Is the Kraker house crumbs?

Okay, I don't know about everyone else but it was REALLY windy around here last night. Wind gusts stayed in the 50 - 60 mph range for what seemed like hours. Actually, I really think it was for hours. Last night, after John and I came home from going out to eat, we unlocked and opened our door to come inside and almost couldn't get it shut again because the wind was blowing so hard.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down further south in Columbus, MS, my parents were having worse problems. A tree fell on the their house! Now, keep in mind their house has survived EXTREMELY high straight line winds (much worse than yesterday) and tornadoes (Columbus has been nicknamed "Tornado Alley" in the past) and has never had a tree fall on it (in fact, it just survived a two tornadoes a couple of weeks ago). Yes, we've had trees fall AROUND it, but never on it...they have fallen in the yard, in the pool, on fences, across both ends of our driveway (blocking us in), and on the garage we have in the back but never actually directly on the house. Wouldn't you know that it would be a cold front to break their streak of luck. The two windows on the front porch belong to my old bedroom. I am so glad I wasn't in there asleep when this happened - I would have had a heart attack....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, and FYI, I am really upset with our Sanitation Department. We had the trash put out ready to go today (Wednesday is our trash day) and the wind blew it over. Although I was home at the time, I didn't realize it. The trash can was only half full and while it was indeed laying on its side in the grass (six inches away from the curb), the top did not come off. I could understand them not wanting to pick it up if it had blown half way across our parking lot and had gross trash all around it, but seriously, it just tipped over in its designated place with all its contents still completely inside. And, yes, they did not pick it up. I know sanitation workers probably don't enjoy their jobs but how hard would it have been to pick up our trash? What happened to people taking pride in their work and doing their job to the best of their ability no matter what? I'm afraid these are values that are disappearing from our generation at a rapid rate.

And the winner is....

NASH STREET!!!

Starkville, Mississippi

http://www.nashstreet.com/

Last night, John and I attended the 26th annual Colgate Country Showdown (http://www.countryshowdown.com/) at the Ryman here in Nashville. The Ryman is the former home of the Grand 'Ole Opry. Basically, the Showdown is the American Idol of country music with a slew of famous former contestants including Billy Ray Cyrus and Martina McBride. People compete at their own local, state, regional, etc. levels and the regional winners wind up here, competing for the chance to win $100,000. Congratulations to Nash Street on their success - they're on their way! Afterwards, we went to a reception for the band at the Sheraton downtown. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing some people from back home!

The Ryman Auditorium (http://www.ryman.com/)

The Showdown was hosted by LeAnn Rimes.

Here are all the finalists on stage right before the winners were announced singing short clips from their most favorite songs...

Here is LeAnn Rimes singing before the winners were announced...

And here is Nash Street with their grand prize...$100,000 from Colgate!

The Parthenon

Tonight, John and I decided to go for a walk in Centennial Park, home of Nashville's replica of the Parthenon in Greece. This is where John proposed to me a little over a year ago. Here are some pictures we took while we were there...

I left here a little over a year ago with one ring. Now, I'm back with both rings! :)
They also had some Christmas decorations in different places around the Park...

MSU highlights, candle lights, stage lights, and Christmas lights!

Well, last weekend we went home for Thanksgiving...it was the first time we had both been home since we've been married. We also celebrated my little brother's 23rd b'day while we were there. We both enjoyed seeing friends and family while we were home and WATCHING MSU BEAT OLE MISS IN THE EGG BOWL!!! I am so glad they beat Ole Miss!

Here's little Rob blowing out his candles...

When we got back to Nashville, we set up our Christmas tree. This was the first time in probably three or four years I have been able to have a Christmas tree because I wasn't moving during the holidays. We can't fit my Christmas tree in our living room here (we have way too much furniture), so we used John's 4 1/2-ft tree. We ended up putting it on top of one of our end tables. I also forgot my ornaments in Columbus as well, so we bought ornaments last-minute to use for this year. It just wasn't worth the 5-hour drive or risking breaking them in the mail to get them here. We'll survive somehow... :)

Sorry, no make up for me in this pic! :)

Last night, we went to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (the TPAC) to see Irving Berlin's A White Christmas. It was a really good show. I have always told John that I would like to have a white Christmas one year, so I guess I got it this year! Hahaha! At the end of the show, it "snowed" on the audience with soap suds that closely resembled snow flurries which was really neat since it almost never snows here in the South. It may be as close to snow as we get for this year!



Tonight we went with a couple of friends of ours and saw the Christmas decorations at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. All I have to say about that is WOW... I don't think I have ever seen so many Christmas lights in my life. By the way, Christmas lights (white lights) are one of my most favorite parts about Christmas! Here are some pics from our visit below...and, really, these pictures don't do the hotel justice...

Here are some pictures from outside the Gaylord Opryland Hotel...

We went on the Delta Riverboat while we were there. It sails along throughout the hotel - the river is about a quarter of a mile long and contains more than 450,000 gallons of water from all over the world. Here is a picture of the "dock" where you get on/off and a picture of us in the boat.

Here are our friends we went with, Daniel and Andrea...

Here are some random pictures of decorations throughout the hotel. Like I said earlier, the pictures are nothing compared to the real thing.... These are just a few of the ones we took while we were there.

We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and that everyone is doing well!

Loveless in Nashville...

Hello, everyone who reads this...hope all is well! We're doing well here - John is at a Nashville Predator's game at the moment, so I thought I would take a minute to update the blog. Last weekend, John's parents came up and brought us a love seat to use in John's "Man Room" which is really his studio. I have a little desk and computer (I have a "normal" computer - John has a Mac computer) in there, too, but I stay over in my little area. Outside of my little area in the man room are lots of buttons and knobs, things that look like I could easily mess up. :) Not to mention the other equipment he has in there that I'm afraid will break if I look at it the wrong way!

While his parents were here, we went out to eat (of course) at the Loveless Cafe (http://www.lovelesscafe.com/). It's a local "mom and pop" place that has been around forever and the food is awesome. It's kind of like a Cracker Barrel if I had to compare it to anything. After church on Sunday, John and I made lunch for them before they headed back to Starkville.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on...just work and play (or at least one of us works). I've officially started job searching, so I hope to stumble on something I like soon. I'm really looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving so I can see my family AND get my CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. I LOVE decorating for Christmas!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

Guns...and roses!

Sorry, it's been a while. We've been a little busy. Not this past weekend but the weekend before that we went for some target practicing at a local gun club south of Nashville with a guy John works with, his wife, and his dad. Oh, and, no, I am NOT turning to into GI Barbie or anything like that (in case anyone is wondering). I was very excited to hit the bull's eye at the rifle range. It was about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and 100 yards (a football field) away. Anyway, here are some pictures of us in action:

This past weekend, John was in a wedding in Meridian, MS. We enjoyed getting to see some friends and family and seeing Keyes and Jennifer tie the knot! We had so much fun at the wedding. The main colors were pink and brown - it was so pretty. John and I were just really glad it wasn't us. :) I mean, we're very happy we're married now, but one wedding is ENOUGH for us!

Here we are at the rehearsal dinner:

Here are some of the guys at a luncheon honoring the groom before the wedding....

Here are John, Keyes (the groom), and Ike waiting for their cue...

Shootin' 'em up!

This past weekend, John and I went to a USPSA (www.uspsa.org) sanctioned shooting match at North Tennessee Practical Shooters shooting club (www.ntps.org) in Dickson, TN. This is something he has really been getting into these past few months and enjoys - this was my first time to go. I've grown up around and shooting guns, etc., but I've never been to a shooting match or anything competitive like that (you know, except for riflery and archery when I went to camp as a kid). We had a really good time. As a first timer, it was very interesting to see all the different courses and ways to test one's skills. I was also impressed with the number of women involved. I expected it to be all men, so I was definitely surprised to see a few ladies out there. And there were people there of all ages, from 20's through 60's. I may even try it out the next time we go! Maybe I'll even beat John (but probably not).... Here are some pics. I tried to post videos but keep running into technical difficulties - I will try to have those up soon. Keep checking back!

Our first stage, Stage 4:

Here is John practicing Stage 4:

John getting ready to shoot Stage 4 (hopefully video is coming soon!):

Check out my cool protective eyewear...

Here is our second stage, Stage 6:

Each person's turn in this stages was divided into three parts: you had to shoot the targets at the end of the stage laying down (shooting on your stomach or on your back between your legs), kneeling, and standing. I only have video of John actually shooting in this one, but here is one of him practicing:

Here is our third stage, Stage 1:

Here is John getting ready to shoot Stage 1. I hope to have video up soon of this one as well:

Here is our fourth stage, Stage 2:

I did not take a video of this stage - the course was set up like the layout of a small house. Between the black section and the yellow and blue section there was a sort of hallway with rooms on either side which made it really hard to get any video footage.

Here is a side view of Stage 2 with targets on the corners of the "windows":

Here is John shooting in Stage 2:

And last, but not least, here is our last and fifth stage, Stage 3:

I only have video of John on this one - keep checking back - I hope to have it ready soon!