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Three ways I'm getting old:

I have fresh flowers all over my house.

I like color on my lips.

I'm now a newspaper subscriber (to a mediocre newspaper, but still- I subscribe!).

Other ways:

I spent my Saturday morning shopping for cloth napkins to match my dishes and Thanksgiving decorations.

I was pumped to get my flu shot today at work.

I'd rather watch Friends reruns than meet new TV characters.

Lakeside

While Miles is away, I had the chance to go visit my Granny at her lakeside campground in the north Georgia mountains. She camps about once a month, but sometimes stays as long as three weeks at a time. On my way out of Knoxville on Friday afternoon, I had seriously considered turning around and heading home. The traffic was horrible (two lane roads, ugh) with the entire world trying to get to the mountains for our first cool weekend. However, once I arrived I was so happy to be there. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

What was funny is she mentioned that she wanted to eat at a place called Cupboard near Dillard, GA. When I asked if it was the Cupboard cafe, she didn't think it was a cafe... :) Well, it ended up being the Cupboard cafe. A restaurant I first ate at back when Miles and I were only in the very beginning stages of our relationship. This picture is from 2004, I think. Funny, I don't remember when we went!

And last, me and Granny. Not bad considering I hadn't showered, I hadn't brushed my hair, and I hadn't washed my face before I went to eat. :)

Argentina again

While I stay home making money to pay the bills, Miles is back in Argentina for the International Palaeontological Congress. It's hard not to be jealous. I studied Spanish for so many years, but I've never made it to a Spanish-speaking country... and there goes Miles (the guy who made a D in his first semester of Spanish before returning to Latin) on another trip to South America.  Hopefully, this time he will bring me back more than handmade chili bowls and wine.

Smoky Mountain Saturday

Last year when we moved back to Knoxville, we promised each other that we would go hiking in the Smokies once a month... Driving through counts as hiking, right? We need to just make the time.

When I make Miles eat weird foods.

I'm glad Miles loves me enough that he will eat anything I make...

including two ingredient brownies

(brownie mix + pumpkin),

zucchini noodes, ...

and 

baked spaghetti squash lasagna.

He loves the brownies and zucchini noodles, but I wish I could have taken a picture of his poor nose 

turning up at the spaghetti squash.

priceless!!

Good ol' Rocky Top

Last weekend we braved the heat to watch our second UT game in person. As an outsider, UT games are always an interesting spectacle. There's just so much orange! The chants are different, the band is different... but it really is fun. UT's stadium is huge and is so compact, the sound stays inside. We always leave with a slight hearing loss! The only complaint from the game was that it was hot. It was over 100 degrees in the stadium and without that Indiana breeze I'm used to at games, I was just miserable! We're hoping the next one will be much cooler!

Boiler Up!

Labor day weekend: The end of summer and the start of cooler weather, pumpkin everything, and college football. Now, Miles and I aren't super huge football fans. We will not sit down and watch ESPN for the latest insights on what teams will win which games, but we do love our alma maters.

We headed north for the start of this year's football season to visit my little brother and cheer on my Boilermakers. We started with dinner at Skyline Chili in KY. If you've never had Skyline, you're missing out! Best dinner ever. Oh, I love that stuff.

 On Saturday, we woke up super early to make it to the band's practice. Storm is so goofy, but I know he secretly loves having visitors for the game. The early morning practice takes me back to my years in the dorm. I lived right across the street from the practice field and if the tornado practice sirens weren't waking me up, the Purdue Band was!

Of course, in true Indiana fashion, the 80% chance for storms turned out to be morning sprinkles, a little wind, and sunshine. I was really afraid we would be rained out, but the weather was beautiful.

The game was good. I'm glad we won! It's been a tough few seasons for Purdue, and we are all hopeful for more wins this year. :) After the game, we headed to Bruno's for pizza! My mom wanted a nice non-selfie picture of me and Miles, so these are what she got:

I feel like the two pictures above basically sum up our marriage. Miles is a goof off. Oh, and doesn't Miles look good in Old Gold and Black? ;) 

We're home now and recovering from the busy weekend. It was a quick trip, but I'm glad we decided to go. It was nice to see my brother at the start of his senior year and it was great to reminisce about all of the things that happened during my four years at Purdue. Now, to cheer on the Vols (ha- jk, kinda)...