Weekend Wrap Up: Tight Pants & Tatts Edition

Eager to use the products from my new September Birchbox, I painted my nails Friday night using Color Club in Status Update & OPI in No Room For The Blues.

On Saturday morning, I met Allison for a ride on the Shelby Bottoms Greenway.  Unbeknownst to us, there was a walk/run going on, so we had to make up a detour, but we still got a 12.3 mile ride in.

After the ride, we treated ourselves to coffee & fancy breakfast sandwiches at Barista.  For whatever reason, we started talking about record labels & decided that if we were to start our own label, which we're not, we'd name it Tight Pants & Beards, or Tight Pants & Tatts, or Tight Pants & Beards & Tatts & Flannel.  We assuredly had had too much coffee, but we thought it was hilarious.

Saturday afternoon, I decided to treat myself (treat yo self!) to a much coveted pair of black shorts to wear over tights for fall/winter.  Black shorts, such an elusive item!  Who knew?  It took all day & a lot of driving, but I finally found a pair on clearance at GAP.  They were just $10!  Score!

Pardon the ridiculous Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader pose.  I'm not used to posing for pictures that include my feet.  I digress.  So this is probably going to be the base outfit for my fall wardrobe:  black shorts (I promise I'm wearing shorts in this picture), tights, booties, some kind of shirt & either a grandpa/Olsen twin sweater or a thrifted tuxedo jacket/blazer.  Top knot optional, but highly likely as I refuse to do anything else with my hair right now.

On Saturday night, we met Brian & Jessica for dinner at Mad Donna's.  I had previously only eaten brunch there, but was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed their dinner.  I got the Ghetto Bird:  chicken strips tossed in Rayfo’s “HOT” Chicken sauce, lettuce, tomato, and pickle on a hoagie roll. Buttermilk ranch for dippin’.  It was delicious!

On Sunday morning, I met Allison & Becca at Percy Werner to run the 5.8 trail.  About halfway up 3 mile hill, a passerby stopped us & warned us that a dead rattlesnake was up ahead & not to be scared.  Um, thanks?  So yeah, there was totally a dead rattlesnake on the trail.  Shockingly, that wasn't the grossest part.  No, the grossest part was the swarm of bees that descended upon it's carcass, including inside it's dead snake mouth.

Later, we were discussing what would happen if you got stung by one of those disgusting dead snake eating bees & I jokingly quipped, "Snake AIDS".  And so it came to be that the first band on our record label, Tights Pants & Tatts, will be Snake AIDS.  Oh wait, it gets better.

Later I was relaying this story to John.  To know my husband is to know his skepticism at new information &  his astoundingly quick ability to obtain information from Wikipedia.  Within seconds, he confirmed that there are bees who eat things like dead rattlesnakes.  Guess what they're called? Guess!  You'll never guess.  Meat bees.  MEAT BEES!!!

So whenever Allison & I form our imaginary record label, Tight Pants & Tatts, our first band will be Snake AIDS & at the Snake AIDS record release show, Meat Bees will be the opener.  It's going to be epic.

I'm really into pretending it's 20 degrees cooler than it really is.  In my attempt to keep this fantasy alive, I made chili & jalapeno corn bread muffins for dinner last night.  Our house was a sweltering 76 degrees, but this chili was DELICIOUS.

Happy fall, y'all!

Friday Links

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Anna of Door Sixteen is often seen sporting temporary tattoos.  I've always been intrigued, but never really looked into it.  Until now.  I bought one.  I almost bought the one above, but alas, I went with this.  (Tattly via Door Sixteen)

Attention single ladies:  this will make your life.  I laughed so hard I cried.  You're welcome.  (#myfriendsaremarried via Girls of a Certain Age)

I LOVE my hair stylist, Jordan, so I was so excited to see her tagged in a video on FB yesterday.  Jordan recently participated in something called The Pixie Project.  I highly recommend watching this.  Warning:  you will cry.  (Wild and Precious)

We all have people in our lives that are, let's say difficult, to deal with.  I tend to attract these people like flies to shit.  Yesterday my husband emailed me this.  (Boston.com)

Y'all know there are few things in life I love as much as thrifting, so naturally this song (NSFW) is my new anthem.  (Buzzfeed)

Birchbox Review: August

Although I was excited when I heard the August Birchbox would be a back-to-school theme, I was disappointed upon receiving it.  Here's what I got & why I was let down.

Caldrea | Hand Soap

• Birchbox description:  A delicious-smelling soap loaded with aloe vera & olive oil to soften hands.  Full-size, $10.50
• My review:  This smells amazing, but it's $10.50, plus $5 for shipping.  I just don't pay that much for hand soap.  Also, a hand soap sample?  Meh...

Juicy Couture | Viva la Juicy La Fleur

• Birchbox description:  This modern scent is a feminine blend of wild berries, mandarin & waterlily.  Full-size, $70
• My review:  If my 6 year old niece were allowed to wear perfume, I'd give this to her as 6 is clearly Juicy's target age.

stila | smudge stick waterproof eye liner

• Birchbox description:  Swap your plain black liner for this shimmery update - it'll make your eyes stand out.  Full-size, $20
• My review:  I gave this eye liner to my friend Jenn because it was more her color.  She tried it, but said the glitter fell into her eyes.  FAIL.

Yu-Be | Moisturizing Skin Cream

• Birchbox description:  This best-selling Japanese cream hydrates chapped lips, rough heels & cracked hands.  Full-size, $16
• My review:  This was something else I was disappointed to see in my box.  First of all, why August?  Shouldn't this be something we receive in the harsh winter months?  Also, the teeny tiny sample size is kind of ridiculous.  I'll use it in January when I have "chapped lips" &/or "cracked hands" & report back.

Final Thoughts:

Of the three Birchboxes that I've received, this is my least favorite.  Aside from the hand soap, which honestly seemed like a crap sample, everything else in the box was too young for me.  I am a 36 year old professional woman.  I don't need glitter eye liner & wild berry scented perfume.

I'm not going to cancel my subscription yet, but...  strike one, Birchbox.  I'm not going to continue paying $10/month for a razor & hand soap.

Weekend Wrap Up: Louisville Edition

John & I have had pretty busy summers, respectively.  I spent all summer coaching a Couch to 5K group & training for a triathlon, while John has been burning the candle at both ends on a huge multi-month project, while also carrying his usual workload.  We needed a break.  This weekend we treated ourselves (treat yo self!) to a 24-hour vacation in Louisville, Kentucky.  Louisville is about three hours north of Nashville.  We took the Dixie Highway part of the way & passed Wigwam #2 in Cave City, Kentucky.

We stayed at the super cool 21c Museum Hotel, which we loved.  The entire hotel is a museum, including your room.  Anyone can come in & walk around, but only guests are allowed upstairs on the floors where the rooms are.

This is our super cool hotel room.  It was pretty awesome.  I had read bad reviews, mostly related to noise, but we didn't have any problems.  Definitely recommend this hotel.

I made dinner reservations at Chef Edward Lee's, of Top Chef fame, restaurant, 610 Magnolia.  We haven't been to Catbird Seat yet, but it appears to be a similar set-up.  We did all 4 courses & I did the wine pairing.  It was so good!!!  It was so expensive!!!  We loved it!  I may have to do a separate post on what we ate.  Stay tuned!

After our super fancy, super awesome dinner, we headed back to 21c to walk around & enjoy the hotel bar, which came highly recommended.  We both had a drink & then walked around a little.  I may or may not have interacted with some of the art...

We got up the next morning & headed to East Market Street for brunch.  Toast came highly recommended & it didn't disappoint.  I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season!

I had a hard time deciding what to order because it all looked so good.  John got a western scramble, so I decided to go the sweet route & ordered the lemon souffle pancakes with vanilla custard & blueberry compote.  Y'all.  These pancakes BLEW MY MIND.  Thank God this place is three hours away...

After brunch, John took control of the vacation & drove us around to various abandoned artillery bunkers & nuclear reactor sites, like you do.  He tried to trespass into the abandoned military whatever & I had to intervene.  I could hear gunfire.  And not far-off gunfire either.  He took one last look at the electrified, barbed wire fence he was seconds away from scaling & reluctantly climbed back into the car.

On the way home, I remembered there's a Zappo's outlet store somewhere near Louisville.  Thank you, Google.  We not only found it, it was open!  It was nuts.  It was like the Off Broadway Opry Mills location on a Saturday, during Christmas, times 1,000.  Cra.

I ran around grabbing shoes like it was a contest, albeit one I was winning, when I overheard some teenage girls reference all the boots being 50% off.  Que?  A few minutes later, an employee confirmed that yes, all boots (& shoes) are 50% off.  In addition, he pointed up to a sign hanging from the ceiling, shoes with a blue sticker are 60% off & shoes with a purple sticker are 70% off.  This is 50, 60 & 70% off the already discounted outlet price.  So all the shoes I had that I thought were $50, were $25, at the most.  I lost my mind, but luckily not my wallet as my sweet, sweet husband paid for my shoe-apoolaza.

I never thought I'd say this, but yay, Kentucky!

Friday Links

Very few people know that I have a secret obsession with manatees.  This makes my life.  (Calming Manatee via Yewknee)

As calming as that manatee is, I'm still kind of losing my mind every time I log-on to Facebook.  People, for the love of God, keep your politics out of my feed!  Ginger puts it a bit more eloquently.  Preach it, sister!  (Ramble Ramble)

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty excited about The Mindy Project.  Thanks to hulu, you can watch the pilot for free online here.  (Vulture)

Speaking of TV, It's A Brad Brad World is returning for a Second Season on Bravo.  I love you, Brad, but I'm not going to lie, I watch for Gary.  (Fashionistia)

Ballet Zoom "Cats".  Just watch it.  (TeenAngster)

3-Day Weekend Wrap Up: Riding Dirty Edition

I met my Tri friends Heidi & Allison on Saturday morning for a 25 mile ride.  I was pretty doubtful that I'd be able to ride 25 miles, thus my above skeptical before face.  Also, I was sure it was going to rain, like it does EVERY TIME I RIDE MY BIKE.

We didn't make it 25 miles, but we went pretty far.  We rode the greenway from Shelby Bottoms to Kohl's in Hermitage - about 16 miles.  It felt like we rode around the world.  It was so hard!  But fun.  We ran into Jonell about halfway through & she rode with us to Kohl's.  So helpful!  In the pic above, you can't tell, but my legs are filthy.  It was kind of awesome.  I mean, you might even say I was riding dirty.  I'm just saying.

After the ride, we all went to Ugly Mugs & feasted on oatmeal & coffee.  I wanted a bagel so bad, but I've got to rein in my eating.  I've got a physical this week.

In a continued effort to take the worst pictures ever, this happened.  Having spent half of my day riding to Hermitage, on Saturday night, we drove there to celebrate our friend's birthday at Gondola House Pizzeria.  It was so good!  If you ever find yourself on Lebanon Pike & in need of nourishment, I highly recommend this restaurant.

Since all three of us overdid it after our ride on Saturday, we decided to meet at Percy Warner to run the 5.8.  It was rough.  It was kind of raining & it was as humid as it's ever been.  And we were all a tiny bit hung-over.  Hard times...  But we did it.

Our friends Jeremy & Candice, of Battle Tapes fame, got married on Sunday night.  Their wedding was at Marathon Music Works & was half wedding, half rock show.  It was awesome!  You know you're in Nashville when the wedding program comes with earplugs.

Wedding friends:  Katie, me & Alexis, notably sans earplugs.  We're hardcore like that.

On Monday, Jaime & I went to the Belcourt to see The Queen Of Versailles.  I've heard mixed reviews, but I liked it.  It's obviously not a feel good movie, but it's very interesting.  I'd recommend watching it when it comes out on DVD.

Speaking of movies, I watched The Artist this weekend.  Whoa!  I can't believe I waited so long to see this movie.  Definitely one of the best movies I've ever seen.  LOVED it!!!

Friday Links

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I hadn't heard of Little Free Library until my friends Sarah & Chris built one & posted the pic on FB.  Such a great idea!  East Nashvillians, you should check it out:  front yard on Greenfield Ave.  (Facebook)

This is super neat:  Famous album covers in NYC. (Buzzfeed)

The Onion has been on fire lately.  This one cracked me up:  Brave woman enters restaurant without first looking it up online.  (the Onion)

Have you guys seen the family covering Depeche Mode songs?  OMG.  (Buzzfeed via MK)