Linda Takes Her Show On The Road

This weekend I decided to introduce Linda to the world. On Saturday afternoon, I took her to the studio, where John was working with Aaron Robinson, et. al. She was a hit. Aaron wanted to record her somehow so he could credit "Linda McCartney" in the liner notes, ha ha. Because I typically don't watch the local news on the weekend, I had no idea the storm of the century was going to hit that afternoon. Luckily we were at the studio when the worst of it hit. Being half underground in a concrete, sound-proofed studio is definitely the place to be in a storm.

On Sunday, en route to Smyrna, I stopped by the Walden Artisan Market again to check on my peeps & introduce them to Linda. She met everybody -Delaney, Agnes, Jenny/Patrick/Winny, Jessica, Carolyn, Caryn, Emotional Mullet, Muggins Mouse & pretty much everyone else there that day. She's kind of a celebrity.

On to Smyrna. I had no idea how she would react to children. I was afraid she'd bite Abigail and/or eat Jessica. Abigail was pretty good, but she was a typical 3 year old -pulled her ears, poked her in the eye, etc., but Linda took it like a champ. She's either been around kids before or she's just extremely laid back. Regardless, no one was bitten and/or eaten on Sunday.

Full photostream here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16828091@N04/sets/72157615331094366/

Saturday

John has gotten into this horrible habit of coming to bed at either 5 or 6am, which makes me insane because it's so close to when I normally wake-up, that I can't go back to sleep. So I was up at 5am today. I eventually dozed back off & got up around 7. I watched TV for awhile & decided to go work-out & then help Carolyn set up at the Walden Artisan Market. I get to the Y only to find out it's closed for the weekend, so I just head on over to East Nashville. I helped Carolyn set up, then I hung around for awhile. I actually stayed until noon because at noon Mas Tacos was coming & I was determined to eat some of those infamous tacos. They didn't disappoint. I got 1 veggie & 1 chicken. They were so good! That Theresa knows what she's doing. I'm a fan.

Post taco I head home to hang with Linda & make a shopping list, then I head to my new favorite place, Trader Joe's. Seriously, how did I live so long without this store? Headed back home from Green Hills I pass the infamous man who rides a Harley with his dog in the sidecar. Today he had not 1, but 3 dogs in the sidecar. All yellow labs, all wearing sunglasses & bandannas. It kind of made my day.

Knowing I had nothing to do tonight, I decided to take Linda to the studio to see John. This worked out perfectly because the storm of the season hit while I was there. If I had been at home when that mother hit, I would have freaked out. Luckily, in John's soundproof; concrete; fairly underground studio, I was none the wiser.

So now I'm at home, clearly bored & wondering if there's a limit to how much HGTV a person can watch in 1 day.....

Oh, and P.S. -- Twilight totally ruled. My teen vampires obsession, that has been lying dormant since Christmas, is back in full force. Viva la Edward!

Weekend Plans

This weekend is the Walden Artisan Market in East Nashville. Carolyn will be there all weekend & will have all kinds of stuff you'll want to buy, i.e. furniture, tea towels, bell jars, notecards, etc. Jessica & Caryn will also be there, although I think Caryn is only there on Sunday. Anyway, you should definitely stop by. There will be deals to be had!

Tonight Mary Katherine is coming over to watch Twilight. We read the series together, but haven't seen the movie yet. In preparation, I bought red wine, made red velvet cupcakes & painted my nails red. Let the blood flow, I say!

John is in the studio all weekend with Aaron Robinson et al, so I've got the next 48 hours to myself. Tomorrow I'm going to do my paper for class & go to the Walden Artisan Market. I think I'm taking Linda to Smyrna on Sunday to meet the family.

Speaking of Linda, she's been on a hunger strike since Wed night, but apparently she's finally given in & eaten her dog food. She's been on medication since "the surgery" & Wed was the last day of her medicine, so it must have been some weird reaction to going off the meds. Last night her stomach was rumbling so loudly I could hear it over the TV. I felt so bad for her, but she refused to eat. This morning she was still anti-dog food, but she wolfed down 2 pieces of ham. At some point between when I left for work & when John woke up, she ate her dog food. Oh Linda, you diva.

Quote

I saw this quote in Real Simple the other night & loved it:

"What I expect from my male friends is that they are polite and clean. What I expect from my female friends is unconditional love, the ability to finish my sentences for me when I am sobbing, a complete and total willingness to pour their hearts out to me, and the ability to tell me why the meat thermometer isn't supposed to touch the bone."

Anna Quindlen, Living Out Loud

A Lot Can Change In A Year.....

I realized today that yesterday, March 23rd, was our "engagement anniversary." One year ago it was Easter & I spent the 3-day weekend with Tiffany in NYC, watching March Madness. When John picked me up from the airport that Sunday night, he took me to the drive-thru at Wendy's & proposed to me in my apartment. I can't believe that was one year ago. I can't believe in the past year, I've gotten engaged, bought a house, got married, honeymooned in Mexico, got a dog & finished 4 graduate level classes.

John & I dated for 4 years. I spent a good portion of that time wanting to be married, wanting to buy a house... It's amazing that, in what feels like the blink of an eye, I got everything I wanted.

Am I happy? Unbelievably so. I never thought I'd be married. Not because I didn't want to, but more because I didn't think I'd ever meet anyone that I wanted to marry or that wanted to marry me. I met John when I was in my late twenties. I remember thinking, "God, I'm almost 30. Let's get this show on the road!" In hindsight, I'm glad we dated for so long before we got married. We know each other extremely well & have adjusted to married life fairly seamlessly.

I guess my point is a lot can change in a year. One minute you're wishing for something you think you're never going to have & the next thing you know, you have all of that plus some.

Saturday Plans

I was really worried about Linda yesterday because she wasn't eating or going to the bathroom, so I called the vet & she said that's normal & that's she also probably in pain. She gave me some pain pills & said to feed her pumpkin pie filling to "loosen her up." It worked. She's not 100%, but you can tell she feels better. Bless her, she was just in pain.

Our friends Jessica & Brian stopped by last night to meet her. She did really well. She rolled right over & let them pet her belly. Clearly, she's a people person. She must get that from me. After showing Jessica this weird bump I found on her leg & confirming that it isn't a tic, we went to dinner at the Belle Meade Las Maracas. After dinner John & I came home & watched Milk. God, it was so good. Sean Penn totally earned that Oscar.

Today I'm going over to Carolyn's to help her get ready for the Walden Artisan Market next weekend. Later I'm going to Smyrna for Ladies Poker Night at Katie's. My sister is meeting me there. I'm pretty excited about this. I have no idea how to play poker, but my sister does, so I'm hoping she can help me out. If not, I'll just do what I always do at poker night, eat & gossip.

Girl..... You'll be a woman soon.

Well, our little Linda is all grown up. I took her to the vet yesterday to get spayed. I called later to check on her & they said she was doing fine, but she had been pregnant. Had been. That's right, my dog had an abortion yesterday. Who knew? Apparently she couldn't have carried them because the first round of shots she received would have deformed the puppies. How horrible is that? Poor Linda...

Isaac Mizrahi

I don't know how many of you follow fashion or designers, but I do a little & I've always loved Isaac Mizrahi. I used to love that quirky talk show he had on Oxygen, as well as the more recent one on Style. I think he's hilarious. Anyway, I was perusing Decor8 today & saw a link to an interview with him on Media Bistro. I love what he says about "high-low" style.

Q: You were one of the first proponents of 'high-low' style. These days everyone is having to consider what that means. How do you think that phenomenon is going to affect the fashion industry long-term?

A: Even more than the economy, I think the Obama family is going to affect it. [Michelle Obama] is the perfect example of high-low because she values the J.Crew sweater as much as she does some ensemble by Isabel Toledo. I just think that speaks volumes about the direction everyone has been going in for a number of years.

The acceptance of design at different levels is remarkable now. To me, the greatest luxury is the right thought or the right idea. That could cost very little -- the right thinking at the right time. So more and more, as people get conscious of budget, I don't think 'fast fashion' will be as trendy. I think actual design will be valued.

For more Isaac, check out his personal video blog.

Volume III: They Can What It Seems They Cannot

How I Became the Bomb just released their latest batch of free songs for you to download. All you need is a valid email address. As always, these songs were recorded, mixed & mastered in good 'ole Music City, USA.

Go forth & download!

http://www.howibecamethebomb.com/

Linda McCartney

Last night we learned a little more about our new dog's heritage. Apparently she's a descendant of Harry Houdini. Our friends Mike & Chrissi generously gave us a crate they weren't using. It's for a 65-70 lb dog, so I thought it would be good for our 35 lb dog -give her plenty of room to move around, etc. Little did I know.....

Last night we put Linda in the crate, set the alarm & headed to M'boro for Lauren & Kelly's annual St. Patrick's Day party. We typically set the alarm to "away" when we leave, which turns on the motion detectors. Well, we get to Smyrna & our cell phones start blowing up. It was our alarm company telling us our alarm was going off & police had been dispatched. Clearly Linda had somehow gotten out of the crate & set off the alarm. We assumed we'd get home to a disassembled crate & a freaked out dog.

We blast out of Smyrna & speed home. We realize about half way home that the alarm company turned the alarm off, which makes us feel a little better. But still, we've only had this dog for about 8 hours at this point & we have no idea how she's reacting to the alarm going off, in a house she doesn't know & not a human in sight. Oh, and possibly the police banging on the door.

So we get home. The alarm isn't going off, the crate is completely in tact & Linda is lounging on the couch like nothing happened. John just about lost his mind trying to figure out how she got out of that crate. We assume she slipped out of this teeny tiny space that she shouldn't have been able to fit through. John gets some zip ties & rigs it so that there are no more gaps or spaces. Then he realizes that he assembled the crate wrong, but he doesn't want to reassemble it because then he'd have to cut off the $10 worth of zip ties he just spent 15 minutes putting on.

I refuse to put her back in the crate because I don't want to come home to a dog that's either strangled herself or broken her neck. So we left her alone last night while we ran & got a late dinner. Aside from lounging on the couch, she did just fine. When we went to bed last night, I put her dog bed in our room, but she never came up there. I assumed she spent the night on the couch. I was partly right. I woke up & came downstairs. No sign of her in the living room, but I heard her tail wagging & found her downstairs snoozing on the loveseat. At least it wasn't the leather couch.....

Full photostream here.

We Got A Dog!

We got a dog today! We named her Linda McCartney. She's part Corgi & part Blue Heeler. She's 5 years old & weighs 35 lbs. I found her on Petfinder. She was at the Cheatham Co. Animal Control Shelter. They don't know where she came from. She was a stray, but her teeth are in good condition & she appears to be house-trained & leash-trained, so I don't think she's been on the streets for long. She's a really sweet dog. Welcome to the Baldwin family, Linda!

Chow Time!

John & I are obsessed with Trader Joe's. We're pretty into the above dinner combination:

Ground Buffalo Steak Burgers
Chipotle Ranch Fries
Organic Wheat Buns
Wasabi Mayonnaise (not pictured, but equally loved).

John could eat a burger & fries for every meal (and sometimes does), so this is a good dinner for him. Plus, he can make it, which is good for me. I got my hair cut a week or so ago & was talking to my stylist, James, about these buffalo steak burgers. James loves them too because they're high in protein. If you're going to eat a burger & fries, this is a fairly healthy way to go about it. And it's cheap! I love Trader Joe's.

Free Stuff!

My BFF Carolyn is giving stuff away! Go here for details. If you like what you see, she'll have a booth at the East Nashville Walden Artisan Market on March 27th & 28th. Carolyn is infamous for finding unloved & unwanted furniture & making it pretty. You'll want to see what she has. You'll want to buy it. You'll want to be her friend.

Jessica & Abigail

My new little niece turned 2 months old last week. I haven't been able to see her much because I spend every weekend writing a paper, but my mom keeps me current in pictures. As you'll undoubtedly notice, she gets her hair styling prowess from her Uncle John.... I also threw in a pic of "the wild one". She turned 3 last November.

Help me, Martha. Help; help me, Martha.

I want to learn how to garden. I have zero yard experience. I've never even cut the grass. Seriously. I'm sure when I was little, I helped plant things, but I have no current knowledge of how to do this. We have a pretty good sized yard, front & back, & it needs some TLC. We need practical things like bushes for privacy, but we also need flowers for curb appeal. Aside from not knowing how to plant things, I also have zero knowledge of what to buy. Nor do I know what the difference is between all the 1,000,000 types of plants & flowers. Basically, I don't know what to buy, when to buy it, when to plant it, or how to plant it. I need help. I need Martha. I keep reading her magazines & it looks so easy. Buy it, dig a hole, plant it, success. I've asked my friends with yards what I need to know, how do they know what to buy, etc. & they keep saying they don't know either; they just buy what they like, plant it & hope it works out. This doesn't help me.

I thought about buying a beginner book on gardening, but I'm afraid that won't really help me. I feel like this is going to be something I need to learn hands-on. I did get one good piece of advice from my friend Jaime. She & her husband have a really nice yard -really nice, but she said they went crazy with it & regret it now because they're too busy to keep it up. That is totally something I would do -go batshit crazy planting things & then cuss myself the next year when I had to maintain it.

I have an uncle with a landscaping business & he's offered to come help me figure out a plan & then buy the stuff for me at cost. I guess I need to start there. I'm just afraid he's going to come up with some grand scheme that will cost a lot of money & basically I just want some flowers....

Carnivores, Start Your Engines

My friend Lauren is always telling me about good recipes she comes across. Lately a lot of them have been coming from the Williams-Sonoma Bride & Groom Cookbook, so I asked John to buy it for me for Valentine's Day. Last night he made one of the recipes: Grilled T-Bone with Garlic Butter. It seemed a little ambitious, but hey, if the man wants to cook, let him cook. He did it all. He even made the garlic butter, which looked quite tedious, let me tell you. I have no idea what kind of steak he ended up buying. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a t-bone, but whatever. It's not like I know the difference. Steak is steak. Anyway, it was sooooo good! And I loved the garlic butter. It was so good on the steak. He picked out another recipe that he wants to make later this week: Wok-Glazed Sea Scallops. We bought the scallops at Trader Joe's, so we're making it. Again, the recipe is pretty ambitious, but we got a wok as a wedding present & it's not going to use itself, so... I'll report back. Maybe I'll even take another picture.

So my friend Megan has been telling me about all these Wii games I need to get. Last week she told me about this one where you operate on people. It's called Trauma Center New Blood. I told John about it & awesome husband that he is, he found it at McKay's & bought it for me. I'm hooked. It's like a combination of General Hospital & ER. It's completely ridiculous, but it's also completely awesome. I was "in surgery" all night, removing tumors, making sutures, repairing compound bone fractures, etc.

I was surprisingly good at it. John was not. He let a GSW (gunshot wound) victim die on the operating table. I was upstairs & heard him laughing & he told me he killed someone & got fired. So far it's the only game I'm any good at it. Who knew all those weird medical mystery shows I watch would one day come in handy? Now if someone would just make a What Not To Wear game, I'd be set.

Sunday Brownie Sunday

I've gotten into this bad (?) habit of making brownies on Sundays. Every Sunday I wake up with an insatiable need to bake. I'd like to tackle some of the cupcake ideas in last month's Martha Stewart Living, but alas, I'm lazy, so I keep making brownies. I don't think John minds. It does, however, explain how well my fat pants are starting to fit....

So yesterday was a dark day. I woke up early with plans to finish my mid-term & have the rest of my weekend to do whatever else I needed/wanted to do. Wrong! I either woke up retarded or my moon was in the house of crazy. Regardless, by 10am I was in the throws of a complete mental breakdown:

Why can't I understand this assignment?
Why does this teacher suck so much?
Why did she assign us a dissertation for a mid-term?
Why am I even in this stupid class?
Do I really need a Masters?
I'm not even learning anything.
I hate TSU.
Screw it; I'm dropping out.

I woke John up crying & rambling like a homeless woman off her meds. I needed out of the house. I needed caffeine. I needed to spend a lot of money on a lot of crap (read: Forever XXI). I called Carolyn. One iced coffee & two cardigans later I was feeling better. I came home & took a nap. I decided I was still too unstable to try & tackle my mid-term, so John took me to dinner & then we played the Wii. It was what I needed.

I woke up today feeling much better. I talked to my friend (& classmate) Jessica & figured out what I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around yesterday. I worked on my paper for a solid 4 hours this morning while John was asleep & got it pretty much knocked out. It's not due until midnight on Tues, so I can definitely finish it before then.

I'm not scheduled to graduate until Dec. 2010. If I make it until then without physically assaulting a professor, dropping out, or slitting my wrists, I'll be pretty happy. And I'll be worth a lot more money. Until then -brownies, lots of brownies.