I’m back to work after a nice, long Easter weekend. My mom came in last Thursday and just left yesterday afternoon. I haven’t seen her since Christmas so it was very nice to have her in town. Thursday evening we went for a relaxed dinner at Tin Angel and then promptly went home and fell asleep early. I’ve been on a early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule lately so this fit perfectly. Friday morning we went to The Hermitage, former President Jackson’s home in Tennessee. It has a nice audio tour through the grounds and then a guided tour through the home/mansion. We also took a wagon ride out to the pasture area which was narrated by our driver. We spent about 2 1/2 hours total there, but could’ve easily spent 4 if we’d walked the whole audio tour. It was getting hot and a big muggy so we opted to leave around noon.

My mom had never seen any of the Nashville lakes so I found a community on Old Hickory lake and we pulled up next to a clearing where she could see a good bit of it. She commented on how brown the water was…I reminded her this was a shallow lake with a muddy base, not a beach in the Caribbean. We then hunted around for the local Walmart so I could buy some Easter goodies for my Kamikaze Dinner on Sunday. I was expecting 10 guests for Easter dinner and I wanted to plan a fun “adult” egg hunt for them. More about that later.

At this point, Mom was ready for a burger so we went to Ted’s Montana Grill for a late lunch and it was just what she needed. I believe lunch was followed by a short nap and then we headed to my bestie Leslie’s house so Mom could meet her two babies. I spend a LOT of time with Leslie, but my mom has only briefly met her, so it was really nice for her to get to see her as well as meet her little ones. We then went to the movies with my friend Michelle. We saw “Arthur” with Russell Brand and Helen Mirren. It was very entertaining and one of Russell’s best movies thus far. Afterwards we went to Sweet Cece’s for some frozen yogurt and then to Mafiaoza’s so Mom could see my usual hang and grab a piece of pizza.Then it was surely bedtime so we headed home to crash.

Saturday morning we went grocery shopping for the Kamikaze Dinner on Sunday cause I knew we wouldn’t have much time the rest of the day or on Sunday. Thanks to Mom for buying the groceries. :) Later, we went to the Vanderbilt baseball game versus LSU and lasted about 5 innings in the outfield stands…in direct sunlight and no clouds. I wasn’t prepared for that and was very uncomfortable so we left at bit early. They ended up winning the game 10-7. After a quick nap and a bit of relaxing at home, we went downtown to Merchant’s for a nice dinner in their upstairs dining room. I’d been to the downstairs bar before, but never upstairs for dinner, so that was a treat. We topped the night off with one quick drink at Mafiaoza’s (two nights in a row is not unusual for me!).

Sunday morning we met up with my other bestie Kristin for church. She goes to a Methodist church, which is what my mom goes to at home, so the service was exactly what my mom wanted on Easter. I went along for the ride and it wasn’t too terribly painful. ;) We promptly headed home after church so I could begin prep for the dinner and I’ll chronicle the rest of the day/evening on my Kamikaze Chef blog. It turned out to be a great evening and we hit the sack around 11pm after everyone had left.

We slept in a bit on Monday, me longer than my mom, but made it out by noon to have lunch at Woodlands, the most delicious vegetarian Indian food you’ll find in Nashville. Not too long after that, we met up with a few of my new co-workers and my new boss for a happy hour drink. I really wanted my mom to meet my new boss and am glad the others came along as well. I’m having a hard time remember what we did on Monday night after that. It’ll come to me. Later that night we met up with my good friend Brian for a very nice dinner at Sambuca. He wasn’t in town for the Easter dinner, so I wanted him to meet my mom when he got back! It was a beautiful night and we sat out on the patio for dinner. Yumm!

Tuesday I needed to go into work for a bit, but Mom came with me and I showed her the campus and she brought a book to read while I went to my meetings. We then went to the mall so I could exchange some clothes and she could get some new mascara. We also had lunch at Kalamata’s, one of the many restaurants participating in Dining Out for Life, a benefit for Nashville Cares. After that we had just enough time for Mom to finish packing and then head to the airport. Her flight left with no issues and she made it home safely late last night.

It was a great 5 days with my mom and I can’t wait to see her again. I hope you enjoyed our weekend play-by-play. :)

On my way to work today, I was rear-ended by a bicyclist. Yes, a bicyclist. And, of course my first thought was, “Oh my god, I’m sooo sorry”!!

I was attempting to make a left turn on a yellow light, but when the car in front of me turned left, I realized another car was coming straight from the opposite direction, so I stopped to let them through. Ba-BAM! A bicyclist who apparently wanted to make the light on my heels slammed into the back of my car, flew off his bike and landed in the road. He must’ve been going very fast when he hit my car…so its not like he was just sitting behind me and accelerated when I accelerated. He was trying to catch the light even way further back than I was.

He got up, shook himself off, gave me the finger, and then got back on his bike to cross the road. At this point, I was in the middle of the street…a red light in my direction, and stunned on lookers in all directions. I pulled forward to get out of the intersection, met up with the bicyclist, rolled down my window and asked if he was okay and if we needed to exchange information, etc.I was trying to treat it like a car-on-car accident and that’s what I would’ve done for that. I’m generally very friendly and accommodating towards bikers. I give them plenty of space in the road and treat them like other vehicles, but with pedestrian gloves. I was trying to be nice. Responsible.

He just said, “No, I’m fine. You can go.”

As I pulled away, still feeling shameful and completely at fault, I began to think about it more. Let’s see, if it really had been a car-on-car accident, and a car slammed into me from behind….no matter what I was doing, the accident would’ve been considered his fault. I stopped to prevent hitting another car that had the right-of-way. I did the right thing (even though I was then blocking an intersection and obviously trying to get through a yellow light). Really, the person at fault would’ve been the person behind me.

I haven’t even checked my car to see if his helmet and/or bike left an impression on the rear of my car. I guess I should. *humph*