Thursday Night

Where I'll be Thursday night. Where you all should be.

Good afternoon hooligans, Join us Thursday Nite, round 8 o'clock, for our Pre-Release Pre-Halloween Party! As thanks for your attendance and continued support you will be handed a secret password, which will allow you to download our newest song from our upcoming release "Who Dares Wins," which comes out for free download on November 5th. Feel free to start Halloween early! Where: Aerial (Located on Lower Broadway, on the roof of Paradise Park) When: Oct. 30th, 8pm With Whom: Shoot the Mountain, My Tyger, Jensen Sportag, and Vovo At What Cost: zilch, baby Yours, How I Became the Bomb ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ More info here: http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/2008/10/hibtbepk4u.php

Weekend Recap

Friday night I went with A Side of Rice & her fiance, Brian, to the Features CD release show at Mercy Lounge. John was tied up until 10:00, so he met us at the show. It was a great show. There were so many people there. I didn't even see Panda Parables, who I'm sure was up front & I stayed closer to the back. I love the Features. Always have, always will.

On Saturday, I met my mom at Cool Springs to hit Sam's & Jo Ann's for more wedding stuff. Didn't get a whole lot done, but did score some super cute grey suede wedges at Marti & Liz.

Saturday night was John's bachelor party. Random highlights:

• John drinking his Jack & Cokes out of the Big Texan boot/cup
• All drinks laced with hot sauce
• Cigarettes also laced with hot sauce
• Ate pint of ice cream, assuredly laced with hot sauce
• Unperturbed by efforts to throw his cello into the fire, he acquiesces & dips the tip in (permanent damage yet to be determined)

My mental image of him running around the fire pit shirtless with his bolo tie wrapped around his head apparently didn't come to fruition, but all in all, I think it's safe to say he had the time of his life. Gracias Senor Burr.

Meanwhile I was at Cinco with Ali & Sarah sharing a pitcher of margaritas & a big bowl of cheese dip.

On Sunday, after Cracker Barrel & a long nap, we went to Target & bought new, badly needed bedding for our bedroom. I've been looking for new bedding since we moved into the house in August. I've found stuff I liked, but nothing I REALLY wanted. Until yesterday. We were at Target & I decided to meander through their bedding department. Love, love, love the Dwell Studio stuff, but was ultimately won over by Thomas O'Brien. God bless that man. Pic of what we bought above.

Bridezilla Strikes Again

Well, the good news is I'm apparently only lashing out at strangers, so everyone that knows me can breathe a sigh of relief. However, anyone working retail in the Green Hills area: you better watch your back.

Today's 1st attack:
Streets Salon called today to tell me that their makeup artist has decided to take Nov. 8th (my wedding day) off, but "don't worry, at least your hair is taken care of". Soooo not the right thing to say. I went from zero to rage in about 3 seconds. I don't remember everything I said but I do recall screaming, "Do you know how long I've been a client there? I made this appointment in MARCH & you're calling me 2 weeks out to tell me it's cancelled? Are you kidding me?" I think at that point I screamed something threatening & slammed the phone down.

In the process of trying to book another makeup appointment somewhere else, I realized I had no idea how long my hair would take, so I didn't know what time to make my new makeup appointment for. So I called Streets back. God bless her, the same girl answered. I could literally hear her gulp as I told her it was me again. She said she was just about to call me. The girl on the phone is also a makeup artist, but solely works freelance. Either out of kindness or out of fear for their lives, they decided to let her come in that day & do my makeup. I'm still furious that they cancelled my appointment, but at least it seems to be taken care of.

Attack # 2:
Went to Green Hills Mall today to buy some more AVEDA Shampure. The last time I bought my shampoo some stupid hippy working there gave me crap about not buying the bigger shampoo bottle & "helping the environment". Then after she rang me up, she said, "Well, can you at least put this in your purse & save a bag?" I just threw the shampoo in my purse & walked out. Later when I was telling Fatima about this, she agreed that it was inappropriate & we came up with all kinds of responses for future assaults. Well, today I got my chance.

I went in & grabbed my non-environmentally friendly 8 oz bottle of shampoo to be met once again with a condescending remark by some other hippy sales girl about how the bigger ($20 more) bottle is more cost effective & better for the environment. I said, "Yes, I know. Your dutiful employees never let me leave without making sure I know how stupid I am for not buying the larger bottle." No response. So she rings me up & says, "Would you like to save a bag today by putting your purchase in your purse?" This is where I lost it. I told them that if they were so concerned with "the environment" then they should quit making the 8 oz bottles & they should definitely quit mass producing printed AVEDA plastic bags.

I mean, come on! First of all, what kind of company chastises their customers for buying one of their products & then goes even further by harassing them into not taking one of their pre-printed bags. If you're so worried about the environment, switch to paper bags!

I made the girl put my $9 bottle of shampoo into a bag, swung it over my shoulder & said, "I will not be back" as I stomped out of the store like an angry 7 year old. I'm seriously thinking about writing a letter to their corporate headquarters. Stupid, AVEDA.

Barbecued Turkey Joes

I made a new recipe tonight -bbq turkey sloppy joes. My man loves a sloppy joe, so when I saw a recipe for a healthier version, I decided to try it. They were good as shit! Seriously. Make these for your boyfriend/husband/random male hitchhiker -whoever! They'll love you for it. Or just make them for yourself if you're feeling "sloppy".....

Barbecued Turkey Joes
Prep Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 15 min

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 medium bell pepper, chopped
1/2 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup barbecue sauce
4 medium mixed-grain hamburger rolls, sliced in half

Instructions
Brown turkey in a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, about 8-10 minutes.
Drain off liquid. Add peppers & onion & cook until tender, about 3 minutes.

Add barbecue sauce & cayenne pepper, heat thoroughly, stirring frequently.

Top bottom half of buns with turkey mixture; cover with top half of bun & serve.


I only made half the recipe & it still was enough for me to have 1 sandwich & John to have 2. I also made these Ore-Ida spicy crinkle fries. The fries kind of made it.

Bon appetit!

Bathroom Before & After

John & I spent yesterday painting our upstairs bathroom, as well as taking down the old, crappy mirror & hanging a new, prettier mirror. Full photostream here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16828091@N04/sets/72157608222868431/

A Question....

There's a real sketchy neighborhood kind of in between I-40 & Charlotte Pike. You can see it as you're exiting at White Bridge Road. Anyway, as I was driving home today, I noticed one of the houses was all decked out for Halloween. They had hung a bunch of white sheets off of the roof over their front porch, shredded the ends & then painted them red to look like blood. Not bad, but here's my question. Do you really have to make your house look scary if you already have ply board over your windows, a pit bull running loose in the yard & a car on blocks? Isn't just being out on that street after dark scary enough? Is it really worth potentially getting blown up by a meth lab to get whatever candy Walgreens had on sale that week? Just a question.

It's official. Well, almost....

John & I started dating 4 years ago today. I guess this is the last year we'll celebrate this anniversary. Next year we'll start all over at 1. And on a new date -Nov. 8th. I think I can handle that.

We got our marriage license today. It's official. We're getting married. Go, us!

Tomorrow I'm going to Smyrna for my final fitting in my wedding dress. I've been eating like a bear preparing for hibernation, so we'll see how it goes. Whatever, that's what Spanx are for. By the way, if anyone knows who invented "Power Panties", please let me know. I want to name my first born after her.

Research Proposal

I have a research proposal due in class next Tuesday. I've had all semester to work on it. Have I started on it? No. When will I start on it? Probably Sunday night. Granted, a huge part of it is procrastination, but an even bigger part is not knowing where to start. My teacher hasn't exactly explained what she expects us to turn in. It's all very vague. I've talked to 2 people in my class & they have no idea what to do either, so at least it's not just me.

Thus far, TSU has been a horrible experience. I don't recommend it for anyone who doesn't have to go there. I'm only going because I had to go to a state school & I didn't want to drive to M'boro. Plus, my B.S. Degree is from MTSU & apparently you're not supposed to get your masters from the same school where you got your undergrad degree.... Whatever. TSU sucks.

This is my 4th class at TSU. I don't even know where to start with my list of complaints. My 1st class was a seminar class where the teacher just sat back & let the students run the class. It was a trainwreck. I learned absolutely nothing & left pissed off most nights. My 2nd class was Statistics. It was a horrible subject for me personally, but at least I learned something & had a teacher who knew how to teach. My 3rd class was irrelevant & totally outdated. It was also the 1st of 2 classes where I had a teacher who spoke English as a second language, which I have no problem with, aside from I can't understand them most of the time. This 3rd class was a complete waste of time. It was an IT class. All we talked about was appropriate use of work email. I'm totally serious. Complete. Waste. Of. Time.

Now I'm in my 4th class -Research Methods. Our teacher is new to TSU & this is her 1st class. She's Chinese. I can understand her maybe 70% of the time. I like her though. She seems really eager to teach & to help, but God bless her, she didn't know what she was getting herself into. A word about the students I've come to know & love at TSU -they suck. I honestly don't know why they're there, it's clearly not to learn or to act like working, functioning adults with any semblance of decorum. It bothers me that at the end of this, some of these people will have the same degree as me. It's actually a little frightening.

Not to say all TSU students are bad, clearly they are not, but man, some of the people in this class I'm in now are HORRIBLE. A guy I work with described it as when you were in 7th grade & you had a substitute teacher & one guy would act up, then everyone around him would also act up because they could get away with it. It's just like that. After every class, I just want to go up to our poor teacher & give her a hug.

Well, this has been another hour not spent working on my research proposal.....

Heypenny

Our friends Heypenny made a video for their song "Parade". I've always loved this song. The video's not bad either.




You can hear more songs on their website and/or their Myspace page. They also play a lot of local shows, so try to catch one of those.

http://heypenny.com/

www.myspace.com/heypenny

Weekend Recap

Friday night:
My friend Jessica introduced me to Tequila's, this hidden Mexican restaurant in front of Big Lots. I had no idea it was there. It was surprisingly good. We talked about our upcoming nuptials (she's getting married the week before me) & our horrible class at TSU. Margaritas & cheese dip were consumed to dull the anxiety.

Saturday:
Catholic Camp. To get married in the Catholic Church, you have to attend a "Couple's Retreat". Ours was this Sat. from 8am-5pm. Honestly, it wasn't that bad & parts of it were definitely beneficial. The main downside was that I waited until the last minute to do it. In hindsight, we should have done it over the summer when we had less going on. The other downside is having to sit through a presentation on Natural Family Planning. It was about as comfortable as a root canal.

Saturday night:
Sat. night we went to a surprise party for our friend Ken, who turns 30 today. We were worn out from Catholic Camp, but we had a good time & we ate like kings (thank you, Allison).

Sunday:
Sun. we did a lot of stuff around the house & then headed to Cool Springs in search of a wedding band for John. Well, the good news is we bought one. The bad news is.... I went to Jared. What can I say, it is the galleria of jewelry.

Sunday night:
Yesterday was our friend Caryn's birthday, so we went to Las Maracas to help her celebrate. Unfortunately, our wires got crossed & we got there an hour late as everyone was leaving. We stayed & ate with our other late friends, Aaron & Ashley & then went home & went to bed. Well, actually John went to the Silver Jews show @ Exit/In & I went to bed.

Post Script: there are various side stories to some of these weekend excursions. I'll elaborate later when I have more time. I'll give you a little preview, one involves the word "amputation"...

One Month From Today!

Our wedding is one month from today. Am I excited? Yes. Am I freaking out? A little. Does my chest tighten every time I think about standing in front of 150+ people wearing white of all colors? Definitely.

In class last night I made a stream-of-consciousness wedding to-do-list. It wasn't pretty. In no time flat I filled up an entire sheet of notebook paper with things that need to be done. One of which is buying John's wedding band. Why haven't I done this yet? I've also somehow completely forgotten what all is involved in my own wedding day apparel. I need to schedule my final fitting, buy shoes, buy ridiculously overpriced "special" wedding day undergarments, & find jewelry. Not to mention... lose 10 lbs, buy alcohol, find someone to serve alcohol (ABC card, anyone?), recruit crew to miss wedding in lieu of setting up reception, buy/send rehearsal dinner invitations, make programs, gift baskets for out-of-town guests, etc.... The list goes on & on. I need a personal assistant. And a refill on my xanex prescription....

It's always the same, it's just a shame, that's all.

All of you know that John has bizarre taste in music, right? For the most part, he's an elitist & refuses to acknowledge anything produced after 1969, with the rare exception of Morrissey, Metallica & now Genesis. That's right, Genesis. For those of you born after 1983 (Muggins Mouse), Genesis was Phil Collins' band before he went solo & started writing songs for Disney movies.

The Genesis song that John is currently batshit over is "That's All". For the past 2-3 weeks, every time I get into John's car his iPod is playing it. I mean, the song's not bad. Whatever. So the other day John called me downstairs. He has taught himself how to play "That's All" on the organ. Clearly, it's not enough that he listens to it on repeat in his car every day, now he feels the need to play it in the house. On an organ, no less.

I'm going to attach the video at the end of this post, but for anyone unfamiliar with the song, pay careful attention to the lyrics & let me know if I should be worried that the man I'm marrying in 36 days is repeatedly listening to a song about a relationship where "I could leave, but I won't go, though my heart might tell me so. I can't feel a thing from my head down to my toes"......

Fall Purchases

I have a short list of things I like to buy around this time of year, i.e. pumpkin body wash, foundation, dark nail polish, tights, knee socks, etc... I've been broke for weeks because I only get paid once a month & the majority of my last paycheck went to Comcast & NES (blood-sucking bastards). So I've been not-so-patiently awaiting my next paycheck, which hit my account yesterday. I feigned illness & left work early to hit the streets, debit card in hand. First stop, Cosmetic Market for my yearly purchase of Philosophy's Pumpkin Pie body wash. No such luck. Cosmetic Market didn't have it in yet. No fear, I meandered back to the nail polish section & bought the prettiest shade of gray/lavender nail polish. It's from that new OPI France Collection. I think it's called Tickle My France. I'm going to put it on tonight, so I'll report back.

Concluding my business at the Hill Center, I head over to Green Hills Mall to try my hand at Sephora. Alas, I find my body wash, but it wasn't Pumpkin Pie, this year it's called Pumpkin Spice Muffin. Whatever, smells the same to me. I was so excited that I took a shower when I got home & spent the rest of the night smelling myself, ha ha.

While I was in the mall, I went into Macy's to check out their tights/knee socks selection. Very disappointing. I want some dark purple tights. Macy's had some & I was walking around with them when I looked down at the package & noticed that they were stir-up tights. WTF? What is this, 1987? Who wears stir-up tights? Stupid HUE.

I also went into Kiehl's. I'm all of sudden really into Kiehl's hair products. I bought their Creme With Silk Groom a month or so ago & got all of these free samples. I'm hooked. Yesterday I bought the Heat-Protective Silk Straightening Cream. Next on my list is their Clean Hold Styling Gel. Go, Kiehl's!

So I still need to buy some foundation. I can't decide what I'm going to buy this year. I typically wear Chantecaille, but I've worn it for so long that I want to shop around & see what else is out there. My skin is like the desert, so I need something really creamy. Suggestions welcome!