Another Sunny Sunday!

Well... here's the story of my weekend... You can see the post below about Friday night and the Preds game... Saturday was mostly uneventful... aside from picking up a book for the Argentina trip. The book is How to say FABULOUS! in 8 different languages. It has a bunch of random sayings you wont find in a regular Spanish guide...

Here are some examples: "It's really cruisy here." "What a stud!" A favorite of mine is... "Shut up, bitch!" For the record... it's "Callate, zorra!" The other covered languages are French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portugese, Russian..and of course English. It should be a really fun book to keep around for several travels.

On to Sunday... Hal's parents have a really fun convertible (I've included a generic image of a similar one). Well...they are out of the country...so we borrowed it and took several Sunday strolls around town... We drove through downtown, Germantown, Richland Park, Belle Meade (including by Al Gore's house) and finally Percy Warner Park. It was beautiful and a convertible is SOOO much fun. His parents will be selling it soon (it's not comfortable for his dad anymore with his health issues) so we enjoyed it while we could.

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

Ross The Intern At The CMT Awards

I think Ross (a Tonight Show correspondant) is hilarious. I catch all his segments and read his blog several times a week.

This is really funny.

Yeah, it's over now...

Ok, after a season filled with Stanley Cup hopes and being the #1 team in the NHL for quite some time, it's all over for the Predators. They lost Game 5 on home ice to the Sharks (same team/same game that put us out last playoff season).

It's so disappointing that after all the marquee player additions we had this year (can we say Jason Arnott & Peter Forsberg?), we find ourselves no better at the end than last season.

It's a pretty certain fact that the only coach we've had in our 9 year franchise history will be gone now (after getting defeated in the 1st round of the playoffs 3 consecutive years). The really interesting thing will be to see how many of our players remain.

Hal & I invested a lot of time in Preds games this season (around 30 games)... so we are pretty bummed out... BUT... damn...can you imagine if you were the money man/owner behind the team payroll? DOH! That's a $30 million dollar oops.

On to the next season!!!

Another Predators post

Ok, my previous post was definitely more serious... so here's a different one.

The Preds lost game 4 of a 7 game series tonight. The San Jose Sharks only need to win 1 more game to take this series. Friday night's game is in Nashville... either we win and move the series back to San Jose for Game 6, or Nashville will lose the series in their own arena...

It's possible that Nashville will win Friday & go back to San Jose and win, but they have NEVER won a playoff game on the road. There is still hope for that though and it would bring Game 7 back to Smashville.

It's SOOOO frustrating that we were at the top of the NHL for a big part of the season, but now we are fighting to make it through the first round..... AGAIN... just as we have for the past 2 playoff seasons....


WORK IT PREDS!!!! The Nashville franchise really needs to go past the 1st round of the playoffs.... especially considering we built this team for the Stanley Cup!

A day of reflection...

I, like so many others, cant believe what happened at Virginia Tech on Monday. I hate people having to grieve others' loss, and unfortunately, it is an experience as old as people. I've thought many things...among them... that situation could have just as easily happened to any of us in a college/or work setting... as more info about the reason behind this has surfaced, I've felt that you can't control crazy. In an open society, people with mental health problems are going to do what they do... for the most part (some artists are mental, but they tend to do well)... I wish that weren't true.

On another reflective but unrelated to violence note, Wednesday marked the 17th year of my mother's passing. WOW. Just saying that sounds crazy. Sometimes it seems like yesterday... but sometimes it truly feels like it has been that long.

Someone just reminded me the other day (and I have long felt this way..as many others do), things happen for a reason. My life definitely took a different trajectory than it would have had things not happened 17 years ago. In a life hands you lemons, you make lemonade way, I feel thankful for the life experiences I've had. I'm so thankful/happy with goals/decisions/accomplishments so far.

My thoughts again go out to all the families/friends who are struggling with a senseless/unexpected loss (around 200 civilians in Iraq were killed Tuesday). I hope that we can all remember to feel compassion about loss of life (whether it happens in the USA, Iraq, Sudan or every single other country in the world) when we see a news headline. I often have thoughtlessly skimmed over 150 people killed headlines... but... there are many more than 150 people affected by those 150 people.

Things do happen for a reason in my opinion... I wish I knew how to stop/control it/understand it at the time, but it's virtually impossible. I hope we can all just remember compassion and reverence for life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LORETTA!!!

Ok... I cant believe today isnt an official national holiday, but it is in my mind. The first lady of country music, Ms. Loretta Lynn, is 72 today!!!! I hope everyone will have a bologna sandwich in her honor.

The picture here is from her curtain call at the concert Josh & I went to in February.

Pick Pickler (again) & GO PREDS!!

You lose some... but then you WIN some!!!! The Preds lost Game 1 on Wednesday night in overtime. It was a very exciting game. Nashville tied up it up in regulation with 50 seconds remaining. OT is sudden death...they played a full 20 minute period with neither team scoring... then in the 2nd OT period about 10 minutes in, the stinking Sharks scored and it was over :( It was a really long game considering there are 15 or 20 minute breaks between periods. My throat was hurting when I got home and my ears were ringing b/c it was so loud.

Game 2 was MUCH better. It started out with Amy Grant & Vince Gill singing the national anthem. They did a great job. The Preds beat the Sharks 5-2!! It was another crazy game filled with penalties and fights. Now they go out to San Jose to play 2 games in the Shark Tank on Monday & Wednesday....

I did see Kellie Pickler again and was so bummed we didnt take our camera with us... I'm really hoping I see her at an opportune time at our next home game--Friday the 20th.

GO PREDS!!!

Jimmy Kimmel's Cousin Sal - Hidden Camera prank - Chinese delivery

This is hilarious. Stick around for the 2nd prank...it makes me fall in the floor laughing!!

This is the right way to start out a Tuesday...

I subscribe to the local Nashville paper. I wont debate their journalistic quality--or lack thereof--but I unrolled the paper this morning and was greeted by this picture... above the fold... on the front page. Pretty damn good decision in my opinion!!!!!!

Seeing Loretta Lynn laughing it up with Tanya Tucker (another country artist I love love love) set my happy mood for the day. Does it get better than that??? Well, seeing her in person obviously, but you get the drift :)

Here is a link to the accompanying article if you are interested (Josh). http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070410/ENTERTAINMENT01/704100351

The Playoffs are H-E-R-E!!!!

The Preds start the playoffs this week--right here in lovely Nashvegas. We play Wednesday and Friday before they head out to San Jose.

The crazy thing is that we played San Jose in the first round of the playoffs last year--and they eliminated us--but we've got a different caliber team this year. We'll see how that works out!!!!

On a sad note for me, they wore the yellow jersey for the last time ever on Thursday...:( I have a white one also, but LOVED the yellow one. It was a Christmas gift 2 years ago.

If you dont already keep up with the Preds, I'll be sure to keep you posted on how it goes.

Hippity hop, hippity hop, Will the Easter Bunny stop?

Ok, that's the dumbest Easter reference I can think of right now. It could have just as easily been a Frosty the Snowman reference since I did see snow flurries on Friday... IN APRIL!!!!

Hope you all had a Happy Easter! The damn bunny didnt bring me any chocolates, but my grandmother has always sent me an Easter card... and didnt disappoint this year! It's very cute.

I had another fun, last week. I met up with my absentee coworker (maternity leave) for lunch one day. Seeing a couple month old baby is usually cute and sweet...and he was both.

The last regular season, home Preds game was last Thursday...and we won!!

Friday night, we did one of my favorite things... go out to dinner, come home and listen to music, have cocktails and talk all kinds of nonsense until way too late.

Saturday was noneventful mostly. Our duplex neighbor moves in next weekend so there were last minute things to do there... It will be so nice to be over all that... I may have said this before, but I havent been clothes shopping since last December (aside from a few shops in Kansas City)... and that is DEFINITELY on this weekends agenda.

Sunday was a really fun day. We had brunch at Hal's parents... including a few mimosas... then later that night we went to some friends for dinner and to watch the Soprano's and Entourage. I've never seen Soprano's, but it was interesting. I still havent caught up on the first 2 seasons of Entourage either, but you saw that post last week. The Soprano's lended to an italian-themed dinner, some yummy desserts and good wine. Monday morning wasnt the most fun as a result, but such is life.

That Snickers eating bastard

So, Monday is the day to head back to the pool. They had the setup for the long course today which is a change for me, but I was able to swim for 40 minutes instead of getting lazy and stopping at 30 like I did last Monday. I've noticed that Monday and Wednesday are long course days, so I guess I have to get used to it.

Anyway, about 30 minutes into the swim, I noticed one of the 20ish y/o lifeguards sitting over there eating a bleeping Rice Krispy Treat AND a Snickers bar!!!... I soooo wanted to go snatch them from his hands and throw them away or eat them myself!! haha... the bad thing is, when he finished eating them, he took off his shirt before he started doing some actual work...and he didnt have a bit of gut on him... made me sick! Time will catch up with him I know...20 y/o metabolism doesnt last forever.

Mika Grace Kelly

Check this out!!

Hug it out!!!

What a beautiful weekend! The weather was great and I loved every bit of it. It was a fun weekend to boot!!

Friday night we went to a wine club/tasting/gathering that was a lot of fun. I stopped paying attention to what type of wine I was drinking after a few glasses, but we had a great time. I took a very interesting bottle shaped like a violin, but the taste didnt match the prettiness of the bottle... I even poured a good bit of my glass down the drain...

Saturday was a day for sleeping late and then a trip to Lowe's for some random things... I must say... the nursery dept of home improvement stores drives me CRAZY in the springtime with everyone dilly-dallying and standing in the way...sigh

Saturday night we went to a hockey game against the Dallas Stars... we freaking lost... the second big game in a row, but such is life and competitive sports. I DID however purcase a Jordin Tootoo whistle... every time that bruiser gets out on the ice, people toot on the whistle..it was a blast and I wish I had it earlier in the season.

I have had good intentions of getting caught up on the HBO series "entourage" for a while...Hal watches it and I never got started..(BTW, this blog title is a big catchphrase from that show) so I bought the first two seasons on DVD at the new Best Buy close to my house. They are about to start up the 2nd part of the 3rd season and I've got part of those episodes on my DVR dating back to June!!! How crazy is that???

I also got the Mika CD... it is so awesome!!! He's probably not something that will appeal to the masses in my opinion, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. He's kind of a blend of Scissor Sisters/Freddie Mercury... If you enjoy SS, you will like Mika. I will admit that I had to listen to him more than once before I got the Mika bug... plus seeing him on talk shows made it even better b/c he is such a funky/crazy/fun performer.