Broadway Across America: Shucked

I got to sneak into my mother-in-law's friend group and see Shucked this past weekend. I feel so fortunate to live in a city where Broadway Across America travels to-there are so many plays I wouldn't have been able to see and especially at this level of skill and talent.

 

Plot: A woman leaves her small town to find help when the corn in the county begins to die.

Review: If I had to use one word to describe this musical it would be hilarious. It's almost a disservice to say this play is about corn because it's about so much more {friendship, love, family, trust, challenging yourself}, and I loved it! Yes, a lot of the jokes were corn-y {on purpose}, but it was really fantastic! It was a little off-color, so I wouldn't recommend for kids, but for us adults, we loved it!

Tattoo-ed Mama

As I mentioned in my Nashville post, 3 of us ladies got tattoos while in Nashville. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time, so it was very exciting that it came together on this trip!

The idea came about because I saw Brent's cousin's {Heather} tattoo {3 hearts down her wrist to represent her kids}, and I told her about my idea {3 stars on the inside of my wrist to represent my 3 kids}, and we decided we should make it happen in Nashville.

It came up with the broader group and both Kristi {Brent's cousin's wife} and Carla {a friend} wanted to get them too! So after we had brunch on Saturday {our last full day in Nashville}, we went to a shop next to our AirBNB apartment and they had availability to fit us in, yay!

Brent liked the idea of what I wanted to do, but said he came first so he needed a spot in my tattoo too so the idea of a 2nd tattoo was born. Heather's husband had his and Heather's anniversary on his wrist in Roman numerals, and I thought that looked really cool. 

Our tattoo artist designing my wedding date tattoo.

Getting ready!

My view of the stars tattoo

The finished product

Overall it was a pretty quick and mostly painless process. The stars took just a couple of minutes and the wedding date maybe 5-7.

Carla getting her tattoo

{dcat for her family-David, Carla, Abby, and Ty}

Kristi getting hers 

{a skeleton key in memory of her dad who was a locksmith}

A close-up on my wedding date tattoo

10.16.2004

The Nashville tattoo club!

We will see if this is the start of many more... {grin}

Nashville '24

We finished off the month of October with a super fun trip to Nashville with Brent's cousins and some friends. We left on a Thursday morning and stayed through Sunday and packed in a lot of fun.

Obligatory airport drink picture - whose is whose? {grin}

'

We stayed in an apartment over a ice cream/coffee shop with Brent's cousin right off Broadway in downtown Nashville and it was so cute and right in the heart of things.

The first thing the girls did was go to Rustler's and make custom cowboy hats! The impetus for the trip was Philip's wife's {Kristi} birthday, and this was something she wanted to do and the rest of us thought it sounded fun too.

Having a drink before hats!

Kristi ~ Carla ~ Misty ~ Heather ~ Allena

The experience was so cool - there were so many hats to pick from and then a million ways you could customize. I always get overwhelmed when I have a lot of choices but ended up loving what I did with my hat!

I had my initials branded into it, it was so cool to watch the process.

All the girls with our new hats!

Carla and I were the 2 Aggies on the trip and got a maroon-ish band around our hats.

You can see some of the branding I did - this in addition to my initials.

Brent looking like Howdy Doody in my hat!

We hung out that evening in 2 bars - one on Broadway called Redneck Riviera and one in Painter's Alley. We ended the night getting Raisin' Cane's chicken and going back to the apartment!

Friday, Philip had booked a pontoon cruise on the Cumberland River {which I had to google to find out what river ran through Nashville, ha}. It was a beautiful day, and we had a blast!

Brent and David getting cozy {grin}

That night we had reservations at a restaurant but ended up just bumming around Broadway and hopping in and out of a few places.

I had to try the coffee/ice cream shop so Saturday morning Brent and I went down there. He got a root beer float and I got, of course, a chai.

Yes, we were sleeping in bunk beds ha.

Our big activity Saturday was brunch at White Limozeen, a Dolly Parton themed restaurant. Kristi asked us to wear pink, and we happily complied!

And then in a twist of events no one would have ever expected, I went and got 2 tattoos! I'm going to save the story for another post, but I'll share one pic of the 3 of us who got tattoos that day.

Gig 'em after a Fighting Texas Aggie WIN!

We stayed out pretty late on Saturday night but luckily didn't have a SUPER early flight on Sunday. We made it home in 1 piece and our babies were happy to see us! This was definitely a vacation to remember!

October 2024 Book Review

I hit the jackpot in October, and I'm so excited to share a great month of books!

I read 11 books this month and had so many great reads. I was all over the place from memoirs to fantasy, historical fiction to thrillers, so there's likely something on here for everyone.

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - Ariel Lawhon learned about the journal of a late 1700s midwife in the new U.S., Martha Ballard, and created this story from those journal entries, how cool is that? I found this story to be fascinating and also the lives of the early Americans! This is definitely a work of fiction {a big piece of the storyline is about a murder that didn't happen}, but it's excellent historical fiction. I was very quickly captivated by Martha and her family and this story - absolutely loved it!

Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson [audiobook] - Well, Ketanji is now a hero of mine! This book. THIS WOMAN. Wow. 

Endgame by Omid Scobie [audiobook] - I can't explain my fascination with the British royal family because they really stand for a system that is based in white supremacy and colonization...but we contain multitudes, am I right? {grin} This was a fascinating look at where the BRF is now and what the future looks like for them. If you like the BRF, and the drama that has happened over the last few years, you'll enjoy this.

Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas - GAH!!! I am in love with this fantasy series. I read books 3 and 4 this month and have started book 5. It is stellar!

When We Were Brave & Young by Hazel Gaynor - This was an interesting book about Allied civilians living in a school in China which gets occupied by Japan during WW2. It alternated perspectives from a student in the school to a teacher. It was a side of WW2 I didn't know about and found it very interesting. The girls were in the Girl Guides {like Girl Scouts}, so that was an added bit of fun for me as I am all-in on all things Girl Scouts these days!

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice [audiobook] - This was October's Blog Friend Book Club selection, and I loved it! It's a dystopian story set on a First Nation's reservation in Canada when all the power goes out. I really enjoyed the unique perspective of being on a reservation and the way the community responded to this crisis. Erika recommended listening to this book, and I'm so glad I did as hearing the native Anishinaabe language being spoken. My only complaint with this book was that it was too short! I would have liked more of the story! I'm excited that there is a sequel and will be reading it soon.

Gold Rush Girl by Avi - No idea how Drew ended up with this book, but we've been reading this one together for a while. It's about a family who moves from the East Coast to San Francisco during the days of the 1849 gold rush. The protagonist is the family's daughter who doesn't want to behave as expected in the 1800s, and Drew and I both really liked her and the story. It was a great book for us to read together!

Solito by Javier Zamora [audiobook] - We read this in my work book club in October, and I found it very interesting and enlightening. Javier Zamora immigrated to America as an undocumented immigrant when he was 9 years old, and this book is the story of that experience. He wrote it just like he was 9 so you felt the journey from his childish perspective and that made the story so engaging. This story continued to highlight {for me} the risks people take to get to America and that this is a very complicated issue without a real solution.

I Found You by Lisa Jewell [audiobook] - I just love the way Lisa Jewell writes thrillers - it's got the twists and turns you want in a thriller but people you usually want to root for {which is what helps me connect with a book}. This story starts with a man found on the beach with no memory of who he is or why he's there and an alternating story about a woman whose new husband has gone missing. How do their stories connect?! It was a bit mystery, a bit thriller, a bit love story...I loved it! The narrator also did an amazing job with several different accents which really enhanced the story. 

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry [audiobook] - Y'all. This was just the saddest thing ever. I think had I listened to this before Matthew Perry died I would have felt differently because the book ends hopeful as he is in a good place in his recovery, but reading it after he died from his addiction...just sad, sad, sad. He wrote a captivating story full of humor and humility, and it makes me sad all over again that he couldn't beat his addiction in the end. It was truly a great memoir of a flawed man trying to do better.

My average for the month was a 4.2! I told y'all this was a HUGE month of great reading for me. My average for the year is 3.8. I also had a big month for reading diverse authors, which I am always conscious of and haven't done the best at this year. Very excited to see how the year finishes after such a great month!