World of Casey

Blogging is my specialty

2010-11-22T23:12:00.002-06:00

It's crazy how I just leave this blog alone for months at a time. I'm really not even that busy of a person.

What's happened since August? Well, a couple things. On Labor Day, we took a few days off and headed to a beach-house with Hal's family. It was a great time. Having 2little boys around never leaves you with a boring situation. We had a great time.

In October, we went to Chicago for vacation. The main purpose was to attend a hockey game, but I'd never been to Chicago and definitely enjoyed it. The Chicago pizza was fabulous at Gino's East. We had a great time on the architectural river tour in the Chicago River. We hit up Willis Tower (the Sears Tower) and the John Hancock building (2 times). I'm VERY afraid of heights, and both places gave me a heart attack, but it was a great view. It would be embarrassing to see me on video in situations like that. I stay so far away from the glass and my heart is racing the whole time. My body is in panic mode, but I got through it.

We also explored Wrigleyville (kind of snooze) and Boys Town for a drink, but it was a little too far for me via train to spend too much time in. If I'm going to be drinking, a couple of train transfers make me impatient. Apparently I'm getting too old for bars anyway. Can I get a second wind on that?

It was a great trip though, and we won the hockey game. We had great seats and people were nice to us.

I've been back in the typical work/relax Nashville land since then, but it's Thanksgiving weekend. I'm going to see my grandmother on Thursday, and I'm looking forward to it. I havent' seen her since May. She's a gem.

This is where I'll wrap it up. I still exist, y'all. I'm just too boring for a lot of blog updates.

==Casey

Can I get a summer break?

2010-08-02T18:50:00.003-05:00

Hey there. I'm not even sure this thing is still on sometimes. It's been about 3 months since my last post, and the only comments that I've had since then are from the billion spammers who've somehow found a couple of years old post and decided they wanted to comment on it. I'm not giving up on this thing though.

I've pretty much just been rockin' & rollin' this summer without a lot of exciting stuff to report. My most favorite thing about summer comes on the weekends. Hal & I can sit outside on the porch on Friday & Saturday nights (with the ceiling fan on of course) and have some drinks, listen to music, and chit chat and just enjoy a southern summer night.

We haven't been on a vacation since February, so I'm looking forward to going somewhere and having some time off work. My birthday is coming up on 8/26, so that's kind of close...and a bonus is I get a day off work. I'm taking it on that Friday (8/27) for a long weekend. I wish we could travel for my birthday, but my boo has a job that requires him to be around at the end of the month. blah

We are going somewhere for Labor Day weekend though. Hal's family always goes to the beach that weekend (usually Gulf Shores, Alabama). I like it down there on the Redneck Riviera, but I haven't gone on their family trips before for a variety of reasons (nothing bad), but I've decided to do it this year. We'll rent a big house on the beach and just chill out for a few days. Hal has young nephews, so it will be 'interesting.' They're adorable, but they're still wild & crazy little boys sometimes.

I'm anxious about getting down to the gulf. Hal's mom loves Gulf Shores, but it was up in the air about if we would really go there or not due to the oil leak. They decided that whatever the situation is, she wanted to go and support the local businesses anyway. I think that's awesome! And, it doesn't seem like it's as crazy there as we may have though (with oil on the beach). I can't wait to go!!!

In other exciting trip news, we're going to Chicago in October! I've never been there and love big cities, so I'm really antsy to get there. We've planned it so we can see our beloved Predators play the Blackhawks (hockey, Josh). Chicago won the Stanley Cup (best team last year), so it will be interesting to see how the game unfolds. We'll be there for 4 nights, and I can't wait to explore the city.

I love traveling with Hal. Neither of us make a 'have to do' list, we just let things play themselves out however we feel that day. That's one of my favorite things. It is vacation after all...time to relax.

That's about all I have for now. I hope someone other than the spammers from India read this. :)

2010-05-05T23:11:00.005-05:00

Hey, yo. Here I am again.

Since I last blogged, Easter happened. My great aunt from Detroit came down to East TN to visit, so I also made a brief weekend visit to see her family *and my ladies--my gram and great-gram*. I had a great time seeing them and two sets of twin cousins. Twins are adorable. It's so nice to leave them with someone else though.

Moving on to something totally different, Hal's father was diagnosed with terminal cancer several years ago. We lost him a few weeks ago. He outlived the doctors expectations by about 4 years, so don't ever believe those crazy expiration dates. I'm so lucky to have known such a special--and well known man. It was amazing the support and recognition the family received. The Nashville newspaper even reported it, but I think his sister's post is well said.

I lost my mom 20 years ago from the day of Hal's dad's visitation, but I now realize that it's really not easier if you expect it or if it's sudden. It's a blessing though to know that someone has moved on to something so much better..and Cancer sucks.

Am I a negative Nancy or what? Also, umm, Nashville flooded this weekend. It's UNREAL what happened here. Here's a link to our newspaper if you haven't seen the pictures. Our mayor estimates $1 Billion dollars in damage. WHAT? Crazy.

On a positive note, our part of the neighborhood is fine. Our driveway sucked after the fact, but my boo fixed the important part. Our utility basement barely had any water. We know we're set for... oh, another hundred years--unless it decides to rain more than 25% or our annual rainfall in--two or three days.

Stay dry!

An Avatar kind of weekend.

2010-03-02T18:23:00.003-06:00

Wow, is it true that I am posting twice in a week? Yep.

The weekend is over unfortunately, but another one is on the way. This past one was so much fun. Some weekends are very chill for us, but we got out a little more this time.

We had dinner with some friends on Friday night at Korea House. It was my first time eating Korean here in Nashville. It was pretty darn good and we had a great time there and hanging out later with friends, some vino--and my favorite dog, Molly the Boston.

Saturday was fun in my opinion, but really, all we did was go bowling. I bowled like shit--only broke 100 in 1 of 3 games, but it's always fun anyway. Sadly, I was still sore on Monday. Tragic and embarrassing.

Sunday was a highlight. I had put up a brick wall against seeing Avatar. It's totally not the style of movie that typically drives me to the theater. Well, I bucked up on Sunday and went with Hal to the IMAX theater. THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING! It was so beautiful with the animation, 3D and IMAX effects. If you haven't seen it, you should DO IT--at the theater. IMAX would be ideal. It didn't bother me a bit that it was so long. It went by so quickly for this short attention span person. I can't wait to see the sequels.

Sadly I came home and watched the USA/Canada gold medal hockey game. The USA as you well know lost, but on the upside, one of Nashville's players got a silver medal and one of our players got a gold medal--and I freaking love him.

That's about all I've got for you, but GO SEE AVATAR! I mean it.

Why did it have to end?

2010-02-28T23:15:00.002-06:00

Ahh, NYC. It's still my favorite American city. Even after finally experiencing it in a darn cold & snowy week, I LOVE IT!

We headed there a couple of weeks ago for my boo's milestone bday. (yes, I am street). We got there on a Tuesday evening just in time before 'blizzard conditions' set it. Oh, umm, nevermind that two members of the Kings of Leon were on the plane with us. I'm not sure I've mentioned our obsession with them before. Umm, yes I have.

We had a freaking-fantastic view from our room right across from the Empire State Building. A planned late dinner at the somewhat well-known Spotted Pig was in order that night. We were lucky to get to a table overlooking the snow falling in Greenwich Village. nice!

Wednesday was really the 'blizzard.' I won't say how late we woke up, but when we did, it was really snowy. We got out to shop in our neighborhood (Herald Square). Well, uh, it took stepping into one or two slush puddles before I realized I wasn't prepared for wet socks & shoes. I was over it. I had to buy some boots. Walking around was miserable. BUT, there was a silver lining! Our NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden was that night! The Predators won & we were thrilled!

We were ready to trek out on Thursday. We headed up to MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. Crazy stuff we saw there, from Jackson Pollack, Monet, Salvador Dali, Van Gogh, DeKooning, we saw it. A bonus was a special exhibit of works by Tim Burton! Who knew he had so many artistic things to show off?! Fabulous.

We weren't finished with Thursday though. We regrouped at the hotel, went out to Koreatown for a fabulous dinner and then to the Christoper Street area. We went to the actual Stonewall instead of just driving by as we had done before. It was an emotional feeling for me. We hit up 2 other places in the same area which were a blast, but it's hard to forget Stonewall. It's amazing it even had to happen.

Friday was getting closer to the end, blerg. We chilled, had a great pizza at THE Lombardi's and then headed to Lower Manhattan to see what had changed with the WTC site and Wall Street. Actually, you couldn't really tell much had happened aside from more fencing, but the experience was still very emotional. I actually felt worse about it than I had after seeing it soon after 9/11.

Sadly, we were kind of exhausted that night and didn't do anything very exciting for my boo's actual bday dinner. I don't even remember the name of the blah restaurant we picked that night.

I'm going to shut up with this. I LOVE NYC! The first time I went, it was perfect May weather. This time, it totally sucked and was typical of what you think about for February. I don't even care though!

So, umm, we have some pictures, I haven't even looked at them though (3 weeks later). I'm sure we'll post them online at some point though. Seriously!

What? I have a blog???

2010-01-14T22:26:00.002-06:00

Wow, wow, wow. It's been 4 months since I've blogged. Surprisingly, some of you still have checked in on here to see if I've posted, and I thank you!!!

I'm not sure I can even recall some events of the last few months, but I'll do my best.

I love musicals / Broadway and had the opportunity to see 'Little House on the Prairie: The Musical' starring Melissa Gilbert as 'Ma.' I couldn't convince the other half to go with me, so I took one of my best girl friends and we had a great time. I thought the musical basically sucked... Melissa can't really sing and they did a bad job casting 'Pa,' but I wouldn't trade the fun that Dusty & I had for nothing. The bottom line is that I saw THE real life 'Half-Pint.' YES!!!

Hal and I took a week off in early November. Our Las Vegas plans didn't pan out b/c we were stupid basically, but we had a great time. We chilled out a lot & made a 5 hour road trip to St. Louis to see our beloved Nashville Predators (professional hockey, Josh) play the St. Louis Blues. It was our first road game and the Preds won. AWESOME!!! We also went up in the famous St. Louis Arch. I'm a freak about heights, and it was crazy but also neat...despite the older lady in our pod/elevator asking if we were going up. Really? No, we are going in the basement of the Alamo.

I had a great Thanksgiving with my family in East TN. It was sadly the last time some of us would be together. My dad's sister came to Vanderbilt for cancer surgery the next week. Fortunately, I was able to see her when she was here. She was on the mend, but I left and told her "I Love You" as I left, she nodded b/c she couldn't talk. She went home, but sadly passed away a few days later unexpectedly. I'm so glad I had that last loving experience with her. She was an awesome lady.

Christmas was fantastic. I saw my nieces and nephews again. I can't believe how big they are--well, aside from my 2 y/o newest niece. She is growing too, but wow, I have a nephew in the 7th grade, one in the 6th, and a niece who is in the 3rd or 4th grade? who sometimes chats me up on Facebook!

Hal & I got bad news on New Years Day. A dear, dear friend of ours passed away unexpectedly. He & Hal worked together somewhere, left... then Hal worked for him & his brother, he sold his interest (Hal stayed) and went to work for Hal's family's real estate company. He was our realtor when we bought this house (my first house). 45 y/o is way too young to leave, but we'll always remember him fondly. It makes me appreciate yet again the fragility of life.

On a more positive note, 2010 is going to be fun! My boo is having a milestone birthday in February. The stars aligned for us to make a long anticipated trip to see our Predators play the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden 2 days before his birthday. We're going to hang out in NYC for a few days and just have fun. I've never been to MoMA, so that and the hockey game are our only real concrete plans. Please, please, please have a freakishly warm streak that week, NYC--or at least a time without weather delays. It is, after all, my favorite US city!!!

I'm going to shut up for now, and hope to be more timely with my posts. We'll see :)

No one mourns the Wicked

2009-09-18T18:21:00.002-05:00

Hey, y'all! Yay, yay, yah... It's finally Friday.

What's been going on in my world? Well, I mentioned a few months ago that I got my tickets to see Wicked. Well, last Thursday, it was finally show time. We went went a couple of friends and had fabulous seats up close--yet far enough back to easily see the whole stage. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I had been tempted to get the soundtrack prior to the show, but then thought that it might spoil some of the show's suspense. Everything was awesome in my opinion. The stage sets, the singing, the script, the cast and the songs. If it comes to your town or you're somewhere it is playing, you should go see it.

We took the next day off work to relax and b/c we were up late. The Titans opened the NFL season that same Thursday night, so we recorded it and watched when we got home. It was a great game that went into overtime, but, boo... we lost in the end. Here's hoping that this Sunday is better.

We mostly just chilled the rest of the weekend aside from picking up our favorite canine guest, Molly the Boston Terrier. She's been staying with us this week. She's adorable.

Guess what else is back besides the NFL season??? Yep, my beloved Predators. It's hockey time again. The Preds opened up their preseason here in Nashville last night. We were happy to get back in that groove again. We're also going to another game on Saturday night. The preseason is kind of pointless from the standpoint that it doesn't count, but it's nice for us fans to get our fix--and more importantly, for the team to evaluate their younger players performance.

I'm so glad it is the weekend! After a 3 day work week last week, 5 days this week was kind of a snap back to reality. Now it's time for fun. I love this time of year because of sports weekends. I know you're excited too, Josh. :)

I'm going to wrap this up for now. I hope you have all been having fun too. Go Preds! Go Titans!!!

When you say nothing at all.

2009-08-19T18:40:00.002-05:00

Hola.

Yay, we've made it to Wednesday. I'm not sure that I'll ever get over living for the weekend.

I don't have too much to say today. We've been doing a lot of quiet weekends. The highlight was an infinitely better celebrity sighting than the last one I mentioned. We were at the grocery store one Saturday afternoon. Walking down an aisle, I passed a lady who looked familiar. I got butterflies in my stomach and was nervous. I told Hal, "OMG, I think that is Alison Krauss!" He confirmed my suspicion. I'll admit we stalked her around the store a little (it wasn't busy and she didn't even notice us). I have been a big fan of hers for a long time. Like, since back in the days when I belonged to BMG and got a bunch of tapes in the mail that I didn't really order. Well, I rarely liked any of them, but I loved hers. She has such a unique voice. The funny thing is, she was with a man who she was talking to in a funny voice (like baby talk--you know you do it too sometimes). It's fun to see someone famous in a casual situation like that. We've seen her perform the national anthem at a hockey game before, but wow, she was so close I could touch her. I resisted though and didn't even say anything to her. Definitely a highlight of my celeb sightings.

Other than that, I've had fun at a wine party, finally took a day off work and we even went to a minor league baseball game game Monday night for an outing for my company. I usually talk so much at baseball games, that I don't really even know what is going on. Good times though.

Hope you're doing well. I'll leave by mentioning that if you don't see the connection between my post & the title (don't even tell me you don't follow her music), it was Alison's cover of a Keith Whitley song--the song that started my affection for her. Thanks for ripping me off BMG with most of the tapes, but thanks for that one!

Checkin' In...

2009-08-03T18:14:00.002-05:00

Hey there! Happy August!

July in Nashville was kick-ass. It rained a lot, but the upside is that the temperatures were way lower than normal. I think it didn't even top 80 degrees for several days in a row. That's a big change from what we usually get.

We'll see what happens in August. It sounds like we are getting back to reality with the hotness--not me--later this week.

Not much has really been going on since I blogged last. We went to an art gallery a week or so again, but no luck (in a reasonable price range). No rush though. I went to two going away parties this week. One on Wednesday for my manager (who's just leaving to go to our Portland, OR office) and another on Saturday for a friend that is moving to the ATL. Good times.

Yesterday, was kinda chill aside from lunch and a grocery visit. Oh, I guess I can mention that we saw this guy at a totally dive-y Mexican restaurant. Meow!

That's about all that is shakin right now. I've got a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. We're thinking about taking a November trip this year. I just want to get away and not be too busy with checking out all the sites. A lazy kind of trip. We're thinking Las Vegas. I actually don't care about gambling, but Hal does, and I've never been to Vegas. It's really cheap right now--thanks, shitty economy. Shout if you know of any must sees or must avoids there.

Later, y'all!

The 4th is fun!

2009-07-08T18:37:00.002-05:00

Hey, hey there!

Thought I'd drop in and chit chat a bit about my holiday weekend. I wish every weekend was like the last. I had a lot of fun.

I got home a little early on Thursday afternoon and was excited that Hal had bought a Death Cab for Cutie cd and Kings of Leon. Yeah, they've been around a while and we are behind the curve, but I love both groups. Nice start, but we also went to a dinner gathering with some friends in our neighborhood that evening. We had a great time with food, drinks and friends.

Friday was a fun day to sleep late and bum around out to a late lunch. Realizing that the weather was perfect and Hal's parents were out of town, we capitalized on the opportunity to borrow their Mercedes convertible. Such a great idea! Naturally, we drove around for a while. We even hit up the bowling alley. I bowled what may have been my best game ever, a 136! That's awesome for me, y'all. A great dinner at home capped off the evening.

Saturday was a brand new opportunity. With his sister also out of town, we took over her house and pool (right up the street from us, convenience, yay!) and had some friends over to have some Fourth of July fun. The day was great weather for swimming. Luckily, the rain downpour held off until just in time for dinner on the screened-in porch. It was a bit of a shock to learn that Steve McNair (to fill in most of you reading this, the NFL quarterback who led the Titans to the Super Bowl a few years ago) was found murdered in an apparent murder-suicide by his 'mistress.' I'm super sad that 4 young boys are going to grow up without a father. Steve was a big deal in Nashville.

Sunday brought the dread that the convertible had to be returned. Boo. And we couldn't bum around leisurely for the new few days. Boo hoo. Oh well, I'm still thrilled to be employed in a job I enjoy.

I'll wrap this up here, but can't not say how touched I was on Tuesday seeing the clip of Michael Jackson's daughter speaking at his memorial. It's easy to forget that his kids lost something so much more than just the icon we mostly only saw on tv. Very sad to lose a parent at any age.

I'll change the tone here and leave you thinking about happy things--whatever makes you happy. Enjoying life makes me happy. I'm so glad I get to do that every day.

Enough rambling. Later!

Another weekend down

2009-06-22T18:54:00.002-05:00

Well, it's Monday again. The good thing is that we are that much closer to Friday.

I hope you had a fun weekend. I did!

We kinda chilled out mostly on Friday. We walked down the street for dinner at The Local Taco. I'd link to their website, but they just opened in May and apparently haven't updated their site. They do have some interesting taco selections (Korean BBQ for one--which is really good) and you can't beat the convenience.

On Saturday, we headed out for lunch at Five Guys. I know it's a burger chain in most cities, but that shiz is delicious, and I'm not scared to admit it. Since I'm already doing sailor talk, I'll just say that summer has definitely arrived. It's flicking hot as hades. The temp was around 95 on Saturday. I hate to say we skipped the Gay Pride festival downtown b/c there's really not much shade unless you are under a vendor's tent. After lunch, we did stop by Centennial Park to check out the American Artisan Festival. I was hoping we would find something cool to put in the house that was unique, but alas, we left empty handed. I'm a freak about stained glass stuff and could buy out an entire booth of that, but I resisted. We need to be focused on bigger art pieces than little accent things.

Sunday was another day of fun. We relaxed for a few hours before meetings Hal's parents and sister for a Father's Day dinner at Finezza. To cap off the fun evening, we joined Hal's sister to see "The Hangover." I'd been anxious to see it and was not disappointed at all. Very funny movie in my opinion.

Nothing much planned this week. I am gearing up for a holiday weekend though. We both have July 3rd off, and even though we dont have specific plans for that either, I'm READY already!

In case I don't update until then, fireworks and sparkler fun wishes to all of you!

Tuesday Time

2009-06-09T19:10:00.003-05:00

So, I'm still not posting as frequently as I once did, but here I am again.

I don't have a ton of interesting things to blog about, but I'll do it.

I was so happy for the weekend to roll around last week. Hell, I'm happy for any weekend. It's not that I don't enjoy having a job, I just love my personal weekend time.

We had a mostly low-key weekend and stayed in on Friday night (a few drinks were enjoyed of course). We headed to Green Hills Mall on Saturday. We never really got around to getting anything for our walls since we moved in--a freaking year ago. We still need to paint walls also, but that's a different story. One reason we aren't so quick to decorate is because it's hard for us to just settle on something, and we probably don't focus on it enough. At any rate, we ran across some artwork we liked. It's still sitting on the floor unhung (yep, I went there), but I love it. They are the same print, but reverse colors--one is heavy red with white, the other is heavy white with red. We'll get around to putting them up on our own time--probably when we have someone over next. That seems to be our motivation.

We did get some new porch furniture this weekend too. I bought a wicker chair on craigslist last year that I loved, but it isn't made for the outdoors, and even after a winter inside, it just couldnt stay outside. I'm happy to say we now have matching outdoor approved wicker chairs with adorable cushions. I think we sat out there for hours on Sunday night before we came in to watch the Tony's (without commercials of course, thanks DVR!) Hal's not a big fan, but I am, and that means a lot around here :) He hasn't accepted it yet, but he IS going to go with me to see Melissa Gilbert in the broadway production of Little House on the Prairie this year. How can you NOT be interested?

That's about it for now. Is it the weekend yet???

Memorial Day Weekend scoop

2009-05-26T22:11:00.002-05:00

Well, I guess you know the weekend is over by now. I had a great one and hope you did too.

Hal & I chilled out on Friday night(aside from going out to dinner) and I had a chance to do one of my favorite things--sleep late on Saturday. Then I got myself up and headed to East TN. I always go over Memorial Day weekend b/c it is Homecoming/Decoration Day at the church I grew up in. My mom & paternal grandparents are buried there and it's a time to put new flowers on their graves and visit with a lot of people you don't normally see. It may sound odd to some of you, but I guess it's just an old southern tradition.

Since I was just there 2 weeks ago, I didn't stay around long and headed hom on Sunday to enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend. We chilled out again that night and headed to Whole Foods on Monday to pick out some food for a grill out. I haven't been there too many times (it's still kinda new to Nashville), but they have some awesome stuff. I think I could eat 80 of those little cakes in their dessert counter. I heart cake, but stayed away from them.

Sadly, Tuesday rolled around and it was time to get back get back to work. I do like my job, but also enjoy my time off. I was ecstatic to check my personal emails and see an email about presales to 'Wicked.' I've been wanting to see this show for a couple of years. I'm so excited it's coming here!!! I got our tickets tonight. Why wait?

Back to the purpose of the holiday weekend though, it was nice to reflect on our troops--past & present. I think we should think about them everyday, but I know a lot of us take it for granted. I don't personally know anyone in the service currently. Some of my friend's parents and grandparents were in the service. My great-grandfather was in WWII, but he died when my mom was a baby. I was very happy to get some of his military papers recently though. It was interesting to get a peek into his life that I didn't really know about. Salute to anyone who serves our country in tough times!

Weekend Wrap

2009-05-12T18:29:00.003-05:00

Hey, hey, hey. I hope you're all enjoying some nice May weather. I'm glad we're past that point of all the cold stuff.

I also hope you all had a good Mother's Day weekend. I know a few people who are new moms, and I'm sure that must be a great feeling.

I did enjoy my weekend. I headed to the hills of East TN to visit family. My cousin, who I spent a lot of time with growing up,has two adorable twin girls. They had their 2nd bday party on Saturday. I don't think they cared about the party much, they'd rather run around, but it's fun to see them. I also took my ladies (my grandmother & great-grandmother) out for lunch on Sunday. It's always fun spending time with them. Even though it's been 19 years since I lost my mom, I'm so thankful I can spend time with them. They make me laugh.

It's back to work as normal though this week. I'm looking forward to a weekend at home before I get back to East TN over Memorial Day weekend. It's kind of unusual for me to be there 3 times in such a short time frame, but so be it.

I'm going to wrap this up now. Keep it cool!

Checkin' In

2009-04-24T18:32:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday! As if everyone who reads this doesn't share my sentiment, I'm happy the weekend has rolled around again. I've had a good week at work. I actually started talking to a few clients on the phone. Woo hoo. It makes me a nervous wreck being new, but it's all part of the learning process. I had a couple of "oh shit" moments, but also some "aww, I actually helped" times. Good times!!!

I don't have anything too noteworthy to say about weekend plans, but it's going to be a warm one. It's still 80 something now at 6:30 and will be the same for a couple of days. I'm not complaining! I'm ready for it.

Since I blogged last, I had a quick visit with family in East TN and had a good time with family. I can't even remember anything exciting about last weekend, so it must have been pretty low key.

I'm looking forward to next week already! My company has an annual 'talent night' event and another night is 'Dining out for Life.' I mentioned this last year on the blog, but it's an event that happens at different times in a lot of cities where you go out to dinner and the restaurant donates a portion of the food money to AIDS related charities. We're going to hit up Germantown Cafe. They're donating 100%!!! That's awesome of them and I happen to really like eating there.

I'll wrap up my rambling and just add, wow, I feel like a lazy P-O-S right now. Hal has been trimming hedges and is now weedeating while I sit here on the porch chilling and drinking a beer. Just watching makes me tired! ha

Hope you all havce a good weekend!

It's a Good Friday!!

2009-04-10T16:37:00.002-05:00

Happy Good Friday, y'all!

It's a super-duper happy day for me. Today was the end of my 'trial' period at the new job. I'm officially on board for good. It's definitely been a fun month getting back into the swing of the work routine. I'm loving the new & different culture. It's amazing being away from a more corporate type of environment. Good stuff.

I've been a little busy since I last blogged keeping up with hockey. They dont have any more regular season home games, and it's still up in the air whether the Preds make it to the playoffs, but we'll see. Que sera sera! I'm not as uptight about it this year as I have been over the last few years.

Sadly, there was a deadly tornado in Middle TN today, but Nashville really wasn't affected. I've mentioned before that this type of weather freaks me out. I hate it and hate the devestation it causes.

On a lighter note, I'm looking forward to a good weekend. I think we are going to hang out with some friends tonight. I'm heading to East TN to visit family tomorrow. I've got some relatives in from Michigan, so it's always fun to see them.

I hope you all have a hip-hoppity Easter weekend, too!

Go find some eggs!

Finally Friday!

2009-03-20T18:21:00.003-05:00

Hey, y'all! Hope all is well. I'm so excited that the weekend is here. I look forward to a relaxing weekend.

Let's see what I can catch you up on.

Two weeks ago, our friends Josh & Alan came to our house for the weekend while they were in the area visiting family. Josh and I have been friends for over 10 years and he's lived in something like 800 cities. After not seeing each other for about 5 years, we've made it a point to have at least one visit a year. They also brought their adorable mini-yorkie, Galileo. Sooo cute! It was a beautiful weather weekend and we walked to Cafe Nonna for dinner. After brunch on Sunday, we checked out the Country Music Hall of Fame. Josh & I are big fans of classic country females, so we had a good time. As usual, we had a great time together. ***Click this link to see Josh's pics.

On the Wednesday after their visit, I actually started my first day at Emma! It's so nice to be back in the workforce especially with the continued news of job losses. It's a different type of place than I've ever worked really. It took a couple of days to get adjusted, but I'm loving it so far.

Last Saturday, some of my relatives were in Murfreesboro for their annual visit. They come to see basketball games. It's not really my thing, so I met them before the games for lunch. It's always nice to see them. I havent been to East TN since Christmas.

I just got home an hour ago from my first full week of work at Emma. Woo-hoo. I cant wait to sleep in. I dont have any specific plans this weekend and that's perfect.

I dont have anything else to bore you with right now, so I'm out!!

Holla!

The wait is OVER!!!

2009-03-06T16:06:00.003-06:00

This is one of my most exciting blog posts in months!!!

I am pleased to report that after 7 months of being unemployed, I accepted a job offer today at Emma. I'm going to be back in a customer support role. I'm super excited about the company. They only have about 100 employees right now compared to thousands at the last 2 companies I was with. The culture there is also neat... it's the opposite of the more corporate cultures I've been involved with.

It was quite the process getting in there. We started this back around Thanksgiving. Three interviews & two writing assignments later, the wait paid off!! I've gotta give major thanks to my gal Casey for her help. It's going to be exciting working at the same company again.

I start on Wednesday and although I'll miss sleeping in, I'm so excited to be back around people. 7 months of a lot of alone time gets boring.

To top things off, it's going to be a beautiful weekend weather-wise AND my friend Josh & his partner Alan are coming in for a visit. Luckily we have another thing to celebrate now.

Woo-Hoo!!!

March is here...

2009-03-02T17:38:00.002-06:00

Hard to believe that March is already here. March & April are usually interesting weather months in Tennessee. It might snow one day and be 70 degrees a couple of days later. We're kicking the month off that way now. We had snow on Sunday and it will be around 70 by week's end. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather, but I like seeing snow sometimes too. We dont get enough in Nashville.

I do get panicky about tornado weather this time of year though. It might sound silly, but that's just me. This year is even crazier b/c we dont really have an interior room or hallway in this house. I guess our somewhat basementy area would be the safest. I can assure you I've never been shy about popping into the closet during a storm at our old house. Bottom line is that I'm a big baby about stormy/windy weather.

We had a great week & weekend. On Saturday, we ran around town looking at rugs for our living room. I hate looking for stuff like that, but I was relieved to head to the hockey game against Detroit that night. The game was U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E!!! Detroit is always one of the top teams in the league. We're struggling this year but whipped their behind. It was 5-0 at the end of the first period!! We wound up with an 8-0 victory. Crazy, crazy, crazy!!!! We capped the night off back in our neighborhood at a wine party at our friends house. Good times.

We slept in a little on Sunday before going to lunch with friends. We came home and then checked out a going out of business sale... it sucked. I got back in better spirits after that when we met a friend to go bowling. I'm a very inconsistent bowler. I did well the first game and then sucked at the next. True form for Casey.

Tomorrow is a new day on the job search. I'm meeting with a new recruiting company. We'll see what kind of opportunities they have. I'll be glad for the process to be over though. I need a winning lottery ticket.

Hope y'all had a great weekend and have a great week. I'm looking forward to having some company this weekend!!!

Yay, Slumdog!

2009-02-23T16:48:00.003-06:00

Hola. Checking in with ya again.

Hope you had a fab weekend. I did and of course it goes by so quickly.

We had dinner at home on Friday night and just chilled. After some landlord chores at Hal's duplex on Saturday, we headed to a late lunch and realized that we hadnt seen any of the Oscar nominated films. So, we changed that. I was torn between Milk and Slumdog Millionaire. After checking the showtimes, it was an easy decision considering Milk wasnt being shown at the only theater I can think of for that type of movie.

We got there about 15 minutes before showtime, but it was still hard to find 2 seats. A fun random thing was that we ended up sitting only 2 seats away from some friends.
The movie was awesome and it deserved to win some Oscars. I obviously cant compare it to the other nominees in each category, but you should check it out if you havent already. I loved the flashback storytelling aspect. I really loved the ending but wont spoil it for those who havent seen it.

I'll wrap this up with something that excites very few of you except me... we came home & caught a Preds game on TV... and we won in overtime. Every win is crucial at this point. I was a little ticked that neither of us won a trip to see the Preds on the road in Chicago but C'est la vie!!!

Hope you have a great week. There are 3 Preds games. Not sure I'm going to any but send positive thoughts their way.

Happy Prez's Day!

2009-02-16T15:37:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone is enjoying your President's Day holiday--assuming you have the day off. Kind of a nonsensical holiday in my opinion, but I used to enjoy a paid day off anyway.

I also hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day! Hal & I arent usually into getting caught up in the mania of commercial holidays and this year was no exception. We dont care about cards or gifts and lovey dovey patrons at restaurants, so we stayed home all day. We had a friend come over to play cards that night and that's the extent. Note to my card playing friend, I dont take losing lightly and will make sure that doesnt happen again.

I mentioned in my last blog that we had some hockey games last week. They were exciting. We lost to Detroit pretty badly--BOO, Red Wings. We went back on Thursday for Hal's bday and saw one of the most exciting games so far this year. The Preds tied up the game with only 3 seconds left and won the game in an overtime/shoot-out. Woo Hoo. We didnt go Saturday night, but they again won in a shoot-out against the best team in the league. Let's hope they win again tonight. We are really close to edging into the last spot to make it into the playoffs. I'm excited to go tonight!!!

I've bored all the non-hockey fans (most of the people who read this blog), so I'll wrap this up.

Have a good week!!!

Spring-tease

2009-02-06T15:46:00.002-06:00

Hey, y'all! It's been a few weeks since I've checked in on here!

Still no major breaking news to report, but I wanted to say hi so you guys & gals dont think I've totally forgot about blogging.

I'm happy to be on my porch right now enjoying the beautiful weather. We've had plenty of cold days recently, but it's 60 right now and will be for the next week or so. It's even going to be around 70 on Sunday... woo hoo... It gets me in the spring mindset. The birds are even out & about hootin' & hollerin.'

Still nothing to announce on the job front. I hope that changes soon. I've had a couple of opportunities over the past couple of weeks, so that's definitely promising after over 6 months of not a lot of anything happening. For the record, I'd never want to be a stay at home person...it gets old. It's always nice to be around other people during the day (in my opinion at least).

We have been going to some hockey games recently and have two upcoming games next week. The Predators are battling for a basement spot to be eligible for the playoffs (the regular season ends in April). They just need to keep winning games. Next week, we are going to seem them play Detroit (a big rival for any team) and we are going to a game on Hal's birthday (next Thursday). I wont publicly tell how much closer he is getting to retirement.

Aside from the weather, I'm looking forward to this weekend. We're going to hang out somewhere tomorrow to celebrate (read drink) a friends birthday. Always fun!

I could keep rambling on in the post, but it would just be about the people and dogs walking by on the street, so I'll wrap this up.

Hope you are all doing well!!

Still Beamin'!

2009-01-22T14:39:00.002-06:00

Two days after the inauguration, I'm still feeling the excitement. I have to admit that the candidate I voted for Prez had never won... until this past November, so seeing him finally take the oath was a great feeling!!

One of the cutest moments was when Obama's youngest daughter gave him a very candid "thumbs up." Aside from my hopes for Baracks actual administration, it is going to be interesting seeing the girls grow up in the White House. They seem spunky.

Although I was thrilled to see W get on the plane and out of D.C., I will say it is nice that his administration seemingly left the White House in order (unlike some of the Clinton people)..... argh... it was hard to pay that compliment, but I got it out.

Here's to a more prosperous 4 (hopefully 8) years, Salute!!!

Best Wishes for 2009!!!

2009-01-02T16:30:00.003-06:00

Hey, y'all!!! I hope you had a fun New Years. We did what we've done the past few years---stay at home and away from all the madness on the road. Of course, I made sure we had plenty of adult drinks. You cant have NYE without champagne, can you? :)

Oh... and a quick Christmas blurb... it was nice to get back to East TN to visit family again. Everyone was much more reasonable with their gifts, and it was definitely nice to get away from all the commercialization.

I am excited we've entered 2009. I'm glad to put '08 out of the way. I did have a lot of fun though. Some highlights were traveling for work and getting to venture briefly into Mexico, going to Philly to visit Josh, going to Manchester, UK, as well as Canada. Of course, one of the biggest highlights was moving into our house. I still enjoy it every day.

I also had a ton of fun with my friends who are around Nashville. There are too many good experiences to pinpoint any on here.

I did have a bit of bad luck with my job situation, but I am confident that it will improve soon. I guess getting a new job should be my New Years resolution, eh??? Wish me luck.

I'm going to wrap this up for now. I hope you all have a healthy, happy & prosperous 2009! Yee-Haw!!!

P.S... I got to see Loretta Lynn at the Grand Ole Opry this past year too. You cant have a bad year when that happens, can you?

Just a quick blog

2008-12-17T13:38:00.002-06:00

Hey, yall. I wanted to drop in to let you know I did finally get back from visiting my family for Thanksgiving... haha... I still dont have a lot to blog about, so I've just been keeping quiet.

I did enjoy hanging out with my family for Turkey Time and look forward to seeing them again for Christmas. I've been stress free regarding shopping this year... I'm not buying gifts for anyone. I usually have a huge list b/c of my extended family, but it's just not the right year for me to do that.

Oh... of course you know I've still been going to some hockey games and was also sad to watch (on tv) the Titans lose this past Sunday... grrr... let's hope they can turn that loss around against Pittsburgh this week.

I hope you all have a great Christmas!!!

Turkey Time

2008-11-25T14:06:00.002-06:00

Wow, I've been an infrequent blogger recently. A two-week break, yikes!!!

I guess that's an indication that there isnt much to say, you think?

I hope you've all been having fun!

I'll say that we really have been low key here on Colorado Ave... a couple of weeks ago, we had a weekend guest. We entertained Molly, our friends Boston Terrier, for a couple of nights. She's such a sweet dog, and it was fun to have a furry friend.

I've been happy about the Titans despite a loss this past weekend... honestly, I never thought they would be 10-0, so getting that milestone was enough. Let's just hope that they crush the Detroit Lions on Thursday.

Speaking of Thursday, I'm really looking forward to it. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I enjoy it b/c it is just food... and you dont have to deal with that the gifts & what not. I'm going to visit my family in East TN for a few days, so it's always nice to hang out with everyone there.

I'm rambling and dont really have anything else to say now, so I'll wrap it up.

Enjoy your turkey--or meatless alternative!

Election Mania

2008-11-04T15:06:00.002-06:00

Hey, y'all. If you are reading this the day I posted, Happy Election Day!!!

I know which way I want the results to fall, but at any rate, I'm just glad that there is no more campaigning after today. Two years has been quite enough.

It's been about two weeks since I've blogged I think. Oops!!!

A brief catch-up though: I've been to a few hockey games, watched some Titans games (who remain undefeated!) and saw a Broadway show.

Last Thursday evening, Hal & I went to see Avenue Q. I had been dying to see this show for a really long time. It premiered the same Tony award season as Wicked and won a ton of awards. The show didnt disappoint either. It was very fun, and we had a fantastic time.

That's really about all there is to report (in a nutshell) for now. Hope you all have a great rest of the week.

We got Frosty's!!!

2008-10-20T15:52:00.002-05:00

It's time to blab about a fabulous weekend. I hope you are having a good Monday & had an awesome weekend, too.

On Saturday, I caught up on the Little Britain USA. It's a very funny show. I havent seen the British version, but I'll try to catch up on it sometime.

Saturday night was a night I've been anticipating. Yes, my friends, regular season hockey is back on track!!! Woo hoo! The Predators lost on Friday night in Columbus, OH, but both teams hit the road to have a second match-up here in Nashville on Saturday night. The Preds lost in Columbus, but they made up for it Saturday night with a 6-3 victory. You all know what happens when the Preds score 5 goals at home, dont you? Of course, most of you dont. haha

In previous seasons, a large Taco Bell franchisee sponsored the team and you could take your ticket in for a free taco. I detest Taco Bell and never took them up on the offer. There is a new sponsor this season. Thankfully, it's for something that I love. Frosty's from Wendy's. The arena chant even flows easy off the tongue. When the team was getting close to 5 goals, the crowd used to chant, "We want taco's." Well, that chant has been updated to, well, you get the idea. This promo is something I'll gladly accept though.

Wow, I just wrote a 2000 word essay on Frosty's & tacos.

We came home Saturday night and watched SNL... very funny. I even felt warm toward Palin for a split second.

Sunday was a big football game. The Titans won over Kansas City and remain as the only undefeated team so far this season. I hope they can keep that up next Monday night against Indy.

Have a good week, y'all!!!

Back from the Smoky Mountains

2008-10-13T17:20:00.010-05:00

I'm back from my second East TN visit in consecutive weekends! This weeks destination was north of the family. My family lives in south-east TN (which was last week). This week, Hal & I met his office-mates in Pigeon Forge (Dolly Parton's world). PF is pretty much in the heart of the Smoky Mountains.

Hal's office has 5 people so there was a total of 10 including significant others (really, everyone is married except us). This is a beautiful time of year to visit the mountains b/c of the fall season. It was gorgeous. We stayed at The Cedars. The house was friggin fabulous. It was definitely a fun getaway.

We all got there Friday afternoon around 6pm. Traffic is stupid crazy in a tourist town in the mountains this time of year. We did arrive to the house with chilled beverages waiting. Nice!!! Friday night, we went to dinner at Tony Roma's. I'll spare you a personal review, but suffice it to say that it was my karmic revenge for laughing at someone's chain restaurant excursion recently. We then went back to the house while they all enjoyed a movie on the 12' projection tv that night. I opted to stay on another level of the house. It wasnt my kind of movie.

Saturday was a new day. Most of us slept late due to staying up until 3 or 4am. Once everyone was ready to roll (some of us after a couple of mimosas), it was time to go in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The place is huge & absolutely amazingly beautiful. The views are to die for. Our first stop was at the overlook where FDR spoke many years ago to dedicate the SMNP as preserved parkland.

We hopped back into the car after that to get to Clingmans Dome. It was only a half-mile walk from the parking lot to the top of the highest point in TN (3rd highest in the Eastern US), but ... omg... it's one of the steepest walks I've done. There was a lot of moaning & groaning by everyone, but the view from the observation tower was gorgeous. I was a Clingmans Dome virgin, but I am now happy to check that off my list. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time.

We didnt stop after Clingmans Dome though!!! We then headed down the mountain to the tourist trap known as Gatlinburg. As a child in East TN, I went there at least once a year. I havent been there since '95 or so though, and it is now mostly unrecognizable to me. It's become Disney-fied, or should I say, Ripley-Museum-ified.

We had an early dinner at a seafood restaurant that I dont care to talk about (karma again, Whit). It wasnt that bad really and we had great service, but I just dont like eating at tourist traps. It could have been worse, Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. was across the street.

We still werent finished though!!!! We then went to play Hillbilly Golf. It was mostly fun, but after such a long day, I was ready to get back to the house. We then just bummed around the house again until 3am.

Sunday was another new day & some chatted in the morning/noonish (while some were out shopping--this unemployed person wasnt in that group). The TN Titans were off this weekend, but there were still football games on, so we watched one before Hal decided it was time to leave. Some of them stayed Sunday night also, but 'someone' wanted a chill out day at home. I'm here all the time, so it didnt matter to me, but I was happy to get home too.

I had so much more fun than I expected! I hope you all have had a fun weekend too. Have any of you been to the Smokies or Clingmans Dome? Memorable experiences of Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg? I like to hear from my awesome blog readers. Some people are shy commenters, but it's nice to hear from people so I dont feel like only 3 or 4people are reading. :)

The picture at the top of the post was taken by my assistant/photo & video-editor. Thanks "Lady!"

Here's a link to his flickr site with a few more.

Please also give props to my assistant/editor for hooking us up with the flickr link so quickly. Woop Woop!!!

Back from the hills

2008-10-07T11:27:00.002-05:00

Wow, I just realized it's been a week since my last post. Never fear, I am here now.

I had quite a busy weekend! I went to East TN to visit my family. I had a lot of fun visiting a lot of them.

My grandmother's sister & brother-in-law were in from Michigan. They were already coming for another reason, but it was good timing b/c there was a family day event at my great-grandmother's nursing home.

Nursing home visits are usually both entertaining & sad, and this was no different. There was a band playing and one lady was dancing the entire time they played. If they took a break, she was begging them to start back up. My aunt works there as the activity director and she said the lady dances all the time. Too Cute!!! It's nice that dancing makes her happy. On the flip side, my aunt was telling me some sad stories about others that I wont get into. I hate to see what may happen to anyone as we get into the supposed 'twilight of our life.' On the bright side, my great -gram enjoys it there. She likes being around the people who are sane, likes the activities and REALLY loves the attention from the nurses.

I left on Sunday morning to come back to Nashville, but not before I visited my uncle who just returned home from Jacksonville, FL. He'd been there since May for a liver transplant at the Mayo Clinic. He had to stay in the area in case there were any complications. I had spoken with him a few times while he was there and there were times he sounded down and like he wasnt sure he'd make it back to TN. Praise the Lord he made it back though. I was fortunate to be in town for the weekend when he came back. I can be quite emotional, but held back my tears of happiness until I got in the car. It's amazing how much better he feels compared to pre-transplant.

Back to a lighter subject, I made it home in time to watch the TN Titans game with friends. Yay Titans!!! 5-0, B-A-B-Y!!!!!!!!!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I'm heading back to a different part of East TN this upcoming weekend. It's not a family event this time, so I'll blog about that next week.

If you've made it to the end of this long post, thanks for reading! :)

Monday Funny

2008-09-29T14:17:00.002-05:00

This "fake" video makes me laugh like crazy:

Sadly, if you've watched the real Palin interviews with Katie Couric, it's really not that far from some of her replies to Katie.

GO TEAM!!!

2008-09-28T15:50:00.002-05:00

I'll keep this post short, but I am so happy about my Football Sunday afternoon!

The TN Titans are off to a great start. For the first time in Houston Oilers/Tenn Titans franchise history (they used to be in Houston for those of you not in the biz), they have a 4-0 record.

There are still 12 or so games left in the season, so I'm not even close to being too excited, after all, we've had plenty of seasons where we started out horrible & then fought back... so on the flip side, we could still possibly implode, but I'm going to keep up the positive vibe.

Rah Rah Ri, kick in 'em the knee!!!

Yeow!!!

Set your DVR alert!!!

2008-09-28T01:05:00.002-05:00

Sunday night, one of my favorite shows begins the new season... Amazing Race!!!

I know some of you arent reality show fans, but this show isnt X number of people trapped inside a home just looking for drama.

If you dont already know the premise, there are 11 teams of two going all around the globe with each destination having some challenges the teams have to complete. If they are the last to complete the challenge, they are usually out of the game.

It's fun to me b/c I enjoy traveling & seeing different countries/cultures. They go places on this show that I can say with certainty most of us will never go--and some places we've been to or will definitely see.

There is a bit of drama between teams sometimes, but after all, it is a competition for $1 million.

If you miss it on Sunday night and still want to check it out, you can always
watch it on one of George Bush's internets.

Go (insert your favorite NFL team here) Titans!!! I hope my next post says we are 4-0 for this season.

Go Puck yourself!

2008-09-26T15:43:00.002-05:00

Guess what time of the year it is, y'all? Of course, you all already know of course (hehe). It's hockey time!!!

The NHL preseason has now begun. I'm not really diehard about NHL or NFL preseason games honestly, but we got the company tix last night and decided to get out of the house for the evening. We had a lot of fun. To prove how much I dont keep up with preseason, I had to ask Hal when we left if the Preds won or lost (they lost). It doesnt mean anything though. It's just a chance to give the guys competing for a spot an opportunity to show their stuff to the coaches.

The weather here has been nice all week & it appears we are headed for a fantastic weekend. It's going to be interesting to see how the presidential debates unfold tonight. No set plans for the weekend really, but I hope you all have a beautiful one!!!

(this hockey post is dedicated to you, Josh, I know you are as thrilled as I am)

Was this for real or really an SNL skit???

2008-09-24T19:40:00.003-05:00

I watched the CBS evening news today purely for this interview. For the record, I prefer Charles Gibson on ABC.

If you havent seen the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin that aired on Wednesday already, please go to this link:

They'll be showing snippets of the rest of the interview over the next few days.

Ahh, the memories...

2008-09-23T18:21:00.003-05:00

We just got back from a quick trip to the side of the duplex we used to live in. There was something wrong with something...zzzz.... so Hal had to fix it.

Anyway, it's the first time I've had a chance to go in since the new resident moved in. It's so interesting to see how someone else has decorated and arranged furniture in a place you once lived for nearly 10 years. People have such different styles. I'm certain that when I had the former owner of our current house over to pick up some mail, she thought the same thing--aside from the fact we still didnt even have living room furniture at that time.

I certainly dont regret the move AT ALL!!! We love living in our old, Victorian, single-family home on a quiet street. It's so fascinating seeing the former place with someone else's things though.

Have any of you ever been back in a house you once lived in while someone else was living there?

Fall's here!!!

2008-09-22T14:27:00.004-05:00

It's official as of 1pm-ish today, Fall has officially arrived!!! Spring & Fall are my favorite seasons. I love the mild/cool weather. The downside to Fall is when all the leaves fall from the trees, but it's just a part of it.

I hope you all had a great weekend. If you didnt, I have had enough fun for you.

We stayed in Friday night b/c I was feeling horrible for some crazy reason. I was all better on Saturday though, and it was just in time!

Saturday was the Wine on the River event. I mentioned this last year, but here's a brief refresher: it's held on an old bridge (which is now only for pedestrians) overlooking downtown. You pay about $50 for a ticket, but you get a wine glass as you walk in and there are 30 something booths/tents setup and most of those tents have wines from different brands/wineries. They dont really 'fill up' your glass each time, and that probably is a good thing considering there is so much wine and 4 hours to enjoy it. Needless to say, we all got a bit of a wine buzz anyway.

It didnt stop at 7pm though, oh no. Five of us jumped in a taxi-van and headed back to our neighborhood where there was more wine & food awaiting at our friends Casey & Shane's house. Good times!!!

As if Saturday's festivities werent enough, Sunday was game-day. Shane got our gang of 5 tickets to the Titans game against the Houston Texans. We had a lot of fun and the Titans won to boot!!! We did walk across the pedestrian bridge mentioned above to get to the Coliseum, but sadly all the wine was gone :)

We watched the Emmy's last night. I thought they were sorta boring, but I was glad to see how well 30 Rock did. If you dont already watch that show, you're missing out and should pick it up when the new season starts. It's a very fun, smart comedy. I couldnt agree with the star of the show more (Tina Fey) who hopes she is done playing Sarah Palin come November 5th.

That's about all for now.

Enjoy fall!!!!!!

It's alive!!!

2008-09-15T17:23:00.002-05:00

You all may think I have fallen off the face of the planet recently. I just realized I havent blogged, aside from posting video links, in about two weeks. I'll see if I can catch you up to speed.

I'm super excited that the regular NFL season has kicked off again. It's one of my favorite things about Sundays. The weekend after Labor Day, we had a few people over to watch the TN Titans game which ended in a nice victory over the Jacksonville Jags. (some of my readers have already fallen asleep in this post b/c they arent into sports. I know your names!)

Last week was uneventful until the weekend. Saturday, we worked in the yard so it looked nice for the neighborhood home tour on Sunday. There were about 9 properties open and one was the church next door, so we made sure everything looked nice outside here. I was so glad to get some mums for my porch & around the mailbox. It makes me feel like fall is really here! We werent down for the day after that though. We had dinner with Hal's family and had a good time.

Speaking of the yard that looked so perfect on Saturday... pretty strong winds moved in overnight and blew a bunch of branches and other debris in our yard. Oh well, small potatoes compared to the damage Ike did in other places.

On Sunday, we headed over to some friends house to watch some of the Titans game (another victory) before going on the Sylvan Park home tour. I've been on it before. It's fun to see other people's homes & get some ideas. I'll admit this year was pretty lackluster though, and I was a little disappointed. It's been better in the past.

That's about all for now though, y'all. I may have more interesting things to blog about in the upcoming weekends. I've got a few things planned. Stay tuned!!

P.S. it's been a while since I blogged, so make sure you scroll down for the newest video link.

Dolly & Jake

2008-09-15T17:03:00.002-05:00

I've expressed my admiration for Dolly Parton here before, but I'm also a big fan of Scissor Sisters, particularly the lead singer Jake Shears.

I've yet to see Dolly in concert, but I did get the chance to see Scissor Sisters here in Nashville a few months before I started this blog. I love love love their music and performances, but apparently I'm in the minority in the US. They are much more popular in Europe despite being from the US.

My laptop wallpaper is even the band's logo and I proudly sport my SS shirt in cooler weather.

Getting to the point, I just came across a 4 part 'webumentary' of Jake interviewing Dolly. Each of the four episodes are 5 minutes long, so if you are interested in viewing it, you may want to bookmark it and watch when you have time.

Here's the link. I think it was recorded last year before Backwoods Barbie debuted in February.

Friday Freaky/Funny

2008-09-05T14:02:00.004-05:00

Considering that the subject of this clip is the TN state senate majority leader / Lt. Governor and 2010 gubernatorial hopeful(considering Bill Frist decides he doesnt want the job--unlikely), it could be seen as a tad scary, but I'm going to have to roll with the funny side.

Happy Labor Day!

2008-09-01T13:41:00.004-05:00

I hope you are all off work (or had the day off if you read this later) and having a great holiday weekend.

We're going to a friend's pool for a get together this evening. I hate that this is the unofficial end of summer already, but I also enjoy Fall. It will be our first Fall in this house and the leaf situation is going to be quite a mess.

Let's see... since I last blogged at ya, I turned another year older. It's official, I'm 31. I kept it low key this year b/c I've done something the past two years and with it being on a Tuesday this time, it just didnt have the desired allure.

We went out for a quiet dinner that night and then got a surprise on Thursday when Casey (doesnt she have a fabulous name?) & Shane treated us to Germantown Cafe.

One of my favorite things about my birthday this year though was that my uncle who is recovering from a liver transplant called me and was feeling very good. It was awesome to hear.

On a lighter note, I had a chill weekend. Hal's family did their traditional holiday weekend trip to the beach. They ended up coming home a day early though due to mandatory evacuation.

For those of you who actually have a job or are in school, enjoy your 4 day work/school week!!!

2 in 1 week!

2008-08-24T16:52:00.003-05:00

Wow, I'm actually blogging for the second time this week. Call me crazy.

I hope you all have had a great weekend so far. We have.

We've repeated the 'low-key' theme this weekend, but it's something that we really enjoy. We had a friend & his sweet dog over on Friday night for a porch hangout and a neighborhood stroll.

We had a quiet Saturday. We capped it off with a friendly game of Trivial Pursuit. I did lose this time, but I gave a galiant effort. We didnt even deal with the television most of the day. I'm actually quite over the Olympics at this point.

I want my tv shows back! We also took a nice neighborhood walk last night. I felt nosy and wanted to walk by the duplex. It's such a weird feeling. I dont feel any real attachment there anymore. It's amazing how you can live somewhere for so many years, but just forget so easily. I guess that just means I love the "new" place so much.... and I REALLY do.

I hate to admit how late we stayed up on Saturday night, but after the walk and some conversation, I wanted to watch the gold medal match of the US men's basketball team. Needless to say, we slept late on Sunday morning.

Sunday has been a lot of fun already. We went to SOBRO (south of broadway...downtown Nashville for you out of towners) for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Margaritas on the patio overlooking downtown are always a good thing.

I'll end on a political note... look on the brightside, y'all! We've got just over 2 months left in this campaign season and the cards will be on the table. Some people will be happy, some will be bitter... I hope I'm in the happy group.

Nothing clever for ya today.

2008-08-19T17:13:00.003-05:00

Hey, y'all! Hope you havent forgotten about me!!! I've been light on the blog updates, but once again, didnt really have much to report.

I did enjoy the Olympics last week. The swimming and gymnastics are my favorites, and I loved getting caught up in it. Michael Phelps was unbelievable. I was also rooting for Darra Torres Saturday night and was sad she didnt get an individual gold medal. It's amazing that a 41 y/o can still hang with the "young'ins" and only miss the gold by 1/100th of a second. Keep your fingers crossed we can see her do it at 45!!!

Other than that, we had a fun weekend. We were low key Friday night but had some things to do Saturday. We (and a few other people) helped a friend paint. I'll admit, I've probably painted once in the last 15 years (it's Hal's job), but I gave it a good shot. I told Hal not to get any ideas on it being a regular thing around our house.

After the painting, we zipped over to Opry Mills for a thing for Hal's office. We went bowling & played some arcade type games at Dave & Busters. As usual, I was one of the worst bowlers in my lane, but I'm used to that. I did do very well at a trivia game later and won a lot of tickets (that we gave to little kids of Hal's coworkers). I still enjoy bowling no matter how good/bad I am.

We had a mostly relaxing Sunday. We enjoyed some lunch on the patio at SATCO before coming home for some yard work. I'm ashamed to admit I was a little sore in the "gluts" after bowling and yardwork. Sigh.

I'm excited this week to find out who Obama will select as his VP.

I hope you all have a great rest of the week. Thanks for checking in on my blog!

Olympic Mania

2008-08-11T16:09:00.003-05:00

Hey, y'all! Yet again, it's been a few days since I've posted, but the wait is over.

I'm so happy that the Summer Olympics have finally arrived. I like both Summer & Winter games, but I think I'm more of a Summer fan.

We stayed in on Friday night and watched the Opening Ceremonies. I always enjoy them, but as I'm sure you've read, this was one of the best. The torch lighting was a fitting last touch.

I watched a few events on Saturday afternoon, but heats are not as interesting as Medal events and I was soon over it.

The weather in Nashville has been beautiful the past few days, and I'm loving it. On Saturday night, we went to celebrate a friend's birthday at Arrington Vineyards. We had a lot of fun chit-chatting, listening to live music , and ,of course, enjoying wine. It's worth a 30 minute venture outside Nashville if you've never been.

Oh... and I had to come home and watch the Olympics when I got home :) Thank you DVR!

Sunday was pretty low key aside from watching... you guessed it... more Olympics. The mens gold medal relay last night was AWESOME! Hope you all had a chance to watch.

Blah blah blah... I'm out.. surely there are some Olympics to watch. ;)

The response ad

2008-08-05T18:29:00.002-05:00

I'm sure most of you saw or heard about the McCain campaign ad "Celebrity" that had shots of Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Obama.

Regardless of your thoughts of Paris (some of you loathe her I know), I found this response pretty funny:

Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Adfunny videosFunnyOrDie.com

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

I'm still here!

2008-08-03T17:18:00.003-05:00

It's still pretty quiet in the WOC. I'm finding it odd adjusting to my new situation and making decisions on my next move. I'm very fortunate that I have some time to work it out.

On a different note, I've had a great weekend. Our friend Richard came over Friday night and we played a card game that I love, but dont get to play often b/c it's not as fun with only 2 players.

On Saturday, we finally went to see the new Batman movie. I really enjoyed it and loved Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. It was such a better character than was portrayed by Jack Nicholson in the 90's, which wasnt so villianous in my opinion. The Batman series got a little too silly & campy for me with Jim Carrey as the Riddler and another release or so, but I'm so glad they've returned to a "darker" interpretation.

I dont make it to the movies too often. I may have mentioned that I have an attention span that makes me antsy sitting through a 2 hour movie next to annoying people (yesterday was no exception), but I had a great time yesterday.

I hope you all had a great weekend and will have a fantastic week. I'll keep you posted of anything exciting here, but for now, I'm just planning to continue the job search.

P.S... On Saturday night, Hal & I played a 90's version of Trivial Pursuit and I beat him!!! I think it's the first time I've done that, so it was a sweet, sweet victory!

A little bit of nostalgia...

2008-07-29T16:40:00.002-05:00

I was a little nostalgic to read the news today that the Bennigans restaurant chain has closed all of their corporate owned stores immediately.

I wasnt sad b/c I loved their food, but... a little bit of trivia. It's the first place Hal and I went together when we met almost 10 years ago. It just happened to be right down the street from my first Nashville apartment and we didnt have a lot of time b/c we wanted to watch Monday Night Football, so that made the decision easy.

I cant recall the last time I've been in a Bennigans really though. It's possible it has been 8 years. They left the Nashville market long ago. I might have gone in one at an airport recently, but if so, only for a drink.

Farewell, Bennigans. I'll blame the demise of your corporation on the Dubbya economy also... lol

Finally Friday!

2008-07-25T10:10:00.004-05:00

Hey, y'all! It's been pretty quite in the WOC lately. I'm currently enjoying a rain storm and it's very relaxing. I need it too!

This was a busy week for me. I was scheduled for a 5 day classroom training. I got through 4 days... but got to the office this morning only to find out that I'm the unfortunate recipient of the crappy economy. In other words, I've gotta find a new job.

This if the first time I've been in a situation like this... I've only left jobs voluntarily in the past. I was assured it had nothing to do with my job performance, it's just one of those things. On the bright side, I'll always have Saskatoon! lol

You know how it's fun to blame all of our problems on Dubbya? Well, of course I know thats not true, but let's just stick with the cliche for now. I lost my job b/c of the Bush economy. Thanks, Georgie. :)

Y'all know I try to keep it real for you here... and although the initial shock of my new situation was disappointing and a tad emotional, it's also an opportunity to carve out a new path. I'm confident that I'll find a fabulous new position since I have gained portable job skills in the 4 years I've been at Aspect.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end!!!

Set your DVR's...

2008-07-15T18:51:00.002-05:00

The last season of Project Runway on Bravo (before a move to Lifetime) begins on Wednesday, July 16!!!!

I hope this season is as 'tranny hot fierce' as last season, but I think the previous winner has the 'fierce' corner all to himself. Nevertheless, I havent yet tired of this show. I even watched a lot of the rerun marathons last week. Christian was my favorite designer/character on there... period.

If you arent familiar with the show, aside from "what rock have you been living under?", you should enjoy it if you like reality shows where they actually have to make/design something... not just survive in the elements or learn how to tell lies in a house over 3 months.

Two timing Tuesday

2008-07-15T18:31:00.004-05:00

I was a bit lazy about blogging last week. I was on a 'stay at home' vacation and really didnt do anything notable, so I gave you all a break from the mundane.

There have been some progressive developments here on Colorado Avenue though!!!

The sofa arrived last Tuesday. It's bliss. It's totally made our living room, (or should I call it a parlor since it's a Victorian?), feel sooo much more complete. No complaints in the least.

Following up on Teriffic Tuesdays, the washer/dryer arrived today. Y'all... it's been 2 months since we moved and a little over one month since we lost w/d access. I've never been so thrilled to do laundry. I sat in front of the washer like a little kid watching through the window during the first wash. I know the enthusiam will soon fade, but it's so neat having all the new bells & whistles.

On another house update, if you recall from the initial move in pics, we have a teeny tiny kitchen. The only small counterspace was filled with our small microwave. That situation was remedied with a kitchen cart this weekend with the microwave tucked away and out of sight. It's a necessity in a micro-kitchen. Although we added an additional piece of furniture, it really 'feels' bigger.

You know here in the World of Casey that we are slow to post pics/video clips, but patience in a virtue. I'll try to do a video tour soon. In the meantime, here are the stock clip images of the new w/d.

Humorous or not?

2008-07-07T13:06:00.001-05:00

I couldnt resist sharing this clip:

Some progress on the furnishing front

2008-07-03T18:46:00.003-05:00

Hey, y'all... hope you've had a great short work week. I've had a really relaxing week. I worked from home since I didnt have any trainings scheduled, and it was very nice. I've got next week off and obviously am thrilled.

It's a good thing I'm off next week... they are delivering our new sofa!!! This has been the bane of our existence here on Colorado Ave so far. We've only had one comfy chair and one directors chair... not so comfy for long periods. I'll let you guess who usually gets the comfy club chair. :)

I cant even imagine how many trips we've made to furniture stores and how many sofas we've seen, but I hope to not be sofa shopping for a LONG time... I hate it. We decided to go with something neutral that will work with any style. It's not bold with color, so we'll have to bring in that extra touch with accessories/art. I cant wait for it to get here on Tuesday. I dont care if they wake me up at 8am on my vacation day. I'M READY!!!

I also purchased a new washer/dryer today... Unfortunately it had to be ordered and I dont know when it will be here, but I can deal with the laundrymat with the assurance that the end is near. It will be an adjustment with a front loading one, but our space didnt provide any other options.

I've included an image of the sofa, but spared you the boredom of the plain white w/d.

Hope you all have a great Independence Day!!! We are going to hang out at a friends pool and I'm looking forward to that.

Careful with the fireworks!!!

Finally a Sunday in Nashville

2008-06-29T18:37:00.004-05:00

Well, y'all... I made it back to Nashville Saturday night. I was so glad to get home and hang out on the front porch and listen to the crickets and then a rainstorm. Perfect night.

I havent been home the past 3 Sundays, so it was nice to finally have a Nashville Sunday again.

No time for cooling my heels all day and relaxing though. Now that I'll be home for a while, the furniture/washer&dryer search has resumed with a vengeance.

We think we might have found the sofa we want, just gotta give it a day or two to make sure nothing else meets our fancy. The washer/dryer situation is going to be easier to make a decision on though since we have a limit to the size of the units. Not a lot to choose from.

We did have an interesting encounter at Ethan Allen today. When we walked in, the sales person was speaking with someone on their way out and she looked at us rather odd. We mentioned we were just browsing and walked on... she came up to us a couple of mintues later and said... "I'm sorry, I'm just not used to seeing two guys come in here furniture shopping." I think I might have scratched my head a little, but she then went on telling us the Ethan Allen 411. I dont want to sound too sensitive, but she just said that statement in an strange manner.

She wasnt finished with her stupidness though... She finally caught us on the way out and was giving us a catalog and her card... then decided to tell us that "I've been working with a bachelor recently... not that you are a bachelor... and it has just been so much fun. He comes in every week and wants to do another room."

I'll spare you the details of the rest of her banter, but it was just a strange string of comments coming from a seemingly classy lady. I guess gays dont shop at Ethan Allen... well, I know thats a lie, but she acted that way. Needless to say, I doubt I'll be buying anything at that store.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be blogging about some new things that are making the house feel more comfortable and normal this week. We did find a new mirror for the bathroom today... goodbye little cosmetic mirrors and using the fireplace in the living room... lol...

Hope you all had a great weekend & upcoming Holiday Week!!!

Saska-Storm

2008-06-26T22:10:00.003-05:00

Hey, y'all... Not too much excitement to report from Sasktoon, Saskatchewan.

I've had a good week with my training class... only one day left... I'm quite happy about that.

I havent done much this week aside from work. I've still not found anything that fun to do here. I went to the mall yesterday. I always enjoy going to stores that we dont have in Nashville.

I did take a walk down by the river here tonight (which is right behind my hotel)... it was a nice walk... and I stumbled on a free stage of the jazz festivities going on this week. After that, I had dinner at an Italian restaurant that doesnt have a website. It was good, but keeping with the Saskatoon theme, looked straight out of the 70's.

I got home just in time to see a huge storm blow in... it's still happening right now... It looked gnarley enough that I got a little scared and turned on the news... I'm a bit of a wuss about storms sometimes when they are predicting hail and strong winds.

I'm going back to Nashville on Saturday and cant wait... I'm looking forward to getting back in my normal enviro. I cant imagine some of my friends who travel pretty much every week. This past month has taken a toll on me in more ways than one. I love travel, just enjoy it spread out over periods of time and definitely enjoy it more when accompanied by a friend.

Hope you are all doing well.

P.S... my trainees love that I say "you all" and "y'all"... it's so weird.. it's just part of my vernacular, but I've been more aware of how often I say it this week.

Canadian Idol

2008-06-24T20:15:00.002-05:00

Ok, y'all.. not much to report on my Saskatoon experience. My training is going ok... but I cant find a lot of things to do for entertainment.

I've been sucked into Canadian Idol the past two nights and I have to say... wow... it sucks. It's just getting started here, so there are a lot of contestants... but I've yet to see someone I think is good... and worthy of selling records.

Oh... cutest thing ever... my grandmother has finally figured out how to respond to my emails when I cant call her... I've been working with her... she's getting there... she can finally reply... although she hasnt figured out how to use the space bar to separate words... soiseeareplythatlookslikethis....

Cute... She's a doll.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Canada, eh?

2008-06-22T21:17:00.002-05:00

Blogging from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan this week. Not my ideal destination, but here I am. To be honest, my first impression of the city has been that of a city mostly built in the 60's/70's... the architecture is just non existant for the most part... aside from my hotel.

The trip here was mostly ok... aside from the annoying 2 y/o who babbled incessantly from Nashville to Minneapolis in the row behind me... it was quite frustrating... luckily the next flight allowed me to have 2 seats to myself.

Sunday's been pretty unremarkable. Although it is the Jazz Fest, it rained today and now that it has stopped, I'm too tired to go out. I left my home in Nashville at 6:30am.

I'm probably going to go to bed earlier tonight than I have in recent memory... I know I'm behind in posting photos of my past trips, but I have my cam this week also and will take pics of the Beirut of Canada...

Hope you all have a great week!

Back in Music City

2008-06-18T22:17:00.004-05:00

Wow... I think it's been about three days since I've blogged. I needed the break honestly. I've been exhausted. I had a really long day on Monday. I left my hotel in Manchester at 2:30am Central and didnt get to Nashville until 7:30pm Central. I had to sit on the runway in Philly on Monday afternoon for 2 hours. It was quite frustrating.

I could barely walk when I got home... I walked so much in Manch & then all the plane sitting took a toll. I'm finally starting to recover and get back to a normal sleeping pattern.

It was definitely nice to get back to the US and be around familar settings. It was odd being gone for pretty much 2 weekends. The familiarity will only be temporary as I am leaving first thing Sunday morning for Saskatchewan. I wont be there quite as long as Manch though. I have a much anticipated vacation week coming up after that though. While I'm not going anywhere, I'm ready to just hang out here and get some stuff done. I havent had enough time to do things here at the "new" house.

Not sure I'll have much to blog about this week aside from looking forward to a wine party on Friday. Hope you are all having a great week!

P.S... I paid over $4 a gallon for gas today for the first time and it's unreal.

The Manchester Chronicles are coming to a close

2008-06-15T18:43:00.003-05:00

It's almost over... I'm quite happy too... I cant wait to get back to familiar surroundings... the last day here didnt go quite as planned... but the details of today are better left unwritten for the masses. We'll leave it at, "I've had better days." For the record, there was nothing unlawful.

Here are my overall Manchester impressions: The density of the buildings and the mix of old & new are very cool... the lack of a bustling city after business hours was disappointing though considering this is the "2nd city of England." The people were quite self-depricating about their city, but I think it was a facade.

It's a nice city worth a visit if you have some spare time... but as I've said before, it shouldnt be your main destination for the first time in the UK.

Cheers, Mates. I'm scheduled to arrive in Nashville at 5ish pm on Monday.

P.S... dont expect daily updates on life in Nashville when I return. I gave you all a treat this week... well... let's call a spade a spade... I was bored and lonely this week :)

See post from Friday before reading this one

2008-06-14T17:05:00.001-05:00

Well, I found out what the people showing their bits & pieces on the bicycles yesterday were all about.

Apparently it's a worldwide event... here ya go

Saturday Update

2008-06-14T13:59:00.003-05:00

'Ello, again, Mates! Well... it's 8pm Saturday night. I've had a fun day. I still havent witnessed it raining yet, but I could tell it rained overnight from the roof of the adjacent building I can see from my room.

I did follow my plan of sleeping in, but ventured out around 1pm to return to the shopping district. I took quite a few pictures and some video clips today as well... unfortunately I've only been included in one of the pictures taken on my cam so far, but I feel awkward asking random strangers to take my photo. The only time I'm ok with that is if I see other tourist taking photos as well.

Wow... the shopping district was sooo busy. You could compare it to December in the US. Crazy crazy packed with people. I found a ton of stuff I wanted, but again, the dollar exchange prevents me from going crazy. I did get a few things at a good price. Apparently there is a very popular chain here in Europe, Primark, that has some very cool clothes at K-Mart prices. The store was swamped & everyone you saw on the street had a bag from there.

I also spent time in Picadilly Gardens again (like I did on Sunday). I took video clips from there. A highlight was a group of mates who enticed one guy in their group to run thru the fountains. It was quite the spectacle. He took his shirt off...and even briefly took off his jeans. I'll just say that dude obviously works out regularly. It was a nice surprise :)

Another interesting thing that started out the day was a group of protestors in front of the "Church" of Scientology. Not sure what the real beef was, but I think it had something to do with environmental pollution of some large boat that the Scientology elite use. I'm sure there were other issues as well. They had some kind of odd music playing and were wearing scary masks. One other pedestrian told her daughter... "Look, look at the Scary Man!" in classic British English.

I was actually pretty tired from all the walking today, but managed to make it down to the lap pool and spa. It was a quick trip, but really nice. Wish I had a lap pool in my house!

I'm about to get dressed for dinner. I'm going back to Negresco tonight. I've already been there, but I loved my dish and it's right out the front door of the hotel. I think I'm going to go back to the gay village again tonight after dinner. I might check out some other places that I didnt go in last night. Going to bars alone is a bit of a downer, but it's still good to just watch people.

Hope you all have a great Saturday! I wanted to post now before heading out... I might not make sense if I attempt to blog after going out tonight :)

Cheers, mates!

Check this out

2008-06-14T02:07:00.002-05:00

I told you all that I recently went to Philadelphia for a training session. The bonus was that one of my favorite people in the world lives there and he made a video clip that is now shared on his blog

Check this out... many thanks to Whitney for doing this!!!!!!

Friday night is over

2008-06-13T17:14:00.003-05:00

It's odd to think that I'm back in the hotel already after a few hours out & people are just getting out of work in the US.

I walked down to the gay village again tonight (Chinatown is in the same area... I've see Chinatown in other cities and they are all the same really)... the patrons werent quite as pissed as Sunday night. I had a hard time finding a restaurant serving food around there at 8:30pm, but settled with an Italian themed restaurant. It was a basement building that would probably be a candidate for Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen nightmares, but I was hungry & braved it out. The food sucked for the most part, but the wine was good :)

After dinner, I went into a dance/video bar. Who doesnt love to see vintage videos of Elton John, Abba & the Jacksons???

2 pints was all I could handle though... I still wanted to walk home in a straight line. The hotel is about a mile away from the gay village.

The walk to the hotel turned into an episode though... a very large guy (who looked & was the same size as this guy) decided to find his way home with me. He had an English accent but was so pissed he had no clue where to find his train. I wasnt much help obviously, but he decided to hang on my shoulder to support his drunken walk... nevermind I am half his weight. He asked me what my name was about 6 times within 3 minutes. I had no idea where his station was. I finally just asked someone on the street if they could help him. As I walked away after telling him to walk in the opposite direction I was going, he kept yelling my name... it was quite awkward, but comical.

He seemed str8 as an arrow though... so I dont think he fancied me in "that" way. He was just pissed.

I'm not sure if it is just our situation in most US cities that someone has to drive home... but I've seen so many people just out of their mind drunk here. I avoided one restaurant last night just b/c when I went to read their menu posted outside, a patron was just hiccuping and barely had her eyes open...while the other man & woman at her table were just disgustingly making out. They'd obviously been drinking a bit. I went a few shops down & saw them get in a taxi later... it was very comical/sad.

If someone was in a resturant in the US in the state I've seen people in here, they would be cut off & kicked out.

Damn... maybe I'm a bit pissed b/c I intended a quick post...

I'll chalk it up to the fact that I havent talked to anyone I know verbally since last Saturday. :)

Cheers, mates.

When you know you are NOT in Nashville...

2008-06-13T13:33:00.004-05:00

This is a spontaneous blog post... the funniest thing just happened. I'm hanging out here in 'me' room... I worked a bit late today & am relaxing and catching up on US news.

I could hear some street noise of people being realy loud along with some type of whistles blowing. (make your own joke with that comment along with the following) I look out the window and there is a group of about 30 bicyclists... buck-ass naked (men & women) just letting their bits & pieces all hang out... I wish I could have taken a photo, but it happened too fast and I couldnt get downstairs and the straight down angle wouldnt work (there isnt a balcony). Not sure what the purpose was, but there were people with professional cameras running along the street taking photos.

One of those things I doubt I'll be seeing anytime soon in Nashville. I'll try to remember to check out the newspaper tomorrow to see if there is any mention of this. Hopefully there will be.

Cheers, mates!

P.S... I'm so glad it is Friday & I'm finished with the training session. It's time to let the hair down!

Not much to report, Mates!

2008-06-12T15:50:00.003-05:00

Hey, y'all... I dont really have much to chat about tonight, but thought I'd check in anyway.

I'm so glad there is only one day left in the work week!!!! It's been a fun group of trainees, but sometimes, you're ready to let your hair down. I've been ready to let my hair down since Monday, but that goes without saying.

Believe it or not, it hasnt rained while I've been here and it's been quite nice. The past two days have been more of what I was expecting weather-wise. The sun does come out more than I imagined, but it's kinda chilly. The high temps have been around 60 and will be for the rest of my stay. Nothing a little jacket cant help with though.

I've been really exhausted today, so I cant wait to be able to sleep a little late on Saturday morning. I know some people would say, "you're in a different city/country, get out & about!" but I'll do that... after a good rest.

I took a little stroll this evening down to the shopping area I talked about the other day (Picadilly Square area)... there are a lot of clothes I'd love to have...and some I got, but when you think about having to double the list price (dollar conversion), it makes a difference.

I found a few restaurants open past 8pm finally... Tonight, I ate here. I had a pan seared fish dish with mash & peas. I actually sat outside like several other people did and it was interesting watching the pedestrian traffic from the sidewalk cafe. I had to sample dessert as well and it was magnifique!!! (the restaurant was French--again--throw me a bone) I had a crepe with bananas, ice creme & chocolate... yum yum yum. It was huge, but I managed to eat it all. :) I've done enough walking to work off the calories.

I've actually been walking everywhere. I took a taxi to work on the first day b/c I didnt know where I was going, but have been walking since. I'm actually exhausted today and was feeling some shin splint action tonight. I suppose that's good for a change.

I'm still loving the view from the hotel. It's not even completely dark yet even though it is 10pm. Crazy.

That's about all I have to post on me blog for now (I'm getting a kick out of the lack of the word "my" here). "Casey, me computer's not doing that!"

Hope you are all doing swell.

Cheers.

I'm out of clever titles

2008-06-11T18:16:00.002-05:00

Hey, y'all... It's humpday...and I'm extremely excited about that... I only have 2 more days of training. I have really enjoyed my group this week thus far... they are so different from me... yet, I feel a connection with some of them... my training session the next two days will be with different people though... so I'm starting all over... enough about work

The forecast predicted rain tonight.. but guess what??? i only felt a couple sprinkles.... English weather forecasters lie just as Americans.... I went out for dinner tonight... I ventured out at 8pm... I dont mind eating late, but damn... these people eat early in Manchester... all week I've noticed they stop serving food at 9pm or earlier... I went in a few places that were open...but they stopped serving food at 7pm or so.. but they were still busy with drinkers... it's just odd to me... apparently some futbol championship is going on (im clueless)... and they looked at me like I was crazy... I went in about 5 places before I could find someone still serving food at 8pm... thats crazy to me...

It was a French inspired restaurant, click here to find out about it, I actually liked my meal tonight... the pomme frittes (french fries) were the highlight of the evening. They were seriously in my hungry mind the best fries I've ever had. Delicious.

I came back to the hotel and checked some of your emails... y'all rock... and decided to listen to music that makes me feel like home... (Loretta).... I miss Nashville... but... at the same time... I'm loving Manchester & would encourage anyone reading my blog to visit it at some point on your list... but... it shouldnt be on your top list if you like vibrant 24/7 cities as I do.

I dont even know where to stop on this rant, so I'll just say.. Cheers, mates.

Thanks, y'all!!!

2008-06-11T13:42:00.003-05:00

I think my site meter must be going crazy... I've had a lot more page views/visits to my blog over the past week/few days. It's really nice. I have some awesome fellow bloggers sending people my way... it makes me actually feel a little "queer." It's interesting to think that people might be reading my thoughts that I havent met yet... but isnt that all part of blogging? :)

I've made it through 3 days of my training session and only have two days left... but I'll be sticking around the city until Monday morning. I couldnt come to the UK for the first time and not enjoy a weekend with no stress, right?

Believe it or not, it has yet to rain. The weather reports predicted it this afternoon, but it's almost 8pm and just cloudy really (and still daylight!). The forecast calls for the possibility of rain on Friday night, but we'll see if that pans out.

Today was the first day it felt a bit cool. It's not expected to get above 60 degrees for the rest of my stay. It's been in the 70's since I arrived. I guess this is back to normal. I still have to read weather.com for my forecast b/c I am a dumb American who cant convert their Celcius reports.

Nothing else to report for now. I'm about to head out for dinner and I can assure you that a meat pie will not be in front of me.

Cheers, mates!

'Ello, Mates!

2008-06-10T18:55:00.003-05:00

Manchester update...

Here's where I left off yesterday... I switched hotel rooms... I was overlooking a train stop & pretty much the edge of Manchester/outskirts with lots of trees on the first night... it was pretty, but I prefer a real City Centre view, so I asked to be moved to the other side of the hotel. I'll be damned if they werent up in about 10 minutes to move me up two floors on the side I wanted. I now have a fabulous view of the city that is fantastic. I took a quick video clip & will take some pics to share later.

I went to dinner last night just steps away from my hotel. It was soooo good. I had some braised beef with mash... love me some meat & potatoes. I also got a bottle of wine (well, I had to bring some of it back to the hotel) and got a bit snookered considering I had also had a few after work ales. I got thru the training session just fine on Tuesday though... although I was a tad sleepy most of the day.

I decided to get back down into the heart of the city Tuesday night to find a dinner spot. This is a really big city, but unfortunately, it is largely a ghost town after 5pm. I did take some cool photos that I hope turn out ok. I dont have the connection cord for the cam to PC with me, so you'll have to wait for them. I even got someone to take a photo of me in front of a very cool place.

Speaking of cool place, I had dinner there also. It was at The Olde Wellington Inn. It really has a deep historical background and looked so authentically English. I selected some meat pie that I hated. It was an English steak with stilton in a puff pastry. That sounded good on paper, but I just didnt enjoy it personally. They were a little too generous with some thick brown gravy. It was interesting to say the least. It also had some sort of potato topping (stilton) in addition to a side of mash. They love their meat & potatoes here... and I usually do as well.

I was happy with the experience overall though. Just b/c I personally didnt like my dish doesnt mean it wasnt good, I just didnt fancy it tonight. The English steak part wasnt really a traditional steak as we know it in the US, it was very finely chopped up in the pastry & gravy.

Enough about the food... even though I dont have much else I can post on here tonight. I'm still loving the city & enjoy the daytime vibrancy of walking to work (I can see the office from my hotel) and all the street activity.

I do miss my "assistant/editor" though and wish I was not here alone. Dinner alone is the worst. So much is going on at home... our duplex tenants are moving in this week & he has it all set and I cant even see it completely rent ready before they all move in. Also, we have some beautiful flowers blooming at our new house. He was nice enough to send me photos though, so that was a nice touch.

It's way too late for me to still be up... so I'll end this now.

I'll keep you posted on my journey the rest of the week as it unfolds.

Ta-ta for now!

Some Random Manchester tid-bits

2008-06-09T12:29:00.002-05:00

Alright, y'all...

I'm getting adjusted to the time difference here. I got to sleep around 1am local time last evening/morning, but I was able to feel ready to roll during the 9-5 session today.

I ventured out last night to the gay district, Canal Street. I didnt get there until 9:30ish and apparently I missed out on the real party activities. Being such a nice day & all on Sunday (70+ degrees), apparently they got their groove on early. I walked through Canal Street and was actually kinda feeling odd. They were all mostly crazy drunk, pissed if you are in the know, and I wasnt up for a venture inside any of the bars/clubs. There was too much stumbling around, bumping into each other & spilling beer just on the pedestrian streets in front of the hangouts for me to brave a look inside. I'm not bashful at all when it comes to going out alone in strange cities, but sometimes you have to recognize what you are up against. I'm all for getting a bit pissed myself, but I wasnt there last night and couldnt deal with others in that state.

Today was not a bad workday at all. I'm working at the equivalent of the IRS in the US. I took a taxi this morning (the stereotypical English kind), but realized it was just a 10 minute walk from my hotel, so I hoofed it back this afternoon.

Another thing that is hard to adjust to is all the damn coins you get here. I got 6 lbs back from lunch today, and it was all coins. That's like $12 USD!! They definitely stay in circulation longer, but it's definitely not convenient carrying several coins in your pocket.

I'm totally digging the architectural mix here. There are plenty of old as dirt buildings that are beautiful, but also a lot of very modern buildings... sometimes right next door to the old. I love that!

I've resolved my credit card freeze issue from yesterday (FYI: always call your credit card company if you are going to be out of country unless you want to deal with calling Customer Service after the fact).

It's almost 7pm here & I'm going to head out fairly soon to do something I havent decided on yet. It's really odd for me that it doesnt get dark here until 10pm.

Hope you are all doing well. TTYL!

'Ello, 'Ello!!!

2008-06-08T12:07:00.004-05:00

I made it!!! I'm now in Manchester, UK. I'm quite excited about it so far. I got here at 9am local time this morning (3am Central) & luckily was able to check-in upon arriving at the hotel. The hotel is great. My driver from the airport said it is one of the tallest residential buildings in England. The hotel is 23 floors & there are apartments up to floor 48, so I am inclined to believe him.

The weather is surprisingly beautiful. My driver also said it was to be the warmest day here so far this year. Sadly, I was too sleepy to get out & enjoy it for a while... but I finally forced myself to enjoy it around 4pm. I was very glad I did. I took a quick walk and found a ton of stuff around here and the streets were buzzing with people/energy. I am right in the City Centre so plenty to do. It was very nice to sit in Picadilly Square and people watch.

Not too much to report about my travel experience yesterday aside from the fact I took a voluntary bump (with the understanding I'd still get to Philly for my connecting flight) and received a free r/t ticket to anywhere in the US/Canada. Score!!! I actually preferred waiting longer in Nashville rather than Philly, so it worked out great. Oh, I also saw a ZZZ-list former American Idol contestant getting on the plane I got bumped from. He still looks exactly as he did on the show.

I forgot to take my camera out today when I was out & about, but I promise to do better this week.

I'll post more updates as they unfold! TTFN!!

P.S... I had the opportunity to watch 'Juno' on the flight to the UK (which so many of you have talked about) and it was a great movie. I laughed quite a bit... and even got a little emotional sometimes... which is always a good experience for me... I like to run the gamut. If you havent seen the movie, check it out!!!

22 Weeks to go...

2008-06-03T18:04:00.002-05:00

Wow! I cant believe we only have 22 weeks until the General Election for POTUS.

What a wild primary election it has been. I love a healthy debate, but feel that it is time to move on from the intra-party battle of the Democrats.

The candidate I voted for in the primary is not going to be on the top of the ticket unfortunately, but I am pleased to have a good alternative selection.

It's amazing that we finally have one of the parties with a minority candidate. Regardless of where you fall on the issues, I'm sure everyone can feel proud that we've finally turned a corner like this in our country.

Please go out & vote in November... if you arent currently registered, first, shame on you... second... get your behind to the County Election Commission. This is really something we should all pay attention to--not to mention you really, really, really need to participate in state/local politics as well.

Vote, Vote, Vote!!!

I'm a little behind, y'all!!!

2008-06-03T17:35:00.003-05:00

Ok... I've been a little light on posting new blog entries this past week.

I went to Philadelphia for a training last week. I had a great time. I was able to stay in Center City and was just a short walk from a ton of things... most importantly, my friend, Josh's, employer. We were able to hang out Wednesday night, Thursday night and during the day on Friday. I had to leave Friday evening, but we packed a lot of sightseeing in a short period of time.

We walked down to the old city where so much history was made. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (unfortunately couldnt go in to see it) along with a lot of other really interesting buildings.

I do have some pictures to share, but my "assistant" hasnt put them on Flickr yet. I'll keep you posted. (Josh already posted some of his pics).

The rest of the weekend was pretty much low key aside from a visit to the Nashville Gay Pride festival in Centennial Park on Sunday.

It was back to the office this week.

I'm leaving on Saturday for Manchester, UK, to deliver another training session. I havent been to Europe before (mainly b/c of the weak dollar, so it will be nice to go on an expense account :).

I'll be there a little over a week & I'll take plenty of pictures & hopefully keep my blog updated while I am there. The only downer is that I'll be traveling alone :( Hopefully I can find plenty of things to keep me occupied.

Stay tuned for the pictures of Philly!!!

Silly Dogs

2008-05-27T18:36:00.003-05:00

I have a link to silly cat pics & captions here on the blog... but I also ran across one for dogs today.

Some people dont like the captions, but I think they are cute. If you are interested, check out:

http://ihasahotdog.com/

Summer is here!

2008-05-26T13:06:00.002-05:00

Hope you are all having a great Memorial Day weekend. I know that I have had a good one already. Right now, I'm sitting on the front porch enjoying a rain storm. I love it.

I went to East TN this weekend to visit my family. I havent seen most of them since Christmas. It was great getting to have lunch with my Gram, my cousin & her adorable 12 month old twins. I also got to see my great grandmother. She's 92 and is still very mentally sharp but we've just found out she is going to have to remain in the nursing home for good. She had some weird non-responsive to strong smelling salt "spells" a while back & the doctors dont want her to live alone any longer. She's not really upset about it and it really is a good thing b/c there are always people around and she likes the attention of the nurses & the activities they get to do. There are always interesting characters in the nursing home and I could fill up a blog post probably just on some of the things I see while I am there.

I also got to see my brother, niece, one nephew & the newest niece, Katlyn!! She's really cute, but she's not even two weeks old so she pretty much just sleeps. I did get to have some good times with the older niece & nephew playing Uno & Trivial Pursuit. I cant believe how grown up they are becoming. The niece is wrapping up kindergarten & the one nephew is 9 y/o. Crazy!!!

The real reason I always go home for Memorial Day weekend is b/c it is Decoration Day/Homecoming at the church where my family goes & a lot of my relatives are buried. Decoration Day is an old southern tradition where you put new flowers on the graves of your loved ones. It's also nice b/c a lot of people I've known since I was born are at the church, so I get to see a lot of people at once. Even though I'm 30, I still get people asking me where I go to school (I said, I'm out of school... I'm 30!), talking about how much I've grown (even though I've been finished growing for quite some time) and people telling me I still look 12. Umm... thanks?

After two days of visiting though, I was ready to come home & hang out in my own place. Hal & I just enjoyed sitting on the porch last night gabbing. Good times.

We are going to a friends house today to hang out by his pool, I'm just waiting on this darn rain to go away.

Dont forget to think about our veterans today. There were a lot of veterans graves at the cemetary I was at. It's amazing how many people I knew as adults when I was a child served our country. Salute!

Mr. Casey

2008-05-21T22:14:00.002-05:00

What a fun Wednesday! I was thrilled to have one of my favorite friends, Dusty, and her two, very adorable, little girls come see the "new" house. I dont have a lot of visits from youngsters, so I forget how cute/funny it is for them to explore a new place. They instantly wanted to go into the loft. Apparently, stairs are fascinating. They are so observant of small details that I dont even think about.

I think it is so precious. The just-turned two y/o even plainly called me "Mr. Casey." I love it. I cant wait to see my nieces & nephews this weekend. I havent seen my immediate family since Christmas.

I'm off to East TN on Friday evening. I'll blog about that next week I suppose. I have so many people to visit!!!

I hope you all have a safe Memorial Day weekend.

Can I have another?

2008-05-20T22:34:00.003-05:00

Vacation that is... unfortunately, Monday was back to work for both of us. We were fortunate to have last week off for the move.

It could have been worse though, I wasnt leading a training session this week , so I didnt have to be on my A-game first thing Monday morning. I did have to fill in for someone today, but it was all good.

Tuesday night was a lot of fun... I went to a minor league baseball game tonight. I'm not a big baseball fan, neither was the rest of the party, so we got seats behind the net so we didnt get surprised with a pop by a foul ball.

Anyway, on to the possible exciting travel city I mentioned the other day... I was under the impression that it was a suburb of London and was crazy anxious... well, it's Manchester instead & I know nothing about it for the most part... if you are reading this & have any pointers for me before I leave in a little over two weeks, holla (hint: eleven)!!!!!!

And we have another!!!

2008-05-15T20:42:00.004-05:00

There's a new addition to the Correll family to report today. My newest niece was born at 7:06PM EDT. I cant wait to get to East TN over Memorial Day weekend to see Kaitlynn Ann (I have no idea if that is the correct spelling btw).

She was a healthy girl at just a bit over 8 lbs. Wow... Mother & Father (my brother) are doing fine.

This is even more phenomenal though... My brother told me this news over Thanksgiving & we were talking about how cool it would be if the baby was born on our late mom's bday.

Guess what? It happened. Today is my mom's bday & Kaitlynn knew when to come despite the inducement stuff yesterday that didnt work out.

The middle name is actually a tribute to my mothers middle name (Diane).

Yay! I am so excited. I love little princesses & I now have a perfect balance: Two Nephews & Two Nieces.

Guess who I'm going to see???

2008-05-15T01:20:00.002-05:00

Wow, what an exciting/crazy/evolving few weeks it has been.

I found out something fantastic today & have been so excited. I'm going to New Jersey to deliver a one day training 2 weeks from today. You may ask, why am I excited about NJ? Well... it's 20 miles from Philly... where one of the most creative bloggers & one of my best friends,Josh, lives!!!!

I'm super excited & it kinda came suddenly. I cant wait to see him. We havent seen each other since the Loretta concert in KC last February. Way too long!!!

On another travel note, I also suddenly found out I'm going to Saskatoon, Canada for a week in June. I have to admit I'm a stupid American & dont know Canadian geography, so I had to look up the location. I'm not super excited about this one to be honest, but we'll see how it is when I get there. I did get to select a beautiful, historic hotel.

I hope to be blogging about another trip that I'm freaking crazy crazy crazy excited about, but it hasnt been confirmed & I dont want to ruin it. Stay tuned. It will be very soon if it happens.

Cant wait to see you, Whit!

Colorado Avenue Update (the long/catch-up version)

2008-05-14T00:51:00.006-05:00

I've finally nagged my assistant/editor enough.

I have photos of the new casa!!!

Click here to check out pics of the house while the former owners furniture was still here & a couple of last Saturday (our first full day here).

We closed on Friday at 11:30am & after lunch with Hal, I came home & started moving. I moved a lot of smaller stuff all day until he came home around 7 with a truck to move our larger furniture. We were at it until around 4am--both exhausted.

Saturday morning was a circus. The cable company was scheduled to arrive between 12-3, but they started calling at 8am. I totally let it go to voicemail, only to have him knocking on our front & back door 5 minutes later. I didnt move out of my comfy bed.

10am... still sleeping... another knock on the door. I jump up, throw some clothes on & run to the door ready to cuss the cable guy only to see Hal's parents. After a brief, oh crap, it's your parents yell, they came in for a look.

It wasnt over... we had plenty of work to do. Our friends/neighbors, Casey & Shane, were rockstars and gardening aficionados & helped us get the landscape in great shape. Another fab-friend Richard came by later & it was such a great day to hang out. It is amazing to be in a house we love to have people see!

Sunday night was magical. We have a tin roof on this 1920 home & we experienced our first rain. It sounded so story-book. Love, love, love it.

We're still very sparse on living room furniture since we got rid of some things prior to moving, so Wednesday is a furniture shopping day.

My fingers are broke & I know you're tired of my post at this point.

Ciao!!

What screen?

2008-05-13T23:09:00.002-05:00

This is too funny not to blog about. I would have fell out laughing if it didnt happen to me.

I was out on the front steps of the duplex today watching Hal do something. He finished & I turned around & walked/fell face first through the full screen door. It wasnt quite so funny to me the 3 seconds I was falling or when I scratched up my ankle, but I know it had to be silly-funny.

Thankfully I didnt tear the screen, just knocked it out & bent it a little. Nothing my handyman/assistant/editor cant fix :)

I'm safe!

Over it!

2008-05-13T22:24:00.003-05:00

The past two weeks have been a craigslist carnival. I'm happy to report the carnival has seemingly left 37th Ave at this point.

We posted the rental units at the duplex & we have a lease on one side and a background check approved prospect for the other.

As if that wasnt enough dealing with random people, we listed our old sofa & stove/oven both for free. The sofa was a sleeper-sofa & was 800 years old & the oven didnt work--only the stove.

I listed those two items last night at 8pm & had people contacting me within 15 minutes. They were both gone 24 hours later.

Here's where the title of my post comes in....

The couple who picked up the sofa was interracial. They were young, adorable & engaged. They recently moved into an apartment & have nothing except an inflatable mattress. Our sofa will fit them well-- it was still up to diva standards.

The rub was... I was discussing their wedding timeline & she said they had been turned down by one minister already (who was related to her)... b/c they were interracial... I'm amazed that that mindset still pervades some who profess to be Christian.

Let love live :)

Hang in there, folks!

2008-05-13T17:53:00.002-05:00

I promise I'll get around to posting some pics of the new place here soon, but we've been running at full pace since Friday. We've almost got the old space totally cleared out & have made considerable progress unpacking here on Colorado Ave.

It totally feels like home already. Today was awesome, we walked down to Star Bagel for lunch, then over to the nursery... then I also picked up some clothes we had at the dry cleaners. I'm loving being able to walk to all these places in 2 minutes or less. Yay!!!

One Night Only!!!

2008-05-08T17:34:00.006-05:00

Ok... the title for this post came easy since I just watched "Dreamgirls" for the second time this week.

One night only to wait to get our keys to 4501 Colorado Avenue!!! We just did our final walk-thru over there prior to closing tomorrow morning. I've still got plenty of stuff to box up, but it's feeling so real after seeing the new place empty & ready for our belongings.

I do have an update on the duplex. We signed a lease for the vacant unit yesterday & already have a very strong prospect for our side. I REALLY HOPE it works out for the girl. She's really nice & it would prevent us from having to go through the rental unit showing circus again.

I'm going to blame the lack of pics I've shared of the house on my assistant. They are on the camera, but have not been transferred to the computer yet.

It's getting a little weird on 37th Avenue!

2008-05-07T11:07:00.002-05:00

I havent moved in almost 10 years... That's all changing on Friday as you all know. Our current place is starting to look so different already. We've already taken some stuff to Goodwill, are trashing some worthless stuff and boxing up other things.

It's so crazy to think about and yet... it's still hard to fully grasp what is going to happen on Friday when we get the keys to 4501 Colorado Ave. I'm so serious that I would give the house a proper name, but once you actually walk up to the front door, you'll know why it cant be called anything else but by the address. There is a beautiful stained glass transom with the street address over the front door. It's one of my favorite things about the house.

Anyway, I tried to find a video clip to share, but alas, I could not; but I've been totally reminded with all these boxes & emptiness on 37th of the episode of Laverne & Shirley when they moved from Milwaukee to Burbank. Anyone else remember that episode???

On an unrelated note to our move, we've had tons of interest in our other side of the duplex from the craigslist post. I'm so sick of it to be honest. I cant recall how many times I've had to show it, take phone calls, drive by's who stop when they find the address. SO OVER IT!!! We received a completed application last night from a super cute graduate student couple. Pending a few checks for past rental history, credit/criminal background searches, we're pretty confident we have a tenant!

The flipside is that we are going to have to repeat this rental experience all over again with our side once we are out. Wish us luck!!!

My first...

2008-05-05T10:17:00.002-05:00

Were you really scared to continue reading this post after that headline? :)

I'm so excited, y'all. I mentioned in a previous post that I had a classroom training last week... I've also mentioned before that I get "graded" or "surveyed" by the attendees. I saw the results this morning and for the first time, I had a 5 on the Overall Satisfaction... thats a 5 out of 5.

You cant get much better than that! I love it! It's such a refreshing feeling and is a great way to start out what's going to be a crazy week (with renting our duplex & our own personal move).

Weekend wrap up

2008-05-04T12:44:00.004-05:00

It's been a few days since my last post, but that doesnt mean I have been doing nothing... so let's catch up!

I had a live classroom training this past week, so while it was a good group of attendees, I was definitely glad to wrap it up on Friday.

On Thursday night, I showed one of the out of town trainees around . I've never done that with a trainee before, but she doesnt get to travel much, so I wanted to make her last night in town a fun one. We started at the Parthenon and proceeded downtown. It was a lot of fun. We walked around a bit, grabbed some dinner & went honky-tonkin! We went to Roberts Western World and then Tootsies. We both had a great time. The bonus was they no longer allow smoking, so I still smelled great when I got home :)

Friday night we went out to Franklin to celebrate Nathan's return from Chile & birthday. Fun times.

Playtime was pretty much over on Saturday though. The other side of our duplex became vacant mid-April, so Hal's been doing some floor tile work during the week. The work was complete so a final clean up was in order. We posted the place on craigslist & have already had a few responses. Hopefully it will go fast considering... we'll have our side to rent out in two weeks.

We've pretty much got all of our stuff (mortgage, inspection) out of the way for the new house. I cant wait to move, y'all!!! You will hear more about that soon.

P.S... too funny... I was writing that last paragraph & someone came by to look at the duplex. They were very interested & that is a good sign!

I Dont Feel Like Dancin'

2008-04-29T23:17:00.004-05:00

Sigh...

I really dont feel like dancing... although I do have other things to do. (FYI: If you dont know the Scissor Sisters, it's ok if you dont get that intro).

It was announced today that Urban Outfitters is coming to Nashville.

I really like the store, but, here's the rub for me... I liked the fact I could go to Urban Outfitters when I was traveling in other cities & most people in Nashville werent going to be wearing what I was wearing.

The real rub that makes me more crazy... they are going in a live music venue-hall where I saw the Scissor Sisters for the first time and was the place to perform in Nashville for emerging artists/bands that could attract a decent--yet not quite big performance hall-- audience.

The funny thing about the Scissor Sisters (although Americans werent as receptive) is they were selling out huge arenas/stadiums in Europe.

Also, the Artrageous afterparty has been there the past two years. Artrageous is another HIV/AIDS charity event.

The owners say they will likely relocate, but I'm sad about this space being lost to a retailer like this.

I loved the space as an event/concert hall. I'm glad to see retail coming closer to downtown Nashville, but sad they couldnt have selected a different location.

Sigh...

Dining Out for Life!

2008-04-29T22:57:00.002-05:00

Tonight was one of my favorite "going out to a good restaurant" nights.

Each year, numerous Nashville restaurants agree to donate a portion of their food sales to a local HIV/AIDS charity, Nashville Cares, for one night. The minimum donation of their food sales is 30% but some go up to 100-105%. We couldnt get a reservation for our group of 6 at the 105% place, so we went to a 50% restaurant, Sole Mio.

It's a great local italian place. We had a great time & had some fantastic food.

Some of you may recognize that this is an event that happens all over the country at different times of the year. It so happens to be May 1st in Philly (wink wink). Check out this website for more information about your city.

It's a great time to have good food & get a chance to participate in a charitable action that is for a great cause.

The House Hunt is pretty much over!!!

2008-04-29T22:44:00.002-05:00

We've had it. We've looked at more houses than I can count... we've looked at some several times...

BUT... a decision has been made, an offer has been accepted & unless something waaaayyy unexpected happens between now & next Friday, we'll have the keys to our new house on Colorado Avenue in Sylvan Park next Friday (May 09).

Yeah, it has happened that fast. If you call it "that fast." This is the house I've been after for a while & have made an offer on, got rejected, someone else made an offer & was accepted, until it came back to us b/c they couldnt swing the deal.

I dont have any pics to share right now, but will definitely include some once the deal is closed.

It's been a crazy search & it was so hard to find somewhere we really wanted in the heart of the neighborhood.

We hope to have it next Friday!!! You know I will keep you posted as soon as the keys are in my hand.

House hunt is heating up!!!

2008-04-25T16:17:00.002-05:00

Y'all... this stuff is getting so stressful.

We made an offer several weeks ago on an adorable 1 bedroom / 1 bath house that is in a fantastic Sylvan Park location and has great curb appeal and is steps away from the small "shopping/restaurant" district. The cons were the asking price (it came on the market in December and the only bathroom is only accessed through what would be our bedroom... plus the kitchen is really small. The pros were location, curb appeal & the large living room.

Well, we made a much lower than asking price offer, went through some countering before deciding to hold off. She then dropped the list price & someone else made an offer. :(

So we moved on and made an offer on a house in Sylvan Heights this week. 3 bedrooms/3 baths... cute place. It just was listed on the market. Our offer was made in less than 24 hours from listing. Someone else beat us to the punch... so we're now the first backup offer. We'll see what happens.

In the meantime, the offer on the first house fell through & they called to see if we are still interested... so we have a lot of stuff to consider right now...

This stuff is working my nerves, y'all. I cant wait to blog about a final closing!!!

It's about time!

2008-04-24T17:04:00.002-05:00

Not that I'm their target market, but Nashville is finally getting a Nordstroms in Green Hills. There's been a lot of speculation about it, but it's finally been announced.

Here's the link to the Tennessean article

I've been in Nordstroms in Dallas & honestly didnt find anything I'd spend that much money on, but you never know. At any rate, we get another shopping option!

Another weekend is now history

2008-04-21T12:49:00.003-05:00

Well, it's Monday again, so that means the weekend is over :(

The wine party was fun on Friday night and I even got to watch most of the Preds game (loss in OT).

On Saturday, we looked at a few more houses and found one serious contender. It's a little larger than we were expecting, so we'll have to think about it a bit more.

Sunday was a big Preds game day. It was a home game and one that we HAD to win to force a 7th game in this series. Unfortunately, a win was not in order and just like the past 4 playoff seasons, the Predators season has ended in the first round of the playoffs. It's getting a little old to say that I'm still excited we made it to the playoffs at all, but I really do mean it this year.

After the roller coaster offseason and a bad record the first part of the season, I'm amazed they did make it to the post season.

The good news for most of you readers though... you dont have to read my blog posts about hockey until October!

TGIF, y'all!!!

2008-04-18T18:16:00.002-05:00

It's been an interesting week, and I'm so happy the work part of it is now over. It's time for fun!!!

I had a 5 day classroom training this week. It felt like the week went by really fast. Perhaps all my Predator excitement helped with that? I had a good group of students though, so that helps. Unfortunately I cant blog publicly about some of the finer details (you never know who's googling your name!), but it was interesting.

So the weekend plan is one of the monthly wine parties tonight. The downside is that I am the DD, but you have to return the favor at some point.

I'm also excited to see how the Predators perform in Detroit tonight. I'm hopeful that they will win & can come back to Nashville on Sunday and get another win to wrap up a series victory.

Go Preds!!!

Celebration of Life

2008-04-18T18:02:00.003-05:00

Today is that day. I still think about her on a daily basis, but as of today, it's been 18 years since my mother passed.

It really is true that time is a healer though. My mom was such a fun person & I was usually right under her heels as much as possible. Fortunately, I only have good memories of her. It still sucks sometimes though that I cant get her opinions about some things, but that's just part of life. Luckily, I have an awesome grandmother who is like a mother to me.

Tulips were one of her favorite flowers & it's so refreshing to walk out my front door this time of year & see my own tulips.

Her favorite drink was Coca-Cola... so I raise my glass of Coke to her today :)

Do we have a series now?

2008-04-16T23:55:00.003-05:00

The Predators are working it out, y'all! The win on Monday left me with ears that were still ringing the next morning.

It was insanely fun.

Tonight was pretty much the same story. The crowd excitement was crazy & so much fun.

We won 3-2.

We've got ourselves a series now!!!

We're back in Detroit on Friday night, but also have a game in Nashville at 2pm on Sunday. Check out your local NBC channel. I think it will be on there.

Thank you, Loretta!!!

2008-04-14T21:47:00.002-05:00

In honor of LL's birthday, your Nashville Predators turned on the heat tonight. It was a crazy game.

We were down for the first period, tied it up in the second and then lost the lead 40seconds into the third.

But wait!!! We proceeded to score 3 unanswered goals (one an empty net freebie). After 5 goals, yep, we got tacos!!! If you dont know, a Taco Bell franchisee is a team sponsor & if the Preds score 5, you get a free taco.

For the record, I havent been to Taco Bell in probably 6 years. I hate it. It's not even real meat.

Back to the game, the crowd was amazing. It was incredibly loud (my ears are still ringing and might still be tomorrow). In the last period, the fans gave a loud ,standing ovation that lasted longer than the tv timeout. It was fan-tastic.

Vince Gill sang the national anthem. I'd give it a 6 out of 10. It seemed really rushed. Perhaps he was in a hurry to get to the CMT Video Awards which were also in town?

I also walked right by Kid Rock & some bimbo. He's a Detroit fan and I'd prefer to punch him in the face and never let him sing again. He's horrid.

And last but not least, I was most excited to be at the grocery last night and happen to see one of my favorite Preds, Jarred Smithson.

Freaking Exciting Times for me, y'all... Hopefully, we'll win on Wednesday & really get this series turned around.

Someone's a birthday girl!!!

2008-04-14T12:11:00.003-05:00

It's a special day in history, y'all. On this date in 1935, the world was blessed to receive the First Lady of Country Music, Ms. Loretta Lynn.

Since I know she reads this blog regularly, I just wanted to say, Happy Birthday, Loretty!!!

Drats... part deux

2008-04-12T22:29:00.002-05:00

Well... the good news is that the Predators played well today. The bad news is that we lost again. It was a very exciting game and there was yet another fishy call that prevented the Preds from getting an official goal. Sigh...

Anyway, it's on to Nashville now. I'm so excited for Monday to get here. We get Thundersticks as a giveaway. It's the little things that get to me! lol

Drats... Drats, Drats, Drats!!!

2008-04-10T20:40:00.002-05:00

If you've watched Roseanne episodes as many times as I have, you'll know where that title came from.

Anyway, Frig! The Predators first playoff game of the season was tonight in Detroit. I've been so anxious about this game and have been on edge all day. Nevermind that we are playing the #1 team in the league... when the playoffs start, everyone has a clean slate.

Unfortunately, we didnt come out on the winning end. We didnt play well, but the score wasnt crazy. It was tied up until the 3rd period when the Red Wings scored a goal (that was VERY questionable) to take the lead. Alas, our attempt with pulling the goalie for an extra attacker wasnt in the cards & the Wings got an empty net shot to put the final nail in the coffin.

Disappointed? Absolutely, but there is another game on Saturday & THEN... we come home to Nashville for Game 3 & 4 next week.

IT'S ON!

P.S. If you read this post to the end (non hockey fans--ie, Josh), I applaud you.

We're In!!!

2008-04-04T00:35:00.001-05:00

The Predators won tonight and Vancouver lost.

We're definitely in the playoffs. I'm thrilled!!!

Big Game Day!!!

2008-04-03T17:48:00.003-05:00

It's down to the wire, y'all. In less than two hours, the Preds will begin their final regular season home game. They control their fate regarding the playoffs. If we win our next two games, we are automatically in the playoffs. We can also clinch the final spot in our conference with a win tonight and if Vancouver loses their game in regulation.

I'm pretty darn nervous. I never thought we would be in this position at the beginning of the season due to the ownership change & the loss of several key players.

Go Preds!!!