So I have a thing for musicians...

Or maybe just THIS musician. I always love watching Dirk perform, and have been going to see his shows for almost six years now. His bands have changed, his bass guitar has changed, but the feeling I get when he gets up there and sings in his James Morrison-esque voice has not changed.

Dirk started playing with a local band "Earthbound" about a year ago after taking a break from being a full-time musician with his former band "Looney Mill." Earthbound is an established Birmingham band with a very J.J. Cale/Grateful Dead sound. Needless to say, they have a built-in crowd around here. Joining a band that had been around for awhile meant that Dirk was not needed to be front and center since EB already has a lead singer and background vocals.

But a few weekends ago, the guys opened for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, a group out of New Orleans that I have been going to see since back in my college days on the mountain when they would play frat parties in Sewanee. Now they open and sometimes play with huge names like Widespread Panic.

After Earthbound's set I excused myself to the ladies and was exiting the nasty gross stall when I heard a familiar sound. It was DIRK! And he was SINGING! A sound I hadn't realized I had missed so much in the past two and a half years since Looney Mill disintegrated. I started shrieking like a schoolgirl (literally shrieking like we used to do in first grade when we would wait at the side of the school building during middle recess to watch Colin Breyfogle walk up from the high school for lunch) and ran out to boogey. Dirk had somehow been able to talk some of the Dirty Dozen musicians into performing Bill Wither's song "Use Me" with him. SO much fun.



I can't really describe how proud I am of him when he's doing his thing. And as much as he grumbles and gripes about practice and the late nights (he's playing tonight and they won't START until midnight), I think it is SO important for him to have this creative outlet. And when he's up there and the girls are falling all over themselves because of his hotness and mad sex appeal, I think, "He's marrying ME, b!&%^3s!"

Ugh.

We didn't get the house. So how do we handle disappointment? We headed to hang out with our super fun friends Susan and Chris in Atlanta.

This is my fourth aquarium to visit in the United States, so I've got a pretty good basis of comparison. As far as organization, Chattanooga's got them beat. As far as exhibits, Monterey wins, as far as crowd control, Tulsa's on top, as far as large salt water exhibits, Atlanta's where it's at.







So yeah, life goes on. Wedding planning continues. I've just been weird lately. Stress at work. Bad belly because of it. Lack of protein due to laziness and not wanting to cook and eat properly. It's a combination of things, I suppose. I really cannot wait for my family to get here in February. It's the light at the end of the tunnel right now.

xoxo

Updates

Here are the updates on the house:

We are currently in underwriting. Things have been very frustrating and stressful and difficult and there have been a few times this week where we've been ready to throw the towel in. But we've always woken up the following morning ready to keep fighting. If nothing else, this whole experience has reiterated how wonderful a husband and father Dirk will be. I know now that if something goes wrong I can always count on him to fight and fight and keep on fighting until there's nothing left to fight for. He is one of the strongest willed people I know and I love him for that!

Wedding:

We have cakes! Well, we don't have them right now, obviously, but the cakes have been picked out and taste-tested. So yes, if nothing else, we will have cakes.

We also have bridesmaids dresses! Yes! And Brooke and Kate have already gotten theirs. Is it a little backward that the bridesmaids have dresses before I do? If so, whatever. D-Day (Dress Day, for those who have forgotten) is fast approaching. And I will have not one, but TWO parents flying down that weekend to celebrate with.

Oh, and we have a bachelorette weekend planned! The bridesmaids and Mama and Aunt Jane and hopefully some of my cousins will be staying at my friends' gorgeous home on the bluff in Sewanee, which is also where I went to college. I am oh so excited to have all of these amazing women in one place (sans testosterone) in such a beautiful environment for an entire weekend. And what a treat that Mama and Kate will be able to travel from Iowa to join in. An entire weekend of drinking wine, taking photos around campus in my wedding dress, and eating wickedly delicious food. Yessssss!

So that's what's going on. Forgive the lack of photographs, I have been mentally and physically exhausted the past two weeks and have been neglecting my Nikon. Dirk and I have some fun adventuring coming up next weekend so there will be plenty of pictures to come. I think we're FINALLY going to make our way to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta to look at fishes. We've only been planning on it for three years now. Ha!

This weekend it's going to be freezing cold and I think we'll be deep cleaning and organizing and purging the crap that collects in our home. And possibly going to see a movie and possibly eating somewhere new and fun and exciting.

I have all sorts of resolutions for this year that I can't wait to keep!

xoxo
Gossip Girl
(tee hee)