Sunday Snapshot

Paducah is located at the convergence of the Ohio & Tennessee Rivers.  Some days, standing along the water, you can see the difference between the two - the Ohio is usually muddier & is closer to IL than the Tennessee.  

the Tennessee is in the foreground while the muddy bit by those IL trees is the Ohio

Paducah itself was founded by William Clark, Of Lewis & Clark, back in 1827 which is why we have statues of L&C, dog Seaman and Native Americans on the grounds of the museum.  The statues are a visual link to the history of the city and the region.  Here you can see said statues during the snowy day last week!

Gold Star for Me!

Temperatures have crept back up into the 40s and the sun was out yesterday, making for a nice afternoon.  I grabbed my gloves, hat and keys and set out for a walk around the neighborhood loop.  The fresh air was wonderful and it wasn't too windy.  It was really quiet as well - I only passed 1 runner and there aren't many dogs to disturb the stillness. I figured everyone was either out shopping, or taking their car through the car wash down the street.  No, seriously, there was a loong line for both bays every time I passed the place; to & from church, the store, walking.  Apparently it was 'Wash Your Car' Day here and I missed that memo.  I didn't feel like waiting in line and was glad I didn't this morning when I work up to the rain.  Good ol' Mother Nature comes through again.

Anyways, that's not the point of this story!  As I was walking around the loop (thoroughly enjoying myself), a van slowed and the couple inside asked me for directions to the Civic Center.  Apparently, their GPS led them into my neighborhood claiming they had arrived at their destination. Ha. I not only knew where they were heading, but gave them excellent directions to actually get there.

As I was congratulating myself on having a good grasp on the local landmarks & roads, a second car also stopped me and told me the same story!  I don't know what brand of GPS these cars had but it needs some serious updating.

So after giving this car equally solid directions, I returned to my walk with an extra bounce in my step and a grin on my face.  I passed the 'can you tell me how to get ____' test with flying colors and have earned this gold star twice over.  :D

look - I did so well it even has my name on it ;)

In concert

The other weekend, N&L invited me to go with them to see The Band Perry since they had scored some free tickets.  Free tickets, Friday night out with friends?  That's a no brainer!  It was in the arts center at WKCTC which is a nice, cozy sized auditorium, (I'd been there to hear David Baldacci speak), and for a concert it was pretty awesome!  Open seating and we ended up only a few rows from the stage, so we could see the band clearly - not like when you sit in the upper deck at the 1st Mariner in B'more.

The opener was Joanna Smith - and she was good.  From somewhere down in GA so the accent was a bit hard to understand via microphone at times but I liked some of her upbeat quirky songs.  I ended up getting her single on iTunes because it made me laugh.  Take a listen - it's called "Gettin' Married!"  :oP

Anyways, the Band Perry was awesome - great stage presence, great show and great music.  I'd heard their recent hit "If I Die Young" on the radio once or twice and it's quite good.  I also like their music video for it because it references Anne of Green Gables - specifically the part where Anne is playing the Lady of Shallot and almost drowns.  Ha! Check it out here.  Seriously, it was a great show and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes their music.  At one point, they performed a medley of their favorite songs - rock 'n roll & country mixed.  While everyone knew the words to "American Pie", I had to wonder how many of the younger kids knew Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls." 

Thanks N for the awesome free tickets and a chance to have a rockin' girls night out!

2011 Jump Start

Happy New Year dear readers!

This was the first year in a while that I had to work a couple days between Christmas & New Years' instead of having days off, but it wasn't too bad.  It gave me a couple days to organize and work on some upcoming projects without being rushed or interrupted.  It also made having New Years' Eve day off and the 3-day weekend extra nice!  It was like a little mini-vacation before everything got crazy again at work.  

new year pancakes

With friends being out of town and trouble with my car I didn't go anywhere special to ring in 2011 - just stayed in and had a little celebration all for me. Talked with friends as they time traveled into 2011 an hour before I did and once it reached Central Time let loose some confetti poppers as is tradition.  I hope my neighbors weren't asleep because they were really loud and echo-y in the apartment!  :oD  

The rest of the weekend was nice to have time to read and catch up on organizing and de-cluttering some of the misc. piles of stuff that accumulate. Also, watched the Winter Classic hockey game with L&N - what a game!  Lots of good hockey and the Caps beat those pesky Penguins so it was pretty fantastic.

pretty flowers for 2011

This week has been go - go - go at work and home and in between so I'll give you the almost- short version.

Monday I took my car in because it's been having trouble shifting and discovered that Toyota had a voluntary recall for a faulty part in my car.  Good news is that I did the background researching with dad to figure it out and so Toyota gets to pick up the tab on that one.  Hooray! 

Tuesday found me prepping for Junior Quilt Club as we started a new project and gained a couple members.  It's the first meeting where I was officially in charge, as I'd been assisting with the club since I started.  We're making patchwork journal covers and they are all excited and enjoy the project so far.  It'll take a couple meetings which is good for me because it gives me some time to plan what will come next.

Wednesday we had a tour guide luncheon and meeting to start off training and info sessions we'd like to provide the guides.  Then I pinned 129 blocks onto the wall so that we could have our School Block Challenge judging.  Phew!  They took up 2 whole classrooms and part of a third when I was finished and looked superb.  I'm glad I didn't have to judge because we got really creative and awesome blocks from kids across the country.

Today, I had a little breathing room to start thinking (and panicking) about upcoming workshops, papers to process, people to contact, ribbons to order, data to gather, etc. etc. etc.  I was able to check one big thing off the list which is the activity I'm doing for 2nd Saturday this week.  I've planned to make snowman pins and had the pieces laid out on the worktable in my head but had not gotten a chance to physically make a sample until this afternoon.  At least it wasn't completely last minute!  I'm pleased that it worked out the way I wanted and so am now all set for Saturday.

Anyone else tired yet?  ;o) This has been a jam-packed week and I'm looking forward to having some down time this weekend to work on my things.  I'm a bit behind on phone calls and letters to people so maybe some of that can be worked in for the weekend.

Anyways, here's to a brand new year to fill with adventures!