A Whole Lotta Something: 2013

Friends, Bloggies, Countrymen:

I have missed you! Life has been crazy working with 2 clients and trying to keep up with my busy social life. I'm looking forward to more free time starting next week when my 10 day meeting ends. Until then, I found some time this afternoon to post a post. I hope life is treating everyone well, and I thank you for stopping in to read after such a long cyber absence. Now let's get right down to it!

My good friend Nathan got married in Natchez, Mississippi last weekend. It was a beautiful wedding and we all had a great time soaking in the history and local culture there. See?

Longwood Mansion: We toured on Friday when we got into town


The Hefley's hosted us for dinner. So much fun! We stopped to pose for a Porch Picture

Just for fun

Walking in to the out of towners breakfast Saturday Morning

The reception got pretty crazy and we ended up at this bar called The Saloon. Late night found us back at another friends house, but I will refrain from using his actual name to protect the innocent (and ridiculous). Let's call him: "Templeton".

Anyway- we are raiding the fridge around 3 am and I was like - "Templeton! What did you do to your back?! You have a huge bruise." And Templeton explained that he had tried to perform an epic dance move at the reception that went totally all wrong and he landed on his hip/back/side. BUT-- he went on to explain that no one saw the epic fail-- and upon trying this move a second time, he nailed it! We were a little concerned because to me this was a kind of a serious looking bruise:

That is--- until I saw this one:

I mean--- can you even believe this?! This is him two days later!!!

Don't anyone worry. Templeton is going to be fine. He went to the Doctor and found out he has a fractured spine. Not from the aforementioned failed dance move though. Turns out he's had a fractured spine for a while and were it not for this bruise he may have never found out and just gone on his whole life thinking he had severe lower back pain! (whaaaaaat?!). True story.

Templeton's house is very old. Beautiful!! But old. You can imagine my state of mind at 3:30a.m. during an out of town wedding weekend. Sometimes I do weird things when I've had too much to drink, but who am I kidding?? (I would have totally done this sober too). I asked my friend, Yen, to take a picture of me in my bed pretending to be dead.
I like to call this photo: "Dead Bed".

I think it turned out pretty good, no?

In other news, some of us got together for a game night this past Saturday, and I decided to make Pig & Blankets. First of all they are underrated as far as party snacks are concerned. They were a hit! Secondly, (and this may just be my biological clock rearing it's ugly head), BUT---- I never realized how much they actually look like tiny babies wrapped up in blankets!!

I mean -- right?!

Look closer!!!!

So cute! I felt a little guilty putting them in a 375 degree oven, but alas-- they came out so delicious!

Here's hoping I'm back to blogging on a regular (monthly) basis. Until next time,

Yours ever,
Myra

Happy New Year, Bloggies!

So, there are a lot of "firsts" happening in this post. It's my first post of 2013 (my, how time flies), it's the first time someone has requested that I blog about something specific (yes, I'm that big of a deal), and that "specific thing" happens to be my first Pure Barre class.

Like a lot of you, I'm sure--I spend the first few months of the year trying to get in shape, and lose that extra, inevitable holiday weight.. This year is no exception, so I thought I'd blog about some exercise classes I've been to recently, and then move on to a few other things.

Ahem. Here goes.

My friend Holly gave me a gift certificate for a Pure Barre class for my birthday in November. I just got around to using it in this new year. I had no idea what to expect. I showed up in my work out gear, and they asked me to remove my shoes to which I thought: Whaaaaaaat?? What kind of hippy sh*t is this?! I thought I was here to WORK.

But work, we did, my friends.

It's actually hard to explain, but the whole class takes place on a ballet bar and you are doing small muscle movements. They are concentrated, slow, focused, and you will sweat and you will shake and you will hurt for the entire duration of the class. (Don't even talk to me about the next day). We got started and there were all these women in there-- all ages, all sizes, all shapes, and they were killing it--- and I was thinking-- Is this for REAL?! Are these people serious?! Surely this won't last the whole hour... But it did.

I swear, there were times when I thought my muscles might burn right out of my skin.

I've also been doing machine pilates at the Y. I love it, because while I am only 32, my back thinks that it is 91 and the stretching and exercises we do in that class really help with my back pain. You still have to do cardio though, if you want to see results- so what I'm getting at basically, is 45 minutes of cardio + 60 minutes of pilates = a long day at the gym. But I recommend it if you have the time. Which I do some days. #Iamblessed.

I also tried out a new gym (because your first class is free). My girlfriend Layton is a big fan of it, and I said I'd go because you know, I'll try anything once... twice if it's fun... She raves about the trainer there- Josh... and rightly so. This man is the fittest, prettiest, wittiest, homosexual in Nashville (possibly the world). He has you run on these "special" treadmills, which would be more suitably named "deathmills." They incline at the push of a button-- so you know-- 5% 10% 15% 20% all the way up to 30% which is pretty much the incline up Mount Everest ( I mean-- I can't be sure about that... but it was STEEP.) Trust me. And the whole time you are running and working, he's yelling (with a lisp) for you to "WORK IT, GIRL! ! !" "WORK IT LADIES." "NO PAIN, NO GAIN, GIRLS", "I WANNA SEE YOU WORKIN' IT!", as he skips back and forth on his iPod between songs by Girl Talk and wait for it-- Ace of Base. It was awesome. Did I mention that he also trains several contestants for the Miss America Pageant? Double awesome. I mean--why wouldn't he?

Which brings me to the circuit training class at the Y I've been into lately. It's convenient for me because I work from home and it meets at noon. It's a great break in the middle of the day. I saw it on the schedule and thought - "I'll give it a whirl" because of the timing. I really didn't know what I was getting into, but I walked in and over half of the class were males -- so-- I knew I had my work cut out for me.

Truer words never spoken as it turns out, because that class is HARD. Sometimes we're in the studio, but almost always go out to the track at some point. It's lots of cardio in the form of running, high knees, burpees, lunges, pushups, squats, etc.. then moves in to some strength training involving weights and ab work. INTENSE. But you feel so great afterward. The trainer could be a LITTLE more encouraging if you ask me. He's getting better but there's not a whole lot of "almost there, guys-- you can do it" happening BUT I think I've figured out why. There are about three ladies in there that just want to talk the whole time. They are doing their exercises, but TALKING THE WHOLE TIME. It's the strangest thing. Like today-- we are on our mats doing abs and so the room is quiet except for a little "No Diggity" in the background and these ladies are on opposite ends of the room screaming to each other about the last book they read, the outfit they got on sale, their kids school bake sale. I'd find it super annoying if it weren't so comical. Ha. Seriously.

Anyway-- it's a bit ironic to bring this up NOW since I've been talking about shaping up this whole post BUT some friends and I were reminiscing the other day about good times at weddings (of which I've had many). LauraFrazier requested that I sing Patti Griffin's "Heavenly Day" for her first dance with her husband (my brother) at her wedding. She had the band learn it and everything. I love that song, and was honored to sing it for them. Afterwards-- one of her friends that I didn't know THAT well, came up to me and said she was in the adjoining room when I started the song and she walked in expecting to see "a big fat black woman" on the mic. Still--one of the greatest compliments I've ever received. :)

And speaking of Tom and LauraFrazier, they have moved out to "Momma & Daddy's house" down in the Delta, and I took a few friends there to duck hunt, ride ATV's, drink too much, and gamble a couple of weeks ago. We had a blast. I'd tell you hilarious stories, but "what happens in Tunica stays in Tunica" so I can't. BUT-- what is a blog post without a few pictures, right? So I'll close with these. #Iwishihadtakenmore.