Rolling out the Red Carpet at Whole Foods

Hungry and in a rush to grab some groceries and dinner on Sunday night, I parked at the grocery store and began trekking across the parking deck behind a very European-looking couple that was taking their time, holding hands and being very affectionate with one another. Both were wearing dark colors, he in a denim jacket and biker boots, and she in a turtleneck, skinny jeans and combats. Just as the doors opened to welcome us into the edible dream that is Whole Foods, I overheard the guy say something with an Australian accent, immediately making my ears perk up and my curiosity peak. I had a good inclination who this couple could be at that point, but needed to make sure - so I followed them to the bakery/candy aisle (needing a few items from this section anyway, I couldn't be labeled as a full fledged stalker). At this point I was certain that I was in the precense of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. I've spotted him in other Nashville locations and really didn't have an interest, but this was my first encounter with her. Having been a big fan since her Far and Away days, I couldn't help but take in the radiance of her skin and feel a pang of jealousy at what daily spa visits can do.

They quickly left that aisle (he wanted Easter candy, while she looked around seemingly uninterested) and headed to the prepared foods and hot bar area. As luck would have it, I was getting dinner for Jeremy and myself, so I mentally took notes of what she was grabbing as I laddled my own food and picked out a few things for Jeremy. Just as I was grabbing the tongs to get some chicken wings for him, Mr. Urban walked up beside me to read the labels on those same wings. Nicole walked up at the same instance and stood on my other side, and both talked above my head about the selections they had to choose from. I silently prayed she wouldn't think the sticky glazed bird limbs were mine as I stole a glance at her bowl and noticed it was spilling over with colorful vegetables and not a drop of sauce.

Very soon though, I had had my fill of celebrity, so I grabbed a cart to continue my shopping and check off the items on my page-long list of ingredients for the week ahead's meals. The experience was fun, but I was ready to get on with life and back to my hungry partner.

Good Things Take Time...and Many Ingredients

I've begun a lifestyle change of sorts where my eating habits are concerned. Included in this, I've stocked up on organic produce, haven't had any dairy or red meat, and I'm actually turning on my oven. Typically, we either eat out or pick up food from a restaurant at least 5 times a week, but this week marks a huge change in our house. It's not really even a matter of finances, but more the contents of the food that has me whipping out the cookbooks from now on. I've already noticed a pretty significant difference in just a few days of bringing loads of veggies for lunch, fruit to snack on, and protein bars to keep me energized....picture a child that has had too much sugar on a long car ride, and you'll get a picture of me right before I can leave work in the afternoons.

Tonight I'm making roasted artichokes and butternut squash with some balsamic chicken. However, what I had thought would be pretty straight forward and simple has become a bit more daunting as I've looked over the instructions from the recipes I've found. Who knew that an artichoke had to be clipped before preparing? I'm up to the challenge however, if for no other reason than I've loved springing out of bed for Yoga in the mornings without the typical groan escaping out of me (quite as much).

We're All Mad Here

What makes someone odd isn't a particular way of dressing or hair styling. It isn't a certain mannerism or way of speaking. What makes someone odd is simply not being like those around them, no matter what the majority of the people look or act like. I thought about this today as I drove down the road and observed the flightless birds that were jogging by my car (Oh wait those stick figures are women, oblivious to the fact that the world is meant to live with food involved). Then there was the enormous man smoking an even bigger cigar, who sped through a red light driving a...Mini Cooper. So large was he, his stogie, and his inflated ego that he had to roll his window down and hang half his body outside. Turns out though, he wasn't odd either. I was the odd observer in this culture of less is more where food is concerned, and more is more in regards to status, price tag, and self consumption.

Today I'm loving my self. I want to be odd, quirky, and different when it comes to the normal ways of our media driven, money hungry culture. I'll be a vegan or a carnivore only to please myself and my health, and I'll only buy according to what makes me and my little family happy. Thank you Lord, for making me as Mad as a Hatter!

Preventative Measures

At my office, each person is allotted a certain amount of PTO days (paid time off) which rolls all vacation, sick, and personal time off of work into one lump sum to be taken at your whim. Unfortunately, what this has meant for me in the last week is that I've caught whatever vile sickness has been passed around from person to person for the past month. No one wants to waste their time off being sick, so they drag in their infestations, allowing it to cover all surfaces and contaminate everyone else. It's spreading like wildfire, and I'm just now getting over it myself.

Today I was asked if I was on antibiotics - I'm sure the person questioning me was trying to assess whether they would be the next victim. Unfortunately for them, I've decided that I'm coming to work with only Dayquil in my system, not wanting to waste any precious PTO days inside when I could have spent it at the beach later this year. A smart boss would stop this madness by quarantining the less than healthy employees until any trace of the cold virus was gone. Unfortunately, it's continuing to latch on to unsuspecting victims.

Fairie Tales and Pitchers of Ale

I've begun my campaign early for a St. Patrick's Day trip to the far away land of Leprechauns and limericks within the next few years. Surely if I can save up a bit here and there (not counting my other planned getaways between now and then) I can be wisked off to Ireland where St. Patrick's Day is more like Independence Day, not just an excuse to drink yourself into a state of oblivion.

After our recent trip to Dublin for our honeymoon, I didn't want to leave. Everyone we met was a friendly face with sound advice, all of our meals were full of flavor, and our castle hotel was one of the most memorable parts of our entire trip.

Now, I'm going to go ahead and discuss the upcoming trip as if it is destined to happen; that way maybe I'll wish it into existence! WHEN we go, I would like to stay in a smaller area of Ireland and tour the countryside, exploring ancient ruins and green fields as far as the eye can see. I know I'll spot a pot of gold while there, but that may just be my own savings I've taken with me, ready to spend!

Sounds Like Irony

There's no point in discussing the pains I went through this morning when getting up to go into the office after a few days of vacation time. Everyone goes through it - we could all sing the same sad song. The boredom that ensued once I sat at my desk and switched on the computer (even though I had countless emails and a pile of paper yet to be filed sitting under my nose) is yet another verse in that same tune. What I didn't count on was the silence that screamed at me for hours on end, never even pausing to take a breath. It seemed to hum into my ear like a hummingbird, flapping its wings at an unimaginable speed as it hovered above my head. It's still there in fact; never tiring, never wavering from its post.

What struck me as amusing was the moment I logged onto my blog account to begin writing something for the day. Without a theme in mind, I scanned over last week's posts only to discover the most recent topic about the harmony that a combination of friends, drinks, and music can create. From the glow of that evening a few nights ago, to the glare of the day that still lies in wait for me here, I realize that sometimes you really can hear time stopping. But it allows you to pay closer attention to the soft whisper of opportunities yet to come.

The Sounds of Relaxation

There's a certain sound when an instrument is played - a pulling at the strings that is a combination of both good tuning and fingernails - it has inspired our small party to sing, laugh, write, think. After this noise invariably comes the pop of a cork from a just-opened wine bottle - more laughter, feet tapping on wooden floors, and the welcome sound of food sizzling on the grill. Freedom comes in many forms, but tonight the warm lights from candles and the distant sound of surf meeting sand makes me realize just how at home I feel while at the beach - and just how much I would do to make this a permanent reality for me. Vacations are wonderful at digging up those buried feelings and putting them under your nose, making you smell the salty desire you hadn't realized was so strong; creating in you a deep desperation to not only watch the sun set, but to watch it rise and perform that ritual for more than a long weekend. The sun is at its most radiant when it can see its reflection through an ocean.

Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

No bikinis will be worn this weekend, or even shorts for that matter, but I am beach bound in less than 18 hours and could care less about my attire. Of course there are some things I will care alot of about while there, as is apparent from my growing list of dining locations I've missed since our last stay. Food and lounging around seem to be where my daydreams have taken me, and I can already envision myself on the porch, facing the ocean in sweat pants and a hoodie, taking in the warmth of the sun on my face even if the temperature doesn't quite reach 70.

Included in my bag of essentials for the trip is a sketch pad and pencils, two books I recently discovered in a used bookstore and had to own for myself, and a pad of paper to write down any thoughts that pop in my head. I'm making it a point not to type those words during my stay...I'll simply have to backtrack and copy it all down when I return. I feel there's something about the act of putting pen to paper. It has the effect of a worn in blanket for me, and also makes me feel a part of something noble and important - even if I'm only writing about my breakfast that morning.

Everything's Got a Moral, If Only You Can Find It

I left the theater Friday night with this Lewis Carroll quote in my head. The movie was exactly as I had hoped it would be. Magical and fantastic, every scene was so carefully descriptive in the images, costumes and attention to detail that I could hardly take any of it in. It will be a movie I replay until it skips, I have no doubt. I sat in the dark with 350 other people, all enraptured by the thought of a world existing where "Everything is as it shouldn't be, and what it should be, it isn't." I had a longing, a feeling of needing to live in that world where animals are your equals and plants are companions. More than anything else, to not be accepted unless you are nothing but yourself, no matter how odd or mad you may seem to others; to in fact be held in greater esteem for showing your true colors. With a tummy full of sugar and a mind full of wonderings and musings of a very 3-D nature, we walked out of the darkened theater and into the hallway where reality set in like the harsh fluorescent lighting above us.

"That movie would have been even better if I was high," a fifteen year old girl said to her friend as they stumbled down the stairs and into the crowd of theater-goers. "Oh, did I tell you I had ISS for some bullshit reason?" I couldn't help but overhear this very loud conversation that was obviously meant to garner attention. These two girls had chatted with us before the movie began, asking my brother questions about his tattoos, and how they wanted their own. Of course, his body art depicts Christ in many ways, and he didn't pass up the opportunity to tell them this. But it fell on deaf ears, as was apparent by their conversation not 2 hours later.

Wanting to run back into the theater and be immersed again into Wonderland where I could escape everything, I instead walked through the throngs of scantily clad girls as profanities and sexual innuendo was yelled from every corner. Standing firm in the belief that we are put in this world - in this exact time and place, "For Such a Time As This," I realized my purpose is to be Alice - to show myself (Christ's reflection) to the world and know that I'll make my way to Wonderland eventually, where everything will be as it SHOULD be.

"If I Had a World of My Own, Everything Would Be Nonsense."

Call me a dreamer, think I've got my head in the clouds, or maybe just say I never quite grew up. Whichever way you want to put it, I will be falling down the rabbit hole tomorrow at 9:40pm sharp, with no intentions of resurfacing from Wonderland anytime soon. Since hearing of Tim Burton's movie adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic almost a year ago, I have been counting down the months. The date happened to fall on my unbirthday, so you can imagine my delight at being able to celebrate this way. The majority of my life can be related to the adventures in which Alice found herself, whether that be characters she came in contact with, situations she fell into, or the sometimes irrational conversations she would have with herself.

With that said, I'll now begin at the beginning and go on until I come to the end; then I will stop. Tomorrow after dinner we'll be standing in a massive qeue waiting to be admitted into the Imax 3-D theater. It only gets curiouser and curiouser from here, as I will be adorned in a couture Mad Hatter knit sweater, dangling a charm bracelet complete with teacups and playing cards from my wrist. A tea party assortment of treats will also be hidden in my oversized bag, so we'll nibble on miniature tarts, cupcakes and bon bons after we're seated and the lights have dimmed. Don't judge me, afterall if everyone minded their own business the world would go around a great deal faster than it does. I've discovered that everyone's mad anyway...I'm mad, you're mad.

Cheap Eats

I've spent the last hour searching endlessly through websites, articles, and blogs looking for what would seem to be a topic people would want to discuss. Instead, I've found a half hazard pile of outdated information. Looking for happy hour specials and weekday dining deals has proven difficult to say the least.

A few friends and I have discussed the idea of a girls' night dinner this Thursday night. They being in the same leaky boat as I am right now, we need to find a place that can feed us well, offer us a nice cocktail, and entertain us with a lively atmosphere and friendly service...without us having to stress over finances. And so the search began, only to end without many results. Chuy's in Cool Springs definitely offers the most attractive deal with great drink specials and an all you can eat nacho bar during happy hour, but the huge crowds and 60 minute wait for a table could have us digging a bit further into our pockets and paying for a little more elbow room.

Half a Year Later...

Buried in paperwork and working with no clear end in sight, I was a bit surprised that someone would nudge me from behind in my own cubicle. Granted, I shouldn't have expected a knock since I have cardboard walls that barely hover above my short self when standing barefoot, and it's approximately 5 sq. feet total, but it's my space nonetheless, so I turned my head a bit caught off guard...only to find two dozen flowers staring back at me. Never having a normal person's reaction to something lovely like this, I did not turn fully around at this point. Instead, I quickly swung my surprised head to the other side where it was met with Jeremy's waiting smile. He had come to surprise me with not one, but two bouquets of flowers, and a lunch break for our six month anniversary.

I'll be honest - I'm a sucker for surprises. But combine that with flowers and the mention of food (sushi no less), and you have my liquified heart in your hands. Instead of going to Whole Foods and doing a bit of grocery shopping while I perused the hot bar in search of a healthy, tasty deviation from my daily lunch routine, I was able to indulge in the freshest fish and the company of an amazing person. Happy Anniversary to me!