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October was full of wonderful birthday celebrations, and I loved it.
Miss Hannah had a wonderfully themed party. She likes argyle (brown and pink to be exact), and asked us all to show up in our best threads that sported her cherished design. I had the pleasure of designing the invite and baking her a lemon cake, her favorite. It was a great time of celebration and eating delicious pizza at Mellow Mushroom.
The following weekend was the much anticipated surprise party for my dear friend Jerene. Jerene is one of a kind, and I hope everyone has a “Jerene” in their life. I know I am so thankful she is in mine. I thought it was about time her life and home were celebrated, and that she was told how incredible she is, how much she is loved, how huge of a blessing she is, and that she heard the words “thank you.”
So I rounded up a bunch of helpers and kept a huge secret for months. I never thought this day was going to come. But it did, and it was a huge success! I am so thankful to everyone who played a part; it would not have been so great without them. And they did such a wonderful job, with decorations, supplies, cake, punch, taking pictures (thank you Joe Gomez and Sue C!) and providing words about her to put in a scrapbook that we gave to her at the party. I think our goal to bless Jerene was greatly exceeded!
Then the following weekend (Yes, three celebrations in a row. Almost too much excitement to handle!) our wonderful friend from college, Miss Mary, came down to visit. She wanted to get away for her birthday, and she chose us to stay with. What an honor! We took her to Cozymels (a favorite), to Pumpkin Fest in downtown Franklin (so charming) and to The Hermitage (incredibly fascinating). For her birthday, I took her to one of my new favorites, Sips ‘n Strokes. It was a total surprise for her. I was pretty sure she’d like it (she’s a music teacher, and thus has a great right side of her brain), but after spending the afternoon gawking at beautiful pictures and crafts in Franklin, I knew it was going to be a huge hit. And it was. I felt like I was reliving my childhood, her giggling throughout the whole thing and showing so much excitement (and her painting was amazing!). Jeff and I’s life is definitely not as full with laughter since college, because we do not see her enough. She’s one of those people that not only always has a smile on her face, but a laughter, too.
October was beautiful, because it was full of celebration and celebrating lives. There is not enough of that going on. And a great book (beware of corny plug coming) that does this well is Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist. It should be a must read on your list! It is also a great gift idea. I have gifted it several times, and everyone has had wonderful things to say. I am on the edge of my seat waiting for Shauna’s next book to come out next Fall. Hopefully, I can stand the wait.
Is August really over? Yikes! Hard to believe.
The other weekend my parents came to town. We didn’t do the typical Nashville things (they’ve been here enough times, I’m running out of things to show them!), but we did have a blast. They got in on a Friday night, just in time for supper. We made yummy home-made tacos. I love this meal. Love. It. Guacamole, limes, flour tortillas. Wow. After supper we watched Henry Poole is Here. Jeff and I had already seen it and loved it, but the parents hadn’t. So we showed it to them. I think they liked it. And man, what a soundtrack!
That Saturday Jeff took Dad to our YMCA. Dad has always wanted to see it, so they went, only to have their time cut short because someone set off the fire alarm. So while they were finishing up their workouts at the apartments’ fitness center, Mom and I did what could almost be considered the complete opposite… we made cupcakes.
You see, for awhile now my mom has talked about learning how to decorate cakes. Then that talk turned into maybe starting a cake business. If you know her and see her around, you need to encourage her to do it! She’s always been artsy in regards to being able to draw, so I know she could handle the detailed cake decorating part. And she is a great baker, too. Her cookies, both sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies, are famous. Famous, I tell you! She also makes a mean chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Now, I’m a white cake with cream cheese icing kind of girl, but this chocolate cake is divine!
So I think she should do this. And in trying to help her along, last time Jeff and I were in Illinois, we got her a cupcake book (only because we couldn’t find a cake book at Shopko). It has some adorable creations in it. Mom had apparently been experimenting with the puppy dogs, and she brought the supplies here for us to try. I got to help her make some puppies, and then all four of us devoured the creations. They were adorable and delicious. So I continued on, feeding this idea of hers, by taking her to Borders and “making” her buy some awesome cake books. I use the word “making” loosely, because I didn’t have to twist her arm very hard at all. Well, actually, there wasn’t even twisting.
Mom's is obviously on the left (the pro) and mine on the right (the amateur).
So, we had cupcakes for dessert after another one of Jeff’s infamous meals: BBQ chicken and corn on the cob. I also love this meal. The corn on the cob has been amazing this summer, too. Amazing.
We then spent that Saturday afternoon in downtown Franklin browsing through the shops. Downtown Franklin is so charming! Then we headed over to Buca di Beppo for supper. This is the same thing we had for my birthday, and I really wanted my parents to try the place out. It was amazing as usual. Then that Sunday we went to church and hit up Cozymel’s before they hit the road to head back North. It was a great visit, and a filling one. Literally.
After they left, Jeff and I went to (500) Days of Summer. This is a must see movie. Zooey is adorable in this, and the story is just too cute. Well and aggravating at times, but cute.
As for other new things… we’ve been working on the ballroom dancing! We are really enjoying the lessons. We have learned the beginnings of the Cha Cha, Rumba, Waltz, Swing, Salsa and Fox Trot. Before our next lesson, we have to pick two or three that we will continue on learning and add about 15 combinations to our playbook. We are anxious excited!
Van Gogh's Almond Branch
We also took a stab at painting. A new place called Sips n Strokes opened up in Cool Springs, and we had a date night there the other night. Each night, they have a different painting, and there is someone there to teach you how to paint it. We did a Van Gogh, which I wouldn’t recommend if it’s your first time because of all the details! I should’ve picked something a little less complicated. But it was fun, and I’m looking forward to trying it out some more. If you live in Alabama or are in the Atlanta or Nashville area, you should try it out! It does not matter your skill level, I promise! I am the worst ever, and I was surprised at what I could do as an amateur. It was no Van Gogh, but still…
L-R: Jeff, Ashley
Welp, August is hot. What’s new. The mild July only teased us into thinking that maybe this August would be different than the rest. Such a tease. Granted, it’s not as hot as August 2007, but it’s still hot.
We did have a great visit from Josh and Caroline Cody the first weekend in August, as they were making their way from Georgia to Portland, Oregon. What a fun couple! We enjoyed Jeff’s delicious BBQ chicken dinner and great conversations, we showed them downtown Nashville, and we finished that Friday night at Big Bang, a dueling piano bar with a splash of comedy. I seem to forget how awesome that place is. I love hearing good piano (obviously, I am a pianist), and these entertainers are so talented. And I love Journey, as well as many of the popular songs from the 70s and 80s (not ashamed!). Well ok, maybe I don’t love them all, but they are great to sing along to at the top of your lungs. But anyway, Big Bang never fails to play Journey. And my favorite Big Bang entertainer, Geoff Smith, made an appearance again. Why is he my favorite? Well, he’s entertaining, but he also sings, yes sings, the guitar solo to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Jeff put my request in on a napkin with only a one-dollar bill (most people were putting requests in with fives and tens), and they played it not five minutes later! I left one happy customer, and I think it’s safe to say a good time was had by all.
On Saturday Josh and Caroline helped fulfill a dream of Jeff’s by allowing us to take them to The Pancake Pantry before they hit the road. We got to Hillsboro Village around 10:30 a.m., but unfortunately didn’t get to a table until almost noon (no surprise here). However, everyone seemed pleased with their food choices. And ironically, as we walked out, there was a line of maybe ten people. Our recommendation: do breakfast for lunch and save yourself some time out in the hot sun!
But other than that, August hasn’t been the greatest of months. The next weekend Jeff headed to Georgia for a short work trip. While he was gone, I was nursing a sore back. Still not really sure how that all started. That Saturday I decided stepping on a bee would be completely cool, and by the time Jeff got home Saturday afternoon, my foot was a bit swollen and a tad itchy. However, that did not stop us from hitting up the Apple Store during tax-free weekend and getting a MacBook Pro for the working man (I also have privileges to it, too, to create awesome cool videos for you guys to watch like the one found here!). By the time we got home after walking and standing in line for hours, the foot was a bit sore. But that was nothing compared to how it would be in the coming days.
Sunday I stayed home from church to rest the back and elevate the foot. By then I was also fighting what I thought was a cold, but Jeff was convinced it was the flu. Come to find out, it was just that stupid bee sting. It appears I’m growing allergic to the fuzzy evil things. Monday the foot was even worse, but staying home yet again and religiously soaking my foot in Epsom salt, taking Benadryl and ibuprofen, and occasionally using a baking soda paste to calm the itch and soak out the poison (does it really do that?) seemed to make a world of difference. I headed back to work on Tuesday, still a bit swollen and with some awful bruising, but it only took another day for me to be able to walk normal. Each day after, the evidence of my traumatic weekend became less and less. And the good news? All that time spent with my foot up healed my back! But we also fear that Jeff is becoming a victim of allergies, thank you very much Nashville. So I’ve been pumping him full of Benadryl, too. I think we have succesfully kept them in business over the past week.
So now it’s a new week, and we’re both practically healthy now! Jeff is loving his MacBook Pro (and I am, too!). We are merely weeks away from our Labor Day weekend trip to New York City (get excited!). And we start ballroom dancing lessons this week. Oh, and my parents are coming down this weekend! So hopefully our upcoming blogs will have more exciting things to blog about then bee stings, sore backs and allergies. However, I’m sure there’s a few of you Mac fans out there that are cheering Jeff because of that good news!
