The show must go on!

Josh and I had our first stay-cation this weekend. Josh's parents will go and stay at a local hotel every now and then and I always thought this was a fun idea! It's a lot less expensive and way easier than actually going out of town but you still kinda feel like you're on vacation! So we decided we'd go back to the site of our wedding reception (The Hermitage Hotel), eat dinner and watch the fireworks in downtown Nashville. Josh's parents actually had already booked a room at The Hermitage too so it was fun to spend time with them! We met his parents in the lobby, luckily grabbed 4 umbrellas from The Hermitage and walked to Merchants for dinner. We had a great dinner but had to rush outside because the fireworks started early to try and beat the rain...which still came POURING down in the middle of the show! Everyone got soaked but the rain did not put a damper on our fun! We then went back to the hotel and hung out with his parents at The Capitol Grille before calling it a night.

Scarlett also went with us and had her first hotel stay. I don't think she enjoyed being away from home and I could tell she was confused and VERY upset when we left her alone in the room. But she did get room service prepared by a chef so I didn't feel too sorry for her!

I hope everyone else enjoyed the holiday as much as I did. I felt so blessed this weekend and I am so thankful for my country, my friends, my family and my WONDERFUL HUSBAND.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Hot day, cool event!

I forgot I never posted any pics from Chukkers for Charity. Josh and I had never gone to this event before. If you haven't either, you MUST go next year! I have never watched a polo match before so that alone was neat. I knew nothing about polo and still know VERY little but was able to learn a little bit about the game. We were guests of Dr. Monty McInturff who is the vet for Steeplechase and Chukkers so I got to go "behind the scenes" after the match and see the horsies close up. It was so neat! Well, MOST of it was neat until...

So some of the horses had to be given electrolytes after the match (just like humans getting an IV) and so they were tied up near their trailers while they were being treated. One poor horse kicked at a fly and cut his leg on the trailer and hit an artery. It was SOOOO disgusting and just so traumatic for an animal lover like me to see! I told Josh it was literally like watching a fake horror movie when they have blood spurting everywhere. I did not stick around to see what happened but thank goodness the horse was fine and just needed to be stitched up!!

So even though it was a miserably hot day, it was well worth it and I hope to go back and watch my 2nd polo match next year!

My name is Mary Kate...& I am a beach bum

Last Wednesday morning, Lacey, Beth, Olivia and I headed down the road to San Destin. Julie met us there later in the day because she drove in from Louisiana. Our car left so early because I just couldn't miss a full day on the beach! We stayed through Sunday and we had PERFECT weather. I just LOVE the beach and Destin is so beautiful!

Before the trip, I went overboard with beach toys and floats! I think I brought three floats, snorkel and mask, water balloons, boogie board, water guns and anything else water-related. My friend Lacey and I played like we were 5 years old all week and had a BLAST!! Four of us even went parasailing and none of us had ever done that before. I DID NOT want to leave. The only thing that got me back in the car on Sunday was wanting to see Josh (who was so great and provided the lodging for the trip). But Josh and I have plans to return on July 31st so I am already counting down the days. I am such a beach bum!

Here are some more pics from my wonderful week at the beach! I LOVE SUMMER!!

Five

I am beginning to wonder if Josh thinks my primary goal each day is to figure out another way to make him shake his head in utter amazement. It started earlier this week when I came home with some supplies for an upcoming girl's trip to the beach. I honestly see nothing bizarre about the following items: yellow duck ring float, mask and snorkel set, sandcastle bucket and shovels and Splash Out. Splash Out is a game like hot potato that is used with my previously purchased water balloons. So the one who has it in their hands when the timer goes off gets splashed! How can someone not think that is a beach necessity? I can hardly wait!

But Josh just shakes his head, grins and says a word I hear quite often: "Five". He started this a few months ago when I did something he thought was immature or childish. Now everytime he says that I respond back with, "Sixty-five". But to me, it just reinforces how perfect we are for each other and how we balance each other out. (This thought also randomly struck me the other day in the pantry when I saw 2 boxes of Cookie Crisp and 2 boxes of Raisin Bran lined up next to each other. I'll let you guess which one of those cereals is mine and which one is his).

And then we have tonight. If you do not know already, I am on a mission to get in shape! So my dog Scarlett and I have been meeting my friend Lacey and her dog, Lex to walk every day. Scarlett is a pom-a-poo so has very short legs, is nearly 10 years old and black so the sun REALLY makes her hot. One day this week, she even REFUSED to get out of my car. She cowered in the passenger floor board and I knew it was her way of telling me it was just too hot and sunny for her to walk so I had to take her back home. (Lacey and Lex even left after only 2 miles because it was miserable).

Even when it's not really sunny her tiny little legs just have a hard time keeping up with Lex and she just can't walk as many miles as Lacey and I want to walk. Today, I sat out a mile while Lacey and Lex walked just so Scarlett could get some rest and then Lacey and I literally carried her the last mile! So tonight, I presented Josh with what I thought was the perfect solution.

After a carefully thought out presentation by yours truly, he agreed to let me order the dog stroller...with the following stipulation: He is never to be around when it is being used.

Done. So Scarlett will soon be riding in style! My next mission on behalf of Scarlett will be in August. She will celebrate her 10th birthday and I want to have a big party at Maggie's Bark Park in Franklin. Her last big party was 5 years ago and I think 10 years should be celebrated! Below are some pics from her 5th birthday party. Note: 2 of the guests are now fellow bloggers Marsha and Lindsay!

Not sure how he'll react to this request. Perhaps I should let him get used to pushing the doggy stroller before I start pushing the doggy birthday party.

I'm sure it's hard for my forever bachelor to get used to life with me and Scarlett. But Josh is really great at rolling (or strolling-ha!) with whatever we throw his way. Guess that just goes to show you that you can teach and old dog new tricks! ;)

More Catching Up!

OK, so yes, three blogs in one night but I've been a blog slacker lately so I have much to report! Even Josh asked me the other day why I hadn't posted in forever. It's nice to be missed. :)

And I haven't posted a picture of Scarlett in a while, and as you can see, had some cute ones from this week!

Another highlight this week was trivia! Josh and I have "date" night every Monday night at the Mexican restaurant near our house. They have trivia every Monday and Josh and I have been going pretty much every Monday since January. We FINALLY placed Monday night for the first time!! We won 3rd place...and you would have thought we just won the lottery! When the announcer announced that the final category was fashion, I clapped my hands in joy! There is no telling how much we have spent eating there every Monday for the past 4 months just to win a $5 gift card but it was worth every penny!

THEN, we met my friend Oliva and her boyfriend Sean for dinner at another Mexican restaurant tonight so they could experience the joys of trivia with us....AND WE CAME IN 1st!!!!!!! Back to back victories after not winning at all for the past 4 months! 1st place was a gift card for $15!! So that brings our total winnings to $20 and our pride level to priceless! (By the way, I was the one who knew the final 20 point questions each night).

The last picture is very random but I went into the kitchen tonight and had to laugh at myself when I saw all of this on the kitchen table waiting for me. After our victorious night at trivia, we went to Publix. As you know, I HATE going to the grocery and so this was probably the first time I have set foot in a grocery store in months. (But there's no greater incentive than running out of toilet paper).

I think Josh probably wanted to wring my neck as he unloaded these gems out of the grocery cart and as the lady checking us out looked for a few small children that were obviously absent. We literally had no food in our house and my "must haves" were water balloons, water balloon sling shots and a handshake buzzer. I've just always wanted one. If only there had been a whoopie cushion my excursion to the grocery would have been complete.

Josh just shook his head in disbelief and bagged them. I can hardly wait to see the look on his face the first time I'm at some stuffy event and use my handshake buzzer on some unsuspecting politician. I can hardly wait!

A.T. (After Tokyo)

I had a busy week after returning from Tokyo. I returned late Tuesday afternoon, had Just Desserts on Thursday night which is a fundraiser for the Williamson Co. Republican Party, a charity event in Nashville Friday night (where we met Lee Greenwood) and Steeplechase, a graduation party and dinner with friends on Saturday. Phew!

Below is our "girls" picture from Steeple. We attended with Allison & David Taylor, Kat & Thomsen Smith and our current Lt. Governor (and future Governor) Ron Ramsey and his wife Sindy. It looked like it was going to rain all day but the sun ended up coming out eventually and we had a great time! And I ran into Jenny Beth and Matt Kroplin - I met Jenny Beth the FIRST day of college freshman year!

After Steeplechase we went to a graduation party for Colton McInturff. Rory and Joey (Rory wrote Blake Shelton's song "Some Beach") performed and we enjoyed the most beautiful sunset. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful week. I think it was God's way of telling me to slow down and not forget about Him...which is so easy to do when you have a few jam packed weeks. I got the message. And wonder how many other "reminders" I miss every day.

Tokyo!

Ok, so here is my blog entry for Japan...FINALLY! I know everyone has just been on the edge of their seats. ha! So, Japan as you can expect was amazing! It was so awesome to hang out with Lori again and see where's she's been living for the past few years. The plane ride over was not bad at all! It was a 13 hour flight and I slept for 10 1/2 hours! So when I arrived, I was ready to go!

First, when we landed we had to be inspected by the Tokyo Health Dept. because of the swine flu outbreak and were all issued masks we could wear if we wanted. I took full advantage of my new accessory and met Lori like this! ha!

On arrival day, we went to the Tokyo Government Building, Kabukicho and Shibuya. Lori wasted no time in letting me see the must sees of Japan which included "hosts" that walk around the busy areas at night. I didn't take a great pic of them while I was there but here is a pic I found on google that sums up what these guys look like! From what I understand, they are paid to sit and talk to you. Yes, they are men. And no, we did not order a hostess with the mostest. But there's always next year.
Day 2 we went to Odaiba. We visited the Toyota Showroom and Leisure Land which is such a fun place! It is full of all kinds of games and these photo boths called purikura. If I could get a booth over here I would start a new business! They were so fun. Here we are some of our purikura shots!

We also went to a science museum and it was not so fun but it did allow this photo op with our cool 3D goggles so it was worth it.

Day 3 in Asakusa was really neat (this was the old city where it looked like what you think of when you think of Japan). We also went to the Imperial Palace and checked out the Emperor's new clothes, Hibiya Park and walked every single street in Ginza. We were so pooped by the end of the day we literally sat in Mark City for an hour just people watching. The Japanese people are also SOOOO stylish. Unlike here in America where I will go to the grocery in my pajama pants, they are always dressed up. And by dressed up I mean, they have on their Prada, Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, etc... And it was a virtual Louis Vuitton parade. Even the men carried LVs. So stylish and even more depressing, so skinny. Here are some pics from day 2. I also chased down a real Geisha!

Day 4 was spent in Harajuki (shout out to Gwen Stefani). We went to the Meiji Shrine and I met Akira (Lori's boyfriend). Both were really nice! ha! This was a "lucky" day on their calendar too so we caught two different traditional style weddings. Then that night we went back to Shibuya for Karaoke! We had our own private room so we could sing as loudly and badly as we wanted...and did.

Day 5 we went to Kamakura and saw Daibutsu (the big Buddha), Hasseidera and shopping. We ended the night at TGI Fridays so I could finally eat...kidding! The best part about TGI Fridays was that they had actual Diet Pepsi which in the states I hate. But I was craving either a Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi so badly I would have paid $10 for one, and almost did at our hotel. For some reason they do not sell Diet Coke in Japan, it is Coke Zero which is NOT Diet Coke. I think I missed Diet Coke most, right behind Josh of course! :)

My last day there was not the best day I've ever had and I broke my camera so that is also why there are no pictures. We spent most of the day hoping I hadn't lost all my pictures of the trip!

And finally, I think what I will take back from my trip to the far away land of the rising sun (it is indeed that) with a totally different culture than the U.S., is that I love their toilets. I felt like I was ready to be rocketed off this puppy! The seat was even heated! I even had to call Josh and request two for our next house...and that call cost $1.99 a minute from my cell phone so that should tell you how impressed I was.

So all in all, I had a WONDERFUL trip and I'm already saving to go back...I left a purse there while shopping one day that apparently is not sold in the U.S. so guess that is reason enough to go back!

Thanks to Lori my wonderful Tokyo tour guide. Josh had just gone to Japan a few years ago and said that without a shadow of a doubt, I experienced a side of Japan that he did not! And that is exactly what made my trip so special.

Whoever Said Charity Begins at Home Apparently Did Not Live in Williamson County

What a week!!! Seriously. As I write this I am so thankful to be in my PJ's curled up on the couch with my dog and FINALLY AT HOME!! It has been a fun week supporting some great causes but it's been so busy! The fun started on Wednesday. I ran by the Franklin Tea Party first.Then off to Green's Grocery in historic Leiper's Fork for Vintage Champagne and Vintage Country Music. This event was the first of the Vintage Affair events Josh and I attended this week. A Vintage Affair benefits the Williamson Co. Medical Center neonatal unit and other organizations that support women and children of need in Williamson Co.

Here I got to hang out with Michael Honig from Honig Vineyard, dance with Leiper's Fork legend Uncle Lester and met Daniel Siddiqui who is traveling across all 50 states, doing 50 jobs in 50 weeks that depict the culture and economy of each state he visits. Kinda like what Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie did...minus the wrecking havoc, terrorizing employers and getting fired from every job. He plans to write a book about it after his travels. http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?s=9280716 (the three pics above)Thursday night Josh and I had Meet the Vintner at Boxwood Bistro. This is the formal black tie event of the week. However notice in the pics below that no one even has on a tie except for Josh! We got to hang out with Kix Brooks which was fun. Josh and he had lots to talk about regarding the wine shipment bill being passed since he owns Arrington Vineyards. So I had to entertain myself as you can see in one of the pics! :)

Then my girlfriends joined us and we all attended the Sommelier Preview Party and AVA Main Event on Friday night. Our next Governor, Ron Ramsey also joined us and was kind enough to auction off some of the auction items for us. http://www.teamronramsey.com/ Yes, as you can see below I even sported my Ron Ramsey pin even though it did not go with the outfit. Talk about dedication!

But we were still not done on Saturday. We hit the Legacy Ball Saturday night in support of the Williamson Co. Child Advocacy Center which supports abused children of Williamson Co.

And then we headed to Taste of Cool Springs Sunday night which benefits the United Way. There was so much yummy food! We met Josh's family there for this event and had a great time even though we were exhausted.So after making it home from Taste of Cool Springs, we jumped into our PJs and curled up with Scarlett to relax and watch DVR'd TV shows we haven't been able to watch all week. Best night so far if you ask me! :)

While we had some fun nights supporting great causes, Josh put it best tonight. He said he was tired of "being seen" and seeing other people. So we are in hibernation mode now.

Oh and side note: I only purchased ONE new outfit for ALL five nights (the dress for Legacy Ball)! I recycled and borrowed for all the other nights so that won me bonus points with Josh!

We still have a few fun upcoming events on our calendar however that we are excited about and will keep me away from my blog for a while. We fly out early Friday morning to attend Jazz Fest in New Orleans. There are some great artists lined up too! Dave Matthews, James Taylor, Etta James... I've never been to New Orleans so I'm very excited...plus can't wait to get back into the casino! :)

Then I am heading to Tokyo, Japan as soon as I get back from New Orleans to hang out with my BFF Lori! So I'll have lots of fun posts coming in a few weeks but this will probably be all for a while! Can't wait to catch up with everyone once I return from my travels! Hope we get some nice spring weather for all to enjoy while I'm away!

Viva Las Colorado!

What a fun past week! Last Thursday Josh and I went to see Jersey Boys with friends Nathan and Allison Poss. We went and saw Wicked with them in Chicago back in October so made plans quite a while ago to go see Jersey Boys together when it came to Nashville. It was a great play but we got in late and I had to be at the airport at 5:30 the next morning! My sister Amy, brother in law Scott, nephew Luke, niece Caroline and my mom and dad all decided to fly out to Colorado for the weekend and have a little family ski trip. The rest of my family had originally been scheduled to leave on Thursday but a big snow storm hit Denver and their Thursday flight was cancelled so we all ended up being on the same flight EARLY Friday morning.

We spent the majority of time this trip in Winter Park, CO which is about 30 minutes outside of Granby. My sister and brother in law love to ski so they were excited about all the new powder on the slopes from the big snow. My nephew took his first skiing class and it was so cute! I also ventured out onto a few bunny slopes myself. It was a fun little family trip and I enjoyed getting to spend the weekend with the fam. I do however still have a lot of adjusting to do to CO. Everytime I go I have altitude sickness which means I have a headache and nose bleeds the entire time. I just don't do a good enough job keeping hydrated I guess but Josh assures me I'll eventually get adjusted.

Sunday I went with mom and dad on a snow cat tour. It was really fun and I was glad to get up on some of the steep slopes without having to ski down them! After the tour, I took a shuttle back down into Denver to meet Josh out in Vegas. My flight was delayed a few hours and so I spent about 5 hours in the airport. Then our flight was VERY bumpy into Vegas - to the point I thought we may be diverted due to the wind. I was so relieved to finally be on the ground. And I thought Chicago was supposed to be the "Windy City"!

But it was well worth the bumpy ride to see Josh at baggage claim and knowing we would be spending the next 4 days in my FAVORITE city in the world!! We stayed at the Palazzo Hotel which is The Venetian's newest section. It was AWESOME! I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone (of course have no idea how much it really costs since it was a work conference for Josh and we didn't have to pay for it!). All of the rooms are suites and ours had 3 TVs in it! One even in the bathroom! The service was awesome, the room service was yummy (however I now know it is referred to as "in-suite dining" not room service in fancy hotels). :)

For those of you who do not know, Josh and I both LOVE LOVE LOVE to gamble (my dad absolutely hates this but we just can't resist!). :) So Josh and I spent most of our time at the Craps table. Josh was very unlucky this trip and when he loses he gets pretty irritated. I just enjoy playing the games even if I am losing. Of course generally I am not losing all that much because unlike Josh, I play with smaller amounts so I can play longer. (I did get a bit more crazy this trip once I got up and started playing with the hotel's money instead of mine!) One night I came back to the hotel room with $1400 and I woke up Josh to show him and he groggily asked me if I had withdrawn the money from the ATM! HA! He couldn't believe one of us was actually winning I guess. Then I won even more the next day. Of course we used most of my winnings on playing while we were there but I came back with quite a bit so the trip ended up being virtually free for us - even with Josh's bad luck. I also shopped a little bit if you can even call it that.

"Shopping" in Vegas for me merely consists of me walking into stores I have no business being in and browsing at items I can't afford to buy. I am amazed at how anyone can afford to shop in those stores! And of course the sales associates can always pinpoint folks like me and treat me accordingly. It really is annoying to me at how snooty those folks can be and I want to remind them that I doubt very seriously they can afford a $13,000 scarf either. But whatever, I enjoyed my window shopping and even splurged on a ring I had my eye on as a reward for my successful nights at the Craps table.

I was so sad to leave on Thursday but we really had perfect timing getting home. We were the last flight out of Vegas into Nashville that didn't get delayed. Shortly after we landed, the storms rolled through and we (along with a few others) pulled over and took shelter at a nearby church that was open. The funny thing is as soon as we got on the interstate, I had told Josh that we were now probably on the most dangerous part of our trip even after all the bumpy plane rides. And once I heard the sirens, I wanted off the road-there was no way I wanted to be forced out of the car into a ditch if we drove into a tornado! So we got off the road a few minutes and then headed home once the warning subsided.


So despite the snow, wind and storms...I had a wonderful week with my family and husband and thank God for bringing us all home safely.