Boo Humbug!

Despite the negative tone of this title, I am in a fantastic mood this morning. I really think we should do daylight savings once a month or something to ensure that the sun is shining every morning when our alarms go off. I cannot describe the joy in my heart when my clock radio went off at 5:20 this morning and the faintest of sunrays were already beginning to permeate my room! Spinning was amazing this morning- 3 John Mayer songs, and just a good class in general, I'm having a great hair day (Sarah can attest to this), and it's the last day of the month for sales and I am kicking October's behind.

However, my celebration for the magical holiday of Halloween has been somewhat lackluster this year. For the first time in my life since I can remember I didn't carve a pumpkin. I went to Tadd's Halloween party sans costume last night (well, I pretended I was dressed up as a 20-something-singleton, but I don't think anyone bought it), and I didn't have the desire to dress up to work today like some of my zany co-workers. Halloween has seemed to come up short in my book this year, and so as one of my co-workers was agreeing to his shared apathy of the holiday, I said "bah humbug" to him.
"I think that's Christmas," he said.
"Okay," I countered. "Boo humbug."
"That's more like it."

So Boo Humbug to all, and to all a great Halloween. Annoy all your friends today by sending those email fwds that have the 50 pictures of pets dressed up in costumes.

Strange But True

These are all true stories- I can't make this stuff up, people.

Apparently after many laborious hours of research (for some reason I'm wanting to say that phrase with a British accent) some brainiac Scientist has proved that- get this- Vampires are a Mathematical Impossibility! Oh good, now I can rest easy. Cause I've been so worried about that lately, what with all of Vampire movies on tv with Halloween right around the corner! Although I will say that if any of the leading men from Interview With the Vampire wanted to come and bite me, the lady might not protest too much! (Grrrr, baby!) What I really want to know is, who is the wacko that funds this type of "scientific research" and where can I find him or her? I feel I could put his or her money to much better use- not only for my own personal gain (a new car would be fantastic) but also to researching a much more worthy cause like oh, say, a cure for cancer, or better treatment for AIDS- call me Crazy!

Interesting tid-bit number 2 from the real news today (I sort of enjoy the word tidbit- especially like in pineapple tidbits- although you have to get the pineapple in the juice, and not the syrup that they try and trick you with). If you ever watched Veggie Tales as a young adult you might remember the Silly Song Barbara Manatee. This song has become a staple sing-a-long at the Bradley Household- so anything involving manatees is always of interest. It would seem that one of Barbara's relatives has made her way into Memphis via the Mississippi River Poor thing! It's just funny to think that manatees are roaming around Tennessee though.

Finally, while Man Bites Dog always makes for an interesting story, it's equally amusing when dog bites man, if it's the UT mascot Smokey, and his victim is an Alabama football player! Apparently spurring on the long-time rivalry, Smokey snapped at an Alabama player who "unintentionally" stepped on the dog, drawing blood, during the pre-game warm-up! The Vols were of course triumphant.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic Thursday. I promise the DC wrap-up is coming. Patience my people- I'm never home long enough to borrow my roommates computer to blog and a post that long would be impossible to compose at work. It's coming though, I promise!

my little GOP

So my sister calls me up yesterday and tells me about a guy she waited on at Bonefish Grill. He is a congressional candidate for California. He's cute she says, AND he doesn't have a wedding ring on. Why he was in Murfreesboro, TN I have no idea, but Laura seemed to think I would be interested in him. Of course my first question was, "is he a republican or a democrat?"

I talked to Laura again today and so while on the phone with her I looked up the candidate online since she knew his name. This is what I saw. He's OLD I said! (38 to be exact!) "What ever made you think I would be interested in him?" (this is of course diregarding the fact that the guy lives in California and I have zero chance of ever bumping into him ever)

Funny enough, the GOP nominee also has a site here on blogger.

10 minutes elapse, and Laura calls me back. After browsing Mr. Hankwitz's site she has found a picture captioned of him and "his partner." "I think he might be gay," Laura said. No wonder he didn't have a wedding ring! Sure enough, I hopped back over to the site and noticed a picture of him and another guy at a "Pride Rally." Nothing against Mr. Hankwitz, and I wish him luck in his congressional race, but isn't it typical that once again I am attempting to date men who only like other men? (I say let's focus on the straight clientel who live in Tennessee the next time they frequent your eating establishment Laura. "Yeaaahhhh... that'd be greaaaaat")

Who will open? Sheryl Mayer and/or John Crow

Okay- time to do your best Louie Armstrong impression: "Whata Wonduhfuhl weekend!"

Friday night me, Rhonda, and Mandy went out to celebrate Mandy's recent promotion (don't I feel like SUCH the grown-up?!) and ate at a yummy mexican restaraunt and then went down to Broadway to the Second Fiddle and then next door to Robert's. The whole downtown area was overrun with U of L fans because they played MTSU that night. I got great pleasure out of doing the C-A-T-S cheer and asking loudly to no one in particular, "How bout those Wildcats?!" It sparked many a conversation!

Saturday- MOVING DAY!!! I have the greatest friends & co-workers in the world. Many of them pitched in without me having to beg too much, some volunteering their time without me ever having asked them to. Getting everything hauled from Chateau Bradley to the new apartment took hardly any time (PS- we need a Name That Apartment contest as we still don't have an official nickname. I like the Penthouse II aka The Deuce. Feel free to post comments with your own ideas.) So now I am officially "moved" even though the place is a wreck and I am seriously in need of some organization bins and baskets to make everything fit in my mousehole-of-a- bedroom.

Saturday night was a wedding for a girl I went to high school with. Held outdoors on the grounds of the Belle Meade Plantation, it was the perfect afternoon for a wedding, and I got to see a lot of old high school friends. The bride's gown was Vera Wang (I'll post pics soon of the whole weekend) and the bridesmaid were in chocolate brown dresses of their own choosing. After the sit down dinner and kareoke-driven reception, oh, and after savoring the best wedding & groom's cake I have ever eaten, all the BHS crew and their respective boyfriends/husbands (along with your truly, flyin' solo) hit up Tootsie's in our wedding garb. For old times sake we also make a 2am visit to the Brentwood Waff!

Sunday night was the highly anticipated John Mayer/Sheryl Crow concert. I have never laughed so hard in all my life for an extended amount of time, and it's a good thing Tadd was with us to keep me chuckling b/c it helped to keep me warm in the chilly October night air. JM opened and it was by far the worst performance of his I've seen. His energy was down, and as a result, so was the crowd's. His vocals were flat, and there weren't many memorable moments from his abbreviated set with the exception of annoucing to the audience that he was playing us a "blues prayer." Wow John. Deep. Sheryl Crow had a ton more energy and even though a third of the crowd left after JM's set, she gave a great performance. Some funny quotes from the evening include:

*I’m all about that
*You still munchin on that?
*Cataract, the feline capital of the Middle East
*Sheryl Crow eats gravel
*Flip that house, cat, etc.
*Prairie doggin'
*Emo Emu
*Lesbian mullets
*I’d like to tap that

I hope to get pictures on here soon, but I couldn't wait any longer to get the weekend review posted.

Playing ketchup

Call me Slacker McSlackerson, but I have really fallen behind on blogging. I guess I've been too busy with my new-found appreciation for Fall to bother with my customary music, movie, and weekend reviews. 90 degree weather in October is my favorite kind of Fall, and I will be enjoying my lunch out-of-doors today I do believe. (ps, not naming names, but I had a friend in college who once quit a job in order "to enjoy the fall.")

There's no way I can keep up with MA's lineup of concerts, but I too was in the big group of friends & acquaintances who went to see Nickel Creek at the Ryman Auditorium back on September 23rd (happy belated b-day FR). I didn't didn't rush to blog about this show because being the ever-harsh critic, I was disappointed with the show and was not transformed into the maniacal fan that I was hoping to become by the end of the evening. Overall Nickel Creek was far more mellow than I had expected them to be. I was hoping for a rollicking evening of foot-stomping bluegrass, but that was just not in the cards. The bright moments of the evening included their opening song (no idea the name of it) that featured tight 3-part harmonies standing around a single microphone, a fantastic rendition of Britney Spears' Toxic, and a movement from a Bach concerto performed as a solo encore on the Amanda Lynn by front man Chris Thile.

Back up several weeks to another show that I failed to document in cyberspace. I was privileged to see Angie Aparo play at 12th & Porter on September 8th. This was a show I have been waiting almost a year to see, since I wasn't able to make his last Nashville show all the way back in May. (Looking back at the way that May night turned out, I would have been better off going to see Angie that night instead of Logan's & Roberts!!) Maury introduced me to Angie's music and I have been a fan ever since. Angie has had most of his industry success as a writer (Faith Hill's Cry, Big & Rich's Big Time, and Cowboy Troy's I Play Chicken with the train to name a few) but it's a shame because he has one of the most intense and unique voices I've ever heard. Short in stature, Angie makes up for it with his big personality and biting sarcasm on stage, keeping the audience laughing in between songs, and possesses the most controlled singing voice I've ever heard. As a singer I stood there in awe of his ability to carry out extremely long phrases and go from loud to soft volumes effortlessly. The other thing I love about Angie's music is that he has something to say in his music. They're not frivolous poppy songs, they're political statements, love epics, and many times controversial. Photo courtesy of Maury's camera phone. The stage was set up like an MTV unplugged stage, and it was a one-man-show that did not fail to disappoint. The man and his guitar know how to rock!

Finally, in the world of movies, I watched the single most bizaare movie I've ever sat through this past week. It's called the Science of Sleep. The only real reason I wanted to see it was because my favorite Mexican actor (doesn't everyone have one of those?) Gael Garcia Bernal was starring in it, so I went into the theater not knowing much more about it. (Good thing too, or else I might not have gone!) The protagonist has trouble discerning dreams from reality, and so as a result, you as the audience do too! Think of it as an Indie "Eternal Sunshine." If I had rented this movie I doubt i would have finished the whole thing, but I'm still strangely glad I saw this film. If you like foreign art films, this bud's for you.

Coming next in the concert review series: John Mayer & Sheryl Crowe this Sunday night at Starwood Ampitheater

Coming next in the weekend reviews: the joys of moving

somethings to smile about

What a difference a day makes! Call it the end of summer blues, or the quarter-life crisis, but those who come in contact with me on a regular basis know I have been pretty “blah” lately. Well I have news (Finn has plans, I have news). This morning I have newly blonde shimmering hair, I took my first ever yoga class, it is a sunny, and-dare I say it- beautiful Fall day (hey, you gotta work with what you’re given… it’s not summer, but a sunny fall day isn’t such a bad thing really) and I am listening to country music at work and wearing my pink cowboy boots... and for the first time in a long time I am happy.

My mood started to shift last night once Derrick took the foils out of my hair and began to dry it. Laura and I went together. She cut off 11 inches to donate to Locks of Love and has a super-cute and sophisticated hairstyle. She looks much more grown up than her big sis, but I’m sorry- I refuse to part with my longish hair right now. With my newly discovered forhead wrinkles, I need all the youthful illusion I can muster!

Need another reason to be giddy? Here's one: raise your hand if you about jumped out of your chair during Grey's Anatomy last night when McSteamy came out of the bathroom?! I cannot TELL you how excited I am that he is back on the show for a stint... really, just how many hot men can you put on one show? Let's continue this experiment- I like this game. I did think the tree going through the kid was a tad far-fetched, and kind of overdone... I mean, wasn't the trainwreck episode more dramatic where the two people were wedged together with a pole running through them? As if the paramedics wouldn't have cut off a branch with protruding limbs and leaves before loading a patient into an ambulence. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But I guess I was too distracted by all of the pretty people to care too much about the weak writing on this particular episode.

It's Friday, I have a great weekend ahead of me and I am one happy camper! Goodbye September!

say it with me: SKER-mer-horn

Recently I have just undertaken an important new commitment in my life (settle down boys, she's still single). At least, I hope I will look back at this new beginning a long time from now and wonder why I didn't make this part of my post-college life in Nashville sooner.

Monday night was my first official rehearsal with the Nashville Symphony Chorus. It's a group of about 150 singers who come from all over Nashville with all different backgrounds, and come together to perform choral works in support of the Nashville Symphony. As you may or may not know, Nashville finally has joined the ranks of major cities across the world and built their very own Symphony Hall. (Named after famed conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn, who passed away just months before the Schermerhorn Symphony Center was complete.)

I got to see the hall for the first time on Sunday and it is absolutely magnificent. It's something you must see for yourself- the articles and pictures that have been all over the media here recently don't do it justice. I was able to step inside the empty concert hall, and then a few of us walked around the outside of the building, and in the warm sunshine of the picturesque afternoon, my heart swelled with pride at being a Nashvillian in the era that this stately building has been firmly planted in the heart of downtown Nashville.

As a new member of the Nashville Symphony Chorus my first performance will be Handel's Messiah this December. It's standard choral rep for any singer, but not a piece I have ever had the priveledge of singing before. So I get to rehearsal on Monday night in a room full of incredible singers, in front of an amazing conductor, and I feel like a fish out of water! It will take time and practice (hmm, apparently rehearsal is NOT the time to come in and learn your music- that should have been done ahead of time!) but I know I will land on my feet eventually and be just fine. A rehearsal environment like that breathes life into my weary soul. I have so missed that kind of intense musicianship and performance level. Through this ensemble I hope to get my voice back into shape, meet some new friends (hey, there were some pretty cute guys in there!), and broaden my mission field- more on that later.

r.i.p to my favorite season

Don your black sweaters today as we officially mourn the loss of a dear, dear friend. Early this morning at 12 am, Summer 2006 officially passed on. Summer was a wonderful season who brought out bronzer and suntans in the best of us. Summer beckoned us with her warm rays of sunshine and invited us into sparkling pools. She was complimented best with fireworks, bathing suits, iced tea, fresh homegrown tomatoes, ice cream, and watermelon, and celebrated many holidays with us such as Labor Day and Independence Day. Summer is survived by its cooler family member, Autumn. Rest in peace summer. We shall miss you.

the start of another Greyt Season

They say there's always a right and wrong choice to make. Things are always Black or White. But what about those in-between times? What about the Greys? I myself prefer the Greys and the anatomy of them. That's right people. Grey's Anatomy Season 3 kicks off on abc tonight. Please ignore my awful jokes in lieu of being excited about this tv show tonight. Don't watch it? You should! What could be better than hot doctors and love triangles? Seriously- every person on this show is beautiful. Even the janitors are pretty. And that's what life is all about right? Being pretty and having romantic relationships. Oh- and let's not forget a disposable income, hence the medical professions.

Very little real medical science is applied or even has much to do with any real plot lines on this show. We watch for the juicy gossip and maybe even a small percentage to hear the up-and-coming music they will cross-market and include in the episodes. (I mean seriously- who can't hear the Fray's How to Save a Life or Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars without associating them with Grey's Anatomy?!)

Tune in to your televisions tonight. I'll be tivo-ing it to watch later on. Sorry I have to miss the big Premier (jewelry) party, Laney- we'll talk tomorrow.

Now you have homework. After watching the show tonight I want to hear the opinions of you the reader- which hot MD should Meredith choose? McDreamy or McVet? (Personally I'm ready for them to bring back McSteamy for an episode or two, but he's not one of the choices here)

Shiver me timbers!

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Of all the useless holidays, methinks this may be the most fun one in all the land and seas. Be ye a wee young lass or a lad who’s been ‘round the seven seas on more than one occasion, this holiday is treasure-chest loads of fun for all!

First things first: click HERE to generate your Pirate Name. Just call me Rough-Sailin Hillary for the rest of the day.

Next: Perfect your Pirate vocabulary by throwing in an "Ahoy" or "Avast" wherever appropriate, and for extra measure, a good "ARRRR" every now and then will seal the deal. An eye patch and a parrot never hurt either. Go to This Website for a list of Piratical phrases and even, oh yes, the Top 10 pirate pick-up lines.
Arr, Mateys. Methinks I might be humming "I am a Pirate King for the rest of the day!"

a bit of randomness for the afternoon

He's baaaa-ack!! According to the weather man this morning, El Nino is back to wreack havoc on our weather patterns. Which as you all know, is Spanish for "The Nino." (Anyone know how to do the tilda on blogger?) Guess this little annoying weather pattern is responsible for this yucky fall-like day here in Middle Tennessee. Many of you know my feelings are less-than-fond for the fall, so I'm siting at my desk here today lamenting the end of summer. I am excited, however, at my impending transition from a caterpillar to a butterfly with Derelicte tonight! It has been far too long- just call me Kunta-Kinte, cause I've got Roots!

On a totally unrelated strand (pun intended) I purchased the new John Mayer album Continuum last night and I cannot stop raving about it. (Well, I could, but why would I want to?) If you're a fan of his, you'll love it.

Still Ridin Dirty

Why can we not escape this song? Correct if I am wrong (and I almost never am) but I do believe that Ridin Dirty just may be the most blogged about song in all of history among our friends here. Allow me to share just one more story about Chamillionaire’s great Hip-Hop anthem.

A friend of mine had a little run in with the Spring Hill cops- nothing major, but I did get his permission to share this story with y’all. As my friend is standing around chatting with the 2 Spring Hill cops, trying to make small talk, my friend says to cop #1, so, how do you like the hours of your job, or something random like that.

Just then, cop # 2’s cell phone rings. And you’ll never guess what his ring tone was? Oh, you all are too smart- of course you have guessed by now that cop #2’s ring tone was Ridin Dirty. (note: According to Wikipedia, this song is the highest selling ring tone of all-time)

My friend said he couldn’t help but laugh at loud at the irony of a cop using this particular song as a ring tone. (Perhaps policemen everywhere are using this song as their ring tones, hence the high number of downloads for this particular tune?) Cop #1 reprimanded the other cop for having his phone on while they were on a call (pun not intended). Apparently my friend has put the two men of service at ease because then cop #1 shares that he wanted to use the Bad Boys song as his ring tone but that he couldn’t find it to download. Ahh, only in Spring Hill my friends.

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

I can't believe that it's been five years since 9-11. This event changed the world as we know it, and continues to affect us as our country continues to fight in the middle east, new security measures are constantly being put in place for our protection, and rebuilding has begun on the World Trade Center.

I can remember the events of that morning so clearly. It was my junior year in college, and I was living in the sorority house at the time. I was drying my hair in the bathroom that Tuesday morning when Sarah Hopkins came in and told me and one other girl that she'd just heard that a plane hit the World Trade Center. We laughed it off, not knowing how serious it was, and thinking, how do you not see the WTC? By the time I reached my 9:30 am Psychology class rumors had begun to spread and we discussed the events before our lecture began. Someone raised their hand and said that terrorism was suspected. We settled down, still not comprehending everything and class went on as usual.

By the time I got to my 11 oclock COM 252 class everyone was in shock. Rumors had spread across campus and we were able to pull up a few websites and see some images of the towers on fire and falling, and other students who knew what was going on shared with the rest of us what they knew. We talked as a class and pretty soon, we couldn't get any websites to pull up the internet was so clogged with others doing the same thing that we were doing.

Class let out early so I walked back to the DZ house, calling both of my parents on my cell phone. It was such a beatiful and warm sunny day that it felt surreal for such a terrible thing to have happened. No one quite knew what to do with themselves, so we all crowded into one of the larger bedrooms in the house and watched the news together.

9-11 was a unique part of my college experience. Over the next several days we tried to overcome feelings of helplessness by tying yellow ribbons on campus trees, attending candlelight prayer vigils, and doing what sorority girls do best- making banners to hang from our balconies. I also got to sing with the Chorale on that Friday morning National Day of Prayer service held on campus, thankful that I was able to DO something useful and sing to comfort others.

So where were you 5 years ago today? Feel free to post comments and share your stories, or just take some time to reflect on how much has changed since then.

"I wanna quit the gym!!!"

Day 4 of the Darcy Plan, and Lana, Sarah, and I are going strong. I couldn't help but giggle this morning as I remembered a Friends episode where Chandler wants to cancel his gym membership. His catch phrase is a panicked, "I wanna quit the gym!" Here ya go, for your recollection enjoyment:

Monica: (Picking up a card from Chandler`s wallet.) My God! Is this a gym card?

Chandler: Oh yeah, gym member. I try to go four times a week, but I`ve missed the last 1200 times.

Ross: So why don`t you quit?

Chandler: You don`t think I`ve tried? You think I like having 50 dollars taken out of my bank account every month? No, they make you go all the way down there! Then they use all of these phrases and peppiness to try and confuse you! Then they bring out Maria.

Ross: Who is Maria?

Chandler: Oh Maria. You can`t say no to her, she`s like this lycra spandex covered gym treat.

Ross: You need me to go down there with you and hold your hand?

Chandler: No!

Ross: So you`re strong enough to face her on your own?

Chandler: Oh no, you`ll have to come.

[Scene: Chandler`s gym, He and Ross are there to cancel his membership.]

Ross: Whoa-whoa-whoa, hey! Now remember what we talked about, you gotta be strong.

Chandler: Yes. (In a stronger voice) Yes!

Ross: One more time, "Hey, don`t you want a washboard stomach and rock hard pecs?"

Chandler: No! I want a flabby gut and saggy man breasts!

Ross: Good! That`s good!

Chandler: Okay. (They go inside) (To the guy at the desk) I wanna quit the gym.

Gym Employee: You wanna quit?

Chandler: I wanna quit the gym.

Gym Employee: You do realize that you won`t have access to our new full service Swedish spa.

Chandler: (He turns to Ross and Ross makes a "Be strong" sound.) I wanna quit the gym.

Gym Employee: Okay, Dave in the membership office, handles quitters.

Remembering this episode this morning and recounting the story to Lana while we walked to the locker room with hot coffee in our hands was apparently too much to ask. We both spilled scalding coffee on ourselves in the process of laughing. Hmm. Must remember to handle one thing at a time. Spinning? Check. Coffee? Check. Walking and talking? Not so much. Oh well- guess I have my trusty gym membership to assist in my eye and hand coordination technique.

the anti-laborious weekend

This weekend was a long one- and by long I mean both in reference to the extra day off we had for Labor Day but also long in that not much happened and it was relaxed and lazy. I spent most of the weekend in bed reading or sleeping thanks to my seasonal allergies (or was it the air quality, MA?), so thank you, Tennessee for that. You know me, I had plans out the wazoo but canceled many of them in order to rest up and listen to my body for a change instead of needlessly running myself ragged.

Some highlights of the weekend included:

*Going to the Ravenwood-Franklin football game Friday night- my first football game of the season, and I met a really sweet lady who sat next to me. She goes to Brentwood Baptist, and when she remarked that she didn’t know the song the marching band was playing at halftime, I told her it was Brad Paisley’s newest song since she goes to BBC and she had told me she’d never heard of Brad Paisley before he sang at church the Sunday before. Ravenwood lost. Boo.

*Finally watching The Graduate to see what all the fuss was about

*Laying out at the Aspen Grove (aka @ss grabber’s) pool with the gals

*UT winning their first game

*Kentucky losing their first game

*The wine & cheese party/ movie night at Lana’s. What could be better than some 2 buck Chuck, really “gouda” cheese, and swooning over Mr. Darcy?

*Speaking of Darcy, FR Natalie has invited us to be a part of her and Emily’s new workout and eating regiment- The Darcy Plan. This started yesterday for Sarah, Lana, and me.

*Joining the Y- pretty soon I’ll be fit as a fiddle. I don’t really know what this expression means, but I’m sure anyone with some free time on their hands and a hankering for useless knowledge could google this and share with the rest of us.

Happy Tuesday, Kids!

Free Derek Webb

Hey Hey all you Cool Kids. Today is the day you can download Derek Webb's album Mockingbird for free. Don't know who Derek Webb is? Download his album risk-free and give him a try! Just click the bright pink link above and you'll be a fan in no time.

celebrity sighting

We all know I'm about as observant as a fishmonger- hmm- that reference doesn't quite work here does it? Well, okay- I'm not observant At ALL. While at UK I used to moan and gripe about how I'd never spot basketball players on campus. Other people would see them all the time and somehow I never would. Then one day while walking through the student center with a friend of mine she exclaimed, "hey, there went Jules Camara!" "Where?!" I hollared. "He just walked by us." The friend said. So I quickly spun around. How I managed to miss a 6'7" black guy in Blue UK warm-ups I'll never know!

All that to say, I think I am the only one who hasn't spotted Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban out and about in Nashville. It could very well be because I am oblivious and have missed a chance siting, however, last night the celebrity came to me. Are you ready for this? Eric Heatherly hit on me at Tootsie's. Not impressed? Yeah. Neither was I.

Here I was minding my own business, sitting next to Ari on a bar stool while Bart and his Devil Dogs laughed and reminisced, and Eric and his entourage of guys crowd up next to me at the bar. They are being obnoxious, and so when one of his friends yells to me, don't you know who that is? "That's Eric Heatherly- he had a number one hit!" My reply was, "yeah, I know who he is, and his one number one song was a remake of somebody else's song." Really, I'm not a total "Bench," but when a group of guys come over and invade my space and then expect me to be impressed with some B-list celebrity I'm not going to fall all over him! My favorite exchange with Eric was after he asked me where I was from. Nashville, I replied. "Well why are you sitting here like a tourist then?" Eyeing his long wavy hair, soul patch, necklace, and open collared print shirt, I replied without missing a beat, "well why do you look like you're on That 70's Show?" Soon thereafter I moved over to one of Bart's friends to get away from our wallflower while he pleaded with his eyes for me to rescue him from a creepy guy who looked suspciciously like a blond version of that guy in Happy Gilmore that wore the shirt Guns Don't Kill People. I Kill People. The kicker: Eric was drinking a Smirnoff Ice! What respectable guy drinks that?? (Ari had to point out to me what he was drinking- I never would have noticed a detail like this!)

I can see clearly now the frames are on

We're reading a book in my small group called Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. I highly recommend it for any women out there seeking to find contentment in life from a Biblical standpoint. This week's chapter was entitled "A Faulty Focus." The author uses the example of her poor eyesight and how after having eye surgery she was able to focus and see more clearly; she was given a new vision. The chapter is about identifying your life purpose- what are living for, how do you ideally want to be living, and how are you going to get there?

Well the eyesight analogy really hit home for me. Most of you all know that I wear glasses. I've tried wearing contacts several times in my life, and for whatever reason, they don't work for me, so I'm supposed to wear my glasses all the time. However, I spend much of my day pulling them on and off my face because I hate to wear them. I hate how I look in them, I hate how I think I appear to others, and I hate being able to "see" their outline in my line of vision. So for most of my day I choose not to wear them, and as a result there are a lot of things I miss out on because I have chosen not to see them clearly with my glasses on.

All that is to say that the first thing in knowing what we want our focus to be (Christ), is that we have to want to change our curent focus (the world). We have to recognize that we're seeing things out of focus and take active steps to change that. Sometimes we know what that focus needs to be, and we even know how we need to get there, but we just choose to continue to see things blurry.

For me, that means that I know that it's dumb to not wear my glasses- I know that my reasons for not wanting to wear them should not outweigh my desire to be able to see things clearly around me. For some of us that means knowing what we were created to do, but not doing it. It can mean knowing how we are to live our lives as Believers but choosing to live under the blurry guidelines that the world has set in front of us instead.

Aside from challenging me to get over my disdain for my own spectacles, this chapter really challenged me to refocus my own life. What was I created to do, and how am I achieving that? Where do I see myself in 10 years at age 35, and where do I see myself at 80, and what do I need to change in my life now in order to get there? It was a good exercise for me to sit down and put these aspirations on paper and share them with my small group to hold me accountable.

Family Tradition

Another weekend well spent in Bucktown, aka Cannelton, IN- the town where my mom’s family still resides. We went up there to help celebrate my aunt Lisa and Uncle jerry’s 30th wedding anniversary. After a frustrating slow Friday at work, Laura and I took off up I-65 with Caramel Light frappucnos in hand and a random mix of cds and songs on our ipods for our listening enjoyment. Mom and dad didn’t come up until the next morning because they had to stay in Brentwood and cheer on the 2005 State Football champ Ravenwood Raptors on to a 36-35 loss to BA on Friday night for the school’s home opener. It was the first time in my 25 years that I have been at my grandparent’s house without either of my parents there with me.

After visiting with Papa for a while and watching baseball on TV with him, Laura and I drove up to one of the plethora of watering holes located in this tiny town and met Lisa & Jerry, and cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Robin. Let’s just say that people don’t go to this particular bar for their drinks. I sipped on a whiskey sour for most of the night that if I didn’t know better would swear was made with straight sour mix and no whiskey, and it took Laura 4 times before she got a drink she could manage to stomach (the first she sent back because it had a gnat floating in it, the next she sipped, but ordered a third drink before she was done with that one because it was made with sour mix instead of tonic water, the third drink was made with flat tonic water, and finally, on her 4th attempt at ordering a beverage, she got a vodka and 7-up that was pretty much impossible to screw up, but by this time we were all ready to go home.)

Saturday was the big party day, so Laura, Robin, and I spent the first part of our day decorating the American Legion building down by the river in Cannelton for that night’s town shindig. It really was a town affair as well over a hundred people showed up to celebrate with Lisa & Jerry, eat mass amounts of fried chicken, sing karaoke, and drink 4 kegs of beer (that were floated before 11pm) plus several more cases of iced down canned beer, As Lisa so aptly put it, in the middle of a classic family karaoke rendition of Hank Williams Jr.’s Family Tradition, “The family that drinks together stays together.” If that is true, then our family will be staying together for a Long time!

Humorous Anecdotes of the evening include, but are not limited to:

*an old high school friend of one of my uncles confessed to him that he is in the Louisville mafia, and that he should “let him know if he ever needed anything taken care of”

*A 20-year-old kid proposing to my sister because he found out that she could cook And clean. After telling her that he would work, she said, “yes, but will you work Hard?”

*”She’s not MY Vina, she’s not YOUR Vina, she’s ARvina!”

*Robin, Laura, & I singing Baby Got Back without the words on the screen due to a faulty karaoke cd

*Watching mom and uncle Michael do the chicken dance

*Mom & Aunt Missy’s rendition of Goodbye Earl, but changing the name to Goodbye Mike, since they’re both married to Mikes

*My cousin Chris jumping out from behind a tree in an attempt to scare his brother, but finding out quickly that it was his next-door neighbor that he had never before met… so Chris made pleasantries and ended up giving the neighbor the entire bag of leftover fried chicken.

(A quick shout-out to all the family members who fit into the Silent Lurker category of reading the blog but are never brave enough to post comments!)

Not Fair

Where have all the rednecks gone? Guess they don't go the Wilson County Fair on a Thursday night- it must be too far to drive from out in the country on a week night. Not too far for us though! The 8 of us- Emily, Natalie, Mary Anna, Sarah, Lisa, Mandy, Lana, and me met up after work tonight and drove out to the legendary Wilson County Fair. After posing for the perfect photo op in front of a display with several bales of hay (hey, that's what gaggles of girls do!) we entered into the fairgrounds.
First stop was checking out several of the animals on display. We saw mini-mules, cows, Buddy the ice cream churning horse, Llamas, and Alpacas. After snapping several pictures and saying "Tina, eat your FOOD" about a million times, we proceeded on our quest to find the pig races before it got dark. After hiking all the way across the fairgrounds, our mouths watering at the aroma of fried food at every turn, we found the races in time to see goats, pigs, ducks, and the grand finale- the Vietnamese pot belly pigs race. Natalie was crowned "Pig Queen" of the last race because pig #6, the pig she was selected out of the crowd to root for, won the race. She got a blue ribbon and everything! (Way to go, FR!) That'll do Pig Queen, that'll do.

Next stop: dinner. We fared well; we saw the Taco in a Bag stand again this year, but decided on other delectable delights for dinner. Some got corndogs, others got hamburgers. I opted for the regular hotdog and a big glass of sweet tea. I did manage to refrain from getting the french fries since I knew I would want something sweet later on in the evening. We scarfed down our fair food and it was off to the rides. I will skip to the next important part of the evening- snack time. Sure, the rides were fun- some were disappointing (Hello, can we say Tilt-a-whirl? Sucky music and no spinning!) but we all know that the whole reason people go to fairs are to eat fair food!

I was on a mission to find the one booth with the fried Oreos that we had passed earlier on in the night, which sounded like maybe one of the best food creations ever invented. I could have just gotten a funnel cake, but seeing the Oreos, I was intrigued, and no other food could satisfy this craving. I found the booth and stood in line, getting all the way up to the front, when I saw a sign that said Fried Oreos: 6 for $5. Well I didn't want 6 Oreos, and I certainly didn't want to pay $5 for them either, so I made the girl at the counter an offer.
"Do you have to get 6?" I asked her. "I only want 2. Can I just pay you 2 or 3 dollars for them?"
You'd have thought I just asked the girl what the square root of 47 was as she gave me this blank stare and then panicked. I had interrupted their perfect system apparently. So she turned to ask another lady in the booth with her-
"this girl only wants 2 fried oreos. Can we do that?"
The other lady looks in my direction, and says
"no, you have to get 6."
So I stared back at her and stood my ground.
"But I don't want 6 cookies I told her. I only want 2. Either you can make $3 or you can make nothing."
She, being a very bad business woman, and a champion for the growing obesity problem in America, also stood her ground, and she made nothing from me this night. I was both aggravated and pleased at this result- aggravated because I marched away empty-handed and still craving those dadgum fried Oreos, but pleased because I had made my point and stood up for what I believed. (Seriously though- who in their right mind needs to eat 6 fried Oreo cookies anyways?)


Nothing else was going to satiate my craving for a fried Oreo, so I bought the first sweet thing I came to as I stomped away- a caramel and peanut coated candy apple. It was only fairly satisfying. So then I bought a cup of fresh-squeezed lemonade to wash down the caramel, all the while thinking about that Oreo. (Man... even now as miserably full as I am, that fried desert still sounds wonderful!) We started to make our way towards the exit of the fair when our curiosity is piqued by a booth selling cheesecake, some dipped in chocolate. A lady tells us this woman's cheesecake has won the prize 3 years in a row now, as we marvel over the sweets, and a man standing in line to purchase his own slice of heaven gushes over the desert he has yet to buy and says it's the best cheesecake you'll ever have, and that he comes back every year to the fair to get some. My sweet tooth is still unsatisfied after not getting that Oreo, and I am an easy sell at this point, so I buy a slice of turtle cheesecake. The man and woman are right- it is pretty amazing. But it is so rich that I cannot even finish one slice even with Lisa helping me eat it. I regret ever buying it as I tossed almost half of it away in a trash can just as we are about to walk out of the fair, and am still fairly annoyed at the unfair fried oreo lady.

Oh well. You know what they say. Life's not a fair.