Five on Friday

Happy Friday! Soooo glad the weekend is finally here - P is playing the Opry & I'm SO happy to see her!

It's that time again....some random 5 on Fridays!

one. I bought my sister & I tickets to see Wicked next week! And then I got the tickets to see Wizard of Oz at the symphony center in June -- SO excited to see both. A movie that we never ever tire of seeing!

two.  Goodness knows I love a good DIY project, and I found this on pinterest this week. I absolutely LOVE this idea to make the filing cabinet look so much cuter - and I love the color too. This is totally on my list of things to do.

three. We got our VIP passes for Spooky Empire! I'm so excited to meet all our peeps from OUAT, although I'd totally have settled for just meeting Lana Parrilla & Sean Maguire (swoon!). The VIP will help us get everyone we want, and that now includes Pat Carroll! This line up is amaaaazing. 

four.  I've been working on planning our Disney Trip this week-- and no it's not until November, but I fully intend on making this a "go big or go home" trip for my Paige. Aunt Nicole doesn't do anything half -assed.  (And wow, I do nothing but plan trips lately!) Anyway, Disney sent me stuff this week for the deadlines of everything, and they want me to sign up for our dining plans in May. Paige & I laid some stuff out, and she's excited to hit up the Be Our Guest restaurant.  It's really hard to make plans there without bursting into song....

five. Spotted this on pinterest this week & loved it. I keep seeing everyone complain about their job, but not doing anything about it. Nothing will fall in your lap, get off your ass and go make your dream job.

But I'm alive & well in Tennessee.....

First and foremost - who heads to the Sweet Sixteen for the 4th time in 5 seasons!?

My CATS, that's who! Go Big Blue!! WHAT a nail biter - it truly could have gone either way in that last minute & I was sure biting my nails. But my Cats pulled it off!!

In other news, the bestie & I spent the weekend with George Strait. King freaking George. No big deal. It was so hard to contain our happiness about seeing him, we've literally been counting down the days since November. 

King George bound!

It was aaaamaaaazing. 2 1/2 hours & 34 songs - which didn't even begin to cover all his massive hits! You could close your eyes and it was as if you had the record going on the turntable - his voice was so amazing. I went in with hopes of hearing my 3 favorite songs, but knew if I heard "Marina Del Ray" live, I would die happy. 

However, George must've heard me...because I got all three of my songs!

this is the result of a quick run to different seats with an iPhone!

We got so so teary eyed to 'Troubador' & 'The Cowboy Rides Away'. I hate this is his last tour, but can't blame him! I'm so happy he'll still be recording. 

Another thing that I loved was the crowd reactions. The true sing along to EVERY SINGLE SONG, no matter if they were singles or not. The massive freak out to "Unwound" - folks, it's hard to get countrier than that song! It's no secret Country Music was my first true love, so it's the little things like this that warm my heart. The want for genuine country music - and not the silly pop crap from today - is still there!

I loved this....waiting for his encore, everyone pulled out their cell phones and used the flashlight app to glow & get him to come back. It looked so awesome. (Glad my phone had SOME use - thanks Bridgestone Arena for not having WIFI and having the worst signals ever. Not being able to use our phones for pretty much anything the entire night was terrible, hahaha) 

"Oh the last goodbye's the hardest one to say....this is where the Cowboy Rides Away...
 Thanks for the memories, King George! 

Saturday was spent in Kentucky, celebrating the sis' birthday! Dolphie's was pretty packed, and we didn't get to sing as much as we normally do. But, we still had a blast and most importantly, Samantha had a great birthday! 

We totally told Metcalf to get his Strait on, we had a full set list of songs we wanted him to sing for us. Apparently, he took us literally - and showed up in his best button up plaid shirt.

The birthday girl brought red solo cup shot glasses (is this one of those "you know you're a southern girl if....you own both red solo cup shot glasses and mason jar shot glasses" things?) and wanted us all to do a shot for her birthday. To make it cuter....we popped out the sharpie and wrote our names on it. Well, kind of our names. Rita & I decided to continue channeling our inner country stars, sooooo everyone took lead from our other names.

with the birthday girl & the bestie! 

After that whirlwind weekend, I need sleep. Happy Monday y'all!

How to spend a Thursday night...

Oh what a crazy, crazy week it has been! Work, sessions, editing - it's been a whirlwind -- and about to get busier.

We did celebrate my sisters birthday on Wednesday at her house - and we celebrate 30+ year olds birthdays by playing Disney games together with the kids, eating dinner & watching "Frozen", hahaha. It was a great night though, and my sister had a great birthday.

Our cousin Mike and his fiance are in town this week for some classes she is taking for work, so last night we spent the night hitting a few places along the streets of downtown Nashville. Which is coincidentally what we did with him the last time he was here 6-7 years ago!

The worst part about the majority of our family being in FL & OH is we don't really see them as often as we want. But when we ARE together, it's like no time has passed and we're instantly the kids we were growing up.  It was fun to catch up & talk (okay, so it was a little more like shouting, hello bars with live music. Welcome to Nashville!) about so many memories... "Remember when we were at Universal Studios and...." "Remember that Christmas Eve that...."

We started out at Margaritaville, where we grabbed dinner!

And then we moved onto Tootsies, which is probably the worst to go and actually think you're going to be able to move or talk because of the insane crowds (but it's where I wanted to take Danielle, since she hadn't been there before! Just playing the good Nashvillian!), but SOMEHOW we lucked out upstairs and got four seats. This never happens when we're there! 

Then we headed over to Silver Dollar, which usually has a pretty good band playing. We saw three bands play &  two were really fabulous, and the last was just flat out entertaining.  However, Silver Dollar has better lighting, which prompted a "THIS IS GREAT LIGHTING, LET'S TAKE A TON OF PICS!" 

Mike was so outnumbered by girls!

The logistics that went into taking a group shot were pretty hilarious. 

We capped the night off at the Full Moon Saloon because the band there usually doesn't play crap - IE; they won't play any of the BS you hear on the radio today. I always get such a delight when someone requests Luke Bryan or Jason Aldean & the band says no, they only play real country music. I love my town. We got them to play us some Alabama, Strait, Waylon & Alan Jackson, did some obnoxious singing along & got Mike to do some crazy dancing for us before realizing it was close to 1am....Danielle had to be at classes on time Friday since she was late Thursday, so we called it a night! 

Such a great kick off to a killer weekend....the bestie will be here shortly & we'll be heading off to our George Strait concert! I am over the moon that it's finally here! We head to Kentucky tomorrow to of course, celebrate Samantha's birthday at Dolphie's!

Happy Friday y'all!

PS: It's SPRING, IT'S SPRING! Don't think I didn't paint my toenails & rock open toed wedges last night!

Sweet Sixteen!

Happy Sunday! First and foremost: My show is back tonight! 3 whole months without Once Upon a Time is no fun. You have no idea how excited we are -- and we might be throwing a little viewing party. (Yes, our shows are serious business.) Ohhhh the excitement!

Some family gently reminded me this week that I was a little behind on blogging about Paige's Sweet 16. Oops...this week has flown by, and I completely got absorbed in other projects!

Paige had a pretty fabulous 16th! The Birthday Girl chose a local Mexican Restaurant for her dinner – I don’t think she expected them to come put a sombrero on her head a top the crown she wore, and loudly sing to her. She played the embarrassed card, but I know she secretly liked it & had a great time!

my beautiful girl! 

Operation make a huge deal of the 16th Birthday was a success!

She was tickled by pretty much everything, from her dinner, to the flowers her little brother picked out for her,  to the balloons I came in with. (Ever tried to fit lifesize Sweet Sixteen balloons in a Ford Focus? The struggle is real, folks. Thank GOD I scratched the “I’m going to get the giant Sweet 16, and then 16 balloons to surround it!” idea!)  And of course, she was quite pleased with the $$ in her cards. The joys of being a teenager is everyone knows cash is on your mind, and usually gives you that. That made present opening time quite easy and quick! This year, she got cash & a Disney World trip this November  from Aunt Nicole, so now it's time for us to start planning! Not to mention, she can save that cash and buy her own souvenirs at Disney!

What really made it nice was Mom was feeling up to going out (she's still recovering from her surgery, thanks to everyone whose checked in!), and my bestie drove up to celebrate with us, so we had a full house of people who just wanted to celebrate our girl!

partying with the sis, birthday girl & mom!

sis & bestie!

For home, we had it a little more low-key. All she really asked for were these pretty fabulous cupcakes my sister had made:

And her highness even indulged me and let me shove the camera in her face a few times without the "Ughh Aunt Nicole, are you taking more pictures of me?!"

my gorgeous girl! this face still melts my heart just like it did 16 years ago! 

the girl spent forever in the bathroom beforehand, so Paige could curl her hair and get dolled up. Definitely the belle of the ball ;)

Happy Birthday lovebug! 

All in all, Paige had a really fabulous Sweet 16. And being a total sap, she let me know she read my blog that I'd written on her birthday, which made her cry. Which of course made me cry that she cried. Ahhh....we're so related!

Oscar Time...

Happy March! So happy it's here -- the TV nerd in me can't contain my excitement that Once Upon a Time finally comes back this weekend!

So much went on this weekend, but since I haven't even pulled pics off the camera yet, we'll save that for tomorrow.

And instead, we'll move onto the Oscars.

Am I the only one who thought "Blue Jasmine" was good, but not over the top great? Apparently so, because Cate Blanchett sure made a sweep at all the awards shows.  (Although, I may just be bitter that she beat Queen Meryl!?) This year was the first year I had seen every single film nominated for best picture, so it was a good watch this year! I've said a million times that 12 Years a Slave was the best movie of 2013, so I'm really glad it won Best Picture!

Anyway, totally starting with this girl:

Lupita Nyong'o. I couldn't help but tear up with her when she won. (And her speech was so moving  & heartfelt!) She was so INCREDIBLY powerful in 12 Years a Slave. I didn't see this going to anyone but her. Also people, she looks like Cinderella! Love her dress & headband!

Jared Leto also made me cry with his amazing speech about his mom. (Also, his eyes are oh-so-dreamy!) This was another win I didn't see going to anyone else. If you haven't seen Dallas Buyers Club, you absolutely must, no excuses not to have seen it!

And of course: Bette Midler wins when it came to the performances of the night. Not only did I loooove this red carpet dress (her performance dress, not so much), but she was totally CC Bloom for two minutes and sang "Wind Beneath My Wings", which of course is only from one of the greatest movies ever made. I may have started fangirling when she started singing.

Looooove Calista Flockhart's dress! I'm not usually a big fan of white, but this screams class & elegance. 

Swoon. Could Bradley Cooper get any hotter?? Didn't think he could, but he showed up like this. Totally the best dressed guy there.

However, my favorite guy of the night was at Elton John's Oscar party. Swoon....I love love love me some Tony Goldwyn! Oh how he's gone from being the bad guy in Ghost to the ridiculously hot Fitz on Scandal. He always looks good in a tux! (or...anything!)

I thought this was a pretty good year for the Oscars! I didn't disagree with too many of the awards, and it seemed to me like everyone got more time for their speeches!? Multiple great speeches this year, complete with an "Alright, Alright, Alright" from McConaughey!