Introducing:

Baby Kitties!!!!

This is Stoli (black) and Tonic (tabby). In this picture they are 4 week old kittens a friend of mine found outside of her work. They are likely from the same litter but Stoli is much smaller than Tonic.

When we first got them their eyes were still blue, as you can kind of see in this picture. Just a week later the blue has almost all the way turned to green. They have both grown quite a bit in the short week. When we first got them Tonic was 1 pound while Stoli was a whopping 3/4 pounds.

Tonic was a bit tired for a photo shoot, but we did it anyway. Unfortunately, we neglected to clean up the background... Sorry!

Cute little feet!

I got my feet in the picture to show how tiny they are.

I think they are pretty cute :)

Update from South of the Mason Dixon Line

Seems to me I rarely update my blog… so I thought I would.

My life is pretty much same old. I go to work, and then I go home. I haven’t done much traveling for work lately, but that is likely to pick up again. I got the SIOP conference approved, so I get to go to that (and on the company’s dime which is phenomenal!). It is in April in Chicago. I am staying a bit longer than I need to so Kevin and Joy, we will have to see if we can meet up at some point for dinner or something.

This was before Christmas, so many of you may know this already, but I wanted to tell you that I am beginning to embrace the Country music down here. By no means do I like it! I can just tolerate it better now. Before Christmas I went to a Garth Brooks concert with my roomie Kate. It was actually a ton of fun, and I am glad I went. So who knows, maybe someday I will actually like it... doubt it though.

Kate and I have been able to continue our outings surrounding music even with the outdoor concerts being on hold until spring. A few weeks ago we went to hear a friend’s friend play and then John Carter Cash had a set too. (Johnny Cash and June Carter’s son). Then this last week we went to hear a Wisconsin native who moved to Nashville play. He’s got a lot of talent, it will be interesting to see if any of these small potatoes singer/songwriters actually make it. Keep in mind every third person you meet in Nashville is in the music industry, not everyone can make it.

This weekend is plump full of stuff to do. On Friday, Kate and I are going with some of her coworkers to a Joshua Radin Concert, then on Saturday we are going to the Red Wings @ Predators hockey game, and then Sunday is the SUPER BOWL!!! I am beyond excited for the super bowl to say the least.

Another “It’s cool to live in Nashville” story: Although I wasn’t sure at the time, a later google search confirmed that I saw a TN Titan in Walmart. He was just a practice squad guy, but I still thought it was pretty cool. He was a pretty big dude.

I went to the Packer game in Atlanta. It was an amazing experience. Especially since they won the game! There were a lot of Packer fans there, so I felt like a part of one big dysfunctional family. When Williams picked off Ryan at the end of the first half I was up by the concessions. When we heard the roar I went to go see what was going on and saw Williams running into the end zone. I was so excited I gave the girl next to me a huge hug…. I have no idea who she was, but it just seemed like the right thing to do.

That's about all that is going on around here. Oh except for I am fairly certain I will be able to make it to Camp Croix this year since I have more vacation time than I thought I would. Yay!

Heat

Kate and I turned on the heat for the first time last night. On December 1st. How many of you can say that!?

I Actually Like Living in the South?

Yes, its true. I love living in Nashville. I never thought I would say it, but its true. I think I like it so much better this time around for a few simple reasons. I am not in school. I am not in Murfreesboro. Nashville is such a melting pot of people that I have met more people not from Nashville than from here.

During the summer there is a free outdoor concert series at Centennial Park called Musician's Corner.It was every Saturday for 6 weeks. We made it to 3 or 4 of them, and it is definitely something that I am looking forward to for next year.


Here is a shot of the last Musician's Corner. All those leaves on the ground hadn't been there the week before. The stage is way up there, it is a bit hard to see in this picture.



At one of the Musician's Corners they had a surprise guest. It was Vince Gill. Here is a picture of him playing his acoustic set. Even though I don't like country, it was still quite enjoyable.


This is Kate and me being excited for Vince Gill. It also got quite cold when the sun went down so I was wrapped up in the blanket... or I was trying to make a fashion statement, you choose.


There was also a concert series that took place every Thursday night outside the courthouse in Nashville. This was basically the same as Musician's Corner except that it was a different location, it was at night, and there were bigger named bands. We went to one that had Sixpence None the Richer and Jars of Clay, and another that had Band of Horses. Fun times.

Unfortunately, both these series are done until next summer. Now we have to find something else to do. It shouldn't be a problem, with the high saturation of artists around here you can always find free music.


And that is a picture of Laura and me. We went out for her birthday this past Saturday. I am in her wedding in April.


In other news, work is ok. I found out today that I got put on a project that is directly for corporate so I will be working hand in hand with the VP of Org Development, which is awesome. I will also get to meet with and interview some of the executives and higher ups for this project, so that's exciting too.

That's about all I have going on for now. Oh one more thing:

Life

• Getting busier at work and traveling lots.
• Bought a new car.
• Still trying to get unpacked.
• Killed a HUGE spider by myself.
  
• Donated my hair to Locks of Love
• Have gained 7 pounds since moving down here.
• In Laura's (my old TN roommie) wedding in April.
• Also in Melissa's (best friend growing up) wedding in June (but I knew that before).
• That's it.
  

Quick Update

Here is a quick update on what is happening in my life.

Thanks to Mom and Dad, I now have all my possessions in my possession. (Well besides those few boxes that get to stay in the Mankato house a bit longer)

I haven't unpacked much because I haven't been at my apartment much. Last week I was in Caruthersville, MO all week and tomorrow I leave for Port Allen, LA and will be there until Friday afternoon.

My apartment has an amazing view of tree covered hills and the sunset in the evening. It sure is beautiful in TN. I will try to get a picture posted once I find where I stuck my camera.

I am car shopping. Well, I will be once I get back from Louisiana. I am going to a Suzuki dealership on Friday and a Honda dealership on Saturday. Any and all suggestions and/or advice on car purchasing is welcome.

I better get to bed... I am still getting used to the "I used to go to bed at 5am and now I get up at 5am" thing...

Work

So I have started work. Nothing too exciting has happened yet, I am just learning about the company and the projects that they would like to get moving on at this point. Next week and the week after that I will be traveling. First to Missouri and then to Louisiana.

Yesterday had a few other interesting happenings though. I went out to get some food and things and realized I also needed gas. I had put in a few bucks earlier in the day just so I had enough to get around, but I wanted to fill up in Mboro where gas is much cheaper than Nashville. So I pulled up to the gas station, walked around to the pump and looked at my car. "Hey wait a second," I thought, "where's the gas cap?" I had pulled up to the wrong side! Not only had filled up with gas earlier in the day, I also have I been the sole driver of that car for 6 years! I just laughed and moved my car over to the other pump, but boy did I feel dumb.

Then I went to the dollar store that had just opened to look around. I was surprised to find a book (Bait and Switch) by an author (Barbara Ehrenreich) of a book (Nickel and Dimed) that I had read for a class (Motivation) in undergrad (MNSU). It is a $24 book and I only paid $1! I was pretty excited. Hopefully when I read it there isn't a reason for it being at the dollar store... like its missing every third word or something.

When I was driving home from shopping I had to be sure to slow down as to not hit the huge family of skunks crossing the road. There was at least 8 of them, and they all had cute bushy tails. Some of them had clear black and white coloring, but others had a lot of white to them too. I didn't get that great of a look at them before they scurried off into the brush, but I was happy I at least didn't hit any of them.