spin me like a globe

I am having a wee bit of an adventure this week - I am currently ensconced in a motel in Okoboji for a writing conference tomorrow and Tuesday. It's primarily Iowa writers, primarily memoir and blogging and other forms of reporting, and I've been looking forward to it for awhile. 

Of course, despite looking forward to it, it was a mad scramble to get out the door today. I helped (sort of) [censored] put together a plant stand for Mom while I drank my first cup of coffee, and then I realized I should start packing immediately since that had somehow still not happened at nine am. So I threw a bunch of stuff in a bag, took a shower, watered plants, cleaned the kitchen, watered my garden (the peppers are in a race against the first frost to produce something), and finally headed north.

I stopped in the metro for a couple of hours on my way - I meet Drewbaby and Sammie for lunch at Barn Door, which was pretty tasty. They kindly provided last-mile service for some business cards that I had shipped to their house - I haven't been to a writing conference in forever and forgot that I would want business cards until Wednesday this week. By that point it was too late to order to the hinterlands, but I could get overnight delivery to Des Moines. So we had a nice lunch and caught up on life, and my business cards are perfect, so it's a win win. 

Then I went to my usual spot to get a manicure, which always makes me feel polished (pun intended). And then I grabbed Starbucks and headed north. 

The drive was uneventful, and I alternated between a Trevor Noah podcast about AI and the Taylor Swift channel on Sirius. I pulled into Okoboji shortly before sundown, and I think there are only four or five people at the hotel - it's off season here, and I'm guessing anyone here is at my conference, but we'll see.

After I checked in, I walked ten minutes south to a restaurant I drove by on the east in, which was pretty good. And now I'm going to go to bed early since registration starts at the ungodly hour of seven am (Midwesterners are dumb) - goodnight!