"I'm in a New York state of mind..."

In less than 34 hours I will be on an airplane headed to Albany, NY, where my boyfriend will be waiting for me. This is extremely exciting, as I have not seen Andy in two months. But even more exciting is the surprise he's had planned for months, which he just told me about last Sunday.

On Friday, we will be taking a train to NYC, where we will be staying in the Hilton New York for two nights. Saturday night, we are going to see "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway. Needless to say, this trip is shaping up to be very romantical and fun. The best part, though, is that Andy planned everything and has already purchased tickets to "Phantom" as well as the American Museum of Natural History. He's kind of a keeper.

However, as usual whenever I’m anticipating a big trip, all my weird little travel rituals are in full swing and they're making me look neurotic to anyone who comes into contact with me.

For the past week, I have been checking the Hilton New York website every day and taking the photo tour. I have spent hours looking up interesting restaurants, cool old bars and pubs, and ticket prices and directions to museums and other attractions. I already had a detailed sightseeing itinerary written less than 24 hours after I found out about the trip.

I've been obsessively compiling to-do lists for days, trying to make sure I have enough time to get everything done in between going to work. I was feeling pretty good about everything yesterday morning and thought I would have plenty of time as long as I followed the list. But of course, soon after I got to the office, I found out I have to take my car into the shop that afternoon.

See, back in August, a moving truck smashed my driver's side mirror to smithereens, and I'm just now getting everything worked out with the company that owns the truck. I'm very glad to be getting this finally fixed, as now I won't have heart palpitations anytime I think a cop may have seen my duct-taped mirror. It's just that I had to redo the whole list. Not a big deal, but for a girl with a plan, this caused some irritation.

When I got home from walking the Ravenel Bridge faster than I thought possible, I hit a new high of planning obsession: I scheduled all my outfits for each day of my trip so that I could pack as efficiently as possible. By this morning, I'm already halfway packed, and I've already gotten everything I need from Walmart. I have planned everything out, down to when I need to shave my legs and dye my hair. But the more lists I make and itineraries I plan, the more of a neurotic person I realize I am. Whatever. I have to have things to do to keep from exploding with excitement.

I was exploding with excitement on Friday night, that's for sure. Only it wasn't for good reasons. I'm not sure if anyone else caught the "special" that ABC did on poverty in Appalachia, but let me tell you, it was one of the most insulting spectacles I've ever seen. Somehow, ABC managed to squeeze in every stereotype of mountain people they could possible fit into an hour. There was incest, toothlessness, meth, alcoholism, guns, coal mining, poverty, teen pregnancy, a little girl singing gospel music, black lung, sleeping in cars, "hollers," banjos, baptism, fat people and more. All they really left out was moonshine, snake handling, the KKK, militias, and, as a friend reminded me, potato guns.

The worst part of the whole show was the decision the producers made to subtitle EVERYTHING anyone from the mountains said. It didn't matter if you could understand them perfectly: just the placement of the subtitles implied that people from Appalachia can't speak properly. I'm sorry, but I don't remember ever seeing subtitles when a guy from Brooklyn is talking.

The ABC special was just more evidence that the NY media elite has their own ideas about the way the rest of us --the common people-- live. They took no time to highlight anything positive about the Appalachian mountain region. Diane Sawyer didn't talk about the tens of thousands of people who come from around the world to attend Merlefest, a bluegrass festival, every year. She didn't explore the strong family and community ties people who live in Appalachia value. There was no mention of our rich heritage and culture. ABC just decided to exploit a few people who have rough lives in order to demonstrate their views on the ignorance of "hillbillies."


I'll tell you what, though, I've never been happier to be a "hillbilly" than I was on Saturday when I took a road trip to Sweatman's BBQ with a bunch of my fellow tweeters. Although the day was cold and rainy, I drove an hour to Holly Hill, where the famous BBQ joint is hidden in the middle of nowhere.

The restaurant itself is located in the old Sweatman family home, and as soon as you step inside, the smell of slow-cooked pork hits your nostrils. For $10, you have access to the all-you-can-eat buffet, which includes rice, hash, light and dark pulled pork, ribs, two kinds of sauce, pickles, white bread, coleslaw, and sweet tea. For someone like me who could eat BBQ every day and be happy, this was a dream come true.

After devouring two plates of food, Chrys, a fellow tweeter who operates under the name lowcountrybbq and who helped organize the trip, came by my table with a tray of banana pudding. Okay, I'll go ahead and say that as a southern girl from SC, I have eaten my share of banana pudding. It's pretty much at every church function, potluck dinner, 4th of July cookout, etc...But Sweatman's banana pudding is the best I've ever eaten. Ever. In fact, it was so awesome, that for $3.50, I bought a pint before I left. I ate the whole thing at work later that day.

As I am a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain (and I really hope I get to go to his restaurant Les Halles in NYC), one of the cool parts of the trip was seeing his note to the staff of Sweatman's that he wrote after visiting in 2007. I actually found out about Sweatman's from the Charleston episode of "No Reservations." The picture's a little blurry since I had to take it with my phone.

It was a cool weekend, but this weekend is going to be even cooler. I can't wait to step out onto the streets of New York!