NEW MUSIC!!

ok, if you have known me for 5 minutes you know how i LOVE music!! can i just say that today i will be going to best buy to buy, let's see, 4 new cds that come out today! i actually tried to post Carrie Underwood's new video on my blog. i couldn't figure out how to do that...but watch that video and listen to the words. it makes me cry, i don't know how she sings that song without getting all emotional every time! so here's the new cds out today that i will be getting:
1. Carrie!!!
2. Steven Curtis Chapman! (special edition.....available from best buy with extra acoustic versions!)
3. Gary Allan (country....i have all his others!)
4. Shooter Jennings (random i know....i really like his country/southern rock stuff! plus he's Waylon's son!)
that would be all for today's...i also need to pick up the Transformer's dvd for Jon. That is a cool special effects movie! :O)

Home at last!

we made it home safely!! :O) Jon and I left TN last night at 11 pm. we decided to do this since if we had left "early this morning" we still would not be home!! the trip back only took 12 hours, instead of the 15 on the way out. not stopping and eating all the time helped. Jon has not even eaten today, he says he is still living off the food we ate on our trip! We got home and unpacked then took a very very nice GOOD nap. for about 4 hours. can i just say how bout them 5-0 Cowboys! yay! way to comeback last night fellas! yesterday we went to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchberg TN. it was really interesting and a great (and free) tour! Learned lots of neat stuff about JD that I prob never would have. It is all made there in that little town (pop. 341-ish). the water used for it comes from a cave....natural spring water. really neat, i won't bore you with all details! :O) last night was the general jackson paddleboat dinner extravaganza. really worth the money, it was about a 3 hour cruise. very nice! i'll share pics later, right now i'm at granny di's house. tomorrow it's back to work where we are training on our new computer system! woo hoo!

Loretta Lynn's Plantation!

We had a great Sunday visiting Loretta's plantation! I will admit that the reason I heard about this in the first place was thanks to the travel channel. They have a special on Hurricane Mills, TN titled "Loretta Lynn's Haunted Plantation" or something like that. Check it out, i'm sure it is running several times this month since it's October! We did not "see" or "encounter" anything, and unlike the people on tv I did not "feel there are spirits everywhere" on the ranch. However I did feel the love from touring Loretta's home and museum. I felt like a "wannabe" Loretta fan. Until this tour I knew very little about what a true living "legend" this lady is. She is the real thing as everyone will tell you, meaning she came from nothing...and now has what she has and truly appreciates it. Here are some things I learned about her that have made me a new Loretta "fan"!

*She truly is "proud to be a coal-miner's daughter". There is a re-creation of a coal mine on the tour in Hurricane Mills. I learned many things about mining coal thanks to the tour. side note--many of the people who work at the ranch have done so for a long time, or have known Loretta many years. She is apparently very friendly to them all and treat them as family. Our tour guide was very informative, funny, and you can tell these people are here because they love Loretta! I learned that the mines were about 48 inches high. This means the men working down there would have been hunched over doing hard labor all night. They made about 10 cents for every ton of coal they mined and were not paid cash but basically a credit slip that could only be spent at the company store. Loretta's daddy would farm all day, then go to the mine at night.

*Loretta slept in a small bed in her parents room because she was the oldest girl. She would get up with her momma every morning before everyone else and help her momma with preparing the three meals of the day. They did this so they would not be cooking in the heat of the day.

*Loretta's Butcher Holler home was lined with old newspaper and catalogs on the ceilings in the bedroom and kitchen. this was used as the insulation.

*the family had a radio in the corner of the living room that ran off of a battery. since batteries were expensive they would only turn it on on very special occasions. this would be saturday night for them because it is when the Grand Ole Opry would broadcast. Loretta would listen intently to memorize the songs she heard so she could then sing them while she did her chores. People from town would come hear her sing because many of them did not have a radio and this is the only way they heard the newest stuff coming out of Nashville!

*Loretta's husband, Mooney, bought her a guitar for about $13. She then was able to get a record pressed of a song she wrote called "honky tonk girl". they traveled across many states because of Mooney's job at the time, and in every city they would stop and give a copy of the record to the radio station. they asked them to play it and eventually Loretta met Earnest Tubb. The tour guide told us that by the time Loretta and Mooney got home that song was being played across the country.

*Loretta was the first woman ever to receive a Gold record for the song "don't come home a-drinkin" (with lovin on your mind). She was also the first woman to receive the "entertainer of the year" award!

*Loretta loves her fans and friends very much. You can feel her there through the personalization of many hand-written signs posted throughout the museum. A couple of them I remember were like "this is my favorite car. i may get it out and drive it again one day soon!" and "i really like to wear this sweater because it is so soft!". :O) sweet lady. There is a guest book at the end of the museum tour that we signed and left a note to Loretta. Jon wanted to ask her to tell Martina hi. :O)

*It truly IS a small world! The lady that runs the Loretta boutique and her husband have been friends with Loretta for 35 years. This lady's nephew owns and operates "hillbilly haven", which is a little rv place on the brazos river out off of 20. Jon and I have been there, and I think Jon has met her nephew. You know that 6 degrees thing? :O) We bought some neat things here in the boutique! Another way I know Loretta is a down-to-earth kind of gal is the fact that she does not ask for hundreds of dollars for an item just because she has autographed it. I bought a little green and yellow kitchen knick-knack with her signature on it, for $8. Got some Christmas shopping done while on our vacation as well!

*Loretta still lives at the plantation sometimes, and has a home in Nashville. She still tours!

*Loretta truly loved Mooney. He was her inspiration and support, always telling her she could "do it!". While in the museum there are videos playing at different areas. One played a song she wrote about him and showed photos while it played. Guess what? Misty cried. big surprise I know!

*Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle are sisters...I knew this but had forgotten until we got here!

that concludes my useless information for you today. If you would like to visit Hurricane Mills do NOT drive here!! lol! first FLY to Nashville, then drive the short hour out. :O)

I gotta get Jon up so we can get ready for our day trip to Lychburg TN to tour the JD distillery!

this morning i woke at 6:30 am. those of you who "know me" know this is sleeping in for me :O) i could have slept longer if my back wasn't aching. ahhhhh the joys of "getting older" lol! last night we had grand intention of bar-hopping in downtown nashville. this ended up being more like eating dinner at the "billy bobs of nashville" aka the wildhorse saloon, then heading over to the Stage bar. the band there was pretty good, the guy had a nice voice. well i say the "guy" but really all the guys in the band sounded nice. they would take turns singin. they did lots of covers we all know. "okie from muskogee", "give it away", "i'm gonna miss her", and some oldies by the legends we love. Hank, Johnny, Merle, George....loved it! i had one beer at this joint and got Jon some crown and coke. then i started drinking water and about 8:30 i was ready to head back to the hotel! wow! party animals!! lol we got back to the hotel and i immediately put on the comfy pjs, took off my makeup, and made coffee. Jon played on the internet for like 7 hours before coming to bed, i was in bed at around 11:45. and btw I forgot to mention how disappointing the food we ate yesterday was. not like night one at the sweet plantation place! Mere Bulles i think it was called. anywho, lunch yesterday consisted of chips/queso/salsa, salads, and fried catfish. we shared (again) the catfish----this was the worst fried catfish i have ever had. some weird batter....some weird spicing on it? the plate had 2 filets on it and we didn't finish them. the fries were yummy as was the ranch. then for dinner we went to the wildhorse saloon. the atmosphere was fun here and that is probably what you go there for. apparently they have some "big name" bands perform but not the night we went. we had spinach artichoke dip for appitizer. it was pretty good, but they didn't give you much for the $9 price. we ate it all. then we shared a bacon cheddar burger and fries....again pretty good but the burger had some weird spicing on it. i guess the nashvilleians like the spices? i ate all my burger (half) and then i wanted some dessert. mmmmm mmmmm apple cobbler! i thought to myself. ok, strangest apple cobbler ever. came in a bowl....my first thought when i saw it was "chicken pot pie?". i guess they mix the apples with some sort of bread and then put it in a bowl, top it with some crumb crust, and then ice cream on top. not the best. we ate a little of it...i guess that really isn't a BAD thing! considering all we have eaten on this trip!

country music hall of fame!

today we started out early and i'm glad we did! first off was the country music hall of fame. we got there at about 10 am, it opened at 9. there were hardly any people there which was nice. let me now explain the photos. the top three were from the "charlie daniels museum". it was free, we were walking by :O) i do like charlie daniels band, yes. i don't think i would have made a special trip to the museum! he seems like a nice old man. i took a picture of the lyrics to "swingin", by john anderson, for my mom. when my brother was like 3 years old, he would sing this song! the cool-pretty-colored mural is at the entrance of the country music hall of fame, i thought it was neat so there ya go. and of course i had to get my pic with The Hag! after the museum we walked around the downtown area. very neat, lots of bars, places to eat, and gift shops! lets see....yes! i already have 2 new t-shirts from today's adventures in Nashville!! a super-sweet Johnny Cash one and one from the cmhof. we are now relaxing in our sweet suite (hey, that's one of those.....things....synonyms? homonyms? sounds the same, spelled differently?) watching the football follies. in a little bit we are heading back to the downtown area to eat at the Wildhorse Saloon and then possibly visit the Stage, Tootsies, etc...
Jon keeps saying he's hungry. I say, are you really hungry? or is it just because we are on vacation you feel like you need to eat all the time? lol i know i'm not hungry. i just want to eat.

now that i've had a little sleep...

i'd like to elaborate a little on what we did yesterday! there are not a lot of pics taken with me and/or Jon in them. hopefully today i will get more with us in the pic, so i don't get home and ask "why did i take a picture of this?" :O) the top pic shown here is a small sample of Elvis' (MORE!!) gold/platinum record trophies....this room was once his racketball court. that may give a picture in your head of how tall the walls are. we were not allowed to use any flash photography in any room in graceland or any exhibit. apparently the flashes break down the fabrics and paint over time? okey dokey, i'll follow along. that is me in front of somebody's car. i think that is a rolls royce? anyway, i figured "what the hey" take my picture Jon! :O) i wanted to tell you more about what we ate for dinner. started off with a cup of tomato soup topped with parmesan cheese. omgosh this was THE BEST tomato soup EVER! lol idk if it really was the best or if just cuz we are in a different city, eating at some cool restaurant that made it seem so. we shared it and also dipped the rolls (yummy rolls) in the soup. you would have sworn we had not eaten "all day"!!! the butter was also yummy, a sweet style of butter, and we ate it all up too. "can we please get some more bread? we've been driving for 15 hours and are starving!" ok, no, we didn't say that. but that is what we must have looked like to the other patrons. so next we had salads. i had the caesar (delish!) and Jon had a bibb leaf salad with cajun shrimp (added on). props to my husband for not being afraid of trying new things! i have no idea what was in the dressing on his salad, but it was (again) the "best salad ever"! it had bacon in it too. mmmmmmmmmm! so we ate alllllll the salad, and we shared the chicken fettuccine. we have been trying to share food at restaurants all the time now....not because we don't want to pay for it....just because all the portions are way too big. we are trying to watch our figures (heehee!). so we shared the pasta dish. it was really good as well, it had a mushroom based sauce or something. i think we liked the soup and salads better than the main dish. we could have eaten, excuse me, WOULD HAVE eaten, a pot of that soup---had it been placed in front of us. i told Jon, "this is a really cool place! i feel like such a tourist because i'm like wanting to take pictures of it and i'm sure everyone else in here eats here all the time." :O) i'm sure that was the case. i don't care, i'm on vacation! also just wanted to elaborate on our very nice Hilton suite we are staying in! pretty sure it is bigger than our apartment (in square footage). we have a mini fridge, microwave, coffee maker, bar sink, desk, and high speed internet. yay! the carpet is a deep purple, the couch is purple velvet. the walls in the bathroom are a pretty shade of green, and i think tan in the living room, and a mauve-ish in the bedroom. today we are going to the country music hall of fame!! i'm so very excited! i think we will do as much walking around and seeing little things in nashville as we can during today, and tonight hang out in the "district"? i think that is what it's called, that's where all the nightlife/live music is. miss you dear friends and family back home!

Nashville!

hey everyone! my phone says it is now 10:35 pm. i have been awake since 3:30 am in texas, we left our house at 4 am. :O) just a couple of things i'd like to share with you all:

1. we arrived safe, thank you little blue car, you did so good! :O)

2. do not, ever, for any reason, drive to nashville from Texas. there is really nothing to "see". my thoughts were "oh i'm excited about the drive, it's going to be fun! i'm sure it will be so pretty!" .....uhmmmm.....or 15 hours later you get to the hotel???? lol

3. graceland is pretty cool. i will never need to visit it again! i love how it is still decorated like 1970-something. it still smells like an "old" house. it's kinda neat to think "he was in here" or whatever, but hey guess what? it's a dead guy's house. that's really all it is.

so, that's all the diary tonight, our hotel is awesome. it is in Brentwood, and since it was dark when we arrived, i'm thinking it's "pretty" outside!! please enjoy the pics. that's Jon in front of the neon "elvis" from the automobile museum. i thought that looked cool. i took that pic of us on the stairs in the mirror above us on the way to the basement of graceland. i put the pic of the martin guitar case on here just because that was pretty cool to see....my dad has the same case. my dad has a martin guitar that he used to play "big iron" by marty robbins on to me when i was 2. that's obviously me in front of just a SMALL portion of the record collection of elvis, i'm talking all his millions of albums sold, etc. Jon and I ate at an AWESOME restaurant this evening, it used to be a plantation and now it is a restaurant. the guy that took the pic did not do justice to what i was imagining in my head, he did thankfully get us both in the pic. and in focus. that staircase is neat and there is a super cool chandalier there, my thought was to have us and the light in the pic but what do i know. :O) we ate entirely too much today, driving brings out the evil snacker in me!! and then we shared everything at dinner....it was all very very yummy!! that's all for tonight, i'm off to sleepy land!