1-14-10

Today my cousin got into town. She's here from Mississippi for a business trip but her friend came out with her too to spend a bit of time in sunny Southern California.

They got in tonight around 8 pm and after settling into their hotel room they headed to a restaurant near them called JT Schmid's. There is also a convention in town called NAMM. I believe that stands for National Association of Music Merchandisers.It's music based, that much I know for sure. NAMM occurs here every year. I knew NAMM was in town but I didn't know that JT Schmid's was one of the sponsors. So, imagine my surprise when I showed up at JT Schmid's on a Thursday night to find it totally packed!

It was great to see my cousin and to meet her friend. We had some drink's and conversation all while surrounded by men in the music industry. I am making a point about this because whenever we have seen large groups from NAMM (recognizable by the credentials around their necks) there is either no women, or very few women. But, that's maybe a subject for a different blog. Just something to think about for now.

Then Curtis came to meet up with us. He'd never met my cousin before so, it was great that they could finally meet. We had a lot of fun, talking, singing, and joking around. We closed the place down.




I am again, grateful for this challenge of taking photos and trying new things because, by the time they had called from their hotel room, I was kind of feeling tired and I wanted to go to bed early since I had a job interview the next morning and I wanted to keep up with my workouts and walking the dog and such. So, ordinarily, knowing that I was going to see them the next day I may have not gone out on this night. But, I needed something new, and while I had been to JT Schmid's before, I had only been a couple of times and I haven't been in YEARS so, it kind of seemed a bit new and also, I had NEVER met my cousin's friend before so, that was new and quite fun! I'd also never been in a restaurant invaded by the NAMM people before either since I usually avoid everything close to the convention center whenever a big convention is in town. ;-)

In the end, I was very happy that I went out. We had a great time and I even woke up pretty easily the next morning despite my lack of a full night's sleep! Those kind of nights are okay every once in a while, but I can't do them a lot. I'm a girl who needs her sleep!