Weekend of contrast...

I went back to East TN on Saturday. Every year there is an event at the church I grew up attending. It's an old southern tradition called homecoming/decoration day. Basically, people decorate their deceased loved ones graves with new flowers (my mom & one set of grandparents are buried there..so thats why I go). There's also a church service and lunch after that. It's the one time of year I actually sit through a church service. It's Southern Baptist and I dont agree with their theology... but I endure it for this one day.

Anyway, so Saturday was spent driving over there, going to the cemetary... and here's a contrast.

Saturday night I met a friend in Chattanooga to go to a drag show. It was a lot of fun... hehe..despite the fact that my friend got more drunk than expected. I'm usually not the most sober one in those situations, but I also had to drive back to my family's house after that anyway. My family lives about 45 minutes north of Chattanooga, so getting home at 4am was odd... compared to my Nashville commute to a bar of 5-10 minutes.

Sunday was the church service and lunch... a lot of people go to the service that dont necessarily go to church there anymore, so it's always fun to see everyone again.

I left to come back to Nashville after lunch... I wanted the Amy Winehouse album to keep me company on the almost 3 hour drive home... about the only place to buy a CD there that I can think of is Walmart...and I actually think they sell radio edit cd's... I only realized this after the purchase, but I really like the album. Rehab is an infectious song...

So thats my weekend ramble.

The Symphony

Well, I've added another cultural experience to my list. Friday night, some friends gave us their Nashville Symphony tickets. It was a Pops show with the works of Henry Mancini. He composed a lot of movie & tv show musical scores that you'd know if you heard--Pink Panther theme being one of the most popular. He's dead, but his daughter is very much alive and she also sang... Moon River and some other stuff.

We had a good time. The seats were amazing. The couple who gave them to us are quite successful and they have seats in Founders Boxes... we werent mingling with the general public.. lol...

There was a bit of drama at the end of the evening. We parked in a garage that offers Symphony parking and a shuttle to the center... well, we knew the shuttle stopped at 11pm, but werent concerned b/c it was really walking distance. After the show/concert/whatever, we went across the street for something to eat...

Well, all was good until we got back to the garage around 11:30.... AND it was freaking locked up... Apparently we missed the sign saying it closed at 11... so we had to take a taxi home. Luckily, Hal was able to get his car out the next day. The lady was "nice enough" to not charge him the supposed $50 fee for leaving your car overnight. The sign was certainly not obvious to us. What a crock.

My blog readers already knew this...

Check out my blog archive posts from February... I told you awesome readers this back then... now it's finally coming out in the mainstream and gossip blogs.

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2007/05/kellie-pickler-fake-boobs-dating-jordin-tootoo/

Apprehensive mood for the next year...

I didnt watch the news Wednesday night, but Thursday morning I unrolled my newspaper and saw something that made me feel like I had been punched in the stomach.

Trivial as it may seem, I was so apprehensive b/c I saw that my beloved Predators are being sold to a Canadian billionaire...stupid Blackberry's--this guy started that company or something.

This was a big surprise to fans and players alike. It's no secret that attendance has been an issue in Nashville, but this was a bigger reality check. There's some contractual clause set by the NHL in a team sale that says that if attendance averages 14,000 a game next season, the owner cant move the team for 7 years... or something like that....

So, rub a rabbit's foot or anything in hopes that the Predators stay in Nashville for the long haul. You wouldnt want to see my unhappy would you? lol

I should've switched the order of this post and my previous post. Obviously if the Predators left town I would be sad, but putting things in perspective, I'll survive.

Makes me happy...

I've thought about posting this several times, but I usually forget by the time I get to a computer. I swim/workout at Centennial Sportsplex. The drive there and back takes me through Centennial Park...which most of you know is the only full scale replica of The Parthenon in Athens... Greece that is, not my international hometown of Athens, TN. haha!

In 8th grade, we had a weekend trip to Nashville and The Parthenon was all fenced up for a several year restoration. I'm so happy that all of that ended a few years ago and that we have such a beautiful building that I get the opportunity of seeing several times a week. They've torn down a lot of irreplaceable buildings in Nashville over the years, but I'm so glad they decided to turn this from a temporary centennial exposition exhibit into something that can be enjoyed still today.

Oh, and I am reallllllyyyyy happy that it is a holiday weekend!!!

Please remember to think of all the soldiers who've died in our nation's service.

SNL- Sally O'Malley

This Molly Shannon character has always made me laugh. I watched this with my grandmother last weekend... she said... "That girl's crazy!" Enough said. :)

My favorite commercial right now...

I've seen this commercial 800 times, but it still makes me laugh.

My favorite commercial right now- 'bff Jill'

I've seen this commercial 800 times, but still laugh every time.

Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool

A little Fresh Prince of Bel Air throwback for ya...ahhhh, seems like only yesterday.

Ok, I really dont have anything to blog about from the weekend. I didnt do anything other than go out to eat and the grocery... and some domestic stuff.

I thought I should enjoy a weekend doing nothing since I was in East TN last weekend for Mother's Day...and I am going back there again this weekend for something else.

I thought I posted a quick youtube video of one of my favorite commercials earlier, but it isnt displaying. I'll work on that so you'll have at least something interesting to see.

I'm sure I'll have something for you next weekend...after going back to the sticks again. :)

Hangin' with my ladies...

What a busy weekend! I went back to East TN to visit family. Sorry, but no pic's to share this week. I forgot my camera.

The drive there was beautiful. It's always nice to see the trees & mountain views.

My cousin (who's always been like a sister) just had twin girls. It was so exciting to see them on Saturday. I've been around plenty of newborns, but I always forget how small and cute they are.

I also took my grandmother & great grandmother out for dinner on Saturday. We always have a good time and they're definitely entertaining. My great-gram is about to be 91 and she still has such a funny sense of humor. She had a setback last year when she broke her hip--as older people tend to do--but she's recovered much better than I expected. Girlfriend can zip around with her walker.

Sunday was another good day. I always stay with my grandmother when in Athens, so after she got home from church, we went out to lunch before I headed back to the 'ville.

The drive back was again beautiful and gave me plenty of time to listen to cd's and look like a fool singing while driving. I started out with Mika, switched to Trisha Yearwood--who is another young/old country favorite of mine--and then magic happened as I entered Rutherford County (where I lived while in college).

I was getting another CD when Trisha ran out--and what should happen? Out of the CD case for another artist... fell out another artists' album... Poe's 'Hello'... It was poetic justice since that is where I first listened to that cd...and I honestly had forgotten that I had the CD. I have the MTSU Chi-O girls to thank for getting me hooked on that album. Strangely enough, I dont think she had a very big follow-up, but it was good times/memories.

To backtrack a bit and sum up a great weekend with my favorite ladies, as my grandmother and I left the restaurant on Sunday and parted ways.... a Loretta Lynn song was playing... I kid you not!!!! I couldnt make up something more perfect.

Loretta Lynn - Me And Bobby McGee

A little Friday treat for ya. I didnt know that Loretty recorded this around the same time as Janis Joplin, but she did.

Stick around for a special "fiddlin" treat after the song.

I'm breaking a political posting rule

I heard this song several months ago... but..heard it again tonight... and thought I should share it.

Feedback, por favor???

I never intended for this to be a blog for the masses (like a gossip blog or political blog). I certainly have a strong opinion about politics especially, but I try to keep that off this page.

The purpose of this blog is to let people know what I've been doing. I thought a blog would be easier...b/c not everyone is on myspace or other social networking sites...and not everyone wants to read a bunch of emails. A blog lets you visit at your leisure... so it's a choice.

I know how many people visit the blog from my site meter, but I dont get a lot of feedback.

Show me some love/hate people... let me know if you like it... think my posts are too long... too boring or something. It really does take some time to think and type all this out, so I want to know if you guys/gals like or are ambivalent about this.

If you're shy about leaving a public comment to a post, drop me an email... the address is at the top-right of the blog. If you leave a post anonymously, thats cool too...but put your name or some way I can identify you in the message.

I hope you guys are enjoying this...

Spidey fever!!!

I dont have a long attention span, so I dont go to the movies much; however, Hal and I have a tradition of going to the Spiderman series.

He had Monday off... and...well, I didnt...but... (clearing my throat and a cough, cough)... I managed to also get the day off.

It was really entertaining. It wasnt the best of the Spidey series, but it was fun to watch. By now, I'm sure you know it blew all box office $$$ records away this weekend... but... since we waited until Monday to see it, the crowd was pretty sparse. The last movie I saw (alone b/c it's not Hal's bag and I had the day off and he didnt) was The Queen... and that was several weeks after it opened...there were more people in the theatre for The Queen than Spidey...but obviously that was a fluke timing for us.

I'll be blogging about another Spiderman movie probably in the next year or so, so stay tuned... you know there will be another b/c Hollywood studios are greedy like that.

Yeah, I had Street Sense...

Friday night was fun for us, but mostly uneventful...

Saturday (Cinco de Mayo) was a a lot of fun though. We went to a party at Hal's sisters house. A couple of years ago, she was the top female fundraiser for the local Leukemia / Lymphoma charity. This year, she hosted an event for one of this years candidates. The candidate this year is Charmaine Hunt...she was on The Apprentice a few seasons back.

Anyway, there was a suggested donation to get in... and then they had a margarita machine, beer and Cinco de Mayo inspired food. There was a good crowd and it was a lot of fun. We mingled with some interesting people... one lady, who much to my surprise was a lesbian, was a drug/alcohol counselor... but she was enjoying the margaritas--responsibly of course with a DD.

We also talked again (we met them last year) with another lesbian couple who are interesting. One is a major Public Relations person for Vandy and the other is the General Manager of the local CBS affiliate. They are super sweet and offered us their tix for an upcoming Nashville Symphony event--and they have box seats!!! Of course, we said...Hell Yeah! we'd love to go.

Thats about all of the "known" gays we met...but we talked for quite a while with another couple (hetero's) who recently moved here from Chicago... and we have plans to go to dinner with them sometime soon.

On to home... we got home around 9ish... Hal was holding up well and went to his usual Saturday night poker... I however... had an appointment with the porcelain goddess after too many margaritas and beer... enough said.

Oh, crap... I almost forgot... we also watched the Kentucky Derby at the party. They passed around a hat where you gave $5 per horse and you drew a name out of a hat... If your horse won, you won the money...so...20 horses... was a $100 pot. Well, I only had a $20 bill, so I bought four horses. One of mine, Street Sense won!!!! He kinda came from behind at the end. It was so exciting. Obviously, I gave the money to Charmaine/the Charity.

How's this for great charity... 2 years ago, Hal's sister won after raising $13K...last year the winner had $45K!!! Wow... Charmaine is pretty close and there are still a couple of weeks to go.

Anyway, I am scared of horses (riding wise)..... I think they are pretty, but I dont get close to them. After the whole little betting thing & my (well, one of them) horse winning, I'm rooting for Street Sense to win the Triple Crown.

And...as a bit of karma...Hal went on to win $300 at poker that night... so how about that?

Hope your Cinco de Mayo was fun!!!

My own restaurant...

Hal and I had dinner at a "new to us" restaurant last Thursday. They dont advertise, so we picked up on it from a few internet references. It's downtown in Printer's Alley...yeah, that sounds shady, BUT... WOW!!!

Parco Cafe was sooo good... even though it's not really a cafe...so the name is a little inappropriate. We called ahead as we read that reservations are preferred. The co-owner, Ms. Fu... said to come on down...

Well, when we got there at 7:30, we were the only guests. Talk about personal attention, huh? Their menu is heavy on seafood dishes. We had a bottle of wine to start off and she answered our questions about the menu. Her husband (who we did not see) is the chef. They make everything fresh when ordered...sauces included...so, dont go there if you are in a hurry.

I settled on grouper with a champagne & butter sauce. It was so delicious. Hal had a seafood mix (shrimp, lobster and other stuff) in a white curry sauce with strawberries. According to Ms. Fu, white curry is a rare thing in most restaurants b/c it is hard to prepare/cook. He loved it.

Another table of 4 came in while we were waiting for our entree's, so we lost the feeling of having the restaurant to ourselves, but it was still great. I'll confess I'm a picky eater having grown up on typical southern food, but we had a side dish that was to die for... it was a bok choy and mushroom salad with an amazing ginger/sesame sauce (and I'm sure other things).

We then decided to try a dessert (and a second bottle of wine)...as Mr. Fu is a well trained pastry chef. We had a strawberry & banana crepe that was delightful.

Bottom line... if you want a dinner in Nashville that is prepared fresh with individual attention, go to Parco... and let me know...so we can go back with you! lol. We loved it.

It's not cheap...I'd say the average entree is a little over $20, but it's so worth it.

Let me know if you wanna go!!!

Queue Pa Ingalls fiddle....

for a sad song :(

Dabbs Greer...best known as Rev. Alden on Little House on the Prairie (a show I still watch almost any time I catch it on tv)... died on Saturday. He was 90.

I love love love that show and he was a great character on it. He was in a ton of shows, but here's a little trivia for you... he was the minister who married Mike and Carol Brady in 1969 on The Brady Bunch!

R.I.P, Rev. Alden.

Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen...

Ok... the title of this post is a random thought (thanks, Dolly) that comes to my mind in the mornings quite often.

I have to admit I'm stretching for things to blog about today... but here goes.

I had a fun week and weekend again. Last Tuesday night was a lot of fun. Hal and I went out to dinner with friends for a good cause. Each year in several cities, they have a "Dine Out for Life" event. Participating restaurants donate a % of their proceeds to a local HIV/AIDS charity. We chose a good restaurant (Germantown Cafe) that actually donates 100% of their food sales. Hal & I have been to the same place the past few years and it's become our tradition. Good food... fun with friends...and wine...plus charity= good times!

We did our usual on the weekend... go out to eat on Friday night and stay up late hanging out... Saturday was a shopping day since there was no sales tax on clothes or shoes in TN... I got a new pair of Saucony shoes that rock... and a cool rock-star type shirt at Smack. If you live in Nashville and havent shopped there... you need to go... the clothes are fun despite the sometimes less than desirable service. Unfortunately, most trendy stores in Nashville have similar service, so pick your poison I guess.

Sunday... ahhh... relaxing mostly. Hal's sister was out of town...so we took advantage of the opportunity to hang out at her house. She has a great, private back yard with a pool. We just read magazines (ok, I did... Hal is still busy refreshing on his Spanish) and enjoyed being outside. The pool was too cold, but it was still fun.

Now it's back to another work week... The upcoming weekend brings Cinco de Mayo... which I have no real cause to celebrate...other than just a chance to drink margaritas!

Ole!!!