Kentucky Weekend

I am back from ConFab Baby 2009. Let me first give a big thank you to TurnBaby and Mr. Fab for their gracious hosting skills and awesome hospitality. They are truly fine folks!

I enjoyed meeting EVERYONE.....I was so comfortable with some right off the bat and nervous about others and had a oh my god what if I'm an asshole and they'll hate me mode meltdown.....which I'm sure cost me some friendships and rightly so, but I did meet people that I really really loved and can't wait to continue our friendship, on the web and in real life.....and now I have to totally redo my blog and get cards and stuff because you are all so inspiring in a way unique to yourselves and I want to be as cool as yall, darnit !!

But anyways....

I started off Friday morning by dropping the boys off at "doggie camp" and then away I went. My first stop for gas and a potty break was at a gas station next to this....



Said gas station had this outside of it.....


I knew at that moment that it was gonna be a great weekend !! I mean boobies and chicken ?! How can you go wrong??

And then I found this !! Rowwwwrrr !!!!



And at last......Kentucky !!!!!



Immediately upon crossing over the state line, I started to see the signs for the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and of course, HORSES !!! Yes I know, there are horses in other states. But those horses are not KENTUCKY HORSES !! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE !! (this was heard several times throughout the course of the weekend...I am sure dogs across KY were howling along).




I finally made it to my gloriously lovely hotel , checked in and got the road dust off. I must admit I was nervous about going to Bliss Manor and meeting fellow bloggers, especially since I am like the newbie blogger, and of course, the whole widow thing.

I was immediately made more at ease when I met up with three of my fellow Bloggers/Tweeters in the hotel bar before heading to Bliss Manor ( I am leaving out most names cause I'm not sure if they want to be blogged about !!). Anyway, thanks yall !

So off to Bliss Manor we went, the hub of ConFab 2009. Again, I was still nervous. Upon arrival and meeting a few people I immediately told them not to be afraid to talk to me or say anything about the dead husband. Probably not a way to start off but hey, it is what it is. After a few drinks and hellos and trying to figure out who was who we headed to Southland for drinks and karaoke.

There was singing and dancing and drinking and hockey and puking and bar food and duck farts and tequila. I was only involved in the duck fart drinking section. Dancing and singing weren't for me that night. I was way more comfy behind the lens. And I am leaving out some of the things that happened to protect the innocent. ; )

Got back to the hotel around 130am or so, and I stayed up on the internet for awhile. Amazingly I woke up bright-eyed and bushy tailed around 830...and again I Squeeeed !!! I wanted to go see some horses !!!

And see some horses I did....






I spent most of Saturday morning at Keeneland racetrack, no races but I got to see a few workouts and spent a lot of time walking around the track and hanging out with the horses at the stables. It was incredibly peaceful and totally helpful. I was relaxed and truly truly at peace for the first time in so many months. I wanted to stay there forever.





And I bought myself a few souvenirs.....she is my favorite....



Then it was back to town to hang out with some fabulously awesome people for a late lunch and trip to the chocolate shoppe, which is always a big time! Chocolate nom nom.
Afterwards, off to Bliss Manor for a night of anything goes and meeting lots of new people. I had a blast !! The old me would have HAD A BLAST but again, I was nervous and yanno it's the "new me" and all that crap.

New friends, great food, jello shots, karaoke, and even ELVIS !!!!! Squeeee !!



Again I won't bore you with the details because most of yall were there, but the photos on Flickr tell most of the story anyways !!

All in all I am very happy I went. I am proud to be a new member of the blogging family, and thanks to all of you for welcoming me and trying your best to help.

You did.

Thank you.

LiveFromThe205 goes to ConFab Baby !!

In the morning I am headed to Lexington, Kentucky for a weekend of hanging out with fellow bloggers!!

Who I've never met !

I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have just been regularly blogging for the last few months, and most of these people have been doing it for awhile and are much mo'better than me. So I shall go, as a fish out of water !

I am looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing Kentucky for the first time !! I may even take a road trip to Churchill Downs ! Woot !!

See yall Monday, and I'll be Tweeting all weekend !!

Where the sidewalk ends.......

I hope the sidewalk never ends, and I hope that I find it's path one day. And I hope that someone is waiting for me on that sidewalk. And I hope he's wearing my pink crocs.....



Where the Sidewalk Ends


There is a place where the sidewalk ends And before the street begins, And there the grass grows soft and white, And there the sun burns crimson bright, And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind. Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black And the dark street winds and bends. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And watch where the chalk-white arrows go To the place where the sidewalk ends. Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go, For the children, they mark, and the children, they know The place where the sidewalk ends.

Shel Silverstein

Lowes=Lust

Lowe's. Ahhhhhh.

Your shiny appliances and sparkly new whirlpool tubs make me giddy.

I can just smell my freshly washed clothes in your fancy-schmancy large capacity front load washers & dryers.

Walking through your garden center with all of the beautiful plants that I know would get an immediate death sentence upon coming home with me makes me misty-eyed.

Your birdfeeders and critter toys make me want to hug all of nature in my yard.

Your lighting and fans make me want to redo my master bedroom into a haven of soft up lighting and the swish-swish-swish of your carved blades.

The paint beckons me with it's promise of a fresh happy do-over.

The smell of your lumber department makes me want to learn to use all of the tools still in my basement and drive nails into your dewy texture.

The yard implements make me want to be one with my weeds.

And the John Deere accessories call to me with their colors of yellow and green, like the lilies and grasses in the field.

However, my bank account and Mint.com curse your name.

Oh well, they'll get over it.

Hockey pucks

“How do you feel?”

Someone asked me that today. Well intentioned. But I hate that question.

I answered with my usual “OK” and smiled. HA ! Got by that one….

But really, I don’t know how I feel. Not regularly. I can give you ten second increments, but who knows what memory or feeling is lurking around the next thought in my head?? And that damn Lecter fella is always floating around somewhere like a bad fart.

Actually, I feel like a hockey puck. I’ve been dropped, stepped on, kicked, and I go from heretothereandtheretohere with the intensity of what feels like someone smacking me with a stick.

Take today. I had a fairly decent morning and a short pleasurably easy shift at work. I was looking forward to watching the Belmont on DVR and I purposefully stayed away from Twitter, Facebook and the interwebz in general so I wouldn’t know the outcome. Then I got off work.

I got in the car, cranked up and started heading home. And HEY there that bad fart was !! I literally had to stop in the parking lot, repark and regain my composure so I could drive. Then I cried all the way home. WTF? Really?
Yes, really. I managed to make it home, calmed myself , took a hot bath and watched the race. That helped.

Now I’m blogging. I’m sure it’s getting tedious listening to me whine about my life in between highs of baseball and shopping, but it is what it is.

I am a hockey puck. All black and dark and bouncing around this life when I would like to be doing nothing better than just hanging out with bright shiny hot pink hockey pucks that live a bright and shiny happy pink hockey puck life.

But I’ll play this game Lecter. And in the end, I’ll beat you.

Baseball !!!!

Baseball !! I know, a lot of yall think it's boooooring and slooooow. It can be.

But it can also be fun and awesome and exciting and just, just SQUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!

I remember watching baseball with my Papaw when we finally got cable and the Cubs were on WGN Channel 9 !! Man the Cubbies and the Yankees were my team !! Still are ! Back in the day .....Ron Santo, Harry Caray, Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Mark Grace, Rick Sutcliffe, even The Penguin Ron Cey at third .....and Bucky Dent, Ron Guidry, Catfish Hunter, Lou Piniella and so many Yankees !! When I was home in the summer, if I wasn't outside playing, I was watching baseball .

I always had trouble with math, so my Papaw had me do statistics for each game I watched to help me with it. I recorded every single thing that happened on that field, and had a few notebooks full by the time summer was over. He saved every one. I wish I knew where they are now.

Gregory took me to see the Yankees a few years ago....it was his FIRST major league game, ever. And he picked a doozy - Yankees vs. Red Sox !! I still haven't figured out how he got the tickets. But we had so much fun, and he loved it ! Somewhere I have pics of us at Yankee stadium.....but this was a few hours before the game on the Empire State Building...and as many times as he had been to NYC he had never been there , and it was so fun seeing thru his eyes !



So yesterday I got all excited and took myself to Atlanta to see my precious Cubbies take on the Braves. I not be liking the Braves. Never have. I'm a Cubs and Yankees girl, oh and I pull for the Phillies a bit cause of G's Philly connection.

I road tripped over, stopped at Mellow Mushroom to eat, which is one of Gregory and my favorite places and where we have spent many an afternoon and nights after Auburn football games !! Actually, Mellow Mushroom in Auburn is where we had our first kiss!!
And yes, he was with me.......as always....



Then I went to Trader Joes in midtown ATL for the fist time. OMG !! I am totally hooked on that place now. I bought all sorts of delightful treats and a CASE of their awesome wine....known as "two buck chuck". Actually it's like $2.79 a bottle but honestly? It's like the best wine ever. Upon my return I will be buying SEVERAL cases!! Bootlegger !

First time at Turner Field and the place is pretty nice. I had a great seat, took lots of pictures and paid $15 for a long island ice tea. After the shock wore off I switched back to draft beer. And of course I had a hot dog....



And then, IT RAINED ! For two and a half hours. &#%@$!^!)# You should have heard what I was really saying.





Oh was I pissed. I ended up leaving after about two hours because I just knew there was no way this game was going to be played. Oh sure there will be a raincheck game I can go back to but damn I wasjustsoexcitedforthisgame !! I squueeed for pete's sake ! About an hour or so after I left I heard that they ad called off the game. So at least I got a headstart on traffic.

On the way out I stopped at the ticket office and bought myself a ticket for the Braves / Yankees game June 24th. IN THE SECOND ROW BEHIND HOME PLATE !!! Apparently going alone does have it's perks....single seats are easier to get !!

So all in all it was a baseball bust, but I'm glad I went and literally CANNOT WAIT for June 24th to get here.....I will definitely be squeeeing all over myself.

Playing hooky...

I'm playing hooky from widow school tonight. Yes, I'm a bad widow. It just wasn't in me to go sit in a group of people who feel as bad or perhaps worse than me and "hug it out". Not that we actually do a lot of hugging, I just needed a metaphor for how it makes me feel. I was tired and whiny from two days of retail customer hell and just could not do it. So I stopped by Whole Foods and fixed myself an antipasta tray for dinner, got some warm french bread , flavored olive oil and a bottle of wine. Then I stopped at Best Buy and splurged on David J's new limited edition box set. By 5 pm I was bathed and in a pair of Greg's pajamas, sitting in his chair with a 78 pound puppy trying to crawl in my lap, watching my favorite weatherman. This is what I wanted to do. So I did it. Bad widow.

I had a pretty good weekend with my friends, but it was alwaysrighthere waiting. It. Oh and him. Dr. Lecter made an appearance in the pool Saturday afternoon while I was sitting with my friends and they just held me and tried to help. It was only for a few minutes but damn, why did I let him get to me???? Jerk.

I took lots of pics and drank lots of blue waboritas and danced and got lots of sun and laughed a lot and heard how I was missed and caught up on gossip and I actually felt good for awhile (bigtime run on sentence I know get over it! ;) ). And I am glad I went, even though now I have some guilt about it and. But I went, and that's one way of healing, and guilt is supposedly natural, and normal. It sure does suck though.

But the whole time I felt like I was playing hooky. I had this nagging feeling in my head that I should be sitting at home wearing a black veil and sobbing around an 8x10 and a candle. I don't know why. I just did. And that is so not me. Drinking 10 or so blue waboritas while sitting in a huge salt water pool with 80's music and my closest friends is so me...so I let it be me for the weekend. And I hope that being me starts to come without the guilty interest rate. Oh I will never be me again, because that me is gone. She went away on March 20th of this year, never to return.

I kind of have a new me now. Notice she's not in italics. I am not quite sure where she belongs or where she should go or what she is going to do. I just know she's here now, and she's the new Kim. This Kim lives minute by minute, kinda like the old one, but this time with an additional helping of cautious pessimism. I hope a little of the old Kim comes along for the ride, cause wherever she's playing hooky, I sure do miss her.

I won't bore yall with alot of pictures.....but here's the link to my gallery... Girls Hard Rock Weekend 2009.....