Up in Lights...Neon Lights

Ahem. Hear ye, hear ye...Main Street is glowing once again thanks to a new sign. The lighting of the new Downtown Franklin Theatre drew a crowd of 2000+ people this past weekend. It's a pretty amazing sign if I do say so myself...


*click the picture to enlarge, and then hit your 'back button' to continue reading

Check this out! Franklin Girls Cotillion dressed as retro theatre ushers and passed out popcorn to the patrons. It doesn't get any more all-American than this sh*t, people.

*photos courtesy of someone on Facebook...


Mr. SPC attended Saturday night's festivities as a board member of the Next Generation Herigate Foundation. 'Next Gen' (as we locals call it) is responsible for raising the $100,000 that it took to recreate this work of art. It's an exact replica of the original 1937 neon sign that originally lit up Main Street. As if Downtown Franklin wasn't already vibrant enough, now we have the neon to prove it...

SPC says: "Although South Jersey will always be my home, it's nice to be growing roots in Franklin. It's a great town with a lot of character, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to be involved in the community. The atmosphere was electric on Saturday night. It's amazing to see thousands of people all excited and proud of their hometown, all there to celebrate this milestone. The Franklin Theatre is such a part of Downtown Franklin history, and having the opportunity to help restore the marquee has been special." Awwww, ain't he sweet?

Nashville Rises

I love this place. I love Nashville, I love Williamson County, I love my HOME. I love the people here, the kindness, the music, the scenery. I'm thankful that Sean loves it, too, and that he chose to stay here with me and start our life together.

You should definitely click here to watch the trailer for Nashville Rises, a documentary about the Nashville flood. I realize that we aren't the first or last city to be affected by a natural disaster, and we aren't unique in that regard. But this film recounts the local story - our story - and it makes me proud.

Project Pink Chair

Let me begin by saying that I'm not one of those super-chef/super-photographer/super-decorator/super-organized blogging ladies like Ree Drummond. Oh, of course I would LOVE to be...but I'm not. Still, my humble ways haven't stopped me from wanting to share this with you. This is my attempt to blog about home decor.

I have a NEW PROJECT: Project Pink Chair. She's sturdy with clean lines, and I really enjoy the curvature of the arms. Oh, and she was only $9.99!

Poor Sean...I dragged him to Goodwill last Saturday sharing my excitement about "my awesome find." He looked at me...he looked at the chair...he touched the chair...and then he said "ok, we can get it." I know he doesn't see my vision, but I do appreciate his faith in me (and my non-existent chair covering abilities.)

This is pretty much the look I'm going for:

I think it's clean, classic, and studious. My master plan for our bonus room/office/media room is English Library. Don't know if you can see the houndstooth detail in this photo, but I am IN. LOVE. with houndstooth. The chair above is listed on Overstock.com for $329.99. Obviously, my plan is to recover the pink chair for a fraction of the cost and come away with the same effect.

There's always tomorrow...

Confession: I didn't do anything productive yesterday. Not a single thing. Just for the record, neither did Sean. I guess we are even.

It was a cold, still Saturday. Patches of snow are still left on the ground. I attended a funeral (my step sisters lost their grandmother). The burial was touching - someone released balloons. I lost the feeling in my toes. Everyone stood around afterwards, not really knowing what to do or what to say.

It made me sad. Sad for them because I know they are hurting. And sad for me because I remembered the burial of my grandmother just a little over 1 year ago. I don't like to think about death. Not just because our loved ones have passed, but because I'm afraid that I'm not doing enough living while I still have time on this earth.

Thinking about life coming to an end makes me feel like I'm not making the most of my days, not enjoying life to its fullest. Which is why I'm even MORE disappointed in myself for staying in yesterday and napping. I came home after the funeral feeling a little drained from weeping, and so I took a THREE HOUR nap. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathon was on, so I watched a big chunk of that, and played with Murphy.

Before I knew it, mom was calling to see if we wanted to meet up with the family* for a 6:00 dinner at Nachos. Dinner already! I haven't done anything all day!

Dinner was chaotic, and Sean and I were forced to calm our nerves with several beers. After a quick stop a Home Depot for a mop head, we returned home to watch District 9. I promptly fell asleep (had zero interest in a movie about aliens).

So today is a new day! A sunny day, a somewhat warm day. I plan on being much more productive, breathing in fresh air and smiling a lot. I better get started! It's just past noon and I'm still in my PJ's. Did you know that planning a week's worth of healthy yet cost-effective meals is a long, challenging and somewhat sucky task? Yes, well...it is.

*the family in this case consisted of my mom and step-dad, his 4 daughters, 3 sons-in law, 5 of his 8 grandchildren, and 4 random friends. I hope someone remembered to tip the server...

H2Oh No!

Warning: This may just be the worst possible blog entry of all time, but I'm in a hurry. Forgive.

So...I'm sitting here at the computer paying bills, and updating my monthly BUDGET SPREADSHEET (I know, aren't you jealous?) and I realize that last year's January water bill is $10 less. So I pull out my Q1 Utilities stubs from 2010 and start comparing the bills...and that's when I realize that we have a spike in December both years in a row. Sure, there's a spike in July and August because we're trying to prevent every shred of green from turning to a crisp. But December? December is 1,000 gallons more in both years.

The first thought that comes to mind is the live Christmas tree. But are you kidding me!? We can't possibly be putting 1,000 gallons into the Christmas tree. And let me also share a personal winter secret - I shave my legs WAAAY less frequently, so I know for a fact that we're conserving bath water. I also feel that I wash less clothing in the winter months because we're usually layered up and I don't wash sweaters.

So what is it? Am I missing something obvious? My other guesses include:
- Cooking holiday treats and, therefore, washing more dishes
- Eating bigger meals which leads to more pooping?

And there you have it - the worst blog post of all time.

Snow Day!

Grab the bowls and start mixing your Snow Cream, people! It snowed in Middle Tennessee today. A whopping 2-3" at my house, and that's plenty for me. The snow came with no ice which means that the roads are actually manageable. Still, everyone used this opportunity to skip work so I ended up being 1 of 3 people in the office. Here's a view from my window:


Sean and I plan on enjoying some homemade beef stew and French bread tonight and FINALLY getting the Christmas decorations put away. (Please tell me we aren't the only ones with Christmas things still strewn about the house...)

Can't see my face

Can't see my face? I can't see yours either. That's because I deleted my Facebook account (GASP!) The good news for you, readers, is that you'll be seeing an increase in blog posts. Which actually means a LOT more of my ramblings, so now that I think about it, maybe you ain't so lucky after all...

What prompted me to delete my account? I'm not really sure. The idea just came to me during a casual conversation with friends on New Years Eve, and I decided to go with it. After all, it was the first day of a brand new year, and I felt like challenging myself. And YES, it's a challenge. At least once a day (sometimes twice, or even three times) I find myself wondering what's going on with all my Facebook friends. Who's where? With whom? Someone say something witty? Post pictures of their new babies? The truth is, 99% of the Facebook feed isn't important, and therefore, I don't REALLY need to know what's going on with everyone. I figure this will force me to reach out to people directly and focus more on the REAL relationships in my life (rather than the virtual ones). Sadly, because I was able to read all about my friends' lives via Facebook, I didn't always reach out to them to say, "Hey there, what's new with ya?" Because I already knew. So while we were up to date on virtually every aspect of each others lives, no one was actually interacting directly.

The voyeuristic side of me is a bit bored these days. Browsing my friends' news was definitely a good time killer while I ate lunch at my desk (or while I was supposed to be getting ready for work...or while I was supposed to be getting ready for bed). I wasted waaaay too much time stalking acquaintances, old crushes from high school, people we met at social gatherings, etc. My hope is that I'll actually contact my REAL LIFE friends directly and that I'll actually have something to TALK ABOUT since I don't have the luxury of reading hourly updates.

I'm looking forward to meeting you all again!!!
Now off to a nice Mexican dinner with my mom and stepdad...Adios.

Tabula Rasa? Not when you have Decidophobia.

We’ve officially walked through the threshold into twenty-eleven, and all I feel is a big sense of disappointment. (I know, it’s only the 3rd and I’m already feeling let down???) The truth is that I’m disappointed in myself. The start of a new year presents a clean slate, the opportunity to turn over a new leaf and head a new direction, and while I have the utmost desire to do this, it’s difficult to move in a new direction when I feel so stuck. I'm just a few steps into the new year, but I can't see which way to go. It's like I'm blinded by a thick winter fog. Considering that winter puts me in a depressed mood, it may be better for me to start my new year in April. Just a thought...

Now that I think about it, getting myself “stuck” (as in: stumped, temporarily disabled, paralyzed, etc.) has been a recurring theme in my life.

I once got stuck during a piano recital and couldn’t remember anything past the first few measures. I was mortified. I quit taking piano lessons after that incident.

I got stuck while trying to choose colleges. I ended up going to UT-Knoxville and hating it. After taking a year off, I re-enrolled at MTSU and hated it there, too. I defaulted to in-state/local schools because it was the easy answer. In hind sight, I should’ve explored more opportunities further away from home.

During my time at MTSU, I got stuck while trying to compose term papers. Not just stuck on one or two, but like, ALL of them. Each time I was asked to write a paper, I went into complete hysteria. Just ask Sean – he sat with me through several crying incidents at his computer.

I get stuck when it comes to home décor. My entire house is beige – the walls, the carpet, my furniture, pillows, sheets and towels. Beige, beige and more beige. I enjoy looking at home décor magazines and websites, but there are just too many choices out there (and not enough money in my wallet). So, I choose to avoid the decisions and live with the beige.

The act of being stuck, my friends, is no good place for me. Canines have the inherent “Fight or Flight” response. My natural response to a challenge is stand still, cry a little bit and then poop my pants because I’m scared shitless. Rather than take the bull by the horns, I immediately turn into a depressed, self-deprecating, fearful mess of a human being. When there’s no clear path set for me, I struggle greatly to set forth in a new direction – any direction. Isn’t that so pathetic??? I just Googled “fear of too many decisions”, and apparently, Princeton University philosopher Walter Kaufmann identified this as “decidophibia” in 1973.

Decidophobia: people who lack the courage or will to sort through the different sides in disagreements to find the truth. They would rather leave the deciding of what is the truth to some authority.

That definition doesn’t hold true with all aspects of my life. I’m generally confident when making basic decisions such as, picking a place to eat for dinner or buying a pair of shoes. In fact, my friends usually turn to me when it comes to mapping out a plan. Unfortunately, when it comes to more important things like…I don’t know…WHAT TO DO WITH THE REST OF MY LIFE then I’m a complete coward. Kaufmann's definition of decidophibia brings up a good point, though: he says that these people are trying to find the truth. And I realize that I'm not seeking the truth. I'm just seeking a path. Specifically, the "right" path and the "cheapest" path. And it's stupid because there is no "right" path - only different paths. Each path will present it's own challenges, and each path will shape me in it's own way. I just WISH there were more FREE paths...