I do. This weekend I am planning on going home to Kentucky for a quick visit. I'm hoping, SO hoping to be able to go to Six Flags for their annual "Fright Fest". I don't think I have been to Ky Kingdom since I was in high school! In addition to the roller coasters, (Yes, the Hellavator is closed..) they have people in costumes lurking around, a haunted "forest" and numerous other fun fall frightening things. I can't wait!
I'm absolutely loving this artist! She's so eclectic and funky, yet folk-sy at the same time. Her lyrics are somewhat random; but always sweet in a way-and she's definitely in love with Autumn. Who can blame her?
Folk-lover or not, you've got to give her a listen. Hope you enjoy!
I know some friends have already posted these new CD's on their blogs, but being a fan of both, I thought I would share the love. I have both of their previous cd's, and LOVED them. I'm excited to check out their new ones!
And coming soon in concert....(just a little over a week away...)
I guess blogging isn't one of my best things I do-I always forget to update!! So sorry....
The past few weeks have had their ups and downs (like any week), but two weekends ago was one of my favorites so far this fall. My dad came to spend the day with me (he lives in KY), and we decided to take his new Jeep Wrangler for a spin on the Natchez Trace. The weather was just starting to cool down, so we took the top down, grabbed some coffee (and Trish!!) and headed out to the country for a drive. We stopped in Leiper's Fork, seriously one of the cutest little towns around for some fun photos and a refill on the beverages; then headed out to cruise the Trace. After about an hour of fun filled driving and a quick hike up to the Lookout, we headed back to Downtown Franklin to have lunch at Puckett's.
After Dad headed back home to Kentucky, the girls and I met up to grab a fancy dinner of cheese and crackers before heading out to Arrington Vineyards for their weekly Music in the Vines. There we met up with Julie and Merari and got situated on the hillside for our evening picnic. the Jazz band was fantastic, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We laughed, talked, enjoyed the wine and music; all while watching an amazing sunset. Once dark, we could even see fireworks in the distance! Absolutely amazing.
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The following day (Sunday) I enjoyed catching up with a friend at Fido's, one of the local (and one of my fave's) coffeeshops. After that I headed home to put in a quick walk with Trish, then we loaded up three different kinds of S'mores-and headed out to Travis's. We had the perfect bonfire, perfect weather, and the perfect debut of Ree'More's, (Reese smores), CarMore's (Carmello Smores), and your traditional Chocolate. My fave is the Ree'More's, THANKS TRISH! Travis and Scotty broke out the Acoustic and ukelele, and sang wonderful campfire songs (ok, some goofy Scotty songs too..). A perfect ending to a great weekend. OH, and the Titans went 4-0, first time in Franchise history! Even Better :)
This past weekend was much more low-key. Friday night we started our annual Movie Nights at New Song Woodbine, and it was a HIT! We showed the Bee Movie, and I convinced my friend Jon to wear a bee costume that I had rented. I'm not sure how much convincing it took, he is always up for a laugh. Saturday Trish and I headed over to Katie's home to paint her much needed living room. I will say, we did a fantastic job! I wish I had photos to post, I'll track them down and put the before and afters up-it's amazing! Saturday night...I honestly can't remember what I did Saturday night. I'm sure it involved hanging with the girls. :) Sunday was mellow, I wasn't feeling well and left church early to go to Trish's . Her house is SO warm and comfortable, the couch is addicting!! Trish made me lunch, and we just rested all afternoon. Caught a movie on TV, and watched the Titans game...they pulled it off AGAIN 5-0!! I just can't believe it. Sunday night we went to Katie's to see her final product (She still had to paint her built-in bookcase); and again, we were so satisfied with our painting jobs! Monday I had the day off and went for a hike at the Natchez Trace again (I just can't stay away! ), and enjoyed some much needed Julie time. After a quick stop in at Jocelyn's, I was headed home for the afternoon. I met up with Katie to do a brutal workout, then hit the sack. So all in all, I had a relaxing, but full weekend.
I'm looking forward to this weekend, I have community service to serve in KY for a speeding ticket I got this summer (I know, I know); and may try to make it home to see the fam and friends. I hope you are enjoying this wonderful fall weather as much as I am! Coffee and sweaters, here I come!
Pastor Andrew talked about Geocaching in his sermon a few weeks ago, and it piqued my curiosity. I googled it and was completely in love! I enjoy discovering things, and this is basically scavenger hunts, on crack. You use coordinates to locate the cache, which is hidden in, under, and on things. Today Pastor Andrew called and invited Mindee and I to join his family in an afternoon of geocaching, and I was SUPER excited about it! At one point, we had PA scampering up a street light corner post, another time Jake (Andrew's son) was given a boost to scour the top of a sign. Both times we were "Skunked" (couldn't find it). The final cache Jocelyn found, the clue was "Under JBS". We looked and looked...it was near a cemetery so we thought it was near a headstone (morbid, I know). After we had given up, loaded the kiddos back in the car, Joc goes running off with the GPS one last time, and finds it! It was under a street sewer thing. Good lookin' Joc!
All that to say, I am now addicted, and can't wait to go next week! I am officially joining team Lambinator.....so if you see some crazy people searching for things in crazy areas....just smile and know we are searching for something not everyone is looking for. :)
I dare you to try it, it makes you think, thats for sure!
I am so excited that fall-ish weather is on its way to Tennessee! It's time for football (praise the LORD), sweatshirts, bonfires, hayrides and more. I'm excited to plan a trip home to Kentucky soon, just to have the worlds' largest bonfire, built by my brothers. SO much fun!
Sorry I haven't updated the past few weeks! My weekends haven't been as action-packed as those previous...other than the my Labor Day trip to Florida; which was fantastic. I was able to stay with Karl and Lena Pugh, just a hop, skip and jump away from the beach. It was so wonderful to fall asleep with the waves crashing in my ears, wake up to fresh coffee (thanks KD) brewing, and a little 3 year old begging me to play. We relaxed on the beach, enjoyed great meals in great company! I also was able to catch up with Eric and Melissa Belcher who moved there not too long ago as well. Their kids, plus the Pugh's....we had a blast! I loved visiting my "family" in Florida.
As soon as I returned I jumped right back in to work, meetings, and then working some more! I injured my back about two weeks ago and was down for about 4 days...NOT so fun. It's SO much better now, thank goodness. I think I can handle a broken foot or knee surgery, but not being able to move due to pain? That was almost unbearable! I missed out on so many fun things that weekend, a friends concert, hanging out, etc. I was bummed, but in so much pain. This past weekend was no shortage of fun....was able to catch up with Preston and Katie and had a great time! We frequent this great little place in Franklin called Dan Mcguiness, it's a pub/restaurant that has fabulous outdoor seating (and great fish and chips too!). Sunday I chilled at Katie's house watching football almost the entire day! Can't say that I do that too often, but it was SO nice. I think I even snoozed there for a while, and missed the Colts pull off their win over Minnesota!
This week has been great so far! I was able to accomplish so many little things that have needed to be done at my house! Finally hanging some things up, cleaning the patio from the construction, re-sorting and organizing my storage unit (I know, I know). You can now open it, find what you need, and not worry about something falling on your head! It's things like knowing my storage unit is clean that enables me to sleep at night. :) Last night a group of us headed out to Exit/In to see Preston's band play, and they did really well! I haven't seen them perform any of their new stuff, so it was a really good show. Tonight we are off to pick up Katie's new couches that she got off Craigslist for an AMAZING deal! New Pottery Barn couch/love seat set for such a steal! She is so excited, and I'm not gonna lie, so am I. Many, many football games to be watched!!
I hope you are having a fabulous week and enjoying this fall weather as much as I am!
This weekend Trish, Jon, Bethany, Josh and I set out to conquer the Ocoee River in East TN. We chose to do the "Upper", which was the Olympic course in 1996 for rafting/kayaking. We had a fabulous time, and other than Josh popping out at the beginning, we had no losses on the trip down the river. We had a great guide, "Dobbs" who left us laughing and sometimes scared-he was super serious.
After the rapids, we headed to our campsite at Gee Creek. The guys (and Bethany) set up camp while Trish and I went back out on an adventure to find firewood. You would think that a place that has so many campsites; that they would also have firewood. NOT the case. We were lucky that our guide told us that he was selling some. So after tracking him down, we filled the back of my Rodeo up and headed back to camp. We grilled hot dogs, "Reemore's" (Smore's with Reeses, named by Trish), enjoyed some Phase 1o and just hanging by the fire. We were able to sleep in a bit despite the sprinkling rain, and packed up camp. We tried to toss the disc a bit, but the wind (or our lack of energy) wouldn't allow us to throw properly, so we called it a day. We grabbed some Sonic and headed to the site of the Olympic course to watch the rafter's go down the river. It's so funny to watch someone else do what you just did the day before-I hope I looked as good as they made it look!
I woke up that morning with severe allergies, and didn't pack my meds-so I had to dope up on Benadryl. Needless to say I was quite drowsy/loopy by the time we headed back home. I slept most of the trip home!! As soon as we got back to my place, we jumped in our own cars (we had taken mine) and headed straight for church. I could only stay for the first part since I was so loopy on Benadryl! I headed home as soon as I could, quickly unpacked and crawled into bed about 830. I slept straight until this morning!
So far, the last few weekends have been packed full with activities, and I wouldn't have it any other way! I'm sure my boss would love it if I didn't come to work every Monday with my hair in a ponytail and coffee in my hand.... :) This coming weekend is hopefully going to be my most favorite of the summer. Trish and I scored great flights to Florida; and we are able to stay with dear friends of mine, the Pugh's. The Belcher's also live in the same town, so I am so excited to spend some time with both of them-ON THE BEACH! :)
More updates to come, I'm sure-until then-as a friend of mine emailed me-have a splendid week!
I promise I have a life that doesn't include posting videos to my blog. :)
Have been amazing lately. It feels like my life has been turned upside down these past few weeks! I briefly mentioned it a few weeks ago, but WOW-there are no words sometimes!
I have had the busiest summer, and I have loved every moment of it. I am so glad that I have been able to take many trips home to Kentucky, small trips with friends, camping, caving, flying, seeing baseball games, football games, going to the drive in, celebrating birthdays, the list goes on. I have missed plenty of hours of sleep, but have gained so many fun memories along the way, that it has been totally worth it!
I'm excited for this weekend of White Water Rafting and camping, then the next weekend soakin' up the sun in Florida with Trish! We are going to visit Karl and Lena Pugh, as well as Eric and Melissa Belcher. Can't wait! There may also be a NYC trip in the mix for September, I'll keep you posted.....
Trish and I went shopping today. No, we didn't skip work, we shopped via the internet and chat. How ridiculous are we?? :) This was my bargain for the day...SO CUTE!
Such a touching story. I saw this on Trish's blog and thought I would share. Click on the video to the left.
In honor of the graduating student interns, I thought I would share some past graduation videos that appeared at various graduations while I was a student intern. Unfortunately, these videos do no include all of the super sweet and funny photo slide shows, just the skits. Enjoy!
January 2006 Graduation
Graduates: Kyle, Lauren and JT
August 2006 Graduation
Graduates: ME!! Stoney, Sarah
This was for our Host Home Celebration...2003
Another Host Home Celebration...circa 2004?
A friend of mine recently "updated her status" on Facebook to read: "I've got a crush on clouds lately". It made me think about clouds, naturally. This is what I found. Pretty incredible.
Wow, this past week has been so powerful in my personal life, my world has pretty much been turned upside down! It's a very good upside down...no worries there. I'll give a brief update on my "stay-cation" last week before sharing about everything else that is going on.
Last Saturday I packed up the car and headed to Dale Hollow Lake to meet up with my brothers and sisters for a weekend at the cabin. We had a fantastic time jumping off the top of the boat, chatting by the fire, climbing rocks to jump off of, playing hours of Phase 10, etc. Oh, and did I mention that we NEVER stopped eating? We seriously ate constantly. It was insane how much food we all brought! My favorite part of the trip was the last morning, we are checking out of the cabin at the marina and it was SUCH a beautiful day...that we all decided to take the boat out for a few last hours of fishing (for the guys) and catching some sun for the girls.
Tuesday Katie and I took a last minute trip to Mammoth Cave, KY to go on the Wild Cave tour. I've actually done this tour before, but it is so much fun that I could go over and over and over! Our guide actually told us that there was a person who did the tour 101 times, and never went the same place twice. Talk about crazy! So, we did things that I didn't remember on the last tour, got a little freaked out by the tight squeezes, got completely soaked, and completely dirty. It was entirely too much fun! Luckily, someone brought there camera on the trip so we were able to have photos of the trip. Such a fun day! It's almost a week later and I am still sore on my legs from crawling. Did I mention it was 6 hours? Yeah. We're talkin' serious spelunking here. Or, as Katie would call it.."kerplunking".
more to come...
This is what I do, to an extent. This is was the CrossFit games 2008 in California. Obviously, they are competing for a much better time than I ever complete, but it's the same workouts essentially.
I found Eli Mattson online recently, a singer/songwriter who recently auditioned for America's Got Talent. He has a unique sound, and definitely made me want to follow his music career.
