well as we can. We found out that our schedule will be completely self produced, we ended up only booking one hotel room, we struggled to find a spot to park the GTV, we don't get to go to some of the markets that we were looking forward to, and my day was clouded by thoughts of an old friend that passed away today.
The idea of death has never been present for me, but today while trying to prepare for this new position it is all I can think about. My thoughts are in Saint Louis with my St. Joan of Arc community and with the West family.

On a lighter note, we are both getting used driving the GTV again and getting back into the swing of things. (a couple of clipped curbs already on my part!) We will be updating this as often as possible with stories of our adventures and mishaps, which will more than likely be plentiful, and hopefully keep everyone updated and entertained!

Oh yeah, we have decided that we are living stress free for this trip and are looking for some sort of catch phrase that we can utter with every issue that will make us laugh or bring us back to our carefree state. We are opening this up to suggestions! haha

We love everyone and cant wait to see our friends and family again but are so looking forward to what lies ahead.

peace and spaceships,
Allison