G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S

How on earth am I going to recreate this hair on Sunday?

This beautiful hair is courtesy of my stylist, DeAnna. I simply went in to get my roots touched up but when I told her of my glamorous dress she came up with this amazing idea. We decided to test it out tonight and I can't believe how great it came out!

Now for the random moment of the day - as I was leaving the salon, I mentioned that I would go home, try on the dress and send her a photo. Sounded easy enough, right? Well, I've never really tried to photograph myself in a dress and it was just not working. I needed someone to take it for me and my only option was to ask one of my neighbors. There is a couple that lives in front of me and I was going to ask the girl to snap a quick photo - she's nice and probably wouldn't think I was too odd when I explained what was going on.

So off I go, with my glamorous hair, fabulous dress and three inch heels headed over to their place. When I rounded the corner to the front of the house I ran into my other neighbor - the young, single guy - who now probably thinks I'm a lunatic. Of course, we started talking and I had to explain what the hell I was doing dressed to the nine & holding a camera. To make a long story short - I had him take my photo but it was only after he positioned me in front of the palm tree & after we waited for about 4 people to walk by. It suddenly felt like I was getting my graduation photo taken all over again...hilarious! It's such an awkward photo that I refuse to post it but don't worry - you'll get to see the real deal in just a couple of days!

Countdown To The Grammys

This weekend I will be making my red carpet debut! I'll be making two appearances; I like to think of them as the rehearsal and then the big show. The first will be on Friday night at the MusiCares dinner honoring Don Henley. Then the second will be on Sunday at the Grammy Awards! My job will be as an artist escort which basically means that I have to escort the celebrities down the red carpet and make sure that they make it to each interview spot. It's going to be a blast! Who knows, you might even see me on TV - just keep an eye on the red carpet interviews before the show (thus the need to look gorgeous as mentioned in a previous post).

It's exciting but I still have so much to do to get ready for this weekend. I'm beginning to realize why celebrities looks stunning all of the time - it's because they have people to do everything for them! Hair, makeup, wardrobe - everything is taken care of and all they have to do is show up. Must be nice...

Stupid Girl & Sunless Tanner

Have you ever seen the video to "Stupid Girl" by Pink? If not, you should really check it out. One of the funniest scenes in this video is when Pink goes into the sunless tanning booth and comes out orange:

Well, I have to admit, this past weekend I decided to go in for my first ever Mystic Tan. I have two big events coming up this weekend (more on that later) and wanted to have a little color to go with my two new fabulous dresses. So I make my appointment and headed over to the tanning salon.

Upon arrival, the girl hooked me up with all the basics of the spray tan process. The two most important instructions are as follows:

1.) Lather your hands and feet up with lotion as much as possible. This will prevent them from turning 10 shades darker than your arms & legs.
2.) Be sure to buff yourself with the towel when finished to remove excess bronzer so that you don't end up with orange splotches.

No problem, right? What I wasn't prepared for was the initial blast of tanner being shot at my face. I'm not going to lie - it's a little shocking at first and Pinks portrayal of this is spot on! So of course it made me start laughing - not smart because I then inhaled a bunch of the fumes. Thankfully, I made it through four of the ten second bursts of spray and jumped out to dry off.

I'm not gonna lie - I was a bit of a skeptic walking out. You leave basically the same color as when you arrived but you know what? That crap works! At 8pm I was pale white and by 9 am I looked like I had just stepped off a plane from Miami. Amazing! The best part is that it looks pretty natural - not orange! I tested several of my friends on this - including one who was anti spray tan - and they all reassured me that I am a normal shade of tan.

So, ladies (or men, i guess?!), if you are in a fix and need a quick touch of color added to your winter white skin, I would highly recommend the spray tan. Just remember to hold your breath!

Score: Nicole - 1 Men - 0

The only part that sucks about being a good friend is that you get roped into doing stuff that is not fun. It happens to all of us and we dread hearing those words "can you help me move"? Ugh. Well, today was my day to be a good friend and load up a truck heading to the East coast. Thank God there weren't any stairs...

After spending the morning packing up the Uhaul, it was time to attach the car trailer to the truck. This was, simply stated, one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed. My dear friend made this big deal about the men hooking up the trailer. Naturally, I assumed that the men would know how to do it...oh how I was mistaken! They did manage to get the truck lined up with the trailer - kudos. After that it was similar to watching a monkey do a math problem.

Now, I am in no way an expert when it comes to attaching trailers, nor am I a big "girl power" kind of person. I was, however, gifted with a fair amount of common sense. Common sense told me that two men who work corporate jobs were not going to be able to strong arm a piece of metal that is refusing to budge. Something is obviously wrong and I couldn't take it anymore - I had to intervene. I called for backup. My brother owns a construction business and is well versed when it comes to all things mechanical - including trailers - score! After explaining our situation, he was able to walk me through the steps to fix the problem and properly attach the trailer. I was a happy girl.


What I didn't realize was how emasculating that was for the guys. Fellas, is it really that big of a deal!? One of the guys brought it up a couple of times so I would love some insight here.

All this made me think of the fine line between independence and dependence. I know that I am incredibly independent - almost to a fault. Over the years I think it's almost become a bit of a defense mechanism - if you don't rely on anyone else then you will never be disappointed. How did I get to this point? And why do I see dependence on others as a sign of weakness?

George Michael Would Be Proud

Everyone knows that I have a lot of odd stories and strange things that happen to me. The event today was no exception and one that this man would probably be proud of.



This afternoon I stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. It was a unisex restroom which is disgusting but after too much coffee I didn't really have a choice. So I take note of the sign that says " if door is locked restroom is in use". The door wasn't shut all of the way so I grabbed the handle and jerked it open. What I saw next left me speechless and incredibly uncomfortable. There was a man standing in front of the mirror masturbating. What the hell!?! Who does that a.) in a public bathroom and b.) with the door unlocked! Ewh...

I was so shocked that I just mumbled out "oh, sorry", shut the restroom door and immediately left the gas station. I just have one question - what in the world was this man thinking?!

Six Hours

This is the sign of a bad/stressful day.

At 7am the battery on my phone was fully charged. By 7pm the battery was dead. Now, when I say dead, I mean it turned itself off and disconnected the call D-E-A-D.

So this made me wonder how much time I spent on the phone. The answer: SIX HOURS. According to the web, my phone has a has a battery life of 6 talking hours. I used them all in less than 12 hours. That has to be a new world record....

Across the Pond

This past weekend I booked my ticket to go here:

It's been over 5 years since I was last in the UK and I couldn't be more excited to go back. At this point we are planning on spending a few days in London and then spending a week traveling through the countryside.

So....if anyone should have any suggestions of places to see outside of London, I would love to hear about them!

My Pet Peeve

Could someone please explain to me why it is so hard to return a shopping cart to the cart return area? This loose cart phenomenon has worked its way up to the top of my pet peeves list.

This is a photo that I took at my local Target:

Judging from this photo, you would assume that a cart return area was not available or it was located across the parking lot. Not so. It was only 5 feet away from all of these carts! What gives!? I've seen people wrestle with carts to lodge them onto a curb when they could have just walked the cart to the return area in less time. On more than one occasion I've been tempted to ask one of these people what in the world they are thinking. Is it really that hard to walk the extra 5 feet to put your cart away? I don't get it...

Do you have a random pet peeve? If so, please share!

What Would You Do?

You are staying in a hotel and your neighbors appear to be throwing a party in their room. The loud noise is keeping you from your precious sleep. Would you:

A.) Call the front desk/request to change rooms
B.) Walk next door and confront the little punks yourself
C.) Do nothing but turn on something for background noise and hope for the best
D.) Other

What would you do?

Sign Of The Times

This is photo that I took at a gas station in Reno, NV back in April of 2006.

This photo crossed my mind today while I was filling up my car at nearly $3 per gallon. Does anyone else remember when gas was under a dollar? Oh, the good old days....please come back!

Tag - You're It!

Over the Christmas break I was tagged by DigitalRich. This one is to come up with 5 little known things about yours truly. Enjoy...

1.) I once bought a car off of ebay from a man that, I swear, was affiliated with the mafia. The story of me flying to pick up the car and drive it home is worthy of its own post...

2.) When I was 18 I was hired as a security guard. My assignment was to kick out the homeless people who wandered into the Cokesbury building in downtown Nashville. I accepted the job but after taking a tour of the building I got cold feet and quit. Did you know that as a security guard you are expected to lay your life on the line and you don't even get pepper spray!?

3.) This one is embarrassing - when I was younger I went to see Color Me Badd in concert. Remember them? Yeah...it was awful.

4.) I love the smell of fresh cut wood. It takes me back to being 5 years old and moving into the new A frame house my parents built.

5.) I have been deer hunting. When I was around 16 years old I went hunting in an attempt to bond with my dad. We got all dressed up in fluorescent orange and headed out. After about an hour of freezing our butts off we saw a big buck and my dad urged me to take a shot. I did and missed, thankfully! Had I really got him I would have felt awful! That day was the beginning and ending of my hunting career. It was cold, boring and deer hunter orange isn't exactly a good color for me. ;)

Now, I have the pleasure of tagging 5 of my good friends:

Glamorous Jo
NonBlonde
Little Redd
Bananie
Len

Have fun everyone!

Life Rolls On - They Will Surf Again

So I've been learning a lot lately. Most recently and probably the heaviest on my heart has been the lesson of being selfless, putting others first and giving my life away. This last weekend I really saw people joining together to help others and it was incredibly inspiring.

There is an organization called Life Rolls On (you may have seen it featured on Extreme Home Makeover this past Sunday). One of the most popular programs with Life Rolls On is They Will Surf Again . This program gives wheelchair bound men and women the chance to surf again with help from a specially designed board.

In order to make sure that all of the surfers are safe in the water, it requires many, many volunteers. The people in my life group from church have kind of adopted these volunteers. If they are willing to give their time to help someone surf, we will give our time and feed them a hot breakfast to show our appreciation. We cooked everyone pancakes & sausage and provided them with hot coffee (it was freezing!). Here was our little set up and some of people from our group:

It had rained pretty hard on Saturday night so we weren't sure if the surfers were going to get a chance to go out. After eating breakfast & hanging out on the beach for awhile they decided to give it a try. This gentlemen was the first one up:
Here is a shot of some of the the volunteers:
Even with the wetsuits on these guys and girls had to be cold!

Blogger is being a pain and not letting me post more photos ... but there were a few good ones that we got of the guys surfing in. I'll try to put 'em up later....

When the guys rode the waves all the way in they were greeted by everyone on the beach clapping & cheering for them. It was heart warming to see these people who press on and don't let anything hold them back. I think that we could all learn a bit from them...

Christmas In So Cal

If you find yourself around the Naples Island area be sure to walk along the canals to see all of the amazing home decorated for Christmas. Here is a snap shot of one of the most creative houses on the row:

And this one captures the So Cal Christmas mentality the best - Santa in a hammock between 2 palm trees. Does it get any better than this?

Christmas Lights & New Hope Academy

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like you are going non-stop at 100 mph? Well, take that and stretch it out to a three week span and you will get a glimpse into my reality.

Thursday night was our "free night" from sales conference. So I called up my girl Carol and we dined at Calypso Cafe (hands down my favorite restaurant in the Nashville area). While we were eating, Carol pointed out that Kenny Chesney had walked in. It's funny but I think that I saw more famous people this weekend than I had in my entire 9 years of living in Nashville. After dinner, I met up with Jeremy N. and we went to see a home that single handedly lights up the neighborhood. The story, in a nutshell, is that each year this mans son "BJ" wanted his dad to hang more Christmas lights. When BJ passed away of cancer in 1993 the father lit up his house like the 4th of July in honor of his son. Check it out: Friday was an incredible day. The company that I work for has adopted a theme of giving our Christmas away. Instead of spending a lot of money on Christmas gifts or party for the employees, they pool the money and donate it all to a charitable organization. In 2003 & 2004 each employee got to choose angels for the Angel Tree program. In 2005 we partnered with Sweet Sleep - an organization in Maldova to buy winter coats, mittens and thermals for over 1,000 orphans. This year we donated a gross amount of money to a private school in Franklin, TN called New Hope Academy. Here's a quick description of the school:

New Hope Academy is a Christ-centered community school with an economically, racially, and culturally diverse student body. It exists to serve low-income families by establishing a solid Biblical world view, instilling vision, confirming hope and preparing each young person for a life of service.

Each employee was able to donate an item to the school from a wish list that teachers from New Hope created. The items ranged from a rug for the pre-K classroom, to books, hula hoops, instruments, gym equipment, etc. After each employee picked an item to donate we all boarded the busses to head down to the school.

When we arrived, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. We joined the kids for their devotions, worship and birthday dedications. Then the CEO of our company presented them with all our donations. Not only did we get all of the items on their wish list but we were able to donate all new music instruments, new uniforms and money to contribute to Christmas day meals for the underprivileged kids. One by one you could see all of the teachers tearing up; which then led all of the women (including myself) to start crying. Needless to say, I was blown away.

The kids rounded out our time in the auditorium by performing a music program. It was so cute! After that we all broke out and went to different classrooms (I chose a 4th grade class). I was picked by the cutest little 10 year old who presented me with a mug she made. It was a drawing of a pine branch, her favorite Bible verse and a Christmas greeting. In turn, she taught me how to draw the same pine branch and I got to make a bookmark for her. We had about a half an hour to spend with our kid and when it was time to go my little girl goes "no" and then gave me the biggest hug you could imagine. It just melted my heart....

We were able to see the gratitude in the faces, tears and smiles of the teaching staff and kids at New Hope Academy. At the end of the day I don't know who was more impacted by this event; the folks at NHA or us.

A Week In Nashville...

I'll start off by saying it's cold in Nashville!

It's been a busy weekend ever since arriving late Friday night. This weekend (although it is sales conference week) is going to be fun....

Saturday was jam packed with friends...lunch with Jason, Jeremy & Scotty. A Christmas Parade in Franklin. Dinner at Mafiaoza's with Brian & Stephanie. Then it was off to the Predators vs. Blackhawks game. Thanks to Sara, we had amazing seats in the lower bowl of the GEC...

Sadly, the Preds lost to the Blackhawks in overtime but it was a close and very exciting game. The last stop of the night for me was over at Diane's Christmas Tree Trimming party. Good friends, games, food and not to mention a viewing of the National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. It was a long but great day...

Sunday was more relaxing - visiting my old church, a bit of shopping and resting up for the week to come. Later we broke out season one of Arrested Development (my new favorite show), pizza and much red wine.

Side Note: Whenever I stay at J & C's house something random always happens. Tonight it was C. trying to figure out which jacket was warmer. The new coat (black) or the trusted coat from last year (red). This "experiment" consisted of her putting on different coats and sitting on their deck - in the freezing cold. And the winner is? There is no winner. They were both warm.

Though you can't see it in these photos, she did bring out a glass of wine with her. And she calls me crazy....

Top of the Rock

I forgot to mention that during our trip we went up to the Top of the Rock Observation Deck and got some amazing views of the city. It was well worth the $20 fee.

Here's a view of Central Park:
And a shot of the Empire State Building:
It was pretty hazy/gross day so I flipped them into B&W. Here is another that I took of St. Patricks Cathedral:

NYC - Done.

Next up - Nashville, TN

In A New York Minute...

My trip to New York City has come and gone quicker than I ever imagined. I had a great opportunity to meet up with Jenny & Jamie in NYC. Jennys friends were out of town and asked her to house sit their apartment at the Trump World Tower. I am lucky enough to be her friend and got to stay in a premier location for free. Sweet!

I spent Tuesday, from sunrise to sunset, flying cross country. It normally wouldn't take so long but of course, the plane I was on had mechanical problems so we sat on the plane for nearly 2 hours before it got fixed and we were able to take off. Upon arrival in NYC I had just enough time to meet up with the girls, get cleaned up and head out for dinner at STK in the Meatpacking District. Great food but horrible service which seemed to be the theme of the week. After dinner we headed over to Hotel Gansevoort for cocktails in the O Bar. The dirty martinis were great but a word to the wise, if you haven't drank a lot of water or eaten anything that day, you might want to avoid them. Jenny & I learned that one the hard way...

On Wednesday, we went down to the Ground Zero. I had never seen the twin towers in person but all of the images that I saw on the news came flooding back to me. It's hard to believe that something like this could happen in the US. There is a great memorial dedicated to all of those that lost their lives on 9/11 that I was able to get a photo of:

They had the perimeter of the site blocked off by fences so it was hard to get a good shot of the site. The photos that I did get do not do it justice - the depth and sheer size of the area was astounding.

That night we headed over to Tao for dinner and cocktails. This place was probably my favorite of the night spots that we hit. Great music, awesome food, good sake...what more could you ask for? For desert we ordered the Tao Chocolate Buddahs just because we were curious. I kind of felt bad for biting the head off of someone's god...but it sure was good!

Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) I had planned on going down to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade but that didn't exactly happen. I woke up and saw how awful the weather was (cold & raining) so we staying in bed and watched it on TV. How awesome is that!? When we all finally go out of bed we headed out for lunch in Rockefeller Center and then went to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes. If you make it to NYC over the holidays, you should really check out this show. It's amazing how the Rockettes dance moves can be so precise. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was well worth the money.

Our next stop was back to the Trump for a bit of rest before dinner. On our way back into the apartment we noticed that Megu was open so we decided to make a stop in for cocktails.

A couple of things to note: the restaurant was completely dead with the three of us being the only customers in the place. Since we were only there for cocktails, the chef sent over what was the equivalent of a friend noodle with sea salt on it. When the waitress delivered in she said "Compliments of the chef. Though some people are allergic to this and could die. Enjoy". It was the strangest thing. So we gave up eating them and had swordfights, smoked or made walrus teeth of them.

The noodle was gross but we did discover the best martini ever called "Blessing" made with pomegranate juice...mmmm! We also discovered the electronic commode. Here is a quick description that I found of one:

"Plus, you can kiss your bidet goodbye. Neorest is outfitted with "Washlet" technology, a warm-water cleansing unit that includes oscillating spray massage, front- and back-aerated warm water spray, and a warm-air dryer. Of course, there's also a heated seat. "

Ummm...it was C-R-A-Z-Y! It probably doesn't help that we found that after a few drinks...

After the excitement of the toilet, we headed over to SAPA for Thanksgiving dinner. Traditional turkey, stuffing, etc all done gourmet style. It certainly wasn't moms cooking but it was good - probably not worth the $100 but oh well.

Friday was the big shopping day. Jenny & Jane hit 5th Ave while Jamie and I headed to SoHo. Hands down the best store design I have ever seen was at the Prada store. You can check out a couple of the photos here.

That night we had dinner reservations at Butter. The DJ was playing some great music but much to our dismay, it was a very light night and they closed down at about 1.30. Though we did celebrate my birthday (again) and the DJ played happy birthday for me. Did I mention that it was another dirty martini night? Not smart...

Hotel QT was the next bar we hit but there wasn't much of a scene. We did, however, see a man wearing a speedo that had "I AM SPARTACUS" written across his bum. We got a photo but this thing isn't letting me upload it. Dang it!

Next stop was The Cellar Bar in Bryant Park. This place was dead! It had to be because it was the day after Thanksgiving and people were all tired or something. We managed to close down 2 bars in the city that never sleeps...how is that possible? I think we finally got home around 4am.

Saturday morning was not pretty for the three of us. Luckily all we had to do was get up and fly home. All in all it was an awesome trip and I can't wait to go back again....

I Miss Him...

Tonight I got an email from the couple that adopted Lincoln when I moved to California. They were kind enough to send me some photos which makes me happy and sad all at the same time. I'm happy to hear that he is doing well and is healthy. He has adjusted well and has even gotten a new little play buddy to hang out with during the day so he is not alone. Here is the current photo of him (I'm not sure why he looks a bit pissed):

Now here is the way that I remember him:

I'd always wanted a puppy and Lincoln was my first pet that I got as an adult (aside from Hamilton the Goldfish - R.I.P.) Lincoln was a find from Petfinder.com and I fell in love with him immediately. For the next 15 months he became my best friend and the day I had to give him up I bawled like a baby. I knew that it was the best decision for him but it still doesn't make it any easier. I often think of him and it makes me realize how much I miss him. I miss our nightly walks around the block and us stopping to look at the stars at the end of the road. I miss him being so excited for me to come home and play with him. I miss taking him to the park. I miss how easy it is to meet people when you have a dog! I miss seeing him play with his toys - all 500 of them. I miss chasing him with the vacuum cleaner. And the list goes on...

It struck me tonight that in some small way Lincoln represents the final stage of me letting go of my life in Nashville. I miss so many things about it but the thing I miss most was the feeling of having a HOME. Not just a house with flowers but a home. Do you know the difference? It's a funny feeling that I can't quite explain when you realize that you don't have that anymore. My house that was always full of friends and laughter has now become an apartment that I barely see. Hotel rooms, airports and highways have replaced my house, my neighborhood and my dog. My family & closest friends are all over 2000 miles away and I miss them like crazy. They say that 'home is where your heart is' and if that is the case then I guess mine is in my suitcase traveling around the United States.

All this to say, if you truly have a HOME to go to this Thanksgiving, don't take it for granted. Soak it up. Tell your friends and family that you love them. Take the extra minute to call your grandmother in the nursing home when you think of it. A gesture so small to you could mean the world to them...

Damien Rice 9

Go buy this today - you will not be disappointed.

Side note: The artwork on this CD is really cool so I would suggest buying it at retail vs. downloading it online. :)

Not So Much...

Yeah, I don't really think that I look like these people. Do you?!