Mid-Week Musings

Maybe I'll expound upon some of this later. Maybe I won't. In the meantime, here's what is rambling around in my noggin today.

I've been off of Facebook for two months. It feels hypocritical to work in social media and not participate in social media. So I'm going back on. But! A lot of you motherfuckers are getting hidden.

I also logged back on to MyFitnessPal today. I went off a month ago, breaking my insane 890 day streak. I'm still struggling with where calorie tracking fits into my life. Maybe it doesn't. I mean, I'm 39 years old. At what point can I trust that I know what to eat and how much to exercise? We'll see.

Last week, I heard the song "Birdhouse In Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants and LOST MY MIND. Why has it never occurred to buy my favorite album from the early nineties? You can buy everything online! So I bought it and it is the air that I breathe. I highly recommend you go immediately to iTunes or Amazon and buy your favorite album from high school.

I've been catching up on So You Think You Can Dance on Hulu. This show is so good!! This year, there's a street team and a stage team, and they're competing against each other! You guys, there's a Hebrew breaker, a tapper, a girl with a bum leg from a car wreck, and a #shero from Detroit called 'Standing O'. OMG. So good.

The weather this week has me yearning for fall. I read through all the September issues over the weekend and can't wait to start my fall style board on Pinterest. Also, crockpots, chili, pumpkin everything, running again -- I can't wait!

Weekend Wrap Up: Weekly Goals Edition

I'm not feeling these Weekend Wrap Up posts anymore. So instead of telling you what I did this weekend, how about I share what I wrote for my to do list this week? Last year, I bought my first Erin Condren life planner and used it to track my Ironman 70.3 Augusta training. I bought my second one this year to track what I thought was going to be another year of Ironman 70.3 training. Turns out, not so much. The first page of every week has a section for goals and notes. Here's what I wrote this morning.

Weekly Goals and Notes:

quit 70.3 training

eat out less

drink more

think about new fitness goals
-hire trainer?
-become yoga instructor?
-join a gym?

I also spent an hour making sure I own all the right Nicki Minaj songs. Why didn't anyone tell me she is an amazing, hilarious, filthy rapper? It's like no one knows me at all. In related news, I also bought the entire back catalogue of Drake, Beyonce and Katy Perry. I was missing a lot of Beyonce albums, y'all. THANK GOD that's taken care of. John's torn between continued disgust in my taste in music and pride in that I paid for something on the internet.

If you want more weekend activity, find me on Instagram and Twitter. Related, why aren't more of you on Twitter? I need more people to follow than Kim Kardashian.

What I Wore: The Grammys

When John and I made the decision to fly to L.A. for the Grammys, I immediately panicked about what in the world I was going to wear. And that was when I thought I only needed one outfit - HAHAHAHAHA. Turns out, I needed a minimum of two outfits: one for the nominees reception and one for the awards show. I knew I was in over my head and enlisted the help of my friend Anjeanetta, who has YEARS (15?) of retail and styling experience both here and in New York City. She knows me well (we've been friends since college and were roommates in NYC) and knows my style, comfort level and what works for my body.

We started by setting up a Grammy Pinterest board. I pinned some looks I liked and she told me where to start looking, e.g. ASOS, Nasty Gal, etc. Once we had a board full of potential outfits we met over coffee and decided what I should buy. We initially decided I would wear a black dress to the awards and a jumpsuit to the nominees reception. The reception was business casual and the awards were black tie.

Anj liked the idea of me in a floor-length black dress with some kind of interesting detail, and potentially paired with a black, leather motorcycle jacket. Shockingly, this dress existed, and I bought it. Thank you, ASOS. The jumpsuit however, proved harder to find. I didn't want to buy one online without knowing what it would look like on my body, so I went to Target and tried on a few. Meh. There was this gold blazer/black leggings look on Nasty Gal that I loved, so we scrapped the jumpsuit and went with the blazer/leggings look.

Unfortunately, the Nasty Gal blazer was sold out in my size, but I was sure I could find one, so I started hitting the thrift stores hard. My search paid off. I found a gold Calvin Klein blazer in my size and in like-new condition for $8. Then I went to Target and bought a white t-shirt and pleather leggings. This entire outfit cost $38, which is hilarious because the borrowed shoes and purse I wore cost more than my airfare to L.A. True story.

Once I had the two outfits, I went over to Anjeanetta's and she styled me. I don't own fancy lady shoes, so Anj generously, and very trustingly, gave me a pair of Louboutins and a pair of Celine heels, plus a Chanel bag and a vintage Balenciaga clutch. Y'all, I'm not even kidding, I carried all of this on the plane because I was terrified the airline would lose my luggage and I'd owe Anjeanetta $7,000 in accessories.

Side-note on the dress: Anj had me order it in a size 12 (I'm probably a size 8) and have it tailored down. This is not something I would have known to do. Now granted, the alteration cost more than the dress, but it was money well spent. That dress fit like a glove. I got compliments on it all night. No one could believe it was from ASOS. (I used Elegant Alterations in Green Hills.)

I LOVED all of my outfits. They were perfect. I never felt over or under dressed. The Celine heels did amazing things to my legs in those pleather leggings. They didn't even look like my legs. I felt real fancy and real cool. I loved my dress so much. I never even put on the jacket because I didn't want to hide the dress. And aside from having to free-boob it due to an undergarment malfunction, I was totally comfortable, which is hard to pull off not only in black tie, but in an outfit I literally wore from 9:30/10:00am until 2:30am.

Anjeanetta, thank you sooooo much!!!

John is going to kill me for this, but he looked so good!! He wore a suit by Billy Reid, styled by Shelly Colvin. Shelly, girl, THANK YOU!

P.S. I went to the Grammys! Part One.

P.P.S. Seriously, I went to the Grammys! Part Two.

L.A. Wrap Up: Grammys Edition, Part Two

When I left you, John and I had attended the Special Merit Awards and Nominees Reception on Saturday night and were getting ready for the Grammy Awards on Sunday. Fact:  there are 86 Grammy awards and only 11 are televised. John was one of the awards given out earlier that day in what is called the Premiere Ceremony. I thought this would be at a hotel ballroom and we'd all be sitting around big tables. John Waters was going to there and I told everyone I was going to take so many secret pictures of him. Well, turns out, not at a hotel ballroom. No, our ceremony was next door to the Staples Center at the Nokia Theatre, which is what would happen if Ryman Auditorium and Bridgestone Arena had a baby. It was huge.

We sat down and read on the program that John's award was number 12, so we were going to know if he won real fast, like in the first 30 minutes fast. I looked around at the enormity of the event and the enormity of why we were there, and started crying. I tried to tell John that I was proud of him, but I couldn't talk and we both started laughing.

John is a mastering engineer and was nominated for his work on There's A Dream I've Been Saving:  Lee Hazelwood Industries 1966 - 1971 (Deluxe Edition) in the category, Best Historical Album. John was nominated along with the box set's 3 producers:  Matt Sullivan, Patrick McCarthy and Hunter Lea. This was great because it meant we went through the whole weekend as a group of 8, which was a lot of fun, and also, way less intimidating.

They really did get to John's award in the first 30 minutes. I couldn't believe how fast it all went. I started crying again as they read the list of nominees and I heard "John Baldwin, mastering engineer", but then they read another name as the winner. I was stunned for a minute while my brain processed what just happened. We had met the winner at the reception the night before and we were happy for her, and listened to her acceptance speech, and then we all just kind of looked at each other, shrugged and left. We walked outside, found the closest hotel bar and stayed there until it was time for the Grammys.

(From L to R:  Alec Palao, Hunter Lea, Patrick McCarthy, Matt Sullivan, John Baldwin)

I had initially intended to walk the Grammys red carpet to A) see a red carpet in person, and B) see some crazy celebrities up close. But... mojitos. We lost track of time and barely made it into the Staples Center before they closed the doors. We sat down and the show started almost immediately. AC/DC started playing and it was so loud and so over-the-top. I started laughing and couldn't stop, and kind of started laugh-crying. It was just so ridiculous - the performance and the fact that we were there.

Seeing an awards show in person is really weird. Most of the stuff you see on television you don't see live because the host and most of the presenters are mic'd for television. So there are these screens that drop down and show old performances to keep the live audience entertained during all the transitions. It's bizarre. But we had great seats and the show was 80% fun.

After the awards show, we all walked next door to the Convention Center for the after-party, which John described on Twitter as, "Mary Poppins / Transcontinental Railroad themed". It was kind of like Bonnaroo, but in a convention center. There were all these different rooms, with different stages and different themed performers. Gloria Gaynor performed - ? None of it made sense. But hey, open bar! Honestly, it was a much needed opportunity for the guys to regroup, refocus and turn those frowns upside down, which we did. Until 2am.

John and I have joked about how we'll tell people about the Grammys because it's going to be so hard to do without sounding like assholes. It is hands-down one of the most important things that has happened to John's career, but the actual event was a total circus that kind of didn't mean much. We met a lot of people over the weekend who nodded knowingly upon hearing that it was our first time. I get it now. It's definitely something you do when you get nominated, but you only do it once. And I'm only talking about the televised Grammy Awards show, not all the other stuff. The weekend itself and all the nominee events that John went to are 100% worth the airfare, but the actual awards show? Yeah, once is probably enough.

Full Grammy photostream here.

P.S. Missed Part One? Here you go!

P.P.S. You better believe what I wore to the Grammys got it's own post.

L.A. Wrap Up: Grammys Edition, Part One

Oh hey, did you know John and I went to the Grammys? You probably didn't know. I kept it pretty under wraps. Kidding! It was obviously the most I've ever talked about anything in my life. File under: duh - John got nominated for a Grammy. Over the years, he's worked on a lot of projects that have been nominated, but this was the first time he, himself got nominated. So we went. We were there for five days, stayed with a very generous friend in Los Feliz, HAD A BLAST, and would move there tomorrow if we could afford it. Here's how it went down.

On Friday we had breakfast with our Light In The Attic friends at Little Dom's. I had buckwheat polenta and sat behind Aziz Ansari. It was very L.A. Aziz was with John Cho and a girl I couldn't place. I didn't take a picture because he was literally 2 feet in front of me and there was no way to pull it off. You're welcome, Aziz.

There was an event on Friday night for the nominees in John's category. I had already made plans with my friend Dawn, so John and I parted ways for the night. I went and hung out at Dawn's Hollywood apartment and then we did a little shopping, drank a little wine, and she took me out for ramen. Holy crap, L.A. ramen!

On Saturday night we had the Special Merit Awards and Nominees Reception, which everyone told us was the biggest event of the weekend. We had to be there at some crazy time, like 2:30 or 3:00, so it was a short day. We were cruising around looking at stuff when we passed the food truck zone and the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits. We shockingly found a parking spot, so we ate sandwiches from the Banh In The USA truck (delicious) and then walked over to the tar pits.

P.S. John wants you to know that La Brea means "the tar", so we're all saying "the the tar tar pits".

We left the the tar tar pits and drove to the Wilshire Ebell Theatre for the awards and reception. I got real excited when we got there because there was a red carpet and paparazzi. I excitedly sent the tweet, "Celebrities!!!". Turns out, it was just Jane Fonda and Barry Gibb. But still. It was really cool. Once we were seated, they started the program by having all of the nominees stand up and John got to stand up and have the whole theatre clap for him. I may have cried.

The nominees reception afterwards was super awesome and super fancy, though some chairs wouldn't have killed them. My feet still hurt. But there was all this food, an open bar, even a Grammy merch table. There was a special room just for the nominees and they got their nominee medallion and their official Grammy photo taken. John said when he signed in, the name directly under his was Beck. (Beck wasn't there.)

They had food at the reception, but I couldn't really get to it. When I finally did, I put two giant shrimp on my plate and then promptly proceeded to shoot them across the room. Wet plate, wet shrimp, dry fork - didn't work out so well. We left the reception and grabbed dinner at Canters Deli before heading out to the Santa Monica Pier. We walked around the pier, walked out to the ocean, and then headed back to get some rest for our big day on Sunday.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Sunday was nuts. John's award was in the Premiere Ceremony that started at 12:30pm, but we had to be there at 11:00am. And then the big, televised awards show started at 5:00pm, but you had to be inside, in your seats by 4:45pm. Then! The Grammy after-party started at 9:00pm and went until, well, in our case, 2:00am. Yes, I stayed out that late. Yes, I'm still tired. No, I still can't feel my feet.

Impromptu decision:  I'm cutting this post in half. It's already too long and I still have 1,000 more words to write about Beyonce. Next up:  John's ceremony and THE GRAMMYS!!!

To be continued.

P.S. Here is Part Two of the story.

P.P.S. What to wear to the Grammys is A THING. So I wrote about it.

Weekend Wrap Up: 20/20 Experience Edition

 

On Friday night, Mary Katherine & I took her 16-year old niece to see Justin Timberlake at Bridgestone Arena, & by "took her to see Justin Timberlake", I mean WE went to see Justin Timberlake & we let a 16-year old go with us.  Real talk.

I don't even know how to begin to review a concert, but JT's 20/20 Experience is hands-down the best concert I've ever seen.  It BLEW MY MIND.  The 3-hour plus concert included a stage that rose up & moved over the floor of the arena, covers/samples of Michael Jackson, Kanye, Elvis & my personal favorite, Bell Biv Devoe, & the best backup dancers I've ever seen.  It was sooooo awesome!

Due to apocalypse-level weather, my Sunday lady running group moved the run to Saturday.  I had had about 1 hour of sleep, so it wasn't a personal best.  Plus, there was a race at Shelby & the park was closed until 10am.  I had no idea you could close Shelby Bottoms.  Spoiler alert:  you can.  After our re-routed stadium run, we went to Barista Parlor for lattes & moto biscuits.  And then I went back to sleep.

My oldest niece Abigail turned 8 recently.  On Saturday afternoon, I drove to Smyrna for her One Direction themed birthday party.  Y'all, she is serious about One Direction.  It's hilarious.  These are the wall decals I got her.  I'm not sure, but I think she likes them.

On Saturday night, we went to dinner with friends then all headed over to a house-warming party for pals Neil & Alicia.  Since I didn't have to get up & run on Sunday, I let Heidi make me her infamous "pank drank".  This is my I-don't-drink-anymore-omg-this-drink-is-strong-these-are-all-my-teeth face.  Woof.

Man, it's amazing how much you can get done in a day when you don't spend the first half of it running.  I got up, went to the grocery store, put a pot roast in the crockpot for us & made white chicken chili to deliver to friends.  And this was like before 9:00am.  TCB.

Weekend Wrap Up: The National Edition

Over the weekend, five of my fellow East Nasties competed in Ironman Wisconsin.  Since few of us could be there to support them, we all made signs & posted a picture of us holding our sign on their Facebook walls.  I have zero artistic ability, so I used the sign Mary Katherine made for me when I ran my first half.  It seemed appropriate.

On Saturday, Lana & I competed in our fourth triathlon of the summer.  We just did sprint distance this time, not Olympic.  It was so much fun!  (Race recap coming later.)

My friends Mike & Chrissi are expecting their first baby soon & their shower was on Saturday.  I had to go straight from my triathlon, so I felt, & probably smelled, pretty ridiculous, but there was no way around it.  Here I am with Claudia & Lauren.  As you can see, Lauren is pregnant again.  She's expecting a baby boy in December (!!).

The last time The National played the Ryman, John went with me.  When the band announced a return trip, John begged me to take someone else.  He even offered to buy my ticket if he didn't have to go.  So I took Lana.  And we had a blast!  I was in the balcony this time, so my pictures are crap, but the concert was soooo good!  I heart this band so hard.

Weekend Wrap Up: David Sedaris Edition

David Sedaris is one of my favorite authors & he did a speaking/book signing event at Parnassus Books on Friday night.  I've since learned that none of my friends knew about this event, so take a minute & head over to Parnassus' site & sign up to receive their email updates.  Their events are small & usually fill up fast, but being on their email list ensures you find out first.

This was actually my first Parnassus event & it was totally awesome.  I RSVP-ed late, so I sat outside as opposed to being in-store, but it was fine.  I brought a chair & they provided everything else, including free catering from Chinatown, Donut Den & Harvest Breads.  Oh, & a photobooth.  I had a lot of fun.  David read a chapter from his new book, read a couple hilarious dog poems & then read about 15-20 minutes of diary entries from his own diaries.  A lot of the entries were written recently after his other book signing events, so it was funny & mildly uncomfortable to know that he would go to his hotel room & write about what some of us said &/or wore.  He's amazing & I'm so glad he keeps coming back to Nashville.

This was a weird weekend in that I didn't have a lot to do.  Because of scheduling & weather, I didn't have any work-outs lined up, which usually take up the majority of my weekend.  In addition, John was out of the house all day Saturday, so Linda & I sat downstairs & read the first half of my new David Sedaris book.  What?  Linda can totally read.

I took a break from reading & watching Freaks & Geeks on Netflix to get the mail & found my birthday Birchbox had arrived.  I'll explain.  I received two Birchbox gift cards as birthday presents (thanks, April & Claudia!), so I ordered a bunch of stuff I typically wouldn't have bought for myself.  You know, like $18 body wash that will be gone in two weeks.

John's friend Michael is leaving us for NYC this week & Saturday was his going-away party.  For what was actually kind of a sad event, the party was the most fun we've had in a long time, venturing on ever.  Everyone in the world we know was there, plus there was tons of really good food.  And by food, I mean cupcakes, of which I had 1,000.  Oh, & John wore is bolo tie.  I just felt like that needed to be pointed out.  If you look carefully, his shirt is pointing at it.

After Michael's party, we went to see our friends, Dead Confederate, play at The High Watt.  Let the record show that not only did I got to a party & a rock show, I did them on the same night & didn't get home until almost 2am.  Who am I?!

Needless to say, yesterday was kind of a throw-away day.  I slept until 9am, which is the latest I've slept since my twenties, then woke John up to take me to ML Rose for a heaping basket of ranchero fries.  I think the only other thing I did yesterday was lay on the couch digesting cheese & watching more *Freaks & Geeks.

*I keep getting pulled into conversations involving Freaks & Geeks lately & not remembering any of the references.  Turns out, I never watched Freaks & Geeks.  I don't what I think I watched, but it wasn't it.  So this weekend, I dug in & watched the first 6 of the 18 episodes.  It may be the best show I've ever (never?) watched.

Weekend Wrap Up: Baby Shower Edition

On Friday night, my friend Lana treated me to an early birthday present:  tickets to The Black Keys.  Because all concerts in Nashville sell out in the same second they go on sale, Lana was only able to get "limited sight" seats.  We were pleasantly surprised when we sat down & could actually see the stage.  Apparently the backstage passes I'M SURE my friend Dan Auerbach secured for me got lost in the mail.

The Flaming Lips opened for The Black Keys, & as much as it pains me to say this, they were the highlight of the night.  Wayne Coyne BLEW MY MIND.  Obviously, I love The Black Keys, but their show paled in comparison to The Flaming Lips.  Something was wrong with The Black Keys live mix & we couldn't hear Dan's vocals, & Patrick's beat always seemed to be too fast.  We had a blast, but we were both a little disappointed with The Black Keys.  Tear...

On Saturday, Lauren & I hosted a baby shower for Tiffany & Chris, who drove down from New York for the weekend.  Tiffany's family from West Tennessee came & all of our friends & family came.  It was a great day.  Tiff & Chris made out like bandits on gifts from their registry & that's not even including all the loot they got later from Essex!

Tiff & Chris under the banner it took me 2 weeks to make.  Baby girl Kurtz is due in late June & I can't wait to meet the world's tallest, blue-est eyed baby!  Full baby shower photostream on Facebook & Flickr.

No rest for the wicked.  I wrapped up the baby shower, threw on some jeggings (because I ate ONE HUNDRED DONUTS) & headed to Brentwood for Melanie & Troy's Quatro de Mayo party.  I may have had a margarita & a bushwhacker, at the same time...

From left to right:  Lana, Jessica, moi & Melanie.

My triathlon is in like 5 minutes & I've only ridden my bike once.  BECAUSE IT'S RAINED EVERY DAY FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS.  Ugh.  Lana & I decided we were riding yesterday come hell or high water, literally on the high water part.  The greenways are all flooded, so we rode to the stadium & back & around Shelby until we hit 8 miles, then we hopped off & ran about 1.5 miles.  Lawd, I forgot how hard bricks are.

It wouldn't be a work-out unless I immediately consumed the same amount (or more) of calories that I just burned.  Hello, Barista Parlor!  I wish I could quit you, moto biscuit.

Back at home, I laid down on the couch & watched Skyfall.  I liked it, but I'm still processing Javier Bardem's weird character.  I'm so confused about his ethnicity!  I was supposed to go to a friend's birthday party last night, but John had to work & I fell asleep on the couch & never woke up.  I'm sorry!

Justin Timberlake Wants To Show You A Few Things...

Happy Friday.  And, you're welcome.

Weekend Wrap Up: The Shins Edition

I met my friend Lana on Saturday morning for a bike ride.  Because I'm new to riding, I don't have cycling clothes yet, & in fact, am still riding in a borrowed pair of tri shorts.  It was 46 degrees outside on Saturday morning.  I covered up & layered as much as I could, but I still rode 14 miles in 46 degrees in shorts.  I warmed up a little at Barista, but it was short-lived.

Back at home, & still freezing, I jumped into bed to warm up.  I was playing on my iPad when John came stomping upstairs with a box that looked like it had been to hell & back.  It was my purse!  This purse, nay satchel, is the most stressful, frustrating purchase I've ever made, but it's here, it's beautiful & I love it.

On Saturday night, we went to dinner with Katie, Dave & Alexis, & Keith & Nicole.  We tried for Lockeland Table, but didn't get in & went to Eastland Cafe instead.  And you all know the best part of eating at Eastland Cafe - going across the street to Jeni's afterwards for dessert!  Pumpkin 5-Spice, you complete me.

Yesterday John helped me snazz up our front porch a little.  I usually plant a bunch of mums & put them on our front stairs, but last year they all blew over & my pots broke.  So this year, I just planted a bunch in one big planter up by the front door.  Take that, wind!

I bought this mirror months ago at the Goodwill in Lawrenceburg for $10.  My friend Jaime has the exact same mirror, but she paid $80.  Score!  It's super heavy, but John rigged up the back with some heavy duty wire & hung it for me.  You can't see the bar cart, but it's in the same room & they really go well together.  I need to style that table, but I like it!

Rounding out the 2012 Jaime & Kim Concert Series, we went to see The Shins last night at Ryman Auditorium.  To avoid getting held hostage again, they held a Hatch print for me.  I love it!

I saw The Shins at the Ryman during their last tour & we saw part of their show at Bonnaroo this year, but last night blew everything else out of the water.  I love The Shins & they put on a great show last night.  Granted, it's hard to put on a bad show at the Ryman, but well done, Shins!