pop quiz

So at the painful hour of 5:15 the alarm hatefully rang and woke me up proving that Spring Break 2009 had officially come to an end and the last 9 weeks of school was upon us. I was happy to be home to see my wild kitty but the wonderful week of sleeping in made it even harder to get up before the sun. I came back to school and the kids were crazier than ever. A week at home with out in school drama gave them too much time to create gossip over texting, facebook, bebo, and other communications devices so the halls were swarming with he said/ she said before 7:20am, way too early for such nonsense. My homeroom was extremely talkative and loud. Maybe it was because I was removed for so long or maybe the students were really too loud but I could not take it so I did what any good teacher does. I gave them a welcome back quiz. I decided I would not stress over making them listen. I went over notes and definitions, gave great examples, took questions from some students while some continued to whisper and pass notes. Finally I said in my best teacher voice, "okay, put everything away and take out a pencil and paper and separate into your test seats". Panic struck the room because this is the last day before grades are printed for report cards and a bad quiz grade can really hurt students! Many students gave me the usual groans, pathetic faces, but one very talkative student named Tyeisha responded loudly, "how you gonna give us a pop quiz on the first day back from spring break?" I looked at her with the most evil teacher smile I could give and responded softly back, "welcome back". Small and precious victory. Now that the students were scared they were quiet which is worth more money that I shall ever know.

In other news, yes spring break is over for good. In my last weekend in the boondocks (aka Arkansas) I went to the Wiederkehr winery in further West Arkansas. The winery is located in Altus, Arkansas where the famous Paris and Nicole began their adventures in The Simple Life. The winery began with a tasting where the t-shirt wearing employees looked less than thrilled to be working. People from far and wide watched the movie Sideways before attending and were proud of their wino questions while the employees irritatedly answered with snobby faces. I guess when one has been working in a winery for a while one may get tired of faux wrangler wearing wino's but I was surprised with the obvious frustration from the employees. Finally it was time for the grand tour of the winery. An employee in a orange Nike T-shirt with matching jogging pants gave the tour and was equally ready to be finished as the other employees. There were surprisingly a lot of folks on the tour and they fell into one of two categories. First were the folks who were really eager to be there so they could learn facts about wine and impress their friends and two the group who read wikipedia before they left and had prepared questions to feel important...well I guess there were three because I fell into the group who thought the whole thing was a sham. I felt badly for the first two groups because the tour provided hardly any knowledge and when anyone asked a question the tour guide belittled them...sad. But on a positive note, the wine and the little restaurant were very good. The restaurant (pictured right) used to be the Wiederhehr home back in the later 1800s and now is a restaurant where the waitresses really dress like the picture! The trip made me think fondly of the long ago trip to Europe with Ray and Lindsay and all of our great experiences...Thank God now I actually have a tolerance and did not serenade anyone on a train ride after a little wine.

Well I best get back to work! I hope everyone has a wonderful week. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.

Happy Birthday Lindsay C

All of us at Natalie's News want to wish Ms. Lindsay of Manhattan a wonderful birthday! Muah!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

back in the hood

So after writing the perfect neighborhood I began thinking, even in my wildest dreams I know I could not really receive such a perfect neighborhood. Even if all those famous folks did live next to me, I'm sure they all contain some jaded quirks that come from a life time of stardom. Just think...I bet Anderson Cooper is a total neat freak and has annoying little yuppie dogs that bark constantly. Knowing that nobody..not even the rich and famous could live in nirvana it made me start thinking of the worst neighborhood. Who would be the worst neighbors ever? No fear, I found them.

1. Barbara Walters: Do I even need to explain..okay I will. First of all, drop the accent. I'm not so sure why everyone gave Madonna such a hard time for her 3 year British accent because Barbara has been sporting some sort of accent or speech impediment forever. Wait, aren't you from AMERICA? Second, she thinks she knows all. I can barely watch her on anything. If she is conducting an interview she really tries to make everyone cry by asking the cheesiest questions and wrinkling that little nose. Yet she always talks so much the guest barely speaks. Lastly, no, not everyone loves or even likes you for that matter. But you are like the Don of television so everyone sucks up to you. I'm sure as a neighbor she would expect all of her "subjects" (ie. next store neighbors) to do all her lowly work for free like feed her annoying dogs with out pay while she goes out of town and then I just know she would not invite her neighbors to her big parties because none of us have met any royalty or the Dalia Lama.

2. Alex and Simon from Bravo's The Real Housewives of NYC: If you watch this show at all you know that this couple is the biggest bunch of wanna be's ever in America. They are totally new money folks and that is just fine, if you just own it. If I ever have a ton of money, I will be new money too but I just hope I have enough class to still be me and not try to be some impostor sporting my pink pants and matching pink shoes (yes that was Simon, the husband). These wanna be socialites constantly name drop and ache to climb the social latter while people laugh at them often at their faces. Rarely I have a tender feeling toward them because they seem to have no purpose but then seeing their terribly behaved children with awful and equally contrived names just makes me frustrated all over again. (ps their children's names are Francois and Johann...yeah life at school will be awesome for those kids..I just hope they either get into the theater clique quickly who often accepts odd balls or they are just huge and can destroy anyone..that's their only hope!)

3. Michael Jackson: Oh where to start, this could be a thesis so I'll just list...the kid's name is Blanket, they wear masks, he is insane, he held his baby over a balcony, his fascination with the little boys is disgusting, the insane Asian fans on the street near your house ruining your cook out would be maddening, his chin, his nose...I couldn't handle it.

4. Whitney Houston: Oh, oh Whitney. I used to LOVE old school Whitney when I was young and really looked up to her and one day aspired to be just like bouncy, beautiful Whitney. Boy, that changed. Bobby and the drugs really took that star on a tour of crazy town. We thought Brittney was bad? At least her crazy faze was only a year or so. Whitney has been off the rocker pushing 15 years now. I know she has dumped Bobby but I just know the crack is wack Whitney is bound to make a come back. Soon enough she'll have another religious awakening in some body of water and the media will be there in a heart beat. If she was your neighbor she would probably mistake your pool for the "enlightening water" and decide to devote her life to whoever she can pronounce that day in your back yard. Although this would provide insane stories for the rest of your life, you and I would much rather this happen to a friend and not at your own house.

5. Rush Limbaugh: Rub a dub dub, lets take some pills in this tub and then condemn the rest of the country for being immoral. I know as a neighbor good ol' Rush would be tanked up on one of his "pain pills" and see one of my Obama signs and set my house on fire. Better yet he would get some church to come and stage an intervention on my front lawn. Then once he gets caught again he will be on house arrest and have to do that awful excuse for a radio show from home and then all his guests would have to share the road with you. That is the real reason for the housing crisis.

So you see, no matter where you live it could always be a lot worse. Thank God this imaginary crazy town does not exist....yet. Have a great weekend! For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.

in the hood

Deciding to live somewhere is such a gamble. You can find the perfect place and then be stuck in an awful situation after you meet...the neighbors. Who you live by can totally make or break your living situation. I have been blessed to have colorful yet enjoyable neighbors. A couple years back at the Turtle I had crazy frat boy neighbors who always threw the best themed parties. They had 80s night, Halloween parties, famous couple party, Gallagher party, (yes my friend dressed as Gallagher and everyone had to wear trash bags while he smashed fruit...hilarious) and tons more. Recently I am not the biggest fan of my neighbor at the duplex because, they are our landlords and it is required that everyone hate their landlord. Mine told me she would only be there 7 weekends of the entire year which is the biggest lie ever. I guess one of the reasons I get so frustrated is because we are breaking the rules and having pets when we are not supposed to BUT we got the illegal pets with the understanding that there would be little chance of getting caught! How were we supposed to know they would come to Oxford every darn weekend?! Anyway, the entire point to this random rambling is I am considering moving and now I must endure the agony of the new neighbors. This caused me to imagine a perfect world where we could hand pick our neighbors, even if we did not really know them and make a fun and exciting block where we all got along and had major block parties that the other neighborhoods grew jealous of. So finally with out further hesitation I present...my dream neighborhood.

First next door neighbor: Seth Rogen (pictured left). Why? Because every time I look at that man he makes me laugh. I can imagine it now. I'm walking to the bottom of the driveway to get my mail and he meets me in some crazy outfit and starts the day totally laughing and having fun constantly. He would of course throw killer parties where other hilarious stars would attend. We would all become great friends and enjoy vacationing together all over the world.

Second next door neighbor: Ina Garden (from The Food Network's Barefoot Contessa, pictured right) I love, love, love Ina. She is the expert on everything fine, from cheese to vanilla, baked goods to flowers and table cloths, this woman is always ready for a dinner party. She is so classic and is always sharing with her neighbors. On her show is she constantly having over friends and neighbors and of course I would be a delight to have on her show. The wealthy tend to love artsy types and I could totally play up my "torn inner turmoil" about being creative in a practical world. She, Jeffrey and TR would love me.

Across the street neighbor: Anderson Cooper (pictured left). Hello? Why not? First of all he's totally hot but more importantly, we would always know what is going on. I feel like if there were going to be some major incident in the world he would call his loving neighbors first to make sure we were safe. Plus he would give us deals on the great designer clothes he sports in third world countries.

Down the street neighbor: Tim Gunn. If you are obsessed with Bravo's Project Runway you know that our sweet Tim has impeccable style and the best personality. He would be the perfect person to attend any dinner party and I'm sure wouldn't' mind coming over daily to hand pick my outfits to make sure I was always catwalk ready.

Little further down the street neighbor: Whoopi Goldberg. This may sound like an odd choice but for one we need some diversity and two that woman is so crazy she would be so much drama and fun to live on the same street with. I wouldn't want to live right beside her because I would be victim to some of her animal mishaps yet she would provide great fun or gossip at our pool parties with the other neighbors.

There are more and more people I would love to have on this imaginary block. But now I'm going to go live my real life. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.

spring break recap

I blinked and it is already Friday of Spring Break. Where did all this time go? I shall try to recap. After the fun trip to Atlanta we went back to Nashville for a couple of days with the family. While in Nashville mother Michelle and I went on one of our epic shopping trips and visited almost every Target in the middle Tennessee area to find certain dishes. We are known for our day long shopping adventures that always begin with the goal of a short trip to the mall and always end up with a day long adventure that brings us to do crazy things such as go to the Old Town Pottery Outlet with a uhaul attached to the car that neither of us can turn properly. No stops with a uhaul on this trip but shopping was no less adventurous and successful. After Nashville I made a tour on Highway 40 West to Arkansas. I must say I have underestimated West Arkansas. Forever I thought (like most do) that the entire state of Arkansas was filled with toothless Republicans who would try to get me to join their Baptist church. But I have been mistaken. Although this city is aching with out the presence of milk (who knew there were still dry places?!...hello Prohibition is over and who ya kidding.. give that tax money to some schools! Arkansas is the lowest in education by mistake!) surrounding areas are not half bad. In Arkansas I have experienced such excitement such as: sleeping until 8am, riding an exercise bike during the middle of the day while watching the View, buying oranges off the side of the road, and wait for it wait for it, driving around the square and going to antique stores. Although the average pace of this place is around 15mph it is a nice break from the craziness that is my life. I can tell that I am starting to get a little stir crazy though. I have not felt bored but I noticed that I was creating little projects. For example, yesterday I was determined to have fiesta night. I went to dollar tree and bought fun cactus margarita glasses, little pin wheels and lanterns for decorations. I bought tons of ingredients to make my Mexican fiesta. It was really fun but I realized that another week of this and I would be going a little crazy. There is hope though. Today I traveled to another town that I really liked and later we are going to a winery (where I will steal as much wine as possible). Apparently there are a lot of wineries in Arkansas..who knew? Maybe this little oasis of a winery will be the Napa valley of the south. We shall see.

In other news, Papa Pete and Mother Michelle had a wonderful night at the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville last night for Pete's 39th Birthday. Although there was a slight problem at the Blue Bird. The family ordered beer (of course) and the waitress neglected to bring a glass. What? When did beer drinking become so looked down upon? Are we not human? Bring a glass? Who wants to drink out of a bottle that's all wet and and creates drinking wrinkles around the mouth? Treat us like humans and bring a beer glass. This is Natalie and I approve this message.

Well I am off for lunch to meet some new Arkansas folks. As I look over the above blog I'm disturbed with the amount of "milk" references. More subjects in the future, I promise! I hope everyone has a wonderful start to the weekend! For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Happy Birthday Pop!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Poppa Pete's Birthday! He is celebrating at home with wife Michelle and enjoying his day! This morning Michelle cooked him a great breakfast and tonight they are going to a concert that was Michelle's present to Pete. Make sure you take time and wish my wonderful dad a happy birthday. He deserves the very best and I'm sure they will have a great time tonight!

For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

overwhelmed update

Since this week begins Spring Break I promise I will take time to update the blog. Seriously life has been pretty insane and I will give a quick update.. and a longer one soon.

March 2nd: Close friend calls of wedding. Help address 1000 envelopes canceling the wedding. She is doing remarkably well and I am super proud off her!

March 3: turned 26. Lets not talk about it. No, seriously, I got to celebrate so many times. It was really wonderful.

March 5: Wallet is stolen at school. Another long, long story... and no I have not found it. Mom comes into town and we go out with friends to Thacker Mountain Radio show and then to dinner and drinks. All on Mom of course, no wallet = no money.

March 6: Finally perform black history program at school. We have worked on this for so long and if you read the previous blog you know of just some of the drama. I have found costumes, sound equipment, dance moves etc for this production. All goes well except for two renegade eighth graders who decide to get early experience on their future stripper careers by provocatively dancing with out permission in front of my bosses, student body, and mother. Other students cried and were accompanied by angry mothers. Another angry student yelled at me again in front of Mom and finally after me yelling several time to get out of my room she ended the episode with a hand in the face and a stern "holla". Mom leaves quickly because I have to take care of major middle school drama and she is close to hitting rude girl yelling at her daughter and I do not make enough bank as a teacher to provide bail money.

March 8: Children's choir sings at church and I attend two services and get ready for the dreaded Monday that will be filled with conferences about the "incident" on Friday.

March 9: Actually not too bad. All the kids are talking about the incident and I am happy to report they did not think the girls were cool rather trashy. Small success.

March 10: Am called into the office I think to talk about the "incident". No. Some kid told his parent I called him gay. WHAT? I love the gays. I would never use that as an insult. I want to divulge my love for... Prada, hair gel, hot abs, Kathy Griffin, show tunes, the Episcopal church and everything else I share with the stereotypical gay population. But my I am not so sure how my conservative boss will take this confession and just tell the truth. I have never or will never use that as an insult. There must be some misunderstanding. He believes me, all is okay, for now.

March 11: Completely out of money. I go to the bank during my planning period and beg for them to let me withdraw with out a drivers licence. I cannot get a drivers license until I get cash. The only form of ID I have is my school ID and the nice ladies let me get money.

March 12: Auditions for the American Idoleque competition I am presenting begin at school. Meryl Streep should retire in awe of my amazing acting abilities. Keeping a supportive face during the many renditions of Beyonce and Alicia Keys catastrophes is flawless.

March 13: Almost as good as Christmas... it's Friday and Spring Break is almost here! I just keep counting down the hours until I do not have to see junior high kids until the 23rd. Praise God. Right after school I drive to Nashville.. all the way in the rain.

March 14: No sleep for the weary. We're up bright and early and off to Atlanta to stay with uncle Ray and see Ben. We drive in basically a tsunami to Atlanta and of course the game is rained out. This is actually awesome because we get to see brother Ben all day long and celebrate my birthday one more time!

Now we're here in Atlanta. Ray made an amazing cake and we just ate dinner and took Ben back to his hotel that he is required to stay at with his team. We all feel like collapsing and I think that will occur all too soon. More this week during spring break 09. For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

drama

Since it's Black History month I created a project to study influential black American musicians. Classes are performing works by: The Temptations, Jackson 5, the Supremes, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Destiny's Child, and many more. I thought the students would love working together and learning dances, getting to dress up etc...but little did I know that it would cause so much drama. I think I must have taken a vacation to lala land when I decided to do this. Of course junior high kids combined with music would cause such excess stress in my life and theirs. It seems impossible to do an out of the ordinary, fun activity with out several people getting their feelings hurt because someone says they cannot dance, sing, or a combination of the two. I decided to write down today's schedule as well as the drama it occurs. Enjoy.

7:10am Jaquetta comes to my room before school to discuss her unhappiness in the Temptations. She wants to be the leader but fellow Temptation Shaniqua is being bossy so she wants out.

7:16am: Bridgette, Angel and Miranda arrive wanting approval for their Supreme costumes. The old outfits I have that actually look similar to the Supremes were not cute so they brought some from a dance. That's fine though, at least they're interested.

7:30am: Dream Girls arrive to practice. Tyeshia is not the best dancer and Sonika and Martina are frustrated that she cannot seem to get the step/kick combination down.

7:45am: Guys Temptations constantly yell at Quintez for being off. Also, Raheem and Anvavious argue over who is in Davis Ruffin. I tell them that this is the school Temptations, and not the real group. We even have six men in that group, but they all want a member name and purpose.

7:50am: All in the same room, Destiny's Child group works and this group has the least amount of dancing ability. They expect me to come up with every move. Although this is a great work out I am strangely brought back to my lip sync days in high school and they tell me my moves are not "fresh". I tell them we have to keep it clean and they are visibly disappointed.

7:54am: Have to break up potential fight in Guys Temptations Group over who is leader. I move boys out of order and quickly implement a no talking policy in their group. They are only allowed to practice and say the words, "ready, go".

8:00am: Dream Girls Group wants help with more moves. They are starting to look really cute yet poor Tyeshia cannot get the concept that her move should be exactly the opposite of Martinia's. Of course many audible comments occur.

8:10am: Tayera arrives from another class to discuss their costumes. I ask her where she is supposed to be, she has a hall pass but no teacher would let her out to talk about costumes. She is supposed to be in the bathroom. I tell her to leave and we will talk later.

next 20 minutes: I run around like an insane woman trying to get everyone to work together.

What in the world was I thinking!?!?!? This is insane. All the kids do is yell at each other for being "off". So much for creating a fun and different project, I'm beginning to think all of my textbooks in school that discouraged busy work never taught junior high kids! Ahh!

Only 5 more of these classes to go. Anyone figured out how to make that xanex smoothie yet?!?! For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

Nancy meet Satan

So I usually keep my opinions to myself (I know, I'm laughing too) but I am highly frustrated with Nancy Pelosi's recent gallivant to Italy. While I know it is important for government officials to meet with leaders from around the world, her trip along with other democrats accomplished nothing. Her meetings with the Pope were in my opinion a publicity stunt and he did not even allow her communion. Salt in an open wound for the vast majority of Americans who are struggling to make it while she's out cruising the world on tax payer money (holy Lord, who let Rush Limbaugh in here?!). Sadly, this is just another example of how our leaders are so out of touch with the real America. In my lifetime (excluding Bill... I still love him) I feel that almost every politician has been bogus and are really own out for their own pocketbooks...Debbie downer indeed...this is too much reality for a Monday morning. Let's move on.

This weekend was so exciting for many reasons but one of the highlights was that I got to see brother Ben play baseball! His team played at The University of Central Arkansas, a surprisingly lovely campus. His team played all weekend and we got to see him play Sunday afternoon. He looked great on the field and I was such a proud sister. Unfortunately we did not get to hang out with him too much because they had to get on the bus quickly and go back to school but I was so excited to see the young chap... and I didn't even have to do any of his laundry! Conway is a really nice city and I really enjoyed the downtown area. It is so cute, the streets in the downtown are painted and old train stations have been made into banks and restaurants etc. Really quaint, artsy etc..who knew?

Lastly, as I made the trip back to Oxford I was greeted with friends and fellow Oscar enthusiasts watching the Academy Awards at my house. It was the usual music crew who I love dearly because anything and everything is an excuse for an elaborate party. There was tons of food, drinks, and even forms with all of the categories and nominees printed as ballots so we could play along as the Oscars were on! Honestly I saw a lot more movies this year than ever but I really only care about the fashion. I love seeing what everyone is wearing; although I wish the stylist was not so popular because as much as I hate to admit it, I love a terrible dress on an A-lister. This list the popular trends seemed to be the color red, asymmetrical designs and mermaid dresses. Some of my favorite dresses of the night were Anne Hathaway (pictured upper right). She may have lost the Oscar, but she looked great doing it! Secondly, as much as I hate to admit it, I loved the dress Miley Cyrus wore (pictured left). Nothing says diva to me more than that beautiful dress, perhaps that's why I'm such a fan. Lastly, I had to add Beyonce because she can do no wrong in my book (pictured right). Although I like her dress in kind of an ugly/beautiful kind of way, her body is rocking and I was glad to see some curves on the red carpet!

Well I need to get back to work, I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.

back it up...

Sorry for the blog schizophrenia, but let's back it up and get to Weekend Update. This weekend was so much fun! I hate to be one of those annoying romantics on Valentine's day, but this year was the first in a while that I got to celebrate rather than feel the cold harshness of singles awareness day. If you read the previous blog you know that Friday afternoon I spent with the parents in Oxford enjoying the square. Around 2:30, I packed up and headed to Nashville while the parents made another trip back to Martin to see brother Ben. Since the laundry was taken care of, they actually got to spend time with the college chap and enjoyed dinner at a local Italian eatery. The parents said they were sad to leave me but I think they were most upset about leaving my new addition, Millie (kitty pictured left..the picture really doesn't do her cuteness justice). The new kitty instantly won the affection of my parents and they played were her constantly! I was afraid to leave them alone with her for too long because I wouldn't put it past my Momma to steal Millie for herself..Back in Nashville Philip and I met high school friends Jenna and Taylor at their house in Franklin. Later we met other high school friends Bret and Christina at newly renovated 108 restaurant in Franklin that used to be Monells. 108 is off the square and was once a prison. Yikes! There are still cell doors, rooms for solitary confinement and other spooky reminders of the past. Although the ambiance and martinis were excellent, the food was really lackluster; I would not recommend eating there but if you would like an expensive yet tasty martini, drinking at the bar might be fun. Saturday morning I hung out with the parents. It is a family tradition that on the weekend Papa cooks breakfast for the ladies and waits on us constantly with coffee. Yeah...lucky you momma! Later I did some last minute shopping and met Philip for a special Valentine's Day dinner. He cooked steak and lobster, twice baked potatoes, pasta, salad, and creme brule for dessert! Move on over Food Network; what a meal! Then we swapped gifts, I got a very sweet and romantic heart shaped necklace and Philip got a bass pro gift card. I know...so shameful, but that's what he likes. Sunday morning and afternoon the family hung out and after a quick stop in Brentwood, made the long haul back to Oxford.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines and beginning to their week, promise to blog about something less self involved soon... well I don't promise but I'll try :) For Natalie's News this has been Natalie-Corinne.

this is your life on junior high

So it is hard enough to wake up before the sun and come teach crazies but the earth's glory has surprised me with one of the most dreaded aspects of being a teacher ever...you guessed it, the parent/teacher conference. This time it's personal. The child in question got in a fight on Thursday and now Momma believes her precious boy would never do anything like this and wants revenge on the mean ol' music teacher. Awesome. This is the same child who regularly calls other folk's mommas fat, ugly, etc. asked loudly if breast cancer was when you had three "titties" and regularly makes a mockery of my existence by being a total goob. But yeah, Mom is right, her boy would never break the rules and is a total sweet heart. And you know what, this is all totally worth it because we make such bank here that all of this constant scrutiny and "accountability" from No Child left behind makes it so fair. I hope you're picking up on my sarcasm, because I'm laying it on pretty thick. Anyway, pray for me in my hour of need. If I don't return I want a montage of musicals played at my funeral with "Don't stop believing" by Journey at the very end.

Hopefully I will be back to update everyone on the weekend. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie

shamed faced

Yes, like many of my students so eloquently say, "I'm shamed faced" about my severe lack of blogging. Like a broken record, I keep the same excuse of being so busy but now overwhelmed with a dud-like feeling at work. Usually some little spark of nothing will occur sometime during the day that brings that ah ha moment and Natalie's News receives some form of blabbing but nada has come recently. Maybe it's writer's block, maybe it's all of the fighting at school, I really don't know, but for some reason today I felt back in action. Why you ask? I'm in Nashville! Oh, what a perfect segway for... you guessed it!

Focus on the Family

My ultra hip parents informed me months ago that the North Mississippi Allstars (pictured left) would be performing at the Lyric in Oxford. My cool parents luckily bypassed the stereotypical hobbies of knitting, bingo, and playing checkers and spend their time having tapas with friends, going to happy hour and the newest pub and listening to awesome music. Never in my life have I had to endure John Tesh, Chuck Mangione, Yanni, or Kenny G. Although Michelle will occasionally make the family suffer watching Antique Road Show, for the most part my parents are hip and listen to grooving tunes of then and now. Thursday the parents began their epic trip at 7am and made a pit stop in Martin to see brother Ben. While Ben went to class the parents did 8... yes 8 load of laundry at a local laundry mat. And you were concerned with mustard gas... I imagine the odor that loomed from that enormous mountain of laundry would bring even the most devoted soldier out of the caves and show us to Osama's location asap. After repairing the layer of the ozone depleted by the smell, the parents got back on the road and arrived in Oxford around 5:15. We freshened up at my house and quickly left for dinner at Ajax diner (pictured left) on the square. After dinner we met up with lifelong friend Barrett and had a Blue Moon at The Library sports bar. Finally we arrived at the Lyric (inside pictured right) for the main event. Since we arrived earlier than most around 9pm, we were able to score awesome seats in the balcony...really close to the bar. Both bands were awesome and all really enjoyed the show. The only downfall is within my first year of teaching I have aged 2 years everyday and apparently cannot stay out past 10pm. When that midnight hour approached I was seriously forcing my eyes open. Sad. All was worth it though. The North Mississippi Allstars were amazing and all enjoyed the late night. The only thing that would have topped the night would have been chicken on a stick from Chevron...next time. The next day the entire family slept in and we went to lunch at Roosters around noon. Roosters is a blues bar that used to be Jeannie's Hallmark on the square. After lunch we strolled the busy square streets and visited Square Books and Holli's Sweet Tooth. Finally we returned to my house, packed up and trekked back to Nashville!

More details are to come tomorrow because luckily the weekend is not over! I hope everyone had a wonderful break, I'll see you tomorrow with the case of the Mondays. For Natalie's News this has been, Natalie-Corinne.

weekend update

This weekend seemed to fly by with fun times had by all. It was exactly what I needed to detox from the long week of craziness here at the junior high. This weekend was pretty bare in my favorite city. I guess because of the cold weather and such it seemed at the beginning of the weekend that there was not much going on, but this quickly changed. Friday night was pretty tame with a casual dinner at Oby's then a house party at the Worthy's estate. Brooke, the ultimate hostess served lasagna and low calorie margaritas. Saturday we saw movie, ran some errands and then....picked out a new kitten! For some reason I thought I would be able to go to the humane society and just look...right. I picked the cutest baby kitten that is only 3 weeks old. Considering we are not supposed to have animals and I am super busy this was really one of the worst decisions of the weekend, but I don't really care. She is so cute and I cannot wait to get her in two weeks. After the shelter we went to dinner with power couple Rebecca and Smitty. They spent the day getting engagement pictures taken all over town. We enjoyed a nice dinner at Bouree (sign pictured left) and then went to City Grocery (pictured right) for after dinner drinks. Usually when I go out now I have become a total snob and stick to wine, occasionally when I'm influenced by a particular boy I will stoop to a 24 ounce beer but for the most part, snobby wine is my drink of choice. But for some reason Saturday after wine at dinner, I was feeling frisky at the bar so I went for an old favorite during my sorority days...jack and diet coke. Huge mistake. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe it was my sudden urge to do more before I turned 26, maybe I thought I would drink it slower, I have no idea but it was not pretty. The next morning I had to arise bright and early for children's choir and let's just say it was not my finest hour. Nothing came up but my head kept throbbing and cursing my thoughtless drinking! Sadly, I only had 1 and a couple of sips of another drink and it did it in for me. I guess we should look on the bright side of things, I've become a totally cheap date and with our economy nobody can complain about that. Plus, it takes way fewer calories. So lesson learned is: I still plan on trying new things etc before I enter that horrid stage of the upper twenties but my former boyfriend Jack will be dumped permanently and we will never fling again. Ever. I did "buck up and do" and got up for church like a good little Episcopalian girl on Sunday (church where I felt awful pictured left). I went to church and then went back to bed for some much needed recuperation. As I began preparing for the Superbowl, Philip told me the best news of the entire weekend...he downloaded all of the newest episodes of Big Love (pictured right) for me. Holy Lord God, my life is complete. Previously I had HBO but I felt that times were tough I should cancel it, but oh how I've missed my shows...most of all Big Love. Who cannot enjoy this show of crazies hiding their polygamy? It is so twisted and dramatic, I love it. Secretly I want to pretend that I am a polygamist so I can get inside the cult and do a whole Lisa Ling style documentary...no worries that is a fleeting thought before I come back to reality. Plus their dresses are so ugly. After two glorious hours of Big Love we went to a Super Bowl party with St. Peter's folks and enjoyed the boring Super Bowl. I really didn't care about either team and the commercials were pretty lame. After the Super Bowl we came home and watched the hilarious after Super Bowl special hour of The Office. Amazing. Wow, as I write I just realized how much television I watched yesterday. Kind of gross. Maybe I shouldn't say bye bye to Jack just yet.



Well I better get back to work, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. For Natalie's News this has been Natalie Corinne.