School is almost out. And I’m simultaneously looking forward to and dreading summer. Summer can be fun. There are lots of things we get to do during summer that don’t happen at other times. Like: spending hours and hours at the pool; not having to get up early to get ready for school (though GMan has been waking terribly early lately which doesn’t bode well for summer sleeping in time); our annual trip to Camp Manatawny; JBelle will be going to Girl Scout sleep away camp for the first time; Fourth of July party and fireworks; a visit from Granny & Pa!; Sounds baseball games; playing in the hose in the backyard; catching lightning bugs.
Summer can also be a drag. Like: sunburn; mosquitoes; I hear that we will have to contend with cicadas at some point which will probably cut into our pool time; extreme heat. Our children are at the ages now where they really get on each other’s nerves and there is A LOT of bickering and telling on and general aggravating that happens on a daily basis. Our children also have this insatiable need to know “what are we doing now/next/today/tonight/tomorrow/5 weeks from now”! or “where are we going now/next/today/tonight/tomorrow/5 weeks from now”! I’m trying to get myself prepared for the inevitable. I’m working on a “calendar” of summer days and activities (currently it resides in my brain which is a scary and dangerous place for planning such as this). About all I’ve come up with is that we will be at the pool 3 days a week, one day will be “field trip” day and the other day will be “stay at home and do nothing and don’t bother Mommy because if you do you’ll be sorry” day. Sounds good, huh?
Oh, and Frozen Fridays. I’m really looking forward to Frozen Fridays which will actually start this Friday! What are Frozen Fridays you ask? Nashville has several delicious and unique ice cream stores, many of which I’ve never even tried but I’ve heard a lot about them. Places like Las Paletas, Bobbie’s Dairy Dip, and Pied Piper Creamery that are locally owned and operated and then places like Dippin’ Dots, Cold Stone Creamery and Maggie Moos that are chain restaurants. Every other Friday we’ll go to one of these shoppes and get ice cream. On the other Fridays, we’ll have homemade ice cream! DB bought an ice cream maker several weeks ago. So far, we’ve only made chocolate (which was delicious!) and we’re looking forward to trying new recipes and concoctions in our ice cream maker.
I guess all in all, there is more to look forward to than to dread so…I’ll brace myself and say, “Bring on Summer!”
If you follow me on Facebook or Flickr, you’ve already seen the pictures. But I still wanted to write about the evening here as well. This past Friday night, DB and I went to a benefit event at the Country Music Hall of Fame called, “The Art of Expression”. The fundraising was for two programs for the homeless here in Nashville, Room in the Inn and the Campus for Human Development. The premise of the evening was that Johnny Carrabba, co-founder of Carrabba’s Italian Grill, would be “teaching” Vince Gill how to cook some of his wife’s, Amy Grant, favorite Carrabba’s dishes for Mother’s Day.
It was a really fun! I’d say one of the neatest things we’ve ever done while living in Nashville. Some highlights of the evening:
Appetizers and mingling: Yummy food! A shrimp appetizer, bruschetta & tomatoes caprese. Johnny and Vince did several interviews with the news media and made the rounds in the crowds, taking pictures and signing autographs. Our “tablemates”, Amy & Shannon, were fun & good people to have around.
Cooking show: Johnny and Vince were up on a makeshift kitchen platform. It was educational and entertaining, Vince Gill is a card! And he and Johnny had a great rapport. They made three dishes; Cozze In Bianco (Mussels in White Wine sauce, Amy’s favorite), Pasta Primavera & Chicken Marsala.
Dinner: More yummy food! Cozze In Bianco, Chicken & Sirloin Marsala and lobster ravioli. Desserts were shot glass portions of Dessert Rosa & Sogno di Cioccolata.
DB here — Adam Dread was there. Malia didn’t know who he was. While standing in line for dinner, he was behind us in the lobby about 20 feet away. I pointed him out to her and then explained to the person next to us in line that “Malia doesn’t know who Adam Dread is”….just as Adam walks by. He got three feet past us and wheeled around, got a bead on Malia and said “Hi, I’m Adam Dread”. he then went into his stand-up routine. “Where are you from? No, what street?”.
Silent auction: I bid on a book set with Carrabba’s gift certificate and won! The books are “A Guitar and a Pen: Stories by Country Music’s Greatest Songwriters”, which was signed by Vince Gill and by the editor Robert Hicks, and “Ciao Y’all: Recipes from the PBS Series Cucina Amore” by Johnny Carrabba and Damian Mandola (unfortunately, this one was not signed and by the time I realized it, I couldn’t get to Johnny to sign it!).
Music: a concert by Vince Gill performed in the Ford Theater there in the Hall of Fame. That was, hands down, the best part of the evening. Vince did several songs, new and old, and he talked a lot about the stories behind the songs and who inspired them and who he wrote them with.
I admitted on Twitter this morning that I don’t get the uproar that was heard in the Mommy Blogging community over yesterday’s interview, on the Today show, between Kathie Lee Gifford, her co-host Hoda Kotb and Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com. (The full clip can be see here. An abbreviated clip can be seen here.) The general uproar in the Mommy Blogging community is that Kathie Lee “dissed” mommy bloggers. Some feel that she was judgmental of Heather for putting pictures of her daughter and talking about private issues like potty training on her blog. I’ve read those that say Kathie Lee did the same thing with her family when she was co-hosting “Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee” several years ago and that she’s essentially the pot calling the kettle black.
I don’t agree. I’ve watched the clip a few times now and I just don’t see it. Especially since Kathie Lee repeatedly admits that she a) doesn’t use a computer b) doesn’t understand computers and c) has fears about the Internet. I’ll bet you that when you talk about children and computers and the Internet to Kathie Lee, she’s thinking of child p*orn sites, of molesters who stalk chat rooms and lure children into meeting them and of MySpace pages gone wrong. There really isn’t much difference between what we as Mommy Bloggers put on our sites regarding our children and how Kathie Lee talked about her kids and showed their pictures all those years ago. If anything, she understands a bit more fully than we do what risk there is in doing that. (I can’t believe I’m actually defending Kathie Lee!)
Now if you want to talk about how Heather’s segment was handled, there’s where we might see some controversy. From what I’ve read on her blog and her Twitter page is that her interview was originally scheduled for 8:30am and was then bumped to 10am. In Today show speak she went from being interviewed by the A-Team (either Meredith or Matt) to the B-Team (Kathie Lee & Hoda). Seems to me that something a little more “newsworthy” or “sexy” must of come along and the “Mommy Blogger” segment just didn’t seem as “exciting” anymore. That my friends, is a “dis”.
The Barbershop Harmony Society International Convention will be held right here in Music City USA this July 1-5. There are three competitions that are held for the title of International Champion: Quartet, Chorus, College Quartet.
My dear father-in-law will be competing in the chorus competition which will feature 28 choruses from across the USA, Canada, and Sweden in one round of action to determine a champion. Here is last year’s International Champion Chorus - Westminster Chorus
The quartet competition will feature 54 quartets competing. The quartets compete in three rounds of competition eliminating about half the field in each round. Here is last year’s International Quartet Champions “Max Q” earning their title. This is their set from the first round.
Definitely entertaining. Max Q is (from left to right) Tenor-Greg Clancy, Lead-Tony DeRosa, Bass-Jeff Oxley, Baritone-Gary Lewis.
If you don’t want to buy tickets to the competitions (why would you not?), there will be singing in various areas of the Sommet Center, convention center, and Renaissance Hotel throughout the week, especially Saturday night July 5 at the Renaissance. If any of this interests you to join in the fun, Nashville has two barbershop choruses: Music City Chorus (men-Barbershop Harmony Society), Tune Town Show Chorus (women-Sweet Adelines Intl.). In addition, the Barbershop Harmony Society world headquarters are located right here in Nashville. So, if you are near 110 7th Avenue North downtown, drop in and sing one…just don’t expect a haircut.
Yes, Arthur, originally created by Marc Brown as a book series and now a popular children’s television program on PBS. Here’s how it happened. I’m sitting in the living room with GMan sipping my coffee and trying to wake-up (I’ve a bit of allergy/head cold thing going on). GMan’s watching Arthur and today’s episode is how one of the characters (the kid with the horns, can’t remember his name) discovers Blues music and is introduced to Koko Taylor by someone in their town. And I’m like Koko who? Yeah, that’s right, up until this morning I didn’t really know who Koko Taylor is. ::Hangs head in shame:: Turns out I’m familiar with her music as she’s recorded lots of well known Blues tracks (I’m a Woman, Wang Dang Doodle, Mother Nature, etc, etc).
After the episode was over, I went to the computer, pulled up iTunes and searched for Koko Taylor. I download the Deluxe Edition: Koko Taylor which was released in 2002 (a greatest hits kind of album). Oh, my! This is such amazing music! I’ve always liked the Blues but I’ve never had any albums or followed any particular musician. My life is forever changed y’all! I love this album. I love Koko! Koko, where’ve ya been all my life?
Arthur: educational for children and adults. Who knew?
Well, I’m off to find Taj Mahal music, too. Another artist featured on today’s Arthur.
First, I’ll address some of the answers that were said about me. Tanya & Lisa not only got my middle name right but they spelled it correctly, too! (I can’t even spell right sometimes!) Tanya was the only one to get my eye color right. Sheryl & Brenda both hit the nail on the head with the “desert island” question. I think Sheryl was the most correct on the “favorite thing to do” question, though Mack’s answer was a close second! The answers regarding “special talent” were interesting! Everyone correctly answered the “how did we meet”, “sibling” and “how many children” questions. For all intent and purposes, everyone answered the “favorite type of music” question correctly as well.
If you still want to play along, go here (don’t cheat!) My answers are “after the jump”.
My friend Erin sent this to me in an e-mail. I thought I’d try it in blog format. Not sure if it’ll fly or not but I’ve got nothing else to say today! So, in the comments, answer these questions as best you can about me. If you comment, I’ll respond back and answer the questions as best I can about you. Or, if you put it on your blog, I’ll go over there and answer about you, too. Clear as mud? Good. Here we go:
Where did we meet?
Take a stab at my middle name?
Do I smoke?
Color of my eyes?
Do I have any siblings?
What’s one of my favorite things to do?
What’s my favorite type of music?
Am I shy or outgoing?
Am I a rebel or do I follow the rules?
Any special talents?
How many children do I have?
If you and I were stranded on a desert island, what is one thing that I would bring?
School is almost out. And I’m simultaneously looking forward to and dreading summer. Summer can be fun. There are lots of things we get to do during summer that don’t happen at other times. Like: spending hours and hours at the pool; not having to get up early to get ready for school (though GMan has been waking terribly early lately which doesn’t bode well for summer sleeping in time); our annual trip to Camp Manatawny; JBelle will be going to Girl Scout sleep away camp for the first time; Fourth of July party and fireworks; a visit from Granny & Pa!; Sounds baseball games; playing in the hose in the backyard; catching lightning bugs.
