Mixed Bag

I'm in mourning
I'm celebrating
I'm hopeful
I'm pessimistic
I love
I despise
So many emotions
So much STUFF

And I'm not being cryptic (not on purpose at least)
I'm just overwhelmed.

Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more about all this soon...just wanted to let you know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.
Yet.
:0)

Big Skies...

Shanda was right--we went to Texas this weekend for the wedding.

We left Thursday morning around 8 am and arrived just a few minutes before midnight in College Station.
facebook status at the end of the day: is happy to smell the smells of Texas, see mile-wide sunsets, and enjoy road trips with lots of laughter...but most of all at this moment is thankful for this Texas bed.

Friday we helped out with a bit of decorating, went to a great Tex-Mex place to lunch, and attended the rehearsal dinner (even though A & I weren't in the wedding...they invited us to join since we were the only non-party people to make the trek). After the dinner I went out with the bride and her bridesmaids to a little bar where I enjoyed a yummy mojito.

Saturday A and I ran errands--got requested coffee for people back home, barbeque sauce for others, and ate lunch at Rudy's...which is the BEST barbeque ever. I got some sauce for myself, and I don't even LIKE barbeque sauce that much. This stuff though? Amazing.
The wedding was at 2 and we were on the road again at 6:30. After a wine explosion in the backseat (did you know that corks pop out in heat? Did you know Texas is...hot? Did you know that having wine in a non-upright position in a hot Texas car is NOT a great plan?) we did have to stop at Wal-Mart on the way out to get some upholstery cleaner and a vacuum pump wine seal to salvage my sangria! We (amazingly) made it back in time to catch the last part of the 9:00 service at church where one of our students was being baptized.
facebook stati throughout this experience:
is picking up groceries for the greater Nashville area, and was quite excited to see a great wine selection in the grocery store. Could get used to this Texas thing...
hair actually stays straight in Texas. Perhaps she should stay.
really doesn't care if it's Texas or Tennessee...she just wants out of Arkansas

And I think I may finally be caught up on sleep. We shall see.

Beautiful Texas Sky

We have sunsets that are pretty in TN too...we just can't really SEE them

Boys Love Football

Aggie War Hymn at the reception. This cracked me up!

A and I

First of all...meet the Itty Bitty!

This is the beautiful little girl who has completely stolen my heart.
She and Mommy move across town tomorrow.
And while that means that I will have more room at my house...
I will miss them.

(Emi has become quite the protector while they have been here. Any slight cry from baby girl and she is right there looking at any adult in the room with nothing but concern on her little feline face. I guess that's a good thing--when I have babies she'll do the same :)

Big Skies, Baby Sighs and Getaways

I've been away...

have you noticed?

The first reason is 6 weeks old and still living temporarily in my house (although sadly, will be leaving with her mommy on Wednesday. *sniffle*)
I've been snuggling her a LOT.

And Thursday-Sunday we were away.
Anthony, our friend Ben, and I drove to a friend's wedding.

Big Skies
Long Drive (15 hours or so!)
A "War Hymn" sung at a wedding reception
A major college football stadium visited
Buying groceries we can't find in Nashville for the transplants from this area

Any guesses where we were?

I'll be back later today to post pictures and a recap!

And I'll visit your blogs too :)

Itty Bitty...

Shhh...

An itty bitty baby is at my house.

She's brand new. Just a month old.

Her mommy, my good friend Laura, is moving back into town. She and Izzy came back today but the apartment office had her move-in date down wrong and her apartment wasn't ready.

Mistake on their part.

Joy on mine!

"Can we spend the night?" has never sounded so good to my ears.

I've been able to cuddle and love and maybe even snap a picture or 3.

Ahhhh. Baby love.

I don't care if it was gas--she smiled sweetly at me awhile ago, and there went my heart.

:)

Guess there's nothing left to say...

Got this message while reading all your blogs tonight...





After that came this:
I have a better idea.
I'm going to bed.

Weekend Bloggy Stuff

Here's this weekend's wordle...it's kind of funny this week! Go here to link up with your own--it's fun!




Stars with boyfriend, babysitting sweet girlies...

That was my today. :) Anthony and I went to the science center this morning to watch the Beatles laser light show in the planetarium. It was *amazing*. I went from there to babysit for a friend's 3 sweet daughters, and we had a blast playing Disney Princess Uno, Littlest Pet Shop Go Fish, Hullabaloo and Pretty Pretty Princess. Oh the girliness!

...pub...

Perhaps I should qualify that last post a little...

I've written about the Pub quite a bit.
If you ever come to see me in Nashville you'll have to go with me.
But it HAS to be on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night.

Those are the nights my friends, Sean, Josh and David (who make up Nosey Flynn) play live Irish music.

(ok, to let you in on a little secret. There are actually 2 pubs. Well, there are several pubs in Nashville, but only 2 Pubs. One is downtown Nashville right off Music Row, the other is south of Nashville technically in Brentwood. Sean and Josh play at the Brentwood pub on Fridays and Saturdays and at the downtown pub on Sundays. Sunday night at the pub is the more traditional crowd--kilts, and free-flowing Guiness and ciders. But Friday and Saturday nights at the pub are quite fun too :)

As Sean always says: "It's all about audience participation, communication, and intoxication!"

(or as he often says, "the more you drink, the better we sound". It's not true though. He and the rest of the band are TRULY talented, not only at leading a raucous crowd in traditional Irish drinking songs, but also in showcasing their musical abilities which are amazing.)

I love the Irish drinking songs. Especially the ones which allow me to release my "inner profane self" as Sean calls it. I think the first time I requested "Alice" I caught him really off guard. Since then he has realized that I can yell out the necessary phrase just as loudly as anyone else ;-)

But I also love the songs that aren't necessarily drinking songs. There's "Caledonia", which I first fell in love with as they sang it. There's the hauntingly beautiful "The Last House on Our Street" and "Loch Lomond". There's "Fairytale of New York", "Charlie on the MTA" and "Southside Irish" (the latter two also representing the Irish populations in two of my all-time favorite cities: Boston and Chicago).

There are the serious points as well--Sean is a devout Catholic and makes sure to intersperse his faith into the show, whether in a humorous way ("see, I can go to confession tomorrow. You Protestants are screwed!") or in more serious ways, such as making sure the true story of St Patrick gets told amid the crazy crowds on that day.

What's my point? I'm not entirely sure myself. I guess since I'm not going to be able to afford a trip to the island itself for awhile, this is my little slice of it right in Nashville. So when you hear me talk about "the Pub"...maybe you'll have a little clearer picture of why it means so much to me. The music, the people, the faith...it's all a part of what makes me ME.

By the way, if you're interested in hearing a little slice of Nosey Flynn, here's a link to their myspace page. They have a few songs on there...including Caledonia which is my absolute favorite.

Slainte!
(that's Cheers :-)

I love the Pub. That is all. :-)