I just took a trip to McD's in the rain. The weather has been funky over the past month and I am hoping and praying that tomorrow night will be rain-less for our concert going. (My sweetie and I are going to see Widespread Panic and the Allman Brothers at Riverfront Park in downtown Nashvegas!)
So, back to the trip to McD's. I decide to go in to order food to-go, due to the thunderchicken's desire to not allow me to roll down her automatic windows anymore. This has been an ongoing battle between Goldie and me ever since she came into my life. It is especially irritating when I go thru drive in windows, like the bank and well, fast food places. I've almost strangled myself while opening the door because the window won't roll down, but the automatic seat belts are working just fine.
I realized I don't go into fast food places much due to the lateness of my trips. It is usually a last resort after work when I don't have a choice. I realize this as I am trying to park in the lot at 8:30pm, and there are two spots right near the entrance. Much to my chagrin, both spots are blocked by the open doors of this massive SUV filled with twin girls named Madison and Savannah. Madison and Savannah's parents are on both sides of the car with all the doors opened, trying to get their kids out of said SUV.
I realize this isn't their fault they are blocking me from not one, but two parking spaces, really. I mean, how else are they going to get these one year olds out? There is really no other way. I shrug, pull into the parking spot farthest away from the entrance, and rush inside to finish my rainy evening excursion.
As I open the doors, there are employees everywhere, everywhere except the registers. Two are tidying up the dining area, one is sweeping the floor in front of the registers, and three are in the kitchen and drive thru pull-up. I stand in front of the counter, already having my order ready. The sweeper stops his closing duty and commits to standing behind the computer, expressionless, waiting. He waits for me to speak, barely even making eye contact with me. I don't get a "hi, welcome to fast food land" as I would in the drive thru. Oh I missed it already.
Then, the happy little sport utility family burst on the scene. The mother is already shouting at her daughters, the husband wants a cheeseburger with lettuce pickle and mustard, but scurries off to the bathroom, leaving the mom to order with the two girls running about the restaurant. I hastily order and step to the left, as to not block the register for it's next victim, uh, I mean customer.
"Excuse me, have you ordered yet?" I hear a voice behind me.
"Yes"
"Oh well I couldn't tell since you were just standing here."
Seriously lady, you have got to be kidding me. Take your late night eating youngins' to bed already and get your hubby to make a run for the border later. You'll all be happier, except either way, your stomach and your gut won't thank you in the morning. I hope her chicken mcnugget happy meals keep Madison and Savannah up all night.
I get my order, and am excited to get in my car- my squeaky Goldie with her fickle windows and automatic death belts. This is peace. I start her up and head for home. I am thankful I am not Madison and Savannah. I am thankful I am not the sweeper. I am thankful I am just me.
I arrive at my destination, and while telling my boyfriend what had just transpired, he opens up his delivery and discovers that they got my order wrong.
Maybe it's time to start cooking more at home...
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
let's go to Virginia! (and North Carolina!)
Every time I think of the phrase "let's go to Virginia", my favorite movie comes to mind, and I hear the way Gabrielle Anwar says that very line in Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. Yes, that's my favorite movie, as cheesy and Disney as it truly is.
But, really, I'm going to Virginia TODAY (hopefully I'll go to sleep first and then go, but we'll see). I'm still up packing and cleaning, something Paul warned me NOT to do when I got home from working tonight. Oh, yeah, and writing a blog. That wasn't really in my schedule, but I'm a million miles a minute right now.
I always feel like this when I am about to go on a trip. I have to make sure everything is in its place at home, pack everything to "jennie specifications" and check off my to do lists.
But, really, I'M SO EXCITED. It's my first vacation in over two years. I've had a very slow month of serving, but my writing progress has accelerated, no, SOARED, to a new, wonderful height! I can't help but anticipate clicking away on my laptop when I get up in those gorgeous mountains and hear the old bullfrog croak outside my window in my family's 120 year old log cabin.
Where, you may ask, is this place of rest and solitude? Well, it's right near the VA/NC border, north of where I spent my childhood in Tyro, North Carolina, in the sleepy country community of Galax, Virginia. I'm going there to spend time with my family and do a little "country bumpkin hanging out" on the side with my friends at the annual Old Time Fiddlers' Convention, held right up the road from our cabin.
But, really, it doesn't stop there.
After four days in the mountains, I'm headed to the old North state, for a weekend at Yaupon Beach in North Carolina. I get to go there and spend time with some dear old friends that I miss greatly. One of the worst things about living in Nashville is losing time from all of these people. I miss them. I wish I could really understand who they are now, because most of the time, I know we know less of each other now than we ever have before. But they will always be my besties in NC, and for that, and this time together, I am truly grateful.
So, let's go to Virginia! I am so ready. I'm off to write for the book, I'm off to make history... just please let my old Goldie (my 1991 Ford Thunderbird I'm driving) get me there in one piece!
But, really, I'm going to Virginia TODAY (hopefully I'll go to sleep first and then go, but we'll see). I'm still up packing and cleaning, something Paul warned me NOT to do when I got home from working tonight. Oh, yeah, and writing a blog. That wasn't really in my schedule, but I'm a million miles a minute right now.
I always feel like this when I am about to go on a trip. I have to make sure everything is in its place at home, pack everything to "jennie specifications" and check off my to do lists.
But, really, I'M SO EXCITED. It's my first vacation in over two years. I've had a very slow month of serving, but my writing progress has accelerated, no, SOARED, to a new, wonderful height! I can't help but anticipate clicking away on my laptop when I get up in those gorgeous mountains and hear the old bullfrog croak outside my window in my family's 120 year old log cabin.
Where, you may ask, is this place of rest and solitude? Well, it's right near the VA/NC border, north of where I spent my childhood in Tyro, North Carolina, in the sleepy country community of Galax, Virginia. I'm going there to spend time with my family and do a little "country bumpkin hanging out" on the side with my friends at the annual Old Time Fiddlers' Convention, held right up the road from our cabin.
But, really, it doesn't stop there.
After four days in the mountains, I'm headed to the old North state, for a weekend at Yaupon Beach in North Carolina. I get to go there and spend time with some dear old friends that I miss greatly. One of the worst things about living in Nashville is losing time from all of these people. I miss them. I wish I could really understand who they are now, because most of the time, I know we know less of each other now than we ever have before. But they will always be my besties in NC, and for that, and this time together, I am truly grateful.
So, let's go to Virginia! I am so ready. I'm off to write for the book, I'm off to make history... just please let my old Goldie (my 1991 Ford Thunderbird I'm driving) get me there in one piece!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
good cups
So, I begin this blog sitting here listening to Kara's friend, Andy, chatting about his 17 year marriage to the love of his life. I sit here and a lady is setting up a jewelry display hoping to sell some of her silver. I sit and there is lots of chatter. Kara chimes in a note about her boyfriend, as usual. I'm hoping I get this entire blog in before my computer battery dies.
I really should carry a power strip extension chord with me.
The Good Cup, in Franklin, Tennessee, is where all of this is going down. Kara introduced me to this little coffee shop a couple months ago, and it's become one of our favorite, central locations to meet for some of our book meetings/friend time lately. It's amazing how Kara and I have had an 11 year relationship from college to now, and we are just getting to a very real place in our friendship. Honestly, I think I can attribute most of this closeness to our baby book. And the fact that we enjoy sharing cups of caffeine together.
:)
We met here today in the hopes we could get our website up and running. A canceled, yet rather, POSTPONED, photo shoot from last night has us itching to get the website done. So, we tried to contact the website people, and the technical side of the whole ordeal is having to be ironed out before we start building. Another failed effort was to try to edit our profiles on facebook and myspace, and both were fruitless endeavors due to the fact that we realized we have not a single one photo of our three co-authors together- even though we've known each other for years. We have photos of us with an additional person or two, but not just us three. So, now, we are waiting on the website people to respond (who already seem a bit imaginary), and writing in our sparse time together. Come to think of it, this is the first time we have actually written together in the same room since the days of Belmont, either taking a test or finishing up a last minute music theory project as wee lil musical theatre majors!
I take a moment to glance over at Kara. She is eagerly typing away, her friend said his goodbyes 20 minutes ago, and now she is deep into writing mode. I know she's writing about spirituality because she's already made a comment to me that it's a tough subject for her. She sits with her long legs crossed straight out in front of her, with her blue jeans and tennis shoes in her blue chair, sometimes opening her mouth and then pursing her lips. She's frustrated a little I can tell. I, on the other hand, have made myself completely at home in this red chair, having kicked off my flip flops and scrunched up my short legs and bare feet into the chair, with the laptop resting on my bent knees. I stick my tongue in my cheek frequently when I am trying hard to concentrate on writing, or really, anything. Sometimes I know I don't realize I'm doing it, then look up to see if anyone is laughing at my odd habit. Ahh, human beings...
Back to the writing, Jennie...
I read a devotional recently about how the internet, phones and technology in general have caused a great loss in personal, stimulating relationships. I know that's pretty much a given, but the thought went on to ask, "When was the last time you invited a friend over for a cup of tea?" Seriously, when was the last time you just asked someone over for face to face, eye to eye fellowship? When do you get to have your "good cup" times?? I wonder about this and realize until very recently, I hadn't had much of those times with anyone since I graduated from college. The days and years turn into dollar signs and career goals or going somewhere for entertainment purposes. When you get together with friends or family, you must have a holiday or birthday to celebrate. Or, if you get together with them on a non-holiday, it's a quick lunch in the middle of the week in-between work or taking care of their offspring or significant other. The time for true fellowship is lost in the hustle of "life happened".
What a bunch of "bull crappy", as my daddy likes to say. (You know, because the S word wouldn't work for a youngin'). Oh, and hold out the crapppppppy. We let ourselves get lost and ultimately lose friendships because we can chat on the phone or email. We make excuses to not get together anymore because of financial strain. However, we end up always looking back saying "oh that was a good time, those were the days", putting a period at the end of the sentence of life where we could take an hour to just "be" with another friend.
My dear friend Ciara helped me escape this mode of thinking a couple years ago, completely and totally unintentionally. We ended up finding our way to each others' houses, to find ourselves drinking endless cups of coffee, just sharing about our day to day drama. Most of what we talked about was insignificant and disappears with time, but nonetheless, we just took time to "be" and share as friends because there was nothing else we could do. We couldn't spend money because we were so poor, one couldn't be tempted to leave because the other one knew that there was nowhere to be but there. And we wanted and needed that time. It was somewhat immature, but needed.
"Good cups of time" matured and spawned renewed interest in other people, not myspace, and over the past two years, slowly branched to other friends besides Ciara- mainly, my now co-authors, then my boyfriend Paul. I guess I knew at some point, that no friendship stays the same, and if it changes for the worse, it lies fluttering, gasping for value at the point where you say hello occasionally on a social network. These itty bitty times where you look someone in the eye and truly say "how are you doing", have blossomed into good cups of my life. I look forward to them. They make me grow as an individual and help me determine more of my self worth every single day. Now, tell me that your facebook profile did that for you today and I'll take it back.
:)
So, I'm getting an email from the website, informing us WE ARE A LEGIT WEBSITE NOW!! YAY! Now, you can finish reading this blog and go schedule in a time to meet person to person with a lovely friend of yours, then tell them to go visit our website afterwards :). hehe...We WILL have photos of all three of us, Kara, Lara and Jennie, by the end of next week, and the website up sooner...seems to be looking like that will be before we leave our sweet, actual place of our creative musings together, which is the Good Cup.
I look forward to many more "good cups" of our stories to follow us...
I really should carry a power strip extension chord with me.
The Good Cup, in Franklin, Tennessee, is where all of this is going down. Kara introduced me to this little coffee shop a couple months ago, and it's become one of our favorite, central locations to meet for some of our book meetings/friend time lately. It's amazing how Kara and I have had an 11 year relationship from college to now, and we are just getting to a very real place in our friendship. Honestly, I think I can attribute most of this closeness to our baby book. And the fact that we enjoy sharing cups of caffeine together.
:)
We met here today in the hopes we could get our website up and running. A canceled, yet rather, POSTPONED, photo shoot from last night has us itching to get the website done. So, we tried to contact the website people, and the technical side of the whole ordeal is having to be ironed out before we start building. Another failed effort was to try to edit our profiles on facebook and myspace, and both were fruitless endeavors due to the fact that we realized we have not a single one photo of our three co-authors together- even though we've known each other for years. We have photos of us with an additional person or two, but not just us three. So, now, we are waiting on the website people to respond (who already seem a bit imaginary), and writing in our sparse time together. Come to think of it, this is the first time we have actually written together in the same room since the days of Belmont, either taking a test or finishing up a last minute music theory project as wee lil musical theatre majors!
I take a moment to glance over at Kara. She is eagerly typing away, her friend said his goodbyes 20 minutes ago, and now she is deep into writing mode. I know she's writing about spirituality because she's already made a comment to me that it's a tough subject for her. She sits with her long legs crossed straight out in front of her, with her blue jeans and tennis shoes in her blue chair, sometimes opening her mouth and then pursing her lips. She's frustrated a little I can tell. I, on the other hand, have made myself completely at home in this red chair, having kicked off my flip flops and scrunched up my short legs and bare feet into the chair, with the laptop resting on my bent knees. I stick my tongue in my cheek frequently when I am trying hard to concentrate on writing, or really, anything. Sometimes I know I don't realize I'm doing it, then look up to see if anyone is laughing at my odd habit. Ahh, human beings...
Back to the writing, Jennie...
I read a devotional recently about how the internet, phones and technology in general have caused a great loss in personal, stimulating relationships. I know that's pretty much a given, but the thought went on to ask, "When was the last time you invited a friend over for a cup of tea?" Seriously, when was the last time you just asked someone over for face to face, eye to eye fellowship? When do you get to have your "good cup" times?? I wonder about this and realize until very recently, I hadn't had much of those times with anyone since I graduated from college. The days and years turn into dollar signs and career goals or going somewhere for entertainment purposes. When you get together with friends or family, you must have a holiday or birthday to celebrate. Or, if you get together with them on a non-holiday, it's a quick lunch in the middle of the week in-between work or taking care of their offspring or significant other. The time for true fellowship is lost in the hustle of "life happened".
What a bunch of "bull crappy", as my daddy likes to say. (You know, because the S word wouldn't work for a youngin'). Oh, and hold out the crapppppppy. We let ourselves get lost and ultimately lose friendships because we can chat on the phone or email. We make excuses to not get together anymore because of financial strain. However, we end up always looking back saying "oh that was a good time, those were the days", putting a period at the end of the sentence of life where we could take an hour to just "be" with another friend.
My dear friend Ciara helped me escape this mode of thinking a couple years ago, completely and totally unintentionally. We ended up finding our way to each others' houses, to find ourselves drinking endless cups of coffee, just sharing about our day to day drama. Most of what we talked about was insignificant and disappears with time, but nonetheless, we just took time to "be" and share as friends because there was nothing else we could do. We couldn't spend money because we were so poor, one couldn't be tempted to leave because the other one knew that there was nowhere to be but there. And we wanted and needed that time. It was somewhat immature, but needed.
"Good cups of time" matured and spawned renewed interest in other people, not myspace, and over the past two years, slowly branched to other friends besides Ciara- mainly, my now co-authors, then my boyfriend Paul. I guess I knew at some point, that no friendship stays the same, and if it changes for the worse, it lies fluttering, gasping for value at the point where you say hello occasionally on a social network. These itty bitty times where you look someone in the eye and truly say "how are you doing", have blossomed into good cups of my life. I look forward to them. They make me grow as an individual and help me determine more of my self worth every single day. Now, tell me that your facebook profile did that for you today and I'll take it back.
:)
So, I'm getting an email from the website, informing us WE ARE A LEGIT WEBSITE NOW!! YAY! Now, you can finish reading this blog and go schedule in a time to meet person to person with a lovely friend of yours, then tell them to go visit our website afterwards :). hehe...We WILL have photos of all three of us, Kara, Lara and Jennie, by the end of next week, and the website up sooner...seems to be looking like that will be before we leave our sweet, actual place of our creative musings together, which is the Good Cup.
I look forward to many more "good cups" of our stories to follow us...
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
One day in the life of a wanna be published book author
Hi,
I'm Jennie. I used to blog on myspace, but my last blog was from the end of 2008. I am now in the process of writing a book with two of my best friends in Nashville. I'm creating this blog to give the reader a glimpse of what will soon be a magnificent book! It is my hope you will read, comment and enjoy my thoughts on what is now the 30th year of my life...
I'm Jennie. I used to blog on myspace, but my last blog was from the end of 2008. I am now in the process of writing a book with two of my best friends in Nashville. I'm creating this blog to give the reader a glimpse of what will soon be a magnificent book! It is my hope you will read, comment and enjoy my thoughts on what is now the 30th year of my life...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)