Monday

Bunganut

So, as promised... the night after my birthday we went to the Bunganut Pig. Now let me tell you something, for all those who haven't been there... It's a GOOD TIME! On a little bit of a whim, because we'd only ever heard of it, Mason, Chaz, Jessie, Adam, and I went over to try it out and continue my weeklong birthday celebration. (Any excuse for a party, really.) So anyway, we timed it perfectly. Pay close attention, in case you ever need to celebrate a birthday and want the perfect way to do it. We got there at 5:30, enough time to order a drink or two before Happy Hour ends at 6:00. We sat outside, because outside at 6:00, they have live music every night. So we got a drink and the music started. And it was cooler out. Very relaxing.

This is where the bizarre part starts. We're only there for a few minutes when the Listers show up. They're just great, and we just plain don't see them that much anymore... and if their presence isn't enough (it is, though) they bought us a round of drinks! So nice! Also worth noting that Bunganut Pig has Landshark, which you'll remember is my fav-o-rite beer. Double bonus points to them for that. ...So anyway, back to the story. Then, a little later after we ate, Adam offered one of the two tables we were occupying to a couple that didn't have a table. For that gesture, they bought our table a round of drinks. I'm not kidding. AND THEN we (the girls) went inside where Mason joked that we should always come and take up lots of tables and then generously give them away to see if people buy us drinks... at that point, a girl playing pool said, "Or you could just tell them that it's your birthday." To which I yelled, "IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY!!" She bought me a birthday shot. Some "fireball" something. Crown Royal and cinnamon, maybe? Irrelevant. It was awesome. People are SO GREAT! Some times I forget how easy it is to make someone's day. It was really easy for them to make mine. The importance of generosity, whether with alcohol or anything else, can not be overstated. They all reminded me of that.

I'm definitely going back. Everything about it was so pleasant... just imagine how AWESOME it'll be in the fall! If you go though, don't order the club wrap. It disappointed me. Everything else was picture perfect. Including my friends. I love them. And I wish Emily was there.

August27th

Alright... I'm behind. I admit it. But it was my birthday, and I'm pretty sure that gives me a free pass. I'm actually just all about milking birthdays for all their worth, including an excuse for my postlessness. Sooooo, as I've made abundantly clear already, Friday was my birthday. As a result, this post is pretty self explanatory, because it's pretty much just everything that I got, minus a few things. These flowers are from my parents, who despite leaving to go out of town on my birthday, still managed to come see me and bring me my gerber daisies (my favorite), a candle that smells SO GOOD (I think it's lavender apple something), and a giant chocolate chip cookie. That's on top of the stuff I already got last weekend (we celebrated both my mother's and my birthday last Saturday, where my aunt made this delicious pinecone thing with bacon and almonds and cream cheese... I can't even talk about it. I t's so good.), so it's really too much... but it's always fun to get something on your real birthday, so it made my day a little bit.

So after I saw them, I went and worked out with Mike Flynt (another post that I see in your future) (also note how dedicated I am to being fit) (also note how soon my wedding is), and then I got to open Adam's gift! Here, I want to call attention to the advantages of having a fiance who works at a sign shop. It occasionally has it's advantages, like the most creative wrapping paper ever. Also the most difficult wrapping paper to get into... being of course, that it's not paper, it's a giant sticker. It's actually great as a reusable birthday gift box... just tape the top closed next year and you can do it all over again. Basically, I loved it.

But guess what? THE BOX WASN'T EVEN MY GIFT! My gift was tea and a boiling pot. Now this probably requires a little bit of an explanation... but probably since we started dating I've been telling Adam that I want to become a tea person. He always mocked me or said something sarcastic, probably bringing to my attention how frequently I'm all talk and very little action... but one day (with Adam's parents actually) I just went for it. They bought some tea, and I started drinking it at their house... and then I bought my own, and started drinking it at my own house. And voila! I'm a tea person. Unfortunately, tea is pretty expensive (really good for you, but expensive), so Adam bought me some really really good tea! It's good. And a boiler, so that I don't have to transport mine back and forth from the office. The best part? Adam's a tea convert, too! The second best part? You use two teaspoons of tea leaves to make a cup of tea, and each of those two tea spoons (of this new tea) can get me six to eight infusions. So basically, two teaspoons of these leaves get me seven cups of tea. And the leaves keep for about a year in that nifty tin can. So I'm never running out of this expensive tea, is what I'm saying to you.

At this point, I have noticed that this blog is kind of long. My bad, I just love these presents, and I'm very grateful for them, so you have to listen to me ramble a little bit longer. To your immediate left you will see some Oreo truffles that Adam's mom MADE (that's right, MADE)... Jessie and I once tried to make Oreo truffles... they did NOT turn out like this. These are like, pro style. If you're lucky, you might get to try one soon. Who knows?

And as if that's not enough, they freaking bought me a ZOKU! It makes popsicles. It was on my registry, and I was dying to have it. Adam doesn't think I'll use it, but I plan on using it an unreasonable amount, just to prove him wrong. Anyone want to come over for popsicles? I can make nine at a time. And they're ready in seven minutes. And I can make them look really pretty. I'm hoping that because of this device, people will start calling me "Micah the popsicle lady" because I make the best popsicles around. That might be ambitious, but what's wrong with a little ambition?

And lastly, Adam's aunt and uncle got me this incredibly lovely ensemble. A super cute apron, which I intend to use when I'm a wife/homemaker, a tea cup for my new tea adventures, and a notepad book that you can't really see, but had a bonus gift in it! The bonus gift was a card telling me where my wedding shower will be held! It's in an art gallery in the factory, in case you were wondering. SO FUN, right?!

So anyway, there you have it. My birthday. It got even better on Saturday when I celebrated with my friends... that post is probably coming. I've got pictures for it at least! So to everyone who called, texted, Facebook posted, and anything else, THANK YOU! 23 is going to be a good year. :)

East

So… First of all, it’s my birthday. I just had to put that out there. I’m well aware that birthdays are supposed to get less exciting as you get older, but I’m not less excited. I’m the same amount. I like birthdays… especially when they’re my own.

And second of all, Adam and I trekked (what a weird word spelling) out to East Nashville last night to meet with our reception band guy. Now, I’ve heard a lot about East Nashville and places in East Nashville, but with a few exceptions that I barely remember, I don’t know that I’ve ever really been to East Nashville. So anyway, he wanted to meet at Portland Brew, which I was pretty excited about, given that I had heard of it and we have that whole coffee thing that we do and we never head that far into Nashville to try stuff like that out.

So anyway, we travelled through some semi-sketchy territory and then, out of nowhere, is the cutest neighborhood ever. I mean seriously, I have no intention of ever living in Nashville, but if I did… I would live in this neighborhood. So we end up at Portland Brew, also way cute, where I got a chai latte. This was a pretty random choice. I think I picked it because I was feeling poor and it was like fifty cents cheaper than a coffee latte? I could have afforded the fifty cents upgrade, but whatever. Hindsight’s 20/20. And the chai latte was good, so no complaining.

So we sorted out the wedding music business in a conversation that Adam and I will continue to be stunned by for months, and then were directed to Rose Pepper by Patton (the band guy). His girlfriend/wife lives like two houses down, and he owns nine houses in the area… so he’s pretty much a local. Anyway, we had flautas there, because I’m currently on a flauta train (courtesy of Chuy’s). But who am I kidding. You don’t care what I had to eat.

The moral of the story, is that East Nashville is fun. And there were other places that are around there that I had heard of but didn’t know where they were. So it might merit a return trip one day. And then we went through Nashville to come home… which is always fun at night. City lights at night are some of my favorite things. Cheers to adventures with someone you love!

Songs

I’ll tell you that with the exception of wedding invitations, which continue to be ridiculously and unnecessarily complicated, ceremony music has been the most difficult part of this wedding planning madness. It’s mostly complicated because I’m incapable of making a decision. It’s one of those “you can’t go wrong” type situations, but I DO NOT KNOW what to do.

I don’t know what songs.

I don’t know if they should be vocal or acoustic.

I don’t know what instruments.

I don’t know who should play the instruments.

I’ve got an idea, sure. But I’m fairly confident that it’s common courtesy to tell people these things ohhh, about a month ago or something. Vona Wilson, who’s several different kinds of fantastic and is co-officiating the wedding with Bryan Jones, told me to close my eyes or go sit in the field and imagine what the day looks like. What do I hear? It’s actually a pretty overwhelming thing to do. Obviously this isn’t the first time that I’ve envisioned my wedding day, but the closer we get, the more accurate the picture is. When I close my eyes now, I see the actual backdrop, the chairs that we selected from Southern Events, the colors of the fabric we rented… I can see almost everything, and how it all fits together. We’re 45 days away, for those who aren’t counting… although I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be counting.

Moral of the story: I’m excited. Still.

In other news:

Tomorrow’s my birthday.

Jessie has moved back to Franklin… which I haven’t addressed in this blog yet but is INCREDIBLY important and worth mentioning. We all (minus Emily) went to Chuy's. Disclaimer about this: Dane the server wasn't a very good camera operator (Have you noticed that for the most part, no one that you ever recruit to take your pictures for you takes a good one -- how is that in this day and age, people still can't operate a digital camera very well?! Weird.) And I had just gotten done working out with Mike Flynt... so please, no judging.

AAAAAND I got some fun stuff from The 92nd PGA Championship at work the other day! A fun canvas bag, seen here, and a shirt/pullover thing, also seen here, that I’ve worn for like three days strait or something. I really like them.

Sky

I'm a sucker for storms. Also I'm a sucker for the sky. If you've known me for any length of time, this is not new news. If you're my iPhoto it's not new news either, because (and I literally just verified this) I have 1,200 pictures (ish) of the sky hanging out in there. Sunsets, sunrises, clouds, sun, rainbows, storms, you name it. If it happened it the sky, I have a picture of it. Something about the enormity of the sky is totally captivating. I can find no other explanation for it other than God. I mean, I've seen sunsets that look similar to each other, but never have I seen two identical sunsets. And not only that, but how is it that one day the sunset can be beautiful and rich and made of seven different colors and the next day, the same sun, with the same type of clouds can set the sky on fire? It's captivating.

Even despite the colors of sunrises and sunsets, the vastness of the sky is such a metaphor for God. It goes on and on, and no matter what, you'll never get to the end of it. Get in a rocket ship and travel forever... there will always be more to discover. And pretty much 100% of the time, we can only see what immediately affects us. It's hard to get to know the God of a million light years away, but what we know about God is generally what we see from where we're standing.

As I kind of just said, even that it completely unpredictable. There have been a few times when I've been so convinced that the sunset was going to be phenomenal that I've gotten in my car and driven to the closest place that I know of that faces the sunset and is void of trees, only to sit and watch and find that nothing spectacular happens. Which is crazy, because how often do I do that with God?! I feel like He's building to something and I sit and wait eagerly, only to find that nothing really happened. What happened wasn't what I was expecting. It was great, it was normal. Usually a bummer.

Then there are times when storms inevitably break. Those are fantastic. A storm comes through and whips around trees and produces a crazy amount of rain and thunder and lighting and freaks your dog out pretty bad... but then it all starts to settle and the sun breaks through. Beautiful redemption.

AND, if you're not convinced enough, the sky looks different to almost everyone. People approach the sky at different angles and from different places. It looks different from my house than it does from five miles down the road. Just like how you see God depends on your perspective. Perspective doesn't only come from location either... the sky will look different depending on whether or not you notice it. Brilliant sunset or not, the sky is beautiful. But only if you stop to notice it. If you're too busy trying to get through that yellow light or racing inside to start dinner, the sky won't be as astounding... it'll become average. Standard. Part of your life's scenery, but not something you're awed by.

I could go on and on... the metaphors are endless. But then, so would this blog be... and no one likes an endless blog.

Signs

This post, the theoretical Sunday post, is dedicated to Adam's job. Playing with big stickers and making signs all day might not be the most glamorous job, but it does lend itself well to some fun pictures. So basically, that's all I've got. Nothing particularly wordy, because frankly, I don't have a lot to say about the sign business in today's world. Although I would like to thank it for the honeymoon I'll be going on in like SIX WEEKS.

Here's to you, Signs First, you're a fun time.

Gratitude

Soooooo, here’s your post-weekend-blog-o-rama post. The moral of the story is: It went by too fast. As is life, I guess. But anyway, Saturday was pretty great… because not only did I get to have shopping playtime with my mom in Green Hills, but I also made a huge amount of wedding progress. Wedding progress like buying wedding shoes, making shower lists, and several other things that I have great pictures of but can’t show you, because it’ll ruin the wedding fun that is being planned for everyone. Don’t worry… they’re fun pictures, so they’ll make their debut sometime in October.

But basically, this post is an ode to all of the people who have put their sweat into making my wedding dreams a reality. There are times when this process is draining, but there are other times when it’s totally worth it… and this weekend was one of the worth it times. This isn’t a super long post, but it’s heavy with gratitude, and I hope it reads that way. To everyone who doesn’t have to sweat in the 90-degree humidity, listen to me talk out logistical concerns, or respond to my slew of emails, but does anyway… I thank you. I’m beginning to see all the pieces come together, and let me tell you… IT’S AWESOME. It makes me happy.

Also, sorry about the awkwardness of these pictures I've tried to insert, apparently I haven't mastered this skill yet. But anyway, these people are winners, even if they're less than thrilled to be having their picture taken. They love me, it's okay. A huge thank you to all of them!

Birthdays

In other news (and for blog part two), it’s a birthday filled two weeks! Let me just tell you a little bit about that:

My mom’s birthday: August 15^th

Adam’s dad’s birthday: August 20^th

Adam’s grandfather’s birthday: August 23^rd

My birthday: August 27^th

Impressive, right? There are other birthdays in there too… but they’re less related, second cousins and stuff. So anyway, moral of the story, we’re having parties. And I love a good party. I also love cake and presents. As much as I love getting presents, I love giving them. It’s a problem sometimes, though, because I’m incapable of giving meaningless gifts. Gift cards are not something that you will EVER get from me. Adam articulates this nicely, because he doesn’t want to give or receive obligatory gifts. If you’re giving a gift because it’s a gift-giving occasion and the world says you have to, so you ran out and grabbed the first thing that you saw that would be acceptable… it’s a no go.

When you’ve grown up that kind of kid, though, you really struggle when you’re 24. I mean seriously, that’s like 15 years of trying to think of creative and unique gifts for your parents for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas, and birthdays?! I used up all my good ideas years ago! And don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. The fun part is getting creative and considering what you know about people. It is also important to note, however, that sometimes homemade gifts crash and burn… as do most of the things I make for my father. One day I’m going to come up with something good though. When it makes it out of the basement or a closet, I’ll know that I’ve done well. I don’t know if Dad reads my blog, but I hope he does, because this is a passive aggressive tactic on my part.

Soak

Okay… Just because I didn’t write one of these yesterday and don’t write them on the weekends, today deserves a blog (I just mistyped that glob – that’s silly). So anyway, it’s FRIDAY! Best day ever… and when I went out side this morning, it was like 67 degrees! In case you were wondering, 67 degrees is the perfect temperature when you’re going from summer to fall. It’s the perfect amount of cold. When you’re going from winter to spring, 75 is the perfect temperature. Feel free to disagree, but I don’t make the rules.

Last night was the same way… Adam was working on the truck and I was sitting on the patio watching, drinking a Landshark, and feeling the breeze. It was a colder breeze, because it had been raining all day… and there was really not much humidity. It was borderline a perfect moment. Definitely worth soaking in. And as I’m finding, it’s hard to remember to soak moments in. We move too fast and think too much, but we don’t sit and soak. I should have taken a picture of it, but I didn’t. It would have been a good picture though. I know because this boy who was in my photojournalism class last semester took a picture of Landshark on a sunny day and it turned out really nice… the condensation was shining…. It was nice. I could find him and ask for a copy of it, so that you could get a glimpse of the experience… his name is Evans I think. I’m not really going to do that. God gave you an imagination for a reason. Use it!

P.S. I just wrote one super long post… so in the interest of common courtesy, I’m going to split it into two. One for yesterday and one for today. That’s probably cheating. I’ve cheated so much on this blog game that I don’t even know what’s right anymore. So I’m pleading ignorance. Also, I swear some pictures are coming. Tonight. I have them, they’re just not on the computer… you'll notice that I added pictures to the rain post (a good faith action, just to show you that I mean it).

Kirby

Today’s blog post is being written with a whole ton of sadness, because we had to put my cat to sleep this morning. For those who don’t know, his name was Kirby, and he was the best cat ever. No lie. I got him in kindergarten and he tolerated me for EIGHTEEN AND A HALF YEARS. So I mean, he was old, and it’s not any kind of shock, really. It was getting to the point where I said bye to him every time I left my parent’s house, because you never know.

The expectation doesn’t do a whole lot to ease the heart, unfortunately, and I’ve spent all day reliving who he’s been to me over the course of my life (which only results in tears 50% of the time or so). As my mom and I were breaking down together on the phone this morning, one of the things that she said really resonated with me. She said that Kirby was the best example she’s ever seen of unconditional love. She’s really right. And while a lot of pets possess that unconditional love quality, I agree completely that Kirby was the epitome of it. He let me grab him by the waist and dangle him around everywhere I went he was six… He only bit me when I deserved it… and he slept with me almost every night that I lived in that house.

Mom talked about how he would have a place that he routinely hung out when I was in Knoxville. He would rotate, you know… sometimes he’d hang out on the deck, sometimes it would be on the top of the couch, sometimes on our air vents (usually in the winter – I don’t blame him… I was probably next to him, actually), but when I would come home for a weekend, he would move instantly to my bedroom. And for several days after I had left, he would stay on my bed waiting for me to come back in before he moved on to a new location.

And I don’t think he ever stopped purring. Even if you were picking him up to throw him across the room because he was being obnoxiously needy, he’d be purring because you were touching him. And speaking of being obnoxiously needy, his favorite time to come visit was when you were in the bathroom, because he knew from years of experience that you were there, and for at least a few minutes, you didn’t’ really have anything better to do than pet him. I think Paul might have even written a college entrance essay about that. It was pretty weird.

Anyway, I’m going to wrap this up… because I could go on for pages about how important Kirby has been to me – from the day mom brought him home as a surprise to the last time I saw him two days ago. I don't know if all cats go to heaven... but Heather Berger and C.S. Lewis think so, so I"ll accept that. All I really hope that he knew that I loved him as much as I knew he loved me.

I didn’t take this picture today… obviously. But this blog is just begging for a picture of him (shown here - in his completely tolerant state - with Adam, who "didn't like Kirby because of 'allergies'," but secretly loved him), so… in memory of an irreplaceable family member:

Rain

I want today’s post to be about something interesting and witty. Unfortunately for all of us, the only thing that I’m able to generate is wedding related business involving order of ceremony, musicians, meetings, and showers.

To spare you, let’s talk about how obsessed I am with the fact that it’s raining. Because I am. I think there was a point in our lives when it was weird to like rain and storms, but my observation as of late is that pretty much across the board, everyone loves a good rainstorm. Part of me wonders why that is… I mean, if we’re being for real, isn’t rain kind of a downer?

Apparently not.

Maybe it’s just an excuse for solitude. Maybe we’re just all running too fast and can use rain as an excuse to stay inside and get some stuff done …Or an excuse to spend an afternoon in bed watching Friends. And, of course, it might have the added bonus of cooling everything down (which is kind of a gamble, because more than half of the time it just makes everything more humid).

Here’s the thing though: I think we’re wired to appreciate rain. It’s one of those things you don’t really “get” until you grow up, but at the end of the day rain is about renewal. Rain washes stuff clean… the roads, your car, whatever. At the end of the day, water is Jesus’ refresher. There are 722 references to water in the Bible… starting at Genesis 1:2 and ending with Revelation 22:17. So literally, cover to cover. That’s a theme if I’ve ever heard one. So I think I’m going to start giving that some serious thought. I love rain, but I only occasionally stop to consider its significance as far as eternal perspective goes. I’m thinking it would be a good goal to learn to praise and meditate when the rain comes. There might be a lot to learn. I’ll (of course) let you know how it goes.

Weekend

So apparently I’m incapable of blogging on weekends, which is just fine with me because by the time the weekend comes, I’m really tired of computers and pretty much refuse to look at them anymore.

Which means that it’s Monday and I’m a couple of blog posts behind… NBD. What that means basically is that I’ve stored up all my interestingness (which, by the way, Microsoft Word just verified as an actual word) for one big post today. That’s pretty inaccurate though, because I have very little to say. Hope you didn’t get your hopes up.

This post is actually going to get a break in the middle of it, because I was just informed that in memory of Elvis’s death, the office is going to Chuy’s for lunch. …Because Chuy’s is all about Elvis. And it’s Elvis’s deathday birthday or whatevs. There’s actually an Elvis shrine in there, so if you want to pay homage, feel free. Also get a swirl margarita for me, because it’s taboo at lunchtime but I really want one. Also the picture of the day is our very salsa-y and jalapeno-y table. I’m stuffed.

Anyway, before all that happened, I was going to send a big hooray to my super fantastic and attractive fiancé, who graduated from college on Saturday! It was totally awesome, and a spectacular accomplishment, especially if you know the process that it took to get to this point. So I’m really proud. And I loved celebrating it, even if it meant sitting in a weird smelling basketball arena at MTSU and listening to people talk that sounded like the Charlie Brown adults for two and a half hours. We followed it with cake and family and friends… and those are always good days. P.S. The lady in blue was my favorite… I think she was almost as excited as me that Adam was graduating and they’ve never even met before! Seriously though, just look at her face… pure elation.

Also, check out that iPhone and super ultra zoom lens quality... you feel like you're there... don't you? It's okay. I know.

In other news, our wedding is rapidly approaching… and just when you think you can take a breath, you realize that it’s time for the next round of appointments and verifications and plans. I’m beyond ready for it to BE HERE already… I want all my friends in town, additional pressure off of planees, and most of all, to be MARRIED to Adam Hagan Smith and have a big party to celebrate it.

Also, I don’t think yesterday has a picture. So… sorry about that. But it’s my blog and I reserve the right to flake out when I’m having too much fun being silly and enjoying the weekend to remember. Deal?