Giveaway! for Green Tea fans

Hey all! a blog I subscribe to is giving away some awesome green tea. It's called Mellow Monk. All you have to do is follow this link for Mellow Monk Green Tea Giveaway and drop a comment (or post a blog entry!) and you can be entered to win! Enjoy!

~Gwen

Johnny Phoenix Theater Show

I wanted to mention this because I think it's mostly just word of mouth right now. For those of you who are used to seeing Johnny Phoenix at the Tennessee Renassaince Festival every year... if you went this year you'll have noticed that he wasn't there this year!! OH NO!!

Well for those of us who do enjoy his show, and hated missing him this year, he's going to be putting on his first theater show in Franklin on June 13th, at the Boiler Room. He's also said that he wants to hang out with us after the show, at a local bar somewhere. He was still looking for a location last I talked to him, but he's very much looking forward to the show and the after party too.


Tickets are $10 and the proceeds go towards the Make a Wish Foundation. Visit http://johnnyphoenix.com/ for more info and to buy and print out your tickets. Seats are limited, but they're not sold out yet!!

Join us at the show!

~Gwen

Dog Training Begins.... Again!

I am soooo woefully behind again on blogging. I've never in my life really kept a journal, and now we know why. ;)

I just wanted to share with you all that Mako and I have started a dog training series with dog's best friend, Nikki Ivey, our favourite dog trainer! Nikki has designed a new dog certification that she wants us all to kick in to gear, so these classes we're taking will end with Mako's test to become a certified Real Life Rover! It's a newer version of a Canine Good Citizen certification, if you've ever heard of that. We're going to work pretty hard over the next 8 weeks to be sure he passes his test, because that would be so awesome to be a part of history! Plus that means he'll finally be listening to me outdoors... LOL. You can check it out on Nikki's website: www.dogspeak101.com

I'm telling you though, this is so much fun. Nikki also has seminars that teach you how dogs communicate, and it's amazing the things you'll notice in other dogs and when you're at the dog park once you've been through her seminar and seen the video examples of the behaviours. You wouldn't believe how much you've been missing all these years!

I've also recently gotten Mako a couple of new collars from our new best friends. Lindsay and Taylor have a company called Pattern & Paw, and Lindsay actually makes dog collars and harnesses and leashes, and cat stuff too! If you're looking for a new collar that is much more interesting than those mono-color ones you can find in the stores, and that are very reasonably priced, you can check them out here: www.patternandpaw.com

~Gwen

Halloween 2008

Halloween was last Friday, and we had a great time dressing up at work. I wore my new(er) Renaissance dress and actually did hair and makeup this time. Of course, in typical "Gwen" fashion, I proceeded to dart out of the house witha spare change of clothes, extra towels in case of messes, and totally forgot my amber dirk necklace and my spiral hair thingys that we bought at the Ren Faire this past year. I can't win.

But here's the pic of our Renaissance theme (with Robin Hood and a damsel victim of a vampire! I think the bite is under her hair in this shot... oh well).

[to be posted when I get a copy... sigh]

We had a great time handing out candy to the kids that came to our building at work, and voting for best costumes and best decorated cubicle. One of my friends won third place with his Headless Horseman outfit, it turned out really great! Made a few of the kids nervous, but didn't scare them too badly... .

As usual, in the apartment complex, not a single soul (or souless demon) found their way here to my door, but that's alright. I'm hoping by next year to be in a townhouse in a real neighborhood, so maybe I can really get into the holiday spirit then. Besides, that just means more candy for me to sell at my Chocolate Corner at work!

Happy end of October! Next holiday, Thanksgiving!

~Gwen

Fund raising

Why are all fund raising efforts for worthy causes in the Fall? I'm broke, before Christmas now. :)

A few weeks ago was the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation fund raiser walk. I was a team captain for the company team this year again, and somehow, me and my big mouth, I got volunteered to take care of Game Day. I ended up scrounging around and set up a few games with Justin's help with games from his church. I went out to Tractor Supply and bought a huge bucket, and I combed all of Nashville looking for rubber duckies!! and finally found 12... And Justin's church had the ring toss and golf putting hole. And I borrowed the corn hole games from Rich, and drew tic-tac-toe for a three in the row toss. I also put together an M&M guessing jar... it all went over pretty well, we ended up making just over $1300. Madness, glad it's over! ;)



This week, we had raffles for Race for the Cure, Susan G. Komen's Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and I actually won! Three things. A baking set, Cookies 101 (very cool), a plastic blue Margarita glass and pitcher set (also very cool), and a little bundle of random fishing lures.... I'm not sure what to say about that, but I'm sure I'll find them a good home. ;) And the walk itself is tomorrow morning, so it'll be an early morning tomorrow. Wish me luck!

But seriously, why do they all have to fall in the Fall?

~

my sister

I miss my sister. We don't keep in touch enough. We need to be better at that. We've always been really close, but what's funny is we've also both been very independent. I don't think either one of us has really been homesick. Well, I'm not sure, she might have had a few moments when she was in New York but I think at the time she was just in a difficult place and she definitely wasn't that happy with where she was. Other than that though, I mean, I went to camp when I was in 6th or 7th grade. I flew all the way across the country and it never occurred to me to call home... not once while I was gone. I also know that I'm just not that good at keeping in touch with people either. I think my grandmother and I have that in common as well... I should call her this weekend...

Hold close to your family, to your loved ones. They're always going to be there for you, through thick and thin. They may have their own strong opinions about things but that's just because they care about you so much. Either way, they're always on your side.

Love you lil' sis!

~Gwen

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It just occurred to me, I never updated everyone on Harry Potter's 7th book!! The book was awesome. Just awesom. I thought she brought in enough new stuff to the story to be truly intrigued, and I felt she tied all things up quite nicely. I've read the book and I bought the audio CDs. I've just finished listening to the CDs, and Jim Dale does another great job. I have to say I have minor frustrations, because the voices, though all distictive, don't entirely mesh with the ones he came up with in past books. At least I don't think they do. But then again, those of you who know me know how particular I can be... :)

So that's my update. If you haven't read the Harry Potter series, I would definitly suggest it, for children or adults. Obviously, you have to enjoy the concept of magical worlds, but it's a pretty easy read and touches on lots of good moral points.

~Gwen

Amy Courts

I've been delinquent in keeping my blog and myspace up to date, so now I guess I'm overcompensating, but you have to check out my myspace page and my friend Amy Courts.

I noticed that Amy, Eric Paslay and Heidi Burson were playing tonight, so how could I resist seeing three people I knew I'd love all in one night. When I got to Lyrix, I spotted Amy, and after ordering a Shirley Temple (I know, going all out tonight, wasn't I?) I stopped by her table to say hi and catch up a little. Later, when she went up to play in the round with Eric and another singer/songwriter, they went through each of their songs, and on Amy's last song, she dedicated it "for a girl who is missing a boy halfway around the world" and she proceeded to sing what she knows is my favourite song of hers (so far anyways... :) ). I cried. She's so awesome, that just meant so much to me. So thank you again, Amy. You're a dearheart and I love you.

~Gwen

Love for Friends

Back in June when I visited California, I met up with an old high school friend of mine. His roommate happened to be another old high school friend of mine, but at the time I visited, Chris was unavailable. I was sad. Then I found out that Chris had gotten a part with Evita! and would be starting his National tour with the group in Chattanooga! So last Thursday, I get this last minute call. He's playing that night and Friday night. I busted my buns to get my work done by Friday afternoon (and let me tell you... that was rough) and, forgetting that there is an hour time difference between Nashville and Chattanooga, I then skipped dinner and left straight from work to make it to the show on time.

I got there at 7:56pm for the 8pm show , bought a ticket (row Q seat 9, right up front and just off center... awesome), and the lights went down. I had made it with seconds to spare. Chris was awesome. He was in the Ensemble that night, but he had a couple of solo parts and I was so proud of him! It was a great show. I wish I had gotten to meet the guy that played Che, Omar I think it was... he was amazing.

After the show, Chris and I met up and wandered off to a quiet corner of a bar to catch up for a couple of hours. It was so good to see him again. I'm so bad at keeping in touch with people, but I still cherish moments when I do finally get to reconnect with old friends. I had a great night, even though I got home at 1:45am. :)

~Gwen