Sunday was a relaxing and cultured day for me. After church, Myla and I went to the Brooks for the final day of the Who Shot Rock n’ Roll exhibit, featuring both famous and little-seen photos of rock stars. It was cool. I have to admit that my favorite was “Girls In a Hotel Who Have Just Seen New Kids on the Block,” circa 1990… my generation’s contribution. It was next to an equally fantastic photo of crazed British girls trying to get past some constables to see the Beatles.
Later, I went to our other major art museum, the Dixon. My parents’ friends had given me their tickets to Symphony in the Gardens there. I couldn’t find anyone to go with me, so I went alone and am really proud of myself for doing so. :) The fall weather was too perfect not to go! Admission to the museum and gardens was free with the symphony ticket, so I went early and looked at some sculpture and plants. The symphony itself was great. They have a new conductor who was wonderful at engaging the audience and sharing interesting things about the music. She also said that Dvorak is one of her favorite composers and asked anyone with Czech heritage to wave their hands (I’m a quarter Czech). My parents have season tickets to the symphony, so I’m hoping to tag along to a few more performances.
After all that, it was still pretty early, so I watched some of the Dolphins/Jets game with my dad and brother. I saw it through to the end at home, although it was painful (and I scared the cats more than once with my shouting and hopping). Brush it off, Fins!
Add a Comment + Posted in: music, sports
I love this song so much, I have to share it with the world. Every time I listen to it, I feel inspired. :)
PS – I’m thrilled that Anna is back and has a new album coming soon!
PPS – This song was also featured on an episode of One Tree Hill, my favorite TV melodrama of all time.
PPPS – I’m already looking forward to putting together my 2010 soundtrack, but there’s no way I’ll be able to stick to my usual rule of one CD’s worth of songs. This might be a double-CD year.
Add a Comment + Posted in: music
(my stockpile cabinet, back in the day)
I did a single-girl overhaul of my pantry last night. My ex-husband left in May, but it’s really taken this long for my shopping mindset to shift from two to one. Early this year I got pretty into the whole couponing/stockpiling thing. Most of my stockpile hasn’t been touched, but I kept buying old staples automatically (I do still use coupons), resulting in a pantry overflowing with cans and boxes. So I decided I’m going to stop overstocking things, actually use up the groceries and toiletries I have, and then figure out what and how much I really need.
It was also exciting for me to realize that I can now keep whatever staples I want in the house. Buying groceries just for myself has been surprisingly cheap, so I can probably start getting more quality food instead of quantity. I can stock pine nuts, roasted red peppers, unusual cheeses, all kinds of things that my ex wouldn’t eat. I can be as fancy and healthy as I want. I can shop more at Whole Foods. I don’t even have to keep white rice in the house! (But I will.) This is one of the few “pros” of my situation that has really felt like a pro. :) Anyone want to come over for dinner?
Sometimes, when I shop at Kroger later in the evening and the store is mostly empty, and I’m bopping my head to “Glory Days” while selecting a pasta sauce, I decide that Kroger would make an excellent after-hours roller skating rink. I mean, think about it. Most of the elements are there. Lots of wide, clean aisles; a smooth tile floor perfect for skating; food everywhere, so no need to add concessions; and most importantly, cheery Gen X classics constantly piped over the intercom. (They’d have to remove that commercial about shingles vaccines, though.) They could add a disco ball in the middle of the store, turn the First Tennessee mini-branch into a skate rental counter, crank up the music, and voila! Instant skating rink after 9 pm. I know I’d have fun. Some people might even be excited by the possibility of crashing into a huge display of canned peaches.
Seriously, this might be a decent development idea for the long-vacant grocery store spaces around here. Too bad I’m not a millionaire.
2 Comments + Posted in: reflections
So far, for me, one of the hardest parts of being single again is not having a built-in person to do things with. I’m not afraid to go places by myself, and have done so, but it often makes me sad. And finding someone to do a specific thing with me takes energy and perseverance (that I frequently don’t have), because my very few friends who aren’t married are really busy in other ways. I know that sometimes it’s a fight to find any quality time with your spouse, or enough relaxation time to keep you going. I’ve been there. I’m not angry, and I don’t expect anyone to shuffle their schedule for me! But it’s disappointing when I have to skip something just because I didn’t want to do it alone.
In an effort to counteract that, I’ve decided that on Friday nights when I don’t have other plans, I’ll watch a movie. I’ve been out of touch with movies for several years and my list is long. So far I’ve seen Whip It (loved it) and The Back-Up Plan (90 minutes I’ll never get back). Now there are a lot of movies opening in theaters that I want to see – You Again, The Social Network, Easy A, even the Wall Street sequel because I will watch anything Shia LaBeouf is in. So I plan to start calling a few friends and tell them that this is my plan if they want to come with, and if no one does, I will still go. I WILL.
Other than that, I want to try new restaurants and reclaim more of my old ones. (I hardly ever go out to eat anymore, which I guess is good money- and health-wise, but not much fun.) I want to go to Greek Fest on October 2. I want to go to Dolphins and Whales at the IMAX. I want to attend at least one Tiger football game this season. I really, really, really want to see Wicked at the Orpheum – is it already sold out? I want to look at fall foliage, whenever it arrives. I want to LIVE LIFE. WITH PEOPLE.
6 Comments + Posted in: divorce, movies, reflections