Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday...and he spent this morning putting up shelves in our laundry closet. That is a perfect example of my dad- always putting others in front of himself.

I love my dad for so many reasons. He's a very quiet, observant man, but when he does speak, it's usually about something interesting. He has such a calm demeanor- I rarely see him upset or worked up. He's happy-go-lucky and relaxed.

My dad cracks up at some of the most random stuff, which is hilarious to me. His laugh is infectious...if he's laughing I find myself joining in. Luckily, we share a similar sense of humor! He thinks Jackass is hysterical, and I remember when I was younger that he loved to watch Married with Children.

He loves manly things like crossword puzzles, war movies, and Civil War books. But he also has a love of margaritas, sangria, and Abba. He may seem gruff on the outside, but underneath he's a big sweetheart. Just look at him when he's around Ella. She loves her Papa, and he loves her right back. My parents even made a stop in Assumption on the way home from Nashville yesterday so Dad could see Ella. It had been 2 days since he'd seen her, afterall!

This isn't a very eloquently written post. I just wanted to take a second and wish my dad a very Happy Birthday. I'm a lucky girl to have a dad like him!

H-O-T

It's a scorcher out there!

Mom and Dad drove down from Decatur last night to help us settle in (ie-Dad is going to hang shelves for us and Mom is going to buy us things for the kitchen!) We woke up early this morning with grand intentions of finding some good garage sales treasures, and were enjoying breakfast at The Pancake Pantry (a Nashville Institution) by 7 this morning...

...we were done garage sale-ing before 10 today. It is just TOO HOT to do anything outside that doesn't involve a boat and a lake, or a pool. Needless to say we didn't find much. A few books and a tea set for Ella.

Mom is taking a nap and Dad and I are relaxing on the couch watching a movie. Poor Will had to work today, but will hopefully be off and chilling with us in the glorious AC soon.

On a random note, I can't believe that Michael Jackson died a couple days ago. I admit I never thought much about him before, but it is strange that he's no longer around. What fascinates me is all the media attention his death has brought. I understand that he's a pop icon and everything, but WOW! There are new developments and articles everytime I open the internet. I enjoyed his music, but certainly don't consider myself a superfan. Regardless, it's a sad loss. I wonder if years from now we'll remember where we were when we found out MJ passed...

Happy Saturday! Hope everyone stays cool!

CMA Fest

In addition to moving, we have been taking advantage of summertime happenings around Nashville. Last weekend, the CMA Music Fest was in town. 4 days of non-stop country music action, all within steps of our condo! Since we were moving, we weren't able to spend as much time participating in the downtown activities and free concerts (which is too bad, because it looked like a lot of fun! Definitely plan on checking that out next year). We were able to score some tickets to the McDonalds suite at LP Field, though, for the headlining concerts on 2 of the nights. I was grateful to have those tickets for several reasons:

1. Tickets to these events were about $40-$50/night. Free is better!


2. We could walk, which took care of 2 things. We didn't have to pay for parking (there's that free word, again!) and we were able to time how long it took to get from our place to the Field- Titans season is quickly approaching!


3. The suite is air conditioned, which is heavenly on a muggy, hot, Southern June night

I love concerts of any kind- if it's live music, I'm typically happy to be there- but I've never been to a country music concert before. I made a few observations that I feel compelled to share, even if it's just for my own documentation...

• First of all, country music draws such a DIVERSE crowd! There were people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and ethnicities piled under one roof for the same reason. That impressed me. And everyone got along! People were dancing and singing and relaxed. I love when people are able to let loose and have fun and not be judged for it.
• Country musicians put on a good show. I was entertained the entire time, and got to see some big name country artists. I think it is very cool that these famous musicians aren't above only playing 4 or 5 of their songs, and sharing a bill with lots of other people.
• It may be cliche, but country musicians are probably the most patriotic people in the states. They love to sing about "Mare-ka" (America to the lay person's ear.) Each concert started with someone singing the Star Spangled Banner, complete with 4 fighter jets flying overhead at a LOW altitude. Seeing those planes like that is really cool, and always gives me goose bumps. And a couple of the musicians brought up veterans during their show when they sang patriotic songs.
• I was struck, also, by how appreciate the fans were. I was downtown on Thursday and saw a Marine dressed in his full military outfit, and observed several complete strangers walk up to him and shake his hand and tell him "Thank you" for what he does for our country. The same type of thing happened at the concerts. Several military men were walking to their seats on the field, and they got a HUGE spontaneous round of applause from the fans. I think these days we do take for granted that these men and women risk their lives in combat to protect us here in the states. It's nice to know that patriotism isn't dead, and I'm sure that the military people appreciated being appreciated.
• My favorite moment of the fest, I think, though was when the Zac Brown Band played their popular song, "Chicken Fried." Zac sang the first part, "You know I like my chicken fried" and then the crowd sang "Cold beer on a Friday night". And it wasn't like a handful of people sang it, the ENTIRE crowd of 50,000- some people sang. You wanna talk about goosebumps- I love, love, love when stuff like that happens. How cool would you feel if that many people knew the words to your song?

I'm starting to ramble, but wanted to share some of my thoughts on my first CMA Fest. All-in-all, a great time! Can't wait for next year!

Kenny Chesney

Taylor Swift

The past couple weeks since we've been home from Hilton Head have been busy! Will's work schedule is crazy and hectic as he gets ready for Corporate Reviews of the stores. And while my days haven't changed from the 8-5 routine, I've been moving during my lunch break, which means working from 2 locations.

We have spent every available moment shuffling our cars back and forth between the old place and our new place. Moving by one or two car loads at a time is somewhat easier than doing it all at once, but it can also be exhausting. Some nights I'm happy to just move one load and be done for the evening, but other days I wish we would have just rented a U-Haul and got everything out in one shot.

We finished cleaning the old place last night, so we are officially moved out, minus a few stray items that are being stored at the office for now. As you can see from the pictures, though...we are no where near being "settled". I keep looking at that mess of a room and want to tackle it, but don't know where to start. We are in desperate need of a dresser and a bookshelf. Currently we have no place to put all those things in boxes. I sometimes forget that we had a storage unit in addition to all the stuff we kept in our apartment. Seeing it all at once is a bit overwhelming.

32 years!

Happy Anniversary to my parents today! Just a short list of what 32 years of marriage has yielded:

• 4 beautiful, charming, talented children (in my humble opinion)
• 1 adorable, funny, intelligent grand-daughter
• (Almost) a great daughter-in-law
• LOTS of foreign "children" from hosting exchange students over the years
• 3 dogs (that I know about)
• Several houses
• Countless cars
• Many vacations together (Mexico, Ireland, Belgium, France, and Chile to name a few locations)
• Some scary moments, some sad ones...but mostly happy times together

I am so happy and proud that my parents are still together after 32 years of marriage. It's sad that now-a-days divorce is more common than staying together. I just wanted to honor them today with a story that has stuck with me since college.

Mom and Dad drove down to St. Louis to visit for the weekend, and we all went to a Carbon Leaf concert at Blueberry Hill. During the whole show, my parents were standing in the back, necking on each other and having a great time together (MUCH to my embarrasement- I was 21 and all my friends were there. People could see them!)

After the concert, Jordan (the bass player from Carbon Leaf) mentioned that he saw my parents making out during the entire show. Mortified, I apologized profusely for their behavior. He stopped me, though, and said "I think it's awesome that they still act that way. It's cool that they're in love. I hope my wife and I are still that crazy about each other in 25 years."

I agree with Jordan. My parents are something special, and I, too, hope I'm still crazy in love when I reach my 32 anniversary.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! I love you!

Hilton Head

Remember that VH1 show, "The Best Week Ever"? I'm not sure if it's still on or not, but if it is, my week would definitely qualify. I went to Hilton Head, SC with Will's family for the second year in a row, and once again the island didn't disappoint. A week in Hilton Head is best described by the senses:

• The feel of a hot sun warming you, the sand under your feet and the coolness of the water on your toes as you walk the beach
• The smell of sunscreen, salt water, and fresh fish
• The sound of happy kids laughing, seagulls chirping over the water, a man and a guitar singing Buffett and Marley covers at The Tiki Hut, a volleyball being hit back and forth, and waves crashing against the surf
• The sight of an endless ocean, shrimp boats, palm trees, sea shells, Coast Guard helicopters flying, kites soaring in the ocean breeze, kids splashing in the pool and ocean, and happy, relaxed, sun-kissed faces
• The taste of chapstick and salt water, crab legs and shrimp, pina coladas and strawberry dacquiris, and ice cream and popsicles.

Once again a big THANK YOU to Will's dad for everything! It's a lot of fun to spend time with his family, especially at one of their favorite vacation spots. Some of my favorite pictures from the week:

Drinks at The Tiki Hut with Cari and Will

Pete taking Olivia and Luke for a sunset bike ride on the beachCute little Avery- she loved playing in the sand!I was the official dacquiri/pina colada maker of the week. I'm must have earned that title because I made the first batch strong, and no one looked back.The annual shot by "their" tree. Will's family has taken a picture by this tree for almost 30 years now!

Harbor Town. Big boats and pretty sunsets.

Insomnia...

It's 2:00 in the morning and though I should be tired I'm not. Since rising at 5:00 AM Central Time yesterday morning I have:

• Packed and loaded a car
• Left Hilton Head after a wonderful week of beach vacation
• Rode in a car for 10 hours
• Finished my 2nd book in 2 days (gotta love easy beach reads!)
• Listened to an entire book on CD in one sitting
• Stopped to drop off Cari, and then Will's dad, before I made it home myself
• Unloaded a car
• Packed a bag and the laptop to come downtown to the loft
• Scanned over craigslist and made several phone calls in hopes of finding a ticket to see Coldplay and Snow Patrol play tonight
• Drove downtown to the new loft
• Sorted through a week's worth of mail
• Re-hooked up wireless at the loft now that the place is painted
• Chatted with my sister for a few minutes
• Walked down to the Sommet Center and found an excellent ticket for a decent price ($50 under face value!)
• Saw one of the best concerts I've been to in a LONG time- 2 of my favorite bands in one night. Awesome
• Took LOTS of pictures. Funny how going to a concert alone made me more camera happy. I really enjoyed playing with and trying out different camera settings.
• Walked back to the loft after the concert. It was lovely to be at "home" (though we haven't moved in yet) less than 10 minutes after the show ended.
• Decided that the loft was too quiet, so packed up the car and headed back toward Madison
• Got stuck in post-concert/downtown Saturday night traffic and managed to get about 4 blocks away from the loft in 30 minutes
• Became frustrated, so I turned around and went back to the loft.
• Blew up the air mattress and turned on I-tunes to keep me company
• Edited my pictures from the past week
• Uploaded and emailed my Hilton Head pictures to Will's family
• Posted the concert pics on facebook
• Wrote this blog

That's close to 24 hours straight of activity...so Why oh WHY can't I sleep?! Maybe it has something to do with being alone in the loft for the first time. Will is in St. Louis at a bachelor party tonight, so I'm here by myself. I'm not necessarily scared, but I am unaccustomed to the noises of the new place, which puts me on edge. It's so strange to feel apprehensive and a bit scared of the dark at the age of 27!

I was going to write about Hilton Head and post some pics, but I've decided it's best to postpone that. I think I'll put a movie on instead and hope to doze off. I will make it through my first night alone here! :)