Her Nashville

Girl meets boy.  Girl marries boy.  Boy is Hoover (as in vacuum) heir. Girl writes book. Girl is from Nashville and will be in Nashville for her book signing in a few weeks.  OK, so here's the story.  Former Nashvillian Tatiana Boncompagni has a new book called Gilding Lily (Avon Books) coming out on Sept. 1.

Logan had an audition last week and received a “call-back.” That meant the director of the play had narrowed the field of potential actors (predominantly adolescents, 10 – 15) and wanted those select few to audition again.   My husband had accompanied our son to the initial try-out, and I took him for the second round.

While old-school human resources folk fret over how much work productivity is wasted on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, I’ll be over here at my gig happier and more productive as a whole for being able to connect with old friends, learn more about my peers and track fascinating people in real time.

While walking along the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico recently, I found myself preoccupied with shells. When not dodging jellyfish or crabs, I dipped my small, hand-held net into the water, anticipating what might come up. Sand dollars? Oysters? Buried treasure?

Yesterday I brought a basket of my husband's fresh-grown tomatoes into work and set it down in the kitchen.

Beside it, I placed a sign:

FOR ANYONE WHO'S EVER WANTED
TO GRAB AMANDA'S TOMATOES;
HERE IS YOUR CHANCE.

I'm proud to report that within five minutes, the basket was nearly empty.

Before the Beijing Olympics come to a close, I just wanted to follow up on my two Olympian obsessions:  U. S.

Nothing says “Happy 3^rd wedding anniversary!” like a good geek conference. We think so, anyway, and have already registered for SXSW (South by Southwest) INTERACTIVE FESTIVAL in Austin next March.

We try to go every year (except this year because hubby went to CHINA). We attend about a million technology sessions, eat lots of Mexican food, drink free beverages and celebrate our vows. Yes, we’re total dorks. We don’t even try to hide it.

My father played many roles in the small Methodist church in Mississippi in which I was raised: committee chair, board member, financial supporter, legal adviser. But the role I most remember him for was usher.

I’m a fan of knowing what folks are talking about, which I guess makes since I basically talk to and listen to folks for a living. If you are word-obsessed like me then you’ll really dig TwitScoop, the website that tracks in real time the most frequently used words on Twitter.  

TwitScoop is like a lava lamp. Its flow is memorizing and its vibe is cool – but it’s better than a lava lamp because it’s not ugly and it’s educational.

As promised, I’ve come prepared to give you more reasons to put down the dirty laundry and pick up a tall, cool one – lemonade that is!  This Wednesday, August 20, is none other than “Lemonade Day” AND “Stay-at-Home with Your Kids Day” (which may not seem like cause for special celebration to those of us who’ve home-schooled children, but I digress).  And, a heads up to all those tooth fairies out there because August 22 is your national day (one shrew