Howdy Y'all

Yo, y'all! I'm back with a vengence. Two things are happening right now...

**cues Amy Winehouse singing the lyrics, "No, no, no..."**
1) My system is in REEEE-to the-HAB from the St. Patrick's Day Parade 14-hour drinking binge, followed by Wednesday's Eagles concert, followed by three days in my favorite town in the world, NASHVILLE!!!

2) Living in seculsion from my credit card bill which is due on April 1. This means I will have to log in and see my current balance, presumably racked up in Music City. Oh well, IT WAS WORTH IT, PEOPLE! :) :)


St. Patty's Day
So, yah, ehh. The St. Patrick's Day parade in Davenport is pretty much the greatest day of the year. Most everyone is at home "sleeping" by 7:00 pm, as most everyone goes downtown by 10;00 am. This particular year, however, I had a concert to attend at the River Center at 7:30 pm (Zac Brown Band and Little Big Town). Wow.... I really think this pic looks pretty darn good for being out for 12 hours by this point. This is me and my friend, Kate :) Unfortunately, due to the concert, I couldn't go to Swanson's band's concert at the Dugout :(

Eagles
**cues Life in the Fast Lane**
Awesome show! I almost died when I couldn't justify paying $165 per ticket to go to this gig. Basically, it would have been a $400 night for Kurt and I (just for tickets and drinks), the day before we left for Nashville. So, I didn't get the tix :( :(

Then, MIRACULOUSLY, the day OF the show, Kurt somehow lands FREE TICKETS from one of his suppliers and we were in the 32nd row on the floor, pretty much center. This sounds far away but I can assure you it was NOT! I would ADORE these seats for every single concert. The Eagles were fan-freakin-tastic.


Nashville

**cues Honky Tonk Women by The Stones (seriously)**
OMG, where to start where to start where to start! We had such an awesome group go this year and had sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun! Gretchen, Molly and I drove down on Thursday a.m./afternoon and met Gretchen's friend, Cheryl, from high school. We all went out that night and tore up the town! Seriously, I have no idea when I last had that much fun!! Friday we all went shopping on 2nd Ave and Broadway.

Then, Friday late afternoon, Kurt, Allison and her husband, Brandon, arrived. We all went out on Friday and had a great time. Saturday, we took a tour of the Ryman and went to the Grand Ole Opry at night. Sooooo sad to leave. Soooo sad. My post-Nashville depression still looms....

You can see all of my pics here: http://www.kurtandannsteward.shutterfly.com/



Of course I had to buy some random loot in Nashville. I got some AWESOME boots that I love from my favorite boot store, Nashville Cowboy. =Love!! This is my second year to buy boots there and oh yes, I plan on a third purchase next year!! I also bought a belt, two buckles and two pearl snaps. Hey, you only live once...and THESE boots rock it and roll it!

Missin' y'all, especially my yoga peeps that I haven't seen during my extended hiatus!

Love,

Ann

Yeah, Mon...

Omg so I'm back to this barren wasteland...and the drying out period has officially begun. (**Ann looks around and desparately, wildly search for Kevvin or Garry to make her a margarita...blended with salt...then sobs**)...

I can't believe that at 8:00 a.m., I was soaking in the golden rays of sunshine, the blueness of the ocean, the greenness of the trees and grass... Okay, so I'm not so poetic. But you get the picture.

I need to find something earth-shatteringly sobering...something that can make an A&E style intervention to this Jamaica addiction. Oh yeah, I need to wash and iron ****ing WORK PANTS. That did it. Lame. Vacation is officially over.

Good to be back though (other than the hideous weather and lack of awesome "yeah mon"ing staff and 24/7 drinks) :)

More soon....

MOVING DAY!!!

Yes, it's true. I'm moving! Cannot WAIT!!!


As an ode to my former but beloved homestead, I will post a picture of my backyard TODAY:






and my backyard TOMORROW:

Hehehehehe... *zips up suitcase and dons sunglasses* I'm outta this effin' arctic trundra!!

Thanks, farmboy, for the awesome trip!! Yay!

Chat with you all upon my return! :) :) :)

Love y'all MUCHO and Namaste!

Ann

Weather = Ew

Ugh, the weather. The weather, the weather, the weather. We are all talking about it but none of us can stop! Including me! This is because it IS the horrid arctic tundra!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tundra, I say! Tundra!

I'm sooooo glad the farmboy *smiles* and I leave for Jamaica in 20 days! Yay! We're going to Negril for 8 days. Cannot wait! The weather is in the 80's there every day. I soooooo need another picture taken with some parrots on a beach somewhere! Jamaica has a lot to live up to since I LOVED the Dominican soooooo much :)

I need to start packing. Hmmmm...what to take?? I did buy some new cute-ish dresses at the mall a couple of weeks ago. This was because I didn't take too many dresses to The Dominican in July and I wished I had. I didn't take too many dresses to The Dominican in July because I had taken ALL dresses to Cancun last December and wished I had taken more capris and jeans instead. Does anyone feel like this is starting a "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" type of a conversation? I also took TONS of jewelry to Cancun and tried not to do this when we went to the DR. Of course, I was missing my jewelry with every outfit. So needless to say, this trip will take some advance planning since we'll be gone TWICE as long as DR. :) Kurt loves me! Ha! Also, I took minimal amounts of shoes. You can't tell in these pictures but the shoes were lame and the jewelry was all wrong!!! I'm not saying it's a fashion show but you should at least make an effort to coordinate. With the wedding craziness winding down, I was trying to be "carefree" and "wild" and pack less than Kurt. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!! This time, I'm loading up on clothing, shoe-thing, and accessories!!!!!

I do vow to take less makeup this time (more room for shoes/jewelry/junk). I have a Chanel quad that I adore, so that is the only eyeshadow I'll take. One blush, one Lancome lip gloss...well also my new Stila lip stain/gloss, two mascaras (one waterproof/one not). My Shu Umera eyelash curler, definitely. This is so minimal for me!! Of course I need all of my many brushes, though. Who can live without them? I didn't take a straightener or curling iron to the DR. What a mistake. I'm not really that high maintenance but I hate to not have the entire contents of my bathroom at my disposal. Am I the only one like this? This one bag, 50 lb weight limit poses a problem.

To get some perspective, a la Sophia from the Golden Girls: Picture it. Argentina. October 2004. Work trip. I left to come back to the U.S. BY MYSELF. The others had to stay a little longer but I had a vacation scheduled, I think. When I checked in, I had a large suitcase that weighed 69.0 lbs!!!! The limit was 70 lbs! I about died. Then I had a garment bag weighing 30 lbs. And my laptop bag and purse. I carried all of this crap by myself. OMG, how did I do this?? Granted, I was there for 6 weeks. But the point is, I travel heavy, people. I like to be prepared for pretty much anything that could happen. More pics of Argentina need to be posted. Soon!!!!

Probably the funniest travel story (OK, not THE funniest but one of them) I have was when I went to Paris for 3 weeks to audit the credit joint venture. I packed heavy, per usual. My dad came to my apartment to pick me up and drive me at the airport. At the very last second, I tossed my tennis shoes out of the suitcase and by the door and rolled on out. They were making a little indent out of my suitcase so I thought, how much would we really walk around Paris, anyway? "We'll take cabs everywhere." Yeah RIGHT!! I walked around Paris in these sweet thick cork-bottom Sbicca sandals or black stilletos for 3 weeks. Walked miles and miles and miles. And miles. Oh God, we walked EVERYWHERE!! LOL. I only *sorta* fell once and this was going up the stairs of the subway. I think it made me a better person because I will never again forget to pack tennis shoes for a trip :) You just never know. Ha!

Anyway, there is really no point to this blog except the weather is WRETCHED and I sooooooooo miss traveling. :)

Love you all and NAMASTE!!!!!!

Ann :)

P.S. Requests now being taken for dorky beach yoga poses (in sanskrit only-lol). Remember, I am not an instructor by any means...so this will look really bad but could be funny!

P.P.S. It has to be something I can at least sort of do. No Warrior III! Ha! J/K, I'll throw in a III.

P.P.P.S. No G.P. We are broken up until 1 March. :P