Merry Christmas To You All

In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and Earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshiped the Beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

AWOL

I've been a terribly absent blogger this month, but I have good excuses--holidays are here, Mom's surgery (she's fine!), mini-vacation, and, oh yeah! I quit my job. To say life has been hectic would be an understatement. I hope to give a proper update on our goings on soon, but for now this will have to do--there is Christmas shopping/planning/baking/etc to do!

Bad Charla!

Tonight Barry is out of town on business and I let The Luce lay on the couch with me. She is stressed out (we think there is a critter in our crawlspace that she can hear), and it's the only way I could get her to settle down. Plus, I just wanted some company on the couch. :)

This is also a test to see if Barry even reads our blog.

Our Little Family

I just wanted to share a few of the highlights from our recent family portrait session. Could The Luce BE any cuter??

Thanks to the lovely and talented Kate Crafton, who shot these for us. She is amazingly talented and also fun to work with. And Lucy loved her immediately, so she must be special (couldn't have anything to do with the treats in her pocket, could it?)

All photos copyright Kate Crafton.

I Am So Blessed.

Today we are celebrating three years of marriage and feeling so blessed.

I think the term "wedded bliss" is a little idealistic...many of you would probably agree that marriage is amazing, but at times also challenging. We are so grateful, though, for those challenges because they have brought us closer together, and we are grateful for every, single hour that we have had together.

To my husband: I love you more today than I did on the day we were married.

Funny

A little Election Day humor.

Heading to Highlands

I'm so very excited that we just booked a long weekend here....our favorite little getaway in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We're going in a few weeks, and we plan to do a whole lotta nothin.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

In Memory of Dad

Dear Family and Friends,

I would like to start by thanking everyone who sponsored my team in last year's Walk to Defeat ALS®!

Through your generous support and participation, we helped the Tennessee Chapter raise more than $350,000 statewide and celebrated the progress we are making in the fight against ALS.

As most of you know, I support the ALS Association because I lost my dear, sweet, amazing father, Clinton, to this horrible disease. It is a disease with no treatment, no cure, and no known cause. In some cases it appears to be hereditary, and in some cases it does not. ALS is a complete mystery. In most cases it strikes randomly, and it almost always kills within 3-5 years of diagnosis. It is a horrible disease which slowly paralyzes its victims, robbing them of their ability to walk, talk, eat and, eventually, breathe. Most die from loss of lung function—in essence, they suffocate.

I'm sure many of you are like me in that your family has been affected by many different diseases. In my own family cancer is prevalent, as is diabetes. Both of these have taken the lives of close family members. But nothing I've ever seen is as awful as ALS. It is a horrible disease and WE MUST FIND A CURE.

Please help. Give whatever you can...every $5 gift makes a difference.

A large percentage of the money raised by our Walk stays right here in the community where it is spent to help ALS patients and their families deal with the enormous financial burden brought on by ALS. Care of an end-stage ALS patient can cost as much as $200,000 a year. This disease is not only emotionally devastating to families, but financially devastating as well. Our chapter does our best to help through programs like equipment loans, respite care and communications assistance.

My hope for this year's Walk is to raise even more money and bring more friends and family with us on Walk Day! To do this, I am again asking for your support by making a gift to The ALS Association or by joining me as a participant on Walk Day.

Simply click on the link below to visit my personal fundraising page and donate directly online or join me as a Walk participant. You may also choose to send your contribution in the form of a check. Please make all checks payable to The ALS Association and send them to me at the following address:

Charla Lancaster
17 Thorndale Court
Nashville, TN 37215

Thank you again for supporting me in the fight against ALS. I appreciate your generosity and participation.

Click here to visit my personal page to donate.

Baby Isaac

If you pray, please say a prayer for this family today.

http://sgirl79.blogspot.com/

Fat and Happy

We just wrapped up a wonderful afternoon with food/friends/family, and I'm now full of roast beef and mashed potatoes and feeling very content. My Mom is in town and that's always an excuse to get everyone together for a big, raucous meal.

I always love having my friends and family in my home, and it doesn't happen often enough that we have a houseful of people as we did today. It makes me very, very happy.

Speaking of food, I ran out tonight and purchased The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper. I've been a fan of this show for a long time and was excited to hear that they'd produced a cookbook. I haven't cooked a thing out of it just yet, but I'm loving it already--so much fun to read and as informative as the show always is. I can just hear Lynn Rossetto Kasper's voice as I'm reading the book (I love, love, love cookbooks you can READ, not just pull out when you need a recipe). So for you cookbook lovers--this is a good one!

True Colors

There are many things I could say about McCain's VP pick, but this is the one thing that stands out to me the most:

I am shocked...SHOCKED...at the onslaught of women judging Sarah Palin for her choice to be a strong, influential, working mother. It may not be the choice I would have made, but she seems to be a capable, confident woman, and I'm completely taken aback at the sheer number of what I thought were progressive women judging her for the choices she's made.

SHOCKED!

GO TROY!

We had a fabulous time at the game last night. It was certainly a walk down memory lane...I haven't been to a Troy game since 2003.

The highlight of my night was chatting with Dr. John Long, the longtime, highly-revered director of bands. I could not believe my eyes when I saw him...I have no idea how old he is now, but I thought he was old as dirt when I was at Troy. He looks great! It was such a pleasure to talk to him and to Ralph Ford, the current director of bands, who was an assistant when I was at Troy.

And, of course, the halftime show was amazing. As always.

Oh, and the football game was awesome as well! Troy 31 MTSU 17!!

The Joys of Home Ownership

So our house has foundation problems.

We had a contractor come out to check it out today...next step, I'm afraid, is a structural engineer. This could be big bucks, and I'm a little sick about it.

Hopefully our home insurance will cover all or some of the cost of repairs, depending on what they determine as the cause.

You can see in this photo the crack in the front exterior wall of our house (the bay window has shifted forward almost an inch).

The good news is that the damage seems to be limited to just the bay window, which, we're told, is not on the same foundation as the main structure of the house. The bad news is it's shifted significantly, and I'm afraid the entire window is going to fall out into the front yard!

Good times!

I Dream of Weenie!

This is where we had lunch yesterday:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/i-dream-of-weenie-nashville

Yes, we ate hot dogs served to us out of van. They were fabulous!

GO TROJANS!

I'm so excited!! Next Thursday night a group of us are going to the Troy vs. MTSU football game!! It's going to be so much fun.

A bit bittersweet, though, because the last time I went to this game it was with my sweet Dad.

Nonetheless, I'm very excited--we're going to have a great time. And maybe there will be a trip to Toot's beforehand for fried pickles! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal!

No News....

Things are pretty quiet around Chez Lancaster. We're both focusing a lot of our energy on work right now, so there's not much else to report. We had our nephew again over the weekend. I reiterate that he's a great baby, but, still, keeping him makes me wonder if I'm really ready for parenthood (or if I ever will be!).

I've been traveling a lot to Memphis over the past few weeks (wait...didn't I quit my last, high-paying, job because of too much travel?!) and I'm headed there again tomorrow.

Other than that we're just trying to get through the last, lazy days of summer (heat!) and starting to anticipate fall (football season!).

We've had a few of those lazy, glorious weekends lately which remind me why I love living in Nashville. Saturday afternoon drinks on the patio at Jackson's, browsing the used books at Bookman Bookwoman, dinner with friends at Margot Cafe, a Sunday evening viewing of The Dark Knight and a juicy meal at Cheeseburger Charley's.

I do love this place.

Hope you are all enjoying the late summer bliss...

He Has a Job!

After a short stint as a Man of Leisure, Barry starts a new job on Monday as the Senior Director of Professional Services for HealthStream. It's a great company, and he's very excited to join them!

You Can Go Home Again

B & I have had the great pleasure to spend more time in Baker this year than we normally do, and we're really loving it. We really enjoy the days we get to spend down there with my Mom and I appreciate "home" much more now than I ever have before.

Just thought I'd share a few photos from our trip.

The Grapes:

The Soybeans:

Sweet Baby Boy

Barry and I are playing host this weekend to our beautiful, 14-month old nephew.



His parents are off celebrating their wedding anniversary and this is their first trip away from him ever! We are so honored that they trust us to take care of their Sweet Baby Boy. I'm sorry to tell you that we repaid this great trust by dropping him on his head.

I kid! Although he did take a bit of a spill off B's "man chair" and bumped his noggin. I felt like such a horrible aunt...like I had completely failed him. But all is fine now, and he repaid me by pooping in the tub tonight.

Good times!





Seriously, we have had so much fun spending some uninterrupted time with this precious, little fellow. He really is an amazing baby, and we love him dearly.

The View From Here...

Not much new to report here--wer're just sitting back, enjoying our summer.

Barry is, as of today, officially unemployed and LOVING it! Last Friday was actually his last day "on the job"--he's been riding for hours on end every day, which I don't mind, so long as he gets the laundry done. :) Seriously, I never knew how much I'd enjoy having a house-husband. It's almost as good as a house elf, I think! And I think The Luce has really loved having him home.

He's even cooked a few meals.

I, on the other hand, have been crazy busy at work. We are overwhelmingly short-staffed right now, so things are verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry busy. But that's ok, because I'm feeling very productive.

In other news, I've signed up to take tennis lessons! I've been talking about learning to play for months, so this weekend I bought a racket and a cute little tennis skirt. Ladies, listen to me: tennis skirts are VERY flattering. How did I live 35 years without knowing this!? B & I have been going to the tennis courts in our neighborhood the past couple of nights and hitting for an hour or so, and I've LOVED it! I played some in high school, but I haven't picked up a racket in 18 years. So tonight after dinner we went by the Y and signed me up for some "novice" lessons. "Novice." Ha ha--they have no idea.

We're also planning to start going to spin class a couple nights a week together. I'm scared.

Not much else going on at Chez Lancaster. We're heading home to Florida on Thursday for a long 4th of July weekend, and we're both really looking foward to it.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

I love my girls!

I have been so blessed in life to have some of the most wonderful friends a girl could ask for, and the past few days have been a reminder to me of how lucky I am to have them all in my life.

On Saturday I spent a morning at the pool with one of the best friends I've ever had--someone who has been like family to me for almost 15 years (giiiiiiiirl, we are getting OLD!). We have shared so much together and she knows things about me that no one else knows (and I hope she never decides to blackmail me). I'm so grateful to have someone in my life that I trust so deeply and with whom I have so much history. It's a blessing, really.

On Sunday I had brunch and caught a movie with a relatively new girlfriend--we've known each other only 4 years. But in that time we've found much in common and have learned from and supported each other. It's reminded me that it's never too late in life to find a good friend.

Tonight I gathered with four women who have become some of my dearest friends. We worked together. Together, we have given blood, sweat and tears to the tiny little non-profit organization that we all came to care so much about. And we shared a single-seater bathroom. Come on--you can't get much more intimate than that. I bonded with these girls like no other co-workers I've ever had, even though we're all so different (and yet so alike). It just works. And I'm so glad it does...and I feel so fortunate to have them.

And now I look forward to a special getaway with another precious friend who has been by my side for almost 20 years (can you believe it!?). For the first time since I've been married we are planning a weekend for just the two of us, and I'm so looking forward to it. She is another member of my extended family, and I can't imagine my life without her. We have both been through some intensely rough times in our lives in the past few years, and this is our chance to step away from it all and have the kind of fun together that used to be routine for us. I'm counting the days.

So this is just my post in honor of girlfriends. What a special thing it is to be surrounded by women like this.

Men must be so jealous.

NOLA!

B & I returned last night from a few days of R&R in New Orleans. We'd both been before, but never together, so it was a fantastic trip--although not as restful and relaxing as we'd hoped. There is so much to see and do...it's really hard to slow down!



We had some incredible food, of course. We started on Friday night with dinner at the much-heralded Restaurant August. The service and atmosphere were impeccable, but the food just didn't live up to expectations. It was a GOOD meal, not a GREAT meal.

The best dinner we had was at Herbsaint--fantastic, innovative, unpretentious food; a fun atmosphere; great service. It's the whole package. Definitely worth checking out if you head to NOLA. Dress is pretty casual, reservations essential.

Other highlights included the fried oysters with Hollandaise sauce at Mr. B's Bistro, the Eggs Hussarde at Brennan's and the cheese board w/boudin sausage at Napolean House (which is a fantastic place to hang out for a few hours). And, of course, Cafe du Monde is a given--there are few things in this world better than a breakfast of beignets and cafe au lait, and there is simply no better place to have them than CDM.

We stayed at the Hotel Monteleone and really enjoyed it. A wonderful, hospitable staff and nicely furnished rooms. It has a fantastic rooftop pool with great views and a poolside bar, which we took full advantage of--we spent quite a few more hours than we'd planned just lying by the pool.

We didn't spend very much time on planned activities, but we did check out the Aquarium of the Americas (it was fun, although the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga is better) and the Audubon Zoo, which was FANTASTIC. I highly recommend. After our visit to the zoo we walked through Audubon Park to St. Charles Avenue where we caught a streetcar back to the hotel. It was a long, hot, exhausting day, but totally worth it.

It was an amazing, memorable trip...exactly what we needed at the moment. New Orleans is such a magical place--a world apart, just a short plane ride away. I can't wait to go back!

Feels Like Home

We went to visit my Mom over Easter weekend. Bless her heart--she was sickish the entire weekend, and we didn't even get to go to church (boo! I bought my first Easter dress in YEARS and didn't get to wear it!).

But it was so glorious to be in Florida in March. The weather was PARFAIT (as my husband would say) and we had such a great time hanging out outdoors and soaking up the sun. Lucy was in HEAVEN on those 40+ acres that I've always called home. She ran and sniffed and ran and sniffed some more. Barry and I laid in the swing my Dad put up years ago and got a little pink-skinned from too much sun. It was, in a word, HOME. And I loved it.

We slept late and ate the blueberry muffins out of a box from my childhood (hey, my Mom didn't cook EVERYTHING from scratch). We met my extended family at the lake for hot dogs and hamburgers--aunts, uncles, cousins, I love them every one. And, best of all, we spent some precious quality time with my awesome Mom.

I wish we could get there more often.

Aaaaand, Winter is Back...

Hard to believe that last weekend we were sunning at the Zoo.

This is what we woke up to today:

It's the biggest snow we've had since I moved to Nashville four years ago. BEAUTIFUL!

And For Good Measure...

...a picture of our ridiculously adorable nephew. I could eat him up!

Signs of Spring?

We had unseasonably warm weather in Nashville last weekend, so B & I decided to get ourselves out of doors.

I'm ashamed to say that I had lived in this city for more than four years and had never visited the Nashville Zoo...it was time for that to change.

We took advantage of our spring-like day to spend an afternoon communing with nature, and we had a blast! It's a great place to hang out, and we're looking forward to going back.