I, a young ice bear, have been on an amazing adventure to learn more about the library, and so far, I've learned a lot! For those that don't know me, I am Vanilla Ice Bear, a member of the Children's team at the Main Library. I mostly help out with Story Time with my mom [Haylee Blystone] but these days I am fully committed to being an investigative journalist. This time, I went to Bellevue to catch up with Nikki Glassley to see what she's been up to since the last time she was interviewed. Let's see what changed and celebrate 1 year of the blog!

Sitting down with Nikki Glassley... again

Vanilla: Oh my goodness, Miss Nikki! It's been so long! 

Nikki: Vanilla, it's been forever, and I've really missed you! So has Parsley. 

V: We miss you so much at Main! For the people at home, we are meeting at Bellevue to interview Nikki Glassley, because it has officially been a year of “Chillin’ with Vanilla” 

N: Oh my god, congratulations! What a milestone. 

V: Right? Since we started with you, I figured we should come back around full circle, especially since you don't work at the Main Library anymore. 

N: Yeah, a lot has changed since that first interview. 

V: Yes, during the first interview, you were working at Main, and you were running Summer Reading, and neither of those things are true now. 

[Nikki laughs]

N: Yep. Yeah, now I work at Bellevue, and I run the Children's Department. 

V: Do you miss Summer Reading? 

[long pause]

N: There are definitely parts of Summer Reading that I miss, but it was a really big job that took up most of my time, so it's really nice to be able to focus on other things. 

V: Like what? What else has your attention these days? 

N: Well, I have a lot more time to dedicate towards big creative projects, so I've really been enjoying spearheading big seasonal decorations for the department, which isn't something they were doing before I transferred here. 

V: So this place was just bald? 

[Nikki laughs]

N: I don't know if I would call it bald. It's a nice library with or without the extra ornamentation. 

V: I don't know. Looking around, it really spruces the place up. 

N: I think that it makes it a warmer, more welcoming environment. 

V: Yeah, well actually, I can't really say. I don't actually think I’ve been here. 

N: Is this your first time at Bellevue?

V: It might be!

N: Welcome, Vanilla! I'm really glad you're here. I should give you a tour. 

V: I guess I can't speak for what it looked like before, but it looks really good right now!

[Both laugh]

V: So how long have you been at Bellevue now? 

N: Well, the timeline's a little weird because I was at Main through the parking garage fire. 

V: The notorious fire. 

N: I guess I started working at Bellevue in July of 2025, and then I started officially as the Children's librarian in December of 2025. 

V: So it has been a year, but also has it been a year?

N: Well, it's over a year and less than a year at the same time. 

V: Okay. Wow. Not confusing at all. 

[Nikki laughs]

N: I knew you'd been gone a while, but to have it put plainly like that, it's like, dang, it's been over a year! Wow. Do you ever think about us at Main?

N: I think about you, Vanilla, specifically all the time. My coworkers here know that I have a beautiful piece of artwork that was created by your mom [Haylee Blystone]. That is a picture of you, Vanilla, and my friend, Parsley, under a rainbow that I really cherish. 

V: That’s so sweet!

N: I actually see a reminder of you every day, which is really nice. 

V: So was the transition hard going from Main to Bellevue? 

N: Since I was here in an unofficial capacity where I was just helping out and filling in some gaps, I think that made it a lot easier because everyone was just really happy I was here. There really wasn't anything that I could do wrong. They were just glad that another person was here pitching out. So by the time I actually started, it was like I had a trial run, where I'd really gotten to know everybody and get to know the vibe out here. But I worked in branches before I ran summer reading, and being out here has really reminded me how much I loved being in branches previously. You just get to know people in a different way. You see the same people week to week, and the pace is just really different. 

V: Main is really cool. I mean, we're the Main library, but we do get a lot of tourists, so you tend not to see the same people every day. But it does make the regulars at Main more special.

N: I think so. 

V: There's always something happening at Main. 

N: It's a really exciting place to work, but sometimes I get sleepy. 

V: So would you say that the branches are not as fast-paced as Main? 

N: I think anybody who works in a library would tell you that you never know what to expect from day to day, and something will always surprise you. But I think the pace here is a little bit more predictable. There are definitely days and times where it's really busy, but you usually know in advance. It's usually something of your own doing. We're having a foam party, or it's early voting, and it's really out of your control. Because it's stuff like the CMAs. 

V: There's a marathon down the street. 

N: NFL draft has come to Nashville. 

V: We're in prime season for Preds and soccer games, so they've been blocking a lot of roads. That makes it fun to get to and from work. You don't have to deal with that. 

N: You don't have to deal with that, so that is really nice.

V: Is your commute better? 

N: It's about the same now. 

V: That's crazy. You were right down the street. You could walk. Oh, but you moved!

N: We moved, yeah. 

V: Did you move because you now work at Bellevue?

N: We were already in the process of making that move. Because we were so close to downtown, which is also a fun place to live, but as you get older, your interests change. Now we live in a quieter community with trees and neighbors that aren't Airbnb’s. 

V: I've heard it's very nice!

N: Vanilla, you should come visit. 

V: Send an invite. I'll be there. 

[Nikki laughs]

V: I guess it's just lucky that you happened to already be moving, and so that worked out.

N: Agreed. 

V: Does Parsley still do Storytime? 

N: Yes. Parsley and I do Storytime on Wednesday mornings, which is exactly what we did at Main also. 

V: Are you doing Music & Movement? 

N: I do Preschool Storytime, but it's adapted from Music & Movement, so it's almost exactly the same. There's just one less song, and the ending song is much quieter. 

V: I bet that one song is probably the best song, and you're not even doing it. 

N: I don't know. They really like Silly Dance Contest and Run Baby Run here. 

V: Do you do the same songs every week? 

N: I do. I've thought about changing them, but the kids who come, because it's also the same kids every week, they know all of the words to these songs, and this story is so cute. 

V: Tell me.

N: Last week at Storytime, we opened with Run Baby Run, and one of my regulars came in a little bit late. We were just about to start the song. Her mom was still holding her and starting to put her down on the floor, and she started chanting, “Run, run, run, run” and kicking her feet like when you hold a puppy above water, and it starts trying to swim. 

[Vanilla laughs]

V: That's amazing!

N: So why would I change Run Baby Run when that's the level of enthusiasm that we're bringing? 

V: I mean, we do Run Baby Run every week too. I think that and the goodbye song are the only things we do every week. My mom's not in charge of Music & Movement anymore, and our new friend Danielle is. 

N: What's your mom doing? 

V: She's now just the second in there. 

N: Okay, that's a nice position to be in. 

V: Is it? 

N: Yeah, I would say that that's usually the comedic relief role. 

V: Normally I would agree, but our story time looks a little different since you and my mom were doing it. 

N: Let the record show that Haylee was the best in music and movement. 

[Vanilla laughs]

V: We now have a new friend in there, Jello. She's a rabbit. For the most part, it's the same, but I mean, it's never gonna be the same without you, Miss Nikki. 

N: True.

[Both laugh]

V: Do you do Storytime with anybody? 

N: No, we do Storytime by ourselves here. 

V: Is it lonely?

N: It can be, but I do have Parsley with me, which helps a lot. 

V: But she's sleeping for most of Storytime.

N: She is sleeping, but when she's there, she makes a big impression, so that's really nice. 

V: That's true. She is the best!

N: And it's so nice to come into Storytime and have so many little friends say, “Hi, Miss Nikki”, and so I really like that. 

V: That's cute. Do you only do Preschool Storytime? 

N: Yeah. 

V: Why? 

N: Well, when I got here, the associates, Emily and Patrick, they were already doing them. Emily does Baby Storytime, and Patrick does Toddler Storytime. They've been doing it for years. They are the baby and toddler experts. So why mess with a good thing?

V: I guess I really meant just why only Storytime. Do you guys do other programs? 

N: We do after-school programming also. We do Adventure Club, which is pretty similar to Homeschool Friends that your mom does, where we do different activities after school every week. But we do it at four, so that kids who are in public school can come too. And then Emily does a creative writing club every Friday for third, fourth, and fifth graders. And I believe, fun fact, it is the only writing program like that in NPL.

V: I don't think I've heard of another one. 

N: I think it's just Emily's. 

V: But that's why we're on this journey, to learn about the library. And I feel like I have not learned nearly enough. I just keep coming back to the same people. 

[Nikki laughs]

N: Well, that's the library. There's always something to learn. This is a good place to do it. 

V: True! We tried Adventure Club at Main, but because we close at six, so it's hard to get those public-school kids in, and we're not right next to any schools, but high schools, really. But when we were at Donelson, they did an Adventure Club over there, and it was pretty popular too. 

N: Yeah. If you've got schools nearby, it makes a difference. We usually have 20 to 30 people in the room. It's pretty well attended. 

V: That's pretty good!

N: Yeah. 

V: What's a really cool program that you've done since you've been here that you're proud of? 

N: I did an Adventure Club this summer that was a lot of fun. We learned about maps, and then I rolled butcher paper out on the floor, and I had drawn a couple of natural landmarks. So there were mountains, there was a lake, there was maybe a volcano, a bunch of just different stuff. And then after we learned about maps, everybody took a section of it and started filling it in with other things that you would see on a map. 

V: Oh, that's cool. 

N: And we had crayons and markers, but I also got out Legos so that it became a 3D project, which was really cool. 

V: That's really cool! 

V: We did a map thing at Homeschool Friends yesterday [at the time of the interview] and we taught them all about the elements of a map, why we use it, blah, blah, blah. My mom had tea-stained a bunch of cardstock to make it look like old paper and brought in some oranges. So then you peel the orange, then you lay the peel flat on the paper and trace around it. That's your starting island and then you make a map based off of that. 

N: That's really cool. 

V: And then you get to snack on the oranges. 

N: And then you have an orange snack. And you snack while you work. That is so cool. I love that idea. 

V: And we used cuties. So they were like really tiny. So you had to at least peel two of them. So you got two oranges. 

N: Well, you can't just have one cutie.

V: I mean, there was a whole bag of them. We only had like one kid that showed up because it's fall break. So we had a whole bag of cuties. Well, we ate like half of them. Then I was like, I can't eat any more of these cuties. So my mom went around the library giving out oranges. She ended up giving most of them to Katelynd [Main Adult Associate] because she got a book at the book sale for her. 

N: Oh, that's nice. 

V: So shout out Katelynd! Thanks for the book and I hope you enjoyed the cuties. 

[Nikki laughs]

There are things about Halloween you don't understand 

V: Okay, switching gears a little bit. I love that you're having a good time at Bellevue, but I'm actually tired of hearing about how good the time is. 

[Nikki laughs]

V: So let's talk about Halloween. 

N: Okay. 

V: So this month is Halloween for those that celebrate. Do you celebrate Halloween?

N: I have to say that it's not my most important holiday. I don't do a lot for Halloween. 

[Vanilla takes a minute to process]

V: You don't dress up? 

N: I will dress up because we have a costume day at work. 

V: You're not gonna dress up outside of work? 

N: No. 

V: You don't give out candy? 

N: Trick-or-treaters don't come to our neighborhood. 

V: Do you buy candy? Do you eat candy? 

N: Yeah, we'll probably buy some, but we go really slowly. We always buy too much. 

V: Do you watch Halloween movies? 

N: Yes. Yes, I do.

V: My ears are so sad. Halloween is one of the best holidays. Oh, man. I like trick-or-treating. I don't care. 

N: I wish kids came to the houses in our new neighborhood, but they're tragically too far apart. We have too much property. 

V: We're gonna try to give out candy again this year. We're gonna sit at the end of the driveway so that maybe they won't be afraid to go up to the house and give out candy. 

N: Yeah, that's smart.

V: Well, since you don't care for Halloween, let me tell you about why you should. 

N: Right. Please, yeah. Make the case.

V: So even if Halloween is not your favorite, maybe you don't like to go out and ask strangers for candy, or you don't want to stay in and watch a scary movie, but getting to dress up as anything you want is fun.

N: That's true. 

V: And if you have a best friend, you can do matching outfits, which is really fun. Or if you have pets, you can make them dress in the same outfit. 

N: That’s true. 

V: Yeah. Like this year, me and my mom, we're gonna be the cover of Magic Treehouse, Polar Bears Past Bedtime. 

N: That’s cool!

V: I'm the polar bear. 

N: Yeah. Obviously. 

[Vanilla laughs]

V: And then mom will be either Jack or Annie. Probably Jack. He has glasses. 

N: What if it was like a Victor Victoria moment and one half of your mom was Jack and the other half was Annie? 

V: The only difference between them is the glasses because they're wearing parkas. So that would be silly. But getting to dress up with your friends and getting to trick-or-treat is so much fun. Because not only are you having fun dressing up and getting to be someone else, but you’re also getting to share your interests. 

N: That's true. 

V: What you're dressing up as, it really shows a lot about who you are, especially during that year. 

N: Yeah.

V: So maybe one year you dressed up as a pumpkin. You really liked pumpkins that year. But then two years later, you're dressing up as President Abraham Lincoln. Like maybe you're going through a history phase. You know, like it really is very telling too. It's like a time capsule. 

[Nikki laughs]

N: That's true. Yeah. 

V: And if you don't like scary movies, you can watch D-COMS [Disney Channel Original Movies]. There's really good D-COMS that are Halloween. 

N: I watch Halloweentown every year and Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. 

V: Hot take. I like to skip the first one and just go straight to the second or third one. 

N: The first one is so good! It's a classic. 

V: It feels slow though. 

N: Yeah, you're not wrong. That was a different time. Movies were paced differently. 

V: They very much were. 

N: The pacing is so slow, and Debbie Reynolds can only do so much. 

V: I love Debbie Reynolds. Maybe we should just talk about Debbie Reynolds. 

N: She is pretty great. 

V: But we also watched Twitches this year already and then obviously Twitches Too. You can't watch the first one without the second one. 

N: We've been watching this cartoon on Netflix called Haunted Hotel. It's got Will Forte as one of the voices. 

V: Oh, I've heard of that one.

N: It's so funny and there's a new season of it. Although, Vanilla, you might be too young for Haunted Hotel.

V: I’m more of an Over the Garden Wall kind of guy anyway. 

N: That's another really great one. 

V: That's one that's become a cult classic at this point. You watch it every Halloween now. 

N: The music is so good. And the story is really good. 

V: Although, I feel like when I first saw it, maybe I was a little too young to see it because some of those concepts went over my head. 

N: Yeah. Well, I think that if you are unfamiliar with Dante's Inferno, then you do miss a little bit. 

V: See, I did not know it was Dante's Inferno.

N: They are working their way through the levels of hell as they go. 

V: Yeah, I totally got that.

N: So probably, yeah, Vanilla, it’s probably going to be a couple of years before you encounter Dante's Inferno. 

V: Wow, that's crazy.

N: It's highbrow. 

V: Moving past that, do you have any Halloween plans this year? 

N: Not other than what I plan to do with the library. We've got some dress-up days planned. I don't care that much about what my costume is, but I really love to help Parsley plan her costumes. So she's been a construction worker. She's been a superhero.

V: That was a good one. 

N: And last year she was me. 

V: Are you serious? Wait, why did I not see this? Do you have a picture? 

N: I don't know that I do. 

V: What? Nikki, that's amazing.

N: It was a pretty simple costume. She had a pair of glasses. Which I think her eyesight is perfect. So they were just for the bit. 

V: Wait, let me guess. 

N: Okay. 

V: If I know Miss Nikki..

N: You're gonna over guess.

V: Sandals. Those green Chino pants. And what? Any cardigan?

N: I hardly ever wear cardigans or those Chinos anymore. 

V: Those are nice pants. Every time I see you, besides today, you're wearing those. 

N: That is not true! I just wear my old navy jeans every single day. 

V: You've really changed, Miss Nikki. You've really changed.

N: And I've replaced all of my cardigans with an unbuttoned collared shirt. 

V: Who are you? A lot can change in a year, guys. 

N: Yeah, it can. 

V: Okay, what was she dressed like? 

N: Well, Parsley is pretty small. So there's limited real estate for a costume. So she had glasses. And then she had a miniature copy of this book that I was reading in story time that day. 

V: That's it? She couldn't have been anybody. 

N: Yeah, but we told everybody that she was me. 

V: Okay, okay, okay. 

N: They knew.

V: I think that she needs to really commit. 

N: So we should do it again, but better. 

V: Yes. 

N: We’ll see.

V: Okay, well, we're nearing the end, which doesn't feel right, but is there anything you'd like to promote? Anything cool you have coming out? 

N: Well, I have an album dropping.

[Vanilla laughs]

V: Be on the lookout for that!

N: I mean, not really. I don't know. Vanilla, you should come to Storytime with me. You and your pal Parsley and your mom can come if she wants. 

V: How else am I going to get there? 

N: Well, I guess if she's here anyway. You should come to a Storytime on a Wednesday morning. Sometimes we have our friend Doc Ev come into Storytime.

V: I didn’t know she was still doing that. 

N: Just once. We did a special one in the summer and talked about doing another special one around the holidays. 

V: I won't be doing Storytime in November because Danielle asked someone else to do it with her. 

N: I want to do a special guest series. I want Danielle to come and do some musical stuff. And it would be really fun for you to come, and we could do our stand up. 

V: I would love that! 

N: We'll have to. 

V: So that'll be cool. So let me know about that!

[Nikki laughs]

V: Depending on when this blog comes out, we may or may not be promoting the trick-or-treating. We are doing Spooky Stations October 27!

V: My mom will be doing face painting. We'll see how that goes, but if that's all you got, that's all I got. 

N: It was so nice to see you!

V: Thanks for letting me come to Bellevue. I really missed you.

N: It's a pretty nice space. 

V: Yeah, I like it. Don't be a stranger. Visit me!

N: I'll come visit. Next interview we do, I'll come to you. 

V: Next year!