Happy New Year...

Well, here it is, 10min. from New Years (as I type this) and it seems like any other day. I've passed up two party invitations and strongly considered going to one of them in my jammy pants at one point. Probably a good thing I changed my mind even though I'm sure nobody would have minded. Mom, Dad and I are sitting here, awaiting our count down. I'm surprised I'm even still awake, let alone writing a post on this thing. My how times have changed. So as you may have already guessed, I didn't ask the Staples guy for a date.

On a good note, Cindi decided she wanted to upload my pictures to her computer 'cause I've been snapping non-stop since Christmas morning and I must say, I got some good ones. That camera takes a fabulous picture. She didn't upload all of them and in turn left out some ones I really wanted to put on here but I'll get to them when I get home and can see them all as opposed to her picking the ones she wanted. I guess she wasn't as impressed with the hockey game pics as I was... heehee!

It's hard to believe that this time two nights from now, I will be home. As fabulous of a trip this has been and great to see Cindi and the kids, I'm ready to sleep in my own bed and unpack my things. After years of travelling, living out of a suitcase has lost it's lustre. Lugging bags to and through the airports should be interesting as a few hours ago, I broke my little toe... again! I've lost count as to how many times I've broken that toe. I'm now wishing I packed more sensible shoes. There really is a recurring shoe pattern here and once again, I'd planned on wearing the shoes responsible for my winter wipe out and losing a great chance at an eagle picture in previous posts. Anybody wanna buy a pair of black Nine West boots with a 4" heel?

The hockey game went great last night. The Predators had a 5-0 shut out against the Bruins, giving Mason, their second string goalie, his 5th shut out of the season. They were even out shot 35-28. It was a bit of a sloppy game in the fact that there was lots of missed passes and dump ins. Any NHL game is better than none at all though so the whole experience itself was outstanding. I haven't seen one live in at least 12yrs. I guess I'm getting too old for hockey games too as they don't even do the wave anymore. You can't tell me that they changed the rules to accomodate the people that don't want to see fights. Every time one started to break out (broken up pretty quick, mind you) the fans were yelling for blood, almost as loud as when we got a goal. Bah to the new rules, I say. If ya can't play the Canadian game the way it's meant to be played, start your own dang league. Tootoo, our Canadian player from Nunuvit showed them how it was played though. He's a scrapper but he can hold his own with a stick and puck too, I'll tell ya. He was one of the three stars with lots of assists.

We also had a little bit of a scare after the game. Of course, the game lets out and immediately you have just under 17,000 people hitting the streets. We were all together 'til just before our parking lot. I'm loading in the van and do a final head count. Somehow we lost Mom! Now, anyone who knows my Mom knows that she's the worst possible person to have lost, wandering the streets of Nashville with that many people loose, not to mention drunks, druggies, crazies and homeless! Needless to say, I lost it! Now bawling, I somehow managed to keep it composed enough to formulate a gameplan, found her then gathered the rest. I thought I was holding it together pretty good but I noticed a few people muttering things like, "She's crying." We can laugh about it now but last night, it was no laughing matter. That could have turned in to a really bad situation in no time flat!

When we got out of our pre-game dinner, it was starting to drizzle and by the time we got out of the game, it was a deluge. That kind of put a damper (pardon the pun) on any downtown wandering festivities so we didn't get to Coyote Ugly which I was a little sad about at first. But after losing Mom, it was forgotten pretty quickly.

Amazing, for someone who posted just yesterday, I can still find this much to babble about. Enough babbling and on to the pictures.

I'll try to keep these in order as they happened. The next few are of the limo bus tour we took to look at the Christmas lights. This is me sitting in the back, taking a picture looking towards the front.

The only pictures we really got that night were of George Jones estate and lights and another place that wasn't a star(I don't think but hey, it's country) but still really nice. This picture's is at George's. That's his house waaayyyy back there!

This was the gate to his house. Must be rough, eh?

Anybody remember that song of his, "I don't need your rockin' chair?" Well, that was the reason for this and it was the biggest rocking chair I've ever seen in my life. I felt like I was in an episode of, "Big Comfy Couch." That's Mom, Cindi, Cole, Ashley and Dad.

I have no idea who's place this was but it was beautiful, huge and amazingly decorated. Notice the Charlie Brown Christmas in the foreground? Man, why didn't I bring my new tripod?

Now, on to last night. While wandering looking for somewhere to eat, the signs caught me eye. These are just a few of the ones that I took. I love night shots and thought these turned out really well considering once again, I left my new tripod home. I even tripped over a sign 'cause I was too busy looking up. Ooopssy!

This is the, "Wildhorse Saloon." Most of you should have heard of this, even if you're like myself and not a country music fan.

Where I was hoping to go after the game. You may recognise the name from the movie, "Coyote Ugly," which it's loosely based on. It's much wilder than the movie though. They're dancing on the bar, bartenders and patrons alike, bras are hanging everywhere and the bartenders are half dressed. My first time in there, 10 of them got up on the bar doing a line dance kind of thing, crawling and slamming their fists on the bar to a Linkin Park song. Highly entertaining.

This is where we ate. Had a divine beer battered fish and chips that was to die for.

Now, this picture's taken on Broadway which for anyone who's a country fan, this is the place to be in Nashville. Many stars were discovered up and down this drag, particularly at Tootsies (the purple place) where the likes of Willie Nelson, (passed out in the back alley there) Waylon Jennings and even Terry Clark took a turn waitressing there. I owe those bits of trivia to Mom as I wouldn't have had a clue.

Gaylord Entertainment Center... home of the Nashville Predators. I really like the architectural design of this place. Man, it's massive!

In to the game we go. We were literally in the nosebleed section but center ice and I was quite impressed with the seats. I think we got one of the last few seats in the building. If you look very closely, I'm actually above the jumbotron. This picture's of the anthem.

They even played the Stompin Tom song. I was so impressed! I was on a search for the smoking section when it came on. I was all by myself, singing and clapping. I'm sure everyone thought I was a nutcase but I didn't care. Stompin' Tom playing at a TN hockey game, how cool is that?

Last but not least, me enjoying the game. Nobody could figure out what I wanted them to do to take the picture so I took it myself. That's pretty bad when that's the only way you can get a picture of yourself on your own camera. I'm gonna try Matt and Liss' trick to get this up for my profile pic too.

All in all, it's been a great trip so far. I definately won't be getting any posts in tomorrow and will be lucky to even get to play the game. I got a lot of last minute visits I've got to get in, not to mention trying to figure out how to pack all the new stuff that I'll be bringing home. Can't wait to try out all my new hair stuff too. 4:30am. will come waayyyy too early tuesday morning, I'm afraid.

Check out the comments section for the latest fun and I'll be seeing everyone in a few days.

'Til next time...