Month Late Bday and NASHVILLE!

My birthday was Aug. 1st and I had a wonderful day - a little work celebration, lotsa phone calls and texts, some shopping and then dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with Rod. It was a lil different b/c I've had my last 3 birthdays with atleast 15+ friends and my fam at whatever restaurant of my choosing but I really appreciate ALL the wonderful cards and gifts I got from everyone - it helped make up for feeling a lil lonely! You guys are the BEST and I love you!!!

Outside the Cheesecake Factory


Well being on the east side of the country has it's pros and cons.

Cons - Hurricanes
Pros - being close enough to drive a few hrs to meet up with your cousin and her husband for a fun Labor Day Weekend!

We drove about 4.5 hrs to Nashville, TN better known as Music City to visit with Meghan and Stoney for the holiday weekend and we had SO MUCH FUN!

Our first night we got freshened up and went out to eat at Texas Road House - Stoney had never been and it's Rod's favorite so we figured since they drove they should be rewarded for their efforts in getting us there safely! :~) We actually stayed in Brentwood which is south of downtown about 15 mins so it was the perfect location and our hotel was BEAUTIFUL!

Meghan and Stoney

Me and Rod

The next day we headed off to see the Parthenon. Yes, the REAL one...just kidding (that will hopefully be checked off our list in the near future) - but it was actually pretty cool to see. It was built in 1897 and is a full-size replica of the original in Athens.

This was a GIANT 42 ft. replica of Athena Parthenos - it took the sculptor 8 years to complete and is currently the largest indoor sculpture in the Western World. This thing was seriously huge.

There were a bunch of art pieces and sculptures throughout the building - not sure which one this was but Rod is just too cute not to post.

Meg and I outside the Parthenon

Meghan was on a mission to get a pic sitting on one of these swings – she chose the only one in direct, penetrating sunlight. Stoney was noticeably thrilled. It did turn out to be pretty cute tho Meg - way to go!

We saw this train caboose on the way back to the car...

Naturally – boys will be boys and they both HAD to climb it and take a pic


Rod demonstrating how to disregard the spray-painted notice

The next stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum in downtown

They had all sorts of memorabilia in there and it was pretty cool, even tho I had never even heard of a lot of the artists…I’m a little new to the whole Country Music thing so I still have a lot to learn!


We went on the RCA Studio B tour and even tho our “guide” was a little more informative then we would’ve liked :~) it was cool to see Elvis’ favorite recording studio and all the original instruments in there.

We headed to the Grand Ole Opry the next day…there weren’t any good concerts going on but we had to atleast prove we had been there!

Embarrassing story: I was at Cosmo's (the salon) visiting 2 of my roommates where they both worked in 2004. They had a TV on in the front lobby and I sat down to watch and something came across the screen about the Grand Ole Opry. Like I said before, country music stuff is pretty foreign to me and I had never even heard of this place. I said (out loud unfortunately, and pronounce it just like I have it spelled) “What is the Grand Olay Opree?” They all immediately laughed and made fun of me! (Which I deserved bc I'm usually the pronounciation stickler!) My only defense - being a Mountain View Toro, there's a part in the fight song where it says "Olé" - and that's the only thing I had to go off of. Regardless - I will forever be mocked for my ignorance.

Rod and I infront of the GRAND OLAY OPREE :~)

The theater was right by the Opry Mills Mall so we hit that up and decided to eat and play some games at Dave and Buster’s too. Here's Meghan waving thru the bubble…Rod’s face was too serious so we were forced to lighten the mood.

My biggest win of the night - my first card swipe on the Wheel of Fortune Game-BAM! 300 tickets!

I made Rod fold them up for me so they would all fit in the cup…don’t worry - I gave him 5 tickets for his hard work!

It was such a fun trip - never a dull moment. From the late night Taco Bell run, Mansion shopping, the hotel's breakfast nazi, or the glass elevator ride that made Rod a hero...we had a BLAST! Can't wait for our next trip! How does New York sound?!

My somewhat "Political" post

Go ahead - click on this link and listen to this idiot.

Barack Obama - I don't want my daughters "punished with a baby"

Wow.

I've been watching the SaddleBack Forum on YouTube for the last hour too...and I will probably be up late b/c of it. If you've got some time - I invite you to watch a few of the clips. I'm no guru on this stuff...but I try to have an open mind and learn what I can. I realize McCain is far from perfect, but Obama is a buffoon. End of story.

If you wanna learn more - These guys are bomb....Sean Hannity & Bill O'Reilly

What a patriot right?

McCain '08

Jenna's Wedding, Pink Eye, 4th of July in Houston, Rod's folks visit ATL and Dollywood...yep that about covers it

ARIZONA

I've been going non-stop since June 18th when I headed off to AZ...I was soo busy with the wedding I didn't get to spend hardly ANY time with some of my friends and unfortunately didn't even get to see a few of you! Hope you know I would've done ANYTHING to see you and I still feel terrible about it!

Jax, Matt and Chad at the reception -
aren't the boys so good at matching!?

Decorating the toaster - yes those are our Sonic cups...mostly mine and Jax's


Jax, Jenna and Brooke - she still looked absolutely fabulous on her 116 degree wedding day!!!

Me and Gibson-he spewed on me atleast 3 times that day...and I still think he's freakin cute

HOUSTON

Well a week before our 4th of July trip, I was fortunate enough to contract DOUBLE PINK EYE! Ofcourse it happens to me b/c I'm the clean freak and I wash my hands constantly!!! Rod took me to Urgent Care the next day to get a prescription and we were there for 2 hours! The actual doctor was only in the room for about 2 mins, looked in both my eyes, told me what I already knew, said he'd get me a presciption and then left. And we just paid him HOW MUCH?! Anyways, it was terrible...I looked like a drug addict and/or victim of domestic violence.


Rod's older brother Ronnie Paul and his wife Stacy were sweet enough to open their home to us along with several other family members. We had 15 ppl all staying under one roof and I thought we'd go crazy but it ended up being absolutely perfect! Stacy is def. one incredible hostess!

Yes I wore patriotic colors for 4th of July...you don't?? :~) Notice the pink eye...this was pretty much the last day of it thankfully!!

Please disregard how unhappy Rod appears to be in this pic, his expression may be caused by the fact he's holding this adorable chunk of a baby Caleb! (Ronnie Paul and Stacy's youngest)
I have NEVER seen a baby with knees like his, they dimple when they're bent!!! He was such a good baby though - only whimpered when he was hungry or tired and grinned the rest of the time!

Here's Rod again with Russ and Erin's youngest Brasser playing at the food court in the mall. The whole gang went but the boys didn't last too long, they ended up taking all the kiddies home and the girls stayed and shopped, got our nails done and went out to eat at Pappadeaux's! We had a blast together!

And here's the entire Crumpton clan! Oh and isn't it sick how freakin tall I am compared to the other super cute, petite Crumpton ladies!! Thank you RP and Stacy - we had SO MUCH FUN!

GEORGIA/TENNESSEE

2 days after flying home from Houston, Rod's parents came to visit us in Georgia for a week!

They are the first ppl to actually fly out to see us in the 9 months that we've been here.. not counting Carrie - your missed flight counts in my book! So I guess I need to stay away from AZ longer to make ppl miss me first! :~)

We took a 1/2 day from work on Thursday and went to the Georgia Aquarium. Ronnie and Elaine taking a pic in front of the BIG TANK!

Friday morning we headed up to Tennessee thru the Smoky Mountains (no "e" in Smoky). The

scenery was GORGEOUS! That is def. one thing I really like about the south - it's so green here!

We stopped in Gatlinburg, TN to eat lunch and came back a little later after getting settled into our hotel to take a ride on the SkyLift!

Gatlinburg in all it's teeny tiny glory

No caption needed - Rod's face says it all

Dollywood!!! Yes it's a REAL place, yes they have a few impressive rollercoasters and YES there were the most redneck/white trash ppl there I've ever seen in my life! Just replace the asians at Disneyland with hillbillies and there's Dollywood for ya!

Thank you so much to Ronnie and Elaine - it was SOOO fun having them with us and they treated us WAY too good! Since I've never lived close to them, it was a perfect oppty to get to know them better and they really are amazing parents/grandparents and ppl in general! I'm so fortunate to have them for my in-laws!

Lakers vs Celtics

Down 3-1 in the finals...and I'm getting a little nervous. I have to admit, Pierce is just freaking good!


And now look at this fruity little pic of Bird and Johnson - not exactly the rivalry like nowadays...times have changed I would say! Why the shorts? Seriously...



Honestly...the only thing I really was hoping for came true, thanks to my Lakers!


Russ & Erin - I wish we were sitting on the couch together like we were last year when this gem of an event went down...haha!

Splish Splash

My brother-in-law Quinton sent me this video of Gibson and I had to share.
You can hear Q explain. It's kinda slow on Blogger but hopefully you get the idea! Enjoy!

Isn't he soooo stinkin cute!?! I love him...

Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend was wonderful...(except for the fact that the Spurs beat the Lakers, not gonna get into it right now.) Rod and I decided we would actually go and DO something in downtown ATL! It's about 37 miles away and traffic here is HORRIBLE so we haven't really had a reason to be down there except to go to the airport. We decided to hit up the World of Coca Cola on Monday & to our surprise it wasn't super busy! PHEW! It took about an hour & 1/2 to get thru the 20-acre complex and most was self-guided which was nice bc I'm not very patient.

Rod imagining he's taking a cold one from the pharmacist that made it all possible- John S. Pemberton himself!

I want this thing in my house - it's a super old soda fountain made of solid marble. Atleast that's what I think they said - wasn't paying attention, I was daydreaming of being able to have this thing filled with crushed ice and gallons of vanilla Dr. Pepper....

They have these different fountain drinks you can try with different Coke products from around the world like Europe, Latin America, Asia, etc. I'm here at the African station sampling their "Stoney" - this pic is for you Meg! Most were filthy...but Rod and I enjoyed watching the foreigners gather around to sample the United States fountain drinks! HAHA! We did get a bottled coke at the end but Rod was a little disappointed when he found out they didn't have the cane sugar bottled coke like you get in Mexico...what the?!

Afterwards we walked down to the CNN center to get some lunch and ate at this place called Don Juan's. Mexican food is few and far between in these parts. There is no such thing as Filly-B's here, Gecko Grill is a foreign concept and Costa Vida never seemed so far away either!

We took a nap when we got home and then went and saw the new Narnia too. And what better way to end a day than with a Route 44 VDP from Sonic...the perfect ending to a pretty perfect day.

I cried during American Gladiators

Yes, you heard me - I cried during American Gladiators yesterday. John Siciliano competed yesterday and I had so many mixed emotions over this guy last night! Background - he was in a car accident when he was young and lost his leg b/c of it. They didn't go that easy on him in the events, but the Gladiators were nice enough to help him up to get help get him going again.

I didn't watch the beginning of the "Eliminator" b/c I knew there were some tough obstacles to get thru and I wouldn't have been able to handle my emotions...but I watched the end and oh my gosh, I just started bawling! So inspiring watching his determination to finish this event that ppl with TWO legs have a hard time doing! Just had to share...def. the best American Gladiator episode I've ever seen.

This pic is awe-inspiring...love it.

Care Bear Square Hair Turned 22 Yesterday!

Well this post is a day late but I had to give a shout out to my girl CARRIE ANN for turning 22! I will share a few of the MANY things I absolutely LOVE about this fine lady...


classic Applebee's bathroom photo op

mall photo booth

TP'ing Jenn's truck

Bachelorette party in Vegas

Meeting up at the ATL Airport

*She is by far the BEST shopping partner I've ever had! Our mall routine is an art! We always know exactly what store we are going to and in what order. We may go our separate ways in the store but always meet up at the dressing room to try things on, give our HONEST opinions, and then check out. Beautiful...

*Carrie makes ANYTHING fun...it doesn't matter what we're doing, who we're with, or why we're even there....a fabulous memory is ALWAYS made!

*I love going to visit Carrie at the salon. We always get Rosati's or Capriotti's for lunch and I know I'm gonna walk outta there with the hair color/style I was wanting! She is always so good about working with my sched to get it done - even if we end up being there til midnight!

*She has an AMAZING voice...one of the thing's I miss most is being in the car with her and singing whatever song we had on at the top of our lungs!

*We can, and usually DO, finish one another's sentences. And if we can't use words...we always have "the nudge". haha!

*If we go out to lunch or dinner, and there's spinach artichoke dip on the menu...we're getting it. No doubt.

*She is super creative! Always has some idea on how to make something...or how to "enhance" it!

*Without fail, if she goes on a trip - she will bring something back for me! From toothpick holders, to fake birds perched on petrified wood, to dinosaur statues made completely of seashells to D&G purses..my list of random goodies is unimaginable.

*I love that she names her personal belongings...her car, her iPod, the dangling crystal that hangs from her review mirror...and it's normal to us!!!

*Carrie is there when you need her, & she knows exactly what to say or do to make you feel better and can always make you laugh! I am so thankful to be able to call her my friend...I don't know what I'd do without her!

You're the best babe! Love and miss you like mad!