a day fit for a queen (mab)

I know- I'm a blogging slacker. But did you see the That-Aint-Right I posted the other day?? Now THAT is funny stuff. I also have a great story to write about that happened while driving in our neighborhood on our way home from brunch on Sunday- but that will have to be saved for another time.

Right now my sole objective is to give a huge Birthday Shout Out to one of my favorite people in the world. This amazing woman of God came into my life in October of 2004. She looks spectacular in pink and in green, is always quick to offer practical wisdom, shares my obsession for Sephora, and owns the most beautiful cat that I have grown to love (and you know me- I am NOT a cat person, but I heart Jack-Jack!). She stays hip on her reads, her pop culture, and her fashion, but she is still down to earth and is the epitome of encouragement to all who know her. On the Divadomain you might see her referred to as MA, Queen MAB, or Tooty McTooterson but to all who know and love her, she is Mary Anna "way-too-special-to-be-just-a-Mary" Brown. Happy 25th Birthday to you, dear friend. Is it lunchtime yet??!!

another fun one to try with the names

Sloganize your name! Click here, insert your name, and let the fun begin! (MA- you should have an easier time with this one!) Here's a few that my name generated:

*Just what the Amanda Ordered
*Look Ma, No Amanda!
*Aint no party like an Amanda party (can I get an Amen??!!)

church: it does a body good

What will they think of next??? A new study shows that people who attend weekly church services statistically live longer lives. So if filling a void in your life, or worshipping a savior isn't enough to motivate you to go every week, maybe this will? Seriously, if there is a person who reads this study and starts attending church purely for health reasons I would like to meet them. It just goes to show you can find a study to "prove" anything. And in the meantime I will enjoy the days God has blessed me to live, be it longer than the average person or not, and continue to attend church for my non-health-related reasons!

Amanda looks like

Something fun for a rainy afternoon! Go to Google and put "[your first name] looks like" and see all of the funny descriptions that pop up. Here are a few of mine:

*Amanda looks like Hilary Duff
*Amanda looks like a train wreck
*Amanda looks like she will blow away in the wind
*Amanda looks like any nerd in school
*Amanda looks like she is looking at me thinking, you b*tch (ha ha)
*Amanda looks like an alien from Mars Attacks!
*Amanda looks like a streetwalker
*Amanda looks like she is enjoying being centre stage (Heck YES!)

Feel free to post your results in the comments box so the rest of us can have a good chuckle at your expense :o)

T for Two Thumbs Up

Ari & I had a DIVA night and spent a few hours after work talking wedding stuff and laughing before going to see a really cool movie. I used to do movie reviews on here all the time but I quit going to see them so often and the reviews fell by the wayside. However, V for Vendetta was one that made me think and kept me excited and interested the entire time, and one Bradley & Bryant would definitely recommend. Walking up to the ticket window at the theater I said, 2 T for tickets for V for Vendetta. The girl didn't even crack a smile!!! I was amused anyways.

I knew this was going to be one of those weird, futuristic comic book movies that I usually don't go for, but I am huge fan of Natalie Portman, so I wanted to see this film. The directors are the same guys that did The Matrix, and the main guy in the movie (the man behind the mask) is the bad guy from the Matrix/Elf king in LOTR. What I liked so much about the film was it's paralells with one of my favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo, the allusion to current political and social issues, and even moreso, the symbolism that runs rampant through the movie. The number 5 (the roman numeral V) and the letter V are everywhere. One of the first speeches given by the masked character aptly named "V" has 55 words that start with the letter V, and at one point in the film, Beethoven's 5th symphony begins to play. At this I jumped with glee that the directors thought so much about minute details. It's a movie I'm sure yoou could watch over and over and discover new symbolism and new political references.

I guess I enjoyed it so much because it made me really think about current government issues and it was a game for me to discover as much symbolism as I could. If any of you locals want to go see it, I'd see it again with you.

Back in Bucktown

We hadn't been up to see my grandfather since Christmas, so the four of us piled into Mikey, Mom's blue beetlebug and drove up on Saturday morning to make a quick visit. Cannelton, IN also known as Bucktown- though no one can tell you why- is home to most of my mom's side of the family, and is where mom & dad both went to high school.

Also in town for the night were my uncle Michael & aunt Missy, their 2 boys Braedon and Garrick, and the newest edition to the family, a puggle (cross between a Beagle & a Pug) named Ginger. She's only 9 weeks and took turns sleeping in all of our laps this weekend!

Mom cooked for everyone on Saturday. These are the times that I miss my grandma the most because she was always in the kitchen whenever we came to visit- either sitting at the table peeling potatoes or covered in flour standing at the stove. Of course Mom's round steak was delicious ("you can cut it with a fork"- a joke from my Grandma that has been passed on to mom!), and I had 2 huge plates. I also had a "you know you're getting old moment" at dinner- I volunteered to sit at the kids table! For years and years I was relegated to sitting at the card table while all of the adults got to sit at the big long table. Then I crossed over to adulthood and had finally earned my place at the big table. Now it seems I may have passed on to the next phase of my adult life where I take the role of the adult cousin sitting with the "little kids." I watch Nicole and Braedon running around the house and it reminds me so much of what me and Ryan used to do! (I still maintain that if those potatoes had stuck to the ceiling that it would have been the coolest thing ever!!)

Here's a pic of all the present grandkids and in Nicole & Natalee's case, great-grandkids:
back to front, L to R: Chris, Laura, Papa, Eric, Nicole, Garrick, Braedon, Natalee, Me, Megan, & Kelli
And then one of my mom, her brother, sisters, & dad (Can you see the family resemblence??!!) Michael, Mom, Papa, Kristina, & Lisa

And of course what trip to Cannelton would be complete without a trip to the Divadomain-made-infamous bar, The Pumper?! Tonight was Kareoke night, and a normally-shy me got up there about 10 times during the night! I'm sure people were sick of me singing, but I was having a ball not caring who heard me belt out Keith Urban, Faith Hill, Baby Got Back, and of course, Family Tradition!!! Even the dj commented that half the bar got up to perform this song together!! You can't see me in this pic but I am behind my uncle's brother who is pointing.

Finally, here is one of me, Laura, & dad singing "O Brother Where Art Thou"

Boo Hoo for the Devils in Blue

Ask any True-Blue Kentucky fan- what's almost as good as Kentucky winning? And they'll tell you: Duke Losing.

The SEC dominated the ACC last night as Glen "Big Baby" Davis and his LSU Tigers triumphed over the duke bluedevils to move on to the Elite 8. No need for the Big Baby to cry- Sheldon and JJ did enough of that for everyone!



My phone rang off the hook after the game was over and likewise I speed-dialed (sped-dialed?) many fellow Wildcats to revel in the rival's losing! Sorry to be such a sore loser, but after Kentucky's early departure from the tournament (which seems to be happening more and more often these days, a girl's gotta have something to cheer for throughout the Madness!

a spiritual Springtime

It's a sunny-but-chilly morning here in Brentwood- and I have woken up a new woman this a.m. If I can be completely transparent with you- something I am not good at being, so bear with me- I was talking to God this morning as I got ready for work and it hit me- I am woman of God- I am worth being pursued and am worth not settling for anything less than God's best for me. As a woman I sometimes rely so heavily on my emotions when I know logic is telling me otherwise. I intentionally sin and worry about the consequences later, because "it's not a big deal."

Simply put, I have no excuses for myself- I have an amazing group of girlfriends to support me, and keep me busy- I have plenty of other activities to keep my hours full without having to add in whatever sorry excuse for a substitute-boyfriend I can squeeze in. I do not need male attention to prove my self-worth, and if God wants me to be single in this season of my life then I have an obligation to follow Him wholeheartedly and not doubt his sovreignty, my worthiness, and His ultimate plan for my life.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

"But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Exodus 9:16

I must not become bitter and pragmatic- who finds THAT attractive? Certainly not me! So I am turning over a new leaf. I am wonderfully and fearfully made. I am made in the image of God, and it is through Him only that I can find any self-worth.

Spring is here. Time for new life & growth to appear everywhere, and I feel like maybe now will be a springtime for my life as well.

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

is it Monday yet?

You know how some weekends are spectacularly fun, and it makes Monday morning such a drag? Well this weekend has been the total opposite! Not be a real downer or anything, cause nothing terrible happened- well- Kentucky lost today- so that always depresses me and forces me to pull out the Radiohead and Coldplay so I can wallow in my own state of melancholy- but the cold weather and cloudy skies did a number on my motivation for the weekend!

Let's see- Sephora is now open in Nashville, which on any other sunny day would be worth a blog post in it of itself, but today it seems like old news! I love my new makeup. Buyer's remorse has set in slightly, but everything I bought was what I felt like to be good purchases, and I have actually had several compliments on my makeup the past few days- yes, without me having to pull them out of anyone- they were all freely given- so that makes me feel better about my girly obsession with cosmetics. Before too long I may have to devote another entire dresser drawer for the overflow of makeup that won't fit into all my neat compartments in the one drawer I have now!

Lunch at Jackson's gave me the punniest opportunity of a lifetime, so I have to brag because I actually am quite proud of myself! The 6 of us- Mandy, MA, Em, Lana, Scottie, and myself split 2 deserts after devouring our lunches, and one of the deserts came with a shaker filled with chilled milk. As Lana poured herself some from the shaker into the top, some milk dripped through the wrought-iron patio table and onto her jeans. And as the story goes, Lana let out a loud exasperated whine, to which I immediately retorted, "well don't cry over it." :o)

St. Patty's Day plans fell through- the ecclectic group of people where not everyone knew everyone did little to make the night as much fun as I had built it up to be- we ended up not able to go to the Greenhouse- long story- so we bar hopped from Jackson's to Cabana (and I sang the barry manilow song all day yesterday because of it) to On the Rocks to the Tin Roof. Biggest bummer of the night- none of these places had Green Beer. I'm thinking about having a party soon and we'll make our own green beer with food coloring- who's in? Here is the one picture I have of the entire evening- me, Amy, Mary Anna, Mandy, & Rhonda Lu in our green.



Getting very little sleep that night- thanks to late night trips to the Brentwood Waff and long talks with friends, I was a total slug yesterday and carrying over to today! It's this darned weather I tell you! I had planned to go over to the BBC game night thing at 4 oclock but after Kentucky losing and my class at church at 6, it's not even worth getting out anymore I don't think.

I do love March madness though, and have filled up my weekend with nothing but basketball. My brackets aren't as accurate as I'd like them to be, but luckily for me, I think all of the teams I chose to make it to the final four are still in it so far. I am just ready for a new week- a new beginning, and for this funky anti-social mood I'm in to pass quickly!

the word of the day!

My co-workers and I have begun to play this little game we fondly call the Word of the Day. It's just what you might think it is- the winner from the day before gets to pick the word of the day, and everyone tries to use this magic word on the phone with a customer. It makes the work day go by more quickly, and it encourages us to call out more.

The Rules:
1. play begins officially at 2pm every afternoon
2. emails to customers do not count
3. however, phone messages do count
4. only once useage of the word will count per call
5. the winner at the end of the day takes posession of a small gold coin
(the "trophey") and takes responsibility for coming up with tomorrow's WOTD

You have no idea how funny it is to be at your desk and hear a male co-worker say, "we have some fantastic new choral music" or "have a delightful afternoon!" As a girl, I feel like I can get away with more of the affirming words without having to defend my sexuality the way some of the guys might.

Today's word happens to be, and I am not kidding- people have actually worked this into conversations: supercalafragilisticexpialidocious
No, I have not used it yet. I am fighting TN allergy season and am having a hard enough time speaking clearly on the phone through my stuffiness. So that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I can handle not winning today, and giggle whenever somebody else says it!

Feeling a little Blue

Keep your friends close...
















And your enemies closer!














My friend Ellen is making her debut here on the Divadomain. She was my luck-of-the-draw freshman college roommate, and yes, she has lived to tell the tale!! Our weekend was full of basketball- the madness has officially begun. In reference to my fantatic following of the basketball tournament scores, a co-worker said to me the other day, "are you going to be like this for the entire month of March?" "Yes," I said. "Yes I am."

Ellen & I started our Saturday with breakfast at the Puffy Muffin where we spotted Tina Tuner and Shaka Kahn look-alikes. Ellen got to meet Mary Anna, Emmy Sue, and Rhonda Lu, and we amazed her with our smattering of movie quotes and hip-hip lyrics thrown into our speech. These references sometimes morph into new jokes and quotes, as happened this morning. Mary Anna looked longingly at a family and whined, "I want a family unit" which of course prompted a 50-cent inspired, "G-Unit," and then became "F-unit," which quickly turned into a PG-13 insult: "Ef Unit!"

Fellow UK fan Shawn met Ellen and me downtown after the girls' breakfast and we 3 bought tickets on the street to watch Kentucky take on South Carolina today in the SEC tournament (held at the Gaylord Focker Entertainment Center- yet another joke that has morphed over time!) I was super excited because we only paid face-value for the tickets, got to see 2 SEC tournament games, AND this was the first game I've gotten to see my beloved Wildcats play this entiire season in person. I wish I could say I had happy news and a victory to brag about, but I've learned to hold my tongue this season and not talk any trash, lest it come back to bite me in the rear. At least we UK alums had a good time- the entire arena was blue, and we were surrounded by UK fans.

After a low-key game night, it is time to drift off to sleep, but never fear for March Madness is here.

Congrats are in order!

We have one more DIVA dropping off the planet of Singledom! In case you havent heard, Miss Ariana Bryant has recently become engaged to Mr. Richard Bartolomea. ("So can I call you Mrs. Bart when you're married?" I asked her!)
Bart popped the question during their recent trip to Chicago celebrating their one-year anniversary- that's a pretty good way to celebrate, if you ask me!
Of course Ari said yes, and so now I'm lobbying hard for hot pink bridesmaid dresses! Seriously though- I am just so happy for her, and it keeps hitting me at random times- "wow, Ari is engaged!" I am so, so excited for her and Bart, and can't wait to celebrate the big day with them. And yes, that is a pic of her actual ring- ("The Sparkwing Diamond!")

Yee-haw!

Saturday was one of those perfect days- the sun was shining, I had a fabulous day of shopping with Mary Anna- I even learned a little bit about bling-bling, since I am jewelry illiterate (I still maintain that jewelry is a necessary fashion evil. Like high heels). Saturday night a group of us met up at the Penthouse for a pizza-making party, then we killed some time looking at Stewart and American Idol clips on YouTube before heading downtown.

PS- I can't wait to see the guys sing tonight- after watching Ace's "Father Figure" I am ready to see him sing again and hopefully be wooed into maybe voting for him!


We hadn't been downtown in a while and I had my new pink hat to wear so I was all about me some Toosie's and The Stage! My funny story for the night- a girl at Tootsie's got my attention and wanted to know where my cowboy hat came from- Cracker Barrel, I told her. She gives me this blank stare and says, what is that? Is that a store around here? My jaw nearly hit the floor. My immediate
response, over the loud music, mind you, was "Cracker Barrel?? It's a resteraunt!" And then I turned around to my girls and started to laugh. How do you explain to an out-of-towner that there are Cracker Barrells every 10 exits on any southern interstate? That it's some some specialized tourist store on 2nd ave?

We gals had a good time, and I've decided that wearing a cowboy hat is a Great way to get people to talk to you! Even the singer at Tootsies tipped his hat to me as we made eye contact while he was singing. The question is, will this work if I wear one all the time or is it just a novelty item? :o)

I'm Just sayin (an Oscar commentary)

Wow. What. An Oscar ceremony.

Was it me or were this year's awards like taking a trip to Dullsville? With the exception of Jennifer Garner tripping while on her way to the podium to present an award, and Lilly Tomlin & Meryl Streep's slap-stick commedy intro, the show was uneventful and just went from video montage to montage. Even Jon Stewart commented on the over-abundance of the clips. And I'm still waiting on his crack on JG's near-spill.

Here are my other observations on the 78th anual Academy Awards:
* the year for the ugly dress. Take your pick between Charlize Theron, Michelle Williams, Naomi Watts, & many more

* the year for the homosexual. With TransAmerica, Capote, and Brokeback Mountain all up for major awards, it seems Hollywood is reminding us just How liberal they are.

* the year for the boring songs- who was up for this? Who really cares? In the words of Jon Stewart, Just for the record, Martin Scorcese: Zero Oscars. Three-Six Mafia: One.

* The year for the films that nobody saw. Even myself, an avid film fan saw very few of the frontrunning films up for awards. Meanwhile the films that the general public really enjoyed and talked about were nowhere to be found. I guess this is why the show has been so boring to watch tonight. And yet here I sit, still glued to the tv just so I can throw up my hands in exasperation when Brokeback Mountain finally wins.

Hmm.... I stand corrected. Crash wins. Not my favorite of the year, but I think the general public will be appeased by this choice over the hyped BBM.

And finally, there's always a Nashville connection: Congrats to native Nashvillian Reese Witherspoon on her best actress Oscar!

(PS- hers was one of the few dresses that I loved. She looked absolutely gorgeous.) (As did Uma Thurman and Jennifer Anniston. I'm Just sayin.)

Choco-Not

Mardi Gras has came and went, and now the season of Lent is upon us. Lent never meant a whole lot to me growing up, except that my mom's side of the family is Catholic so they observed the whole, no meat on Friday thing. (What's the scriptual background of this anyways?) Also, my Papa used to always say he was giving up watermelon and golf for Lent- neither of which he liked, so it continues to be a running family joke.

Then I got to college and started to mature in my faith. Through Campus Crusade I started to see Christianity as a daily thing that impacted every decision I made; that it wasn't just about going to church on Sunday mornings. One of the things I started to do was give up something for Lent. It was a tangible way for me to sacrifice something small in my habital life to remind me of the greatest sacrifce that Christ made for me by dying on a cross.

This year mom and I are observing Lent together and have decided to give up chocolate. For the chocoholics that we are, Her moreso than me, it's going to be difficult. I would ask that you who know me neither offer me anything chocolate nor ask me to watch the movie Chocolat with you, as I must politely decline. The 6 weeks of no chocolate has begun.

weekend part 2: the Mystery of the Missing Cheese Puffs

The funniest part of the weekend was an episode dubbed the Mystery of the Missing Cheese puffs.

Friday afternoon I bought snacks for Mary Anna & me to take to the cabin. I got 2 packs of Oreos, and got her 2 bags of cheese puffs, per request. Well we get there that night and have the Oreos, but can't find the cheese puffs. Since they had been in the same grocery bag in Mary Anna's car it didn't make sense for them Not to be there at the cabin. I looked in my van, she looked in hers, we playfully accused the girls of stealing them or hiding them, but to no avail. A horrid thought crossed Mary Anna's mind- I was the last one at her car- what if I didn't go back to the car for the snacks and forgot to shut her passenger door?

It was a madhouse trying to leave the church- no one knew what was going on, and I was thrust into a vehicle full of girls I didn't know, being forced to drive a van that was bigger than anything I've ever had to maneuver, so it was a little stressful. In all that stress I might not have remembered to make that second trip back to MA's car to get the snacks and shut her Cubmobile door. A sick feeling came over both of us, because it was 1am Nashville time when we discovered this possibility. I made a few phone calls to people at home who I thought might be up, but bless his heart, it ended up being my dear old dad that we drug out of bed, and asked to go check on Mary Anna's car. Her battery could have died, and she had important work stuff in her car. We couldn't take the chance to wait until the morning.

Minutes later, dad found MA's car at the church and assured us that all the doors were shut and that it was indeed locked. "Do you happen to see any bags of cheese puffs in the back?" we asked. A ridiculous question at 1 am I know, but we might as well ask it since he was already there. No, he didn’t see them, he said, but also gave the disclaimer that it was dark. Thankful that the car was okay, but both frustrated and deliriously tired at the hilarity of the situation, we named the event, the mystery of the missing cheese puffs. Every so often when we were craving something salty, we wistfully thought of those 2 bags of orange, cheesy crispiness, and wondered where they had found their home. We thought maybe they were sitting beside MA’s car in the church parking lot, but again, if they were, they had been stolen by the time dad got thereto check on the Cubmobile.

The mystery was not solved until we ran towards Mary Anna’s car today when we got back to BBC. It was the first thing I did- I checked the backseat and sure enough there was the Publix grocery bag with not only the 2 bags of cheese puffs, but also my 2 bags of Oreos! So the ones we were munching in the cabin were some one of the other girls had brought! Who else buys 2 bags of chocolate crème Oreos I ask you??? N What are the odds?? (Well, they were on sale which is why I grabbed those instead of the regular ones. Makes sense that someone else’s mom would have thought the same thing.)

Anyway- I am still deliriously tired- a 2-hour nap did me no good this afternoon. Maybe a dose of Dr. McSteamy here in a minute on Grey’s Anatomy will help me to have sweet dreams tonight ;o)

a weekend full of DTR'S

Whatever happened to weekends being restful???

I went as a leader on the BBC Middle School & High School girls Snowball Retreat this weekend in Pigeon Forge. Mary Anna was already going since she leads a 7th grade girls Lifegroup every Wednesday, and they needed more "adults" to go. It was weird being the "responsible" one- the one driving a Ginormous van full of girls, the one taking a nap during my precious hour of free time on Saturday- the one opting NOT to get in the hot-tub at the cabin. Mary Anna and I were in the Tiger's Den cabin together with 4 7th graders and 2 6th graders.

These girls were wonderful- they cleaned up after themselves, they said please and thank you- and a few of them even said "yes, ma'am" when I asked them a question- now ask me if THAT didn't make me feel old??? So did one of them telling me I looked like a teacher as we were all sitting around the kitchen table talking last night. "What the heck is that supposed to mean," I asked them. They said MA looked like a teacher too, but me more so. However, they redeemed themselves when they said I looked more like a 20 year old than a 25 year old. Although now that I think of it, it could have been b/c I was Acting like a 20 year old instead of a 25 year old.. Hmmm...

The theme of the weekend was DTR- Defining the Relationship. This was after I picked up in college in Campus Crusade- pretty much, it refers to "the talk" a guy and girl have when they're trying to determine the status of their relationship- we ask questions like, "are we just friends, are we dating, are we on the same page?" But these girls had never heard that term before. So the weekend was full of Bible story snapshots and how those characters in the stories defined their relationships with God, with their family, with their friends, and with other people who crossed their paths.

Mary Anna and I taught a group of 7th graders. We had a great group here too- some talkers, some quiet ones, but all of them seemed to really be listening and trying to take everything in. I think my favorite moment teaching came when we had just finished reading a passage in 1 Samuel that said David and Jonathan kissed and embraced- of course the girls giggled but MA had to go ahead and say, "well there's a Brokeback moment for ya!" I could have died! She and I found ourselves having to monitor ourselves quite a bit- you don't realize the normal topics of discussion and rap song references you would make on a normal basis until you have a bunch of impressionable 13 year olds in your midst. Luckily, the Brokeback Mountain reference rolled off their (broke) backs and none of them paid it any attention. Of course later that night while MA & I were trying to go to sleep, we had a good laugh over it. ("I wish I knew how to quit you, Jonathan!")

It is Sunday night now- I'm glad to be home- glad to be not eating any more junk food, and ready for a good night's sleep in my own bed! But it is definitely a weekend full of some fun memories.

aaahhhhh C-A-T-S Cats, Cats, Cats!!!

Now THERE'S the Kentucky team we all know and love! Beating SEC teams by 40 points. (UK pummeled Ole Miss 80-40 tonight.) I am a happy girl. Unfortunately this massacre was not on tv here in lieu of JP televising the UT-FL game. Bummer that Tennessee won. I never thought I'd be cheering For Florida. I never thought I'd be cheering Against Tennessee.

You'll probably notice that I've been pretty quiet on here this season when it's come to Kentucky basketball. That's cause Momma B didn't raise no fool, and she taught me if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all. Here's a few pics of tonight's huge win at Rupp arena. Rhonda Lu- there's your future hubby! :o)

Congrats, boys. You just may have a nice run in the NCAA yet.

Rhyme Time

I pick up words and phrases very easily. Just ask Mark "dad-gum" Box, Heather "Ridonkulous" DePriest (ps- that still sounds weird to say/write, Weezer!), or my freshman Bible study leader, Jennifer "presh" Holden, wherever she is.

Something else I recently noticed in my speech is that I tend to gravitate towards rhyming phrases. They roll off the tongue more easily, and make for spunky conversation. For example, here is a real life conversation that took place on a Saturday afternoon, when the girls went Wild Noodles:

Oh- and let me interrupt myself to tell you that just like I incorporate others' catch phrases into my conversation, that my friends have picked up on mine as well.
Now back to our story:

Ari- wow Bradley, you look really skinny mini today- have you lost weight?
Me- Really? I was feeling kind of chunky monkey when I left the house.

Then we laughed because we realized what dorks we were rhyming like that.

Other favorite catch phrases following a fun rhyme scheme include, but are not limited to,

* cutie patootie- when describing an attractive guy or something adorable

* chilly willy- when conversing about the sub-artic temperatures

* what's up, pup?- when making small talk

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but now I think this blog is done. :o)

Saved by the Medal

Time Out! Is it me, or did Zach Morris just win the bronze medal last night in men's figure skating???

do we hate it?

Call it the winter blahs or the self-professed quarter-life crisis, but I needed a change. I'm just bored! I have no motivation in any area of my life. Even blogging has taken a back seat lately. Do you all hate the new format or can we learn to love it?

while you were out

I'll leave the recapping of ChocolatePalooza to one of the other Blogging Beauties. This post would be way too long if I tried to sum up the entire evening o' fun, so I'll skip to my part.

I have no idea how many people were at the Penthouse- there must have been over 20- but as it got later our numbers dwindled. A bunch of us followed Em into Rhonda's room to see this hilarious site called Brick Testament that has bible stories illustrated with Lego people. Obviously there are really funny ones about the Law and husbands and wives, so it's Lego porn if there is such a thing. But it's just following scripture- I had no idea some of that stuff was in Leviticus!

So we were all standing at Rhonda's computer, and after having a good laugh, several of us crashed where we were on the floor and the bed and sat around talking. The numbers dwindled and after a while the small contingency that was left (names are omitted to protect the guilty- fess up at your own risk) got a brilliant idea. After looking around at the way Rhonda Lu's room was laid out with her new bed we observed how cramped the room seemed, and how much better it would look if the bed were over there... or over there. Ideas began pouring out and we started to get excited.

"Why don't we just do it?" someone asked.

So we did- and it was seriously like our own version of TLC's While You Were Out! A few of us tackled the closet- others took over the art work rearrangement- we all moved the bed together- and mind you this was all taking place sometime after 11pm, so we were all giddy from chocolate and exhaustion. I felt like I was taking part in a reality show in my friend's apartment, and was waiting for the camera crew to bust in any second. Well, the camera crew never arrived, but I did have my digital camera to capture the hecticness of it all. I think it took us about 15 minutes or so to finish our little Labor of Love.

So Surprise, Rhoda! I hope you like your new room. And I hope you're not mad. But nothing's un-doable- we didn't go so far as to re-paint the walls. Although if it hadn't of been so late we just might have ;o)

pictures to follow soon, so the guilty won't stay protected for long- I'm giving you a head start to make like a tree, and get outta here...

I am my mother's daughter

So we're approaching Valentine's Day- not my favorite holiday for obvious reasons, but also a favorite time of year because stores fill their shelves to the brim with anything and everything pink. Get ready girls. (ChocolatePalooza is coming!)

In honor of Valentine's Day, Publix has this commercial of a little boy and his mom baking a heart-shaped cake together for him to give to "someone special." The little boy won't tell his mom the name of the special girl, but no matter- they press on into baking-dom. They go from start to finish, showing them sifting flour, pouring the cake batter, taking the cake out of the oven, and icing it. The next morning as the mom is dropping her son off for school, she hollars after him after he's gotten out of the car. Wait, she says, you forgot your cake! The kid turns around and gives her this meaningful look and then grins, and turns back around heading into school. It becomes apparent then that he has made this cake for his mom- his sweetheart. I swear I've seen it 3 times already and teared up all 3 times! I am slowly but surely turning into my mother.

The commercial ends with Publix' catch phrase: where shopping is a pleasure. I don't know about you, but I absolutely hate going to the grocery store. You can't go when you're hungry otherwise you'll buy up every box of Oreos and Keebler soft batch in the cookie aisle. And you don't want to go any other time because frankly there are so many other ways you'd rather spend your time. I guess my question is why do we hate to go grocery shopping when most of us would rank eating as a top 10 favorite activity of the day??

Commercial or no commerical, shopping is still not a pleasure for me.

Girls Gone Wild Noodles

Saturday afternoon Ari, Angela, and I met our friend Sallie at Wild Noodles to celebrate Sallie's birthday. Not my favorite place in the world, but this time I tried the Mongolian Noodles and I must say, they were quite good. As with most asian dishes, they give you way too much food- rice and noodles are awfully filling- so I got to take the leftovers with me. My dad calls me the Leftover Queen- a title which I carry proudly around the house. We girls had a wonderful time talking- mostly about pregnancy stuff since sallie is due in April.

After this I met Tadd, Ann Teischer (she's one of those people who you have to say their first and last name together... like Sarah Scott or Mark Box), and Tadd's siter Briana at TGI Fridays. I have never laughed so much in 2 hours than I did this afternoon. Apparently in college Tadd told Ann that the restaraunt used to be called TGIF Riday's and that it was owned by Mr. Riday. Thank Goodness It's Friday Riday's. And Ann believed him! I made a comment about Tadd and his roommate carpooling home for the weekend from UT, and Tadd comes back with some remark about a swimming pool and the cost to fill the car up with water. The 4 of us danced to the 80's music that was playing overhead and making complete idiots of ourselves in the restaraunt. Every time I see Tadd new inside jokes are created ("The first cut is the deepest.") and we laugh at the fact that we still use old inside jokes (UK? yeah thanks I'm fine) without remembering how they started (That was like 2 days ago. I didn't like it that much.)

After helping Laura write her paper (Who came first? Aristotle or Plato?) she and I met Ari & Angela at Cross Corner bar in Brentwood to watch the UK (yeah thanks, I'm fine) game. We'll skip over that since the game isn't worth mentioning, but since Bart was out of town, Ari was ready to paint the town Blue. Laura headed back to the 'Boro while we 3 (kings) headed to the shadiest spot in Brentwood. Really- I challenge you to find a worse place than the Brentwood Pub. We walked in and every eye was on us- not because we were uber cute but rather because we were about 20 years younger than almost every person in there.

We bought a round and sat down at a table, and were entertained by a local band called Dead Country (Hillbilly rock you can dance to, was what their card read). Even more entertaining was the clientele who came all the way from Gallatin to see this band play. I even managed to make a new best friend that evening. An older lady in her 60s wearing a hideous yellow sweater with trees and houses on it was making a fool out of herself on the dance floor, and we gals enjoyed laughing at the alcohol-induced inhibitions of she and her north-of-Nashville friends. Later on I walked into the ladies' room and found noneother than our yellow-clad granny. Now mind you, this bathroom is a Onsie, and drunk grandma has neglected to lock the door. Instead of allowing me the courtesy to leave, she drops her pants in front of me and proceeds to pee. All the while I'm standing there, in front of the huge mirror, but trying not to make eye contact with her as she chit chats. Seconds later she finishes her business but does not flush!!! It's as if we are now close companions and she expects me to use the bathroom on top of what's allready there. Totally horrified at this point, I am wondering how I can avoid turn about fair play and having her wait for me to also use the bathroom. I'm also realizing that while the situation isn't funny at all right now, it will be in about 5 minutes when i can relay the entire experience with Ari and Angela. I stall as long as I can and to my utter relief the intoxicated elder in the yellow shirt leaves. I promptly lock the door behind her. And then I flush the toilet. You can guess what happens next so I'll skip that part.

The rest of the evening is more of the same- drunk people from Gallatin harassing us- oh, and this one classy lady who had an abomination of a purse that looked like cotton candy. Now you know me, and you know I like pink, but this thing was hideous. And when I say lady, she was in her late 30s- waaaayyy to old to be carrying anything like that anyways. i mean, even for a 12 year old this bag would be debatable. So towards the end of the night I hear this woman telling her friends about her purse. "It's pink mink," she said. I busted out laughing and had to look the other way. I Hope she was kidding???

If you want a list of trendy spots to hit in Nashville I'm your girl. And if you want to heed my advice and never ever go to the Brentwood Pub, lest you get kicked out for snickering at all the patrons, then that would be okay too. I'm just trying to look out for your best interests.

PS- A that aint right picture just would not have done this night justice. Now if we had gotten some video footage, now That would have been handy. Take my word for it, and spend your Saturday nights elsewhere in the Brent 'hood.

Got Blog?

It's official. I am now the new sales rep for Tennessee and Nevada. It's a step up for me in the company, and it means I'll be able to talk football (both Titans and Vols) with my customers, not to mention that I am one of the few native Tennesseans in my office, or in the state, it seems, so I'll have that connection with them. This also means that if Dennis orders music from Brentwood Benson for BBC, then I get paid for it. I am sad about losing my Alabama customers, especially since I don't deal with change well, but I do have some more good news to share as well.

It seems that my influence on people desiring to create their own blogs has grown exponentionally. In the past 2 days, Mary Anna's Queen MAB Manifesto was launched, my boss Joel has started a blog on a site that nobody goes to, but then he forwards them to all of us, and co-workers Todd and Cody started their blogging adventures today and yesterday, respectfully. Blogging, like MySpace, is no longer what computer geeks and dorks spend their time doing in lieu of going on dates, but rather something that has caught on like a chocolate stand at a PMS conference. (Although come to think of it, I can't really remember when my last date actually was... hmmm...)

Really blogging's cathartic, it's a great way of keeping out-of-town friends, relatives, and complete strangers who happen to stumble upon your profile on the internet up-to-date on your happenings and well-being. It's also a wonderful way to record what's going on in your life for your own personal use. I love to go back 6 months or a year and read what I was doing, jokes that were funny then that have long-since been retired (Oh, REEEAAAALLLYY???), and recall funny events that happened (Soapy Quesadillas still reigns supreme). Someday when I write my memoir these will all come in handy. (And if you're not my friend now, you'd better get in soon if you want a great supporting character role in my memoir!)

Do YOU have a blog? Did I have any influence on you starting one? If so, send me the link and I'll add you to my list of linked blogs. Then your self-worth will be complete. ;o)

A Humpday with Heather & Co.

My friend Heather was in town tonight, so i got to go hang out with her- yes, I even skipped watching Kentucky beat Miss St. in basketball- she's THAT important! She and her husband Jacob met up with me and Ben (that's Nashville Ben for those like Mary Anna keeping tabs) at Chilis. Jacob and I split the Paradise Pie while Heather and Ben opted for the tried and true Molten Chocolate cake (yeah, so about that eating healthy thing this week....), and we talked alot oabout blogging and MySpace. Ben has a younger brother in college who apparently spends his time making up fake profiles and emailing girls. It makes we wonder how many of my "friends" are really my friends, or if they are fake imposters playing games with my head. MySpace has become quite the addiction among my friends and peers, although I save all the juicy stuff for the Divadomain. What can I say? I'm loyal to my roots.

Ben and I also discussed the need for the reality show "Survivor: Memphis." He had just spent a few days in Memphrica for work and he literally watched several drug deals go down on a corner. He also shared with me a great That Aint Right picture on his phone taken in Memfiss, so if i can get him to email it to me, a good blog is on its way. You're all sitting on the edge of your computer chairs, I can tell.

Finally Heather trumped us all by proceeding to share with us the best quote of the evening. She had been hanging out with a bundh of MLK people earlier- kids she went to high school with, and we both went to middle school with. At one point Heather turned to our friend David, and she asks him,
"so what else is new with you David?" His reply:
"I dated a stripper."

A shout out to Cubby, who I just found out tonight, reads this blog!

Resolving to keep resolutions

It's the last day of January. Where are you with your new year's resolutions? Right now I'm aiming to pull the biggest comeback ever

Resolutions: 10
Amanda: 0

Well- okay- maybe I get .5 points for my daily german phrase calendar at work.

New unofficial resolution- get more sleep so that I can get up early to do my quiet time and get to work early too. I wish I were one of those people who could function on 6 hours of sleep every night, but I'm just not. I keep trying to convince my body otherwise and my body keeps ignoring my good intentions of setting the alarm early every morning. Somehow 7 more minutes which turns into 21 more minutes or 35 more minutes on the snooze button seems like a good idea when you're half asleep.

Peace Out. N-town.

recapping the weekend

Man, the weekends sure are packed- I was just sittting here trying to remember what i did on Friday night, and it feels like it was so long ago!! So it was a full weekend for me, although spent doing a lot of fun stuff but not being very productive. I'm feeling gulity now b/c I didn't help out around the house that much or accomplish any visible task. Hmm. Note to self. Must work on that for next weekend.

So okay- I'm not into video games (unless we're talking about old school Nintendo Dr. Mario or Supermariokart on super NES) but Brad Johnson and some others organized this massive Halo party over at Reagan's. For clarification purposes, Halo has nothing to do with angels. In fact, it's closer to the opposite. You basically win by walking around and killing other people. There were probably between 30 and 40 people there at one point, and we had 4 x-boxes hooked together and had 16 people playing at once. The guys had even borrowed a couple of projectors and screens so we had 12 people able to play in one room, and the other 4 people linked upstairs on a different TV. I'm telling you, these guys don't mess around when it comes to Halo! I of course had never played before and was reassured over and over by Brad that he would teach me. Instead he started the game and threw me into the wolves' den! I'm also not terrifc at multitasking and there were just too many buttons and controllers to deal with so I ended up getting killed alot more than I killed anyone. But that's okay, cause I'm not that keen on killing people anyways. Isn't keen a fun word? It's even better than Swell.

I met Mary Anna and Ashley Clark downtown at the seedy County Music Hall of Fame lounge to see my friends Mark and Maury play. The best moment of the night was when this obnoxious drunk guy hollared approvingly at a songwriter's song, as he screamed, That was freakin' awesome- pardon my language- but that was freakin awesome. Mary Anna just looked at me and died laughing (note- I am not censoring here- he actually did only say "freakin").

Saturday was spent out in the sunshine with my ipod and Stockwell as we took a nice long walk over at Crocket Park. The weather was absolutely glorious. I can't believe it's the end of January the way this weather has been. Which I guess also explains my cold that just won't go away. Later on I watched part of Back to the Future on tv and part of the senior bowl with Brad.

Saturday night was a girls night out (Laura: "Every night for you is Girls night." my response: "yeah, well- so?") We dined at Fiesta Azteca (good recommendation Beth- the margaritas were mighty stout!) and laughed our way through dinner the way one usually does when Lana is present. Favorite quotes from dinner include, but are not limited to,
"Oh- and i ran into my Eggs the other day..."
"Lana, where are you looking?"
"I'm not a lezbian."
"What's 7 plus 3?"
and many more.
We then had a blast standing in line to get into the Exit/In to see noneother than Mr. Cutie Patootie Dave Barnes. (Why was it so funny to "accidentally" keep poking that girl in front of us with your umbrella MA?) Poking fun at the bulk of barely 18 year olds in line with us, I kept asking the others if they'd done their algebra homework yet. i don't know- it seemed funny at the time.

Andy Davis opened and was good although he played my and Rhonda's least favorite song- this exploratory Schoenberg-esque song called "Fine China" or something like that- but I was glad to hear my fav too, "I never see you." Dave had a full band and played a ton of stuff off his brand spankin new album, Chasing Mississippi. I actually just had to say to myself M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-hump back- hump back- I to make sure I spelled that right! LOL. it's late. All that to say, I love his new stuff- esp a song called "Jackson." It's on his MySpace page right now, so if you're curious or bored you should check it out. Bummer that he didn't play my favorite, "LA song", but I can't complain too much b/c Marc Broussard was there and did the encore with him. At that moment in time I was happy to live in Nashville because guest artists tend to pop up at other people's shows quite frequently. It makes shows in Music City fun to go to. And I just ended that sentence with a preposition.

Aaaand, I'm spent.

Don't make me CattyWampas your sass.

So I've had the giggles all day today. It must be that the antibiotics are kicking in and I'm feeling back to my perky self. And the sun was shining today. And I was wearing pink pants. Yes, all these factors and more contributed to me being in a terrific mood. One thing in particular got me tickled, and I just had to share it with you the readers. A friend of mine whom you have read snippets about in the past on here named Maury stopped by my desk today. Don't ask me how the conversation began, but he was telling me all about how there is a method to how he does his hair, even though the finished result is a messy look, but one that was fixed that way very methodically. And then he busts out with,
"but it doesn't really matter, 'cause then these headsets we wear (at work) make it all cattywampused."
Pardon me, what?
I just started to laugh! I had never heard such a word in all my life. At first I thought it was a weird Alabamian thing, but as the day progressed and I kept asking Maury what the word was since I had forgotten it already- (codswalloped? catswallowed?) I found out that more and more people knew this word and could use it in context for me. Apparently it's slang for "disheveled" or "off-kilter."
There's also some kind of mythical feline called a wampas cat which supposedly resides in the hills of Tennessee among other places, so how come I've never heard of this animal or the adjective thereof that had me in stitches all day?
Plus i don't think I'm alone here in thinking that this is an extremely amusing term, and I promise if I ever move anywhere up north I will use the word cattywampas just to amuse the yankees. Oh, how they will love me. Even today, after spending so much time talking to my fellow co-workers who have accents far thicker than mine, did my fellow Nashvillian friend exclaim to me on the phone this afternoon, "you sound like Scarlet O'Hara!"
Guess it just goes to show you can take the wampas cat out of the hills, but you can't take the catywampus out of the cat.

coo coo ah-choo!

Well I'm back from the land of swollen vocal chords and lost voices. I actually had to bite the bullet and take a sick day yesterday even though I wasn't feeling terribly sick- but hey, when you spend your day on the phone, and you can't really talk, it makes for a pretty pointless work day, ya know?

Well Sunday I was still in denial about my illness. After Sunday school and lunch, I went on a wild goose chase of local area Targets to find some throw pillows for my new bedding. At the second Target I decided to suck it up and buy some more cold medicine. Maybe some of you have experienced this lately- apparently there are all these kinds of restrictions on buying the stuff now. So as I was checking out, the girl scanned it and then asked for my date of birth. I kind of looked at her weird, and mustered up the most voulume I could get out of my strained throat and related my date of birth to her, all the while thinking she was crazy. I mean, if you took one look at me, or heard my froggy voice, and didn't realize that I was a person in desperate need of cold medicine, then I don't know who is.

Later I find out that they have begun checking ages on people who buy cold medicine, because so many people are using your run-of-the-mill cold medicine to make Meth. Ok. I'll bite. I'll give you my age, but so what? What would then prevent me from taking my perfectly legally purchased Nyquil and then turning it into an illegal substance? How does checking my birthday prevent any of this?

Also along the lines of colds, there was this interesting article in the Tennessean on Friday. This lady did a study and succintly says, "you are how you sneeze," citing people's personalities based on how people tackle sneezing. It's pretty intersting if you think about it. I am combo of the Sensitive Sneezer and the Be Right Sneezer.

Come along, Jeffrey effrey effrey

yes, it's 3:30 in the morning- I should be sleeping. I seem to be doing a lot of late-night blogging lately... hmmm... well tonight's excuse was an almost 4 hour Jeffrey Steele show at 3rd & Lindsley. A-Mazing. I went with Maury from work and the Penthouse Pets, Emmy Sue & Rhonda Lu. We got lucky and scored an awesome table up front- you would not believe how many people were packed in this tiny hole in the wall to see this singer/songwriter- and thanks to the tireless efforts of E & R, we managed to get 4 chairs to put at our awesome table. So now I'm home and have this thing where I can't just go right to bed after the day's activities- I need to unwind mentally before I can make myself go to sleep- no matter how late it is. So thanks for reading this and allowing me to relax mentally before hitting the hay. Boy that early church service is going to come early tomorrow!
Alright- so JS played my favorite song- Chrome- so I was very excited. Second favorite would have to be Gone since Em and Rhonda and I have little motions we have worked out for all the lyrics. Jeffrey Steele has to be a millionaire with as many hit songs as he has. Jay Demarcus from Rascal Flatts was there tonight and he sang their new single that JS wrote called "What Hurts the Most." Kind of weird for the first single of an album to be a balad, but it's an awesome song and Rascal Flatts can get away with that kind of thing.
Here's what I could have done without: Jonelle Mosely or whatever her name was- she was a frumpy 47 year old woman who thought that she was Janice Joplin. She came up and did 3 songs with the band and if I could put a streaming video of her dancing on That-ain't-right, it would deserve a rightful place. Funniest moment of the night was during a cover of Route 66 that "Janice" was screaming- she finished a verse and indicated to the pianist that it was time for his solo. Well she gestured to him, but he shook his head- it was in fact the guitarist's solo- so she totally called out the wrong musicican. Most people wouldn't notice this sort of thing, but Maury and I caught her mistake immediately and cracked up. Here she was trying to jam and be all cool and instead she got completely shut down.
On second thought, maybe it's not That funny, but after sitting in a cramped smokey bar for 3 hours at this point, we were searching for something to laugh at and wake us up.
And speaking of waking up- I think I'll do the opposite now and crawl into bed. Wow- this is a pretty pointless blog. Thank you to the faithful readers of the Divadomain for sticking with me through the dry spells. I promise I'll have something more interesting to say tomorrow. Point is- Jeffrey Buns-of-Steele is awesome- check him out if you haven't already. That is all.
Good night, and good luck.

Welcome Back, Catters

The Big Blue Nation rejoices today after our boys put up a win against the GA Bulldogs last night. There were some pretty moments (nothin-but-yet jumpers by Patrick Sparks, fast break transitional shots from Rondo) and some not so pretty moments (leaving the GA guys open for 3's in the zone defense) but a win is a win. And it means we head into our home game on Saturday with some momentum.



The UK bench reacts along with Sparks after making a shot that we wish we'd see on a more consistant basis.



My favorite quote from the game came from dad, commenting on the profuse amounts of sweat covering the head coach: "Looks like Tubby's going to need to be in the tubby after this game."

Second favorite quote came from Jay Bilas at ESPN. He said that UK's mental problems have stemmed from them all watching Brokeback Mountain and crying together.

The Dreaded New Year's Resolutions

Yes, it's cliche. And you know you thought you were going to get away with not having a typical New Years Resolutions post on here, but like Mike says, the first person you lie to is yourself. So I'm posting these up for the world to see, to hold myself accountable.

Amanda's Goals for 2006:

1. Move to New York. If I don't do it now, while I'm young and unattatched, I never will. This has been put off till at least the spring while Mom and Dad get the whole moving thing under way, and gives me more time to prepare (ie, get head shots taken, prepare some standard monologues & songs, take more dance classes).

2. Which leads me to number 2: Have a meaningful relationship with a guy. I'm tired of being single. I have a wonderful group of girl friends, and no, I don't necessarily Need to be dating anyone, but it would be nice for someone to show interest in me, and me in them, for more than a week or two. I think the whole moving to New York thing will help this because I've lived in Nashville all my life (minus those 4 years in college) and haven't had any luck here. And we all know I'm all about the New York Italian men. Who are Christians. And can sing. And like sports. And fit the Fatty-McFunny body-type. Obviously I don't have much control over this one- but if the right guy shows up, I'll be ready.

3. Lose weight. And keep it off. Yes, it's an every year struggle for all of us. I am trying to be more consistent in my Pilates, avoid fried foods and cokes, and eat more vegetables. Guys, don't bother in telling your girl that she doesn't need to lose weight. You're fighting a losing battle because we always think that we need to.

4. Daily time in the scripture. I'll be honest. This has been such a struggle for me. I'll do well for a week, and then skip 2 weeks altogether. And it's not because I don't think about doing it- I just put it off. Why is spending time with my Savior so hard to "fit" into my schedule? This is a question that God is helping me answer, and I know that knowing His Word is an integral part in deepening my relationship with Him.

5. Learn to play the guitar. This should be an easy one for me, but I'm lazy so I tend to self-defeat before I ever attempt a task.

6. Along those same lines, Write a song. Again, I am so afraid of failing and writing something cliche that I never get any further than jotting down song ideas.

7. Pray for people when I say I'm going to. I'm not bad about this, but there's always room for improvement. I guess I want to deepen my prayer life in general, so I want to spend more time praying for those people and situations that I've committed to pray for, and not just send up a one sentence prayer on the fly.

8. Learn how to listen better so that I'll hear when God is speaking to me. Or rather, learn to be still and listen for His voice rather than talking a mile a minute in communication with Him. I don't know about you, but even when I'm quiet, my inner monologue never shuts up. No wonder I rarely hear God speaking to me when I pray!

9. Brush up on my German. My daily calendar at work with German words and phrases is helping with this, but it's another one of those goals that always gets pushed to the wayside. You never know when you're going to have to say, "That was a moving speech." That's today's phrase. "Das war eine bewegende Rede."

10. Create a budget and stick to it. Slowly but surely I am paying off school loans and those "emergency" purchases I put on my Mastercard before I knew or cared what credit card debt was. I need to save more, and learn how to gauge my spending habits to learn how to sacrifice and save for the things I want. New York City ain't cheap, so I need to save every penny I can.

Thath it. Thath All. Some admirable goals. Some necessary ones. Some frivolous. Some because I'm OCD and wanted an Even 10 for the list. I'm sure I could have thought of more, but this is a nice place to start for 2006. 40 is the new 30 I'm told, so I still have my entire life ahead of me.

If any of you are brave and/or narcissistic and want to post a few of your own, we can hold one another accountable.

white MLK. it does a body good

So I told this story to the girls last night while we were watching Grey's Anatomy at the Sorority House (aka Lisa & Sarah's apt) and they got a kick out of this story. I can't remember if I blogged about this last year or not, but since the majority of you
a) won't remember if I did
b) weren't reading the blog then
c) care if i repeat a good story
so here's one that still makes my parents laugh.

When I was in kindergarten I colored a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. white. As in, blonde hair, blue eyes, and apricot crayola-hued skin. I'm sure we were learning about MLK during black history month, and at that time in my life as a 5 year old, I really didn't know that many black people. So I colored him white. If I had a scanner here at work that I could use I would have let you all share a laugh at my expense, because my parents definitely saved that fine piece of artwork.

So anyways. For all you losers who actually get this holiday off and don't have to work, I'm calling you at 6:30 am to make sure you're up anyways. You need to get a nice jump start to that day off! I however will back at the good ole' BBMPI, trying to recover my mojo. (Maybe a Mojito would work to do this. They're totally not the same thing, but I've heard that having a drink calms your nerves. I've heard that.)

Have a good one kids. Remember the Golden Globes are on tonight. I'll be curious to see
a) what the stars are wearing (PLEEAZE tell me we're over the fake orange tans already!)
b) how fares the gay cowboy movie. I didn't see most of the movies nominated yet, and Brokeback Mountain I just didn't see as being that groundbreaking or great of a movie. If someone thinks otherwise and wants to challenge my opinion, feel free. And as much as I don't like Russell Crowe as a person, I'm pulling for him to win best actor for Cinderella Man. if you didn't catch this one in the theaters, rent it, because it was one of my faves from the year.

Ok- I'm really goin' this time. Pride and Prejudice is calling my name! Happy Monday.

I wish I knew how to quit incorporating this movie quote into my conversations

So it's time you share in the catch phrase from the Diva Convention 2006. You might wonder to yourself, self, why do I care what Bradley, Ari, and Conley said every chance they got during Conley's visit to Nashvegas? Well I'll tell you. You will care if you have any interest in the upcoming Golden Globes. Intrigued? Then read further.

Conley's stay in Nashville over New Year's and the first few days of this new year were spent leisurely and with no agenda of places we had to be. In fact, on New Year's day we slept late, ate a fantastic lunch prepared by Momma B (complete with black eyed peas and cabbage to bring luck and wealth in the new year) (I ate a ton of these dishes just to be sure), and then spent the rest of the day laying on my bed watching the extended versions of first and second Lord of the Rings. Seriously. We did nothing. And for my usual type A personality that can't stand to be unproductive for that long, it was wonderful. So we're watching Frodo and the others make the long journey with the ring, and eventually Conley began making jokes about how the Hobbits' longing towards one another could be perceived as being very homoerotic. I got mad at her for ruining the movies for me, but then it began to get humorous as we both inserted our own dialogue into the films. Finally at one point, I said, mimicking Sam, "I wish I knew how to quit you, Mr. Frodo!"

This quote comes from Brokeback Mountain, aka The Gay Cowboy movie. Neither of us had seen the film, but this line is part of the preview for the movie. Even funnier was the, "I wish I knew how to quit you, Samwisegamgee." And this, you see, became the catch phrase for the weekend. (And when you say the quote, you have to use a husky, Jake Gyllenhaal-esque voice. This makes the reference funnier.) Eventually, curiosity got the best of us, so Conley, Ari, Mom, and myself ventured to Green Hills, the only theater in Nashville showing this movie, to see Brokeback Mountain and find out what all the fuss was about. Plus we had to find out if Jake ever figured out how to "quit" Heath Ledger.

The theater was so packed we had to sit on the very front row and crane our necks uncomfortably all to watch a couple of sheep herders in wranglers realize their love for one another and mask it in society. Conley, Ari, and I sat there with baited breath (that was one I got right in the grammar quiz!), waiting for our line to be said. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the highlight of the film for us. We all came out of there pretty apathetic about what is supposed to be such a controversial movie.

Now the Hollywood Foreign Press has honored Brokeback Mountain with a leading 7 nominations for the upcoming Golden Globes. Are you kidding me? was my exact thought when I read that today. I mean, I had heard all the hype- that's why I went and saw the movie to begin with, but after seeing it, I didn't believe the hype would actually come to fruition. I wish I knew how to quit trying to predict you, Hollywood Foreign Press!

Missing Mojo

So My Mojo has gone missing- has anybody seen it?

We're back from Christmas break at work and I can't sell a choral club to save my life. Without getting into my sales pitch to explain what a choral club is, trust me when I say that any church who orders music from us needs to be on one of these to get discounts on their music. The past several months I have been selling the heck out of them, and was top selling club rep for the month of December. This not said to be boastful, but rather to emphasize my bewilderment as to why now, in January, a month when churches ARE buying music (as opposed to the slow month of December), I cannot sell a club to save my life!

The highlight of my morning was when I pitched a club to a church who called in to order some kids music, and instead of joining (which, honest to goodness, would have Saved them money), after putting me on hold, they canceled the whole order altogether!!

So in short, I've lost my mojo.

Products that really work

It's occurring to me now that maybe that coffee I drank at the Bluebird, and the Full Throttle energy drink that i was sipping before and after the concert just may have worked after all.

Really, Clark?

So after catching a great show at the Bluebird tonight, I came home to watch the UK-Vandy game that I had taped. Not anything impressive to watch, considering it was a home game for us, our SEC season opener, and one of our better players' first game back from his year long suspension- plus it was vanderbilt- I mean, as a Nashvillian I do feel some loyalty towards them, but it's usually laughable to think that they would ever been Kentucky in Rupp arena. But that's exactly what happened tonight, and here I sit in my bedroom, stunned, my eyes stinging from need of sleep, as I dump all my frustration on you, the eager readers who remind me every other day about my lack of consistency blogging. So where do we go from here? Vanderbilt beat us at home? "Reeeaally, Clark?"

You may have noticed that this year's season of UK basketball opened without fanfare here on the blog, and now you begin to see why. Not because I am a disloyal fan, but because I am as baffled as the next gal who bleeds Blue, and I know when my bragging rights have been taken away. If the season continues in the same trend, I will continue to watch the games like a person watches a car wreck happening- you know you shouldn't look, but for some reason morbid curiosity can't force you to pull your eyes away, and so you watch the events unfold in horror.

And PS, can I also just say that adding to my frustration was that the tape ran out with 3 minutes to go, so I had to hear the bad news on an ESPN recap that I didn't have to wait too long to find. An upset like this will be all over the sports pages tomorrow. The media will eat this up like they would if TO were making some other stupid remark about his salary woes.

Anyways, a girl's gotta get her beauty rest, so this is your editor and CEO of the divadomain, signing out.

A Quiz for the Grammarphiles

bbc moldova team

My dear friend Emily left again for Moldova on Wednesday. She'll be there through January 14th, so if you want to keep tabs on her, check the sweet sleep blog for regular updates. I watched the transformation take place in Emily after her first trip to this tiny European country this summer- anyone who has ever gone on a mission trip will understand- there is something powerfully spiritual that happens to a person when you physically uproot yourself to go and serve the Lord. I look forward to reading about the team's blessings and challenges that they will meet these next few days, and seeing the fruit from their labor long after the team has left the 2 orphanages in Chisinau and Falesti. Keep them all in your prayers while they are there.

Alright already!

So here we are, trucking along through 2006 and the divadomain has been sadly dormant since before Christmas. So sue me. I was enjoying time with friends and family and wasn't parked in front of a computer like I normally am- and I was out living those blogworthy moments that I will now try and find the time and space to write about- or about which to write, if you're being a grammar Nazi. (we know you're out there, Mark Kelly Hall!!!)

My family spent Christmas here in town. Sarah and I trekked out to Hendersonville for Mary Anna's annual family Christmas Eve brunch, which I hope will become an annual event for me to attend (Can we say cheese grits? Mmmmm!). Later that day we went to the BBC Christmas Eve service, followed by our own family traditions, including watching Christmas Vacation.

Christmas morning we went to church (after all that controversy over whether or not to hold services Christmas day, let me just tell you, the sanctuary was Packed.) and then opened presents once we got home. It made Christmas last longer in the day though, so although having Christmas fall on a Sunday made things different, it was still nice and relaxing.

After a quick trip to Indiana (a TAR blog is on its way from this trip), and celebrated Mom and Dad's 32nd wedding anniversary, it was time to prepare for New year's.

One of the original DIVAS, Conley, came into town, and so I threw a party in her honor! (well, really it was a new year's eve party- but I told Conley it was all for her! Actually, I told Scottie that it was a birthday party for HER too!) We had a random assortment of people, but had a great time mingling, eating, and what else- Dancing!!












One random yet fun anecdote from the party was that 8 minutes before midnight these 4 guys (and I use this term loosely since they were practically in diapers) show up at my back door and began to peer inside. I looked around and assessed that no one knew who they were nor were expecting them, so I poked my head out to talk to them. Long story short, they were supposedly looking for a particular party and were obviously at the wrong house- but a few of them recognized Tadd from when he taught at Brentwood high. One kid said, "yeah, I remember you- you gave me ISS twice!" You all go to Brentwood high I asked, feeling rather old. "went," they corrected, "we graduated in 2004." Wow. Yeah people, we're that old.





Yeeeaahh... about that... I have NO idea what Jess was doing here in this "candid" pose!










Emily & I demonstrating our best Zoolander Blue Steele looks!

I geisha knew this was coming...

Taddly and I kept our annual Christmas tradition of eating at TGI Friday's and attempted to add another borrowed (read: stolen) ornament to our Christmas trees. Unfortunately, the restaurant no longer has a tree- maybe because they had no more ornaments for it? So we just swapped our previously-taken TGI Friday's ornaments this year. (I laugh every year I take the green or white (depending on whose year it is to have which color) ball out of my box of ornaments!)

After a conversation full of laughter, Tadd and I met up with his family at the movie theater, MA joined us as well, and we all went to see a sneak preview of Memoirs of a Geisha. I have not yet read the book, but I thought the film was beautifully shot, had a great story to tell, and kept me engaged the entire time. It just geisha right here. But then I geisha knew that was coming! Tadd kept me laughing the entire time with all his sake jokes. The worst of them was after one character stole something important from the main character, and Tadd leaned over to me and said, "what did she take? Her memoirs?"

Afterwards I found a great TAR moment (see the blog) and actually had my camera there to catch the moment for all to enjoy. When you Win a Date with Tadd Himelrick, the fun never ends.

Favorite Least-Favorite Christmas Songs

I finally heard my favorite least-favorite Christmas song today- Paul McCartney's Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime. Normally I would say the Brit could do no wrong (although Ebony & Ivory is questionable as well) but the cheesy synthesizer is enough for me to simply declare this the worst Christmas song. A close second would be the vocally-grating Wilson Phillips' Hey Santa. You can hear this one on the overhead music at the mall or at a Brentwood Chic-Fil-A if your name is Tadd.

The one favorite-favorite I haven't heard this year is (jiggity jig- hee haw hee haw it's) Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey. Is 98 still playing this one this year? Due to my current living situation and hence shortened commute to work in the morning, I have missed this catchy little tune on the radio.

One that I can't decide if it is favorite-favorite or favorite least-favorite is I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. It's cute but gets stuck in your head.

Any opinions on these or other beloved or be-hated Christmas songs?

Recapping the 2nd Annual Penthouse Holiday Extravaganza

The tradition continues at the Penthouse apartment! We are such busy women that we could find neither an afternoon nor an evening
during the Christmas season to have our Christmas get-together, so we opted instead for the practical yet classy brunch.

So Saturday morning we set our alarms (Ari: I didn't know 9am existed on Saturdays), got all domestic and baked, and ventured out into the sunshine for some grub & gab time. If I am counting correctly, there were 16 fantastic ladies crammed into the 3-bedroom bachelorette pad, and we had way more food than we could ever dream of consuming. (We tried anyways though!)

There was a small caffeine crisis, when one girl (who shall remain nameless to protect her identity) brought a wonderfully-smelling bag of coffee beans for all the java-loving guests, of which she was not. Yes, you read that correctly. She brought beans, that were not yet ground into coffee! How was she to know though, a non-coffee drinker herself? So I proceeded to grab the bag and ran into a nearby Kroger with a desperate look on my face as I asked the first employee I could find, "where's your coffee grinder??" holding up the bag of beans as proof of my crisis.

All I could think was, we need to get this coffee brewing- and FAST. Time was ticking away, and the caffeine headaches would be plaguing people by now. You don't want to be in a small confined space with several coffee drinkers who haven't had their sweet morning nectar. Plus we hadn't eaten yet, despite the scents of baking breakfast foods wafting through the apartment. Yes, I decided. The natives were definitely restless. We needed that coffee ASAP.

Minutes later, crisis averted, the coffee was brewed, and food and conversations were abounding. We managed to squeeze everyone together for a group photo, got one pic of the girls in my small group Bible study, and finally a festive shot of the "Ladies in Red." It was a wonderful time of food and fellowship, and as always, we managed to come out with yet another Lana-ism ("I don't send Christmas cards, I just receive them") and have ideas in the works for what is sure to be a New York Times Best-Seller, Life According to Lana.

Merry Christmas from the girls and the friends of the girls in #720!!!

Will the Real UT please stand up?

As a native Tennessean, and for anyone east of the Mississippi (pronounced: Mis-sippi) River, UT means the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Now I've heard tall tales that there are those persons living out west of the Mighty Mississip' who refer to UT as the University of Texas. Those Texans are an odd bunch aren't they? I work with several of them, and at one point, was surrounded on all sides by native Texans. Those were some long months. It took a lot of tolerance on my part... and... well...it was such a huge sacrifice on my part to put up with their lonestar-mania...

But look who's laughing now? In lieu of having a horrible football season, UT (that's Tennessee, by the way) has a new b-ball coach and is putting the smack down to the poser UT and their gross burnt-orange jerseys. hmmph.

Monday Morning Musings

Oh Joy, oh Rapture! Grey's Anatomy came on after all last night! Granted, it wasn't a new episode, but it was one I hadn't seen. Nothing gets me pumped up for the work week like Patrick Dempsey et all. in scrubs!

I've been pretty quiet on here about my beloved Cats so far this season. Up until now there weren't many good things to say about them, and if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all! Well, the Wildcats showed up to play on Saturday and kicked Louisville's tail all the way back to the almost-Indiana border. (How do you pronounce the capital of Kentucky anyways? Is it Loo-UH-ville or Loo-EE-ville?) With Morris back in time for SEC play, and Rondo starting to lead the team on the court, the season may just start to get entertaining.


And finally, this just made my Monday morning! Christmas will be here soon- Hugs to everyone!

Ye Olde Christmas Traditions

Keeping in the spirit of Emily's top 5 for the day, I thought I'd share a few more of our Bradley Christmas traditions!

*taking a family Christmas picture in the den after attending service on Christmas Eve

*fighting with Laura over who's day it is to put the piece up on the Christmas countdown calendar (yes, we still fight over who got to "do" Christmas last year)

*dad hiding the pickle ornament on the Christmas tree- whoever finds it gets a special present

*Joe Diffie's Mr. Christmas album, BHS Christmas choir cd, and Celine Dion's Christmas cd

*two words: Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation

***feel free to share your own family traditons!!***

Amazing Amanda

Putting aside all narcisistic beliefs about myself, this toy is selling out like vegetables at a vegetarian convention!! Aside from her name, notice that she has blonde hair, blue eyes, and is dressed in the color pink to boot! (Looks we may have a doll-designer-stalker on our hand, folks) Thought I'd lighten the mood a little on your favorite pink page and let you sneak a peak at a doll created to be as amazing as the real thing. But if you want it, here it is, come and get it- but you better hurry cause she's goin' fast!

Merry Politically Correct Holiday

In case you haven't noticed this Christmas season, retailers everywhere are doing their darndest to keep everything PC by not using the word Christmas in any of their sale ads or commercials.

Em and I were discussing Ari's Best Buy gift card debacle the other day, and Emily pointed out that for some reason, putting a star of David and menorah on a Chanukah card isn't considered offensive, but we would never expect to see a cross or a nativity scene on a Christmas store gift card- instead there are pictures of presents and Christmas trees (or should I say holiday trees?).

Even some local churches have canceled their morning worship services because Christmas falls on a Sunday this year. (This Really makes me mad, and I could write essays on the topic.)Heaven forbid Christ's birth should get in the way of us enjoying a lazy morning in our pajamas opening gifts we don't need or sometimes want.

It's no wonder we all get sucked into the buy-crap-we-don't-need mentality, and rush around in a hurry to get everything done, wondering why the holidays are such hectic, stressful times. I charge that it's time to put the Christ back in Christmas. And I know we all say we need to do that, but this year, really do it.

Keep it mind when you're fighting someone for a parking place atthe mall, or waiting for the slow person in front of you to check out, or sighing when you look at your list of things to do between now and the 25th. I believe God loves for his people to celebrate the birth of His son, and he enjoys the fact that we commune as families to do this. It is good that we remember the gift He gave by giving gifts to others, but let it all be a time of joy rather than a mad-dash all over town to shop for the person who is impossible to shop for.

Even if the world only recognizes it as a holiday, you can still treat it like it's Christmas.

Time to party!!

Call me cliche' but Christmas is my favorite holiday. While I love it for the spiritual reason behind it- the amazing gift of God sending his son to take on human form and live the exemplary perfect life, I love it for many other reasons too. One, all the breaktaking Christmas lights. Two, all the yummy food you get to eat without feeling guilty ("It's the holidays," I say to myself. "You should enjoy yourself now and worry about those extra cookies and eggnog in January!") And the third reason I love Christmas- the Christmas parties (which again, incorportaes the eating of the good food).

Saturday was our Sunday school class party, which on one hand, gets more fun every year, because you know more people, but on the other hand, you secretly ask yourself, I wonder how many more years of Single Focus Christmas parties I'm going to have to go to? (Hey, I'm just being honest here- I know you all think the same thing!). Really though, it had all the makings of a good party: good food (are we sensing a trend here?), fun people, and a house full of Beetlejuice decorum! Lana and MA took the liberty of taking all sorts of fun pictures around the house to document the evening for posterity.

Today is our Christmas party here at work. They're taking us to see The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe at the Franklin cinema, and then feeding us lunch back at the office. There was rumor that they might let us go early after that, but I'm not getting my hopes up. And of course Dad Gum it's Christmas is still going strong! This morning we have homemade biscuits and breakfast casserole- it's enough to make anyone have a small foodgasm.

Thursday night's big shindig is taking place at Winn's (Who? What?). His holiday parties are legendary and always boast his special seasonal eggnog. This should be a reunion of old BHS alumns and meeting and mingling with various Nashvillians, and of course- the consuming of holiday tasty treats!

Finally, rounding out the week of parties, Saturday morning marks our Second Annual Penthouse Holiday Extravaganza. We're doing a brunch this year because all of my friends' schedules are so crazy that we couldn't find a lunch or dinner date anywhere during the Christmas season that we could all attend. So far we have 13 or 14 gals rsvp'ed to partake in the all-girls get-together.

Enjoy your own week of holiday festivities! Eat whatever you want, and then let's all meet up in January to work off those extra treats. :o)

Happy Chrismakuh?!

So Ari's boss is a bit of a tool. He treats her like his personal secretary (read: Slave) which is not at all what she signed on for when she took the job. One of Ari's special duties in this position is to take care of purchasing holiday gift cards to put in the Christmas cards that her company hands out. To make a long story short, her experience last year dealing with Best Buy to get these aforementioned gift cards was such a nightmare (in that she made 3 trips to the store and made several more phone calls during the entire process) and still came out empty handed, that they ended up getting gift cards from Wal-mart instead.

This year, as in, 3 days ago, before today when the gift cards were to be handed out, her boss sends her to Best Buy once again to purchase them. "Even after what happened last year?" she asked incredulously. The boss man and his wife decided that Best Buy was essentially a classier place than Walmart, and was dead set on this decision. Well, I don't believe in karma, but this is pretty funny...

Ari specified on the phone with the Best Buy manager that these cards were for Christmas presents. Her company is a Christian company, with Christ-loving employees and sales reps- but 10 of them are getting gift cards with the star of David and a menorah on them!

Dad Gum, it's St. Nick's Day!!!

So here at work for this week and next, we have what Mark Box fondly calls an "eateromma." That's right Brentwood Benson employees, Dad Gum, It's Christmas!!

People sign up to bring food everyday and we snack on homemade goodies throughout the work day. (Really, it's just an excuse for Mark to say the words "dad gum" even more than he normally would.) And miraculously, the words "dad gum" have slipped into my vocabulary too- it's a great expression- it can function as a modifier- It was dad gum freezing this morning- or it can function as an exasperated exclamation, as in, Dad Gum! I can't believe Kentucky lost to UNC in Rupp arena.

And today my friends, is a double whammy. Not only are we in the height of Dad Gum It's Christmas, but today also happens to be St. Nick's Day. Any roommate I've ever lived with has had the privilege of celebrating this quirky holiday honoring St. Nicholas- a real-life Santa Clause way back in the middle ages where every catholic male could easily aspire to sainthood. We fill each other's stockings every December 6th, and then again on Christmas morning. (You have stockings hanging there- you might as well use them twice a season at least.) Even the dogs join in on the fun. They learn to sniff the red socks periodically to see if any treats may befall, and then other times, they sniff around in my closet and find their St. Nick's treats early and eat them in my bedroom, leaving plastic wrappers in pieces strewn about the room. I'm just saying. Hypothetically something like this could happen.

Laura Lu, we missed you this morning- it was weird doing stockings without you.

Happy Dad Gum St. Nick's Day!!!

State Champs!!!

4 years after the school opened its doors and in just 3 years of varsity football, the Ravenwood Raptors have captured the most coveted award in all high school sports- the Region 5-A State Football Championship trophey. For anyone who didn't know who Ravenwood was before this season, they do now. Congrats to the guys and to the coaches and staff- particuarly the RHS athletic secretary that worked so hard to make this thing happen!