Weekend Shenanigans...

I’m not sure how Monday rolled around again so quickly, but I am not a fan.  However, my Scandal finale is this week, so alas…I will suck it up and hope the week flies by.  (Priorities people, priorities.)

I’d say it was a really busy weekend, but it also was a great weekend with some down time. Highly unusual for me to get a mix of both! The niece decided she wanted to spend the night on Friday, (which really translated into “I want to show Aunt Nicole I can drive to her house by myself now! Also, I want to drive her everywhere!”) so we went out to dinner and did a little shopping and then retreated back to the house for a night of nail painting, movies & gossiping. It was a great night with her, and it was fabulous to have her show up in the driveway and not have to go get her!  The licensed teenager might make me a nervous wreck, but this is going to come in handy, that’s for sure. (And now she has a job interview Tuesday, so not only a licensed driver, but maybe soon an employed one! My girl is growing up!)

Much of the rest of the weekend was filled with sessions – but I managed to fit some time in at the Stables! Oh how I love the Stables at Cedars of Lebanon – I just wish they were closer! I suppose this is a sign  I should look into Stables that are actually in Nashville to let me go riding a little more often.  It was sure a gorgeous day to go riding though. I did NOT want to leave. This time I rode Zeuss, who is just breathtaking!

Could I ask for a more beautiful view? On such a beautiful day. THIS view is why I didn't want to leave. Love!

The best part about riding at the park is the random areas you can actually ride...which lead to you inevitably coming across these signs:

Can't think of a better way to have spent Sunday! 

National Siblings Day!

Today is National Siblings Day!

And if there was ever an e-card to describe my sister, it would be this one.  Even in my biggest pain-in-the-butt little sister moments, my sister was ready to kick anyone's ass for me at any given moment.

I grew up pretty close to my sister. As a little shit, if I had a nightmare, it wasn't my parents room I went to - it was my sisters. I'm sure at 10-ish, she hated being woken up in the middle of the night to the "Sam, I'm scared! Can I sleep with you??", but never stopped her from pulling back the blankets and putting me in the bed with her. Crawling in bed with my sis became something that happened often, usually with us watching & quoting The Golden Girls before falling asleep.

Samantha & I are total night and day, and always have been. I was the nerd who loved nothing more than reading a good book,  listening to Country Music & stayed out of trouble for the most part while my sister was the beach baby who skipped 21 days of school in a row to party at the beach & attempted to run away from home briefly in high school.

Please note that I had to be put in a bikini with freaking CAT HEADS on the boobs while my sister got a modest, cute purple one piece. What the hell is this!?

However, no matter how different we are, she's practically my other half. There's not a day we don't talk, and her babies are the loves of my life. I'm so fortunate to have a big sister whose there when I need her - no matter the problem, no matter the time of day or night, who would run over anybody that did me wrong ;) Happy Siblings Day sissy!

its all about the clothes

Oh how my heart broke when my Cats lost on Monday night. They played a great game, though - I'm so proud of how awesome this team was this year!

In the midst of a crazy week, I've been trying to prep for next month....I have sooo many sessions coming up, and I know time is going to fly past me and I'll be so ill prepared for being gone for over a week! 

Obviously this translates into "Nicole needs new clothes and shoes" for vacation. I have zero shame in the fact I bought three new bathing suits this week so I'll have a different one for each day of the beach. However that only covers the beach bum time & I need new dresses to wear when we're out & about, of course! Not to mention, our Dolly concert, and then the Orlando trip. (Yes, I'm tired just thinking of this crazy week!)

Pretty sure I found a few gems though....

Is Chevron "out" yet? You know what, don't even tell me....because I love it! 

Nordstroms coming to Nashville has been one of the greatest things to happen in my life. 

So I haven't found this yet, but I must have something comparable, since I've convinced myself I will die without it. 

I see shopping in my future this weekend. I got a "Hey Aunt Nicole, can I come spend the night Friday?" from Paige tonight, and you know I'm a sucker for turning those kids down....so it sounds like it might be a good weekend shopping with my girl! She's driving everywhere under the sun lately (I imagine she's going to run out of that report card money soon with all the gas she's using!), and I've no complaints in being chauffeured around for a change! 

Bleeding Blue...

If you wondered if I woke up, slapped on a total blue & white ensemble complete with Kentucky Blue nails, necklace & earrings and ran out the door ridiculously excited for tonights game…..you are correct! Because all that really matters this morning is…..

KENTUCKY PLAYS THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TONIGHT!!!!

GO BIG BLUE!!!

SO proud of my team this year.  Everyone at the office thought it was a bad team this time around and no one picked them in even the final four…except this girl! I don’t care if it had been the worst team ever (which it’s not….I love this team! Harrison Twins, FTW!) I bleed blue, and no way were they going anywhere but #1 on my bracket.

Of course, I really want a win tonight. But if we don’t win, final two is pretty amazing.

GO. BIG. BLUE.

In other news that isn’t related to Kentucky, my sister and I saw Wicked this weekend! And to say I was totally blown away is an understatement. Seriously, as such an Oz nerd that loves musicals, how had I waited so long to see this? Best I’ve seen, by far….great music, great writing, great cast!  Of course I immediately came home and purchased the soundtrack.

We talked about getting tickets last year, and it wound up being what I got her for her birthday, because if I left it up to my sister, she'd never go anywhere :) 

TPAC totally upped it a notch by having specialty drinks for the show.  Pretty sure it doesn’t get any cuter than this?

We had a couple good witches! They were amazing! 

with my sissy!

And with that...HAPPY GAME DAY Y'ALL! It's off to prepare for our game party! 

Look out Nashville....

On the list of things Aunt Nicole was not ready for, this was one of them:

(And no, I'm not crazy for putting a pic of her license on the internet...I blurred out important info!) 

My sweet Paige is a licensed driver! Yikes! She's SUCH a good driver that it's truly not her I'm worried about, it's the OTHER crazy ass drivers we have in this town. Sigh. This is just another reason I'm good not having kids - I worry about Paige & Kadin enough!

She got 5 A's on her report card too, which meant I handed her $100 this week - which happened to be the day she got her license. Someone's got gas money, and has been driving everywhere she can think of!  Love that kid!

So happy it's Friday - because tonight my sister & I are headed to TPAC to see Wicked! I don't know how on earth we've never gone to see it yet, but I'm super excited, and I love that it's here when Once Upon a Time is doing their Wicked storyline!

Happy Friday, y'all!

"that" day

It's that day again.

That horrible, no good, worthless day. The day that 4 years ago brought the call that Granny was gone.

I hate April 2nd. While our family usually gets together for dinner, it still is just a flat out crummy day.

There are so many things I miss about her, and so many moments I wish I could have back. The times my sister & I would fight over who got to sleep on the other end of the couch with her. That glorious moment I finally got to meet Loretta Lynn, and all I could think of was to call my Grandmother to tell her. Little moments...

I'm not 100% sure what I believe about the afterlife. But I know every night I pull out my favorite vinyl records, my Granny is here with me. Tonight I'll certainly be listening to some Ernest Tubb, reminiscing of all the nights I'd curl up on the couch with her, listening to her concert stories.

Live from the Grand Ole Opry...

What a week....and it's only Tuesday! I woke up Saturday with a sore throat, dry cough & had a hard time talking. Sunday I had zero voice whatsoever, which led me to the walk in clinic, who announced I had laryngitis. And now here we are on Tuesday, where I feel even worse than I did on Sunday! Thank goodness for my awesome doctor this morning, who gave me the laryngitis spiel but also informed me I have an upper respiratory infection & got me the meds that I needed to start nipping this in the bud.

My doctor knows me too well -- and decided to write this one out for me as well, to remind me that he doesn't want me attempting to talk for 2 more days. Sigh. I had no voice the last part of the weekend, and when it sliiiiightly starts to come back, he tells me to keep my mouth shut.

I also may have had a slight breakdown at Kroger today looking for the specific mint tea my Granny always made me when I was sick. Apparently it hit me, "hey Nicole, you can't call her anymore!" and I burst into tears. I'm a hot mess today. Tomorrow's the anniversary of Granny's death, and there's just no day I hate more than April 2nd, I suppose it's heavy on my mind right now.

But all is well now, because I'm heavily medicated and snuggled in my favorite blanket watching movies.

thanks doc...

Thankfully, none of this really hit until Saturday -- and thank goodness for technology, or else my friends never would have known what the hell I was saying Saturday night! Since I didn't really feel fabulous Saturday, I cut out as soon as P's performance was over.

Friday, however, was pretty fabulous. Larry & I were backstage and as usual, had a blast....

More exploration of the dressing rooms. You can probably find something in every dressing room that you never noticed before, no matter how many times you are back there!

I love the entrance lit up at night. #photographynerd 

And I love this girl! It was soooo wonderful to catch up with her. It's so hard to believe so many years have passed  - I do believe Patty might be one of the very few things I stuck with as a kid ;) I know I gush about her all the time, but it's such a significant thing in my life. Larger than life to me as a kid -- who would've thought years later things would be the way they are now?

It's no secret how much I love classic country music. The Opry sure isn't what it used to be....but some of the stuff backstage brings me to tears.  (I suppose that's not hard, since I'm such a freaking sap.) I'm not a performer, but country music was totally my first love. 

Larry had his pics taken with a bunch of different folks while we were there - he knew so many of the people there through his work with Dottie, like Michael W. Smith & all his crew.  It was great to meet folks, but when we weren't seeing my P, I was in my own little Opry world.  

However, I was pleasantly surprised to run into Steve Burton, who was there to support Jonathan Jackson. I don't watch the "Nashville" show, so my knowledge of Jonathan Jackson is from his portrayal of Lucky on "General Hospital". (Jonathan is a super nice guy, by the way!) Steve was a great guy & brought on some great "soap" talk, bringing up my beloved All My Children and how bad that got screwed up. 

such a nice guy!

and of course....the queen bee was the star of the show. 

I capped the night watching the Kentucky basketball game with the Security backstage. Can't neglect my Cats -- WHO TOTALLY BEAT LOUISVILLE!!!!

Such a great weekend, even if I DID spend the majority of it sick! And now...it's time to get away with being incredibly lazy & eating ice cream because I totally deserve it today.