Fabulous Friday Funnies

I think I've invented something new for Blogger (yeah right) - it's called Fabulous Friday Funnies! Like everyone else, I get a few funny emails during the week. Today I received the following forward from my friend Kelly in Chattanooga.

I literally laughed out loud...
Hope you all enjoy this as the first inaugral edition of - da da dada:
"FABULOUS FRIDAY FUNNIES!"

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and every year Morris would say, 'Esther,I'd like to ride in that helicopter.' Esther always replied, 'I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars' One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, 'Esther, I'm 85 years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get a nother chance.' To this, Esther replied, 'Morris that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.' The pilot overheard the couple and said, 'Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say a word, I won't charge you! But if you say one word, it's fifty dollars.' Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word. When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, 'By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm impressed!' Morris replied, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, but you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars!'

Memphis...I mean Byhalia visit!

This past weekend we took a little road trip to Byhalia, MS. For those who aren't familiar with "northern Mississippi," Byhalia is located about 20 minutes south of Memphis, TN. Needless to say, visitors experience a drastic change in scenery upon crossing over the state line...

My family lived in Memphis, TN for most of my life so I still catch myself saying, "We're going to Memphis this weekend..." I've learned it's just easier anyway because most people have no clue where Byhalia, MS is located.

Brad, Casey, Brent, Fletcher, Fiona and I loaded up into Merle (my HUGE Honda Civic) and set out for the three hour road trip to the big metropolis town of Byhalia, MS. (and yes, you read that correctly: 4 adults and 2 dogs piled up in my Honda civic. It is a 4-door at least... he he he)

We had a great time at the White House pool. Here we are with Tre and Brittany - TA DA (arent't they so dang cute?!)

My aunt and uncle's church hosted a wedding shower for Casey on Saturday and it was so much fun. It brought back so many great memories of wedding days, showers, and all the fun times of getting married. She got some really nice gifts that unfortunately we had to leave in Byhalia because Merle was packed to the brim!

Here are all the ladies of the church that either hosted the shower or were in attendance. There was a GREAT turnout!

Some of the girls: Me (bridesmaid), Casey (the bride), Kaedra (bridesmaid), and of course Little Brittany (flower girl). Don't Kaedra and Casey look alike? I thought they were cousins and was recently reminded that they are just friends of the family - no "blood" relation there!

We also had a joint birthday celebration for my mom and uncle - mom's birthday was Saturday and Uncle John's was Monday. It was great to get to be with my mom on her birthday! I got her a SUPER cute painting that will hopefully inspire her to redecorate her kitchen (currently it has grape wallpaper with green and white flooring....gotta love the '90s) But the painting has three cute cupcakes on it that says, "Everything is better with icing," because if you didn't know - she is a SUPER talented cake decorator! I forgot to take a picture of her opening it :( but it IS super cute.

Here are some pictures of my crazy uncle and mom eating cake and of my uncle with Brad and Casey with his gifts.

The entire weekend was very relaxing and it's always so much fun to get together with my family. I had an added treat when my mom decided to bring my niece and nephew with her - I haven't seen them since we've moved to Nashville and I've really been missing them!!

Our dogs behaved SOOOO well the entire weekend. We weren't sure how our city dogs would behave with the country dogs, but surprisingly, they fit right in. Even our little Princess Fiona jumped right in and got along with everyone, went "fishing" in the pond, and played very well with others (better than Fletcher in fact!) We were relieved that they did so well - it made me anxious to take them for the first time, especially knowing how nice my aunt and uncle's house is.
When I called my aunt to ask if I could bring them, her response was, "What's two more dogs??" (They have three dogs themselves: Banner, Scuttles, and Blackie. Funny story - Blackie is actually the neighbor's dog - she's a miniature pincher that was pretty much abandoned by the neighbor. She started playing with Banner and Scuttles and then would never leave my aunt's house. They ended up adopting her and "investing" quite a chunk of change to treat her for heart worms. They said the neighbors came over recently to check on her and Blackie wouldn't really have anything to do with them. She's definitely living the high life now and doesn't want to leave.) It was pretty wild to have all FIVE dogs in the house at one time - we could all only handle it for about 5 minutes before scooting my 2 back outside.
My aunt told me this weekend that if it were up to her, they would have up to 15 dogs! She loves them and anyone that knows her, knows how SPOTLESS she keeps her house. I'm always impressed that her house is immaculate and she has three dogs coming and going - she definitely sets the standard high for the rest of us dog lovers.

So thanks for a great weekend! Fletcher and Fiona did not want to leave all their freedom and come back to city life, but we told them we would go back soon for another visit. It definitely makes me want to get on the ball to find a house and have our freedoms and personal space back!

"You are now entering Brentwood City Limits"

There are signs all throughout the area announcing your entrance and exit of Brentwood. We have found this to be rather comical because we always feel as if there is an "air" about the way they do it.

This week I've had two prominent "events" occur that remind me that I am in Brentwood, TN.

1. We're going out of town this weekend and I need to board our precious little four legged children. In Chattanooga, we were paying about $12 per dog/per night - TOTAL. After spending two days looking up about 20 different kennels, I gave up because I found that the average price for boarding here in good ol' Brentwood is about $28.75 PER DOG/PER NIGHT! I was floored. They don't even give you a discount with two dogs, sleeping in the same DANG run! Ridiculous, but it might have prompted a brilliant business idea for us (he he he). I will say, however, that all the places I called are very nice (insert Brent's comment here: "they better be for $60 a night!") But I LOVE how they tell you about the pricing and say, "well it includes three walks a day, one on one pet time, a bedtime massage and a special bedtime treat" WHAT?! It better include MORE than that for $60 a night!
Here is one of MANY places I called: http://www.mysecondhome.com/

"You are now entering Brentwood city limits..." has been on my mind the entire time with this situation. I guess it's the price we pay for living (and we don't even officially live in Williamson county) in the area.

2. My next occurence is actually a positive one. I have been looking for a salon to get my hair done since we moved here. I was very anxious to go somewhere new because I had this feeling that it was going to be astronomically priced. I had gotten a referral to a salon and started checking into it. After calling around to some other places, I realized they are all pretty much the same priced. So I scheduled my appointment and arrived at the salon which was suprisingly HUGE (It's located in a shopping center and looks can be deceiving). I declined the offer by the receptionist for something to drink, only to observe later that "something to drink" meant pretty much anything you wanted - I saw them taking a client a glass of red wine!

So I got to meet my girl "Kim" who was SUPER nice and SUPER professional. We talked about what I wanted to do with my hair and I proceeded to get up out the chair to do the "wash" when she said "oh no no, we have to do the massage - the best part." Massage??!! Sweet. (in my head I'm thinking: how much extra will this cost me?, but it never came out of my mouth)
The shoulder/neck/scalp massage was incredible! WELL worth the money.

Anyway, I really hit it off with Kim and she did a phenomenal job on my haircut. I was just blown away at the level of customer service at the salon and I'm starting to tell as many people as possible about it. They do a great job rewarding their customers for referrals as well (and I promise this is not why I'm referring people - it really was a good experience) and give their customers $5 credit for each new client that comes in for a haircut. Even better, they give that new client 1/2 off their first hair cut!! pretty incredible.

Two unforgettable Brentwood experiences. We've had others, but these both occurred this week and I just had to share.

I'm going to try to take a picture of one of these signs the next time we see one...we come and go out of Brentwood city limits quite a bit, so hopefully I'll see one soon!

I love Summer!

We've had beautiful weather here for a few weeks, signifying another amazing summer season. Today's post is all about summer and just a few thoughts I have on one of my favorite seasons...

I love Summer, don't you? Brent and I have discovered a park close to us and have started walking/jogging and biking there. Casey and Brad have also started on our little adventure with us - I think I blogged about it last week because they roller bladed along side us as we biked.

Anyway, I love summer, but one thing I'm really missing about Chattanooga is the Eastern Time Zone. (or as my friend/brother Jimmy says "God's time") I really didn't think it would be a big deal living in the central time zone, but it's really noticeable in the summer. Summer nights in the EST are MUCH longer - I remember growing up in Chattanooga and being able to stay outside to play until 9:00 p.m. or later because it was still daylight. Unfortunately, it's not the same here - it starts getting dark closer to 7:45/8:00 p.m. We still try to get outside and enjoy the evenings, though. We saw a few kids at the park trying to catch lightning bugs and that always makes me remember the times Jennifer and I would catch these bugs (not that Jennifer actually ever touched one I don't think) and keep them in mason jars only to wake up the next morning and be shocked that they didn't live through the night. (Oh yeah and Jen, I thought of you the other day - it had just rained and there were Frogs in our driveway to our apartment - EEK!)

Thunder storms are another dominant characteristic of the summer season. I think I have a love/hate relationship with them: I love that they cool things down, but I hate that they can really put a kink in your summer time plans! We were supposed to play softball last night, but it was cancelled after waiting for 20 minutes for cloud to ground lightning strikes to pass over. Unfortunately, it never did so they called the games. The scary part about living in Nashville, however, is the magnitude of storms that we get here. We've had several severe thunder storms bringing torrential downpours of rain and some scary-looking clouds, as well as a plethora of tornado warnings and watches. (we still haven't figured out where we'll go in the event that a tornado comes to our apartment...third floor, apartment complex)

The Pool. Who doesn't love laying by the pool on a hot summer day?! Brent and are fully utilizing our apartment amenities including the beautiful pool we have. We think it's rather odd that the pool isn't packed out every weekend, but we're not complaining because it leaves pool chairs open for the Whitakers! Shockingly, the pool has even taken the place of our traditional Sunday nap for the past few weeks. We've gotten into a Sunday routine involving church, lunch and pool laying out, then cooking dinner with Brad and Casey.

We love summer, but work just seems to keep getting in the way. I wonder if I'll appreciate my weekends as much when I become a stay-at-home mom in the future? I hope so. It seems like Brent and I both treat our weekends like little mini-vacations.

Life is good.

ANOTHER busy weekend

Whew...another whirlwind weekend for the Whitakers (say that fast three times). Brent and I realized this past week that we have something going on every single weekend in June: between family/friends visiting us or we're going to visit family and friends, we're super busy in June! This past weekend was no exception!

We had quite a few things to accomplish in our Chattanooga visit this time around: we had to replace our heating and air conditioning unit in our rental house this past week, which took top priority in our visit. We're very fortunate to have both of our families living in Chattanooga, so there's definitely no shortage in places to spend the night, but it can make it tricky to be sure to spend quality time with each part of the family. We've decided to try a different approach to make our visits less stressful: focus on one family each time we visit, alternating families to make it fair.

My parents are gone to Gulf Shores this week (lucky) so we were able to keep Fletcher and Fiona at their house (sooo much easier). When we arrived in Chattanooga on Friday, we got to spend some much-needed time with the Whitaker family at Brandi and JJ's house. We had a great time just "visiting" (as us Southerners do so well) with the whole family.

Saturday morning was super busy: I had a baby shower to attend to for my friend Kristi who is due to have her baby - Nolan - in July. I have three close friends who are expecting babies within the next 4 months!! For anyone who's been under a rock lately, I think it's safe to declare that we are officially in a baby boom.

(I love this gift idea...it wasn't what I gave her, but I love the bucket monogrammed with Nolan's name)

Three Baby Bumps in the Picture - and no, I'm not one of them. Left to Right: Me, Katie (with Owen - due in September), Brittany and Ada, Kristi (with Nolan - due in July), Melissa (with Emma due at the end of June/first of July), and Jessica - my fellow Nashvillian/non-preggers buddy.

While I was with my friends "showering" Kristi and baby Nolan with gifts, Brent went out on the lake with his parents, brother-in-law and nephews. He said they had a blast fishing and riding around in their "big" boat.

That afternoon was pretty uneventful: I went to lunch at Fresh 2 Order with my UTC girls, then headed back to my parents house for a much-needed nap. (We didn't get to bed until 1:00 a.m. the night before and I was up early to get ready for the shower)

Jessica, the Fashionista and Ada - future Fashionista I'm sure - at Fresh 2 Order.

Saturday night was a blast: we hung out with the UTC crowd at Melissa and Dusty's house. We had our typical affair: girls chatting away while the boys entertained themselves with stand up comedy routines and PS2 Rock Band (awesome game btw).

Brent and I had scored free tickets to the CMA Music Fest in Nashville for Saturday night and our plan was to leave early Saturday to make it back in time to see all the amazing performances. However, after getting wrapped up in our friends, we weren't able to make ourselves leave such good times!

We had three birthdays to celebrate with the UTC gang: Brittany (June 8th), Kristi and Brent (both on the 14th) so we surprised them with a YUMMY chocolate cake and a birthday tune (or two or three).

Good times in Chattanooga...as always! Thank you to everyone for being so hospitable to Brent and I while we're in town!

The boys - left to right: Brent, Antonio (fellow Nashvillian), Nathan, Jimmy, Dusty and Kevin

A few things from this past week to comment about...

1. I've had a lot of people asking about how my job is going: it's going great! I am starting to learn more and more and getting used to a COMPLETELY different work environment than anything I've ever done.

2. Brent's stand up: He's trying again this week for stand up! I'm sure he'll post after his performance.

3. We have found this AWESOME park close to where we live. It reminds me a little of Riverfront Parkway in Chattanooga; in fact, the part we start at in Nashville is called River Park. We have started going there in the evenings to either walk or ride our bikes. last week, Brad and Casey went with us and they rollerbladed while we biked. Brent's in DESPERATE need of a new bicycle - he has no brakes on his right now.

4. A HUGE plus about living in an apartment complex: taking FULL advantage of their amenities, including their beautiful pool and gym! We love it and can see why people live in apartments forever.

We hope everyone has a FABULOUS week - hopefully Brent will write about his performance on Tuesday. We have more visitors coming in town this weekend for Brent's birthday: his family!! We are so excited and hope we can snag some pictures to post on the blog.

Mom, Dad and Dory

My parents came for a visit this past weekend! We had so much fun having them in town. I am very fortunate to have parents who want to come visit us and see us on a regular basis.
Brent and I are still trying to learn the area, so on Saturday we drove pretty much all over the Nashville area and discovered a WHOLE bunch of areas that we had never seen. We literally drove for 6 hours all over the area. We had a "gourmet" dollar menu lunch, a few mishaps involving Dad, a locked seat belt in the backseat, and sweet tea, but we had a great time.
We had dinner at Buca di Beppo on Saturday night with Brad and Casey, played Mexican train dominoes on Saturday night, then ate breakfast on Sunday morning at J. Christopher's before mom and dad headed back to Chattanooga.

We had a great weekend with my parents - they even brought Dory along! She's one of Fletcher and Fiona's puppies from their first litter. It's funny to see them all interact together. I'm not so sure Fiona likes having attention taken away from her, but for the most part they all get along.