Hoorah for Nashville!

I am not a big city girl. After spending two summers in NYC, I know that city living is not for me. I don’t like sharing a sidewalk with rats. Depending on others for my transportation gets on my nerves. Although- having food from any restaurant delivered right to your door is kind of amazing. So I live in a college town and I enjoy it. Nashville is a pretty big city, and generally I am apathetic to its existence. I don’t like to go to clubs or hockey games, so Nashville usually doesn’t appeal to me very much.

However, in the last two weeks I’ve had some fabulous times in Nashville that I wanted to share. It is a nice place, filled with very interesting people. There are parts of it I really love, so here are some pictures…

First of, the Woods at Fontanel. David got me tickets to see Idina Menzel there for my birthday. If you don’t know who she is, Idina is a Broadway star who won a Tony for her role in Wicked. I was lucky enough to see her perform the night before she won that Tony, and she is phenomenal! So she performed with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra at this lovely ampitheatre at the Woods at Fontanel. It was a great show!

I didn’t want to spend too much on the tickets, so we got general admission. Turns out that was a great choice for this venue! All the numbered seats were just folding chairs. Our “general admission” was on the grass right behind the chairs. So instead of sitting in a folding chair, I sat in a lovely camp chair with a cup holder! It was a beautiful day and it wasn’t too hot (now we’re having 100+ weather…). This was our view.

The only time I regretted our seats was when she WENT INTO THE AUDIENCE TO SING WITH PEOPLE!!! It was hilarious and I was jealous. A few of the people were decent singers. One of them hugged her for waaaay too long. My favorites she did were “No Day But Today” from RENT and “Somewhere” from West Side Story. And of course, for her encore, she did “Defying Gravity”. Here’s a legal video… This isn’t her Nashville performance, but I didn’t want to put up an illegal one…

Not the Nashville version, but still amazing!

The second Nashville event we went to was a food truck festival! Yes, a festival full of food trucks! It was super fun. Unfortunately, it was also super hot. So hot that you didn’t even really want to eat anything… But we did look around and get some food. We ate some there and then had to go home and eat the rest because we were about to be roasted. Here are the pictures:

This is my buttermilk cheddar cheese, fried egg on italian garlic bread grilled cheese sandwich.

Here is the Grilled Cheeserie Truck I got it from. Delish!

Here is David’s sweet chili stir fry. SO GOOD! Also there were spring rolls and this very delicate Jasmine dipping sauce. Oh, YUM!

And the DegThai truck he got it from. He says this truck sits by the capital building sometimes.

This was the most unique one we saw. Wild Bill’s Olde Fashioned Soda Pop! Free refills all day! Sadly, David doesn’t drink soda pop, so we didn’t get any. But it looked great!

Barrels and barrels of soda!!!!!! mmmmmm. They had grape…

This is a REAL ice cream sandwich. None of those flimsy chocolate wafers. Two chocolate chip cookies with salted caramel ice cream 1.5 inches thick in the middle. Perfect for this hot weather! SO scrumptious!

Cheeserie love!!

Nashville, I salute you!

Winner!

Last Saturday, I won my first athletic award! I placed first in my age group in a one mile race! I was so excited and proud of myself. Having my name called as a first place winner is something I had never imagined would happen! After the race, I thought I had done well. I guessed I finished within the first 20 people. We decided to stay for the awards ceremony, because I thought if age group awards were given, then I might have won something.

It took for-ev-errr. The DJ was taking his time reading off all the names, and even stopped at every name he wasn't sure about and asked if he was saying it right... On top of that, they lost the page with my age group on it so it was the almost last thing announced! I was really glad we stuck it out, though.  When he finally got to us he called the third place winner, I had seen her cross the line after I did, so I was excited. When they called second place and it wasn't me, I got confident. "First place, me!" I whispered to David. When the DJ called my name I was so excited! David even yelled out a whooo! I was so touched at how proud he is of me. As an award I got a picture frame with a postcard inside that says 1st place- 1 mile race. Very fancy :)

This experience reminded me of another time I won first place. It was in sixth grade and we were having a 4H speech contest. I remember when he called the third place winner I was annoyed because I didn't think that person had done very well. I was thinking of how unfair it was that I wouldn't even win anything and she did... I was so upset I didn't hear the 2nd place winner. I just knew it wasn't me. More disappointment. Then he called me for first place. Shocked is the best way to describe how I felt. How could I have won?? My shock turned to joy as I realized that mine had been the very best one. I was so proud!

Since Monday I have been in the ISI for the Middle TN Writing project. I wrote about this experience in a few different ways. We had to try 3 different leads: interrogative, onomatopoeia, and dialogue. Here is my favorite one. (this is a first draft. don't hate! but nice comments are welcome.)
"What was my time?" I gasped. My legs were burning. "Oh I didn't look. Sorry!" he responded. My legs felt like jelly as I maneuvered precariously across the rocks in the ditch beside the road. I flopped into the grass next to the finish line and took a long pull from my water bottle. I came up for air, panting. "Need your inhaler again?" he asked, concerned. I shook my head. "Just sprinted at the end. I'm OK." When I caught my breath we wandered around the booths aimlessly, waiting for the results. We waited and waited. Eventually the awards started, but we were still waiting due to the DJ losing the paper my age group's results sheet. I was nervous. I thought I would place, but I didn't want to wait around so long for nothing. Finally, he announced us, "First place for female 24 to 29... Lauren Person!"

Renewal

Spring is a fresh start. In the spirit of spring I am renewing my blog! I've renamed it and given in a new look. The name "Burst with Song" comes from Psalm 30:10-12
"You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance; You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers. I'm about to burst with song; I can't keep quiet about you. God, my God, I can't thank you enough." All around me I see His glory and mercy. Especially outdoors!

My decision to start writing again came from me being accepted into the Middle TN Writing Project at MTSU. It is a 2 week intensive that will focus on me as a writer, as a teacher of writing, and as a leader in my school. I am very honored and excited to go! During the interview they asked about my writing habits, and I realized how much I used to write in school. I loved it then, and I missed it. So the old blog has been revitalized!

I have been revitalized, too! My usual distaste for winter was not as strong this year. Partly because we had almost no winter to speak of, and partly because I took up running (jogging). In January my teammate, Kirby, told me she was going to do the Couch to 5K and I decided to join her. The program calls for you to run 3 times a week. So three afternoons a week I was outside. I think just getting outside during winter helped it be more bearable. I felt energized when the cold wind blew through my hair. Just being around the trees and plants and sky cheered me. The running kept me warm despite the numbing cold.

Running was so much better for me mentally than physically (although physically its been great, too). When we started out, I wondered how far I could push myself. At the third week we were asked to run 3 solid minutes. I did not think I could do it. I was very doubtful. I was filling my head with nonsense about being ok with it, that I would just push myself as far as I could go and stop. But my mind was filled with encouragement from God. I remembered the scripture about running the race with endurance and the cloud of witnesses around us. I imagined all the people who I knew that would want me to succeed. I imagined the saints in heaven cheering (and they all look like Ben Austin...). I remembered the song my parents sang in Children's Church "I can do all things, all things, all things. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". I made it through 3 minutes. It seems such a small thing now, but in the moment it was huge. After that, I knew I could do any amount of time I set my mind to. My body would not give up, I just had to keep my mind occupied.

I learned that I can endure much more than I ever thought possible! That realization makes me feel so good and confident. It helps me trust that whatever life brings, God will see me through if I can trust him to help me endure. All that from running around my neighborhood in the cold!

Now the cold is gone (maybe? this week has been so chilly) and it is spring. Only 6 more weeks til school is out! (It seems like only last week it was August and I was just meeting my little darlings.) The flowers are beautiful and the trees are full again. Our neighborhood has attracted more bees that I've ever seen and the pollen has been EVERYWHERE! So much so that I even had terrible allergies for a few weeks. But now things are evened out and its just lovely.

More writing to come soon! Love!

Windows

Moe is having a hard time today. He is facing the challenging concept of windows.

This weekend David and I "cleaned out" kindasorta our "art room". Where David is SUPPOSED to work on art. Its more like a giant closet.. But anyway, we moved some stuff around. Put some artwork in the attic, and moved 2 chairs up here. I am sitting here with the window open enjoying the new view and birds singing.

Moe, however, can just not handle it. He is up in the recliner with me as usual. But now he sees birds and cars and trees and people. He can hear other dogs. He smells a new smell in the air. But he can't be a part of it. He keeps reaching as far as he can and sniffing. He will not stop looking out the window! He is actually standing on my legs to get a better look out the window. He keeps starting to go toward the window, but stops. Too much junk is in the way.

He is very agitated about this. Let's do an experiment. I'll close the window. We'll see if he's still interested. Here goes! ......
Still interested! Even though he can't hear it or smell it anymore, he still sees something out there he wants to get to...
.....2 minutes later... Still looking intently but not lunging towards the window as much anymore.

Hmmm. I feel we must draw some conclusion about life from this interaction. Anyone??

RUSH

So last night, we went to see RUSH in concert! It was amazing. Here's why.

1. RUSH fans are very devoted. The arena was SOLD OUT! There were people from all over the place there. And all of them were hardcore. They knew the words to the songs. They could drum the beats. The were wearing RUSH t-shirts. I counted 86 while we waited for our dinner and walked to the arena. Then I stopped counting because once inside the arena, there was no way for me to continue counting.

2. RUSH is a band who enjoy making music together! There are three of them (if you are uninformed. shame on you.) and they have been in the band since high school. Over 30 years of working together and touring. All the original members! How rare is that? They are getting older, but still rock out! AND they have fun! You could tell they enjoyed playing together. It was nice to see.

3. They are ridiculously talented! Alex Lifeson plays main guitar, and WOW. He is absolutely amazing! Geddy Lee, the singer and bassist, sings really high. If you've ever heard him, you'd know it. He was still hitting some high notes last night! I mean, he has had to change some stuff, because he is getting older, but what a strong voice! And then, my favorite, Neil Peart. The best drummer in the world. He is very focused, but also relaxed when he plays. And his drum set is HUGE! It swivels around so he can play even more stuff. He had a 20 minute drum solo covering about 4 different genres of music. AMAZING!

4. Their videos were funny. Not stupid annoying boy humor funny, not gross funny, not provocative funny, just FUNNY! I appreciated them.

It was a great experience. So much fun despite me losing our tickets. Wait, what? You lost the tickets? Of course I did, do you even know me? I lose absolutely everything. Luckily Ticketmaster has a plan for that. Way to go ticketmaster!

Lessons learned: RUSH is the best band ever. Always order tickets to be at will call.

The Collective Noun for Turkeys is a Gang.

I live in a duplex right in front of some woods. There are many creatures in this wood. We have seen deer, possums, rabbits, and TURKEYS. In fact, the day my parents and I went to look at the house, there was a gang of these turkeys strutting around the parking lots!
If you have never had the pleasure of meeting a wild turkey, here's a peek.
Ok, so we move into the house in June and on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we see a huge gang of turkeys! We counted. 29 big fat gangsta turkeys! Just strutting around like they owned the place. I told them that they needed to hide so they wouldn't be eaten, but they did not care.

Fast forward to the next summer. I am trying to sleep in, because its summer. I have a hard enough time sleeping in as it is. I actually just got up from a nap to type this because once my brain gets going you just can't get it to shut up. So, trying to sleep, and I hear this loud THWACK sound! It sounded like someone was slapping a plastic trash can by my front door. I figured that was unlikely, as I live surrounded by the elderly... So I go downstairs, peek outside, and two turkey gang members are smacking my door with their wings! What did I ever do to them??? I opened the door to look at them, which intimidated my dog, and they strutted away.

This morning, it is beautiful outside! Warmth and sunshine have broken through the persistant winter Narnia-ness that had been hanging over middle Tennessee. So I am taking Moe for a walk and I see something red out of the corner of my eye. I turn and see two turkeys by a neighbor's front door. One turkey is leaning down to look in a window, and the other turkey is guarding the front door! What the what? They are seriously spying on this house. What in the world would cause a turkey to do this? They are gang members, I tell you! So, I continue around a corner, and when we walk back by, there are three of them! In turn, they each raise their wings, as if to give the all clear signal, and strut off together.

These turkeys boggle my mind. The new collective noun for turkeys is a gang.

Just some anecdotes

"Mrs. Person, my neck hurts." (she means throat... she tells me this daily.)

"What is a hotdog?"
"You know, a weeeenie. Like a weeenie. With a bun. The bun opens on one side and you put the weeeenie in it!"
"Oh...." (exit Mrs. Person from the room- cracking up)

"knock knock"
"who's there?"
"bat"
"Bat who?"
"bat who! That's right!" (i have no idea why that was funny...)

"Mrs. Person, how's your day been yesterday?" (this child asks me this almost everyday...)

a student was standing at my desk watching me, I turned and asked "What do you need?"
"A hug!!"

"We have pictures! And we are going to put them on our shirts!" (one child's explanation of our self portraits in which we are drawing our heads and torsos, and gluing photos on the shirt part...)

"Valentimes" (all of my kids during our Valentines' Day program practice)

child: "The art teacher's going to get pregnant!"
me: "I think you mean she IS pregnant and is GOING to have a baby... "

"You know Jesus? He looks into our hearts. He lives in the sky and he can see us. And sometimes he eats grass."
"He eats grass? Why?"
"I don't know, we haven't gotten to that part of the book yet."

Just wanted to remember why I love my job. My kids are the best!!