On Our Way To Crazy

TEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT LAST NIGHT’S SWELL SEASON SHOW AT THE RYMAN

1. I should probably say my job, or our friends, or Aaron’s business… but the real reason I could never move away from Nashville is that I would no longer be able to go to a show at the Ryman anytime I want. I LOVE THE RYMAN. I love climbing the freakishly steep stairs to the balcony, I love the stained glass, I love the displays of country music memorabilia everywhere. I don’t think I could go back to seeing shows in regular old places.
2. We didn’t know anything about the opener, Justin Townes Earle, so we didn’t make much of an effort to get there in time to see him. We walked in halfway through his set and I was instantly upset about that decision. Justin Townes Earle is VERY COOL. He has this kind of old-time-rock-and-roll Buddy Holly rockabilly thing going on. I loved it.
3. I did not, however, totally love his bass player. I mean, I did love her, because she was a she and she totally rocked the stand-up bass. Which is awesome. But I think she may have also been violating it a little bit. She was very enthusiastic, is what I’m saying. And it was kind of awkward from our point of view on the side balcony.
4. But! Our seats! They were fabulous! I am pretty sold on the idea that far stage left balcony is the best place to sit at the Ryman. You are in the balcony, so you can see everything and the sound is great and you don’t have some giant hipstery fedora head blocking your view. And on the side, you’re super close to the stage. AND we were on the second row. It ruled.
5. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova came out and were completely charming, as per usual. They opened with “If You Want Me” from the Once soundtrack, Marketa in the lead, but from then on it was pretty much the Glen show. Not that I’m complaining. We heard a couple of repeat stories from the Kentucky show a couple of years ago, he was hilarious and adorable, she was sweet and gorgeous, it was all awesome.
6. Then he compared himself to Ray Boltz. Yes, you read that correctly. Instead of actually telling you the story, I will tell you this: it included the line “Jesus doesn’t hate me anymore” and was used to introduce a song called “Backbroke”. You can’t make this stuff up, people.
7. About halfway through the show I had to go to the bathroom. I hate leaving during shows – there is always the fear they will play that ONE SONG that you will just DIE if you miss it – but it could not be helped. They started a song I didn’t know and I made a run for it. (Not literally. At least, not yet.) While in the restroom (that has awesome tiled flowers on the floor, by the way), I heard it. IT. Into the Mystic. They were doing their cover of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” and I WAS IN THE BATHROOM. Are you kidding me. I hightailed it out of there (that’s where the running came in) and made it back into the room for the first chorus. Augh.
8. They spent a lot of time talking about Ireland and the music they grew up with. At one point the whole band left the stage except for the violin player, who pulled a bit of an Andrew Bird and built a song with pedals and loops and magic and rainbows and then proceeded to play one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. I wish I had written down the name. It hurt me, it was so good.
9. Can we talk about encores for a minute? I have discussed in the past how much I dislike the way they are handled. I will spare you that rant. (Spoiler alert – I have a new rant.) Here’s the question: how long is an encore? Where should it fall in the show? Because last night, and at several shows we’ve seen lately, it’s been pretty much right in the middle. As in, the encore is as long as the set. What is that? After the fakeout, Glen came out alone and played “Say It To Me Now” acoustic and unplugged on the side of the stage. It was incredible. He then transitioned into a cover of Hank Williams’ “Lost Highway”. Killer. Beautiful. Amazing. The perfect end to a show in Nashville. And then the band came back and they played a whole nother set. I do not understand.
10. I love this band. Love love love them. They’d kind of fallen off my radaar, but I am so glad we went to this show. It was wonderful and sweet and charming and awesome. Good night and joy be with you all.

I have a new post up at The Button Club. It is about how I tried to make blueberry pancakes. Key word being TRIED. I failed, I think. Mostly. They still tasted good, so it couldn’t have been a total failure, right?

I mentioned this in the flood post, but one of the coolest things to come out of this whole “Nashville is under water” thing has been how the community has come together to volunteer and figure out how to take care of each other.

Several local artists have made posters and t-shirts that they are selling to benefit the relief effort. I really want to buy, you know, all of them, but I think I’m going to have to narrow it down to one or two. Which is your favorite? Want to trade a few of your dollars for a sweet poster and to help out my awesome city?

This one is my favorite, I think. I love the colors and the message.

This one creeps me out a little, I’m not gonna lie.

LOVE the graphics on this one. Gorgeous.

Yes, technically this one was for a benefit concert. But it’s worth it for the line “Rebuild this city on rock and roll”, right?

I’m pretty sure I need to own this t-shirt.

So yesterday I mentioned that I turn 30 in three months. I apologize for the stress that may have caused you. Only three months to find me the perfect gift? Whatever will you do?

No worries. I am here for you. The internet has been full of awesome lately, and I have some suggestions. These items are fabulous. I want them. I need them. You should buy them for me, or at least send the links to Aaron since we all know he doesn’t read this blog.

SORRY I’M LATE SHIRT

Has a more perfect shirt for me ever existed? I think not. I would wear it all the time, just in case.

AMPERSAND PILLOW

I love this so much. I think it would be so perfect in my master bedroom… our bedding is grey and white, and I love how simply it refers to partnership and marriage without being cheesy. Lovely.

WATCH PENDANT

I used to wear a watch every day. I had this great olive green leather one that I wore until the band broke, and when that happened, I kind of got out of the habit. I’ve been looking for a replacement wristwatch (and lately have my eye on these), but how freaking cool is this thing? A pendant-slash-watch-slash-locket? So very cool.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE MUG

One of my favorite P&P lines on a mug. Perfection.

GRAMOPHONE TRAIN CASE

Are you kidding me with this? I am always looking at cases like this in vintage stores… I love the old school travel vibe and they seem so useful and practical. Something I already love PLUS a sweet gramophone print? Yes please.

It’s May 10th! We are one month closer to turning 30 and the deadline of the accompanying list. So how’s it going?

I’ve crossed several things off the list, some of which I will post about soon in more detail. Several more are in process – I’ve read one and a half classic novels, I walk three miles five times a week (and will start running this week), I haven’t eaten meat in four Mondays. I’ve written a few of the random notes, and I bought the stuff to make the applique t-shirt.

My art crawl and Bluebird Cafe plans were foiled by the flood last weekend. We have an appointment with a financial guy in a couple of weeks to talk about an IRA. I keep scoping out people behind me in line at the drive thru, but no one has been right yet. Also, I always forget about it when I’m in the one-window drive thru, and I don’t want to do it in a two-window one where they can still see me when they realize it happened. My hair curling attempts continue to fail, but I’m still working on it.

It’s been harder to focus on this than I thought it would, and I’m not quite as far along as I’d like to be. But! I’m trying! I’ve done way more new things in the past month than I did in the three that preceded it this year.

Anybody want to come over for brisket and baklava followed by a nap in a hammock and a trip to the zoo?

I don’t know if you heard or not, but we got a little rain last weekend. Two straight days of it. It all seemed normal at first, just a little wet, and then all of a sudden it was EVERYWHERE. Downtown was flooding, houses had water up to their roofs, streets looked like rivers. It was unreal.

We didn’t have any damage, luckily. Apparently we have very good drainage in our yard. Our part of town was largely unscathed, although several people had water damage in basements and yards. But large chunks of town did not fair so well.

There have been some amazing images coming out of the flood. Some of our most beloved places in town sustained pretty major damage.

Overall, our church folks came out alright. Some property damage, some cars that floated away, but not a lot of truly major loss. Very, very lucky.

Once the church staff had determined that we didn’t have a lot of internal loss to deal with, we went into external mode. We partner with an organization in Franklin called Graceworks that serves as kind of a clearinghouse for food, clothing, furniture and cash donations in Williamson County. We called and asked what they needed the most, and they told us three things: soup, crackers and underwear. So we put the word out and ended up with three huge trailers and several giant SUVs full of those three things. I have never seen so much underwear in my life.

As part of that drive, the youth group pooled their cash and we went shopping for supplies. I don’t know that there’s much that’s funnier than sending junior high kids into the underwear section with $60 and instructions to buy as much as they can. They have VERY STRONG OPINIONS about what is appropriate, even when you’ve lost everything. Because “even poor people don’t want to wear granny panties”.

It took a few days for the national media to really pick up on the extent of the damage from the flood. A lot of people were really worked up about that, but I don’t think it really matters. What was awesome was that when it did hit the news, the story wasn’t really about devastation and loss and looting and struggles. It was about volunteers and a city coming together and the 30,000 volunteer hours we put in over the course of six days. It has been amazing to see how quickly people have pulled together and started rebuilding this city (on rock and roll). So many stories came out of people just driving around offering lunch to workers, or going door to door with tools helping people rip down drywall or tear up floors, or setting up shop in a church parking lot and giving away water and sunscreen. So cool.

Saturday morning we took the kids to Graceworks to help sort all the donations that had come in that week. This weekend was also Stamp Out Hunger day, so in addition to the flood donations, the postal workers were bringing in truckloads of food. Over 35,000 pounds of food came in and our kids worked really hard sorting and organizing it all. It was pretty great, mostly. But people donate some really gross stuff. Open boxes of cereal, granola in baggies with ANTS IN IT, half-eaten jars of peanut butter. Seriously. So gross.

One of the coolest things I’ve seen come out of this disaster is the general sentiment from the people of Nashville that we really love this place. It matters to us. So many people chose to come here for music or medicine or whatever… they really feel connected to this city. And so do we. Love love love Nashville.

Apr 1 – I discovered the free Pandora app for my phone. Oh my gosh, y’all. It is amazing. David Gray radio ALL THE TIME.
Apr 2 – Delicious avocado enchiladas with friends.
Apr 3 – I ran the church wide Easter Egg hunt and everyone survived. I am SO not cut out for children’s ministry.
Apr 4 – We had a wonderful Easter lunch and afternoon with some new friends. I am so thankful for our adopted family in Nashville, especially on holidays.
Apr 5 – Duke won! I don’t really care about that, but Aaron does. So there you go.
Apr 6 – Reconnected with a kid we hadn’t seen in a while and had a great conversation about relationships. High school dating is so hard.
Apr 7 – I had a rough morning. But then I realized that I can order Jimmy John’s online and they will bring it to me in my office. And that is amazing.
Apr 8 – Lunch with a fun new youth ministry friend. Who is a girl. That’s always nice.
Apr 9 – I set up a makeshift office in the backyard.
Apr 10 – Had some fun new kids show up for our Second Saturday service project. The project? Not so great.
Apr 11 – David Gray David Gray David Gray David Gray.
Apr 12 – I refinished a desk! And it doesn’t suck!
Apr 13 – What looked like it was going to be a disappointing meeting turned out to be really great. And then I ate at Chuy’s.
Apr 14 – Two of my kids finished reading Catching Fire today and sent me awesome text messages when they were done.
Apr 15 – The most amazing birthday gifts of all time were delivered to my house. Will Farrell Sexy Hot Tan sunscreen? Bacon chocolate chip pancake mix? A 90′s coloring and activity book? You know you’re jealous.
Apr 16 – I used my ‘choosing-to-ignore-horrifically-insensitive-people’ skills to great effect.
Apr 17 – Went to a tour of homes with a fun friend and then to a super fun redneck birthday party. Good day.
Apr 18 – New grill! For free! Sometimes working at a church has its benefits. OK, a lot of the time.
Apr 19 – We both had super stressful days but they got better when we walked around and around the neighborhood complaining until we felt better.
Apr 20 – Today didn’t start off very well, but then I had a great meeting and a delicious birthday dinner with a friend. So that helped.
Apr 21 – I had a long overdue meeting with a kid at a fantastic make-your-own frozen yogurt place. Cinnamon Toast Crunch and mini chocolate chips? Yes please.
Apr 22 – My mom came to town!
Apr 23 – Lunch and shopping in downtown Franklin.
Apr 24 – Made an apple pie from scratch, shopped with my mom, read in the backyard. Then my mom ate Indian food. Crazy.
Apr 25 – Ordination Sunday! What a weird, crazy, awesome day.
Apr 26 – Lunch and more shopping, this time in Hillsboro Village. Do you see a pattern here? This is what the Smith girls do.
Apr 27 – Went for a run and got caught in the rain. The Avett Brothers are the perfect soundtrack for a rainy neighborhood walk.
Apr 28 – A new mexican place opened across from the church and it is DELICIOUS.
Apr 29 – Very productive day in the office.
Apr 30 – After THREE FREAKING YEARS, we finally had our neighbors over for dinner. And it was great.