Vandy Football Game

Wow....I can't believe it has been over three months since our last post. I know some interesting things have happened during that time, not sure why we never let the world know. Oh well, we'll try to keep updating a little more often. No promises though : )

On Halloween (Saturday Oct. 31) Girl and I went to the Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt college football game with one of our friends. We weren't expecting much of a game since Georgia Tech was ranked No. 11 and Vanderbilt isn't necessarily known as a football powerhouse. The game turned out to be pretty good...at least the first half anyway. Vandy was able to trade scores and went into halftime tied 28-28. The second half was a different story. Vandy made an early 2nd half field goal to take the lead, but that was all the points they could score. GATech went on a 28-0 run after that and blew Vandy out 56-31. At least it was an entertaining game.

Vandy running onto the field

Kick Off

Pac-Man, Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde all decided to show up to the game

Vandy celebrating a touchdown

GATech fan section. Their band blew Vandy's band away. Pretty sad when the home team's band is so weak : (

We left when the score hit 49-31. We knew it was over.

Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art 7/19/09

Last weekend's weather in Nashville was perfect: 76F, partly-cloudy, slight breeze. It was a nice break from the muggy 90s we have been experiencing. Since the weather was so nice, Girl and I decided to spend the day outside at the Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art.

The Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art is a 55-acre estate built by the Maxwell House Coffee fortune. It has 10 specialty display gardens and a Museum of Art with collections of American and Contemporary paintings and sculptures, English and American decorative arts, traveling exhibitions, and even a Fabergé exhibit.

The Carell Woodland Sculpture Trail was the high light of the afternoon. It is a rugged path that stretchs more than one mile, displaying fifteen sculptures placed randomly along the trail.

View of the trail

A water feature sculpture.

Leave it to Guy to find a turtle everywhere he goes

Girl inside of a glass bridge

Can't have a turtle on a trail and not a hare. This one is even half woman.

We even came across a couple of white tail deer bucks still in velvet. Girl is convinced that they were robots/fake with mechanical head movements. However, Guy saw one scratch itself with its hind leg and then lick the spot it had just scratched.

Just a few examples of the current items from the Matilda Geddings Gray Collection of Fabergé. All items are produced from precious metals and stone. Girl especially likes the Imperial Lilies of the Valley Basket (below) which is made of Yellow and green gold, silver, nephrite, pearl, and rose cut diamonds.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent exploring the different botanical gardens. Girl even stole some rosemary from one (ssshhh...).

Banh Bao - Vietnamese for "big-ass dumpling"

Steaming the banh bao

Girl made some banh bao for dinner the other day. Banh bao is a large ball-shaped dumpling filled with ground pork, sausage, onions, and some hard-boiled egg. The dumpling is steam-cooked for about 20 minutes. It tastes awesome. All the flavors mix very well and the dumpling dough is nice and fluffy.

Inside of a banh bao

I think there has only been one Vietnamese dish I haven't liked in the 5 years we have been together; some duck dish. Other than that, I have liked all the Vietnamese food I have tried so far. Lucky for me Girl is an excellent cook. Lucky for her I am an excellent eater.

Help Us Name that Country Music Celebrity

As we were walking around Fan Fair Hall, we were able to snap a few photos of some country music stars. Some we know, some we don't. Like we previously acknowledged, we are not modern country music aficionados. Plus, we don't get CMT or GAC to help us place faces with names. Please help us figure out those music artists we can't identify.


Naomi Judd with a fan


Doug Stone being photo friendly


Can you guess this country music celebrity's backside? We'll give you the answer at the end of this post.


Any idea who this duo is standing infront of a Montgomery Gentry ad?


We walked next to this guy oblivious to his identity until he was mobbed by a group of screaming young female fans. We had to ask them who he was. Unfortunately, we forgot who they said. Can you name him for us?


We know the guy is a CMT V-jay/host, but who is the woman? She was signing guitars when we were walking by.


No idea. We think he is a very new artist.


John Michael Montgomery. Where has he been the last decade?


Dancing with the Stars turned country singer Julianne Hough.


Michael Peterson


Blake Shelton


Reba


???


Any idea who's logo this is? It was on a tour bus.


Hank Williams Jr. giving us a wave at LP Field before the concert.


Our neighbor Frank Bowers playing lead guitar on stage with Montgomery Gentry.

So, did you place a name with that celebrity backside earlier? It belongs to Carrie Underwood. You can see a few more photos we got of her here.

CMA Festival 2009

From CMA 2009

When in Nashville, do like the Nashvillians do: go to the CMT Music Festival! We braved the heat and joined the 50,000 fest-goers for four days of country music. All of downtown Nashville was blocked off for on-street performances, autograph signings, fun zones, and general chaos. This is when Hollywood meets Redneck at its finest. All you need is a pair of cowboy boots, a shiny hat and a shinier belt buckle.


On day one, Girl took off work early to venture the street activities which were free to the public. There were free concerts at about every corner and every bar. The River Front and Sommett center had better-known-names while the Hard Rock and bars had newer up-and-comers. Girl got to see The Randy Roger Band (Texas rock) and Guy got a flash from the past while tapping along to The Kentucky HeadHunters.

From CMA 2009

Free River Front Concert area

From CMA 2009

Performer at the Hard Rock concert area

From CMA 2009

Kentucky HeadHunters

From CMA 2009

The ultimate pork-chops...Wolverine has nothing on the drummer.



The evening was reserved for more music at LP Field. This was where the big boy and girls performed. The first night had the best lineup with the biggest names. But not even the biggest country music artist can stand in the way of Mother Nature. The night ended short for us, after two performances (Brooks & Dunn and Reba) a lighting storm forced a three hour delay of the concert. We waited until 11pm and decided to get some dinner and go home. Bummer… apparently, the concert resumed a little after midnight with most of the acts performing until 2am.

From CMA 2009

LP Field...home of the TN Titans

From CMA 2009

View from our seats...not too shabby.

From CMA 2009

Reba

From CMA 2009

Brooks and Dunn



As the weekend progressed, we learned that we were not modern country music aficionados. Come to find out, we would walk and stand next to “celebrities” and not even know it (tune in to our next entry for photos; maybe you can help us figure out who these people are). Guy “discovered” a few new acts that he likes, at least he thinks they are “new”: The Zac Brown Band and Jamey Johnson. Girl gave the best-act-of-the-festival to Wynonna Judd. She’s got some serious vocal pipes!

From CMA 2009

The Judds reunited!!

From CMA 2009

Jamey Johnson

Visit our photo album for more pictures!

We are back!

Home at Last

We made it back to Nashville and are ready for Christmas, but are not ready for this awful weather. Girl is still struggling with jet lag and needs to be in bed by 9PM. We only left for four months, but many things have changed during our absence:
1. The price of gas - The other day, Girl filled up her tank for only $15.00 !

Girl took this photo before we left.


2. The weather. We left at the end of summer and experienced spring-summer all over again in Africa. Just last week Girl was laying on the beach in the 90s.

Beautiful Camps Bay

3. The price of bread. Well, food in general is more expensive in The States. We got a loaf of fresh bread for 70 cents in Africa and we're paying nearly 3 bucks now.
4. The price of coffee. We got a nice cup of Mocha Cafe for only $1.50 and now, it's back to $5 Starbuck!

Starbuck, African style


It's nice to be back, but boy it's hurting the wallet. Maybe it's just Christmas. But on good note, we are glad we're back in the Music City. Maybe an Opry show before the new year.

On a different note, Scott and Joy are online! Welcome!