Summer School

One class down, one to go. I found out yesterday that I made an A in the Financial Mgmt class I just finished last week. Not bad. My new class started this week. Now I'm in Seminar in Tennessee Government. It's an online class, which is good because I don't have to spend 8 hours a week sitting in a classroom, but bad because I have two 3-5 page papers to write every week, in addition to a 7-10 page book report & a 150-word position paper. All in a month.

This class should be an easy A. The book I have to read for my book report is on John Wilder, who I've worked with for the past 2+ years. But here's the best part, the position paper I have to write..... Yeah, it's on my boss's restaurant carry bill. The bill that I've eaten, breathed & slept for the past 6 months. I can write this paper in my sleep. Oh, and it counts as our final. Yeah, I'm totally making an A in this class.

Yay, Spinning!

I just took the lunchtime spinning class @ the Downtown Y & I freaking loved it! Seriously, I am a spin master. Who knew? I tried it once in NYC & was so sore, I never tried it again. I've thought about doing it over the years because it's such a good work-out, but I've always been too intimidated to try it again. I used to watch all the people line up outside of the spin room in their padded shorts & click-in bike shoes @ the Green Hills Y & I would always think there's no way I can do the same class those people can do; those people are actually cyclists. So I never tried it.

Lately, I seem to be surrounded by bike people - MK, Marshall, Jessica, Brian, & all my new book club comrades. I've got the itch. I'm thinking about buying a bike, but I thought first I should make sure I've got the stamina to even ride one. So for the past few weeks, I've been riding the Expresso bike @ the Downtown Y. It's this awesome stationary bike with a screen on the handlebars that lets you choose a path to ride & then you watch yourself ride said path. It's freaking awesome. You can even pass people! I'm pretty into it.

So the other day I was on the aforementioned bike & my friend, Brenda, from work came up to me & said she had taken a spinning class earlier that day & really liked it. She said there was another one on Thurs. & asked if I wanted to go with her. After she assured me that she wears neither padded shorts, nor special shoes, I agreed to go with her.

OMG, I loved it! The teacher was awesome. At the beginning of class, she made sure we all had our bikes properly adjusted, she was easy to follow, & she played great music. Brenda said the Tues. teacher isn't nearly as good. Unfortunately, the girl we had today is only teaching this class because she's recovering from an injury. I'm definitely going to keep taking this Thurs. class. Maybe I'll try the Tues. class if I'm not too sore.

Anyway..... Yay, spinning!

Savannah: A Recap

John & I loved Savannah! It was such a beautiful city. And everyone was so nice. We had a blast.

Friday:

We arrived late Fri. afternoon, checked into our hotel & set out to see the sites. We scored a hotel on Priceline in the Historic District, so we were able to walk pretty much everywhere. We walked around for awhile, just taking in the city. Eventually we got hungry & settled on The Olde Pink House for dinner. It was so good! I had sea scallops with mashed potatoes & spinach. John had their special of the night, which was halibut in creole sauce with corn & bell peppers. It sounds crazy, but it was delish! John's entree definitely won the prize that night.

After dinner, we walked around a little more & decided to sign up for a ghost tour. We signed up for the Sorrel-Weed House tour. Ghost Hunters did a show there a few years ago & allegedly it's haunted as shit. The tour started at 10:30pm & went until midnight. The first half of the tour was a walking tour around Savannah & the last half was a tour of the Sorrel-Weed House, as well as the carriage house. Unfortunately, Savannah doesn't cool off at night, so the walking part of the tour was a bit unbearable, but the house & carriage house part was really neat. We didn't see any ghosts, but we had a good time. It was definitely worth it.

Saturday:

Sat. was the Fourth of July, which we kept forgetting. This was a little problematic in that a lot of the stores I wanted to go into were closed. I did get to go to 2 of the stores on my list & they didn't disappoint. First, we went into the Savannah Bee Company, where we did a honey tasting. I had no idea I liked honey so much! Plus, they had all this awesome bath & body stuff made with honey & beeswax. I loved it! The second store we went into is called @ home vintage. I LOVED this store! She had so much stuff. I kind of wanted to live in this store. Even John liked it. I could have bought everything in there, but I left with a single sheet of wrapping paper that I think I'll frame & hang in the guest room.

We ate lunch at a cute little spot called the Soho South Cafe. I had the best grilled cheese I've ever had. It had all these different kinds of cheeses, plus pimento! This sandwich was made for me. John had a burger, of course. I really wanted one of the big desserts I'd seen at other tables, but we were kind of full, so we settled for 2 homemade cookies. Good choice.

After lunch, we went to Forsyth Park. I've never been to Paris, but I'd like to think this is what Paris is like, aside from the stifling heat, of course. The fountain is beautiful & it's surrounded by these huge sorghum trees that have to be hundreds of years old. I was fascinated by the trees, as evidenced by the countless pictures I took of them...

It was getting ridiculously hot, so we got in the car & drove out to Bonaventure Cemetery. John & I are weirdly really into old cemeteries, so this was right up our alley. We got out & walked around for awhile. Found Johnny Mercer's grave & creepy little Gracie Watson. It was an interesting place. I'm definitely glad we went.

From there, we drove out to Tybee Island. We wanted to see the ocean & maybe walk a pier or two. No such luck. Again, forgetting that it was the Fourth of July, Tybee Island was packed. We drove around forever, unable to find a parking spot. Honestly, I wasn't that knocked out with it. It seemed very Panama City Beach, circa 1994. I wasn't a fan. Eventually we gave up & started to drive off the island. We passed a sign for a lighthouse & decided to go see that instead. Well, luckily the lighthouse was close enough to the ocean that we could park & walk down to the water. I was in no mood, but John took off his cowboy boots, rolled up his jeans & dipped his toes in.

It was getting late in the day, I was sunburned & getting hungry. For dinner, we couldn't decide between Johnny Harris or Carey Hilliard's. We went into Johnny Harris & it felt like a Shoney's. John wanted to eat there, but I wasn't sold. So we drove to Carey Hilliard's, which also turned out to feel like a Shoney's (actually more like a Ponderosa), but we stayed. It wasn't bad, actually it was pretty good. It was just a weird place. I had what I call "the fried plate" which included fried shrimp, fried oysters, french fries, hush puppies, & green beans. I'm pretty sure I clogged an artery, but it was good. John had their BBQ plate, which came with french fries, Brunswick stew & a crab cake. Again, his entree won the prize that night.

Savannah had a fireworks show scheduled for 9:20pm, so we decided to get a bottle of wine & watch the fireworks from our hotel room balcony. We found this awesome place called Parker's Market that used to be an old filling station & was now an urban, upscale market. Plus, it was still a gas station! It was tres cool. We bought a bottle of wine, some fancy chocolate & a bag of Pirate's Booty. It was a great night. We watched the Savannah fireworks from our balcony, then watched the Macy's fireworks on TV.

While there, I relied heavily on tips from 2 blogs that I follow, Design Sponge & This Young House. The Design Sponge link really helped us out with where to eat & places to shop.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/01/savannah-guide.html

http://www.thisyounghouse.com/2009/05/on-the-road-again-savannah-or-bust/

http://www.thisyounghouse.com/2009/05/window-shopping-sweet-savannah/

Lastly, here are the pics from our trip. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16828091@N04/sets/72157620879456595/

Viva la Vacation!

I need a vacation like the plants need the rain, so when I found out I have tomorrow & Monday off, John & I quickly planned our escape. We can't go far because John has to be back at work on Monday, so we needed to go somewhere within a 6-10 hour drive. We came up with either Charleston or Savannah. We ultimately went with Savannah because it's a shorter drive. So we're going to Savannah! I can't wait. I've wanted to go ever since I read Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil way back when. Plus, 2 of the blogs I read have blogged about Savannah recently, reigniting my desire.

I'm so excited. We got a good deal on Priceline on a hotel in the historic district, so hopefully we can walk pretty much everywhere. I've already got a short list of shops, restaurants & sites I want to see. We won't be there long, but I think it's going to be a good trip. We leave early tomorrow morning & come back sometime on Sunday night.

Viva la vacation!

Squash Casserole

I got my hair cut on Friday & my stylist, James, gave me the biggest yellow squash I've ever seen. He had buckets of them he grew on his farm. Lauren is growing squash in her yard & was talking about this awesome squash casserole she made from the Loveless Cafe cookbook. I was excited. I couldn't find the Loveless recipe, but I found one on All Recipes. It was sooo good! The main difference between the two recipes is that I used cheddar cheese & Lauren used Velveeta. Also, mine has eggs & milk; hers doesn't. Other than that, the recipes are pretty much the same.

Here's the recipe I used:

Yellow Squash Casserole

Ingredients:

• 4 cups sliced yellow squash
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 35 buttery round crackers, crushed
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place squash and onion in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour in a small amount of water. Cover, and cook until squash is tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well, and place in a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together cracker crumbs and cheese. Stir half of the cracker mixture into the cooked squash and onions. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and milk, then add to squash mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter, and season with salt and pepper. Spread into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cracker mixture, and dot with 2 tablespoons butter.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Would You Like Cream With That?

Nashville's favorite music blog wrote about the ELO show Friday night, as well as the Those Darlins show Saturday night. Both posts mention one Mr. John Baldwin. Worth reading.

ELO:

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/2009/06/how_i_became_the_bomb_and_kind.php

Those Darlins:

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/2009/06/those_darlins_and_the_black_li.php

ELO Show

*Photo courtesy of Kat McNutt*

Friday night How I Became the Bomb & Kindercastle played ELO's Out of the Blue in its entirety @ Mercy Lounge. John played with them, as did a 7-person strings section. It was insane. If you weren't there, you missed out. It felt like being at a concert, opposed to being at a local rock show. I've been listening to Out of the Blue all weekend, re-living the show. It really was that good.

I took some pics, but they're pretty crappy. Andy's girlfriend, Kat, took much better pics. Kat's photostream also includes pics from the 2 weeks' worth of practices leading up to the show. Enjoy!

Kat's:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyspore/

Mine:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16828091@N04/sets/72157620545838583/