Guitar Hanger

I am really excited about this post because I am getting to share a small project we did in our office as well as give Justin's mad guitar skills a shout out. As many of you know Justin is a great musician, as I am writing this he is telling me not to say that, but I think he is great so I am going to let everyone know.

Now, onto the reason of this post. On any given day you could walk into our home office and see Justin's guitar and guitar case lying on the floor, taking up all the floor space. I am not sure why he never used the guitar stands he had but for whatever reason the guitar always ended up on the floor with the case wide open. In our dream home he would have a sound proof music room but at this point in our lives he is having to make do with a music/office room. After tripping over the guitar one too many times I knew something had to be done.

Don't get me wrong, I love it when Justin plays his guitar - I just don't love it when I can't walk into our office. So while at a music store one Saturday afternoon I convinced Justin that he needed to get a wall mounted guitar hanger. Let me back up a little...I really have no problem with Justin leaving his guitar out, my problem is with the open case on the floor and the fact that he always put his case in the back of the closet and had to remove almost everything from the closet to get to his guitar. So, not only was the case always sitting in the middle of the floor but also almost everything in the closet.

I never thought I would love having this hanging on our wall!

Once we got home, Justin put up this new wall mounted guitar hanger. I LOVE IT and Justin does too. Now the floor of our office is guitar-free. Also, Justin is able easily access his guitar whenever he is in the mood to play his guitar...which is all the time.



I never thought I would be this excited about a wall mounted guitar stand!

Well, I spoke too soon!! When I came into the office to upload my images this is what I found. Now, you can see why I was so excited to get the other guitar off the floor.

This guitar that is normally at church but Justin brought it home to practice. I hope he plans on bring it back real soon. I can't stand having all this stuff on the floor in the office.

Progressive Dinner

Way back in May (I know I should have posted about this months ago) Justin and I were sitting at home on a Friday afternoon thinking about what we should do that night. Tired of our usual trips to the Renaissance to window shop, we wanted to do something different...something fun. We contemplated taking a quick trip to Memphis but quickly talked ourselves out of it. Normally when we are out of ideas we either go to the Renaissance, call friends, or do nothing. On this particular night we decided to call a friend. There is nothing like being bored with someone else.

Thinking we would grab a bite to eat and just hang out, we thought our friend Katie would be great company and would make the night much brighter. So we called and, lucky for us, she didn't have any plans for the night either. We picked her up and heading to Sonic for a happy hour drink. While trying to decide what we wanted to drink, we noticed a snow cone stand and changed our minds and headed there. After we ordered our snow cones, Katie came up with a great idea to go to different places to have dinner...a progressive dinner. After much diliberation on where we would go, we decided the only stipulation was that it could not be a chain. So we started our progressive dinner out at SnowBiz with snow cones (Yes, I know that SnowBiz is a chain and the rule was made after we had already ordered!).


Our next stop was Babalu for appetizers. We had heard they had the best guacamole and that they make it at your table, so it was our first choice. Justin makes a great homemade guacamole so lately we have been trying guacamole at any restaurant that has it on the menu. Most of the time Justin's is so much better, but I have to say that Babalu makes a great guacamole and gives Justin's a run for its money.


At this point we were almost full but we could not stop just after our appetizers so we while were thinking of where to go next we headed to Dogwood. After a little going back and forth about where we should go for our main course, we finally decided on Local 463. It was a little out of the way but so worth it. Justin and Katie had burgers and I had a pizza. The burgers were huge! It was a great restaurant and will be one that we will revisit.

Finally, it was time for dessert, which is my favorite part of any meal. We wanted to go somewhere that served good desserts but when we started thinking about where we should go, we came up short. We finally thought about Mint. I had never been there before so I was really excited to try the place out. Once, there we went back and forth trying to decide on how many desserts to get, of course, I wanted try all of them. In the end we got three different desserts, a chocolate cake, a cheesecake, and beignet balls. All three were delicious and worth all the calories.

I am so glad that Katie joined us and turned a dull Friday night into a adventurous outing.

Justin's best surprise ever!

Thursday the September 30th started out like any other Thursday. I went to the gym in the morning, had lunch with a friend, and did some stuff around the house. Around 5 that afternoon, Justin sent me a text telling me to look under a coaster in our office. When I first got the text, I thought it was Justin telling me he was on his way home from work. When I turned over the coaster I was surprised to find a QR code. I scanned the code and it took me here.

When I finished reading the poem I had the biggest smile on my face and picked up my keys and headed out the door. It took me a little while to find the second QR code, but when I did, knew I was on a fun scavenger hunt. During my fun outing Justin left me clues all over MC's campus as well as a few places around town. The places I went to find the clues are as follows, click on each link to view each clue:

Nelson

East Tower (Residence Hall)

Whittington (Residence Hall)

YogNFurit (yogurt place)

Olive Branch (gift shop)

Ratliff (Residence Hall)

Kugel (statue on campus)

The last clue lead me back home to check the mail box. When I opened the mail box I found Justin's iPod Touch with a Post-It note that said press play. This is the video is what the final clue. I encourage you to watch the video before scrolling down and reading the rest of the post.

The word surprised could not describe what I was feeling when I found out that Justin had planned a weekend trip to New York! If you know me, you know that I love NYC. I had less than 12 hours from the time I found out we were going to NYC to the time we had to get on the plane. Justin and I had ran around getting packed and getting everything ready before we left. Justin worked really hard to keep the trip a surprise. We had some plans already made but Justin had called everyone a told them of his surprise and told them we would not be able to keep our plans. He really thought of everything. It was awesome!!!

I don't think I slept the night before we left. I was excited and I kept thinking of things I needed to do and things I needed to pack.

Now on to NYC. Justin and I have been to NYC together 3 times, but each time we either stayed with friends who lived there or went with friends. To read more about our past trip click, here. The other two trips to NYC happened before I stated blogging so I don't have any posts to link to, sorry. When I found out that we would be going to NYC alone I was very excited. It has been a long time since Justin and I have been on a real vacation alone. I think it might have been our honeymoon almost 5 years ago.

We had a great time walking around NYC. We didn't do to many touristy things this time but here are some images of our trip. After checking into our hotel we went on the hunt for a place to eat lunch. One, of the many reasons we love NYC is the restaurant options. Living in Clinton you only have a few options when it comes to places to dine. NYC has 100's of options to choose from. When we are out of town Justin and I try to stay away from chain restaurants if at all possible. Its fun and it ensures that we try new places and different foods. This is my lunch at Le Pain Quotidien (This might be a chain...oops. I think it's a New York chain though.)

We sent a lot of time walking around Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, Union Square, Time Square, and the Upper East Side. Here are a few of our favorites pictures from the trip.

This is the 9/11 memorial. If you are in NYC you really need to make a stop here, just be sure you get your tickets before hand.

In our all trips to NYC we have never walked the Brooklyn Bridge to this time we made a point to do it. I am not sure if you can tell but there were a lot of people walking and biking on the bridge.

Time Square!!

A very delicious banana and hazelnut crepe from Max Brenners.

Views of the Jackie Onassis Reservoir in Central Park.

We had a great weekend and I am so grateful for a husband who would go through all the trouble of surprise me with a special weekend in my favorite city!