Birthin' Babies Down in Mississippi

Oh my!  It's May!  I can't believe it.  A whole month went by without me even posting.  I don't have a lot for you this time, but I did spend some time down in Mississippi last month.  I needed to be there for the birth of my new nephew, Walter Kirk Atwood II (Walt).  I know I promised to never turn this into a baby blog... and I won't.  But this is worth at least a few lines, right?  I mean--LOOK how cute he is!!!  Here are some pics. 

I mean, could these two nugget bones be any sweeter??  Seriously.  I think not. 

I was at my sister's house most of the time but had to run back and forth to Momma & Daddy's house some too.  It should only be about 30 minutes away, but do you know what I forgot about driving in Mississippi in the spring time?  You have to allow extra time for TRACTORS.  They just stay on the main roads like there is nothing strange about that at all.  And if there is a double yellow line, you are totally screwed.  No telling how much time I wasted behind those things.

On a more positive, farm related note-- My sister-friend LauraFrazier and I got up reeeeally early one morning to meet our friend Rebecca and go for a run out on her and her husband's farm.  We ran 4.2 miles on a cotton field turnrow beside some train tracks with the sun rising in the distance and the smell of honeysuckle in the air...  You can't believe how beautiful it was.  I wish I had a picture to show you, but I'll forever have the snapshot and memory in my mind.

I  LOVE having roots AND wings.  I'm always so happy when I reach those unmistakeable Mississippi Delta flat lands, and I'm equally ecstatic when I'm headed back on I40 and see the skyline of downtown Nashville up ahead in the distance.  They say that home is where you're heart is... and I feel really lucky to have TWO homes.

I'll try to be funnier and more sarcastic in my next post, yes?  I'm running to the airport now to hop on a plane to Austin, TX for the weekend.  My friend Susanna is gettin' married, and I'm so excited to spend the weekend with my girls.  Some of them I haven't seen in over 5 years!!  Will be a blast.    

Until next time,
Yours ever,
Myra

 

We all Fall Down

Ello, Bloggies... (that's British),

Happy Monday.  I hope this post finds you all happy and healthy and doing well. I wanted to write while the weekend was fresh on my brain. Plus--March is nearly over and I try and blog at least once a month, so here goes. 

I've seen a couple of bumper stickers lately that I felt were worth a mention. I hate a bumper sticker on MY car, but I'm glad other people like them, because I really have found it to be some great reading lately.  The one I saw the other day said:  "Lead me not into temptation.  I can find my way."  I mean... ... can I get an amen?! 

Also, I was on the 440 loop in Nashville a couple of weeks ago beside this HUGE white F150 extended cab pickup truck.  It was dusty as hell and this guy had a four-wheeler in the back and at least one rifle that I could see.  He also had several bumper stickers including one urging us to "coexist" and one that said, "Namaste.  Change comes from within."  I didn't get a good look at his face, but if anyone reading  knows this kid-- tell me-- because I think I might be in love with him.  This town needs more enlightened, self aware men who drive pickup trucks, and that is a FACT.   You can't imagine how hard it is to get anything transported in this town for free. I've resorted to daring methods such as strapping a mattress and box springs down to the top of my SUV.  I now own a set of 4 bungee cords, and don't THINK I don't know how to use them. 

Have you ever been around someone and just thought, "You know-- the more you talk, the less I like you."  Maybe THAT should be a bumper sticker.  I have an epic story about a blind date I went on Friday night, but I'm going to need a little time to process it before I can write about it.  I'm not kidding.  It was THAT bad. 

In other completely random and unrelated filler-- how great is it to watch someone fall down?  Seriously-- I can't even tell you how happy it makes me.  Some of the greatest falls I've ever seen were taken by my good friend Emily Strong Marlow (college - present day).  She's seen me take a few spills in that time too.  We are always able to laugh at ourselves about it, which made the story I'm about to tell that much more hilarious to be able to share with her.  

We went to Five Points Pizza in East Nashville recently.  It's a cool little place with really good slices and a good list of draft beer.  There's no juke box, but they do play a little music overhead.  We were in a booth, but there were two kids sitting near us at a high top table.    Anyway-- this kid couldn't have been more than about 6 years old.  A song came on that he liked, and he started chair dancin'.  It was really cute until he fell out of his chair and went splat on the concrete floor.  Ahahahahaha.  It made a really loud noise.  I'm not even kidding.  [I can't even breathe I'm laughing so hard as I type this!]   He fell out of his chair (bless his little heart) and Emily and I just could NOT stop laughing.  He wasn't hurt or anything--- just embarrassed as all getout.  And he totally saw us laughing uncontrollably, and so did his parents at the table next to him and eventually so did the ENTIRE restaurant.  I mean--- we just couldn't get it together to save our lives.  There were tears in my eyes.  I was literally laughing so hard I was crying. And then the rest of these people started cracking up-- not at this kid, but at US because we were just being so ridiculous. It was amazing, but they may not allow us back in there.

I feel I MUST copy and paste this gchat from Emily that literally just came through as I was typing up this blog:

Emily

hahah

hey i was thinking yesterday about when we were getting out of the cab Saturday night and you were running inside and almost fell into that hole and then over that shovel that was in my yard! hahaha

1:41 PM

 

ahahahahaha

i didnt ALMOST

i did

ahahaaa

oh man

i am actually blogging about falling right now

you are featured

hilarious

Emily

ahahahhaha of course i am!

you were like...oh my gosh why is that shovel in the yard! oh my gosh! ahahhaha

funny stuff, i had a lot of fun that night!

Just too much of a coincidence not to include.  Bwhahahaha.

In closing, there are just a few things listed on my handy dandy notepad that I feel are worth a mention and then I'll leave you to your day.  These are in no particular order or importance... 

- Standing at only 5 ft tall, I find I am CONSTANTLY asking myself (while shopping), ---Is this a shirt or a dress?

 

- How old is Mr. T now?  Seriously.

 

- I liked that Darius guy a lot better when he went by the name of Hootie.  

That's it.  The end.  

Yours ever, 

My

 

 

Cruisin' solo. Meat. Truth or Dance.

Ello bloggies, (that's British)

Lots to say  in this post.  Let's start with the fact that I went on a cruise by myself.  I went on a cruise by myself.  I said that twice because whenever I tell people that-- the first thing that comes out of their mouths is "whaaaat?"

But yes.  It's true.  My sweet friend Emily was supposed to go with me, but lost her grandmother to Pancreatic Cancer the day before we were to set sail, so she had to sit this one out.  I was sad for her.  She and her grandmother were close, but also because this little lady needs a vacation more than just about anyone I can think of... Alas, however.  It was not in the cards for her to go.  And since it was non-transferable and non-refundable, and I already had the time off work-- I forged ahead without her. 

It was fun.  I don't mind being by myself.  I really don't.  But I think it made everyone else on the ship VERY uncomfortable.  This includes all the staff and pretty much anyone I met the whole time I was on the trip. I've got stories for days.  I think they thought because I was traveling alone, I wanted to be included in everything THEY were doing.  This couldn't have been further from the truth.  I found myself lying a lot and going down to the "Serenity Deck" to read where there were no kids and no loud music allowed.  I was disappointed to see that there were a total of about 4 attractive people on the entire ship,  so I felt confident that I wasn't missing anything that was going on on the skank deck Lido deck.

I'd never been on a cruise before, and this was a Carnival cruise.  They, apparently, cater to a younger crowd, which I thought would be good thing.  I soon found out, however, that "younger crowd" was just code for "people with a lot of tattoos that think this entire experience is an episode of MTV's Cancun Spring Break".

The beaches were gorgeous.  The weather was perfect.   I got an hour long massage out in the open air of Progreso, Mexico for 15 dollars!  I went ziplining in Cozumel, and it was awesome.  I also went snorkeling.  Soooo fun and beautiful... until a jelly fish got me on the knee.  It hurt a lot, but I'm not harboring any hard feelings.  I've logged many an hour in the ocean in my life so far, and it was the first time I'd ever been hit.  I spent the rest of that day in a hammock on the beach where it was 80 degrees and there was a constant breeze and sunshine.  Not a THING to complain about in that scenario.  I had lots of time to think.  I had lots of time to pray.  No phone, no computer, no distractions.  Just me.  I loved.

I'd like to move on now because there a few other things I'd like to share here and then clean off the notepad on my iPhone.

When's the last time you heard of a baby under 9lbs being born? It's been a looong time for me.  Maybe there's just something in the water around here, but mark my words: baby weights are on the rise. 

What about slapping raw meat in the grocery store?  I recently found out that not everyone does this!   I mean-- whaaat?!  Whenever I see a giant slab of meat just hangin' out in that refrigerated section of the grocery, I have GOT to slap it.  I just do.

And while we're on the subject--- I wonder why meatloaf gets such a bad wrap in the movies?  I guess the name could be better... ... but my friend Kelly made it the other night, and it was delicious!  I think meatloaf is awesome.

A bunch of my friends decided they were going to cut out alcohol during the month of January.  I actually decided that I hadn't been drinking ENOUGH and upped the ante a little bit.

And while we're on the subject of drinking.... I ran across these never-before-seen-photos the other day and thought I'd share a few.  The game we are playing is called "Truth or Dance."  It was  a surefire favorite of our crew's back in the day.  It's played exactly how it sounds. Everyone forms a circle and you spin the bottle. Whoever it lands on gets to tell a truth about themselves or get in the middle and dance.  Hilarious.  I don' think anyone's given up a truth in about 5 years.  We got together last February at my house for my good friends Zach and Amanda's engagement party.  It started out really sophisticated and grownup and ended up with Fireball shots and Truth or Dance...

It was awesome.  

See?

That's all for now.

Yours ever,
Myra

Happy New Year

Howdy bloggies,

Happy New Year! ! !  I cannot BELIEVE another year has come and gone so quickly.  It seems like just yesterday when I poured that flask of leftover NYE whiskey down the sink in the locker room in the YMCA and almost killed that old woman.

Sigggghhhhh.  Some great memories from 2011!

So this year-- I'm trying to take back a little bit of my anonymity (this word is extremely hard to pronounce, am I right?).   I got off Facebook, so I think that is a huge first step....    I'm going to give you a second to let that sink in...







That's right, you heard me... I got off Facebook.  I'll tell you the basis of why in a minute but let me just stop here and tell you what a hilarious time I've had telling people that I made this decision!  I didn't do it in this like "big annoucement" sort of way.  In fact, I didn't even really tell anyone at first...  something would just come up about FB in conversation and I would say, "oh yea-- I'm not on there anymore."  I mean, YALL!  Bwhahahaha.  People would react to that statement as if I had just kicked their baby or something! Comments vary slightly but go mostly like this:   "WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!"    "WHY?!"   "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"  "DID SOMETHING HAPPEN TO YOU THAT WOULD MAKE YOU DO THAT?!"  And then, when I'd say "No, nothing happened."  People are all disbelieving like---"Um, no. Something must have happened and you're just not telling us what it is."  Bwhahaha.  So here's the scoop.  Nothing "happened" per say, but I have been tired of the annoying over sharing on there for a while...  i.e.  The ignorant status updates no one cares about, people's political convictions, the breakups, the makeups, the inappropriate photos of other people, the unflattering tagged photos of myself, the bathroom habits of peoples' toddlers,(what IS that about, seriously?)  the description of what folks are having for breakfast, lunch AND dinner--- Oh, man, it just got to be too much!!!  I needed a break.

The root cause of this decision, however, was planted because I started dating this guy (briefly) from Chattanooga that I met following the Avett Brothers show here in Nashville in October (ok, YES, we met in a bar.. but it sounds much better to say it was after a cool folk concert, yes?).  ANYWAY, long story short-- I tried to google stalk him.  Socially speaking---  people are google stalked for three primary reasons.  I'll list them in order:   1.You're not on Facebook.  2.You exhibit several red flags. 3.You don't exhibit ANY red flags.  This guy, we'll call him Chester (for no other reason except that I think that is a funny name), didn't exhibit any red flags.  And then, when I tried to find some on the internet-- I couldn't!  This kid wasn't on Facebook, he didn't have a Linked in account.  I couldn't find a thing about him when I looked up the "so-called" bank he worked for etc.. etc.. etc.. So then I started thinking.  Dang.  Maybe this google stalking is harder than I thought.  So, I put my OWN name in the browser.  Do you even KNOW what all came up?  My name, my address, my phone number, my Facebook page, my Linked in page, my work website, about 1 million photographs of me and my family, my friends, my ex-friends, my house, my dog!  Wait, whoa... I got carried away.   I don't even have a dog.  Whatever.  My POINT is... it was ridiculous.  Most of the pics and info came from my having a Facebook profile.. that's all I can figure.  It kind of freaked me out.  Also-- nothing wrong with proceeding through life with a little air of mystery about you,  if you ask me... So. Ta-dah!  Here I am.  Faceless in 2012.  .... .... I meant-- Facebookless in 2012.

Moving on...   It has really been on my mind lately to ask someone about America's recent affinity with green tea.  I just don't get it.  It tastes like hot water with a little bit funk added to it for good measure.  Terrible.

And finally, last night I dreamed that the Barack Obama's dog was pregnant.  I mean-- whaaaaat?!  I've had pregnant dreams before when I wake up sweating and stressed and panting and terrified of the embarrassment and hardship of being an unwed mother and what that would do to my life-----but this was WAY WORSE, let me tell you!  One minute I'm in the Oval Office with the Barack Obama's (and I keep referring to them as such because they were all there...  -- Michelle, Malia, Sasha, the President) and the next minute we were all in this barn out on this farm in West Virginia and their mutty dog was giving birth to 6 puppies!!  Straaaange I tell you.  I have NO idea what this means.  You know, sometimes I can sort of decipher meaning from my dreams or at the very least sort of derive why I dreamed it.  For this-- I have nothing... but thought is was at least worth a share due to it's randomness and recent occurrence.

As always,
Yours Ever,
Myra

Let's Recap

Howdy bloggies,

So-- you've probably figured this out already---but there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to my blog at all. 

Basically-- I just keep a list of random thoughts/stories I'd like to share in my "notes" app on my big deal iPhone and once I fill up an entire page (or close to it...) -- I know it's time to blog!  You know--unless something really incredible happens to me over the weekend or something...  Lately I feel like I've been sharing lots of stories from my childhood.  I hope it's not boring you.  I don't know why that is, really... Maybe it's because I feel like sharing any current stories might subject me to judgement and ridicule... and who wants that?  Seriously! !

At any rate--- let's get to it, shall we? 

The first thing I have written on my list of "notes" is Abraham and Isaac.   I signed up for a Bible Study in September thinking it was a 6 week long course.  WRONG. It's a 6 MONTH long course...  (must remember to read fine print).  Not surprisingly, however, (because I'm starting figure out that God really knows what He is doing) I'm really enjoying it!  I'm learning a lot.  It's a no-nonsense, no small talk, get in there and get down to BUSINESS type of Bible Study and I LIKE it. We have rules:  1. If you didn't do your study for the week-- you are not allowed to talk during class.  BOO-YA!  2. If you have a prayer request--you must submit it in writing and it is emailed out to everyone in the group. Upon receiving it, you are to pray IMMEDIATELY and then you are to DELETE the email.  BOO-YA again! 

I think I am so into these rules because the last Bible Study group I was a part of took on a bit of a... how should I put it tactfully??  Hmmm... a "therapy session" sort of feel. We've all got issues.  It's cool.  That sort of group just isn't what I am looking for at this juncture in my life and boy, did God deliver.  So we were discussing Abraham and Isaac a few weeks back -- (And just a quick recap for those of you who are a little rusty on your Bible trivia):  [God commanded Abraham to take his son, Isaac, up on a mountain and kill him as a sacrifice to the Lord. And Abraham almost did it.  He bound him and put him on the altar and was about to stab him in the heart when God told him to stop, that he had proven himself faithful etc... ]  Okay, this post is not meant to be a Bible lesson---but I gotta tell you that this story REALLY hit home with me when I was about 5 years old.  Not the part about this being a foreshadowing of God sending his son to die for our sins (that came later)... I mean the part about this father being willing to stab his son in the heart and kill him!  I came home from sunday school and asked,  "Momma, if God told you to kill me like He told Abraham to kill Isaac, would you DO it?" ( If you guys know my momma, this story is funnier...)  I remember it so well... We were standing in the kitchen and I asked her and she paused and she thought about it and she got this really uncomfortable expression on her face and said, "Well, Myra, I'd have to make sure it was really God telling me to do it first." 

I remember thinking, Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?  

Myra:  "So, you would do it then!!  You would KILL me?!"
Momma:  "Only if I was SURE it was God telling me to do it." 
Myra: "I can't BELIEVE you would KILL me!!"
Momma: "Let's talk about what else you learned in Sunday school, My."
Myra: "I can't believe you would kill me!"
Momma: "You wanna go outside and play with your kitty cats?"
Myra: "I can't believe you would kill me!"
Momma: "We could read a book.  How about Cat in the Hat? It's your favorite.
Myra: "I can't BELIEVE you would kill me!"

This went on for at least a day.  Try sleeping on THAT for a while at age 5. I'm not kidding. I had some SERIOUS issues with it. STILL can't hear that story without it sending bone chilling fear up my spine.


Moving on---the second thing I have on my list of notes is "Secret Gymnastics."  I didn't even remember this story until very recently when a friend of mine pointed out to me that "I had always been a little shady." 
  
Gee thanks.
 
Then she reminded about a story I told her once in grade school when I begged my parents to let me take a gymnastics class in Memphis and not tell any of my friends about it.  

True story. 

But to justify this you see-- I was ALREADY taking a gymnastics class locally, but it wasn't good enough. (What?!  It wasn't.)   It was held in the gymnasium of a community college and had ONE set of bars, ONE beam, NO vault and NO real floor exercise space.  Totally BUSH LEAGUE! 

I am competitive to a fault sometimes.  I do know this about myself... but let me also mention  that the moment I expressed an interest in taking a gymnastics class to my momma--she told EVERYBODY else in town who had a daughter, and we ended up carpooling over there once a week for this dinko little class where most of the kids in it could hardly even do a CARTWHEEL.  I wanted to work on REAL tumbling and vaulting skills.  Think Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton (my childhood idols).  So after a few weeks of this substandard arrangement, I convinced my folks to let me take classes from a REAL school of gymnastics in Memphis.  My sweet daddy drove an hour each way after work twice a week for years so that I could do what I loved... and we.never.told.a.soul. 

Hahaha.  It was awesome.  I learned so much, worked with some great coaches and can still do a roundoff sequence of back handsprings to this day (just so you know--Humpfh!), but when I tried out for cheerleader in 7th grade and made it-- my parents said that I had to choose.  It was the "secret gymnastics" OR the cheer leading.  I couldn't do both.  I chose the cheer leading (mostly because of the allure of cute football players and the chance to wear the short skirt). 

After a while, I told a few friends about my gymnastics classes.  No one understood.  No one even knew what to SAY.  Ha!  I guess they were thinking that I was super weird and shady as hell.  However, I don't think that word had been invented yet, so mostly they just looked at me like I had insulted them in some way by not telling them about this sooner. 

Ahhahaha.  Some great memories. 

Here are a couple of really random things  I have listed in my notes app.... :

*Sneezing multiple times while driving a car is DANGEROUS

*Leftover cranberry sauce in a Ziplock looks an awful lot like a big ole bag of blood clots

And last but not least, there is the little matter of this MYTH BUSTER I have to share with all of you...

Do you SEE it?!  Do you SEE that huge blister?!  Well, I burned my hand on a skillet recently, which is perhaps another story, for another time.  ANYWAY-- upon receiving advice from TWO of my nurse friends that told me that I should not, no matter what, under any circumstance, pop this blister---- I did it anyway.  I couldn't help it!  It felt so tight and I kept hitting it on things and I couldn't work out with it AND it felt like it was about 1000 degrees in and around it.  I felt bad for disobeying their instructions, but I just couldn't take it anymore!

I will have you know that it felt better immediately.  Popping that sonofabi%ch blister was truly one of the top three best things I've ever done in my life.

That's all.  The End.
Yours ever,
Myra

Halloween Weirdness

Halloween is weird.  I'm not trying to be a giant force of negative energy or anything, but let's face it-- it is.
I don't get why some people (actually lots of people) refer to it as their "favorite holiday."  It's not even a holiday.  Seriously-- nobody misses school or work.  Banks are open, and there is not even a special meal involved.  Ah uh.  Not a holiday.

Also-- every year-- I try and boycott it and not dress up and then end up succumbing to the peer pressure because well, tons of people have these parties and let's face it----I've always been kind of a sucker to peer pressure.  I also like to be thought of as a team player you know...  I hope no one has ever referred to me as a "spoiled sport."   Well, actually, I remember this one time when my siblings and I were playing Candyland with my babysitter, Becky Blue, and I drew Princess Frostine---

Princess Frostine

--which catapulted me to the top of the game AND my competition only for my next draw to lend me the unfortunate hand of Plumpy...

Plumpy

--which was going to send me allllllll the way back down to the bottom of the board... LOOK!

I got SO MAD.  I mean-- I still remember the RAGE I felt. I tore that Plumpy card up SO fast and SO hard and then ran in the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet before Becky Blue even knew what had hit her!  I was labeled a "Spoiled Sport" then and wasn't allowed to play that game for a long time... I also think I got a spanking... Anyway-- I digress.  THE POINT IS-- I just never want people to think that I'm being a spoiled sport again so this year--after weeks of "just saying no" to a costume I caved and went out as a vampire...

Those teeth are rubber and they tasted like it, so I couldn't leave them in all night.  My idea was to sort of be a Twilight Vampire.  Just trying to blend in with modern day society and all that... but without my teeth in--- I just looked like a girl who wears horrible makeup, so it was kind of a bust.

You know what else is a bust?

Man, back in the day--- you couldn't PAY somebody to take these candies off your hands! Hopefully somebody is still out there handing these out on Halloween.  And hopefully, their houses are still getting rolled shortly there afterward.

I was invited to a little wine party last night and opted to be somewhat more than fashionably late because I figured that I would have some Trick Or Treaters come by...  I wanted to hand out candy and see their cutie costumes etc...

I got the good stuff.  Starburst, Reeses Cups, Twix!  Nobody was gonna roll MY house last night!  It started sort of slowly.  One tiny little Sponge Bob with his momma and then nothing for another half hour or so.  Then two little devils showed up.  They were seemingly siblings, and I thought it was weird that they had on the same costume you know, but whatever.  The third time someone knocked on the door presented me with ANOTHER devil and then another and another and another.  I'm not even making this up!

I'm not superstitious or anything.  Never have been.  But all those devils just started to make me feel uncomfortable... so I turned off all my lights and went and had a glass of vino at my friends' house.  You know--just in case. 

All this to say that while many of the Facebook posts I've seen today are lamenting the passing of yet another Halloween, I have to say that I really could not care less.  However, while I usually feel that people can SIMMER DOWN with the pictures of their children on there-- I have to say that some of these Halloween Costume photos are hilarious.  I'll leave you all with a picture of my little niece nugget dressed as Elmo in her sunglasses.

It wasn't even HER costume.  It was some little neighbor boys, but she apparently couldn't resist trying it on.  Who could, really??  I mean-- I totally get it.

Until soon,
Yours ever,  :)
Myra 


 

Music to My Ears

Hello. Hellooo?  HELLOOOOO?  Blogworld?  Yall still there?  ...

Okay good, because I want to tell you about all the awesome music I've been going to hear lately... among other things.  Every year around the September 1 mark--Nashville is flooded with all my favorite musicians.  I don't know what it is about the fall that brings them all to town at the same time, but they come, like clockwork, every year. My wallet seems to be thinner, but my soul---my SOUL is much, much richer!!   

It all started with seeing Grace Potter at the Ryman on September 12.  I don't like a lot of "chick music" which is weird--you know, seeing as how I'm a chick...who writes music.  At any rate-- I really don't. There are a few exceptions: Brandi Carlisle, Patti Griffin, Ingrid Michaelson... that's all that springs to mind (in this very moment) and now-- add to the list, Grace Potter. 

I really like her sound. It's more rock and roll than most of the string bands I usually tend to gravitate toward.  Also--her voice is AMAZING.  I like her lyrics a lot too.  They're real. They're good, and she writes them all, which is impressive.  So is her choice of shoe wear!  I wore cowboy boots to hear her a few weeks ago and after standing up all night to listen to her-- MY feet hurt.  I can't imagine what was going on with hers later that evening.  I don't even want to think about it!  I find it a little annoying that she is both THIS gorgeous, and THIS talented, BUT -- let's face it--- her skirt is TOO short.  That brings it right back down to earth for me. I don't care how famous you are-- it doesn't give you the right to be tacky.

Humpfh.

The following Friday, I got a call from an old high school friend that lives here, Patrick Connelly.  We NEVER get to see each other.  Such is life I guess.  He lives here and I live here, but we run in different circles, live in different parts of town and have our own things going on.  Once a year though-- when Pat Green comes to town, we try and get together.  This year we succeeded.  We've been listening to him forever it seems. He's a Texas Country musician, which is NOT the same thing as a Country musician.  Texans have their own sound, their own edge, and their own ATTITUDE, all of which makes them unique. No tellin' how many times I've seen him live.  He used to play the fraternity houses at Mississippi State after football games and I'd go listen.  The next weekend he'd be playing at Ole Miss, so I'd pack up and drive down to hear him play there. Such fond memories of the music and the people I got to share those times with.  Pat Green's come a long way since then for sure.  How exciting for him!

Last week was Soundland here in Nashville.  It's a four day music event and my best good friend Emily and I bought wristbands so we didn't have to miss a minute of it.

We heard Johnny Corndawg (surprisingly good, by the way), Dawes (so good I'm planning to see him again on Oct. 19) and M. Ward on Wednesday night.  Can't say enough good things about M. Ward.  The man is a musical genius.  Look 'em up.  Download some tunes.  You won't be sorry.

We heard Foster the People on Thursday night.  I only knew the one "Pumped Up Kicks" song, but like the rest of the world-- I really dig it!  So that was fun.

Friday night was my favorite as we heard Jason Isbell and one of my absolute favorite musicians right now-- Justin Townes Earle.

Some of you may know his daddy, Steve Earle.  Justin's better.  Much better.  It was my first time seeing him live and a really good show.  I mean -- REALLY good.

There are several things coming down the pike that I'm looking forward to too.  Blitzen Trapper, Brandi Carlisle, The Avett Brothers and Robert Earl Keen are all here in the next few weeks and months to come so I'm sure this won't be the last of my musical musings--but that's it for now.

Soundland was happening all day on Saturday too, but Emily and I opted out so that we could watch football on my patio. I'm no techi.  The cable on the TV in my office just HAPPENS to be long enough so that I can pull it outside.  A lot of seemingly impressed people have asked me exactly HOW I get my TV outside?  My answer: "I just drag it out there."  

This was early and doesn't include the whole crew, but it was a good group of folks and I laughed sooo much and sooo hard for soooo long  that my abs were sore the next day. Literally.  If that's what a little sleep deprivation and one too many whiskey drinks'll get me---I'll take it every time! Ha.  It was such a fun day! 

In other news, I just returned home from Chicago on a business trip. Traveling always makes me want to blog a little blog. I'm not sure why really... I think airports must inspire me.  I had about an hour to kill in O'hare on Tuesday.  I had a book (of course) and I was reading it intently when I hear all of this commotion.  I looked up to see a man driving not so slowly through a very crowded terminal in one of those golf cartish looking things that seats about 8 people and he's yelling, "GET OUT OF MY WAY!  GET OUT OF MY WAY!  SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE-- I DON'T HAVE ANY BRAKES! I DON'T HAVE ANY BRAKES, PEOPLE! GET OUT OF MY WAY!."

Bwhahahahahaha-- it was HYSTERICAL.  You should have seen all these people scrambling to move out of the way.  And seriously,--- Driver Dude?!  You don't have any BRAKES?!   Whaaaaaaat???   That can not be smart or safe or probably even LEGAL--- but boy, was it funny.  It's times like these when I can't BELIEVE no one else I know was there to witness this with me. So damn hilarious.

Okay, that's all I've got for now.  Thanks for reading!  

Yours ever, 

Myra