birthday presents that just keep on giving

on my birthday this year, i not only had the gift of having a load of people i love dearly within hugging distance, but i also received some fabulous gifts. one of the items was a tom tom gps. we call it tom. we being 'me' and me being oh so original. i'm very excited because i found out that i could download a new zealand accent for the 'voice' of tom. i need to do this asap. because the current voice is a very demanding robot woman and she is a little irritating. and not at all friendly, like i would imagine 'tom' to be.

tom is actually going to save my life. or at least save me a lot of miles and wasted gas. i am constantly getting lost because my navigational skills are pretty appalling. this became very apparent to me the day i realized i couldn't give directions to my own home. the place. i. live. i just knew intuitively where to go but couldn't really explain that to someone else. this is problematic.

i once got completely lost in paris. i was so certain i knew where i was going, i had a map and everything but to no avail. i ended up walking for three hours. in the rain. it was beautiful. but getting lost in nashville? not as romantic.



































the other gift was a beautiful hookah from jezebel jen. i've wanted one of these for a long time but they are not that easy to find in nashville because, well, the market here is more the 'chewing tobacco' kind of market. i learned this the hard way when i grabbed a friend's can of red bull out of his hand only to find that it was his SPITTING VESSEL. did you throw up a bit in your mouth just now? yep. me too.