Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. and I LOOOOOVE Christmas. So I've been ready for "this time of year", since, well since they took Christmas music off the radio last year!

This year, I'm really having to focus on the "thankful" part though. It's been a rough past month or so. First (at least I think it was first), my step-grandfather passed away. It was tough... he had fallen and broken his hip about a week before he passed away, and then never really pulled through. It was tough on me, but really hard on my little sister. It was a challenge to be the best big sister I could be to reassure her that she would make it through this (she has never lost anyone close to her before).

Then, Clay's mom fell and broke her ankle. In the course of 2 weeks, she fell, she had surgery, came to stay with us for a week, and then had to move apartments (from an upstairs 3 bedroom, to a downstairs 2 bedroom).

Then, Clay's grandmother (his mom's mom) fell and broke HER ankle! Apparently it's contagious that side of the family! Clay said if I break anything, he's giving up, hah! So, needless to say, I've been tip toeing all the time.

So now, Thanksgiving will be cooked at my house, and then driven 2 hours so that our broken ones can have Thanksgiving... I'm a planner and not good with change, so we'll see how it goes.

There have also been a load of other things going on that I won't even go into, but it's added up to a stressful fall! Not to mention the craziness of my beloved Titans!

I have so much to be thankful for though, even when I get a little down. Just have to remind myself of that and have "positive expectations"!

So that's what I'm focusing on for now, trying to really stay positive, though it's so hard to slip into a negative frame of mind. But, it's worth it...I know that I'll be happier and can hopefully make those around me happier too!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone...off to continue the cooking! Gobble til' you wobble!

Apparently, it's fall...

Well, apparently I forgot to blog during the summer months... that was quick! I honestly sat down to write something more than once, but something or another drug me away. You know, people sometimes ask "What have you been up to?". My answer tends to be "Nothing really." But then, when I think about it, I've been so busy, going, going, going, and I don't even know what I've been doing!

Take the summer for example...

Here's the short version of "What I did on my summer vacation (or lack thereof of vacation)":

First, it flooded. We all know about that. It wasn't very fun. I was in Nashville that weekend... even less fun. I was stranded at my mom's house, but thankfully (even though they live in Bellevue, one of the worst hit areas) they weren't affected for the most part, except electricity being out for about 4-5 days.

June was C-RAZY. At least at work. We had trial - a big one. It was busy. I'm sure something happened then, but I sure don't remember it =).

July: Ah July. It was hot. REAL hot. For the 4th, Clay and I took an impromptu trip up to the Smokey Mountains for the long weekend. It was GREAT. We didn't do much at all. We took a short hike, rode the Sky Lift to the top of Crockett Mountain (obviously!), we ate some AWESOME food, and did some super touristy things that are musts each and everytime you hit the Gatlinburg strip!

Late July brought the California trip. I was weary about it, but it turned out pretty good. My brother, Adam, got married in Napa Valley the last weekend in July. Clay and I flew out on a Thursday afternoon and came back on a Sunday. In case you are thinking about a "quick weekend trip to wine country"... consider extending it. The travel was hell, at least from Memphis (i.e. the WORST place to try to fly from, ever, no questions asked.) Adam and Claire's wedding was perfect for them, Napa and San Fransisco were fun (even though we had a total of about 16 hours to see them all!)

Here are a couple of pics from that trip:

Clay and I at the Pacific Ocean in San Fransisco (we got a foggy day =/)


Wine Country at it's best... from atop Artesa Winery in Napa


The Bride (Claire) and Groom (my brother, Adam) at the rehearsal dinner


My family (minus the happy couple) right before the ceremony


My dad and Clay at the reception... probably one of my favorite pictures ever!


We took a TON of pictures (check facebook for those) and check out Amy Stroup... she played some music at the wedding and is a friend of my new sister-in-law. She's AH-mazing. Her music has been featured on "One Tree Hill", "Brothers and Sisters", a bunch of others and, if you are watching the "Grey's Anatomy" premiere tonight, you'll hear her! Yay Amy!

Now, we're back home, working like crazy and back into the football grove. We are tearing UP I-40 driving to Nashville most weekends for Titans home games (and loving every minute.. GO TITANS GO!). I'm playing some softball with some of my Tipton County girls... apparently, everyone played softball in these parts, and not basketball... it's cool, I'm an awesome DH!

But, that's the summer in a (big fat) nutshell. I missed a few things (some weddings, some trips I'm sure, and a million other things), but hey, I blogged right?

Painting MACHINE

So, we've lived in our house for about three and a half years. We have been slowly, but surely, painting the house at the rate of about one room per year.

Well, a few weeks ago, actually, I guess it was about a month ago now, before all of the flooding happened, I realized that we were behind schedule! We had passed the "3 year" mark of living in our house, and we had only painted 2 rooms: the master bedroom (a great medium blue color) and the living room (which is, I believe, "Sauteed Mushroom" below the chair rail, and "Ponytail" above).

So, on a Sunday morning after church, while Clay was gone to Corinth for the day, I stopped by Home Depot, picked up a gallon of "Chinese Jade", a new roller brush or two, a new roll of blue painter's tape and got to work!

Here's the color - Behr "Chinese Jade":


Here was my inspiration, my new casual china pattern that I started for myself in the Summer of 2008 with these very cannisters. Since then, I've been the dish queen for every gift giving occasion. At least I'm easy to shop for! (By the way it's "French Garden/Fleurence/Orange" by Villeroy & Boch):


Here are the "before" pictures:
(Ignore my messy kitchen please)






And 5 short hours later... tah-dah!
The finished product! Not the best pictures ever, but you get the picture:






I'm pretty proud of my handy work. Plus, now I'm a year ahead on the painting schedule, since I'm totally counting the breakfast nook that I painted as a 4th room. Pretty good use of a Sunday afternoon, if I do say so myself, since I can usually be found taking a 4 hour nap most Sundays!

We ARE Lambuth

I really, really, REALLY want Lambuth to be OK... I need Friday to bring good news. I need the powerball numbers to fall in my favor (or someone else who loves Lambuth's favor) tonight...

We ARE Lambuth, and I believe in the power of prayer. It's just too good a place to not exist anymore. Keep the prayers going guys... we need 'em =/

Oceanfront property in Tennessee?

What a day! I'd like to go ahead and throw out a request, and if anyone has any gopher wood they'd like to throw into my "build an ark" pile, please feel free to contribute... GEEZ!

I drove up to Nashville last night to spend the weekend with my little sister, Cindy, while my mom and step-dad headed to Chattanooga for the weekend. I went to sleep last night thinking "we're going to have some bad weather tomorrow, probably some severe storms, maybe a tornado warning or two". Apparently, I missed the "don't forget to bring your canoe" memo when I was packing!

Clay called me this morning around 7am to tell me about the flooding that had already happened in Brighton. He had been getting calls with the Fire Department all morning, but couldn't get out of the neighborhood because the water was too high!


Here is our neighborhood... not nearly as bad as most in the area, but not good!


Lucy Kelly Road - Clay couldn't get through to get to the fire department to help with all of the calls this morning. He even called the guys who were at the station, and they couldn't get the fire engine through it either.


"Just keep swimming, just keeping swimming..."


Yeah, pretty glad we picked up our prescriptions on Thursday afternoon!


Hope we don't need anything from AutoZone anytime soon...


And Covington now has their very own AquaDock, just like up at Yellow Creek on Pickwick... yikes...

When there was a break in the rain, he finally got there and the Fire Department had flooded (they moved to City Hall for the day), Highway 51 had been shut down, and when he went up to Covington to check on his car that is for sale at the bank, Walgreens, Gateway Tire, AutoZone, O'Reilly's and pretty much everything in North Covington on the East side of the highway was flooded! (Not just in the parking lots, but in the buildings.) Apparently, the National Guard in out and about in T-county with rescue/recovery/etc, but with just under a foot of rain (and 6"-9" more expected in the next 12-24 hours) I guess they are needed! Thankfully, the only damage we've had at our house was a minor leak in the kitchen (my newly painted one kitchen, boo!), which will require a bit of new sheet rock, mudding, painting, etc. But that's nothing in comparison to all of the people who've lost their homes around us today.

Nashville's been pretty crazy too. Cindy and I got out to do some shopping this morning and it wasn't too bad... but after hearing the tornado sirens as we were trying on some things at Anthropologie, we decided to call it a day. Coming back, we started seeing alot of the flooding. By the time we got back to the house, we were hearing the reports of parts of all of the interstates being shut down. It's a MESS!

Anyhow, now, we're just all hunkered down. Cindy and I are hanging out, hoping that my mom and David (my step-dad) make it back from Chattanooga tomorrow, so that I can head back home (assuming I-40 around Waverly is actually open at that point); Clay is trying to catch some rest, so that when the next round of severe weather comes through in the middle of the night and he inevitably gets more calls from the FD, he'll at least be somewhat rested; and I'm honestly considering the ark idea... or at least investing in a good solid funyak!

Home again, Home again

We've made it back home after another weekend in Nashville. This month is full of Nashville weekends, which is A-OK with me! Of course, every weekend we're up there, it makes it that much harder to head back home. Don't get me wrong, we love our house and enjoy Brighton and T-County, but I guess Nashville will just always be truly "home". We're ready to make that move for sure, as soon as the time is right. (Which we sure hope is sooner rather than later!)

This weekend, we headed up to Middle TN for another Rotary conference for Clay and I went to see a college friend and Phi Mu sister of mine get married. It was really good seeing some of the girls that I haven't seen in quite a while. Plus, I got to get a haircut from Davida (who has been cutting my hair since I was about 7 or 8, and always gets it just right) so I'm a happy camper.

The great weather the past couple of weeks has REALLY gotten me in the mood for summer. I really just can't wait to get out on the water at Pickwick with our friends Jim and Jade. We've had some great times in the past 7-8 years with them out there and I'm sure this year will be no different!

On a different note, I'm a little sad today... a year ago today, we were pulling into site 1506 Cottontail Curl at Fort Wilderness at Disney World right about now... What I would give to be doing the same thing right now. I miss me some Mickey right now


Our little WDW Home

Happy New Year.... yeah, it's April...

Well, I always claim that I'm going to do the whole blog thing. I'm really going to try this time. I think it would be good for me. And honestly (oddly enough), now that I don't have access to the internet all day everyday at work, I think I might actually be a little more apt to carve out the time to do it! Plus, I'm hoping that maybe a commitment to a decent blog will encourage me to actually take my camera with me when we go, wherever we go and TAKE PICTURES ('cause no one likes a blog with no pictures... it's like facebook with out the "face", seriously?)

So, where to begin? This week has been pretty good so far. We celebrated Clay's 28th birthday yesterday! He's made out pretty well, checking out with a leaf blower from his mom, a table saw from yours truly, a gift card from his grandparents, and some assorted cash gifts as well. There are some other things that still haven't made it to him in the mail, so I won't divulge them yet =).

But, my favorite gift that he has received has to be from my mom... we're taking Clay and my step-dad, who's birthday was on April 1st, to see "A Prairie Home Companion" with Garrison Keillor at the Ryman Auditorium on Saturday. I'm SO pumped! A gift for him, that I get the benefits of too, haha! I grew up listening to NPR, "The News from Lake Wobegon", "Guy Noir: Private Eye" and many others so I think it's gonna be great. Plus, I can never resist an awesome weekend in Nashvegas.

So, hopefully I'll have pictures of the whole crew, me, Clay, my mom, David, and my little sister Cindy, rockin' out downtown Nashville, the Ryman, and whatever eatery we decide to hit up after the show after this weekend!