Another busy week

Well this week looks like it's going to be as busy as last week but at least I am having some productive time. I spent all day yesterday downtown at the office and got a lot of stuff reorganized, phone calls made and things checked off my never-ending to-do list. I got home in time to beat the traffic (Monday Night Football was in town yesterday), feed the dog and make it to the spin class at the Y. I then killed about half an hour before meeting up with Randi & Erik for dinner. They had been on vacation in Gulf Shores, AL all last week and stopped through Nashville on their way back home to Missouri. It had been over a year since I had seen Randi and it was so great to see them and to be able to catch up, even if it was only for an hour.
Today has been a work-from-home day and it was quite nice to sleep in just a tad. I did some stuff in the office at the house and then ran a bunch of errands including taking advantage of the early voting. This afternoon I volunteered to work the Way-FM pledge drive for a couple hours and tonight I am hosting a small group to watch scary movies! I am looking forward to tonight!

Weekend with the Girls

So my mom, sister Holly and niece Elaysha came down to Nashville this weekend to have our annual "Girl's Weekend" which always includes lots of shopping :) They got in around 8:30 on Friday night so Holly and I and Crazy Amy took Elaysha to see the late showing of High School Musical 3. It was opening night and Elaysha is a huge fan so it was fun to be able to see this through a 7 year olds eyes. I also have to say that I was really surprised to see so many college age girls in the theater but it made for a fun viewing. Everyone laughed at all the cheesey humor (which was like every 5 minutes) and the girls screamed whenever Zac Efrons character was on the screen. OH to be young again! We took some pictures before hand while we waiting in line. Fun times!

Elaysha and Crazy Amy posing with HSM Cast

I had to join in the picture of course!

Then we had to get all of us in the picture

We slept in a little on Saturday morning and I was able to get up and get in a 2 mile run on the treadmill and then we headed to downtown Franklin for Pumpkinfest (think fall street festival). Elaysha first stopped at the Publix booth and got to decorate a cookie with Halloween treats.

Then we headed down Main Street and stopped into some of the stores along the street. Then Elaysha and I stopped to paint pumpkins. I thoroughly enjoyed this as it was such a stress relieving activity and so much fun to be able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine and quality time with my niece.

We even had a celebrity sighting while enjoying the festivities. I spied Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman and baby Sunday Rose strolling down main street. I have seen Keith and Nicole many times in town but it was fun to see them as a family and to see them as just another normal family enjoying the festivities. And of course, thanks to my paparazzi sister, you have this photo to see for yourselves (well it's a shot from behind but you can totally tell it's them..black suits)

After we had seen the sights of Pumpkinfest we headed to Old Time Pottery and then onto the outlets at Opry Mills for some serious shopping. We had such a full day that we enjoyed a relaxing evening at home with pizza, watched college football and Elaysha enjoyed the oversized tub in the master bath. Sunday was church, lunch and a little more shopping at Kohls. Then it was time to get the family back on the road to Indiana and some downtime for me. We had such a great weekend and Elaysha also loved getting to spend as much time as possible with Pinko (the families dog) so I had to post this picture.

Happy Birthday Caron

Tonight I spent the evening with Caron, Michael, Tam and Margaret at the Cheesecake Factory celebrating Caron's birthday. Her birthday was actually on Oct. 19th but this was the first time we'd been able to get everyone's schedules to line up. It was a fantastic night! Caron was the first person that I met when I moved to Nashville 4 years ago and her and Michael are like my family. I am so blessed to have them in my life!

Happy Birthday Caron

Caron and Michael

Celebrity Sighting

Well you never know who you will meet in Nashville. Today I was running a quick work errand in Brentwood and I decided to stop in Fleet Feet Sports (my running store) and pick up a couple new pairs of my favorite Balega Socks and that is where I ran into James Marsden. The name might not sound familiar to you but when I tell you that he's been in movies such as "X-Men", "The Notebook", "Superman Returns", "Enchanted" and "27 Dresses" it might ring a bell. He along with his beautiful wife and daughter were there stocking up on running goods and he was standing next to me at the register talking to a store associate about half-marathon training. If only I could have had enough courage to break out into his infamous song from Enchanted....that would have been priceless.

It just doesn't stop...

That is the work just doesn't stop because my boss is out of the country. When I tell people that they are gone, they always act like I am enjoying a vacation or something...NOT hardly! I feel like I have spent the better part of this week just digging myself out of the mounds of work that have been piled on top of me over the past couple of weeks prior to their departure. At least I can say that I have "job security" and at least I don't have too much new stuff coming in.

Today I got to attend my first meeting representing The Ayers Foundation and met with the CEO of Bethlehem Centers of Nashville . I got to share the mission of the Ayers Foundation and talk with them about the foundation and then got to learn more about the Bethlehem Centers as well as take a tour. The highlight for me was to be able to walk through their onsite daycare/childcare center and to see those precious kids (3-5 year olds). We caught them as they were finishing up lunch and getting ready for nap time but they were so friendly and gave us a warm welcome. To know that some of those kids have been exposed to less that perfect environments and yet organizations like Bethlehem Centers is there for them to take care of them, teaching them how to read, etc and giving them unconditional love...well it really touched me! I cant think of a better way to spend my morning.

Despite keeping busy, at least I feel like this week has been pretty productive. I've even got up early twice this week and ran a couple miles on the treadmill before starting my work day. I am hoping that I can get everything wrapped up today and I plan on taking a "mental health" day tomorrow. I know that I am waiting on some phone calls and return emails but just to have some scheduled downtime would be great! A girl can dream....