So it took a while but I've finally come to terms with the fact that I turned 30 last month and DAMN I did it in style!!!! My actual birthday was pretty quiet I went out to dinner with a friend. It was a mexican restaurant and I had mexicans sing happy birthday to me in spanish. That was right after they smeared cream on my nose and upper lip to look like a mexican moustache.......How rude!!!! I was not impressed. My friend thought it was hilarious, at least I got a free dessert out of the whole deal. My birthday was on a Thursday night so it was off to the usual local hang out The Blue Bar. One of my friends organised cupcakes which she bought out about five minutes after the whole bar ... read more
Hope everyone is having a great start to 2009. I am still HAVING A BLAST!!!!! I LOVE THIS TOWN!!!!. Christmas was pretty quiet I spent the day with a firend who's parents had gone out of town and we watched movies...nothing as exciting as what was probably happening down under. New Years was spent downtown bar hopping on broadway....Thank God for back doors otherwise we would have had to wait in line at every bar for two hours with the tourists. I rang int he new years a Tootsies and then danced the night away at Legends. We've had one more day of snow and plenty of cold weather since the last time I blogged.....I am definitely over winter and ready for some hot weahter.....Two winters in a row is killing me.....But IAGBB. I found a ... read more
Wow didn't realise it had been so long since I checked in. A lot has been going on. We had Thanksgiving, Black Friday, I got a job and I moved into an apartment. Thanksgiving was fun we had it at the hostel. Two americans cooked the turkey and all the trimmings and about 20 international tourists were there to join in the feast. I tried pumpkin pie for the first time. it's edible but tastes a lot better when its covered in whipped cream....Pumpkin cheesecake on the other hand is DELICIOUS! I started working for JC Penney's (similar to Harris Scarfe) the week before thanksgiving as a Christmas casual. I decided it was so late in the year it really wasn't worth looking into getting a full time job until the new year and apparently if ... read more
With halloween over and done with I figured it was probably about time I stopped playing tourist and got my life in order,..........great idea in theory now if only there were less music gigs to go to and I stopped getting home at 3am in the morning and sleeping most of the day away then I would've gotten things organsied a lot quicker. So in between CMA Awards week and all the local talent around town I finally came up with plan B since Plan A of buying the house just isn't going to happen thanks to the American economy. As of December 6 I am renting a place next to the sub division I wanted to buy in. It's a 12 month lease which works out perfectly because I want to be home for Christmas ... read more
The smoky mountains are absolutely gorgeous and of course with it being Autumn all the leaves have started to change colour and are falling off the trees. I took some pics but they just didn't do the scenery justice so check out the video attached. I spent a day hiking through the National Park which was fantastic and free. I couldn't believe they didn't have park entrance fees. I saw Elk in their natural environment. They were just standing in the river in the late afternoon sun. I visited an old farming village which showed how they farmed corn in the olden days and I visited cherokee an indian village, which wasn't much of a village it was mostly tourist shops. I wandered the Pigeon forge parkway and visited mountain valley winery I tried every wine ... read more
Sunday night was a total bust! Stephen Cochrane one of my favourite artists was back in town for a 2 night stint at the Wildhorse Saloon. He played Saturday night for an hour but of course I was too busy getting kicked out of the Opry and sometimes you just can't be in two places at once. There was mixed information about his Sunday performance. The wildhorse website said that it was a private event yet Stephen himself said he went on at 8:30 and it was a $6 cover charge. We got to the Wildhorse and it was definitely closed I stuck my head in the gift shop and found out that there was some stuffy very formal looking dinner happening for cracker barrel employees. The sales person said we weren't the first ones who ... read more
Thought I'd pop in and blog again before the 9-5 grind kicks in......So not looking forward to that. Thanks to the american banking fraternity the job front is currently a major juggling act. I have the one job that starts October 13th. The second job starts Monday 22nd September (tomorrow), Also tomorrow I have an interview for job number three. I need job number three to keep the bank happy for the home loan but I really like the look of job number two which I start tomorrow, they are a HR outsourcing company and look after payroll and HR on behalf of large organisations. The interview tomorrow is for a mobile phone/internet company that doesn't have a great reputation and apparently they have a high turnover of staff. Hopefully I will have it all sorted ... read more
First stop since my last blog is the Tennessee state fair and I've fallen in love with the goo goo cluster......There goes the diet. A goo goo cluster is pecans, marshmallow, covered in caramel and chocolate on a stick they then cover it in batter and deep fry it.....YUM! Since the fair is the only place you can get them....I had two....mmmm Healthy! The fair was a lot of fun....somehwere between the size of the Minlaton Show and The Adelaide show. Sideshow alley and the rides were all completely the same as you see at home. Everything else was a little different, a couple of stunt men on motorbikes in a big steel ball were pretty interesting but the best part was the agriculture section, I still can't get over the size of the giant pumpkin. ... read more
For all those who offered to send vegemite after mine was rudely removed from my possession by security at Sydney international, THANKYOU! But it's all good I got some more duty free and managed to get through LA so for now I'm covered, although if the aussie invasion continues at the backpackers I may run out sooner than expected so I'll keep you all posted. The backpackers is a blast most people sleep by day and party by night so it has been bar hopping on Broadway almost every night Tootsies is a popular hang out and Anthony Orio is FANTASTIC! Jen the action pic is Anthony singing your fave song whilst dancing on the bar and he wasn't even at Coyote Ugly. Wednesday night we got the party started at Tootsies, then headed to Paradise ... read more
Today was a BLAST!!!!....The champagne seems to taste much better when relaxing in the back of a stretch hummer. Lunch at Woodstock winery was fantastic as always and for the first time in weeks the sun was shining. (I can't believe summer is just around the corner and I have to deal with ANOTHER winter). Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun and Brooke I'm sure I saw you singing along to 'save a horse, ride a cowboy' I always knew you were a closet country fan. What better way to spend a day Good food, good wine, good friends, good fun and Goodbye :( ... read more