DINGED

Oops! Bet you thought things were getting boring around here, didn't you? Enter THIS:
First of all, I'm sorry Mom that you are just now learning about this. Would you believe me if I said I have forgotten to tell you? I sowwy.

Second of all, check this out - this little incident took place exactly TWO YEARS to the date of the last "incident." Yep. How about that? If you think I ever plan to operate a motor vehicle again on October 1, you are crazy.

On this particular sunny Friday, I was having lunch with a friend to talk about a favor I was doing for him. He was kind enough to buy my lunch and while I was there, I saw another friend. It was shaping up to be a good day.

After lunch, I got in my car, backed out of my parking space, and just as I was about to throw it in drive, I noticed the bimbo driving backwards through the parking lot. Did she see me? She wasn't slowing down. At this point, my car is perfectly still - wondering if I had time to move out of her way, or if she in fact saw me. I honked the horn a few times. Nothing. She didn't see me. Faster and closer she came. Then - CRUNCH. She hit me. I watched her back right into me.

So my car now has a hole in it. Her car has a SCRATCH. The laws of physics prove that she hit me, something that she would not admit to me or eventually, my superstar insurance agent. So fast forward a few weeks and once again, Sam is helping me take care of this.

Let me give the single girls reading this some advice - find a guy friend that sells auto insurance, and buy it from him. It makes everything so much less scary and intimidating. It has been SO HELPFUL having a real, live friend to call when bad things happen to my car. We all know I don't have a husband to call, like the bimbo who may or may not have been on her phone when she backed into me, but I did call Sam.

So yesterday he connected me to the claims people who set up an appointment on next Wednesday to have the car looked at by someone that looks at cars for a living (do you see why I need someone to help me with this?). At that point, this guy is supposed to be able to write me a check on the spot for what the damage estimate is, less my super duper low deductible because I am apparently enrolled in something called Platinum Protection which offers a Safe Driving bonus so every enrollment period that I don't have a wreck, I knock $50 off my deductible. And that also means that my monthly premiums won't increase just because I was involved in this little fender bender (even though it wasn't my fault). From there, I will take it to a body shop, get the repairs done and the little car will be as good as new for another two years.

After I was all finished with the claims lady, Sam got back on the phone and we talked about football and our family. Did you know that my grandmother played matchmaker and set his parents up on their very first date? Wouldn't it be nice if he would return the favor and set me up on a blind date? You would think.

So anyway, that's what else has been going on, in addition to all that Green I told you about. Don't worry MOM, this won't be the only thing I talk about for weeks.

BUSY

In case you're wondering where I have been this week, refer to the graphic below. The green events are work:
Yeah. It's that kind of busy around here.

Notice that on 10/21 and 10/27 we have two important things taking place - babies. I am really working the phones...er, Gmail... to get these babies, who are being born at the same hospital, born on the same DAY. Wouldn't that be amazing - two of my best friends having babies on the same day in the same building? It'd be my own little Father of the Bride Part 2. I think we could make the news if it was a slow day. So far, no one has told me no. But unfortunately, I don't think it works that way. Oh well. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Til then, if you need me, I'll be in Green.

DINED

Monday night, Evan, Kate and I met up at a place way fancier than any of our local haunts: The Oak Bar and Capitol Grille inside the Hermitage Hotel here in Nashville. The occasion? Kate's 25th Birthday!
Evan grabbed some cupcakes and a card and we all met at the Oak Bar for a little pre-party fun. Before mine and Kate's dinner reservation, Evan took Kate inside the super-famous (especially if you ask my mom) men's bathroom inside the Hermitage. I don't know why they give this award, but it was once voted Nicest Bathroom in America, which warranted a segment on Leno, which warrants my mom going in there EVERY. TIME. SHE. COMES. TO. TOWN. And this is a working men's restroom, so sometimes she goes in while there's men in there. It has happened before. But Kate hasn't seen it, so Evan made sure there were no men around (other than himself of course) and took her in.
Kate and I had a great girls-only dinner, topped off by this little gem that I'd heard rave reviews for: a chocolate cobbler with hazelnut crust. Yum. That thing that looks like a stick of gum is actually a little strip of white chocolate with Happy Birthday! piped on it, but facing Kate.
I love my little family here in Nashville.

SKINNY

Well, I did it. I bought some skinny jeans... nearly four years later. And I wasn't even thinking of my Uggs when I bought them.

At $16, I figured I could take the plunge. And turns out, I love them! May go get some more soon. And yes, they fit nice and neat inside my Uggs.

Ever bought anything you were sure you'd never buy?

SICKLY

Well kids, either that chicken marinade DID come after me after I ate the second to last portion on Thursday afternoon for lunch, OR I caught a nasty stomach virus. That’s why, despite my best attempt to go to bed early on Thursday night, I instead starred in a one-woman show in my bathroom. Act One, 11:00 pm. Act Two, 12:00 am. Encore performance, and yes I was just as surprised as you that there was anything LEFT to throw up, 1:30 am. Here’s the best part: alarm clock going off for me to head into work, 4:30 am.

I got relieved of my duties around 8:30 am and went home and passed out. Once my fever hit 101.6 around noon, I decided I really should drag myself to the doctor, which proved useless. Two prescriptions, three bottles of Gatorade and a few hours later, I was back in bed… which is where I probably should have stayed the whole time.

Short of some occasional queasiness and bouts of dizziness/nausea, I’m fine. I don’t know that I will be cooking that chicken anytime soon (honestly, I don’t think that was it, but it’s pretty suspicious, no? Plus once something passes through your throat in both directions, you’re not exactly CRAVING it anytime soon, are you?) but I’ve held down some food (even during the football games this weekend!) and am back at work.

Hope your weekend was much more exciting and glamorous.

IRRATIONAL

Recently, some friends and I were listing our Most Irrational Fears. I think these are funny. Everyone fears real stuff, like crime and violence. But we all have random fears.

Mine:
*Driving in the rain
*Sharks
*Being buried alive (so no, I will not be going to see the new Ryan Reynolds movie)

aaaaaaand one we have never addressed on here...
*Dogs in places you don't expect them.

Dogs in the park? Fine. Dogs on the sidewalk? Awesome! Dogs in the house? No problem.

Dogs in the workplace? No. Dogs at the doctor's office? NO. Dogs in places dogs don't belong creep me out!

This happened a lot at my old office. One lady would bring her dalmatian/Hummer breed to work. That dog scared the mess out of me.

My friend Julia's irrational fear is women dressed as men. My friend Erin's irrational fears are bridges and parking decks, especially underground ones.

What are your secret or not-so-secret irrational fears?

BAKED

As promised, here is the recipe I made last night. This week is PURE BANANAS so I needed something that would make lots of leftovers. This is from Tables of Content, the Birmingham Junior League cookbook that I adore.

Mustard and Brown Sugar Chicken
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons grain mustard
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Rice, rice baby

Toss your chicken in a baking dish. Mix up the brown sugar, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, lime juice, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl and pour over the chicken, turning to coat. Cover with some tin foil and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours, turning occasionally (I only marinated it for two and it was still good).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the whole thing for 40 minutes. Serve over rice and don't forget to drizzle some of the hot marinade over the chicken.

Okay, so maybe I wasn't 100% alone...

GOING

What a weekend. Other than pulling for ALL the teams wearing any orange at all, I was really busy flitting all over town.

Friday night, I had tickets to a fund-raiser* taking place at a super nice restaurant in town that I had never been to. I know, that sentence is kind of ironic. I guess it is possible to raise funds at a super nice restaurant if ticket sales are good. Fortunately for me, my tickets were free. Come to think of it, all of the people I knew there had free tickets. Oh well. I'm sure they made money. As for me, I was very excited to go and support a charity (I bought raffle tickets, okay?) and experience Sambuca for the first time. I grabbed a plus one, put on my party dress and we were off. A coworker and his date met us there and we had a merry time listening to the live music and buying raffle tickets. I do love a good party.

Saturday, I ran errands and worked out before settling in for a full day of football. Go Orange Teams! To kick things off, I followed the AU game religiously on Twitter. That went well. Then I watched the UT v. LSU trainwreck, and then the Waldrons had Evan and me over to watch the Other Game. Since at halftime it was "not going the way I would have preferred" we decided to start another game, Cranium, while the second half of the Other Game was being played. That game was a lot more fun this time since Erin and I won, and not by any small margin. It was just as one-sided as the Other Game that was on TV. So now our Cranium tournament is tied and we have a championship round to be scheduled next month.

On Sunday, I went to see the Social Network. It was a very good movie. I tried to be open-minded and not just say "it was a very good movie!!!" simply because Mr. Timberlake is in it... but he was icing on the cake. No wait, maybe the fact that the movie is good is the icing on the TimberCake. Yes, that's it.

Later that night I fixed myself a nice dinner (I'll tell you about it tomorrow) and then watched another movie I had been hanging on to for a while. Date Night... by myself. What irony!

I hope you had a busy, fun-filled weekend too!

*Just in case case you were wanting to learn, fund raising is a verb; fund-raising is an adjective and fund-raiser is a noun (person or event).