Recording in the Sun

Nathan and I were recording the other day and for a change of scenery we headed downstairs to work in the living room. All was good until the big ball of flame in the sky descended, shining tstraight hrough Nathan's large living room window directly into our eyes. To protect ourselves from the glare we worked until the sun went down in our sun glasses. It was fun.

Prom 2006 "Under the Stars"

posed 44.jpg
Originally uploaded by elvisripley.

Well Prom is over and it was more than I dreamed it would be. There was dancing and singing, laughing and crying (only by one really drunk girl). I will look back with fond memories on a night in May when made are prom dreams come true.

If you have time I highly recommend taking a look at the photos. You might notice that Heather and I are pictured in two different dresses. That is because we did a costume change half way through the night. If a girl has a chance to dress up why not dress up twice?

View as slide show

Video Chatting

We have discovered that with Ian being so busy this year and me working on my solo project we are not going to get much quality time together. So the night before Ian left for England for two weeks we ran out and bought an isight camera for him so we could at least video chat while he is away. So far we have used it more that I expected. It is like we are in the same room only 5,000 miles away from each other. We leave it on while we are working and just look at each other and talk every once in a awhile. The picture quality could be better but I am not complaining. I cannot imagine living in a time when you had to rely on letters as a way of communicating. AAhhhh! I would not have the patience for that. Thank God for technology. I love technology but not as much as you, you see.
So I am here in my little East Nashville abode all alone and a little lonely. I will soon be flying to Tulsa to join my family once again. Prom 2006 is just around the corner and I am getting excited. My hair is bleached, my teeth are bleached, my skin is bleached, well only because I am so pale, and I have my dress ready to go. Yay!

Patio furniture.

We finally bought patio furniture! I have been waiting for 3 years to buy patio furniture for our backyard and the other day we did. Yippeee! We tracked down the set we wanted after intense investigation into what store offered the best deal at the Target on White Bridge Road. Ian was uncertain that the box would fit in the car but me in my optimism felt sure we could make it work. This is what we did.

There's no place like home?

Where is my home? I live in Nashville, London, sometimes Tulsa. When asked where I am from i always say Oklahoma but I haven't lived in OKlahoma in about 5 years and before that I was rarely there.
We have returned back to our "home" in Nashville after a fun filled, sick feeling, successful tour with the D? boys and there wives and kids. 14 kids on the road ranging from 7 months to 15 years. Wow. How nice it is to not hear a child crying for a few days. We had a fun and stayed married and are not wanting kids anytime soon. Here are few pics from the road.

Smooch

Time flies when you are blogging.

I just realized it is my one year anniversary of blogging. Wow it has been a wild ride. I wish you could order your blogs in a book format. I guess I could print them out and put them in a book if my printer was working properly.
i noticed as I was perusing my previous blogs that the comments have dropped to an all time low. Just wondering if you could let me know how much you enjoy the blog, what you would like to see more of, etc.

Happy blogiversary!

xxx

In the studio w/ Jeremy Bose

Bigger than Dallas

While in Tulsa I decided to get my hair done before I returned to Nashville to see Ian. I looked up the "nicest" salon in Tulsa and made an appointment with a "master" stylist. 3 hours and $200 later I left the salon looking like an secretary from the 80's hit TV drama Dallas. Luckily Heather was working next door and I ran next door barely containing my laughter to show Heather my new do. After a good laugh and the photos I wondered over to American Eagle and glanced in the well lit mirrors to admire my new giant hair. Only to find my roots were a lovely yellowey orange. Man I was pissed! I marched back over there demanding my money back, well some of my money back. BUt of course the yuppy stuck up salon said they would fix it. Whatever. The next day I decided I did not want to spend my last day in Tulsa at the salon. I have my priorities ya know. Early in the morning I went up and informed the young cute receptionist that I just wanted a refund and that was that. To make a very long and frustrating story shorter and less frustrating they refunded me some money and I applied a toner to my orange roots that calmed them down a bit. So the moral of this story is never go to Marylyn Ilhoff's in Tulsa to get your hair done!

Football in the Park

Football in the Park
Originally uploaded by Mizzie.

The day was beautiful, the park was busy, the football was fun, the swarming plague of little nats was annoying. The other day Heather and I took Maxwell to the park to play gently tackle football and play on the playground. As we played we were serenaded by a mexican percussion band with more cowbell then necessary. I did not need more cowbell. I love the weather this time of year and being in Tulsa holds so many memories for me. I have seen pictures of myself playing in this same park, at the same time of yea,r at the same age that Max is. The song memories is playing in my mind as I write this. Being there with my favorite nephew my favorite twin friend what more could I ask for. Oh, I know being there without the crazy amount of bugs sticking to my clothes and flying into my eyes and mouth. Yuck.

Click on the photo for more.

Sleepover at the Aquarium

Sleepover at the Aquarium
Originally uploaded by Mizzie.

On Friday night my Mom, Max, and I stayed over at the Oklahoma Aquarium in Tulsa. Most of my friends and Ian thought I was crazy to want to spend the night in an aquarium sleeping on a concrete floor. I on the other hand saw it as a unique opportunity to spend some quality time with my Mom and Max doing something I have never done before. The evening started slow and although I had been extremely excited about it I had to try hard to stay interested in the hula dancers and bad puppet show. Thankfully they didn't last long and we started craft time making fish frames.
Max was a little ill so he surprisingly went to bed at around 8:00pm. A little disappointed Mom and walked around and looked at all the fish checking on Max often. I enjoyed the time with my Mommy. She is a fun lady. Max woke up in full effect at about 10:00pm just in time for the flash light walk through of the tanks. They turned off all the lights and we got to look in all the tanks using our flash lights. I can't believe how much I enjoyed this. I usually rush through museums and exhibits but this way I took my time and soaked it all in. Max really liked it. We finally went to sleep at about 1:00am. I did not realize how hard concrete is to sleep on. My little egg crate sponge was little defense against the hardness. I made it through with only a little bit of stiffness. At 6:30am they turned on the fish tank lights. My Mom enjoyed laying in her sleeping bag looking at the fish peacefully swimming around. We went out for breakfast avoiding the sugary sweets they provided at Breakfast By Day. By the time we got home I was exhausted. I laid down in MAx's bed while he told Melanie about the evening and woke up 4 hours later. Max stayed up all day. All in all I had a wonderful time. I hope Max remembers the night he stayed at the Aquarium with Aunt Missy and Nana.

Click on the photo to look at more on my Flickr site.

Saturday Night at The Down Lounge

Last Saturday my sister, Grant, Sarah, Heather, and I went out to a poetry and singer song writer night and then headed off to a club night put on by one of Melanie and Grants friends. The night is called The Down Lounge. The music was house, the air was smoke free, the company was fun, fun, fun.

The Powderpuff Girls

Some of you may have heard that when in London I work as a Powderpuff Girl. Most of you wonder what this means and what do I do. Well let me explain. The Powderpuff Girls is a company that sends out professional makeup artists to posh parties to do makeup for the guests. If you are interested you can read more by clicking on the bold type title. Here are a couple of photos of me as a Powderpuff Girl.




Mom and Heather take a look at my knobbily knees. Do I win the contest?

Normal Heather

Heather
Originally uploaded by elvisripley.

I have freakishly long arms.

Heather
Originally uploaded by elvisripley.

This is a photo that Elvis took of Heather that went awry. She really does look like me especially if you compare the picture in which her arms a normal length.

Maybe I should look for a support group online for people like me.

Friday Night at the Lipstick Lounge

Friday night Ian, Tom, and I decided we wanted to go out. We had a nice dinner at home and called all our Nashville friends to see if anyone wanted to join us for a big night of dancing and fun. After two phone calls we realized we don't have many Nashville friends and the ones we do have are on the road or like staying home on Friday night. Coming to grips with the fact that the big night out would just be the three of us we made a collective decision to venture to unknown territory close to home....the mythical Lipstick Lounge. Located only a few blocks from our house the Lipstick Lounge has been a source of humor and mystery in our family for a couple of years now. One desperate night about a year ago a gang of us tried to enter into the cosmetic wonderland only to get to the door and see the Lipstick Ladies were taking the night off. As Tom so eloquently put it " the Gays must have night off." Yes the Lipstick Lounge is a predominatly Gay hang out mainly for lesbians, but lots of straight folk go there too and Friday night we found out why......Rhonda and Jonda (and the Lipstick Lounge house band). Rhonda and Jonda are identical twins in their late 50's with more soul in their voices than manliness in their looks. These bleach blonde, short haired, tie wearing, white girls can sing and the band was fantastic. They were so good that after a few Gin and Tonics Tom thought he would try his luck dancing with the locals.




"Hey I'm Tom I am going to dance with these local ladies!"

Hey Ladies would you like to dance with me...Tom Redman?"



"No? Oh you would rather dance with each other? What not me? What about me?"



"Please I have come to your hang out seeking sport from the ladies. Look I will un botton my shirt for you."

She said yes! Yay! I am Tom.

Put me in Coach

We have a brand new nick name for our little Tommy....Coach. He came to work the other day, which means he rolled out of bed and walked down stairs -traffic is real nightmare, wearing a wonderful new look I like to call Coach chic. It was a free shirt his brother had received and on realizing its magnitude passed it on to his "little" bro.
I think he's listening to the big game on his head phones. I have to be careful or he might make me to some push ups.

Still Looking

For those of you keeping up with the continuing saga of No House in the City here is an update. We still have not found a house in either city we are looking in...London or Nashville. Well that is not entirely true we have found a house in Nashville and put in an offer only to be outbid by someone else. Once again. We have been driving by the house almost everyday asking God to give it to us if it is His will. So we shall see. Other than that is life as usual at the Cattle house hold.

My friend Donella got engaged the other night at her 30th Birthday Party. It was amazing to be there and be a part of such a special moment. She had no idea it was coming.

It is frickin' freezing!

Holy £$%^ it is so cold. I think at one point today my face actually froze, it was so cold I could not move it. Crazy feeling. I spent most of today viewing flats in London. I lost the feeling in my toes about halfway through the day and am just know regaining feeling. Yikes! No great news on flats, but things are looking up. The good news is flats in London are much nicer than houses and flats out here. The bad news is the streets are unpredictable. YOu can have a bad street in a good area and a good street in a bad area. So the search continues.

The temperature gage in my car said -1.5 when I was driving Tom and his friend John to Berkhamstead so they could get drunk to fight off the cold. No wonder everyone drinks here it is the only way to stay warm or just stay numb to the pain. Seriously I have never been this cold. While waiting for an estate agent I had a vision of me falling to the floor into the fetal position and freezing there to the cement with little icicles hanging from my nose and eyelashes. I almost started screaming when I was walking back to the station. I would never survive the arctic. BUUURRRRR!

Please God help me find a house!

On the train to London.



This little boy, who looks like he is from another time, brought me some joy today as I walked behind him watching him skip.


It has come to this. I am asking for prayer. Something I do not do. The reason? I never feel like my needs are that important to ask others to take time out of their day to ask the Almighty, who definitely has bigger things on His mind, to help me with my pathetic, little, usually selfish needs. But today I have spent 6 hours in London looking at 3 properties of which none suited. I went into 2 estate agents offices to be told they were too busy for me but they could squeeze me in later this week. No one seems to want to help me find a property. My gut feeling, which is quite demoralizing, is that #1 - I am American, and #2 - I am not spending enough money to earn their time. I could be wrong. Maybe they are just really busy. But I just want to find a house, buy it, not have anyone gussump us, and move in. Is that too much to ask? Now I know some of you must be thinking "MIssy, your are so picky. MAybe you should lower your standards and you will find somewhere." And to that I say you are right. But I like being picky. And I know how much money we are spending and I want what I want. That sounds harsh, but hopefully you know what I mean. So I am asking from the bottom of my heart, whatever that means, for to say a little prayer for my house buying venture. It is a big mean world out there and I could use all the help I can get. Thanks. xxx