Skiing, Strings, Spain, Treaty & Tryouts!
February was jam-packed with lots of travel! Trent took his annual guys’ trip to Big Sky, Montana where they were gone for a week and skied a total of five days. From après-ski in the ice bar to vendor tents and breweries, they had a great time and enjoyed weather that was warmer than normal, but still provided them with excellent ski conditions. Meanwhile, while he was shredding on the slopes, I eventually was successful (after battling multiple delays at the airport due to the snowstorm) in making my way to San Diego for DTECH, our industry’s biggest trade show where my company is the premier sponsor. Our CEO gave a keynote on a beautiful stage by the water, our booth had an awesome amount of traffic, and we were able to network with our key customers and partners. We even had a really great evening one night doing karaoke and it was hilarious. One of my employees’ boyfriends got so carried away and warm on stage that he accidentally took off both of his shirts when he only meant to take off one, leaving him shirtless on stage in front of a lot of people. It was hilarious! Thank you, Nana for watching Hanleigh while we were both on these trips!
Brayden had her sweetheart semi-formal with her sorority, the Olympics kicked off, and Hanleigh and I had lunch with Christel. It was so great to see her! Brayden went to the Billy Strings concert in Athens with Hannah and Kelly and some other sorority sisters and had a blast dancing to his amazing guitar-picking skills. The next night, we hosted our annual Super Bowl party with our neighbors and friends, and it was a blast, as always! Brayden had a Delta Sig pledge class social one evening, and I was able to meet one of my new employees, Sierra, who had flown up from Florida where we met for dinner at Chapter 6. Any new hires must be met with in person. I think this is a good policy and it was nice to have that opportunity!
I had my monthly facial with Amy, who keeps my skin looking amazing. Kendall and I had dinner at Fortes Mill Eatery for our monthly dinner, and Hanleigh joined a bunch of her girlfriends for Galentine’s event at Hunter’s house. Trent made his way down to Athens on the 13th to scoop up Brayden and bring her back to Columbia, South Carolina where Hanleigh and I would meet them for an incredible weekend! We checked into the Moxy on Saturday, enjoyed some time in the sun at the rooftop bar, went back to the room and got ready, headed to dinner, and then proceeded to the arena to see a band we have all been looking forward to catching at a live show for a very long time: Treaty Oak Revival. If you have not heard of them and you like rock and country, I highly recommend it. They are so talented and incredible! And they are even more amazing live! We had front row seats on the upper level, which gave us an fabulous view of the crowd and the band. There is one song they sing called “Boomtown”, where everyone takes whatever drink they have in their hand and throws it into the crowd. You’re guaranteed to get wet, but it’s all so freeing! I’m so glad the four of us could see them in concert together! We can’t wait to see them again!
Brayden attended a Greek-themed night with FIJI fraternity, and Hanleigh had flag football tryouts! She opted not to do track this season, but instead revisit her flag football days from a couple years ago. We are excited to see how the season goes! In sad news, Andrew and his family laid his mom to rest. Our heart goes out for them and we wish them peace. On a happier note, we had dinner with Nana one evening, as well as Aunt Carrie and Aunt Joan, who had come into town, so that the three of them could then drive to Raleigh for Quilt Con! Yes, you read that right: a bunch of people in the Raleigh convention Center checking out the latest quilts, learning about sewing techniques, and perusing the various vendors that support this industry. I would love to have been a fly on the wall there. Happy birthday to Amy as well! I hope your birthday was amazing!
Back to flag football. There’s a bit of drama around this. Apparently, the athletic director at the high school received an email where he needed to officially confirm that our school wanted to have a JV flag football team. That confirmation did not happen, which resulted in us not having a team. Thankfully, the varsity coach has connections to a large, local league and was able to enlist those who made the JV team into that league…and Hanleigh made the cut! We are so proud of her! And she is really enjoying the practices as well. For Brayden’s reporting class, she was also in charge of covering the gymnastics meet. Follow her along on Instagram @braydenreports.
I took off once again for an amazing adventure for my annual sales kickoff meeting, this time to Madrid, Spain. Up until this point, I had only been to the Madrid airport, and that definitely doesn’t count. Since being promoted to a director at my company, that does come with a couple really nice perks, one of which is when taking flights that are longer than six hours, we can upgrade to a pod! This is definitely the first time I’ve ever done that, so it was super exciting and definitely spoiled me a bit! I landed around 5:30 a.m. and knew I needed to do my best to stay up, so headed straight to the gym, and then planned out my day. As it turned out, a bunch of co-workers were planning to go to the Atletica vs. Espanyol LALIGA fútbol game later that night…I just needed to figure out how in the world I was going to stay awake that long since the game didn’t start until 9:00pm! I quickly found a nearby team shop and bought the requisite scarf, and then we all went to a pre-game dinner. I ended up buying a front row seat, basically right above the competitor team’s dugout. It was so lively with the crowd chanting and the flags waving! I think I was just in awe of the entire experience and soaked all of it in! The home team won, which was super exciting!
I got back to my hotel, which was absolutely beautiful, yet there was zero air conditioning, something that seems pretty common in the winter in Europe. It was pretty mild outside and so my room felt like it was 90° at all times. Not ideal, but the location was beautiful and so it was the view, so I can’t really complain. The next day, in between working off my jet lag and checking a bit of emails, I took a nice stroll with my coworker, Michelle, down the Gran Via, to take in the sights. It was absolutely beautiful! The next day, I strolled past the extravagant and huge palace on the way to lunch, and the next day kicked off our sales meetings. It’s always so great to see everyone and be part of such a huge event that we spend months preparing for! I view the trip as the reward. Yes, it’s a lot of work and long days, but we get to see everything pay off in real time!
The first evening involved a kickoff reception in the ballroom for everyone. On night two, our business unit had rented a rooftop space for the reception, and the view was absolutely wonderful! Day three of the event involves working hard in the morning, followed by a teambuilding activity in the afternoon. This year was another scavenger hunt, due to the success of the one we had last year in Athens. Our team had to fake a nervous breakdown, draw a Picasso work of art, find a dog and take a picture of it, build a tower out of skewers, and much more. We had a blast and even though we didn’t win, we still had a lot of fun creating memories. The next day, the case study I managed was super fun, especially our team, who was super productive and responsive. We knew we had the challenge of keeping the after-lunch crowd awake and we didn’t want anyone to go into one of those post-lunch comas, so we made it interactive and fun. I think we set a high bar for next year. That evening, we kicked everything off with our beautiful gala, where I have traditionally hosted all of the marketing ladies for a pre-party toast. We get dressed up in beautiful gowns and I’m sure, to some of our co-workers, we are unrecognizable! The gala is always a beautiful sit-down dinner where prestigious awards are handed out to some of the best sellers, and the party is always followed by dancing. Historically, the dancing has been in the same ballroom, but this year, that wasn’t the case. So, we found a nearby dance club where we were the only ones there, and had a great time! It ended up being a late night, but it was well worth it!
Meanwhile, back in Athens, Georgia, Brayden and her good friends, Kelly and Hannah, scored $9 tickets to see Megan Moroney at Akins Ford Arena! You can’t beat that, especially when she is playing at her alma mater! They were very close to the stage, as expected, and had an awesome time! I love that she has the same love for music that I do. Trent and Hanleigh celebrated Nash’s ninth birthday at his house, where we gave him a customized steak (his favorite food) branding iron that said “Nasher Basher”.
Meanwhile, back across the pond in Madrid, the sales kickoff meeting came to a close, but my trip was not over! Chris, Stacy, and I hopped on a train to Seville (somewhere none of us had been) for a relaxing few days of vacation, and we needed it! The Uber from the train station to our Airbnb was comical because the streets were so incredibly narrow that there may have been an inch of space on either side of the mirrors and they definitely got scratched. After rounding a corner and seeing the most beautiful plaza (and getting teary-eyed because of how pretty it was), we checked into our three-story Airbnb, which had the most beautiful rooftop of the cathedral and the surrounding city. It was breathtaking! We threw our bags down and meandered around the city, across the river, and settled into some bar stools with our Aperol spritzes in hand to take in the sights. It was going to be a great trip with these beauties! After strolling around for a bit, we headed back to the Airbnb to get ready for dinner. We ate at a place called San Marco, which was recommended by Tonya who had gone there for spring break a year ago. It did not disappoint! The food was incredible and we were stuffed.. I don’t think we got done eating until 11:00 p.m. and the city was bumping.
The next morning, we did a cathedral rooftop tour, which was incredibly unique! With the flying buttresses above us and the ground many stories below us, it felt very surreal. The views were incredible as was the inside of the cathedral. We hiked to the top of La Giralda (the bell tower), which was awesome as well. That night, we went to the Tablao Flamenco Las Setas show and it was amazing! I had never seen flamenco, and Seville is the birthplace of this iconic dance, so it was the perfect place to see it! The singing was very much in an opera style with a band of four men playing instruments while the dancers entertained the crowd. We headed to dinner that night, followed by going to a dance club that was beyond crowded. We all were a bit freaked out, so we relocated to another one that was much more manageable and stayed for a bit.
While I was in Seville, Nana came to our house again to watch Hanleigh while Trent went to Athens for the dad/daughter sorority weekend. A group of them were actually able to eat at Last Resort Grill, a restaurant which we’ve been trying to dine at since last fall. It’s worth the wait because the food is incredible! And definitely the best white chocolate raspberry cheesecake ever, so I’m told. The next day, they went bowling and also visited the baseball field, followed by a night out on the town! I love that her sorority prioritizes individual time with the parents by dedicating an entire weekend!
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