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!