Archive for May, 2008

My new furniture!

May 30, 2008 at 11:56 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , ,

This is the view walking in the door…

I was gonna go with a red sofa but decided against it since red doesn’t match everything. I like how the fabric covers are easily removable to wash or change out the color (Karlstad series)…

Dining area…

My old roommate gave her entertainment center to me for FREE! Can’t beat that!

If you live in the Nashville area and want to buy stuff from Ikea, you must check out ModerNash Furniture Supply. These two guys started their business where they go to Ikea often to pick up your orders, and you pay for the order and their shipping fee (which is cheaper than shipping the items straight from Ikea). I decided to save myself lots of hassle and headaches (and possibly a wreck – can you see me driving a Uhaul truck or trailer in horrible Atlanta? Uh, no.) by having them get the stuff for me AND deliver it to me. It worked out so well, and the guys were very prompt and professional. They’ll also set up the furniture for you (for an hourly fee), but I was easily able to put it all together myself!

Now I am praying really hard that I won’t have to move for another year!

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Half Marathon Pictures

May 29, 2008 at 10:30 am · Filed under life, running ·Tagged

I am finally getting around to posting some pictures I just got from the Country Music Half Marathon one month ago.

This is me and Meggie (pink shirt) around Mile 4. Feelin’ pretty good at this point…

That’s me somewhere around Mile 7…

My parents and I on the pedestrian bridge after I finished. They were great cheerleaders!

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And the award goes to…

May 24, 2008 at 1:41 pm · Filed under web ·Tagged ,

excellent blog awardMy blogging friend and fellow MTSU grad Melanie over at Life is a Marathon recently awarded Peachy Perspective this award! I would like to thank:

  • The Academy, of course. I think in this case, it’s Melanie.
  • My parents, friends, and family who actually read this blog
  • The various Lampo people who dived into the blogging craze about 2 years ago (and are now basically non-existent bloggers) and got me started blogging.
I want to pass along this Excellent Blog award to some of my favorites:

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Furniture set-up complete, so off to Russia I go!

May 23, 2008 at 12:37 pm · Filed under life, travel ·Tagged ,

Right now I am in the middle of a lazy, relaxing day. No appointments, no set agenda. It’s rare, and I am welcoming it by sitting out on my deck sheltered from the spring shower. It’s one of my favorite things to do this time of year!

Over the past week, I have received all of my Ikea furniture and assembled it myself…oh yes! The most difficult piece to assemble was not the heavy dining table … not the couch … but the ottomon. The fabric covering I had to work diligently to fit just perfectly was the biggest pain in this whole process. However, I am happy with my decision to get a chair and ottoman instead of a loveseat. I have been busy shopping for (and returning) little accessories to spruce things up and am waiting to post some pictures until I get the curtains and wall frames up, but don’t worry – I haven’t forgotten.

I just realized I never posted an update about the Croatia trip. A couple of weeks ago, the trip got cancelled, due the basketball gym there being shut down and renovated (among other random things). That’s very unfortunate because we kinda need a basketball gym to host a basketball camp. I would still LOVE to be a part of this trip in the future!

I am excited, though, because now I am a part of a team going to Russia! Our team of 6 will be heading to Karachaevsk, Russia by way of Moscow in early July. We’ll be hosting a teen camp and camping outside surrounded by the beautiful landscape (so I hear). Read a little bit about our church’s partnership with the church in Karachaevsk. We’ll spend a little bit of time in Moscow on the way back, and from there, I will split from the team and head to Prague, then on to Slovenia to meet up with some friends. We’ll probably hang out in Slovenia for a little bit before making our way to London to head home. Besides our main flights being booked, there’s no set agenda. I AM SO EXCITED!

 

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Assassins in Franklin

May 14, 2008 at 12:32 pm · Filed under friends, music, theatre ·Tagged , , ,

Don’t let the title freak you out too much.

Last night I went to see my first Boiler Room Theatre musical, Assassins. I mainly went to support my friend and roommate, Erin Burns (who is in the picture to the right), but knew I was in for a treat when she and others have been raving about the show for the past few weeks. I found out Erin is a STAR on stage! And I’m not saying that just because she’s my friend! She is completely talented singer and actress who is going to be on Broadway one day!

It’s really weird to say I had a favorite character in a show all about disturbed people who have assassinated (or attempted) presidents. However, the way the playwright organized the show with Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme (Erin) and Sarah Jane Moore – who both attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford within a span of 3 weeks – dialoguing on stage was quite humorous and made for some literal LOLs.

If you’re interested in catching this show or other ones at the Factory in Franklin, check out the Boiler Room Theatre website. Also, here’s the show’s review the Nashville Scene.

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A Fun & Exhausting Weekend

May 12, 2008 at 8:32 pm · Filed under friends, travel ·Tagged ,

I just had a 4-day weekend! Because I’ve been so busy during the past 4 days, maybe I should consider taking off another day just to RELAX!

Friday afternoon I headed to Chattanooga to visit my friends Mary Anne and Joel. We had a good time eating dinner and ice cream together before MA and I went to hang out with a couple of her girl friends who were also in town. Saturday morning we went to one of our favorite places in town – Aretha Frankenstein’s. It’s so good that it was even a stop on Rachael Ray’s $40 A Day show a long time ago!

Then MA and I headed to Atlanta – not because it’s awesome but because it is home to an awesome store, Ikea. I was on a mission to get furniture and accessories for my apartment since the common areas are completely bare since Sarah moved out all of her furniture. I totally love the way the store is set up and how there’s not 500 people pushing carts up and down the aisles and stopping in front of everything I want to look at. (If you’re unfamiliar with the store, they have some model rooms set up so you can see how some of the stuff will look when arranged in a living space. Then you walk through organized sections of furniture, textiles, plants, accessories, lighting, and pick up the big boxes at the very end in the warehouse.) I loaded up my little Cate the Corolla with what I could and will have the rest of the stuff shipped to me. Today I started putting together some of this furniture. The hardest part was getting the fabric cover on the ottoman. I was not happy. I am hoping the sofa and chair covers aren’t as difficult.

So Atlanta… Definitely not a favorite city of mine. I already knew this, but I hadn’t been there in a while so I forgot how much I disliked it. Aggressive drivers, narrow roads, roads with no street signs, the airport (thankfully we didn’t have to go there on this trip). As MA put it, “When you get here, all the glitz and glamour is lost.” But they do have Ikea and a great mall, so hooray for that.

On my way back home, I celebrated Mother’s Day by meeting my parents in the Boro for a tasty lunch at Camino and then hung out at their house for a little bit. I was also able to go see my aunt, cousins, and both of my grandmothers, which was fabulous and unexpected. My mom has a huge, beautiful garden that wraps around the house, so she sent me home with a colorful bouquet of flowers (see below). I would have posted a picture of the two of us, but I forgot to take one! Happy Mother’s Day again, Mom!

mom\'s flowers

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Derek, Sandra, & New Roomies

May 5, 2008 at 10:27 pm · Filed under music, videos ·Tagged , , , ,

Like I mentioned in my last post, I got some new roommates this weekend. How are things so far, you ask? Well, the little bit we’ve actually been there together has been great! We managed to get the kitchen and pantry organized, which helps me feel more settled and calm. However, our living and dining rooms are completely bare. I didn’t realize these areas in our apartment were so big! I plan to get some furniture for these common areas within the next month or so – looking forward to that!

Saturday night I headed up to one of Nashville’s great live music venues, 3rd & Lindsley. It’s at the corner of … um … 3rd & Lindsley. Great name, huh? ;) I met my friend Mandy and one of her friends who came down from Bowling Green to attend the Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken show. Chances are good that you are unfamiliar with these artists, so let me give you a little background.

Derek used to be a part of the Christian group Caedmon’s Call. For the past few years, he has pursued the solo career. I started becoming a fan of some of his tunes in college about 4 years ago when I went to a I See Things Upside Down CD release show. His lyrics are thought-provoking, and he’s a very talented singer and guitarist. As he said during the show, the closest he’s ever come to having a true hit is “Name,” which was played in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Sandra is his wife, and she too has pursued a solo career of her own (watch the video at the end of the post). However, they just released an EP entitled Ampersand which is the first collection of songs they have written and recorded together. 

So Derek and Sandra put on a great show. They are both such talented musicians. They’re also quite funny. Two things stuck out to me that Derek said: 1) The love language of the 3rd & Lindsley staff is buying beer. If you don’t buy their beer or food, you are not speaking their language, and 2) “Stalking – when it ends well [marriage] – is ok,” which he joked happened when he first met Sandra at a local Franklin coffee/deli shop. This totally cracked us all up. 

Read Mandy’s comments about the show

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Goodbye, Roomies!

May 3, 2008 at 2:57 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

This weekend my roommates Sarah and Amber are moving out and 2 other girls are moving in. Sarah is moving to NYC this summer, and Amber is moving to another neighborhood in the Nashville area to save on rent and be closer to her work.

So, in lieu of the end of this experience, here are some of my favorite memories over the past 2 years:

  • Wine & Cheese parties. We had one a year, and they were fun times to get dressed up and try to act sophisticated.
  • Halloween ’07 party. I wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t excited about this party, but while I rested, A&S totally decorated the whole apartment which looked amazing! Tons of people came and we all ended up having a great time.
  • The spontaneous Franklin Rd. Martini Glass Scavenger Hunt. When it’s time to put the Christmas lights up this year, there’s a family that will light up a martini glass. No joke. Once we found the house, A&S wanted to go knock on their door to take a picture with the new landmark.
  • Riding bikes around town with Sarah. One morning we biked to downtown Franklin. That got us pumped up to become “serious” cyclists, and soon after we biked 12 hilly miles.
  • Cheering! Sarah and I traveled around Nashville last year to cheer on Amber and Paige in the marathon at different spots. We also biked to Franklin to cheer on Amber in a 5k race.
  • Talking running strategies with Amber
  • Late-night Wal-Mart run with Sarah in our ugly Christmas sweatshirts to get paint to spruce up our home’s entrance.
  • Watching “America’s Next Top Model” and “The Hills” with Sarah.
  • Putting up Christmas decorations!
  • Putting together new outfits from Amber’s closet.
  • Dressing up for a Christmas formal party
  • Carpooling to church, Inversion, and community groups

Cheers, girls! The apartment won’t be the same without yall! :)

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Question of the Day: iTunes

May 1, 2008 at 1:47 pm · Filed under music ·Tagged ,

My buddy Clint got some iTunes gift cards for his birthday and is asking for some suggestions on what to buy. His birthday was almost 2 months ago, so please, people, let’s help him make some decisions!

If you had a $10 iTunes gift card, what would you buy?

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