Happy Friday!

We made it to the weekend! I hope you've all had a good week and are ready to enjoy your weekend. My week has been pretty tame so far. The most exciting thing I did was rearrange my desk area yet again. Shortly after I started this job, my bosses decided to rearrange my office area to make room for another person we were about to hire. I already share the space with 2 other people, so when we were trying to figure out where to put a 4th person we decided to completely swap everyone's seating arrangement. I moved from the middle to the front, and I have moved my stuff around at least 3 times since.

Let's see if this works!

Even though I was only at my old desk for about 3 weeks, I was liked the set-up. I'm having a hard time finding good flow for my area. I think this might work best. We'll see.

My weekend plans have shifted a little bit. I was originally supposed to meet my niece, Brittany, in Chattanooga to pick up my mom and Tony, but yesterday she discovered she has to work all day tomorrow. It's not a big deal for me, really. I've lost count of the number of times I've driven to Alabama and back in a day. I just feel bad for Bee since she seems really upset about missing out on the visit. I told her we'd make it up later.

I don't know what my other plans for the weekend include. Greg and I had been talking about going to a demolition derby, but it's drizzling and gross today so I don't really want to sit outside all evening. And I don't want to stay out too late since I have a long day of driving tomorrow (also in the rain... yay!). I found a project I want to do for my oldest brother, so I may go pick up the supplies for that tonight. Maybe I'll tell G that tonight is a pizza and video games night? Do you think he'll go for that?

Fighting is healthy for our relationship. ;-)

New Restaurants

I have had quite the adventurous summer so far! In the past few weeks alone, I have gone to the lake, been kayaking twice, tried 5 new restaurants (and one new cuisine!), had fun mini-dates and all-day dates with G, and gone to a concert. Whew! I'm just trucking through my 30 at 30 list!

New Restaurants

I've tried 4 new restaurants with Greg and 1 with Amy and I have liked each and every one of them! See, this is why I needed to branch out!

The first restaurant Greg and I tried was The Egg & I. My mom went there with a friend a while ago and liked it, so one Saturday morning Greg and I decided to check it out. They are only open for breakfast and lunch, and we got there at prime brunch time. I got the Raspberry Granola Pancake. It was fantastic. I'm actually kind of drooling a little just thinking about it.


A few days later, we decided to visit Cazzy's Corner Grill.


Photo from Cazzy's Google+ page

We'd driven by a few times, and finally we decided to step in. I'm glad we did! I had the Cheddar Chutney Burger for a little sweet and salty flavor. I was impressed. Greg got the Smothered Chicken and said it was really good. I'm guessing so since all I got to try was a green bean!

The next stop on our culinary tour was Fulin's. This one is actually pretty close to Cazzy's. When they first opened there were dozens of little signs that said "Fulin's now open!" So the running joke with Greg and I was to say "no foolin'! Fulin's is now open!" Eventually we made our way in, though. It really doesn't look like much from the outside, so we were both surprised by how nice it was. I got the orange chicken and hot and sour and a split a sushi roll w/ G. Greg and I agreed that we'd go back and recommend it to people.

My last new restaurant with Greg was First Watch.

Like The Egg & I, it's only open for breakfast and lunch. I had to take a picture for Amy because they not only had hazelnut creamer on the table, but the also left the water and coffee carafes. Running out of beverages was not going to be a problem! I got the Chickichanga. As heavy as it looked, I really wasn't overstuffed when we left. And the fruit salad didn't have any cantaloupe (one of the few foods I don't like)! Winning!

My latest new culinary adventure was with Amy! We've both been saying we wanted to try Indian cuisine for about a year now and we finally did last night! We decided to check out Bombay Palace.

I was so impressed! They were pretty busy for a Tuesday, which is always a good sign with restaurants. As a matter of fact, we got the last open table. Our servers were all wonderfully attentive and the food was delicious! We'll definitely be going back!



Impromptu Tourism

I live near some pretty nice tourist attractions (*cough*Smoky Mountains*cough*), and not too far from some touristy cities like Chattanooga and Nashville. I always mean to stop and be a tourist in my own backyard, but I just never do. Until this past weekend.

I had to meet my niece in Chattanooga (it's about halfway between her house and ours) on Saturday, and when we were about to leave Greg told me he'd never been to Lookout Mountain. What? Inconceivable! Since it was only 15 minutes from our current location, we decided to go and play tourist for the day at Rock City.

If you've ever taken a road trip through the South, you've probably seen the trademark barns directing you to See Rock City. It's a self-guided tour along the edge of Lookout Mountain. Probably the biggest draw is the Lover's Leap view where you can see 7 States (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia). It's definitely more of a tourist attraction than a strenuous hike, which was good since neither of us were really dressed for much but a car ride!

There's all sorts of rock formations and little additions along the path.

Mushroom Rock

I have no idea what this is. A human size bird cage?

An eagle statue just for Greg!

The 7 States

 I love the view, but I wish they had like a window with the outline of the states or something so you knew exactly what you were looking at. I should put that in the suggestion box. ;-)

 

That's a pretty nice delfie right there...

You can tell I was not planning on this adventure! Wrong clothes!

 You can't tell, but I was trying really hard not to laugh in this picture. A lady saw me taking the picture above it and asked if I wanted her to take a picture of the two of us, so I said sure. About the time she clicked the picture she said "since I'm doing this would you mind taking one of us?" meaning her and her husband. I just laughed and said sure.  Really, she could have just asked if I'd take their picture.

Not only handsome, but incredibly strong!

 This was called Tortoise Shell Rock, but G and I agreed that it looks more like a polar bear head. Or maybe we're both a little weird.

 It rained most of the way down there (and part of the hike!) but the clouds looked awesome. That fuzzy spot near the middle right was actually rain coming down in the valley.

 I'm not sure why there's a Fairyland Caverns on the way out, but it's fun to look at.

 I had to take this one for my fellow pumpkin-lover, Amy! Not bad digs, really!

Overall we had a pretty good time taking a break to be tourists!

Lucky 13

I have always said that 13 is one of my lucky numbers (along with 3, 7, and occasionally 87), and that is also true for Friday the 13th. I'm not saying that every Friday the 13th is rainbows and unicorns, but generally they turn out to be a good day overall. I'm (sort of) happy to say that today was no different. But I'm also happy that I got a reminder that luck and good fortune don't always look the way we might expect.

Today, my car sounded it's death rattle. It was kind of sudden actually. I went to work without a problem, and even went on a coffee run with no issues. But when I tried to go on my lunch break a few hours later the engine wouldn't turn over. Now, I've left my lights on more times than I care to admit, so I knew it wasn't a dead battery, but it definitely was not starting. I waited a few minutes and tried again to no avail. So I called Amy. (Not that I thought she could physically help me, but I needed to freak out to my bff, yanno?) While I was on the phone with her, I got the car to start, but it was shuddering really badly and made me nervous to drive. Needless to say I turned it back off. Amy kindly agreed to meet me after work and follow me home to make sure I got there safely.

Then I called Greg and cried. I know, emotional manipulation, but I couldn't help it. (Did I mention I woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep? My nerves were already fried). He talked me down, then started looking at cars online and calling around. After a bit of back and forth, we decided to go car shopping tomorrow.

The whole drive home I was incredibly nervous. The car shuddered and jerked and jumped. When I finally got home, Amy told me my car was sparking the whole way. Actually, she said something along the lines of  "it looked like you were chain smoking and throwing them out the window." Awesome. God bless her, she's coming to take me to work at 5:30 tomorrow morning, and Greg is picking me up after my shift. I truly am blessed in my friends.

So, how do I consider it  a lucky day? Well, I don't normally leave work during my break. If I had stuck to my usual routine, I wouldn't have known anything was wrong with my car until close to 6pm. At that point Greg wouldn't have been available to call dealerships for me (he had plans to see The Hobbit tonight), and Amy might not have been able to follow me home. Finding out early gave me time to mentally prepare for the idea of buying a car, making car payments, and so on.

It also gave me time to remember to trust God. He has been calling me to trust Him for a while now, and I just haven't been able to do it. No, I have trusted God. I haven't trusted that I was accurately listening to what He was telling me to do. This is a pretty blatant sign that He wants me to trust in His provision. Yesterday, I was sending verses to one of the girls in my small group, and today I was reading them myself. I'll leave you with one that is echoing around my heart today.

Ha... as I posted this, I realized the verse number is 13... Told you it was a good number. 

In Motion

Aw, my last post for the challenge! How sad. Ok not really, but anyway!

This may have been in slow motion, but it is in motion.

Amy, Greg, and I went to a lame festival balloon festival yesterday. This one was taking off as we walked down to the "fun." Sadly, it was almost the best part of the day. I had a great time, but that was because of who I was with. Those two make going to pay bills fun.

A smile

Well, we didn't say it had to be my smile, did we?

G sent me this one the other day to tell me he got a haircut. I'm not sure why, but he always sends me a pic after he cuts his hair. The only exception is if I'm going to see him within the next 2 hours. Then he still texts me. I don't know if he's being silly or trying to warn me or what. I think it's sweet. Plus, bonus chances to see his mug. I'll take it.

PS, did you notice he shaved??? He did that over Labor Day weekend and I am just now getting used to it. I like it though. Less prickly. :-)

Trees

I took this one outside of Greg's office when I went to go meet him for dinner a few weeks ago. 

When I took this picture, I was actually just going for the color of the sky, but I like the way they tree line came out, too. A little spooky, but still lovely.

Flowers

Now this pic is older, but it's one of my favorite pictures of flowers I have.

Greg have me these for my birthday way back when I was working at the preschool. He actually gave me 2 bunches (he brought them to me at work), and I split them in 2 vases. I wasn't thinking about it, but after I posted this picture on Facebook, it was pointed out to me that it kind of looks like a muppet. So every time I see this picture, I half expect them to start talking. Well.. maybe if I lived in the world of Jim Henson or Harry Potter.

Someone I love

Here we are on day 6 of the Photo Challenge! Today's subject is someone I love. That's not much of a challenge, now is it?

I'm a little partial to Mr. Wonderful, himself. I feel like these pictures pretty accurately represent why I picked him. 

1. He's magic! His friend competes in Strongman competitions, and he was playing around with one of the weighted balls. Really, I'm just impressed with the fact that he is willing to try new things with his workouts and really cares about his health and fitness.
2. He's a model! This one was taken when he was asked to to a charity fashion show. He was making a Zoolander face, but I think he actually looks really handsome. I love the fact that he's always willing to help out and he looks good doing it. :-)
3. We have fun together! This one was taken while we were waiting to go to our seats at the Tennessee Theatre. Not only does he take me to the theatre, he makes goofy faces with me beforehand!

Of course there's more than 3 reasons why I love G, but these are just some of the reasons I have picture evidence for. ;-)

The final straw

Words cannot describe how upset I was just a mere hour ago. I couldn't find my fitbit. I knew I had it on earlier when I was running errands with mom, but I couldn't find it in my pocket when we were at church. I figured I accidentally left it in the jeans I was wearing earlier since I changed pants before we left. Nope, not there when I got home. Not in my chair, my purse, my computer bag. Not in my car, the key basket, or on my bed. I tore my room apart looking for it. Then I decided to go look in the car one more time.... and I found it. 

A moment of silence, please...

It must have fallen out of my pocket when we left for church and I backed over it. I barely made it into my bedroom before I started sobbing uncontrollably. See, I had already convinced myself Greg was going to be mad at me for losing it. Which, if you know G, you also know how ridiculous that is. He doesn't get mad at me. Frustrated? Yes. Annoyed? Of course! But mad? No. But I had already convinced myself that he was going to be MAD at me. Yelling and all kinds of bad things. So when I found it so completely busted, I just lost it. 

In the midst of my hysterics, I started questioning what was actually going on. Yes, I was upset over breaking my beloved fitbit, but it's just a toy, really. And I knew G wasn't actually going to be mad at me. It was an honest accident. So I prayed that God would help me calm down and figure out what was really going on. 

When I could breathe again, I finally realized that this was just the final straw in a long line of things that have been breaking my heart lately. None of them to do with Greg, Amy, or any other loved one. But still, my heart has been slowly cracking for the past 3 months and today was the day it finally fell apart. So I'm praying for God to help me find the road to putting things back together. 

There are some changes coming. I think for the better, and mostly I'm excited, but I think life is about to be different... hopefully soon. 

***As I logged on to my laptop to post this, I discovered that while the display is broken, my fitbit is still tracking my steps and syncing to the computer. That means I can still use it, I won't know how many steps I've taken til the end of the day. Whew! A bright spot!

What I Wore

As I mentioned yesterday, Amy suggested that we do a photo challenge this month. Today's challenge was "what I wore." This was both the easiest and the lamest challenge for me ever. Without further ado, here's what I wore today.

Or every day...

I know, I know, but I had to work today! Uniform shirt, yoga pants, bright pink shoes. We're only allowed to wear black pants, so my accessories are usually really bright. Not pictured: my teal watch and my work fleece pullover. Yes, on a 95-degree day I felt the need to wear a fleece pullover. It was FREEZING at the front desk this morning. The gym is kept cold for the benefit of those working out, so don't be surprised when you see gym employees wearing jackets when it's hot outside.

Ok, obviously I didn't have to work all day. Greg got home from Dragon*Con today, so I met him for dinner. This is what I wore then:

Madras plaid shirt from Old Navy, shorts, flip flops... really the bottom half has been my non-work uniform for most of the summer. Accessories for the day: my promotion necklace from Amy and my Invicta Angel watch from Greg.



Did you noticed that I chopped my head off in both pictures? Yeah, that wasn't on accident. I told you I feel awkward in selfies. 

The Bravest

First and foremost, I need to wish a slightly belated birthday to my Best Friend, Mental Twin, Partner in Crime, and all around Long-Lost Sister, Amy!

Blurry and off-center because we were shaking from
freezing at the UT/KY game last year

I have now officially wished her a happy trip around the sun on Facebook (twice!), Twitter, text, and now via blog. That should be enough for now. She was lucky enough to spend her actual birthday with her mom in Destin, FL. I'm only slightly jealous... Mostly I'm happy she got to take a (much needed) vacation! We're going to celebrate her birthday at her happy place, Lakeside Tavern, on Sunday, which gives me a few more days to get her gift put together. Yes, I know, it's already belated. What's my problem? Shh. But seriously, I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turning out. I just need to finish up. Hopefully I'll have time to do that tomorrow.

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This past weekend was pretty great. Greg's friend Moose was given 4 tickets to the Braves (or Bravest according to my auto-correct) game for Friday Night, and he asked Greg and I to join him. Moose and I had recently been talking about the fact that I had never been to a Braves game, so when he asked I jumped at the chance. I don't know if I was more excited about the game or taking a 1/2-day off from work, but I was pumped!

I knew it was going to be a good trip when I found this at a gas station in Georgia:

Amy and I have a long running joke about these being the "holy grail of cola beverages" because we can never find it individually sold in a 20oz bottle around here. I saw it and knew I was in for a good time!

We got to Turner Field about an hour and a half before the game started. Moose and his dad decided to go autograph hunting, so Greg and I meandered around the lower level of the stadium for a while.

There was a huge mural with all of the team name changes and moves over the years (apparently the Atlanta Braves started as the Boston Redstockings), and this one cracked me up. I mean I know Boston is famous for their beans, but still... Oh well.

I also made G take a pic with me in front of the bullpen. Really, I was looking to update my fb profile pic and I don't like taking selfies alone... Is is still a selfie if someone else is in the picture?

Finally we made it up to our seats. And our seats were in the Coca-Cola Suite!

Free Coke products? Suite!

Not a bad view, either!

Moose said he didn't know if it was fair that I got to sit in a suite at my first Braves game. I told him it might be the only one I ever went to, so I might as well go big!

I made G take another one so I could choose. :-)

 We had a great time chatting with our neighboring suites and watching the game. And it ended wonderfully:

Should be 2-3, but the winner is correct. 

 We got "free baseball" (Moose's term for extra innings) and the Braves won! I might have been sad if they lost at my first game... After that there was a post-game performance by Montell Jordan.

Apparently he is now a Pastor at an Atlanta church and sang a few praise and worship songs while they were setting up for the fireworks. It was great and I loved the bonus worship time I got that day. After the game and fireworks we came back home to Knoxville. I finally crawled into bed at a little after 4am. It was totally worth it.

On Saturday, Greg and I had a nice day looking for adhesive for his prosthetic ears running errands. He decided to by William Shakespeare's Star Wars while we were at Target, and he ended up reading some of it to me once we got back to his house.

I love a strange man...

I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but I would be interested in seeing this performed.

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Anyway, I think this post in bordering epic status, so I will rest my weary hands. I hope you're having a good week! Be blessed!

Random truth about myself

I discovered something quite interesting about myself today. It's probably something that Amy or Greg could have told you months years ago, but I just realized it today. You want to know what it is? Ok, here goes. I have serious trouble buying stuff for myself, especially more costly items that I actually need. Additionally, I will spend my last dollar buying a gift for you before I get something for myself. I know that sounds silly, but you should know by now that I am silly. Tada!

You're probably wondering how I figured out this little tidbit today. Well, I'll tell you. I was in need of 2 things when today started. Firstly, I needed a new backpack. The bag I was using to schlep my books and what have you to work or church was falling apart. It was the back pack I took to NYC in 2010, and while I love the memories we have together it is starting to fall apart. I also needed a new sports bra. I have a rather large chest and I am on a mission to find a sports bra that is secure, supportive, and doesn't require me to layer them.

I went to Walmart for the backpack first. I had already seen one like I wanted, I just need to go back and make sure it would fit my needs. As I walked through the doors of Walmart, this is the first thing I see:

It screams G

I mean it was practically begging to go live with Greg. I saw it and decided he needed it to take stuff to Dragon*Con at the end of the month. I don't know what he will put in it, but that's not really my problem because it OBVIOUSLY needs to go home to G! Plus it was on sale for only $9. How could I resist? So I picked it up and went off in search of the bag I actually went to buy. I finally found it, not in a logical place to my mind, but I was in Walmart.... I digress. I find the bag I want in a color I like and it looks like it will serve my needs, but it plus Greg's bag are more than I intended to spend. So which did I debate not getting? My bag of course! In ended up getting both of them, but I had to talk myself into it the whole way up to the register. 

I met up with Greg for dinner and gave him his gifts (I may or may not have also picked up a few of his favorite drinks and put them in the bag), then he and I went to Dick's Sporting Goods so I could look at sports bras. My first mistake was starting there. Somehow I always forget how expensive it is. I couldn't find anything to serve my purposes for less than $50, and Greg could not convince me to spend that kind of money on myself. Even though it really was not a bad price for the garment, and I really do need one. But nope, didn't get one. 

I love to invest in others, but I don't spend a lot of time or money on myself if I don't have to. Which is why I usually end up buying more for Greg, Mom, and Tony than I do for myself on tax free weekends. I have a problem. 

Siberia

Yesterday ended up being a pretty good day. Considering it was a Monday, and those are notoriously ridiculous anymore, I didn't have high hopes, but it was fine. Work was actually pretty decent, especially for a Monday. I go in 1.5 hours early on Monday to help get caught up on paperwork from over the weekend, and usually it's a race to get everything done on time. I was able to get all of my "bonus" tasks done well before my scheduled shift was supposed to start. Yay!

After work I finally got to hang out with that boyfriend of mine. We went to dinner at Abuelo's, which is definitely one of my favorite restaurants. [side note: Abuelo's is where my bff Amy said we were going for my birthday dinner when she was actually helping to plan my surprise party. Sneaky sneaky.] And miracle of miracles, neither of us was on our phone the majority of the time. I won't lie, I'm just as bad as he is so I can only get so mad. After dinner we wandered over to Target because he needed to return something he bought over the weekend. He ended up buying a new pair of sunglasses, and I managed to walk out empty handed. It was difficult.

Then we spent the rest of the evening watching TV. We started off watching Return of Jaws on Discovery (Shark Week!), which was pretty interesting. They managed to find a way to track a shark with an underwater video camera. Greg and I both agreed that we're not going swimming at the beach in Massachusetts. After that we watched a show called Siberia. I had never even heard of it before, but it was kind of interesting. It's a completely scripted series about a fictional reality show where the contestants are sent to a remote Siberian territory and told to survive the winter. But since it's a "reality" show, things start to go wrong. It's crazy, but I liked it.

Today was not as awesome. I woke up feeling like I couldn't breathe well. My chest was really tight and I kept coughing. I've also felt run down all day. None of this was made better by the fact that my boss's boss was at our club all day today. I like her just fine, but she still puts me on edge simply because of her position.

The bright side to my day came when Greg sent me a text to look at this video on YouTube.

That seriously made me laugh so hard. I love that they can be goofy and laugh at themselves. Sorry if it's stuck in your head now.

Tax-free, not hassle-free

Today was another action packed day! We had to be at the church at 8:30 for Day 2 of our Leaders' Gathering. I must say, I learned quite a lot and really felt God stretching me in new ways for my walk with Him. Once I make sense of my notes, I'll have to do a recap.

After that, I met Amy for lunch at Panera before heading out for our tax free shopping. We only ended up going to Old Navy and Walmart, but I ended up with 5 new shirts and a pair of jeans for less than $85. My favorite item I picked up was a plaid shirt from Old Navy.

OldNavy.com

It's so fun and bright. I love it. Every thing else I got was pretty plain in comparison, but that's ok. It's my statement piece, haha. The trip wasn't without its craziness, though. There were long checkout lines at Old Navy, and kids going crazy everywhere. I may or may not have tweeted that shopping on a sales weekend was better than birth control. But I tried to be patient with everyone, especially they poor workers. I knew they were having a way longer day than I was.

After I got home from shopping, I did a quick change (into that shirt of course), and went with Greg to go see his mom in the hospital before heading out to meet some of his college friends for dinner. She's doing better, and hopefully she will be released from the hospital tomorrow or Monday. She's a tough lady, but she's getting frustrated that she can't get her mouth to cooperate with her brain. All we can do is pray for it to come back. And I know she's tired of being cooped up in that room all the time. It probably doesn't help that she has constantly had visitors since she was admitted to the ER on Tuesday. One of her kids has been with her almost 24/7 since she was admitted, and she looked relieved that Greg and I had to leave 45-60 minutes before his brother was supposed to arrive tonight.

We went dinner at Calhoun's on the River, which was nice. One of Greg's friends from college was in town from Texas this weekend and it happened to be her birthday, so she called some people together to go out to dinner. The only person I knew besides Greg was Moose, but I still had a good time.

But now it's time for me to log off and get ready for bed. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a peaceful day involving me copying recipes into computer files. Yay for projects!