A DAY IN "THE LIFE OF RILEY"

I was in Cleveland for a shoot. Actually, I flew into Cleveland, but had to drive one hour and fifteen minutes to Canton/Akron. (Don't ask). But as I did my best to stay awake, driving my rental car on a very industrial-looking  highway of construction, I felt like Dorothy and the gang when after their travels on the yellow-brick-road (warding off lions and tigers and bears), they set their eyes on the beautiful skyline of Emerald City. The sight I saw didn't carry the massive expanse of The Wizard's address. In fact, what I saw had more of a "dwarfing" effect. It was fast-food giant "Chick-fil-a", which I don't have easy access to in New Jersey. So, I went against the grain of my mapquest directions, to have some breakfast. I normally get the "Chick-fil-a" biscuit, but opted for the 'mini-chicks' this time coupled with hash browns and "sweet tea" (another staple that is hard to come by in New York and New Jersey). It all reminded me of being in Savannah and knowing that if we had "Chick-fil-a", it was a special, albeit casual, occassion. Somehow, McDonald's and Burger King were something you could roll through anyday. "Chick-fil-a" was to be revered and used sparingly, like fine China. And how excited were we when we'd park on the Sears side of the Oglethorpe Mall. We'd walk out of Sears into the mall where - to our right - was "Chick-fil-a" and if there was a worker out in the mall, passing out samples of the chicken, you could rest assured, I would visit that plate as many times as it took to get full (since usually, those days were not the days that we were going to "Chick-fil-a"). Moreover, I just find it to be the most consistent, quality fast-food I know. And I enjoy everything it delivers - from the fresh sandwiches to the waffle fries to the lemonade to the lemon pie. In July, my boyfriend and I went on a Buddhist meditational retreat in Crestone, Colorado. One of its features was three, vegetarian meals a day. We went along with the program and enjoyed the vegetarian pasta (w/ tofu) and the fruit tarts and the soups that boasted bases of celery and sage. Generally, it was good stuff. But as soon as we made it back to Denver, we high-tailed it to "Chick-fil-a" for our 'protein'. And it did the trick. For me, it always does. And it's probably a good thing that it isn't nearby because I would be flying away right now, literally. But I'm traveling so much these days, I keep running into them. Just the other day, after I wrapped a shoot in Philadelphia, I yet again found myself passing one. I began to have an internal conversation with myself about whether I should have the driver turn around or keep going to our destination. After two minutes of back-and-forth, I had him turn around. I just couldn't resist the taste of "Chick-fil-a". HOLLA!