We Can Only Hope

40 Schools in Williamson County of Tennessee closed today in ANTICIPATION of snow. Are you kidding me!!??? Reports are there MIGHT be a wintry mix coming across Williamson County so they just went ahead and closed the schools JUST IN CASE! I remember a day in elementary school sitting at my desk watching thick snowflakes fall from the sky accumulating all over the ground, walkways and railings...thinking to myself....I wonder if they'll ever let us leave school early because of all the snow? Ooohhh no, we didn't leave early that day and I believe the next day we got to come in maybe an hour late! It was a lot snow for Seattle at that time and yet even then, we toughed it out and the parents trekked through the wintery weather to pick up their kids at the regular dismissal hour. It's cracking me up that here in Tennesssee, where apparently the last time they had snow that accumulated and did anything at all to this city was like 6 years ago!! So now people get so freaked out at the idea of a big scary snowfall that they close schools because something MIGHT happen!

Here's what our forecast looks like with our local news:

WSMV Forecast
Rain likely this afternoon and evening, thundershowers included. Might see changeover to snow late tonight.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with rain and isolated thunderstorms especially late in the day, winds east 5-10 mph. HIGHS: Nashville-46, Lawrenceburg-46, Dickson-46
THURSDAY NIGHT: Rain expected early with a change over to snow/rain mix late, winds south 5-10. Snowbird may well fly on Friday morning. LOWS: Nashville-32, Altamont-30, Dover-30

So the schools closed....makes total sense right? Oh and note to self - look up what the heck "Snowbird may well fly on Friday morning" means. Snowbird? Is this for real?

And The Countdown Continues to May 22

Jason hasn't seen all three prior Indiana Jones movies, so we'll have to make a weekend out of it before the 4th one, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" comes out on May 22nd!! These are some of my all time favorite movies ever!

Don't Let This Happen To You!

Chuck Wicks Debut Album

Yesterday our friend Chuck Wicks' album was released in stores across the nation. Though we are very excited for his success, it does come bittersweet since we were told by a rep at RCA that Jason & Chuck's song "Right Where We Belong" came very close to making the album.

If you get the chance, pick up a copy in stores now!

He's also on tour right now with Brad Paisley and Rodney Atkins, so maybe you can catch one of their shows. We wish him all the best.

To listen to the full CD online for the first week of its release, click here.

You gotta love Billy!

So what can I say?....but that we love Billy Currington.

For the fourth time, Billy Currington came into Mortons last night and had a little chat with Jason. But first let me give you a little recap of prior conversations with him in a nutshell.

First Visit - Jason asks Billy if he wouldn't mind listening to one of his songs. Billy says "Sure, if you can get it to me before I leave, I'll take it with me." (maybe not exact quote) So Jason calls me up and says, "Baby, can you get here with a CD for Billy Currington with a couple songs on it?". So I bust my tail to get dressed, burn a cd and rush down to Mortons. I meet Billy and his girlfriend Kristin and we give him the cd.

Second Visit - Billy comes in and tells Jason he loves his song. Kristin says she plays it in the car all the time.

Third Visit - Billy comes in with an entourage of industry folk and asks Jason if he's got "that song" cut yet? He's surprised it hasn't been cut and tells Jason to hang on, cause his time is coming. He also tells Jason that he loves his music and when he believes in something, he doesn't let it go. AND, he asks Jason if its ok that he was sharing the song with Craig Morgan. Um yea, I think we're ok with that.

Fourth Visit (last night) - Billy comes into Mortons with his girlfriend Kristin again and his manager. Kristin talks to Jason over by the bathroom and tells Jason that his song is by far her favorite one out of all the songs that Billy's been listening to for his upcoming album. She said she's told Billy to cut it cause it will for sure get on the radio as a single and go #1. (very sweet compliment). As Billy gets ready to head out, Jason and Billy cross paths again in the lobby of Mortons. Billy asks once again if Jason's got a cut on "that song" yet. Jason says no, still waiting for a break. Billy's manager, who was dining with them, asks Billy, "what song?" And I KID YOU NOT - Billy busts out singing Jason's song right there in the lobby!! "Hey beautiful kiss me goodbye, I hate to run but I gotta fly...." He freakin knew Jason's song off the top of his head!!! As awesome as that is, I only wish I was there myself to witness it.

We're getting there people...one day at a time.On another note, Jason and I were able to see Tyler Hilton perform an acoustic set at a little place called The Basement in Nashville. The room was no bigger than my mom's living room! It was this cozy little venue and we got there a bit early to get a table up front. Not 5 feet from me, Tyler's standing there singing some of his latest songs he's written. I've been a big fan of Tyler Hilton since I saw his performance back three years ago on the One Tree Hill tour with Gavin DeGraw and The Wreckers. It was actually very close to the same time that I had just met Jason and I was able to take my sister Kati with me. We had such a blast and we both got to meet him and Gavin DeGraw after their concert. So here it is three years later, and I'm sitting at this little venue right in front of him at a cozy little table with my shirley temple and my man :-) How surreal life can be sometimes.

As Tyler was wrapping up his set, here comes one of the members of Little Big Town to shake his hand and meet him. (blonde guy in the picture above) I tried my best not to stare and let my jaw drop to the floor. Us...just chillin with the big boys. And as we're sitting there waiting for the next singer to come up and do his set, a particular huge songwriter who will remain nameless, that wrote with Jason years ago, comes up to Jason and says hi and I got an introduction. And the next thing out of this guys mouth is "I heard that song you wrote with Andrea Pearson - how the hell did you write such an awesome song?" Um Thanks? You gotta love the backhanded compliments these guys who are too big for their britches make. So of course - I step up to the plate and respond with - "Um excuse me, but my husband's been writing awesome songs for the last few years!" nice one. And then I think I threw something in there about being his muse...blah blah blah, let's not rehash that one. As we were getting ready to leave, he catches our eye again and I tell him it was nice meeting him and he tells me how lucky I am to have Jason and not to let him get away or something to that effect. I'm like - dude, your a flake - being as how he NEVER responds to emails or returns phone calls and then he goes off about ALL the people that are CONSTANTLY calling him, cause he's so big and amazing and - "Have someone in coach play fiddle for us!" and "Bring me the head of a pig!" (all you Brian Reagan fans will appreciate that). I'm all "cool, it was nice meeting you - bye!" and we walked out the door. Leave with the ball in our court ;-) SO there you go - a couple exciting days in the world of country music. Jason has had some great meetings with publishers and even with a couple labels pitching his music. He's gotten all positive feedback and we have a song being pitched this week to Julianne Hough, who is the winner from the last two seasons of Dancing With The Stars (she's making a country album, see picture above), and then he's got a couple songs being passed up to the Exec of A&R for BMG, which he's heard good things about. Then today he's meeting again with Jennifer Johnson, the lady who's been so supportive of Jason's music and has been trying to work something out where eventually she can offer Jason a writing deal at Midas Records, which is the publishing company she works for.

Something is bound to happen soon! So please keep us in prayers!!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to Us!

Two years have already flown by - and its really quite hard to believe. We've made some incredible memories together already and I cannot even wait to make some more! The 14th was our actual anniversary and we both took the day off so we could have a "pamper-Kim-and-Jason" day. We had booked appointments for a couple massage at the Escape Spa in Belle Meade. It was so much fun and so relaxing - something we could EASILY get used to. We arrived 45 minutes early to check in and to take advantage of the steam room. It was perfect, not too hot and we were allowed to lock the doors for a little privacy. After our steam, we went out into the lobby dressed in our silky chocolate robes and slippers and sat in the lobby that had a ceiling much like a night sky with twinkling little lights. We sipped on yummy cucumber water and wafer snacks that surprisingly were really delicious! I had almost dozed off on Jason's shoulder when our two massage therapists came to meet us and take us to our room. Inside the room was this really pretty dimly lit atmosphere with two massage tables, one up on a higher platform than the other and separating the two was an eternity tub for two lit up in soft pastel lights. There were candles lit and soft music, ahhh....there's nothing like an afternoon at the spa! After our 60 minute deep tissue massage, they left us to soak in the hydrotherapy tub for 20 minutes. It felt amazing and everything was so perfect. We left refreshed, soothed and even a bit sore. I so highly recommend it to all my friends out here too - everyone was so friendly and accommodating, I hope to definitely go back! Feeling quite hungry, we headed over to the Bread and Company for a little salad and sweet tea. We had somewhat forgotten what area of town we were in, cause that little bit of salad and tea cost us $26!!! Live and learn I guess right? Shortly after our lunch we headed home to relax and exchange our cards for each other. Jason had also surprised me with something I had been wanting for quite a while now - a new Bible with a really pretty chocolate woven leather cover engraved with my married name on it!!

It's so beautiful too! I'm very excited to start on my New Years resolution to read the New Testament from it - as a matter of fact, I've already gotten started!

To finish off the day together, we got dressed up and headed to The Stoney River Steakhouse in West End for a delicious dinner. Jason had a steak that was actually cured in coffee! I wonder if anyone in Seattle has picked up on this little trick? It was so good too! Everything was so wonderful and I would love to take my parents there sometime when they come for another visit, I think they would absolutely love it.

We also received some cards & gifts from our families, which was really fun! Kati sent us a Dama Stovetop Espresso Maker from Starbucks - I included a picture of it, and I'm sure we'll love using it once we figure out how it works. :-)

Then Mom & Dad Kelly sent us a check to get something fun for the house, but where do we even begin? I'm thinking of looking up a house plaque with our name on it or something - I'll have to think about that one for a bit.

Mom & Dad Keith sent us a sweet package that included these really cute coffee towels for our coffee cart that Sherry hand-stitched herself! I can so appreciate that, since I too love to hand-stitch things. They're so pretty though, I don't think I can bring myself to subject them to coffee stains, so I'm tempted rather to frame them and hang in our coffee corner!And there was also this blue coffee tray for serving our delicious cups of javaand something I'm so excited to use!...little pie cut-outs from Williams Sonoma! They look so much fun!!

So when the pie is finished, it looks like this!And then Williams Sonoma has this pie plate that I am absolutely in love with, so now I have to get this at some point to match our kitchen and to use with the cut-outs!!

It was a rare occasion, but Jason had four whole days off this last weekend and we had a lot of much needed time together and spending it with friends as well. Friday night was girls night, where some of us girls from work get together and go out to dinner and drinks (or in my case, a shirley temple). We decided to try something other than the Morton's happy hour and went down to Hillsboro Village and had dinner at Boscos - yummy! There were 8 of us girls total!! It was such a blast - and when I was driving home later that night talking to Jason on the phone, I told him how much I am blessed with some wonderful friendships out here in Tennessee. I'm not much of an outgoing person, so making friends has been really rough for me. I'm not as trusting to put it all out there on the line, so I've been observing a lot and really testing the waters before opening up. And after a year and a half I've finally come to a place where I've made some really great friends and love to hang out with them when we get the chance.

Here's my homegirls from work - we have so much fun together! Brooke is on the left and Kacie on the right and when the three of us get together, there's sure to be trouble. Brooke is my cube-neighbor. Our cube walls are about chest high, so when something weird, funny or bad happens in the office, our little heads pop up above the walls like little turtles and we start laughing at each other. Then Kacie has also become a really good friend - but she is one busy girl working part time at the office as a paralegal and then going to law school full time at night. Its rare when the three of us can actually all get together, but when we do - we have such a blast!

Here's Kacie with Kathy in the middle and Angela on the right. I really haven't gotten to know Kathy all the well until recently, because when I first started working at Adams & Resse, she was about ready to have a baby and then shortly after her maternity leave she found out she had thyroid cancer and had to be home with surgeries and treatments. She is one strong woman and I really admire her great attitude and hard work ethic. Then Angela on the right is actually still pretty new here - she is so much fun and has an accent like you wouldn't believe! I love listening to her talk and I swear she's one of the funniest people I know.

And then I had to include this last picture I had of Brooke being a goofball. We like to go on movie dates and see chick flicks together. The last movie we saw together was Atonement, which we both totally enjoyed.

Saturday I got to spend 2 hours on the phone with one of my closest and dear friends Jessica, who I've missed like crazy these last couple years!! Then later that night, Jason and I met up with our friends Nick & Mel for dinner. On Sunday after church we did a little shopping at Pier 1 with a gift card we received at Christmas and got a rug for our dining room!

It was such a relaxing and fun weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it! Thanks for all the voicemails, messages and cards - we love you all and are grateful for your friendship!

Happy New Year!

Wow is it already 2008? A brand new year is upon us, which brings us all to a place of thinking what we want to see accomplished these next 12 months and how we'll approach this year differently from the last. Oh yes, I'm speaking of resolutions. I'm not real comfortable setting resolutions or goals for myself, they make me a bit nervous because I'm afraid of setting myself up for failure and not making good on those goals and disappointing myself. But nonetheless, Jason's really encouraged me to set a few attainable goals for this next year, so I've been doing a lot of thinking and I believe I've come up with a good list.

1. Journaling. I've journaled on and off since I was 7 years old, and when I look back on some of the things I wrote, I embarrass myself! I was so foolish at times, so naive and I'm beginning to realize that's all part of growing up and that the choices and mistakes we make, only shape us into the person we are today. I really shouldn't regret the mistakes I've made, but be grateful that I've learned valuable lessons through those times. So I plan on journaling regularly once again.

2. Exercise. How original right? I do have a goal to get my body in great shape before we plan on starting a family. Because we've talked about having four kids, I want to be able to bounce back easier by having some good muscle tone before we start down the family path. I still have a few years before we head that direction, but I think it would be good now to start making it a habit of getting in shape. Jason & I saw this infomerical for Turbo Jam, this cardio workout that actually looked like a lot of fun. So we're going to give it a shot and hopefully it will work for me. Being on beta blockers for my heart arhythmia really makes working out difficult since they purposefully keep my heart rate down. But no harm in giving it a shot!

3. Be more honest. I've really shied away from saying what I really think about certain situations because I have learned an automated response of avoiding conflict so there would be no repercussions from questioning something or speaking truth. Let me be more specific, if I ever believed something contrary to what my "authority" has taught me and verbalized it, there was sure to be consequences and repercussions - so therefore I quit seeking truth for my life and started believing whatever was spoon-fed to me so that I would be agreeable and not be "divisive". Now I realize that to find truth, you HAVE to ask questions and sometimes you have to wrestle with God, and you know what - He loves it! When you wrestle with God or those He's placed in your life - it says that your not willing to settle for what's being handed down to you, it means you want it directly from Him and your willing to fight for it, no matter what it may cost you to get it. I love that. I love that Jacob wrestled with God. I love that all the heroes of the Bible did things contrary to what was expected of them and they made waves. I love that they received their truth directly from the mouth of God and stood firm on it no matter what others said about them. I resolve this year to be more honest, stand up for what is truth, even if it ruffles some feathers or creates some waves :-)

4. Read the New Testament. I've read the Bible twice through now. Once when I was elementary school with my dad. The second time while I was in Masters Commission. Both times I was in very different places in my life. Since those times, I've grown even more and realize that with my clarified perspective of who God is, I need to re-read the New Testament once again so I can see some things that I more than likely missed before.

5. Pray Out Loud. I've taken a sabbatical the last couple years from verbalizing my prayers out loud very often. I've always had a deep inner-conversational relationship with the Lord since I was a little girl, but the last couple years I've realized that when I pray out loud a lot of times, it comes out very rehearsed and impersonal. I believe people can learn a programed way of praying that isn't intimate and real, but practiced and rehearsed. And I realized that I've been doing this - and it would drive me nuts to listen to myself, saying things I didn't even know what they really meant. I've been going through a scrubbing of my mind the last couple years, where I've needed to ask why I believe what I believe. Jason has been so great in asking me - "Ok, now show me, where does that belief come from in the Bible? Show me." Usually my response is, "I don't know, I heard it somewhere or a pastor taught me that." I admire Jason for always referring back to the Bible when it comes to an answer for how we should respond in a situation - not a person or belief-system. I've had enough of defining my relationship with Christ through what others teach, but now I need to define who I am and my relationship with Christ through what His Word says. Christ's Word is without error, so why would we so heavily lean on an individual to define who we are over His Word, when we as humans are not perfect and can miss the mark so easily and in turn teach others to do the same. So to help me begin to pray out loud, I'll start with praying the scriptures and then go from there to praying in front of others, making it my goal to keeping it genuine and from the heart.

6. Read 20 books - 2 of them marriage books. Its easy to get wrapped up in television, especially when I don't want to have to think anymore when I get home from work. But reading is definitely a hobby of mine and a good habit to have, so I want to read 20 books this year, with two of them being books on marriage.

7. Get the house in order. There is so many things we want to accomplish on the house this year. It's really nowhere I want it to be and I really want to work on taking the time this year to get it to a place where we can fully enjoy it. We're literally doing a complete overhaul on almost every room and on the outside too. In the spring, we want to completely repaint the outside, level out the yard, put in a new walkway and picket fence around the front. And in the back, a new fence, a larger porch and a stone patio. Lots and lots of projects. I'm learning that I'm really not a very patient person and I need to work on this. We really have gotten a lot done already, which I'm very grateful for. It's definitely been a learning process for the both of us!!

8. Finish Rapunzel. Ahhh yes, the cross stitch project I've been working on since FOREVER! Something I learned from dad is to finish something you've started. I hate not finishing a book and I hate not finishing a project. I've been working on this darn Rapunzel for the last, I don't know - 10 years!?! It's time to get'er done!

9. Get a website up for Invitation Business. I would love to get to the point where I can work from home by the time we start a family. And I've had a number of years experience now, making wedding invitations and other various invitations over the last several years. Ideally I would love to do this full time and get a website up and running that advertises my new venture so I can do invitations locally and nationwide.

Well that about covers it. I know 10 is a more rounded number, but I just can't think of one more.