Wedding Gowns and Warrants

The Perfect Gown

Remember last spring when I did the marketing for a Dream Dress Campaign for Olia Zavozina Couture Designs? Well, my friend who manages their shop called me last week and asked me to wear one of their gowns in a tv spot on Nashville’s Fox 17 morning show: The Perfect Gown!

I went to Olia’s Edgehill Village shop and tried on several absolutely gorgeous wedding gowns.

Here I am trying on The Britt!

And on Friday morning I wore one of the gowns – The Delia - in a live tv segment on the morning news.

The segment featured designer Olia Zavozina and three of her most popular gown designs.

 Getting Ready

 With Designer Olia Zavozina

You can check out the video here: http://www.fox17.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wztv_vid_18486.shtml.

A “Ride Along”

One of my best friends from my hometown has been a police officer in Metro Nashville for several years. On Saturday night I was able to do a ride along with him on his 10pm-6am shift in East Nashville. Oh, how I loved it! I rode with him for the entire shift and never even got tired! It was a fast paced, thrilling night! (Well, for me it was. I heard several of the officers say that it was a ‘slow night’.) I stayed in the car on most of the calls, but was able to get out a few times to observe. I saw everything from traffic stops to domestic disputes to DUIs to prostitution to arrests for outstanding warrants. I was amazed at how many of the people that we encountered wanted to tell their life’s story. I spent about twenty minutes with two different transvestite prostitutes who told me everything I ever (and never) wanted to know about their careers. And they let me ask them anything. Any question, they were transparent. I listened a lot… and learned a lot! And let me just tell you, I was in a part of Nashville that I never even knew existed and will likely never be again. Except, of course, when I do another ride along because I am hooked.

I love doing new, fun things… so this weekend was perfect!

My Kind of Weekend: Parachutes and Hula Hoops

There are lots of moments when I am really thankful that I blog. Sometimes it’s when I know that it has connected with someone – a recipe made, an adventure inspired, or a heart touched. Sometimes it’s when I end up on other places in the blogosphere – like this post on author Melissa Lester’s blog. I also recently popped up on a popular home redesign blog – The Ugly Duckling House. She hyperlinked to my patio remodel on this post where she says “and after looking around the blogosphere a little” on her patio post. And sometimes it’s because I don’t want to forget a single thing about my story. And this weekend is one of those weekends that I never want to forget. I don’t know how I possibly could.

Sky Diving

On Saturday three of my girl friends and I went sky diving together in Waverly, TN. I went sky diving once last year, so I was super excited to go again.  

Ready to sky dive. I know, I look like a creeper.

The other girls were newbies – and it was amazing to experience it with them for their first time! There was some nervousness from a few participants.

Ashley praying...

But everyone jumped.

 Me, ready to jump!

 Linzi getting harnessed.

 Ashley practicing her jump.

Sarah listening to instructions.

Linzi and Sarah supervising the parachute packing process.

And everyone LOVED it!!

We were all able to go up in the plane together and jump (tandem with an instructor of course) from 14,500 feet. Because we free fall at about 120 mph, the air felt super cold! But it was so awesome. My favorite part both times has been the free fall. There is absolutely nothing like rushing towards the earth with nothing but 14,500 feet between you and the ground. It’s an incredible experience. I can’t get enough of it… I’m sure I’ll be going again.

(To read more about what it’s like to sky dive, read last year’s post or watch last year's video.)

Hula Hooping a 5k

As if my weekend wasn’t already interesting enough, today I hula hooped the Mayor's 5k to fulfill one of this year’s resolutions. My friend Yvonne has hooped several half marathons, a Susan G. Komen walk (20 miles a day for three days), and done tons of hoop performances and fitness classes. Yeah, she’s awesome. But even more than being an awesome hooper, she’s an awesome friend! We typically exercise together anyways, but she spent the past couple of months teaching me to hoop walk. We trained once or twice a week together and then hooped on our own at home. I do recognize that it probably seems hilarious to imagine me standing in the middle of my living room hooping for 30 minutes at a time while watching tv. I had a huge bruise on my hip for a while, but my body is finally getting used to it.

Me and Yvonne

Today our hoop team included about 25 walkers (no, we don’t run). I hooped around my waist for most of the walk. But, as you can imagine, my abs got pretty tired so I hooped on my hand sometimes too.

I hope my face looked like that the whole time... not.

Hoopers take up a lot of space, so we started the race in the very last corral. I’m not sure exactly how long it took us to do the 5k because we didn’t start with everyone else and took a couple of photo ops, but I’d say we did the race in about 70 minutes.

Thanks for hooping with me, friend! You are incredible!

A few notes on hooping:

We use custom made hoops which are larger and heavier than the plastic hoops that they sell for children at Target. Trust me, I can’t really hoop with those things! Heavier hoops are much easier.

You might think that you can’t hoop, but you can. I’ve never seen anyone try for longer than ten minutes and not get it. Don’t move your hips in a circle or it will fall. Move front to back or side to side.

If you walk around with a hoop, lots of random people will talk to you. I’ve never gotten so much attention from strangers in my entire life. Be prepared. My favorites were the people who would walk up and say “Is that a hula hoop?” (Duh.) And the man that kept cheering “Hoopity hoop. Doopity Doop.” My least favorite were the dogs that barked at and wanted to chase the hoops. I am so not an animal person.

Mayor Karl Dean does not want to try to hoop. He was asked, but just looked awkwardly down at his sneakers and power walked past us.

I have never taken a hoop fitness class, but the team that I was on today for the 5k was organized through Happy Hoops. If you are a local Nashvillian and are interested in taking a hoop fitness class, I’d start there.

This weekend was so incredible! (And thank goodness, because tomorrow morning is my arm surgery... ugh...)

Settling In: A Weekend Harley Trip

I was in fifth grade before I learned how to ride a bicycle without training wheels. It's true. I was embarrassingly old. So I wasn't much of a bike rider, okay?? But I was something else. A daddy's girl. (Not an exclusion of my mother - because I was a momma's girl too. Who says you have to be just one?? I was - and still am - both.)

As an adult I am making up for lost time on bikes. But this time I go for the motorized kind... And always with my daddy. Dad and I ride his bike around town pretty regularly, but we recently decided to go for a weekend trip. So we rented a Harley Electra Glide (with a big, comfortable back seat) and took off for the weekend. We picked the perfect weekend. After all, it is my favorite time of year.

Dad and I had the best ride. We started out on Saturday morning in Nashville and headed south east. We took back roads and highways through the hills of the Tennessee countryside, through Fall Creek Falls, and then headed north up to Lexington. We bunked with my cousins for the night and then headed back down south on Sunday.

In all, we rode about 650 miles - 8 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday. And the bike was so comfortable! Of course, we had to stop and stretch our legs every couple of hours, but mostly I just settled in to the back of the bike and enjoyed the views. I did, however, get very cold on Saturday! I was bundled up in layers, but the temps never even made it into the 60s which is a bit chilly on a bike! But was it totally worth the shivering? Yes! I could do a ride like that every weekend and be completely thrilled!

I recently met a guy from Brazil who is now living in Nashville and is experiencing fall for the first time. I just can't imagine that! Not because I take it for granted and would appreciate a fresh perspective on fall, but because it is so much a part of me that I can't imagine living without it. Its the kind of beauty that gets in your heart and settles in. Kind of like motorcycles.

Fall - A Perfect Time for Adventures

Fall is by far superior to all other seasons. The weather is phenomenal – the warm afternoons are perfect for going for a walk and the cool evenings are perfect for bonfires and hayrides. The food is the best. Caramel apples. Roasted Hot dogs. Chili. Smores. And I don’t exactly see people lining up to walk through summertime gardens proudly harvesting tomatoes and zucchini. But a pumpkin patch? Sign me up.  Fall even has its own smell. It’s something like nutmeg and cinnamon and pumpkin and a bonfire all bundled up together. And the Tennessee trees? Don’t even get me started. The colors alone are enough to make you believe.

One of my favorite fall trees outside of my condo just beginning to turn a beautiful shade of red.

And seriously. No other season is so great that it deserves two names. Fall. Autumn. Winner.

Disclaimer: I have heard rumors of something called ‘football’ that many people really enjoy in the fall, but I wouldn’t know anything about that.

The Fall Lineup

So every fall I get excited. When the weather starts to change I feel like a kid again. I look forward to weekends in a way that I don’t any other time of year. But this year? I’m even more excited. Because on top of all of the normal Fall goodness,  this year my calendar has been quickly filled with more fun than ever. 

My next few weekends are back-to-back adventures with: 

Touring through the Smoky Mountains on a Harley

Hang Gliding

Sky Diving (again - see last year's post and video)

Hula Hooping a 5k (one of my 2012 resolutions)

Oh, and I am going on my covenant group girls' middle school retreat at church. I haven’t been on a middle school retreat in a long time, but I’m going to go ahead and call that an “adventure”.

I apparently have a fascination with being really high in the air. And adrenaline. YOLO, baby.

And all of this is happening before Thanksgiving. Here’s hoping for some B-E-A-U-tiful weekend weather.

A note to my mother: Yes, I will be careful. Yes, I will call you after every adventure to let you know that I am okay. Yes, I know, I take after my father. Yes, I know, I love you too. And YOLO means You Only Live Once. Save yourself a google search.

Hot Air Balloon Ride Food Truck Burgers

On Friday my sister and I went to a fall festival to meet up with some of my friends. We were supposed to go on a hot air balloon ride there, but the line was forever long and the balloon ran out of propane by the time we made it to the front of the line. But it was tethered anyways, and you know how I like being really high up in the air, so it wasn’t too much of a let down.

The picture that we took in preparation of our non-existent balloon ride.

Anyways, we ate food truck burgers while we waited.  We almost had another burger disaster when my sister's bag ripped down the side, but she had a much smoother save than I did.  Her burger fortunately never hit the ground.

Big Burger. Small Bag.

A Real Hike

On Saturday morning, after walking around an awesome Franklin neighborhood looking at yard sales with some friends, my sister called to tell me that she was headed to Percy Warner Park for a hike. I threw on some yoga pants, a fleece, a random OU tshirt, and my rarely used North Face hiking shoes (that I had purchased for my Yellowstone trip because they were the only hiking shoes that I could find with a touch of pink on them) and hopped over to the park. If you will remember from my Two Truths and a Tale, I’m not a hiker. And if you know anything about my sister, you know that she is. 

I expected a greenway. Pavement. Mild, rolling hills. Rest areas with water fountains. But this trail? It was dirt and grass and rock and sometimes water. There were steep inclines and areas where I had to sit and scoot to get down off of the ledges. And we hiked for 6.5 miles. And... I liked it! I actually really liked it!

Mossy Ridge Trail - part of our hike at Percy Warner Park

The whole time I kept reassuring myself in conversation my sister:

This is a real hike, right? 

Yes, Emily.

So I can tell people that I went on a hike in the wilderness? 

I mean, you can still hear cars on HWY 100, but sure.

People are so much nicer on nature trails than they are in malls. 

People are nicer when they are in nature. It makes them happy. It's proven.

Hey look, I am climbing a mountain. 

This is just a big hill, but sure.

You have a backpack. You look like such a serious hiker. 

Where do you think that water that you keep drinking is coming from? My backpack.

Look at me! I am really hiking!

Emily, seriously, when is the last time you went on a hike like this?

That one time when I was 14 and we went backpacking….

…Why? When was the last time you went?

Like yesterday.

I loved it. And I didn’t even complain once. AND I asked to go again! I’m a hiker. Who would have thought.

Note to self: Don’t wear any sports paraphernalia unless you actually like the team. People that we passed would see my OU shirt and say things like “How are the boys doing?” or “Boomer Sooner.” or other sports phrases. Next time? I’ll be sure to wear something more appropriate like a "Don't ask me about sports because I like sewing and baking and sky diving and motorcycle riding" tshirt.

I ended my weekend with some hoop practice for the 5k.

And a ride on a child-sized scooter.

I really want a vespa now!

Add in a couple of upcoming holidays, our second annual friendsgiving (with promises of an actual cooked turkey this year), a Nashville visit from a Bestie, and a whole lot of family time and I’ll say that by the time this is over 2012 might just rank pretty high on my “favorite years” list! 

A World of Contradictions

I live in a world of incredible contradictions.

I live in a world where I know in my mind that medicine heals. But then I go to the hospital and spend a few hours with a precious little girl and I learn that all that I knew to be true may in fact only be a partial reality.  Because when I walked into this shy, introverted, inattentive little girl’s room on Thursday night, I got no reaction. As soon as I saw her glance over her computer screen at me and, with no acknowledgeable response, look back down at her Barbie.com project, I knew instantly that this night would be a challenge. I prayed quickly and quietly “God, please show me how to relate to this little girl.”  I thought back to Kisses from Katie that I am currently reading. Katie is a young girl from Nashville currently working at an orphanage and school in Africa. She notes often that she is not a nurse or a teacher, but to help these people she does the only thing that she knows how to do. She shows them that she loves them. Overcoming language barriers, she feeds them, bandages them, and simply hugs and dances with them. As I looked at this little elementary-aged girl, alone in a room on isolation and not knowing what kinds of medical terms and experiences she knows that I could not even imagine, I did what I knew how to do. I proved to her that I could love. I silently sat down in her rocking chair, picked up one of her baby dolls, and quietly rocked her. The entire time, I didn’t speak directly to the little girl. I knew that would be intimidating. I didn’t even look at her, but I could see her slowly start to pay attention. I hummed a lullaby. I swaddled the doll in a tiny little hospital gown. I fed her a bottle. And when the baby got “fussy”, I stood to bounce and shush her. But you see, I am not the baby doll’s mother. And mother always knows best. The little girl slowly climbed out of bed, came over to me, and carefully took her baby from my arms. She bounced the baby, calmed her, and put her to sleep in her own hospital bed, raising the rails so as not to roll off.  Then the little girl looked at me, took my hand, and smiled. We slowly began to tend to the rest of her babies lining the window sill.  And by the end of the night, I was French braiding her hair while she blared Demi Lovato so loudly that the nurses had to come tell us to quiet down. So while yes, medicine is healing her body, I can see another world. A world where French braids and baby dolls and dance parties bring healing to her soul.

I live in a world of “once-in-a-lifetimes”. I am constantly dreaming of vacations and travels and experiences. I adore the adventure and thrive when I am experiencing new things in life for the first time - like sky diving in the Smoky Mountains or surfing in Hawaii or camping in Yellowstone. But I also live for the day-to-day. Because while those grand experiences add color to my days, the day-to-day is what builds and sustains a life. My home and my family and my friends and my career and my church and my God are beautiful because they are a part of who I am. They aren’t what I do on the weekends or what I look forward to, they are the gifts that are present every day and in every moment. So while extraordinary adventures take my breath away, the ordinary is what gives me Breath and Life.

I live in a world where freedom is so common that it almost feels like a guarantee. I live in a country where I can go wherever I want, say what I want to say, and be what I want to be. But as a follow up to a previous resolution, a sweet friend and I attended a Welcome Home ceremony at Fort Campbell and it became clearer than ever that our freedom comes at an incredible price. Freedom is anything but free. I saw fathers meeting their toddlers for the first time and young women running into the arms of their mothers.  I saw a little boy perched on the shoulders of his grandfather scanning the sea of camouflage anxiously trying to find his daddy. I saw a beautiful woman weep when she saw her fiancé march off of the plane as she yelled his name and waved a handmade sign in his direction. 

And through the crowd of tiny little American flags waving proudly in the air, I saw nearly 200 soldiers march proudly into an airplane hangar, lay down their weapons, pick up yellow roses, and run to the people that they love. 

The soldiers paid an incredible price while they were gone to Afghanistan, many for the second, third, or even fourth time. It was beautiful to see them all come home, but also a painful reminder that not everyone does. And it is clear that the people that they left behind paid an incredible price as well. So if you ever start to feel comfortable in this life that you are in, if you ever want to realize that you are a part of a world that is so much bigger than yourself, if you ever need to see that you live in a world where freedom is not free, attend a Welcome Home ceremony. It will change your heart. But it isn’t for us. It is to say thank you to the people who deserve all of the cheers and the signs and the photos and the flowers that they can get. So for many years my world of freedom lived in no contradiction.  But thanks to the soldiers of the 159^th Combat Aviation Brigade, my world of freedom is now also a world of sacrifice.

I live in a world of physical beauty. The sunsets. The babies. The waterfalls. The smiles. The wrinkled hands. The flying flag. The homemade dinners. The expansive beaches. But I also live in a world of the spiritual. A world where the greatest is the least. Where the weak can be strong. Where the blind can see. Where wounds bring healing. Where losing your life means gaining Life. Where letting go means holding on. Where the broken are beautiful. Where thirsty souls meet Living Water. Where the unseen are the only things that are real.  There is Hope and Comfort and Love and Beauty and Life. This world is not independent of the other worlds, but rather all other worlds are dependent on this. On a Creator and Sustainer and Redeemer and Forgiver. And this world? This is Home. 

This is a world of heads and tails, peanut butter and jelly, hearts and souls, ordinary and extraordinary, freedom and sacrifice, living and Life. And the balance between the contradictions? It's beautiful.