Road Trip- Day 1

Day 1
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma

When I was little and in the hospital I had a nurse ask me a question. "Adair, how do you eat an elephant?" I responded with a 'gross' or 'eww'. He responded, "One bite at a time." This has always been a motto of mine. When I get overwhelmed or anxious I just think about how to eat an elephant. That's how I look at this trip. I want to enjoy all of Route 66 and her glory, but I have no allowed myself to get overly excited yet because I need to take it in one bite at a time.

The day started bright and early (and snowy)- I was still running around my house stuffing every nook of my car. I stopped to fuel up with some breakfast and coffee. I took the first leg of driving (which ended up being 7 hours). It wasn't a tearful goodbye like I expected. I was too focused on the long drive ahead.

Indiana passed in a blur. Suddenly we (my mom and I) were in Illinois, jumping on Interstate 40. For those who do not know, Route 66 is now a historical road and is in pieces. Interstate 40 was built to handle the mass amounts of traffic and Americans moving out west. They run almost parallel.

We weren't long in Illinois before Missouri-I was so excited to see the St. Louis arch. We did not stop and get out because I was afraid of getting lost. Once our wonder and amazement passed, there was nothing. I mean NOTHING to look at. This is when you bust out the road mix CDs (shout out to Colleen for her awesome mixes).

While in Missouri we stopped at the St. Louis Bread Company. Which oddly looked like Panera from the outside, once inside we discovered it was indeed a Panera. :) We chose to go with a lighter lunch because when you are in the car that long you do not want greasy cheeseburgers and fries.

As the sun started to set on Day 1, we reached the Oklahoma border! Cue the Broadway sing alongs- which went like this "OKLAHOMA where the wind comes sweeping down the plain hmmm hmmm da da da hmm... Oklahoma! OK-LA-HOMA"

Our first stop was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Meredith, my friend from Ann Taylor, grew up in Tulsa so I had to give her a call. She recommended a great restaurant called Tucci. Sadly, my mom and I were crashing hard so we had to settle for one of the chain restaurants near the hotel. But I promised her I would mention it on here so if you find yourself in Tulsa make sure you go!

Keep an eye out for my Day 2 post (Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico)

Packing: the solution

I said "No, it would wouldn't work." People said, "It couldn't be." But it was... all of my clothes fit into my trunk!

(pause for a moment of surprise)

I know!!! If you know me, or if you don't, I'll tell you I have a lot of clothes. That's what I get for working at Ann Taylor for three years. As I said in my earlier post- boxes are old things. New solution for shopaholics like me- space bags.

This is what my basement looked like before....

Then with more clothes I found in storage....

And like MAGIC it fits in my car!
I need to write the inventors of the Space Bag a thank you note.

Side note if you're moving- take your old clothes and bags to re-sell boutiques. I always make a run at Simply Chic (at 96th Street in Fishers), then to Plato's Closet (96th near Walmart), then to Goodwill for some awesome tax returns! By selling my things at these stores I made an extra $250 for the trip.

Aside from packing, I needed some other prep for this preppy girl- My mom and I headed down to Bloomington, IN. Home of the Indiana University Hoosiers. It was also Mom's Weekend for my little sister, Gretchen. She is a junior and a Chi Omega down there. Unfortunately, Gretch was sick with a virus all weekend, but we were able to handle a little bit of shopping and a pedicure. This was a welcome distraction from packing and the constant running list in my head.

I decided to get the OPI color- LA Paz-itively Hot!

On to the "Mother Road"-more posts to come :)

Packing made easy?

I knew packing would be difficult. I mean I have an oversized storage tub for each season, not including shoes or accessories. So now I find myself having to condense all of my fashion loves into one Honda Civic for my journey across country- YIKES!

I started with boxes. They are practical and cheap. Then I looked at my trunk... only a couple would fit. This option went quickly out the window and to the recycling bin.

The nice sales man, Sean, who sold me my car mentioned space bags. You've seen the infomercial- vacuum away all the extra space. I was sold! (pun intended). I went to my nearby Walmart and bought some large and medium sized bags.

After much debate, several trips to the resell boutiques, I have finally narrowed down my clothing selection. Let's see what I can do!

Oh I almost forgot, I do not have a place to live out in CA yet. I have appointments with potential roommates on Friday and Saturday so I am unsure of the amount of space I am working with (another clothing problem).

Pictures to come of the final results...


PS- This is my new car! Color: Tango Red (love it)

Fashion Lesson #1

Boat shoes.

While in college these shoes are considered a staple. Frat guys wear them in all weather, sorority girls find them able to match anything, and I have a fond place in my heart for Sperry Top Siders.

On my recent trip out to Cali I was able to meet up with one of my sorority sisters. She is a native to Newport Beach and a Big Ten college grad. As I can recall, boat shoes were a staple in her wardrobe as well. My first night there and we were off to grab fro-yo at the Golden Spoon as a 'Welcome to California!' treat. I decided to wear my cute Ann Taylor navy and grey striped top, navy military jacket, skinny jeans, and of course my usual Sperrys. While out I asked her about the fashion in SoCal. Her answer was "about anything goes". PERFECT! I would be able to rock the East Coast prep look!

On a second thought, I asked her how it differentiated from college style. Mind you- we were not the wake up and go to class in sweats girls. We always looked cute and polished (ok sometimes we wore sweatshirts but they at least had our letters on them and pearl earrings were a must). She replied with my worst nightmare, "Well, Adair, boat shoes aren't really 'in' here".

What?! How could this be? There are boats in Newport, there is an ocean, a need for boat shoes just makes sense!!

That evening I went out with my brother's friend and his surfing buddies. These guys are the epitome of surf/skate style. All three of them work for major skate labels.

I am talking cigarette skinny jeans, sweet kicks, tattoo sleeves and graphic tees. We met up for happy hour/dinner in Tustin. I was not about to make my Sperry mistake twice. Luckily I remembered to shove some Havaina flip flops into my suitcase. After some light hearted conversation and helpful tips about Cali I asked about my topsider incident. This created quite a laugh to the group. "Wait, you wore topsiders?!" "Man, that is so funny!"

I did not think it was funny. How could something so preppy be so wrong? I searched for my brother's friend for an answer. He was a frat guy- he would understand. He looked at me sympathetically "Adair, top siders, Polo, even plaid shorts are not what we wear in SoCal".

I sat there in pure shock. His friends piped in "Remember that time when you first moved here when you wore plaid pants and dorky polos everyday?" Another said, "Well I think the hipsters in LA are starting to wear Sperrys...."

It was decided. I have a task. To bring East Coast prep to The OC. Wish me luck!