Clemson University – Clemson, SC
March 13, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted by Erin Weed | Filed Under Erin Weed's Blog, Spring Break
Last night I spoke to about 800 sorority women at Clemson. It was so great to be back on campus since my last visit during my book tour in Fall 2006. Nothing had changed in regards to their energy, as I busted out the Spring Break program. I actually did something in the seminar that I’ve never done before. I broke out my video camera, and shot everyone in the audience doing the Palm-Knee-Knee. It was awesome. (Video coming soon – still learning iMovie!) After driving back to my hotel, I decided I was hungry and went to the Macaroni Grill nearby. Tasty carbs! This is probably my fave chain restaurant when I’m on the road, besides Chili’s and Subway. Literally I have Subway every day for lunch. You can call me Jarod, thank you very much. But anywho, I had this waitress who was apparently an opera singer. You wouldn’t know this just by looking at her, as she was this teeny tiny blond girl. Some people at another table asked her to sing for them. She belted out a wicked rendition of some Ave Maria kind of tune, and she totally wailed. Who knew that Macaroni Grill had such a star-studded cast?
Elmhurst College – Elmhurst, IL
March 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Posted by Erin Weed | Filed Under Erin Weed's Blog, Spring Break
My travels yesterday brought me back to the Chicago area to speak at Elmhurst College. These past few weeks have been great personally, just because I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with friends and family during my jaunts in the Chicago area. I arrived at Elmhurst and get prepped to do the Stayin’ Alive on Spring Break program, and these students absolutely cracked me up. And many of them are taking part in Alternative Spring Break, which is donating your time on spring break to go to a community in need and provide volunteer service. Really impressive students. I met an impressive chapter of Alpha Phi women, and we busted out some of our favorite self-defense moves for your viewing pleasure. (pic coming soon)
SUNY Oneonta - New York
March 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Posted by Erin Weed | Filed Under Erin Weed's Blog, Spring Break
Yesterday morning I met with a major book publisher about some upcoming GFB projects…more to come on that soon. It was so nice to be back in New York City, and his building was right down the street from one of my former jobs at Miramax Films. After my meeting, I shot over to Hoboken to visit with some old friends from the block. One thing I’ve learned about non-stop travel is that you have to make time to visit with friends and family when you’re away from home…it’s one aspect of normalcy while roaming the nation. Last night I spoke to a crowd of 200 women and men in sororities and fraternities about how to have a safe spring break at SUNY Oneonta, and we had a blast. I end all these programs with a demo of self-defense techniques men and women could use if violently confronted on Spring Break. Not sure what me and my Scary Bad Guy are doing in the photo above, but clearly we’re having a good time doing it!
Miami Ohio - Oxford, OH
February 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Posted by Erin Weed | Filed Under Erin Weed's Blog, Spring Break, Travel
Yesterday was an interesting day. And I learned that many Tennessee automobile owners turn into driver’s ed students the minute snow appears. I woke up at 5am so I’d have plenty of time to drive 45 minutes to Nashville to catch my flight to Ohio. On the road by 5:30am, I figured I had tons of time. But after getting on the main highway to the airport, I realized I might have a problem. Two and a half hours later, I wasn’t even halfway to the airport. The road was just a parking lot, seemingly due to all the car accidents that we’re happening. But as a Chicago girl, frankly I couldn’t conceive how this half inch of snow could cause such a debacle. I sat in my car as my flight took off, and realized it was time for plan B. Now this is an important moment, when you realize you’ve missed your flight and you calculate that alternative plans t
o get to your next destination are not awesome. But it’s important to catch yourself in pre-meltdown mode and make decisions about how the drama will affect your day. So as tears sprung to my eyes, I decided to make a choice. I was simply going to enjoy a glorious drive 7 hours north to Oxford Ohio! And that I did, mostly in silence as there weren’t any good radio stations. It was actually kinda nice, to have uninturrupted hours of silence. I got to Oxford at 3:30 pm…after driving since 5:30 am…and I felt remarkably good. It’s sheer testament that powerful, conscious decisions can create your reality. I spoke at one of my favorite schools, Miami of Ohio. I have been here twice before, and the peer educators absolutely rock like Spock. I gave the Stayin’ Alive on Spring Break program and enjoyed dinner afterwards with the event organizers. It was great to be back in lovely Oxford, but after 11 days straight on the road, it’s time to fly back to Denver and hit the slopes.
Austin Peay State University - Clarksville, TN
February 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Posted by Erin Weed | Filed Under Erin Weed's Blog, Girls Fight Back!, Spring Break
I have spent the past two days here in lovely Clarksville. It’s been oddly cold and snowy here in Tennessee, a far departure from hot Arizona! Let me tell you, packing for the wide variety of climates on this two week stint of travel has been quite a challenge. Monday night I spoke to a big crowd of student athletes about how to stay safe on spring break. Then tonight I gave the Girls Fight Back program to a gaggle of female athletes and sorority members. Both were very spirited and awesome crowds, who especially loved the physical self-defense stuff. A huge thanks goes to Lindsay Mazer (pictured with me at left) for organizing all the events. A huge success! Tomorrow I fly to Ohio, so now I must bid my new TN friends farewell…I’ve certainly spent a lot of time in this state so far! (That’s a good thing - but I still haven’t had a chance to get out to Graceland and get me a sparkly Elvis costume…)
University of Arizona - Tucson, AZ
February 25, 2008 | 1 Comment | Posted by Erin Weed | Filed Under Erin Weed's Blog, Spring Break
Yesterday was a really inspiring day. I was brought to U of A by my good friend from college, Gary Ballinger. Gary is the Greek Affairs Director on campus, and they planned a full day event for Greek new members about Spring Break Safety. It was sponsored by the family of former U of A student, Hunter White, who died on spring break in Mexico. I met Hunter’s mom & dad, as well as his brother & sister (Whitney & Will) who are now speaking about safe spring break. I gave the Stayin’ Alive on Spring Break program to 1,000 co-eds and it was quite a good time. Things got especially interesting when the fire alarm went off in the middle of my program. Good times! So the entire crowd filtered out of the student union and we had to wait for fire trucks to arrive. The event organizers felt really bad, but I was actually able to tell them this has happened to me before. And if you’re a speaker and can’t handle these little mishaps…well then you shouldn’t be speaking to college students! I shot a bunch of video of this event, and each month I’ll try and post a montage of my videos in the GFB e-newsletter. Yesterday night I went to El Charro with Gary and the crew. Apparently this is the birthplace of the chimichanga, and I had a chicken one. Quite tasty indeed! I will miss the warm weather here, that’s for sure.