Bird is the Word!

Day 172

2011-10-30T11:30:00.004-05:00

My birthday is in October...for those of you who don't pay attention. ;P I had a FANTASTIC birthday. It started out with my awesome Psychology class bringing me birthday cookie cakes and having a party in class that day. ..yeah...I'm a good teacher, I let them watch an episode of Psych....c'mon it's my BIRTHDAY, I'm ALLOWED!!
On my actual birthday Jim took me to brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, The Black Eyed Pea....DELICIOUS!! And then when we were driving back, he stopped off and surprised me at a pumpkin patch! I've ALWAYS wanted to go to a pumpkin patch and never had, so it was awesome that on my 30th birthday...I did that for the first time! :)
YAY! Jim's so thoughtful!

Then I had a show that night (and some of my awesome friends came), and Jim surprised me with some awesome red velvet and snickerdoodle cupcakes that we all ate after the show. Rad. Day. Indeed!

The cookie cake my student brought in. :) Mmmmm...

The pun'kin patch! Yay! :)

Day 171

2011-10-30T11:07:00.004-05:00

So I FINALLY got my BRACES OFF!!!! YAY!! My orthodontist is in Knoxville, TN (about 2 1/2 hours away from Nashville) so I had to get my braces off and get my retainer all in one day. SO, I was able to take a sick day from work, since it's a Dr. appointment, and I went out to Knoxville the night before since my appointment was in the morning. My mom got me a room at this awesome bed and breakfast, Maple Hurst Inn (if you ever got to Knoxville, STAY THERE!) It was a fabulous, much needed, retreat...and a FANTASTIC way to celebrate me getting my braces off...for the second time in my life! :P

So here's a pic of the view from the deck of the room.
The Cumberland River.

And here's is where we had an amazing Steak lunch on the river at Calhoun's.
It's days like this that I almost kick myself for being a vegetarian for 10 years!

The view from our table.

Day 170

2011-10-30T10:55:00.004-05:00

Bethpage, TN
So one time Jim's awesome neighbors, Jake and Viola, got married. They asked us to sing while guests were arriving. We sat just to the right of this amazing arch that Jake built, he's pretty amazing. Jim played guitar and we both sang...sitting on the top of this mountain ...it was pretty cool. And then Jim smoothly transitioned into Canon in D from "Where Your Road Leads" just in time for Viola to walk down the aisle and meet her dude by the arch. ...awww...precious! :)
After they were officially a "Mr. and Mrs." we played more music until people made their way down the hill. Then we went and ate some AMAZING food!

...this was AFTER we played a show in the morning at Bost Harley Davidson in Nashville....and BEFORE we headed off for one of my dinner theater performances in Springfield. ....Crazy day of performing...but SUCH a fulfilling, beautiful day! :)
Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of your day, Jake and Vi. You guys are the best! :)

Day 169

2011-10-12T17:36:00.004-05:00

So a while back, Jim and I wanted to go on an adventure on our day off. So we just got in the truck and drove. We ended up in a small town called Red Boiling Springs, and drove across this teeny rickety bridge and found a random motorcycle museum! So, what the heck? We were feeling adventurous. We parked and went inside! It was SOOO much cooler than we thought it would be!

Here are pics of some of the coolest bikes we saw.

1942 WLA and 1944 Indian Army bike

This bike had a huge engine on it, I can't remember what the guy was telling us, but I remember how loud it was when he turned it on and revved it! I thought my ears were going to explode!!

Awe man!! A 1960 Harley Davidson Topper scooter! Yeah man!

This is the bike that started the whole collection. This is a 1936 El Knucklehead. The owner of the museum inherited this bike from his grandfather. Everything on it is original, nothing has been modified. ...Jim's obviously excited about hearing about it. :)

It was SUCH a fun day!! If you ever are bored or seeking some adventure...just get in the car and drive, no directions, no agenda, just drive, and you'll probably find something REALLY cool!!!

Day 168

2011-10-12T17:24:00.005-05:00

So you know how you go to college, and you save papers and assignments that you've done, and scripts, and music that you think maybe you'll use for something? Well...that's what I did with all of my acting/directing and psychology classes. Turns out, I teach those things now, so alas, I wanted to dig through my files and see what I had to see what I could use for my own classes. SO I called my mom and she graciously went through my little filing cabinet and pulled out 13 files full of papers to send out to me. She also grabbed my big boots that I needed to wear for a play and sent those out too. My dad called me from the Post Office and told me he had to make the box and he was all stressed, and I felt terrible, but he finally got it all together and shipped off to me...for $19. I got my box about 4 days later, and much to my surprise, the only things in it were my boots and one empty file folder. I really shouldn't have been surprised as THIS is what the box looked like when I opened the door:

REALLY!?! Good work USPS!!!
Oh but don't you fret, they put this sticker on there, so that makes it all better!!!

So my papers are all lost, my music, my scripts, my projects.....whatever. I called the USPS and they said, "Oh, I can understand how that can be really frustrating, we'll look around for it and call you if we find anything." ...well they didn't. Ah well. I'm over it. But that day it felt like I lost my whole college education. ....maybe I was a little dramatic. Who, ME? ...NEVER!
USPS is lame! I wish I could say I'll never use them again, but that is pretty darn hard to avoid. :) I'll probably never send large packages through them, anyway.

Day 167

2011-10-12T17:08:00.006-05:00

You know, this is about a month past due, but like I said before...I'm a bit busy so I'm playing catch-up. So Jim went without hot water at his house for almost 2 months, because he started the project a few weeks before he busted his knee. Woops! Soooo, with the awesome help of my awesome self (ha!) we finished it up and he now has hot water! Yay! Don't pass out, but yes, I helped with painting the closet, I cut baseboards, I put in baseboards, I caulked, annnd....wait for it...I even helped put the water heater itself in! Yes, that's right! You know, painting for the last year, helping with tile, painting some more, installing lights, tearing out carpet, being eaten alive by mosquitoes...I FINALLY feel like I helped a lot. :)

Ta-daaaa....a new water heater in a newly sheet rocked, tiled, painted, and piped water-heater closet! :)

And my job is done...haha....I'm sure THAT'S not true! Yay for progress!!!!

Day 166

2011-10-09T09:13:00.004-05:00

To get the full effect of this post...you must click on the video and listen to the song while you read.
I have had my Buddy scooter for 3 years. I didn't ride it as much as I would have liked, but he was my Buddy. I bought him brand new and we drove all over Salt Lake Valley, Southern Utah, Gallatin, TN....we had some good times. But alas, it was time to sell it, and let go of our little friendship so he could be with someone that had more time for him. So that he felt like he could fulfill his purpose in life. SO, I sold it. It ended up going to a wonderfully artistic musician named Griffin House. He was so happy when he met Buddy. They were instant BFF's...so I was sad to see him go, but I knew he was in good, happy, hands. AND turns out Griffin House is actually pretty darn famous. He's been on The Craig Ferguson Show...AND I just heard a song of his on Sirius Channel 31....crazy! So now Buddy is famous. I couldn't have hoped for a better life for that little dude. I hope everyone is happy happy happy. ....maybe for my NEXT scooter, I'll get a Stella. STELLLLAAAA!!!

Day 165

2011-10-09T08:36:00.004-05:00

I'm so lame it's taken me forever to write again. I've been taking pictures still, just slacking off on putting them out there. I've almost been doing my picture-a-day blog for a year, but I'm only on Day 165......I'm about 300 days short. Woops. Time to try and catch up. (not really possible, but hey, at least you get to see the pics of the stuff I've been up to lately.) :)

Most people who read my blog know me and know Jim...if you don't know me....well that's kind of weird that you're reading my blog because it's not THAT interesting. :)
Anyway, so in August, Jim was playing a show and went to put his guitar away afterward. When he stood up from squatting down to put it away, he heard two pops in his knee and couldn't walk after that. :/ (He had recently...like a week or so before that...hurt it pretty bad trying to wrestle a stump out of the ground at his house.) He said he stood awkwardly on the side of the stage area watching and not moving because he couldn't move and was in so much pain. After everyone got finished playing, he had to have his friends help him to his car. I got a phone call while I was driving home from rehearsal from Jim asking me if I was busy and if I could run to the store and get ice and an ace bandage and meet him at his house. Wait...WHAT?! What happened?! So I was all worried. Jim doesn't have insurance, you see. He has a great job, but no insurance there. SO this is NO bueno. Anyway, I was so worried. I got to his house with all the stuff and he was still sitting in his car....because he couldn't walk into his house without my help. Poor thing.
Anyway, long story short...we found a place called "Salvus Center"...they provide discounted health care for those without insurance or who are under-insured. It cost Jim $65 to get an MRI on his knee....that's it! SO that was a blessing! The MRI results stated a bunch of stuff that was going on in his knee, but the main thing was that he had torn his meniscus and surgery was recommended. SO he made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon before he was supposed to leave for Utah for a few weeks. ...or so he thought.
The Salvus Center secretary accidentally made him an appointment with a NEUROLOGIST!!! Uhh...NOT awesome! So he didn't end up getting into a specialist before he left for Utah. While he was gone for those two weeks, he was off his knee a lot of the time, still on crutches....but when he got back to Tennessee he started to put more pressure on it over the next few days, and finally he was able to somewhat walk on it. Now he still limps around, but he's able to walk on it without too much pain. ...or so he says.
So, moral of this really long blog story, is....ummm....when you get hurt.....let's see.....so, if life gives you hurting.....wait....so if you're still reading this you get an "A" in life! Lucky you!
Thank heavens for the Salvus Center!

Jim in the waiting room for his MRI.
(Umm...discovered this day that MRI's are freaking LOUD!)

Day 164

2011-08-25T20:24:00.004-05:00

This is it. The last of the tomatoes from my garden, and the FIRST of the green peppers. Funny thing, I planted 7 pepper plants. 4 green, 2 red, and 1 yellow. 1 died. 2 got crushed by a tree. But before the two got crushed by the tree, they were producing the tiniest of peppers...every single plant is giving me green peppers! ...those little liars at the farmer's market! Ah well...I love green peppers the most, so it's OK.

This is a dumb blog post. Oh well.

I made this lovely dish. It's one of my favorite, easy dinners that my mom taught me. ...it's sort of like fried rice. But a little more colorful and flavorful. :)

Day 163

2011-08-08T18:28:00.005-05:00

So when I leave work at Opryland I walk across the bridge to the "Star Parking". During the summer months I hear at least 3 different types of frogs yelling like crazy. I love it. I say "Hi" to them usually...don't worry about it...it's fine. It might be because of my small obsession with the game Frogger...or maybe it's because I always wanted a pet frog....or maybe it's because I feel like for a second I'm in the movie The Princess and the Frog while I'm walking on the bridge.. ...? Nobody knows.
But, so I love all the frogs in Tennessee, and one of the first days I moved into my new apartment, this little guy was on my window. Don't worry...I said "Hi" to him too...totally normal. :)
And yes...I've noticed I do a few too many posts about wildlife and bugs...it's a problem.

Day 162

2011-08-08T18:13:00.004-05:00

Hey! Psst! Mayflies! Maybe you didn't get the memo, but your name implies that you come out during one certain month of the year....you're tardy. ...and disgusting.

Just when you think you're safe in August...deceitful little buggers.

So we're riding back to shore in Jake's boat and all of a sudden Jim starts getting pelted with things. We were like, what the? It was dark and we couldn't see what was happening. (Safe boating, I know.) We looked to the side of us and hundreds of these bugs were flying right along side the boat. ....and then we got to the car and turned the lights on and oh. my. golly. The bugs of Tennessee consistently amaze and disgust me. Bleh.

Thanks Jake for taking us "fishing", maybe next time I'll actually fish, and that will be the lucky charm that lets us all catch something. ;P But it was a freaking blast anyway! First time on a fishing boat. Still didn't fish though. Gotta get a license. :)

Day 161

2011-08-02T16:35:00.006-05:00

I've decided that my "365 Project" is really suffering. For one, it's actually "Day 275"...so there are about 116 days that I've totally slacked off. Dang. For two, I have found that the title of "Day ___" is my lazy go-to title. That way I don't have to come up with some witty title that explains the adventures of that day. Or that week. Whatever...I'm still calling this "Day 161"...even though these happenings were before the last two posts. ....woops.

Jim's dad, mom, and aunt came to visit us and we had such a blast! We got to go see Don Schlitz at the Bluebird Cafe, eat delumptious biscuits, and spend a day ...and night... at Opryland. :) Good times indeed!

Everyone at Bluebird.

...I'm behind the camera....obviously.

Me and Jim...and a couple of musical horses.
....totally normal for Opryland.

Day 160

2011-08-01T23:40:00.004-05:00

"Noooooo!!!" Jim's neighbor's pecan tree is a disaster! It dumps pecans, leaves, branches, and don't you fret...half of the tree...onto his driveway all the time!!! This branch was one of the biggest! If Jim's car was there it would have crushed it! Luckily the only fatalities were two of my green pepper plants in the garden. This is the 3rd time it's broken off gigantic branches since Jim's owned the house.

This tree has GOT to go!

But on a lighter note...look at my pretty tomatoes!!! :)

Day 159

2011-08-01T14:09:00.008-05:00

So one time Jim's dad came to visit and we ended up looking around in a little town called "Lebanon". (If you say it like the country, everyone will know you're not from Tennessee.) While we were driving around we saw this big crowd of people gathering around this dumpy little building...and then we saw a sign that said, "NWA Wrestling Every Saturday Night". ...it was Saturday. We were totally going to go, but I think we had to get back for something. We never did make it back while he was here. ....that was in March.

We never really thought about it again.

When Al came back again a few weeks ago, we were trying to figure out just what to do on his last Saturday night here. We could go to The Bluebird Cafe. We could go to a movie. We could go out to eat somewhere. We could go down to Lewisburg and visit his half-brother. ...When I asked Al what he wanted to do (trying to get him to actually make a decision is beyond anyone's capability), he said, "I actually really want to go to that wrestling place in that one town we went to last time I was here."

DING! Brilliance! That sounded like a blast! SOOO..plans to visit his half-brother were moved to the next day and off we were to Lebanon to go see some serious...er....not-so-serious wrestling.

It was magical. And hilarious. And awkward. And fabulous. And the townspeople of good ole Lebanon, Tennessee did not disappoint. There are no words, really.

I never was ever a "let's watch WWF wrestling" kind of girl. It always actually was really stupid to me. But there was something about going to this amateur wrestling match that was hilariously entertaining. Maybe it's the theatrics of it all. But I DO want to go back. So if you're ever visiting me and you're in town on a Saturday night...you can bet that's where I'll want to take you. ...yes...even you, Mom. :)

Arrick Andrews. The audience hated him so, naturally, we loved him! :)
Arrick, I'm your biggest fan!!!

I don't know if the video works. But if it DOES, A. Turn it down..it's kindof loud. and 2. You get to experience the quality people in the audience. Yay for YOU! :)

Day 158

2011-08-01T13:50:00.009-05:00

I moved into a brand new apartment from my old nasty duplex and might I say...It. Is. Heaven. :) I am so grateful for my new roommate, Michelle, for letting me rent a room from her. It's a nice neighborhood, really safe, huge pool, and I have my own room and bathroom, but most importantly...I have a dishwasher AND...wait for it...a WORKING STOVE!!!!! Holy cow. It's a miracle! I can cook and clean again! Hooray! :)

SO I was driving home from work the other night and as I was just about to turn into my apartment complex, I was stopped by the flashing lights of about 11 police cars. What the? I was on the phone with my sister, and I looked over to my left and there were 3 cops ducked behind a car with their guns drawn...the big guns...the semi-automatic kind. Holy crap! What is going on?!?

Let's have a brief history lesson on my time in Tennessee. The day I moved into my duplex a year ago there was a domestic disturbance with my neighbors and the cops showed up. About a month or two later my neighbor (sharing the duplex with me) was beating her kids...the cops showed up. A few months after that, I was woken up by a man yelling out in the street at his tenant. ...no cops that time...but it was pretty ridiculous. The day I moved out of the duplex, 2 cops were on the street. A pretty regular occurrence on Brush Hill Court. SO I thought, "I'm so safe in this new apartment with beautiful trees and a nice roommate." ...psh.

SO this is what happened...

My crappy picture...

Apartment building evacuated during standoff

Posted: Jul 31, 2011 3:18 AM CDT
Updated: Jul 31, 2011 7:09 AM CDT
GALLATIN, TN (WSMV) -

A Nashville man is facing criminal charges in Gallatin after a police standoff early Sunday.

Sumner County Sheriff Sonny Weatherford said that officers took Billy Joe Clariday, 49, into custody after a standoff at the Wellington Farm Apartments on Big Station Camp Boulevard.

Weatherford said the standoff began at about 12:30 a.m. when officers responded to a report of an unwanted guest.

When officers arrived, Clariday crashed into a building while trying to get away, said Weatherford.

According to Weatherford, officers called the SWAT team and evacuated a building after Clariday threatened to kill himself.

Weatherford said Clariday surrendered after a two-hour standoff.

He was taken to a hospital for an evaluation, according to Weatherford.

Weatherford said Clariday was facing charges of driving under the influence and evading arrest.

...Really it's a very safe place to live. I couldn't go home that night, and my roommate was freaking out a bit. She was listening to the police scanner online so we knew what was going on. It was crazy. But hey, all was well. ...the excitement never stops in Tennessee. :)

Day 157

2011-07-18T23:43:00.003-05:00

Played a show at The Farmhouse Restaurant at the Fontanel Mansion. It was so much fun for a couple of reasons. A. Played with Jeremy Dean AND Jim, and it was fun to do 3 part harmony. Woo. And 2. Jim's dad, mom, and aunt were all there to watch us. Great times. Great times.
So here's our really long set. ...if you're a true fan...you'll watch the whole thing. If you're not...then you'll watch a bit of it. ...if you're wondering if I realize that what I'm wearing, the stool I'm sitting in, and my hair in the video aren't that flattering...I realize it. ...back off! ;P But hey, the music is good.
Enjoy the video. Comments are always appreciated.
Thanks so much. Love love.

Day 156

2011-07-15T00:48:00.003-05:00

Jim and I have played at R'ichard's Cafe quite a few times now, and we always love to eat there. It's a Louisiana Cajun Cafe. I've been branching out each time I go there...trying more Cajun-y food each time. I tried Jambalaya for the first time...AYAND....You better believe I had some fried Alligator! :)...it tastes like chicken....for real. Anyone else have suggestions for good Cajun food I should try?

Day 155

2011-07-15T00:42:00.003-05:00

For the last 8 months that I've known my friend, Chris, she's talked about all of these parties that she and her husband always through with all of their songwriter friends. I kept wishing she would have another one, so that I could go to it. ...and she FINALLY did! :) It was so much fun. There was so much yummy food there. So many fun people. So many amazing songwriters that sang all of their awesome songs. And so many cool decorations....because Chris is cool! :) The pic is of the glow bracelets she tied around the ropes on her property so that you wouldn't drive into them. She's a creative genius! Can't wait to go to another one! Thanks Chrissy!

Day 154

2011-07-15T00:35:00.003-05:00

Saturday July, 2nd I played a show at Bost Harley Davidson - Nashville with Jim and Jeremy Dean. We had such a blast. It was a great afternoon. THEN Jim and Jeremy had a show that night in Franklin. They invited me to sing a few songs during their marathon 3 hour set. It was a great...and very tiring...day. :)

(L-R) Jeremy, Mike, Jim

Day 153

2011-07-14T01:37:00.003-05:00

Ewwwww! I hate spiders. Like I get scared to kill them. It's a problem. And there just seem to be an abundance of over-sized spideys here in Tennessee. No thank you.
Bleh.

Day 152

2011-07-14T00:39:00.004-05:00

SO I met a songwriter guy who had access to CMT Music Award show tickets. So, Jim and I thought, "What the heck?" So we went to ANOTHER award show. My friends Kyra and her fiance, Josh, and Autumn all came too. :) We got to be a part of this special group that did this thing for Big and Rich because Jim's hot. (Long story short, the lady in charge of the group hit on Jim. I was proud!) But we also got these awesome spots right behind the stage where they were accepting awards. So we were on TV the whole night, and we got to slap high five to some of our favorite people! :) Sweet night!

Our sweet passes. (Part of the long story that got us on stage with Big and Rich.) :)

I got to go on stage with Big and Rich.

I got Beiber Fever. ...as much as I can without knowing any of his songs. :)

I got smitten by one of my favorite Country Girls.

Lady A accepting their award....Jimbob's handsome face just behind them to the left. :)

Shania and all of us.
(Kyra and Josh to the right of her. Autumn just to her left. And me and Jim a little bit more left.) Good times. :)

Day 151

2011-07-14T00:36:00.003-05:00

TOTALLY catching up!
Jim and I discovered a Chinese Buffet here in Gallatin, TN. As much as Jim's family frequents the China Buffet in Orem, UT...I'd never been to one. So this one was my first experience. It wasn't awesome...but it was cool. And I shall return. :)

I have no idea what happened that week. Something awesome I'm sure.

Day 143 - 150

2011-06-07T10:16:00.003-05:00

So I went back home to Utah for a week. YAY! I got to spend time with my family, Jim's family, and friends. So Jim's brother, Dude, claims that he reads my blog and was hoping I would make him "famous" by mentioning him to the few of you that read this. (He's so famous now.) Dude and his family have been in Germany for the last 2 years. (Army) I met him one time right before they moved out there, but hadn't met his wife and kids. So while Jim and I were in Utah, Dude and his family moved back to the states and we got to hang out with them in St. George for a few days! It was way fun! Also while I was in St. George I got to see my Grandpa who will be turning 95 in August. I also got to see my Aunt and Uncle and cousins that live down there. Supa fun!
So here are a few highlights from the trip.

My grandpa "Baka", showing off his most recent bird house he made.
A colonial school house...with a cute little fence.
Baka's cool. :)

Hangin' with the cutest little girls ever! Halie and Adaleena!

My 3-year-old nephew had a soccer game the last day I was in Utah. In the left picture he's the cute one that's behind the girl who doesn't know what to do with her arms. :)
He also kept picking up the ball...he was just so excited to get it and keep it away from the other team...I think football is a good sport for this kiddo. :)

Day 142

2011-06-07T09:58:00.003-05:00

So one time I went to a Mexican Rodeo. Random. I'm not sure if EVERY Mexican Rodeo is like this...but the one we went to was a bit crazy! Maybe it had to do with the fact that I couldn't understand anything they were saying, or maybe it was the fact that kids were sitting on the cage barely separating themselves from the angry bulls, or maybe it was the fact that they asked for volunteers in the audience to come and ride a bull.....wait...what? You can just go ahead and ride a full-size bull....as if that is a form of recreation? ....again...crazy!

So this is a picture of an audience volunteer who just got bucked off the bull....and the bull is stomping on him.....rad. You can't really see it because some guy is in the way...but you get the picture...kids on the cage and all. :)

Day 141

2011-06-07T09:19:00.004-05:00

Omigolly! I'm so tardy! I haven't written a post in about 2 weeks. I'm so mad at myself. I've totally let all 3 of my readers down. I'm so sorry!

....Annnnywayyyyy! So one time I was driving home and when I started driving down the hill at the top of my street I saw this huge thing crawling across the road. At first I thought maybe it was a turtle (because I saw one of those a few days before)...but then I was like, hold the phone...that's a FAHREAKING SPIDER!!!! SICK!! So I jump out of my truck with my camera and try to get an awesome picture. ...I know...totally normal. It's fine. But I wanted to be able to show you just how big the spider was, and so I told Jim to put his foot by it so we could see it next to his shoe....since it spanned the entire toe area of Jim's shoes. But when Jim got close and put his shoe next to it, the scary gigantic spider with an egg sack on his back started running towards him and it freaked us out....but I still tried to snap a picture...haha.

I got a pic...but not close to Jim's foot, so you can't see just how big it is. But yeah...it's freaky. If you know what type of spider this is, with his hobo sack on his back going on a picnic, let me know. But in the meantime...I will feel comforted that he moved closer to my house....wait....frick!

Day 140

2011-05-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of a Cicada(/sɪˈkeɪdə/ or /sɪˈkɑːdə/) shell that I took at Jim's house. These nasty little bugs come out of the ground and then molt on a nearby plant or really any hard surface, I have found. When they molt it leaves their shell clinging to the surface. Ewe. You might be thinking...oh this poor little ugly bug is all by himself, and has no friends. No no. You'd be wrong. You see, some of these disgusting-looking things have an extremely long life-span (13-17 years). This means that they stay underground and are not full "adults" that want to come out and play until they're 13 years old. Well lucky us in Tennessee...it's the 13 year hatch this year! So this lonely Cicada that you were feeling so bad for before will have millions of friends to fly around with...that's right MILLIONS! So, don't feel bad for the ugly red-eyed fly...feel bad for my nerves...as I hate HATE bugs...especially flying ones. I think I might be inside as much as possible for the next 5-6 weeks until they go back underground. Ewe.

Day 139

2011-05-12T11:39:00.000-05:00

Workin' on Jim's house. I helped make a cement form, mix, and pour cement to make this small step to ward-off rain water running into Jim's house. We both worked hard, and Jim was cool because he kept making me feel like I was helping more than I probably was. He's nice.
But seriously folks...I got this...I can TOTALLY do this professionally. ....maybe.

Pay no attention to the cement on the door...I think that's from before. For reals.

Day 138

2011-05-12T11:23:00.000-05:00

So Gallatin is a fun little city! I love it, actually! It's a bit far to drive into Nashville sometimes (for my Utah friends, think driving into Salt Lake from Lehi)...but it's a nice to be away from the hustle, and have SORT OF a small town feel. But, one of the things that's super cool about Gallatin is the main street town square area gets shut down every once in a while for fairs, festivals, or celebrations. So you get to just walk around the streets, shop, enjoy live music, and of course...fair food! :) It seems like every time I go to any sort of fair there are 2 necessities; A. Fresh-squeezed, overpriced, lemonade. and 2. some sort of fried dessert delicacy, be it, funnel cake, scones, etc.
This festival was no different. Jim and I were headed to his house when we saw that the fair was happening, so then we hopped on my scooter (which I store at Jim's house) and scooted back over to the fair for a few hours. We listened to live music, had the yummy lemonade (I think we had 3 refills), bought some pepper plants, Jim had his braut (HIS necessity for fairs), I had a corn dog, and then to top off the fried day....we finally tried it...deep-fried oreos. Oh. My. Golly! They're freaking amazingly sinful! I really feel like a terrible person even posting that I enjoyed such a deep-fried mess, but guess what...it's freaking amazing. And you're TOTALLY missing out if you haven't tried it. SO, the next time you go to a fair or festival...enjoy the music, lemonade, over-priced food, but most importantly....TRY THE FRIED OREOS!!!
I'm sure Jim will hate me for posting this picture...but I think it's necessary to show the utter bliss that is had when you bring yourself closer to a heart-attack...one bite at a time.

Day 137

2011-05-12T11:17:00.000-05:00

Friends are cool! :) I love making new friends, and I'm excited about the friends I've made here in Nashville! You guys are all so rad!
So Jim and I had a show at the Hotel Indigo downtown with our friend Lacey Williams. The round was great. But what was awesome is that we had like 10 people show up to support us. It was so awesome! So thank you all for coming and being awesome. Here's a pic with our friends that are Jim's neighbors. They came downtown all the way from Gallatin, which is like a 40 minute drive...on a week night. You guys are rad! So here's a picture of us all.

Day 136

2011-05-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

I'm such a slacker. I've been so busy, all of my free time has been going to these projects I made for all the mommies in mine and Jim's family for Mother's Day. Between that, work, and a few shows, I have slacked off on the blogging thing. SO I apologize for the millions of posts I'm about to do. But here are the pictures of the things I made for the ladies. Most of them are similar to what I've made before, but I wanted to personalize each one by putting different quotes and colors on each of them. For my mom...since she already has a MILLION pictures of everyone, I decided to do Subway Art. I've been seeing it and loving it, but I wanted to make my own. It took me all of 2 minutes to come up with all of the words...but then I had to change all of the fonts, colors, shapes, etc. So THAT took me some time. Then I just modpodge'd it onto a board I had painted and crackle painted with Mustard Yellow and Chocolate Brown. I was worried it would look like a candy bar, but it turned out ok. :) Anyway, here are the finished products. Happy Mother's Day to all of you amazing women! What a privilege it is to know you, and learn from your examples and parenting! You're all my heroes!
I also included this poem:

Dearest dearies whom I love.

You are sent from up above.

You are my heroes in so many ways.

But your motherhood we’ll celebrate today!

Thank you for all you do and have done.

For wiping boogies, faces, and bums.

Thank you for loving, caring, and laughing

Shopping, cooking, and crafting.

I love you all and your awesomenesses

Love love. The end. …Peace and Balessin’s.

Day 1 of working on them. This was before Easter, so I thought they looked very festive! :)

My mom's:

My sisters':

Jim's family's:

Day 135

2011-04-24T21:28:00.004-05:00

HAPPY EASTER! You know, it's been quite a few years since I've had a really good Easter. It's kind of been a landmark of mine for the last 4 or 5 years of just bad news. Not a good day at all. So today was fabulous because I enjoyed a beautiful Easter program at church. The Easter Bunny made a stop here. I made my first entire Easter dinner, including ham, deviled eggs, and yummy potatoes (most people call these "funeral potatoes"...unless you're an Andersen and have the magic secret awesome ingredient.) Oh ANNND I colored eggs for the first time in a LONG time. Flying kites. Coloring eggs. I swear I'm not 10. Happy Easter!

Jim's Easter "basket"...ok...so the Easter Bunny used a make shift cardboard box.
It's probably not the first time.

Coloring eggs...

Yeah...we're pretty special. It's fine.
They made delicious deviled eggs.

Day 134

2011-04-24T21:22:00.003-05:00

I got this small tray from an antique store for $4, almost 2 months ago. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it, because I loved it, and I wanted to do something cool with it. So I found these rub-ons at Hobby Lobby and some really cool spray paint at Walmart that was this pewter color. And this is what it turned into.

While I was at Walmart grabbing that spray paint, I saw this little wooden plate that was only $2 so I thought I'd do something similar with that. I sanded the edges to give it a more worn look though. Anyway. I had fun, and it was cheap.

Day 133

2011-04-24T21:11:00.005-05:00

Sooo ever since Spring hit Nashville in full bloom...pun intended...I've been walking past this really pretty group of trees outside of my work. They're not just aesthetically pleasing...but they smell OH so wonderful. I was walking out with my friend, Chris, and I asked her what kind of trees they are, I said, "I think they're honeysuckle." And she was SOOO excited and she said, "They ARE! I wonder if you can still eat it." Uhhh....Chris has lost it. But no no...she pulled some off and sucked some of the nectar off of the pretty blooms, and then she got one for me. I cautiously tried it...honestly...I couldn't really taste anything. So I really wouldn't say it's something you HAVE to do in your life...it was just funny. And Chris was so SO excited I HAD to take a picture. :)

Cute Chris and her honeysuckle!

Day 132

2011-04-19T00:34:00.002-05:00

So I wanted to make SOMETHING for spring/Easter...so I was looking around on some of my favorite blogs and I found this! The "Boutique Girls" is an AWESOME blog. I didn't do the same "nest" that they did...and I added some feathers, because I love feathers. I think I'll probably be that old lady that has a boa...just for. :)

Got the bowls and candle stick holders at Goodwill.
The birds were harder for me to find...finally found some good ones at Hobby Lobby.
Primed everything first. Then glued them together with E600 glue.

Painted them a pale pink and a jade green.
Ripped some scrapbook paper and folded it accordion style to make it more "nesty".
Added some feathers...glued the bird into the nest and Voila!

Day 131

2011-04-19T00:28:00.002-05:00

I live in a duplex and share a wall with this single mom and her two crazy kids. Don't get me wrong...the mom's a bit nutty too...if not MORE than the kiddos. :)
My neighbors.
They almost melt my heart....and then they turn insane. :D

Day 130

2011-04-19T00:16:00.004-05:00

Let's go fly a kite...Up to the highest height.....

I haven't flown a kite since I was a teeny weeny little girly....and I FINALLY got to! Yay! It was a blast! Jim was a pro...of course. It took me a few to get the hang of it...but we totally did it. It was fun to be a kid again!!
It's the little things.

Day 129

2011-04-12T23:03:00.006-05:00

Remember the tree at Jim's house that broke in half during the bad storm? Wellll...while we were at Jim's house today, Jim pointed out to me that there was a new, large tree in his front yard. What the? As we looked closer, he realized (thanks to his neighbor) that it was not actually a tree...but a large part of that same broken tree that had fallen and landed straight up in the ground! Holy cow! That sneeky little tree had us all fooled!
Anyway, so Jim and his awesome neighbor pulled the two trees down and chopped them up! Good job guys! I helped pull it down too...Yeah....I'm pretty strong. ...there were 3 of us pulling...but I'm pretty sure it was my muscles that pulled it over. :)

The tree line before...

Annnnd after their hard work! Go Jake and Jim!

Day 128

2011-04-10T23:12:00.002-05:00

I ended up not having to work on Friday...yay! SO, Jim and I were able to go with our friend to a college baseball game. Alabama vs. Vanderbilt. Vandy is #1 in the country, and Dave is a huge Bama fan....it was a fun game. Vandy won 11-2...but Jim and I won because we had awesome ballpark franks and peanuts..really that's the only way to go when you're at a ball game! :) SO much fun! Thanks David!!!

Day 127

2011-04-10T22:45:00.004-05:00

So I saw this picture of something someone made with wooden letters in a frame...and I took the idea and made it into this. :)
Got the wooden letters at Hobby Lobby, painted them a mustard yellow (I'm obsessed with this color!) I used some scrapbook paper as the background, and on the sides. Painted the little heart that came with the letters...glued everything down...and voila! Something weird, but kinda cool. ...I think, anyway.

Day 126

2011-04-10T10:52:00.004-05:00

I got the idea for this project from this awesome blog I found "Tattered and Inked". I got to use my crackle paint again. AND my absolute, favorite picture of my dad and me. I used the picnik website to put some words lightly on the picture. They're lyrics from Tim Mcgraw's song, "My Little Girl."
"Chase your dreams but always know the road that'll lead you home again." (I thought it was pretty fitting.)
I hot glued everything together, and made my first ribbon rosettes. It turned out pretty cool. SO thanks, Tattered and Inked for the awesome idea.

Day 125

2011-04-10T10:42:00.004-05:00

This past month was so much fun because Jim's dad has been here. He's freaking hilarious and always so much fun! It was nice to have a visitor from home too. But we finally had to say goodbye after 3 weeks of awesomeness. :(
He was getting pretty homesick at the end...missing his wife and grand-kiddos! I miss my family. I can't wait to come out in June and see them all! That's the hard part about living far away. But it makes family reunions that much more exciting. :)

Day 124

2011-04-10T01:24:00.004-05:00

While Jim's dad was here, we had one of our first severe Middle Tennessee weather experiences. Jim and his dad were over at his house working when I heard from a friend that we had a tornado warning in our city. The rain was dumping down, and then the wind started, and it was crazy. My friend called me saying she had locked herself in the bathroom and was waiting out the storm! I kept trying to call Jim to check on them, but our phones don't get reception at his house.....and his dad left his phone at my house....uh...PANIC!! I was about to just jump in the car and drive over to check on them when Jim called. PHEW!!! I guess they were sitting outside enjoying the rain, when this huge gust of wind and a blanket of mist came through. They said they yelled like crazy people and ran inside. One of Jim's big pine trees snapped in half (pictured left). There was a ton of damage throughout our little area...trees uprooted, damaged roofs, businesses with glass windows blown out....it was crazy. I'm grateful that I didn't suffer any damage at my house...and only a few tree deaths at Jim's.

Day 123

2011-04-10T01:19:00.003-05:00

I got to sing a set with Jim at the Farmhouse Restaurant at the Fontanel Mansion. I had a blast and sung my guts out....as you can see, in the picture. :)

Day 122

2011-04-09T11:56:00.003-05:00

While Jim's dad was in town, some friends of ours gave us tickets to a benefit concert at Lipscomb University. The Grascals, Montgomery Gentry (not a huge fan, but they were alright), Wynonna Judd, and the great Charlie Daniels performed. It was so much fun! They all only played 2 songs each, but that was good for the first few acts that we DIDN'T want to see. :) I wasn't really a HUGE Wynonna fan before, but after that night she sold me! She sang with so much passion and soul and confidence it was a pretty amazing thing to watch! Also, at the end of the show Charlie Daniels was given the honorary title of "Colonel" for all of his patriotic work. Good job, Colonel Daniels! :)

Day 121

2011-04-09T11:23:00.005-05:00

Ok...I'm quite a bit late. I've been SUPER busy. SO here are some pics to catch up.
I worked on these shelves for about a week on my days off. I found them for about $5 each at Goodwill. And I've been DYING to use crackle glaze for the first time. SOOO, I sanded the shelves a bit. Primed them. Painted them with the under coat I wanted (a cool green, and a mustardy yellow). When I went to do the crackle glaze, I was at Jim's house...and it was too cold there so it wouldn't dry in the 4 hours it suggested...so I carefully transported them to my house and glazed them again the next morning. Then put the top coat of paint on them and let the crackle do its magic. It turned out cooler than I thought...though I think the black and green shelf is a bit Halloweeny. Ah well...first try with crackle it turned out OK. Topped the white shelf with some black antiquing glaze.

Bad Hair Experience

2011-03-26T11:53:00.007-05:00

I feel that this week's happening's give me reason to deviate from my normal blogging habits.

Since I moved to the Middle Tennessee area I've been desperately trying to find a competent hair-stylist who has similar prices to the girl I've been going to in Utah for the last 6 years. Let me preface by stating that I love hair extensions. But not the glue-in, beaded, fusion, ones, I like the "weft" extensions. The ones where they corn-row braid your hair and sew a "weft" of hair into that braid. It's hard to find a hairstylist who does these types of extensions, on white girls, in Tennessee. The first girl I went to, in Goodlettsville, was HORRIBLE! She had to re-do my hair within 2 days, and it was still so bad that when I went back to Utah for vacation two weeks later, I had to have my stylist in Utah re-do it.
SO I asked around, trying to get some referrals from friends at work. I was referred to Victoria's Salon, Spa, and Boutique in Hendersonville, TN. My friend referred me to a specific stylist there that she knew and trusted, but she didn't do sew-in extensions. Dang it. ...but then another stylist at the salon called me back and told me that she and her friend could do the sew-ins. (Sara did the braids. Kaitlyn did the sewing.) I wanted them to dye my hair to match the extensions (something that is done regularly at most competent salons). The two girls seemed to be fresh out of hair school....grrreeat. They consulted an older, "more experienced" stylist on the color. When they started putting the color on my hair, Kaitlyn mentioned that they put some red in my hair. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about hair knows that brunettes pull red like nobody's business. My hair...being fine AND brunette shows red undertones even if absolutely no red is added to the color. So I was a bit nervous. They rinsed my hair out, dried it, and the roots were BRIGHT orange! No joke! So I mention this....because they seemed to be ignoring it a bit. And the "experienced" stylist comes over and says, "See. I know you've had your hair colored in the last few months and that's why it didn't color right." ...Ok...so are you

going to fix it? "I mean, really we put the right color in to match your extensions as closely as we could, but you just can't match it exactly. So this is as close as we can get."
..Uhh...So can you fix my orange roots? "I guess they do look a little 'warm'. We could put some toner on them. Girls put some toner on them and let it sit for 10 minutes."
Wow.
Already having my own hair, it was dramatically cheaper than to have to purchase the hair through the salon. They charged me $85 for the extensions, $65 for the color. Great!

...but that's not all readers! (I know, I know...this is a long post...but it's totally worth the vent for me.)

About a week later, I had finally worn my hair straight, without curls. I noticed that the bottom row of extensions was way longer than it should have been. I realized they had sewn the top row of hair into the bottom braid, and vice versa. Making the layers that were cut into the extensions look TERRIBLE when I wore the hair straight. So I called and left a message for Kaitlyn. She called me back a few days later. "Hey Kaitlyn. You guys accidentally put the wefts on the wrong rows." "Oh. Ok. Come in and we can fix it." "Also the braid is already pretty loose and it's only been about a week and a half." "Oh yeah, we can fix that, no problem." (Fixing it, implying, "Yeah, we made a mistake. We'll take care of that.) We set up the appointment for a week later, making it about 2 weeks after the initial appointment. I had to reschedule. So when I finally went in this past Tuesday, it had been 3 weeks since the initial appointment. When I came in, they had to take the extensions out in order to sew them into the right braids. Since the braids were loose, they would have to re-do the braids anyway. So I told them how my girl in Utah does them and how it works better on my hair and helps the extensions lay flatter. I had anticipated to give the girls a tip or to pay them for part of their time.

As I was about to leave, they led me up to the register, where that same "experienced stylist" took over.

"That will be $130 for today." "Uhhh....What? I'm sorry?" "$65 for each girl." "Wait...you're going to charge me FULL PRICE...and not just FULL PRICE...almost DOUBLE what you charged me 3 weeks ago for the SAME service, for something that was partially THEIR mistake?" "No! I was here last time, they did it just like you asked them to. I was here." "No. They did the braids WHERE I wanted them to put the braids...they didn't sew the hair into the CORRECT braid." Then I asked Kaitlyn to come over and I asked HER about charging me full-price for the service. She said, “It’s completely different than just having your extensions tightened.” Really? In who's world?! Kaitlyn walked away. I again, asked the "experienced stylist" if she felt right about charging me full-price for this. She said they charge for every service and that because I had waited so long it was like getting a new service. I'm sorry? I had waited so long? So again...this "experienced stylist" was blaming ME for THEIR mistake! I wonder...what is the allotted time frame one can get their hair fixed in?

I paid, reluctantly, because I didn’t want to cause any huge scene or get the police involved.

Later on, the owner actually called me and she, too, was completely devoid of any intelligence. Apparently their mantra is "The STYLIST is always right. And we will change prices for services from week to week without telling you."

I think it's time for me to not do sew-in extensions anymore. Until I get back to Utah.

And I think it's time for YOU to call Victoria's Salon and make a million appointments for the most expensive services and then, of course, not show up. Childish yes...but awesome? You betcha! And if you want to ask for the "experienced stylist" mention you want the lady in her 40's with the black hair and glasses. Horrid woman. (615)824-7180

Day 120

2011-03-24T21:55:00.003-05:00

Yes we do! Jim and I got to play an hour set last night at Richard's Cafe. It was a blast! It was so much fun to play an hour of our original music together. We also were the only ones that made tips during the night. A whole $2.00. :)
The lady that put the money in the tip jar really dug us. We had some great feedback....and met a man named Cherokee Dave. :D

Day 119

2011-03-22T23:29:00.005-05:00

Last week was the first really sunny/nice-weathered week around these parts. Within a week, bare trees blossomed, daffodils appeared, and the strawberries from last year woke up from their winter nap. Ahhh...Spring! How I love you...it makes me...cheesy! :)

Mmmm....strawberries.
Yay for gardening season!

This tree was completely bare less than a week ago!

Day 118

2011-03-22T23:21:00.004-05:00

I went to Joanne's Fabric and Crafts store with my friend, Chris. I found these two fun patterns that I couldn't resist. One is an adorable cupcake apron, and another is a cute bag. It's SUPPOSED to be a diaper bag...but who's going to know...except for you guys. :/
Anyway, I dusted off my sewing machine, threaded my bobbin, cut out the fabric, went to sew, and....nothing. Oh the machine runs...buuuut...the bobbin is all messed up. I can't figure it out. :( I think I have to go and get it repaired...but I'm wondering if it's even worth the repair fees, or if I should just get a new one. I REALLY want to start making these projects...hmmmm.....
Thoughts?

Day 117

2011-03-22T23:07:00.005-05:00

Frames: $0.99/each @ Goodwill

Paint: Already had it...used about $1.50 total

Time: About 3 hours (primer and 3 coats each of paint, sanding for finishing touches)

End Result: PR...etty cool antiqued frames.

Day 116

2011-03-22T22:46:00.004-05:00

I decided to have a very constructive day. SO I got my scooter out of it's winter-hibernation cave...washed it, and let it sit in idle to charge the battery a bit. Then, I noticed my truck was a bit dirty. So I gave it a pre-wash and scrubbed and scrubbed the wheels to get this nasty grime off of them. They didn't clean up very well. So I went to a car wash and asked a guy if he had any wheel cleaner, so he sprayed the wheels before I entered the car wash. I got out and they were STILL filthy. The car wash guy was even surprised.
I looked some stuff up on the internet and found a chrome wheel cleaner, bought it, and am waiting. I will update you with the results when it comes. I know you'll be waiting with bated breath. :)
I'm opening this up for suggestions, techniques, funny little anecdotes...anything really that helps me with my wheel cleaning process. :)

The grime!

Day 115

2011-03-22T22:29:00.005-05:00

Antique-ing has become a new fave of mine. And when I went around with my boyfriend, Jim, and his dad looking at houses...we landed in Lebanon, TN. In the middle of this crazy town was this "square"...literally a square roundabout...really weird. Anyway, so this "square" was chuck full of about 8 different antique stores!!!! Holy crap! So we looked at some houses and then went back to the square for a "break". ...not really a break. We totally wore ourselves out by wandering through all of the antique stores we could handle. So here are some pics from some of these fabulous places.

This is a legendary story of some "alien" they found alongside Sugar Flat Road...
You decide if it's Alien or Sasquatch or Human. :)

Please...control your children!
It's cool...they kept asking Al to play some more.
His ragtime sounded so rad on this old-timey player-piano.

I absolutely love looking at the old photos and postcards they have at antique stores!
It's by FAR the most interesting thing to see and read about how people's lives were
a million and a half years ago.

Al playin' an old Steinway.
Not pictured: Jim holding up the key cover. :)

Day 114

2011-03-22T22:24:00.004-05:00

I played a writer's round at Hotel Indigo in Nashville with Jim Huish and Brit Stokes. Jim and I are singing about something...or crying...no one can tell the difference, really. I look lame-o when I sing. Hmmm....not sure that's such a marketable face there. :/

Day 113

2011-03-17T00:42:00.004-05:00

I've been helping Jim work on his house a bit this week since I have so much time off work, and it's Jim's Spring Break. Also, Jim's dad came into town last night, so we all worked on Jimbo's house today. Good times. I'm tired. :)

Al watching Jim make the grout on a nice sunny Spring day in Gallatin, Tennessee!

This the beautiful mud job I did on Jim's "chimney".
It was quite wonky! It's MUCH better now....of course! ;)

Day 112

2011-03-17T00:39:00.005-05:00

Clearly...I've found I like to be crafty this week. :) So I had gotten these metal birds on a wire from Target a few months ago. I loved them because...well...they're birdies! HelloOOOoo! SO I got these birds, but metal decor is too modern for my taste...not that there's anything wrong with it...just not my thing. So I kept trying to figure out how I would paint them to make them look good in my front room. I kept thinking of different colors...but then I finally settled on antique ivory. I sprayed them with a flat black spray paint first to prime them..and then a few coats of the ivory. Then I sanded the edges and roughed up the tops of a few of them. My walls are off-white...sooo...I'm still debating on how they're going to look on them. But I have faith. :) I like the little birds now.

Here's a LINK to the original birds from Target.

Day 111

2011-03-17T00:38:00.004-05:00

Again....with the Antique store. :/ I think I'm finding a new thing that I could spend stupid amounts of time doing. :) So anyway, I went into the store and the lady had a ton of really cute things...including an antique owl necklace that I keep dreaming about...so I should probably go back and get it. ;) In the back of the store there were three antique mason jars and one was this pretty turquoise blue! Sooo...I bought it! I knew I needed to put something yellow in it! So I got some super fake daisies (my favorite flower) and filled the bottom with some fake mini lemons. It's in my front room and is thoroughly welcoming Spring and Summer! It's so cheery!

Day 110

2011-03-17T00:37:00.003-05:00

So I went into an antique store and saw these little bottles that were kind of cute. The owner had decorated them herself with some paper, beads, and she was selling them for $15 each. So I went to Goodwill, found two smaller glass bottles with stoppers for $1.50 each. I used some of my scrapbook paper, and some beads I bought at Walmart for $4.00 (total), some ribbon I already had, and Voila! Some cute antique-y looking bottles, made for a total of about $4 each! :)

Day 109

2011-03-17T00:31:00.013-05:00

Good friends invited Jim and me to go to a zip-line park with them. So we all met up and rode 10 different zip lines in the rain. It was so much fun! Hiking in the "mountains" and zipping through the trees! I highly suggest this kind of thing to ANYONE! So much fun! And somewhat exhausting too. And don't you fret...I had bruises from the harness. Youch!

Wooo! That's me!

We're 'pecial.

This is my crappy video of my zipline experience.
I was slightly scared I would drop the camera...
sooo...it's kindof anti-climactic. Sorry. :)

Jimbo...ridin' the air!

Day 108

2011-03-10T15:25:00.005-06:00

SO life is pretty good! :) I have vision insurance through my work! Yay! So I FINALLY got to go get new glasses, since mine were dying. I went to my eye doctor, had my eye exam, and then I went to check out my options for glasses. I could NOT figure out which ones to get. :/ I took Jim with me a few days later to help me pick out the best pair. I fell in love with the cutest pair...which happened to be most EXPENSIVE pair...of course. Dang it. So I guess it was time to look at other ones, since my insurance doesn't cover the whole cost of those. But then, my amazing boyfriend said, "Just pick out the ones that look the best, that you love the most, and I'll get them for you." Wait. What? For real? So I got the expensive ones. And he told me to get the expensive anti-glare protective film on it. What the cool?! Jim's cool. He said they could be a present since we're coming up on two years here. Again...he's cool. I like him. (For those that know Jim...you should know this was a pretty big shocker for me.)
OH, and did I mention they're COACH glasses? Heck yeah! THANKS JIMMY!!!

The new glasses.

Day 107

2011-03-10T15:19:00.006-06:00

This is Juan. He's the sweet old guy that works in our prep kitchen at work. He's sooo sweet. I heart him. The big industrial sauce pot thing fascinates me every day at work...sooo...I took a pic. And Juan was in it...because he's cool. :)

Day 106

2011-03-09T01:09:00.009-06:00

So when I got home from work tonight, Jim had posted a video to facebook with our newest song that we had debuted at Nashville Ear Songwriter stage this last weekend. So I decided to post a video of two of our other songs. One being, "Dancin' With You", which is the first song that I wrote in Nashville...and the first song that I had written the bulk of by myself...Jim had to help me finish it up and put it to music. So here's a video of that.
1st song is "Look Who's Hangin' Up" written by Jim Huish.
2nd song is "Dancin' With You" written by Brittany Blaire and Jim Huish.

Let me know what you think. Thanks again for all your love and support.

Day 105

2011-03-08T00:42:00.003-06:00

My friend Jeremy has a HUGE DVD collection...if you thought MINE was big, his is at LEAST two times mine! So every time Jim and I go over to his house he sends us home with a bunch of DVDs to borrow. Rad. This time we took the Silence of the Lambs trilogy. ....or would it be called the "Hannibal Lector" trilogy? Whatever. ANYWAY, I've seen Silence of the Lambs several times, and I love it...it's great. We watched that last week, and Jim had never seen it before so that made it fun. Yesterday we watched Hannibal...fahreaked. me. out. So gross. I did hate that they didn't use Jodie Foster again...it kinda ruined it for me a bit. Anyway...don't judge me for my choice of movies. I love the scary movies sometimes. :)

Day 104

2011-03-06T11:26:00.005-06:00

Looonnnnng day! But it was totally worth it! Jim and I played the Nashville Ear Songwriter Stage at Bost Harley Davidson in Nashville, then went to lunch with some rad friends, drove around aimlessly to kill time, and then finally got to go to The Grand Ole Opry! It was both Jim's, and my first time seeing this show live. For those of you who don't know, this is the longest running, live radio show, ever. I got tickets because I get a small discount through my work, and The Band Perry was performing! Heck yeah! So we got to see David Nail, Terri Clark, The Band Perry, Little Jimmy Dickens, Blake Shelton, and Brad Paisley. It was a great night of music! ...oh...and of course, The Opry Square Dancers. Hehe.

Great times!
The Band Perry! Love them!

Day 103

2011-03-06T11:25:00.007-06:00

When I auditioned for that dumb NBC show, "The Voice", and I stood outside freezing my bum off for like 50 hours, I met some pretty awesome people. One of them being Breaux Gargano. About a week ago he sent me a text saying that he saw some of my videos and me to play a set at a songwriter night with him. Heck yeah. So we played Friday night at Belcourt Taps & Tapas, near Vanderbilt. It was a blast, and we made some new friends and got a free food for playing. Nashville is rad.

Day 102

2011-03-06T11:24:00.007-06:00

So it's been pretty crazy trying to get involved in any theater out here in Tennessee. Because, as many of my fellow theaterians probably know, they like to work with people they've worked with before. Especially as a director. Actors can just go in, audition, start out as chorus members and work their ways in...but not so much for directors. With as much background, education, and experience I have as a director....it doesn't matter. Unless I were a director on Broadway, I couldn't just walk into a theater and get a directing job. Soooo....here I am...trying to work my way into a community theater. I did a proposal of "The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe" a few months ago, and didn't get the job. They said it was mainly because I hadn't read the script. My bad. I probably should have done that. So, they've put me on a list of directors to present a proposal for "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". Sooo....I bought the script, and am reading it. Next, I make a proposal of my concept, casting, set design, and costuming ideas. So please bless I get the directing job. Momma needs to be creative again. :)

Day 101

2011-03-03T13:13:00.003-06:00

Remember that picture of the bridge I go over walking into work at Opryland? Sometimes there are cute ducks and those scary geese. We found this little duck couple out for a little moonlight date last night. Chris called them chickens. Totally normal. ;) This is a terrible picture, but like I said...I'm no photographer.

Day 100

2011-03-03T13:12:00.010-06:00

Ahhh....the street where I live. The entire cul-de-sac is made of multi-family housing units (i.e. duplexes and quadplexes).
And on this special, nearly-ghetto street, we have about 6 pit bulls. Boo. I hate these dogs. And if you know me at all, for me to hate a DOG is a pretty big deal. But what's WORSE is that these awesomely intelligent home-renters like to let these sweet dogs roam around un-leashed, and sometimes completely unsupervised. Not that supervision would stop a pit bull anyway. I've noticed a higher population of these dogs among lower-income areas. What is that? I seriously want to know what that's about? I don't get it. I've heard all the arguments from pro pit-bullers, but I'm just going to go ahead and say, it's like saying you can tame a white tiger. And we all know how that turned out for Siegfried...or was it Roy? People of Brush Hill Ct....if your pit bull comes after me, I will shoot it.

Look at this sweet little face.

Day 99

2011-03-03T13:12:00.005-06:00

Ladies, if you ever have been trying to find the PERFECT red nail polish that doesn't cost $20...look no further than the nail care aisle at the good 'ole Walmart! For rizzle peeps! Sally Hansen "Red Carpet" nail polish, and it's only $3!
There's a bit of sparkle in the polish and it's a beautiful deep red, ruby color. It caused an interesting conversation at work:

Chris: Oooh! Pretty nail polish!
Me: Oh THANK you! It kind of reminds me of Ruby Slippers.
Chris: Ooohh...maybe if you click your nails together, you can go home?!
Me: (*click click click*)....it didn't work.

Ahem...you're welcome. Haha. Just kiddin'...but it really is a fun nail polish. Lasts about 3 days, that's with working as a server. You might get more life out of it if you're not as rough with your hands. Example A...I broke a nail that night at work. Boo.

Day 98

2011-02-28T13:08:00.003-06:00

I woke up to the loudest crack of thunder ever! Followed by what sounded like a faucet of running water. Tornado season!! Carazay!
This creek by Jim's house usually has maybe like a foot of water...if that...and this is like the Colorado River...I want to go white water rafting down it, I think. :)

This is just after one day of raining.

Day 97

2011-02-28T13:07:00.003-06:00

Pretty Stephanie had a birthday! So her friends threw her a party. So Jim and I bought her a pinata...of course. Happy birthday Steph. Apparently they broke it open AFTER we left...maybe they knew Jim and I were quite the pinateers......er.....something. Note to all families...pinatas are fun...you probably remember. So you should probably have one at your next kid's bday party....they'd probably think you were cool.

Steph holding "Burro"

Day 96

2011-02-28T13:06:00.005-06:00

Jim and I got to go out with some of our friends the other night. It was so much fun. We went to this Japanese restaurant and I had some yummy sushi that had mango on top...first time I've had sushi with mango on top. It was really yummy. Some people hate sushi. I used to hate sushi. I still hate some sushi. Buuuut if it has cream cheese and shrimp in it...it's delicious. :)

Day 95

2011-02-24T11:48:00.005-06:00

Jim and I performed at the Farm House Restaurant at the Fontanell last night. I had all day to get ready and instead of doing the dishes I decided I'd play with my hair and be experimental. So I came up with this style.
I curled it all first, then I kind of did a sideways french twist across the back pulling it all to one side. Then I would twist small sections of hair, hold one strand of hair in that section while pulling all of the rest of the hair up making a sort of tiny mess bun...then I pinned that down. I did that over and over with different size sections. Curled my bangs back, and added my favorite hair clip (Created by Jackie Beth). It kind of sat on the top of the style looking like a sort of hat. It was fun.
I surprisingly got a lot of compliments on it, so I decided to take a picture when I got home. I hate taking pictures of myself because I feel like a 15 year old on facebook that's trying to take an "I'm hot" picture......so this is my "I'm not hot, but I wanted to document my hairstyle so that I remember how to do it if I ever do it again" picture. :) I pull faces...it's fine. My nose looks GIGANTIC....sorry 'bout that.

This is the end of the night hair. I need to figure out how to keep
everything curled just right for an entire night.
Gallons of hairspray...and it still starts to fall out.

Day 94

2011-02-23T12:22:00.012-06:00

My friend Jeremy, Jim, and I started writing this song last October...we finally got together again and finished it up....well ALMOST finished it all up. We may revisit it again. :) When you write songs they always go through a ton of changes along the way....well...usually. Hence, the scribbles on the page. I think it's a good song. Jim and Jeremy think it's a good song. But we might be partial. ;) This is the 2nd, male-vocal song I've co-written. Not sure when we'll debut it...

Day 93

2011-02-23T12:22:00.010-06:00

I wake up EVERY morning to the cutest guy ever! He's snuggly, sweet, and he reminds me of home. His name is "Ponder"...or at least that's what the beanie baby company named him. :) My sister gave him to me before I moved so that I had someone from home all the time. Yeah. He's cool. I'm starting to sense a theme here with my attachment to inanimate objects.....I'm insane. And that's fine.

Day 92

2011-02-23T12:22:00.008-06:00

My newest attempt at making washing dishes by hand more fun. Meet "Scrub", as I have so aptly named him. :) He's my dish buddy. We hang out. It's fine.

Day 91

2011-02-23T12:19:00.004-06:00

I set up a writer's round at the 315 Bar & Grill inside Hotel Indigo downtown. I invited Jim and my friend Stephanie for the round. It went really well, we booked 2 more shows from it. Go us!

Day 88 - 90

2011-02-16T12:21:00.007-06:00

2/13/2011 - 2/15/2011
VALENTINES EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

So Jim and I knew that we would both be working on Valentine's Day, so we thought that the day after would be a good time to celebrate since we had that day off. Well, then Jim found out he had to attend a training meeting that day. And I ended up having Sunday off. So Sunday night we hung out and watched a movie. Monday night after work we gave each other presents. And then Tuesday I made a Valentine breakfast and we went to dinner at a fun little steakhouse, and then watched Knight and Day (kind of cheesy, but kind of a fun little movie). All in all, it was probably the best Valentine's ever, because it lasted so long. Jim's pretty cool. :)

I made Jim a digital scrapbook on Mixbook.com
And had a little monkey bucket of goodies delivered from The Popcorn Factory.

Jimbo got me these purty flowers, a new shelf unit for my kitchen
because he knows how much it's been driving me insane that
I don't have enough room for everything. He also got me a cushy mat for
me to stand on when I'm cooking and washing my dishes...and for him too
because sometimes he's awesome and washes my dishes too. :)

My "heart-shaped" pink pancakes. ....some look more normal than others.
And the turkey sausages are x's and o's. :)

Day 87

2011-02-16T12:21:00.006-06:00

2/12/2011
So my friend introduced me to this awesome store, "World Market." They're kind of like an over sized Pier 1 that sells tons more stuff. So Jim and I went there like a month ago one night just for fun, and I saw these cute little baby-sized colanders. They had green, yellow, orange, blue, and red. I loved them. I was dying at how cute they were. (I get excited about some really lame stuff sometimes.) So anyway, the next time we were at my friend's house I noticed she had all of them. In every color. I was so jealous. So one night Jim and I were shopping and hanging out and we went to World Market specifically for me to get my $2.00 baby colander. He wondered what I would use it for, and I will have you know, I've used it 4 times since I bought it. :) It's great for washing fruit, a small portion of pasta, and just looking cute. :)

Rinsing and draining blueberries for my blueberry orange quick bread. Yay!

Day 86

2011-02-16T12:18:00.008-06:00

2/10/2011

So once upon a time I used to design/do makeup for ballroom dance and theater. When I graduated from college and started doing less and less of it all, I started just chucking all of my makeup into my big "train" case that I have. So I decided that it's silly that I don't use it often. So I got out my train case, emptied it out, and organized it. Now my makeup is more readily accessible and user-friendly. But I still have a lot of stuff that I only used for theater and ballroom, and I more than likely won't use in my daily makeup applications. Because it would be a little much to wear false lashes that have feathers on them. Jus' sayin'.

Makeup that I separated before I put it back in the case.

The Train Case I have from Sephora.

Day 85

2011-02-16T12:17:00.003-06:00

2/9/2011
SO I had the day off and I was planning on going into town with Jim since he worked in the afternoon and I was gonna go shopping at Hobby Lobby for a while. Then we were maybe going to go to a movie. Then a blizzard struck!! Dun dun dunnnnnnn. So while I was shopping, Jim called me to say that his class was sent home early because of the snow, and then when I went out to my truck to drive back to him the roads were horrible and the drivers were ridiculous! SO it took me forever to get back to Jim. Because not only was it a blizzard, but it was rush hour traffic. Awesome. It took us about 15 minutes to get onto the main road, so then we decide to go eat and wait out the traffic. While we were putting along to the closest restaurant we could find, a bus driver decided to block the intersection and then not let me out. So, Jim hopped out of the truck while we were stopped, grabbed a snowball, and as we passed the bus when we pulled into the parking lot of the Chinese restaurant we found, he hucked the snowball at the bus! The bus driver was looking around like, "What the...?" It was rad. We laughed. Then we ate. Then I got a fortune.

I'm still waiting for the unexpected payment.

Day 84

2011-02-16T12:16:00.004-06:00

2/6/2011
Super Bowl Sunday!! Yay Green Bay! :) And YAY for watching the game at Chris and Tom's!!! But boo that we had to say goodbye to our buddy, Dustin. :( It's been real, Dusty. Now move to Nashville so we can hang out with you and your familia. :)

Day 83

2011-02-16T12:15:00.004-06:00

2/5/2011
So while Dusty was in town we played a songwriter show for Nashville Ear at Bost Harley Davidson. I played a set, and then Dusty and Jim played a set with our friend Jeremy Dean. Then we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and watched Victoria Shaw (she wrote "The River"-Garth Brooks, "I Love the Way You Love Me", and lots more.) Then we were so beat from the last few days of jam-packed awesomeness, we decided to go home and watch movies and eat pizza and junk food. Good times. Good times. :)

Day 82

2011-02-16T12:14:00.002-06:00

Dustin, Jim, and I spent one of the nights Dusty was in town at the Bourbon Street Blue's Club on Printer's Alley. SUCH great music! Could've done without the lung cancer, but it was a great club. My sister and bro-in-law loved the club too when they came and visited. It's a must, if you're visiting Nashville. Or even if you're just wanting to spend the evening in downtown Nashville. Great club. Great music. FANTASTIC food. :)

Day 81

2011-02-16T12:13:00.011-06:00

2/5/2011
Dustin, Jimbo, and I went to the open mic night at the Fiddle and Steel Bar on Printer's Alley. Tons of fun. We all sang and played together on stage. It was a blast!

Day 80

2011-02-16T12:13:00.010-06:00

So while Dustin was in town we visited his prospective school, Belmont University. He's looking into the MBA program emphasized on the music industry. The school is really beautiful and located at the end of Music Row.

Day 79

2011-02-04T13:02:00.005-06:00

2/3/2011

Today was so much fun and soooo exhausting. Dustin came to Nashville to check out Belmont University because he's interested in their Master's of Business in Entertainment Management. So I dropped him off there and Jim and I went to kill time at Harbor Freight...Jim has a small obsession with this store. We picked Dusty up, went to lunch, and then headed over for a songwriter performance at The Bluebird Cafe. Then we headed downtown to the Fiddle and Steel Bar and did their open mic night. We all got up together and did 3 songs together. It was a blast. So much driving around and being out in the cold though, it wore me right out. :)

Dusty's excited about The Bluebird.

Jim too.....?

Jim and Dusty at Fiddle and Steel....where Rascal Flatts formed. :)

Day 78

2011-02-04T12:43:00.005-06:00

2/2/2011

So Jim's friend, Dustin, came into town tonight. We picked him up from the airport at 9:30 and we didn't wanna waste any time to show Dusty a great time in our city! So we ran over to Douglas Corner Cafe and caught the end of a pretty rad show. It was the Nate Barrett Band with featured guest, Kent Blazy. What the rad?! If you don't know who Kent Blazy is, he's a songwriter. If you have ever listened to country music, or Garth Brooks...you probably know his music. (If Tomorrow Never Comes, Somewhere Other Than the Night, Ain't Goin' Down 'Till the Sun Comes Up, She's Gonna Make It...Chris Young's song "Gettin' You Home (The Little Black Dress Song)"...and a whole bunch of others). Yeah...it was cool. And the Nate Barrett Band was an awesome blues band. Great way to welcome Dusty to Nashville.

Kent Blazy on the far right performing
"Aint Goin Down till the Sun Comes Up"

Day 77...

2011-02-02T12:03:00.006-06:00

Day 76

2011-02-01T13:07:00.006-06:00

They call us "Stars" at work, instead of employees. It's funny when a company has to sell themselves to the employees. They say, "Happy Stars = Happy Guests" I think they should probably focus on having effective management. Jus' sayin'. But hey, I'm a Star. It took me 29 years, but I'm finally a Star. :)

This is the gate/bridge we walk over to get from "Star Parking" to the hotel.

Do you think it used to say "employees"?

Day 75.

2011-01-30T21:13:00.012-06:00

1/30/11

You know how weird it is, when on Facebook someone puts what they ate as their status update? And you're like, "I don't really care that you're eating a chocodile while you're waiting for your dry cleaning." But seriously folks, I'm guilty of it, and that's fine. But I'm REALLY guilty of using my "pic of the day: 365 project" as a means of saying, "Hey...look what I ate today." I'm lame, yes. But hey, I've had this new found domestic-ness. Sooo...since I blog...I'm blogging about THAT. Lucky you!

But tonight was a menu that I am particularly proud of for a few reasons: A. I have never made these recipes before and they turned out yummmmy! and 2. It was all low-cal and super healthy. And finally, we got at least 2 full servings of both fruits AND veggies. Go us!

I bought this new recipe book that has all of these low-cal recipes and breaks them down according to how many calories are in a serving. It's all laid out and fabulously easy. :)

For Dinner:
I found a recipe in the book in the "side dishes" section that was called, "Veggie Cheese Casserole" and it has 158 calories per serving (about 3/4 cup). It has broccoli and tomatoes in it...mmmm. I looked in my freezer to see what I could pair with it, and I had two chicken breasts left, so I thawed those and threw them on the George Foreman Grill with some garlic salt and sage. Dinner was yummy, healthy and about 300 calories, total. :)

For Dessert:
In the dessert section, I found a recipe for "Berry Nectarine Buckle". Yes please! Except I only had frozen peaches...sooo it's "Berry PEACH Buckle". :) Yay! And at 177 calories per serving, and paired with some yummy peach frozen yogurt (90 cal/serving)...we totaled about 270-300 calories for dessert.
That's a pretty good deal, if you ask me. And muy delicioso.

Taste: A
Presentation: D+ (it still looks pretty even though it's in a paper bowl) :)

It should be noted that THIS is what I cook in.
Why? Because my actual oven is a piece!
It gets too hot. So I can turn it down, but it's not consistent enough to know exactly
how MUCH I need to turn it down for each meal. Boo. But YAY Jim's mom for giving him this and yay for Jim for letting me cook in it! :)

Good day, peeps!

RECIPES:

VEGGIE CHEESE CASSEROLE

3 cups frozen, chopped broccoli, thawed, drained

1/2 c. reduced-fat biscuit/baking mix

1 c. (8 oz.) reduced-fat sour cream

1 c. (8 oz.) fat-free cottage cheese

2 eggs

1/4 c. butter, melted

1/4 tsp. salt

1 large tomato, thinly sliced and halved

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

MAKE:

1. Arrange the brocoli to greased 8-in. square baking dish, set aside.

2. In large bowl, beat the biscuit mix, sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, butter, and salt; pour over brocoli. Arrange tomato slices over the top; Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

3. Bake, uncovered, at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

BERRY NECTARINE BUCKLE (I made it with Peaches)

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cinammon

3 tblsp. cold butter

BATTER:

6 tblsp. butter, softened

3/4 c. plus 1 tbslp sugar, divided

2 eggs

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2-1/4 c. all-purpose flour

2-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. fat-free milk

1 c. fresh blueberries

1 lb medium nectarines, peeled, sliced and patted dry or 1 package (16 oz.) frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, thawed and patted dry

1/2 c. fresh raspberries (this is where I substituted peaches)

1/2 c. fresh blackberries

MAKE:

1. For topping: in a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and 3/4 cup sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Set aside 3/4 cup batter. Fold blueberries into remaining batter.

3. Spoon into a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange nectarines on top; sprinkle with remaining sugar. Drop remaining batter by teaspoonfuls over nectarines. Sprinkle with raspberries, blackberries and reserved topping.

4. Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Day 74

2011-01-30T21:13:00.001-06:00

1/29/11

Today was SUCH a beautiful day in Tennessee. The sun was out, it was about 58 degrees...and just perfect for Jim and I to drive around and go house-hunting. :)
The first place we drove Jim's GPS took us through all these back roads we've never been on, and it was so much fun to see our new state like that. I saw my dream truck though, and it was fabulous....if it weren't spray painted, that is. :)

Found some cool properties, but I don't think Jim has quite found his next investment property, yet.

My truck! ...someday. And it will be John Deer green.

Day 73

2011-01-30T20:38:00.005-06:00

Gallatin City square at night. I took this picture from my driver's seat while I was waiting at a red light, on my way home.
I like this city.

Day 72

2011-01-30T20:20:00.005-06:00

1/27/11

I had today off and went and got brand new tires on my truck. I got a pretty good deal for some Nitto tires. Sweet. Then I went shopping a bit, looking for a coffee table. I want something that is not necessarily a coffee table, but something that I can make INTO a coffee table. I went to an antique store, found a cool cedar chest...went to Re-store, tried to find an old door I could make a table...no such luck....went to Good Will, found a coffee table there that could work, but it was HUGE...but no worries, there was some FABULOUS people watching to be had at the Gallatin Good Will store. Ohhh man.

New Nitto tires!
When you can see your steel belt through your tires...it's time to get new tires. :/
Thank heaven's for Discount Tires in Gallatin!

The pretty cedar chest I kinda want at the antique store.
Jim says I should wait, so that he doesn't have to help me move that too!
....he MAY have helped me move 4 times in the last 2 years. :/ Sorry, Jimbob.

Day 71

2011-01-26T11:30:00.003-06:00

So in an effort to sort of take-charge of my life. I'm selling my truck. It's worth about 4-5,000 more than I owe on it, so hopefully I can sell it and buy a car with the profits. We shall see. So if you know anyone looking for a saweet truck in Tennessee send em my way. I love this truck. It's my baby. I will be SOOOO sad to see it go....so that's probably why I won't budge on the sale price. Haha.
Silver 2005 Nissan Titan SE King cab:
5.6 liter V8
22" custom chrome wheels
81,000 miles
13-15/mpg
$100k mile bumper to bumper Nissan warranty (transferable)
serviced at dealership
navigation system (factory) with aftermarket DVD player
Rockford Fosgate 6 disc CD changer
XM radio
complete sliding bed rail system, spray on bed liner
towing package, chrome package, billet aluminum grill
sliding rear window
tinted windows
leather package, heated & power seats
step side
power windows, power locks, cruise
fog lights

Day 70

2011-01-26T11:29:00.003-06:00

Remember my awesome friend, Chris, that I always talk about? Well here she is being awesome again. She MADE me a valentine present. :) With a cute little birdy in the middle. The girl is so dang thoughtful. Love her! :) Happy valentines peeps!

Day 69

2011-01-26T11:27:00.005-06:00

So...like I said. I'm posting something yummy that I made, that's not so much "healthy" per se. ...or per not to se. :P
Cream cheese swirl brownies. I would have loved them more if I would have ignored the instruction on the recipe that said, "make the brownie recipe as directed to make cake-like brownies." So don't do that if any recipe says that. Haha. But they were tasty other than that consistency.

The recipe you SHOULD use:

What you need:
1 Package (19-21 oz.) Brownie Mix (13x9 inch pan size)
1 Pkg (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Make It:

1. Prepare brownie batter as directed on package; spread into greased 13x9-inch pan.

2. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Add sugar, egg and vanilla; mix well. Drop by tablespoonfuls over brownie batter; swirl with knife.

3. Bake 35 to 40 min. or until cream cheese mixture is lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting to serve. Keep refrigerated.

Day 68

2011-01-26T11:26:00.003-06:00

I've started to really enjoy cooking, I wish I had a better-functioning kitchen....and a dishwasher. But it's ok. I still like cooking. But I swear I always post things that I cook that sound REALLY unhealthy. I'm trying to keep it balanced...don't worry peeps. :)
Anyway, Jim's mom made me an apron for Christmas 2009 and I LOVE it. I wear it whenever I cook. It's my favorite. Thanks Jackie! :)

Day 67

2011-01-26T11:25:00.004-06:00

Still house-hunting around Tennessee for Jimbob. We were driving to this one REALLY cool property on 5 acres down this one country road and we saw this amazing chicken farm. Jim said "Peta would be happy to see that all of these chickens and roosters have their own chicken condos." ...prime real estate for these lil guys.

Awe. SO cute.

Day 66

2011-01-26T11:23:00.003-06:00

So there's an insurance company in Tennessee called "Tennessee Farm Bureau". Jim was shopping around for insurance and we stopped into their office. The whole place was decked out with old farm equipment...it was pretty cool. So I took a few pics. Sorry for the blurry....I need a new camera. :)

Day 65.

2011-01-26T11:22:00.003-06:00

Apparently this store ISN'T closing.....I guess.
I took this picture outside of a furniture store located in our downtown Gallatin square after Jim and I had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. :)