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. :)

Destination: Beach

Miles and I are adventure vacationers. Since getting married we've explored Mackinac Island; Arches National Park; Southwestern Colorado; New Mexico; Savannah, GA; New York City; Indianapolis; the Seattle area; and countless national and state parks. When we go on vacation, we tend to spend the whole time museum hopping, hiking, looking for rocks, and sightseeing. In between all of the fun, we seek out the best restaurants and eat our way through vacation. We always have a blast and the vacation is usually a spring board for our next vacation.

At Christmas, we went to Seattle and had a fabulous time. We did our usual adventure stuff, but because of the holiday, we also had a chance to relax and just really soak up our vacation time. After Seattle, I thought of nothing but a beach vacation... A whole week of soaking in vitamin D, reading, and sleeping.

It felt a little weird to do a beach vacation and up until the day we left, I had my doubts. I kept imagining Portland, Maine; the Redwood forest; and the Grand Tetons. I looked up last minute flight deals to Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and anywhere else other than Florida. Because if I should be taking a vacation, it should be an adventure.

Now, I couldn't imagine visiting someplace else (okay, I can, but...).  I spent over 5 hours a day playing in the sand and in the waves, reading, sleeping, and just watching the water. I thought for sure Miles would be bored, but he enjoyed some much needed downtime, too. I might not have been an adventure, but it sure was a vacation.

Nerdy nerd

Want to see something completely nerdy and embarrassing? Watch this video.

It's for my summer project which will officially go live tomorrow for the first day of summer vacation!

Sooo... what do you think? :)

May is the best month.

Reasons Why May is the Best Month Ever

1.  Market Square Farmer's Market season begins

2. My birthday

3. Fun days at work

4. Barbecues and parties

5. Seeing my parents-- twice

6. Miles gets his life back (& I get to have fun again)

7. Flower blooms and shading trees

8. Summer!!!

9. Memorial Day weekend

10. New books by my favorite authors

11. The sun is up before I get to work

12. Vacation

Did I miss any? I love May!

#WBN2014

Everyone knows I love books, so when I learned of World Book Night, I immediately added my name to the email list so I would know when to apply. That was this this time last year! Last fall, I applied and earlier this year, I was selected. Yesterday, I picked up my box and on April 23, I get to play Book Fairy and pass out 20 copies of Hoot by Carl Hiaasen. Basically, World Book Night hopes everyone will go home tonight and read. Not sit at home and binge-watch Breaking Bad... but read. A book. An actual book. Will you join me?


Side note: I've been reading a lot this year, but I haven't been telling you. I'm not sure anyone has noticed or even cares! Mostly, I'm reading mysteries, but I did just start Eleanor and Park. You can friend me on GoodReads!

Side note 2: Does anyone else think of Shakespeare when writing April 23? No? Just me?

On friendship

About a year ago, Miles and I put down the deposit for our rental house. I began yet another job application and our apartment became a littered mess of boxes and newspapers. We were about to uproot ourselves from Atlanta to Knoxville and it was slightly terrifying... for me, anyway. 

For Miles, graduate school gives you built in friends and support system, but for me-- the wife and outsider-- I had to actually find friends. And let's be honest, the older you get, the harder it is. I was nervous coming to Knoxville that I would be lonely again because it is so hard to break into Knoxville "everyone knows everyone" friendships. 

Instead,

I've been shocked. Life has happened. I was worried that I wouldn't have friends-- a group of girls to relax with-- and it turns out that I was worrying about nothing! I have dinner friends, walking friends, friends that I should really see more of, and even geology friends. It turned out that I wasn't starting all over... I was picking up right where I left off... And it's been a blessing.

Extension on Life

Snow days are precious in the south. Any mention of snow sends the majority of the local population in a tizzy searching for bread, milk, and eggs. Everyone spends their lunch glued to weather updates and giving their predictions as to whether or not it will actually snow.

A couple of weeks ago, we got a decent snowstorm in Knoxville. The NWS thought the storm would hit in the middle of the day, so they canceled school early and I spent the day glued to the TV watching my favorite "test pattern" (aka the Weather Channel) give updates. The storm ended up hitting later in the day, but by morning we had a blanket of 6 beautiful inches of snow. The University let out (a rare treat!), so Miles and I got to spend the day playing in the snow and binge watching TV.

Of course, 6 inches of snow means the city shuts down for at least two days, so I spent all of Friday relaxing, too. Yep, so that means I got not one, not two, but three days off for 6 inches of snow. And it was wonderful!

Books Read in January 2014

  

 

Canadian West series books 3-6 by Janette West

Mama Ph.D. edited by Elrena Evans

The Yard by Alex Grecian
Return to Tradd Street by Karen White

So January consisted of 5 extra days off of work thanks to the polar vortex in early January and the southern snow storm in late January.  For some, those extra five days means extra sleep, cuddle time with kids, binge watching BBT, or Facebook. For me, extra days means three things: Lewis, Clark, and a book! (Lewis and Clark being my cats!)

Reviews: Mama PhD has been on my to-read list for a while. I'm thinking about getting a higher degree, but I also want to have kids. This is an enlightening read about being in graduate school or on the tenure track and having children. The Yard was a random book I grabbed in B&N back in December. It wasn't bad. Think Jack the Ripper & Sherlock Holmes.  Return to Tradd Street is the 4th book in the Tradd series. The Tradd series is by far one of my favorite book series (ever), so it's not a surprise that I loved this one, too. If you like ghosts (I do), you'll like the Tradd series! As for the Canadian West books... I loved the 1st & 2nd book. The 3rd (When Hopes Springs New) was okay. The rest of the series (especially the last book!) wasn't anything to rave about. And the ending of the last book made me want to vomit. But because I'm committed to finishing a series, I stuck with them. Lucky for me, they were all library eBooks, so they didn't cost me anything.

What are you reading?

Boots

I've been dreaming of Hunter rain boots since I was 20 years old and it took me until a month ago to finally shop and purchase myself a pair. Only, it didn't go as I planned. Turns out I have Swedish Viking-sized calves. I first tried on a pair of these and couldn't even pull them up the whole way. No big deal right? I'll just try these (even though I hate the pop of pink!). No luck. I was pretty bummed.

However, I stumbled upon another company called Tretorn while at REI and immediately went home and Amazoned them (Like what I did there? Forget Google. Let's Amazon!). Turns out their boots are the go to boots for other Viking-sized calves! They fit perfectly and are very comfortable. And they were around $75 at the time. You like?

Books to Read?

Books to read before the movie!

Have you seen this article of books to read?

I think I'll be ordering Winter's Tale, Wild, and Serena.

And maybe Vampire Academy. After all, the movie is by the directors of Mean Girls.

Books Read in 2013

For those who read my other blogs, you know that I'm a reader. After years of trying, I finally met my reading goal of reading (for enjoyment) 50 novels. In fact-- I ended up reading 62! Here's my final list. The books that are starred are my favorites from this year. At the end, I've recapped my final thoughts.

Adult books read in 2013:

1. The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
2. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
4. The Invisible Thread by Yoshiko Uchida
5. Voices from the Fields by S. Beth Atkin
6. Children of the Midnight Sun: Young Native Voices of Alaska by T. Brown
7. Maritcha: a 19th Century American Girl
8. After the Rain by Karen White
9. Murder on Astor Place by Victoria Thompson*
10. Murder on St. Mark Place by Victoria Thompson
11. Murder on Gramercy Park by Victoria Thompson
12. Murder on Washington Square by Victoria Thompson
13. Murder on Mulberry Bend by Victoria Thompson
14. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
15. The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb*
16. Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson
17. Murder on Lenox Hill by Victoria Thompson
18. Murder in Little Italy by Victoria Thompson
19. Murder in Chinatown by Victoria Thompson
20. The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb*
21. Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson
22. Murder on Waverly Place by Victoria Thompson
23. Murder on Lexington Avenue by Victoria Thompson
24. Murder on Sister's Row by Victoria Thompson
25. Murder on Fifth Avenue by Victoria Thompson
26. Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson
27. Not the Killing Type by Lorna Barrett
28. A Rather Lovely Inheritance by C. A. Belmond
29. A Rather Curious Engagement by C. A. Belmond
30. A Rather Charming Invitation by C. A. Belmond
31. A Rather Remarkable Homecoming by C. A. Belmond
32. The Christmas Cookie Club by Ann Pearlman
33. The Christmas Secret by Donna VanLiere
34. When Calls the Heart by Janette Oke*
35. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
36. When Comes the Spring by Janette Oke
37. The Time Between by Karen White
38. When Breaks the Dawn by Janette Oke

MG/YA/Teen novels read in 2013:

1. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
2. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park*
3. The Abduction by John Grisham
4. Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl's Story by Pegi Deitz Shea
5. Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O'Dell
6. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by W.W. Shang
7. Brooklyn Bridge by K. Hesse
8. Freak the Mighty by W. R. Philbrick
9. Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes
10. Best Friends Forever: A WWII Scrapbook by B. Patt
11. Yellow Star by J.R. Roy
12. The Accused by John Grisham
13. The Activist by John Grisham
14. Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
15. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
16. 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
17. Baby-Sitter's Haunted Mansion by Ann M. Martin
18. A Gathering of Days by Joan W. Blos
19. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
20. Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea*
21. The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming
22. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
23. Mallory and the Ghost Cat (BSC Mystery #3) by Ann M. Martin
24. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Overall thoughts: I hated Gone Girl*. When I find a new author I love, I will read every book she's written! (I highly recommend Wendy Webb!) I will not hide it-- I get attached to characters and I love series. Mysteries are my favorites. The books by Janette Oke came as a surprise. I picked up the first (When Calls the Heart) because I saw that it's going to be a TV movie on Hallmark and, well, I was bored. Oke is considered Christian Fiction-- a genre I do not typically read. But Oke isn't very preachy. And well, I love (love love love) stories set in the early 1900s. So, I read them. And I loved them. If you like YA fiction, read A Long Walk to Water. Do it. Amazing. It's a true story and you will weep. I did not want to jump on the Fault-train, buuut I couldn't stay away and now I know why!


*Hate is not a strong enough word for how much I disliked this book.  It's rare for me to say I don't like a book, but not this one.

My goal this year? To read as much as I want, to try to read some nonfiction, and to get my non-reading husband to read something-- anything-- for fun. 

Olympic NP

On our final full day in Washington, we decided to visit Olympic. Only it was cold. And raining. I should have known our beautiful weather would come back to get us! We tried to see the mountains, but true to typical PNW weather, it was foggy. So, we headed out to the coast to get our first glimpse of the West Coast.

The drive was long and wet, but I was so excited to see the Pacific Ocean! I think this was (one of) Miles' highlights. He got to look at rocks and driftwood and prance around like a child. Word of advice, if you do decide to visit the west coast via Olympic and you want to visit Forks, WA from Twilight, make sure you are either a) prepared for teeny tiny mom and pop eateries or b) pack a lunch. While we did find a good burger drive in type place, next time (and yes, there will be a next time) we'll pack something.

Rainier NP (A must see)

I'd say one highlight of the trip for me was Rainier NP. I got to wear my LL Bean boots and run through the snow! We really didn't know what to expect when got up to visit the park. We had to rent chains for our tires because of icy roads... only it was in the 50s at the top and everything was melting! Seriously. Snowfall for this time of year has been well below average and the weather has been warm. 

One perk of visiting off season is the low number of tourists. The roads were pretty clear. There was a good number of snowshoers, but we didn't have to fight any ski traffic because the national park wasn't actually allowing skiing to take place.

There is one picture below that has us in jackets. I feel like I should say that those jackets lasted about 45 seconds after the picture was taken. We decided to go hiking around in the snow and it was entirely too warm for all of those layers. It was perfect vacation weather!

One more thing: those trees!! They smelled delicious and were so darn cute. I'd move there simply wake up to those evergreens everyday.