Madison, WI is the capital city of my favorite state, my home for four of the best years of my life and a place where the cheese is good and the beer is plenty. I’ve got a ton of love for it, but as we passed the “Welcome to Wisconsin: America’s Dairyland” sign, I felt an intense dread and an urge to turn the ship around. That’s because it was my very last ride into Madtown in my giant peanut, and in four days I could no longer call myself Magadamia Nut (well, at least not in an official capacity).

While I think all 21 of my coworkers and I were feeling this sense of dread and sadness, we dealt with it as any emotionally mature people would, and approached the end with denial, jokes and a lot of drinking. We were all excited to be back together again, and spent our last days cleaning out our vehicles, handing over the keys and hitting all the best spots in Madison. We went out nearly every night and also had a themed bar crawl where teams either had to match or partners got to dress each other. The result was lots of wild outfits including Rosie in full fisherman’s garb and Nick dressed as himself only with nipple holes cut into his shirt (thus, Nippolas was born). All in all, the last few days were no different than any other time we were together, until Transition Sunday finally arrived.

The whole point of Transition Sunday is to say goodbye to the old class and welcome in the new one. It started with us surprising all of the new peans and wiens as they got off their planes by greeting them at the airport with a chant – our Peanutter chant is a homemade mash-up including peanut-themed parodies of songs like “Shots.” Afterward, we have a big dinner and ceremony with our bosses where we receive awards, watch an end of year video and give advice to the new class. Later in the evening we have a more informal advice giving session followed by drinks on our hotel’s patio.

I’ve often felt like my job is kind of like a bizarre social experiment – “let’s throw three strangers together in a giant nut and make them live, work and hang out together for a year”-  and Transition Sunday was no different. While my whole class was intermittently crying, hugging and feeling nostalgic, the bright-eyed newbies mingled with us and undoubtedly wondered what the heck they had gotten themselves into. It’s an odd dynamic, and though I felt slightly bitter and wanted to dislike our replacements, they felt like family right away. As the night wore on and the tears started flowing more freely, the newbs slowly began to show themselves out and us washed-up wiens and alumnuts relocated to a hotel room.

We crowded onto the room’s beds, fluctuating between crying and laughing at ourselves for crying, and eventually people started to give little speeches about the year. Everyone’s piece was a little different, but they all boiled down to pretty much the same thing. Most of us felt insecure when we started out because we were surrounded by 20 talented and all-around awesome people, and it was easy to feel like you were running with a crowd out of your league. However, everyone ended up feeling like they not only fit in, but had made genuine friendships within the group. Everyone has the people that they’re closest with, but our class definitely did end up feeling like a big family and I think all of us will continue to be in each other’s lives moving forward. I think that’s pretty awesome, and knowing I get to hold onto the best part of the year makes not being a “peanut girl” anymore a whole lot easier.

With the end of Transition Sunday and some of my hardest goodbyes to date came the end of what was my life for the past year. Over the last 365 days spent cruising the salty streets of America in my trusty nuts – Shelly and Ro-Shell – I hit a total of 2 countries, 22 states and 45 cities (although that’s only counting cities we stayed in and not the hundreds of smaller towns we worked in). I helped Planters gain over 12 million media impressions, appeared on camera over 20 times and majestically dabbed as Mr. Peanut through streets lined with thousands of parade goers. But the most meaningful parts of the year are harder to quantify: the personal ‘firsts’ I completed, the ice cream cones I consumed, the increase in dope photos/videos I had to share on Instagram and Snapchat and, most importantly, the people I met.

Nearly every day this past year, I would tell my partners that I felt like the Grinch because I had just met or talked with someone that made me feel like my heart was growing again. I have a whole bunch of awesome, life-long friends from my pre-nut days, but what amazed me this year was how open and welcoming people were to me right off the bat and how quickly I was able to form friendships with complete strangers. On top of that, this year taught me that it is totally acceptable to start a conversation with anyone at any time, and I’ve made so many more great connections with people since learning that. I truly could go on and on about all of the amazing people I met (and probably could even write a whole blog post about each one of them) but I will leave it at this: the people I met and interacted with were what made this the amazing year that it was, and miraculously my grinch heart was able to grow enough to make room for each and every one of them.

Just 41 of the awesome people I met this year – Peans & Wiens Classes V, VI, XXX & XXXI. 

Other Things I Learned From My 12-Month Road Trip:

1. A LOT of Americans are toothless. I honestly didn’t know that was so common before this year.
2. “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” or as Extra Salted Elise puts it “Compliment them ‘til the cows come home.” Either way I found this to be entirely true; it’s crazy what you can get just for being kind to people.
3. Golden rules for success on the job (s/o to boss man Ed and various other wise entities for these) 1) fake it til you make it 2) ask for forgiveness not permission 3) manage expectations 4) life begins at the end of your comfort zone
4. It’s better to be interested than interesting. Talking less and listening more will get you a lot farther with people.
5. Thai food is the best food. Especially green curry. Especially especially when it’s from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.
6. Spending money on travel and experiences is more worthwhile than spending it on things like clothes, eating out, etc. Note: spending on ice cream may be an exception.
7. People do crazy things while driving. Ex: watching a movie, holding a phone out of their sunroof, opening van door for a good pic while on the highway, abandoning their car at a stoplight to get a good photo of your vehicle, etc.
8. No dance move is a bad dance move. You’ll never regret tearing up the dance floor and doing so is a great way to make new friends.
9. People are really bad at recommending things to do in their own city. Also, people everywhere think that their city/state has the craziest weather and the best beer.
10. Positive is the best way to be, and if you can laugh at the bad things, you’ll be alright.
11. People > Places. The people you’re with can make the most boring, rinky-dink town fun. They also can make you feel at home even when you’re thousands of miles from it.
12. Every city has at least one cool thing about it and sometimes even two or three if you take the time to find them.
13. & a whole bunch more. It’s crazy what you can learn from driving a giant peanut on wheels!

Although it’s very clear that I have already peaked, life must go on and I thought I should tell you what’s next for me. After the nut life ended I set off for more travels in Dublin, Barcelona, Paris and Morocco. I also took a trip to Texas with Elise where I got to spend time with awesome people and re-live my great Texas tour. Other than that I have been hanging out in Kenosha, Milwaukee and Chicago, catching up with friends and family that I missed and just enjoying being at home for the moment. I am officially moving to Chicago on September 1st into a dope 4-bedroom apartment in Wrigleyville with Elise, Nick and Rosie (Extra Salted Elise, Cheesy Nicks and Rose Beef that is). Living in Wrigleyville has always been a dream of mine, so suffice it to say I am pretty stoked. As far as jobs go, I am still on the hunt for one, but I have some solid prospects and finally feel like I have some clue as to what I’d like to do, which I am happy with for now.

 

Thanks for bearing with me on this super long post, and an even bigger thanks to all of you who have read these throughout the year. When I decided to keep a blog of my year, I intended it to be mainly for myself and thought maybe my mom and grandma would read it occasionally. I was shocked when people started to reach out to me about it and cared enough to kindly (and sometimes not so kindly lol) remind me that I hadn’t posted in awhile. Even though I’ve gained so much from this year, it’s clear that I already had so many amazing and supportive people in my life, and keeping this blog only further showed me that. Even though this darn thing was a huge pain in my butt at times – made worse only by the fact that I completely did it to myself – I am so happy that I decided to do it and extremely grateful to all of you who stuck with me along the way. You guys are the true shellebrities!

My NUTmost thanks to you all! Magadamia Nut, over and out.

 

After 50 of the fastest weeks of my life, we finally pulled up to Fayetteville, AR, our very last new city on tour. As is natural at the end of an era, I started to feel hyper-aware of all the things I would miss, which is pretty much everything except for people constantly asking me “Is this just like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile?” And, honestly, I might even miss that too. As we unpacked our bags we threw out ideas for things we could do in AR, and I could tell we were all thinking the same thing: we really had to make this week count.

One thing I knew I’d miss is waking up each day, looking out my window and seeing Ro-shell (and sometimes a smiling Wienermobile) chilling in the parking lot. I think my coworkers were feeling the same way, because as we gathered for breakfast on our first morning in town, Cheddar Cheese Elise suggested that we take the Wienermobile on our hike with us, since pretty soon we’d never be able to do that again. We drove the Wien through the gorgeous, winding mountains of Northwest Arkansas, getting miles of smiles along the way, until we reached Devil’s Den where we hiked through woods, hills, caves and (unfortunately) dried-up waterfalls.

Another thing I’ll miss is the connections we make through our job. Fayetteville is only a few hours from Conner’s hometown of Texarkana, and a bunch of his family came out to see us. His brother, Kolby, took us to his favorite bar and bought us what he claims is the best Old Fashioned ever and Mrs. Palmore brought us Sonic drinks during our piping hot work events. Conner’s great aunt and uncle also had us all over for a three course meal where we were repeatedly told we were welcome back any time and I was forced to leave with an entire carton of cupcakes after they discovered my intense love for frosting.

We also made friends with the front desk guy of our hotel, who took us out downtown for a night that included an amazing band, a bar where the glasses were made of ice and you could throw them at the floors and, of course, a lot of dancing. It’s not that I expect to completely stop meeting people and making friends after this job, but the NUTmobile is a great vehicle (figuratively and literally) for making connections, and it’s definitely going to be different in the future.

I wasn’t aware of this before we arrived in Fayetteville, but neighboring Bentonville, AR is home to my second home this year – Walmart. Not only that, but we happened to be in town for the Walmart Shareholders meeting, which meant our Walmart events for the week were nothing short of lit. We worked a Walmart grand opening with the Wienermobile that had a DJ and full-out employee dance party at 7 a.m., which we happily participated in. I also was given a “mixtape” from a member of the Walmart Associate Choir featuring hit singles like “Eyes of a Child” and “On Eagle’s Wings.” Is it crazy that I might actually miss being a Walmart regular? Not to mention being constantly mistaken for a Walmart employee thanks to our navy blue polos and khaki shorts.

I’m sure you all could guess what I’ll miss the most from my year on the road, but if not, it’s definitely the people I work with. There’s just something I love about waking up in my suite and knowing my team – and whatever Hotdogger team we happen to be with – are just down the hall. During our week in Fayetteville we started each morning with a family breakfast at the continental buffet while we made our plans for the day. Whether it was exploring the University of Arkansas (woo pig sooie!), kayaking on Lake Fayetteville, making hotel s’mores on our stove burners – and subsequently setting off the fire alarms multiple times – or spending a whole day at a cafe while we all look for new jobs, no matter what we do, it’s always a good time. It takes a specific type of person to put real life on hold and take off in a giant nut or hot dog, and while my coworkers may not be everyone’s cup of tea, they’re definitely mine and I’m going to miss them all dearly.

After we said goodbye to Jackie and EJ (even though we’d be reuniting in Madtown in just a few days) my team packed up and left for a quick two nights in St. Louis to break up our long haul back to Wisconsin. Ending the tour in St. Louis was ironic for us because it was also our very first city as the CenTrill team, and we of course had to go back to our favorite dessert spot, Bailey’s Chocolate Bar. While there, we talked a lot about our favorite moments from the half, and the fact that we were ending right where we started made me think a lot. I was honestly really disappointed when I found out I’d be in the Central region. I’d spent my whole life there and I was hoping to be a coast-to-coaster this year. But, as things usually do, it all turned out for the best in the end and here are some things I loved about CenTrill:

• Dope Schedule: thanks to dear old Grandma Ro-shell’s elderly status, we were down south for most of the half and I completely got out of Winter this year
• Ro-Shell: except for her broken radio and being forced to listen to old Peanutters’ terrible, homemade CDs, Ro-Shell has a lot of charm
• Chase Car: Chase car was a game changer. Not only did it make it so much easier to do more, we saved a ton of money on Ubers and rental cars.
• Proximity to the peeps: Central is close to so many more people than the coasts, and I got to meet up with a lot more friends and family, not to mention other teams on the road (I ended up getting to see 18/21 of my coworkers on the road throughout the year)
• Saving Money: there was still a ton to do/see and we hit a lot of cool cities, but overall things cost less or attractions were just free. I saved more than double in the 5 months of this half than I did the first 7 months out west.
• Homies for life: it’s no secret I was paired with two big personalities this half, and though we all were very different, I think that makes the fact that we became such great friends even more special. There are so many things I love and admire about both Conner and Tanaja and they will definitely both be my life-long pals.

While the end of something you never want to end is never pleasant, I’d say our last week in Fayetteville went about as good as it could’ve. I got in a great hike, awesome food, a fun night out, interesting work events and tons of time spent with some of my favorite Peans and Wiens. It was a solid wrap-up to a solid half, and I felt as ready as I could be to road-trip it back up to the best state in this great nation – Wiscaaansin – for one last hoorah.

Stay tuned for the last episode of the nut saga coming at you soon!

 

One of the best pieces of advice I received at the beginning of my job was to make the year what I wanted it to be. Yes, the NUTmobile IS a real job and we have real duties and rules to follow, but I know no future job will allow me as much freedom to do what I want with my time as being a Peanutter did.  While some of my coworkers (who probably aren’t unemployed now) made the year more about using the NUTmobile to leverage future job opportunities, making the most of the freedom for me usually meant going the extra mile to see and do as much as I could around the country. One such example was during my week in Wichita when I found out that not one, but two other teams were in Denver – a casual 7 hour drive away – and I jumped at the chance to leave Kansas behind and spend a few days in the Mile High City.

In a choice between Denver and Wichita, the winner would probably be a no-brainer for most people like it was for me. That is, until I actually arrived in Wichita and saw our sweet digs for the first time. We were staying in a highly-recommended hotel/apartment building called Waterwalk that gave each of us our very own two-bedroom apartment complete with in-unit laundry, a full kitchen and a jacuzzi. On top of this, we were given free membership to the gym next door that also had a complimentary smoothie bar and steam room. Our typical extended stay suites are very comfortable, but they made the Waterwalk look like Heaven on Earth and I suddenly felt very conflicted about leaving for any amount of time, even if it was for Denver.

But I had one college friend, two Hotdoggers and three Peanutters waiting for me in Denver, and I tend to abide by a general rule of thumb that people > places, so the Denver trip went on as planned. The morning after my ungodly 1 a.m. arrival to CO, my pal Jena from the Cheese Block and I whipped up a breakfast feast and took off for the Red Rocks Theater, where we did a simple hike that was made extremely exhausting by the altitude. Afterward, we met the rest of our crew at 16th Street Mall for some flower shots and a night at their favorite Denver bars.

I spent the next day with my friend from college, Kate, who grew up in Denver and recently moved back after graduation. We met up for lunch followed by a walk in a park, drinks at a brewery, a little shopping and a lot of catching each other up with everything. Kate and I had a tight-knit group of friends in college who saw each other nearly every day, so going from that to seeing most of them once every few months has been a huge adjustment. It’s definitely made me more grateful for not only any time spent together – even if it is just an afternoon in Denver – but also for friendships that can survive a lot of distance and time apart.

Our last night in Denver our whole Peaner gang as well as two older Peanutters from classes II and IV had an extended family party at Lill’ Salty’s apartment building rooftop where we were once again given the much-needed reminder that life will in fact go on after driving a giant nut. Afterward, we headed across the street to Coors Field where we made the last few innings of the Rockies game before retiring to Ian’s pizza – an amazing pizza-by-the-slice shop that I didn’t know existed outside of Madison, WI.

Once back in Wichita, a lot of my time was spent in my sweet apartment or making use of the awesome gym, but I did have time to discover some of Wichita’s charms. For one, Wichita has a nice riverwalk through town, and I rented a bike one day and had a long, scenic ride along it. I also rode to the Nifty Nut House (a kindred spirit) which is a third generation family-owned store that is well known throughout Kansas for selling everything from candy to seeds to ice cream to nuts, of course. Conner and I also spent a night at another local favorite, Mort’s Martini and Cigar Bar. Mort’s had a giant lit up outdoor patio, a jamming 80’s cover band, and a line out the door comprised of everyone from college students to elderly people, all there for a good time. It was one of the most unique and interesting bars I’ve seen on the road, and definitely wins for best martini.

Prior to this year, I wouldn’t consider myself a well-traveled individual, which is probably why “making the most of my year” set me on a frenzied mission to see and do as much as possible. I’ve thought a lot about things I’ve learned from this job (especially now that this blog is shamefully in extreme retrospect) and I think one of the most important things I took away was that I’d always like to prioritize traveling. A seven hour drive for a two day trip probably sounds preposterous, but after all my long travel days and out-of-the-way excursions over this year, I’ve never once regretted putting in the extra effort for a cool new experience. I think I can make my peace with having an actual address and a city to call home, but I don’t think I’ll be content if my life doesn’t continue to be nuttin’ but adventure.

Stay Wichitawesome folks! 

 

One thing that has always struck me as odd in my travels is that most people are horrible at recommending things to do in their own city. I’m not sure if it’s because most people truly don’t explore where they live like you would a vacation destination, but upon asking for what to do from a local, I often receive a simple shrug, head scratch, or worst of all – a recommendation for a huge chain like Joe’s Crab Shack. This pattern that I’ve experienced across the country has not only made me make a more conscious effort to appreciate what’s awesome about where I’m from (namely, cheese and beer) but also has made me more aware of when people rave about their hometown – which I experienced a lot in Kansas City.

The first thing I did in KC was get a much-needed haircut, where I had to inevitably explain to my hairdresser what I do and why I was in town. She immediately launched into a spiel on how she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, followed by an entire list of restaurants to try and places to see. My team and I experienced that same enthusiasm when we visited our fellow Hotdogger, Rosie’s family our first night in town. The Hutchisons treated us to an elaborate pasta dinner, kept us laughing the entire time – I could definitely see where Rose gets her awesome sense of humor – and sent us home with a huge list of Kansas City do’s and don’ts. We were officially ready to take on the town.

One thing the Hutchisons made sure to point out was the prime location of our hotel, which was situated right in The Plaza. This portion of KC is apparently sister cities with Seville, Spain, and was designed after it with Spanish architecture and tons of fountains. The Plaza was filled with stores, restaurants and coffee shops, and I enjoyed a good stroll along its streets nearly every day. Our hotel was also right down the road from the Kansas City Art Museum, which is home to the famous giant shuttlecock statues. Unbeknownst to me before I wandered over there for a closer look, the shuttlecocks are actually part of a whole sculpture path that weaves its way around the museum with interesting statues and art pieces along the way. Conner and I walked the whole path and even tried a glass maze, which Conner was ultimately able to complete faster than me.

We also utilized our wealth of KC knowledge to help us properly celebrate the birthday of my one and only guy partner – PeConner. After spending nearly all of his 22nd year with him, I knew Ner would want to do 23 big, and he did not disappoint. The day before, I received an invitation to a detailed e-calendar letting me know what the day would consist of. For starters, we had a big brunch and mimosas at a highly-recommended breakfast place, followed by a stroll around the Power and Light District of KC. At night Tanaja and I treated Conner to a big Italian dinner and drinks in The Plaza before we headed to see a show called Viet Gone – Conner was a theatre major and is hoping to pursue directing, so this was an ideal birthday activity for him. Unfortunately, the show was rather bizarre and we spent most of it trying to stifle our laughs at the horrible rap numbers, which was quite hard because it was a small, intimate audience setting.

The last highly recommended thing we had to try was a sports bar called No Other Pub. When I say sports bar, I mean the place was filled with sports and games of all kinds: ping pong, darts, bowling, giant pool that you play like soccer, and more! For someone who loves games and some friendly (usually) competition, this place was right up my alley, and I carried Conner and I to a W in more than one of our games against Tanaja and Torry.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: being a Peanutter is an awesome job. But even the coolest jobs can get old, and Kansas City marked just about 11 months of handing out peanuts and playing simple table games like “guess the peanuts in the jar” (sidenote: that game is extremely difficult and I’ve heard guesses ranging from 37-17,000 peanuts from adults). During one of our events in Kansas City I finally lost my cool over a particularly awful guess and the monotony that had become our events, and I marched myself into Walmart to purchase a state-of-the-art, 100-piece sidewalk chalk set. After that day, our events would typically be chalk activities like “draw a picture of the NUTmobile,” which I probably enjoyed more than most of the kids that participated, but it was the breath of fresh air we needed to keep us going. I was set to go for another year with the Nut.

I think Kansas City helped me solve my mystery on why people are so bad at recommending things to do where they’re from – familiarity dulls excitement. My first few months on the job I was jazzed to hand out nuts and talk to new people, but as time wore on I became a little jaded. The same thing can happen with partners or traveling, where after awhile you feel like there isn’t a single thing left to talk about or a cool activity left to try. But I think there’s always a way to spice things up whether it’s buying some chalk, trying a new KC BBQ joint or learning something new about a person you spend 24/7 with. I’m really scared that after a year of every single week being a fresh, exciting place, being in one place next year will make me stir crazy. But I’m going to try and meet my new, everyday life with the same enthusiasm the people of Kansas City have for their city and let the familiarity of a place be exciting and comforting rather than daunting.

Holla at ya soon Home Nuts!

 

Alright, so I’ve kind of been cheating and combining multiple cities into one blog post in an attempt to finish this blog by the end of the year. In my defense though, our team was not in a single city for more than five days after spring break, so I find this tactic acceptable. The rapid changing of cities and hotels and the constant packing and re-packing was really starting to get old though, and I was so happy that we would be staying in real houses in both St. Louis and Macon.

St. Louis, MO: April 23rd – April 26th 

St. Louis is home to one of my best Hotdogger pals, Cheesy Nicks, and him and his partner Rose Beef were in town and offered to let us stay at his house with them during our three days off in St. Louis. Although our two giant vehicles parked out front made quite the spectacle in Nick’s neighborhood, it was so nice to feel like we were living a “normal” life for a few days. On our first night, we got groceries and made a big spaghetti dinner with Nick’s mom, and afterward we had drinks and stayed up late playing endless rounds of Clue and Spoons.

The next day I took full advantage of being in a large neighborhood and went for a long run along the winding streets and hills (UGH) before getting ready for our day full of activities around the city. We started with a big brunch followed by a car tour of St. Louis where Nick showed us everything from cool neighborhoods to famous parks and provided us with the local gossip along the way. Afterward, we did a tour of the Anheuser-Busch brewery, which I highly recommend because it’s free to begin with and you also get two free drinks just for doing it! We topped off the night by going to the St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium and checking out a bunch of Nick’s favorite bars after.

After that extremely long day, we were all exhausted and decided we deserved a day of nothing but relaxation and recuperation. Other than a brief venture out to the The Loop for a greasy lunch, some darts and a little thrift shopping, we spent the majority of the day sprawled out on Nick’s couch, drifting in and out of sleep while watching movies on TV. At night we made another large dinner with Nick’s mom and went to Bailey’s Chocolate Bar (see my last blog on STL) for an amazing half-baked brownie topped with salted caramel ice cream. The next morning we packed up, took some shellfies with Nick’s mom and hit the road for Macon, MO – which is so small that even the Missourians we were with had never heard of it.

Macon, MO: April 26th – April 30th 

You never anticipate the places that end up stealing your heart, and I definitely didn’t expect Macon. We rode into town expecting a tiny, dumpy city that is commonly associated with Missouri. What we pulled into instead was a ginormous bed & breakfast and an enthusiastic greeting from the homeowner, Carol, who immediately pulled me in for a hug and gave us a tour of the house. I don’t think I can do it justice with words, but I’ll try my best. The main house had a huge porch – which I’ve always wanted in a house –  filled with eclectic furniture and swings, a huge front sitting room that was elegantly decorated, and about a million other rooms that were all filled with cushioned window seats and mementos to give the place a homey feel. Conner and I were staying in the carriage house where we each essentially had our own two-bedroom apartments upstairs while the downstairs had several more rooms, two hot tubs and even a sauna. The place truly blew my mind and I spent a lot of time just hanging out at the house and trying to savor every second of our stay.

Even more amazing than the house was the woman who owned it – Carol. Like I said, Carol immediately embraced us, both literally and figuratively, and she would prepare us a big breakfast each morning and then sit and talk with us while we ate it. Carol told us a lot about her life, and she seemed to be the type of person who always finds the good in things and truly accepts and embraces life for what it is. One morning after a pretty terrible interview for a sales job I knew I would probably hate, I ran into Carol and Chuck (the groundskeeper/Carol’s bae) and told them all about it. They didn’t miss a beat in telling me life is too short to not do something I’m passionate about and “really how could you be so stupid to go from an awesome job like driving a nut to something boring even if it meant more money?!?” (their words not mine). Seems like simple, straight-forward advice, but I could tell they meant it and truly believed I could find something better, and that made me believe it too.

Outside of hanging out at the house or reading books on the porch, I went for a lot of walks and runs around the streets of Macon. I don’t think Macon is necessarily a cute town but it reminded me a lot of Johnston City, IL, which is where my Grandpa grew up and was one of my favorite places to visit as a kid. So in my extremely biased opinion, I thought it had a lot of charm to it. We also worked small, local stores during the week and the store owner was so excited to have us that he had the store grill hot dogs and make cotton candy to go along with our event. We had people stopping by Carol’s house at all hours of the day and night to see the NUTmobile, and we even managed to get on a few news stations in the area.

When people find out that I live in hotels, they often assume I must hate it and make negative comments about it. But I honestly haven’t minded it at all; I get a free breakfast and my bed made and room cleaned everyday. For a year-long gig, that’s not too shabby. But, I admit, even I miss the comforts and homey feel of a real home with familiar people living in it, and our stay at Nick’s as well as Carol’s got me excited about living in a place of my own again in just a few short weeks.

MO from Missouri, coming soon!

 

Nashville, TN: April 15th – April 20th 

If I haven’t made it clear by now, one huge thing I’ve learned this year is that traveling is all about the people you’re with rather than the place. So while I knew Nashville would be awesome on its own, when I found out that we would not only be there with two wiener women, Sammi and Alex, but also that our fellow Peanutters Elise and Iara were coming to visit, I knew it was about to be an absolute shell of a time. And it was.

We did a lot together in a short amount of time including eating several amazing meals out, traversing the city to take pictures with its murals and having a wine and intense monopoly night. However, my favorite thing was our night out on Broadway. It started with seeing a country band, and though country is none of our music of choice, we can embrace anything and we ended up having a great time at the show and making friends with the band. The night moved on to another bar with a state-of-the-art dance floor that was being extremely under-utilized, so Iara, Elise, Sammi and I made it our personal mission to liven up the place by dancing our faces off. The mission was a success and by the end of the night we had developed a fan base who referred to us as “The Spice Girls” and been invited to join a bachelorette party. All in all, a pretty solid night.

After a much too short visit, Iara and Elise had to head back East, but we thankfully still got to hang out with Sammi Sandwich and Alexandog as well as a new friend, the legendary Jacob Groves. Jacob, who also has a travelling job, has now met almost our entire class during his travels, and I was excited he headed over to Nashville to meet us as well. The six of us decided to check out the famous Gaylord Opryland Resort where we walked through the hotel’s seemingly endless, elaborate atriums, ate dinner at their Mexican restaurant and got completely lost within the hotel in our effort to leave. When we finally made it home we said our goodbyes, packed our bags and prepared to to part ways with Music City and head back to the lovely Midwest for the weekend.

Champaign, IL: April 20th – April 23rd 

I was really disappointed because Champaign is a mere three hours from home, but I was unable to visit because we were only in town for three nights and had no days off. I hadn’t been home since Christmas, and of course I was dying to see my family and be on my home turf. However, I was able to get a literal slice of home because we found a Giordano’s in Champaign, which if you’re unfamiliar (if this is the case I feel terrible for you) is the best Chicago-style pizza. I could barely contain my excitement during dinner, and it was fun to watch Conner experience the cheesy, saucy goodness of Giordano’s for the first time.

I also felt closer to home because my friend Amanda came down for a visit. I’ve known Amanda for over 10 years now, and even though we’ve both changed a bunch in that time, our friendship has always stayed the same, and this time was no different. We caught up on our lives over drinks, explored the U of I campus and watched movies in my hotel room. Amanda also got to witness one of our craziest events of the year, Peanut Pals, which was really fun but weird for me to watch two of my worlds suddenly collide.

You’re probably now wondering what Peanut Pals is and why it’s so crazy. Peanut Pals is a group of mainly elderly people who are absolutely NUTS about Mr. Peanut and Planters and collect brand memorabilia. They then hold conventions where they sell and trade their memorabilia as well as do activities together. We got to work their trade show, and we were treated like shellebrity VIPS and given a bunch of Planters swag. I scored a dope Mr. Peanut bomber jacket as well as a Planters backpack with a working radio on the front of it. We also were offered a sizable amount of money for our work polos and talked with the members about everything Planters, including what one man called “the bad topic” – nut allergies. As weird as the Peanut Pals may sound, I admired their passion for their quirky hobby and how they’ve built a community around it, and the event was a shell of a time. I just may have to become their newest – and youngest – member after this job.

As people often do at the end of an era, I’ve been getting pretty sentimental lately and thinking a lot about my memories from the year. I realized that even though I’ve had an uncountable amount of cool experiences, it’s so much easier for me to recollect the people who have made an impression on me than it is for me to remember places, attractions or even, dare I say, great meals. Whether it’s an elderly gang of peanut enthusiasts, a spontaneous visit from nutty buddies or a good catch-up with a life-long friend, I know I’ll look back and remember who I experienced it all with much more than what we did. Though I doubt I’ll ever forget being compared to the Spice Girls.

Peace & Peanuts!

Atlanta, GA: April 5th – April 10th 

After spending a whole week in Fort Lauderdale constantly in the presence of 15 other people, I suffered from the culture shock of only having Tanaja and Conner around as well as a mild case of post-spring-break depression. But, as I’ve learned many times in the past year, you always have to keep moving forward, and I did so quite literally by once again packing up Ro-Shell and taking off for Atlanta, GA.

Most of my time in Atlanta was spent getting my life back in order after a chaotic Spring Break. I emptied the sand out of my bags, did heaps of laundry, reconnected with the people I’d been neglecting and got myself to a gym stat after 9 days of 0 workouts and way too much junk food and beer. In between all of that I also got in some much-needed relaxation time by watching several movies and sleeping A LOT.

Despite the need to take some time for practical things, I definitely didn’t want to miss out on my opportunity to explore Atlanta. I spent a whole evening driving around Atlanta (having a chase car is a beautiful thing) and making stops at major sights like Centennial Olympic Park, the botanical garden, Buckhead and Ponce City Market. At Ponce City Market I finally found a long-awaited place called Batter that serves scoops of cookie dough like ice cream – it definitely lived up to the hype. I also spent a night after work at Kennesaw Mountain, which is an awesome hike with great views of the Atlanta skyline as well as cool memorials as it is a preserved Civil War Battlefield.

We also got to hang out with some cool people in Atlanta. Elise’s sister Madi – who is basically like my younger sister now too – lives in nearby Auburn and met up with us for dinner at Atlanta’s famous Juke Joint restaurant. I tried chicken and waffles for the second time on the road and liked them much better this time, and it was also really nice to catch up with Mads. We also worked at Walmart one day with a touring MLB event that allowed us to play the MLB: The Show video game as well as be drawn by a caricature artist. We spent a long time talking to their crew about life on the road and mutual places we’d all been, and I thought it was really cool how we were able to form such an instant connection because of our similar experiences.

Knoxville, TN: April 10th – April 15th 

After a quick five days in Atlanta, we headed to Knoxville for what was to be another short five-day stay. We were staying at a Candlewood Suites, which are always risky because they can range from totally sketchy to some of the nicest hotels. This one may not have qualified as ‘totally sketchy,’ but it was pretty dumpy and, if you’re easily scared like me, the type of establishment where you have to sleep with the lights on. It didn’t help when we went to see the new thriller, A Quiet Place, which was a great movie but definitely made me feel extremely anxious the entire time.

To escape our creepy hotel, Conner and I took a day-trip to the Great Smoky Mountains where we did the Alum Cave Trail that took us up mountains, over bridges and creeks, and through caves and bluffs. While on the trail we met a nice older guy who told us all about the rare birds we could see on the hike as well as about the “eye of the needle” which was a perfect hole at the tip of one of the mountains in the distance. This guy was not only really knowledgeable and friendly, but he also was seamlessly climbing the mountain while Conner and I were sweating profusely and struggling to keep up. I hope I can be that fit and cool when I’m in my 70’s.

When we weren’t hiking or being sketched out by our hotel, we explored the downtown area, which had some college-town vibes since Knoxville is home to the University of Tennessee. We ate at a great Tapas restaurant one night where Tanaja claims she had the best burger of her life, and we also saw some live country music at an outdoor bar. All in all, Knoxville was a really cute city.

Spring Break was the last big milestone of my year, and though I’ve been aware of its rapid approach, during my weeks in Atlanta and Knoxville it really started to sink in that the end was near. A lot of people I work with were already seriously looking for new jobs, including both of my partners, and I felt like I had to make the choice to either coast through the rest of this job and start focusing on the future or to fully enjoy the time I have left and worry about what comes next later. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely thinking about the future, but I also want to make the most of the time I have – or at least that’s my excuse for being lazy and unmotivated about the job hunt. So it looks as though I’ll be unemployed for a while post-peanut; please hit me up if you have an open couch for me to live on!

Stay tuned, there’s fortuNUTly still more!

Overall, I had an awesome college experience – I had great friends, interesting classes and more good times than I can count. But there were a few things that I always wanted to do but never got around to during my four years of college, which is why I’m glad I’ve had this last nutty hoorah before entering the “real world.” One thing I never had was a wild college Spring Break, but luckily for me, our program has a break in the spring that is traditionally used for a week-long vacation within our year-long vacation. And where better to take a week-long Spring Break with your fellow food-shaped truck drivers than the lovely Fort Lauderdale, Florida?

We were able to get 16 out of our 21 staff members down to Fort Littydale and packed ourselves into an airbnb that was just big enough to fit all of us, though barely. Although it was cramped and I hardly had a moment’s privacy all eight days, I loved our house. It was actually two small houses that were filled with as many beds and futons that could feasibly fit. In between the houses was our very own inground pool (which Liam “King of the Pool” Sullivan ceremoniously jumped into each night), a hammock, and a grill. Our house also came with a pet – a stray cat who, no matter how much we yelled and shooed, refused to leave and ended up winning us over by the end of the week.

The majority of our days were spent on the beach, which, as you all know, is my favorite place to hang out. From long walks on the beach to jumping the waves to destroying college amateurs in sand volleyball, I love the lazy and carefree vibes of beach days. We also had a beach photoshoot where all the girls wore yellow swimsuits (the mutual color in Planters and Oscar Mayer) and the boys wore Hawaiian shirts and cyclops sunglasses. Another thing I wasn’t part of in college was a sorority, but doing cute matchy things with the Peaners feels like the closest to greek life that I’ve ever been.

While Fort Lauderdale was a good time, some of us also spent a day in neighboring Miami. There are certain cities in the U.S. that stand out as being truly unique (NOLA, San Antonio and San Diego for example) and Miami is definitely one of them. We spent the day exploring the streets, the famous Miami South Beach and the Versace mansion (Conner, Tanaja and I have been watching American Crime Story so we were really excited about this). At night, we went to the Demi Lovato concert, where my Hotdogger pal Connor Gray and I befriended a ticket lady and upgraded our seats from the last row of the nosebleeds to the 11th row from the stage. It was a finesse of legendary proportions, and on top of that, Demi was amazing and even brought out Luis Fonsi to sing Despacito.

It wouldn’t be your typical Spring Break without some partying, and we did plenty of that too. Most of our nights started with playing drinking games out by our pool and then moved to Capone’s – we quickly discovered this was the most fun bar – where we consistently had the best dance circle. One night we stayed in and held a beer olympics where we were assigned to teams to compete in drinking games such as beer pong and boom cup. I happened to be on the winning team, Rosie and the Rippers, with my fellow Badger Dom and the Black&Mild-ripping Rosie, and taking the beer olympics gold is one of my proudest accomplishments to date. We also had a Peanutter outing and did a cycle party, which if you’re unfamiliar, is a pub on wheels that you pedal from bar to bar. The biking was honestly pretty tough – especially the more we drank – but it was a fun way to do a bar crawl and definitely something to check off my bucket list.

Other than that, we were honestly all just happy to have so many free days to spend together and we filled them with random activities. We had several family meals including brunch and a sushi buffet – which I previously didn’t know existed but was life-changing – and we also took turns cooking big breakfasts and dinners for the whole group. We also spent a lot of time at an outdoor coffee shop called The Alchemist that was in a neat area with cool shops and murals. Our airbnb conveniently provided us with a bunch of bikes, which we made great use of as we explored the city and went on grocery or alcohol runs. Spring Break was also over Easter, and though I was sad to miss a holiday with my family, but I got to shellebrate with my Peans and Wiens family by dying Easter eggs.

For a huge group of people who have only ever spent a few weeks in person together, us Peanutters and Hotdoggers are actually very well-connected. Because we are the only people who truly understand the day-to-day life of each other, we communicate a lot via text, GroupMe and Snapchat, and we’re always aware of where each team is and what cool things they’re up to. Still, we rarely get to all be together, and when we are, we typically are racing from meeting to meeting, struggling to keep up with our bosses’ rigorous itinerary. After ten months of watching each others’ adventures from afar, it was awesome to get to have eight whole days to travel and make our own experiences with each other. I’m so grateful for so much about this job, but the people it’s allowed me to surround myself with definitely take the cake.

Nuttin’ but more wild adventures from the fa-nut-astic final stretch coming your way. Cashew soon!

 

People often ask me how I find things to do when I’m on the road. At first, I had no idea how to go about it, especially when I genuinely had no prior knowledge of the city I’m in. After nearly 10 months on the road, I’ve developed a process that I’m confident you’ll find highly technical and insightful. 1) Ask for recommendations either from someone from the area or from someone who has visited it. Luckily for me, I’m part of a huge network of people who have traveled the country, so finding the latter is usually easy. 2) Check Instagram and see where people have tagged photos in the city or what’s featured on the city’s page. Apps like Yelp are helpful too! 3) Simply google it and browse through lists like “Top 10 Things To Do in Tallahassee.”

The other thing that’s important to keep in mind when finding things to do is, of course, what you actually like to do. I personally enjoy walking around a cool area, exploring and seeing what I stumble upon. For Tallahassee, I couldn’t find any recommendations or info from Instagram so I resorted to the lists which first led me to Florida State University, where I spent several hours strolling around the campus. I won’t say for the millionth time on this blog how much I like college campuses, but I will say that FSU is a gorgeous school and it has officially been added to my list of potential grad schools. Even though I love Madison, I couldn’t believe people could be so lucky to attend school in what felt like a tropical paradise.

My research also led me to Maclay Garden, which is an old home and elaborate garden that was given to Florida as a state park. Conner and I walked around the grounds’ brick paths that were lined with beautiful trees and plants and enjoyed seeing all of the different places they led us. We came to a sign that said “No Trespassing – Employees Only,” but Conner and I – who have been known for skillfully breaking into places like Coit Tower and our own NUTmobile several times – did not let that stop us. What resulted was us exploring hidden, back paths and hiding from employees in the trees so we wouldn’t get in trouble. We’re probably too old to be doing things like this, but it was honestly really fun.

FSU and the gardens were the only things I found in Tallahassee that really peaked my interest, and I was okay with that. Most weeks I try and make sure I see and do as much as possible, but Tallahassee was right in between NOLA and Ft. Lauderdale (a.k.a. Spring Break #1 and #2) and I wanted to take advantage of the chill time while I had it. The rest of the week was spent relaxing and preparing for Fort Lauderdale, other than work of course.

Most of our events for the week were at Walmart, which has become much too typical for the Central team’s liking, but we did work one exceptional event: The Peanut Proud Festival in Blakely, GA. Ten years ago, Blakely suffered a terrible storm that destroyed their crops, and they were afraid their economy wouldn’t bounce back. However, thanks to the miraculous peanut, it did, and they created the Peanut Proud Festival as a way to honor the legume. The whole town participates by painting their own peanut cut-outs and displaying them outside their homes/businesses. The festivities begin with a parade around town square, where a banner exclaiming “Eat More P-Nuts” majestically hangs. The festival afterward served peanut-related foods like PB ice cream and grilled PB sandwiches, and featured several popular country bands and an appearance from their congressman, who gave a passionate speech about peanuts. In my opinion, Blakely was beyond peanut proud and borderlining peanut worship, and honestly, I loved every second of it.

 

When I started this job, a lot of members of the old class told us that the “lifestyle” of living on the road takes awhile to master. I didn’t know what they meant by that for a long time, but I’ve definitely figured it out this half. Even though my first half out west was a blast and a half, there’s no way I could’ve kept up that way of life without going broke and gaining a ton of weight (haha). This half my weeks haven’t usually been jam-packed with excitement, but I’ve been a lot better at working out consistently, keeping in touch with friends and family, saving money and cooking for myself. It may not be quite as carefree and jam-packed with good times as out west, but my life has been much more balanced this half, which I think is what mastering the on-the-road lifestyle is all about.

More sweet & salty Sunshine State stories soon!