First of all, a clarification of the 55 "firsts"- these are not necessarily all meant to be "bucket list" items. Some are just "hmmm, that might be fun" or "I've never tried that before," etc. But this one is a bucket list adventure for me, one of the original 55th birthday wishes:
17. Ride a Segway!
I did it! And it was so fun! On Tuesday, I googled "Segway rentals in Nashville" and found one location. I clicked on the "Contact Us" button and sent an email explaining that riding a Segway was on my bucket list, I would be in town Thursday thru Saturday, and did they allow the general public to test drive the machine. Didn't really expect to hear from anyone, but late Wednesday I got a reply from "Jim" telling me that if I could visit the store around 2-ish on Friday, "we can check that off your list." Only problem was, we had our super-tourist-tour planned then. Long story short, we ended up going from The Pancake Pantry to the Segway Store. Jim met us at the door and said, "Are these my Bucket List ladies?" He was a little cutie (looked like David Runsick, for those of you who know him :) and he gave us a little tutorial, then led me around the little showroom area. We went in a circle around the room a few times, including the simulated bumpy road and ramp. Then I solo'd! Very slowly. But it was as much fun as I expected it to be. Only 1 of my fellow travelers was brave enough to try it, but I so appreciate them all indulging my strange request. I'm trying to post some video proof of my adventure, though you will have to turn your head sideways to look at it. Can anyone tell me how to rotate a video???
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Spring Break- Part Deux
To put a great ending to Spring Break, 3 of my best traveling buddies & I made our second trip to Nashville (TN, not AR :). We left Thursday morning and drove straight to the famous Pancake Pantry for lunch. We tried to eat there last year, but the lines were always too long. Our timing this time was perfect! We waited about 60 seconds, and that was just because I requested our family's favorite waitress, Mary. We met her in 2002 when Micah was a freshman at Vanderbilt (sweet brag :) and have talked with her many times. Again this time, she remembered and asked about everyone in our family, including our foster daughter! And Mary is 70+ years old/young! We all loved the pancakes and fixin's and Mary's company.
Much of our Nashville trip was planned around meals. We often shared meals so we could be hungry enough for the next culinary treat. Thursday's dinner was planned around...
16. Line dancing with friends at Wild Horse (Saloon)!
We arrived at Wild Horse, waited about 10 minutes for a table, claimed our seats and went straight to the dance floor for a line dancing lesson! Let it be known that:
-the 4 of us are glaringly Baptist when it comes to dancing,
-per our pre-nup, there will be NO video posting proof of this activity,
-we ALL had great fun!!! And the early-hour patrons were sweet daddies dancing with their babies, sweet older couples slow dancing, & well-behaved families :) So I think even our preacher would approve!
We also visited Bicentennial Park. We heard just a little of the carillons, ringing out "Tennessee Waltz" and had our picture taken by a nice gentleman that posted it on his Bicentennial Park website. We were a little leary... but it turned out to be legit.
Friday included a self-tour of the Parthenon, with its amazing 42-foot tall golden Athena statue. It is located in the Centennial Park, which had gorgeous tulips, Canadian geese, and general beautiful-ness.
Next meal- lunch at Monell's. You share a table with a total of up to 12 people and eat family style, passing to the left :) Our fellow diners were a couple & their 1-yr old adorable daughter, from California, and a couple (he had great dreds, or however you spell that...) from Nashville. He was hilarious & kept us grinning and lol-ing.
The afternoon was a bus tour of Nashville & country stars' homes. Yes, we were total tourists! Our tour guide was a speech pathologist's nightmare! He talked really loud and felt little need to pronounce all syllables or sounds of words. He really seemed to like "Kelly Pick(l)er. Kelly Picker. Kelly Picker." And he put the emPHAsis on strange sylLAbles, like "Nash-VEEL" and stange vowels, like "NISS-san." We did see some nice houses. And Martina McBryde's cute VW Beetle. And the "Tar-jhay" where Nicole Kidman shops with her kids. Thanks to Groupon, we did not pay full price for this treat.
Dinner at Cheesecake Factory, a first for a few of us.
Saturday we visited the town square of Franklin TN. Very nice place. Did a little shopping in cute shops. And, of course, ate again! At a quaint little place with pies with meringue about 6 inches tall.
And my favorite adventure of the whole trip... see next post!
Much of our Nashville trip was planned around meals. We often shared meals so we could be hungry enough for the next culinary treat. Thursday's dinner was planned around...
16. Line dancing with friends at Wild Horse (Saloon)!
We arrived at Wild Horse, waited about 10 minutes for a table, claimed our seats and went straight to the dance floor for a line dancing lesson! Let it be known that:
-the 4 of us are glaringly Baptist when it comes to dancing,
-per our pre-nup, there will be NO video posting proof of this activity,
-we ALL had great fun!!! And the early-hour patrons were sweet daddies dancing with their babies, sweet older couples slow dancing, & well-behaved families :) So I think even our preacher would approve!
We also visited Bicentennial Park. We heard just a little of the carillons, ringing out "Tennessee Waltz" and had our picture taken by a nice gentleman that posted it on his Bicentennial Park website. We were a little leary... but it turned out to be legit.
Friday included a self-tour of the Parthenon, with its amazing 42-foot tall golden Athena statue. It is located in the Centennial Park, which had gorgeous tulips, Canadian geese, and general beautiful-ness.
Next meal- lunch at Monell's. You share a table with a total of up to 12 people and eat family style, passing to the left :) Our fellow diners were a couple & their 1-yr old adorable daughter, from California, and a couple (he had great dreds, or however you spell that...) from Nashville. He was hilarious & kept us grinning and lol-ing.
The afternoon was a bus tour of Nashville & country stars' homes. Yes, we were total tourists! Our tour guide was a speech pathologist's nightmare! He talked really loud and felt little need to pronounce all syllables or sounds of words. He really seemed to like "Kelly Pick(l)er. Kelly Picker. Kelly Picker." And he put the emPHAsis on strange sylLAbles, like "Nash-VEEL" and stange vowels, like "NISS-san." We did see some nice houses. And Martina McBryde's cute VW Beetle. And the "Tar-jhay" where Nicole Kidman shops with her kids. Thanks to Groupon, we did not pay full price for this treat.
Dinner at Cheesecake Factory, a first for a few of us.
Saturday we visited the town square of Franklin TN. Very nice place. Did a little shopping in cute shops. And, of course, ate again! At a quaint little place with pies with meringue about 6 inches tall.
And my favorite adventure of the whole trip... see next post!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Spring Break- Part 1
We love you, Spri-ing Break, oh, yes, we do-ooo!
Sleep til 8:30- check; read magazines on the deck- check; tackle the "to do" list- not yet...
Yesterday, my DIL and I made some cards for an event she has this weekend. I was very flattered that she likes my cards enough to suggest this! We felt very creative and completed 4 sets of 3 cards each. Took us about 3 hours. After Mindy left, I made 5 more cards for a friend. Took me about 10-15 minutes. Haha- just teasin' you, Mindy! The creativity part is what takes time- I just copied one of our simpler designs 5 times.
Here are some of the cards we made:
PS In a blatant act of begging for blog-affirmation--- I will give a set of 4 DC original cards to the first person who asks ON the blog.
I did accomplish 2 things on my task list: add pictures to blog :) and fix my picture problem on my phone. Months ago, I sync'd and updated my iPhone and inadvertently added ALL my photos from my hard drive to my phone- 8669 of them, to be very exact! Finally, yesterday I loaded iTunes on my laptop (didn't know you could do that on a 2nd computer...) and somehow figured out how to delete those photos. I'd offer a tutorial, but I'm not exactly sure I know what I did or could duplicate my efforts. But it worked- hallelujah! Now I can take pictures with my phone again.
15. First pedicure!
This morning, my friend, Tommie, and I went to Nice Nails & Toes (love the name :) and I had my first ever pedicure. It was great fun- the pedicure AND the conversation! I love the massage chair and the pampering of the feet (except for that one little part with the scrub brush that tickles really bad). I was not very brave in my choice of nail color- have to do better next time.
Heading to Nashville in a few days, with some plans for more firsts...
Sleep til 8:30- check; read magazines on the deck- check; tackle the "to do" list- not yet...
Yesterday, my DIL and I made some cards for an event she has this weekend. I was very flattered that she likes my cards enough to suggest this! We felt very creative and completed 4 sets of 3 cards each. Took us about 3 hours. After Mindy left, I made 5 more cards for a friend. Took me about 10-15 minutes. Haha- just teasin' you, Mindy! The creativity part is what takes time- I just copied one of our simpler designs 5 times.
Here are some of the cards we made:
PS In a blatant act of begging for blog-affirmation--- I will give a set of 4 DC original cards to the first person who asks ON the blog.
I did accomplish 2 things on my task list: add pictures to blog :) and fix my picture problem on my phone. Months ago, I sync'd and updated my iPhone and inadvertently added ALL my photos from my hard drive to my phone- 8669 of them, to be very exact! Finally, yesterday I loaded iTunes on my laptop (didn't know you could do that on a 2nd computer...) and somehow figured out how to delete those photos. I'd offer a tutorial, but I'm not exactly sure I know what I did or could duplicate my efforts. But it worked- hallelujah! Now I can take pictures with my phone again.
15. First pedicure!
This morning, my friend, Tommie, and I went to Nice Nails & Toes (love the name :) and I had my first ever pedicure. It was great fun- the pedicure AND the conversation! I love the massage chair and the pampering of the feet (except for that one little part with the scrub brush that tickles really bad). I was not very brave in my choice of nail color- have to do better next time.
Heading to Nashville in a few days, with some plans for more firsts...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Credit-less Dining & In-Law Treat
13. Pay cash for all eating out for one month.
Guess which month I decided to try this??? Yep, that short month! For the entire 28 days, I paid cash every time we ate out, as well as several shopping trips. This included our Colorado trip dining ('cept for that one time Brian cheated when I wasn't looking- that doesn't count, though, 'cause I didn't fully inform him of the rules). Our credit card balances had gotten a little steep for my comfort & this credit-diet was very helpful. I now have even more respect for those of you that live by the Dave Ramsey "Financial Peace" philosophies.
14. In-laws to Colorado
All of the immediate family has made the trip to Colorado to see Micah, Daniel, & Ben, except Brian's parents. Sybil & Charles are in their early 80's but are very young at heart and pretty doggone spry. They traveled VERY well on our surprise visit for Micah's birthday. They were a little reluctant to agree to the trip. I think they were afraid they would slow us down in the drive. We pretty much just get in the car & GO until we need gas. The "old folks" never requested an extra stop. Now, I think they were very happy when we DID stop. The trip was very well worth it for all of us. (And I consider this a "pay it forward" situation- my kids now are required to take me, 15 hours if necessary, to see my great-grandchildren.)
Guess which month I decided to try this??? Yep, that short month! For the entire 28 days, I paid cash every time we ate out, as well as several shopping trips. This included our Colorado trip dining ('cept for that one time Brian cheated when I wasn't looking- that doesn't count, though, 'cause I didn't fully inform him of the rules). Our credit card balances had gotten a little steep for my comfort & this credit-diet was very helpful. I now have even more respect for those of you that live by the Dave Ramsey "Financial Peace" philosophies.
14. In-laws to Colorado
All of the immediate family has made the trip to Colorado to see Micah, Daniel, & Ben, except Brian's parents. Sybil & Charles are in their early 80's but are very young at heart and pretty doggone spry. They traveled VERY well on our surprise visit for Micah's birthday. They were a little reluctant to agree to the trip. I think they were afraid they would slow us down in the drive. We pretty much just get in the car & GO until we need gas. The "old folks" never requested an extra stop. Now, I think they were very happy when we DID stop. The trip was very well worth it for all of us. (And I consider this a "pay it forward" situation- my kids now are required to take me, 15 hours if necessary, to see my great-grandchildren.)
Recording Music
12. Success with digital interface & Audacity!
Two and a half years ago, I went to a music store & requested an EASY method of recording piano/keyboard music and then burning it to a CD. I've made many cassette tapes over the years for practicing choir music, or for other music practicing purposes, and even a lullaby tape of long-distance Nana songs for baby Ben. Making the switch to CD recording should be simple, right? And Mr. Music Store Man said it was. We bought a digital interface, downloaded the Audacity program, and Brian tried to figure it out. No luck! (That was about the same time that we bought a new computer that had that wonderful Vista program. It didn't recognize or like the interface.)
A few months ago, we bought a new laptop & had a private lesson from a music techno geek friend and we could ALMOST reach our goal. Many hours of experimenting later... I am now able to play a song on my keyboard, save it as a .wav, and then burn it to a CD that plays on most any CD player! All by myself! Almost every time I try it! (One of my 1st projects was a practice CD for Teachers' Pet Preschool's "Peter Rabbit" program- if I had to play "Down By the Bay" one more time...)
If you need a keyboard CD, I might be your man.
As you can tell, it takes me quite some time to "bond" with new gadgets. I received Photoshop as a Christmas gift- in 2009- and learning to use it is on my short list of Firsts this year. It is now loaded onto my laptop- a good start, I think!
Two and a half years ago, I went to a music store & requested an EASY method of recording piano/keyboard music and then burning it to a CD. I've made many cassette tapes over the years for practicing choir music, or for other music practicing purposes, and even a lullaby tape of long-distance Nana songs for baby Ben. Making the switch to CD recording should be simple, right? And Mr. Music Store Man said it was. We bought a digital interface, downloaded the Audacity program, and Brian tried to figure it out. No luck! (That was about the same time that we bought a new computer that had that wonderful Vista program. It didn't recognize or like the interface.)
A few months ago, we bought a new laptop & had a private lesson from a music techno geek friend and we could ALMOST reach our goal. Many hours of experimenting later... I am now able to play a song on my keyboard, save it as a .wav, and then burn it to a CD that plays on most any CD player! All by myself! Almost every time I try it! (One of my 1st projects was a practice CD for Teachers' Pet Preschool's "Peter Rabbit" program- if I had to play "Down By the Bay" one more time...)
If you need a keyboard CD, I might be your man.
As you can tell, it takes me quite some time to "bond" with new gadgets. I received Photoshop as a Christmas gift- in 2009- and learning to use it is on my short list of Firsts this year. It is now loaded onto my laptop- a good start, I think!
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