OMG, Bill Clinton!

Saturday night I attended Jackson Day, the yearly fundraiser for the TN Democratic Party. Harold Ford, Jr. spoke, as did Al Gore, but Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker & he was freaking amazing. When I turned 18 & voted in my first presidential election, I voted for Bill Clinton. Sex scandals aside, I still have a special place in my heart for President Clinton & I was honored to hear him speak (and from such a close distance!).

Full Jackson Day photostream here.

Life Lesson # 1,000,001

I learned a valuable life lesson today. Don't take a spin class during the same 24-hour period as getting a brazilian bikini wax. Seriously. I had to muffle the screams.

Consider yourself warned.

The Weekend Baker

I've been eyeing this copy of The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge at McKay's for a couple of weeks now, but it hasn't gone down from it's $15 price tag. I finally had the bright idea to look on Amazon & found a used copy for $3. It arrived yesterday. I'm so excited! Granted, I meant to buy the hardback & got the paperback instead, but whatever. It was $3!

The book is aimed at people who like the idea of baking, but don't have a lot of time, or a lot of fancy equipment. This book is aimed at people like me. I need to branch out from my weekend slice & bake cookies & Duncan Hines brownies. I haven't decided which recipe I'm going to try first, but I'm thinking cake. I've never made a cake. I know, astounding. I'm also interested in making a tart. I'm not 100% sure what a tart is exactly, but I intend to find out.

Oooh, I just found a recipe for Pumpkin-Spice Half-Moon Pie Pockets. Eff the cake, I'm making pie pockets!

I'll report back.....

Sunday

Yesterday I tried a little experiment. Kate from for me, for you does this blog post every Monday titled Bits Of My Weekend & it's essentially a photo journal of her weekend. I love it. Kate's posts are artistic, creative & well photographed. My sad attempt above is not, but it was still fun to do. I tried to create vignettes of how I spent my Sunday. I spent the cool, fall-ish morning drinking coffee & finishing Shadow Of The Wind with Linda. Went to Green Hills to replenish my face wash, liploss & eyeshadow & did my weekly Trader Joe's run. Finished out the night with Mad Men & a Sunday favorite: orange-crumbed baked chicken & squash casserole. Yum!

Book Review: The Shadow Of The Wind

I just finished reading The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Some friends invited me to join their book club & this is the book they're currently reading. I bought a used copy on Amazon & started reading it last week. I had just finished The Pact by Jodi Picoult, so I had a hard time switching gears & getting into this book. The size of the book was a little daunting, weighing in at 487 pages. A few chapters in, I finally got into it & then I couldn't put it down. I have essentially spent every fee minute of this past week reading this book. It's one of those books with a lot of short chapters, which I like because you think, "just one more chapter" & next thing you know, you've read half the book. There's a blurb on the back cover that describes this book better than I can:

"Anyone who enjoys novels that are scary, erotic, touching, tragic & thrilling should rush right out to the nearest bookstore & pick up The Shadow Of The Wind. Really, you should."

-- Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

I loved this book. Loved! It reminded me of a book I read in NYC, The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I've recommended The Alienist to a lot of my friends over the years & they've all loved it. I think Shadow may be my new recommendation. Everyone should read this book.

A Walk Down Matchbook Lane

The other night someone was talking about how she needs all these matches in different colors for some project she's working on. I used to collect matchbooks as a kid & thought I had seen my collection at some point when we moved into the house, so I told her I'd look for them. Well, I found a big bag of matches, but they're not from when I was a kid. They're from when I lived in NYC. It's so weird because I have absolutely no memory of acquiring all of these matchbooks. Without further ado, here is a list of all the places I frequented in NYC & what, if anything, I remember about said place:

Serafina (brunch spot)
Tavern on the Green (saw Kelly Ripa there)
El Rey Sol
Side Walk
Telephone (had Thanksgiving dinner there w/ Anj & my parents)
Caliente Cab Co. (good ritas + Sun happy hour = drunk)
Son Cubano (had bday dinner there)
El Cantinero
French Roast Cafe
Blue
Fez (after hours club underneath Time Cafe, I think)
Time Cafe (restaurant above Fez)
Astor
Kush
Crif Dogs (24 hr hot dog restaurant, need I say more)
Duane Reade
Happy Ending (chinatown "massage parlor" turned bar)
Hibachi
Plant Bar (saw Nina Persson from Cardigans DJing there)
Glass (people on street could see into glass bathroom. gay bar, obviously)
La Margarita
Kanvas (huge green apple martini phase)
Sweet & Vicious (god, so many memories. bless you, sweet & vicious)
Boom
Wonder Bar (uber gay bar I frequented with our roommate, Ramon)
Temple Bar
24/8
Sette MoMa
Pastis
Gonzalezy Gonzalez
Whiskey Park
City Bistro
Bolo
Maxwell's (club in Hoboken that was close to Tiff's old apt)

God, these bring back so many memories. There were two bars not listed above that we went to a lot -Spring Street Bar & Asylum ("It's crazy!"). Anyone who knows me has possibly heard this story, but I'm going to tell it again because it's just so funny. One night at Asylum, there was a huge group of Thai guys in essentially identical pinstriped suits. Anj, in typical fashion, immediately started kissing one of them. Every time Tiff & I looked up from the dance floor, Anj was kissing a different Thai guy. We just thought it was funny. I can't remember if it was later that night or the next day, but Anj was talking about that hot guy she was making out with & we were like, "Which one?" She had no idea there were so many of them. She thought she was kissing the same guy all night, hahaha!

House of Turquoise

I'm probably way behind the curve here, but I just discovered the blog, House of Turquoise. OMG, I love it! It's totally my style & she actually has a lot of pics posted that I have pulled from various magazines over the years (see above). I heart her. Check it out!

http://www.houseofturquoise.com/

Gran Torino

Has everyone already seen Gran Torino? If not, you need to watch it asap. I watched it last night & LOVED it. Seriously, rent/Netflix it immediately. You won't be sorry.

Summer School -- Finito!

I actually finished summer school back on Aug. 3rd, but our grades weren't posted until today. Typical..... Anyway, I made an A in both classes. Go, me! So I'm on a little break until fall classes start on Aug. 31st. I think I'm taking Politics of Administration in the fall. It's with a teacher I've had before & I think it's a fairly easy class. Hopefully I can stay on this straight-A's path.

I'm still on track to graduate Dec. '10. I'll take 1 class this fall, 1 class next spring, 2 classes next summer & 1 last class next fall. It's definitely getting easier now that the end is in sight.

Speaking of easy, I've recently realized that I've given the impression that grad school is a walk in the park. I think in an effort to be modest, or to make it seem like me being in school is no big deal, I've erroneously given the impression that what I'm doing is easy. It's definitely not. Granted, I've had some classes in this program that required little to no work, but that's not the case anymore. Two of the past three classes I've taken have required an inordinate amount of reading & writing. I think I've written around 25-30 papers since January & read 5 textbooks. My point is, even with an easy class, it's still taxing to have a husband, a dog, a house, a full-time job, a full-time social life, a sometimes full-time exercise regime, & go to grad school at the same time.

This has been a lot harder than I expected & it's going to be a big deal to me when I graduate. Obviously, I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from going to grad school. I just want to make sure I'm clear about what's involved. I think anyone interested in pursing a higher education degree, albeit grad school or law school, should certainly go for it. Just know that you will spend a ridiculous amount of money on textbooks & you will have to work 10x harder than you did in undergrad.

I Want To Eat Cake!

Last week I read I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. It's a collection of essays written by Sloane, some of which have appeared in Playboy, Salon, NY Times, Village Voice & Maxim. She lives in NYC & is around my age, I'm guessing. A lot of her essays are written between 2001-2003, which is when I lived in NYC. She writes about a lot of things I experienced, as I'm sure everyone else who has ever lived in NYC also has. And she is funny. But the entire time, I just kept thinking, I could have written this. Her stories are my stories. She's funny, I'm funny. Now granted, I've never written anything longer than a blog post, and I know writing a couple funny paragraphs does not a book make, but I can't help to think if I applied myself (and had a good editor) I could write something, albeit an essay, short story, whatever. Just something more than this blog.

Since reading Sloane's book, I've been remembering all of these hilarious NYC things that I had totally forgotten. I had this ridiculously crazy roommate who was ALWAYS getting into something. I could write an entire book on her alone. Of course, I'd have to go into witness protection afterwards because she's assuredly sue me for libel, but that's neither here nor there.

I want to be a writer. I work for the state & I'm getting a masters in public administration, but I want to be a writer. A funny one. I'm not expecting to win any awards or anything. I'd simply like to write something that makes my friends laugh. How do I do this?

To be continued....

Coffee Tawk

I've never been a big coffee drinker. I thought I didn't like coffee. I started frequenting Starbucks when I moved to NYC because I realized that's just what you do in the mornings, but I never ordered coffee. I've gone from the caramel macchiato to the nonfat chai to the soy vanilla latte. But here lately, I'm starting to like coffee, particularly the Starz Brew @ Star Bagel in Sylvan Park. So I'm thinking about buying a coffee maker. But what kind? I don't want an expensive one in the event that this is just a passing phase, but I don't want a crappy one either. I asked my friend & big-time coffee drinker, Lauren, what kind of coffee maker she has & she has a nice one that she received as a wedding gift. Actually, I think she said it only cost around $70, but that's still more than I want to spend. Suggestions?

Lake Fever Sessions

My husband has a recording studio on Music Row called Lake Fever Productions. He owns it alongside Jason Bullock & Joe Baine Colvert. When they're not busy recording, mixing, mastering, etc., they're doing these really cool live, in-studio performances with Tugboat Productions, called Lake Fever Sessions. Here's a sampling of some of the bands who have stopped by: Those Darlins, Superdrag, Hotpipes, & The Privates, just to name a few.

Most recently, The Features stopped by for a Lake Fever Session. Watch it here. Like a lot of you, I've been in love with The Features since my mid-to-late-90s Murfreesboro days & these 3 new songs don't disappoint. Enjoy!

P.S. If any of you are in need of mastering, I dare say my husband is, hands-down, one of the best mastering engineers in town. He's also very fairly priced. I'm just saying.....

Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday night:
John's car was in the shop last week, so he was driving Jon Burr's car. We took Jon's car back to East Nashville & ate dinner with Ali at Tres Margaritas on Gallatin Rd. We've eaten there twice now. It's a little bit of a haul in that it's basically in Rivergate, but it's good food & so far no one seems to know about it but us.

Saturday:
Totally missed the Tomato Art Festival because I had made lunch plans with my friend Jaime well before I knew it was the same day as the festival. But Jaime & I had a lot of fun, sans tomatoes. We had lunch at Sonobana on White Bridge Rd & stuffed ourselves on edamame & sushi. We ran around & shopped a little, then treated ourselves to TCBY, which is 100x better than Tasti-D-Lite, much as it pains me to admit it.

Saturday night:
How I Became the Bomb CD release show at Mercy Lounge. We had dinner at Best of India on Charlotte with Jon & Ali before the show, then we went our separate ways & met back up at Mercy Lounge. The show was incredible, as always. There were a lot of people there. I didn't know who most of them were, but I was glad they came. Lots of uber hipsters & Kings of Leon wannabes. Awesome show though.

How I Became the Bomb's new full length CD, Deadly Art, can be purchased here. I'm probably not very objective since my husband produced the album, but seriously, it's really good. You should buy it.

Sunday:
I had a date with MK to see Julie & Julia at 1:35, so I went & met her at Green Hills & we watched the movie. It was soooo good! All the reviews were fairly negative, so I was worried it wouldn't be that good, but it totally was. Ignore the reviews, go see this movie!

Stuffed Red Peppers

For awhile now John has been talking about these stuffed bell peppers that his mom used to make. I've never made them & I don't recall that my mom ever made them. Over the weekend, I had all of my cookbooks out, making a shopping list & John started flipping through my Paula Deen cookbook. He found a recipe for stuffed red peppers & we decided to try it. I had a hell day today, so John did this 100% by himself. They were good as shit! Without further ado....

Courtesy of The Lady & Sons, Too! A Whole New Batch of Recipes from Savannah by Paula Deen.

Stuffed Red Peppers

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
4 large red bell peppers, preferably with stems
3/4 lb ground chuck
1/2 lb ground pork
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
2 teaspoons The Lady's House Seasoning
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 cup jarred Old El Paso Cheese and Salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped green onion tops
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup hot water

Directions
Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, leaving the stems intact & halving them also. Remove the seeds & ribs. Saute the beef & pork, the onion, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the bouillon granules, & the House Seasoning together, scrambling well, until the onion is transparent. Drain off the fat. Add the rice, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, green onion tops, & soy sauce. Mix well. Stuff this mixture into peppers. Mix the hot water & the remaining 1 teaspoon bouillon granules. Pour this into a shallow casserole large enough to hold all the peppers. Place the stuffed peppers in the dish. (The water in the dish allows the peppers to steam while retaining some of their crispness.) Cover the casserole with foil & bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes. Remove the foil & spoon a little juice over the peppers; bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

Notes: We used 2 red peppers & 2 green peppers, instead of 4 red peppers. Also, we used 1 lb of lean ground beef, instead of 3/4 lb ground chuck & 1/2 lb ground pork. Lastly, we omitted the green onion because I hate green onion.

The Fern Birds

I think I've mentioned before that our front yard is birds' nest central. We currently have our second family of birds living in one of our ferns. Initially, I was worried they'd kill our ferns, but they haven't. It's kind of hard to water around them, but other than that, they don't bother anything.

Viva la Fern Birds!