Weather Woes

One thing I didn't realize when I moved to Nashville was how difficult it was going to be to bond with my local news anchors.  I still don't have "that feeling" that you get when you know you're watching the local news team that is going to be MY local news team.  Because of this, I'm constantly flipping back and forth between stations in the mornings so last Thursday I must have missed the note that we were expecting more snow.

Couple of things:
1. I love snow.  I love coats, thick socks, hats and the smell of snow, so nothing excites me more when I hear a tempting forecast.
2. This isn't what I consider snow:

When I left work last Thursday, this is what was on my car.  Nashville closed schools at Noon.

I will say it was nice to see the little bit of snow falling out of my window throughout the day, and the way Tennessee drivers are on a normal day scare me enough to know I don't want to see them in bad weather.

The worst thing I ran into was that I was (literally) out of gas, so on my way home, I had to get gas in the snow.  Remember when I said I missed the weather that morning?  Well I didn't have gloves and my hands were frozen stiff.  It was times like that I wish my dad was close-by because he surely would have gone to get gas for me...then again, I wouldn't have wanted to see his face when he saw how low my gas tank was.  I can hear the words "you should know better" reverberating in my head right about now.

Discovered: Loyal Readership

In the past week I've had three people ask me why I haven't been updating my blog.  Three whole people.  I had no idea I had so many dedicated readers!  So, in the spirit of the new year, I promise to do better about updating all my loyal friends on the goings-on in Music City.

Here's the latest news: I'm sick.  Really, really sick.  I honestly can't remember the last time that I've felt like this, so the hot topic right now is me resting.  I've been watching lots of TV and movies and just made a stop at the library to pick up some free DVD's to get me through the weekend.  With hope, by Monday I'll be feeling like myself again.

I was able to venture out to brunch this morning with a friend.  We went to Tavern which is down in the Vanderbilt area.  As an avid eater of breakfast & brunch foods, I  consider myself pretty tough to please, but Tavern didn't disappoint.  Their brunch is DA-LISH.  They have this thing called "White Trash Hash" (I feel like Tennessee is one of few places you could get away with calling something white trash without offending people...) Anyways, it's potatoes, cheese, onions, peppers & deliciousness.  All meals should be served with this as a side dish.

For now I'm back to doing what I do best - resting.  More updates from Music City coming soon!

Here I am

I know it has been a full month and you've all be wondering about me.  (One sec, just choked laughing)

Anyways, just continuing to settle in here in Music City and every day I believe myself more & more when I say, "I live in Nashville, Tennessee."

Lots of updates on what I've been getting into to come including:
- 34 hours in Columbus, Ohio
- The Nashville Bucket List, which will include introductions to my friends
- The CMA's
- Apartment Updates

And I've got a busy 2 weeks coming up with lots of fun events that I want to keep a secret for now.

That's all from me, y'all!

Extremely Exciting Update

Not too much to report from Music City the past week or so.  I did celebrate my first birthday in Nashville - let's hope over the next year I'll get some friends to help celebrate my NEXT birthday in Nashville.

This past weekend I did do some exploring.  I've been hearing about Southeastern Salvage practically since I moved here.  Deciding this was finally the time to go, everyone I told on Friday looked at me with big eyes and an "are you sure you're going to go alone?" look.  Are you kidding?  I lived in Shockoe Bottom & shared a parking lot with Have a Nice day Cafe.  Give me a real challenge.

Southeastern Salvage is awesome.  It's a home decorators' dream & I can see many more trips in my future.  After some gawking, I left with these great patio furniture cushions for $9.  Obviously they're orange and look great on my patio (which is in dire need of some plants, flowers & a cafe table.)

                               

I also (finally) framed these great prints I got as a birthday gift from my brother from Etsy.  No, he didn't pick these out on his own, I sent the direct link to them once I saw them a year ago in Martha Stewart Living.  I think they're a great addition to my dining area and hopefully I can find some sort of cool/antique buffet for this room as well.

I will constantly be in a phase of "fixing up" my living space.  Maybe once it looks something like this I'll be satisfied....but even then, I'll probably find more to redecorate :)



The Life Goal.



Celebrity Sightings: RIC > DET > BNA

Being someone who follows celebrity gossip faithfully, I never seem to "run into" celebrities (except for that one fateful day last May in NYC when I ran into SJP and I'll never forget it as long as I live)  Leave it to me to have a celebrity on BOTH of my flights back to Nashville this weekend!

Celebrity Sighting #1: RIC > DET, Timothy Busfield

Who? Umm that guy from Field of Dreams obviously.  He was one of the last people on the plane and sat down right across the aisle from me.  In pretty close quarters, I stared when I heard his voice knowing it was familiar.  Then my face turned red and looked back at my book realizing he's not that big of a deal.  But still, pretty interesting.

Celebrity Sighting #2: DET > BNA, Lauren Alaina

Yep. The runner up from American Idol.  THAT Lauren Alaina.  The second I saw her, I knew it was her, even though she's not quite famous yet.  Unprepared for what to do, I immediately texted my American Idol dealer, Courtney.  It went something like this:

Me: Lauren Alaina is sitting across from me!!!!!!

AID: Whaaaat? Where? Why? How?

Me: Flying through Detroit to Nashville. I'd feel like an idiot if I say "I know you" though.  That's embarrassing, right?

AID: You should say, "Just so you know, I hate Scotty. You should have won."

At this point in the texting back & forth, I'm pretty sure her mom and manager both realized I was texting about her and all proceeded to get up and go wait for the flight across the terminal.  But alas, as we were boarding I was presented with another opportunity to celebrity stalk.  Lauren seemed to have lost her boarding pass and was having a pretty major freak out attack over it.  I stood around and watched it all happen, missing my zone boarding completely, which forced me to have to check my bag.  When you're in Zone 2 and board during Zone 4, apparently there might not be space left for your bag.  Rats!

Lessons learned: Pull myself together.  I mean, what if that had been Taylor Swift or George Strait?  Do I plan on just watching celebrities when I run into them or take this to the next level and request them to be friends on facebook? Pretty sure I need to lock it up before I run into a REAL celeb and need to put my Celebrity Friend Plan into action.

Let's go PRE - DA - TORS!

The great thing about not really ever having any plans is that when someone asks you at 4pm if you want to go to the Predators pre-season game that night, it doesn't take too long to say YES!

Last night I headed down to Bridgestone Arena with some newly made friends and enjoyed watching the Preds dominate the Caps from the 7th row.  Not too shabby!

Going into this game, pretty much the only thing I knew about hockey involved Al Michaels and 5 simple words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gfD134ED54
(I mean, my parents grew up in the mid-west, this is the type of sports history I got growing up)

I wasn't 100% sure how to dress for this event.  It's inside...but there's ice.  Older Bro Brad suggested I bring a sweatshirt.  I'm still trying to control my laughter.  Instead I went for a sensible Fall friendly outfit and figured I'd take a chance with my feet freezing off.  They didn't, whew!

Anyways, it was super fun and I'm definitely a fan.  I mean, I won't be watching the games on TV or anything, but anytime I can get to another game, I'll be a fan again then.



Some pics from the 7th closest seats in the arena:









Bookworm Wannabee

Today was a special day for the life of any "new resident."  I got a library card. 

I love to read.  Lotssssssssss.  I was excited to see that I work only 1 mile away from the Green Hills library branch, however I barely believed I was at the library when I pulled up to this:

That's right, I'm in the South.  We apparently have architectural competitions for everything - including libraries.

This library is the bomb.  Lots of books that seem to always be in stock, books on tape (to help with the 10-hour drives to Richmond) and...MOVIES.  You don't understand.  Richmond City library barely has ANY movies.  I know exactly where I'm going should I not feel well or get injured....

I went back and forth picking a book.  I'm going to be flying this weekend and will more than likely get stuck all weekend in the Atlanta airport while flying Delta, so I originally was looking for something "fluffy" with a cover that had pastels (I judge books by their covers) but ultimately decided on South of Broad by Pat Conroy which takes places in beautiful Charleston.  Evidently I'd like to torture myself since the inside cover (yep, also read those) that has phrases like, "family struggles with shattering effects," "lonely and isolated" and "a prison-escapee father."  Weeeee!!!!