Not quite, but I am about to embark on yet another adventure in The Great Outdoors. If you’ve read Nerdy Thirty or recall my blog posting from last year, the wilderness and all its bounty are foreign territory for yours truly. After last year’s adventures on the road to Yellowstone National Park and back, however, I am ready for more.

Here’s saying bon voage and fare thee well to a week at Yosemite National Park in beautiful California. This time I’m leaving my blow dryer at home, but am bringing thick socks and more than just one long-sleeved T-shirt. Last year’s trip taught me a thing or two about what the locals call “roughin’ it” – even though my MacBook is coming along for the ride.

A side note: While reviewing Yosemite’s official website earlier today, I chuckled when stumbling upon the link Yosemite Bear Awareness. Who knew?

{See you soon!}

Le Marché – pronounced “luh mar-shay” – is French for “the market” or “the find.” The store is certainly a lovely find that I discovered three or four years ago in Omaha’s charming Dundee neighborhood. The owners are a dynamic mother/daughter duo who are friendly as the day is long and have absolutely sublime taste when it comes to jewelery and home décor. As many who shop Le Marché have said – and I can eagerly attest to – their store is an absolute vision, and I would count myself lucky if  just one corner of my home shared the same sense of style.

After Le Marché moved to Omaha’s Countryside Village, I happily followed owners Pat and Melanie Nichilo without hesitation. I continue to find the cutest, most clever holiday and birthday gifts for the special ladies in my life (and for myself). So when word of Nerdy Thirty surfaced earlier this year, daughter Melanie asked if Le Marché could sell the book. “Could they?” I enthusiastically thought to myself. “Absolutely!”

Once books went on sale, Melanie followed up with another idea: a Le Marché book signing. It quickly became thick, rich icing on an already delicious cake that allowed Nerdy Thirty to be shared with patrons and friends of Le Marché.

Which brings me to earlier this week and our very special book signing. The store looked precious and was dripping with shelves and stacks of new items: candles, jewelry, picture frames, furniture. The list goes on and on. Near the front windows Pat and Melanie had arranged my book-signing table on a vintage wooden bureau, surrounded by photos from my childhood and adolescent years. Le Marché served free snacks and wine, along with a twenty-percent discount on everything in the store … including Nerdy Thirty.

I floated throughout the store during my three-hour event, chatting with familiar friends and meeting new ones. Le Marché is unmistakably an estrogen-laden experience, so you can imagine why I was over the moon when my boyfriend, Matt, and our friend, Monty, stopped by. They certainly looked out of place, but I couldn’t stop smiling as they ever-so-precariously moved through the store.

To those of you who stopped by Le Marché on Wednesday (especially Steve Gordon, who took most of the photos you see here with the Hipstamatic iPhone app), I thank you! You made a lovely evening even more special.

Matt is my boyfriend and Ben is his brother and anything I likely say about their work on Twister 93.3 or on their new comedy album, Songs for Giants, will most certainly be biased. It just will be. You know that and I know that.

However, I consider myself a rather creative, 31-year-old woman who just happens to fancy a dirty joke every now and again. As such, I find Songs for Giants to be hilarious. The 33-track, 58-minute album is nonstop funny front to back, with Matt and Ben’s signature radio jingles mixed with longer songs they’ve written while squirreled away in the bowels of the well-known KFAB building in Dundee.

The boys have a, well, unique sense of humor, as Matt recently shared with Chris Larkin of Shout! Weekly.

Most of the things on the album, they all seem really weird and obscure, but they all stem from something that happened to us. Flight of the Conchords was a big influence, as far as what we did musically, and as part of the joke of being in a completely failed band, but we went through everything, the most horrible situations you could possibly imagine. Everything in that song, “I’ve Seen Everything In A Band,” really happened to people in our band: getting attacked by an overgrown man dressed as a woman, a water main flooding our hotel at six in the morning, getting booked in hip-hop clubs that they decided not to tell us were hip-hop clubs. Every possible horror situation happened to us, and a lot of this is us being able to laugh at ourselves.

I’m never without a pen and paper in my purse, as Matt’s song ideas surface at sometimes the most unusual of times. When the lyrics begin to bubble, a few notes jotted down can mean the beginning of something quirky and wonderful – or not. But capturing the idea is the first step, regardless of your craft.

Matt and Ben have the unique ability to take seemingly unfunny people and positions in life and transform them into something unusually funny. Some of the songs are so fun that you may just find yourself singing along in your car on a late Saturday night. I certainly have – and Matt will be the first to tell you I’m no singer.

If you haven’t yet experienced Matt and Ben, you’re in luck! They’re performing Friday, July 16 at Louis Bar for the 2010 Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards Summer Showcase.

Earlier this week I was delighted to read my first out-of-state Nerdy Thirty review, courtesy of GamingAngels.com. As writer and editor-in-chief Cherith writes in her review, we met at Big Omaha this past May. A brief chat during day two of the conference lead to a few exchanged emails, followed by this week’s review. Many thanks to Cherith, who lives in Kansas, for her absolutely glowing review of Nerdy Thirty!

I’ve recently been able to flex my radio muscle on Q98-Five’s Pat and JT Show every other Friday morning during the 9 a.m. hour. My newly named segment, All Around Townley, is fun!

Now, in addition to hearing me on the radio, you can read me on the Web! Say hello to All Around Townley – the blog. Every week I’ll share my thoughts and experiences in and around Omaha.

Take a peek at this week’s inaugural post at the Pat and JT webpage, or link directly to my new blog at the Q98-Five website. And remember to listen to Pat and JT weekday mornings on 98.5 FM in Omaha, or listen online at USTREAM.

My byline graced the pages of Omaha Magazine years ago when I did more freelance writing, but this month marks my debut as the focus of a story. Many thanks to writer Jared Spence and photographer Bill Sitzmann for the copy and photo, respectively, in the July/August 2010 issue of Omaha Magazine.

Part of my Saturday morning this weekend was spent in Omaha’s historic Old Market district at the KANEKO-UNO Library. As part of their new Summer Saturdays series, the library is bringing in a variety of speakers to host informal discussions and, ideally, build awareness about the library and its many offerings.

I spoke with a handful of folks who strolled through the library – some familiar to the space and those for who the experience was brand new. We talked about writing and storytelling, about blogging and social media.

After a quick pass through the Omaha Farmers Market earlier in the day to feed my addiction to kettle corn, my time spent at the library was worthwhile and wholly engaging. For me the opportunity wasn’t about selling more books, but continuing a dialogue I began months ago about the storytelling process, the discipline it takes to write a book, and the tremendous personal rewards that follow upon publication. The exposure Nerdy Thirty has yielded is certainly welcome, but the conversations and new faces I’ve met as a result of the book have been just as rewarding.

Earlier today I had the pleasure of speaking to the Small Business Association of the Midlands about social media marketing. Specifically, I discussed how I used social media to build buzz for Nerdy Thirty in the months leading up to the book’s publication this past May.

Download a PDF of this morning’s presentation.

I’m excited to share the Nerdy Thirty social media story with other organizations in the area. Interested in learning more? Send me an email (wendy@shaggy-money.flywheelsites.com) or visit nerdythirty.com/speaking-gigs.