Heads Up...

Emma's hiring. We've got open positions across the board, but what I'm really posting about is the designer position. We've been growing, and fast. Emma's becoming a big gal and we're looking for another designer to help keep up the pace.

If anyone is looking for a design job and is savvy in Photoshop and has strong HTML skills, send in your stuff! Emma's a kick-ass company. We're laid back and know how to have a good time (beer on Fridays and Guitar Hero at the independent theater) but we also work hard. We don't have time to train someone so we're really on the lookout for someone who's got skills and is ready to jump right in (and an awesome personality and sense of humor are key as well).

SO tell your friends! And you can apply here. And if I know you, give me a heads up that you're applying and I'll let my Design Director know.

P.S. if you apply, MAKE SURE you have a working site with examples of work, or a Coroflot or AIGA page with work or even send in a PDF and WRITE A COVER LETTER. You'd be surprised at how many designers apply with none of these things.

Phenomenal.

Travis. By far, hands down one of my all-time favorite bands. I'd say even a smidge more favorite than radiohead. I've been a fan of Travis since my junior year of high school (Fall of 1999 to be precise). Travis' tour dates in the states have been very few.. years since the last tour. With the release of their latest album a few months ago (which is most fabulous by the way) they decided to come back to the states and I was all over tickets like a dog on a soggy tennis ball. Luckily, my friend Jenn is just as excited about Travis as I am and we both bought tickets to the show in Atlanta which was this past weekend. WHAT a Sunday!! Let me tell ya..

Jenn and I made all sorts of plans to meet at her parents' house in Chattanooga for some dinner then head out to Atlanta early to get a good spot for the show (doors opened at 7). Well, we left early enough, around 1-ish in the afternoon. At 3:45 (EST) we hit traffic, right before Chattanooga. Turns out there was an accident and about 20 miles ahead of the accident there was a sinkhole. We sat in traffic, in a dead stand still for over 2 hours. We thought for sure we wouldn't make the show, we were angry, sad, depressed.. of ALL the shows, why Travis? Who knows when they'll be back? With their last show dates being in Mexico City and Japan, we were crushed. We had decided if the trafic didn't move by 7 we'd have to go home. (Chattanooga's about 2 hours from Atlanta, and with the show starting at 8, we were quite down-trodden). But to our surprise and sheer glee, the traffic started moving around 6:40 only to hit traffic from the sinkhole. Needless to say, I rode up on the burm, got off on the next exit and we high-tailed it to Atlanta.

We made it to the show 20 minutes before Travis went onstage. I about pissed myself with excitement. (Jenn was equally ecstatic). I have to say, the Travis show was the best concert I've ever been to. The crowd ranged from 20s to 40s age-range and everyone knew the words to every song (including myself). It was fantastic. Travis themselves seemed pretty surprised at the level of fandom. They were shocked the crowd knew the words to so many songs, especially the new stuff.. and the cheering.. we (the crowd) screamed so loud at some points it was hard for them to continue. I really don't think they expected the reaction. They even said they plan on coming back within the year. My heart melted. I love them.

Here's the thing with Travis. You either love them or don't know them. The lyrics sink in and they just hit you. Granted, a good bit of the music is mellow, so I was half expecting a boring show.. BUT the parts of the song where you feel the angriest or saddest or happiest upon listening, they REALLY put all of that feeling into the performance. It was spectacular beyond words. Truly. They played songs from ALL of their albums: Good Feeling, The Man Who, Invisible Band, 12 Memories and their newest, The Boy With No Name. I was (and still am) on cloud 9. It way exceeded my expectations and from their reactions, we exceeded their expectations.

I CAN'T WAIT for the next show. I'm swooning just thinking about it. But next time, we're going to go a day early. Traffic be damned!

p.s. I found out "Flowers in the Window" -The Invisible Band, is about his wife being pregnant. I think that makes the song 10 times more beautiful than it already is.

There's a Fiesta in my mouth and I LOVE it!

I've been on a cooking binge lately. Last time I was at the store I bought all sorts of ingredient-type stuff.. lots of spices, canned beans, tomatoes, pesto.. all sorts of stuff! Tonight I decided to try my hand at an impromptu Mexican dish.

This is seriously one of the most delicious dishes I've had when it comes to Mexican fare. I even like it better than pretty much anything I've had at a restaurant. It's SUPER easy and very healthy. And a big bonus, it doesn't take long to cook at all. If you own a pan and a stove you can make this dish. I had it over rice with sour cream on top, but you could use it as fajita filling or whatever. Here's how it goes:

My Random Fiesta Sensation:
1 green bell pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes and chilies.. check the ingredients, get some with lots of seasonings in it (I bought the hot kind on accident, but I think it wound up tasting better for it)
1/2 a can of black beans that had been hanging out in my fridge for probably longer than they should
1 chicken breast (you don't even really need to use this, to be honest, it's good with or without.. you can substitute any other meat too)

I put a little olive oil in a pan and started warming it up on med/high (closer to med) heat. I dumped in my chopped up bell pepper and chicken (which I had also cut up) and then the black beans. Stir that a little and cook until the meat is getting near done.. not dark but not pink. Dump in the can of tomatoes and chilies, reduce heat and simmer awhile. I let it simmer while I cooked up some instant brown rice, so about 10 minutes? Maybe less. I didn't want it soupy so I let it simmer a bit.. it's really up to you how long you cook it.

ANYWAY. I put that stuff over rice, with a little sour cream on top and a cold Yuengling = wonderfully delicious!!

In other cooking (read: baking) news.. I'm on a pie kick. I made an apple pie (100% from scratch, crust and all) on Saturday and brought in the leftovers to work yesterday (I just couldn't eat the whole thing myself). Needless to say it was a big hit! I'm thinking next I want to bake a raspberry pie. Or maybe blueberry. My mom and dad are visiting this weekend and my mom's bringing me down a small pie plate (I only have a big one), a bread pan, muffin tins and cake pans. I am VERY excited about this!! You can bet your bottom the flour will be flying in my kitchen. Yay!

A Few Random Points

1. If you have a stomach ache (or any kind of heartburn, indigestion, etc.) mix 1/2 tsp. baking soda in about 6 oz. of water and drink it. It tastes a bit like Alka Seltzer, not too yummy, but boy does it work! Great stuff and totally natural!

2. I am going to make an apple pie this weekend. If it turns out well (I haven't baked an apple pie since I was about 13 or 14, but as I recall, it was mighty tasty) I may start making pies for church or whoever just wants pie. I also plan on starting and finishing my "All in the Family" Dio-Rama. (Jenna, I may be late on the deadline. sorry.)

3. I just filled out the forms to transfer all of my credit card balances on to one. This will pretty much max out that card by all but $100. BUT I'll be able to focus on one payment instead of 3 and one set of montly interest fees as opposed to 3. I'm hoping to get the balance down by half within the next year or so.

4. I hate running in humidity. I've discovered it's not the heat, in fact, the mornings are fairly mild. It's the humidity that kicks my ass. I think I'll stick mostly to hiking and walking for the rest of the summer.

5. I REALLY like sleeping 8 hours a night. Once the remnants of too-much-sleep-guilt (leftover from college days) wears off, I have to say, it's pretty great!

6. My favorite places in Nashville are as follows (not in order, cause they're all are too different to rate):

• The Nashville Public Library


• Radnor Lake


• The Belcourt


• The Basement

7. I haven't physically spoken the ever popular Southern contraction: "Yall" Although it has cropped up numerous times in personal internal dialogue. I have a sinking feeling it's only a matter of time before "You guys" turns into "You all" which I feel may then morph into "Y'all." Scary, I know.

That's about it. Hope everyone is enjoying their summers!! Peace out.

I Heart Emma

Check out pictures of last week's Guitar Hero event. Have I mentioned how much I love working at Emma?

And here is our "Virtual Booth" that we presented for an online conference. TOO funny!

The woes of an introvert.

I'll probably delete this later. I'm just ranting to myself. about myself.

argh. I went to a party tonight. Very fun. Met lots of new people, some good conversation, some good laughs. Overall a good time. Problem is, it only took me about 2 or so hours to finally open up and talk to people. And as per usual, I got the "you look like you're not having fun. Aren't you having fun?" comment. ARGH. I really REALLY need to work on my social skills. I make myself so mad sometimes. I have such a hard time just opening up and talking to people I don't know or don't know well. I don't know why. It's like something just holds me back. I tell myself, in my head, to just walk up to people and start a conversation (really, that mental dialogue really does occur), but something just holds me back. Maybe it's fear? Of what, I'm not fully sure. But there's a definitely mental fence there. With barbed wire.

Why can't I just be that girl that can go up to anyone anywhere and just start a conversation??? Honestly. And I wouldn't normally consider myself shy, but really, I guess when I get down to it I am. I mean, I've got tons of friends, I am fully capable of holding conversations, cracking jokes.. but it's always with people I'm close to. Why can't I just break this damn shell and be that way with everyone??

I mean, I don't intentionally try to look like I'm not having fun. I am fully ok with not saying a word and in reality am having a great time. Unfortunately, this is not perceived as 'having fun.' I'm just tired of being told I look like I'm not having fun. I don't like being the 'No fun' girl. I DO have fun. Honestly. I do. Why can't I just convey that? I try to remember to smile (I sometimes forget to do that). And I laugh at people's jokes and make attempts to join conversation. I don't know. I just can't quite grasp the whole being social and outgoing bit.

Anyway. That's enough of me complaining about my inadequacies. It's just something I need to stop whining about and just work on. **sigh** I'm so frustrated with myself.

Yeah. I'll be deleting this tomorrow I'm sure.