Weekend #4: Maroon 5 in NashVegas

"I drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door."

What door, might you ask? Why, the door to the Bridgestone arena of course. For what, you may ask? Why, for the Maroon 5 concert of course!!!!!!
Yes that's right. This weekend, I had the rare ability of checking something off my bucket list...Maroon 5. I can't even begin to describe to you how amazing of a concert this was. Even though our seats were not phenomenal (we weren't in the nose bleeds but the air was still pretty thin), Adam Levin just blew me away.
Magic! opened for them, and I was completely blown away by the band. I mean, I've heard the song "Rude," and it was okay the first few times, but their other songs are pretty great too. You should definitely check them out. They got the atmosphere and the energy ready for the main performance, my man crush forever and always--Adam Levine.
The air was absolutely ELECTRIC. I could feel the beat in my chest, hear the words all the way to the very center of my core. Even though I was snapping pictures and taking very poor sound quality videos, this concert was an experience. Dare I say this was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. Maroon 5 knows how to perform. Their stage jutted out into the audience in a giant, illuminate arrow. Adam teased the crowd until his second act by never quite coming out to the tip of the arrow, only staying on the long stretch.
Highlights: They opened with "Animals." Adam Levine played a neon green guitar and a neon pink guitar (Adam Levine can play guitar). The band sang the first part of "Payphone"  a cappella, and it gave me chill bumps, literal chill bumps. They performed "Sunday Morning" and "Harder to Breathe." In the second act, he made everybody put their cell phones and cameras away for the three minutes of "She Will Be Loved." He actually waited for every last person in his sight to put their phones away. There were idiots right in front of him who continued to hold their phones up, even after he asked politely. That's when he got sassy. (I think I'm in love). Then he closed with "Sugar."
All the concerts I have been to in my life were practice for this moment. I have never screamed so much in my entire life. My voice got to a point where I could only scream at an extremely high pitch, which was quite a shock to one of my friends.
I don't know how to convey how amazing of a concert it was. I can only strongly encourage you, if the opportunity every presents itself, to go to one of their concerts before its too late. The concert was over way too soon, and I was left with an empty hole in my chest and the lyrics to "Sugar" spinning around in my head.
The weekend wasn't just about Maroon 5 though--it was a girls weekend. We treated ourselves to a hotel along with some excellent food. FYI, Sonic has excellent half priced milk shakes at midnight. Try the oreo chocolate. We got to go shopping in Cool Springs Mall, eat DELICIOUS burgers at Burger Up (despite the long wait and the misadventure at The Pharmacy and their 1 hour long wait). 12th Avenue is also a great shopping venue with lots of cute, somewhat expensive boutiques, but, hey...its always fun to look. Sweet CeCe's is a great frozen yogurt place, however, I don't recommend BoneFish Grill's basil pasta... a little heavy on the olive. You may be asking why we went to a chain restaurant when we were in Nashville for Heaven's sake. Very simple. It was Nashville on a Saturday night. Literally anywhere that took reservations was booked solid and anywhere that didn't take reservations had lines out the door. I'd rather eat than starve thank you very much.
But best of all was this morning for breakfast/brunch. If you haven't tried it, you must--The Pfunky Griddle. It's an all you can eat pancake bar where they plant the pancake griddle right in the middle of your table and you choose your pancake toppings. Plus they have great cinnamon hazelnut mochas. It's adorable and you should most certainly try it--I insist.
Overall, a pretty great girls weekend, but I must say, Adam Levine can crash my girls' weekend any time he darn well pleases! "Sugar! Yes Please! Won't you come and put it down on me!"

The Bridge Stone

Pfunky Griddle

My Chocolate Chip and Fruit Mickey Mouse

Weekend #3: CRU Formal

Let me just start out...I love to dance. Not all that disgusting "sex on the dance floor" that happens at prom or any other high school function. I like dancing...moving my hips, jumping around, doing the lawn mower, the lightbulb, the disco, the cha cha slide. You name it. And naturally at college, I miss dancing because let's face it, a girl can only have so many solo dance parties before they lose their magic.
This organization that I have become involved in on campus called CRU hosted a formal on Friday night. CRU is a nondenominational christian ministry that provides a service on Thursday evenings and bible studies based on your residence hall. Just for those of you that haven't heard of CRU. It's pretty cool...I kinda like it :)
So, as with most other school functions, I attended the dance stag with my girl friends. We had dinner at this great restaurant in Chatt called Big River Grill, and as we were sitting at dinner, snow began to fall. Let me clarify...it hasn't actually snowed in Chattanooga all winter. Tennessee was in a winter advisory, and this horribly weather somehow MISSED Chattanooga. I don't know how. Chatt just lives in its own bubble I guess.
But the snow was absolutely gorgeous--the nice powdery stuff that just floats out of the sky. First it just began to cover the sidewalks, then dusted the sides of the roads. By the time we left for the formal, the roads were completely covered. Everyone stood outside taking gorgeous pictures in the snow. Better than any spring prom pictures in my opinion.
And the night was just perfect--dancing (not grinding or twerking), and I mean everyone was dancing.The music was great, despite the fact that they wouldn't let my roommate and me request our song--Fergalicious. But it's okay. We're not bitter.
I'm lucky--I had a good prom experience. But there are some who are less fortunate...who couldn't afford it, or just had the most unfortunate of luck at that time. The Hollywood CRU Formal was a prom redo, for one particular girl in my bible study, and I am so happy I got to see her at her Prom Redo. Plus she's a pretty spectacular dancer.
God always gives second chances, even if they are for materialistic things like proms. Doesn't really matter. He wasn't giving people another thing. He was giving them, me, another memory. I love my memories, and I'm so grateful that I've had the chance to collect so many great ones in less than a year.
Alright...two more weekends to go! Stay tuned!

Friday the 13th: The Adventure of Misadventures

Misadventure (n.) - an unfortunate incident, a mishap.

You could say I had a few misadventures tonight. But you know me, I'm one to turn a misadventure into an adventure. And that's exactly what my friends and I experienced tonight.

For those of you unaware of this weekend's reason for being excited, for including the weekend of Friday the 13th in my countdown, tonight was going to be my third annual WinterJam experience. But this wasn't going to be just any WinterJam--I was going to have the blessing of seeing Skillet live! This may not be a big deal to some of you, but to me, Skillet is the big time, someone I'd pay to see in concert apart from WinterJam. So two of my friends and I had plans to go to WinterJam. We left earlier than last year since we didn't want to sit behind the stage again.

The night's misadventures all started with a wrong turn. We didn't want to turn onto Pellissippi. We were going to Neyland. But somehow, we turned onto the wrong highway. By the time we got back on the right track, Thompson Bowling arena was filling to the max. An hour before the awaited concert, we arrived in one lane, standstill traffic. And waited...for another fifty minutes. By the time we got to the building and jumped out of the car, Thompson Bowling was filled to the max--no more concert go-ers permitted. No Skillet for me.

The idea was foreign, unexplainable...how could this arena, the arena used for Lady Vol basketball and so many other HUGE concerts...be full? Well, one thing's for sure. God's not dead, and his children wanted to sing his praises tonight...we just weren't one of the lucky thousands.

So, plan B) Bowling. I mean, I have tendinitis in my wrist and a bruised ankle, but hey...I'll learn to bowl with my left hand, right? Wrong. As we walked into the bowling arena from the full parking lot, we realized we weren't going to be bowling tonight. "Forty-five minute wait," the guy said. "We have lives to live," Olivia said. And we were out the door.

Plan C) Movie then dessert. Great plan--Kingsmen is playing in twenty minutes. Let's go. Again, we are dropped at the door. We wait in line, because come on, it's valentine's weekend. Get up to the counter. "Can I see your ID?" the girl asks my friend. She pulls out her wallet, and the girl shakes her head, looking at the other two of us. "All of your IDs." Well, me in my absent-minded ignorance, left my wallet at home. "You have to be 21." Since WHEN do you have to be 21 to see an R movie? Never! We wait for my friend's mom to come and buy the tickets, but the girl calls us back over. "It's going to be sold out--there's no way you're going to get seats together." I'm convinced she had a personal vendetta against us, despite the ridiculousness of the idea. And just to top it off, we ran into a rather unpleasant face from high school...perfect...just perfect.

Okay, plan D) get dessert then rent a movie for home. Good. We go to the Olive Garden in Turkey Creek, because who doesn't want a dessert from Olive Garden, right? "45-50 minute wait," the hostess says. We're out the door before she can finish. So we settle for the Olive Garden in good Ole Maryville, the Olive Garden with no wait, good service, and delicious desserts.

So on to Hastings we go, searching vigilantly for The Best of Me, because what else are we going to watch on Valentine's eve except Nicholas Sparks. Let's be honest here. Search and search....no Best of Me for rental. Okay, we'll buy it. Grab the movie and head out. Half way home, after removing the stickers, we realize something...we bought a blu-ray...we don't have a blu-ray player. I'm going to be honest, I'm about ready to cry as we turn back around. We CANNOT catch a break.

Fast forward another thirty minutes. We've finally made it home, curled up under blankets on pillows together, watching as James Marsden charms us all with his beautiful ruggedness and gorgeous smile.  I know we're all thinking about the misadventures we've had tonight. People ask us what we did tonight. Better question: what didn't we do tonight? WinterJam, bowling, see the Kingsmen, wait 45 minutes for dessert, rent a movie. Now who can say they didn't do all that in a matter of five hours. Yes, we drove for nearly five hours tonight. Just think about that for a second: five hours in a car, and nearly nothing accomplished.

But it was an adventure. Yes there were mishaps--unfortunate mishaps. Doesn't matter. I got to spend the night with a few of my favorite people, watched a good yet predictable movie, and spent the first few moment of Galentine's day with my gal pals. What better way to spend Friday the 13th? I couldn't have asked for a better adventure of misadventures. I highly recommend a misadventure sometime--you never know what will come of it.

Weekend Countdown: #1

Happy 19th birthday to me! I'm in my last teen year--very strange to think about. There's four very important birthdays in a young woman's life:
            1. 13--the year everything begins to change
            2. 16--the year everything becomes better
            3. 18--the year everything becomes real
            4. 21--the year of infinite moments.
But everyone seems to forget about 19--the in between year. This year does not mark me as a voter or a legal cigarette buyer (not that I want to buy cigarettes, it's just legal now). I cannot buy alcohol yet or rent a car. I'm just nineteen. And I feel like this is supposed to mean something, but as of right now, it really doesn't. Today was just a day of celebration, a day that reminded how amazing my friends and family are. I am so very blessed to have so many people who care about me, or at least acknowledge me. And that's all that matters at this point in my life.
Normally, I would be writing this entry in my journal--the next year in the line of successive years that are to come. However, my slightly unforgiving wrist issues are impeding me from writing vast amounts. Yes, these two measly paragraphs constitute as vast for my wrist.
However, here I am sharing my birthday thoughts with the internet. It's not like I have extremely deep thoughts. In fact, my thoughts are very commonplace. I am surrounded by friends and family who astound me with the thoughts that pop into their minds on a daily basis. I wish my mind would think like that--be funny, or witty, or just inventive all the time. But then again, that sounds very exhausting.
I understand that these paragraphs seem very choppy and disconnected. They are. I could go back in and edit them, but then I would not succeed in being honest to my train of thought. My own thoughts are exhausting enough, I don't need to be funny, witty or inventive all the time. I have my own mind to deal with.
Anyway, back to birthday thoughts, since that is what this entry is about, correct? I haven't lost you have I? It's okay if I have. I lose myself occasionally.
So this weekend--the 19th birthday weekend--is the kickoff of my five weekends of thrill. I can't tell you what the next four weekends have in store. You're just going to have to find out for yourself. A grueling practice, I'm sure. I've loved this weekend so far--I've spent time with my family, had some pretty excellent food, seen my older "sister" (you know who you are), gotten to lounge with my dogs, and this is just the first day. Tomorrow--more family, friends, and PAINTING! I may or may not post pictures depending on how horribly my picture turns out to be. Sunday I'll be back on the road to Chatt for a joint-birthday celebration! The weekend is just starting, but it's going to be great.
I always expect the world for my birthday, which I know is a detrimental practice. But I love birthdays, and I always have this silly notion that something magical is going to happen, though it rarely does. Normally, when I build my sights so high, I'm torn to shreds when my fantasy doesn't become reality. But for my birthdays, I've learned that my fantasies can stay fantasies. Reality proves just as great (for the most part).
I don't really have anything else wise to say--I'm not even sure that I've said a wise word in my entire life. Maybe nineteen will prove this to be a new experience. Who knows? Skies the limit, right?

Happy Day After Christmas!

     At the beginning of the Holiday season, I decided that I was going to bake up a storm--oreo balls, haystacks, ginger bread cookies, and, most exciting of all, my grandmother's French crackers. French Crackers are very similar to sugar cookies except better. These were my mother's favorite cookies as a child. She would sneak down to the basement to steal a cookie, or two, or three. I do not remember her every baking them for me, but I found them while I was searching for the ginger bread recipe.
     When I made them at the start of Christmas week, Mom nearly cried at her first bite. She was immediately taken back to her childhood in her mother's kitchen. They were gone within the next three days. Glad that I could provide such a memory for my mom, I decided to make them again, this time to send to my grandma and great aunt, with the hope of taking them back to their younger years. Naturally, mom stole one...or two or three cookies before I could pack them away.

Now, I'd like to share this recipe with you to share with your family! Happy Holidays and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of crisco (I use the stick)
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in hot water
• 2 cups of flour
• Cinnamon sugar or colored sugar

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Mix the sugar and crisco together with your hands.
3. Mix in the egg yolks--I use a mixer for this step. 
4. Hand mix in the flour and baking soda solution.
5. **The dough might seem crumbly, but when you start packing it into a ball, it packs together well. 
6. Flour your counter, rolling pin, and cookie cutters. 
7. Split the dough in half (I find that you lose less batter to over-flouring if you split it), and pack one half into a ball.
8. Roll it out and cut your dough.
9. Cover the cookies with your choice (color or cinnamon) and bake for five minutes. Don't let it go past the five minutes or they will burn. 
10. Let cool and enjoy!! 
    
    
    
    
    
    

All We Wanted Was A Cup of Hot Cocoa...

I live in a relatively small, progressively growing town with lots of charming people. There's a small private college here and several public and private high schools within driving distance. However, it seems, nothing is open in this town past ten o'clock...a new discovery of mine.
     My friend and I were driving home from Mannheim Steamroller's concert last night and decided that we were in dire need of a nice cup of hot chocolate...but where to go? By the time we got back into town, it was ten fifteen. We tried Panera: closed. My favorite coffee shop: closed. An ice cream shop: closed. Starbucks: closed. Four places! Basically the only places in this town--CLOSED! Ridiculous! We just wanted a cup of hot chocolate. So I suggested IHop, open 24/7, of that, I was sure. We pull a full circle and drive to IHop, sit down, and look at the beautiful pictures of delicious looking hot chocolate. Our waitress approaches the table, asking for our order, and I think you can finish for us...HOT CHOCOLATE!
      Plot Twist: IHop had JUST run out of hot chocolate. I'm sorry, let me repeat that in plain terms. The only place in this town opened past ten o'clock with the hope of having hot chocolate was OUT OF hot chocolate. Both of us just looked up at the waitress, dumbfounded, ordered water, then broke out into a fit of giggles at the pure irony of the situation. I thought about ordering apple cider, but when your tongue is ready for hot chocolate, apple cider just won't do it.
      As bitter as we are about not every getting that greatly-desired cup of hot cocoa, I kind of loved being at IHop. A friend that I haven't seen since college started sat with me for over an hour just catching up, eating breakfast food at eleven o'clock. We giggled, laughed, got somber, and then laughed again. It was a good night. I love nights like these, especially now that I'm in school. You don't really understand reconnecting until you get to college and you come home to see your high school friend. It's a great, kind of sad, nostalgic feeling. And it's great right now because it's so easy to just pick up where we left off. I don't know if it will be that way come college graduation, but as of right now, it's wonderful. And I'm going to treasure it.
So Merry Christmas! Go make yourself a cup of hot cocoa...or go to IHop with the hope that they aren't out.

Happy Christmas!

Hello! Yes, I am one of those terribly annoying souls who begins to celebrate Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. Don't you worry--I give my thanks. I help with the food, the clean up, and the giving of thanks because I have plenty of things to be thankful for. I do not play Christmas tunes or begin to pull up my decorations...until the day AFTER Thanksgiving.
Believe me, I understand those of you who roll their eyes at people like me. I empathize--let us at least get through the month of November, right? Why rush Christmas; it just means that the end of the year is inching up on us as fast as the Bullet Train? But I have good reasons for beginning to celebrate the season as soon as possible. Not that I need to justify my actions, but I'd like to...just so you know.

1. My Christmas decorations are heavy, as I'm sure many of yours are. We have several boxes and lots of stairs on which I must pull these several boxes up. I dedicate the majority of my day to lugging boxes up and down the stairs, which are not a straight shot by the way. Turning and maneuvering is involved. And it takes a while to set up everything after that. In fact, set up is sometimes a two day process, depending on the schedule of the day and if I'm still in a turkey coma from Thanksgiving. This year is a two-day set up. All decorations except the tree and the garland are finished. The tree is up, just not fluffed to its fullest or decorated. (I bet money that fake trees are more of a hassle than real ones, and real ones don't smell like musty basement). So, since I complain of the hassle of set up day, I like to appreciate my decorations for as long as possible because my mother and I work hard to get them up. We might as well revel in them for a full month.

2. I see no error in getting in to the Christmas spirit early, especially if your spirit is about giving, not merely the commercial aspects of the holiday. With the decorations set up, I'm ready to pick my angel tree, I'm ready to wrap presents for Habitat for Humanity, and I'm ready to make people smile by saying "Merry Christmas" as I pass by. Come on--tell me that doesn't bring a smile to your face.

3. I never allow myself to forget the reason for the season. God gave his son to us, and his son then gave so much to us. This is a time to remember every blessing that we have and a time to in turn give to those who are not as blessed as some of us--a time to share god's love. This should be all year round, but Christmas is a special time to show God's word and love through our actions and spirit. I'm not saying "Ho Ho Ho!" spirit, but "God Bless you" spirit. Let the Spirit flow through you into your society.

So there you go. See, I have good reason to start celebrating as early as possible. Be thankful that I don't set up before Thanksgiving--even I might become annoyed with myself if I started doing that.

So...Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Frohe Weihnachten! Buon Natale! God Jul! C рождеством! Nollaig Shona! Vrolijk kerstfeest! Happy Holidays--whatever you celebrate, remember the reason for your season!