The universal song

Is this the universal song of all of mankind? Does it speak to us on some basic human level? Could it foster world peace?

 Twins love it:



Cool kids love it:

Little kids love it:

Dancing kids love it: 

Artists love it: 

Musicians love it:

Room at the inn

I got the best present when I returned home from the market Saturday, an empty room!!

Chris worked all morning to clean out our man cave so it can become Baby Everett's room. Yay!!

But where did all that stuff go? Well, in here. What used to be our guest bedroom.

It's not as bad as it looks, people. Most of this stuff just needs to be organized and moved around....in theory. 

But wait, do you see something? 

Yes, there's a cat in that chair!

Saturday night, we closed the door to the now-filled-room to keep Porter from getting in and getting hurt. If you have ever had a cat, you know that cats hate closed doors. More than they hate anything else in the entire world. 

Today, Porter finally managed to get the door open, and when we realized it, we found him here. 

No one with a cat is really surprised. 

Meanwhile, Grace is pretty sure this newly cleaned room is for her. 

But we told her it's for Everett! Sweet Everett already has a few things in his closet (which was also full of stuff).
My friend Laura has outfitted him with a few outfits already.

And,  my BFF Kathy got him his first book and toy.

And even some little shoes!

We've now made a little more room in our inn. 

Porter seems just fine with it...as long as we leave that chair on top of the dresser.

Snips and snails

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of!

Chris and I will be finding out all about that come October 25th. Through the help of a surrogate, we are expecting our baby boy.

We can't wait to be parents to Thad Everett Cook!

And we hope these kids are ready for Everett. 

I like dirt in my food

See that? 

It's dirt.

Right there in my bok choy. And, I really wouldn't have it any other way. The reason is because the dirty shows that my bok choy came from the Earth. And even better than that is that I know the farmer whose dirt it is. 

I've mentioned the Memphis Farmers Market a lot my blog. I began volunteering there every Saturday when we moved here in 2009. Since I enjoy cooking so much, I also enjoy using amazingly wonderful, and sometimes unique, products in my dishes. I also like "real food" as opposed to "fake food." Think outer area of the grocery store, not the center aisles. But, that's a soap box for another time. 

Any who...Who would have thought that my three years of volunteering would ever turn into a job? But it has!

For the last month, I've been working as the market director for the Memphis Farmers Market!

But what does that mean? If you think about the farmers market as a business, I make sure the business is running. I work on the financials, inventory, vendor relations, onsite logistics, market day schedules, marketing and more. Such as Friday when I'll be meeting the ice delivery truck. Very glamorous! 

I couldn't be more thrilled about this opportunity. I think it's such a good fit for me in so many ways. 

So my Saturdays begin at about 4am and end around 2pm, but it's a small price to pay for doing something you already love!

The Daily News even did a story about me recently, and I made sure to give a shout-out to some important people. Click here to see the story.

 

My own Ricky Bobby

For Christmas, I gave Chris a driving experience with the Rusty Wallace Racing company. They were coming to Memphis, and I knew he would love it. Today was the day of the event!

The suits were pretty cool looking

And I was especially happy to see these

Here's Chris in his official racing suit. 

He got the green car, and it was easy to spot him on the course. He had to climb through the window, just like the real racers. 

Then came Brandi. Oh Brandi. 

I'm sure there was some very official business going on here. 

He's just about ready to go!

This is the part where I realized I will never be a race car driver. This guy comes over, and he started strapping Chris in, pulling cords, securing his helmet and lowering the netting. 

My claustrophobia almost made me turn away.

  But then it was real racing time!

I took a lot of photos, but when I got home, I realized they all pretty much looked the same at this point. There was just no way to capture how fast Chris was driving. But here are a few of him going around the track. 

Thankfully, all 15 laps were green flags. That means no wrecks or issues on the track. 

This video is a little loud, but you can see him drive!

All great things must come to an end, and here he is pulling back into the pit. (I learned very official words like that today.)

Here he is with his green car.

One of the racing company guys let me hop the wall to get a photo with Chris and the car. 

I think it was a pretty good day.