Thursday, May 8, 2014

Look Out Music City, Cause I'm Here Now And I Ain't Never Leaving!

My apologies for being MIA for a couple weeks from blogging. In just two short weeks, we have had an event in Nashville, and taken a road trip out to Little Rock and St Louis to set those events up as well. Doing 9 events in a year is an incredible venture in itself, but as hard of a job as it is, the rewards are felt on multiple fronts. People ask me how I manage to do it and the truth is I don't really have time to focus on anything but making the events happening, so there is little time to ponder anything but the positive and making it come together for the community.

There is too much fantastic information for me to assimilate into one blog post. So for the next couple of posts made, you will take the 9 day journey with me across 7 states. Ready?

I left the mountains of NC and drove all night to get to Nashville,Tennessee.
Is it reminding you of a country song yet? Just wait, it will, if it hasn't already.


NASHVILLE, TN
After a warm welcome by the CSA of Middle Tennessee and Nashville to their area, we set up and had an amazing time with the local vendors and volunteers who made their event possible. One of the hardest parts of pulling off an event is making sure you try to not have as much conflict as possible with other events. In the case of Nashville, we were competing with the Rock and Roll Marathon, and every city in the area holding their springtime festival. But still, we had an excellent turn out for a first time event.

The highlights included:

Meeting these beautiful people from Nashville
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Meeting the beautiful, charming and talented local Nashville owner of The Wild Muffin and tasting her wildly popular treats!


Getting to meet the lovely Karen, from Cuisine Cube, who have the greatest treats to share through their monthly subscription without you having to track them down all over the country!


Tasting the delicious local Nashville bakery cupcakes from OMG That's Gluten Free? 


Salivating over the local Nashville gourmet marshmallows at The Bang Candy Co.

Oh my gluten free goodness, Maple, Bacon & Bourbon flavor with Belgian chocolate?

Loved meeting the local Nashville owner of Grab The Gold and trying a truly healthy treat



And we had the best time playing Gluten Free JINGO, therfore we are going to play it from now on instead of doing a boring raffle. We still get the same results in the end but have a whole lot of fun doing it!


At the end of every event, to say goodbye is bittersweet. We raise a whole lot of awareness, but it never seems like it is enough. I listen to people's stories everywhere, and they echo the same resonating plea for more awareness, more options, better physicians...but we all have a heck of a celebration in the meantime.

After packing up and saying goodbye to everyone including one of my favorite speakers, Jennifer Fugo, I hit the road and started my journey to set up the next events in Little Rock AR and St Louis MO. The next posts will include a stop at Loretta Lynn's Ranch and a deadly tornado that touched ground 10 miles from me as I sat eating my gluten free pizza.
I told you it was a country song in the making...
~Nikki