• Grateful Dead dancing bears cake topper
    Food,  Friends,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    No Such Thing As Too Much Cake

    This cake. I can’t remember if I enthusiastically volunteered to make Momo’s wedding cake or if she asked me to make it and I enthusiastically answered “Yes of course!” Either way, I was very enthusiastic and it was a true labor of love. I was also a little terrified; making THE WEDDING CAKE for someone so special to me was daunting, but I tried to push that fear down. I had a concept right away: I asked her what she thought about a cake that would be solid white on the outside but would reveal a tie dyed look on the inside and she loved it. That was the last…

  • I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Middle-Aged Dogs, New Tricks

    One of the trade-offs of having grown kids who live elsewhere (Wah! I miss them!!) is that we have a lot of spare time to do…well, whatever we want. A few months ago Jim made a couple of comments about possibly wanting to learn how to play guitar, something he did as a child but only short term. I thought about buying him a guitar for his birthday and, after debating with myself about whether he was really serious about wanting to take it on, I headed to Guitar Center. I bought him a basic acoustic guitar, figuring that if he didn’t really care to learn we could just return…

  • wedding day
    Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Fun in Knoxville,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    On Getting Lost and Found

    The very first argument Jim and I had as a married couple was on our wedding day. We left the courthouse in Norfolk, Virginia and drove back to Knoxville; he was on leave from the Navy for the rest of the week. After a very long eight-hour drive, we got off the interstate and had to navigate through downtown Knoxville, which has lots of one way streets and odd intersections. It wasn’t long before we got completely turned around and totally lost. This was way before cell phones and GPS navigation (imagine that, kids!), and we didn’t have a map in the car. I wanted him to pull over so…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  The House,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    The Dining Room and Other Ways We’re In Sync.

    I figured a month was long enough to have my toilet paper obsession have center stage. Actually, to be honest, I’ve been too busy even to think about blogging. It’s all good, though. I’m in the thick of LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER CHICAGO season (13 days until the show! Need tickets? Go here.), work is gearing up to Level: Crazytown (#BlogHer17 is only two months away! Need a ticket? Go here.), and Jim and I are busily working on our new house in Knoxville. The house thing? It’s been awesome. As unhappy as I was when Jim and I were hanging in that special kind of limbo that occurs when…