Friday Night Date (or not)

Friday afternoon when I picked Daniel up from the Reynold's house, Sherry looked like she was getting ready to go out, so I asked what they were up to. Since Maddie and Steve had other things going on, Sherry and Seth were heading out on a Mother-Son Date to go to dinner and bowling. She asked if Daniel and I would like to go along.

We all had a good time together going to Jason's Deli, Franklin Lanes and then to Steinmart (guess who's idea that last part was). The funny thing was that Daniel did not like for me to call our outing a "date". "That's not what you do with your mom," he said. Oh brother, I guess I need to learn the rules before we enter the teenage years in a few days! :-) I don't care what you call it, I enjoyed our Friday Night Date!

Her goofy side is showing

The other night while dining at Zola's, an upscale restaurant on West End, I looked over and noticed that the guy in the 3-D mural was wearing real sunglasses. I thought it would be fun to pose with him, so I did! I think I surprised my coworkers with my rare show of spontaneity and silliness, but after three years of working with me, it's time they saw this side of me. (I've also been known to pose with a statue in Santa Fe, but I'll don't have that photo readily available for blog viewing.)

Here's what the buzz is all about

Evidentally, the story was true: Daniel got his hair cut off on Friday night! His friends put him up to it and even paid him three dollars to do it. The deal was, Sean and Ryan were supposed to get theirs cut too, if Taylor had gotten two inches cut off of his hair. Taylor only got one inch cut, so the other guys chose Daniel to do the dare. Within about 20 seconds, Daniel was in the chair with the cape around his neck and Miss Kathy had the clippers going. Someday if I can get the pictures downloaded from Daniel's phone, I'll post the photos taken at the hair place, but for now, here's the "after" shot once we got home. What a handsome man!

Did he or didn't he?

The word on the street, or at least among Daniel's friends at church today, is that he had gotten a buzz cut on Friday. Since he went to a friend's house to spend the night and then has spent the rest of the weekend with his dad, I haven't seen him since Friday morning. However, several people came up to me at church to ask what I thought of Daniel's haircut. I am thinking that he's trying to pull a huge practical joke on me, but time will tell. Once I pick him up tonight, I'll find out and if he did get a buzz, I'll be posting a picture, you can bet on it!

By the way, it doesn't matter to me if he did cut his hair, but part of what makes me wonder if he's trying to pull one over on me is that he has vowed never to get his hair cut that short again because he hated the turkey tails he had when he was growing out the last buzz he got when he was nine or ten.

Stay tuned . . .

Dad and his girls

My dad is the father of two daughters and has a granddaughter on the way. He spent the first part of his life in a family of five boys and a girl, and his first grandchild is a boy, so I think it's good that he gets to "even things out" by having some daughters and a granddaughter.

I am so blessed to have a father who was, and is still, involved in my life. He has taught me so much about life, faith, love, family, and I am thankful that we can live in the same city (just a couple of miles apart).

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Why haven't I done that before???

I can't believe that after living over half of my life in Music City, USA, I have never been to the Bluebird Cafe before tonight! I guess it's that old thing about natives not doing things in their hometown that the tourists do, but I don't think the Bluebird is just for tourists. First of all, you have to know about it and how to get a table, because it's so small you might not get a seat if you wait until the last minute to go. In fact, my friend made a reservation on Tuesday before the show on Friday and got the last reserved seat. Of course, that meant that I, who didn't decide for sure to go until later in the week, had to get in the standing room only line. But, since we got there early enough, and because my friend graciously gave up her reserved seat so she could sit with me at the bar, we were seated and got to eat and visit before the show began.

While we were standing in line, we struck up conversations with those around us. One couple had driven up from Cullman, AL, about two and a half hours away, because they like to go to live music shows. They'd never been to the Bluebird either. Another guy was a Bluebird veteran, and lived in Nashville. Part of the fun of the evening was just getting to talk to these people and share the experience together.

Our motivation for trying out the Bluebird was our friend and fellow Grace Community Church member, Paul Bogart, an up-and-coming singer/songwriter from Oklahoma. He and three other songwriters sang "in the round" and all of them shared some great songs. We also saw several other GCC-ers, across a broad age spectrum, I might add. They came to see Paul as well, and it was fun to see familiar faces across the room.

I will definitely go back to the Bluebird sometime. I wonder what other treasures I haven't taken advantage of in the past 23 years of living in this city???? (Yes, I've been to the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry!!!)

Three stages of motherhood

In response to a request for me to post a pregnancy picture of my sister, I thought I'd use this one taken on Mother's Day of Mom, Jeanette and Me: All three mothers in different stages.

Mom is in the Mother of Adults stage that I aspire to someday: experiencing friendship with her adult daughters who live nearby and enjoying her grandchild (soon to be grandchildren).

Jeanette (she's the pregnant one--ha!) is in the Mother-to-Be stage: glowing and beautiful, preparing her "nest", wondering what her baby girl will be like and what life will be like after she's born.

Nanette is in the Mother of Teen (in a few short weeks) stage: it's not too bad, but it has some ups and downs, and after almost 13 years of motherhood, I still haven't found the instruction manual!!!

I am so thankful to be able to experience all of these stages with my mom and sis!

A new look

So, I was just playing around on a lazy Saturday afternoon and decided to give my blog a new look. What do you think? I can't take much credit, since I just used another template that was available, but I did tweak the colors a bit. Well, I guess that's it for now. Bye.

Happiness is . . .

. . . Friday afternoon (need I say more?)

. . . trying out a new (to me) Mexican restaurant

. . . picking up Daniel after a week apart

. . . listening to Daniel tell about his activities this past week

. . . sitting on the deck with the new string of lights and candles glowing

. . . thinking about sleeping in on Saturday morning

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday and we had a family celebration for her on Sunday. She requested the meal of roasted chicken, salads and angel-food cake w/ strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. I am so thankful for my mom and for the life she gave me and for her nurturing, loving spirit. She has taught me so much in my 41 years: about faith, serving, loving, parenting, marriage, friendship. She's a joy in my life and I am glad that we could celebrate her life this week.