My company had a night at the zoo last Friday for employees and families! My mom came with me, and we had a great time. It’s always amazing to be reminded how far our zoo has come from what it was like when I was growing up. The lions and tigers were confined to a small, sad brick building, and the rest of the zoo wasn’t much better. Since then, almost every area has been expanded and naturalized (for lack of a better word). The poor hippos are the only animals still waiting their turn, but a new area is in development and hopefully it won’t take too long.
In the China section of the zoo, some monkeys are now grouped together with a bunch of otters. It was the best show in town – we stood there watching for about half an hour! The otters are so adorable. They go everywhere in a pack.
This was my first visit to Teton Trek, a new area for grizzly bears, wolves, and elk. It’s huge. I would even venture to call it breathtaking.
Zoo admission is free on Tuesday afternoons. Maybe I’ll sneak out of work early one day and see the animals I missed this time, like the giraffes and rhinos.
3 Comments + Posted in: memphis, nature
Last weekend, I went to Nashville again, this time for the second sold-out night of Taylor Swift’s Speak Now tour. My sister Debra and I and our friend Erin bought these tickets way back in the spring, so by the time the day drew near, I had practically forgotten about it!
We started our evening with a delicious meal at Demos’ steak house downtown, then headed to the show:
Thanks to this truck, we will never wonder where, when, or why this photo was taken!
When I first heard that NEEDTOBREATHE was opening for Taylor, I was almost more excited about seeing them than her. I started bouncing with uncontained glee as soon as their banner was hung on the stage. They were awesome, but only played five songs, which seemed like a short set even for an opening act. None of the selections were my faves, either. It made me more determined to go see them when they’re headlining! (BTW, their new album drops today!)
The concert featured trapdoors, an assortment of huge set pieces, a multitalented dance crew, acrobats, and at least six costume changes for everyone. Plus, surprise guests, but we’ll get to that in a second. Oh and our seats were fantastic – the best I’ve ever had for a show of this magnitude.
Midway through the show, Taylor walked across the entire arena (hugging and greeting fans the whole way) and did an acoustic set under a giant fake tree, so everyone in the back suddenly had a front row seat. Then she walked back to the main stage on the other side. I thought that was pretty awesome of her.
We’d heard Hayley Williams of Paramore had made an appearance the previous night. I notified Debra that if she showed up again, I would FLIP OUT (Paramore being my favorite band of all time). When a surprise guest was announced, it turned out to be Kenny Chesney!! He strolled out in his ball cap and sang “Big Star” with Taylor:
After that, she brought out Andy Grammer (of “You gotta keep your head up, who-oah” fame):
Later, when the curtains reopened for the encore, Taylor was sitting a couch with Tim McGraw. !!! He sang “Just To See You Smile,” which is probably my favorite of his songs. I couldn’t get over how crazy it was. I half expected Reba or Dolly or somebody to drop out of the sky next. Only in Nashville!
For the “Love Story” finale, she flew around the arena on a balcony.
As we left, Debra asked, “How do you even describe that to people?” Well, I just tried.
Though many people consider Taylor uncool, I feel good about supporting something that women of all ages can enjoy (although there were more men present than you’d think!). We saw hundreds of dressed-up little girls, and moms and daughters. I think Taylor is filling an important hole in the American female psyche. While the other popular female artists of our day giggle about partying and getting trashed, Taylor encourages young (and old) girls to stay classy, be strong, pursue their dreams, and hold out for a prince. I don’t see anything wrong with that!
PS: While I’m trashing my street cred, I might as well admit that I like Celine Dion too. Unironically.
8 Comments + Posted in: music, nashville
Sorry the blog has been a little lackluster of late. I’m getting into the rhythm of my fall “extracurricular” schedule, and while I’m enjoying everything, the adjustment hasn’t left me many spare brain cells. So here are some stream-of-consciousness thoughts:
– Last night I had a vivid dream about renting out my suburban house so I could move to High Point Terrace (the cute neighborhood where many of my friends live) without the trouble of selling. I woke in the middle of the night feeling wired about this idea, so convinced of its awesomeness that I almost hopped out of bed and onto Realtor.com. When full consciousness returned this morning, it seemed much less awesome and I just laughed about it. I love the houses in High Point, but they’re out of my price range, and my existing house is wonderful for me. With the added benefits of being affordable and already in my name.
– I don’t get the huge, Black Friday-like frenzy over Missoni for Target. I like bold stripes as much as the next person, but not enough to cover myself and my house in them. Calypso St. Barth for Target was much more my speed.
– This week I found a gorgeous red ceramic ruffle-edged casserole dish, made in Italy, for $14 at T.J. Maxx. I can’t believe I almost paid $60 for the same thing at the Williams-Sonoma outlet.
– While I’m not generally a Lady Gaga fan, her new jazzy song “You and I” is FANTASTIC. It would be fun to attempt at karaoke. With high heels on, of course.
– To quote Jarvis Greer from Channel 5, Tiger football is a hot topic around town, and not in a good way. I’ve been loving Geoff Calkins’ articles about it. Even Jerry Lawler weighed in!
– I’m making slow progress on a cute fall wreath I saw on Pinterest. Of course I’ll post about it when it’s finished. So excited that fall is here! Yesterday I had my windows open and my Autumn Leaves candle burning, and it was so wonderful I almost didn’t want to leave for yoga.
– Grace for the Good Girl is even better than I expected (and I’m still not finished). Several people I know have ordered it because I seriously cannot stop talking about it. I may need to write a series of posts to process my thoughts.
This weekend will be fun and exciting – I’ll have things to share next week!
4 Comments + Posted in: life lately
Most of the recipes I post here are pretty healthy, so I feel okay about sharing a heart attack in a pan once in a while. I’ve had this recipe in my binder for several years, but never found the right occasion to make it. Then I was asked to bring an appetizer to a party last night, and I thought, why not? Now that I’ve tried it, I think it would be good for a football party, wine and cheese party, or even a brunch. It’s very easy and quick to make.
Drunken Cheesy Bread
From Real Simple, May 2007
Ingredients (adjust amounts for the size of your pan and/or baguette):
butter for the pan
½ baguette, cut into 2-inch slices
½ small yellow onion, thinly sliced (I recommend mincing it instead)
1/8 pound thinly sliced cooked ham
¾ cup white wine
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ cups (6 ounces) grated Gruyere (Other cheese options: Fontina, Swiss, Monterey Jack, or white Cheddar. I chose white Cheddar because it was special-occasionish but still affordable. Real Simple looooves Gruyere, but it’s like $10 for a small brick.)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400° F. Place the bread in a buttered ovenproof skillet, square baking dish, or casserole dish.
2. Scatter the onion and ham over the bread. (I had more than one layer of bread, so I added onion, ham, and cheese to the first layer before topping with more bread.)
3. Pour wine over everything, and top with the pepper and cheese.
4. Bake until the cheese has melted and begun to brown at the edges, about 20 minutes.
3 Comments + Posted in: food
I had a wonderful and VERY busy weekend. On Friday night I went to see Hanson perform at the Delta Fair. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve been a huge Hanson fan since 1997, and anyone who dismisses them (or doesn’t even know they’ve released four more albums since “Mmmbop”) is missing out. I actually spent ten minutes evangelizing about them to a guy on the Ferris wheel, after he asked me who was playing that night. He may have been sorry he brought it up. LOL! This was my third Hanson show, and I’m sure it wasn’t my last. I was only about ten feet from the stage (on Isaac’s side, which was a happy accident since he’s always been my fave).
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| (It was impossible to get a good picture of Zac from where I was. Also – the backup keyboardist looked just like Wallace from Veronica Mars. Be cool, soda pop!) |
On Saturday morning, my friend Hillary and I went to the 100 Tigers exhibit on the U of M campus. To celebrate the university centennial next year, 100 big tiger sculptures were painted by different artists. This was the only time they’d all be shown in one place before they scatter them around town. It was REALLY cool and I’m so glad we went – I took a ridiculous amount of photos. Here are some of my favorite tigers:
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| Papier-mache music tiger |
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| Glittery mosaic tiger |
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| Line-drawing tiger |
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| And of course, basketball tiger |
Each tiger was assigned a class year. They were arranged semi-chronologically, and where my class’s tiger should have been, there was a gap. I was distraught and confused. Trying to console me, Hillary said it must have some special placement. To my surprise, she was right – the Class of 2001 tiger was voted Best in Show! :D
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| Yay!!! |
That wasn’t the end of my weekend fun. I also rode my bike on the Greenline and got pizza and paletas with my mom, and attended an 80’s roller-skating party, but I don’t have pictures of those things. :)
4 Comments + Posted in: music, tigers