Inspirations

Every year, part of my New Year's resolutions is my resolve to produce more fine art. Ha! That's always a losing battle. Last year I resolved to paint one painting a month. Here's the painting from January, 2006 (as you can see it's nowhere near completion)....
That's a pretty low success rate. Guess I don't take those resolutions too seriously. I don't know why I'm so unproductive when it comes to my art. Actually, maybe I do have an inkling. Non-artists don't realize the amount of focus and energy it takes to create art. I think sometimes they think it's as effortless and relaxing as coloring in a coloring book. Though it's enjoyable, after working 40 hours a week in a demanding job, I don't always have the energy or desire to gather up my painting supplies and hope inspiration hits. Not to mention the fact, that once you get in the creative groove, it's really hard to quit. I can easily see myself at 2:00 am realizing that I better call it quits so I can function at work (all concept of time seems to disappear). I mean I guess I could paint with a stopwatch, but that would be so "J-ish" and scheduling my creative productivity would be counterproductive. On the other hand, I'm doing hardly any art as it is. So, in an attempt to spur myself on, I've decided to write down some goals (I know, I know, it's totally a J thing to do).

1. Over spring break, I'm going to do some Spring cleaning. What does this have to do with painting? Well for one thing, I have difficulty allowing myself to follow my creative pursuits when I know there are areas of my house that are in total disarray. Secondly, I'll get my art space all organized and ready to go.

2. I'll take stock of my painting supplies, replenish when needed, and set my area up in away that is conducive to painting at a moment's notice (i.e. when I feel like it).

3. I don't know if you've noticed, but in the sidebar of this blog, I've included some links I've entitled, "Inspirations". Several of these are painters that do a painting a day. I am not going to set such a lofty goal for myself (I do work and have a social life after all). One thing I've learned from their sites is that it's better to paint small, rough paintings on a frequent basis than to have one painting sitting around untouched and unfinished for over a year. The practice is invaluable and really these small "rough" studies can be quite good. My goal under the topic of inspirations, is to look at others' art daily (especially those with similar style to my own), as this really does get my creative juices flowing.

4. Being the "P" person that I am, deadlines are really good incentives. I'm going to start with posting a picture of a painting every 2 weeks (beginning after Spring Break). I'm going to tell myself that no matter how small the painting or how much I hate it, it's the process, not the product. I believe that to be true in art therapy, why can't I apply that to myself as an artiste? We'll see how that goes. Ultimately, I'd like to work up to 1 per week, but right now I'm working on attainable goals.

So you all have my permission to start nagging me towards the end of March about my first painting. I really want to do this, so nag away....I'm a people pleaser.

Of Mice and Women

I was having such a relaxing Sunday evening. I just finished a long chat with my best friend, and was ready to take my shower, do a crossword and hit the hay. I went to turn on the shower, and out runs a mouse! I'm not an easily excitable person, but I did scream. Technically I'm not afraid of mice, but I don't really want to share my shower with one either. I don't relish the thought of being in a vulnerable position and having one run across my feet. I actually think mice are pretty cute (except for those wormy looking tails), but there's a huge difference in picking one up out of a cage to hold and having one run over whatever body part it wishes only to disappear so he can surprise you later. I think what bugs me most about mice is that they are so quick and have no regard for your personal space.

So there we were.....mouse vs. woman. Me wishing at the moment that I had a husband for moments like this. It wishing the sides of my tub were not so sloped and slick with water. After a few moments of gazing into each other's eyes, I finally ran to get the cat. I was quick about it, as I didn't want it escaping. I was in such a hurry, I hadn't turned off the shower yet, so my cat wanted to be nowhere near the bathroom. He took off. I stood there watching its twitching whiskers wondering what to do next. I didn't know, so I ran to get my camera. If nothing else, I was going to get a picture of this rodent. When in doubt, snap a picture. We sat staring for awhile longer. I decided to try the cat again. Dag nab it....that cat needs to earn his keep around here! This time, I plopped him on the ledge and he finally noticed the mouse.....as it scurried back down the drain!

Now what to do? It was time to call for reinforcements. You just never know what your friends are going to need you for. I'm sure this was Niki's first time aiding and abetting a mouse hunt (by phone anyway). We were on the phone quite awhile, debating what to do. On the one hand, I didn't want to be cruel and drown it, because I felt sorry for the poor thing (plus I didn't want a dead mouse in the drain stinking up the house). On the other hand, I was trying to imagine sponge baths and washing my hair under the sink for the next week or so. Something had to be done. Finally Niki consulted the resident varmint patrol for the Nowell family. He wisely suggested that the mouse would get flushed out of the drain if I ran water down there. So I tried that. I then plugged the drain, took my shower in standing water, and plugged it again. That mouse has either been flushed out or he's really good at holding his breath and is just waiting for his next opportunity for freedom.

It's a good thing the girls and I didn't go see "Flushed Away" the other day. I would probably just feel more guilty about the mouse-acide I had to commit tonight. As Niki said, since the mouse was wet, it would have frozen to death if I'd caught and released it. I think death by drowning is much more humane. And if the cat method had worked, he would have toyed with that poor mouse for awhile before snacking on him little by little, so I actually did that mouse a favor.

Well if nothing else, when you consider that cardio exercise is sometimes defined as getting into your target heart rate for a certain amount of time, I certainly got some tonight. Do you think it would look funny if I logged 15 minutes of mouse hunting as my cardio?

I think I'm finally calmed down enough to go to bed. Like I told Niki, at least it wasn't a rat, a tarantula, or heaven forbid, a snake. Which reminds me of my rattlesnake story. I'll have to share that one later. Sweet dreams. I'm sure mine will be filled with varmints with a penchant for playing hide and seek in my plumbing.

The Battle Between "P"s and "J"s

So Thursday's movie was "Music and Lyrics". It was surprisingly good....a bit cliche in parts, but overall pretty entertaining (especially for those of us who grew up in the 80s). It was a prime example of the clash of the Js and the Ps......Don't worry, I'll explain myself.

If you've ever taken the Myers-Briggs type indicator test, you know that you are assigned four letters that sum up your preferences. Think of each of these as a continuum. We all fall somewhere on the continuum and aren't solely one type, but generally lean one way or the other. The first preference is introvert/extrovert (do you get energy from being around others or from being alone). The second is sensing/intuitive (the way in which you take in information). The third is feeling/thinking (how you evaluate information and make decisions). And the fourth - the J and the P - is Judging/Perceiving (your lifestyle).

Here's a quick synopsis of the differences between Js and Ps:

Js: / Ps:
Value structure / Like to go with the flow
Plan ahead / Adapt as they go
Like Order / Like flexibility
Goal-oriented /Process-oriented
More structured / More easy-going
Like things settled and decided / Like things open and spontaneous

Being in a psychology field, of course I have an interest in human behavior. I've always found the Myers-Briggs fascinating, and at one point read a book on speedreading people. I discovered that the people I work most closely with at work are all "J"s, while I am a "P". One in particular (who shall remain nameless), is more J than the others. She is very scheduled, gets things done way ahead of time (and nags me when I don't), keeps an extremely tidy office, and is bugged by things being out of place. She can't even eat a sandwich when the meat and cheese are hanging off the edge. Sometimes, when we're in her office, I'll toss something on the floor just to see how long it takes her to compulsively pick it up. Sometimes she's on to me, but it's still interesting to see how unfocused she becomes when something is on the floor. So we give each other a hard time about our foibles. We Ps are often classified as being irresponsible and unorganized (which isn't necessarily true).

Anyway, Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore were a classic example of the P/J clash. She was very flighty and spontaneous, while he was very neat and tidy. As she came into the apartment to water his plants, she unfailingly tried to drop her purse and coat on his baby grand. He was so perturbed by this, he barely let them touch the piano before he had them moved. When they decide to pair up to try their hand at song writing, she moves the furniture. This obviously drives him nuts and he complains that she's in his space. Really, just go see the movie. You'll see what I'm talking about. It is interesting how two people who seem so opposite can hit it off so well (I'm not giving anything away, but it is a romantic comedy you know).

So, BTW, if you haven't taken the Myers-Briggs, here's a place where you can take a free test.... Let me know how it turns out for you. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
And here is a site with both a brief and more detailed profile of your type: http://www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html BTW, in case you're wondering, I'm an INFP.

Spring is a-Comin'

You may think by "Spring is a-comin" I mean things like crocuses starting to pop up and the weather getting nicer. Around here, my first sign is Sasha starting to blow her coat. Like many long haired dogs, she has an undercoat which starts to come out in the spring. You'll see a little tuft of hair sticking out and when you pull on it, it's like a magic act; it just keeps coming, like an endless supply of fluffy Kleenex. It's kind of fun in a weird sort of way, though she doesn't agree. Take a look at how much hair I got in one grooming session last year......
.....now that pile's almost as big as she is. The fact that she is extremely jealous works in my favor. When she tires of her grooming session and leaves, all I have to do is pick up a ball of fur and hold it and talk to it like it's a puppy, and she's back in a flash. I know, that's probably a cruel psychological trick, but hey, it works and she's a dog, not a child.

Some friends of mine at church had a request that was really strange. Their dog keeps chasing rabbits and they heard that dog hair keeps the bunnies away. So a month ago or so they asked if I'd save Sasha's hair for them. I told them yes, but it might be awhile, because at the time, she wasn't shedding at all. Weird how this week I kept her outside for 3 days and suddenly she's a canine Kleenex box. I'll have quite a wad to give them. I wonder if they'll die it green to blend in with the grass. Otherwise, their neighbors might wonder how they still have snow around the borders of their yard.

Well it's been a very busy week for me. I had something going every night and today too. Wednesday was church. Thursday I went to the movies and dinner with a friend from work. Friday I drove over to Holton, KS in the afternoon for a professional conference and didn't get back 'til at least 8. Today I planned a girls' day out with some friends. We went to see Bridge to Terabithia, followed by a trip to the plaza for some PF Chang's and Cold Stone Creamery (I started free day tonight, for those of you keeping track of my cheating on the old BFL).

An Ahhhhhh Moment

Well, well, well, it's been busy around here.....a good kind of busy. A family friend was in town, so I spent time with her over at my parents' place. We went to the Steamboat Arabia museum here in KC. It was really interesting. The Arabia was a steamboat headed north from St. Louis up the wide Missouri in the 1850's. As it neared KC, it struck a log and sank. It was not recovered until 1988, some 130 years later. Before the Army Corp of Engineers defined the boundaries of the river, it meandered all over the place, so the ship was actually buried under a man's cornfield. They got permission to dig and found the ship 35 feet below the surface (and under an underground river at that). Amazingly they were able to complete the retrieving over the winter, as the man had stipulated that they needed to be done in time for him to plant his crops in the spring.

The museum was like an old fashioned Walmart or Home Depot. There were shelves and shelves of dishes, buttons, boots, food, tools, hardware, and on and on. In fact they said they have 15 more years worth of stuff to clean and put out on display. It's the largest display of pre-Civil war artifacts in the world, and it's right here in KC! Pretty interesting if you like history.

I spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday with Janay and my folks and Monday was my day off. I feel like I squandered it. Not only did I sleep in, but I also couldn't resist taking a nap. Meanwhile, my house is a mess, the fridge is almost bare, and my mail pile needs attention. Sometimes it does seem like a waste....cleaning that is. I mean I do it every weekend, and it's just messy again. Why not just do it once a month and save 3 weeks worth of work? Or just clean when you're expecting someone? This should be one of the benefits of being single, but I can't enjoy it. It bugs me when the house is a mess. I guess I was so overwhelmed with things I needed to do, wanted to do, and didn't have time to do on Monday, that a nap just seemed like a good solution. Now to my credit, I did work out and get a few crosswords done on Monday, so I exercised both mind and body.

OK, all that talk about cleaning calls for another list......Top 10 things about being single......maybe I'll work on that tomorrow.

Last night I got a call from an old college friend I haven't seen in 15 years. She was in town for a conference and wanted to arrange for us to get together. So tonight, we met at P.F. Chang's on the plaza. It was really good to see her and it turns out we're in similar lines of work. She was with a group of about 12 co-workers, and since I arrived late, they were kind enough to tell me not to order, as there would be enough food. I have to say it was really good, even if it might be a stretch on the old BFL plan. But hey, since when can a single person turn down free food? I will say that they went to Cheesecake Factory afterwards and I was able to abstain. Wow....that was hard, but not too bad. I just appealed to my cheapskate side and told myself $7 for a lousy piece of cheesecake......Who am I kidding? That $7 buys you a piece of heaven. I like my piece of heaven in the Craig's Crazy Carrot Cake or Pumpkin Pecan variety. And then there's the white chocolate selections. MMMMMM.........OK, I'm off to eat a soy nugget protein bar ;-(

As busy as things are, sometimes God just plants something in front of you that makes you slow down and just say, "Ahhhh". For me that was the beautiful sunrise this morning as I drove to work. You know God could have been a God of practicality and function, but I'm so glad He's an artist too. It was so kind of Him to paint the world in brilliant colors and remind us every day in a new way of His love for us.

I took this picture on my camera phone. It does not do it justice at all, but I've decided my blog needs more pictures (I'm definitely a picture book kind of girl, and the same applies to blogs). So here you go....one low quality picture shot out the window with a camera phone while driving at 79 mph. I decided not to post the one of the friendly officer in the passing lane, pointing at me while I took a picture. I don't know why he wasn't smiling. He even turned on his lights, I'm guessing for dramatic effect.

V-Day (or Singles' Awareness Day) Debriefing

Well I survived Singles Awareness Day (SAD) yesterday. Actually it wasn't bad at all. Got some very funny e-cards, exchanged some silly gifts with my other single friends at work, avoided the front desk (flower central), attended a sign language class, and had some good phone conversation.

Now perhaps this is coming a bit late, but just for fun, I thought I would send a bit of V-Day etiquette. Let me just preface this by saying, that after reading this you may get the impression I am an embittered single. On the contrary, this is just for fun (but kinda based on actual experiences through the years).

Tips for the Married (or Perpetually Dating) on Dealing with your Single Friends

1. Never go on and on complaining about how your husband or boyfriend never gets the kind of flowers you really like. Appreciate what you have. If you keep going on and on about it, we're just going to be tempted to call the florist and order you a bouquet of dandelions.

2. Unless you're close friends, your single co-workers don't really want to see the 3 dozen roses you got, because they've already seen the parade of 50 other bouquets people just had to show them.

3. This is the wrong day to talk about how lucky we are to be single and reminisce about your days of flying solo. We can see right through that and know you're just feeling sorry for us.

4. Asking your single friends to babysit because they have nothing better to do just adds insult to injury. If we have to stay home alone, we wanna wallow in self pity without any witnesses. (OK, I didn't do that this year, just saying that for dramatic effect).

5. There is nothing insulting about sharing your chocolate on V-Day (I prefer the peanut M&Ms please).

6. Don't avoid your single friends on V-Day because you don't know what to say to them. It's the equivalent of not looking at a disabled person because you don't want them to think you think they're a freak. Just act normal (or as normal as you are capable of).

7. Don't think that suggesting a blind date with your cousin's neighbor's ex-babysitter's big brother is a good idea. It's like saying, "spending time with someone who could possibly be a complete cad has got to be better than being alone on V-Day". How wrong you are. I'd much rather stay home and clean my grout with a toothbrush than be on a bad blind date on V-Day.

8. Don't ask, "Where's your pink and red?" when we fail to come to work donning the official V-Day colors. Remember, we have our own holiday to celebrate and I think the official colors should be black and green (in case you're wondering, those would be the opposites of white and red).

9. The S.A.D. festivities can be fun for single people. If you see a group of singles talking and laughing, don't interrupt them with your sappy romance stories or you're likely to be tarred and rolled in crushed conversation hearts.

10. You have your fun and we'll have ours. We'll try not to burst your bubble if you try not to flaunt that bubble in our faces.

A Small Price to Pay

OK.....So I should get extra merit points. I woke up early, saw that we had about 5 inches of snow overnight and came in to check the school closings. Paola wasn't on there. Every other school around here is out, but not Paola. I absolutely hate when that happens. I live far enough north of there, that it could be really bad here and not so bad there. So I watched the school closings for a good 10 minutes, just waiting....but nothing. I reluctantly went downstairs to do my cardio and upon my return, I rejoiced to see that Paola did finally list. I'm going back to bed! And I've got my cardio over with.....Oh, wait....gotta shovel the drive. Guess that makes it double cardio day for me. Small price to pay for a free day off!

My, my. 6:00 does come early! (Especially when I'm blogging at almost midnight).

Well, just for the purposes of accountability, I'm going to jot down here that I'm getting up at 6:00 am to do some cardio. It's really hard for me to get in the swing of things when it concerns getting up earlier, but I'll report back. The trick is, cardio is 3 times more effective in the morning on an empty stomach. So at 5:45 when the alarm(s) ring, I need to tell myself that it's either 20 minutes now or one hour that afternoon. That oughtta put a fire under me......On second thought it's snowing, and if anything can get me out of bed, it's the thought of checking the news for snow cancellations! Could work in my favor!! Now just to be clear for all you accountability gurus out there.....if there's a snow day, I will do my cardio when I get up, not at 6:00 am. That's totally acceptable. Don't want to get caught up on a technicality. OK, off to bed!

World's Worst Jobs

For the last few weeks, as I near my house every night on the return from work, I pass this man and think to myself, "That job has to stink". He's a tall African American gentleman that has been dressing in an Uncle Sam costume to advertise for some tax preparation company. Not only is the costume humiliating, but it has been freezing cold here for the last few weeks and he doesn't even get the luxury of a coat (aside from the paper thin cheap costume coat that's part of the Uncle Sam get up). Now to his credit, this guy appears to have a great attitude. He stands out there day after day waving very enthusiastically at every car. One day as I passed, I realized that things could get worse. They had him in a Statue of Liberty dress and crown! Wow. Now that's a guy who's secure in himself. I have to say that a 6'2" male, black Statue of Liberty is an attention grabber, but I feel for the guy. They better be paying him well!

Here are some of the jobs I've run across that have to be in the running for world's worst job:

1. Bus driver for children who attend a Behavior Disorder school. I kinda know about this one first hand. Although I wasn't the bus driver, working with these kids was challenge enough when you were in a school full of supportive people that could come running at a moment's notice to help out. But to think about trying to drive down the road with only 1 bus aide and a (short) bus full of kids who are as unpredictable as all get out, is just scary to me. There were actually video cameras on some of the buses and as school staff, we sometimes watched them to determine what kinds of consequences the kids needed, and let me just say, those bus drivers need a medal!

2. 10-Key Data Entry. By far, the job that was the absolute worst fit for me was a temp job I had a few years back. Now keep in mind that I am an artist, and thrive in settings where I can be creative. I worked for several weeks at a trucking company. For the first 4 hours of the day, all I did was straighten invoices so that they could be run through a scanner. I had to unfold the dog ears and make sure they were facing the correct way (believe me, that got old after about 38 minutes). For the last 4 hours of the day, I had to enter the numbers from invoices that wouldn't scan. As I would drive home, I'd be picturing how to 10-key every number I saw, from license plates to serial numbers. AARRGGHH! Good thing it was temporary. I believe that job truly had the capability to torture me into going crazy.

3. Denny's waitress. I did this for 7 months before I went to grad school. Waitressing is hard work. People can be rude and demanding, the hours are crazy, and you are constantly on the go. You can however make a fairly good living as a waitress (provided you don't waitress at Denny's). What was I thinking? Why didn't I apply at Red Lobster or something a bit higher class? After all, I would have customers come in for the $1.99 grand slam and ask if that included the tip. When I had a group come in and all order grand slams, I pretty much knew I wouldn't be getting much. My last night as a waitress (hopefully ever) was New Year's Eve of 1995-6. We were one of the few restaurants open when the bars closed, and I realized just how rude, demanding (and harassing) a room full of drunk people could be. On top of that, seeing how food is prepared in the restaurant industry was an eye-opening experience. Once I witnessed the cook holding a cigarette in one hand just outside the door (so he wasn't technically smoking in the kitchen) and the other hand preparing the food. I'll spare you the other details, but let's just say, I have trouble eating at a Denny's anymore.

Well, there are lots more in the running, but those definitely top my list.

Auntie T times 3....Make that 4

Well, my sister is expecting! It's a girl! Abbey is soooo excited. Today Tracy went for the ultrasound. We met up for dinner and Abbey was so excited to show me her new sister. I teasingly asked her why her sister was grey. She responded, "I guess that's just how they look on the soundtrack"!

We discussed names at dinner. I won't give anything away, but I will tell you that Abbey is voting for Esther, her favorite Bible character. By the way, Abbey was named after a dog! Yep, Tracy and her husband at the time had a lab named Abbey. They loved the name so much, they used it again for their first-born. So glad I wasn't named after any of my parents' pets. I just don't think people would take me seriously if I had a name like Thumper or KittyBob.

Have you heard about people that tell their friends what their planning to name the baby, and the friend steals the name and uses it? Even worse, I've heard of people using it on their pets. That's why I won't reveal the names I have picked out. Don't want you wasting it on your pet fish or something......Actually I only have one for a boy. It's unique and I wanna keep it that way.

Tracy was hoping for twins ( two in one shot)! We discussed that twins don't run in our family. My sis-in-law pointed out that multiples are more common the older the mother gets. Suddenly my future is coming clear: me at 40 with quadruplets.....And I thought it was too late for 8 kids! Here are my favorite nieces and nephew (so far)!

The "Hobbit" diet

Well this new "lifestyle change" I've been on is causing me some stress. I found it in a book about thyroid diet (I have hypothyroidism, and losing weight has been more difficult since my diagnosis). I read the e-book and it seemed like it made a lot of sense. So for the first month, I embarked on the "conditioning" phase. Basically, this translated to eating a lot more calories, lower fat, higher protein. The goal is to boost the metabolism so that when you enter the fat burning phase, your body doesn't think it's starving and slow the metabolism. Makes sense right? In theory it sounds great. Practically speaking, it meant eating a lot more than I wanted to. My friends at school couldn't believe how much food I would pull out at lunch. And honestly I never thought I'd complain about having to eat too much, but it really was a lot....3200 calories. It wouldn't have been hard if it could have been any food I wanted, but I still had to watch the fat and sugar. I nicknamed it the hobbit diet because you basically eat 6 meals a day. So around 10 am, I was partaking in my 2nd breakfast, just like the hobbits do. It was so counterintuitive, but I decided to stick with it and see.

So yesterday, I finally made it to the fat burning phase. I was anxious to get there, as that's when the weight starts coming off (as opposed to packing on a few pounds in conditioning). So yesterday, the program told me what I needed to eat and it was virtually impossible. It told me to eat 240 g of protein (hard enough anyway), but only 40 g of fat and 25 g of sugar. Wow, even eating low fat meat racks up the fat grams. And even 2 cups of milk gives you almost 25 g of sugar. So after all that work in conditioning, I think I'm going to have to switch plans. I just don't think drinking protein shakes for the rest of my life is very practical. I've got to have something do-able......and I'm tired of feeling like a hobbit!

So on an unrelated topic, I checked out a book on sign language to peruse on the long van ride to Nashville. Imagine my surprise when I pulled out a check for 490 some dollars. Even more shocking, it was endorsed on the back! Wow! Someone must have been freaking out last fall when they couldn't find that check. Guess I'll mail it to the person that wrote it. So what's the weirdest thing you've ever found in a library book?

Nashville Weekend

Whew! What a whirlwind weekend! I just got back from Nashville and I guess technically I'm now a Nashville recording artist (ha!). Our worship minister, Allen, and his wife Ann took a group of us to record on Keith Lancaster's new a capella praise and harmony CD. There were 15 of us, and honestly, I was not looking forward to cramming into a 15 passenger van with the 12 that were carpooling. The good news was that because of insurance issues, we got 2 12-passenger vans. So we had 5 people in our van and each got a row to ourselves.

Recording was not as tedious as I thought it might be. There were about 200 people there. We all brought earbuds, which we plugged in to listen to the beat and pitch of the songs. Keith was very energetic and although he's very talented musically, he wasn't rude or demanding when we goofed and had to re-record something. Here's our group in the chapel turned recording studio and Ann and I (with Allen in background) at a late night food run on Friday night.

We recorded Friday night and Saturday morning and then spent the rest of the day sightseeing. First we went to the Parthenon, which was an awesome full-scale replica of the actual Parthenon, including a 41 foot statue of Athena, an artist's rendition of what the original may have looked like....pretty stunning!

Next, we headed to the GOO, as Allen called it....The Grand Ole Opry Hotel. Who knew a hotel could be so grand? It's the largest non-gaming resort under one roof in the world. I had heard it was pretty awesome. I guess it was one of those kinds of things where you had to see it to believe it. This place was huge. It had several large areas that really created a relaxing ambience. One area looked like a vignette from a Southern landscape, with gardens, balconies, and boutiques housed in Southern style architecture. There was a canal and we took a canal ride through this particular atrium. There were waterfalls you could walk behind, trails to explore and beautiful vegetation. Here are some shots (that don't do it justice).....

Here's a cool perforamance artist appropriately named, "deVine". She was pretty intriguing.

After GOO, we did a little shopping at the Opry Mills shops. A few locals recommended we eat at Demos' restaurant downtown so we set out in search. We found a parking garage and cleared the height requirement clearance bar. However, once we got in the garage, we found that our van really wasn't going to fit. We had some tense moments as we literally scraped under a few of the clearings.....That was definitely worse than the nails on the chalkboard sound.

We left this morning at 5:30 am. And wouldn't you know, we opened our doors and saw this....

First time it had snowed in Nashville in 3 years. We made it home though, thanks to Ann and Allen's driving.

Procrastination

Well, I leave tomorrow morning at 5:30 am for Nashville. Here it is 11:12 pm and I haven't even started packing. Yes, I'm the great procrastinator. In college I even wrote an essay that was basically a narrative of all the things I did while procrastinating writing that paper. Normally, I don't wait this late, but I had a very full day, got home at almost 10 and then talked to friends on the phone. It's relaxing to hop online for a few minutes before starting the frenzied packing....... I'll write about my trip later (spoken like a true procrastinator).