Unrelated Events: DCFC & A Whale of a Time

So first off, we just got back from Lowe's with supplies for a new project! It's really going to pull the living room together. And per usual, I wanted to go ahead and start on it, but 1.) it rained today so the porch is wet and 2.) it's ten o'clock at night. I guess it will have to wait until next week.... I hate waiting. 

Story time:

We have to wait because are going home this weekend to visit family, YAY! Want to know what's NOT "yay"? We planned on going home this weekend for my nephew's 2nd birthday party... 

(Pic form my sister's fb)

It was last weekend. I still don't know how this oversight occurred. I had it in my mind that his party was the 20th because his birthday is the 22nd. Well, somewhere along the way it got moved up a week because my brother-in-law has a game that weekend (as a band director). Even though the invitation (which was adorably hand-painted by my middle sister) had the correct date, I didn't even process that it was a week earlier! Geez! So imagine my surprise last week when my mom asked if we were staying at their house or the Myers'. I was devastated when it all hit me that I was too far away to just pop on down for the afternoon. I cried. No, literally. I went into the bathroom at work and cried. This was the first time that we had to miss something because of distance. That was a difficult blow to bear.

But we are still going home, party or not, because we had planned on it and we were looking forward to it.

And onto the purpose of the blog:

Death Cab for Cutie concert and a Playground.

Last Wednesday this married couple went wild and crazy. We stayed out late on a school night! (in all actuality we were still home by midnight. That is late for me.)

We got tickets to see our all time favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie, because hey... that's part of why we moved to Smashville. Music. Live Music. 

Quick note on Death Cab. Is it cheesy to say that this band is a significant portion of why Josh and I fell in love? Well, truth be told, it is. When we first started dating, the album Narrow Stairs had recently been released. That was probably one of the first big "things we have in common" conversations. DCFC was a huge influence on Josh's musical taste and style, and I just loved them. 

Sappy Anecdote:

One time (after a couple months of "courting") Josh and I were going somewhere and took my car. I had been blaring the aforementioned album, specifically the song "Cath...", and I heard Josh say "God, this is why I love you!" It took about 2 seconds too long to realize what he'd (accidentally) said, and I was already in the middle of saying "I know! This album gets better each time I listen to it." Then it sank in what he had said, and I think he realized what he said, and we both got all flustered and silly and changed the subject because the relationship was still new and he really didn't even realize it came out til it did. 

So yeah.... The first time Josh told me he loved me was because I was so equally enthused about his favorite band.

Have I bored you all to death yet? Here is a story in pictures:

The band that opened was called Frightened Rabbit. They are from Scotland. And they are amazing. Go support them and buy a CD. Please.

Then came the main event. The crowd went berserk. This is Ben Gibbard. Hey Ben.

These are all from by phone, by the way. We had pretty good spots (general admission, which meant we stood in line for an hour and a half to get in a good spot... after I got of work from standing all day... Totally worth it)

Another You-Just-Had-To-Be-There pic of a concert.

yay

I took a video of my favorite song, but I can't figure out how to upload it (server won't allow it) and I don't feel like creating a youtube account or anything... 

So after the show, on the walk back to the car (paying to park downtown is still something we are getting used to), we walked through a courtyard area and the grass was so squishy and soft I just plopped down. Josh realized I was no longer my his side and plopped down next to me.

"Ahhhh my poor tired feet are soooooo happy!"

Instagram effect of the happy couple in the squishy grass

Onward to the playground adventure.

Josh and I do a lot of driving around just looking at houses (for our future home-buying purposes). We stumbled upon this historic area near the Harpeth River:

Which led to some pretty incredible plantation style homes and eventually the Natchez Trace

We saw some deer

And after getting effectively lost in some residential area, we saw this! I went straight for the merry-go-round but it was in some serious need of oil. So I resorted to the whale. It was a good choice.

Josh wasn't cut out for it.

I eventually got his tail to touch the ground too though

Then these guys wandered out and we were like... uh, what?

Ended up that at least 3 were hanging out. "Oh don't mind us"

"Helloooo down there"

(turkey shots taken from this see-saw) 

Briefly airborne 

I had forgotten how fun see-saws are.

obviously exuberant 

Probably the funnest playground slide ever! Makes your stomach drop.

I did this and slid down the slide. Josh isn't as flexible, so he had to work for it.

One of the ladders beat me up.

pasty leg returns

Oh hey rock wall!

Conquered. Take that child-toy!

Easy as one...

two...

three...

tah-dah!

And I had to squeeze in one more session with the whale before we left.

So all in all, rich people can afford playgrounds in their side yard and open it to the public.

And we sure are glad they did.

Because we had a WHALE of a time.

yesssss. (pun victory)

Stay tuned for our upcoming DIY projects!

Haley

{wishing I had a blue whale ride in my side yard}

To someone else's dead Grandma's house I go

Um What?!

I went to my first ever estate sale Saturday. What's awkward about barging into a house of the recently-deceased to pillage through their belongings? Oh, nothing. Especially when all three of the aforementioned dead-lady's (elderly) daughters are asking if you need any help or have questions. What is the appropriate response? "I'm sorry for your loss. How much for this mirror?"

I didn't stay long and I didn't buy anything.

I would expect that some of these rich folk in Nashville would have some killer estate sales. I'll keep my eyes peeled. (Catch the pun?)

So that was the start of my Saturday. The rest of the Saturday morning/afternoon was spent at antique stores. I had a great time looking around, getting ideas (mostly for later in life when we have a house). There are a whole bunch of antique stores and consignment stores along 8th Ave, all clumped together. Very convenient, thank you. 

So my plan was this: Take out $100 in cash and spend no more. Sometimes I go a little crazy at antique stores. And I was celebrating my first paycheck... I don't normally drop a Benjamin whenever I please.

I'll share a few of the things I saw that I thought were cool:

This is the biggest one that I went to, and was most organized. I heart it.

I found strange things like this:

'Cause who doesn't need a larger than life Bruce Lee?

But there were also a ton of amazing pieces, too.

Like this wooden folding chair bench. I take it that it was once a pew because it had the little rack on the back on the left chairback for the communion cups. It was $250, which was about what I expected. Lovely though.

I also thought this enormous copper thing had endless potential. It is a corn husk... something. You could have it just as decoration and store stuff in it. You could utilize it as a central piece in a room and but something tall like branches of some sort. I mean really, possibilities are endless.

I apologize for the quality. The flash on my phone just wouldn't co-operate. But it is an old tool caddy like this one from Secret Garden Cottage's blog:

Except it was really long and had 5 compartments. Can you say coffee table centerpiece? Craft storage? Future dining room table centerpiece? I can see it. And it was only $40 (a good price for those things) I was THIS close to getting it, but found something I liked better.

I'd seen this on Pinterest and put it on my radar for the space above my fireplace:

So when I saw this ladder, that's the first thing I thought about. 

I fell in love. I have future when-we-have-a-house plans for it too. The more I though about it, the less I liked the idea of wrapping it in chicken wire (plus its kinda heavy to hang). It is so beautiful in its own right. I am now planning to prop it up in a corner of the living room behind the chair where there is some empty space. I'm still going to do something to spruce it up. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Since it couldn't fit in my little Civic, Josh will have to go Monday to pick it up. I'm so pumped and it was less than $30!

Look at this awesome ladder utilization from The DIY Showoff!

Like the ladders in libraries! Love it!

And what antique girl doesn't love old trunks? I always have to stop and look. This one was something like $30 and I was a little beat up but still had a very nice weathered look. And a little bit of red paint.

It was hard to walk away, but I have no where to put it! I actually thought of my mother-in-law. We looked at lots of old trunks together in past antiquing days.

Speaking of in-laws, I found my father-in-law something special too. What do you think? Should I get it for Christmas? *wink* You can't see it, but it is marked down from $500 to $325. What a deal! (I think my mother-in-law would disown me if I did buy this for their house though)

Oh and this surprised me! I saw this out of the corner of my eye and couldn't believe it. These are those pantry storage racks! We had been looking for some that would hang over the door (not have to be screwed in). These probably could be hung but they were reallllly long so I decided to measure my door before I bought them.

So I went to another antique mall and found some other great items.

Old LIFE magazines (which are much larger than their current brothers) for only $3 each. This one caught my eye: "The Incredible Year: '68" This would be a cool display on a wall in an office or a boys room. All sorts of Life mags in frames. When I told Josh about it, he decided he wants to go back and get a few. (He likes the history stuff)

So then I found what I am going to used for the chicken wire piece:

No, not the King Tut poster. The 40x30 wooden frame. It is very light and a great size for the wall above the fireplace! I stopped by Lowes and got the chicken wire and "Vanilla" and "Butter" spray paint (yum) {They are a cream and a soft yellow} But I think a soft blue might be better. Everything in the living room so far is in the tan/white/gold family.

I thought this book was adorable! The Fascinating Story of Dolls

I ended up getting the large frame, this doily-esque pillow, and beautifully weathered copper pan:

While at Lowes I checked out the lamp shade. I got a "small" and a "medium" ivory drum shade to see which looks best.

This is medium. It's a bit oversized but that kinda makes it look retro. The downside: you can't see the little rosette on top.

This is the small. It fits, and you can see the rosette on top, but I think it just makes it look even smaller. (They are already pretty small). And I don't really like that you can see the plain metal part of the "neck." Its hard to tell in the pictures, but does anyone have an opinion?
I wish they had a size in between. Anyone know of any Smediums?

 Also, does anyone have any suggestions for how we can spruce up the ladder (Hang something from the rungs?)

After Josh got home from a weekend gig in Birmingham, I showed him this beautiful scenic road, which of course led to a random playground, so that adventure will hopefully be posted in the next few days.

Stay tuned,

Haley

Broccolisauri and Falafel Rappers

Lessons from preschool:

As I was trying to diffuse the tension between two 5 year-old boys arguing over dinosaur toys, I pulled on my educational-pants and tried to teach them a thing or two in the process. It went a little something like this: {lets call them John and Johnny}

{John} Teacher! Johnny won't share the T-rex toy!

{Me} Well, John, Why don't you play with one of the other dinosaurs?

{John} No! I don't like those!

**This is the part where I'm racking my brain about dinosaurs. Specifically honing in on Jurassic Park**

{Me} Look, here is a raptor! These are my favorite dinosaurs. Do you know why?

**Insert children's intrigue**

{Me} Because they are smart! The Tyrannosaurus Rex may be big and mean...

{Johnny interjects} AND he has big teeth!

{Me}... yep, they sure do. By the Velociraptor is smart. They have big brains! They have friends and work together. Did you ever see a group of T-rexes together?

{John} {Or the other one, I don't remember} No. Just the momma and the baby

{Me} So the Raptors are cool because they are smart and they have friends and work together

{John} Yeah! I like Falafel Rappers! They have big claws!

{Me} ... uh-huh (Crisis averted!)

Let's you and I review.

They potentially just learned the following things:

1. The name "velociraptor"

2. That they are social and co-operative creatures

3. T-Rex is a solitary creature, not social or co-operative

4. Moral lessons such as being big and strong isn't the most important thing

5. Being smart is cool

6. Working and playing together benefits everyone

But really all they heard was:

1. Falafel Rappers are cool. Big claws!

All-in-all: They just got schooled on dinos and didn't even know it. Did you notice that Velociraptor because Falafel Rapper? I think that is an improvement that the scientific community needs to recognize. Later, as I was essentially quizzing them on dinos, the brontosaurus became a broccolisaurus. I literally laughed out loud. I couldn't help myself. It was so cute.

Side note: I totally just got schooled, too, because I had no idea that "velociraptor" was one word. 

***

I was also impressed with a 3-year-old boy who apparently has an environmentally-conscious family because this went down:

We monitor the kids as they go potty and wash their hands because so many of them either sit and play in the water all day, or they try to get sly and just run water over them and not actually clean them with soap. In this case, a little girl was playing in the water. 

She was actually putting her hand around the faucet so that water was spraying all over the counter. 

I told her something along the lines of, "We don't play in the water when we wash our hands. See how much water was wasted on the counter?" 

...at which point the little boys behind her says, "Yeah, if you waste the water, the earth will die!" 

Again, I couldn't help but giggle and just say "That's right." What killed me was the way he said it so dramatically and bug-eyed. 

***

Oh and I unintentionally taught the 3-year-olds to say "Look at my sweet moves" when they dance. Kids really do repeat everything you say.

I hope to have an update about the rest of the week soon including another concert (crazy, right?) and antique store finds.

So stay tuned!
Haley

Weekend Adventures: August

A weekend in review as recounted by out iPhone photos.

This weekend included movie date night, lazy mornings, tax free weekend, live music, new church, and a hidden trail.

Friday after work we had movie-night. 

Um... SO good. Funny (hysterical even) while maintaining a quality that most romantic-comedy movies don't. Touching, cute, insightful, and cinematographically lovely. I highly recommend it.

We also want to see Beginners. Watch the trailer. Love me some Ewan McGregor. 

Saturday we had a lazy morning. I made some peach pecan muffins from scratch. I had planned to make blueberry muffins again, but the blueberries got gobbled up before Saturday, so I used allrecipes.com to find an alternative utilizing what we had. (Love that site! You can create a virtual recipe box and save the recipes you want to try.)  

After lunch we took advantage of tax free weekend.

Be bought Josh a couple of these:

Shirts, not boy toys

Black fitted button-downs from Express. I'm pretty proud of our savings, so I'll share. 

Normally $60 each (meaning we would normally never purchase them)

+ tax free (10% savings)

+ Express sale: Buy one get one for $20 ($40 savings)

+ a coupon from Josh's mom: Save $30 off a purchase of $75 or more

= Total spent: $50 for TWO Express shirts.

Total savings: $70 (not including the tax we saved).

Why did we opt for such fancy shirts for Josh? Because he has joined The Tennessee Three. He will be the new touring drummer for the legendary Johnny Cash band. Bob Wootton was Cash's guitar player from 1968 on, after Luther Perkins died (the original guitarist). 

This is Johnny cash in 1974 (you can hear Bob's guitar solo at about the one minute mark)

He still tours playing Cash/Carter songs with his family and maintains the name "The Tennessee Three" {It used to be Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three}.  We are beyond excited. Since Johnny Cash's signature look was all-black, we decided to get some fancy black clothing.

We were planning on utilizing tax free weekend to buy the Mrs. some new clothes as well, but if you know me, you know that crowds stress me out. It's the chaos and the in-my-bubble-ness. I don't like strangers bumping into me. Or dodging rude people who don't gently move out of the way. 

So we moved on to coffee from Bread and Company before dinner at Demos' Steak and Spaghetti House. Yum! It is our current Nashvillain favorite restaurant.  

If you come visit us, we WILL take you here. Delicious and affordable. Josh applied to work here and got the job, but we would have had to shave his beard, so I vetoed that job. I'm protective of my man's beard.

Speaking of:

I love my husband! Especially his beard.

After dinner we chose a bench in the Batman Building courtyard to relax before the Decemberists show. 

 No instagram effects :(

After we felt our food was sufficiently settled, we walked across the street to the Ryman to find our seats.

We learned our lesson the hard way: always opt for the balcony at the Ryman Auditorium!

This column was not conveniently placed.

And the lights were often right on us... 

But the show was so great. Colin Meloy has such a dynamic stage presence. I love it when musicians interact with the crowd.

Sunday we got up and went to church. Thus the church-seeking process begins. This week we tried Journey of Franklin by recommendation of one of my co-workers. 

We definitely could see ourselves there... because they had us at "Welcome, help yourself to some coffee"

 But really because it had a modern service and a young crowd. Not to mention it is located inside The Factory, which is one of the places that makes Franklin such a cool place. 

It is actually set up a lot like First Hattiesburg (which we miss dearly) but a lot smaller. We are going to try it on for size for a few weeks since this week wasn't a "usual" service (guest speaker). 

Since we love Franklin and hope to someday buy a home there, we decided to drive around and get a feel for the residential areas. Um... can't quite afford, well anything we saw. But I'm convinced a perfect, cozy little home is out there for us. 

Whilst exploring and marveling, I saw a sign for an "overlook" and we pulled over. At the overlook was a little trail. I freaked out a little. 

This is the view from the overlook... foothills of Franklin

The aforementioned little path

I wasn't exactly anticipating a walk through the woods when I got dressed this morning. But I made due.

We had a lot of fun fantasizing about living on a parcel of land in the mountains where our future little ones can play in the woods.

... UNTIL ...

A fallen tree blocked the path. We actually did jump over it (which was an ordeal in my pretty dress) but the path kinda ended about 100 ft past it. 

Apparently it didn't lead to any big scenic view. Sad. But we still had a good time.

Well that's all from this weekend's adventures. This week I get CRP and First Aid certified. Til next time! Stay tuned, 

Haley

Yum Town

Do you like the new look? I found the background at ShabbyBlogs via my friend Mallisa who just started her blog. I still haven't really figured out this template-adjusting biz. Maybe one day. 

I couldn't help but share this delicious treat with you.

A blog I follow called Bakers Royale always has tantalizing recipes popping up on my feed. At a glance, they all seem way beyond my current skill set. (However, that won't stop me from trying.) All summer they have been posting "Cocktail Popsicle" recipes. Yep. You read that right. Cocktail popsicles. 

uh... now that is something I think I can conquer. Here is one that caught my eye today:

White Sangria Popsicle

I'll allow you to gawk for a moment.

Some examples of their more involved recipes I'd like to take a bite out of (pun) include blackberry cabernet cupcakes, nutella pastry pockets and chocolate mousse brownie bites. Sweet tooth much?

In other news: Our DIYing will be pretty minimal for the next few weeks. Since I just started my job, it could be 2-4 weeks until a get my first paycheck (I should probably check on that, huh?), so we are going to play it safe until then. I guess I could walk you through some projects I did before I started the blog, which means I can't show you step-by-step pictures, but I can supplement. 

In the "life update" arena: Josh has been very busy today meeting some pretty substantial musicians (including Taylor Swift's studio drummer). I'm so excited for him. He has waited so long to be in a location where music is a viable and expanding occupation.  

Well basically this post is just to share the happiness of finding that White Sangria Popsicle recipe. Pretty pitiful.

Stay tuned,

Haley