There are always little tricks we learn that can enhance our daily routines.
I use to participate in pageants and learned Q-tips are the best utensil for fixing your eye-liner, hair spray keeps your bathing suite bottoms in place and tape gives every women that lift their upper half needs.

I recently got the opportunity to anchor alongside Bob Mueller and noticed his trick at keeping a strong voice is chloraseptic. So, I decided to pick up my own bottle of the fowl tasting green liquid.

Last week I wasn’t paying much attention and picked up the wrong bottle. Yep- I doused the back of my throat with hair product. It was an easy mixup… the bottles are about the same size, but they taste quite different!

My root-lifter product filled the back of my throat with a nice rubbing alcohol flavor and made my eyes water so much that I had to reapply my make-up! I was choked up through the first 5 minutes of the show, but thanks to my bottled water and a mug of cold coffee I was able to make it through!

Do you know of any tricks? Share them with us!

It is fair time in Middle Tennessee! My father managed the fairgrounds in Ashland City when I was a little one…so I grew up around the cotton candy, games and rides.

The Wilson County Fair is hands down the best fair I’ve ever been to. The gates are now open and if you plan on heading out there make a whole day out of it… watch some of the contest, play with the farm animals and try a fried oreo on a stick.

Brad Schmitt and I got to check out some of the fair highlights Friday night. If you didn’t get to see it, you can check out our day at the fair on his website– bradon2.com.

While in L.A. my family convinced me to join them for a fun filled day at Disney’s California Adventure.
I am a big fan of rollercoaster’s and love most any ride, but there are a few I don’t prefer. I can’t stand the feeling of my stomach about to literally flip over…that’s how I feel when rides drop!

My sister dragged me on The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I have ridden the ride before and new it scared the living daylights out of me, but I couldn’t tell her no.
Have you ever ridden?
For those who haven’t– it’s an elevator that takes you up 13 stories and drops. It doesn’t just drop you once…it drops a couple of stories, and then goes back up and repeats about 5 times. The final drop is the worst…the ride rolls to the very top and the doors of the building open…leaving you to look out over the park dangling from the air. After a pause, long enough for you to get your breath, you plunge all the way to the bottom! Ahhhh…I was panicking! I do believe, as I get older I get more scared!

My lovely sister at the park

Also topping my scares…The Sun Ferris wheel. It looked like a normal gigantic Ferris wheel, but each gondola swings and slides as the wheel rotates! Oh and did I mention it’s also over water?

The Scare of the day!

I had to sit with my back to the water while my gondola whipped back and forth. The nightly parade helped keep me sane. I could see the parade lights swaying through the streets from the air. I don’t think I’ll ever set foot back on that ride, but who knows I said the same thing about the Tower of Terror.

My Savior

I love people watching, so sitting outside for any meal is always my first choice. Throw a beach, a breeze, a few palm trees, and NO humidity out there and that feeling is amplified to my maximum high.

As soon as we got off the plane we headed straight to the beach for lunch. My step-dad brought it to my attention that without that humidity, there are no bugs…no flies…and no mosquitoes.

I sat on the boardwalk in Venice beach and watched the dozens upon hundreds of people exercising. There were runners, bikers, roller-bladers, skate boarders, tricycles, body boarders…you name it! Most everyone has wheels! It was inspiring to see how active everyone was there. In fact I believe I only saw two people that were over weight the whole week. My pal Noel, that lives there, said that’s how you know who the tourist are.

I have to blame the weather for their motivation. It was absolutely perfect…the sun was shining with a slight breeze. The natives however, were complaining that it was the hottest weather they’ve had in awhile!

I laid on the beach several days in a row, but I never swam in the water! It was a bit chilly for me.

I loved looking off to my right at the pier, with the rollercoaster and ferris wheel. There were dozens of kids (under 10) with their surf boards in surf camp and others playing games on the sand at summer camp. I wish I had camp on the beach growing up!

I have always wanted to learn how to surf, but as I grow older my fear grows also. If you are brought up learning an activity then it’s second hand nature. I decided when I have kids, they are going to be involved in multiple extra activities.

The weather in L.A. was priceless and the people were so motivating!

Busy people!

My step-dad working out!

Here you go Glenn..

My dog (Trinity) and I appereared in the latest Rage for the people and their pets issue.
If you missed her rockin’ the cowboy boots here it is-

This trip to L.A. didn’t promise quite the abundance of celebrity sightings as my last rendezvous. I did however, sight some old high school pals and experience some irreplaceable family time.

Every summer my immediate family takes a vacation together. Last year we went to the beautiful island of Hawaii, this year it was straight Hollywood. There were five of us in our party, my 16 year old sister, her friend, my mother, my step-dad (from L.A.) and of course me.

Family trips are always a learning experience. While I see my family most everyday, there is something different about spending a week rubbing elbows with one another and sharing our shower space.

I enjoy observing the three different female generations and seeing what traits we each pick up from one another…the growth and maturity we each develop over a year becomes substantially visible.

My mother, sister and I all officially wear the same size clothing now! That was the only bicker my sister and I got into…clothes. Aside from that little spat, the trip was good.

We stayed in an apartment in Hollywood, across the street from a popular shopping area known as The Grove. Surprisingly I only walked through The Grove once. I entered through Nordstrom expecting to enter inside a mall, but found out the rest of the stores were outside. There were quaint restaurants and every store you could imagine for your browsing. I wish I could have spent more time there and at the Farmers Market that was right beside it. I read that was the hot spot for every celebrity to pick up their fresh fruit and vegetables.

~To be continued~

I wrote this entry before my trip!

I use to write for a music production magazine and every year we would travel to a different state for our annual convention. One year they wanted the small staff to travel by tour bus and they wanted me to write story about our journey in the bus. My boss was kind enough to let one of my girlfriends tag along with us to the convention in Las Vegas.

At the convention, hundreds of tour buses were on display. My girlfriend and I became buddies with one of the bus drivers, Johnny. You know that special connection you have with some people right off the bat?
The one where you feel like you’ve known one another for years… that was my feeling with Johnny…he reminded me of my Grandpa.

Vegas was great, but my friend and I wanted to go to Los Angeles! Neither of us had been before and we were so close…we had to at least try and check it out.

The night before my magazine crew was scheduled to leave Vegas, my girlfriend and I shared our goal with Johnny. The sweet bus driver then informed us that he was headed to L.A. and didn’t have to pick up “Tom” until the end of the week. He offered us a ride so we jumped on board!

It didn’t take long for us to realize that the Prevost bus was Tom Pettys’! As we rode those three hours or so we discussed the fact that we had no idea where we were going to be resting our heads in L.A.

Next thing we knew…little ole Johnny was offering up Tom’s bus to us! Are you kidding? Of course we would like the keys to Tom Pettys’ tour bus for a week and would be more than happy to rest our heads on his pillow and that’s just what we did.

The whole week seemed like a dream. I met Vince Vaughn the first day and the rest of the week promised to be full of other celebrity sightings and exciting adventures.

I’m heading back to L.A. and seriously doubt my trip will even begin to compare…but you never know!

I have been without these keys beneath my fingers for an entire week. I apologize for not posting an entry before I left for family vacation. I began an entry, but got swamped with last minute errands and never published it.

I thought for sure that among the other three in my traveling party there would be a computer, but no such luck. I was surprised…my 16 year old sister lives on her computer!

I believe I have caught up on my responses to the comments posted while I was gone.
Next on the list…posting some of the great experiences from my Los Angeles trip.