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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)... 

Chop Chop

Last year was intense. I was working (in the actual building) almost 12 hours a day. I was skipping lunches, working through my plan, and forgetting bathroom breaks. I would spend my evenings checking email and stressing about my to do list for the next day. If I had a free evening, I would argue whether I should just lay and rest or work out because I needed it. There's other things that I shouldn't post about (but you can always ask- it's pretty juicy), that made last school year just seem like the year that wouldn't end.

But that was last year.

This year, I am actually eating lunch. I'm leaving early and getting work outs in. I'm happy. I've got a schedule that allows for me to do library things during the day instead of waiting until Friday night. I'm not tutoring, working the magnet committee, or adding anything huge to my plate.

When things change in my life, I feel the need to chop off the old and start fresh, so last Friday I went and got another 3 inches chopped off. That's in addition to the 3 inches I cut off in June. I lost my long ponytail and sock bun hair, but now I feel lighter and that's all that matters.

Graduate School Year 2

Or Year 6. This could be Year 6 depending how you look at it.

Miles starts classes on Wednesday, but things are already back in full swing for the both of us. He had a great trip to Argentina.  He saw lots of rocks and ate lots of beef. Maybe I can get him to write a post? I started work again a few weeks ago, but between inservice and my summer project, it seems like I've been working much longer.

It's unnecessary to say that we're busy, but we're busy. This past weekend we took the two days to ourselves, to get resettled after Miles' long trip, but the upcoming months are filling with fun activities, trips, and hopefully camping! I love our adventures.

Hopefully it won't be another three weeks before I update. I've been promising Miles that I would be better at keeping up with my blog, so fingers crossed I actually do so.

Destination: Beach (again!)

Went to St. Augustine with a friend and it was marvelous. Beautiful weather, great food, and lots of talking. I've been home for a few days and I'm already wishing to go back.

Destination: City

The Fourth of July was spent in Virginia with my family. Miles, my brother, and my bro's gf, and I braved the D.C. crowds to watch the fireworks from Memorial Mall. They were fabulous, but it was even more fun to people watch. It was a short trip, but I was also able to help my mom pick berries and make about 20 jars of blackberry jam! And yes, that's a Clark sitting next to Miles on our way home. He likes to help navigate when I let him.

Destination: Mountains

This year my mom, sister, and I decided to do a girls-only vacation. I was kind of sad to leave Miles behind, but it was really fun to hang out with just my sister and my mom-- two people I rarely get a chance to see. We spent a couple of days laying around at the pool, shopping, and exploring Denver, However, Colorado is one state we visited a lot growing up. We've done a lot of the usual touristy things in the area, so we added a few day trips to our trip and went to Boulder, Mt. Evans, Estes Park, and Cimarron, NM.

 Pictures: 1. It was weird flying out of Knoxville and not seeing skyscrapers and miles of suburb! 2. Buffalo Burgers in Estes Park 3-5. The Stanley Hotel or better known as the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining. 6. A whole store for rocks. 7. A beautiful Catholic church that sits on a huge rock outside of Estes Park. 8-15. Views from Idaho Springs and Mt. Evans (a 14er!). It was beautiful and cold! We even saw a little snow fall. 16. Boulder's farmer's marker. Not as good as Knoxville's 17-18. Celestial Seasonings tour in Boulder. The tour guide took a huge group into a room of tea and asked who doesn't like this smell, I was the only one who said no. Despite trying a half dozen different types of teas, I still do no like it. Nope, not even a little. 19. The new Voodoo Doughnuts in Denver. We chowed down on some of their more infamous types. 20. A cat in a stroller. Makes my cat lady ways not seem so bad, huh? 21. Drinks and burgers at Cherry Cricket before heading to a wine and painting class. 21-25. Philmont Scout Ranch was my family's summer vacation place while I was growing up. My sister worked there for a few years and my dad has been teaching summer courses for years. This was my first trip back in 10 years and I loved seeing it again even for just a few hours.