Happy 3rd Birthday

The 3rd birthday of my blog went by without much fanfare (we turned 3 on May 25th!!!). Hey, I was at the beach, celebrating the divadomain- where did you expect me to be? In front of a computer?! I suppose if I were the planner like MA, I would have pre-composed a blog for the occasion and had it automatically post on the 25th but I'm not that organized. So here I sit, a week later, blogging belatedly.

3 years is a long time to have one's life recorded in cyberspace. I will never forget the day I discovered blogging. It was May 25th, 2004. I was working at the Bone & Joint Clinic- And by "working" I mean I played on the internet for most of my work day- And on this particular afternoon I was internet-stalking a guy via Google, and stumbled across the dude's name in a blog written by my music minister's son. At the very top of his page, there was an enticing little orange blogger button I'm sure you've all seen before that said "Create Blog."

What else to have to do? I thought, so I clicked on the button, and my life as a twenty-something was forever changed. I set up the divadomain using the only pink template available and began by writing my first blog- The List- it detailed my most-favorite and most-abhorred words. My hobby/creative outlet/new means of communication began.

I've done a lot of thinking lately. 3 years of blogging. So what's different about the 3rd year from the 2nd? I liken it to being out of the terrible twos, and coming into my own personality and being more comfortable in my own skin. I did some research about Typical Behavior Milestones for children, but I find that they apply in my current life stages as well.

The two year old:

• Wants exactly what she wants when she wants it.
• Will not usually give in.
• Everything has to be done just so. (Hello, OCD tendencies that popped up out of nowhere!)
• Likes to give orders.
• Has trouble making decisions
• Wants to continue doing whatever she is doing no matter what.
• Wants things to always be just the way they have always been; may accept new things but wants to keep the old things too.
• May begin to bite. (OK, maybe not so much this one!!)

The three year old:

• Enjoys having things the same way all the time; ie: peanut butter for lunch every single day
• Isn’t as demanding as a two year old.
• Likes talking and word games.
• Tends to be clumsy; spills and falls are very common.
• Will sometimes revert back to being a baby and clinging to Mommy.
• Does not share well. ("Amanda doesn't share food!")
• Loves pretending. ("I'm 21 and in college, dangit!")

Thanks to all my friends, family, stalkers, and strangers who continue to read this blog. I would probably still blog even if no one else read it, but it makes it so much more fun when you do (and post comments)! I love being able to go back at random and see what I was up to on any given day, and love that many of your lives are documented in here too. Here's to many more happy years of blogging to come, Lord willing!

It's just like, it's just like a mini... MALL!

On our way back from the beach on Sunday, we took a detour to Montgomery to visit the Flea Market. If you haven't seen this video, you must stop and watch it now before proceeding! I promise you, you will not regret the 2 minutes it takes to watch this actual commercial.

Mmkay, are we all caught up and singing the jingle to ourselves now? Good.

We girls had no idea what to expect when we pulled up to the store in a very run-down area of Montgomery. We didn't want to offend the store people and customers, or make a spectacle of ourselves. Mary Anna had called earlier that afternoon to get directions and make sure they were open since it was Memorial Day, and the owner, Sammy Stephens sang to her over the phone! This was a good sign we felt.

We entered the Montgomery Flea Market trepidatiously and wandered around the booths that were all enclosed with bars and chicken wire before making our way over to the side of the flea market with furniture about which Sammy Stephens boasts. Down the stairs comes the owner himself in a 3 piece suit, and he shakes each of our hands and introduces himself to us individually. We still aren't sure how to react until he begins to sing the mini mall rap to us, and so we throw caution to the wind and sing along with him! Here is a man who is in the midst of his 15 minutes of fame and loving it.

He has his segment from when he was on the Ellen Degeneres show looped and playing on a big screen, he has T-shirts for sale, and offered to sign them for us. He called Sarah Scott and sang to her on her voicemail since she wasn't on the trip with us, and for the ultimate flea market experience, we filmed our very own Montgomery Flea Market video in front of the store with Sammy. This guy is a cult icon right now- even the Montgomery police pulled up while we were out front and quoted the store's jingle over their car's loudspeaker, while Sammy beamed with pride. The store is apparently inundated with fans like us who are stopping in to see if this guy is for real or not, and the owner plays the part to a tea. He has a Flea Market remix version coming out on cd, and will be making more television appearances soon so stay tuned. And of course he is loving all the free publicity that people like me are giving him by posting the video to our myspace pages and blogs.

As much fun as our trip to the beach was this past weekend, the detour through Montgomery was definitely a highlight of the trip!

"I-Hop called, they want their roach back"

We're back from the beach from what I daresay was my favorite beach trip yet. A lot of it has to do with having more time to spend in the sand and not being as rushed ("we felt rushed")

There are too many stories to tell in one post, so let me begin with the breakfast fiasco. We drove through the night, which is definitely the way to do it by the way, and rolled into Navarre Beach around 6:30 am on Friday morning. After driving for a while down 98, the main road on the beach, we found an I-Hop, which sounded like heaven to us.
The 9 of us sat at our large table in the center of the restaurant. I wasn't hungry at all, having purchased and eaten some Soft Batch cookies from a gas station at 3 am (I must have been lonely), but I knew I'd be hungry once we got on the beach, so in true Bradley fashion I was planning on eating anyways. After everyone had ordered drinks, we spotted what must have been the biggest roach I have ever seen in a restaurant before. We tried not to cause too much of a commotion as we squirmed and watched the bug crawl across the wall and down the back of a nearby booth. I don't do bugs, so I ran down to the other end of the table and took another seat, still grossly fascinated with the roach, albeit from a safe distance. That Ain't Right, we exclaimed so I quickly snapped a picture, knowing this would be great blog material.
We told our waitress, and she blamed the big bug on it being Florida, and not the Dirty I-Hop, which is what we were all thinking, and then squashed the bug with a napkin in a blase fashion (perhaps this happens on a regular basis?). Our group looks at each other deciding what we should do, and while I was planning on walking out right then, the group decides to stay and eat anyways. I however, decided not to force myself to eat breakfast after all, and managed to choke down some orange juice and coffee, but spent the entire meal glancing around the restaurant, just sure I was going to spot another roach.
As we're getting ready to leave, the next topic for discussion becomes whether or not we should change into our swimsuits here, or try to check in early at the condo and change there. Mary Anna defiantly declares, I am NOT changing in this bathroom.
So wait a minute, I say smirking, let me get this straight. You'll eat the food, but you won't change in the bathroom?! How does that work?
Luckily, we were able to get into the condo early, so we made the right choice to move on!

Look like lesbians!

Saturday night, the 9 of us took our time getting ready after our day at the beach. We all got cutsied-up and headed over to nearby Pensecola for dinner and a night out. Upon arriving at Pegleg Pete's at 9pm, we are told that it's a 2 1/2 hour wait. Obviously, that's not going to work for 9 hungry girls, so we called another restauant we had spotted and headed over there where the wait was between 30 and 45 minutes.

To kill time before we're seated we head upstairs to the balcony bar and order drinks. The bartender is cute and young, so we ask him where some nearby places would be good to go after dinner.

Well, he says, pausing, that depends. What are you here for?

Confused, we tell him that we're just here on vacation and are looking for someplace fun with people our age and maybe a place where we can dance.

So, you're not here for the Gay Pride weekend? He asks.
Are you serious? I ask him.
Do we look like lesbians?! Mary Anna asks him incredulously.
Well, he replied, when you see a big group of girls together...

and he trailed off. We realized how hilarious the situation was, and upon learning of the ensuing festival, we noticed lesbians everywhere, many of them in polo shirts and plaid board shorts, the apparent required dress code. The quote for the evening coined by Amy when taking pictures was, "Look like lesbians!"

I overheard the bartender telling the 3 middle-aged men sitting next to us about our apparent ignorance of the Pensacola Pride party, and I heard one of them say, yeah right, like they didn't know. So I turned around and told them that we were not prideful yet, but that's why we were in Pensacola- to work on it this weekend. They laughed and got a big kick out of that. Turns out one of them was a music producer from Nashville and had a niece a few years behind me in school. There's always a Nashville connection!

In desperate need to prove our "straight pride" we 9 flirted shamelessly with our adorable server named Forrest. He was young- only 23- and so I jokingly said,

that's OK, we like 'em young cause they're easier to train!

He quipped back without missing a beat, Oh, I am so obedient to you.
Let me tell you... having a cute guy tell a group of women that he's obedient to them is just hot, and that's all I'm gonna say! Lisa & Melissa took a roommate pic with Forrest and told him, you're going on our refrigerator. (And if anyone out there is handy with the photoshop, I wouldn't mind having one with me and Forrest too!)
After dinner we walked next door to a club that had loud music playing and upon seeing the clientele we opted to go back to Navarre Beach and skip the dance club. A woman hollered after us as we were leaving, "it's gay tonight!" gleefully. Once in the car I declared, someone put in Justin Timberlake- I'm in need of some testosterone STAT!

Beach Bound, Baby!

I could not be any happier right now- I just finished my second helping of Cold Stone ice cream in 2 days, and tomorrow at this time I will be laying on the beach! The anticipation is killing me, but I have less than an hour to go in the work day before I run home to do some last-minute packing, catch a few zzz's and meet the girls at our rendezvous point tonight.

This year Spring Break 07 includes 9 lovely ladies- Mary Anna, Lana, Siebe, Lisa, Melissa, Rhonda Lu, Mandy, Amy, and myself. (My, how our group has grown exponentially! From 2, to 5, to 8, to 9!) We are squeezing ourselves and all our luggage into 2 vehicles tonight and off we will go, blaring the Spring Break 07 mix, no doubt. The Diva will, of course, not be blogging or checking her email and other forms of online communication for a few days, so she wishes you a wonderful long, Memorial day weekend. Hope it is momentous and memorable for you!

This is your Diva with a Destination, signing off!!

oh happy day

I had the funniest dialogue with myself this morning that I thought I'd share with you all. I am sitting in my car this morning, the sun is shining, I have on a very cute outfit- if I do say so myself- and I do, I was sipping my mocha-infused coffee I brought from home, I had my sun roof open, was munching on a pastry that my roommate brought me from Panera, listening to U2's Where the streets have no name on the radio- and I was in the best mood! I thought to myself,
What a beautiful morning! Could this day get any better?
And for a fleeting second I was sublimely happy. That is, until I answered my own question. Yes, I thought, there is a way this day could be better- if I were on my way to somewhere Other than work.
And I deflated instantly. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

no room for a pea in the POD

Last night I left 1400 Devens Dr. for the last time. After living in a home for 12 years, you get sort of attached! But the move was successful- we have finally transported my parents, the 2 dogs, and all their stuff from Brentwood to Franklin! I was sort of the cheerleader/taskmaster of the move, dubbing myself the "Box Nazi" when it came to clearly affixing brightly colored labels in the top right corner to each side of a box. I did whatever I could for mom & dad to make things run more smoothly, and one of my duties came in handy on Monday, the closing day.

The POD people (portable on demand storage- a brilliant invention) called my cell with a strange request. They had my cell number listed as the primary contact number. A lady identifies herself as a POD employee and says, your neighbor called us and said that her cat is in your POD and would like us to partially unpack the POD to try and locate the animal. My first instinct is to laugh, but then the confusion sets in. Wait. Which neighbor, I asked her? From Devens Dr. or Southhampton?

There is a complex system in place with these PODs and the details of moving where timing is everything. The former owners of the house mom and dad were moving into also had a POD. Theirs had to be picked up on Sunday, our POD would be transferred from the Brentwood house to the Franklin house sometime on Monday, we would unload the POD Monday night after the closings, and then the POD people would come and pick up the POD on Tuesday in time for the moving truck to be able to fit into the driveway on Tuesday morning.

So obviously, there was no way this lady's cat was in our storage unit. The unit had only been there for a few hours if that, plus my dad is the Master Packer, and I am his little protegee. He packed that POD tighter and more efficiently than anyone at that storage place has ever seen I'll bet. There was no way a cat was squeezing in anywhere. Plus, the storage unit has been locked, again, preventing the possibility of a stray animal making its way into the unit.

The lady on the phone tells me it's a neighbor on Southhampton who has called, and when I ask if she's sure if it was our POD in question, and not the previous owners', the POD lady assures me the neighbor has written down our POD's storage ID number and called in. Fine, I say. I'll call her, but I promise you, there is no way there is a cat in our storage unit!!

I laugh at the absurdity of the situation, but am nervous as the phone rings because I don't want things to start off badly for mom & dad and their new neighbor. I don't know what she will say to me when I tell her confidently that her pet is not inside our POD. She sounds frazzled when she answers. I tell her who I am, and that my parents are her new neighbors. She has already realized her mistake though by the time I call her- it is the former owners' POD that is in question, and she is frantically trying to get in touch with them to find her black cat which may or may not be inside the POD. The rub here is that these people are not unloading their POD immediately- they're building a house, leaving their stuff in the POD and living in an apartment in the meantime. Again, I hate to laugh at the ridiculous nature of this story, because I do feel bad for the lady and her cat, but I giggled as soon as I hung up with her.

I have no further update on poor little Benjamin (Laura saw signs posted in the neighborhood yesterday- what an odd name for a Cat, don't you think?) but if that Cat is indeed in there, he will need all 9 of his lives saved up to survive this situation!

Lead us not into temptation

This is something I'm currently wrestling with. So how do we deal with spiritual warfare? We grab our "sword." Here are some verses on dealing with temptation:

Matthew 4:1 [ The Temptation of Jesus ] Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Mark 14:38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.

Luke 22:40 On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

So what does this teach us?

• God does not tempt us; temptation comes from Satan
• I can pray to avoid temptation, or I can pray for God to help me deal with it when temptations arise
• Jesus came & lived the perfect life- and if He was tempted during His life on earth, so will we.
• God tells us to watch- meaning we have to be ready for it to come.
• God doesn't say He won't let us be tempted- but He does say He won't let anything be thrown at us that we can't handle with His grace and mercy.

Sometimes I just need a reminder. Especially "on reaching the place."

The Joy of Moving

Yep, it's about that time. Time for the Bradleys to make their arduous trek across town to the new digs in Franklin. Before that can happen though (just one week from today) we still have a lot of possessions to pack. Dad assembled a ramp on our deck stairs to shoot boxes down so we wouldn't have to walk the boxes down a second flight of stairs. This weekend, the ramp became known as "the Floom" and we took turns being the "Floomer" ie. the person who knelt at the top the deck and announced what was in the box so dad would know how heavy the box was and the fragility of the contents inside, and then sent the box flying down the floom one by one. Once during the process Saturday afternoon me, mom, and Laura all wound up outside on the deck at the same time.

"What's everyone doing?" I think I asked.
"Floom draws a crowd," dad replied. I don't know why this was so funny, but it became an oft- quoted phrase for the rest of the weekend, and I imagine the rest of this week as well.

Saturday morning was the dreaded yard sale. Thankfully we got rid of a lot of stuff, mostly old furniture before the rain came and shut us down around 1:30. I detest yard sales with every fiber of my being, but I sucked it up and made the best of a bad situation.
"I'm in sales," I said to my mom. "And one thing I've learned is this. The point at the end of the day is not how much of a discount did you have to give, it's whether or not you made the sale. So I can do this."

And I did just that. I got $10 for something a man only wanted to pay $8 for, and got a few other good sales too. Anyways- the point of a yard sale is not to make money, it's to get rid of junk, and at least most of the big stuff is gone.

That said, if any of you out there want your very own exercise equipment, you just let me know, cause that stuff wasn't going anywhere!

Don't worry, B.McNeel's happy

May first was Laura's 23rd birthday. We celebrated by driving out to the Boro and let Laura open her presents at the apartment, then all 5 of us headed to downtown Murfreesboro and enjoyed a fabulous dinner at this quaint little restaurant on the square. The name of this fantastic dining establishment is B. McNeel's. From the front of the place, it looks pretty non-descript, and is likely one of those places you'd pass right by without noticing unless you were looking for it. Once inside however, the shiny hardwood floors and white table linens made for an elegant setting. The host offered us a place on the patio so we took advantage of the gorgeous spring evening. The walled in patio was covered with ivy, and all the trees were decorated with white lights. As it got darker the servers lit the candle votives on the table. The whole patio had amazing ambiance. B. McNeel's has an extensive wine and martini list (and even have blue cheese stuffed olives, which is Laura's mark of a good restaurant!). For dinner I had the Parmesan stuffed eggplant, Mom had the chicken Marsala, George & Dad both got the red snapper (I don't even know 'er) (sadly, yes, that joke was made, and not by me I might add!), and the birthday girl got the blue cheese stuffed fillet. The variety of tastes and prices on the menu was excellent, and the dishes came with inventive side items like snow peas, new Orleans potato casserole, and spinach. I supposed I'd describe the menu as ecceletic southern food, and it does change with the seasons. B.McNeel's is the perfect place to enjoy a leisurely dinner, and I'd definitely recommend it for anyone who frequents the 'Boro for dining.

After dinner we enjoyed some pink and green Shrek birthday cake prepared by yours truly, and watched the backwards episode of Seinfeld- one of my favorite episodes ever!

Confederacy of Dunces

April is behind us, and the book club that Mary Anna founded for our friends at the beginning of the year is still going strong! Each month we meet at someone's place, the hostess provides food and directs the discussion, then afterwards we vote on next month's book and choose a new hostess. It's been a great way to get us all reading more, and reading things we wouldn't necessarily read on our own. So far we've read:

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
The Kiterunner by Khaled Hosseini
Best American Short Stories 2001 various authors, edited by Barbara Kingsolver

Last Thursday Lana hosted and we discussed the collection of short stories that we had read for April's book of choice. Amid the drastically differing opinions on each story, we had some great conversation and I think we each appreciated the stories more having heard why different people loved or hated a particular story. Afterwards, Lana procured the list of possible choices for May's book choice. She began to read the first title then decided it was too much of an effort to read the list, so she handed it over to me. I read aloud: "fiction. The Confederacy of Dunkas." I paused. Why did that not make sense to me? Oh. It would be because the word was Dunces, not Dunkas. Duh. And the laughter began, and the irony was too much for us to handle. We've now decided that our new book club group will be known as the Confederacy of Dunces, and I'm not only the president, I'm also a client.

By the way, in case you're reading along with us, May's book will be The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls.

From the perspective of the spectator

Saturday was my first-ever marathon. The alarm went off at 5:20 am, so after getting a few piddly hours of sleep, I was up and layering on the clothes. The high for Saturday was only 71, and there was a chance of rain. Natalie and I prepared our morning beverages of choice, and we left el apartmento at ten till 6. We made a quick stop at Harris Teeter to get some fruit before meeting the rest of our friends at Katie's office building. The sun was just starting to come up by now, and we started seeing the people walking towards the park with their race numbers pinned to their shirts. Piling into one car, the 5 of us- Natalie, Katie, Mary Anna, Siebe, and myself drove over to West end, and waited for the start of the race. True, I was not running in the race, but the anticipation and anxiousness was still there. I prayed for my friends who would be running the 13.2 miles, and walked down to the starting line where my coworker Jody was slated to start in the first coral, among the fastest people. Even though they divide everyone up into the corals and space out the starting times by a few minutes, there are still so many people in each group that it made it impossible for us to find any of our friends at the start of the race. I couldn't find Jody, Mandy slid by us into a coral further up than the one she was supposed to be in, so we missed her, and even hollering Emily's name when it was her coral's turn, we still couldn't find her.

The race was on. We 5 turned and started to run the few blocks back to our car, going the opposite direction of all the runners, which prompted some strange looks from people. We joked that we were running the anti-marathon! We headed over to music row to try and catch the runners as they went up 17th and then walked a block over to catch them again as they came down 16th. Due to the space in between corals we missed Mandy on 17th, but were able to see her and the rest of them again on 16th. After parking we grabbed a prime sidewalk space and held up our posters and yelled and clapped for all the runners as they went by. The poster that got the most attention by far was one that read, "Emily, CHOCOLATE is just around the corner!" The women running by were particularly amused by this, and as they passed by they would hoop and holler. It was so much more fun than I'd imagined, encouraging strangers as they passed us. You saw so many interesting outfits- guys dressed like Superman, girls in tutus, even a Blue man drinking cans of beer while he ran! We took pictures stretching on the sidewalk with our posters, meant to be a tableau of "fans getting ready for the race."

The sun was shining by now and it had started to warm up- it was the perfect day for the race. It was only 10am, but we all felt like it was late afternoon because we'd been up and going for so long! After seeing our friends on Music Row, we hopped back in the car and booked it over to the stadium to catch the end of the race. Unfortunately, due to road closings, and lack of parking places, we circled around downtown a bit and ended up missing all of them crossing the finish line. A little disappointing and anti-climactic, but oh well. We celebrated with a delicious lunch at Macallister's and even got free desert out of the deal! By the time lunch was over, I felt like I had run a marathon, I was so tired! So I rewarded myself with a power nap when I got home.

Congrats Em and Mandy!!!- we are so proud of you, and look forward to running with you next year- either that, or Siebe and I decided we would be holding up posters that read: "We heart single, males runners ages 25-32" because I have never seen so many attractive, athletic men in one place!

Spring Concert Series: 12th & Porter

Despite the fact that it's a Friday morning and I am tired and dragging, I am also very pumped! Why, you ask? (Besides the obvious reasons of course that the weekend is within my grasp) Because instead of performing in a show last night for the first time in many weeks, I got to GO to a show! I headed over to 12th & Porter last night for an evening of music with Aron Wright, Matthew Perryman Jones, and Jeremy Lister.

Aron opened the set. (yes, that's how he spells his name.) He caused me to wonder why in a town with so much talent was he sharing the stage with these 2 other guys. Aron channeled Damien Rice- very moody, whiney songs performed to effects-driven guitar and keyboard. Think Ross from Friends with "his sound" and that's what Aron reminded me of. Plus, if I wanted to hear a guy sing high like a girl, I'd see Justin Timberlake, and he'd at least be attractive & dancing. For Aron's last song, he accompanied himself on the ukulele and I fought back laughs. Were we really supposed to take him seriously?

MPJ was next and it has been a while since I've seen him play. He had a full band backing him last night and they sounded great. He also played a new song, I think it's called "Save you" that was really good. Matthew Perryman Jones is one of those artists for me where every song he plays is one of my favorites. His voice is steady and clear, and the lyrics are honest. He's playing in Nashville again soon, so I'd encourage any fellow music lovers to accompany me. I'd describe his music as mellow pop/rock.

Finally headlining the show last night was Jeremy Lister. He's an artist I've heard a lot about, but never seen play, even though he's in Nashville all the time. When he stepped onto the stage my jaw dropped. And not for the reason that you might think. I was left gaping at a man who, had I passed him on a street, I would have sworn was a woman. Everything about this person screamed femininity, even though he's a married man; from the v neck t shirt, the fitted jacket and skinny jeans, his rosy cheeks, long flipped out hair, and even the way he batted his eyelashes when he sang! The voice just did not match the body. Mason and I decided we could better picture Jeremy Lister in a Cher get-up singing "If I could turn back time!" That said, his music was awesome. He has very catchy pop-rock tunes, and has been touted as being the next Matt Kearney, so he'll still be an indie type artist, but hover on being mainstream. Who knows though- he could certainly break into the market- his stuff is very commercial. My favorite song of his was "Half of Me" co-written and performed with another Nashville regular, Katie Herzig. The melody is haunting and the harmonies are great. I would definitely like to see Jeremy Lister again, and maybe going into the show a second time I won't have such a hard time looking at him and can just enjoy the music instead! (ps, yes, it's a terrible pic taken from my cell phone, but you get the idea!!)

a yummy way to start the day

Sorry fellas, this one's for the ladies! On this oh-so-dreary Thursday morning I figured we could all use a little pick me up! My aunt sent this pic in an email to me today so I thought I'd share it with the rest of you'uns. That's how we say it in the south here- you'uns. Well, some people do- not me normally. They are probably the same kind of people who use the phrase "a couple, three." Now that I just don't get. But back to Brad and George. Some of the sexiest men alive, according to People magazine. And I may be the only person on the planet who liked Ocean's 12, but I'm giddy about Ocean's 13 this summer. Actually- keeping in the trend of the 3rd movie in a trilogy making an appearance this summer, we've also got Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Spiderman 3, both which should be fantastic. And with all the dull movies out in the theaters lately, all I can say is it's about dadgum time!

an ear-spliting performance

After almost 4 months of my life dedicated to HMS Pinafore, I am glad to have my time back! I thought I would be more sad as it ended, but nope- nothing but relief. As people would come through the line to greet the cast each night, I often times would get asked about the high notes I had to sing. Well, I never did make glass break with my high "C" but I did make a kid cry!!!

During the last Friday night performance, when many of my friends were there to see the show, there was a child of maybe 8 or 9 years old sitting in the front row, sitting directly in front of them. They noticed he was holding his ears for most of the show. Apparently younger ears are more sensitive to high pitches- (which makes sense in lieu of the recent story about kids having the mosquito ring tone that adults can't hear, so they can use their cell phones in class). By the end this kid was wiping tears from his eyes, and even took off his glasses to wipe his entire face. Finally, the climax of "Farewell, my own" was just too much for the little tike. It's the part where Ralph is about to be dragged off to the dungeon and Josephine pleads for him to be spared. I hit an extremely high note at the end, and at that point, the boy began crying hysterically, and couldn't pull himself together. So much so, that he ran out of the theater as soon at the next song began!

I was ignorant to the situation during the performance and saw the boy run out and figured he must have had to use the bathroom and couldn't wait. It wasn't until after the show in the "receiving line" that my friends explained to me what really happened. My first reaction was laughter before it turned to pitty. I guess that's bad. Oh well.

Ugly Neti

So. Many of you who read this blog are Tennesseeans, and thus probably suffer from seasonal allergies to one degree or another. I don't usually put product reviews on here, but I have found sinus relief that I cannot live without, and want to shout about it from the rooftops (or at least write about on a personal website). Many of you have heard me talk about it already- it's called a neti pot, or by its formal name at the drugstore, SinuCleanse. The neti (pronounced NET-ee) pot clears out your sinuses, provides instant results, and is strangely satisfactory because you can actually see the results (ie, the congestion leaving your nose, and into the sink.) I heard about the fabled contraption long ago from a singer friend, but I wasn't desperate to pour water up my nose at that point. Now, a few years later, I purchased one to help me stay healthy during the run of my play. (I bought the SinuCleanse brand at Walgreens and can vouch for it, but I know there are other brands who make their own versions as well.)

How it works:
Basically, one mixes a saline powder packet that comes with your plastic genie-lamp-like pot with lukewarm water, lean over sink, tilt head upwards, breathe through mouth while slowly pouring the solution into one nostril. Blow nose, and repeat on other side.

Gross? You bet. But satisfying? You betcha!

This can be done as a roommate bonding experience, such as when Natalie & I walked through it together for the first time, or perperhaps as father-daughter quality time like after I bought one for my dad for his birthday and stood back & watched as he spewed water onto the mirror, or as a great conversation piece to use on the phone with your customers, such as John Roberts talking telling a lady in Mt. Juliet today about it after taking care of her biling question.

Another fun addition after purchasing one is to use the verb "to neti" in sentences or better yet, "neti potting;"
ie, hang on, I'm almost ready to leave the apartment- I just need to finish neti potting first!

I learned on Wikipedia while researching for this article that the neti pot originated as part of the daily cleansing rituals of yoga practice, so now you can feel oh-so-zen after irrigating the sinuses!

va tech

Forgive the rambling. I am stunned. Just got word of the VA tech school shooting. Details are still sketchy, but most news sites say 22 are dead. Other reports 32. Either way, it's the worst school shooting in history. Immediately I called Heather (Jacob did his grad work at Virginia Tech, and they still have many friends in Blacksburg). So far, none of their close friends were injured, and the building the gunman went into wasn't the lab where Jacob had worked, praise God. But it was someone else's friends and family. While some people are relieved to know their loved ones are okay, there are others who are mourning right now. One of the girls that used to be in Heather's small group through Campus Crusade had one of her best friends killed in the massacre. All I can do is pray. I cannot understand what would make a person do such a thing. There is so much evil in the world. Our thoughts and prayers are with those at the university, and with the victims' friends and families. Somehow, someway, I pray that God will bring healing and peace.

Jesus take the wheel

I echo MA's sentiments that my blog has lacked some depth and transparency lately. Perhaps it's because I've been lacking depth myself and merely surviving the hectic schedule of performances that have consumed my life this year. The play is halfway over, and I breathed a big sigh of relief last week when I had that break. We all go through those phases in life when we get so busy that we stop planning and calculating every move and just attempt to keep up, but when things finally settle down, we can look around and say, what am I doing?!

That's how I feel now; spiritually more than anything (although other things like careers and working out have taken a back seat too). I haven't been in/leading a Life group since August and I'm really missing that accountability and scheduled time of Bible study. It's also no coincidence that my friendships have suffered since most of my very good friends were in my small group, so I took for granted that I would always see them all at least once a week. Now weeks go by before I see some of them. I feel like we are growing up and going in different directions, and no matter how hard I am hitting the break peddle, the cars keep zooming down the interstate of life! I'm not such an idealist to think that the pace of life will ever slow down, but I'd be more okay with it if I were in the HOV lane with several friends in the same car, rather than driving by myself and catching them on their cell phones during commutes.

I don't have any answers for this problem of time and scheduling- at least not until the play ends in another week (wow, is it really that soon?!), but God has really been pursuing me to dig deeper in spiritual life. To be perfectly honest (there's that transparency we were lacking on here!) I have been convicted lately about gossiping, so I started looking up verses about gossip & speech. I noticed that most of the verses that deal with this topic are in Proverbs. So I've committed to reading through the whole book this month, one chapter a day, and that's going well so far. God is drawing me near with all kinds of questions for Him, and I've had some great conversations with believers and non-believers about my faith, so I know He's working all things for good. So for now, I am tapping the breaks, and reminding myself that in this journey we call life ("wow. what a journey") that I am not the one in the driver's seat.

Why Dixie's More Delightful

I have a theory. It's about- and I'm generalizing here- why northerners are so rude. I call people all day long for my job (correction. I'm supposed to call people all day long for my job. Some days I blog and check Myspace more than I should. Rainy days like today are prime examples of me doing more of the latter... but I digress) Most of my customers are Tennesseans, which I love. A small section of them however are located in the Northeast. And I'm simplifying, but overall I hate calling them! They are rude, anxious to get off the phone, and too self-important to want to talk about music for their church choirs.

It's a well-known cliche that Southerners are more polite than their northern counterparts. My theory is why this is true. I don't think that I'm the first person to postulate it, but I'll share my guess with you all: People up north are miserable because they're cold 90 percent of the time.

Lord knows I get cranky when I have to wear a hooded sweatshirt and fuzzy socks over my pjs to sleep comfortably. And I'd bet my swimming pool that there's a statistic out there that rates the happiest state populations, and my guess is that people who inhabit warmer states are generally happier than those residing in the frozen tundra of the north. We southerners get more sunshine, and warmer weather, and hence are nicer to people. What say ye on this topic?

An EGGstremely long stream of snippets from Easter weekend

So much to blog about, so little time. All you're gonna get are snippets.

*I left work 10 minutes early on Thursday afternoon in order to get home and get everyone loaded into Warren the G-6 Catmobile and head up to Indiana. I forget what family car trips are like. Exactly one hour later, at 6:10pm, after dad has taken the lock on the front door off and put it back on again, we are ready to roll. Oh well I think, at least we will miss the worst of the traffic north of Nashville. ha ha, fat chance.

*Once in the car, although I am the one behind the wheel, there are others who have their own voiced opinions about how one should operate said vehicle. Fun times.

*We arrive in Cannelton around 8:30pm Thursday evening. The name of the game with my Papa is to pile into the Den and sit and watch tv with him while he flips channels. You'll just be getting into a tv show or movie, and suddenly without warning, he'll start flipping channels again. This is why I didn't get my hopes up when he landed on Legally Blonde. I think I literally was holding my breath when he landed on TBS, thinking perhaps if I were quiet he wouldn't change the channel. It must have worked! To my great surprise, we ended up watching the entire movie!!

*Friday I went for a quick run through the streets of the small town where my parents grew up. It was really cold up there- I didn't realize just how cold it was until it began to snow shortly after I returned, and kept on snowing most of the afternoon! It's a good thing I had no idea what the temperature was when I left the house because if I had, I never would have gone out!

*Michael, Missy, Braedon, & Garrick arrived that afternoon. They brought with them their dog Ginger, who had a good time playing with Laura's dog Julius. I have pictures of them playing together, but as usual, my Mac is being tempermental, so I can't get the pics online right now.

*For dinner Laura & Mom fixed a Mexican fiesta- quesadillas, mexican rice, black beans, chips & salsa, and buffalo enchiladas. The Harris crew came down, so we had 17 people and 3 dogs in the house for dinner. (I think there may have even been a partridge in a pear tree around there somewhere.) We sat around laughing and telling stories- my uncle Jerry is famous for his story telling ability. The women discussed if they were a "McSteamy" or a "McDreamy" girl.

*this joke was told- Wanna know why there's no CSI: Louisville? Cause all the DNA's the same, and there's no dental records!

*Julius jumped up onto the table from Robin's lap, and while Laura was scooping him up, she knocked over a glass of red wine, which subsequently spilled onto Ryan's lap. I don't have to tell you the jokes that were made at his expense.

*Papa matter-of-factly says to Laura, tell your dog not to s#%t in my room.

*Lisa & Jerry's dog Oreo came into the living room as soon as they got there and pooped right in front of where Papa was sitting

*Yes, we made the cursory trip to the Pumper, but Laura & I made it an early night.

*Habeas Coacham, or, we have a coach! Kentucky hired Billy Gillispie on Friday. Instead of getting Billy D, we get Billy G. I have been reading good things about him, so I am excited at what this season will bring. I am also thinking we might need to make a trip up for Big Blue Madness this year.

*Our family spent all of Saturday afternoon going through boxes and boxes of old toys, stuffed animals, breakables, clothes, you name it, in preparation for the move. All that clutter in my bedroom was almost more than my OCD-ness could handle, but it was strangely satisfying to repack boxes, label them, and stack the finished boxes in the corner. It warmed my heart to see all those neatly stacked packages with labels on them, and the process of cleaning and purging our old junk was very cathartic for me, although I don't think mom & dad felt the same way. They are more attatched to baby shoes and clothes than I am. I still assert that we do not need an entire Box of Baby Shoes, but I may be losing that battle.

*We had the worlds smallest hamburgers for dinner that night- something about Laura not pounding them flat enough and then turning up the heat on the grill to cook them faster, which ended up scorching them.

*Laura, George & I dyed Easter eggs. I have some great pictures of this, but see above comment about my finicky Mac. Dad won the Egg fight this year.

*We watched the Pursuit of Happyness Saturday night. I had heard mixed reviews on it, and I agree with those who said it's very difficult to watch. It was so depressing and I was so tired, that I almost went upstairs and didn't finish the movie, that's how little I cared to see the end of this film.

*5:15 when the alarm went off came very early on Easter morning! 5 hours at church and singing in 3 services got me pumped up though- The Lord is risen- he is risen indeed!

*When I got home from singing in the 3rd service (Alan jackson is rumored to have come to BBC's second service on Easter!), mom & Laura had lunch ready.

*The Easter Bunny came and brought me some new pink kitchen utensils- the Easter Bunny must think I need to spend more time in the kitchen cooking!

*Momma B turned 21 (plus 33 years) yesterday! Happy belated Birthday!!!

a dog day afternoon

Yes, I know, it's not really hot at all today (Hansel. So not hot right now. Hansel) but today's Cliche a Day calendar provided some fantastic insight to the English language as usual.

dog days
the hottest days of summer
(why the calendar chose to include this phrase in the month of March, as opposed to, oh, I don't know, August when it is usually sweltering, is beyond my grasp)
The ancient Romans ascribed the apex of summer heat to the ascendancy of the dog star, or Sirius. The brightest star in the sky, it is located in the constellation Canis Major, meaning the "big dog."

It figures that this phrase would pop up on my desk calendar on the day that I lament the change in weather. For weeks now the weather has been gloriously, unusually warm for this time of year. And now that Easter approaches and everyone is pulling out their spring clothes, we have another cold snap and are expecting freezing temperatures for the rest of the week. Go figure. Why do you mock me so, Cliche a Day calendar?

Smoothsday Tuesday

(sigh) another year of college basketball is over and done. I went over to Ari's to watch the game with her last night, and it was funny to be cheering for a different team from her. She had picked OSU to win in her brackets, and I was cheering for Florida to stay true to my SEC. In case you missed the big game, here are a few snippets you might find entertaining:

• Jim Nantz kept referring to Florida's coach as "Dunnivan"
• Greg Oden shaved at halftime, but you couldn't tell ---->
• I made Ari watch all the ending ceremonies to see if Joakim Noah would dance again, but after watching for several minutes with no moves being busted, we turned it off.
• Greg Gumbel participated in MTV's new reality tv show, pimp my suit (I have searched all over to find a photo of his ghetto-fabulous number he was sporting last night and have come up empty-handed thus far)
  
• <---I only cheer for Noah because I like his skinny side-burns.

Billy Donovan, you've just won the 2nd straight NCAA men's basketball title, what are you gonna do now? "I'm going to Disne-Kentucky!" (we hope.... and are still waiting patiently to find out...) (or perhaps waiting not so patiently...)

Get a whiff of this!

Here it is, your diva weekend in review- shows Fri, Sat & Sunday. Saturday I slept in after staying up till 2am the night before reading Memoirs of a Geisha- (man, I could Not put that book down!), and then I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a little run up and down Edmondson Pike, then joined Natalie at the pool for some sun. It was the most relaxing day! I stayed out by the pool for a few hours, reading and trying to finish my book before I left for the show later. Sunday I met Mom & Dad at CB after church for a yummy lunch and then headed off to the thee-ater for my show (PS, we have a sort of receiving line after the show where patrons come up to us to tell us how much they enjoyed the show. The comment often heard is, "yew were gray-ate") . I went home after the matinee and actually was able to cook a proper dinner for myself and tidy up the kitchen before meeting Tadders at the movies to see Blades of Glory.

I admit I was going more for the company than a desire to see the movie. It did have its funny parts, but honestly, it's more of a rental. (I was able to use the $5.50 movie passes if that persuades you to take a chance on it) Really, it's like a less-funny Zoolander on Ice- 2 male primadonna ice-skating rivals overcome their differences to achieve a common goal- or Gold. One humorous thing that was not part of the film was that I made the comment to Tadd right after we sat down that it smelled like feet in the theater. Moments later he caught the pungent scent as well, and we traded laughs during the entire movie every time the odor would waft our way. After the movie ended and the credits began to roll, Tadd turned towards the aisle in an attempt to catch the stinky culprit. I looked as well. The people in front of us, and next to me were all wearing socks and shoes, so it wasn't them. Finally Tadd pointed out two unsuspecting girls that had been sitting in the row directly behind us. Both of them were darling and petite, but both were wearing flip flops! One of these was the owner of the odor. Tadd remarked that still, it wasn't a constant stench, but came in waves.

"yes," I replied, "probably every time she uncrossed and recrossed her legs, the scent was stirred!" I think this olfactory delight probably affected my ability to truly enjoy the film, but at any rate, it was great to see Tadd. We went and grabbed Sonic Oreo blasts afterwards (Coldstone was closed, the nerve!) and caught up on life while singing harmonies with John Mayer in the Catmobile. Oh, and Ari- I taught Tadd the Stink Pink game- he loved it!!!

Can you believe it's already April? You know you're getting old when... it's the 4th month of the year and you Still have to mentally remind yourself what year it is when you're dating things! Anywho- the play is halfway over, and I am looking forward to having this week off for Easter. A trip to Cannelton is in store for the weekend. Happy Fecunday Monday, everyone!!!

a trip down aria lane

HMS Pinafore is well under way, and so far so good. Last night was our first night back after a break, and I could tell my own energy was lacking. A lot of little factors contributed to a not-so-stellar performance on my part. I didn't get a chance to really warm up my voice. I also didn't eat dinner, so I ate an apple backstage before my first entrance which is a little ways into the first act. At one point during my first song, I felt something fly out of my mouth and onto my lip- I quickly pressed my lips together to remove the foreign particle and realized in horror that a piece of apple had just shot out of my mouth. Hopefully, none of the auidence members caught this.

Seconds later, as I turned to go up stage and onto the platform, still while I am singing mind you, I was still so flustered at the apple incident that I didn't pull my dress up enough as I climbed the step, and I stepped on my dress, tripping myself! The chain reaction continued as I was so distracted at the fact that I had just stumbled, I took the first ending twice, changing the end of my aria completely. Then, as if that weren't enough, I tripped again on my dress a few minutes later as I was leaving the stage after my scene with the Captain! Grrr!

True, it could have been a much worse performance, because nothing disastrous happened, but I was disapointed in myself. Hopefully tonight will go more smoothly!

Cliche a Day: March 30th

It's been a while since we've had one of these posted on here for your education/entertainment. Today's phrase is one I find myself using frequently in my writing, due to my obsessive compulsive nature to employ rhyming phrases. And also due to my nature to use cliches, which is perhaps why Ariana felt the need to give me this calendar. hmm...

in like Flynn
to be accepted by the group without question; to have a sure thing

Errol Flynn, a successful movie star/sex symbol of the 30's and 40's, was involved in a sensational trial in which he was accused of having sex with two underage girls on a boat. When Flynn was found not guilty, the phrase "in like Flynn" became part of the popular vocabulary, the phrase suggesting that his acquittal was based on his popularity and celebrity.

a spontaneous, star-studded show

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from an inside source that said Kenny Chesney was going to be playing a free concert at the Tin Roof. By the end of the day, KC had announced the show to his fan club, word spread around Nashville, and upon arriving at the "top secret" show at the Roof, there were 2 radio stations broadcasting live from outside the place, and the bar was full to capacity!

These are the fun things you get to experience when living in Music City, USA. Kenny Chesney threw himself a birthday party at the Tin Roof, and invited celebs and fans alike to come party with him. Mandy, Rhonda, and I got there late- around 9pm, and caught the last hour of the show, pushing our way through the crowd and ending up center stage about 5 rows back. Kenny was already 3 sheets to the wind by then, but it was a blast. He really is a very short guy- especially without the aid of the heighening cowboy hat! We got to see KC and the Moonshine Band share the stage with songwriter Brett James, and Kix Brooks, and earlier in the night, Kenny invited up songwriter Craig Wiseman, Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, & Montgomery Gentry among others, and Tim & Faith were there for the shindig although they supposedly remained out of the limelight. Mandy was hoisted onto the shoulders of a guy she didn't know so she got a birds eye view of the stage, and got some great pictures with Rhonda's camera (the pic currently posted came from a phone, so I apologize for the quality of the photo).

Kenny closed his show with She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy, and off he went to the VIP area out back where all the celebs and other important people were mingling. We three were not considered VIPS, so we hung out in the bar with everybody else. The place started to clear out, and as I happened to look over by the bar, there stood one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Angie Aparo. Now we all know that I am notoriously unaware of my surroundings and am usually the last person to spot a famous person out in public, but how do you miss a 5'4" bald man?! I approached him and told him what a fan of his I was, and talked to him for a minute and came away glowing! Then I went back and found him a few minutes later and got Rhonda to take our picture together. Her camera battery died, so we had to settle for the cell phone pic again, which isn't the best quality, but dadgummit, I got to meet Angie Aparo! I'm still beaming!

Mandy, Rhonda Lu & I headed up the street to Dan McGuiness to round out the spontaneous girls' night out on the town.

"It is the day of the show, y'all"

To quote one of my favorite films, Waiting for Guffman, tonight marks the opening of her majesty's ship, the HMS Pinafore. It seems weird that after 2 months of rehearsing it's finally time to perform. And wouldn't you know it, I am fighting with my vocal chords this morning. They're angry at me for singing so much and not resting enough. So I'll be speaking as little as possible today (fat chance since I'm on the phones all day) and drinking as much hot tea as I can stomach.

The Tubb has been drained

Holy Mother of Basketball! The unthinkable has happened- Tubby Smith is leaving the University of Kentucky. The story hit the press only held about an hour ago, so details are still sketcky, but it appears that Tubby left on his own volition (if for none other reason than if he didn't resign, he might have been canned). He announced that he is taking the head coaching position at the University of Minnesota. Go Gophers, Go.

I have mixed feelings- I was brought up in the Tubby era. Most of Kentucky's glory days in basketball I wasn't around to see, or too young to remember. Tubby Smith basketball is practically all I know! But I also know that our program has dwindled from the premiere basketball program in the country to a mediocre program lacking in good recruits, and failing to win championships year after year. I wish Tubby well in his new venture.

Here's all I can find on the topic right now: cbs.sportsline.com , foxsports, and a good one from espn

Yes, Virginia, there is a Tennessee

Ahh, March madness. Seriously, one of my favorite times of the year. I layed in bed reading a book on Saturday afternoon (the Kiterunner- fabulous) while watching ncaa basketball on tv and thought I'd died and gone to heaven!

I know it has to do with how I've grown up, but basketball in my house has been in the forefront since as long as I can remember. Laura and I used to swap every year siding with mom or dad when Kentucky & Indiana would play, and we have each filled out tournament brackets and hung them in the kitchen for years and years now. Dad picks Kentucky to win the thing every year. Laura and I would fight over who got to highlight the winners. I know I'm the oddball girl who actually gives a rip about sports, but I can't help but wonder what's wrong with all these men who know nothing about them! Isn't this supposed to be right up their masculine alley- The competition and tradition, and loyalty to one's team? Yet I know so many men who barely know what a basketball is, let alone care enough to fill out a bracket, or center their weekend around watching a game.

I'm currently in first place among the pool at work, but my sister is in First Place among every MTSU student who has filled out a ncaa tourney bracket on facebook. First among thousands! I bow down to her in amazement.

The title of my blog I stole from my witty father, in response to the outcome of yesterday's UVA-UT matchup. 3 out of the 4 SEC teams who made it into the tournament this year are going to the Sweet 16. Guess which team didn't make it. Yep. My beloved Wildcats ended their season with a hard-fought loss to Kansas. I wasn't shocked at this, and await the start of next season with a new coach perhaps? We'll see.

Ides say: Beware!

Beware the ides of March.

That's today. I don't know why I have always carried that quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with me, but every year, on March 15th, I remember that it's the Ides of March. We studied Julius Caesar in my sophomore English class, and I always remember that line is spoken by the Soothsayer (this is for you Tadd: Sooth. I say it. I say sooth. I'm a soothsayer.) also known as a fortune teller or prophet. And he tells Caesar to watch out on March 15th, because something bad is about to happen. For example, he winds up being betrayed and murdered. I'd say our boy Julius should have listened more in English class and paid attention when March 15th rolled around. Otherwise the story might have turned out much differently.

Out of curiously ('cause I'm curious like a cat- "that's why my friends call me Whiskers")- I checked wikipedia for further info on the history if this forboding day.

A day in the Roman calendar, that marked the approximate middle of the month, i.e., the fifteenth day in the months of March, May, July, and October, and the thirteenth day in the other eight months. The word ides comes from Latin, meaning "half division" (of a month).

So now you know. Beware.

beating the system

the third blog in a triology of car blogs:

This is a little something I call beating the system. The registration for Thomas expired in March of 2006. I never got around to renewing it. So for a year now I have been driving illegally, laying low and playing it cool whenever a cop was spotted, but more amused than anything else that I never did get pulled over for it, and saved a chunk of money this year.

Now that Thomas has died and I have my new car, I have to get new tags. One would think I might just transfer the old car registration to this new one, but conveniently enough, Thomas was never technically in my name. So as far as any registration person knows, I have never owned a car nor been respoinsible for purchasing vehicle registration. I think I am off scott free and can buy my new registration, skipping the fees for 2007 completely.

This is what I proudly call beating the system.

2 cars in 2 days

When last we left our heroine, she was losing sleep over the fact that she technically owned 2 cars. Enter Tuesday morning, when Amanda drives to work in her first new car, awaiting the afternoon when she can drop it off and pick up her second new car!

I am a little more focused at work today, although there is one tiny thing she is worried about- her expired registration. Part of the money that was taken off the price of the new G6 is hingent upon them getting a copy of my old registration. What if they don't accept it because it's from 2006? But I can't worry about that right now.

First things first- calling the girl at Driver's Way who sold me the white car. Yes, it was cool that I purchased my car from a girl, but I could hear her deflate over the phone when I called her that day. Hey, it's Amanda Bradley, I said to her. Heyy, how are you? Good I said, but I don't have good news for you. I explained to her that it was a great car, but just not the car from me, and that I had bought something else already. I felt awful for having to do that, but there was nothing to be done at this point. All I could do was cross my fingers that returning this vehicle and aquiring the other would go smoothly, and that I wouldn't somehow be without any car again!

That afternoon I cleaned everything out of the white car, and brought in all the paperwork into Driver's Way. Conveniently, the girl was at lunch, so another guy who had obviously been prepped on the situation handled all the paperwork for me. I sat and waited nervously inside while he made sure everything checked out. It did. Now all I had to do was drive to the other dealership and get my new car! Since all the paperwork had been done the afternoon before, I was given the keys immediately, and I knew I had made the right decision as a smile spread across my face and I showed off "my" new car to my mom who had driven me over. Trey showed me all the nifty features on my car and helped me get everything settled before I drove off in my real, new car, the one that I was certain I loved and couldn't wait to show off.

I still haven't taken any pictures yet, but will try and get that taken care of soon. Now it's time to play name that car. Thomas was such an original, and I feel pangs of guilt when I drive by my club house and see him sitting there, knowing he will never be driven again!

R.I.P Thomas (b. Nov 2, 1996- d. March 10, 2007)

Saturday I went car hunting with my good friend and car-fanatic, Andrew. I test drove several cars and he helped me narrow down my search, made sure I was asking the right questions and offered helpful advice. As a former car salesmen himself, he knew the general manager at the Pontiac dealership in Franklin, so he made a quick call, and the manager himself walked me out to the lot once we got there along with a really great salesman named Trey.

I leave overwhelmed, I drive several more cars, I get a splitting head ache and we stop so I can get some ibuprofen. I almost walk into a liquor store instead of the gas station store that was next door. Oopsy. Minutes later as I'm driving one of the cars, the most beautiful rainbow appears. God is definitely giving me a sign! Andrew and I drive back to my apartment, and I am just as confused as ever and still have a headache.

On Edmondson pike, right before we get to my street, Thomas starts to violently shake, the lights are flashing on the dashboard, and I don't know what is going on. I don't know if the car is abut the explode and we need to jump ship or What. Andrew assures me it's going to be okay, and to keep driving. I manage to steer the car almost up the apartment complex gate, but the car dies. Andrew begins to push the car barefoot (flip flops don't provide much traction) and a random guy hops out of his car and helps Andrew push. Mr. Stranger, wherever you are, thank you very much! He runs off once I get Thomas steered into a parking spot in front of the clubhouse. A guy who's in my Sunday school class happens to be dropping off a friend who lives in my same complex, and so he comes back and looks at my car with Andrew. I recognized him, and he introduced himself as Nick. Nick and Andrew determine the cause of the death of my vehicle, and perform a basic car autopsy. I threw a rod in my engine. Apparently that's really bad. They use a flashlight and show me shards of shiny metal inside my engine, which apparently you aren;t supposed to be able to see. I am slightly freaking out, but holding it together as i call my dad since I have 2 guys there with me, so I'm trying not to cry!

Pause here in between laughing at the irony that yes, I had been out looking at new cars minutes before my old car died, and recalling the conversation between my dad and me earlier that day when he asks me if I have Thomas all cleaned out, and I emphatically tell him that I'm not going out to buy a car that day, but only to look and get a better idea of what I want, and finally realizing the horrible prophesy that has come true when I joked with friends that I am needing to get a new car before my old one does on me and I'm forced to buy a car out of necessity. Yes, all these are terribly ironic. I swear, I don't make this stuff up.

Nick gives Andrew and I a ride up the hill to my place, and dad meets us at the apartment to start going over our options. I go home with dad and consume several glasses of red wine (for health reasons of course) and start to crunch numbers and figure out exactly what I can afford (thank you Lisa Thompson for that financial worksheet you set up for me months ago!!).

Sunday dad and i go look at a few cars after church. After being pressured by Driver's Way to get the 2006 Pontiac G6 I looked at earlier that day, I go back to their lot and sign the papers to purchase the car. It's one that I liked, but not necessarily the ideal car for me, nor the ideal situation and timing, but I try to convince myself it's a good deal, and a car I can be happy with.

Not so much.

I cry on my way home in my new car. I think the pressure of the past 2 days had finally caught up with me. But I wasn't happy at all with my decision. I felt physically ill, and that carried over to work Monday morning. I left at 11am to go home and work on insurance quotes (another nightmare in itself) and tried to decide if I'm having anxiety over my car dying without being able to give him aproper burial, if it's the new car I'm not satisied with, or if it's just that it's my first big-girl purchase and a lot to handle all at once. I joked with my dad on Sunday that I felt like the Slowsky's because "I felt- rushed."
After making several calls to car dealerships, my dad, and insurance people, I head back down to the Pontiac dealer in Franklin and wheel and deal my way into the car that I've decided I really want. A Kentucky-blue 2007 Pontiac G6. That was an experience I've never been in before, negotiating my way into the car I wanted, but at one point Trey was trying to get me to agree to paying $1.95 more per month.

He said, "come on, it's a dollar more a month."
"No it's not I said," proud of my mad math skills, "it's 2 dollars more a month, and 24 more dollars a year."

He left me for a minute to think about it. Somehow my mind wandered to this summer at the Wilson County Fair when I got mad at the vendors for not selling me 2 fried oreos instead of the prescribed 5 cookie serving size. I tried to make a deal with them and they wouldn't go for it.
"You can make $3 or you can make nothing,"
I told the girl- and I meant it- and as a result I walked away from those Oreos that I really wanted. Surely, I thought to myself on Monday afternoon, that if I can bargain on oreos and walk away when I don't get the deal that I want than I can surely walk away from something as major as a car payment I'm not comfortable with! It's the principle of the thing! So I was firm, and I ended up getting what I wanted!

So as of Monday night, I am now the proud owner of TWO new cars!!! 2 pontiac G6s- one Blue, one white!

as Lil' Jon says, ATL... don't disrespect it

Spring is here!!! Over the weekend I looked out the car window, amazed at all the bundles of daphodils blooming in people's yards, and yesterday upon leaving work, I noticed for the first time this year that the trees lining Cool Springs Blvd. have pink buds all over them. Today the high in Fabulous Nashvegas is a pleasant 70 degrees, so in honor of the warm weather, I busted out my new dress. A coworker was complimenting me on the garment this morning and asked where I got it.
The A-T-L.
I replied without missing a beat. She gave me a quizzical look.
Not Atlanta, I added, Anne Taylor Loft... that's how I roll.
I responded as several people nearby laughed. I am quite pleased with the retro-looking dress, and am looking forward to eating my lunch outdoors today!

Fifty Nifty

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Today is the NEA's (National Education Association) Read Across America Day. It's the 10th anniversary of this, and also happens to be the 50th birthday of Dr. Seuss' the Cat in the Hat.

To celebrate this, the NEA is sponsoring Project 236. Did you know that Dr. Seuss used only 236 different words to write The Cat in the Hat? To recognize the 50th birthday of The Cat in the Hat, students, educators, and families nationwide will all read the groundbreaking book at 2:36 p.m. ET.

(Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, where Momma B works, is one of the many schools participating in this cool event!)

From the official website:

"In the mid 1950s, many Americans were asking themselves: Why can’t Johnny read? In a Life magazine article, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey maintained that American children couldn’t read because their classroom primers were boring and “antiseptic” and could not compete with cartoons, comics, and other more fun and interesting stimuli, so he challenged Theodor Geisel, a.k.a Dr. Seuss, to write a story “first graders wouldn’t be able to put down.” And that’s just what Dr. Seuss did, using a vocabulary of only 236 words. In 1957, Random House published The Cat in the Hat and those 236 words revolutionized the way children learn to read."

3/2/2007 a Cat in the Hat Birthday Party
Ravenwood High School Media Center1724 Wilson Pike Brentwood, TN 37027
Cake, read-aloud, activities, prizes, Cat in the Hat movie screening, contest to raise money for literacy. Event is not open to the public

To raise money for this event at Ravenwood, I believe Mom said the kids were putting in money in jars with different teachers' names on them, and the teacher with the most money in his or her jar has to dress up like the Cat in the Hat!

Getting out of my comfort zone

I have no shame. I am here for your entertainment, and so I don’t mind telling this on myself. In the middle of my spin class this morning I came to a horrible realization. I was pretty certain I had forgotten to pack a very important female undergarment. I was 99.9% sure that I didn’t remember throwing said female undergarment into my gym bag last night when I was packing. After class I get into the locker room, and sure enough, I hadn’t packed one. Well crap. Okay. Not to panic. I am not exactly a DD, so maybe with the 2 shirts and cropped sweater jacket over it I could get away with being-oh what the heck- braless- today. I called my sister on the way to work and she laughed at me and quipped, you’re pulling a “Sue Ellen Mishke.” I didn’t know what she was talking about, so she had to explain it to me, but all you Seinfeld fans out there will get a kick out of that.

I went to work, but I spent the entire morning being self-conscious of how cold I was, and sat in our morning meeting hunched down under the table as much as I could be, keeping my arms crossed. By 10:30 I couldn’t take it anymore, so I clocked out and went to the mall to make an emergency purchase. I headed straight to Vickie’s because I had a coupon for $10 off their new bra style, and you also got a free panty (that word in singular form always makes me cringe) regardless of whether you bought anything or not. So I figured I’d kill 2 birds with one stone.
I shared my dilemma with a sympathetic salesperson, and she sent me in the right direction. Several minutes later, after I had decided on a bra I liked (Not the new kind, by the way) I pushed the call button, and asked the saleslady who came over if she could take the gray sensor off the garment and hand me the sales tag so I could wear my new purchase out of the dressing room, but of course, take the tag up to the counter to pay for it.

I’m sorry. You can’t do that, the voice on the other side of the door said to me.
You’ll have to come out and pay for it and then change.
Here’s where I lost my temper a little.
Look, I said flustered. I forgot my bra today, I’m already in here, and if I have to go out there and pay for it and come back in here again, then I don’t want it. I’m trying to get back to work!
Well, she said, I’ll have to go see if I can do that.
I heard her asking another salesperson, and finally the salesperson handed me the bra over the door, sans gray-theft-sensor.
Thank you, I replied.

Minutes later when I opened the door, ready to book it up to the cash register, the saleslady who met me at the door was a girl I happen to know! I was embarrassed that I had gotten so huffy with her as she handed me the sales tag for my purchase, and so I apologetically explained my predicament to her. I’m not sure if that helped or not, because I then had to explain to the ladies at the counter all over again the situation when I handed her a tag to scan and no bra attached to it. Come on, I can’t be the only person who has gone to the gym and forgotten an undergarment! They made me feel like an idiot, so needless to say, it’s been a very, ahem, uncomfortable, day so far! Why do these crazy things always happen to me??!!

Oscar Recap part deux

Okay... so yesterday I spent the bulk of the day breaking down the fashion. Now it's time to get down to the real deal- the actual awards themselves! I truly look forward to the Oscars every year, so it was fun having a big group of people with whom to watch the show. Ellen hosted, and while I think we all miss the Billy Crystal days where he would make up songs for each of the best picture nominees, Ellen did a fine job. She wasn't too crass or controversial, which I suppose could be why everyone is giving her mediocre reviews, but she was funny and energetic-- and boy did we need the energy once it got later! Why the heck they drag this thing out into a 4-hour-long event is beyond me. We were fighting to stay awake by the end of it, and it's like, once you start watching it, you can't not watch the end, because that's when all the biggies are handed out. I certainly did not sit through Best Foreign Documentary and Best Sound Editing only to miss Best Director and Best Picture!

Of course the funniest moment of the evening was the song about the plight of the comedian at the Oscars. Why doesn't Will Ferrell get to host? I think he would do a great job. Maybe if his career holds steady he will get to at some point. I think he is witty
enough to make humorous commentary on the actors and actresses without having to revert to a joke as lame as, Jack Nicholson will be backstage with his razor.
(yawn)

So again, let's go back to this being a 4 hour network event, more if you watched any of the red carpet pre-show. There were several, and by several, I mean way too many, honorary awards given out at this year's Oscar's. I am all for honoring people in the industry who have done their part to advance in their field. But the general public could not care less about these awards. Honor the composer who was nominated 5

times but never won an Oscar at a banquet when you announce the nominees every year. If he's so wonderful, why did you never give him an Oscar? And I love Celine (she is "the best singer in the world!") and she looked amazing, but that performance was random and time-consuming.
Limit the honorary awards to one or two max per year.

Also limit the random video montages. The first few were great, then we bored quickly and were ready to move on to the next award. Come on, who won for Best Editing?? I NEED to know now!

Ironically enough, the times we were most
quiet were during the commercial breaks! We decided they were hands-down better than the Superbowl commercials. One they showed a few times was one with clips of all these people answering their phones taken from famous movies for the new Apple iphone, and for whatever reason, we were all transfixed by the oddly-intriguing J.C. Penney commercials. Then the Academy Awards came back on and we resumed our chattering.

A few of the Extras that we did enjoy were the acrobatic dancers who formed the Oscar statue, the bus from Little Miss Sunshine, and my favorite, Snakes on a Plane! The sound effects choir was also pretty incredible. I'm assuming they're the same ones who do all the sound effects for the car commercial video that has been fwd to me a billion times over email.

For the actual awards handed out that evening (the whole point of the night, even though that's the last thing I'm getting to writing about!):

Best Supporting Actor- Alan Arkin for LMS- this was a shocker since there was so much hype for Eddie Murphy to win. I picked Mark Walhburg on my guesses, so that was one strike for me.

Best Supporting Actress- Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls- the Academy and I both had her pegged to win.

Best Song- went to Melissa Etheridge for her song "I need to wake up" from An Inconvenient Truth. All 3 Dreamgirls songs were shut out. I don't agree with this one at all.

Best Actor- Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland- Again, I lose- I had picked Leo. Has anyone seen this movie? I still know nothing about it- although I did just pick up on the irony of best actor and actress going to a "king" and "queen." Conspiracy for symmetry, perhaps?

Best Actress- Helen Mirren in The Queen. I bought into the hype and picked her even though I still haven't seen this film.

Best Director- The Departed- Martin Scorsese. This was Martie's first win and I was pleased as punch that he finally got his Oscar. The man's been making movies for forever, and obviously deserved to be awarded for this film.

Best Picture- The Departed. I balked and picked Babel, but I'm glad the Departed won- it was my favorite movie that I saw last year. I'm also delighted the Academy agrees with yours truly.

This has been your officially overdue commentary on the now 3-days-old Oscars. Deal with it.