My Favorite Restaurants

I was tagged by Carrie in her post regarding her favorite restaurants. I might do three lists... one of Nashville, one of Fort Worth, and one of Abilene. When we were in the DR with TJ and Holly, Holly suggested that we take a food vacation. In this vacation we would go to Abilene and eat at all our favorite places. I think it's a pretty good idea although, I'd like to add Fort Worth to the itinerary. Actually, I'm not going to do three different lists, I'm going to make them all one.

1. Chili's . Brentwood, TN . By far my most favorite place to eat. Blake and I love to go to Chili's. It doesn't matter where... Brentwood, Abilene, or Fort Worth. Brentwood is the best and Kevan Albright is by far the best waiter in the whole world. The Quesadilla Explosion Salad is heavenly! You must try it!

2. Cousin's Barbeque . Fort Worth, TX . The BEST barbeque you will ever eat. There are a few locations in the metroplex. If you ever fly through DFW airport, you must eat there.

3. Puffy Muffin . Brentwood, TN . I love Puffy Muffin. I love their chicken salad, tortilla soup, chocolate chip pancakes, hashbrown casserole, and mocha crinkles. It is always filled with Nashville's most adorable moms... I don't fit in, but I don't care. Even Blake loves eating breakfast there.

4. Spaghetti Warehouse . Abilene (or Fort Worth), TX . It isn't the same as the Spaghetti Factory in Nashville. It's WAY better. It's cheap with great bread and even better salad. I can't wait to go again.

5. Copper Kettle . Nashville, TN . A great "meat and three." I didn't even know what that was until I moved here. They have the best pot roast I have ever eaten. It's so delicious! We haven't eaten there in a while... Just in case you want to go, it's only guaranteed that they will have pot roast on Thursdays.

I have many more "favorite" restaurants. Rosa's Tortilla Factory, Luby's, Subway, Carrabba's, Blue Mesa, Outback... The list goes on.

I still have over 1,000 pictures to post from our trip to the DR. Maybe I'll get to that this week. Oh yeah, Blake and I bought a house almost a month ago. I spent all weekend pulling down two layers of grape border and wallpaper. I'm letting Blake take down all the nasty glue. Hopefully we will be able to paint tomorrow. We'll see!

Playa Grande

Here... and loving it!

We are safe and sound in the DR. I will post lots of blogs about our experiences when we get back... or during our 6 hour lay-over at JFK. Just wanted to share a few pictures!

Frisbee Sunday...

ACU #3

He's Really Great!

He really is great! This is the article that was in the WPLN Newsletter about Blake. It's really cheesy and he wrote every word of it, but it's just kind of neat. Blake has been working super hard lately. Not that he didn't work hard before he started hosting Morning Edition, it's just that he's been working extra hard lately. He gets up super early (3:45am), gets to WPLN at 4:30am, and usually doesn't stop working until 5:00pm. He's been WPLN's workhorse lately but he really loves it. He's motivated to go out and find news to cover or feature stories to write, which I would never have the drive to do. Here's to Blake!

Blake went to bed at 9:30 tonight, and I am trying to overcome my desire to sleep whenever he does. I have been sleeping so much lately (atleast 9 or 10 hours a night) and all I want to do is sleep. I think I have always "needed" more sleep than most people, but not being able to DRAG myself out of bed at 7am is getting annoying. So... I'm trying a new plan. I'm going to stay up after Blake goes to bed and straighten the house, exercise (pray for determination), and do a little Spring Cleaning (more organizing than anything). It's 10:07 right now and I'm fighting weariness. I'm weak and I know it. Blake is strong. He will get 6 hours of sleep, work for 12, and then go run for an hour. How's that for determination. I'm off to attepmt #2 on my list of things to do. Here goes nothing!

By the way, Kenli is coming to visit on Saturday and staying through Wednesday! I am SOOOOO excited!

I Love Sing Song... and Siggies!

This is for my fellow super-competitive, Sing Song loving, Siggie gals!

Weekend in Abilene #1

The sweetest thing...

Perhaps the sweetest looking 10-day-old we've ever seen.
This is Hannah Rivkah, the first born of Shrebekawn - as we like to call them - Shawn and Rebecca Brown.
From all accounts, the new family is doing well.

blake

Snow!

Rebekah's Baby Shower

Sorry, no pictures.

I am in Orlando right now for a Children's Ministry conference. I know you are probably thinking, "Moriah, you aren't a children's minister. You were an intern once, but that doesn't make you one." Believe me, I know I'm not a children's minister. I kind of stick out like a sore thumb here: Young girl, Pumas, jeans, computer satchel (not a padded bag), no perm, no orthopedic shoes. Now, I have to say this... The women I came with from Otter Creek are not like this either, but they don't stick out like I do. I don't get really excited when a group comes out on stage to perform their songs (lip-singing with a track) all while their cartoon counterparts are projected on the side screens. (Once again, Janet, Melanie, Donna, and Nan don't do this either.) Janet and Melanie asked me to come at the end of last week when someone had to drop out because her father was sick. I was so excited that they thought of me. There is a whole "media track" that so far, has proven to be really great. I've never been one to want to sit and listen to people talk for hours on end, but my classes have been great so far. It is really fun though, the older people in my classes always want to talk about what they do in their churches, and not what the "teacher" is talking about. They want to talk about the videos that they have edited and the tools they used to do it. It seems strange to me. They also really love to name drop. Not people's names but things like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier, firewire, pixels, and Photo Shop. Nobody cares that they know what those things are. Everyone under the age of 30 know what those things are. I don't want to sound mean, but the teachers could say A LOT more if everyone else would just listen. They should practice what they preach to their kiddos, "Only one person is allowed to talk at a time." I should mention that all the people in my classes are men. Not a judgement, just stating a fact.

Well, its 4:18 here in Orlando, dinner starts at 5:00 and people are lining up outside the ballroom that I am sitting outside of. Waiting in line for 45 minutes to get a table for dinner? Crazy. They will not run out of tables. Maybe they are really super excited about hearing Max Lucado speak after dinner. Although you might not know it was actually him speaking, because this morning the emcee announced that "Mack Lucatto" would be the key-note speaker. He is only one of the most popular Christian authors, how could he not know how to pronounce his name. Oh, well. Since the line is beginning to grow I should probably close my computer. I'm getting funny looks. I'm sitting on the floor, leggs crossed, listening to "Wicked" on my iPod, writing a post for my blog. I might just be the image of what they don't want the kids in thier ministies to become... Girl on a trip, going crazy because she can't find anywhere that has reliable wireless internet access ($10 for 24 hours), wanting to check her e-mail, facebook, and the many blogs that I can't get behind on. So much for leaving the world behind. I just can't do it. Thats not true. I could do it if I wanted to, I just don't want to. The only time I will voluntarily leave the comfort of my web-based world is to go visit Holly and TJ in the DR. I'll do it, but ONLY for you guys!

Now it is really time to go. I've been accidentally stepped on twice in the past five minutes. (Please, don't think poorly of me for this post.)

Love,
MoMo

S'mores

All About Ben & Drew

These boys are Ben and Drew, the twins sons of Michael and Heather some of our friends from Otter Creek. We got the chance to play with the boys for a while last Saturday night while Heather and Michael went to dinner. We had a blast with the boys, as you can see, they are incredibly adorable. The cutest little set of twins I've ever seen... so far. I know that Sheets boys are going to give them a run for their money when they are born! Holly and TJ actually went with us to the boys' house, so they had plenty of attention. Somehow, Drew (dark hair) still managed to get a pretty nasty bump and bruise while we were there. It took four of us to take care of two of them. We'd love to do it again, as long as the boys will have us!

Trying something new, the blogcast

I thought I might periodically share highlights from my radio work, the funny stuff. Check out this self-titled 'bad mamma-jamma.'

You may need some backstory first. At least once a month I work for a public radio show in Los Angeles called Weekend America. Part of their show is a montage of sound from all over the country, regular Joe's talking about what they're doing this weekend. I also ask a few questions that might pertain a story on the show that week.

I'm always looking for the ideal place to do these 'vox pops.' I need lots of people in one location who aren't in too much of a hurry to talk to me. I went to the park across from Nashville's downtown library, informally known as the homeless park. I didn't get much that I could use, but I did laugh...especially at Raymond Isabella.

Raymond was sitting next to the fountain, minding his own. I asked if he would allow me to pick his brain. I ran through my questions, looking for good answers. I said, "Raymond, tell me a song that makes you want to get up and dance."

The reply required Raymond to close his eyes and rock back and forth. Then this came out. My favorite part is when he finishes the song.


Click here to get your own player.



(this is not actually a picture of Raymond, but it's close enough.)

Caught up on 24

It's been a tough row to hoe, but Moriah and I have watched all five seasons of 24 in the last six months. That makes 120 separate episodes, which is certainly no small task, especially since Moriah bought the first four seasons on eBay for somewhere around $120 - only to find out we had purchased bootleg versions with Chinese writing all over them and subtitles.

We waded through the mess and cultural barriers. Let me share with you an exerpt of the fine print on the back of this packaging.

"This DVD is authorized for or [sic] rent only in the country where originally sold, only in the HONG or only in Canada, respevtived Unauthorzed reproduction, sistribution or exhibition viotates federal laws with severe penaltees and vilates Colubia Tnstar Home Entertainment's standard terms of trade."

My favorite part is the word "viotates." Can't you just hear a small Chinese man pronouncing the word in broken English.

Anyway, thought our friends should know of this milestone. We're prepped and ready to go for the two night season premiere.

Share with us your own 24 experience. If it's anything like mine, I'm trying to use the words 'protocol and schematic' more in my day-to-day conversations. I've found myself saying stuff like, 'You'll just have to trust me." And what I really mean is, I'm getting annoyed with the redundancies. I mean, can we assume that there will be an attack on CTU Los Angeles some time during the sixth season? yes.

Won't stop us from getting addicted.

b

Mo's Side...

Mom's Rolls

More on Christmas later!

Christmas came early

I guess you could say Christmas came early this year...but for no apparent reason other than Moriah's impatience. I could take some of the blame, but Moriah takes the cake. She can't keep a good secret. Moriah loves getting her Christmas shopping done early, but it's really become a problem. She's stressed because we haven't gotten a gift for my grandmother yet, but seriously, my mom called me yesterday asking what I want for Christmas.

Point is, Moriah bought my gift the week of Thanksgiving. She let me know it was in a big box in the back of the jeep and that she wanted to give it to me. As if those weren't enough clues, but I was strong.

A week later, we're lounging around, waiting for our favorite HDTV shows to come on. She says, "Why don't you try and guess what your present is?"

I'm thinking 'If I don't guess it, she's going to think she's a bad wife.' I explained this but Moriah insisted, so I listed what I thought it might be: a desk chair, a road bike...no...a surround sound system?

Her face lights up, giving it a way to even the most retarded of human beings.

(This story is getting long, so I'll get to the meat of it.) Even then I tried not to get to the details - brand, color, watts. I wanted to at least have the unknown size of the subwoofer be my Christmas surprise.


It was no secret that Moriah was going to get a digital SLR camera, and this week, Tuesday, it came in the mail. I made it for one day, but I couldn't keep the anxious box in my closet any longer. We exchanged gifts Wednesday night before church.

Sadly this isn't the first time we've fallen prey to the pre-Christmas jitters. Last year we exchanged at least a week early.

We're definitely going to be bad parents.

p.s. I'm writing this in part because Moriah told my my last post sucked hard. So, sorry for those of you who had to endure.

p.p.s. Here are some photos we've taken, playing with Moriah's new toy.

Merry Christmas

So this is Christmas...

Moriah insists that she won't send out official Christmas cards until we own a house. I suppose she's just lighting the fire under my seat to start makin' them dolla's. Point is, this is it. Merry Christmas from (if you'll refer to the stockings hung by our fake chimney with care) Joy and Noel. You can guess who's who.

I feel like a fish out of water on this blogging thing, but I think you're suppose to give the news from the homefront. David and Lynn are back in town, never to leave again if we have any say. TJ and Holly are back in a bit more than one week. We miss them too. Skype video conferences just aren't a suitable replacement for friends.

Fort Worth is calling our number for Christmas. We'll head down there Dec. 22nd and come back the 26th, a quick trip which will likely get us sad eyes from the Steward family. Before then, Grant (my brother) and I will hit the slopes in Snowshoe, WV. That's assuming there's any snow left. The temp won't get below freezing there until this weekend. And don't give me this 'global warming is a myth' bit.

Hope for a white Christmas, but expect sunny skies and 70's. We love you all (unless our stalkers are reading this).

Signed,

Joy and Noel