Save the date

My book release is finally just around the corner. Here is the info, would love to see all of your beautiful faces there!!! (I know if you are in, say, Canada, it might be a little tricky!)

Nashville: Davis-Kidd Bookstore
Thursday, October 8th at 7 PM.

Southern Festival of Books
Nashville, War Memorial Plaza, Room 29
Sunday, October 11 at 1 PM.

I have been stressing out because my books got held up at the printers. Years of work and here at the last minute, not knowing for sure that they would be at the bookstore in time for the release!!! They finally went out ... TODAY! Thank God! I was stressed, but now at least I know now that they are on the way and should be here just in a knick of time. To literally SAVE the date! :)

A flippin' good time

After our grown up night out last night (a drink at the fairly new and fabulous Hutton hotel, and a dinner at the quirky Green Hills restaurant Firefly...grown up mac-n-cheese app. was yummy) we spent the night "in town" at my dads. We got up this morning and went to a fun and family friendly spot in Nashville's Berry Hill called The Pfunky Griddle. It has a grill on every table and they bring you organic whole grain pancake mix and unbleached flour pancake mix with a topping included, or french toast, eggs, potatoes, whatever is your pleasure, to grill yourself at the table. I liked that they had veggie sausage (or soy-sage) It is a fun place to take the kids, but just watch out for little fingers on the hot griddles!!!
http://www.thepfunkygriddle.com/
Now I need to go walk it off!

Steal The One

Today Jim and I are celebrating our eleventh wedding anniversary. We are so busy with life that we almost forgot about it this year. We decided not to worry about gifts and just to sneak out for a nice dinner somewhere. I googled 11th anniversary and the traditional gifts are steel. Well, our gift will be "steeling" a moment to ourselves. Ar ar ar.

Not every year can be a ten year anni. Last year we had a whirlwind Viva Las Vegas weekend complete with a visit to an Elvis Chapel to have "Elvis" renew our vows. He (The "El" man) walked me down the aisle in his lamay singing "Love Her Tender" and we laughed the whole time. I highly recommend it! http://www.elvischapel.com/index.html
The next night we saw The Beatles LOVE show by Cirque du Soleil at The Mirage and it was absolutely amazing!! I mean stunning. Please go if you get a chance.
It was also that weekend in Vegas that we decided to move forward with an adoption. (Well, it didn't hurt that I just happened to bring along the adoption papers for him to sign, and an agenda!) That was one year ago that we decided to move forward with a China adoption. Then we learned that the wait was moving upwards of three years and we ain't getting any younger. So, now we are waiting for a domestic infant and our little boy is getting close to five years old and we are about to release a book/CD about our highly dramatic experience of becoming parents the first time. Shew! Life is wild.

But tonight, we will steal a moment to relax and think about the day at Union Station that started it all eleven years ago.

Oops ... wrong womb!

Hey IVFers, ever afraid that this would happen to you?! (Wrong embryo implanted)
What would you do if it did???
Thank goodness for clinics with reliable systems to help avoid mistakes.

http://m.cnn.com/cnn/archive/archive/detail/371024/1

No Fair

We told Little Man that we were taking him to the last day of the season of the Tennessee State Fair yesterday but, alas, it was raining. We pulled in anyway, me whining along with my four-year-old that it wasn't raining too hard ... while my husband and dad voiced their opinions that it was actually starting to pour and we had no umbrellas, so ... we decided to leave. As we pulled out of the parking lot the sign said "Thanks for the memories." This was especially sad because the news reports that after over a hundred years of hosting it, Nashville will not house the state fair anymore because it is losing money. If it hadn't rained all week this year it is possible that they could have made a profit this year. Mayor Dean wants to use the prime property for something else. The fair board still has to vote on it, but it is not looking good. http://www.wztv.com/newsroom/top_stories/wztv_vid_1469.shtml

First Opryland closes, now this! What amusement park will my little boy grow up with now?!

The Tennessee State Fair was a staple of my childhood and it was magic! Tossing the ping pong ball in the brightly dyed water in the goldfish bowl and "winning" my goldfish (always Goldie, Goldie II, III and so forth) in the plastic bag who would inevitably die, but I seemed to forget that fact every year. Cotton candy. Spin art. The rides! (The fun house being a particular favorite)The freak shows! "POPEYE" (the elderly gentleman who could pop his eyeball out of his head, then the other--clapping while doing it to spook people) and "The Worlds Largest Rat!" my mother refused to go in, due to rodent phobia, but I went in with my dad to see some caged hog sized creature. (I later developed rodent phobia myself!) And, as a mere tot, seeing my beloved Sonny and Cher in concert there. My mom and her friend whispering (loudly) about Cher's revealing outfit (open all the way down the sides! gasp!)and I was completely in awe of her. Firecrackers were going and me,the excited little four-year-old girl saying "it's the only way to fly, it's the only way to fly!" and a nice young couple smiling at me and egging me on.

Yes, I loved the Tennessee State Fair! Thanks for the memories! Fair thee well ...

A date with a prince

Muddy day soccer game cancellation leads to catching the last day of Cinderella at the Nashville Public Library with the renowned Tischner marionettes. This is right up my alley! Little man was a little afraid on the way in (for the same reason's he doesn't want to go into a mall if "Santa" is there?) but was enchanted in no time. This is the stuff magic memories are made of!
Nashville is lucky to house the gorgeous marionettes of Tom Tischner and to have Wishing Chair Productions (a trio of talented puppetiers) put on several shows a year in the beautiful theater at out main branch downtown library. These are some of the same shows I saw as a kid. Tom Tischner, I learned from the library's website, started in 1938, at fifteen years old, at our fair city's library doing an original version of Puss in Boots for the kids. He spent fifty years at the Nashville library as volunteer and employee. Though he had a children's TV show out of New York and was the one to contribute the puppets to the Broadway musical Carnival!, he came back to the Nashville Public Library. He passed away in 1992, but NPL and Wishing Chair Productions keeps his magic alive to live on through a new generation of kids.
Bravo!

Letterman, a song nomination and a proud daughter (or Dave's Rave)

If a girl can't brag about her daddy then who can? My dad, songwriter Bobby Braddock, just got a 2009 CMA "song of the year" nomination (his 6th) for a song he co-wrote with Troy Jones, People Are Crazy, recorded by Billy Currington.
David Letterman just gave it the most amazing review you could ever ask for. Like, I was sitting at home with my jaw dropped when I heard what all he said about it! To read more, click here ...
http://www.billycurrington.com/news_d.aspx?nid=4799&cmnt=1
But, dudes ... here you can check out Dave actually talking about the song, I was truly blown away!!!
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid9141634001?bctid=34693572001
Kudos to my Paw, Troy Jones, Billy Currington and thanks to Dave for having impeccable taste ;)

Dig this bag

Since a mud mama is a "watered down earth mother" I s'pose every now and then I should give an earthy offering or two! Here is a product I recently discovered (through another mommy blog) that I paid for, this is not a review or an official endorcement. I just think they are really cool and a great solution. Scratch using plastic baggies for your kids lunch box off of your list of things to feel guilty about! A company, 3greenmoms, has come up with eco-friendly sandwich and snack bags called lunch skins that are made out of a material that is reusable and dishwasher safe and they come in cute patterns. Check 'em out! http://www.3greenmoms.com/

My little love bug

Little man made (mostly) good choices at preschool on Friday and "kept his sticker"(a wonderful thing!) So, last night my dad told him how happy that made him and gave him a dollar (for the first time) He lit up as if it was the best thing in the world. When we asked him what he was going to buy with that money he hugged me and said "I buy you a love bug!" (He knows I love the little VW bugs and I told him once if he made a lot of money someday maybe he could buy one for me). God, I love that child!

No Service Sunday

It is Sunday morning and I am craving a little spiritual nourishment. There is a spiritual living center nearby that Jim and I like to visit. But the last time we went we had a bit of an issue.

Little man was in the nursery (oh, how I love a gated room) having a great time. But before the end of the service they line the kids up and bring them while the band plays an instrumental version of "Feeling Groovy" (yes, there are some hippies in the house!) and they all get up on the stage and everyone sings an uplifting song with all of the sweet and innocent tots up front.

I could hear that the kids were out in the hall in preparation to come in to the sanctuary. I fought the urge to go see how my often-impulsive guy was doing. Before I made a definitive decision whether to stay put or go check on him, I saw a blond giggling head blur down the aisle solo. Little man had busted away a few minutes too soon and stood on the steps in front of the band and donned a pretend microphone and swayed to the music for everyone. The were smiles and chuckles around us, and, while we may be looking at a future in entertainment, that is a way to give a mama a heart attack. I scooped him up and crouched on the front row until it was the kids turn to be up front.

So I haven't gone back there since for fear of him making another break. Boys will be boys, I s'pose, and I will get brave enough to go again ... but it hasn't happened yet!

Spiritual nourishment for today? A walk at Nashville's beautiful Radnor Lake.

Book trailer park

Here is one of the places where the little trailer we made for my book will park. Thanks to fab friends and sis/bro-in-law Siobhan McCauley and Jay McCaffrey (of BeMultimedia) for getting it just right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fntMCH_ec3w

(if for some reason it doesn't take you directly to it just type in "Lauren Braddock Havey")

Puppy Training

We saw a new pediatrician yesterday. Little man, ever the character, ran away from me in the waiting room to go to the reception desk to say "excuuuuuuse me, ladies, can you put on Toy Story please" I drug him away. When we went back and the doctor came in, little man extended his hand and said "Nice to meet you, doctor" and "thank you, doctor" after he tested his reflexes. (He LIKES doctors!) He surprised the doctor by reading his nametag, then he proceeded to try to open every cabinet in the man's office and open and run out the door.
The pediatrician was discussing boys versus girls development. He shared how he had been given a book on raising boys, written in 1905, and reprinted. It said that little girls would be more like little mothers, but little boys would more closely resemble the family dog. Hmm, I kind of get that comparison. Come, sit, STAY!!!

Soccer to me!

I yam a soccer mom, I yam! I do so like soccer, Sam I am! :)
Little man had his first soccer practice yesterday and he did good! Yeah, there were a couple of moments of running the wrong direction and chatting up a little girl like you see in the picture, but he did great!
So cute to watch all those little peanuts out there! "DH" was psyched too because it reminded him of his soccer days as a lad.
Now, I just have to stop using the words "costume" and "rehearsal" for uniform and practice!

I Feel Pretty! Oh, So Pretty ...

Anyone notice my fabulous new look?! (On my blog that is!) I am so happy with the beeeeuuu-tiful blog makeover. Thanks, Thais! She even put a button on here for the Mud Mama song (that is on the CD I will be releasing next month to go with the book) for a sneak listen of what me and Grammy-winner Don Henry have been working on together. Please check it out and lemme know if any of you can relate!
Anyway-there is nothing like a new look to give a girl a lift! If you, too, would like a faboo blog makeover, check out the Olivina Design House button on my page.
MUAH!