I interrupt this cliffhanger blog to bring you the following update...
We Are in Love...with Harry Connick Jr.
My birthday is right around the corner, April 25th, to be exact. So to celebrate my birthday, Bebe and Jenny bought the three of us tickets to see Harry Connick Jr. at the Ryman. Now, I love me some HC Jr. This was my 3rd concert...and they just keep getting better!!!
We started the evening at Sambuca with Lobster Ravioli, Shrimp and Crab Rangoons, Crab and Lobster Bisque, and Sea Bass Skewers. After our lovely candlelight dinner, (Bebe -"How are you supposed to read the menu in this light?") we finished with cheesecake sopapillas and tiramisu. Can I just say, YUMM-O!!!
Then we headed on over to the Ryman. We settled into our seats, just as Harry was singing his first song. Nice job on the seats, Jen-Dog!!! Right side of the stage about 20 rows back...in front of the horn section...the side where he comes to sing...perfect shot of his beautiful face while he plays piano!!! SA-WEET!!!
He was in rare form last night. HC Jr. was telling tall tales, cracking jokes, and dancing all over the stage. A couple of songs into the evening, HC Jr. starts telling us that he thought this show was on Monday evening. They had pulled into town on Monday morning and he had geared his whole day towards performing on Monday night. During his workout, a buddy proceeded to tell him the show was Tuesday. He disagreed. Buddy argued. HC disagreed again, "Dude, I always know my tour dates. The show is tonight" Buddy reinforced, show's tomorrow dude. HC Jr. texted his tour manager..."Hey, when is the Nashville show? Tonight, right." Tour manager texts back, show is Tuesday. "Man, my whole Monday is ruined!!!"
He has had a whirlwind couple of weeks, starting with the New Orleans Saints win at the Superbowl..."Who Dat?". Harry (and the entire city of New Orleans) are so proud of their Saints, and he was so excited to share all of the wonderful ways that the superbowl win has helped the city of NO to rebound from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.
But speaking of the Saints, part of HC's whirlwind weeks, was singing the national anthem at the Daytona 500. He has gotten letters from folks who are unhappy with him because he did not remove his hat during the national anthem. He apologized to all of us, said he sincerely did not mean to offend, and if anyone should be upset, it should be him..."They made me put on this leather Daytona 500 jacket with all of this NASCAR stuff on it, No Gucci, No Prada...Just NASCAR, and I don't do NASCAR!"
After that, his whirlwind, landed him in NOLA for Mardi Gras. He treated us to some Mardi Gras piano and some Zulu King. Then, he treated us to some NOLA style trumpet playing and dancing. Oh my, he did him some dancing on that stage last night!!!!
So that brings us to his visit to the White House to sing to President and Mrs. Obama. He laughed and said it was really awkward to sing love songs to the President. He also asked if anyone in the audience was in love, because if you were not in love, the next few songs would be a little awkward for you and you might want to go get a drink.
He gave us some insider tips of how to sound sexy while singing (like he needs ANY help)...apparently Julio Iglesis gave him this tip...sing like it is 20 degrees and you are freezing...HILARIOUS!!!
Some other memorable quotes..."You have to think about your sentence trajectory...sentences have a beginning, a middle and an end.", "It's not like I have any top 10 hits, can you name one, I don't have any. I'm no Carrie Underwood. I don't know why I'm yelling at you, sir.", and "Thank you for spending your hard earned money to come and listen to my schluck."
And then he told us this very sad story...His 13 year old daughter came home from school not too long ago and she was upset. He asked what was wrong but she did not want to tell him. She did not want to hurt his feelings. He finally talked her into telling him. She said, "Dad, a friend came up to me today and said, Your dad sucks, he sings grandpa songs." "So you know what I did", HC asked, "I went over to that boys house...no just kidding, I do sing grandpa songs and I like it that way."
He was very gracious, very funny, and super awesome!!! I truly believe that HC loves Music City, respects Nashville and the musical heritage of the Ryman and I'm hoping that he will follow through on his dream to record country music "his way". I will always remember this special birthday evening in February. For about 4 whole hours, I did not even think about all the junk that has to be packed up in my house, or moving, or finding a new house, or Ryan leaving on Monday to start his new job in Jackson...Thank you for the awesome birthday HC Jr., Jenny and Bebe!!!
We now return you to regularly scheduled cliffhanger....
Melissa
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Don't Worry Baby
Around the Workman household we have many rules. Some of these rules are for safety, some of the rules are for fun, and some are to ensure good family relations. One of these rules is that we always schedule our next beach trip before we pack up and return home from our current beach trip. It is our rule to stand on the balcony as a family, stare at the ocean, and plan the next family trip.
Let’s start with some history…in the Anthony household growing up, my entire family’s dream was to spend a week at the lake in a houseboat, a tent or camper, and riding all sorts of skis, wakeboards, tubes, and plastic turtles behind a boat going really fast, holding on to a rope for dear life…but my dream…my dream was to spend the week at the ocean. I love the ocean. I love the sand. I love sitting in a beach chair, listening to my ipod and reading a good book. I love the smell of saltwater. I love the sunshine. I love no sun screen Friday's. I love the sound of the ocean waves crashing into the shore. Oddly enough, I don’t love swimming or heat but I do love walking along the ocean’s edge, letting the ocean waves encircle my feet and having an ocean breeze to cool me off. I love picking up shells and thinking of the creature that lived in the shell.
Don’t get me wrong, I did have fun (sometimes) on the DHL trips…things like hiking to accordion bluff (when we didn’t get lost), singing to the Beach Boys on top of the houseboat, and meeting guys in the middle of the night who have lost their wallet on the peninsula where we were docked and camped and apparently were “real bad drunk” the night before. One of my most vivid memories is the afternoon that Jenny and I actually survived a tornado at DHL…in a truck camper (which gives a whole new meaning to “if the camper is rockin’ don’t bother knockin’)…while our parents were rushing our brother to the Livingston ER because he had drowned and been revived right before our eyes. That’s a whole post for a different day!!
There are tons of good memories: fried pies, volleyball games, and bike rides to the dock for ice cream. And unfortunately, I know that I made more than a few trips miserable for myself, my parents and our families. Deep down, I think it is because I did not want to be at DHL for vacation…I wanted to be in Panama City, Destin, or Hawaii!
As I got older, and could work and drive, I was able to go to the beach a couple of times. Rob, Bebe and I headed to Panama City once…I will always remember that middle of the night stretch of interstate/median in Alabama in a Toyota 4x4, “I think I need to stop and get coffee.” and that romantic dinner at Capt’n Anderson’s. Then when I was a senior in high school, my parents let me, my 3 besties and George Clark jump into the Buick and take off for Panama City Beach for Spring Break. By the way, did you know that I am the world’s master at packing 4 girls, 1 boy and 1 boogie board into the trunk of a Buick Century?
All of those trips were fun, but going to the beach became my ultimate vacation when I met Ryan Workman. On our first lunch date, we talked about our love of the beach. He told me that he had grown up going to the beach every summer. He told me about the Olds Folks Home and about the times when he and Alan had spend entire days digging holes in the sand. He also told me that his mom owned a beach condo. Cha-ching!!! This guy is a keeper. His mom owns a beach condo?!?!? That means we can go to the beach condo anytime…Woo-Hoo!!! And that’s what we did, 6 weeks after our first date we headed to Gulf Shores, AL, for the first time as a couple. After a little bit of a rough start…I was letting Ryan drive my car…a Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo…and he got pulled over by a cop…the cop accused Ryan of racing…Ryan proceeded to mention that the speedometer of my car went up to 140 and if Ryan was racing, he wouldn’t be doing 50 in a 40, he would be doing 100…and then, he proceeded to ask the cop to see his “radar gun operators license” and I was pretty sure that he was going to end up in jail and I was going to end up in the middle of lower AL without a boyfriend or a car…ahhh, sweet memories…but after the rough start, a few beautiful days at the beach, and no sun screen Friday…I went from being Ryan’s girlfriend to Ryan’s fiancée. After several margaritas to calm his nerves, he lovingly and tenderly bent down on one knee and said to me… “Dawn, will you marry me?”…and I lovingly and tenderly replied… “I will, but my name isn’t Dawn!” HE WAS MORTIFIED!!! There were lots of apologies and laughs and to this day, people who know sweet Ryan can not believe that he actually committed this faux pas. But I loved him anyway and married him and he fulfilled my dream of going to Hawaii…we did that on our honeymoon.
We’ve been to Waikiki Beach, Waimea Bay, the beaches of Maui, the beaches of South Carolina, the beaches of lower Alabama and Florida. We’ve gone to the beach just to relax, to celebrate a new job, to cry because we weren’t pregnant yet, but it was the beach trip of October 2008 that would changes our lives FOR-EVER!!!
We had BEAUTIFUL weather on this trip. We practically stayed on the beach from sun-up to sun-down every day of the trip. It was just the 4 Workman’s and Bebe. The kids and Ryan swam in the ocean, Reid learned to boogie board, we all took walks, Bebe took the kids to the indoor pool at night, I held down my beach chair with a good book and my ipod…one of the best beach trips EVER!!! That was until Ryan decided to talk a walk and pray.
For several years, Ryan had the desire to get out of consulting engineering. His job was tedious, keeping up with each and every 15 minutes of his time, no one was ever happy and he was stuck in an office all day and after 15 years of consulting, he was just ready to be done with it. It was our last day at the beach and we had stood on the balcony as a family and planned our next trip to Orange Beach, just like the Workman family rules state. We decided same time, next year, next fall 2009…we would come back to the beach as a family.
Ryan took his annual last walk on the beach before leaving. He stood at the rock wall along the inter-coastal waterway and prayed. He cried out to God. He cried out to a God that loves him and listens to him. And this was Ryan’s prayer, “Lord, I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to be doing the same job next year that I’m doing now. By next year’s beach trip, I want to be doing something different.”
And I’m sure that this is what Ryan was thinking at the time of his prayer…because believe it or not...he thinks in song lyrics too!!!
Well its been building up inside of me
For oh I don't know how long
I don't know why
But I keep thinking
Something's bound to go wrong
But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says "Don't worry baby"
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Everything will turn out alright
Ryan did not tell me about this prayer until the summer of 2009, about 9 months after he had prayed it for the first time, he actually had been praying it ever since…And that’s where our story begins…
Melissa
Let’s start with some history…in the Anthony household growing up, my entire family’s dream was to spend a week at the lake in a houseboat, a tent or camper, and riding all sorts of skis, wakeboards, tubes, and plastic turtles behind a boat going really fast, holding on to a rope for dear life…but my dream…my dream was to spend the week at the ocean. I love the ocean. I love the sand. I love sitting in a beach chair, listening to my ipod and reading a good book. I love the smell of saltwater. I love the sunshine. I love no sun screen Friday's. I love the sound of the ocean waves crashing into the shore. Oddly enough, I don’t love swimming or heat but I do love walking along the ocean’s edge, letting the ocean waves encircle my feet and having an ocean breeze to cool me off. I love picking up shells and thinking of the creature that lived in the shell.
Don’t get me wrong, I did have fun (sometimes) on the DHL trips…things like hiking to accordion bluff (when we didn’t get lost), singing to the Beach Boys on top of the houseboat, and meeting guys in the middle of the night who have lost their wallet on the peninsula where we were docked and camped and apparently were “real bad drunk” the night before. One of my most vivid memories is the afternoon that Jenny and I actually survived a tornado at DHL…in a truck camper (which gives a whole new meaning to “if the camper is rockin’ don’t bother knockin’)…while our parents were rushing our brother to the Livingston ER because he had drowned and been revived right before our eyes. That’s a whole post for a different day!!
There are tons of good memories: fried pies, volleyball games, and bike rides to the dock for ice cream. And unfortunately, I know that I made more than a few trips miserable for myself, my parents and our families. Deep down, I think it is because I did not want to be at DHL for vacation…I wanted to be in Panama City, Destin, or Hawaii!
As I got older, and could work and drive, I was able to go to the beach a couple of times. Rob, Bebe and I headed to Panama City once…I will always remember that middle of the night stretch of interstate/median in Alabama in a Toyota 4x4, “I think I need to stop and get coffee.” and that romantic dinner at Capt’n Anderson’s. Then when I was a senior in high school, my parents let me, my 3 besties and George Clark jump into the Buick and take off for Panama City Beach for Spring Break. By the way, did you know that I am the world’s master at packing 4 girls, 1 boy and 1 boogie board into the trunk of a Buick Century?
All of those trips were fun, but going to the beach became my ultimate vacation when I met Ryan Workman. On our first lunch date, we talked about our love of the beach. He told me that he had grown up going to the beach every summer. He told me about the Olds Folks Home and about the times when he and Alan had spend entire days digging holes in the sand. He also told me that his mom owned a beach condo. Cha-ching!!! This guy is a keeper. His mom owns a beach condo?!?!? That means we can go to the beach condo anytime…Woo-Hoo!!! And that’s what we did, 6 weeks after our first date we headed to Gulf Shores, AL, for the first time as a couple. After a little bit of a rough start…I was letting Ryan drive my car…a Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo…and he got pulled over by a cop…the cop accused Ryan of racing…Ryan proceeded to mention that the speedometer of my car went up to 140 and if Ryan was racing, he wouldn’t be doing 50 in a 40, he would be doing 100…and then, he proceeded to ask the cop to see his “radar gun operators license” and I was pretty sure that he was going to end up in jail and I was going to end up in the middle of lower AL without a boyfriend or a car…ahhh, sweet memories…but after the rough start, a few beautiful days at the beach, and no sun screen Friday…I went from being Ryan’s girlfriend to Ryan’s fiancée. After several margaritas to calm his nerves, he lovingly and tenderly bent down on one knee and said to me… “Dawn, will you marry me?”…and I lovingly and tenderly replied… “I will, but my name isn’t Dawn!” HE WAS MORTIFIED!!! There were lots of apologies and laughs and to this day, people who know sweet Ryan can not believe that he actually committed this faux pas. But I loved him anyway and married him and he fulfilled my dream of going to Hawaii…we did that on our honeymoon.
We’ve been to Waikiki Beach, Waimea Bay, the beaches of Maui, the beaches of South Carolina, the beaches of lower Alabama and Florida. We’ve gone to the beach just to relax, to celebrate a new job, to cry because we weren’t pregnant yet, but it was the beach trip of October 2008 that would changes our lives FOR-EVER!!!
We had BEAUTIFUL weather on this trip. We practically stayed on the beach from sun-up to sun-down every day of the trip. It was just the 4 Workman’s and Bebe. The kids and Ryan swam in the ocean, Reid learned to boogie board, we all took walks, Bebe took the kids to the indoor pool at night, I held down my beach chair with a good book and my ipod…one of the best beach trips EVER!!! That was until Ryan decided to talk a walk and pray.
For several years, Ryan had the desire to get out of consulting engineering. His job was tedious, keeping up with each and every 15 minutes of his time, no one was ever happy and he was stuck in an office all day and after 15 years of consulting, he was just ready to be done with it. It was our last day at the beach and we had stood on the balcony as a family and planned our next trip to Orange Beach, just like the Workman family rules state. We decided same time, next year, next fall 2009…we would come back to the beach as a family.
Ryan took his annual last walk on the beach before leaving. He stood at the rock wall along the inter-coastal waterway and prayed. He cried out to God. He cried out to a God that loves him and listens to him. And this was Ryan’s prayer, “Lord, I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to be doing the same job next year that I’m doing now. By next year’s beach trip, I want to be doing something different.”
And I’m sure that this is what Ryan was thinking at the time of his prayer…because believe it or not...he thinks in song lyrics too!!!
Well its been building up inside of me
For oh I don't know how long
I don't know why
But I keep thinking
Something's bound to go wrong
But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says "Don't worry baby"
Don't worry baby
Don't worry baby
Everything will turn out alright
Ryan did not tell me about this prayer until the summer of 2009, about 9 months after he had prayed it for the first time, he actually had been praying it ever since…And that’s where our story begins…
Melissa
Saturday, February 13, 2010
She's Crafty
She's crafty - She's gets around
She's crafty - She's always down
She's crafty - She's got it right
She's crafty - And she's just my type!
She's crafty...
Momma got a little crafty for Reid's Valentines. Reid (and every other child, preteen and teen) love these crazy new "jelly bracelets" called silly bandz. So, I made cards that said "I'm silly over you, Valentine." and we attached a silly band to each card. Reid loved the idea...Safety Kendall thought the valentines would be "awkard for the boys because I called them "Valentine" on each card". Personally, I thought they turned out really cute!
She's crafty - She's always down
She's crafty - She's got it right
She's crafty - And she's just my type!
She's crafty...
Momma got a little crafty for Reid's Valentines. Reid (and every other child, preteen and teen) love these crazy new "jelly bracelets" called silly bandz. So, I made cards that said "I'm silly over you, Valentine." and we attached a silly band to each card. Reid loved the idea...Safety Kendall thought the valentines would be "awkard for the boys because I called them "Valentine" on each card". Personally, I thought they turned out really cute! 
And props to Auntie Jenny for today's song title...I would like to think that I would have pulled this one out of memory...but she came up with it first...must have been all those 1,000's of times she had to listen to this "tape" while riding in Claudia!!!
Happy Valentine's Day to all of you Crafty Mom's out there!!!
Melissa
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I'm a Little Teapot
Actually, the title of Remy's song should be "I'm a Little Stink-Pot who is Addicted to Sweet Tea".
Remy is completely addicted to sweet tea. He prefers sweet tea over water. We have to keep the tea pitcher in the microwave...because if we don't...this happens...
So if you are at the Workman household, and we offer you sweet tea...you might want to check that 1) it is a fresh batch, and 2) that I pulled the pitcher out of the microwave. Otherwise, you might be drinking after the sweet tea addicted Remy. :-)
And who knew that I'm a Little Teapot had a second verse? Click on the link on the right and check it out.
Remy is completely addicted to sweet tea. He prefers sweet tea over water. We have to keep the tea pitcher in the microwave...because if we don't...this happens...
So if you are at the Workman household, and we offer you sweet tea...you might want to check that 1) it is a fresh batch, and 2) that I pulled the pitcher out of the microwave. Otherwise, you might be drinking after the sweet tea addicted Remy. :-)
And who knew that I'm a Little Teapot had a second verse? Click on the link on the right and check it out.
Melissa
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