Happy New Year's Eve

Gosh, I cannot believe that 2008 has already come and gone... talk about time flying.

Lots has happened since my last post; I turned 26 (i wish), went to the Donelson Christmas parade, drove through a lake-effect snow storm, attended a Lansing High School boys basketball game, hung out with the family and drove 14 hours back to Nashville...

So here is the last 14 days in photos... http://www.flickr.com/photos/southernnychic/

Have a safe and happy evening, check back in 2009...

The weather outside...

... is frightful.

What a day. I woke up this morning to the news telling me that there was a wreck on I65 south near my work exit. I slowly got out of bed, knowing it was gonna be one of those days i should have just stayed in bed. I didn't feel well this morning; sore throat, runny nose, this crazy weather has finally gotten to me.

I finally made it out of the house at 8:15, the traffic was a bit heavier then usual and i got behind a bus on Edmondson Pike... do you know how many kids live in those apartments there? Several.... I gradually made my way over across Hogan onto Franklin. Once on Franklin traffic came to a hault. If it was backed up on Franklin Rd that far north of Brentwood, i knew that it was gonna be a long drive in. So I turned around and headed back home and worked from there for a few hours.

Around 10:30 I made my second attempt through the pouring rain to make my way to work. This time I drove the back way down Edmonson to Concord to Crockett.... two hours after my first attempt, traffic was still backed up!!

I finally got to work around 11:15 and gradually started feeling worse - remember, i woke up with a sore throat and runny nose. Around 4:30 we looked out the window and realized it was snowing... and snowing it was. When I walked out to my car at 5:00 it was covered w/ snow.

Again, due the weather the traffic SUCKED. People were driving 40 down the interstate (I admit I was one of them, I lost my snow-driving skills 10 years ago). It took forever to get home, but i made it home safely.

It was still snowing a few hours ago, so i snapped some pictures. It's starting to feel like Christmas!

things that have happened...

... since my last post. Let me catch you up....

Halloween

One of my friends had a party, I helped w/ the decorating... he was a slave driver and was disappointed in my party preparation skills. I had to go back out and reset the latern locations on the front walk...

Thanksgiving

I went to my brothers for the Thanksgiving holiday. Always a joy squeezing the four of us into this apartment. Besides the fact that my mom set off the smoke detector making everyone evacuate the apartment, it was not to bad of a time. We went into the city to see Spamalot the Friday after Thanksgiving... Broadway/Times Square was beyond crowded, thankgoodness my dad remember a bar that was a few blocks off broadway, were we went two years ago. The man has a memory of an elephant when it comes to places he's been. Anyway, we had a pre-show drink and hurried to see the show. It was pretty funny... worth the trip into the city.

Birthday Party

Hunter turned 2 today, his party was on Saturday. I think he enjoyed it....

Other then traveling and attending parties, life has been pretty boring lately. Trying to stay ontop of my Christmas shopping, thankfully I have the majority of my list complete since Christmas is only a few weeks away. Crazy huh??? Ahhh...

D's Wordless Wednesday Nomination...

Finally... a little relief

I stopped by Costco after work because my car was running on fumes.... I pulled in happy to find the pumps running at $2.14/gallon... it cost me $29 to fill up.

When's the last time gas was this cheap???

I did it...

I performed my civic duty today --- like i said awhile back, it's been several years since I've voted, I've never felt the need to get involved before. I don't know if it's because I'm older and have more responsibilities (notice i didn't say more responsible), or if it's because I've been hearing about this election for two years now and it's ingrained in my brain that I must vote. Either way, I felt the need to be involved this year.... and yes, I voted!

I've always been a fan of Pete Yorn and he's on my myspace page so i get updates from his people. I got an email earlier this week talking about a song he wrote...

I wrote American Blues Vol. 1. on the 4th of July after reading the morning paper. It's unlike any song I've ever written. I was moved by how much negativity I was reading about and how even groups were boycotting Independence Day because they were so disgusted with the state of our Nation. I was hoping things would improve...they obviously haven't yet...but I know they will in time. I sent the song to some friends and one of them (a really old friend of mine who is actually a huge reason I didn't give up on a musical career back in 1998) was really affected by the message. He always has had an unwavering faith in America and has always been able to laugh when times got tough. The video for American Blues Vol. 1 was made by this friend of mine. He is not a video-director...just a guy from New Jersey who wanted to put images to a song that hit home for him. He wanted me to share it.....so here is American Blues Vol. 1.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=44322343

Check it out and tell me what you think... it's kinda ironic I saw it the day i voted, makes me even more confidant in my choice.

PS - If you are looking for a place to early vote & live/work in Southern Davidson County, the Church of Christ on Edmonson Pike is a new early voting location that no one knows about... there was no wait, I walked in and out w/in 5 minutes.

Help a Friend Out...

As many of you know I dated a songwriter awhile back. Dating a songwriter is different, they live a different lifestyle then most. So one of the good things about the relationship was I was introduced lot of live music by people that i would have never found on my own.

One of those people is Matt Ramsey - you can tell by the lyrics he writes and his music that he is a good guy, a very talented good guy.

Matt made a video with some friends that isn't half bad and somehow the video has made its way to the CMT Music City Madness contest -- much like March madness, 64 videos are competing.

Matt's not doing so well in his competition and honestly, his video rocks compared to the other dude.. so if you a moment follow this link to check out a new artist that's signing a song he wrote with my songwriter ex. Maybe it's the next big radio hit?!?

http://www.cmt.com/videos/misc/289364/matt-ramsey-it-still-hurts-music-city-madness-3.jhtml

Good luck Matt.

New Hayes Carll Video

I discovered Hayes on myspace last year and instanly became a huge fan. He recently released a new album and here is the latest single.

It's pretty funny... ENJOY...


Hayes Carll She Left Me For Jesus Music video



If you get a chance check him out on myspace to to listen to some of his other songs.

http://www.myspace.com/hayescarll

Debate or Debacle... My Friend??

As I mentioned several months ago, I've never been a follower of politics. I hate to admit it but the last time I voted was when Bredesen ran for Governor the first time around -- so 6 - 7 years ago.

But over the past few months I've become more in tune with this year's Presidential Election - I'm not sure if it's because it's been going on for so darn long that it's ingrained in my brain, or maybe it's because over the past year (since they have started this whole campaigning debacle) I have seen my savings dwindle, the value of my home plummet and the cost to fill up my tank double.

Tonight I actually sat down and watched the debate - first time I have ever sat and listened to an entire debate (of any kind). Is this how they always are? I feel like I don't know much more about what either of these gentleman plan to do with our country then I did 2 hours ago.

Each of them were asked poignant questions from real people that neither truly answered. Oh, they sat there and talked, and talked, and talked but was the person's question actually answered? No! They're more focused on the other's past experiences (or lack of), past congressional votes, past everything -- but didn't answer the questions about how they are going to help us make our way through the future.

I feel like it was a waste of my two hours but at least it gave me something to blog about though - which i will end with this question/comment: What is up with McCain calling everyone 'My Friend'? You can call me your 'friend' once you prove to me that you can help me build my savings back up, raise my home value, and put cheaper gas (or other type of fuel) in my car... until then... I think I'm still an Obama supporter.

The Pup...

Jersey was at the Vet today for a teeth cleaning and a 'tumor' removed from her eyelid, both procedures called for her going under anesthesia. As many of my readers know, the recovery from being put under is never good, she is a pitiful mess for a day or two, usually having an uncontrollable cough.

I'm happy to report that she doesn't have the cough (as of yet) -- but is a pitiful mess. Her eye is all swollen and she has a stich stuck in her lid. I'm not an eye person at all and i have to find a way to bring myself to put ointment in it 3 times a day... ughh.

The vet ended up having to remove two teeth but supposedly they are ones that were bothering her already and she'll be much more comfortable with them gone. They were behind her fang teeth, so she still has the top one in front, she's not completely redneck yet.

The poor thing is thirsty & starving (as you can see from the picture, i think if she were coherent enough she would've tipped over the bag) ... she couldn't eat or drink after 9:00 last night and should not eat/drink until tomorrow morning. We've cheated already and she's had some water, a little cheese and some chicken broth. I think that has made her somewhat content b/c she's back to her spot asleep on the back of the couch.

Hopefully we will have an easy recovery and she'll be back to normal in a few days... next time you see her please don't be freaked out by the messed up eye, she's a little self-concious about it :)

Warm September Sundays...

I cannot believe September is almost over, uggh... where does the time go? I have to go back to work tomorrow and dread it, last week ended up being super crazy and i wasn't able to make my Florida trip. So after the madness subsided i decided to still take off Thursday and Friday, attempting not to work at all. I was pretty successful - and productive. I could get use to the non-working gig... i got all of my errands done (and a little bit of cleaning completed) and thoroughly enjoyed my days off.

Thursday i finally got my new cell phone -- that was a fiasco, the people at the Verizon store were not helpful what so ever. I can't stand poor service, i am a loyal customer - Verizon customer for years - and these people treat me like a piece of poop.

Friday was beauty day at the house... Jdog went for a grooming and i had a massage. It was awesome!!

Saturday was a day of rest -- I watched some upsets in college football -- lots of teams fell a few spots this weekend. Where will they land in the polls this week?

Kenny and i ventured out to TACA in Centennial Park today... i think we cruised through the whole show in under 30 minutes. It was hot and I really wasn't impressed by any of the booths this year. There was a guy there selling his B&W photos for $200+. They were not worth it, bad matting and uninteresting shots. Later in our walk we stopped at another photographer's booth -- it was an older man and his wife and his shots were beautiful. They had B&W, color and some B&W that were hand tinted --- i need to learn how to do that. Some day...


Well here are some of my shots i took with my new phone -- pretty nice shots for a phone.

Please Send Gas...

For those of you that don't live in Nashville let me catch you up... Nashville is out of gas, literally. It's crazy, i've never seen anything like it.

It started last week when Hurricane Ike came through - I noticed when i left work on Monday that the Home Depot was out of gas. I didn't think much of it since i had a half tank. I figured we would recover by the end of the week and i'd be fine.

As the week went on there was more and more talk about the lack of gas - stations were selling out and were not getting the shipments timely. On my way to work Thursday i noticed that the shell station on the corner of OHB in Brentwood was out - which that place is always slammed in the morning. The other Shell station was still function though. I did think that i needed to stop but was running late and didn't. Friday i noticed that both stations were out and so was I - my low fuel light came on that morning. When I pulled off 65 onto Mallory I had my fingers crossed - the Home Depot still had their lights off - not a good sign - i can't believe they were out all week. As i came up over the hill, i saw that the shell station was out as well - but luckily the BP was still running. I pulled in there (barely) and sat patiently for 10 minutes or so until it was my turn. As the gas was pumping i debated on being a good consumer and only fill up part way, but thought better -- what if this isn't fixed in the next week. So i filled it to the brim, paid my $50 and fought my way out of the parking lot toward the office.

Thank goodness I stopped when I did b/c it only got worse. When i left work later in the day - there was no gas to be found.... if you did find a station with gas, you were waiting in line for an hour, blocking traffic.

It didn't get any better throughout the weekend... we're still in a crisis and all our government has to say is '... it should get back to normal in a few days...' A few days!!! What are people suppose to do? Nashville is not much for public transportation -- the down stream effect of this could be grueling. I'm betting several people don't make it into work tomorrow due to lack of gas. Crazy stuff!!!

A Day at the Races...

It was opening weekend at Kentucky Downs (KD) in Franklin, KY. KD is a horse track that you can see from I-65N when you a crossing over the KY border. Best I can tell, they only race 2-4 times a year and that consists of 3-5 races in a day... someone told me it was one of the few turf tracks left in the US... I'm not certain if that is a true statement or not, so there is my disclaimer.

Anyway, we headed up there Saturday around noon, not certain what to expect. We weren't sure if it was going to be crowded, being it was opening day and all. We also were curious of what type of folks would be there, this place is open throughout the year for simulcast races - so i was certain we'd see some local/regulars.

Well we got there and made it through two races and that was enough for me. It was the people watching event of the year though -- there were people there dressed in their Sunday best and people there dressed in their Friday, after midnight worse. I think the kicker for me was the lady in her hot pink halter-top sporting her lovely tattoo on her shoulder, and her her short skirt w/ platform flip-flops. She was looking G-O-O-D good....

Anyway, several years back I use to joke that I'd never been to KY... now i know what i was missing. It is a whole different world up there - although we did go into town and had lunch on the square. We ate at a burger joint that was totally out of place, but the food was good and looking out on to the square we still enjoyed some excellent people watching.

All in all, it was a good weekend -- I went to the horse races and the Titans won, can't ask for much more then that:)

What would you do?

If you hired a contractor to come in and help with some house hold projects, and this was some of the aftermath... would you agree to let him back to 'complete' a project and pay him more money???

(1) He tacked white quarter-round to a white cabinet over a 'plug-in' black cord? Come on now...

(2) He left wet thinset on my kitchen floor and my dog pranced through it leaving her mark like she was lassy accepting her star on hollywood blvd...

(3) He took over your house for four weekends straight... causing me and Jerse to find refuge at a friends house (two weekends in a row, thank goodness they like us.)

I'll ask the question again, would you allow this contractor to come back into your house and 'complete' a project knowing what you know now???

I can't even express what a bad experience it was the first time around, why would i let it happen again?

Why i don't leave my zip code...

Hello fellow bloggers (and non-bloggers). I realize it's been a while since I have written, it's been a crazy few weeks.

I was reminded tonight of why i'm not a fan of the E. Nashville area. Here's some of my pet peeves about the other side of the river (1) it's confusing and I always get lost, (2) it's seems like a very pricey place to live and you don't even get a back yard, how much do we (and our dogs) love our back yards, and (3) it seems like a million miles away (relatively and figuratively) from Brentwood/Cool Springs area. Anyway, a few Saturdays ago was Tomato Fest -- and my friend Kenny wanted to go. I thought it sounded like fun and gave up my ban on E. Nashville for the day. Kenny and I met up at his house and followed each other down into the 'five points' district; after 4 right turns and one or two lefts, we finally found a place to park. I knew it was going to be an intersting day when we were looking for a place to park and saw a 40-something year-old dude RIDING a cooler a cooler on a scooter), it was pretty cool but after further research, appears to be a very expensive cooler.

Anyway, we parked and walked a few blocks to the event... It ended up being hot and crowded, and there were all types of people walking the two block stretch. After 20 minutes of walking up and down the street, we stopped for froze lemonades. It brought a little relief but after walking around and fighting the crowds for another 20 minutes we both determined we had enough and were ready for lunch.

We decided to get some 'tex-mex' at a local bar... which ended up an adventure in itself, it was Tomato Fest none the less. They were ill-prepared (and maybe a bit hung over) to deal with the unexpected crowd. Thankfully we had it was still a bit early and we found some seats at the bar. We were able to place our orders rather quickly... between us getting our orders placed and it making it to the table, all heck broke loose. The place filled up even further with fellow Tomato Fest/E. Nashvillians... I was quickly reminded why i don't venture across the river very often. It was like a soap opera ~ the manager showed up late (looking a bit rough) and could not fuction until she had her first cup of coffee; to a couple came in and ordered bloody marys (it was Tomato Fest mind you) and tried to put them in a 'to-go' cup - uh, last i knew we were not in New Orleans; to the crowd of ten that stood in the middle of the bar waiting on a big table (crowding us all); to the 'manager' telling all (customers, waitstaff, cooks, etc...) that they can no longer fill food orders. Thankfully we had gotten there early and our order had made the cut...

All in and all, it made for an interesting afternoon and my sandwich was mighty tasty but it'll probably be awhile before I venture back across the river.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Get Well Granny Robbins!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Addiction...

Hello fellow bloggers... sorry about the delay in posts but I'm sad to say I've found a new website where all my time is spent. And no, it's not another online dating site... well i guess it could be but i don't use it for that.

It's Facebook!

Since I dated a singer/songwriter for a year, I became a myspace user. I always thougt that facebook was the same type of site, but it's not. I love it... I've found many college friends on there, even my little bro from Sp. 94 tracked me down -- -Hi Mike Grace!! It's been so cool to catch up with old friends and see some crazy ass hair (and bad clothes) in all the photos... such memories.

Well, I'm going to try to get back into the blogging world while still maintaining my face book addiction... thank goodness it is still rerun season on all the major networks, all though i can't wait for "... Old Christine" to come back on (one you forgot to put on your list To).

Later Gator...

Mr Turtle Spotting

This is Mr. Turtle

The first year he must of been a bit freaked by the furry 12 lb. creature that was playing 'big dog' when she stumbled upon him... that would be Jersey aka JerseDog or Jerse for short. Jerse had been outside for a much longer period of time then normal. After fifteen minutes or so, I looked out the window to see what is happening. She had something cornered on the back hill -- and for Jerse to have something cornered i knew it had to of been slow and small. My first thought is it was a snake and y'all know how i hate the snakes. My maternal instinct kicked in and i tiptoed up the hill to determine what she was getting into... thank god it wasn't a snake, it was a turtle huddled up in his shell pissed because that big furry thing wasn't in this annual travel to the creek the year prior... so i brought the Jdog in and the next day Mr. Turtle was gone... that was probably in 2005.

In 2006 I don't recall seeing Mr. Turtle... he must have remembered that a big furry thing moved into 5441 and he needed to find a new path to the creek down the hill.

Last year (2007) a friend had made his way to the house one day w/ a turtle he had stopped to 'rescue' crossing the road down near the four-way stop. Mr. Turtle had returned to 5441, the place where he use to 'hang out on the hill.' After telling him that the turtle was not allowed in the house, he had taken Mr. Turtle back down to the end of the road placing him on creekside.

A few weeks ago i walked out on the back deck looking at my 'desperate landscape' (as you know, I have not been much of a landscaper this year) and saw a funny shape in the middle of the hill. This year Jerse didn't notice Mr. Turtle (her eyes are getting bad and he blended in with the bland landscape well). So I had an opportunity to take a couple of photos of our transient neighbor... then Jerse and I moved inside to let Mr. Turtle peacefully move further down the hill to his summer bungalow in the creek...

See you next year Mr. Turtle...

it's got to get better...

OK, so yesterday I actually had a date with one of my online finds... needless to say, we probably aren't the perfect match being that we don't have many common interests. He seems to be a very nice guy but every point that came up in our conversation we had different views and likes. He doesn't like Mexican food, I love Mexican food; he listens to rock and roll and heavy metal, i don't; he reads a lot, i don't; he barely uses a computer, I'd be lost without mine... that's only four of the several different topics we discussed and kept finding ourselves on the opposite side of the spectrum.

All that said, it really wasn't that bad experience for my first outing with an online find... he is a southern gentlemen that will find his perfect lady, even if I'm not it. I wish him well ~ now how to I communicate all this to him? Any advice....

Tell you a secret...

Over the last several years I've been in two major relationships; one was a failure from the start and the other just bad timing (i think - still trying to assess that one). now that i am 35 and still searching for 'the perfect man', I've determined it may be time to overcome my preconceived thoughts, and start looking for him using the internet. OK, so it's not like Mr. perfect is at my place of employment (tried that - bad, bad idea...) or within my group of friends (tried that too -- you always start one of those not thinking you will end up having to see him after your relationship is kaput) and we all know I'm not really a church person ... so me, the total skeptic, is looking for love online...

The masters behind the dating website tell me i'm compatible with all of Nashvegas signed up on their site... amazingly enough. But i've weeded through the majority of them and have about 10 or so options. This has been quite of a learning experience for me, or i guess more of a self-improvement experience. I've tried to keep all my options open and even initiated communication w/ several matchs...I am proud of myself for continuing on with it this long, my 3-month subscription is almost up.... should i renew? I think i may just do that, see if i can narrow my options even more, maybe i'll meet one and fireworks will go off...

I'll keep you posted....

life at 5441... the beginning

Well, after seeing my friends take a technological plunge and begin their own blogs, i figured it can't be that difficult. Hence, the beginning of life at 5441 -- the blog.

I'm sure my life and blogs won't interest very many folks, since i am just a regular 35 year-old living in Nashville, TN. I really don't have any political views - besides the fact that all of it annoys me, especially the whole primaries season. It bothers me that candidates (for both parties) spend millions of dollars on 'campaigning' for most likely nothing (by that i mean, we end only end up with two options come November), yet good people in this country are losing their jobs and homes and struggling to find ways to keep their families whole. I understand that they need a way to get a message out and make their beliefs & potential policies known -- to educate the public per se -- but hundres of millions of dollars... come on now.

Whoops, guess I do have some views... maybe you'll see/hear more in the future...