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.