Closing January

I can't believe January is almost over!! This past month has flown by and was full of new and exciting life changes. I am so thankful for all the changes, and the love and support from everyone who was there for us throughout all of this!

Buck took a flight from Nashville this morning at 7 am along with his new guitar player Mr. Jeffery Lyle. I dropped them off at the airport at 5 am. Buck and Jeff had luggage that was too heavy, so as they were trying to negotiate the price of the over-weighted luggage Buck ended up being upgraded to first-class! So he had a nice flight. He is so lucky to be home with everyone.

I had the day off today, and I crossed everything off of my to-do list. Filled the Jeep with gas (only $3.05 because I'm a Kroger Grocery rewards member), filled out a Bureau of Indian Affairs form, applied for a job online, received/scanned/sent my W-2 forms, paid our Comcast bill, verified my CSU degree was correct and posted, and mailed out my change of address to decline the jury duty noticed I received from Butte County!! I also found a way to transfer my music files from my laptop to my new iMac. But it's only transferring one file at a time via the Internet so I have to click on every song to make it transfer. Maybe not the most efficient way, but it works and it will save me some money from having to pay for someone to transfer it all for me.

The weather here has been kind of crappy! When I leave work (usually from 11pm-1am) my jeep is covered in ice. The last two days has been in a full cloud cover with some rain and drizzle. There is a wind too. Mom saw a tornado warning for West Tennessee, so now I'm a little more aware of the weather and have the TV on just in case there is a warning signal. I don't think anything will happen, as I'm more in the center of Tennessee, but still... a tornado? I don't know the first thing to do in the case of a tornado!!! I actually wish we had a basement now lol.

Work has been busy. We had a Sherman-William convention at the Opry Mills hotel next door so we have been having lots of big parties come in. Im bringing home alright amount of tips! but the. I remember my base pay of $2.13 and i loose my excitement. Lol I'm pretty tired of working 10 and 12 hour days though so I'm keeping an eye out for a better job opportunity.

I joined a gym this week! I toured a few gyms in the are, but was having a hard time deciding on one because my last gym, the Wrec at Chico State, was the BEST gym. I was so spoiled with the school gym that I have a high expectation for gyms now. But I finally found the Nashville Athletic Club that has full cardio equipment, weights, but most importantly spinning and spin classes. They have other classes too like boot camp and total body workouts. A plus is hat there is tanning! So whenever I feel like getting a "summer glow" I won't have to pay anyone extra. :)

We have been eating pretty good over here. All home cooked meals thanks to Buck's friend Andy. We are still eating ham for breakfast. Buck made T-bone steaks with a salad and baked potato for his last night here. And today I cooked the hamburger Andy gave us to add to the spaghetti sauce and noodles. There is NO way I will eat all the meat we have from And's house, so hopefully it will last 2 months in the freezer until Buck comes back!

I want to send a huge THANK YOU to Kaila Hansen! Buck and I received a very sweet scrapbook full of photos with friends and family. So sweet Kaila, thank you so much!! We have it sitting in our living room for all the see :)

Buck has a full two months booked back in California so if your in the area, go see his show! He will be in Oroville and Chico within the next two months. :-)

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth

Tips & Workouts: January 24

Today was a very long day at work. 12 hours! But I was lucky... I started out at the dining room. There was me and two waiters. One waiter left because we had no tables. Eventually, someone was bowling and they asked to order food. So as I was in the bowling alley tables, two more groups of people came in to bowl! And after that I always had two or more lanes, ordering food and raking up on cocktail drinks. I was nice and steady for a few hours and I'm pretty sure I was the only one who made money today. :) Hopefully ill make good tips tomorrow and Saturday night too!

Buck stayed home today, working on music business and planning gigs back home for his trip back to California. I can't believe he is leaving me on Tuesday! :-( Im going to be so sad and a little lonely. I am planning on joining the farm bureau though, and I've been suggested to join Young Farmers & Ranchers. Hopefully I can attend a meeting this next month. But there is not a YF&R group in Davidson county so I am in the process of contacting a local couple, names Kyle and Kim, and will travel with them to surrounding counties to attend YF&R meetings.

I have also been touring local gyms, checking prices and comparing amenities trying to find the best one. I'll join one here soon and I'll fill my time at the gym when Buck is gone. Buck has been working out here at home, running our block and doing indoor exercises. He said it's hard to run outside though because its so darn cold outside!!! It's very bright, very sunny, but the weather is a sharp piercing cold.

Right now Buck is in his recliner, I'm laying on the couch, and Bluebell is wrapped up on her bed and we are all watching Buck's favorite show "Man vs Wild." I just have to say Bear Grylls is a crazy, nutty, adrenaline junky. I could never live with a man that nuts! BUT.... he knows his stuff lol.

We want to send a shout out to Mom & Dad and Mom & Dad Ford. We miss you guys. We miss home cooked food, Tri-tip, and just the comfort of home. We love our little place, but there is nothing like home!!! And we are sure missing our friends. We want to call all our friends up and have them come over and hang out. But..... we are keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers and are missing you. Buck will be home soon and gets to see you all! (sad face on my part)

Love you guys !!!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth

Work & 8 Seconds

I made money at work tonight!!! I was worried I wasn't going to see any money there for a while lol. I had a party of 25 people, and I split the table with another waitress. Thankfully I had that party.... or I would have made nothing. We were very slow! But I've been told that January is the slowest month.

I spent the last hour of work rolling silver ware. That the side job for the waitresses. Can you sense my enthusiasm?

Buck is working on his music. Writing, singing, and playing. He is getting ready to take off back to California! Lucky duck. :-/ I wish I was heading home for awhile too.

Not too much else has been happening around here. We are just learning the ropes and roads of Nashville! I can finally make it to and from work on my own without my GPS. I feel so accomplished! Currently we are sitting in the living room watching 8 seconds. So I'm calling it a close for the night now because I work 10 am to 10 pm tomorrow. It's gonna be a rEaLlY long day!!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth

Love the Mail Man: January 21st

Our morning went as usual; got up, made breakfast, and started our day. We didn't have too much planned but then the doorbell rang. :-) It was the UPS man! He delivered a huge box... but it felt empty. When I opened it was just almost as it felt- it was a big box with a very tiny box in the inside. Inside the small box was our wireless Internet gateway box!! So I set that up right away. Not even 45 minutes later I heard a huge truck drive by and then stop three doors down. I looked out the window and I watched as the FedEx truck slowly reversed, stopped to look at each house, and then finally park in front of our house. He took much longer to get the box and walk up to the house because.... the box was HUGE! I knew exactly what it was... and it was my new iMac computer that my parents to me for Graduation/Christmas!!! It is bEaUtIfUl. :-) It's a 27" screen, long lean keypad, and cordless mouse. It's pretty much amazing. :-)

So Buck and I went to town and got a sturdy but cheap computer desk. When we got home I didn't stop until it was all set up and where it all belonged. :-) I played with that computer until I was tired of sitting in the computer chair!

For dinner tonight I baked potatoes and buck pan fried ribeyes. The ribeye meat came from Buck's friend Andy from Kentucky. It was delicious. :-)

We had plans to go downtown tonight to see Don Kelly and Kevin Denney play... but we were happy and comfortable at home so we stayed in. So here we are, relaxing in front of the tV watching Netflix, because we have Internet now. Yee! :-)

We are really bummed we missed out on the big family dinner at the Ford's house today. I hope everyone had fun and the crab was delicious. We both can't wait to come home and visit!! Love you guys.

And I hope Mom and Dad are enjoying the new truck. :-) Love you and miss you guys!!!

Xoxo- Sarah Beth
                                 

Applications & Chipotle: January 20th

We. Slept. In. :-) Buck got home late last night from Kentucky and I was tired from work. The only reason I got up was because of Bluebell. Buck slept in till almost noon! But we are sure energized today!!! As an update for yesterday, Buck did not get a deer because they didn't see one. He said that they sat in their blinds for 3 hours and were freezing cold. He wished that he had brought his gun however because he said there were mallards everywhere from a nearby flooded cornfield. It was killing him that he didn't have a gun.

Weather here has been sunny, but cold. Once the sun starts to go down the air gets really chilly and sharp. When I leave work my Jeep is usually on the verge of freezing. But when the sun is out and in full swing during the day it's nice outside.

I gave bluebell a bath first thing today. She just smelled funny. I'm not sure what she has been into, but she needed one. Buck brought home canned green beans, canned tomatoes, canned pickles, and canned squash from Kentucky. His friend Andy has acres of farmed veggies and his wife cans them so they sent Buck home with veggies. Andy's father is a pig farmer, butcher, and sausage processor so he sent Buck home with pounds of sliced ham, ribeyes, pork chops, pork sausage, hamburger, and tenderloins. Soooooo Buck made breakfast this morning! Egg omelets with green beans, yellow squash, ham, and potatoes. I didn't know that Buck had never actually cooked an egg before... But he did a great job. :-)

By the time we finished breakfast and were showered and dressed it was almost 3 pm lol. Not a very productive day I guess. But I was determined to make it to Starbucks to get an Internet connection. I wanted to do some job searching. There wasn't too much in the area, but I'm going to keep looking.

Right next door to Starbucks is a Chipotle. I LOVE, love, love Chipotle but Buck has never been to one. So I took Buck there for dinner. As he grew up with real Mexican food made by his mom and family, he wasn't too impressed. But at least he tried it!

We are now back at home watching the football game. We didn't see the niners game, but since everybody and their sister posted it on Facebook, I know that they are on the way to Super Bowl. I know my dad is bummed, but my mom and grandpa are happy!!

We are praying for our families safety and health. We miss you guys!! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday and hopefully it is a day-off for you as it is Martin Luther King Jr day!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Amish Visit & Service Support: January 19th

Buck stayed overnight in Kentucky so he could go bow hunting early with Andy. I still have no word to if he got a white tail or not. But I do know that Andy took Buck to a neighboring Amish family and they introduced to their livelihood to him. Buck was amazed to see that people live without electricity and cars. ;-) Then Buck stayed and watched his friend Ben, a fiddle player, perform at a local place in Kentucky. I'm not sure what town he is in, but I do know that most of Kentucky, other than Bowling Green and Louisville, are dry cities! You can't buy any alcohol or beer in KY. After the show Buck should be on his way home.

I went into work at 11 am and did not leave until 9 pm. If I thought I was tired yesterday, then I'm close to dead today. My feet are actually in pain and I'm just tired. I haven't been this physically worked in a long time! It's a different tired than from working out at a gym or running, it's a constant, irritating, pain that I was not able to get off of my feet, or stop moving my feet, for 10 hours straight. I am so excited to have tomorrow off! But today I was "service support" all day which is where I took food from the kitchen and delivered it all over the restaurant to help me learn the role of service support and to help learn all the tables and table numbers. We have 4 dining rooms and 4 showrooms/part rooms where food is delivered. That's A LOT of table numbers to know. But the next shift I work I should be waitressing. ;-)

Buck wasn't home all day and I worked for 10 hours, poor Bluebell was stuck alone in the house the whole time. :-( I felt terrible and I was thinking about her the whole time. She has a history of doing bad things when she gets stressed out, and since we haven't lived here too long I was concerned. And sure enough, she dug into the couch, where there was a previous hole from her, and dug out some stuffing. There was very little though, compared to her past damage to the couch. I spanked her, but I couldn't blame her that much because I knew that she would be stressed and lonely for that long. I gave her toys and treats (thanks mom!!) to keep her busy, but I need to purchase peanut butter to fill her kong toy for the next time that might happen.

Also I wanna send a CONGRATS shout out to my parents, who traded in the Escape and purchased a new truck today!! I wish I was here to take a ride in it!! Can't wait to see pictures. ;-)

I have a long to-do list for tomorrow so I am heading to bed. I hope you all have a wonderful evening and a beautiful Sunday tomorrow!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Delivery- A Damaged Car & Goodies: January 18th

I got a wake up call this morning from Mom saying that my Jeep was going to be delivered in about an hour! So I took my time getting up but I hadn't changed out of my Pj's yet. Maybe 30 minutes later, Mom called me back and told me that they were right down the street!! The large auto trailer wasn't going to be able to make the turn onto our main street, so we walked down two houses to the cross street. A bald Romanian man, and his rotund wife, were unloading the Jeep when Buck and I walked up to them in our pajamas. The Romanian woman had short curly brown hair and she smelled strongly of perfume. She was the boss you could tell. She was loud, demanding, but nice. They told me a price higher than I had agreed on, so I made them call back to their scheduling company and made sure that it was confirmed on the price we had agreed at. As I was paying, Buck took a quick look around the Jeep and it seemed to look ok. So after we signed and paid, we drive the Jeep back to the house. Mom had left a box in the back seat of the Jeep so I stood on my side step to reach in when I noticed a large piece of black duct tape on my roof. I almost missed it, but then I next saw a huge hole in my roof!!! The hole is large I can fit three fingers right through. I couldn't believe it. So Buck and I drove right back down to the couple as they were loading the trailer back up. Buck went to them and told them the problem, and the man confessed to putting the black tape on my roof to cover a hole. So he tried to hide one hole. But when we showed him the second, larger hole, he denied it.... but I told him what was what. I told him that this was a brand new top and I delivered it whole with no large holes for leaks. But when he realized the Jeep top was one piece, and that he was going to be paying for the taped hole anyway, it didn't matter. So I called into the main office in Florida, and told the man on the other line what had happened. Instead of turning it into insurance, he is now going to buy me a new top and send it to the house. I left my VIN number and address with the Romanian couple and should be expecting a delivery. So we will see how this goes!

When we got back to the house, I was able to look through the boxes that were in my Jeep and I found gOoDiEs!! Mom and Dad had packed Buck and I a care package!! There was Cheez It's, popcorn, pop tarts, cereal, skittles, mento's, blueberry muffin mix, Oreo cake mix, fruit cups, soups, ravioli's, pasta, spaghetti sauce, gravy mix, toothbrushes, laundry soap, dish soap, kitchen towels, wash cloths, toilet cleaner, and toilet paper. Bluebell got treats and toys too. There was also a magnified bathroom mirror just for me!!!!! Thank you Mom and Dad for spoiling me and for all the goodies! We love it all ;-) MUAH!!!!

Buck left around 2 pm to head on up to Kentucky. He went to spend Friday and Saturday with his friend Andy. Andy is an early thirties high school agriculture teacher in Kentucky who lives on 800 acres of inherited family land. So Buck and Andy are bow hunting for white tails. Andy also song writes, so that is how Buck and Andy met. So I won't hear from Buck till tomorrow sometime. :)

Today I had the longest day at work. I clocked in at 4 pm and clocked out at 1:20 am. To say the least I'm exhausted. BUT today was fun and I actually learned something. :-) I was given tables and waitresses everything without someone on my back the whole time. I did great, it was easy, but I didn't get to keep a single tip I made. :-/ Boo. That's because I'm still a "trainee" and I was taking over Ashley's shift, so that's her money really. Oh well. While I'm training in getting paid minimum wage, instead of the ridiculous $2.13 waitresses normally do.

I'm keeping my eyes open for a better job still.

When I got home I had the most lOvElY letter in the mail from Miss Marissa Pickering. I love getting mail!!! Thank you for the updates my dear, and be expecting to hear from me soon!! I loved your letter. It had me smiling. :-) xoxo

Off to bed! Very late and I'm pooped. Back at it again tomorrow. Love you all!!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Waterless & Armod the Taxi Driver: January 17th

Buck woke up before I did. But not 5 minutes after he walked out of the room, did he walk back in. And he looked beyond mad. He was furious!! Turns out we had no water. He went to turn it on from the outside, but there was a lock on it! The water company had came out either late last night, or early in the morning, and locked our water line. :-/ So Buck had to call our landlord and ask her what the problem was. She simply asked, "Did you sign up with the city water system?" That is what really made Buck mad because our landlord sent us an email saying quote, "All we had to do was turn the water on outside of the house." So Buck had to take my computer, drive to staples for an Internet connection, print out our lease agreement, then drive to the water service office, prove our lease, and pay a water deposit. The lock was then taken off within an hour. I'm so glad it was taken care of within the day, but it's too bad our landlord left us in the dark. :-(

Buck had an acoustic show today at The Wheel in downtown Nashville. He played from 2 to 6. He made a base rate from the bar and got to keep all tips. He said it started out slow, but picked up around 5 pm.

Since Buck had his show at 2, I had to take a cab to work to be there at 4. I called Checker Cab Nashville, and scheduled them to pick me up before work. When I got into the cab, the canb driver said, "Wow, your pretty!" I was a little confused, and a little concerned, but then he continued. He said, "Not to be rude, but I was so surprised to see you." He said, "People from this side of town are usually black, and not good people." My mouth fell open. He was being so racist! But durning the ride to my work he told me that the east side of Nashville is a bad area to be in and that he recommended that we move to a better side of town whenever I got the chance. Armod, the cab driver, then proceeded to tell me about better waitressing jobs that I could get around town. He was just full of of his own opinions and recommendations lol.

Work today was very slow and..... well boring to be honest. Training has been the same for the past three days and I'm still not really able to do much on my own. But hopefully I'll have more responsibility tomorrow. We will see!

Buck picked me up from work and since then we have been hanging out at home, playing with Bluebell, and playing records.

Hope all is well with everyone. We love you all!!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Laundry & Mail: January 16th

Today... was a slow, but good, day. We slept in, and it felt amazing. When I got up I made breakfast, scrambled eggs and potatoes. Then Buck and I gathered ALL the dirty laundry in the house and took a trip to a local laundry mat. As most laundry mats are, it was a simple building with yellow hued washers, metal dryers, and miss-matched chairs. I do not remember how much the laundry mats were back in California, but the washing machine was $2.25 per machine to wash one load. Buck and I both could not believe it was $2.25!!!! We just barely had enough money on us to wash all our clothes and towels, as we were not expecting to have to pay that much per machine.

On the way home we took another trip to the main grocery store, Kroger, and picked up the necessities. We have been out of toilet paper for a day or so. We also became Kroger members today for the member savings and gas discounts ;-)

Then we rushed home so I could get ready for work. I clocked in at 4:00 pm and clocked out at 9:30 pm. Today I was following a waitress named Nunu in the "midway" dining area, which is the eating area in the game section. It's crazy in the midway because of all the kids, booze, games, and game noises. It's very loud in the midway. For the last hour of work I was in the training room and we went over the menu, drink menu, and basic company policies.

Our date night consisted of watching Jack (Robin Williams). I had never seen it before, and I do now recommend it to everyone!

I want to send a shout-out THANK YOU to miss Michelle Schweiger, for my awesome gift. ;-) I love it, and I was soo excited to get mail from you. Love you girl!!

We are calling it a night, and will be back at it tomorrow.

If you know anyone in the Nashville area, tell them to stop by The Wheel to see Buck. He will doing an acoustic show from 2 pm to 6 pm !!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Tired Feet & More Ice: January 15th

It's 34 degrees here in Nashville today. It's freezing. And it's raining. I have to say, I don't care for the weather as of late!!

One thing that I miss about home, as silly as it may be, is toilet seat covers. Not one public bathroom I have been to (besides Dave & Busters thankfully) has had toilet seat covers. So everyone back at home..... appreciate them more. ;-)

Today I had my official first day of work. I was dressed head to toe in my gear. Black pants, black long sleeve shirt, black belt, black non-slip shoes, apron, hair up, card clipped to me, and ticket book in pocket. It was a day filled with information, lots of it I can't remember, and rules. It was fun though. A girl named Mariah, originally from Illinois, trained me. She has been at Dave & Busters for a year or so, and is one of the top waitresses and trainer. She was very nice (while some other people here I'm not so sure about). Since I haven't served for over a year, I have to complain about how tired my feet are. I haven't had to stand on my feet for that long of a period in a long time. So work will be good exercise. I found out today that waitresses here in Tennessee only get paid a base rate of $2.15 an hour plus tips, rather than minimum wage. Minimum wage here is $7.25 an hour. If a waitress doesn't make at least $7.25 in tips per hour though, you make the base rate instead. I'm still kind of confused, but I'm just shocked that I'll only be making $2.15 AN HOUR!!! That's crazy!!! It should be illegal. But this restaurant is supposed to be really busy, so hopefully I'll still make ok money.

Buck made his rounds again downtown to met and chat with owners of the bars, to see if he could play in the venues. He gave press packets and/or a CD to the band bookers at The Wheel, Roberts, Legends, and The Stage. He already has an acoustic show at The Wheel on Thursday night!! He is substituting for Mr. Gary Gibson, a musician and UPS delivery man, who is a regular performer at The Wheel. (Gary Gibson is the artist we saw last Sunday.)

Since I do not have my Jeep yet (it's on it's way) Buck has been dropping me off and picking me up from work. This morning was smooth, since I had to be at work at 9:30 a.m. but when Buck came to pick me up at 3 p.m. he got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Traffic in this city is a real bummer. If you try to go anywhere from 3 p.m. till about 7 p.m. you aren't going to get there fast.

Since it was so cold, everything covered in ice, we went straight home. I ironed my work clothes and took care of mail things. Buck tried putting together our Internet connection. Turns out, we accidentally signed up for an Ethernet connected Internet service, and not a wireless one. Sooooo we need to return it and get another one. :( But can you get ahold of a Comcast Xfinity representative?!?! NOOOOOO. I sat on the home forever on hold and couldn't take it anymore. So we will try again tomorrow.

Then we made salads, spaghetti, and garlic bread for dinner. Then we settled in to watch Barnyard, but I fell asleep within a few minutes. So I am heading to bed and will have energy for work tomorrow, Buck is watching Man vs Wild on his iPad, and Bluebell is already conked out :)

We miss our families and friends. We are keeping you all in our prayers and thoughts. Call or text is whenever you want!! I love hearing from you all. Just remember we are two hours ahead. :)

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Snow, Rain, & an ABC License: January 14th

Today I got up before Buck and cooked breakfast. Bacon, eggs, and potatoes! Then Buck took me to Dave & Busters, not so I could work, but so I could attend an ABC licensing class that is required for all servers and bartenders to have in Tennessee. It cost me $80 to take the class and to receive the license. The class went from 10:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. I learned all about how alcohol affects the body, how alcohol is absorbed, how to help prevent guests from becoming intoxicated, and ways of identifying drunk people or people under the age. I also learned all Tennessee drinking laws and how I will be held responsible and how I could be charged with a criminal and/or civil lawsuit if I help in breaking a Tennessee alcohol law. Summary of the main points we were tested on were;
•Count customer drinks
•Men can have about 4 drinks and women can have about 3 drinks in their bloodstream to be intoxicated
•Legal percent of blood alcohol content to drive is .08
•Deathly blood alcohol content is .30
•After 10 p.m. you cannot serve more than one drink at a time to a customer
•You can serve alcohol 8 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday.
There are sooooo many rules, regulations, and suggestions I have a 40 page rule book. But I took the class, took the test, and I passed so I am good for that license for the next 5 years.

Buck took a trip to Earnest Tubb's record shop in downtown Nashville and his CD's are now on consignment at both stores in Nashville!!! Susan, the purchaser for the store, told Buck that she doesn't take in many unsigned artists, but she was impressed with his website and found a lot online that she liked. So if you know of anyone in this area, tell them to head on down to Earnest Tubb's record shop and to get a Buck Ford CD! :)

Because Saturday was raining but hot, I've have been wearing light jackets and avoiding too many layers, scared I would overheat again lol. But today is freezing!! The weather can not make up its mind. It even began to snow for awhile. On our way back from Dave & Busters we got stuck in traffic again, and all the cars around us were plastered with ice, icicles, and snow! Crazy weather over here.

Dinner consisted of good ole 20 cent Top Ramen noodles and a sandwich. Livin' the good life :)

Floods & Training : January 13th

8:00 a.m. Buck's phone starts blaring the warning sound that the radio makes for an alert announcement. And sure enough, it was an alert text message saying that there was a weather advisory warning us that flooding was a hazard in our area until about 3 p.m. What a scary thing to wake up to!! It is raining today, but our neighbors don't seem to be making any serious precautions so I'm hoping that means that our little neighborhood is safe. I don't really know what to do with floods I didn't grow up with them.

Today was my first day of work. I was there from noon to 4:30 and was in the office the whole time. I had paper work to fill out, videos to watch, and a server safety test to take. The server safety test was sooo long and it wore me out. But I passed (barely) and I got to leave. The restaurant is connected to the mall so afterwards I went and bought a work shirt and belt. The only thing that D&B provides is the apron..... I think they should have provided the shirts at least, but oh well. And now I have a full schedule! I work Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30 am to 5 pm or 4:00 pm to midnight!

Buck hung around the house today, digging water ditches and finally put his clothes away. He also hung his motocross photos in the den. Then he took a drive out to Mt. Juliet, which is a small town on the very outskirts of Nashville. His new guitar player lives there and he needed to deliver CD's with songs for the trip back to California. While he was out and about, he ate Zaxby's, which is a lot like Chic-fil-a (so he says) :-)

After I got off of work we went home, scarfed down dinner, and then went downtown Nashville again to The Wheel and watched Gary Gibson play again with Buck's friend Stan Saxton. While they were playing Gary called me out from the crowd, and asked me to pass the tip jar along. Between songs he said, "Alright everybody, as I'm sure you know, we play up here for tips and for tips only. So I'm gonna ask the only girl I know in this bar, well kind of know.... a little bit, to go around and get our tips! Sarah, would you please be our tip jar girl tonight? Listen up everyone!! This is Sarah, Buck's girlfriend, and she is comin' around to collect tips for the band! She will stand at your table all night till you put a dollar in the bin. Thank you!!" So I grabbed the wooden tip jar that was on the stage (that looked like old fence posts glued together) and I walked around to every table, as friendly as I could be (thinking this would be the perfect job for Laura Paschke!!) Laura can charm money out of anybody ;-)

So we are here for the night, doing our thing, and we will head home soon. I have to get up tomorrow and go to an alcohol serving class tomorrow for work, because it is required by the state of Tennessee for all servers. :-)

It's officially been a week since we have been in Nashville. But it feels like it's been two or three weeks!! It's amazing how you can loose track of dates and time with no work or school to remind you everyday. But we are enjoying ourselves still. But I do have to say we miss our family and friends. :( We love you all and we can't wait to come home for a visit.

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

All About Music & Mafia: January 12th

Today it was raining a steady rain. There was dark grey cloud cover and it was windy. I was all dressed up for a rainy day, pants, boots, long sleeve, and rain jacket... but I soon found out that it was freakin hot out there!! It was pouring rain, but I was sweating my butt off. It was miserable. I could hardly stand it. Humidity. I don't like it. Lol :-) I guess I'm gonna have to get used to that soon.

We went to downtown Nashville to the Country Hall of Fame to attend a songwriters debut session. What this is, is they host two professional songwriters, and within 45 minutes the songwriters talk about their biggest hits, how they came up with them, sing them, and then they answer any questions from the audience. Since Buck and I are members of the hall of fame now we got in for free. The songwriters we saw today were Mr. Will Nance, who has written hits for George Strait, Brad Paisley and many, many more, and Mr. Bob Regan who has written hits for Keith Urban, George Strait, Roy Rodgers, Gene Watson and many, many more. And yesterday Buck had a solo writing session with Will Nance so Will came and chatted with us after the session.

Then we headed down to the bars to see Buck's friend Stan Saxton, who plays drums, down at The Stage. He was performing with a singer named Gary Gibson. We stayed downtown and had a truly fried lunch at Roberts. Buck got a fried bologna sandwich and I got chicken strips. Can you tell we are healthy? Roberts is a small, long shaped bar with a black & white checkered floor, a corner stage, and rows of old boots on the wall. When we arrived, a young girl named Rachel was playing on stage, and by the time we left, Buck's friend Monty Good. Was playing. The place was packed for a Saturday afternoon. We hung around for a awhile, listening to music, and then we headed home.

Today we got our very first mail delivery!! We got cards from my parents. Very sweet. Thank you Mom and Dad!!

Buck also got his shipment of mafia movies; Casino & Good Fellas. So we have made dinner and are hanging out watching them. I'm not a huge fan of fighting in movies, but I'm giving them a try.

Hope all is well with everyone at home. We have been thinking of you and our keeping you all in our prayers.

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck

Traffic Jams & Date Night: January 11

I just feel the need to point out that, Nashville has the slowest stop lights ever. Seriously.

It may be hard to believe, but I hung more stuff on our walls! The living room and kitchen had been finished, but our bedrooms were bare. Then I cleaned the house again. It took some time because my vacuum literally threw up on me. There was too much dog hair for it to handle, and it all came back out on me in the bathroom. I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled I was. :-/

Buck had a writing session with Mr. Will Nance down on music row. He was gone for a few hours and when he came back, Buck, Bluebell, and I went for a walk around our neighborhood! The weather was beyond perfect today, sunny with a light wind. We looked at all the houses, met a lot of neighborhood dogs, and learned the neighboring streets better.

When we got back to the house, we saw our neighbor Jerry in his front yard so we returned his heater to him. Jerry told us a whole list of places to eat, and tried telling us how to get to the nearest Kroger. Krogers are the main grocery store chains here in Nashville.

While we were looking for houses to rent before we moved out, we thought we had found the perfect house on Ewing Dr. I was in contact with the realtor and Buck put the application in and everything, when one of Buck's friends informed us that the house, though beautiful, was located in a really bad part of town. We were so tired of looking for houses, and so bummed to be told bad news about the house, that we still almost rented the Ewing house despite the bad neighborhood. Randy ended up finding the very house that we are living in, and thankfully it's in a good neighborhood, but Buck and I wanted to go visit the Ewing house, just to see what was so bad about the neighborhood. So we left the house around 3:30.... and what a bad idea that was!! We hit bad traffic throughout all the freeways. It took forever! Buck is a little more aware of traffic jams, growing up near I-80, but I haven't had to deal with traffic for quite some time now so I really need to learn when the main traffic times are. :-/ Anyways, just as everyone had told us, the house is adorable and very nice.... but it is in a very bad neighborhood. There were cars everywhere, trash everywhere, and people walking and just sitting around outside their little duplexes. Every single one of them stared at us as we drove by!! Eeeek! And there were lots of Obama signs. :-/

So we left that area and stopped by Earnest Tubb's Record Shop out by the Grand Ole Opry to see if they has any good vinyl records for sale. They had goods ones, but they were expensive!! So when we were driving back to the house, I spotted a store that advertised for selling and buying records. Little did we know, that I had found the mother load!! The music store was completely filled with records, tapes, 8-tracks, and CD's. I know we will be back in that store many, many times. :)

And tonight we are staying in again, making dinner, and watching a movie. We have no money to go out, but we like it at home. :)

And we want to send a shout out to little Jayden, and we hope Jay had the best 3rd birthday ever!! We love you lil guy!

Xoxo-
Sarah Beth & Buck