44. Send a care package to my cousins at college

How many times in college did I go to the mailbox just hoping for something out of the ordinary? And how much was I encouraged by postcards from home, packages, cards from friends, etc.?

So I wanted to do this for my cousins.

Since I began this blog, the cousins that are in college has changed (!) and now my youngest cousins -- the babies that I held when I was in elementary school - are both in college, a year apart.

And because of the magic of Facebook, I can catch glimpses of their college adventures. Which can only be helped by sugar of assorted varieties and healthy servings of cousinly advice.

And I love that they both texted me upon arrival of their care packages. Ah, technology :)

Love my cousins!

Meet Olivia:



and Reese:


(don't they have cool names?)

4. Play bocce ball

Summertime and bocce go hand in hand. I know that now. It's a game that, like most things related to physical activity and coordination, I do not excel at doing, but still somehow enjoy.

I played a couple different times this summer and think that I'll add bocce to my repertoire of lawn games that I will gladly play whenever a good opportunity arises.

1. Go back to Nashville for a visit

Well it's not quite London or the south of France
Or an Asian island or a second chance....


Those are some of the lyrics to a song called "Nashville" that I first heard about six months before I moved to Nashville back in 2005. That song's writer David Mead became one of the musicians I would become a fan of during my time there, and in true Nashville form, ended up hanging out on his porch one Saturday for a yard sale that wasn't his. Typical.


Anyway, my friend Emily and I semi-spontaneously decided to road trip to Nash-vegas for Labor Day weekend. We stopped in Knoxville on the way down to see The Dirty Guv'nahs perform a hometown show:


Amazingly fun band with a very dynamic lead singer who has some Jagger-esque moves on stage
But I digress. On to Nashville...


You're a distant memory, you're an exit sign....

It had been four years since I had been back to Nashville and you know that weird mix of sensory memory and some other kind of memory that enables you to drive on auto pilot to work and suddenly think "how did I get here?" - well, I had that as soon as we got to town. Things were familiar but evasive. But it was good to be back.

We of course ate at my favorite restaurant where lunch for 3 people was only $15. And I showed Emily the appropriate amounts of downtown Nashville and Broadway, including my favorite honky tonk, Robert's Western World:


We also had a great time reconnecting (or just connecting I guess for Emily) with some of my friends in Nashville over meals. Lots of laughs and lots of catching up on life. My favorite times are always spent with a good mixture of both of those.

What I was so glad to come away with from the weekend was two-fold:
1) Even more of an appreciation for my friendship with Emily. She's a fantastic person, sister in Christ, and friend and a guaranteed good time even for hours in a car.

2) A new perspective on Nashville. I love that town and am glad I could see it with new eyes this trip. I am now even more thankful for the nearly 2 years I spent there and even though it wasn't a perfect fit, since God wanted me in Arlington, I can now see that the hardest things for me about being in Nashville would have been true wherever I had been. And David Mead's song, which has meant different things to me at different times over the past 6 years since I first heard it, took on yet another meaning for me because of this trip. Oh, Nashville. Your songwriters really are incredibly talented.

Going back to Nashville, thinking about the whole thing
Guess you gotta run sometimes
Maybe I'm a fast train rolling down the mountain
Watching all my life go by
Going back to Nashville, laughing at a bad break
What's the use in wondering why
Maybe I'm a storm front rolling through the valley
Tearing up a good July....

65. Meet my next door neighbors

This 4th of July, my whole family was in town and we had a cookout at our building with some friends before heading out to watch fireworks. Of course homemade peach ice cream was on the menu, and while we were enjoying some, I noticed my next door neighbors were out in their backyard, so I walked over to the fence and offered them some ice cream. Matthew and Colleen (errr I think..I'm pretty terrible with names).

We exchanged "Happy 4th" greetings.

Nothing like good southern food to bring people together!

53. Host a game night

Just believe me on this one: Catch Phrase is the greatest game ever invented.


My Augusta friends and I will play for HOURS. I'm talking like 4 hours at a time. I have to admit, it sometimes brings out the worst in me - there is no other game in which I get more competitive or more bossy about rules.

But every time, EVERY TIME there are always laughs. And what more can you really ask for in a game?

So our Community Group did a "Men's Appreciation Night" a few weeks back - the females provided food and due to looming thunderstorms, decided to play a couple of lawn games, then move it inside for Catch Phrase.

It was such a good way to break down barriers and see people's personalities come through in different ways.

Such a great game.....wanna come over and play?

19. Go to a DC United game

Oooooh oooh hot summer nii-iights.

DC U-nite-ED! DC U-nite-ED!


A few weeks ago I got a group of my friends together to go to a DC United game at RFK. Upon our arrival, the parking attendants would not let us in the closest parking lot to the stadium, even though 3 or 4 cars just in front of us were allowed in.

So I drove past the parking attendant, and turned into the lot between two barricades. My friend Emily said from the backseat "Oh now there's another attendant running after your car."

I thought she was joking. She wasn't.

So when my car, full of 5 eager DC United (or at least soon to be) fans, pulled into a parking spot, and I saw a man in the standard parking attendant attire (orange vest, mini light saber) at my window, I simply rolled it down and the PR skills kicked in.

It also helped that he didn't speak much English. I may have taken advantage of that...

Him: No, no, exit!
Me: Oh, we're good here, thanks.
Him: He say no (referring to the first attendant that wouldn't let me into the lot.)
Me: Well, we'll just park here, it's fine.
Him: You have pass?
Me: Oh, sure here's my ticket. (I show him the generic pass they give you when you first enter and pay the $15 fee.
(He takes it, looks at it, hands it back.)
Him: No, no.....exit.
Me: (pulling the car forward a bit more, then putting it in park) Thanks, but I think we're good here. It's fine. We'll just park here.

he finally gave up and walked away...


There is a bit of my dad in me, what can I say....


So we enjoyed a toasty evening watching the Beautiful Sport and I decided that I should become a bigger United fan. But I haven't done a single thing about it since then save the email list I agreed to be put on...oh well.

DC U-nite-ED!

10. Convince someone else to start their 101 list

Lillian's List!