Less Hustle More Coffee

First of all let me just say that this weekend was glorious. Getting to catch up on sleep did my soul and spirit wonders. I had to make myself stay in bed though at 3 or 4 a.m. for another round. And while I missed “to do” time at home, I made up for it by having double energy and a good attitude. 😉

The early parts of Saturday and Sunday were spent sipping coffee, doing laundry, spiffying up the place a bit, and for me, writing and doing things on the Mac.

And somewhere along the way, while putting up a southwestern towel with cacti on it, another with turquoise and orange and yellow (southwest colors), it occurred to me how well these colors would go with the kitchen. I’d been trying to think what would make me happier with the kitchen since the stove is old and the linoleum is “forever blue” — named forever as I’ll probably never see another color in this house. Maybe one day. I’m trying to be patient but I do realize that it was one of the first things I wanted to change and we have been here 12 years. The counter tops are ugly and old as well. Before I die, I’d like to have an updated kitchen. By the time that happens I’ll be too old to do anything in it. lol. George doesn’t like to replace anything that still works. I’m lucky we got the fridge. So I’m trying to be patient. And decided I’d give the kitchen a facelift. Only in the curtains, decor, and a bigger chalk board for menu planning. I told George about this and was met with a blank face and no return comment, which anyone can give their best interpretation. However, it was my Christmas and Birthday money to spend. ;-). Also I’ve been dumping my Isagenix earnings into our account to help pay for Christmas. And I also quit getting my hair colored saving us about $60 or $70 the other day. ;-). We did Christmas up right. Holidaying and vacays are over.

And now it’s time to save. (It’s really time to start planning the next vacation but that has been halted for now as George says he is unsure about what will be going on with work. This work thing getting in the way of vacations sucks. I think we have to wait til Feb to plan this one as he will have a better idea of what week will work and what is going on – recently taken over by another company.). However, I guess Katy and I can get our time on the books and get the date on the calendar. Then we can pick the place for sure and get that booked later. Getting it on the calendar is the hard part. But it is time to save some. We have been spending like there is no tomorrow. And well, you never know.

We do have a lot of things to do at home and I enjoy being at home so much. We also have our friends who love foodie excursions – either out or on the Homefront. And here’s me wanting to lose more weight, but love my Nashville cuisine and friend time.

We did it up right this weekend too. We went to Mexican Friday after work, already mentioned and then Saturday we headed out at 3 p.m. to go by Farmer’s Market and also the TN State Museum. George wanted a pewter TN license plate holder for his car for Christmas. You couldn’t get them on line but he had seen them there. But They didn’t have them.

We got a beer at the Picnic Tap room there. As we were leaving a gentlemen stepped forward and asked if I remembered him. It was my friend Mac from Cain-Sloan and Dillard’s. I am not sure he worked long at Green Hills but we had hung out some during that time after Cain Sloan closed. My memory fails but I believe he worked in security. We had lunch some. I was really close to his Mom when I went to the Dillard’s Green Hills location as she worked there in Customer Service and Gift Wrapping. (Dillard’s bought Cain Sloan and that was their introduction to Nashville many years ago – an Arkansas based extended family business at least at that time. I’ve seen Mr. Dillard in person! Although he is probably not around now.). So it was fun running into him and he and George talked about the Gibson and guitars and such.

Then we headed to dinner but we were early so we stopped at Union Common and got a cocktail to pass the time. We had been there on a “foodie tour” once and had always said we’d like to go back. No one is ever there, but as George said “we are early as the crowds eat late these days”. It’s turning into New York lol. Places have to stay open later and later for dinner service I guess as people just can’t get there by dinner time. And to think I grew up when 4:30 to 5:30 was dinner hour – it was ready at some point during that time frame. Then when I moved to Nashville it became 6. George always ate around 8 or 8:30 so we had extreme adjustments on when to eat. I will never get used to 8 or 8:30 as a meal time. And George will try to have it ready by 7:30 or 8. He usually cooks. When I cook, I have to clean and have the kitchen perfect and do the laundry reboot first, so mine is often late too. But there was hardly anyone in Union Common and hardly anyone in Giovani’s.

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When you open the wine menu it lit up. How cool is that? There were also some $2500 bottles of wine on there. No Thank you.

We picked one and it was so good. I got gluten free spaghetti. It just seemed better for you since it was available. And there was an awkward moment when the waiter said “ok I will remove the crouton’s then from your salad” and I said “oh please don’t I want the croutons”. (lol). He said “but if you have gluten allergies?”. I said “I don’t have gluten allergies, just cutting back on…” and he looked away and finished taking George’s order. I wasn’t sure if I was cutting back on calories or what I was cutting back on – “bad stuff” I guess. That is it. Cutting back on the bad stuff.

Anyway, we had a wonderful dinner. The food was good. I had a Caesar salad. I wish the lettuce had been broken up a bit and easier to eat without having to cut the romaine, but it was good and served with a crispy piece of bacon. I have had better Caesar salads, but it was still good. No picture of my spaghetti bolognese which was really ziti I think as that was what was gluten free. You just don’t feel as bloated when you eat the gluten free, but often it is not as good. This however, if it was truly gluten free, was good. The sauce was excellent. The bread was good. It was a pretty place. A fine dining experience.

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And then Sunday afternoon at 3 my SIL and BIL came over to swap Christmas and also we headed out to do my Birthday celebration.

This is George’s sister and her husband. We had a fun Christmas swap and then went to Bar Taco where I had picked for my birthday.

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Some may have wanted to go out to another place and I was game if they wanted to, but they let me decide and I chose home. The 4 a.m. hour comes way too early.

I finished shopping on line as I had not gotten to finish earlier and then I realized – yikes it’s 10 p.m.!

Anyway it was a splendid weekend and now that the birthdaying is over, and Christmas events are over, I can go ahead and begin gathering up the Christmas stuff, and look forward to doing the kitchen decor redo. I’ve taken the before pics already. You won’t be able to see much difference I’m sure as it’s only a few small changes. And mostly have to be upclose. So I probably need to take some more unclose photos for my before shots.

Very few “to do’s” scheduled for this week. A birthday gift to send out, and schedule doc and dentist and dog appointments, and see when friends want to set dates for various things. There are about three friend dates hanging out there and I’m afraid they are all going to come about at once. Also friend Christy wants to go see Little Women.

Anyway, I better go get ready for work. I really need to be leaving about now. Probably won’t blog for another couple of days or toward the end of week. It seems to be working well to do it this way. I also have more material to cover, lol. If I blog every day I end up getting too deep and personal and this way I keep it on the surface. For the most part. I still usually thrown in if something is heavy on my mind though.

Hope you all have a great week. I’m about to dive into mine.