So a group of girls loaded up about 2:30pm yesterday and we went to Knoxville for a concert. Ingrid Michaelson. Mat Kearney. Some of our best friends in the crew. All together awesome.

And a 3 hour drive.

I got home about 2am.

And…. here’s where things get hilarious….

I’m up at the YMCA at 6:45am.

Not to work out.

But because there is a BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS at 6:45am and 9:15am and guess what? I’m one of the speakers.

There are 10 of us talking about why we love the YMCA. And I do love the YMCA. But the pain of four hours of sleep. It hurts, y’all. It hurts.

I’m excited to talk for two minutes about why the YMCA is awesome, why I love water aerobics, why I love going to a gym where all my friends go. [I'm lucky my people love me even when they see me at the gym- wowsa I'm a sweaty girl.]

I’m also excited to wake up really early and be in a room full of people I don’t know talking about losing weight.

I think I just heard God laugh.

- – - – - – - – - -

Here’s the Holy Week reading for today. Ugh… how great was yesterday?

Wednesday:

The plot against Jesus

• Matthew 26: 14-16
• Mark 14: 10-11
• Luke 22: 3-6

What’s been amazing to me this week is to see how all the people have been amazed at what Jesus said, all on His side, even to the point that the Pharisees are quieted. And then today, everything changes. And by Friday, those same people who are hanging on His every word on Monday are the same ones yelling for His death.

And I wondered yesterday, if I was me, 29 year old Annie, in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, would I have listened to Him? Would I have seen Him pass me on the street and wonder who He is? Would I recognize Him as the one who rode in on a donkey a few days ago?

Would I have wanted Him to die?

So you know I work at The Brave.

And since we are a brand spankin’ new company, we had to put together our own furniture.

And five weeks ago, while putting together a desk, I dropped a drawer on my foot.

It hurt pretty much every day. In fact, one day last week when I met up with my Get Fit Challenge trainer, she said, “Uh, I think you should get that looked at.”

[Also, there's a new video up on the Challenge page. Of course, I mention my best friend Molly. And I have an awkward ending. So, the typical stuff.]

I made an appointment at the Vandy Sports Clinic because if anyone deserves to be sitting beside injured football players, it’s me. The girl who fell off her porch and tore up her left ankle, then dropped a drawer on her right foot.

If I’m anything, I’m an athlete.

And the doctor pushed and smooshed and about had me squirming all the way off the table with the amount of pain he was putting me in. All along, he knew the truth. The man had already seen the XRay. Rude.

[I left the photograph a wee.bit.large for your viewing pleasure. Thank me later.]

So you can see that it’s almost like when an icepick chips off a chunk of ice. That’s what the drawer did to my foot. [Gag reflex? Apparently working.]

And when the good ole doc pushed right on the bump, it was like an eject button out of my skin. Pain. Pain. PAIN.

I missed the “you need a cast” window- it was 3 weeks ago. Oops. He gave me a serious scolding for waiting so long. Lesson learned, Dr. PushRightWhereItHurts.

So I’m on some meds. I have to wear special donut sticker over it when I work out [yep- still working out] and I have to ice it. A lot. In 6 weeks, if we don’t see improvement, I go hang with my people again, the athletes, and see what Dr. I’mToughYouBeToughToo decides to do next.

Probably stomp on my foot or something.

Pray for me, will ya?

- – - – - – - – - – -

Here is the Tuesday reading for Holy Week. I really enjoyed yesterday, though I’ll be honest and say I still don’t totally get the fig tree story. I’m asking God to explain it to me and doing some research as well.

Tuesday:

1. The authority of Jesus questioned

• Matthew 21: 23-27
• Mark 11: 22-27
• Luke 20: 1-8

2. Jesus teaches in the temple [lots o' reading]

• Matthew 21: 28-23: 39
• Mark 12: 1-44
• Luke 20: 9-21: 4

3. Jesus’ feet anointed [tear-jerker. every time.]

• Matthew 26: 6-13
• Mark 14: 3-9
• John 12: 2-11

To think that on this day, THIS DAY Y’ALL, thousands of years ago, she washed Jesus’ feet with her hair. And it was beautiful to Him.

It. Really. Happened. Don’t forget that. Today, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Sunday. Sweet Sunday. Easter.

And listen. If you haven’t heard CeCe Winans’ song called Alabaster Box, GET A TISSUE AND SETTLE IN.

[Subscriber friends: there's a video here. Click on over....]

You can thank me later for that too.

and I’ll take a week to figure out what to do with it.

Or something like that.

Sweet friends. Thanks for your patience with me this last week. I had a zillion deadlines, including one for a magazine where I HAVE JUST BECOME A MONTHLY COLUMNIST [squealing in my mind because roomie is asleep- but seriously- are you dying? because I'm dying]. I will tell you more, well, when the first one comes out. Oh, there will be a giveaway, my friends. Someone’s getting a subscription. That’s for sure.

And I also had to make some Annie The Businesswoman decisions about my writing career and I had to quiet the voices in my head so that hopefully I only heard the wisdom of God. This is a sick confession, but I almost always have a bloggy voice narrating in my mind exactly how I would write about practically every situation I live. So. She had to shut up.

I *think* I made some potentially really rad (but really hard) decisions for my career. We shall watch and see. Either way, I’ve learned that it’s fun to be brave. Scary, but fun.

I also went to the doctor about my foot and well. I broke it. More on that tomorrow.

I’m missing what became one of my favorite Spring time things the last few years- attending the Mt. Hermon Christian Writers Conference. Looking at my life today, I can totally see why this was a good year for me to take a break, but I’m missing my friends and [Snobby Annie alert] I’m missing my new tradition of Palm Sunday in California and some time with friends in the OC.

Also, while the week flew by, my dear friend Gwyneth blogged about her time in Nashville. HERE and HERE. They are both really fun reads and kinda have the whole town abuzz. I think it’s weird that she didn’t mention all the time we spent together, the laughs, the tears in our beers, the driving around with the top down just livin’ life together. Typical famous stuff. Maybe she’s just trying to protect my privacy. Thanks, Gwenny.

A few girls are headed to Gatlinburg, TN this weekend for a big birthday celebration. Tell me- have you been there? We are looking for a “nice” restaurant for the b-day dinner. [And I put "nice" in "quotes" because I realize that is "laughable" when speaking about the "top redneck vacation spot in the world."] But if you have been there, help! Where should we go? And what should we do?

Finally [I promise], this is Holy Week. And whether you are a believer or not, there is factual truth to the historic events of this week. My Bible outlines what happened each day of this week, and I’d like to encourage you to read it. I’m going to link you each day so that you can just read it online.

Since we missed Sunday, let’s start there. I’m going to give you all the passages, even if they tell the same story since they are from different perspectives. Read one or read them all- I’m not the boss of you- do what you like.

Palm Sunday:

• Matthew 21: 1-11
• Mark 11: 1-11
• Luke 19: 29-44
• John 12: 12-19

Monday:

1. Jesus curses the fig tree

• Matthew 21: 18-22
• Mark 11: 12-14

2. Jesus clears the temple

• Matthew 21: 12-13
• Mark 11: 15-18
• Luke 19: 45-48

Tomorrow we’ll talk broken foot and Tuesday of Holy Week. Quite an unlikely pair…. or is it? [insert dramatic music here]

Dear Bloggite,

I’m here today to speak on behalf of AnnieBlogs. Ahem, Annie Downs.

Annie Downs is unable currently to spend time at AnnieBlogs because she has work to do. With me. I am actually paying her bills. And I am actually important. And I have deadlines for her that she has not been meeting because of things like “blog videos”  and “giveaways” and “ridiculous stories about nail polish.”

Honestly, I’m glad she’s not here right now- she would be MORTIFIED to know that I was saying all of this to you. She likes to think her little world of bloggy friends is more important than ME and to that I say, “They are nice people BUT PAY ATTENTION TO ME EVERY NOW AND AGAIN.”

I’m like her naggy wife. Only, she’s not married. And she actually wants a husband anyways.

So please forgive Annie’s lack of blogginess the last few (and next few) days, as she focuses on ME.

[Also. Her inbox is about to choke her like a 18th century frilly collar, so she's dealing with that as well.]

She’ll be back shortly with an empty inbox(es), empty to-do list, and significantly less guilt regarding her (in)ability to balance her worlds-o-writing.

Sincerely,

Annie’s Writing Career

[P.S.- since I kinda high-jacked Annie's blog today, I'm going to post this picture. You can thank me when you recover from the fits of laughter. I believe she called this her "serious face." Bless her. She's not right in the head.]

[there's a video here, my subscriber friends, just in case you can't see it.]

Because I left my pride in 2009, I thought I’d post the clip of my segment from this weeks Get Fit Challenge. It’s the first one where we filmed at the gym. So. Obviously. I’m very proud.

But seriously. I really do love this clip. The producer, Jenny, has become a sweet friend and I enjoy getting to talk to her. And our trainer Lisa is seventeen piles of patient with me and truly inspirational.

I am aware that the picture they post at the beginning isn’t me. No biggie.

And just so you know, they had me do the moving rock wall as a kind of joke and then BOOM they used it for real.

I’m pretty sure Jenny bamboozled me on that one.

Fool me once, I climb a moving rock wall.

Fool me twice, and I …. uh…. I don’t know what’s worse than that.

And 4:28? That was especially for you.

When it’s naptime at my nanny home, we have a routine. The boy and I read a book then I pretty much say, “peace out” and he closes his eyes and is asleep.

If only it was that easy for me every night. Sheesh.

The little girl is 2. So she grabs her pacy and her blankie and crawls up into the rocking chair. I still don’t know why she insists on sitting there first, but it works for us. I pick her up, and she lays her head on my shoulder. I sit down in the chair, put my feet up on the rocking ottaman and we rock.

I cross my legs at the ankle and her feet slide and rest on my calves. As she settles down, she usually tells me a few stories, through the pacy, none of which I understand but all of which seem to be highly important for me to know.

And we rock.

After a few minutes, she quiets and begins to push against my calves with her little feet. Almost as if she wants to rock herself.

I laughed yesterday. I had noticed before, she always does it. But for some reason yesterday the whole experience grabbed my attention.

Why in the WORLD does this child think she needs to worry about the rocking? Hello, young one. I have got this under control. I’m 29 years old. I can rock a baby to sleep. In fact, what made me laugh was the idea that she thought she was being helpful. I wanted to offer to her that we switch jobs. If she is so into rocking, how about I take the nap?

At what age do we start to believe that we must be self-sufficient? When do we stop trusting that the one rocking us is going to rock us to sleep? Why can’t she just enjoy resting?

Why do I feel like I have to be self-sufficient? When did I stop trusting that the One holding me couldn’t bring me peace?

Why can’t I just enjoy resting?

You know I’ve got a thing about painting my nails.

I didn’t used to. I used to bite my nails. For 25 years. Then I went through a fake nail phase for about 1.5 years.

And now I’m in Nashville and all the cool kids [i.e.- Amber] paint their nails a variety of colors. So I jumped on the bandwagon.

A few weeks ago I noticed on another awesome fashion Nash-blog that the colors for spring would be beige, pink, and gray.

I love pink. But gracious, I cannot wear beige. I have a yellow-ish tone to my skin so really it changes my whole look to wear beige and if you are still reading at this point, I applaud you for suffering through boring skin tone talk and if you are a dude, you must be my Dad or have a crush on me to be reading this far.

Run-on sentences. I like ‘em.

Pink. Done. Beige. Nope. Gray. DUH.

I decided last week that I wanted gray nails.

I know. I’ve lost my mind. But I’m less than 120 days from being 30 and I’ve got to be zany while I’m still in my 20s.

And when I went to the local nail place, they didn’t have a light gray.

But because I have officially crossed over into a Nashy-snob, I made them mix two colors.

Call me HIGH MAINTENANCE and I will answer. [But my nails will look good when I answer, that's for sure.]

So I got my light gray.

I thought this was a funny story, mixing the nail color and all. I thought, “I should come up with a name for this color.” So that when I told the story, I could have a good punchline. A deal sealer. Something to make the people smile.

And the first name that came to mind?

Annie’s Going Gray.

Even my mind is making aging jokes. That can’t be good.

It was that kind of weekend. The kind of weekend that you put up on a shelf and stare at for a little bit, and then say to yourself, “that was a keeper.”

I told you last week that one of my Nash-BFFs Betsy was in town. She moved away after Christmas and was here for a bit. She kinda just makes Nashville balance for me, so it was a gift for her to be here five days. [She also isn't easily impressed by my stories or humor, so she keeps me humble.]

Also, my friend Drew was in town from Washington, which ruled. It never stops amazing me how God decides which friendships stick in life. Drew is funny and normal [and a magician, so, who doesn't want a magician in their life?] and when all our friends stood around chatting before dinner Sunday night, he fit like he had always been here.

I’m grateful for pretty weather, Johnny Depp movies in the theater, Baja Burrito, the Get Fit Challenge pushing all my buttons, girlfriends who sit at Frothy Monkey and quote text messages from boys, dinner conversations and vacation planning, daylight savings which leads to longer days, and a God who loves me enough to call me to a new city and then bless me extravagantly once I am there.

Also.

I’m grateful that God consistently takes the hardest experiences of my life and turns them into beauty. He tells a better story with my life than I could ever write. This particular experience won’t ever get a lot of airtime, but I really felt led to share part of the story over at (in)courage today. Check it out if you have time.

Also.

I’m thankful that we have OUR WINNERS over at the giveaway page. If you didn’t *exactly* win, you can grab your own copy of the best new music out there from Dave’s website and Matt’s website.

I’m super excited to see Annie Parsons today. That’s what I’m talking about, Monday. Way to step up after such a solid weekend.

What better way to start off the week than to share what makes us glad. So I wonder, would you share one thing about your weekend that has you feeling thankful this Monday morning?

Well.

Last night I went to the Ryman. Which. I’m gonna say. Is quickly becoming my favorite venue. Ugh. It’s awesome. And who played at the Ryman? My Grammy date Hillary and Lady Antebellum. It. Was. Insane. Couldn’t have been more fun.

You know who else I saw play at the Ryman recently?

Dave Barnes.     and.     Matt Wertz.

And guess which two of my favorite Nash-dudes put out new music in the last few weeks?

Dave Barnes.     and.     Matt Wertz.

I just downloaded Dave’s album myself and I already can’t. get. enough. And Matt’s EP? It is absolutely springtime approved: windows-down-music-up-stress-down-thumbs-up kinda stuff.

And guess who is going to  get a copy of Dave’s new album and Matt’s new EP?

You.     and.     You.

Just head over to the giveaway page – I’m giving TWO of you TWO albums. I know. It’s crazy. But you know how I feel about weekends. I just can’t resist. And it’s daylight savings. So I thought you should save. Get it?

The giveaway is open until Sunday night at 9pm CST [cause I go to bed at 10pm. Don't judge me].

Of course. I haven’t *exactly* figured out how to get the downloads to the winners, but surely I can figure that out before my bedtime on Sunday. Even if I have to mail you $15 via USPS, we’ll work it out, don’t you worry about that.

If you don’t believe in entering giveaways, or maybe you just personally hate free stuff, here’s where you can buy the albums.

Dave Barnes.     and.     Matt Wertz.

[Sidenote- this giveaway was not endorsed, ie- the boyz didn't pay me to do this. I just thought it would be fun. Amen.]

Now, get outta here and go win you some new music!

because one of my besties, Betsy, is back in Nash for a few days.

I picked her up at the airport and we went straight to hang with our people and it was one of those nights where life wins over blog.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a weekend music giveaway! Yahoo!!

[Also, if you didn't get to see my Tour of Homes video, here's the link. And gracious, how much do you LOVE Annie Parsons? Ugh. Me too.]