Big difference from yesterday afternoon/evening (see below). I thought it wasn’t ever gonna stop snowing. It was still snowing at 4 a.m.-ish. More pics from this morning here.

Remember what this looked like a couple of hours ago? Yep, still coming down. Fast and big BIG flakes.

Boy, was it obvious to me with my white dogs out in the snow just how badly they all need a bath. Obviously they are not getting one today.

Yup, we are now a two silver Nissan family. She was wanting a silver Mini Cooper for a while, but I kinda think the new Versa is a better deal given various circumstances (and especially for hauling anything around). Plus it’s kinda similar to the Mini anyway, especially from the back and front. Cute little thing, huh?

Here’s a little bit better photo than the cell phone pic from yesterday. It’s a 2006 Nissan Sentra 1.8 Special Edition, to answer Smiley’s question from yesterday.

I started this post about last weekend days ago and it somehow turned into the Great (?) American Novel, plus it took me five billion years to e-mail to myself and download all of my crummy cell phone pictures from the weekend the other night. And many of you have already read everyone else’s accounts of the weekend anyway, so now by the time I’ve gotten around to posting mine, it’ll be like old news. Or it’s been so long now, you can just pretend you didn’t read about it before and it’s brand new news. Or whatever. (And by the time I get around to posting about my L.A. trip, it’ll be like ancient history before dinosaurs roamed the earth, apparently.)

So most everyone else has written about the weekend more beautifully than I ever will, but since I got home so late Sunday night and have been going like mad all week long, and haven’t really had a chance to share much other than all of our (mostly mine & Ivy’s) drunken Twitter posts, and had the crummy cell phone pics to share (most of which Ginger and Squirrelly have the same pics, only better and less blurry), here goes.

I actually started off my day with lunch at the Mothership, and arrived only to be pleasantly surprised by who all had shown up, some of whom I knew were coming (Kerry Woo, Ivy, and the famous Mrs. Katherine Coble), some of whom had been maybes (Lesley), some I had no idea were coming and was so pleased to see (Malia & David and their kids, as well as Malia’s sister and fellow Nashville blogger Emily, who I’d not had the pleasure of meeting in the past, so that was great). Mr. Ivy and all three of the kids were there as well, and I’d not met hubby nor Ivy’s eldest before so that was cool too. Then the pleasant surprise of all surprises appeared when Sarcastro showed up with baby in tow, who is just so tiny and adorable and was so very good and pleasant and darn near silent, contrary to his father’s previous reports regarding the largesse and lengthy duration of the little angel who I never heard make a peep’s noise level. I should have thought to take some pictures there, especially of the baby (and ESPECIALLY of a nervous about holding babies Kat holding the baby, but she did great). But I’m not sure they would have come out, as there was some discussion about whether or not the child might in truth be a vampire. But it was the middle of the day, so probably not.

As always, it was great to see Knuck as well, and I truly enjoyed my first ever Mothership BBQ eating experience, having had the combo plate (with the pulled pork requested Kerry Woo style - I love my BBQ a bit crispy as well), the legendary crack-n-cheese, and the also legendary pinto beans - which I don’t generally like pinto beans but just as everyone had been telling me, these were great. And a special thanks to Knuck for donating the end-of-the-day veggies for our chick thing in the country. I was also extra glad I made it for lunch this weekend as, unbeknownst to me at the time I was there, it may be closing very soon. NIT bloggers may not just be Bloggers Without Borders, but Bloggers Without BBQ soon, and that is very sad. If you’re a potential investor who might be interested in helping expand this restaurant business into a better location, get in touch with Jim at the Mothership.

I missed seeing my Sista this trip, who was unable to make it for lunch or for the festivities at Chez Mack, and also hated missing Finn again, who was planning to come but got tied up unexpectedly. Hopefully next trip we’ll make up for it, ladies. Didn’t get to meet up with Smiley this trip either, which sucks, but he was in Sewanee this weekend and I could never begrudge anyone any opportunity to spend time on my favorite Tennessee mountain. Also missed seeing Hutchmo, who was my original planned lunch partner for the occasion and opted to go see baseball in Florida instead, but that was quite all right - I know better than to attempt to separate Hutch from his baseball, and he’ll just owe me another lunch or dinner anyway, heh.

Next, after what was a rather amusing shopping adventure on Thompson Lane, we headed out to Casa Mack. Ivy and Kat rode out with me and our short little road trip was probably one of my favorite parts of the weekend. You just can’t ride in a car with BadBadIvy and Kat Coble for 45 minutes and NOT have an absolute blast, I dare you to try. I’d have been perfectly satisfied with how my weekend had gone if it had all ended there - but wait! There’s more!!!

Most of the details have been outlined many other places so I’ll not rehash every single thing, but I will say that Mack and Aunt B. just totally outdid themselves planning and providing this little soiree celebrating the female contingent of Tiny Cat Pants regulars. In fact, I hesitate to even call it a “little” soiree because it really was not - THIS WAS HUGE! Tee hee. Who knows, maybe this was a test run and Mr. Mack has evil plans of kidnapping us all for his future harem - there was some discussion of everyone going and getting tattooed (after a few more drinks, of course), and it was just a little bit suspicious that Mack had “a place down the road” where we could all go and get ‘em done “right now”, I’ll say that much. But no, we all escaped - this time.

I kid - Mack was a wonderfully gracious host, abundantly so, and I appreciate more than they’ll ever know all that he and our kind hostess B. did to put this together. I had such a great time, and I am totally in love with Mack’s cabin and want to live there, and the woods, and the creek, and everything in the vicinity. And I also want his three awesome dogs while I’m at it. And a majority of the cool stuff he has around all over the place.

But seriously, Mack’s place is exactly the kind of place that my betrothed and I hope to have some day, probably with more mountain and less farmwork, but we could totally live in that cabin and I may have to steal some building ideas if we ever have a chance to build. It is a lovely, lovely place.

The food was incredible and people had brought enough to feed a couple of armies. I hate that I was unable to fully enjoy the real honest-to-goodness tamales Mack had procured from his connection, but I am wimpy about super hot spicy food and I took one bite and almost had a stroke, but no doubt they were unbelievable if you can handle the hot stuff.

And just as with the food, the company was totally incredible and amazing. Besides oh-so-generous and gracious Mack and the awesome Aunt B. (and can I just stop right here and say B.’s new haircut is just as cute as can be and so flattering and suits her so well), there were so many wonderful folks, many of whom I have met before and know well, several who I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. I was somewhat awed by and felt as if I were in the presence of Tiny Cat Pants royalty meeting the legendary The Professor and equally legendary and veteran commenter NM, who were both just adorable and a hoot. I have heard much good about how wonderful and hilarious SaraClark is, and those rumors were totally true. And I was especially pleased to finally meet the world’s most awesome medical librarian, Rachel, who I have had many many e-mail conversations with but had had yet to meet in person, and am happy to report she is just the most cute and adorable little thing and so pleasant and funny. Those librarian types are wild party animals, don’t let anybody tell you any different!

Then there were all those I know but was equally happy to see, like Ginger, who is always so much fun to hang out with AND makes maybe the best mac & cheese I have ever eaten in my entire life (apologies to Knuck, but Ginger’s M&C is pretty unbelievable stuff, man). Malia, who I’d seen earlier at the ‘Ship but was thrilled to see again, and is such a nice person and whose always-gorgeous hair I totally wish I had. Kate O’, who is such a sweetheart and hilarious and is just one of those wonderful kinds of people who once you’ve met her, it’s like you’ve known her for years and years. KathyT, who is always just so warm and welcoming and you just can’t help but love her to death. The aforementioned Kat Coble, who I was thrilled to finally get to spend more time with getting to know this trip (we got to talk for maybe 30 seconds last time I was in town) and is just an absolute pleasure to know, fun and funny! And the also aforementioned Ivy, who was her usual meek and mild, quiet as a mouse self (yeahsureright)… good lord, I wish Ivy lived with me ‘cos not only would I be laughing my ass off 24/7, but I would be able to get my house finally clean and in order once and for all. As you already saw, Ivy and I were doing quite a bit of Twittering Under the Influence throughout the evening. And last but never least, my fellow West Tennessee sisters, Newscoma and The Squirrel Queen, who are just the most fab and made the party complete.

Another big high point for me was meeting the lovely and friendly and pleasant Mrs. Mack - she had had to work that night, otherwise I would have loved to have been able to hang out with her ‘cos she seems really cool - and Mack’s kids, who I had met before but not really spent much time around, are just awesome and two of the nicest kids you’ll ever meet. But I’ll let Mack keep his kids when I usurp his estate for myself, I just want the dogs.

There were times it was a little hard for me to hear everything and everyone around me ‘cos it was just pretty much non-stop talking and laughter the whole time, which was great - but as near-deaf as I am after so many years of loud music, when I wind up in a group that big and it gets kind of noisy it’s really hard for me to follow everything sometimes, but there was just so much funny and hilarious stuff going on the whole time it really didn’t matter - I’m surprised I didn’t fracture a rib or three from laughing so hard and so much. And even whatever I didn’t hear or hear well, it really didn’t matter - the friendship and fellowship and the whole experience of it all was the same and wonderful.

So, the rest of y’all that were there but didn’t crash overnight missed one of the best parts of all, which was something only ‘Coma and Squirrelly and myself were treated to the next morning - Mack made us the most awesome delicious waffles for breakfast that were just divine! I think I will keep him around as a cook when I take over his estate.

I also saw a bigass Cottonmouth swimming in the creek, which was not so divine - I’m not wild about snakeage - but he was kinda cool to look at, and I was standing on the wooden bridge above him and out of harm’s way so that was okay.

If you want to see better photos (many of the same shots but with better cameras than my crummy cell phone camera), check out Ginger’s, who has the BEST pic of Aunt B. with the Campfield toilet seat (bwahahaha), and Squirrelly’s (who outdid herself with the graphics once again, that banner is so rad).

Leaving Mack’s on Sunday, I didn’t make a turn I should have and wound up in Goodlettsville, but finally found my way back to I-40 and westward and traveled to my Mom’s, where we went out for a yummy lunch and to look around at some cars. Got back to Memphis really late and the rest of the week has been a real bear, but that’s all right

Anyway, a very special and grand weekend, and much thanks to Mack & B for making it all happen. It was awesome and memorable, and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.

When I was going out club hopping in Chicago and L.A. a few weeks ago, I needed something to be able to carry cash and cell phone and ID and some other minor stuff around, since what I was planning to wear didn’t have pockets.

I found this in one of the airport shops (and it was on sale too!). It’s actually a sunglasses case, but it’s perfect for situations like the above. You can probably get them and others similar at any CNBC News store at airports that have them.

* (All of the purses she buys are tiny and usually black.)

Well, looks like Nashville will be invaded by PT Cruisers from the West this weekend.

Unless Newscoma and SQ are coming in the truck instead, in which case this joke is no longer funny.

Pardon me while I go all Kerry Woo & Smiley on you for a moment, but lookie what arrived this afternoon, and it wasn’t even supposed to have been delivered until Thursday! Yay! (Click the pic to see full size pic and specs.)

I lost my MP3 player a few weeks ago, which was a cheap Nano knockoff anyway so it was no big loss, and I decided I would use part of my birthday present moola for a new and better one. I pretty much use mine in the car 100% now instead of lugging along CDs - as well as other occasions - so it was getting to be a must.

I am a lifelong Apple hater (though Vista may well send me to a Mac next computer buy) and I loathe iTunes, so an iPod was out of the question. My mom bought one of those teeny 4 giggers from Creative a couple of months ago, but I wanted something bigger. As I usually do, I spent hours the other night researching all the usual tech places and reading expert and user reviews, I decided the TrekStor vibez was the one for me. I was kind of leaning towards the newest Creative 30 or 60 GB ones, or the Toshiba Gigabeat, but I just don’t need all that video stuff and all the other non-audio bells & whistles right now. Sure, it would be nice to be able to carry around 100% of what I own musically, but I just don’t need all that extra crap at present and since I’m going from having a 1 GB to a 12 GB, I think that’ll do me just fine for a while. They have a 15 GB to be released this year, but especially after taking a long drive last weekend without a player, I just didn’t want to wait (plus this one was temporarily marked down, woo).

The big selling point for me, besides the awesome sound it’s supposed to have and the largish storage space, is the removable & rechargeable battery. Even though it’s just a little less than half of the storage space on Creative’s 30 GB M Vision, I’d much rather have something I can swap the battery out of and just buy a spare battery for about 25 bucks than have one with twice the storage space, but in which the battery is not removable and if it just dies completely eventually, your best option is just to buy another one (another player). And video capability is all very well, fine, and good, but I have a laptop as it is and I just wasn’t into having all the video and photo junk on my MP3 player too, I’m really not that interested in what it can do for me other than audio-wise. If Creative and Toshiba and the big guys ever come out with big 30 & 60 GB and higher ones that have the removable battery, now we’re talking.

But for now this will suit me just fine. It’s German and it’s techy (con for some folks but a plus for me) and it’s supposed to have really awesome sound, and for the most part got some really excellent reviews from most of the usual experts as well as users, especially compared to the other top products in the hard drive and microdrive and flash categories. I haven’t loaded all my stuff onto it yet and listened, but I’m about to! I’m so tickled it arrived a day early (and only about a day and half, or less, after I ordered it).

And here is an insane kitten, who was trying to “help” me open it and open all the stuff that came with it.

As you may or may not have read, my car got totaled Thursday night. I am OK, just a little sore… more detail forthcoming on the blog.

Anyway, this is what my insurance is covering for the next 30 or so days if needed. I don’t like it. The interior is sweeeeeet but I have never liked the way these new model Chryslers and Dodges look. But it runs so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Sigh.

Mainly posting this for Megan’s benefit since her folks live nearby. Crummy pic w/ my cell phone camera - the view from my hotel room window in Mt. Prospect, Illinois on the afternoon of 03/25/2007. Taken before I went into Chicago to see the Hoodoo Gurus play that night.