Booze Free in Music City

              I never imagined I’d hit my limit with Bar Crawls one week after posting a blog about how I lead bar crawls. Truth is, I initially wrote my blog in May, and I delayed posting about it because I felt I had more relevant things to post this past summer. Last year I got started hosting Bar Crawls in the Fall, and I had crawls practically every weekend (sometimes both Friday & Saturday) from August-October. I assumed I’d be busy with Bar Crawls once tourism season came back in March 2025, but that really wasn’t the case. March- June seemed pretty hit or miss, and it was tough to know whether or not I was going to be staffing one. To be honest, I was starting to forget that I even lead Bar Crawls and would get a message in the middle of the day on a Friday or Saturday, and any plans I had- whether it was to chill and melt into my couch- or go out with my friends would be wiped away because I had agreed to lead a bar crawl. Also, since last year so much has changed in my life. I had way more free time last year, and it was really not a big deal to me if I got booked for one of these things. However, I launched a business last January- one component of it is “Booze Free in Music City” and the other is a hat & retail business called “One Last Rodeo”. I also work full-time. And in addition to all that, I’m also very involved in various organizations here in Nashville. Every moment of my day is now accounted for.

              My friends always joke with me when I talk about the stuff I’m doing… or basically how many jobs I have. I always hear, “wait you do that too?” or “…but I thought you said you are a non-alcoholic content creator… or work for a travel company… or sell rhinestone hats”. To which I say, “yes, I do that too”. My friend Jami jokes that I’m a “multi-hyphenate”. This summer things started coming to a head when my full-time job started to ramp up. I’m traveling for work, or trying to go out and film content for Booze Free (which I absolutely want to do), or I’m trying to host my retail pop-ups on Saturdays, or help lead the committees I’m involved with here in the community. Like, everything has been coming in all at once.

I hit my breaking point around and after Labor Day weekend. I had 3 retail pop-ups booked for Labor Day weekend- Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I want to get in as many sales days as I can before things wind down for the 2025 tourist season. For most of my pop-up days, I’m out the door by 8 am in order to get all of my sales bins, load them and then set up at the hotel or business I’m booked at for that day. Those become long days. I start and end the day loading and unloading heavy things, I want to look presentable to customers too, and it’s just me so sometimes my eating can be off since I’m manning a sales booth all day. Then, I get a notification that a bar crawl is confirmed for that evening. I got booked to lead a Bar Crawl on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. Everything was fine, but I didn’t get home until 1 am. I have to be up and out of my house to get everything for my pop-ups at 8 am. I also need to look presentable which means I’m rolling out of bed and trying to get ready around 7 am. I’m not getting a lot of sleep, and I’m not having any time to myself. On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, the other Hostess reached out to me asking if I could take her Sunday crawl for her as she had sprained her ankle and needed to rest. I was exhausted. I already felt like Michael Cera’s character in “Arrested Development” when he came home and immediately plopped on the floor. I messaged her back asking her to wait until it got confirmed as the only crawl I wanted to do that night was “into my bed the moment I’m done with this pop-up”. The crawl didn’t get confirmed as there were only 4 people signed up (and the company likes to have at least 5 people enrolled in order to make it worth everyone’s time). So there I was, I had no plans that Sunday night, nor anything planned that Monday. I had time to myself, and I needed to take that time to rest.

I had errands to run and content to film that Labor day Monday. But I was happy. I had no plans and no where to be. I went to Sprouts and was rejoicing in the fact that I found my favorite New Mexican salsa (Sadie’s) and bought out all of the jars of their “hot” version. I merrily got into my car and thought “where to next?” and then I got a text. The Bar Crawl company said they had the group of 4 that still wanted to do the Bar Crawl… despite it being a Monday night. I sat there and sighed. I mean, technically I could lead the bar crawl. I had slept enough the night before that I could do it. It wasn’t my dream scenario, but I’d make a base pay so it wasn’t the best situation, and it wasn’t the worst situation. I agreed to do it. It was early enough in the afternoon where I could still take a nap and be ready to meet guests by 9 pm.

I was in place at the meeting spot by 8:45. Broadway was dead. I went and checked in at the bars, and even the security guards were shocked that I was out. One of the bars said they had plans to close around midnight. Between 9-9:15, 2 people showed up. I asked them if the other two guests in their party were still planning to attend. They said it was just them in their party- so I had to reach out to the other two to see where they were. I had no idea these were two separate groups. I asked the couple to go in and order their drinks, and I would be in shortly. I texted the other couple and asked what their ETA was. Luckily they responded to me in a timely manner, but they ultimately decided they were not going to be joining that night. Here I was, tired, out on a dead night, with a couple. I immediately messaged the Bar Crawl company to see what I should do- it’s awkward and not worth it to be out with 2 people who know each other. And it wasn’t hard to get in anywhere on Broadway. What value could I add in a situation like this? I went in and asked the couple what they wanted to do. Luckily they said they were fine doing their own thing for the evening, and I recommended some bars for them to go to. Luckily I was able to go home “early”, but I just wasted my own day. If I had planned out my own day, I would’ve been in bed by 9 pm and looking forward to being well-rested going into Tuesday for my full-time job. But here I was going to bed closer to 11 because I had agreed to take on this Bar Crawl. The next day at work, I rolled out of bed closer to 8 am (my workday starts at 8 am) and then I dipped out around 3 pm to sleep. I spent the rest of the week starting work at 7 am and working until my work was done to make up for the time away and the fact that customers were wanting their orders filled.

Then I got booked for a Bar Crawl on Saturday, September 6^th. This was after my pop-up and would mean I wouldn’t have to have a late night and an early morning, so I was happy to be booked. I got all of my stuff unloaded by 6:00 pm, and had just enough time to freshen up and eat something. I also figured I’d head to Broadway early and eat at Mel’s Drive In, since it just opened up and I could capture content right before my call time. It was a win/win situation. My plan was to eat between 7-8:00 pm and then head out to do my check in’s for that evening’s bar crawl. I was already at Mel’s when I get a text from the Bar Crawl company, “the guests for this evening said they will arrive at 9:30 due to their dinner reservation”. Then I got another message from someone else at the company who said, “The primary guest is a friend of mine”. I look at the booking manifest and see a group of 5 and a group of 2. I wrote the company back and asked if the group of 7 is one group or if I have a group of 5 (the dinner reservation group) plus a couple. I didn’t hear anything back. I had to operate under the assumption that 2 guests were not with the bigger group, and it was better to be in place waiting for the 2 then to be late because I assumed the group was altogether. So, I got to the first bar and hung out on the rooftop for about 40 minutes. Then, around 9 pm, I went down to the front entrance to wait just in case two guests popped up. 30 minutes went by, and no one was asking about a bar crawl. Since it was also 9:30, I started to look alive for the bigger group. It was cold. Luckily, I thought to bring a jacket, but it had rained earlier in the day so it was a pretty cold evening. Then, the clock struck 10. I had already been hanging out at the first bar for 2 hours. I texted the primary guest to see what their ETA was. He got back to me saying they were still on their way, but dinner went longer than anticipated and they won’t be able to show up for at least another 30 minutes. I’m pretty sure all color left my face at that point. The Security guard looked over at me and asked what happened. I had already been standing out there for an hour waiting for guests, and they weren’t going to be there for another 30 minutes. I still had to wait for this group. Typically, if people are late, we cut them off and cancel the event at 10 pm. I’m upset, I’m tired and I wouldn’t be out there if it wasn’t for this Bar Crawl. It’s already hard enough matching people’s Broadway energy, when I’m not drinking, but how am I supposed to do it now? I have to wait for this group because someone at the company knew the Primary. I was gutted.

The group finally showed up (it turned out to be two bookings for the same group), and they got there around 10:30. They were nice, and full of energy, but it was hard for me to go from 0-60 in such a short time. We typically go to 4-5 bars, and we were already half way through the evening. We have to get the group into the last bar before midnight in order to ensure they have access to the rooftop. We started off at the 3^rd bar of the evening. We get in and set our things down. I’m starting to talk to the group, and go through the bar specials with them. One of them asks me if I wanted anything to drink, to which I said I don’t drink but was in good spirits about it. Then, the Bachelor of the group came over and asked me a question that no one else has asked of me in this past year. He basically said something along the lines of, “I understand if this is outside of the scope of the Bar Crawl, but do you have any connections to anything beyond alcohol?” I politely told him I didn’t, but internally I was having a tough time with this question. We finish up at the first bar, I take them to a 2^nd bar, and then the final bar of the evening. I wanted to have my Sunday, so I wasn’t planning on being out any later because these guys showed up later. We all had a nice time at the 2^nd bar, and around 11:45 pm we got to the final bar. I told them I would be leaving during our time at this final bar. Despite the fact that this crawl started an hour and a half late, they took my review and tipping information and I bid them farewell.

I woke up the next morning and sat on my couch, and reflected over a cup of coffee. I noticed the group never sent over a tip, but also should I be expecting a tip if in their minds I was only with them for an hour and a half? Not everyone tips, but they also weren’t taking into account the fact that I showed up on time and was out there for an hour and a half waiting for them. I had two back-to-back crawls where I was wasting my own time. People either didn’t show up, or they showed up an hour and a half late. Why am I even doing this anymore? I’m out on Broadway, as a non-drinker, in loud and drunken environments. It’s okay every so often, but I’m out more than the typical person in this type of setting. And now I’m being asked for drug connections. Luckily, I’m not someone who is in recovery for drugs, but what am I doing putting myself in situations where people think I’m going to be able to get them drugs? I think my lifestyle and obligations over the past year have changed, and this situation just isn’t fitting me anymore. I messaged the Bar Crawl manager and told her about my experience from the night before, and overall the previous weekend too. I told her I’d be happy to help through the end of the October (since last year we had 30 people on each crawl for the 3 nights around Halloween), but past that I need a break and I need to re-evaluate if I want to continue for tourist season 2026. She messaged me back on Monday and said she was sad to read this message but also understood I had reached my limit. Later that day, I received a venmo from the Primary guest. I think his friend at the company reached out to him and said something.

I think sobriety is about setting a lot of boundaries, and I’ve been pushing beyond my boundaries lately. I feel like I’ve gotten myself into the weeds. One thing about no longer drinking is that you don’t lose days to hangovers anymore, so I think with the amount of time I now have on my hands, I have signed up for a lot of stuff. I love so much of the life I’ve built- introducing people to alcohol-free things to do in Nashville, selling my bedazzled rhinestone Nashville fashions, seeing the World through my full-time job, and being involved in organizations I love. But what I’ve found is that I can’t be everything to everyone, and something has to go. The easiest thing to stop doing is the Bar Crawls. This is the first weekend where I didn’t have any scheduled crawls, or the possibility of getting booked on one. Last night I watched the Biggest Loser documentary, on Netflix, and was in bed by 10 pm. I woke up this morning, and was well-rested for my pop-up. Once I finish my pop-up, I don’t have any plans. I have no where I need to be. And that’s exactly where I want to be right now.