Work Travels: NFL Draft and Racing Photo Shoot

While it was definitely weird being home with no kids, Russ and I took advantage of the time we had while the kids were at Granna's for the week. We were both exhausted on Sunday after I drove the kids and Russ logged long hours working in the yard, so we ate dinner in and watched Game of Thrones. Monday after work, we went to pick out our grout colors for the kitchen, had dinner out and caught up on the DVR. Tuesday night, Russ played softball and I met a girlfriend for dinner. I left for Draft on Wednesday, so Russ was on his own...he worked late and did several things around the house on the to-do list.

I was in NYC for 4 days and 3 nights. I flew Delta which meant I had to connect in Atlanta...oh how I hate connecting...it just makes travel days so long! I landed and took a cab to The London, which was the super nice, all-suites hotel where we stayed. I didn't get any pictures of the room itself, but the bathroom was pretty cool...it had the longest shower with dual heads I have ever seen! Ha! We did walk throughs at both of our venues (Oceana and Ainsworth Park) and grabbed dinner and I called it a night.

The next 2 days I had hoped to do a little work and then explore NYC and do some shopping. But that didn't happen as planned since it was 1) raining and 2) work kept me extra busy. But at least I got to work in my pjs in from my king sized hotel bed with a fabulous city view. There are definitely worse things!!

Our FedEx party for Round 1 of Draft was held at Ainsworth Park, an upscale sports bar. We rented the entire space and it was really nice to have the whole place for our customers for dinner and drinks. Our special guests for the evening were Mark Schlereth (former NFL player and current ESPN announcer) who acted as our host and players Adrian Peterson (Vikings) and Patrick Peterson (Cardinals). They did a "chalk talk" with questions that everyone really enjoyed. All of our customers got signed mini helmets from both players and a 2014 Draft hat.

Adrian signing helmets for our guests.

Patrick signing away...

We bused over to Radio City, where the Draft is held every year. Customers did their own thing from there, so I was actually able to enjoy myself. Our tickets were on the VIP Mezzanine level that included food and drinks. I was shocked at how many fans were at the Draft...I had no idea that is was a fan event. There was lots of cheering and booing (every time the commissioner came up). I surprisingly had a really good time and learned a lot about the Draft process from some fellow Team Epic folks who helped with my event. Since Johnny Manziel wasn't drafted until the Browns at 22nd, it stayed pretty lively and full...I was told that after the top 10 pick, a lot of the crowd usually starts to clear out. I stayed through the Panthers 28th pick and headed back to the hotel about 11:30p.

The Commissioner leaving the stage after telling the Texans they are "On the Clock" for Pick #1.

Clowney goes #1.

Ben and Adam with Team Epic and me in our first row seats!

Night 2 of Draft was for Rounds 2 and 3, so we started a little earlier. Our venue was Ocenea, an upscale seafood restaurant across the street from Radio City. We had the bar area and a private room for our event and the food was excellent. Schlereth was back as host again for night 2 but we had 2 local players - Nick Mangold (Jets) and Mark Herzlich (Giants) as our special guests. Both players were amazing, but I especially loved Herzlich. His personal story was just amazing...he was projected to be a #1 Draft pick out of college but was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer that kept him out of the Draft. He did not have great odds of even living, but IF he did, he was told he would never walk again. He beat cancer, walked and played football again, went undrafted in 2011 but was able to walk-on and play with the Giants and won the Super Bowl with them that year. It was such an amazing story!!

At registration with Maggie ready for our customers.

I skipped Night 2 of Draft and opted to do a little shopping instead. My flight left early on Saturday, which I was grateful for since I hadn't seen my babies in a week. Russ had them home in their Memphis beds and I got to see them after naps.

I was home for 2.5 days before heading out of town again..this time for Charlotte for an Racing Ad shoot with Denny. The plan was to shoot (2) :15 second spots, but we actually ended up cutting a :30 for one instead since the content was so good. This was my first Ad shoot to be on set for...I was too pregnant with Caroline to travel to one and the other was shot the same week as Super Bowl. It was crazy how many times we had to shoot the same thing at the same angle to get exactly what we wanted. Plus, we were shooting in an actual FedEx Office store that was open for business, so we had to work around customers copying, printing, etc. And  it was a long day...we had Denny for 10 hours and he was a trooper and then I traveled home that night and got home at 9:45p. I was really pleased with the final cuts and they should start airing on May 31. We are also planning to release some fun bloopers on social media of the content that didn't make the final cut.

Denny and our director watching playback.

Again, these are rough cuts, so they aren't retouched yet...

"Eat My Dust"


"Nickname"