Christmas WRAP Up

My Christmas was wonderful yet again...I do love this time of year. I often find myself unable to visit my family often, so when I get a week with them I am a happy camper. I began the holidays with an evening out with my Nashville Besties. We called it our "Spectacular Holiday Outing". We all got dressed up and hit The Oak Bar. It is a wonderful old bar in The Hermitage Hotel downtown. It is classy, beautiful and a must see in Nashville. We got there and were lucky enough to get an enclave to ourselves. It was perfection. Arienne, Fran, Lora, Bob, Andrew, Peg, Courtney, Justin, Knight, David, Justin, Chuck and I were in attendance. It was a group of the most spectacular, bright, and witty folks in Nashville! That week I also got a visit from Gina! We hit the exhibit "Birth of Impressionism" at The Frist and had some yummy food! I also got to see Erin and Jennifer before their concert.



Then, it was time to hit the road for Kentucky. Wednesday we got the car all packed up and headed north! I got to Richmond in time to meet Dusty and Brandy at The Paddy Wagon for dinner and drinks. It was good to spend time with them. I also got to see Jess Wade. Thursday, I spent some time with Candy and Aaron. My sister and David joined us, along with new friends Melissa and Glenn. I will say things got a tad out of hand with this group, but we had fun none the less. I also got to visit with John and Jesse.
Now time for the Holidays! Christmas Eve morning we went to Momma Jo's for breakfast. Yummy!! The kids exchanged gifts and the lol boys all got remote control cars (they loved them). This year the adults decided to do an ornament exchange version of dirty santa. It was fun and I of course ended up with a Snowman!! The Pig Ornament that Bec brought was the most popular tho. It was also cute to see Granny Irene hide hers, knowing none of us would dare take her ornament! LOL.

Following, Momma Jo's we went to Papaw Ray's. Aunt Bev, Aunt Connie, and Jessica was already cooking away when I arrived. So I was able to eat another super fantastic meal. We then again had our game of dirty santa. I ended up with a big bunch of BBQ products! I can not wait to fire up the grill!
Christmas morning, I got up and rode to my Sister's house to see what my nephews received from Santa and she cooked breakfast. Then I had the honor of being at April's Christmas with her family. April and I have been best friends since 4th grade. I feel blessed to still have her in my life! I was able to see her folks and family, plus meeting her new man! I was then on my way back to my Mom and Dad's. It was finally time to open up my stocking and trade gifts with the fam. It was a great day!



I ended my visit having dinner with my bestie Dusty, Karl, and Chuck. I hope you all had a great holiday!

No Excuses

I am not gonna go through the details of why I have not had a blog post in over a year, other than LIFE HAPPENS. I will just try and catch you up on the goings on of my life as of late. The biggest change happened not only to me but everyone who lives in Nashville and surrounding counties. On May 2, 2010 Nashville was hit by the most severe flooding in 100+ years. Our downtown was hit as well as many of the outlying areas, as the water continued to rise over the banks of the Cumberland River. My home was spared in the flooding but my place of employment was not. As most of you know I had been working at Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center. Their damage was extensive and employees and guests were evacuated to a nearby High School. The water continued to rise and the entire Opryland property was soon under water (including the Grand Ole Opry, The Opry Mills Mall). The act of nature left Thousands without a job, myself included.




The Flood of 2010 left me swirling with what to do next. The re-open date for Gaylord was not known at the time and I was not sure where to begin looking for a job, when the disaster had effected so many. So, I did what people in the "Volunteer" state do, I volunteered. Nashvillians worked hours and hours to help their neighbors in need, it made me so proud ot be part of this community. Though the fact we were on water restrictions for weeks got old, but hey, we got the famous "flood beard and legs" out of it. LOL.

My mission of looking for a job began to change somewhat. I began to focus more on the idea of making my own business take off. Not an easy task in this economic environment and following such a large natural disaster. I knew making a name in the community would take networking and such. So I once again returned to The Artrageous team (I volunteered last year). This year I was asked to take on a larger role. I eagerly agreed and became the Volunteer Coordinator for the event. Within the week, after knowing of my experience in events, my title also included Event Manager. So for the next 6 months I worked very hard to plan and prepare for Artrageous 23. Not always an easy task I must say, but on Nov 17th it came off without to much of a hicccup. It was a wonderful night, for a wonderful cause. I must shout out to my friends who I roped into volunteering and I could not have done it without them.




Now I am not going to go into detail about the other events that took place. I would hate for you to be reading from now on. But to sum it up, I turned 30 and my friends (43 in total) came to my house for a wonderful night. I enjoyed it so much. My friend Justin moved to Nashville. Enjoyed many nights out with Justin, David, Lora, Andrew, Chuck, Peg and SO MANY MORE. Those nights included Cheekwood (gardens), The Frist Center for Arts, TPAC (theatre), Tribe(bar), Play(bar), Stirrup(bar), Country Music Hall of Fame(museum), Live on the Green(live music), CMT Awards Show and so much more. I am going to include some random photos to entice you all to visit me here in Nashville...Where the Music Plays On!