May is the Greatest Month

May is the greatest month. Why? Because.

Because we celebrate Mother's Day.
     Wesley and I drove around and passed out flowers to his grandmothers.
     Sean and Wesley each gave me a card. I got a cute picture frame for all of Dubby's many faces.

Because the weather is finally cooperative.
     I love shorts and flip flops!!! Life is easy again. And much less painful.
     The only downside is I have to start shaving again.

Because school got out and morning rush hour is finally tolerable.
   I don't even have time to get into how jacked up Franklin Road is in the morning.
   Good riddance, Traffic Cop!

Because of reasons to drink and celebrate like Cinco de Mayo and The Kentucky Derby.
     We celebrated neither, but we did get to have a yummy family dinner of home made
     spaghetti and meatballs at "Family Lunch" day. Thanks, Susan!

Because of O'More's "Eloise" Fashion show.
     The show was enjoyable as ever.
     Warning: Do not drink too much at the fashion show and decide it's a good idea to go to the Pig
     afterwards. And a guy named Stinky Sam might try to push his homemade "wine-shine" on you
     and your friends. And then you might not feel good on Saturday (even though you only had
     regular wine). And you might have to stay in your gown the following day. And then realize your
     gown is on inside out, but you don't care.

Because May means MAH BIRFDAY, y'all!!!
     I wanted a low-key birthday, and that's what I got. I was greeted with a b-day card at my desk,
     and Sean took me to Chik-fil-a for lunch (my request). He made a delicious dinner for me when
     we got home, AND he let me watch what I wanted to on TV. Can you guess what I chose?
     Call the Midwife. I love it so much.

Because of Sisters Weekend.
     I went to Louisville to see sister. We had a nice visit, and I got some much needed R&R.
     She spoiled me with a gift of an hour long full body massage (from a professional. Not from her.)
    More on Sisters Weekend in another post.

Because of Memorial Day.
     A time to remember and pay our respects to those  brave men and women who paid the ultimate
     sacrifice while serving our country.

Because the pool opens.
    I feel refreshed just thinking about dipping my feet in chlorine pee-pee waters. I love the pool.

Because it's the unofficial start of SUMMERTIME!!!
    Which is the opposite of wintertime, which happens to be the suckiest time of the year.

Because Wesley turned 8 months old.
     Sweet baby boy is such an angel.

*Because I resigned from my full-time job!
(*applies to 2013 only)

Franklin is Closed

So, this promotional video of Franklin is going around on Facebook, and at first it brought a small tear to my eye...like I was a proud mama watching her kindergartener "graduate."




Watching it made me feel nostalgic. I'm so thankful that my parents chose to move me here when I was just a kindergartner myself. I'm thankful that I have a safe place to live and a nice place to raise my own kids. Thankful for the ridiculously picturesque Main Street and freakishly perfect neighbors...

 And then I was like: Wait. What the heck is going on here!? You're telling me they are ADVERTISING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO MOVE HERE!? LIKE I DON'T ALREADY HAVE TO SIT IN AN HOUR OF FREAKING TRAFFIC TO GO A MERE SIX POINT SEVEN MILES TO WORK?!?!?

No, thank you, promotional video people. It did not work. I am still mega pissed about the traffic.

This town is officially CLOSED to anyone who tries to enter. Says me!

The Day I Met My Family

Sean spent last weekend in Chicago with his younger sister and even younger brother (Hi, Emily! Hi, Trevor!)  and I heard that the 3 of them had a blast. I'm so thankful they had the chance to spend the weekend together. Never have I know such a fun (and funny!) group of siblings. Being a part of their family brings me joy.

It's funny to me when I remember that fateful day in August 2000...the first time I met my new suite mate Emily. The day was full of excitement and nervous energy. I was moving to Big Orange Country to start my freshman year of college. Finally leaving home and getting my first taste of freedom....New faces, new surroundings, and I was so very intimidated by the thought of life on campus and all things college.

I started a new chapter of life that day: Moving into Adulthood. You know, that first year of college doesn't have anything to do with academics. It's really where you learn to spread your wings, start defining who you are as an adult and start carving your own path as an individual. Deciding where you want to go, who you want to be, bla bla bla...and that first day of life at UT was sooooooo much more monumental than I knew at the time.

I don't remember meeting Sean for the first time. I don't remember meeting him a second time. Or a third. It's like he just leaked into my life without me even realizing it, and all of a sudden I woke up next to him one day and he was my baby daddy! Seriously.

I do, however, remember meeting Emily for the first time. We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning (like, 5 a.m.) talking our faces off. Like, talking so much that we became hoarse. We each shared our life stories from top to bottom, and that night was the beginning of what would become a life long bond. The reason I think it's funny is because I imagine going back to that day and saying to Emily, "Hey, real fast - I'm going to marry your brother. And you're going to be an aunt to the cutest baby ever!"

I wonder what would have changed if we'd have known? Would I have been nicer to her that year? :)

Ah, but there was no way to know...and that's what makes it so magical. There was no way that I could've looked at her brother while he was setting up her computer and said, "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm your future wife." Boy, that would've been the end of that.

Thankfully it wasn't the end of anything. It was only the beginning. Here we are 13 years later and I somehow ended up with the best family ever.

In April

The month of April whizzed by without me even noticin'. In January I wrote down in my calendar that I wanted to go to Asheville in April. Do you think that happened? Naw. As I sit here now, drinkin' my glass of 2-buck chuck, I can't even remember what went on during April.

Let's see if my trusty ole camera can jog my mem'ry. Ah yes...here we go:

For starters we had a 6 month old, and my goodness what a joy he is! So precious, sweet, snuggly, innocent and drooly. I just love him to pieces.

 

It was my little sister's 27th birthday, and she came into town for a visit. I let her have her pick of restaurants for her birthday dinner and she chose "M," which is owned by the same folks who do Mack & Kate's. We were at Mack & Kate's last year for her birthday. I sense a theme here...

 

Anyway, "M" was delicious.

 

 

We started with Crawfish Toast: Cajun Spiced Crawfish mixed into a Veloute cream sauce with Cheddar on Brioche. It was amazing, and after the brioche was all gone (or "big ole croutons" as we called them), we were spoonin' that cheese sauce out of the bowl and damn near licked the thing clean!

 

For the main course, Big Sister had: Chili dusted bone-in pork chop, braised collard greens, chunky apple puree and squash casserole. But surprise - the squash casserole was in an EGGROLL! So it was an eggerole?? Whatever it was, it was so melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Crunchy on the outside, warm and cheesy on the inside. This I know to be true: you can never go wrong with deep fried anything, especially fried casserole.

 

Little Sister enjoyed a true southern classic: Shrimp & Grits. Succulent Gulf Shrimp, Bell Peppers, Sweet Onion, Andouille Sausage and Creole Cream in Wiesenberger Stone Ground Cheddar Grits.

And for dessert (as if we hadn't eaten enough already) I indulged in JACK DANIELS CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE!!!!! And sister chose the cobbler of the day, which I believe was peach if memory serves...

We had such a lovely time together - just the 2 of us - and of course, we stuffed ourselves silly. Such is the life of a Hargis sister, I suppose.

But what could be better than a delicious 3 course meal at a nice restaurant? Why, a homemade meal, of course!!! Our step mom has started a new tradition of making Sunday Supper for all of us each and every month. And boy, she is an amazing cook. Just look at this salad!!! Because it was sister's birthday month, she got to pick the meal. We had bacon wrapped filet, asparagus and loaded baked potato...and nanner pudding for dessert (I think). We enjoyed having sister home with us for her birthday celebration, and we always enjoy getting together with the family. Dad and little brother even gave us a banjo concert in the kitchen after lunch.
 

 

 

I don't have the pictures to prove it, but we also went on hike to Percy Warner park with a group of friends one Sunday afternoon. We even brought the babe along. I'm not gonna lie...I was a bit scared to bring him, but it worked out just fine. He wore our backs out, but he was a doll the whole time (even ate lunch from a squeezy pouch while we hiked!)

 

The last weekend of April brought the ever-popular Main Street Festival to Downtown Franklin. Sean had to fulfill volunteer duties with the Heritage Foundation, but Wesley and I visited daddy at his station. We ran into old friends, enjoyed street food and fun music, and admired all the arts and crafts. It was the perfect way to end the month.