The 11th annual 4th of July Bash

Who knew that back in 1996 we would still be hosting our legendary annual 4th of July parties at the Bradley Beach & Resort 10 years later? This truly was the last one at Devens Dr. since the house is currently on the market, but we lived it up and enjoyed ourselves anyways. The Locusts, as we fondly refer to our family because we always come in swarms, arrived Friday night. The house is perfect for parties such as these. We pull up chairs in a circle on the patio and sit around talking, drinking, and laughing late into the night. 21 of us in all slept in all corners of the house. Papa stayed inside watching TV, coming outside long enough to smoke his cigars.


cousins Braden & Nicole- the next generation of cousin friends. 2nd cousins or 1st cousins once-removed? We're not really sure. My uncle said that in Kentucky if you can't count that high then they must be legal!


This is most of us sitting around the pool enjoying the Tennessee sunshine.



I wish I could think of some funny stories to tell on here. Let's see- I didn't go to the Kenny Chesney concert. I was having too much fun hanging out with everyone at the house, so it looks like I'll have to catch him the next time he's close by. In fact, I crashed early on Friday night dragging myself to bed by 11:30, leaving everyone else up, and then on Saturday after being out in the sun all day and eating dinner, I went inside to take what ended up being a 4 hour nap! Mom woke me up at 11:30 to go to bed and instead I got back up and hung out with Ryan, Robin, Eric, and Mark till 2am. Of course there are always the stories to be told and re-told every year- Kelly falling into the pool, Grandma consuming too much salt and swelling up like a beachball, my cousin Mark who was the reason we started having these annual parties to begin with. Most of them are hysterical tales and never lose impact after hearing them for years on end. Most of them also involve my Grandma, whom we all miss, so it is good to laugh and remember her. I know this may have been the last 4th of July party at Chateau Bradley, but I hope we can continue to get together in the years to come wherever we may land.

a day of independence

The most oft quoted phrase of the day: Paulette in Legally Blonde 2: "You look like the 4th of July... makes me want a hot dog real bad." And hot dogs we did have- along with hamburgers, baked beans, ramen noodle salad, potatoes, and a fruit pizza for desert!

We gals lounged by the pool, had a cookout at Chateau Bradley, and then went downtown for some spectacular fireworks.

My idea of a perfect day's activity



Lana demonstrates the proper way to eat a cheesy pouf










Always entertaining us with her antics, I give you the one, the only, Scottie Too Hottie


Rhonda Lu & MA make a wave pool

The Procrastinator's Mantra

As I was cleaning out an expandable file folder recently I came across an article I had saved about procrastinating. I don't remember how long I've had it, or who gave it to me. I couldn't even remember if I had read it before. So I did what any good procrastinator would do. I pulled it out of the old filing folder and put it in a new folder, saving it to read another day.

Boys, Baseball, & Beer

As a legal adult, last night was my first experience with Thirsty Thursdays at the Sounds game. Me, Lana, Rhonda, and Sarah met up after work and went down to Greer Stadium- yes, you heard me right, 4 cute girls, watching baseball, and drinking beer- and we’re all still single?! What’s that all about? (Well, technically one’s off the market) I had forgotten to apply my lucky Creamy Coconut lotion, but I did not let that deter me from scoping out the groups of men at the ballpark. And oh my, were there boys everywhere! Even before we walked into the ballpark 2 men approached us and offered us free tickets on the 2nd row behind home plate! And there was no catch- they didn’t want money for them, they just had extra tickets, so we said thank you and graciously accepted them. What luck! Once inside, the 4 of us grabbed a few chairs and sat in the sun close to the beer vendors and took advantage of their Thirsty Thursday drink specials for awhile before the game began. It was a great spot to get some sun and people-watch. We were still sitting there when the national anthem began, so after silencing Lana during the solemn moment, Sarah put her right hand (which was holding her beverage) over her heart, and she proceeded to tilt her head down and her cup up just enough so that she could reverently sip her beer during the song. Classic!

Next on the agenda was food, so we got our hot dog fixes. While at the condiment stand with Sarah, the new Shakira song came on and we started singing along. Much to our surprise, the strange man standing next to us doctoring up his hamburger also began to sing along. Then he proceeded to tell us how he met Shakira once, and went on and on about her until we walked away trying not to laugh. You can meet some interesting people at the condiment stand.

Finally 3 innings into the game we made our way to our amazing, free 2nd row seats behind the plate. Conveniently enough we had a great view of the Sounds dugout, the batters and catchers (and I don’t even know ‘er) and best of all, the hot, hot umpire. We easily entertained ourselves those around us with our antics of wearing our sunglasses at night, singing all the songs that came on, and commenting on the attractiveness of each player that came up to bat. (Don’t be jealous Lana, that Krynzel smiled at me!)

Boys, Baseball, and Beer- does it get any better? It’s a perfect symbiotic relationship between the 3; you can’t have baseball without boys, and the beer just makes everything better.

Fancy meeting You here!

I am convinced the more I study about spiritual warfare that it is happening around us all the time; it’s just that most of the time we fail to recognize it as such. We blame things on luck, circumstances out of our control, or chalk it up to life not being fair and not going our way sometimes. Conversely, I am convinced that God blesses us more abundantly than we ever give him credit for. Good fortune does not simply come our way. It is God pouring out big and small blessings to get us through the day. Most of the time, I don’t notice them. I arrogantly think good things come my way because I deserved or earned them. Yesterday though, I had one of those cool “God Moments” where I couldn’t deny that the Lord had blessed me indeed in bringing a friend to me, and I to her, in a specific time and place when we needed it.

I had had a rough day at work, and as I was leaving yesterday afternoon I called up my good friend Mary Anna, who, as God would have it, had also just gotten into her car. It was perfect timing for us to talk and gripe about our days while we drove! She was on her way home from running and errand and I was on my way to run one. We were having a great talk, and so as I got out of my car, I lingered on the sidewalk outside the store I was about to go in, so as not to hash out my personal life in a public arena. I had been standing outside the local business establishment for several minutes when all of a sudden on the other end of the phone I heard MA interrupt herself mid-thought and say, “wait a minute, is that You?!” The next thing I knew, I was staring in disbelief at my friend who had pulled up right next to where I was standing. She was taking a short cut through the shopping center to get gas, and had I stayed in my car, or gone into the store, we would have completely missed one another!

I proceeded to hang up my phone, and hop into her car where she and I talked for another hour and a half, that is, after we got through giggling at how funny it was that we ran into each other randomly! It was as if God knew we each needed encouragement from the other, and ordained us to have that conversation in person. I am so grateful to have friends like that, where time flies when we talk, and we understand what the other is going through. So often I get troubled by all the Have-nots in my life, that I forget all of the Haves, and I miss God’s blessings completely. I’m just glad that this day I was looking up!

Legal Sorostitution

Look out Louisville, the DZ's are out on the town!

This past weekend I drove up to Louisville (pronounced LOO-uh-vl) to reunite with 3 of my college sorority sisters. Colleen has become all Susie Homemaker on us and hosted us at her super-nice, big-girl house (suddenly being an accountant didn't seem all that bad!). I was first to arrive around 9:30 pm EST, so Colleen and I played catch up on our lives, and swapped the latest gossip on the goings-on of our fellow Delta Zetas. Holt finally rolled in around midnight that night, and Stephanie arrived the next morning around noon. We had an awesome weekend telling old stories on each other and reminding ourselves of the hilarious things that happened to us whiloe we lived in the DZ house together (Colleen as the Don of the DZ MOB, Stephanie's 21st birthday antics, Holt taking her pants off in the house kitchen, and me almost getting hit by a bus before our fall formal). Mary Anna, I brought my pink friendship journal that you gave me and made each of them fill it out, so that helped to jog our memories of all our funny stories!

Saturday was spent lying by the pool, grabbing lunch at this cute sandwich place called the Cheddar Box where Colleen used to work, got some ice cream, and then went downtown to 4th Street after a late dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. I wish Nashville had something similar to 4th street- it's a cluster of restaurants and bars and the street is blocked off, so it's like one big pedestrian-friendly bar district. They have a piano bar, a pool hall/bowling alley, a dance club, a beach-themed bar, a Maker's Mark Lounge, and several others. And of course, they have their token country bar, which is where we Kentucky girls ended up. Call it irony that the Nashvillian drives all the way up to Lousiville to visit a country bar, I suppose. Although this place is a total fraud when compared to the Lo-Bro classics like Tootsies and Roberts, so I didn't really feel like I was cheating on Nashville per-say.

Camera in hand, we pretended like we were back in college and closed the bar down, getting home close to 5am! I hope we can continue to make the effort to get together. Who else can I entertain by singing all my old Delta Zeta songs?


Hey, ironing is hard work! You need to have refreshments close-by! (typical Holt)








Wolfinbarger finishes filling out the "Turtle Talk" journal










Holt and Colleen showing off their snazzy armbands









Delta Zeta Lamps are still burning; Amanda, Colleen, Wolfinbarger (Stephanie), & (Amanda) Holt

Product review: Creamy Coconut lotion

While I normally leave the fashion and beauty advice up to the gals at Las Fashionistas and the Beauty Addict, I simply could not refrain from sharing my latest find at Bath & Body Works. I went to their huge summer sale that they were having to stock up on my coconut lime verbena body lotion and to see what other goodies I could snatch up as well. While I did exercise some amount of self-control and refrained from buying a hot pink rubber ducky (what in the heck would I have done with it, even though it was really cute?), I did get some citrus basil antibacterial soap for the kitchen, and a small tube of the antibacterial hand lotion in the same scent for my drawer at work. To round it out and make it an even three to take advantage of the sale (3 products for $9), I grabbed another antibacterial hand lotion in a scent I had never before tried; Creamy Coconut. To be honest, I bought it on faith because I didn't even smell the lotion before I purchased it! I thought, it's coconut. I love coconut, so I can't go wrong. Well let me tell you, I ended up running back to B&BW last week to purchase the body lotion in Creamy Coconut because it was so intoxicating!

Ladies, I can promise the men will flock to you if you have on this scent. I cannot tell you how many of my male coworkers have come by my desk and gone on and on about how good I smell since I've started wearing it! You will have dates in no time, I guarantee! Why, just last night while out at a bar in Louisville I had an attractive dance partner for the evening and I am convinced it was the Creamy Coconut lotion that drew him in!

Men, go out and buy a bottle of this for the lady in your life- you will certainly not regret it. (Be sure to hurry while sales are still going on!)

And just when you thought Bath & Body Works was so 8th grade and all sun-ripened raspberry on you, they go ahead and come up with another home run in their summery scent department. This DIVA gives the Creamy Coconut products a big 2 thumbs up

new 'dos

Me and Heather's new haircuts, thanks to Mr. Derrick Deering. I love this guy- if you're a Nashvillian looking for a cut and color, look no further. He's reasonably priced, flexible with after-work-hour schedules, and absolutely hysterical!

I'm still trying to decide how I feel about this cut though- I had originally wanted layers in the front and Derrick talked me out it- who knows- maybe I'm just mourning the loss of my 4 inches of hair that i saw topple to the ground! I'm open to affirming words and opinions seeing as how it's going to take quite a while for me to grow my hair back out.

What's a Farger?

As promised, here's a quick shout-out to my wonderful dad and the day devoted to him!

I was part of the vocal team that morning at church so it was cool being able to sing for him for father's day. After church the fam came to the ballpark to watch Team Kairos play softball. We unfortunately lost and I seemed to sink further into my hitting slump that's been going on the last few games ( I know, I know dad- I'm not snapping my wrists!). After the game we congregated in the living room to open father's day presents. Seriously- the only time this room ever gets used is when we are opening presents for a birthday or mother's or father's day. The rest of the year this room is completely useless. But I digress. You can see here how thrilled the dogs were to be a part of the celebration. They got dad a book on the Beatles' music engineer detailing all the cool ways he got different sounds onto their records.








And here's the proof in photo format that we are all related- without realizing it all 3 of us were sitting on the couch like this so mom made us take a picture! I proceeded to fall asleep on the couch in my sweaty softball clothes for 2 hours while the others got things done around the house. Oopsy. Laura woke me up in time to get dressed for the Sounds game that we were taking dad to. The game got rained out but not before we drove down there and got soaking wet. Of Course. So we came home, changed, and took dad to the Catfish House where I enjoyed a huge dinner of Catfish, Scallops, and shrimp. LOL

It's that time again

Time to see a recap of the weekend in pictures!

There are no photos available from Friday night's brownie-margarita-queso-movie extravaganza, but 8 or so of us piled into the Penthouse and ate junk food, had a dance party in the kitchen (why is it that these always occur in the kitchen anyways?) and had a hilarious conversation about the stupid things that guys say. Sorry fellas, while I hate to generalize about your gender as a whole, some of the pick-up lines you all come up with are just laughable.

Lana actually had a guy say to her, "you seem like you're the kind of girl that it takes a lot to impress." And then in the next breath, "but if you wanted to have sex with me tonight I wouldn't lose respect for you." "Thanks for the permission to sleep with you, but no thanks," was her general response after she got over the initial shock that the guy had actually just said that to her!

We watched the oft-quoted-movie in our circle of friends, SHAG, and then most of us fell asleep while watching Zoolander, movie number two that night.

Saturday night I went downtown with Beth/Steph and her friend Rachel who was in town visiting. Laura was over at the house, so she and I both got ready together- she even let me do her eye makeup for her- eyeliner and all- this is usually a source for debate when putting on makeup. She's not an eyeliner fan, and I swear by the stuff!

We popped into a tourist shop to see if we could find any cute cowboy hats for Beth and Rachel before heading to Roberts, but unfortunately, this was the best we could come up with!

After a stop in Roberts, we 3 gals mosied over to Tootsie's (at my request of course) and grabbed a table in the back room, where we talked to a group of guys for a long time who were from Canada and had driven all the way down to Nashville for a bachelor party. We also met a young man who was quite taken with my pink cowboy hat, and so I oblidged when he asked for a dance.

More to come on Dad's day which was today.

Don't Follow Me

This afternoon I was talking to a gal-pal of mine going through some relationship struggles. I knew exactly where she was coming from, and I wanted to tell her precisely how she should handle the situation, but I felt like a hypocrite in doing so, since when faced with the exact same scenario, I had chosen the road most traveled by.

This friend and I discussed how frustrating it is to know the right decision we need to make, but to willfully make the wrong choice instead. Paul laments this very behavior in Romans 7:

18 For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do- this I keep on doing.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

That's when it hit me. Do you remember those assemblies in high school, I asked her, that STARS (students taking a right stand) would put on, where the inmates would come and one by one share their stories of what they did to get sent to prison? They would start with the tamer crimes and work their way up on the list of felonies, and after each one finished telling his horrific testimony, they would say,
"That's what I did, but Don't follow me."

They thrilled you with their dangerously exciting tales, and then scared you into becoming a good law-abiding citizen. Well that's what I'm telling you, friend, I said! Here's what I did, and sure it was fun at the time, and sure I knew it was wrong, but in the end it only caused more pain and heartache- so Don't Follow Me!

My gal-pal and I had a good laugh over this.

Bigger is not always better

I had an interesting experience this past weekend at church that I felt I must share. Sunday I was scheduled to come sing at the Downtown Presbyterian Church as a paid choir member. I accepted the offer to come sing for this church with great trepidation for several reasons:

1. I did not know what I would be singing until I showed up that morning.
2. I wasn't sure the style of music, whether or not I would be dressed appropriately (I mean, how Does a Presbyterian dress, I ask you?), and whether or not I would have to sing a solo- this would affect how much I needed to warm up in the car on the way into town.
3. It meant I would have to miss out at BBC, singing this huge anthem complete with drumline. I also was going to miss church and Mike's sermon in Romans, and probably would miss Sunday School.

Ultimately, against my selfish desires to sing and worship at my home church, I couldn't pass up the chance to get paid to sing at another church, so downtown I went on Sunday morning. I literally dodged homeless men loitering on the street as I made my way into a side door of the church. I was stared at by these men hovering on all corners of the streets, and felt myself looking down my nose at them. I was the good little Christian going to church on Sunday morning- what were They doing? I was also a bit afraid for my safety even though it was broad daylight.

Into the church I went, where I didn't see another person as I weaved through the darkened building until I heard the banging of a piano and led myself to what I assumed must be the choir room. My assumptions correct, I was the first singer to arrive, and the director handed me a folder and in a flurry started to hand me sheet after sheet of music- hard music- John Rutter and Tchaikovsky- as I sweat (literally- the air conditioning was out) and wondered if I would be able to sight-read well-enough to sing the music in that morning's service.

Slowly but surely the other 5 choir members arrived- yes, I said 5- and I am fairly certain that I was not the only one paid to be there! It made me miss and appreciate my 200 voice choir at Brentwood Baptist as I wistfully thought of the powerful anthem they'd be singing at BBC that morning complete with full orchestra and drumline. But here I was using my gifts and talents in a very obvious way. To this church choir, my one voice mattered. I can't honestly say that when I sing at BBC. We rehearsed for an hour, and then went downstairs for church.

Our service was held in the small chapel, where the "choir" hovered around an out-of-tune piano to sing, the choir director doubling as the pianist and conducting with her nodding head, half the congregation consisted of a visiting youth group, and the substitute minister was a high school English teacher who preached from his open iBook computer propped up on the podium. Time was taken to share individual prayer requests and each person was prayed for individually. (I can't imagine how many hours upon hours we would be in church if they opened up the floor for prayer requests at Brentwood Baptist!) It was a small, struggling church, but it dawned on me the necessity for having an inner-city church present to minister directly to a large unchurched population! One man who voiced a prayer request actually lived in the Nashville Rescue Mission, and he was thanking the church for the ministry that they provide.

And here I was missing my big, cushy, suburban church, while this congregation was coming in contact with blatantly needy people every day! How dare I judge those men on the street as I entered the church. I was ashamed at my own ignorant predjudices, despite the fact that I have done missions projects with Room-In-The-Inn here and with the Muizenberg shelter in South Africa. I thanked God for the chance to experience worship in a different way, and thanked him for the blessing of allowing me to participate in a simplistic, back-to-basics kind of worship.

birthdays and bachelorettes

Argo, Kelly, Camper Anne, Steph, & AJ



a great color combination if I do say so myself!

















This weekend was just what the doctor ordered. Who needs guys when you can have amazingly fun times with your girls?

I drove up to Lexington Thursday as soon as I got off work to celebrate former Sugar Shack roommate Stephanie's birthday. I hadn't been up to LexVegas since this past October (McCarthy's and Keeneland anyone?) so I was long

Freshman Friends

overdue for a visit. The drive was oddly comforting as I reminisced on my former college days, and thought about the countless times I had made this drive over the years. Even still, I have not yet managed to snap a picture of the Used Cows For Sale sign on 1-65 close to Sonora, KY that has been posted ever since I made my first college visit to UK back in 1998! I guess someone is buying used cows for that sign to still be necessary! It was late when I finally rolled into Wildcat Country, but Steph had to wait up for another friend who was also driving in town that night, so to pass the time we visited Pazzo's, a local campus favorite. The place was fairly empty, but I didn't think twice when a guy asked to see my ID upon walking towards the bar. It was Stephanie who realized he didn't have a Pazzo's shirt on, and was just a guy at the bar, asking to see our IDs! I am pretty much oblivious when it comes to things like this! As it turned out, one of the other guys who was friends with the wannabe-bouncer was a kid I had a conducting class with in college. Joe-the-trumpet-player and I caught up, and as it would happen, he has goofed around and Still hasn't finished his undergraduate degree- so it could be worse than having a useless degree, Mom & Dad- I could still be going on 7 years to complete it! Joe, Brandon-the-wannabe-bouncer, and quiet friend #3 invited us to sit up at the bar with them to talk, and Steph and I had a good laugh at the situation in between barroom chitchat with the 3 Stooges.

Friday was spent lounging by the pool during the day and then Steph's birthday celebration that night. 9 girls piled into a limo and rode around town, then headed to Buddy's for dinner, followed by champagne and cupcakes in the limo, and finally ending up at the Blue Moon in their VIP room. We danced the night away, high heels and all- what can I say? I'm a slave for fashion!

Saturday I waved goodbye to Lexington and got back in Nashville just in time to take a 30 minute nap and get ready to go out again, this time for Karen's bachelorette party!

This was Karen's last weekend in Nashville, and last weekend to be single. She had never been out on the town in Music City, so we gussied up and showed Karen Nashville's trendy side. We started out at Layl'a Rul, had dinner at the Bound'ry, then went to Virago, Red Door Saloon, and back to Layl'a Rul, where we started the night. Karen had a blast, as did the rest of us. I recommend the White Grape martini at Layl'a and the Keylime tartini at Virago- both were unique and yummy.









This girls weekend was Just what the doctor ordered!

Pretty Boy or Funny Man?

So I got into a lengthy discussion with several of my male coworkers at the end of the day today. I honestly can't even tell you how it began, but we were debating over which person you would rather be stranded on a desert island with- Brad Pitt or Vince Vaughn. I think some how Jennifer Anniston came up in conversation and we were discussing which actor she chose and why. Both are attractive men, both have fame and power, but it comes down to that age-old question of whether you would rather have a pretty face or someone who makes you laugh.


Time and time again I find myself always choosing the guy who makes me laugh over the pretty boy. To this day my friends Ben and Jon have a running joke about which one of them I "picked" the night I met them both (New Year's Eve, 1996). Both were nice-looking guys. Jon was extremely cute, but Ben was hilarious. Ben and I dated on and off for a while and I'm still good friends with both of them, but the fact remains that given the choice between the two, I chose the one for companionship that kept me entertained.

But those are real, everyday guys. When presented with the hypothetical choice of getting to pick between dating/having/marrying/whatevering Brad Pitt, my lifelong celebrity crush, or Vince vaughn, the hilarious new It-guy on the Hollywood scene, could I really say then that I would choose Vince over Brad? Could you?

Now before you answer too quickly, Joel saw this very Desert Island debate on a tv show and one of these guys edged out the other 51% to 49%- apparently I wasn't the only one who had trouble deciding which studmuffin to be stranded with either! Curious to know which guy won out? Post your responses and then I'll let you know who America picked.

a purdy good weekend

This past weekend was one that was highly anticipated, even though I had just had an amazing previous Memorial day weekend and a four-day work week. Friday was Beth's birthday so she and I partook in a ritualistic Friday Starbucks run on our morning break (Really?? I mean REALLY?!) where I discovered my new favorite drink- a tall fat-free Coconut Latte- it tastes exactly like an Almond Joy (or is it a Mounds?). Then we had a girls lunch at Calypso Cafe- Beth's choice- before finally heading out that night with a bunch of people to celebrate her big 2-5 in style at Saffire in Franklin. I'll admit I was most psyched about this dinner party because I had an awesome new dress to wear. It's one that Beth "made" me buy when we were at TJ Maxx after convincing me that despite the fact that I couldn't wear it to work or to church that I could wear it to her birthday party that her husband Daniel was planning for her. Deal, I said, and I promptly purchased the dress.

Saturday was pretty uneventful although I did meet MA, Em, and Lana at a Sounds baseball game. The Sounds ended up winning, and we got to see some amazing "Reworks" after the game (they really need to get those lights on the scoreboard working!).

Today after church I spent the day helping my parents around the house. Since they're getting ready to put the house on the market we painted the laundry room and their bedroom. It was actually kind of fun- I got to learn how to put on a dryer hose and connect that to the wall, and I was able to utilize my painting skills that ironically enough, I attribute to my New York mission trip last summer. It's kind of funny because you always think about God teaching you things in your day-to-day life that will help you out on a mission trip, and not the other way around, but I certainly didn't know anything about painting techniques before working in that NYC middle school last summer, and that experience certainly came in handy today. Dad nicknamed me "Spongey" because in his opinion I was using up the paint unusually fast.

We had one of what I love to call Blogworthy Moments when mom volunteered to go to Home Depot to buy another gallon of paint while dad and I continued working. Besides the paint, dad told her to get a pack of Purdy rollers also. Without looking up from what I was doing, I knew what was about to follow and I began to laugh in anticipation. "Pretty rollers," she said? "What are those?" As a girl in-the-know (again, drawing from that Kairos mission trip where all I did was paint for an entire week solid) I laughed and said "Purdy. P-U-R-D-Y- it's a brand name, Mom."

The other amusing thing that made the painting more enjoyable was the whistling and singing in tandem by dad and myself to the Christmas song, Sleigh Ride. Random? Absolutely. This went for about 15 minutes or so before I finally asked dad what in the world made him start to sing that song. Apparently when I bumped into a wind chime hanging above the laundry room window it reminded him of the sound of Jingle Bells, and thus, the Christmas caroling began.

Now it's close to beddy-bye time and everything on me hurts. No matter that my softball game got rained out today- I definitely still got my work-out for the day!

the not-so terrible twos

Where, oh where has the time (and my little dog) (blog?) gone? On May 25th, 2006 the Divadomain in all her glory turned 2 years old! 2 years of venting about work, 2 years of telling hilarious real-life stories about my friends and family, 2 years of posting random musings of the goings-on in the world. It has even been suggested to me by some that I have my own little Carrie Bradshaw, Sex & the City Thing going on here- to which I replied, well since I don't know much about sex, my column/blog would be more aptly named "And the City!"
I feel like a bad blogger, considering I missed my own pride-and-joy's birthday, so show her some love in the form of a comment, and let the author know that she isn't the only one reading this!

spring break '06

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8 girls. 2 rental cars. No drama. Unbelieveable, yes?

We're back and bronzer than ever thanks to that quick jaunt to the beach. I'll have to do a quick recap sans-pictures because I relied heavily on our master photographer Lisa to capture most of the Kodak moments.

Friday afternoon Emily, Sarah, Mary Anna, Rhonda, Mandy, Lana, Lisa, and myself departed from Brentwood Baptist Church at approximately 4:15 pm. Rocky Toppys in-hand (that's Lana-speak for walkie-talkies) we synchronized our cd players and started the Florida 06 mix that Emily created at the same time as we headed south on I-65. My car (in the lead) was instantly nicknamed the Little Corolla that Could as it lurched forward whenever I put my foot on the accelerator. nu=3268>244>:7:>WSNRCG=32337966794;9nu0mrj">

Friday night was spent in Birmingham where we invaded Em's friend Ann Wade's house. her roommate was such a good sport at having 8 unknown, loud, giggley girls as guests for a night. After a lengthy dinner at Chili's, we headed back to the house and probably laughed off every calorie that we ate. A few funny moments from Friday night:
* I enjoyed a nice big slice of humble pie- Amanda
* All the drinks here look like they're exploding- Sarah
* Amanda, are you done with that?- Lana
* Lana's hair-mayonnaise- fried chicken story
* Awkward Will
* Ok, I'll tell one on myself- Ann Wade's roommate Sarah told me she went to Samford with Ann Wade but she was originally from Ar-Kansas. I said totally deadpan, where is that? At first everyone thought I was kidding, then they died laughing when they realized I was not. Of course she meant Arkansas, but I was thinking like Florala or Texarkana- like maybe it was a town that bordered between Kansas and Arkansas.

Saturday we hit the road at 6:15 am and after 5 stops in 5 hours we finally pulled into our condo and ravenously devoured our sandwiches that we had purchased just minutes earlier from a nearby overpriced deli. We were on the beach by 12:30 that day, and spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun. That night we got all gussied up and waited an hour and a half to eat at the famous local dive, the Red Bar. I have to say, the food was amazing and well worth the wait. Amongst our group we tried almost all of the 7 menu choices, and left there completely stuffed and exhausted. The idea had been of course to have dinner and then go out dancing or someplace fun, but we unanimously agreed that we were all too tired to go anywhere else! So much for us old fogies, huh?nu=3268>244>:7:>WSNRCG=323379667;969nu0mrj">


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Sunday morning I awoke chompin at the bit to get on the beach- and yes, I detest that phrase, but I can't describe my insatiable anticipation in any other way! I hit the beach by 9:15, the other girls joined me a little after 11. We spent a glorious day in the sun and sand, taking walks, gabbing from our circle of towels, and playing in the ocean. Lisa, our unofficial trip photographer, got zoolander face poses and individual shots of each of us on the beach, and convinced several passer-byers to take group shots for us, none of which had ever seemed to have operated a digital camera before.
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After showers, some frozen margaritas made by yours truly, and a dance party in the kitchen, we headed to Publix for a few more groceries, and across the street then this kitschy seafood house where we stuffed ourselves with hush puppies, fried shrimp (minus me & Lisa, the non-seafood-eaters), and french fries. Another night had come and gone- all ideas of making brownies and watching movies were dashed as we all ending up falling into bed before 11 o'clock that night. Must have been all that heavy fried food... yeah... that's it. nu=3268>244>:7:>WSNRCG=3233796696373nu0mrj">

Monday- Memorial day- most everyone hit the shops at Seaside, while Lana and I made one last visit to the beach before we rolled out of Seagrove Beach at 11 am. We stopped at the first place we came to to grab some lunch, along with every other departing vacationer, at the most shady Subway and Hardee's that we had ever seen. In fact, every single place we stopped on Monday was sketchy, nasty, and run-down, but with 8 girls on a road trip, you're bound to have to make some stops, and can't always be picky about when and where those stops occur! nu=3268>244>:7:>WSNRCG=3233796684;6

I will leave you with my own personal favorite anecdote from the weekend, as I'm sure Em and MA will grace us with their own recollections as well:

I asked Lana if she would put sunscreen on my back, that I would return the favor and put sunscreen on her back. She said in her purposely-funny voice, well, I don't know- you put sunscreen on Mary Anna's back yesterday and um, well, she burned.
What?! I exclaimed? That is totally sadistic of you! I screamed while laughing. There is no way I did that on purpose.
Yes, well, it's just that you don't apply the sunscreen very liberally, she said.

And apparently several of them had already had this discussion before I was around, to which Emily replied- yeah, that's about the Only thing that Amanda's not liberal with!!

I hope to add pictures soon, but at least the trip in review is now complete! Snap back to reality, oh, there goes gravity...

Beach or Bust

T-minus 2 hours till Spring Break '06!

My, oh my, how the trips have grown. My first year out of college Rhonda and I took our first annual beach trip which we dubbed Spring Break '04. She and I met her mom & Sam down in Watercolor, FL and stayed in this multi-million dollar beach condo for free. I met my Navy boy Blake, and Rhonda "drank a watermelon."

Last year's trip grew to 5- ha- 5 in 05. Me, Rhonda, Mary Anna, Emily, and Lana went to Blue Mountain Beach & Ft. Walton. It was at our overnight stay with Aunt Peggy in Birmingham that Lana made her famous quote from the trip, "I need to start collecting something." We met and photographed the Rhinestone Cowboy for TAR, and also met our ideal man in Wild-At-Heart Brad at The Back Porch (who we STILL talk about!!)

This year the spring-breakers have grown to an astounding 8 girls. At 4pm today myself, Rhonda, Lana, Emily, Mary Anna, Mandy, Sarah, & Lisa will depart from our rendevous point at BBC and head to Seagrove Beach. What will this year's infamous quote be? What funny stories and inside jokes will ensue? What Beach Boy will catch our eye? Who will come back bronzed and who will come back burned?

Stay tuned for all this and more in our vacay re-cap next week, and have a happy and relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

Soul Patrol or McPheever?

It's about that time- who will be crowned the next American Idol? If it had been up to Simon, Taylor Hicks would never have even made it to Hollywood! Honestly when I began watching the show a few months ago I could never have predicted that he would have made it to the Finals (Chris Daughtry, we miss you!). On the flip-side, I pinpointed Katherine as a really good singer from the first episode I saw.

This show is addicting and will take up 2 of your weeknights all tv season once you start watching. Thank goodness for TiVo since I'm never home when the show is actually on!

I must say that by the Finale (which is tonight- get with it, people!) most viewers already know who they want to vote for. I doubt there were many who waited to hear all 3 performances last night before finally deciding whether to cast their votes for Kat or Taylor. The next step of course is actually getting through to vote. I tried several times within that 4-hour block and never could get through on the phone. I also happen to be one of the fortunate Cingular customers who have the luxury of voting via text message. Even that was an impossibility last night it seemed. Out of the 10-20 text messages of "VOTE" that I sent, I only received one reply confirmation that my vote was received. So I'm wondering if only one of mine counted, and all that other hassle was for naught.

Most of the time I actually agree with Simon Cowell, though I can't say that I would be quite so blunt in my commentary. Awful jacket, Taylor- yes, I agree. Amazing Somewhere over the rainbow, Katherine? Yes- agreed. And his opinion that the rounds looked like this:

round one: Taylor
round two: Kat
round three: Taylor

was right on the money. I was surprised however that Simon didn't criticize the original songs more, though I guess he has been warned not to offend the song writers. Even still, Katherine butchered hers more than Taylor did. BUT, as a singer even I could see that Katherine was unfairly dealt the more difficult song, with a melody that jumped all over God's creation and was written in a terrible range for her. As bad as she sounded, I actually felt sorry for her since she didn't have a say in the song choice.

My pick is Taylor. Let's see what the rest of America decides.

Anita Returns

Can I rant and vent for a moment? It is a Friday. Our slowest work day of the week. Lots of our customers work for churches and Fridays are their days off. So I expect it to be slow- but this is just ridiculous. I have Zero orders for the day. Meaning that my daily sales goal of a few thousand dollars? Yeah, I have None of it. No orders. And while yes, my mind has wandered and I don't have as many calls out as it might be possible to have, I do have as many as I have had in an entire before, and I still have 2 hours to go. What gives?!

And on top of that, a bookstore called me "Anita." After Beth and I were Just joking about being called Steph and Anita- and it hasn't happened to me in a long time. But do they order any music? No of course not. But they did call me Anita. My day is now complete.

PS, I realize the total irony of venting on here when I could be calling out, trying to drum up some sales. but in my defense I am typing very quickly and this post took about the total of 3 minutes to write.

things that make you go hmm

"Well I realize that falling isn't graceful
But I thank the Lord that falling is full of grace"

from The Chasing Song by Andrew Peterson

RENT: not just a favorite Broadway musical- it's also a reason to gather on a dreary afternoon!

Why are things always funnier when 2 or more or gathered? Or even more accurately, why are things always funnier whenever Lana is around?

Our Memorial Day beach trip is coming up soon (aka Spring Break 06) (shut up. We can still pretend we're in college and get a spring break. I AM 21 you know!) After MUCH deliberation, we decided to rent 2 cars to tote the 8 of us to our tropical destination. However, due to the youth that plagues (blesses?) half of our vacationers, only 4 of us are 25 and are of-age to drive the rental vehicles without incurring extra charges. Fine. Not such a big deal. 2 cars, 4 drivers. We'll split the trip into 2 halves for the drivers, of which I am one. The other Grandmas of the group include Lana, MA, and Rhondonkulous.

MA and I each rented a car in our names, but the 4 drivers met up today at the Enterprise office to take care of the paperwork and get the other 2 drivers' information on file with the rental car company. Hurdle number 1 to overcome: we cannot find the place. It's located in "No Man's Land" as Rhonda put it, on Mallory Lane in Brentwood, but on the other side of Moores Lane (away from Target). This side of Mallory is really short, so I didn't figure that finding a rental car place, its sign, and a parking lot full of rental cars would be that difficult to spot. Of course I was wrong in my thinking. MA was the first of us to spot the tiny sign so she directed us via cell phone- in our defense it wasn't marked from the road, and there was no sign of a parking lot full of rental cars anywhere- they must drive them over from another location- but whatever.

Flustered from driving up and down the street a few times, I get out of my car at the same time as Rhonda, and we realize that we are dressed like twinkies. Brown long-sleeved shirts, tan striped pants, and brown heels. Great. So now we walk into Enterprise dressed like tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. MA comes in the door seconds later. We are giggling and are easily the loudest people in the small rental office. (Imagine that!) A few minutes later Lana shows up. We crack up b/c Lana has parked in the owner's vacated-but-clearly-marked reserved space. But Rhonda and I couldn't really say much, b/c we both parked in the only other open spots that were marked for the adjoining collision center. As Rhonda and I are modeling our matching outfits for Lana, Rhonda and I bump heads which sends us in to fits of more giggling. We discover that the 4 of us are all in brown actually. I'm sure the employees in there feared for their cars, thinking, what ditzes! We are renting cars to Them?! The 4 of us awkwardly stand at the front of the office while no less than 4 female employees go about their business, ignoring us completely- and we were being pretty hard to ignore!

Finally a cute & single (we know this b/c MA checked his wedding band finger) guy asked us if we had been helped yet. Actually no, we haven't been helped yet, we tell him. He proceeds to playfully scold the female associates, and we muddle our way through misunderstanding after misunderstanding to get all of our rental stuff taken care of. It actually was a surprisingly uncomplicated process, but focusing on the task at hand was difficult to do. Yes, we clarified, we've already rented the cars online. No, we don't already have the cars in our possession. Then Lana couldn't find her license (You'd better have it I said, otherwise, why are we here?), then the guy did a double-take at Rhonda's license b/c she looks so different now from her picture. Really, we made such a scene in there that I'm wondering if they were all second-guessing their decision to allow us to rent cars from their company, and I was wondering what kind of option they would have to retract our rental contract and declare us unfit drivers!

Maybe this was one of those Tadd YHTBT moments, but I walked out of that place thinking, why do things like this always happen to us? It's never that simple as we think it ought to be!

pink hitting

Yet another reason I like baseball! For Mother's Day yesterday Louisville Slugger had pink bats made for the players in honor of a kickoff for the Susan G Komen breast cancer awareness week. Players also wore pink ribbons, wristbands and the lineups were even written on pink paper.

the McWeekend in review

It occurred to me today that I haven't posted any random blogs lately about things that have no conjuncture with my own personal life, so I promise to scrounge up something good in the next few days. For now you'll have to settle for my usual weekend update. This one was a good one- full of stories and laughter and new inside jokes from all those involved. (You who witnessed the Roadhouse Tea debacle, you know who you are, and that's all I'm sayin')

Friday started out with a bang. We were culminating the birthday celebration for Maury by heading downtown to Robert's on Broadway for what was dubbed "Hats and Boots Night." But a girl's gotta eat right? So Beth, her husband Daniel, Maury, and myself met at Logan's for dinner since Laura was working that night. She's always in the bar area on Friday nights which means the tables are first-come-first-serve, so I got there a few minutes early to try and stake our claim on one of Laura's tables so the others wouldn't have to wait as long once they arrived.

The timing worked out perfectly- Maury arrived, and a few minutes later this one table paid their check and Laura informed me they'd be getting up soon and to watch for them to leave. The second they started to leave, Maury and I walked a few feet towards the table, allowing the bus boys to clean the table off first when this lady with awful hair slid into the booth in front of my very eyes!!! I was in utter disbelief! Where the heck did she come from? I had no idea, but I was about to find out. The lady kind of glared at me triumphantly as I stood there and picked up my jaw from the floor, and I stated to her very matter of factly,
"Ma'am, I was waiting for this table."
And she replied, "sorry, it's first come first serve."
"Yes, I'm aware of that," I said, "but my sister is the server and I have been standing over here (I gestured) for 20 minutes waiting for this particular table to get up."
Mind you, the lady could have sat at any other table in the bar area, whereas Laura only has certain tables in her section that she's responsible for, so I had to wait for another of her tables to open up. I could feel the heat rising in my neck and face and had Maury not been there to pull me aside I probably would have sat down at the table across from her and beaten her to a pulp- or else attacked her with vicious rhetoric (name that movie!!). So back I went to my spot where I had been standing in the bar before to wait for the next of Laura's tables to open up.

By this time Beth & Daniel arrived, so fuming, I tell them what just happened. What really burned me up was that 2 seconds after I relinquished the table against my will another table in the bar emptied, but by that time it was too late. Not too much longer after this, Laura's next table opened up which happened to be next to the awful woman with unfortunate hair, so I said loudly to anyone who would listen, and I hope this woman and her husband were,
"Thanks Laura, this is the best table in the entire restaurant!!"
I know. It was a cheap shot, and I should have let it go, but come on!!! What decent person wouldn't be a little more understanding??? I mean, it was my sister's table, and the table-snatcher had to have seen me walking towards that table before she got to it- it's not my fault she was rude and slid into the booth while I was trying to be considerate of the bus boys to try and let them do their job! What do I get for being considerate I ask you? A rising blood pressure, and a desire to drink.
The Roadhouse Teas happen to be excellent at Logan's, but let me warn you that one is sufficient. Two is too many, especially if one does not eat their dinner. I learned that the hard way Friday night and provided entertainment for all with my antics. Maury and I headed to Robert's where we donned our hats and danced the night away. The place was extremely packed- I guess our guys are not the only ones in Nashville who are fans of the house band, the Brazilbillies.

Saturday a bunch of us went to Thompson Station Church to see Maury D and the Shanks (aka Maury, Adam & John) play at this craft fair the church was hosting outdoors. It was a gorgeous day here in Middle Tennessee (I had many a sungasm this day) so after the music was over and I perused the craft booths a little bit, I headed home to help out with yardwork. We sang out annual "Mulcho Man" song while we weeded and mulched, and had an amazing dinner that night after a hard day of work of grilled hamburgers, baked beans, coleslaw and french fries outdoors on the deck. This was the first outdoor meal of the season- the first I hope of many.

Saturday night Em & I watched a few episodes of Grey's Anatomy on dvd (season one) and then we all got together tonight for part one of the season finale at the Penthouse. Commercial breaks were spent talking about how hot McDreamy, Denny, and were. Also we discussed the implications of Izzie's actions, and who we think needs to be together on the show. Yes, I realize they are not real people but when you're watching this show and all 5 of us let out audible screams as the episode ends ("the scream heard 'round the world"), you start to realize it's not just a show! You actually care about these people- erm- I mean- characters.

We concluded our Mother's day by standing around the Penthouse kitchen enjoying some birthday cake for Karen's birthday. Rhonda bought it and it was a small sheet cake. Of course this led to countless sheety jokes. Such as being full of sheet, the cake was brown sheet, us talking sheet, and my personal fav, holy sheet (since it was a Sunday). I am exhausted now. And I'm sure that if you made it to the end of this blog too that you're exhausted from reading. Cheers and good night!

Cirque du Snore'

Last night I took Mom to see Cirque du Soleil Delirium as a birthday present. Rhonda and Em also went, so I'm curious to hear their take on the show. I'll admit, I was interested to see what all they hype was about with these multimedia performances, but I didn't know much about it. I knew there would be music, lights, and acrobatics, along with over-the-top costumes. I could not have predicted however how new-agey it would really be, and how the droning drum beats and unitelligable lyrics would put me straight to sleep! I'd nod off to a blue screen with a bright blue orb hovering over the stage and wake up to have people floating in white fabric and twirling around. Then I'd go back to sleep and awaken to find a woman spinning multiple hoola hoops around her. The 4 guys doing the acrobatics and gymnastics that I awoke in the middle of was pretty amazing but my eyelids were so heavy by that point in the show that it was pointless to try and act like I was paying attention so I just closed my eyes again! I bet that was seriously the single most expensive nap I have ever taken!
The opening act was enough to set the scene that I shoudl have realized what I was going to be in for that evening- a European singer/songwriter by the name of Nitza- as in- we are the Knights who say Niiiiitza!!! She gyrated and bellydanced while she yodeled to her mohawkwed percussionists and Citar player's music. I think I payed enough attention to give you a quick recap and impression of her performance:

"Thank you. Thank you. You are so kind (only because I know you are not leaving because you payed good money to see the main act...) My next song is called, this sounds like every other song I have performed so far."

At least after seeing this show I can answer the burning question that everyone has been wanting to know- what happened to Scary and Baby Spice? They or their Bizaro-twins are apparently touring with this Cirque production!

Team Kairos

Team Kairos won by default yesterday with a forfeit from the other team- I guess that puts us at 2-1 for the season. BBC friend Photo Joe came to the game and took several shots of our team and the other BBC team in action. Check out his page to see more of his work. Here's yours truly, Pinky McPinkerson in my trademark pink Kentucky hat. Yes, that's me chasing the ball to make a play at home. Actually, the runner stayed on 3rd, so I didn't have to tag anyone out. Good thing for that runner cause I would have gotten them O-U-T- Out!





Here's a shot of our fan section- they braved the cool weather to cheer us on in what ended up being a scrimmage against the other team plus a few of our own BBC players, which was amusing except for the ones who took themselves and their game a little too seriously. Come on people. This aint the majors. We're playing church softball.



We pray after every game. Check out that hot number 5 and her stocky white legs! EEK! Guess we'll have to take care of that pastiness in a few weeks when we head to the beach!