Christmas Preview...

Here's a Christmas preview for your Christmas cards which will be in the mail in a few weeks... (Notice Baby B's bottom teeth)

I've also been busy working on Christmas gifts for friends sold on She'll Paint Anything. Thank you for all of your support Pamela's Girls!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

~Mommy M

My Grassmere Wildlife Park Years And Charles Fracé

I’ve dealt with all sorts of “wildlife” while working in the music business over the years, whether it involved lining up musicians for recording sessions or - these days - working with songwriters and… even more dangerous…. song pluggers!

But seriously, there was one chapter in my life that was fraught with bureaucratic non-profit woes (which SanFran S may be able to understand) but had the wonderful upside of having some of the most memorable experiences with animals that I am sure I will ever have. I had the opportunity to hold river otters when they were still babies, scratch coyotes behind the ears, have large birds of prey swoop so closely over my head that I could feel the soundless & gentle rush of air down through my hair and – as you can see in these photos – run with a cougar cub across a winter meadow.

Just before construction on the Grassmere Wildlife Park - where I worked then - was finished, I had the awesome experience of meeting the celebrated wildlife artist, Charles Fracé. During the Park’s history, we hosted many wildlife art exhibitions and one included nothing but the startlingly real works of this amazing painter. It was difficult to believe, as you stared closely at the paintings, that the fur was not soft and real and that the water not really wet or rocks not actually sharp and hard. (I have included a photo of Mr. Fracé here with the first director of Grassmere.

In our own art collection, Uncle R and I have a print signed by Charles Fracé and I love that it is a cougar. It reminds me of the exciting afternoon that I had “babysitting” a cougar cub, who sat on my desk and swatted at my phone when it rang. I finally took him outside and we ran across the rolling meadow grass on a crisp winter afternoon.

In present day I am thankful to be working back in the music industry – the industry that brought me to Nashville – but I am also grateful for the other paths that the Lord has lead me down over the years and the sweet friends that I made and remarkable moments that I had the blessing to be a part of along the way.

Happy Saturday to my Pamela’s Girls!!!

Auntie J

My First Artwork Sold...

I just wanted to let Pamela's Girls know that I have just completed my first artwork sold to a friend of a friend on my facebook "She'll Paint Anything" page... Its surprisingly just as exciting to make artwork for the nursery of a baby I don't know as it is to paint something for a good friend's nursery.

Thinking about Uncle R today! I hope he and Auntie J are getting good news!

And PS SanFran S... I'm very jealous of your glamorous Vegas pictures:)
Love,

~Mommy M

More Travels

This is another travel post, but will be my last travel until I go home next month to South Carolina.
BK's company offered to pay for my travel expenses to go to Vegas for a work conference. I def couldn't turn that down! So we went Friday and I came back on Sunday while BK stayed there to work. Although I nor BK gamble, Vegas is still fun place to stay for the pools, shows and dining.

To the left are pictures of my hotel pool.

This trip we went to see this really cool show by Cirque de Soleil called "O". It was really amazing. Just as good if not better than Broadway shows in my opinion. Here's 2 videos if you feel like watching:
http://www.vegas.com/video/shows/ohd/full_index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYaLLX_bF7c

I coincidentally took pictures of my favorite restaurant, like Auntie J. It's a Chinese restaurant called Wing Lei. It is very nice, dress code, required, the best service, atmosphere, everything.
Gold plates and flatware.Even gold chopsticks.
I got dessert. The "Golden Chocolate Cake" with an edible gold flake on top. The picture of us in at the front door which is located inside the Wynn Hotel.

The New York New York Hotel is cool because inside and out it looks just like a miniature NYC. It's so cool and neat walking around in there and noticing all the big and little things that make it just like the city. Pretty cool.

I had a great trip to Nevada, but I'm glad to be back home in San Francisco, home of the San Francisco Giants World Series Champions!!! :)

P.S. For Auntie J: You have to try Ethiopian food! It is so good! If you're willing to try all the other cuisines, you have to try Ethiopian. There's nothing real spicy or extremely different except the way it looks and how you eat it. That's because it's made to eat with your hands so everything is really soft and yummy. Reminds me of mom's pot roasts. I get the vegetarian plates these days with salad, potatoes, carrots, and lentils. Very yummy!

Have a great week Pamela's Girls! It's getting close to time to see you again and I can't wait!
Love,
SanFranS

Happy Anniversary Pamela's Girls!

This week celebrates exactly one year since the first Pamela's Girls post. Our Pamela's Girls blog has really been a wonderful way to capture all of our most precious moments and share them with the most important women in our lives.

Wow, how amazing it is to think back on all the wonderful changes since last November. Baby B is so different from the little baby that crawled all over the house last fall. This photo is from my very first blog post on November 9, 2009.

I feel so fortunate to have each of you in my life and I hope we will can have a real Pamela's Girls reunion soon (unlike this photo that I had to crop together) :)

Happy 1st Anniversary Pamela's Girls! I love you all!

~Mommy M

A World Of Tastes

I know that Uncle R and I probably worry our seester, CiCi, with our slightly exotic food tastes… and maybe SanFranS worries her a bit with “interesting food choices” too! (HA!) But it is true, that Uncle R and I dearly love to try different ethnic foods and international tastes from around the world. But, when I first came to Nashville years ago there weren’t many choices. My love of sushi began – not with restaurant choices – but with what my friend, Keishi, would make when a “fresh tuna” shipment came in at a local international market or a “care package” arrived from his mom filled with Japanese pickles, spices and teas.

For years good Mexican food has been a favorite for Uncle R and me with frequent visits to the most authentic stores that we can find in our city. La Hacienda restaurant on Nolensville Road - along what is often fondly called Nashville’s "Avenue Of The Americas” - is always a good choice and sometimes our church group gathers there together after the 6pm Sunday service. I am including a photo here of our pastor nervously peering down the table at an “interesting” dish that Uncle R ordered.

Still farther down Nolensville Road is La Terraza. Uncle R and I visited there recently and since we hadn’t been there for awhile we had to order our old standards – Carne Asada (tender slices of charbroiled sirloin steak served with a salad and avocado slices) for me and for Uncle R his beloved Filete Perla (fish fillet and chopped shrimp baked in a creamy sauce with onions, bell peppers and tomatoes). It’s pretty exciting when the Filete Perla is served, because they cook it in a little packet of tin foil and bring it to your table with a happy little flame sprouting from an indentation in the center. People around us always stare and Uncle R likes to remark; “It gives a WHOLE new meaning to (the phrase that you usually hear in a Mexican restaurant) ‘the plate is hot’!” You can’t really tell much about the flame in the photo… but it’s pretty impressive to see!

Nearer home we sometimes pick up some freshly made ceviche and bring it back to our house to have for a Saturday lunch with sliced avocados and maybe a handful of chips. One day when we stopped by to pick up a batch we decided to try the little taco stand out front and see what kind of Tacos Auténticos with chorizo they might make for us and found that they were delicious!

But there are some other interesting international food choices in Nashville these days too. For several anniversaries and birthdays we have chosen a Turkish restaurant on the west side of Nashville called Anatolia. We have a good friend who works there as a server and there have been some of our visits that we have asked him to just “bring us what looks good in the kitchen!”… We love to do that and have had the opportunity to try grilled lamb dishes, perfect baked salmon with dill weed, creamy house-made Turkish ravioli – a pasta stuffed with seasoned ground lamb and served in garlic-yogurt sauce topped with melted hot butter sprinkled with red pepper and mint.

Several years ago our friend, Lillybah, introduced us to Vietnamese restaurants here in town and a nutritionist additionally informed us that the Vietnamese specialty, pho soup, is actually a very healthy meal choice. It is a big bowl brimming with rice noodles; broth and chunks of whatever meat might be chosen. On the side you are offered bean sprouts, lime, basil, jalapenos and sometimes mint to add as you wish.

In our own neighborhood Uncle R and I have recently found – of all things – a Bosnian restaurant. We had heard about it – passed it and wondered about what they might serve – and finally gave it a try. We were thrilled with the welcoming & talented chef, her lovely & helpful assistant and the fresh, tasty & interesting food that was placed in front of us. We have been back to Café Bosna several times and Uncle R – ever his adventuresome self – keeps trying interesting dishes; paprika chicken, tiny & delicate stuffed bell peppers in a savory brown sauce and night before last, lamb stew. I, however, am stuck on the first thing that I tried there – a spinach and feta omelet. It is the best omelet that I have had since the luscious one that I dined on in Paris. This amazing chef also whips up crepes from scratch and so I had to try the “Nutella Crepes” (pictured here)…. Yummm….

Uncle R and I have also been delving into the world of Indian cuisine this past year or so and just this past evening we tried a new Indian restaurant called Shagor just down the road from us in Mt. Juliet. We had a hot curry, basmati seasoned rice, vegetable curry as a side dish and tandoori chicken, all washed down with some iced chai tea.

There are also Ethiopian restaurants in Nashville and we have been very curious… but perhaps not quite brave enough yet… to give them a try… (gulp!)… Someday…

Love to the Pamela’s Girls,

Auntie J

Amazing Baby B

I was fixing a bowl of cereal and came in the den to find Baby B like this... I still don't know how he got in there with it on top of the chair like that. You can't see but baby is in the trashcan too underneath him:)

Happy Election Day Pamela's Girls!

Love,

~Mommy M