word

I'm just not in a blogging mood as of late. Maybe over the break I can catch you up on life. It's been a pretty busy December. Tomorrow I head home for Christmas. So on that note if you are driving home this holiday season please please PLEASE enjoy this wonderful tune on your way...

christmas card fun

I have a lot to dish about the last week, but first things first...it is less than three weeks until Christmas (woot!), which involves the wonderful tradition of sending Christmas cards. Well this year Trey and I decided to do a video Christmas card. So with that said...Merry Christmas!

Yes...those are Guitar Hero drums.

why my mom is awesome

Rockettes, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and my mom and bro-ha. Usually I join in, but I sat back and recorded this year...

Oh...and she didn't realize I was recording her at first. She just thought I was taking her picture until she saw the phone up again.

mainstream

I decided to take it pretty darn mainstream for this cover. The acoustic version of this song really gets stuck in my head so I thought what better way to get it out than cover it. Ta-da...

Paparazzi - Lady Gaga

let the vacation begin

I'm writing this blog while sitting at my parents house in a ski bib from middle school. Believe it...and allow me to explain.

I just got home for the holidays, and I walked in my room to find the following: the madre's lightbulb/Christmas ornament cardigan (my fave of her Christmas sweaters. She thinks it's rude/funny that I want to borrow one of her sweaters for a tacky Christmas party), a dickie to go underneath the sweater (of course), khaki overalls with Auburn decor all over them (not really sure what these are), and a ski bib.

My mom was convinced that my ski bib from middle school would still fit, but I didn't believe her. Well ladies and gents...she was correcto, and therefore I am currently wearing it mainly because it's pretty dang cold in this casa. Also because it is totally fashion forward...duh.

So my past week was pretty busy even though I got to stay at home ALL week. Whoa. Lets start with Monday.

MONDAY was Regina preceded by Flying Saucer which were both absolutely wonderful.

On TUESDAY I signed up for the Country Music Half Marathon (woot!), got my new Droid phone, joined Twitter (due to my new phone), and I got to have dinner with my pops since he was in town.

WEDNESDAY was pretty normal. I went to the gym to start pretraining for my half marathon training, and it went really well. Again I say...woot!

THURSDAY. Gymed it. Mustache Thursdayed it with gal friends. Loads of fun.

FRIDAY was Mexican with the friends as well as a night on the town in Midtown which included talking to a few Jordanians...??? Oh and can I say that I went into work every single day this week? I think that's the first time that's happened since maybe when I interned. Haha.

SATURDAY = nothing = what I did all day. It was so great. I've been traveling during the week for so long and have really not had a weekend break lately due to either more roadtrips or friends/family coming to visit. Which is the case for the next three weekends as well so it was nice to have a break for once.

SUNDAY was so fun. I had brunch with the girls which included Christmas tunes and delightful homemade waffles. I tried out a new recipe for Turkey Sausage Balls which were actually better than regular sausage balls to me because they tasted the same but weren't as greasy. I also put all of my Christmas decor up since I probably won't have time until after the girls weekend in Denver. Oh and I almost had a nervous breakdown. Basically I thought I had mold all under my kitchen floor, but I didn't. I can explain in detail if you want to know, but I'll leave it at that for now. And I almost had a nervous breakdown because I knew I was about to be gone for about two weeks and wasn't sure what to do.

MONDAY was a car day. I spent about 9 or 10 hrs in my car. I drove to JC for a customer meeting, and it lasted maybe 15 minutes. Then I drove down to ATL to spend the night with the broseph. We went to a really good mexican restaurant called Pure that was in downtown Woodstock. We also did a little Christmas music recording so stay tuned for that.

I'm pretty sure they should put some sort of max character limit for posts because I feel like I've typed a dang textbook. Anyways, I'm out for now. Happy Thanksgiving! YEA for the Purina Dog Show!!!

Oh one more thing. I don't know if y'all remember my post from last Christmas season about the baby Jesus/Santa snowglobe. Well my mom found this oh so precious ornament while she was at the Biltmore for a girl's weekend a month or so ago.

How sweet is that?


From my bro-ha...I have a uke on my tree!!!

regina

I finally got to see Regina Monday night...at the Ryman...with some vino and a new friend in hand. The guy beside me had flown in from Cincinnati to see her, and he thought I was a Vandy student which I took as a compliment. We chatted about music and how long we had been Regina fans and how awesome she is in general.

I also got to attend the show with my mom for a few songs. My mom is a huge fan and her favorite song is "Hotel Song" which I think is hilarious so I called her and let her sing along. She loved it.

I've already found a few videos from last night. Isn't YouTube just wonderful? The usher near our section was pretty strict about recording videos so props to whoever recorded these.

Some friends and I were discussing after the show how she never really talked to the crowd. She was very thankful and polite but never really segwayed into the next song with an explanation. But lets be honest...if she tried to explain her songs it would probably go way over everyone's heads. She's kind of a lyrical genius.

norah

Norah Jones has a new album out today! Yea! For those of you who don't love her, you should. Period. Those are my words of wisdom for the day. You can listen to the full album HERE.

shut the front door

I'm not going to lie. I was somewhat hesitant on doing a Carole King cover. Why you may ask did I decide to cover a Carole King tune after all? Well...SHE'S GOING BACK ON TOUR...WITH JAMES TAYLOR! How ridiculously awesome is that news? I just about have a heart attack everytime I read it. I mean Carole King and James Taylor together again. Wow. So I've covered one of my first favorites of hers in honor of this wonderful news...

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - Carole King Cover

bon jovi is white

Am I the only person in the world right now listening to Regina Spektor while watching the Colts/Patriots game? I'm just saying.

I just wrapped up a wonderful weekend with the sis and fam (my sis being the only female in her family of five). The broseph and I gave her two tickets to the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman when we knew Carrie Underwood would be singing since she's a pretty big fan. Being the horrible Nashvegan I am aka not really loving the country music scene (especially the new one), I let her take her hubby with...which left me with three boys for about 5 hours. This of course being right after we all treated ourselves to a Gigi's (ten pounds of icing...aka sugar) cupcake.

Normally they can be a bit overwhelming all together, but I had a blast. I have a lot to entertain them with, and I just let them have at it. I mean who wouldn't love a night of Nick Jr and Disney online games, Chic Fil A (including ice dreams...NOT creams I was informed multiple times...and the playground), uke action, "bass" guitar playing (the middle child kept calling my guitar a bass since it was bigger than his youth guitar), Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 games galore.

They all had pretty random and memorable quotes. My oldest nephew wants a PSP and an Ipod for Christmas which he says shouldn't be a big deal since Santa is paying for it. I totally agreed with him. I mean you can't argue with that one, huh? Unless you spill into the state of the economy which I'm pretty sure happened for a brief moment.

My favorite quote of the night was when we finally sat down and watched a total of 2 minutes of the Auburn game. A Bon Jovi commercial came on for some reason which was pretty random in and of itself. The eldest turned to me point blank and said..."I didn't know that Bon Jovi was white." I'm pretty sure I laughed for a good while and am even chuckling now thinking about it.

girls weekend

Well some of the college ladies got together this past weekend in Huntsville. I would actually like to call it a men's weekend because it entailed drinking brewhas and watching football. We hit the downtown Huntsville area Saturday eve where we managed to almost start a new war against the North and the South at a bar thanks to a confrontational Southern gentleman who called out a New Yorker chatting with us on cussing too much (he was escorted out of the bar which I personally thought was discrimination) as well as order fries at both bars we went to (one purchased/one taken from a crazy drunk). What a feat. Ha.

It was great to all be together again, and we could tell we had all grown up a bit because we were all pretty subdued. Funny what the real world will do to you. Speaking of I went to bed at 8:30 last night. When telling my coworker that graduated a semester after me about this, he looked at me, laughed and said he was asleep by 7.

The Ladies


The sprinkler after watching Disturbia

I'm off to the gym for my feel good about life Monday workout. It includes working out while watching Intervention during which I tell myself...hey I'm not addicted to drugs AND I'm exercising. Double whammy.

Lady and Her Uke

I can not get this sad yet very beautiful song out of my head. Sorry to depress you, but this will be my outlet.

San Francisco - Ingrid Michaelson Cover

pretty cool stuff

For those of you who aren't aware, there is an Australian teen by the name of Jessica Watson trying to become the youngest sailor to sail around the world nonstop and unassisted. I was following her for the first week but completely dropped off. I just remembered it the other day. She has a blog set up for it so she can keep in touch with everyone. I thought it was pretty cool. Check out the blog here.

On a completely different note, I noticed today that I am a habitual non zipper of pants. I literally forget to zip my pants up every other time I go to the ladies' room. How sad is that? TMI? Anyways, I guess if I hung out with friends all day then I would at least have someone there to let me know I was a moron aka xyz aka I forgot to zip my pants up. Maybe I will just wear dresses/skirts every day for the rest of my life. Game plan...check.

iamsotiredbutatleastlifeisfun

I was pretty bummed out when I found out that I was going to be in Johnson City on the Monday of the Ingrid Michaelson show in Nashville (especially since I bought my ticket about 3 months ago and had been excited ever since), but I put on my big girl pants and got on with it. That was until I found out she was going to be in Asheville the next night. Asheville is literally only an hour away from Johnson City, so I voted yes to that concert. AND I am SO glad I DID (minus the 12:30 am arrival back to the hotel).

Why the Ingrid Michaelson concert was awesome besides the fact that it was Ingrid Michaelson, and she is awesome. And besides the fact that she plays my two fave instruments...piano and uke. Well...I will tell you why.

• Crowd involvement - She does a ton of crowd involvement which is oh so fun. For one song, we were split in two and had a singing (screaming) contest. The team names...Nipples and Balls. Balls = the best word ever in my book, and when she asked for names I almost screamed it out but didn't...she thought of it anyways. I laughed everytime she yelled it.
• All of her random/hilarious tangents. She's seriously really funny in a dry kind of way aka my favorite kind of way. Like when she asked the crowd to delete and please not upload any bad pictures of her, and then dove into a story about a girl who sent her a "good picture" but really it was a picture with like triple chins and the worst angle ever. She politely said thanks though.
  
• She skipped the walking off stage for the encore and instead just hid. And by hid I mean one of the guys was behind a set of drumsticks.
  
• Scrubs in opera. Let me clarify. TLC'S "SCRUBS." IN. OPERA.
• The fact that she closed with Far Away. Loves it.
• The man in front of me. No this has nothing to do with Ingrid, but this 50 year old man with ear plugs came and stood right in front of me with like a song into the concert. I could have easily been mad but the fact that he was constantly doing this ridiculous Carlton with no hands type move and randomly talking - or should I say screaming due to the ear plugs - to the girls beside me who never responded kept me pretty entertained. Plus, I still had a pretty clear shot of Ingrid.
  

I could go on and on and on...but I won't. Yea for two amazing concerts within the past few days. And yea for Regina Spektor in under two weeks. And yea for Denver in one month. YEA!

play hard

Why this weekend was awesome...Halloween, Friends, and Avett Bros (who I pretend are my friends, too).

Costume Party on Friday


I had the cube on maybe half of the night. A 2 ft cube does not fit easily through doors. FYI. I had about 6 bruises on my arms from the box, but it was comfortable at the time. I shouldn't have done all of those Chris Farley moves.


Avett Bros at the Ryman on Halloween

This concert was ridiculous. I mean...wow. The crowd was awesome. The bros were awesome, and they were the Three Amigos. Need I say more.

On our way to the show after a little pregame
action at Flying Saucer. So essited.

Three Amigos

Big Bang after the show. Brunch on Sunday with some of the college crew followed by a visit to McKay's and Grimey's...where I bought five records for a total of like 5 bucks...no joke. Check out the variety:

Carole King Tapestry (I needed a listening copy since my other one is framed)
Mary Poppins
Christmas Mix
The Best of The Guess Who
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger (For the album cover. Check it out below. Awesome.)


Yea for life!

Lady and Her Uke

TWO FOR ONE THURSDAY. AVETT BROTHERS IN TWO DAYS.

Laundry Room - Avett Bros Cover

Backwards with Time - Avett Bros Cover

Whistling loud and in tune...harder than you would think.

music. book. in no particular order.

Hi. I'm excited to inform you that I have now completed two books within the past three days. This was a huge achievement for me since lately I have been the queen of starting 5 books at once and finishing none of them. Insert pat on the back here. And I'm almost through with another one. One more pat.

I finally finished listening to The Geography of Bliss yesterday on my drive to Johnson City after taking a two week leave from listening with only one disc left. I misplaced half of the discs as I do many belongings. I feel like I never lose things permanently...just misplace. That is the reason I have two Zunes right now and was able to use my old one while my new one went missing for a week and vice versa. Maybe I should look into the concept of organization...nah.

Anyways, off track B. White. Ummm...so the book was awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone. Especially if you like to ponder things while reading AND pretend like you are traveling with him. It was actually very interesting because Eric Weiner wrapped up the book in Asheville, NC of all places which is definitely on my to live in list. What was really ironic about the whole thing was that I was passing signs for Asheville while listening. Isn't it ironic? Don't ya think?

MUSIC: Swell Season's new album came out yesterday and you should check it out. One of my fave's since listening to their NPR Tiny Desk Concert is Low Rising, and it's on this album. Lucky me. Fo sho. Check it out below.

read this

I used to think I knew everything. I was a "smart person" who "got things done, " and because of that, the higher I climbed, the more I could look down and scoff at what seemed silly or simple, even religion.

But I realized something as I drove home that night: that I am neither better nor smarter, only luckier. And I should be ashamed of thinking I knew everything, because you can know the whole world and sill feel lost in it. So many people are in pain --- no matter how smart or accomplished --- they cry, they yearn, they hurt. But instead of looking down on things, they look up, which is where I should have been looking, too. Because when the world quiets to the sound of your own breathing, we all want the same things: comfort, love, and a peaceful heart.

And that my friends is why you should read Mitch Albom's new book Have a Little Faith. His books are awesome, easy to read, and pack so much punch in so few words.

I can

I think I might have a thing for fun-loving, indie music that is also known as commercial music (in my opinion). I recently downloaded the Minnutes debut cd thanks to More to Luv being featured in a Target ad. Anyways, the first hit when googling Minnutes is (naturally) their website which reads...MINNUTES - HAPPY MUSIC FOR A SAD WORLD. So true on the happy music and sad world for that matter. Enjoy an uplifting tune on me this wonderful Tuesday morning...you will have to put in a little bit of effort. Are they redundant? Si. Do they make me feel happy? Si. Enjoy...http://www.myspace.com/minnutes.

I can do anything. I can go anywhere. I can be anyone. It's great to be with you. TODAY.

I feel like they collaborated with Mr. Rogers...what do you think? Hopefully this will get me through the day. After being away from home for a week and getting back Sunday evening, I am headed back to JC today. I did get a new audio book to listen too though...at the library...with my Nashville library card. Yea me!! AND I have some funny stories from the weekend. Well, funny to me at least, and I'll save them for when I'm in my hotel room all by my lonesome.

One more thing. Last night after I went to the library I decided to head to Panera for a nice bowl of french onion. Yummy/I think my breath still stinks today. Haha. Just being honest. Anyhoos...while at Panera, I couldn't help but notice that the world's smallest water cup (what I like to call a shot of water) now has a lid. Call me crazy but couldn't Panera afford a slightly larger water cup if they got rid of the teensy lid that goes with it? I mean if a little water spills out of that cup then you have lost all of the water in it anyways. Just a thought Pan to the nera.

Ciao.

Lady and Her Uke

Beatles cover, anyone? I tried...

The Beatles - Across the Universe

just do...nothing?

I totally meant to mention this a while back...but I didn't. So here it goes. All of the ladies of my family have a year subscription to Real Simple. Why besides the fact that it is an amazingly wonderful magazine? Well I bought a sub for my sis last year for Christmas (which included a free sub for me), and my mom liked the idea so much she did the same thing for her sis (and her).

SO my fave article of all the ones I've read so far is 10 Ways to Enjoy Doing Nothing. I am very attracted to the art of doing nothing, and I've pretty much mastered it if I do say so myself. Well any chance I get to read a "nothingness" or "relaxation" article, I jump right on it. I was not surprised when I read this particular article, and each way was something I had done within the last 24 hour span. Alright. Maybe I'm stretching it a bit. I didn't lay in a field...just my shared backyard.

Anyways I'm reading along, and I get to Numero Cinco. And I quote...

5. Play the ukulele. The ukulele is the sound of not working. My wife hates it for that very reason: The twang of those strings means that I am not doing something useful around the house. I keep my ukulele in the kitchen and play it at odd moments, like while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil.

Love it. I had just started playing the uke at this point, and since reading this article whenever I feel like relaxing/doing nothing I pick up my uke. What a break from the day or the world for that matter.

I will say I have him beat though...I've played my uke while sitting at a red light. At least I'm not texting. Holler.

five

That's how many states I'm driving through tomorrow on my trek home. Isn't that crazy? Tenn, North Caro, South Caro, GA, and Alabam. Wowsers. Don't worry though I'm at the grand finale of Geography of Bliss and have another book to listen to. Yea for traveling! Ha.

Look what I did yesterday...MANLY THINGS...whoa all caps.

TOWER CONSTRUCTION

HARD HAT ACTION

TOTALLY BUSINESS

Yes. That is a Moto logo you see on my hard hat.

check it

I still haven't seen (500) Days of Summer for some ridiculous reason, but this video made me want to see it right now. Who doesn't love Zooey Deschanel? And what about the kid from Third Rock from the Sun and Angels in the Outfield. I thought he was just going to be a kid star. Nope. They're dancing to a She & Him song which if you haven't checked them out...do now.

word

After my many weekends away near and far, I finally got to kick back and relax in the Nash all weekend. I sat in front of a TV with friends for most of the day Saturday and enjoyed football from a couch as opposed to a stadium seat. To balance out the manliness that was football watching on Saturday, I went shopping on Sunday. Success. I bought a bunch of fun new stuff including a new gray jacket that I love. The lady at the counter informed me that gray is the new black. Here it is in black (just picture in gray)...

It's from Old Navy but they didn't have
a gray one on their website so I'm not
sure how my store landed them.

Now I'm getting all packed up and heading to Johnson City today to then head to O-town from there for a weekend of family birthdays and AU football (hopefully improved from Saturday's performance). One of the birthdays we are celebrating is the madre's birthday which is actually today. I am warming up my vocal chords as we speak to call and sing my annual opera rendition of Happy Birthday to her (plus ukulele this year). Why? Because she's the best and deserves it.

Happy Monday to all!

new look. new tunes.

Well, I finally had to change my hammock picture, and I'm taking down my Bob Marley tunes soon, too. It's official. Summer is over. BUT if you look at it like I do it goes a little something like this...

Summer being over means football season has started with the best weather ever. Football season starting means the holidays are fast approaching which brings time off with the fam, everything CHRISTMAS and Halloweenie, and I could go on and on so I will stop while I'm ahead. Holiday season ending means the start of a new year with new resolutions/hopes and the last year with all its triumphs (and mistakes) officially history. The new year starting means start of the new Grand Slam tennis season (for me) and Spring is around the corner. Spring around the corner means it's almost summertime. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

My inspiration for my new header photo(s) was one of my favorite quotes.

"Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive."

I think this might be my daily anthem. Enjoy your Thursday.

WDE

My road game record has officially improved by one game (although I'm still 0-fer at dear ol' Louisiana State...don't get me started on that matter though). I roadtripped it for the night to the AU/UT game on Saturday...and had a blast. Lets put it this way. Yes, Neyland Stadium is big, but if Jordan Hare had seats the size of Neyland's seats we could fit a good 10,000 more fans in there. I mean my nephews MIGHT fit in there comfortably, and they are about the size of my pinky.

Anyways, I had a blast, yelled really loud as usual, and cheered my sweet Auburn Tigers to a 5-0 start. Interesting fact for you...Auburn is officially one (ONE) point away from the total number of points that they scored last season. Wow. That speaks volumes of our new offense and how truly horrible our season was last year. But as they say in Thailand, mai pen rai. Wow. I've just impressed myself. Thank you Geography of Bliss. Thank you travel books that make me feel like I am actually there. One day, Beth, one day.

Back to the pig skin. I am like a football machine this year. Last year I took a leave of absence and watched the majority of football on my flat screen at home. I mean of course when I was at home I went to the games, and I did fit a few Titans games in there, but that was about it. This year though I've only missed one gameday whether Auburn, Vandy, or PC...although that's soon to be one more come this weekend. And a much needed break from traveling if I do say so myself.

On a completely different subject, I got a Nashville library card. I am so essited that I don't even know where to start. Isn't fun being a dork? I think so.

PICTURES

O-Town in K-Nox


The Girlies


Making friends at the game (the usual)

Check It

I can not get this song out of my big head. Maybe it's because one of the lines very much resembles that of The Beatle's All My Loving.

Relator: Now you're away you write home everyday.
All My Loving: While I'm away I'll write home everyday.

And the beginning of the lines melody wise sounds the same too. I do love Scarlotte Johansson's voice in this diddy. Enjoy. Oh...and HAPPY FRIDAY! Hallelurrrrrjah (as Madea would say).

Lady and Her Uke

Because I'm in a Motown mood, and I'm a girl...

Mary Wells - My Guy

I think I'm about to get a new camera. My $15 has taken me far enough.

Travels

Picture I took of the Great Smokies on my return home Sunday.


It's illegal to text in TN, but is it illegal to take pictures? I went with no on that one.

So where all did I venture this weekend? Well I got to spend quality time with my friend Catherine. We've been friends since we were in Kindergarten and were inseparable until she moved to Texas after 8th grade.

My drive started Friday afternoon from Johnson City. I was driving along and passed one of those scenic overlook signs. Well I've always been one of those people that wants to stop at every single one of those and never does SO...I stopped. The people there probably thought I was an idiot, and rightly so because I walked over to where a couple of motorcyclists were which was the opposite direction of the actual scenic overlook. I figured this out when I turned around and saw stairs in the distance with a sign that said "Scenic Overlook." Here's the photo I took...

This actually was facing the opposite of the overlook and where I originally walked. I liked that view better apparently.

After laughing at myself, I hopped back in the car. I tried calling mi madre because she was in Asheville for the weekend with some girlfriends visiting the Biltmore aka my house. Unfortunately she was touring when I called, but I decided to drive through downtown Asheville anyways since this is a place I have always seriously considered living...and I loved it. I also took pictures when I hit NC. How gorgeous are the mounts, and how old am I...85?


After Asheville I headed to Columbia to meet up with my friend Catherine. We spent the first night in Columbia and had a blast, woke up Saturday morning and headed to Charleston for the Citadel/PC game. I had never been to Charleston so that in and of itself was exciting even though I only got a midnight tour and 20 minute daylight tour.

Catherine and her husband who I call little Davey both went to school at PC and Davey is now a football coach there. We tailgated there the entire afternoon, went to the game where I got the Citadel fan (an older man) sitting next to me to dance during every song of the game, and then went downtown where we met up with a couple of Catherine's college friends. The hotel we stayed at was literally one mile from the stadium and one mile from downtown so it was awesome. Unfortunately, she (like me) does not really take pictures so I have not one picture from the Columbia or Charleston...just from the road.

I decided to drive all the way back to Nashville on Sunday which gave me a good 8.5 hours on the road. The first leg with Catherine went by super fast because we talked and talked the whole time. The second leg went by super fast thanks to an audiobook by the name of Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. I am loving this book and have totally jumped on the science of happiness bandwagon although I'm really not a psychology buff. More pictures of the Smokies (I think that Dolly is in one of them if you look hard enough).



Happy Tuesday! Go buy a new album today!

working hard for the money

"This song is called balloons but I like to write balls on my setlist. "

- None other than Miss Nunes at her San Fran show

Why are we not friends yet? I think balls is in the top 5 of my favorite words ever. Sorry I'm working late, and this is what happens to me.

Check It

I'm 2/3 of the way to Johnson City and am currently grubbing at my fave Panera in all of the land. I've actually listened to music the whole way here so I thought I'd share a couple of songs that are currently stuck in my head...and I am totally fine with it.

The first one up is an uplifting tune from Diane Birch's debut album Bible Belt. I read quite a few reviews of her before purchasing her cd. The one that caught my attention was a comparison to none other than my fave...Carola King...especially for her song Fools. I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed her cd...and this song. It's about her childhood imaginary friend...

And The Swell Season's When Your Mind's Made Up...

AND The Avett Brothers new album is on NPR right now before being released next Tuesday. WOOT!

Lady and Her Uke

Why do I always look so damn good in my videos? Just saying. Maybe I'll like shower or something before I record my next vid. Total chaos.

Adam Sandler - Grow Old with You Cover

I don't mean to brag, but I totally did this in like 10 minutes. I am getting good (or careless). Either way...BA.

Ruth! This made me think of you.

check it

I have never seen any of these until now, but I liked them all so much I just spent an hour catching up. What am I talking about you are asking yourself? Prank Wars. WATCH IT.

And then I found this. I thought it very appropriate now that the parental generation is joining facebook.

The Good Guy (or Gal) Does Win

Kim Clijsters just won the US Open...and I just peed my pants with excitement. Wow. What a story. For those of you who don't follow tennis let me fill you in.


Clijsters was at the top of the women's circuit a few years ago but decided to retire at a pretty young age to start a family, enjoy other aspects of life, etc. Well she was asked to play in an exhibition doubles match in Wimbledon this year to showcase the new retractable roof on Centre Court...and she decided she missed the game or something like that so she came back.

Her third tournament back just happened to be the US Open (one of the four majors in tennis) as a wildcard entry. She not only defeated many top seeded players but ousted both Williams sister in her route to the championship. Her sweet little girl got to watch her win tonight, too. Picture perfect moment if I do say so myself.

First mom to win a major since 1980. Feel good story of the year.

Her daughter kept seeing herself on the big screen and pointing. Love it.

Yea. Hooray. She's back...and rumor has it Henin might make a comeback, too. We shall see. I love that some of my faves are returning to the game after early retirement and are still definitely in the picture.

BA

Yeah...so I wrote this on Tuesday but was waiting on some pics. Still waiting on the same pictures so I thought I'd go ahead and post this baby. Happy weekend!

Descriptive word of the past weekend...badass.

• Labor day weekend...badass.

Saturday...

Longest flight I had ever seen. The eagle totally peaced out of the stadium
for like five seconds. Hilarious. This guy got some great footage, and I'm glad
he did cause I kind of remember this...if you know what I mean.

Sunday...

Hot air balloons at Callaway. They actually put them up due to
"weather." There was like a .05 mph wind. Lame...but we did get
to play putt putt, race paddleboats, and watch a dog show. Holler.

• My friend Dallis...badass.

She's screaming not yawning, and she let me stay with
her this weekend.

• Melanie Oudin...badass.

I finally have an American to cheer for on the women's circuit.

• My feet after gameday...gross. Ha! Gotcha!

Yes. I know my big toe is the size of my other nugget toes
combined. You could literally see the outline of my sandals.
This picture doesn't do the level of grossness any justice.

Yea for football and tennis all day!

Happiness is Bliss

I am like super, extremely, ridiculously happy today...like can't stop smiling happy. And I love it. Did you know that there is an article on how to be happy and optimistic on wikiHow? Well now you do.

Electric ukulele jam 101...

WORD.

YouTube, Anti-drug...You know the routine

Since I'm waiting for a few pictures (I don't own a camera so I have to rely on others for pics) to update y'all on my wonderful, 4 day labor day weekend, I'll leave you with a song that is currently stuck in my head...so it will be stuck on yours, too. No worries. It's a great one to have in there.

Lady and Her Uke

I went with an upbeat song this time, and let me tell you...this song doesn't make me smile at all. I might also be smiling because it's FOOTBALL SEASON. YEA!

CCR - The Midnight Special

I just realized that I said fork instead of pork. Whoops. Apparently, I was feeling anti-pork at the moment. Please forgive me because I'm definitely not redoing this now seeing as how I am on vacation and all. Maybe later. I guess that shows that I can't be perfect all of the time. Funny, funny.

Happy Labor Day weekend!

seriously?

Burning questions of the day...

1. Why am I so mediocre? (ongoing joke between me and my friend KK)
2. Why are Asians so disciplined/motivated?

Obviously I answered my first question which helped me form my second question. Check this kid o.u.t.

I think he was 10 in the first video. TEN. When I was ten, my main concern of the day was when do I get to jump on the trampoline with my friends. Kids amaze me these days.

Time for work.

check it

I told you it was awesome. I'm watching two matches at once full screen style. Sorry just had to post this real quick. Two posts in one day. Woot!

blah

I have a love/hate relationship with the US as I'm sure we all do.

Why do I love the US right now? Because there is live US Open footage online of five different courts (for free) during the day...and they're not the crap courts either. No other major does this. So much for getting any work done in the next couple of weeks. Just kidding. No...but really.

Just go to www.usopen.org and click on Watch Live on the right.

Why do I not love the US right now? The no failing grades K-3 rule that is coming into play in Memphis. I guess this isn't really a US issue, but I still think it is ridiculous so I'm gonna vent. I mean what happened to the whole learn from your mistakes philosophy? It always worked for me. Instead of helping kids we're hurting them whether advanced or slow. I mean the material taught in 4th grade will eventually become 3rd grade level material while the kids that weren't failed will still be on a 2nd grade level. Lose/lose situation my friends. When did people become so soft?

I know all sorts of random news stories like this now because I have plenty of time to catch up on my news in the morning...at the gym so beware of me posting these often.

I was actually reading an article last night about how to have a lighter summer. It was an older magazine obviously since summer is almost over. One of the suggestions was to quit watching the news since a majority of the stories are bad/sad news. I found this kind of funny because I did drop a lot of my news watching over the summer but have recently picked it back up pretty full force. I mean what else is there to watch in the morning at 6 am while jogging (soft j)...and don't give me that Saved by the Bell jazz.

Oh...I was behind this car the other day that had a 140.6 sticker. I'm sure we are all familiar with the 13.1 and 26.2 stickers that people get for running a half and full marathon. 140.6??!! I was actually on the phone with the broseph, and we were curious as to whether that person was even alive after completing whatever that distance represented. I was trying to do a conversion from miles to kms, but 140.6 was the mileage. Come to find out it's the distance for the full Ironman. Ridiculous.

I just did spell check, and it didn't catch "gonna." Does that mean that gonna is now in the dictionary?

Wow. Sorry I'm all over the place today. Now you know what it's like to be me.

Lunch Break

Beth White - World Renowned Photographer...? Nope. I took this picture yesterday in Johnson City on my way up the mountain to one of the sites. It was an overpass close to the top of the mountain that some guys from the local shop kept telling me I need to go see. This picture turned out better than I thought since I took it on my phone, but it still doesn't do the view any justice. I am going here everytime I visit JC now. Fo sho.

On another note, I listened to podcasts more than music this roadtrip, and I have found a new favorite podcast. It is How Stuff Work's Stuff You Should Know Podcast. It's pretty awesome. I managed to learn about controlling dreams, OCD, why we have body hair, and flirting all within two hours. And lets be honest...these are really important things to know. Check it out.

Happy Mustache Thursday!

Really guys? Thanks.

Why is it always so dang cold in bookstores? I mean people that come here actually enjoy reading so you don't have to keep us awake with weather from Antarctica. Plus, it must cost a good amount to keep the temperature so low. I'm just sitting in Barnes & Noble right now trying to get some work done, and I am about to freeze to death. Thought I would vent a little.

Last Week in a Nutshell

I'm about to get back to my traveling ways in t minus 2 or so hours, and you'll never guess where I'm headed...my new work week home of JC, TN. I didn't have to go out of town at all last week which was very awesome, but I realized that I wasn't very good at sitting at an office desk for 8 hours, and that was even with a break Wednesday working at home. I found myself going to the grocery store or Borders during my lunch break just to get out of the office.

I liked being back in the normal swing of things post work though. I mean what beats your own bed at night? Ladies, am I right? Wow I haven't watched Ellen in a really long time. Damn grownup world.

Being back, I got to hit up the gym a few times. I actually went to the one near my office right after work one day which left me time to bum around afterwards. I hit up Whole Foods which I found out the next day a lot of folks that shop there are boycotting since the owner stepped up against health reform. My sister informed me of this after I told her about my visit. I thought it was pretty funny that I unknowingly threw in my support for him.

Mustache Thursday was back in full swing at Sam's. Just a little later than usual. And it was awesome.


Some firsts for me this week...

• Ate at Stoney River compliments of a vendor I work with. The filet was amazing.
• Played tennis for the first time in about a year at Belmont. Picked moving weekend which was probably the busiest it is all year.
• Ran over 5 miles at the gym!!! I went for a quick run yesterday since I was still sore from tennis, and it turned into an hour long run. Needless to say I am a little sore today but it's that kind of sore that makes you proud of what you did...not regret what you did.

Oh the girls went out to dinner Friday and decided to dine al fresco since it was ridiculously nice outside. There was this weird Spanish influenced building across the street, and we couldn't decide if it was a church or restaurant or what. But it had a gate. Turns out it's Dolly Parton's admin offices. Crazy. We didn't love the restaurant, but I think we might go back just to see if we can get a glimpse of the one and only Dolly...and the vino was half off during August.

Fun Fun

What I did this weekend besides ruin pictures...LAKE TRIP in KY.

• Rode/Drove a waverunner for the first time in years
• Visited the great state of KY for the first time
• Participated in my second beer olympics (and took home the bronze I might add)
• Went to bed after the sun came up (am I in college again?)
• Was introduced to the Crazy Wheel
  
• Went swimming with a dress on
• Learned an awesome new game called Derby (naturally) that will make football season that much more fun
• ...Got lucky???

Here are the pictures I ruined (aka Kacey and Beth photoshoot). Yessssss.

And the best one of the weekend ladies and gents...

I feel like I should win some kind of award for this.

Oh here's a good picture that came out of the bunch with some Nashvegas gals.


I was excited about the lake (and my newly Crest whitestripped teeth). Hence the akwardly large smile. I just realized while looking at this pic that I never show my bottom teeth when I smile...until now.

So yeah that's it. I just slapped a mosquito on my leg and blood smeared on me (and I don't know if it's mine). Gross. I think I'm going to go take a shower now.

Lady and Her Uke

Since I'm on a streak (and by streak I mean one) of covering songs of artists I'll be seeing in concert soonish, I thought I'd continue on. I'm going to see these guys on Halloween at the Ryman which happens to be a Saturday night, and I've already peed my pants with excitement numerous times.

The Avett Brothers - When I Drink Cover

Dude. I had to tune my uke down a step for this song, and it kept trying to tune itself back up mid song. So sorry it's somewhat out of tune, but I just said to hell with it.

Oh...and I guess I proved the ukulele can definitely do downer songs, huh? I'll go with a more uplifting tune next go around.

5k...Take 2

So I ran another 5k at the gym, and I had shaved 4 minutes off my last time. Hooray. I think I might start training for longer distances. We'll see though because I've also been swimming as of late.

I bought a swimming cap a couple of weeks ago because everybody's wearing them at the Y. Then, I decided to try it on at work. It was a Friday, I had gone out the night before with boss and coworkers, and it was my birthday so...

Yes. Someone else did have to take the picture.

Oh and the whole fam came into town for the bday weekend and stayed at Opryland. We had a blast as usual. We hit Hillsboro Village, and I finally got to go to this used bookstore I had been eying for a couple of years now...and I got Emily Post's Etiquette circa 1945 copyright. Hilarious. We laid by the pool, shopped, went to see Harry Potter. Simply put, it was an ideal weekend.

My oldest nephew is convinced that Nashville is the greatest place simply because of Pancake Pantry, Opryland, and the fact that I have a PlayStation and Xbox360. Love it.

Taking It Back

I've basically been in Johnson City for the past two business weeks working it hard. Ha. So the weekends have literally been for regrouping for another week of travel.

I was just downloading some new tunes for the travels, and I decided to download the first cd I ever had. Awesome idea if I do say so myself. My first cd was Nada Surf's High/Low. Remember that song Popular? Yeah...it was on that cd. Turns out I really enjoyed the whole cd which is beyond me because I was only 10 when it came out, but I did have a surf influenced music phase. Anyways, I am thoroughly enjoying the cd all over again. I recommend everyone listen to that first cd they owned if you don't already.

On another note, I climbed a tower this week which I'm really not suppose to do, but I only went like 6 or so feet up. Then one of the other engineers walked out and totally wanted to take pictures so I senior portraited it up. Check it...

My climbing shoes were prime.

Lady and Her Uke

Because I'm so excited about seeing her already, and the concert is exactly 3 months away.

AND y'all haven't heard me and my uke yet.

Ingrid Michaelson - Giving Up Cover

Yea for high notes.

Check This Out

How awesome is THIS?!

Twitter or No?

Wow. I'm trying to decide whether or not to join Twitter. If you had told me six months ago that I was even considering it, I wouldn't have believed you, BUT I really want to join to follow all of the artists I like. Decisions. Decisions. I'm gonna sit and think about it before I decide to sign away my free time.

My life is just so tough. Ha.

5k...Check

Hey. Guess what? I ran a 5k last night at the gym. I hadn't run in like a week, and I just decided to go for it. The great thing is I totally could have run more, but I decided that was a good enough achievement. Thanks to The Avett Brothers and Band of Horses for getting me through it. Kind of obsessed with the bros right now, and this is my current fave song.

I mean, come on. The brothers are playing two instruments at once while singing.

Birthday Surprises

I decided Thursday that I would drive down to ATL for the weekend so I could roadtrip it with the broseph down to Callaway Gardens on Saturday for the pop/nephew's family birthday celebration. I was a surprise.

My mom got a year pass to Callaway through work that lets her, my dad, and five other folks in free. The pass was only $35 which pays for itself if just her and the dad go since it's 15 bucks a head to get in that place. Well, this became a problem when I made the 8th adult in the group.

The broseph and I met up with the caravan, I had my seat totally down to hide from the fam, and my brother was ready to make a quick stop and pay which we thought would surely give away the fact that someone else besides my brother was in the car. However, the seat trick not only fooled the fam but also fooled the guard that was working at the entrance, and we drove right through. Thanks, CG!

Once we parked on the right side of everyone I hopped out of the passenger seat so nobody could see me and yelled surprise. I think my mom was the most surprised. If I could sum up her reaction with one picture, it would be...

She even told me on the way there she asked my dad what he thought I was doing today. Little did she know.

After the surprise, we ate and went to the vegetable garden (which I could have cared less about...I just ran around it with the boys). We also played puttputt (I had two holes in one thank you very much), shuffleboard, ping pong, and we rode the train. Goooood times.

Toys are fun

Hey, guess what? I almost bought my first Apple product the other day...but I didn't. I really needed a small mp3 player for the gym so I wouldn't have to carry around the Zune. Since the Ipod Shuffle was exactly what I needed, and there really aren't too many comparable mp3 players (there's def not one from Microsoft), I was one click away from buying the shurfle.

Then I decided to go back to my roots. Creative Labs. That's right. I got my first mp3 player from Creative. This time I went with the Creative Zen Stone, and it is on it's trek to my office as we speak. Plus I got the cute armband to go with. Yea!

Cutie Patootie

HEY GUYS...

IT'S FRIDAY.

Vaca...yea!

Well, well, well. I've almost recovered from my vacation. I know...you are suppose to rest on vacation yada yada. I had a blast though so no worries. Some of the highlights from the week with a picture included because I don't feel like going into deets:

Family Wedding

Picture to come.

Beach with the Fam

Because no one in my immediate fam ever has a camera.

Tubing and Rafting

This was suppose to be a 1.5 hour trip, but we made it 4+ by tying everyone's tube together.

Ocoee Full River Trip

The shirt I got...and love.

Emergency Room (?)

I hit my head on a tree stump.