Nosh in Nash

Saturday morning (afternoon) we girls got up with Noshville on our minds. Griddle Cakes and bacon. Mmm...

Table pictures.

KJC and I promote peace.

After breakfast and some shopping, we came to the apartment to rest a bit before going back out for dinner. Joy morphed into 40-year-old-mom Joy in this little ensemble. Throughout the weekend we also saw, "the Joy we know," and her friends, "Emma Pillsbury Joy" and "Granola Joy." We were very confused.

After dinner at SatCo (always, always a must), we tried to go see Josh at Amerigo and get some butter crunch cake, but they were slammed and his only words as he flew past me were, "Heeey, not a good night." So we waved from afar and went to get some yogurt instead.

More of Amanda's excited face captures.

Back at the apartment, Karen pretended she liked Granger, but continually spurned his advances.

Then we gave Amanda and Joy a 3D birthday card we got them at Urban Outfitters earlier in the day (their birthdays are next week).

This card has been edited by Amanda's finger.

I love this one. I don't know why. Probably because it's so representative of how our evenings usually look when we're all together, lounging about.

Granger and the girls. He loved it, sitting on a little pillow in the middle of the six of us.

Alohamora

Overhead views of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter construction on Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.

Get. Excited.

Boots on Broadway

So begins the girls' weekend in Nashville.

After Joy, Ellen and I woke up on Friday morning (post-Jersey Boys), we went to meet Marjo and Betsy V. (Joy's sister) for lunch at Jason's Deli. Fun times. I had not seen Marjo since she announced to us that she's pregs (due in May, right, Marj?), and I always love seeing Betsy. And we had a little time to kill waiting for Amanda, Karen and Katie Jo to pick us up in Memphis, so lunch ran long enough to allow several refills of ice cream... and in Ellen's case, a bit of a chocolate syrup situation.

It also got on her shoe.

Marj, Joy, Me and El

She's getting there, but that's not much belly, Marjo.

When the Jackson girls arrived, Joy was very excited because they'd never seen her house before. She squealed when they rang the doorbell and then, on the tour, said in a way that only Joy can, "And I come to this corner to read and pray."

We made it back to Nashville about 7, trucked it up to my apartment and got ready for dinner at the Whiskey Kitchen. Yum, yum.

Boots on Broadway.
Part of our weekend plan came to fruition after an offhanded joke about visiting a Honky Tonk was turned into a "must do" activity.

Making our way down Broadway.

Love some lights.

Our destination of choice was Robert's.

There were boots lining the wall.

Apparently Amanda loves taking pictures like this.

Joyful.

I was probably getting on to her.

I wish the band had played, "Bright lights, big city," like they do in that scene in Sweet Home Alabama.

These ladies kept dance bumping Karen.

They approve of Robert's.

*heart* Nashville

*Saturday adventures tomorrow.

Just stop it. Cuuuuute.

Oh, what a night!

Ellen and her mom had tickets to see the musical, Jersey Boys, in Memphis last weekend, but of course, Middle Tennessee was snowed in, so they didn't make it to the show. Very sad...

Then yesterday, in a spur of the moment chance, we found out those tickets could be transferred to another performance. Sadly, Ellen's mom wasn't feeling well, so I bravely stepped in on her behalf, and Ellen and I trekked to Memphis in the rain for a little Thursday night trip to the theater.

And it was SO good. I didn't realize how many of The Four Seasons songs I actually knew. Go see it if you can. You won't regret it. And you'll be-bop and do-wop yourself right on out of the theater.

As for today, Amanda, Karen and Katie Jo will swing through Memphis to grab me and Joy before we continue on our way back to Nashville for a little girl-time weekend in the city. Can't wait!

But first, a Memphis lunch excursion with Marjo and Betsy V.

See you all Monday.

(Mississippi people, who are you rooting for in the Super Bowl?)

FNL Season 4

How is almost over (on Direct TV) already? Season finale looks good...

I'm...

Busy prepping for the arrival of four of my friends tomorrow afternoon.

And so you are left with nothing of merit to read, from any corner of my brain.

Happy Thursday.

LOST, The Final Season

Yes, for the blog.

Unless you live under a blown up hatch, 1000 miles off the coast of Fiji, you know the premiere episode of the FINAL SEASON of LOST was last night.

Don't even get me started.

Josh and I convened over at Ellen's house to enjoy the show in HD with a Mexican fiesta of fajitas, bean dip (El, I need to get that recipe) and Russell's margaritas.

We do The Island proud at all times, in all ways.

I mean, I don't even know what to say. What can you say? It's insanity. It's awesome. It's going to blow our minds until May and then it's over. Forever. And I might cry...

I was excited. And debating between this and my "Drive Shaft" tee.

Russell sent a text on Monday, letting us know the was bringing a "special island treat." A mango, artfully cut and rendered to resemble The Island. And in the center is the yellow plane that Boone and Locke spent time excavating in season one. Nice job, Russell. (I provided the tropical napkins for continuity.)

Josh made fajitas.

They were tasty. Ellen and I enjoyed them from the couch. Where the girls always sit to view LOST. (See my Season 2 Photo Album for reference.)

SHOWTIME. AHHHHHHHH!

Ru Ru had theories.

There was a minor spill at one point.

And then... it was over.

*****

Feel free to share your observations and totally mind-frakked thoughts in the comments. If you can form a coherent sentence. I mean... just...

No words.

(The "LOST" Supper, as everyone is calling it.)

TONIGHT.

The FINAL SEASON of LOST begins.

I sort of, almost can't take it. It's the beginning of the end. Flutters. Excitement. Sadness... and I'm sure a whole lot of crazy.

RAW!

Last night, Ellen, Josh and I found ourselves at the Sommet Center, in the alternate reality known as Monday Night Raw (yes, the wrestling). This was made possible courtesy of Russell, and free tickets he scored from his pal (Mississippi College graduate) and Raw wrestler, Ted DiBiase, Jr.

That's right.

And let's not forget Josh and Ellen's contribution to Teddy's formative years, when they were his leaders in Young Life.

Mississippi College and Clinton, MS were all over that joint.

I honestly have NO clue how to describe what happened inside that arena. I'm not about to start tuning in or anything, but it was very entertaining to me, probably for reasons on the opposite end of the spectrum from all the hardcore fans in the crowd. I mean, some of these people were more fun to watch than the wrestlers. One chick was on her feet flipping off the loser (even though there was absolutely no possible way he could see her) and there were various pockets of yellers and screamers all around us. Chanting could also be heard at times.

So, you can see how it was imperative that I plan ahead.

I did not feel my clothing was appropriate for the wrestling scene, so we hit up Target for a Guns 'n Roses/Metallica t-shirt combo.

Which I came home and cut up.

Dinner at Rippy's before the show. Appropriate name for pre-wrestling dinner, I think.

Sommet! It was a little different than that time we saw Kings of Leon.

Getting excited!

The ring was smaller than I expected.

This delightful chap had on a studded wrestling diaper (my name for their outfits). And he was inexplicably wet (not from sweating). All of them were. This baffled Ellen and she even contemplated handing them towels.

During the commercial breaks, the entire place went dark.

There he is (on the right) Teddy. Priceless. Go Choctaws!
Between matches, they'd show video of the guys talking smack to each other backstage. They were always shirtless. And pantless, basically.

Teddy, fighting a guy who was once the strongest man in the world (I'm not sure how they know that).

We couldn't stop laughing. And I feel like it might be possible for me to go up against one of these guys and win. That's how fake it looked sometimes. But, man, the crowd was eating it up!

Teddy won! Do it like a CHOCTAW!

And let's not even talk about how excited Josh was that Willaim Shatner was the host. Ridiculous.

The man is so odd.

Staged. Like the fights they were watching.

This young fellow brought his own champion belt (might be hard to tell, but it's tossed over the shoulder of the guy on the right).

Teddy on a truck and Ru Ru with some cotton candy.

Hardcore t-shirts.

So, okay, wrestling is obviously not my thing, and I had no clue about the soap opera story lines, or who I was supposed to root for, but it was entertaining/interesting to see. Seriously. Like visiting a foreign country. Very funny night.

Silly things:

About two seconds after we sat down, a huge display of pyrotechnics boomed through the place (the wrestlers come out in this firestorm of pyro and walk down a little ramp to the ring), which scared me and Ellen to death. She spilled her drink on the guy in front of her and we were doubled over laughing. Tears rolling down. This video is not from that moment, but it gets you an idea of the theatrical entrance.



***

At one point, one of the wrestlers said something was making him "madder," and Ellen and I both immediately said, "it's more mad," garnering a snicker from the guy sitting in front of us.

***



Okay, I'm sorry, but it's true. These are grown men wearing bedazzled diaper-esque outfits, wrapping their legs around each other and jumping all over the place. It's slightly homoerotic.

Lost Character Love, pt. 6

Jack and Kate
Favorite Moments?















New Promo. New Footage. FREAKING OUT.

Nashville's "Situation 2010"

I don't know why, but the Nashville Twitter community opted to name the winter storm that swept through town, #TheSituation2010. Apparently parts of Nash got around 7 inches of snow, and Ellen reported that Jackson (TN, "we're goin' to...") got 10 inches. And, so, Middle Tennessee was immobilized.

Evidence in support of this mobilization:

"Confession...I put my pj's on Thursday night when I got home and have not changed out of them! Just FYI...I don't plan on changing out of them until I leave."
- Ellen, via email from her family compound in Jackson

But not everyone stayed in. At least, not here on West End Avenue where cars prevail day and night.

People were LOVING it. There were community organized snowball fights and lines of revelers 200 deep waiting to buy sleds from local hardware stores. Yesterday morning a guy was making moguls on the hill across the street from our apartment, and jumping them repeatedly on his snowboard (which, seemed like a lot of work to me, it's not like the hill takes that long to get down). Winter Wonderland all the way.

Sadly, I have nothing in the way of water-proof clothing, so I could not participate fully... but I did take some fun pictures...

JANUARY 29

Courtyard of our building.

We decided to ride around and check things out at Centennial Park.

The Parthenon

This is where they had the Twitter-organized snowball fight.

Josh took this picture and when I first opened the file, it was really, super dark, so I lightened it and played around with it until it looked like this. Yes, it's grainy and snowflakes are all over the lens, and it looks a little overexposed, but I sort of love it.

I liked how the lights, my flash, and the snow made the sky look purple.

One more.

In the car.

Josh and I rode around with Russell, looking for a place that hadn't closed down for dinner. That's when we happened upon Cafe Coco, which I'd heard of before, and now believe will become a swift favorite on our list of locations. It was cold. Real cold. And still snowing...

After dinner snow angel.

No, those aren't waterproof jeans.

******

JANUARY 30

Josh had to work, so I stayed inside, huddled up with Granger, my Alpine Berry tea, some knee socks and a Bones marathon. Yes, I'm doing the same things with Bones that I did with Crossing Jordan a couple of years ago. And I love it.

However, I did have to take the pup outside to "do his business," so I took that opportunity to grab some shots of West End. Especially the hill where sledders have been going crazy for the last three days.

I really wanted to join the fun.

This was my picture of the day on Saturday.

He was so confused. There was no discerning grass from concrete, and his feet kept breaking through the snow and he'd sort of... fall in. So funny. (See video below)

It was kind of like he tiptoed everywhere. Or, when a foot would fall in, he'd just freeze completely, unwilling to move.

Deep down, I think he wanted to sled.



A little video view of West End and the sledders.

All white and snowy.

Then we went back inside to blog about it.
(And watch more Bones.)