An Avatar kind of weekend.

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?

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???

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

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.

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...

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!

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!