Random Photos from My Trip to Nashville

Posted On February 10, 2010

Because I STILL haven’t formulated a coherent post about my BlissDom experience, I’m just going to share a few random photos followed by (hopefully) mildly entertaining commentary.

We stopped in Hannibal, Missouri, hometown of Mark Twain, on our drive to Nashville. This sign was posted all by itself next to Mark Twain’s boyhood home. Um, so apparently Hannibal has had an “issue” with men in bushy mustaches and wild white hair loitering the streets, waiting for their “big break?” Or maybe they’re just trying to be proactive . . .

So, so, so excited to finally meet my East Coast twin, Sarah from Trenches of Mommyhood! Already behaving like a good friend, when I joined her at a party this night, she said, “Whatever you do, don’t drink the blue drink!” Then nary a half-second later, “Here, try it. It sucks!” And yes, true to word, it did suck. That’s what friends are for.

I apologize for the blurry pic, but I was a wee bit tipsy at this point. Just had to point out my friend Sarah again and a new friend I will now be stalking following religiously, Jennifer from Playgroups Are No Place for Children. And see that blue fuzzy thing in Jennifer’s hand? Yeah, that damn blue boa. Found feathers EV-RY-WHERE for the next three days. Kinda reminded me of the soft and impossibly static-y feathers I find on the floor of our cockatiel’s cage, only dyed blue. How many cockatiels had to die for these boas, I ask? One more thing of note: this photo may or may not have been followed by several round-offs and cartwheels in the plaza of the Opryland Resort. Just so ya know.

One of the highlights of the conference was when Harry Connick, Jr. gave me us a private concert. Doesn’t he appear to be looking right at me? Yeah, I’m pretty sure our eyes met. No matter that there were probably 150 women between him and me. Or that I had to use my zoom lens to snap this photo. Or that the 150 women between him and me were all more beautiful. Or that he’s married to a Victoria’s Secret supermodel. There were sparks, I tell you. Sparks!

Perhaps this is part of the reason I thought Harry was giving me the eye. This, my friends, is a cotton candy martini. Yes, you read correctly—cotton freakin’ candy! When I saw the bartender at the Fuze nightclub pull out the container of cotton candy and load that sticky pink goodness into my glass, I had to fight the urge to grab the container and stick my face in it. Next time I think I will ask for a cotton candy martini, hold the martini.

So I called Husband on Thursday night at 10:15, and this is how the conversation went . . . Me: Hi, what are you doing? Hubs: Playing XBOX, what are you doing? Me: Sitting outside a party sponsored by the United States Potato Board. Hubs: Wow . . . that sounds . . . fun . . .

I never wear a dress, but I actually wore a dress two nights in a row in Nashville. Because there’s no way I was going to go bare-legged this time of year, I wore a pair of pantyhose that I had found buried in the bottom of my underwear drawer. After walking around in them for several hours, I finally took notice of the color—or lack of it, I should say. Nude? Suntan? Nope. I’ll take the hose in “corpse” please. Yes, these are my corpse legs. And yes, the photo actually makes them look a bit more lively than they did in real life. Just ask Kara. I was definitely running around with corpse legs.Just to make things interesting, the National Tea Party Convention was being held at the Gaylord Opryland as well. Right next door to BlissDom. This was the line to get in to Sarah Palin’s speech on Saturday night.I’m guessing that Paul Revere here didn’t need a ticket though. (Seriously, where does one procure such an ensemble? J.C. Penney?) On a related note, I also saw Ben Franklin hangin’ out at the bar & grill.

On the way to Nashville on Wednesday, we passed through St. Louis. That was my first time seeing the arch, and of course I had to go and say about the dumbest thing anyone has ever said about it. Yep, you guessed it. “It doesn’t look that big.” Yeah, well, maybe that was because we were in the van, miles away from the arch, when I said it. Duh! So on the way home, Jody was determined to get me up close and personal with the St. Louis arch. And, yeah . . . I guess it is kinda big . . . as in pretty freakin’ HUGE! I should’ve probably taken some advice from Mark Twain, the original Missourian himself: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

No doubt, Mark Twain, no doubt.