Chatt-town

Whew! Well, we're back! What a fun couple of days. We had a wonderful visit with my Granny June and Papa Leslie. Good visit but a little sad. My Granny June has dementia, so she has a hard time with her short-term memory, and this summer has been the first time her condition has been so obvious. My Papa does a great job helping her and looking out for her, though. They're very sweet with each other, and they were so happy that we were there.

We got there Friday night and stayed up late visiting.




Saturday morning we went to Chattanooga for brunch at the Bluegrass Grille with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. You can click on the link for info about this restaurant. It's in an area of Chattanooga that has been very run down, but a group of merchants are trying to revitalize the neighborhood. There are great art studios, shops, and restaurants. I loved this copper sculpture right up the street from the restaurant.
This building was across the street. It was just a shell, and it was kind of cool how you could see the bright blue sky through the empty windows.
Here's Carla, Liz, and AbiLyn waiting for our table. The gate behind them is made up of old gears all welded together.
Here's some pictures from breakfast. I had the Joan Marie's Special Omelet. It had herbed cream cheese, fresh basil, fresh local tomatoes, and swiss cheese in it. It came with one of their delicious buttermilk biscuits that are made with half whole wheat flour and half white flour. I was actually sad when I was finished with the biscuit. The four-cheese grits were also fantastic, but I was too full after the omelet and the biscuit to eat more than a few bites.Me with Granny June

Carla and Margee
AbiLyn, the living doll
Carla, AbiLyn, and Mom...I love mom's expression in this pic. She's surprised about something.
After breakfast we wandered around the area, and the nice guy at Alleia let us come in and look around even though it was closed. It looks like a perfect date restaurant...special date restaurant (it's a tad pricey). Margee said it is delicious! Next, we went to a great consignment shop called Encore and a great shoe store called Becky's that is a lot like Marti & Liz here in the Boro. I found the elusive perfect black leather high-heeled boots that I've been searching for for about 3 years. They're Ralph Lauren, and they were only 12.99 because one of the zippers needs to be replaced. That will be no problem to have fixed at The Shoe Fixer. After that we went to our favorite place in Chattanooga...Rembrandt's in the Bluff View Art District. Their terrace was delightful as always. For some reason we always get in the mood for a photo session when we're there.



After coffee and dessert at Rembrandt's we headed back to Jasper and hung out some more with Granny and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon.
This morning we all ate breakfast together and made for Murfreesboro. A lovely trip and wonderful time spent with my sisters, mother, and niece on top of it!

For Liz

Liz, here's the new scenes from New Moon!

Some Things Never Change

When I was young, my sisters and I would usually spend at least a week every summer with my mom's parents in Jasper, TN. Jasper is a wonderful place. It's like a small town from a movie. We could walk to the track at the high school with Granny every night for her walk, and we would take our roller blades. We could roller blade to the little Kwik Mart. We could play hide-and-seek in her Victorian house that we're all pretty certain is haunted but is full of wonderful nooks-and-crannies and neat things like pocket doors and red glass windows and a real cellar. And Papa always had a drawer full of candy bars and Juicy Fruit gum that he had stocked for our visit.

Even in high school, when we had things like church camp, youth trips, cheerleading camp, volleyball camp, basketball camp, etc. we still made time for a trip to Granny June and Papa Leslie's. As we got older, our activities changed. We could lay out as much as we wanted. Granny would take us to the beauty supply store (she ran a beauty shop for most of her life) and buy us fake nails. She would take us to the video store and let us rent whatever scary movie we thought we wanted to watch. We would usually go to Chattanooga one day go shopping. Granny loved to go, go, go! She always said, "Oh, you girls make me feel so young!" Papa mowed so many yards it was practically a full-time job, so he was busy with that all day. Then, at night, we'd watch the Braves game with him and eat ice cream sandwiches and brown cows.

Even when I was in college, I'd make many weekend trips to Granny's. One of my first trips to look for a wedding dress was actually with Granny in Chattanooga!

I still try to go visit once a summer, so tomorrow my mom, my sisters, AbiLyn, and I will be heading to Jasper. We're going to Chattanooga on Saturday to visit my aunt and uncle and cousins. My aunt always knows the cool new place, so we're going somewhere new for brunch! Her suggestions never disappoint, so I know we'll have a ball! Expect some pictures Sunday.

Dust is Settling

Wow! So, for a weekend we've gotten so much accomplished! Yesterday morning I went to the grocery store EARLY (7:00) then made a return to Wal-Mart, THEN I went in to work for a couple of hours. Meanwhile...David was out with a friend on their jet skis. Look what happened to the goober who couldn't find sunscreen.

After work and another errand, I came home and did some general loafing around (by the pool and in the den). So I did have a little bit of downtime.

I spent last night doing my freelance work while David was out singing with the band.

Today, we tackled new bookshelves, clearing and moving old bookshelves, and pretty much reorganizing and going through games and stuff in our closet under the stairs. We're selling some of the gaming stuff. Click here if you're interested. It's not too early to be thinking about Christmas!!
Here's my pretty new bookshelves. They were super-cheap...$29 at Wal-Mart, but I don't care...I seriously needed some more room for my books. I had two shorter bookshelves that were bursting, so I moved them up to the office. Now I've got room to grow my library a little! David said, "You're not even filling them up." I said, "I know! That's what's so wonderful about it!"

The Mysteries of Cat Ownership

As you'll see from the timestamp...it's nearly 9:30. David is settled in for the night, and I was downstairs working on freelance stuff and watching a movie. All of a sudden there is a loud, disturbing commotion in the laundry room...right above where I was watching a movie. Lucy immediately comes tearing down the stairs, hits the hardwood floor, and skids across into the coat closet door before disappearing somewhere in the dark living room. The racket is still going on even after she reaches the bottom of the stairs.

David's now awake...lights are on everywhere. I cautiously go upstairs to see what mess she has created by climbing all over the laundry room shelves.

Nothing. Nothing is out of place. Not one little thing.

What on EARTH made all that noise? It sounded like someone was breaking in the house!

This is the kind of thing that makes people go insane.

I Didn't Forget

I didn't forget my parents' anniversary yesterday. I actually sent them a text first thing yesterday morning, but I didn't say anything about it here. My sister posted a lovely post which you can read here.

I'm so proud of my parents for many things, not the least of which is the example they have set in their marriage. My sisters and I have witnessed the ups and the downs, and through all of it my parents have shown an unbelievable commitment to one another and their family as a whole. I'm so grateful for that! It's rare these days.

I love you, Momma and Daddy! Thank you!!

Atlanta Weekend

I'm finally sitting down to fill you all in on how the weekend of the Bat Mitzvah went and post some pictures. My in-laws, Mackenzie, Taylor, David, and I hit the road 7:30 Friday morning. We arrived without any problems and got all checked in and settled. We then ventured downtown to visit the IKEA store. Wow! It was so cool. We only saw probably half of the store, but we were so tired. I'll definitely have to make another trip. Friday night Patty and Buddy arrived, and we all ate dinner at Longhorn. Yummy, as always!

We were staying at a lovely Hilton Garden Inn that had a delicious breakfast buffet with omelettes, pancakes, and waffles made to order, so Saturday morning we got all dressed up and had breakfast at the hotel. We then headed to Congregation Dor Tamid for Rachel's Bat Mitzvah service. It was a beautiful service in their somewhat new building that wasn't finished when we were down for Jeremy's Bar Mitzvah a couple of years ago. Rachel did an amazing job and showed a poise far beyond her barely 13 years. After we got back to the hotel, it was time for casual clothes and lunch together.




After lunch we all dispersed to hang out with family, lay by the pool, or nap. Then it was time to get all dolled up for the big party at the beautiful Standard Club.




Once there, we had to take a couple of pictures, but then we could enjoy some delicious hors d'oeuvres (crab cakes, lamb chops, smoked salmon/cream cheese) and take in the wonderful decorations. Rachel has a horse named Tim, and shows him, so there was a definite theme for the evening. Our tables were even named after horses in Tim's stable, and we found our names and table assignments on an actual (cleaned and spray-painted) used horseshoe from Tim. We eventually made our way into the ballroom and enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner.





I know most of my readers are like me and don't generally attend parties where people sit in a chair while said chair is hoisted up in the air and carried around the dance floor, but guess what my dear husband got drafted into doing?


We were at the party until 11:00, and we all had a fantastic time! Sunday morning dawned a little too early, but we all were up and on the road back to TN by 10:30 or so.

Book Notes

I just wanted to talk for a minute about the different things I'm reading right now. I normally try to only tackle one book at a time, but you'll see I have three in my sidebar note.

I started the Isabel Dalhousie book in hopes of squeezing it in before I started The Help for book club. I wasn't successful, so I stopped a couple chapters in to read the book club book. I'm not sure how much I'm going to like the Isabel book. I may not finish it...we'll see.

The Help, however, is another thing. This book is fantastic! It's the best book I've read in a long time. It reminds me a little of how I felt when I read Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood for the first time. Parts of it are hilarious, parts of it are horrifying, and all the in between is just wonderfully written! I can't wait for this book club.

I'm listening to Bloodsucking Fiends on my iPod at work. I already listened to the sequel (You Suck) a couple of months ago, so I'm going backwards, but it's very good, too! Very funny!

There's No Place Like Home

We're home from our jaunt to Atlanta. It was a great trip. I'll be back with details, pictures, and videos later.

That's What I Get for Being So Smug

Carla and I went to Youth Congress last night. It was very fun, and we had a good time visiting. I don't get to spend a lot of one-on-one time with Carla. She's very, very busy, and she lives on the other side of town, so I'm not constantly dropping by her house like I do with Liz.

Well, we decided that we weren't going to dress up too much. We weren't going to wear heels for sure. We parked at the publishing house (for free...yay!), and walked from there to the Frist Center (to try to eat at the cafe-closed) to Jack's on Broadway(delish) to the Sommet Center. We walked all the way around the inside of the Sommet Center to decide where to sit. All this time we had been looking with pity at all the silly girls with their ridiculously high heels, and I had been noticing a dull pain on the bottom of both of my feet. It's the spot right between the balls of my feet at the base of my middle toes. By the time church was over, I had two full-blown, painful blisters. Luckily, Brian came up from M'boro in time for preaching, and he was parked fairly close. He and Carla dropped me off at my car. I don't know what I would have done if I had had to walk all the way back to my car. My poor feet...I thought I was being so smart, and I still ended up in pain today!

Two Worlds Clashing

What. in. the. world? Click here.

Okay, I love Mr. Darcy. I love vampires. I'm not sure I want them meddling around with each other, though!

Seriously? I'm still befuddled over this.

Of course, you know I'll have to read it.

Edge of the Party

Okay, so I'm 30, and my days of going to Youth Congress for the whole 3-day debacle are over, BUT I so enjoy hearing stories and seeing pictures of all the festivities. I may even go one night since it's in Nashville.

So, click here to follow all the goings-on. Definitely will be interesting.