Ohhh, boy

Good job, Meaghan. Plan a vacation, while unemployed, to go to an expensive foreign country.  And heck, while you're at it- stay a couple days in the #2 most expensive city in the world! $43 for lunch? Chump change.

I read this in an article today:

2. Oslo, Norway

Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $43
Can of beer from a grocer: $4.71
One kg of rice: $5.66
One dozen eggs: $6.72

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $16

Gulp....good thing we're going to be sleeping cheap. Camp grounds, overnight trains, fishing cabins, and hostels will hopefully offset the expense of...eating. Unfortunately, eating is something that is unavoidable, so here's hoping not every food item in Norway is costly. 

In other Norway news, Andy and Sandy have booked tickets to come to Norway, too! They fly into Oslo a week after we do.  Hopefully we can hammer out some plans while they're visiting Nashville this weekend so we can meet up in Norway and celebrate Sandy's Norwegian roots together.  We'll have to do it over a hike or a fishing trip where we catch and cook our own fish, though.  I don't think I'll be able to afford to eat.

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Recipe for a fun family vacation:

5 Parts family (Clarks, Hedenbergs, Kennedys, Koskis, and Wingards)

1 Beach House with multiple decks and stunning ocean and lagoon views

6 Hot, sunny days

1 Rainy day, perfect for going to the movies

1 Enjoyable evening of Al Fresco dining at Lulu's

5 Deliciously prepared home-cooked dinners

1 Entertaining evening of karaoke-watching at the Pink Pony Pub

4 Birthday parties in one night

1 Fun Filled Dolphin Cruise

1 Fabulous Sunset at the beach while watching a full moon rise over the ocean

1 Amazing Sunrise on the morning of departure

A Hint of sadness as you watch the coast become more and more oil-ridden as the week progresses

A Sprinke of Sun Kissed faces

A Liberal Dash of Laughter

Simmer together on the coast of Gulf Shores, Alabama for one week, and enjoy the pictures and memories for a long time to come! 

The Beach on our first day

Unfortunately, this is the same beach on our last night.  The oil has started coming ashore. It's a very sad sight to see.

What a cute family!

And another one! I love how this picture turned out- the sunset is gorgeous behind them.

The only way we could get Ella to cooperate for a picture.

Drew, me, and the big ol' zit on my chin

The Koski clan checking out the sunset

Seriously, gorgeous sunsets every night...and a great picture of Mark and Pam

Addi and Ella getting ready to watch Toy Story 3 in 3-D

Momma and Dad on the Dolphin Cruise

Put this girl behind the wheel of a boat, and she's in her happy place

Luke seems pretty happy behind the wheel as well!

He's the King of the World on a boat like Leo

Feeling for the baby moving in Erin's belly

She's daydreaming about driving the boat

Ella loved this dress that Patti bought her.  She would barely take it off the last 2 days of "bacation"!

Sea Oats, the Moon Rising, and a boat

I so love my Ella Bella. 

They caught the moon!

Cousins playing in the sand

What a cutie

So is Gracie.  I love that she, Ella, and Addi all shared the same outfit on the beach.

Gorgeous sunrise on our last day

What would you grab?

You know that hypothetical question that people always ask- if there was a fire and you had to get out of your house right away, what would you grab?  I discovered my answer last night...

Will and I were awoken from a dead sleep when our building's fire alarm went off around 12:45 AM last night. Not sure what was going on, I opened our front door and found a ton of smoke in the hallway. Wowza. Talk about scary.  I grabbed my purse (but only because it was right by the door) and we ran down the front stairs, joined a bunch of our neighbors in front of our building, and waited for the fire department to show up.   So...yeah.  Apparently my answer to the age-old question is: Will and my purse.  I was much more concerned about getting us out safely and quickly than I was about grabbing pictures, keepsakes, or anything like that.  Humans are more important.

As it turns out, our building did NOT catch on fire. Whew! A fireman told us that some idiot decided it would be fun to steal a fire extinguisher from the first floor, take the elevator to our floor (the 4th) and set it off in the hallway.  And no, he didn't actually use the word 'idiot' when he explained what happened, but I'm sure he wanted to...I know I did (in addition to some other choice words that aren't blog appropriate). 

I was unaware that using a fire extinguisher creates a huge smoke cloud of chemicals that suck all the oxygen out of a room and then causes the fire alarms to go off.  We were so freaked (and groggy) by the sight of smoke in the hallway that it failed to register with us that there was no smoke smell, nor was it hot in the hallway.  The fire department aired out the hallway by using massive fans to get the chemicals out of the air, and we were able to get back inside after an hour or so.  This is what our hallway looked like as we came back upstairs:

Awesome, huh?  I can hear someone in the hallway now, working on cleaning up the mess.  I really hope whoever caused this is found out and punished accordingly. Because it wasted precious beauty sleep as well as the fire department's time.  It was pretty scary when it happened, then really annoying once we discovered what was really going on.  But at least I now know my answer to the "what would you grab" question.

Cocktail Cupcakes

We're headed to Hilton Head on Saturday for the Mason's annual family vacation, so I figured what better way to start the holiday than by making some cupcakes inspired by everyone's favorite fruity beach drinks?

The picture doesn't show much, but I made Strawberry Daiquiri and Pina Colada Cupcakes!

Will's dad's birthday is tomorrow, too, so I had double the reason to make a double batch.  Both cupcakes have a little rum in them to give them a more authentic flavor.  I added grated lime zest to the Strawberry Daiquiri frosting while the Pina Colada frosting got another splash of rum, some pineapple tidbits with juice and a coconut sprinkle on top.  Bring on the Summer Beach Vacations!

Confessions of a Spa Day Virgin

I cashed in my birthday present from Will's dad and sister today- a day at the spa, something I've never experienced before.  I was p-a-m-p-e-r-e-d to new extremes.  I don't think I've ever felt so...girly.  I am no stranger to manis and pedis, but I am definitely not the type of girl who craves massages and facials. Here's a run down of today's events, and my thoughts about a couple new spa experiences:

First order of business was an eyebrow and lip threading.  I am unfortunate victim of some truly awful genes, the result of which are horendously bushy eyebrows and a blonde-haired upper lip.  In a side-by-side comparison, my face feels exactly like a peach- fuzzy. I have to tweeze/thread/wax on a regular basis, lest I want to look more like this (or any one of my highschool pictures, when I believed it was better to have ginormous eyebrows than to deal with a little pain): 

Having divulged that dirty secret, I love getting threaded- I'd take a threading over a waxing any day of the week.  Yes, it stings a bit and makes my eyes water like crazy, but the pain is very short-lived and the redness is gone within minutes.  Another plus? Threading lasts much longer than waxing. I highly recommend it. Because this is a better look for me, agreed?

From there I moved onto a facial...the first I've had in my 28 years on earth.  Did I enjoy it? Yes.  Was it relaxing? Sure.  Did it leave me with silky smooth skin? Absolutely.  But the thing that stuck with me about my first facial was the background music.  I listened to the same track (#5) over and over and over again. For ove an hour.  It had me wondering- what did track 5 have over tracks #1-4? Were they less relaxing and therefore inferior to track 5? To be honest, the background music was distracting from my relaxation.  Also, I got a case of the giggles. I'm not sure why. Absolutely nothing funny happened while I was in the room.  Remember being young and sitting in church and getting a case of the giggles and trying to stifle it, but in trying to stifle it, it kept getting funnier and funnier? Yeah, that was me today.  Model of maturity, right here.

Next stop- an HOUR long massage!  That? Was the best part of my day.  Holy cow, was it relaxing.  I am really surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did.  I was not even looking forward to it because I was weirded out by a stranger touching me.  But it didn't bother me in the slightest, and the hour went way too quickly.  And I wasn't ticklish at all, like I fully expected to be.  5 out of 5 stars.

The afternoon ended with a manicure and pedicure.  So now I have pretty fingers and toes. Yay. 

All in all, it was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon full of truly girly activities.  Which felt nice.  It's good to be really girly sometimes.

It's funny that while life is more or less back to normal here in Nashville, the floods and recovery efforts are still all that is covered on the news.  It's un-escapable around here.  I do love that Nashville has rallied together to get through this rough patch.  Nashville has a new "battle cry"- We Are Nashville.  I like it. :) We watched the telethon that aired on GAC on Sunday night (and raised over $1.7 million to help flood victims!), and I couldn't be happier to be living here amongst some really great, giving people, both famous and not.  And I still love the fact that that show was airing from the Ryman Auditorium, live, just steps from our door.  This town has really grown on me.


 My 28th (GAH!!!) birthday was last week and Will showered me with gifts every 28 year old ladee would be happy to receive- flowers and a screen door for our living room window.  Unfortunately the weather has remained craptastic lately so we haven't had a chance to install it yet, but I'm looking forward to being able to open our door and let some fresh air into our place, while keeping bugs out.

We went out on the town for my birthday dinner last Wednesday.  We dined at Germantown Cafe, a local restaurant that was darn tasty.  While we were at a rather nice restaurant, our Salmon Curry and Rib Eye steaks were served on Chinette paper plates, and our wine was served in plastic cups.  Nashville is still on a water restriction since the flooding happened.  Area restaurants are pitching in by serving on paper and plastic to cut down on dish washing.  We have done very limited loads of laundry in the past few weeks, and have only run the dishwasher twice since the beginning of May.  Hopefully the 2nd water plant that was damaged by flood waters is up and running soon. 

We are in full-blown planning mode for Norway.  We have booked several parts of our trip, which is now less than 3 months away! We've made reservations for our own version of the popular "Norway in a Nutshell" tour that involves taking 2 trains that have been listed in the World's Top 25 train list, as well as a ferry right through the Sognefjord to Bergen.  We've also rented our car, which is super expensive, but a necessity for us to be able to see all that we want to see.  Andy and Sandy are contemplating joining us for a portion of our trip before they have to attend a wedding in London.  We're holding out hope that they can meet up with us for a few days.  Traveling with a group is always a good time.

And....hmmm....Welp, that's about it for now.

Ranting

The national news never ceases to amaze me.  I was shocked when speaking to my parents last night.  They mentioned that they have seen very little coverage of the disaster that's unfolding in my city. Really? Really?! Yes, Oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico are sad and deserve coverage.  Bomb threats in New York City are a serious matter. But what I've seen happen this weekend, and continue to see on the (local) news is just as heartbreaking.  I saw footage this weekend of people being rescued from their 2nd story windows, from the roofs of their cars, and from flooded interstates where they were stranded for hours with nowhere to go.  10 people have died as a result of this flood, and that's only what they can account for right now. Who knows what the total will be once the water recedes. Homes have caught on fire with literally a river around them.  No firemen can get to them because of the water so these poor people have to helplessly watch their home burn from TV helicopter coverage.  Schools are out of school again tomorrow, and part of downtown is without power...and will be until the end of the week. So many places and buildings that make Nashville the great city that it is are under water right now.  Several counties have been declared federal disaster areas.  How can the national news not be interested in sharing this story with the country? I saw this video on a diferent blog and felt compelled to share it.  It shows some pretty impressive pictures of the damage that we are seeing firsthand.