If you haven’t gathered by now, being a Peanutter is not a typical full-time job, and one way it differs from most is our generous time off for the holidays. Despite going from the comfortable 70-degree shorts weather of L.A. to the negative temperatures of Wisconsin, Christmas season just doesn’t feel right amidst the palm trees and sunshine. I was more than ready for my white Christmas and two weeks of catching up with family and friends in the arctic tundra.

One of my first days of break, my friend Maggie and I met up with Elise and Dogger at Walker Brothers Pancake House in Illinois. This is one of my favorite restaurants of all time and when they asked how I knew about it, I told them it was my “cousin place” because we always used to meet my cousins there. Well, lo and behold, as we were paying our bills up front, I hear, “Maggie?!” and turn around to see my cousin Sam, who had also just finished eating. The craziest part was that Sam was just telling his friend about me because they saw Dogger’s Wienermobile parked outside. We all headed out to the Wien where Mags, Sam and his friend all got a ride and, of course, a Wiener Whistle. I rode in the way back thinking about how crazy it was that my best friend from college, my cousin and my two coworkers were all riding around in one giant hot dog. Ladies and gents, it’s a small, nutty world.

One of my favorite days over break was the one I spent with my mom in Chicago. We of course did the touristy stuff: visited Navy Pier, saw the huge Millenium Park Christmas Tree, walked through Christkindl Market and finished the day with popcorn of the Gods: Garrett’s. As I’ve said time and again, Chicago is my very favorite city, so any day spent there is a good one. But the best part of the day was being with my mom. It had been far too long since we had a day just the two of us, and even though we mostly just walked around and chatted – while stopping for frequent indoor breaks to warm up – it was a day I’ll never forget with my favorite person in my favorite city.

 

My Christmas Eve and Christmas were very similar to pretty much every other year of my life: we went to my dad’s side on Christmas Eve, drove around to look at Christmas lights after and then went to my mom’s side on Christmas Day. By saying it was similar though, I don’t mean to imply that it was boring. I’m a huge fan of traditions, probably because I like to think that no matter how much my life changes year to year, some things will always stay the same. The holidays are definitely good for that sense of comfort and familiarity, and I was especially grateful this year to enjoy my Christmas twice-baked potato while sitting in my grandma’s living room, just like I’ve done for as long as I can remember.

I, of course, spent a lot of time with friends too because many of them were home or off work for the holidays. The best night was when a bunch of my friends went to Chicago for New Years Eve. I’ve always wanted to spend New Years in the big city, and now that none of us are broke college students anymore, we got hotel rooms and tickets to a bar and did it big – my friend Hannah even flew in from Minne for the occasion. As per usual, we spent most of the night tearing up the dance floor and did not let the negative Chicago temperatures stop us from having a great time. There’s nothing like ringing in the New Year with a bunch of your very best friends, and the night ended with me smushed between two of them in bed laughing about the night we just had. Safe to say, 2018 is going to be a good one.

I did so much more over my short time at home (like meeting up with my old coworkers and attempting to watch all the Star Wars movies with my brother Tony) that I cannot possibly write about all of it. But what I can say is that my winter break got me really excited for the future. A lot of times I get sucked into the vortex of being a Peanutter, and it’s no secret that what I’m doing this year has been amazing. At times I’ve wondered “Have I peaked?”, “Will anything else ever compare?”, or “Can I ever be happy staying in just one place again?” After spending time with my friends over break and seeing what their lives are like – with their jobs, new friends they’ve made and all the time they get to spend together and with their families- I got excited to see what my own life will be like when it’s more stable again. I’m not sure if another job will ever quite match up to being a Peanutter, but I now know for sure that there are still good things to come!

 

Wishing you a nutty new year!

 

During my last stretch of time in L.A. I started to feel a sense of finality about my time out west. winter break was rapidly approaching, I would soon be finding out my second half assignment and I was painfully aware that after break I would have less than two weeks before turning around and heading right back to Wisconsin to switch teams. I often have a “seize the day” mentality on this job, but knowing my westward adventure was coming to a close really had me thinking “What do I have to do here before I leave?”

The first thing that came to mind was visit more beaches. Growing up, I’ve always heard about famed Cali beaches like Newport or Santa Monica, and I was disappointed in myself that after all my time in SoCal I had only made it to one. So I ended up visiting Santa Monica and Laguna Beach, both of which were amazing in their own way. Santa Monica has a famous pier that gives you a great view of the whole shore and Laguna Beach, my personal favorite, is absolutely stunning with great waves, endless palm trees and giant rocks to climb. I’ve always been the type of person that can happily spend endless days amidst the sand and calming beach waves, and I was happy to check a few more Pacific beaches off my list.

Another thing I had yet to do was truly experience Hollywood. In order to achieve this, Conner and I signed up for a tour of Warner Brothers Studio. The tour taught us a lot about how shows and movies are filmed and we got to see tons of artifacts – costumes, props and Batmobiles – as well as the sets of Friends, Shameless, and buildings used in countless shows and movies. The craziest part of the tour was that at the end of it, they asked if anyone wanted to be part of Conan’s live audience. Conner and I of course jumped at the chance. Even though I’d already seen James Corden’s taping, I liked Conan’s a lot better because he interacted with the audience and made us feel like a part of the show.

Another thing that was missing from my west coast journey, even though it was mostly out of my control, was having the NUTmobile participate in a parade. We went six months utterly parade-less and then Bam! Two parades in one weekend. No other event quite matches up to a parade because all you have to do is drive the NUTmobile through the route and watch the crowd lose their minds over Mr. Peanut dabbing away while standing out of the sun roof. Not that I would know, because Mr. Peanut is himself, but I would imagine that few feelings compare to gallantly riding through the streets via NUTmobile while 1000’s scream, wave and dance for your attention.

While the parades were awesome, the best event of the week was one we got to find and schedule ourselves: Orange County Autism’s Breakfast with Santa. Throughout our westward journey, we have had the pleasure of meeting several autistic children and adults, and I was surprised to learn that many people with autism love mascots and characters. This definitely proved true at our breakfast with Santa as we paraded Mr. Peanut around to take hundreds of pictures (including with Santa!) and to play games with the kids and their families.

We were having a shell of a time, but the event got even better when we met Julie, the Founder of OC Autism.  All three of us were shocked to learn that Julie operates and funds the organization completely by herself and that all of its amazing benefits come to families of children with autism totally free. Julie told us she had planned to shut down the organization because it was so hard to sustain, but that people in the community begged her not to because of how much it had helped them. Despite being in charge of a huge, packed event with many moving details, Julie seemed to be having a blast and I could tell how much she meant to the people in attendance. She was definitely one of the people out west that I’ll never forget.

Near the end of our last stay together, we planned a big Christmas dinner with our Hotdogger pals, Jackie and Alex. When you’re living in a hotel, “big Christmas dinner” can really mean mac n’ cheese grilled cheese, but if you know anything about me you know that I had zero complaints about this cheesy meal. Jacandra had agreed to host, and when I arrived in their room they had set up a little Christmas tree with presents for each of us. As we snuggled up in our brand new blankets, ate our weight in cheese and watched funny Youtube videos, I knew that it didn’t matter how much time I had out west, I would always want more with the four unique people that I’m lucky to call my travel buddies.

And just like that, my fourth and final week in L.A. was up and I was headed back to Wisconsin for the holidays. Cashew at my next blog to find out if I was nutty or nice this year. (Spoiler: I was mostly nutty.)

 

Upon returning back to the West after Thanksgiving break, I had to pick up Shelly and drive her back to our hotel because I was the first one back. I had driven Shelly on my own before, but only for short distances and definitely not through the craziness that is L.A. traffic. I thought everything was going pretty well when suddenly Shelly’s door decided to pop open in the middle of the freeway. I didn’t know what to do other than to completely stop, park, and go close it before all of my luggage flew out the door, never to be seen again. I managed to pull this off pretty seamlessly, and couldn’t help but laughing the rest of the way home at how it must’ve looked to others and how bad the whole situation could’ve been.

Odd as that start was, the week seemed to follow a similar suit of embracing less than ideal circumstances. For starters, the next morning as we prepared to drive to Las Vegas, our nut door decided not to work and we had to delay Vegas for a trip to Penske instead. When we finally did hit the road though, the drive was almost better because we got to drive into Vegas at night and see the strip lit up in all its glory. This was my first time in Vegas, and I couldn’t help but think of the classic movie “The Hangover” and even requested the song they play as they ride into the city, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” by Kanye West, to complete the moment.

Our Vegas hotel was pretty far from where all the action was, but luckily for us, Clay Grover (Elise’s dad) was visiting us for the week and staying at the Wynn Hotel, right on the strip. As you can imagine, we spent as much time as possible at his hotel rather than ours and ate several meals right in the Wynn. Our first night in town was mainly spent walking up and down the strip, looking at all of the lights and musically-synchronized fountains, and partaking in some very interesting people watching. We also stopped at the Bellagio and I had Conner explain the rules of Blackjack to me while we observed several rounds at a table. When I finally tried it out (it was my first time gambling) I sat down and immediately lost about $60, which is not surprising as I have been known to have pretty much the worst luck in the world.

While we were in Vegas we were hoping to see Cirque du Soleil, but couldn’t find last minute tickets to a show. I was initially pretty bummed because I’ve always wanted to see one, but then Elise’s Dad found us tickets to an aqua acrobatics show, La Reve, that was right in the Wynn. The show was in a round theatre and the cast moved seamlessly in and out of the water as they danced, sang and performed stunts including trapeze and high dives. It truly was a dream – which is what La Reve means in English.

After La Reve, Conner and I felt that the only thing missing from our Vegas experience was a night out at a club. However, going to one turned out to be easier said than done. We had had several recommended to us, but almost all of them had an extremely high cover, especially for guys. Feeling slightly defeated, Conner and I bought a huge pineapple dole whip Daquiri to split and continued to walk the strip (you can drink virtually anywhere in Vegas). Just as we were about to throw the towel in and head for home, a guy came up to us and offered us free tickets to Chateau Nightclub, which is on top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel. Not only did we proceed to get in for free, but we also happened to end up at a virtually private, rooftop Ginuwine concert. By virtually private, I mean that he performed more in the center of the crowd than on a stage and stayed to party with everyone afterward. I’m telling you guys, life is nuts.

All in all, I felt like I got the full Vegas experience in my time there: I lost some money, partied with a celebrity and got to experience the over-the-top hotels, meals and shows. A lot of these experiences that made the week so great wouldn’t have happened if we simply gave up after our first plan failed. I think one of the things I like most about my team is that both of them are pretty easygoing and adaptable when things don’t go our way, and we all manage to stay positive in even the worst of situations. Maintaining that attitude has made our west coast road trip that much better, and Las Vegas was just another unforgettable stop with my Westie Besties.

 

Hasta Legume-o!

 

 

 

I’m combining my second week in L.A. with my trip home for Thanksgiving into one post because 1) I am trying super hard to get this blog up to date and 2) because I was so consumed with excitement about going home for Thanksgiving that my week in L.A. was pretty uneventful.

However, a few cool things did happen. We managed to score free tickets to be part of the live audience for The Late Late Show with James Corden. I’d like to point out that we also were approved for free tickets to Jimmy Kimmel and special guest Ben Affleck (who is my #1 favorite celebrity) but Conner failed to redeem them in time and they got taken, which I am still a tad salty about. Anyway, James Corden had Emmy Rossum – better known as Fiona from Shameless-, January Jones and BTS on his show that night. Most of the experience was laughing/clapping at the appropriate time, but it was cool to see how shows are taped and what they look like in person.

If I didn’t get the job with the NUTmobile, one of my plans was to move to L.A. and join City Year, which I heard about from my friend Val who did just that. While the whole City Year thing obviously didn’t pan out, I did still get to come to L.A. and see Val with the NUTmobile. Her, Conner and I enjoyed a great meal at a new hot, local place, Bubba Gump Shrimp and we also got to show her Shelly. I didn’t think I would get to see too many people that I know out west, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how many friends/family the NUTmobile has made it possible for me to meet up with that I would otherwise rarely see.

Other than that, the rest of L.A. consisted of working, running seemingly endless loops around our hotel as a workout, playing Spicy Uno with Jackie and Alex (an intense version of Uno) and preparing to finally head home. Once that day came, we said farewell to Shelly and headed to LAX where the three of us enjoyed a mimosa together before boarding our separate planes home. Even though I spend virtually 24/7 with Conner and Elise and we would only be apart for about 10 days, I felt really sad as we said goodbye and I knew I was going to miss their constant presence.

Still, as soon as I walked through the door and received an enthusiastic greeting from my dogs, I was relieved to be home. I didn’t realize the little things about home I had missed until I got back: a fridge stocked with fresh fruits and veggies, a room covered with my own pictures and memories and my very own bed complete with my dogs snuggled up inside. It was good to be back.

I think it goes without saying that the best part of being home was being back with my family and friends. My first day back in town I got to pick up my little brother from school and then jetted off to do a paint night at a local bar with my mom (I learned where my lack of artistic ability must come from during this). I was reunited with even more family on Thanksgiving as well as with Elise, who dropped in for the feast. Although, like every year, I was basically comatose after the meal, we spent the day hanging out with my cousins (and being iced more than once now that my youngest cousins are freshmen in college) and playing games. I always love the holidays because I was fortunate enough to grow up in a tight-knit family that I love being around, but I was especially thankful this year to kick back and relax in the company of people who have always been constants in my life.

I also wanted to see a lot of friends over break, which took me all over the state of Wisconsin. I was lucky enough to catch my friend Marie, who moved to the Philippines right after high school and has been there since, right before she headed back across the globe for a night out in good ol’ K-Town with our friend Nicole and other people who I haven’t seen since high school.  I got to introduce Elise to a bunch of my college friends when we met up in downtown Milwaukee. Even though we weren’t in Madison, it brought me right back to a typical night out in college where we would tear up the dance floor and end the night with a pow wow and a huge thing of fries (although this time it was McDonalds, not Disco Fries). I also caught up with a bunch of friends when I spent a night in Madison, and I especially enjoyed running and walking the streets of downtown and feeling like part of my favorite campus again.

A lot of times out west I feel totally isolated from the people back home, but all throughout my break I had friends and family telling me how much they’ve enjoyed following what I’m doing both from this blog and from Snapchat and other social media. It felt good to know that I’m not totally disconnected from home, and also gave me a renewed sense of determination to keep up with my blog – I promise I’m going to try my best! Thanksgiving is always about reflecting on what you’re thankful for, (that and eating much food as you can humanly manage) but, after being away for awhile, my whirlwind of a trip home made me feel especially lucky this year for how much I have to be grateful for.

My NUTmost Thanks For Reading!

One of my favorite things about the city I’m from, Kenosha, WI, is its proximity to other things. Kenosha itself isn’t bad, but It’s right in the middle of two major cities – Milwaukee and Chicago – and it’s only two hours away from Madison, which you can’t beat. If you read my blog about Sacramento last time, you know I wasn’t a huge fan, and this time around I was determined to make my peace with it. While the city itself definitely grew on me, I realized that my favorite thing about Sac is that it’s sort of a convenient hub in the middle of many other great things, much like Kenosha.

On our way to Sacramento we had a brief, two-night-stay in nearby San Jose, CA. As fate would have it, none other than BRUNO MARS happened to be performing in the area on one of those days, which also happened to be the day before none other than EXTRA SALTED ELISE’S birthday. And what better way to shell-ebrate a 24th birthday than at the 24k Magic Tour?!

Turns out, there is no better way. I can hardly put into words how good Bruno Mars is live, but suffice it to say, he was good enough to doubly make up for the absolutely horrible Applebees experience we had prior to the concert. Bruno Mars sang all of his classics as well as some new hits, all while dancing in perfect unison with his entire band. It was more like a theatre performance than your typical concert, but it was easily the best live show I’ve ever seen. 

I’ve never made an actual bucket list, but if I did, one of the things that would’ve been on it was seeing the Redwoods. So when I found out that Muir Woods was only about an hour away from where we were staying in Sacramento, there was no way I wasn’t going. We got a rental car and snacks and set out for our day trip to the woods. We ended up finding an awesome 5-mile hike that was perfect because it wasn’t hard enough to make us miserable or easy enough that we didn’t feel accomplished afterward. It took us all throughout the woods and even on hills that offered views of the redwoods from above as well as of the ocean in the distance. The redwoods are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, their size and beauty are almost hard to take in when you’re standing amongst them. It was well worth the day-trip and I was happy to check the redwoods off of my non-existent bucket list.

During our events for the week, we ended up working two stores with the Red Bull Truck. Since there aren’t too many trucks of our kind on the road, we formed an instant bond with them and talked a lot during work. Both of the drivers were Sacramento natives and they gave us a ton of local recommendations as well as a year’s supply of Red Bull (which we accepted despite the fact that none of us drink them since we prefer coffee). One of the drivers was a manager at an exclusive club downtown and she gave us her number and told us she’d get us in if we ever wanted to go. We rarely pass up on an invite, and when we showed up that Saturday she not only let us skip the huge line, but also got us out of paying the cover charge. You never know where your food-truck connections will take you!

Working with the Red Bull truck was fun, but the best work event of the week was when we took Mr. Peanut ice skating at the downtown rink. Our boss let us schedule our own event that day, and when we get this rare privilege, we usually try to do something fun and unique with it. The ice skating rink was more than happy to have the NUTmobile parked outside for the day, and they even let us take Mr. P skating. Admittedly, I was extremely nervous about how a giant nut on ice would turn out, but Mr. P was a natural and he ended up being an even better skater than Conner.

Last, but certainly not least, I got to see my cousin Kelsey during the week! Kelsey is a travel nurse and, luckily for me, just started her post in San Francisco a few days before I arrived in Sacramento. We met halfway in Fairfield, CA at an odd, hole-in-the-wall Italian place and spent the evening catching up about our family and jobs. Even though we were across the country, being with Kelsey instantly reminded me of home and of all of the memories we shared growing up and with our family. This job and all of my constant moving has definitely taught me that people can give you much more of a sense of home and comfort than any specific place can.

While I initially was disappointed that, of all places, we were being sent back to Sacramento, I ended up being grateful for my second week there. Not only did it put me close to the Redwoods, my cousin and Bruno Mars, but I also got a better feel for the community through its night scene and the downtown skating rink. I don’t think many people would think my hometown or even home state are the most exciting places to live, but they’re places with a lot to love about them and I think the same can be said for Sacramento.

GrOver and Out! (This was in honor of Elise since her bday was this week)

 

There were a lot of reasons Palm Springs was my favorite week on the job so far. For one, Palm Springs is absolutely amazing – not only are there gorgeous mountains on the edge of the city, but there are also huge palm trees lining virtually every street. Plus, Palm Springs has an awesome downtown filled with small shops and an ice cream store that sells none other than pineapple dole whip (I’ve never been able to find this outside of Disney before). Second, THE Brenda Grover – Elise’s mom who is also the woman behind our swaggy peanut hats and nightgowns – visited us for most of the week. But what really made it the best week ever was that it was Peanutter Challenge Week!

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Peanutter Challenge Week is a week on the job where the Peanutters get to find and schedule all of their own events. Beyond that, the week is also a giant competition between all three Peanutter teams to see who can do the most events and gain the most media coverage during the week. The whole point is to try and take over the town by getting really involved in the community and doing as much as you can for one week.

Luckily for me, my team is just as competitive as I am, and as soon as we found out Challenge Week was a thing, we knew we wanted to win. Immediately upon arriving, we bought supplies and transformed Shelly into the Haunted NUTmobile and Mr. Peanut into The Cat in the Hat (this costume worked well because the other two Peanutters got to be Thing 1 and Thing 2) because it was the week leading up to Halloween.

The first two days of Challenge Week were supposed to be our off days, but because we really wanted to win, we spent them driving around and randomly showing up at different news outlets to try and get media hits. Turns out, it’s pretty hard to turn away a giant, walking peanut and his even more giant peanut car when they’re right in front of you. By the end of the week, we had been in newspapers, on radio and TV and featured in countless tweets and blogs. Mr. Peanut even got to do a media event at the local police department, which involved inchworming through a SWAT car to take a picture out of the turret. As you can imagine, this was no easy task for a giant nut, and by the end Mr. P was sweatier and more exhausted than ever before in his 101 years, but hey, anything for a media hit.

As good as it felt to kill it with the media coverage, our events were what really made the week. We ended up working ten events including a nursing home visit, a food drive, a 6k up a mountain (which Brenda the superwoman ran in), a pet food drive and fashion show and a Halloween storytelling for kids at the library. Not only were these events more fun and rewarding than our typical grocery store days, but they gave me more of a sense of accomplishment because we had actually selected, booked and handled all of the details by ourselves.

Although we were working way harder and much longer hours than usual, we also had a ton of fun both at events and outside of work. As mentioned, Elise’s mom was in town for a visit, which was a total surprise to Elise. Brenda had reached out to Conner and I and enlisted our help in pulling off the surprise, which we managed to do over dinner on one of our first nights in town. It was so nice to get to spend a lot of time with Brenda throughout the week because we had heard so much about her that she already felt like family. She was so sweet and helpful throughout the week that it made Challenge Week that much easier and more enjoyable for all of us.

Although the entire week was very memorable, potentially my favorite memory was when Mr. Peanut won a dance contest at a huge Halloween festival – our last event of the week. Mr. Peanut was asked to participate in a disco contest and ended up competing against twelve other people, most of them were gay men as Palm Springs has one of the largest gay populations in the country. As soon as he got on stage and The YMCA began to play, Mr. Peanut danced his heart out and there wasn’t a person in the crowd who wasn’t clapping along or hysterically laughing at the giant dancing nut. I’ve never been so proud of any human or nut before, and my pride only grew when Mr. Peanut was announced the winner. It was definitely a Halloween I’ll never forget.

Even though challenge week was draining, it was such a good week because I felt like we truly became part of the community in Palm Springs.  Everywhere we went people were telling us that they’d already seen us at a different event or on the news, and we also got to know a lot of local influencers like news anchors, police officers and other prominent people in the community. On top of that, we were having so much fun at events and making magic for so many other people that it hardly felt like a “challenge.” When I think of what being a Peanutter should be like or what I want it to be, my experience in Palm Springs for Challenge Week comes pretty dang close.

Here’s a video that Conner put together of our Challenge Week: 

 

Adios Almonds!

For most of my life, everyone I know has lived in close proximity to me. I’m from a family where our furthest cousins live only 90 minutes away, and the vast majority of my friends stayed in Wisconsin or neighboring states for college. Since I started working with the NUTmobile, that has changed a lot. Not only are a lot of my friends from home all over the place now, but I am also working within a huge network of people from all over the country, so I have connections with people far beyond the Midwest. I never imagined that Phoenix, AZ would be a place where I know a lot of people and have a sense of community, but that has definitely become the case.

My older brother and his family moved to Arizona a few years ago, and getting to see them a lot was definitely a highlight of my two weeks there. One night I drove Shelly to their house and parked across the street – this was a first because I don’t know many people out west or spend a lot of time in actual houses or neighborhoods. When I was about to leave for the night, a cop rolled up and asked me to wait. There was a boy down the street that he knew and he wanted him to be able to see the NUTmobile. I waited for them to come, and by the time they arrived, several more of the neighbors had come out to see what was going on with the giant peanut. My brother and his family got to meet a bunch of their neighbors they’d never spoken to, and my niece and the other kids got to go inside the NUTmobile. Not to toot my own horn, but it definitely made me feel like a cool sister and aunt, and it was nice to feel like I helped bring their neighborhood together with a little excitement.

If you read my last blog about Phoenix, you know that we formed a squad there called Madison Vibes consisting of my team, Gregory Plaza and Madi Grover. Not only did we get to reunite with Greg (who is a PHX native) but Madi also flew in for the occasion! A lot of our time back together was spent reliving the cool things we had done in July: hiking Camelback Mountain and failing to reach the top again, eating at two of my favorite restaurants from the road – Postino’s and Culinary Dropout – and hitting up Bikini Bean on the regular. We also had a brief visit from fellow Hotdogger/Elise’s boyfriend, Dogger, who we introduced to many of these Phoenix gems. After Mads & Dogger left, the four of us remaining made a very long day trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, where we took in way too much natural beauty for one day and nearly got lost on a trail in total darkness.

One of my favorite nights in Phoenix was when we went with a huge group to Top Golf. Our group consisted of past Peanutter Harrison Plaza and Greg Plaza, Tyler and Alexa Esparza (who are siblings of one of the other Peanutters), Madi Grover and our team of three. Even though I had just met the Esparzas a few days prior and had really never spent more than a couple weeks with the others, it felt like we all had a lot to talk about because of our common links. We had a great time making fun of each other’s horrible golf swings and eating Top Golf food (which is surprisingly delicious) and we ended the night with some dancing at Devil’s Advocate, one of my favorite bars at Arizona State University.

We also happened to be in town for Harrison and Gregory’s birthdays, which we were even more excited for when we found out that Harrison’s girlfriend Lexi (who is also a Peanutter from last year) was flying into town to surprise him. During Peanut Prep we only had one night overlapping with the last Peanutter class, so I was really excited to get to spend some more time with Peanutters who were fresh off the salty streets. We spent a whole night with Harrison and Lexi talking about our job and life on the road, which, again, was awesome because we had so much mutual understanding and a lot of similar experiences. When Gregory and Harrison’s birthdays finally rolled around, we all celebrated together by going to Old Town Scottsdale and getting peanut butter and jiggy with it like only Peanutters can.

Like I said earlier, this was my team’s second time in Phoenix and we were in town for two whole weeks, so we did a lot of repeating our favorite things from our previous trip there. For the first time on the road, I wasn’t most concerned with what I wanted to see in a city, but more about who I wanted to spend time with. In a way, Phoenix started to feel less like a vacation and more like a home: we were hanging out with our usual group of friends at all of our usual spots. My partners who have to listen to me grumble and complain about this job sometimes probably get so annoyed by how often I say this in my blog posts, but I am so grateful for this job. It’s crazy to me that somewhere as different and as far from home as Phoenix, AZ has become so familiar and filled with friends, and I have nothing but the NUTmobile to thank for it.

More cashews and cacti coming soon!

 

There were a lot of reasons I took the job as a Peanutter: connections within a major company, good PR/marketing experience, its uniqueness, and lack of another job offer to name a few. However, the biggest appeal to me was that I am essentially being paid to travel the country. Some people in our program try to save as much money as possible or achieve other goals, but my biggest priority has always been making sure I see everything I want to in each place we visit. Sounds like a pretty easy and fun goal to accomplish, but the truth is, sometimes I just want to do nothing. Prior to this job, I was the type of the person who could be totally content watching hour after hour of Netflix or spending a whole day finishing a book.

So when I was repeatedly told that Sacramento was like California’s Midwest in that there was nothing to do there, I was elated. Sure, I resented the negative comparison to my homeland, but I thought I could finally get away with simply chilling and not have to feel guilty about my lack of exploration. But, as the week progressed, I knew past me who danced excitedly for several minutes when I got this job would be disappointed if my best memory from Sacramento was completing an entire Netflix show.

And so started a mission to find the good things about California’s Midwest. The first was that Sacramento is only about an hour away from Napa Valley. Visiting Napa has always been a dream of mine – it started with the movie “The Parent Trap” and grew even stronger when I discovered my love for wine.  I gathered up the Bamboujee clan and we spent a day in Napa sipping wine among the vineyards. I enjoyed learning more about the different types of wine and how they are made, and the wine itself was exponentially better than my usual $4 bottle of Barefoot.

Another lifelong dream of mine came true when the NUTmobile got to be in a Scoop The Loop event. When I was a kid, my family would often go to Scoop the Loop (where cool cars drive in a big loop so everyone can see them) in Waukegan, IL and watch my older cousins drive their cars down the drag. Even though I’ve never been a car person, young me always thought they were super cool, and getting to show off my peanut on the loop brought it all full circle. The event got even better when we parked next to Drewski’s, the best food truck in existence, by pure chance. I devoured an amazing mac n’ cheese, BBQ pulled pork and grilled onions sandwich followed by a s’mores sandwich complements of the truck. It was an event for the books.

Though Napa was easily my favorite thing about the week, perhaps the most cathartic moment was when we saw Imagine Dragons in concert. There’s nothing like a little live music to stir up one’s emotions, and that’s especially true for the many powerful messages in Imagine Dragons’ countless #1 hits. But the most moving moment was when the lead singer paused the concert to speak on the recent shooting at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, which were extremely close to home for him as he’s from Vegas and the shootings occurred at a concert. I can’t remember exactly what he said (mostly because this blog is over two months late) but his main message was that you can’t let fear keep you from living your life. Seems like a pretty simple idea, but it helped me remember that it’s the things that make you uncomfortable that are really worth doing (like, I don’t know, driving a giant peanut down the highway, spending a year living in hotels or saying goodbye to everyone you know to live with two strangers for example).

The last good thing about Sacramento was that we had the chance to make it a good visit  for other people. There was a collegiate volleyball team staying at our hotel, and they were all checking out our vehicles in the parking lot one night. We had just parked after going out to dinner, and we were fully prepared to avoid conversation and make a mad dash into the hotel. However, we ended up finding out they had a big match the next day and offering to give some of the team a ride. I forget sometimes how remarkable a giant peanut can be to those who have never seen it, but it was cool to see how just a quick ride was so exciting to the team and got them hyped for their match.

Being a Peanutter is awesome, but it’s just like anything else in the sense that sometimes I feel absolutely euphoric about what I’m doing and other times I feel more blasé about it. In the lower moments, I try to remember that there’s a reason I took this job over a typical office position and to make sure I’m getting out of it what I wanted to.  I’m not going to pretend I ended up loving Sac (in fact it was probably my least favorite week thus far) but I’m proud to say that I made the best of my time there and came away with a good feel for the city.

Shell-utations until next time!

 

After the chaotic whirlwind that was Fall Staff, my team and I arrived back in Boise and drove to Portland, OR for a quick two-night stay. Our second round of Portland was not too eventful, but we did work a cool touch-a-truck event where Mr. Peanut got to ride off into the sky via a cherry picker. We also headed back to Rogue Brewing Co. – which was featured in my last blog about Portland – with Jackie, Alex and Jacob. I was sad to find out Rogue no longer carries my favorite beer from the road, the Rosie, but I still managed to enjoy the great company on my last night in town.

The next morning we rode out for Bend, OR – a small, touristy town that you’ve probably never heard of if you’re not from the Northwest. I had never heard of it either, but I immediately knew I would love it upon arrival. Our hotel was right on the edge of downtown – which meant we were walking distance from pretty much everything – and also offered us access to a full-service gym (which was necessary after the eating bender we all had at Fall Staff).

My first day in Bend was spent trekking across town on foot to purchase a new iPhone. I haven’t written about this yet, but on this job pretty much all of my technology has failed me. I have been laptop-less since my Mac decided to die for good in Albuquerque months ago (if not for Elise’s giving soul and willingness to share hers, this blog would’ve died long ago) and my iPhone was so low on storage that it hardly functioned. I decided to at least solve one of these, and finally got a beautiful new iPhone 7+. After my trek to Verizon, I returned downtown, settled into a cozy coffee shop called Bluebird Cafe, and spent the rest of the day writing blogs.

Due to our previously stated fall staff eating bender, Conner, Elise and I decided to be super active during our week in Bend. We first hiked the lava tubes, which are underground tunnels formed by lava. You literally climb down through a big gaping hole, and once you get to the bottom it’s pitch black and at least 20 degrees colder. As we walked through the dark with only my headlamp (yes, I did for some reason pack a headlamp for this job and I’m glad I found a reason to use it) we told scary stories and Elise managed to only fall one time in the dark.

The next day, our hiking continued as we took on the 7,779 foot Tumalo Mountain. Despite being that tall, the hike wasn’t too bad and it offered great views of the surrounding Three Sisters Mountains at the top. The mountain was already covered in snow – my first time seeing snow this year – and we were all soaked by the time the hike was over. In addition to our hikes, Downtown Bend is situated right on the Deschutes river and I also went for a run along its scenic path nearly every morning during our stay.

Aside from all of the beautiful scenery in the area, Bend also had a great food scene and a seemingly endless amount of breweries. Whenever we get to a new town I usually look up places I want to try and make a list, but I would’ve needed at least a month to complete my list for Bend. However, my favorite place we tried was Deschutes Brewery where I had a Mirror Pond Pale Ale and a turkey and  brie sandwich – they were both delicious. We also tried several other amazing restaurants throughout the week including Sisters Coffee Company, Orchid Thai and Bonta Gelato. If you ever find yourself in Bend hit me up for a whole bunch of food/drink recommendations!

Although there were clearly a lot of reasons to love Bend, my very favorite part of the week was when we visited an assisted living home. We had Mr. Peanut walk from room to room to say hi to residents and give them peanuts. One lady danced with Mr. Peanut and another refused to let go of his hand for several minutes. It was crazy to me how just a simple visit seemed to make such a big difference, but we were constantly told how much our visit meant, and the home was suddenly more alive with crowds gathering and laughter all around. It was without a doubt the most rewarding work day we’ve had yet.

You’d think it would be the big cities I visit that have tons to do, but Bend had everything I could want and more: good eats, prime hammocking spots and more places to explore than I could in a lifetime. There’s a lot to love in Bend (this is especially true for Conner who met the love of his life/the one that got away here) and it made me especially happy to be back on the west coast (best coast) with my homenuts.

Thanks for being part of my Peanut Gallery, cashew soon!

Normally, waking up at the ripe hour of 3 a.m. and ordering an Uber to catch two flights with one layover all while losing two hours due to time change would be a miserable experience. However, the minute my alarm sounded on September 17th I was up and ready to go alongside my four travel buddies because we were officially on our way back to Madison, WI – which meant back to our 16 other NUTmobile and Wienermobile homies, and for me, back to my home, my family and my friends.

After nearly seven hours of travel (and 4 hours of naps, thanks to my spontaneous but necessary purchase of a neck pillow) our west gang of five finally arrived back in the land of beer, cheese and brats – WISCONSIN. We collected our rental cars and one of our central nutty buddies and sped off to where we were meeting the other nuts and wieners for brunch. While the food was excellent, the reunions with our friends were even sweeter. There were hugs all around as we began to catch up and share stories of our experiences – which were often extremely similar and relateable. Even though I had only ever spent two weeks with most of these people, it felt like a reunion with a bunch of my lifelong friends.

The next day – which was like deja vu from Peanut Prep –  I woke up bright and early, rushed to get ready, and grabbed a quick breakfast before riding out with everyone else to get to business at Roundhouse Marketing (a.k.a. where my boss works a.k.a. my second home). The day was filled with meetings and discussions of how things were going on the road.  For Fall Staff, each team was required to come up with an idea for a new promotion and present it to the team and bosses, and we did our presentations that afternoon. Sadly, the Westies did not win, but we did create a pretty fire rap video for our presentation, here’s the link if you want to watch it: https://youtu.be/G4GYmfdnl-w

After our long day in the office, the 21 of us ordered a party bus to properly celebrate our reunion. The night was spent riding around the streets of Madison from bar to bar and dancing to music in a converted school bus. Being a Monday, the bars in Madison were pretty dead, but our large group took over the scene and still managed to have a good time because we were finally all together.

Though most of us weren’t fully functional the next morning, we managed to make it on time to our early morning meetings before heading out to Devils Lake in Baraboo, WI for some team-building games. My favorite game was one that tested how well we know our partners. Two of the partners would be asked a question about the third partner such as “What is Maggie’s favorite food?” and the team would get points if they all put the same answer. My team didn’t end up winning (although this is debatable as there was some cheating going on) but it was really cool to see how well we knew even the small, random details about each other after only a few months on the road.

After our day spent at Devils Lake, we all headed to the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells where we got to spend the next two days. The Kalahari is home to the world’’s largest indoor water park, and even though everyone on our staff is in their twenties, we had no qualms about spending our day speeding down the toilet bowl slide and riding waves in the wave pool. When the waterpark was closed for the night, we all gathered in one hotel room – not wanting to waste any of our short time together – and played games, shared stories from the road and laughed with each other late into the night.

After I said many heartfelt goodbyes (some of them even occurred while Sam Smith’s emotional ballad “Too Good at Goodbyes” played in the background), my team and I packed into our car and rode back to Madison. We had a few hours to kill in town, which was a great opportunity for me to see some people from home. I got to spend a few hours with two of my best friends, Kate and Amanda, and I also stopped by StudentPrint – my beloved print shop that I worked for in college. My mom even made the two hour trip to see me for a time much shorter than her drive.  We ate gourmet Madison Spring Rolls and talked on the Terrace before it was time for me to head back to the airport for my final departure from Fall Staff.

While Fall Staff was full of new information and a great refresher before getting back to work on the west coast, the best part was the reminder that I am truly lucky to be doing what I’m doing. Not only does my job supply tons of nutty adventures all over the country, but even meetings at home consist of lake-side games and waterparks. As I hugged my coworkers hello and goodbye and sped down waterslides (in the middle of a work week nonetheless), I felt thankful to have a job that cares enough to not only keep me connected with my friends in our program, but also to provide me with fun experiences no matter where I am. I’m beginning to fear that I’ve peaked career-wise.

Thanks for reading, I’m NUTS about you!