Her Nashville

Some days, I wonder if I love weddings or if I just love wedding cake. It's pretty pathetic actually. I really love pretty and tasty cakes. If you follow ABG, you know I am a bit obsessed. Most wedding vendors loathe cake because it's always around. But, not me!

So, the first thing, second and the third finds that caught my attention the Saturday's Weddings, the Bridal show were...the cakes!!!

Here - all of the yummy cakes without the sinful calories.

"Hello, Joshua." 

"Hi, mom."

"This is an official 'mom call.'" I got right to it.  "My day-before-your-10th-semester phone call."

"Right on schedule," my dry-witted firstborn replied.

Does walking in the woods constitute a spiritual practice? I vote “yes,” for if the time I spent in Edwin Warner Park over the weekend did anything for me—besides get me off the couch—it took me to a place beyond the physical.

At yesterday’s bridal show, I met so many brides who got engaged on Christmas. Congratulations to all of you!!! How exciting!

While I hate to be the downer, I thought that instead of starting your wedding planning with awesome wedding photography, amazing cakes or cute engagement stories, I would start where you should start - with how to create a wedding budget.

Lesson 1: Not Everyone Likes a Good Suicide Joke As Much As You Do, Amanda

 Upon making someone’s acquaintance at a New Year’s party yesterday:

 “Do you have children?” I asked.

 “Two boys,” she said. “Four and six.”

 “Oh, mine are two years apart, too. Do yours get along well?”

 “Usually,” she said. “But this week was hard. My husband was out of town, and the boys were bickering constantly, and I just …”

One of the best things about bearing the title of Chic Geek is that you kinda have license to be a complete dork. Like right now, when I'm really about to submit an entire blog post about my love of Publix brand shells and cheese.  

Here's the thing, I've always been a Kraft mac and powder cheese gal. But hubby and I were forced to actually walk into a grocery store and bring home our own food after the closing of Plum Good (sniff, sniff).

Happy New Year!  I hope 2009 is filled with more thrills, less spills and paid bills (translation: happiness, health and prosperity!) for you and yours!

Twenty-eight years ago last night (New Year's Eve), my husband and I got engaged.  I was 21 and he was two months shy of his 25th birthday.  We had a party that night and rang in 1981 as a couple committed to a future together.

I have often vowed, as a new year approached, to lose weight, use my time more wisely, be vigilant about recycling. This year, I’m resolving to concentrate on my spiritual health.

Just as I try to pay attention to my physical health with renewed vigor as one year ends and another begins--join a gym, take up karate, cut out sugar--surely I should notice what’s going on with my spirit. I believe that one feeds the other. If my spirit is sound, my physical, emotional, and mental well-being will follow. (A girl can hope!)

Yesterday while driving I had a momentary freak-out about something going on in my personal life. For several clicks of the blinker, I was consumed with worry about an issue over which I have no control.

It's time to put that shower voice to the test.  The Nashville Symphony Chorus holds auditions on Jan. 12 from 4:30 - 6:45 p.m. and Jan. 18 from 1:30 - 5 p.m. All voices are welcome — including YOURS! Auditions include a sight-reading component, so get your notes straight. Auditions take place at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1808 Woodmont Blvd., Nashville.  Interested gals should contact Karen Mitchell to set up an appointment.