Chilly out there!

Sunday night back at the farm. Sheff and I left Nashville this afternoon and made it back safely. Slightly shocked to see the power bill which finally arrived, covering the month of family visitors for Thanksgiving…. it more than doubled!! Back to indoor-scarf-wearing it is then!

To recap the rest of my Nashville New Year’s Trip:

Friday / New Year’s Day

Friday consisted of a massive grocery shop for The Boy, some kitchen deep-cleaning and setting up of the new iPhone speakers that I got him for Christmas. (in exchange, I got a beautiful new Swiss-engineered watch, the kind that charges by the motion of your wrist and needs no battery. lovely!) Friday also consisted of several hours of me learning to play Rock Band. I conquered (well, conquered the easy level) of both the guitar and drums, and had a lot of fun. But unfortunately it didn’t have enough of my “hippie music” to enjoy.

The Boy finally agreed to watch some episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Ever since I fell in love with the show, I’ve been trying to get him to watch it “with me” (despite the 200 miles between us). He’s resisted, due to his apparent fear that they would misrepresent the math and science facts. When I informed him that they actually have a particle physicist on staff, he was a little more at ease :) So.. we started with Season 1 (which I actually have never seen any of!) and knocked out the first 5 episodes. I can see what our future weekends together will include now. haha! :)

Saturday

Saturday morning, I was scheduled for a 4 mile walk – the first of my official half-marathon training schedule for 2010. I was so excited to walk in my old Nashville neighborhoods and bring Sheff with me. And then…. I got up at 7:45am to take him out… and found it to be 16 degrees and flurrying! So yeah… back inside.

Instead, I bundled up and headed to Good Will for their monthly (at least in Middle Tennessee stores) 50% off everything sale. I picked up 3 pairs of pants for work, 1 dress shirt, and a nice warm GAP cable knit sweater, and a book, for a grand total of $12. Score!!

And then I may have driven down Nolensville Pike to visit my beloved Kurdish bakery and stock up on bread and tahini. I always feel like I’m a black sheep in that store. I get lots of stares. :) But really, you can’t beat a big jar of tahini for $3.99, shipped straight from Lebanon!

When The Boy finally arose, we headed to Gaylord Opryland for the last day of their Charlie Brown-themed ICE sculpture! I was psyched because I’ve been wanting to go for a while (couldn’t afford it last year as a broke intern). I paid for our $24 tickets and bundled up in the provided parkas. It was 9 degrees in there!!

 

It was really incredible the detail and colors… and that everything was carved from ice!

I thought… working in a psych hospital and all… this was a much-needed shot :)

While we enjoyed our quick journey through the ice wonderland (and I mean quick… The Boy had no gloves and was soon to lose feeling in all extremities), I’m not sure it warrants a $24 price tag. How do those large families afford it?! But I’m glad I partook :)

We also had a routine weekend trip to the movie theater… this time using my free passes, and saw Sherlock Holmes

 

I had heard a lot of apathetic/negative reviews for the film, but I quite enjoyed it. It was a little long though. But no complaints for a free film!

Sunday

Sunday was a quiet day – went out for church, came back and ate leftovers for lunch and watched a few more Big Bang episodes before packing up and heading out.

So now it’s my bedtime, Sheff is snuggled in his doggie bed, and I’m about ready to go to sleep. I’m hoping for some more work this week… I hear that things pick up in January (new year’s resolutions for the drug/alcohol addicts!???), which sounds great to me!

Oh, and stay tuned… to a challenge that I’ll soon be writing about between The Boy and I. A certain cinematic voyage if you will :)