This week a year of planning will come to fruition with the events An Evening with Friends and Friends & Fashion Show to raise money and awareness for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Through this process I have met some remarkable people I otherwise might never have met. I would like to introduce you to a mother and daughter from Brentwood whom I’m proud to call friends.

Miss Nashville Katie Callaway and her mom Pam Callaway are two of the kindest women you will ever meet in our bubble. Katie graduated from Ravenwood High School in 2010 and was an active member in musicals and choir at school. During her senior year Katie began having severe pain in her hip that kept getting worse. After rounds of physical therapy and a decrease in her range of motion, her pediatrician ordered blood work and several scans. 

When I go to the grocery store with my plan in place, list in hand, coupons organized I feel successful. The other side of this coin is sometimes I go to the grocery store with testosterone-filled boys and a picky girl who think they “need” every sugar junkie item in the store.

Keeping focused with the boys’ silly antics can make a girl crazy, and broke too keeping up with their appetites.

I love the Lifetime Original Show Army Wives and have watched the show since it began. My husband teases me about watching “the sap” as he calls it, or the “softer, gentler side of the military.” Tease me all you want but I love the relationships among the wives, and yes I do know it is a fictional show. Friendships among women are the staple of our lives, don’t you agree? For one former Air Force wife who has lived the life of the military, I think she would agree about the women you meet.

This week I sat down with Denise Long who grew up here in Brentwood and after her husband retired from the Air Force, she and her family moved back to the Bubble. As we talked Denise shared about attending Brentwood Academy (a few short years ago) and the shock of becoming a military wife where everything was so different, people were so different. In 15 years Denise had 12 different addresses before returning to Brentwood, where her own three boys have now graduated from her alma mater.

During the spring and the fall, it’s a given that on Thursdays a whole lot of ladies from the Bubble are concentrating on one thing and one thing only: NALTA. Although there is no paycheck waiting at the end of the match and Wimbledon will not be calling our names, we ladies love our tennis.

What else do the tennis ladies love? We love our coaches. Today I would like to share about one particular coach who has helped many learn to love the game. My hope is that many will want to in turn help him in return.

“Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.” ~ John Ruskin

When I shared the topic of my column with my husband, my sweet Ken doll replied without missing a beat, “This one’s going to cost me money!” Now, now Ken, remember Mother’s Day is right around the corner.

It is no secret to my family and friends, I love flowers and my patio with surrounding perennials and potted containers is my peaceful place. On most warm spring nights and summer mornings, I can be found reading or evenings sipping a glass of red wine as I sit breathing in the aromas of my labor.

Have you ever visited someone’s house and seen beautiful containers of flowers and you think, “I wish I knew how to create something so beautiful”? Guess what? A new book hot off the press includes photos, a recipe with sun preference, container size and difficulty level. In addition, a shopping list is included with options or substitutions 

Consignment sales have been around a long time, but with the increasing costs of raising a family recently, the sales seem to be growing in popularity. From new moms to grandmas, the sales are at the height of the spring season. There are several sales to choose from and today I will mention a few but you can find links for a list of many area sales.

One of my favorite bloggers is Wine Taste Girl – “Shopping with a wine taste on a beer budget” – and she recently shared a few of her favorite consignment sales on her website. I asked her what advice she would share with moms trying to get good deals.

Growing up in a farming community I am not unfamiliar with having a garden. However, I never expected to be helping create a “community garden” in my suburban Brentwood neighborhood.

As shared before, while growing up we grew our vegetables and at the end of each summer my mother spent hours canning peppers, stewed tomatoes and sauces, jams and other items grown in our garden. Everything canned was then shared with our family and friends.

The community garden is a place where neighbors can come together and plant vegetables and flowers to share. There are many benefits to this approach and I will share a few of these later, but first here is how this all came about.

Frank Sinatra once said, “Cock your hat - angles are attitudes!”

The Iroquois Steeplechase is held each year on the second Saturday in May just outside our bubble at the beautiful Percy Warner Park. Considered by many the premiere event of spring, the common questions being bounced around the Brentwood Bubble right now seem to be: Are you going? Who are you going with? What box do you sit in? And then the hottest topic in town is asked: What are you wearing?

Although the Iroquois Steeplechase is a few weeks away, some of the most important fashion decisions are being made with care and consideration. For the gents, most of the time dressing for Steeplechase is quite easy. For the ladies however, choosing the appropriate dress, shoes and the most important accessory of all – a hat – takes weeks of careful planning.

By JODI RALL
In the Bubble columnist
A little over 19 years ago I became a mother. Our little bundle of joy decided to make her entrance early and begin right away to leave her mark upon the world. I had always dreamed of being a mother and yet once my dream came true it was quickly a realization that the reality of being a mom was going to be very different.

For me no matter how much I thought I was prepared for motherhood, there was so much that I was simply not prepared for. Being a career woman, six weeks flew by and there were so many decisions to be made. Such a conflicting time as my heart wanted to be home; however, at that time this dream could not be a possibility. Already the word guilt began to creep into my home.

After our first, three more bundles of joy would enter our lives and all four arrived in less than six years. So math has never been my strong point. It was when my third child was six months old that I took the leap into my new role of stay-at-home mommy. Stay-at-home does not describe the past 16 years as really, when am I home?

Last week it was flowers, this week more fashion. Oh, and I forgot about the Steeplechase hats a few weeks ago. Poor Ken-doll is stressed. Friends, can I not write a column about something I dislike this week to save the man money?

Why, no as this Brentwood Barbie was out on the town with some of the most stylish peeps in the Bubble at the spring fashion show for New Neighbors held at the Brentwood Country Club.

Hello Chico’s! Did you know you chose my color palette for spring? Right there dear readers, I have totally dated myself. Who else used to pick their clothes by their “season”?

A random act of kindness is a selfless act performed by a person or people wishing to either assist or cheer up an individual person or people…

Back in the year 2000, a movie entitled Pay it Forward starring Kevin Spacey, Haley Joel Osment and Helen Hunt, motivated people around the country to perform random acts of kindness. It was about a young boy who attempts to make the world a better place after a teacher gives him a chance.

Today, 12 years later,a Brentwood resident is passionately trying to get community members to embrace the pay it forward concept.