THANKS to PS 22

I have spent my entire professional career working with and for children. My first real job after graduating from college was with the Boy Scouts. I was the District Executive for the Audubon District in New Orleans. I spent a great amount of my time convincing little guys that they needed to be a cub or boy scout. It was a great job. When I moved to Nashville for Grad School, I continued working with kids. I worked in a residential program, with an agency that did in-home behavioral therapy, and Juvenile Court. I have told you before how much I love my current career. The ONLY downside is that I almost never see kids. I read about them, I see tons of data and statistics, and I hear about them. I just never get to see and interact with them. Oftentimes, I see such negative information that it becomes easy to forget all of the AMAZING things young people are doing. Today I was goofing off and playing on YouTube and came across a video that was amazing. Sometimes, I’ll find or hear things that remind me EXACTLY why I do what I do. This video is definitely one of those! Their Teacher is incredible! He makes me want to quit my job and join the ranks of educators! Enjoy!

Country Music Marathon

Spring and the Country Music Marathon both arrive in Nashville at about the same time. The Marathon is this weekend and will bring with it TONS of people. Now, I am in no way a runner and will definitely not be taking part in the running. However, I find the more important part of the event to be the social aspects. Part of the race will be through the Belmont neighborhood and I am fortunate to have friends who live along the course. I will be drinking with friends at a couple of parties throughout the neighborhood, but will definitely do my part to cheer on the runners and my friends who are participating. A couple of my friends are running. Josh is running to raise money for First Steps, a program that helps special needs children. So, if you have any free time - Come to Nashville for the Marathon. www.cmmarathon.com

Augusten Burroughs - Author

I love to read. I’ll read almost anything. Obviously, I like books that are about or set in the ‎South. I particularly like books that are about life in small southern towns. However, my ‎reading varies. Sometimes I like serious, complicated biographies and other times I like quick ‎easy reads. One of my favorite authors is Augusten Burroughs. He is not southern, but his ‎grandparents were and he spent much time visiting them. So that makes him o.k. to me. He ‎has written wildly funny and complicated works about his family and their own individual ‎dysfunctions. Some of his books are Running With Scissors (now a movie), Sellevision, and ‎Possible Side Effects. He has a new book titled A Wolf at the Table. This book is about his ‎father. I haven’t started reading it yet, but am very much looking forward to it. Because of this ‎new book, Burroughs was in Nashville and spoke at Vanderbilt recently as a fundraiser for the ‎Brooks Fund of the Community Foundation. I have heard authors in the past, but didn’t really ‎know what to expect from Burroughs. First off, he looked nothing like I thought. I had seen ‎photographs of him before, but had no idea he was so skinny. Unlike many other authors, he ‎doesn’t have a prepared presentation or read from his books. He just kind of talks which works ‎well for him. And then answers questions. He is wicked funny. Check out his work if you aren’t ‎familiar with him.‎ www.augusten.com

Robert Earl Keen

I have a friend Chad who lives in Amarillo, Texas. We are also Fraternity Brothers, although he ‎was at Texas Tech instead of Lambuth. After we met, we realized we had very similar tastes in ‎music. We started exchanging names of bands the other had to check out. He introduced me ‎to the greatest singer/songwriter to ever live… Robert Earl Keen. Since that introduction years ‎ago, I have had the pleasure of seeing REK at numerous shows in Nashville and across the state. ‎Check him out at http://www.robertearlkeen.com/‎

Smathers & Branson Needlepoint Belts

I spend way too much time online looking at houses, boats, dogs, baseball scores, vacation spots and countless other things. It is not unusual for me to stumble across a website and think to myself “I HAVE to have this!” I had this very experience just a few months ago. I have always loved needlepoint belts. They are just so very cool and would add just the right amount of color to my usual uniform of khakis and solid color button downs or polos. Through the years, I have had friends who had girlfriends who made belts for them. Unfortunately, I did not. So, I stumbled across Smathers and Branson. Hell Yeah! They have great products. I will definitely buy one of these as soon as I can make up my mind as to which pattern I want. These aren’t cheap, but would make amazing gifts! Check out their products at www.smathersandbranson.com

Southern Proper "Beau" Ties

A few days ago I told you about my “big” work event called Children’s Advocacy Days. Since it is our one big event of the year, everyone dresses even better than usual. We went with a Southern gardening theme this year so I decided to be as Southern as possible. The event is in March, so it is too early to sport a seersucker suit – which I will definitely break out before long. So, what to do? I thought and talked and decided the least I could do was wear a bow tie. Now, I am a born and raised Southerner and a Fraternity man but I had absolutely no idea how to tie one. I’m afraid to say this aloud since the powers that be may revoke my membership card. However, I remedied the situation as quickly as possible. My friend Jon who was raised the right way taught me in about an hour. It was an interesting process in that I wanted to be very “technical” about it. His amazing suggestion was close your eyes and pretend you are tying your shoe. And it happened! And all I had to do for this amazing training session was to buy dinner – I definitely got the better end of the deal. When I made the decision to sport this bow tie, I started looking online for just the right one. Lo and behold, I ran across an amazing website and learned of a brand I had never even heard of… SOUTHERN PROPER. How did I not know about their amazing products? Check out their stuff at http://www.southernproper.com/

White Squall and Old Gap

I love movies. I love traveling. I love to hear about people who have accomplished things they ‎never believed possible. I love khaki shorts and white long sleeved polos. I love the way Gap ‎clothes “used to be.” I love boating and all things to do with being on the water.
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Therefore, it is no surprise that I love the movie White Squall. It is definitely a great Sunday ‎afternoon movie. Take the time to watch it if you haven’t. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!‎

Hatch Show Prints

I am fortunate to have the greatest job in the world. I work with the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. We basically function as an in-house consulting firm for family and children’s policy issues for the State of Tennessee and our Legislature. I am truly fortunate to enjoy what I do AND know I make a difference in the lives of so many people every day. One of my primary responsibilities is to organize an annual two day legislative event known as Children’s Advocacy Days. We just call it CAD for obvious reasons. The most challenging aspect of the planning is determining the theme. This year was a little easier. Nashville has an amazing treasure in the Hatch Show Print Shop on Broadway. Hatch is a print shop that uses blocks to hand print posters. Hatch has done tons of posters for bands, concerts and events. For those of you who watch CNN, (don’t we all?) Hatch did all of the posters and graphics for their 2008 Presidential coverage. Their work is amazingly cool. So cool in fact, the Nashville Airport has many of their pieces framed and hanging in the terminals. After we decided the theme for CAD ’09, Hatch designed and printed our posters. They turned out much better than I had even hoped!

Check out Hatch Show Prints at http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/experience-hatch-history.aspx

"... the best years of your life"

I attended and graduated from Lambuth University in Jackson, TN. Lambuth is a small, private, Methodist University in west Tennessee. I looked at several colleges and universities before making the decision to attend Lambuth. Just like Goldilocks, I looked at schools that were too big, too small, too close to home, and too far from home. It is difficult for me to put into words exactly why I chose Lambuth over other comparable schools other than it just "felt right." From the second I saw the school, it looked and felt like what I thought a University should look and feel like. To this day I have not one single regret. While at Lambuth, I pledged and was initiated into the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. Every spring my mind goes back to my days at Lambuth when we would move sofas from inside the house to the front yard. We would sit in the sun and drink, talk, study or do nothing. I remember people walking by and saying "enjoy yourself.... these are the best years of your life." Little did I know how dead on right they were.

Check out Lambuth at http://www.lambuth.edu/