I Bought a Geeeetaarrrr!

I've been talking about self teaching myself to play the guitar for a VERY long time now.  I'm finally doing it!...OK, well I'm finally "attempting" to learn to play.

Yesterday, I took my lunch break assuming I'd be gone for hours trying to figure out which guitar to purchase.  I had it in my mind that I was leaving work and coming back with a new guitar...I wasn't shopping around.

So, off I went to Sam Ash Music store on Tyvola.  Holy overwhelming store, Batman!  Thankfully, the acoustic guitar section was in a room off to the side so I didn't have to walk around aimlessly for too long. 

I walked in and once again was overwhelmed with hundreds of guitars hanging from the walls and a small jam session among customers.  What the hell have I gotten myself into, was all I could think.


"Can I help you?" says the salesman?  "Oh, boy...you have no idea how much help I need" I replied.  We talked for a bit about my goals and price range then headed out to search for "the one".


He hands me the first one..."have a seat and see how that feels".  Umm, ok.  I've never held a guitar, so how the hell am I supposed to know what it feels like?  "Feels good" I said...umm, sir...do you not remember that I said I had no idea what I was doing?


Turns out the first one was the most expensive...go figure.  The second one he hands me is the one I was looking at online.  As soon as I sat down with it, I felt comfortable.  No B.S. - I really have no idea what is supposed to feel "right" with a guitar, but this one just felt "comfortable".


"What do you think of the sound?" he asks...so I strum something that is not even a chord and go "sounds like a guitar".  He laughed, and apparently the jam session was listening in as well because they all snickered as well.  Hippies.


After a total of 25 minutes in the shop, I was purchasing a Yamaha FG700S guitar.  I bought a tuner and a service package...and that was it!  I was easily that dude's quickest sale in history.

I couldn't wait to get home and "play"...HA!  Yea, right!  I sat down and read all the stuff I had printed out from the internet - mostly about finger exercises, reading tabs, and playing the basic chords.  


I won't get into details...but I did learn two things:
1.) long fingernails and guitars don't mix...nails are gone now
2.) "Smoke on the Water"  (well the first 18 notes)


Stay "tuned" (ha!) - this is going to be interesting.

Time to Get Personal...

I know I have been posting a lot about reality television, but the reality is I do it because I haven't had many exciting things to talk about in my life lately...until this past weekend.  I never meant for this blog to get to a personal level, but I feel like I need to share some things.  Prepare yourself, you're about to learn a lot about me in a few minutes...some things I have never even told my family.

After sitting in traffic that extended my travel time to McClellanville by 2.5 hours, I finally arrived at my dad's house.  I was exhausted, but also very excited to see him.  The next morning, we went fishing in the creek and had some wonderful conversations.  We haven't had daddy-daughter time in a long time - we needed to catch up...and we did.  It's funny how conversations change with your parents as you get older.  I remember talking to him about my goals in life after college (ha) and what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Now I'm talking to him about my career and how much I miss seeing him more often than once a month.  He always jokes about how he wants me to move back home..."just pack up and move" he says.  I wish it was that easy...

We caught fish, drank beers, talked and shared a lot of laughs!  All in all, it was a great day!  I miss daddy-daughter time.

Time for some background...

For anyone who doesn't know me that well, my parents have been divorced for a long time now.  The effects of the divorce have changed so much thru the years.  Before you get all "poor girl from a broken home" on me, let me explain.  My parent's divorce was not a "nasty" one.  I was in 4th grade - I remember that because I had a purple cast from shoulder to wrist the majority of that year from a gymnastics injury.  I remember them sitting me down to tell me that Daddy was going to live with his cousin in McClellanville for a while.  I remember staring at that cast...reading all the signatures, realizing that my friends that had signed it were all waiting on me to come over for a sleep over.  I didn’t really understand it at the time.

When I was younger, meaning not old enough to drive myself, the fact that my dad was now living in McClellanville was AWESOME!  He'd come pick me up on Friday afternoons (meeting my mother half way) every other week.  The best part about going to McClellanville was that I got to hang out with April and Michael, my first cousins.  Again, if you don't know me that well, I'm an only child...so April and Michael are the closest things I have had to a brother and sister.  We always had fun together!  And when I wasn't hanging out with them, Dad was taking me fishing and hunting - ok, I only went deer hunting once...apparently I asked too many questions and couldn't shut up.  Go figure.  Either way, as a teenager having these two separate homes was like having a vacation every other weekend.

As I got older, it got harder to split the time between the two of them.  I lived with my mom in Mt. Pleasant and all my friends were there.  Once I could drive, I chose to drive to my friend's houses in Mt. Pleasant instead of driving to McClellanville on the weekends.  I know this hurt my dad...he never said it, but I know it did.  Every other week visits soon turned into bi-monthly visits, and those turned into once a month visits.  It was hard on him…I know that now.

Once I left for college, it once again got harder.  When I would come home on the weekends to visit I would have to split my time up between the two houses.  I think I did pretty good at it, but honestly I can't really remember.

After college, I stayed in Charlotte...3 hours from "home".  Without the long summer and winter breaks I had in college, my weekends were the only times I could go home...2 days at most.  That meant one day at mom's, and one day at dad's.  The worst part?  Christmas.  We have it down to a science now though...at least until I have a family of my own.  Christmas Eve is Mom's...Christmas Day is Dad's.  It's been that way for nearly 18 years now...and like I said it "works".  Now, do I love spending the holiday on the road back and forth from house to house?  No.  But I love my family and want to spend the time with them, so I suck it up, load up the car and fill up the tank (2 and 3 times).

Present day trips home consist of still splitting the time up equally.  I cannot think of a time I went home and didn't see both my parents.  I'm good at it...I'm an equal opportunity daughter.

Ok, so now that you have the background...let's get back to the weekend that may or may not have changed my life.

Saturday afternoon I packed my new car up and drove the 45 minutes to my mom's house.  We chatted about mine and Daddy's day in the boat and then realized we both needed a drink and some food!  Mom, Gerry and I went to their favorite restaurant, Crave, near their house.  Think "Cheers"...where everybody knows your name...but way more upscale!  Any who, we sat, ate, drank and laughed for a couple of hours.  I left the bar and went to meet up with a friend.  This is not just any friend...he's someone who I have always had a chemistry with...no matter how long it had been since we had seen each other.

Ok, so for the sake of not making this blog be completely transparent, we're going to call the mystery man "Dude".  I can't tell you all my secrets!

Dude and I have been friends for about 11 years now.  For a long time, we were practically inseparable!  Dude had surgery and was on bed rest for a long time at one point and I remember going and sitting with him for hours and just talking about anything and everything.  Sometimes, while I was in college, we would go months without even talking - but all it took was a phone call when I was in town and we always picked up where we left off.  We joked that we had a schedule of not talking for long periods and how when one of us broke and called the other we were overdue for a meeting.  Every time we saw each other it was like we never were apart...we just picked up where we left off and both of us were okay with that.  Dude is one of very few friends who came to visit me while I was in college...and that means more now than I thought it did back then.

I know I’m giving you a lot of information here, but I’m on a roll…call me butter.

Sunday was my mom and stepdad's 12th wedding anniversary and I was so happy to be able to celebrate with them.  We went to the beach and relaxed for most of the day.  It's funny, I remember being a kid and BEGGING my mom to come get in the ocean with me...and now she's the one wanting to play!  We sat in a gully and had mother-daughter time.  We talked about one thing and one thing only...how much she wishes I still lived in Charleston.  Ok, so far this weekend I've been told by 4 people that they wished I lived in Charleston...and I agree with every single one of them.  

We even went as far as talking about me buying Gerry’s mother’s condo on James Island.  The more we talked about it, the more I got excited about it, and the more I got excited about it – the more I realized that this is a HUGE decision.  Not only do I need to figure out if I can work from “home” – which I know I can (technically speaking), but I have to find a place to live.  Career change and a first home purchase all in one package?  I don’t know if I can handle something like this!   If I knew for a fact that I could keep my job, work from a home office and find a decent home that I can afford, I’d be packing tomorrow.

I miss my family.  I miss the ocean.  I miss everything about Charleston…I have ever since the day I left.  I have been talking myself into making Charlotte/Rock Hill home for about 5 years now.  This is not home.  This is where I live.  When people ask “how’s Charlotte/Rock Hill?”  I usually reply “It’s not Charleston".

Don’t get me wrong.  I love my friends in Charlotte/Rock Hill.  Most of them are college friends that (also) never left the area.  We have a great time, and I know they’d be there for me in an instant if I needed them…and vice versa.  I also know that said friends would also love to have a place to visit in Charleston.  Wink Wink.  I don’t have any doubt that the friends that I have here wouldn’t remain just as close to me if I were not living in Rock Hill.  So far, my job is the only thing that holds me back in Charlotte.  That and my apartment lease (until April).

SO, I’m almost 28 years old.  Not married.  No kids.  No pets.  Not a homeowner.  I’m like a blank canvas.  I need to start a masterpiece…and the background to this piece of artwork is a Charleston skyline.

Stay tuned for more in the Lindsey Saga.  It’s going to be a slow process, but the ultimate ending would be a TRULY happy Lindsey surrounded by her family in the Holy City.

Big Brother - Week 5 - Nominations

First off, Kahlia may be the most emotional HOH winner in BB history!  Man, that girl can scream and cry!  Meanwhile, Rachel is still the winner of the Most Obnoxious person in BB history.

The Vets are pissed because Porsche put Jeff and Shelley up against each other in the HOH competition.

Rachel goes to HOH room to cry some more about Brendan leaving.  Then she asks Danielle to leave so she can talk to Kahlia.  She asks Kahlia to save her this week in return for safety next week.  I don't understand how these people try to make deals about keeping others safe - how do you know you're going to win HOH?  Rachel keeps using the "I respect you as a player and person" line to Kahlia - is that supposed to work?  If so, I'm going to start using that as a preface for anything negative I need to tell someone.

Adam gets to take off his Elf Suit and does it in the most uncomfortable strip tease I've ever seen!

Funny alert!  Kahlia is sleeping in the hammock and Shelley sneaks up on her and scares her.

Back to game play: Kahlia wants to put Rachel and Jeff up this week for eviction and tell Jeff he's a pawn.  I don't see this turning out well...

The Have/Have-not competition starts and the HG's must mix 3 ingredients together + milk in a blender.  They must serve it to their opponent and they have 3 guesses to name the ingredients in the cocktail.  If they each get the same amount of ingredients correct, they must chug a glass of the mixture and the winner of the chug-off wins the round.

Jeff vs. Lawon:

Jeff mixes: gorgonzola cheese, eggs, and applesauce

Lawon mixes: corned beef hash, creamed corn and potato chips

They tie and Jeff wins the chug-off.

Shelley vs. Porsche:

Shelley mixes: beets, pickles and jalapenos

Porsche mixes: carrots, yams and onions

Porsche wins.

Jordan vs. Danielle:

Jordan mixes: liverwurst, spray cheese and creamed corn

Danielle mixes: sour kraut, horseradish, and apple sauce

They tie and Danielle wins the chug-off.

Jordan is super upset about losing the competition and making other people suffer as have-nots for the week because of it.  This triggers her to blurt out everything else that's pissing her off in the house.  Mostly about how Lawon and Porsche float by and everyone else puts their heads out there and they just get to slide right on by without creating targets on their backs.

Kahlia talks with Shelley and Shelley tells her she wants a final 3 deal with Kahlia and Danielle.  But in all honesty, Shelley has a true final 3 deal with Jeff and Jordan. Oh the lies...

Jeff and Jordan go to talk to Kahlia to see where her head is at about nominations.  When Kahlia tells them that she wants to put Rachel up and Jeff up as a pawn Jordan gets pissed again! Jeff is pissed too.  Jeff tells Kahlia that she's putting a target on her back by putting him on the block and that she's now his #1 target...especially if he gets evicted and can come back into the game.

At the nomination ceremony, Rachel acts like a total B and tries to push Danielle's buttons by sitting right next to her and annoying her.  Rachel and Jeff are nominated for eviction.

Rachel is officially losing it - she's resorting to being a plain old bitch instead of being sad that her Brendan is gone.  Man, I hope they vote her out!

Big Brother - Week 4 - Eviction

Rachel continues to cry about Brendan being on the block...and it's getting really annoying.

Brenchel start campaigning to see if they can get the votes to keep Brendan in the house.  Porsche sticks with Rachel and says that she has her vote to evict Jordan.  Adam also tells them that he will vote with them, but he really is undecided as of right now.  Seems like Shelly is the swing vote this week.

Danielle campaigns to Porsche in the HOH room to see if she can get her vote to evict Brendan.  Rachel just walks in like she owns the place and everyone falls silent!  Now Rachel is pissed off because Porsche is talking to Danielle.  Apparently Rachel doesn't share friends.

Porsche tells Rachel that she needs to stop with the sad face because after Brendan goes home she's going to have to keep people on her side to help her in the game.  Rachel takes it completely wrong and once again boo hoo's to Brendan about the most ridiculous stuff!  My favorite quotes: "it was a mistake for you to ever ask me to marry you" and "I'm never going to get a job after BB because people hate me and I'm really not that smart".  This chick has gone off the deep end...and I hope she stays there.  After Brendan rubs her ego, Rachel is back to "normal".

The live feeds start and Rachel and Brendan are holding hands the whole time...gross.  She seriously makes me nauseous.  He's not your knight in shining armor for saving you this week in Big Brother...he's a moron who knows that you're going to be heading to Jury next week because nobody likes you...he could have fought to stay better than you anyway!

We get an interview with Evel Dick and he basically says that Danielle's game play is terrible.

In Danielle's interview with Julie she tells her that she's in there to make big moves and that she's playing to her best ability.  She also tells us that she doesn't think the fence can be mended with Rachel because Rachel plays emotionally and feels like Danielle's nominations this week were a shot at their relationship and not just playing the game.

Time for voting, and the nominees get to make a speech.  Brendan gives us the most ridiculous farewell speech and proves, once again, that he is the biggest D bag ever by crying the whole time!  Come on!  Man up you loser!  Jordan's speech is your typical "vote for whoever you think will take you the furthest in the game".

Here's how everyone voted:

Brendan is evicted and we get a lot of hugging and crying from both he and Rachel...barf again.

In Brendan's exit interview he says he saved Rachel from eviction because of Love...double barf.

BB is full of twists - the new one: the next house guest evicted will have a chance to play against an already evicted HG to get back into the game.  For example...if Rachel is evicted (fingers crossed) she will play against whoever America votes to come back and play for a chance to re-enter the game.  I'm so voting for Cassi...Anyone but Brendan!!!

HOH Competition starts and it's a "knock out" style game.  Two people answer BB trivia about Dominick, Keith and Cassi...if you get it wrong or are not the one to ring in first, you're eliminated...if you get it right you get to pick the next two people to battle each other.

Here's how it went:

Jordan vs. Kahlia: Kahlia wins - Jordan eliminated

Rachel vs. Lawon: Rachel wins - Lawon eliminated

Kahlia vs. Adam: Kahlia wins - Adam eliminated

Rachel vs. Porsche: Rachel gets it wrong (cusses) - and she's eliminated

Jeff vs. Shelley: Shelley wins - Jeff eliminated

Kahlia vs. Porsche: Kahlia wins - Porsche eliminated

Kahlia vs. Shelley: Kahlia wins - Shelley eliminated and Kahlia wins HOH!!!

With Kahlia as HOH, we now have a game!!!  FINALLY!

Big Brother - Week 4 - POV

Can I just start off by saying that Brendan and Rachel make me want to vomit.  Ok, good...thanks.

These two can't stand to not be winning...it's sickening!  They're crying like Brendan is going off to war and they may never see eachother again.  My gosh, you're going HOME...you'll see eachother in like 8 weeks.  Get over yourselves!

Danielle tells Rachel that she shouldn't take it personally that she put them up on the block - but Rachel isn't buying it.

The POV players are: Danielle, Brendan, Rachel, Jeff, Adam and Porsche with the flamboyant Lawon hosting.

The competition is a combination of all the contests they've had up until now. It's kind of confusing, but basically they have to bid on how long they think it will take them to complete one of the tasks...and if they're the low bidder, they must do it.  If they succeed, they knock the person with the highest bid out of the competition.  If they fail, they are out.

Rachel eliminates Adam by completing the balance beam and bubble gum challenge in the time she bid.

Rachel bids lowest on the puzzle challenge and fails to put it together in less than :38...kicking herself out of the competition.

Danielle bids :29 to make an 11 letter word and fails - knocking herself out of the competition.

Jeff bids :54 to get 3 gallons of milk in the jug and BARELY fails...he's knocked out of the competition.


Brendan bids :33 to make a hole in one and makes one in less than the time he bid - knocking Porsche out of the competition and winning the POV.


Brendan's "great" plan is to use the POV to pull Rachel off the block but he's going to tell everyone that he's going to use it on himself so that Danielle has to make a last minute decision for a replacement nominee.


Danielle meets with Jeff and Jordan and they decide that Jordan can go up as a pawn in place of whoever comes off the block.


Rachel and Brendan go talk to Danielle and Brendan lies to Danielle's face about using the POV on himself.  Brendan tells Danielle that if she put up a floater as a replacement nominee that is certain to go home, he would wipe the slate clean.


POV Ceremony takes place and Brendan uses the Veto on Rachel.  Danielle puts Jordan up in her place.  Rachel fake cries.  Lindsey barfs.


Brendan thinks he pulled this crazy move and "shook the house up" by using the POV on Rachel instead of himself.  Not really dude, Danielle's plan was to get your sorry ass out of the house this week anyway - so you kind of helped her.

The Bachelorette - Finale

Sorry so late on the blog from Monday's finale...it's been a rough week!

Quite honestly, since InTouch completely spoiled the ending for me, I didn't really enjoy the finale as much as I would have normally.  Thanks again you jerks.

Since I'm late on updating, didn't enjoy the finale, and don't really care that much anymore, you're gettin' highlights:

JP's date with Ashley's family went horribly because Ashley's sister is a total B and judges JP within 15 minutes of meeting him.  How much of a B is she?  Well she told JP that she saw more emotion out of Ashley when she brought Brad home.  OUCH.

Ashley confronts her sister, Chrystie (could you try any harder to spell her name weird?) and the witch tells her that she's not going to tell her what Ashley wants to hear and sugar coat everything.  Hey Chrystie, you don't have to sugar coat things...but a few sprinkles wouldn't hurt!

Ben's date with Ashley's family goes much smoother since Chrystie is NICE to him.

Ashley and Ben get one last one on one date and Ben tells her "I am inlovewithyou"...yes, read it just like that, because that's how he said it.  And lots of kissing happens.

Ashley and JP's final date is more about talking future plans and JP tells Ashley "I'm madly in love with you" and gives her a photo album from their journey.  Corny, yet sweet.

The boys go pick out their rings with Neil Lane...Ben picks out a holy sh*t ring that's a little too much for little Ashley!  JP chooses a cushion cut diamond with diamonds surrounding the HUGE solitaire and all along the band...really pretty ring!

The moment everyone has been waiting for (unless you read InTouch last week)...the final rose ceremony!  

Ben is up first (which means he's going home) and we get a sad monologue about his dad dying and how he lost a family member but will gain one today with Ashley.  Ben apparently has never seen the show before because he says to Ashley "You don't have a ring on!" - umm, dude, that's because you're first up, and she's sending you home.  Ashley starts to tell Ben that she didn't choose him when dummy interrupts her and gets down on one knee.  You probably should have not interrupted her, dude...men, take this as a lesson - don't interrupt us cause you may end up looking like a total dumb ass.  Ben is obviously pissed and pretty much tries to leave without saying goodbye.  Ben cruises by the "proposal site" in a dingy that seems to be taking him out to the middle of the ocean.

JP gives Ashley a great speech, gets down on one knee and of course she says YES!  They run out into the ocean - now, I read (twitter) that her dress cost $16K...call me frugal, but I'd be pissed if I got that wet!  AND, how are you going to top that with a wedding gown?!!?

So that's it...yay.  It's over.  The most boring season of Bachelorette thus far.  Now we all have to wait and see who's the new Bachelor.  I'm guessing it's Ben or William.  I'm sure InTouch will ruin that one for me too.

The Bachelorette - Men Tell All

There's not much to really talk about, so here's some highlights from the episode:

• Bachelor Pad looks pretty good this season!  
• Casey "guard and protect your heart" is with Vienna?!?  Yuck.
• William gets called out by Ben C for him telling Ashley about Ben's online dating statement.  My opinion, I would have done the same thing William did!  Nobody is going to get in the way and waste time I could be having with the bachelor!
• Lucas said that Ryan was like a camp counselor - haha!
• Plenty of talk about Jeff "the Mask": Chris D said that it looked stupid, Tim said it freaked him out, and Nick said that if everyone thought he looked stupid, then that should mean Ashely did too - and to just let him look stupid!
• William admitted that he was fully embarrassed about his comedy fail.  Nick calls him out and asks "What are we all doing here?" and William comes back "because we're single and can't find a date!?"  Well played sir.
• Ryan gets in the hot seat and Blake calls him out on his emotional goodbye when he was sent home the FIRST time.  Blake says that he had just as much time as Ryan did and he shouldn't have been so upset when Ashley told him she didn't feel it.  Then Ryan comes back and proves that he's even more of a Dbag by admitting that he read books about what questions to ask before you propose, kept notes and a journal as well.  
• Ames got big love from the ladies in the audience when he was called up to the hot seat.  This guy has to get Botox...he has zero wrinkles!  Chris gives Ames the pink boxing gloves from his fight that gave him the concussion.
• Of course we have to hear about Bentley.  Michelle, the one who sent the texts to Ashley, explains in more detail about the texts and her choice to send them to Ashley.  
• Ashley finally comes out and talks Bentley more - says she regrets wasting time on him...wait, I thought this was suppose to be "No Regrets Ashley"?
• Ryan admits to Ashley that now that he's seen how her and JP and Ben's relationships are, he understands the lack of passion they had.
• Tim (the drunk dude from the first episode) says "hey, nice to meet you" and then apologizes to her for passing out.
• Jason, Dionna and Ali come by to talk to Ashley and Chris Harrison...nothing really worth reliving.
• The outtakes, as always, are HISTARICAL!

Tomorrow night is the finale - and thanks to InTouch magazine for releasing the publication a week early, I know who she picks. Thanks...jerks.