Growing in to Grown Up
I’m In Love
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Oh goodness! Where to begin? It’s spring in Nashville! The trees and flowers are blooming, the air is fresh, and the sun has been shining. I’m feeling all twitterpated (is that a word?!?) I figure there’s no better of a time than to tell you all about the things that have been making my heart happy:
1.) Grace Potter & The Nocturnals – I’ve loved her for quite some time, but when BFF Jenn came to visit we saw her live. Hello sequin mini-dress, if anyone can pull it off, it’s her. And OMGoodness Gracious is she amazing? I still can’t get enough. Check her out, y’all.
2.) Dryads Dancing – How beautiful this is this stuff? Seriously? I love it all and it’s eco-friendly.
3.) Suze Orman – I know, I’m a huge nerd… but I’ve become obsessed with her show, her books, the tools on her website. Girlfriends (girlfriends!) and boyfriends (boyfriends!)… I dig it. I just can’t help it.
4.) Curly Girl – “‘A really good friend’ she said ‘makes you snort when you laugh, and will still hang out with you when you do it in public.’” or “‘There is a direct correlation between the level of happiness in one’s life and the amount of silliness they allow into it’ she said ‘I know, I’ve done studies.’” How can those cute prints not make you all mushy and gushy and happy inside? I love it. She speaks to me.
5.) Modern Family - Blockbuster went out of business here (whah whah whah…sad.) BUT the good news is I got the entire first season of Modern Family DVDs for $12 - and the Modern Family Gang (mostly Clive Bixby who I have every intention of naming my first-born or future puppy after) can keep me entertained and laughing no matter how many times I’ve watched on repeat. If you’ve never watched it – Tune in to ABC on Wednesdays at 9/8 central. You. will. love. I promise.
Enjoy! (and tell me what’s making you happy this Spring!)
Name That Chick Flick
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Boyfriend Nick is a good sport when it comes to my movie preferences. He’ll agree to watch even the cheesiest, sappiest, most ridiculous chick flicks out there - and usually enjoy them enough to put the laptop away and say “Uh, yeah, it was alright” when the credits roll.
This weekend, we redboxed “Morning Glory.” And then our conversation went a little something like this:
N: Yeah, this one was way funnier than that other one we watched.
E: What other one?
N: You know, that other one with the workaholic girl.
E: Hmmm. I’m stumped.
N: You know, the one with that girl in the city (maybe New York)… she’s kind of high strung and a workaholic.
E:No idea.
N: You know that cute actress? I think she might have a mole on her face?
E: Still not ringing any bells. What else happened?
N: Then that guy – you know, that guy who always has his shirt off from that other movie?
E:Matthew McConaughey?
N: Yeah, it might be him – he goes after her and she decides to date him and then some stuff happens and he wins her or she wins him back then they live happily ever after?
E: That could be any chick flick!!!
N: Oh, well, she has that weird friend?
E: Hmm… Still could be any chick flick. Are you sure you watched it with me?
N: Yeah, I’m sure
E: Did we watch it recently?
N: Yeah, kind of recently
E: Did I fall asleep during it?
N: Maybe. But do you know which one I’m talking about now?
E: No, I still have no idea? What else happened?
N: Oh, you know, the normal stuff.
E: Gee… that really clarifies!
Sooooo sorority girl friends and/or lovers of the chick flick, can you please help me unravel the mystery of what chick flick I may or may not have slept through that involves a workaholic girl (who might have a mole) in maybe New York City, who meets maybe MMC and might fall in love and then out and then back in that has a weird friend? Hah! I bet you can name ten. They’re all the same anyway! Seriously though… help me figure out what movie we’re talking about.
Feb-boo-ary Update
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I haven’t been inspired to blog recently because my life just doesn’t quite seem to have any blog-worthy stories as of late. Best friend Jenn visits this weekend so maybe something exciting will happen then and I can tell you all about it. This is what I’ve been up to recently though, in case you were wondering:
1. Painting furniture – When the apartment burned down a coworker gave me an old beat up dresser that she’d had in her basement for years. I decided to paint it cranberry. It turned out fuchsia and I affectionately referred to it as the “Barbie Dream Dresser.” I got really tired of the hot pink mess and painted it a warm gray with little bits of the pink showing through.It’s beautiful and I love it.
Side note: I bought a small sander and it is my favorite purchase ever! Let me tell you, trying to sand a dresser by hand is probably the worst decision one can make. I even redid a bookcase because I love that sander so freaking much.
Next project: wallpapering furniture. This is beautiful, right?
2. Being Brainless - Let’s talk about the day I did many-a stupid things in a row. I went to a drive through carwash and got screamed at because I had the car in drive instead of neutral on the conveyer belt with my foot on the brake. Then I couldn’t tell what they were yelling to me so I rolled my window down to hear. In. the. carwash. Hello soaked car!
Then I came home and freaked out because the kitchen sink was clogged again and the disposal wasn’t working so I put in a work order. Only to have my roommate tell me later: “Uh, Erin? You know the stopper is in there, right?” Duhhh no wonder the water wasn’t going down!
I did something else dumb that day but I just can’t remember what it was.
3. Spent FOUR hours getting home from work (which is less than 10 miles away) because of an inch and a half of snow. At least I finally got home. Most coworkers ended up pulling over and staying at friend’s places or getting hotel rooms because they were too afraid to drive and fed up with the traffic. I didn’t even slide once – people here just freak out over the tiniest bit of white precipitation.
4. Went Ghost-Hunting – This one is actually worth writing about. Full report coming next week. I attempted to spend the night in this awesome house built in 1902 in Lawrenceburg, TN. It’s haunted. And creepy. I only made it til midnight then I had enough and was outta there! A real paranormal group is coming to check it out next week. Maybe it will be on Ghost Adventures! And just for the record, this was ghost hunting for real – in an old abandoned house (but we know the owners so it’s not trespassing) not some kind of tour you sign and pay for. How’s that for adventurous?
Here are the people that lived there back in the day. They might be some of the ghosts.
Just Please Don’t Leave Me Any Political Comments
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Dear Dad,
Thank you for never missing one of my soccer games when I was in elementary school even though my team never scored a goal. And my softball games in middle and high school where I’d usually strike out.
Thank you for buying Megan and I the best juice boxes to put in our lunch. I don’t think they make Boku anymore, but that was some good stuff.
Thank you for always setting out my Cheerios, orange juice, milk, and vitamin (the yummy Sunkist kind) every morning before I’d catch the bus. And driving me to school when I missed it.
Thank you for getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning to take me to school to go to swim practice and then coming back to pick me up 2 and a half hours later to go back home because I forgot something like my underwear and then taking me back to school even though you were already on your way to work.
Thank you for checking my homework or term papers even though I was in tears because I didn’t agree with your corrections. You’re right – it did get me into a good college.
Thank you for making me take that stupid Dale Carnegie class when I was sixteen. I hated it then because it was in the evening and I was a teenager and only wanted to hang out with my friends, but I did learn a lot.
Thank you for getting Cleo. I know she was a bad dog – but we really wanted one and it was fun to have her for awhile.
Thank you for driving five hours to Ames, Iowa to pick me up from college just to turn right back around and go home so I could spend Thanksgiving or Easter with the family.
Thank you for always updating me on the score of the Cubs or the Bears games when I’m not watching.
Thank you for being Meg’s and my biggest fan and telling us we can do anything we set our minds to. Even when we roll our eyes, we really appreciate how supportive you are of us.
Happy birthday, Dad! You’re the best father a girl could ask for. Thanks for everything you’ve done, do, and I know you always will do to help your daughters out.
Love,
Erin
P.S. I know you want to see this so I thought I’d post it here for you. This isn’t the one I took, because my democrat sister refused to email it to me. And blog readers, please don’t leave me comments about your political views. I really don’t care and am proud to be an American and will support whoever is in office.
Another One of Life’s Little Mysteries
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There’s a wildly inappropriate Adam Sandler song about a junky car with lyrics far too vulgar to post on my little family-friendly blog. Google it if you must, but don’t say I didn’t warn you first. Anyway, that song has been echoing in my head non-stop every time I pull into my parking spot at the apartment for the past few months. Mostly because there is a lovely gray beast of a Monte Carlo that might just be older than me parked a few spots down.
I’m pretty confident that it doesn’t move. It has flat tires and is even missing one on the other side. It’s missing a rear view mirror, has a large chunk of the trunk missing and is rusty beyond belief. Now since I no longer live in the oh-so-ritzy West End of Nashville, I no longer expect to only see cars that cost nearly double my annual salary. But this one is truly a Piece. See for yourself.
Unfortunately my phone doesn’t take good enough photos to get a close up of what’s inside and I don’t want to be caught being the pesky neighbor poking around near someone’s property, but what’s really peculiar about this car is it has a club in it. Like the anti-theft steering wheel lock device kind.
This raises several questions:
1. Is someone really going to want to steal your car?
2. If they tried, could they really make it down the block?
3. Do they still even make “The Club”?
Life’s full of little mysteries.
Eating Their Curds and Whey
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When I got back from Mexico, I told some Nash-friends about the trip – including the stop in Minneapolis. I mentioned how the airport smelled like mayo macaroni salad, and the waitress at the airport Chili’s talked like she was from Fargo, dontcha know? And told them about Chatterbox, the bar where Jenn and I met up with Minneapolis-friend Emily and how it was like nothing I’ve ever seen.
It had dark with wood paneling with framed 80′s movie posters, the bartender men were all wearing fish scale iridescent, short-sleeved button down shirts (and it was not a uniform), y0u could rent old school video games like Atari’s or classic board games, if you prefer and they had little lamps on the tables and we were actually asked to crawl under the table to plug one in. All it was missing was goldenrod shag carpeting.
But the most memorable thing was the smell. It was overwhelmingly fried cheese curd scented. And it made my clothes stink like fried cheese curd. They all got this disgusted, confused look on their faces that simply meant “What in the world is a cheese curd? And why would anyone want to eat one?” I briefly explained “You know, like from curds and whey? The little pieces that squeak when you eat them?” Blank stares.
But now, a Culver’s has just opened up in Middle Tennessee, so all I’d like to say is “Dear Cheese Curds, Welcome to The South!” And they’re not disgusting, they’re delicious. Eat That.
It’s A Zoo Around Here
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My new(ish) apartment has a heard of elephants that live upstairs. But at least this one isn’t a pile of ashes or doesn’t have neighbors like Paul. And the elephants go to bed at a reasonable hour and we have weekly Zumba and step classes and free massages. So I really can’t complain.
Did You Know There’s A Song Called “The Devil Lives in Dallas”…? I Believe it Now
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Now that my suitcase is unpacked and the sunburn is well on its way to peeling, maybe it’s time I tell you about my trip to Mexico. Well, not Mexico really…because there’s not much of a story in that. Laid on the beach, drank margaritas, ate my weight in ounces of guacamole, you know, standard. Cabo was beautiful and relaxing and a blast. It’s almost impossible to not have a good time with BFF Jenn. I’ll tell you what’s not a blast though. American Airlines and the Dallas Ft. Worth airport. Even crazy Aunt Leslie can tell you about how there’s no such thing as a pleasant travel experience at DFW.
Let’s start at the beginning. I flew from Nashville to Minneapolis to meet up with Jenn so we could fly together and visit other college friends before the trip. We arrived two hours before our flight, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, passports in hand, ready to get to the beach! At boarding time they announced that we would begin boarding in ten minutes because they were fixing a minor problem. Forty minutes later they had to replace a fire extinguisher and an hour after that they were delaying the flight indefinitely. Please note they never canceled the flight because that would require them giving us travel vouchers. We (including the 300-some other passengers) were handed a phone number to call to arrange reroutes for flights and told to get in line if we’d like to talk to someone in person. We get in line while calling the phone number and after being put on hold for 30 minutes get told that there was no way we’d make any connecting flight to Cabo and there’s nothing they could do and hung up on us. Seriously rude! It took about 2 more hours to get to the ticket counter where we were booked on the next flight to Dallas and told we could go to Mexico in the morning.
We arrived in Dallas, and as instructed, walked to the agent at the desk where we were told they’d instruct us on how to get a hotel room and meals on American Airline’s tab. The lady gave us a hard time but eventually printed out the vouchers and gave us the number to call to get our shuttle to the Days Inn in Irving. Classy. Compared to the five star resort on the beach we WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AT ALREADY.
We got outside in the sticky, sweltering 10pm heat where we’re supposed to wait for our shuttle when an average-looking 15 passenger van pulls up. We climb in not realizing we were entering the pot-hole magnet, Ford van straight to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks (this is a family friendly blog, after all.) The speed-racer driver side-wheelies his way through ramps and tunnels picking up I. KID. YOU. NOT. 20 other passengers (mostly extra large smelly men in Hawaiian shirts and mullets) from all five terminals who climb in and make themselves comfortable. One by one they get dropped off at Motel 6′s and Super 8′s, etc. until we’re the last 2 in the car. Just as I was about to ask for a barf bag from all of the on-ground turbulence, we drive through a dark alley and pull up to the most ghetto and shady-looking Days Inn I have ever seen in my life.
We walk in to a lobby partially blocked off with caution tape, where there are tiles missing from the floors and the entire place stinks of week old Chinese food and get assigned a room. Completely on the opposite end of the hotel. We hike up 3 flights, roll our suitcases down what seems like city blocks of motel rooms, and find our “suite.” We open the door to find the most cramped, poorly lit, muggy, bug filled room I have ever seen in my life. And I’ve stayed at some questionable cheap hotels in my day. After deadbolting the door, checking the shower to make sure there were no cameras, and debating whether the sheets were clean enough to put on pajamas or if it was a better bet to just sleep in our clothes, we went to sleep praying this wasn’t the beginning of some bad horror movie.
After a sleepless night, our shuttle back to the airport came at 6:20 am where we were significantly less bright-eyed and had absolutely no bushy tails.
The rest of the trip went relatively smoothly with the exception of a few gate changes and “You want a Mexican boyfriend? Mexican souvenir?” question overload, but that’s to be expected.
So to sum it all up, I’m sticking to Southwest from now on and Mexico was wonderful.
On a side note, I chopped off all of my hair.
On another side note, I’m going to a RC Cola Moon Pie Festival this weekend. If you’re not sure what that means, you can watch a video about it here.
Tags: American Airlines, Bad Horror Movie, Cabo San Lucas, Dallas Ft. Worth Airport, Days Inn, Misery, Shady hotels, Travel
Feeling Like A Volunteer
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This weekend I finally got my Tennessee license plates. It only took 17 months. Did you know after you move to a new state you’re supposed to get your new plates and driver’s license within one month? No? Me neither.
A few days after I moved into my [new] new apartment, I was on my way to work. I still had a car full of boxes and bags and suitcases that coworkers had given to me. I switched lanes and didn’t use a turn signal [I know, Dad]. Anyway…didn’t use a turn signal, next thing I know, I have a cop pull out behind me and turn on his lights.
“Good Morning Officer…” nothing but politeness from me…anyway, he tells me I didn’t signal properly when changing lanes, blah, blah, blah…peeks through my open window at my stuffed car, asks me where I’m going. When I tell him “work” he takes another glance and asks if I recently moved here. Since he didn’t ask me specifically how long ago, I answer “yes” knowing full well that I have an expired tag and probably should have switched over to Tennessee plates by now. Anyway, he just gives me a verbal warning, welcomes me to Tennessee and tells me within one month of my move I need to take care of that.
So Friday, I got my new plates. And I secretly hoped that I would get pulled over for nothing but a cop being bored and running my plates at a red light just to tell me “Ma’am, do you know you’re driving with expired plates?” To which I could beamingly reply, “Why no officer! I just got new ones! I’m on my way home to put them on now!” But I made it home without that happening. I guess some dreams just aren’t meant to be.
So, yes, with new plates, I feel like an official resident of the Volunteer State.
Tags: big dreams, license plates, police, Tennessee
My Crazy Aunt Made Me Post…
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…Even though I don’t really have much to say tonight. So, sorry Aunt L, I guess you’ll have to find something more exciting to read while you have your kitchen worked on.
Anyway, my internet is finally up and running! Whoo Hooo! So you can expect more frequent posts again from here on out.
Just to catch you up to speed on the past few months:
December 20th: Moved out of apartment near Vanderbilt and into new apartment near work (with my Craigslist roommate.)
December 25th: Ate Indian food and watched library rented movies and read library borrowed books for a solo Christmas.
December 28th: New roommate came home from Christmas in South Carolina.
December 29th: (wee hours of the morning) woke up to smoke alarms and ran outside with roommate, her cat, and my purse to watch it go up in flames.
December 29th: (early morning) went to Walmart with New Roommate and money from the Red Cross to buy something other than pajamas (and shoes for the roomie – she didn’t even make it out with her shoes) to wear to work.
December 29th: (late morning) Go to work because I didn’t know what else to do. My options were to sit in my car or at The Red Roof Inn (where Red Cross was putting us up for 3 nights) and think about the fact that literally all I had were the pajamas I was wearing, my Walmart purchases, and the items in my purse (SO GLAD I GRABBED IT!) or start shopping but with no place to put anything I bought.
December 30th: BFF Jenn flies in from Cedar Rapids for our (pre-planned) New Year’s visit! Good friend from high school arranges for me to stay (for as long as I want!) at the Hyatt Place (so I’m not completely homeless.)
December 31st: My Chicago girls (3rd generation friend Emily, Karaoke All-Star Amanda, and Casey [who's birthday is the reason I have a tattoo]) drive in for literally a 14 hour stay to hang, help me re-group, and celebrate NYE Nash-Vegas style!
January 4th: Blown away by the generosity of my coworkers, friends, family and even strangers. Have gift cards galore, furniture, clothing, dishes, appliances, etc. waiting for me when I get a new apartment.
January 5th: Still getting the run-around from the old apartment complex. Was planning on staying there. No open apartments, ghetto sister property tells us we have to sign a 12 month lease to stay there (even though old apartment said we could stay until a 2 bed/2 bath opened up.)
January 6th: Tired of back and forth with old complex. Look at a new complex. Adore it.
January 7th: Sign lease and move in.
February 10th: Find out the library is going to make me pay $237 to replace the burnt items…even with a copy of the fire report. Love the Nashville library a little less.
March 10th: Finally feel settled. Have furniture, clothes, cable (I’ve missed my Lifetime!) & internet.
So there you have it. My roommate in the new place is still the same as the one from the fire. She’s fantastic. I somehow managed to find a normal one from the internet. Praise the Lord! My job is still great and I still adore it. And that’s really all that’s new.
Also, a HUGE HUGE HUGE Thank You to all of you who called, wrote, emailed, sent things, prayed, etc. You all made me feel so blessed and loved. I don’t even know how to express how much I appreciate your thoughts & concern.
What have you all been up to?
