Thursday, May 31, 2012

May Photo Dump

I swear that my life is flashing before my very eyes.
How is it already the end of May?!

What has MWood been up to? According to my iPhone....

I said goodbye to JWood on May 14th for another summer.


I've been doing a little work....


I've been trying to grow a few veggies....


I've seen some beautiful sunrises and sunsets....



I've been enjoying some great lake time with close friends...



I've visited home sweet home...



I've started training for the Harpeth River Ride and the Music City Tri....



I've been loving on this precious baby... - she gets me through the day.



Spent some quality time with Mama... she's good for the soul...




I've been spending a LOT of time on this porch with my Sister - memories I will forever cherish...



Aaaand, it's June. Wow.
I am committing (I say this every time.... I know) to blog more regularly.
I've got some pretty fun trips planned this summer!
Stay tuned... until next time :)

Monday, April 23, 2012

Put a Cork In It..

I have been trying to figure out the best way to use the corks I have been saving for the past few years and while perusing the biggest time consuming website ever created, Pinterest....I finally decided to put them on a wooden W and hang it on the wall.

The letter turned out to be more challenging to find than I had anticipited, but I found one online that I really liked and got it in the mail last week. This weekend, I got down my bowl o' corks and glued them onto the W. Now, I thought I had a LOT of corks.... but apparently I have a lot of vino to enjoy to complete my little project.

Work in progress at the Wood Hood....


Monday, April 9, 2012

weekend in photos.
















 hope your Easter weekend was also filled with smiles and sunshine!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Full.

My weekend was full. Packed full.
Just the way I like it.

Friday night, we visited my favorite Friday evening spot - Arrington Vineyards. I'm a Wine Club member and get (pay for...) 2 bottles of wine at a discounted rate every quarter. I got a nastygram email earlier in the week that said if I did not pick my wine up this weekend, they would mail it to me and charge me $18. Darn. I just hate having to make a trip to AV. Meg, Justin and I sat, visited, sipped on wine and enjoyed the sun setting over beautiful Middle Tennessee. I am pretty sure I could not have asked for better way to end the week.


I had planned to take it easy on Saturday in preparation for the Tri on Sunday.
Well, I would have been better off going for a run than taking the day off by cleaning up around the house and yard at the Wood Hood. We mowed, cleaned out the garage, cleaned up the house, cleaned, cleaned, cleaned and by the end of the day - I was pooped. But, the Wood Hood is looking good!


Sunday - I woke up bright and early to head to Murfreesboro for the ADPi Tri.
Meg is always so supportive and tagged along to cheer me on and document the event.
The Tri, as a whole, was so much fun - if you're into that sorta thing.


 Getting all set up....

 Running from the swim to the bike transition...


 Bike time!

Still smiling heading out to run the last leg! 

Another finish. Whoop! 


After the race, our neighbor friends invited us to lounge on their boat.
I obliged.


It was a jam-packed weekend and a great one at that.
Now, I just have to get through a few more days of work and we're beach bound!

Friday, March 30, 2012

ADPi Tri Weekend

One of my "30 Before 30" items is to complete an Olympic distance Triathlon. My plan is to do the Music City Tri in July, like I did last year.... just a tad longer distance wise.
Though my 30 mile bike ride last weekend was awesome,
I realized that I have quite a bit of training left to get to my goal.

To keep me motivated and to spark my excitement,
I signed up for the ADPi Triathlon this weekend!
It's a mini-tri and I'm mini super-okay with it.
 The proceeds support the Ronald McDonald house, which is the ADPi philanthropy.
Good for me, good for them = win.

So, this Sunday - I'll be strapping on my tri suit and hitting up some Triathlon action.
Bonus - POOL SWIM!


Have a great weekend!
Get out and get active!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Southern Women

I love the South. And, I love this article from Garden & Gun and wanted to share! Enjoy!

A new generation of women who are redefining the Southern Belle.


It is not posturing, or hyperbole, or marketing. (See: all those song lyrics about California girls and their undeniable cuteness.) Southern women, unlike women from Boston or Des Moines or Albuquerque, are leashed to history. For better or worse, we are forever entangled in and infused by a miasma of mercy and cruelty, order and chaos, cornpone and cornball, a potent mix that leaves us wise, morbid, good-humored, God-fearing, outspoken and immutable. Like the Irish, with better teeth.

To be born a Southern woman is to be made aware of your distinctiveness. And with it, the rules. The expectations. These vary some, but all follow the same basic template, which is, fundamentally, no matter what the circumstance, Southern women make the effort. Which is why even the girls in the trailer parks paint their nails. And why overstressed working moms still bake three dozen homemade cookies for the school fund-raiser. And why you will never see Reese Witherspoon wearing sweatpants. Or Oprah take a nap.

For my mother, being Southern means handwritten thank-you notes, using a rhino horn’s worth of salt in every recipe, and spending a minimum of twenty minutes a day in front of her makeup mirror so she can examine her beauty in “office,” “outdoor,” and “evening” illumination. It also means never leaving the house with wet hair. Not even in the case of fire. Because wet hair is low-rent. It shows you don’t care, and not caring is not something Southern women do, at least when it comes to our hair.

This is less about vanity than self-respect, a crucial distinction often lost on non-Southerners. When a Southern woman fusses over her appearance, it does not reflect insecurity, narcissism, or some arrested form of antifeminism that holds back the sisterhood. Southern women are postfeminism. The whole issue is a nonstarter, seeing as Southern women are smart enough to recognize what works—Spanx, Aqua Net—and wise to the allocation of effort. Why pretend the world is something it isn’t? Better to focus on what you can control (drying your hair) and make the best of what you have. Side note: Southern women do not capitalize on their looks to snag men, though that often results. The reason we Southern women take care of ourselves is because, simply, Southern women are caretakers.

An example: I have lived in the North off and on for fifteen years. In all that time, only once did another woman prepare me a home-cooked meal (and she was from Florida). I recently visited Tennessee for one week and was fed by no fewer than three women, one of whom baked homemade cupcakes in two different flavors because she remembered I loved them.


Southern women are willing to give, be it time, hugs, or advice about that layabout down the road. Southern women listen and we talk and we laugh without apology. We are seldom shocked. Not really. Sex in the City may have been revolutionary for the rest of America, but not for Southern women. Of course we bond and adore each other, and talk about all topics savory and otherwise. That’s what being a woman means.

In Terms of Endearment, a dying Debra Winger visits a friend in New York and is immediately bewildered by the alternately indifferent and aggressive way the women relate to each other.

“Why do they act like that?” Winger asks a friend, genuinely confused. Why indeed.

Southern women see no point in the hard way. Life is hard enough. So we add a little sugar to the sour. Which is not to suggest Southern women are disingenuous cream puffs. Quite the opposite. When you are born into a history as loaded as the South’s, when you carry in your bones the incontrovertible knowledge of man’s violence and limitations, daring to stay sweet is about the most radical thing you can do.

Southern women are also a proud lot. In any setting, at home or abroad, Southern women declare themselves. Leading with geography is not something that other ladies do. You do not hear “That’s just how we roll in Napa.” Or “Well, you know what they say about us Wyoming girls…” You may hear “I’m from Jersey,” but that’s more of a threat than a howdy.

There are other defining attributes, some more quantifiable than others. Southern women know how to bake a funeral casserole and why you should. Southern women know how to make other women feel pretty. Southern women like men and allow them to stay men. Southern women are not afraid to dance. Southern women know you can’t outrun your past, that manners count, and that your mother deserves a phone call every Sunday. Southern women can say more with a cut of their eyes than a whole debate club’s worth of speeches. Southern women know the value of a stiff drink, among other things.


Which brings us to what can only be called: the Baby Thing.

Southern women love babies. We love them so much we grab their chubby thighs and pretend to eat them alive. This is not the case in the North or the West or the middle bit.

I grew up, like all Southern girls, babysitting as soon as I was old enough to tie my own shoes. I was raised to understand that taking care of children was as natural and inevitable as sneezing, that when we were infants, somebody looked after us, and thus we should clutch hands and complete the circle without any fuss. I was also taught that your children are not supposed to be your best friends. Southern women do not spend a lick of time worrying about whether or not their kids are mad at them. They are too busy telling them “No” and “Because I said so,” which might explain why there are rarely any Southern kids acting a fool and running wild around the Cracker Barrel.

I have two daughters, Dixie and Matilda, and when we go down South, they are surrounded with love from the moment we cross the Mason-Dixon. Elderly men tip their hats. Cashiers tell them they are beautiful. To be a girl these days is more fraught than ever. But growing up among Southern women sure makes it easier.

Which is why we are moving back home. I want my children to know they belong to something bigger than themselves. That they are unique, but they are not alone. That there is continuity where they come from. Comfort too. That there are rules worth following and expectations worth trying to meet, even if you fail. If nothing else, I want them to know how to make biscuits. And to not feel bad about eating a whole heaping plate of them.

Because before I know it, my girls will be grown. And they will be Southern women too. And that, I believe, will have made all the difference.


And all God's people said.... Amen.

Happy Weekend!


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

What I'm Loving Wednesday


Today I'm linking up to Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday over at This Kind of Love. This week...



SPRING!!!!
Ahhh - I just cannot get enough of the beautiful blooming flowers and trees and the warmth from the sweet, sweet sunshine. Though I could deal with less pollen.... ha!

 Fun weekend'o celebrating St. Patty's Day with the neighbors and friends!
Dan McGuiness was the happening place and we were right there in the middle of the fun.



2012 Boating Season has begun! Our neighbors bought a pontoon and were so kind to let us tag along with them on the lake on Sunday.
Looking forward to many, many more trips this summer.





I'm loving Results Fitness!
And, I'm loving that they had a Groupon and I scored some very affordable classes! JDoss has done it again - she discovered another work out in which I have fallen in love! Results Fitness opened up in a beautiful home near Music Row.
The Results Class is wicked tough - but so awesome!
It's like a last chance work out from the Biggest Loser! 
*mark off another item on the 30 before 30!

  
I found this little beauty on Etsy! I think it'll be a nice little accent to my Kors watch -
 don't you?
 *shake your head yes...*


IT'S CRAWFISH SEASON!!!!!!
 

It's also REI dividend check time!
If you're an REI member, you get a little percentage of your spending back each Spring.
We're going this evening to buy a bike rack for my car so we can take them along when we travel.



Speaking of travel....
you know, it'll be nice to have that rack to carry our bikes to ride at the BEACH!
I'm loving that we booked our annual Easter trip to the Gulf yesterday!
(hence the frequent attendance to Results Fitness :))
14 days and a wake up!

Happy Hump Day, folks!