March of the Penguins

Check out this cutie! I got this humidifier from Target the other day with Nicole. I think it's adorable. It makes our bedroom so much more tolerable as well. Next I want to get the apple and orange shaped ones.

Choo Choo goes the train

I took this photo while waiting for Steph at the train station today. The Music City Star is new to Nashville and just starting running in November. It's a big step for transportation in Nashville; the traffic here during AM/PM rush hour is horrible. I think it's because there are too many interchanges around the center of the city. I haven't ridden the train, but Steph says it's nice and that the people are really friendly and it's like one big party. Good times.

So many books!

Today we did some shopping in town. Here's a picture I took of a used bookstore called "Book Man" in the West End. I love books, but I think used bookstores are really overwhelming. There were just so many books there and they were all piled on top of one another.

Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey

Today we went to the Jack Daniel's distillery out in Lynchburg. It took about 2 hours to get there and it was seriously in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful. Here's a picture I took while we were on the tour.

Pie!

I was inspired to post a picture of the pie I had for dessert this evening because Andrew made a comment on my blog earlier this week about how "everyone loves punch and pie". And it's so true!

This evening we picked Nicole up from the airport and drove to Sunset Grill for dinner. I had pumpkin and goat cheese soup, tuna, and Jack Daniels pecan pie for dessert.

Tomorrow we're going to the Pancake Pantry, followed by a trip to the Jack Daniels distillery and perhaps a Nash Trash bus tour. Good times. I am so happy to see Nicole, even if she won't let me post pictures of her on my blog. :-)

Icky bills

Here is a picture of my desk at this moment. Right now I am being bad and having Coke with caffeine. I should be having the caffeine free coke, but I just can't help myself every now and again. Sometimes you need the real thing, you know.

Other than being a wee bit naughty, I am paying some bills before I pick Steph up from the train station. She got out of work early, so instead of having me pick her up from Vanderbilt, she decided to take the train home. I am also looking up things to do while Nicole is in town this weekend. I will document the entire weekend, of course, but Nicole says I'm not allowed to post pictures of her on my blog. Pooh pooh, what a bad sport.

Cherries!

I love fruit! I got these cherries on sale for $1.29/lb. at Kroger. Sweet deal. They are tasty.

My favorite fruits are strawberries, cherries, and honeydew. I also loves me a nice fruit pie.

I think I live on a different planet now

Seriously, it's like another world out here. This is a photo of a statue in the Providence shopping center. At first, it looks innocent enough...like kids just having a good time. That is, until you notice that all the kids have guns in their hands. What the hell is that about?

On a side note, I think I may get the Wii this weekend. That way Nicole can play with us when she is visiting. We went to Becky's house on Sunday to play hers and it was so much fun. You really get a workout from the tennis, let me tell you. I also liked golf a lot. Anyhoo, off to dinner. Tonight we're going to try out Radius 10.

Pancake Pantry

Oh how I love the Pancake Pantry. Yesterday I had the parisienne pancakes: thin, rolled pancakes with fresh, homemade whipped cream and strawberry compote on them. So delicious. Here is a picture of Alex's wild blueberry pancakes.

I can't wait to go again with Nicole on Saturday. Whee!!

Alex!

Alex is here! YAY!!!! We are so happy to see her. Here she is, knitting in our kitchen. She and Steph are knit-aholics. We are going to take her to the House of Yarn; that place rocks. I will have to take a picture of some of yarns they have.

Tomorrow morning we're having breakfast at the Pancake Pantry before Steph goes to work...mmmm, sweet potato pancakes. :-)

As a side note, today our new next-door-neighbor came by, introduced herself, and then proceeded to ask if we had any gatorade and/or vicodin that she could have. Ooooookay. Then I charred our steaks because I got into a long conversation with our other next-door-neighbor, Christy. So we had to go to Outback to grab some dinner. Doh.

Starbucks saved me life!

Well, not my life, but it did make save us from a mini crisis today. Somewhere in our travels today, my house key fell off of my keychain. When we got home this afternoon and realized this, I was convinced that we were going to need to call a locksmith. Luckily, our neighbor, Joey, was around and he used Steph's Starbucks card to wiggle open the lock on the front door (thankfully the dead bolt wasn't locked also).

Sometimes you really just need a man. That's why neighbors are great!

making dinner

I took this picture of the kitchen while I was making dinner. I like how it shows a meal in progress. :-)

Tonight we had chicken parmesan with whole wheat pasta and a salad. Tasty, except for the whole wheat pasta, which tastes icky...too many grains.

Zoe!! (Thursday January 18, 2007)

Last week a strange dog was wandering around our street and so we took her in for the night. We thought about keeping her, but she was a huge german shepherd mix and she was very unruly. So we took her to the Wilson County Humane Society because when I called Animal Control they told me that they euthanize the dogs that are not claimed within 3 days. While we were at the shelter, we talked with one of the volunteers a bit and she told us how Wilson County has a huge population of strays and because this area is pretty rural, a lot of people from the city drive out here to abandon their dogs. So sad! Well, we got to thinking and we decided that we should adopt a dog because we love dogs and the Humane Society just doesn't have enough space for all of them (but at least they give the dogs more of a chance...they have 3 months to get adopted before they euthanize them). We adopted the little furball pictured here. She's so cute and she has blue eyes! We chose her because she had been in the shelter the longest, almost three months.

Of course, last night another stray (this one a beagle) wandered into our garage while Steph was out walking the dogs. So now we have another canine houseguest. Alex is coming over on Sunday for a few days and she is looking for a dog, so we're hoping that she'll take the beagle (we named her Sandy).

Valentines for sale!

I went to Walgreens to pick up a prescription this afternoon and they already have half of the store dedicated to Valentine's Day merchandise. Valentine's Day isn't really a holiday Steph and I celebrate. We don't really do birthdays or anniversaries either. Every once in a while we will go away on our anniversary...like this year I think we will because it will be our 5 year wedding anniversary and that's kind of a big deal (to me at least). I think we don't celebrate that kind of stuff though because we are so sickeningly impulsive; if we want to buy something or go somewhere, we just do it because it's fun. It's nice to have that kind of freedom, but sometimes I wish we celebrated little holidays.

Baby Sweater (Tuesday January 16, 2007)

Steph recently finished knitting this sweater for our hopefully soon-to-be baby. It is so cute! I love the colors and the stitching. She has gotten so good at knitting in the past few months.

I meant to post this picture last night, but we had a plumbing emergency, the emergency being that we had no water. After having a plumber come out for $98, he told us that the water company had put a lock on the line and there was nothing he could do about it. We went to the water company today and apparently our builder had forgotten to transfer the water account to our names and had the water turned off. So kind of them. At any rate, it's been taken care of and we're working with the VP of Customer Service for Beazer to get them to reimburse us for the plumber.

They're back!

The turkeys came back this morning, only this time they were in the front yard of one of our neighbors. We saw a flock of 12 turkeys just hanging out and munching down. I think because it was raining there were lots of yummy worms for them to eat. I can't believe they were so brazen! I came downstairs to use the computer and at first glance thought it was a pack of dogs because they looked too big to be turkeys. Crazy.

The Parthenon

Did you know that Nashville is "the Athens of the South"? That's why we have a FULL SCALE replica of the parthenon in Centennial Park!

citrus (Saturday's post)

One of my distant relatives sent us this fruit. Sending grapefruits and oranges is a custom that I don't understand. It's not like they are difficult to find.

In the meantime, we're trying to use them up by making orange and grapefruit juice.

40-year-old Virgin

Today we were driving around the Providence shopping center looking for lunch. I wanted to go to NYPD Pizza, but the store hasn't opened yet (it's a brand new shopping center). Steph wanted to go to Salsarita's, but they weren't open either. Anyway, we happened upon this store and it cracked me up. It is the same kind of idiotic store that the woman in "40-Year-Old Virgin" runs...except I think hers was called "I sell your stuff on eBay". But anyway, same stupid concept. If you're going to go through the trouble of taking your stuff over to the store (which actually sells nothing to the public, except on eBay), why not just sell it YOURSELF on eBay? And what is the point of paying rent for a storefront when you don't SELL anything? If you can find people to give you their stuff to sell on eBay, why not do it from your own house to bring down your overhead expenses?

I don't get it. It makes me sad because they could have actually put a GOOD store there, like a bakery or something.

Magnolia Tree

This is a picture of our Magnolia Tree out in the front yard. I ASKED for a Crepe Myrtle, but got this instead. Oh well, it's still a nice southern tree and I like that it's an evergreen. I hope it will bloom this year. I don't know anything about Magnolias, so I have not a clue. We have big landscape plans for the backyard though, so I'm still getting my Crepe Myrtles, dammit!

Oops, here is the photo from yesterday

This is a picture of the inside of our beautiful stainless steel Kitchen Aid architect series fridge. My Mommy bought it for us and I love it. It's so nice to have cold, filtered water all the time. And I get crushed ice. I love crushed ice!

Anyway, it is gradually being filled up with Southern food. Right now there the fridge is home to many varieties of BBQ sauce, Sweet Tea, and greens.

postcards

This afternoon on the way home I stopped at the Post Office in our town to get some stamps. I bought and filled out a bunch of moving postcards to send to people so they'd have our new address and stuff. These are the stamps I bought. Aren't they purty?

Anyhoo, the post office here is much different than any in Baltimore. I was waiting in line and a postal worker actually came up to me and asked if I needed help with anything. I told him what I needed and he chatted with me for a moment about the weather and rang me up immediately. Then he wished me well. In any post office I've ever been to in Baltimore, the people are so rude. You wait in line forever and when you finally get to the front of the line, the postal employees are completely put out by the fact that they actually have to, :gasp:, do their job. They never say thank you or tell you to have a nice day. In fact, they mostly grumble under their breath and say very little at all.

I love Southern people, especially all the cute guys here with adorable Southern accents. They are all clean-cut, freshly scrubbed, and formal in their speech.

Paperwhite

This is a picture of the paperwhites in our kitchen. Every year for the holidays I give my Mom paperwhites because a friend gave some to her before I was born and they bloomed on the day I entered this glorious world! So they have a special place in my heart. I love the way they smell. I wish I had them all over the house. Next year I am going to do a lot more bulb forcing. We have great light in this house for plants and I can't wait to get some. Whee, orchids. We also still have our old plants, but they are currently at my grandparents' house until we go back to Baltimore to get Steph's car.

Doggie Spin Cycle

This evening, for my own sick amusement, I decided to put Katie in the washing machine to see how she'd react. Don't worry, the machine wasn't on! She didn't seem to mind too much. She seemed confused more than anything else. She's such a good sport.

Today we went tooling around Nashville to find this Asian grocery store I'd read about. I wanted to get some Thai Basil for a dish I've been pining after. Well, we got really lost and ended up in this industrial neighborhood. Even the GPS on the car had no idea where we were. It kept leading us around in circles. We did eventually find two stores, but they were totally creepy. So the search continues. But anyway, I saw the oddest thing along our way. There was a man in a blue poncho scraping big mushrooms off of a tree along the road. He was using a rusty shovel to scrape them off and was putting them in a plastic bag. Steph said we should ask him what he was doing, but I was too creeped out. We decided he probably uses them to get high or something. It was totally bizarre-o.

coins

I HATE change, especially pennies. The only useful coin is the quarter, but I don't even like to carry those. I just carry my wallet in my pocket and I hate the feeling of having loose change in my pockets or lying around the house or car. So we take all our coins and put them in change jars in the kitchen. We've actually saved a lot of money this way. One time we saved over $200 in change. It takes a while to fill the jar, but it's such a satisfying feeling when it's full. Right now our jars are each a quarter of the way full (we keep one jar for quarters and another jar for all other coins). Every once in a while we roll them up or take them to coinstar and treat ourselves to something fun or deposit the money into our savings account.

I took this picture today because we were lazy and didn't really leave the house except to take the dogs for a walk. I think the perspective of this photo is interesting; I set my camera to manual digital macro and put the lens into the mouth of the coin jar (which is an old Iron Hill Brewery growler).

Satsumas!

satsuma mandarin (Citrus reticulata)

Up North, you can only buy Satsumas for a week or two from Whole Foods. Then they disappear and you are left with ordinary clementines. I have discovered that in the South, however, they are available for months at a time. They are very popular down here and I eat two a day. We get them from Wild Oats (Nashville's answer to Whole Foods). I read in the Nashville Scene that Nicole Kidman frequents the salad bar at Wild Oats. Ooooh, celebrities!

January 4, 2007

Today we went to Centennial Park, which is located in the West End of Nashville, near Vanderbilt University. Instead of ordinary park benches they had these swings. So adorable! It was a little "cold" (a mere 55 degrees) for people to be sitting out in the park, but I pictured Southern couples sitting on the benches in the Spring and sipping Sweet Tea. I am curious to find out if the other parks in the area have these swings or if they are unique to this particular park.

We are home now and it just started raining. Steph is in the kitchen making banana bread. Lately she's taken an interest in cooking and in electrical work (she installed all our ceiling fans and cool light fixtures that we bought). Good times.

January 3, 2007 (backdated)

This picture cracks me up. On Monday we took an hour drive to the town of Spring Hill. This is their Town Hall. Basically, it is little more than a trailer. Next door is an old caboose and a really good restaurant called Thompson's Station Grill (where we had lunch). The town is super cute. There are lots of quirky little shops and we bought some good stuff at the antique mall. The antique mall is in the old Spring Hill High School gym and next door is Spring Hill High which has been converted into art galleries and artists studios. So cute. There are so many rural, quaint towns in the Nashville area.

January 2, 2007 (backdated)

This is our family room and it is my favorite room in the house. I love the wall of windows that looks out on the woods and the stone fireplace. This picture was taken when we arrived in Nashville and did our walk-through of the property. When we walked in the door I almost cried because I was so overwhelmed with how perfectly everything turned out. We are still in the process of painting and decorating this room, but when it is finished I will post an "after picture".

January 1, 2007 (backdated)

So...I have "borrowed" Andrew's idea for a Photo a Day blog for the year. I realize I am a little late, so I will post four pictures today. I think my blog will focus on living in Nashville, as I just moved here two weeks ago. It is very different here than anything I am used to and so I want to document that. However, I reserve the right to change the direction of my blog at any time! :-)

This first picture is of wild turkeys we saw in our backyard. Wild turkeys! When I first saw them on the roadside I thought they were large pigeons because who has turkeys running around their neighborhood. Anyway, I've spoken to some of the neighbors and apparently they frequent our area. They are cute, but stupid. The lighting was bad when I took this photo, but if you maximize the pic you can see them more clearly. If Steph would let me hunt, I could shoot our Thanksgiving dinner from our deck. I hear wild turkeys taste really gamey though.