I’m writing from Memphis, TN. My trip is almost over!

I could so do this for a few more months… but I have to be home by October 6 to meet with a partner for one of my membership sites. We’re going to a trade show to scoop up lots of leads.

Annnnyway, here’s what’s been happening:

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Vegas was a great time! As I said, Jaime Mintun and Max came. They got along very well and we had a blast.

Not too many things to mention… just a few quick things (and not in order of importance)…

* I almost got married to Max (just as a random thing to do on my 25th birthday), but I found out that the annulment cost $800+. Rubbish!

* On the night of my birthday, a restaurant gave Jaime, Max, and I free wine and coconut cake in celebration. That was pretty awesome.

* Jaime and I have decided (for sure) that we’re traveling Europe. Soon. We’re going to go live in random cities and really just immerse ourselves in the culture of each place that we stay at. It’s going to be a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I can’t wait!

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After Vegas, Max and I drove over to the Grand Canyon. It was BREATHTAKING. I’m so glad that we ended up going.

(I also saw my first coyote there!!)

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From the Grand Canyon, we drove over to Amarillo, TX. The people in Texas were SO FRIENDLY!

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Random note…

I find it absolutely hysterical that every time Max tells someone he’s from England, they immediately say, “Oh… from London?”

If they don’t ask that (or even if they do), they’ll ask him if he knows the Prince or the Queen.

And another random note… did you know that only 1 in every 5 Americans has a passport? Isn’t that crazy?

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From Texas, we drove over to Little Rock for a night, and then Memphis.

I had been to Memphis once before, but it was on a weekday. We went to Beale Street last night, and it was SO COOL!

(Before we even got there, we asked some guy for directions, and he ended up just driving us the 1.5 miles or so to get there. I think it’s because everyone trusts Max because he has an English accent.)

Before entering Beale Street, you had to be carded. When we got in, there were hundreds and hundreds of people just dancing in the street with alcohol in their hand. There were fireworks going off… and the vibe was just incredible.

We had a really good time!

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We’re going to go to Elvis’s house today, and then drive towards Washington D.C.

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In other news, the weight loss site’s going amazing. Random things keep happening that are going to make it better and better (I just got an email from a HUGE guru that worked with one of my friends and they made $40k from an hour teleseminar…. he wants to promote my weight loss site!).

Brian and I are also working with J.D. Swanson to promote Mafioso Marketing, which has been working out incredibly as well. More on that later.

…Off to go get my first oil change of the trip!

I got to Vegas last night. I went in one straight trip from Reno to Vegas (and in 6 hours, even though my GPS said it’d be 9 and Google said it’d be 8). Speeding is my friend.

I knew I wasn’t in California as soon as I went to a mini-mart to grab something to eat. I asked if there was any fruit, and the clerk said no. I asked if there was anything healthy, and she said “…Nope.”

Awesome.

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I got pulled over for the first time on my trip last night! I knew it was just a matter of time. I forgot to turn my brights off when I was passing a cop (I forgot that I had them on), so he pulled me over. I thought for sure that I was going to get a ticket, having a Pennsylvania license in Nevada… AND the fact that he was a sheriff… but by the end of the conversation, he was telling me where I should go if I wanted a hotel and how far Vegas was. I am freaking lucky.

(Side note: I think my streak might be coming back. I was just telling Stan (John Carlton’s partner) that a while ago, I got pulled over 12 times without getting a ticket… and then I got 2 in a row. This is the second time since those 2 tickets that I’ve been pulled over and haven’t gotten a ticket. In fact, the last time, the cop ended up driving me home because I was so tired. It either pays to be a female, or I’m ridiculously lucky. Either way, I’m not complaining…

And yes… I really am that bad of a driver. It’s speeding mostly, though.)

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John Carlton’s Copywriting Sweatshop over the weekend was great! Brian and I met a lot of great people. Besides John, his awesome team (they really were great!), and the seminar attendees… David Garfinkel and David Deutsch were there! How ridiculously awesome is that? I got to talk with both of them… very, very cool and a great surprise!

At one point, David Deutsch accidentally ended up on my blog (we were trying to show copy that’s hidden elsewhere in the site but the address was hard to type and he ended up on the main blog part). After Brian and I’s “Hot Seat”, David came up to me and said “Happy Birthday” because he had been reading my blog! That made my weekend!

Other great things that happened…

*Fabulous information! Brian and I definitely picked up some great tips that are going to take our sales letters to a new level.

*I sat next to David Garfinkel the first day…and went to lunch with him, Brian, and two other attendees!

(Side note… John says exclamation points are kind of like “padding”, and you don’t really need them. He’d probably go into convulsions if he read my blog.)

*Our copy hot-seat wasn’t even a fraction as bad as I expected. Not only did we not feel slaughtered… but we were happy at the end, because John said some really good things! (Don’t get me wrong… he also said we needed to change quite a bit. )

* John said that there are different states of people. “White” (this is most people – mindlessly going through their day-to-day jobs, in a permanent funk…), “Yellow” (being aware of your surroundings, doing things to make changes…”, and “Red” (being hyper-aware and constantly on guard).

He told us that all copywriters need to stay in at least their “Yellow”… but mentioned on the last day that I’m always in “Red”!

I know, I’m a nerd, I acknowledge this. But I was pumped!

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There are so many random stories that I should’ve blogged about. I need to make a “Road Trip Hall Of Fame” thing when this is all over.

I’m off to go meet one of my friends, but next time, I’ll have to write about…

* The crazy dude in the San Diego hostel that kept waking me up throughout the night and asking if he could sleep in my bed with me…

* The fact that I got a parking ticket in every major California city that I was in…

* How Brian embarassed me by pretty much auctioning me off to the highest bidder at the sweatshop… (we have such a love/hate relationship )

… but if I keep blogging, I won’t have time to go make more memories!

I really need to be better about blogging more often.

Anyway, I’m still in San Francisco and leaving this afternoon for Reno. I’m going to pick up Brian McElroy from his friend’s house, and we’re heading to John Carlton’s Copywriting Sweatshop for the weekend.

That’s going to be AMAZING. Carlton has always been a bit of an “untouchable” to me… so to work with him, Brian, and only EIGHT OTHER PEOPLE is going to be RIDICULOUS.

After that, I’m headed to Las Vegas to celebrate my 25th birthday (on September 25)! I’m really pumped because I’ve just invited random people that I’ve met throughout my travels, and two of my three favorite people from the trip will be there!

Jaime’s going to be there (she’s the amazing girl that I met in L.A.) as well as Max (a great guy that I met at the hostel in San Diego… he’s from England). It’s going to be a great time!

(If anyone feels like coming, let me know! The more, the merrier. )

So, what else has been happening…

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My business partner Brian McElroy lived in Haiti for a year after college, where he taught at a university. Ever since, he’s been passionate about helping raise money for young people to get into the nation’s first (and only) university.

In trying to spread the word, he (and two other guys) made this great film that they’re submitting to Sundance next week. I went to the “unofficial viewing/last minute feedback session” last night, and it was AWESOME.

The film is really, really good. I kind of expected it to be a “Feed The Children” type format, but it had so much more depth than that. One of my favorite lines was from a woman in the film, and she said something like “Everybody loves to depict Haiti as a poor country. Yes, we are poor people, but we’re so much more than that.” The Haitians talked about how they don’t just want people to throw money at them… but they want to learn what to do (you know the slogan, “Give me a fish, I eat for a day… teach me how to fish, I eat for a lifetime.”)

And here’s an incredible fact: When Haitian women try to get business loans, they have to pay an interest rate of 49%. Ridiculous, eh? But listen to this… 98% of the women are able to pay it back completely! All they need is access to a little bit of capital.

It’s really quite astonishing.

There were 14 of us watching the movie and for the entire 35 minute duration, everyone was completely transfixed There was no fidgeting at all.

If anyone wants a copy, leave a comment. I have 2 extras on me, and I’m sure Brian will mail out more if I ask. I strongly recommend it, and consider it an honor to work with Brian!

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I’m getting used to those San Francisco hills! Not only can I drive them with no problem now, but I was singing and taking pictures as I went on the steepest ones yesterday.

San Francisco’s a pretty amazing town. It took a little bit to grow on me, but I do like it. The people here are great, the energy’s incredible, and there’s a lot of health conscious places.

I still prefer L.A. and San Diego (better weather), but I’m glad I came to San Fran.

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I went to World Internet Main Event over the weekend. Unfortunately I had a lot of work to accomplish, so I didn’t get to talk to people as much as I should’ve or could… but the people that I met were incredible!

First, Brian and I met with Joyce Jackson, a #1 bestselling author. She gave us some tips on how to get to #1, and really motivated me to go ahead and get started with my book. I was going to originally write a book for small businesses that wanted to get involved with Internet Marketing, but I decided to change my mind and write a book about calorie cycling. That’ll be great lead generation as well as establish me as an expert.

Joyce is a wonderful person. She just kept saying, “If I can do anything to help, I want you to let me know.”

I already bought my recorder and plan on writing the book by the end of October.

I also met a great guy named Scott Tousignant (the “Fit Bastard”). We’re going to work together and do interviews for our respective blogs, which’ll be great. He’s a very positive and fun guy, so I’m ecstatic to have met him.

Nikhil Parekh was another great guy. He’s a ridiculously nice super-affiliate from Australia. I think we’ll be working together soon.

I also met two and interviewed two new copy clients. One of them, Jeff Wellman (yes… Keith’s dad) was great to talk to. He’s just so genuine and such a nice guy… it’s going to be awesome to write copy for him.

Anyway, as I said… there were a lot of great people there… those were just some of the highlights.

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Woman’s World contacted me, and apparently I’m not going to be on the cover any more. I’m still going to be on the inside and it’s still going to be a cover STORY… but apparently the editor in chief decided that she didn’t like the way the pictures came out and there wasn’t enough time for a reshoot.

I asked if there was something that I could do, but they said no.

I’m kind of disappointed, but I’m going to look at it as positively as possible…

1. It’s still a cover STORY in the 50th busiest publication in United States.

2. I hopefully inspire people to do calorie cycling.

3. I’ll get tons of business leads from it.

4. My photo shoot pictures will still be in there.

5. If I hadn’t heard about the cover, I would’ve been ecstatic about just being in the magazine. Besides, this is just the beginning of many new opportunities!

6. All of this gave me a newfound energy to really get the site going in a super-quick way.

I decided to work with a great programming team to really make my site an amazing one. We’ve had a few phone calls already, and I’m very excited about how the site’s going to come out. The team has some great ideas and they’re really proficient. I can’t wait!

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Okay, I have to answer some emails and start making the outline for this book! Next time I write, it’ll be from Nevada!

But I can’t sleep.

I’m so excited for this photo shoot!

I think I would’ve been fine… but I was doing some research yesterday and found out that Woman’s World is apparently the 50th most circulated magazine in the country. According to this, it’s more popular than Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, Forbes, and Vogue!

I had no idea!

In other news, here’s some random pictures…

A few from San Diego zoo:

They have traffic lights in San Diego that tell you when to merge!!! Tell me that’s not ridiculously cool.

And this is even cooler!!! I started pumping my gas, and the gas pump started singing to me. After it was done, it put on some CNN!!! I just had to take a picture:

…alright, I’m going to try and get some work done now or something.

So I have a membership site about weight loss. As I mentioned in the last entry, I lost 100 pounds, so it’s a passion for me.

Anyway, a lady from Woman’s World found my SALES LETTER and wrote to me and asked if I’d be interested in being in the magazine.

(If nothing else, this is going to be huge for my copywriting business. All she did was look at the sales letter and then contact me!)

We talked back and forth… and next thing I know.. I’m going to be on the cover of Woman’s World Magazine!

They’re doing an entire story on me! They’re flying me out to Los Angeles on Friday where I’m going for my shoot. They’re doing hair, makeup, and clothes.. and then I’ll be interviewed by a writer once I’m done with the pictures.

I don’t know for sure if I can advertise the membership site yet in the article, but like I said…

-It’ll be huge for my copywriting business

-I can advertise the fact that I was in Woman’s World on the sales letter

-I’ll be on the cover of a magazine!!!!

Have I mentioned that I love my life?

I’ve walked on tightropes before.

I’ve done extreme obstacle courses.

I’ve driven cross country by myself.

I’ve lost 100 pounds.

I’ve gotten in many near-death accidents, including one where I flipped off a median, went across 3 lanes of traffic, and went head-on with a tractor trailer.

I’ve broken an arrow against my throat.

I’ve worked 70-80 hours a week while taking full time classes at university.

I enlisted at a Warrior Camp by myself (and if I told you about all the crazy things that I did there, you’d be blown away).

I made somewhat of a snap decision to quit a cushy full time job in order to go into business for myself.

For a 24 year old, I’ve been through a bit.

But NOTHING has prepared me for…

Driving the hills of San Francisco.

HOLY CRAP!

I was driving to find my hostel today, and let me tell you, it was RIDICULOUSLY SCARY!

People had tried warning me about them, but I always kind of ignored them, because people are always warning me about the idiotic stuff that I put myself through.

I tell you though…

Those hills are nuts!!!

As the self proclaimed worst driver in the world, I acknowledge that some of it could be my fault. But… you drive up those hills, and you have no idea where you’re going. You come to a flat stop at the top, and you kind of end up hanging off the top… because you can’t drive further (if there’s a red light), but you don’t want to lay hanging down on the hill without any sight of where you’re going.

Oooor, there’s traffic lights right in the middle of those godforsaken hills. Every time someone got close to me when we stopped, I started getting nervous, thinking that I was going to back into them once I hit the gas.

The downward ones aren’t any better… once again, you have no idea where you’re going to end up, and you keep thinking that you’re going to hit things.

I literally yelled when I encountered my first uphill. I wasn’t expecting it! A guy on the corner looked at me like I was a lunatic.

And the drivers aren’t exactly the most empathetic.

…and that’s all I have to say about San Francisco for the moment.

I’m still in San Diego and absolutely loving it!

It’s so laid back here… I definitely really dig the vibe. People are awesome and everyone smiles at each other on the streets. People are telling me that I’m going to like San Francisco even more than San Diego, which is hard to fathom, but I guess we’ll see!

(Actually, I think I might like L.A. slightly more than San Diego, but it could’ve just been that I was with Jaime the entire time. I’ll have to re-evaluate. )

I’ve been staying at a hostel in San Diego, which is really interesting. It’s so weird how people refer to hostel-mates as “The Australian Girl” or “The Norwegian couple” or whatever. I really love meeting all the different types of people, though… I’ve been having a lot of fun with that, and getting myself into all sorts of new situations.

Hmm, so what have I been up to… went to the San Diego Zoo, Mission and La Jolla beaches, the outlet centers, Seaport Village, the Horton Plaza, and Balboa Park… had a good time in all of them. I really, really loved Balboa Park.

I actually met this fascinating man at Balboa Park one day. His father has written 17 different books, and has been a professor of psychology for over 40 years. I got his phone number (!!!!), and I’m going to call him and hopefully get to discuss some of the 493 million questions that I have for him.

I think I decided that I’m going to go to Europe for a lot of months. I mean, I’m paying $23 a night for a hostel, which is $6xx per month. I might as well just get a new apartment in a new city every month in Europe and/or South America, and just explore to my heart’s content.

Being an Internet Marketer is amazing!

What else..

Ohhh, I’m stopping in Laguna Beach on the way to San Francisco. I stole the phone number of the guy with the elevator in his beach house (I’m really good at that) and gave him a call… he invited me back to his house, and they’re going to have a BBQ when I come up. How neat is that!?

I don’t think there’s too much else to report, although I probably should be more religious in my blog postings, as I’m sure I’m missing a ton.

Ohhh, and Happy Birthday (although it’s a day late… but I did call on time ) to Jason Henderson (aka Mr. Sexist!)

Edit: If anybody wants to come to Las Vegas for my 25th birthday on September 25th, let me know! I expect it to be an amazing time!