Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Over a Week Old Weekened Recap- doin' realll well with the whole blogging thing.

Well, not last weekend, but the weekend BEFORE, Ed & I raced down to Chattanooga Thursday after work/class so I could make it in time to see Chi Omega kill it at the annual Homecoming Step Show!! I was AMAZED, you could tell MANY hours of practice and hard work had been put into the show & this alum was HIGHLY impressed!



The girls walked away (more like jumping, screaming, and lots of celebrating) with best overall- out of all the fraternities and sororities! Following step show I went to eat with my Chi-O "family" my two littles, Lauren and Jenna, and then grand & great grand littles Hannah & Ann! It was great catching up with them & hearing about everything going on in Chattanooga!

Hannah, Jenna, Lauren, and I at Step Show

Friday Ed & I ran around our "old stomping grounds" (as my mom likes to say) and went to eat breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants, Aretha Frankenstein's, which back in the day was on Rachel Ray's show "$40 a Day." They have amazing breakfast burritos and it's the perfect place to cure a little case of the "Nappa Valley Flu!" *As a side note, you will soon see that the majority of what we did on our trip was EAT!! Chattanooga has some of my favorite restaurants and aside from all the friends I miss there, I also really miss the variety of places to chow down!*  Then Ed got a hair cut and we ran a few more boring errands that you most likely do not care about- mainly just stopping in stores that we miss when in Bristol.  Friday night was my designated "girls night" (although the majority of the weekend was spent catching up with girlfriends that I miss MUCHO! MUCHO!) we grabbed dinner and vino at another favorite Chatt-town restaurant, Big River, and chatted(no pun intended- ha!)  the night away.  At some point all of our boyfriends (and other guy friends) met us downtown at another favorite spot CBC where we ended the night! **Somehow I managed to not take a single picture all night!

Saturday Jenna and I went to get our nails done and try out this new "gel polish" I was planning on doing a raving review because it turned out so well, and was supposed to last chip free for TWO WEEKS! How amazing would that have been- and well worth the extra $$- SADLY, after a week the polish just peeled off (and I may or may not have been picking at it during that first quarter of the TN v. Alabama game) so no raving review here!

Saturday afternoon we went to the UTC tailgate for the homecoming game! Now, UTC is not known for it's football talent and I've only actually sat through one full football game when I was president and had to wait to hear which sorority won- gosh, that's really sad to admit! BUT, the tailgating is always fun! I love the football atmosphere- lots of people, good food, band playing, cheerleaders cheering, just makes me happy! Because it was homecoming EVERYONE was in town- I felt like a college freshman again and LOVED it (for a day)!!

girlfriends
girlfriends

girlfriends
and THE boyfriend :)

After the tailgate- no, we did not go to the actual game (shhh...)- we pretty much repeated the previous two nights just insert a different restaurant (beer cheese soup YUM) and different bars! SUCH a fun weekend!! Can't wait 'til next year! :) OH! and I can't forget that Chi Omega won Best Sorority for the 15th year in a ROW! SO proud!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Weird post about the way life smells.

Every winter I get my hair colored darker- my mom HATES it, but my hair naturally lightens in the summer and once I'm not out in the sun anymore, it gets brassy looking (and I may or may not be getting a few GRAYS...wth)! Anyways... last week I went to the salon and am now a dark brown with a slight red tint.  Nothing too dramatic, but definitely makes my hair shinier! With the new dye job (and not wanting to have to pay for it again for at least another year) I purchased some new shampoo & conditioner.

Redken Color Extend

I used it this morning for the first time and now I cannot stop smelling my hair!! It smells great- not super scented, just clean!

**Please note, after a week of using this shampoo & conditioner combo my hair feels slightly like straw and I'm using the shampoo additionally as body wash to get rid of quicker & convert back to 'ol faithful... Redken All Soft!

Anyways, after making my hair greasy from touching it so much and pulling it in my face to smell, I got to thinking about scent and how it makes you remember the weirdest things. I can just get a whiff of ammonia and it brings me back to pre-school (we are talkin' 20 years ago!), GAP dream to middle school, or  more recently Parrot Bay Malibu Rum to freshman year of college (sick)! I love getting instantly transported back in time and getting de ja vu from my olfactory receptors (definitely had to google that spelling)!

In the future, I think the scents that will currently define this period of my life will be Woodwick Cider scented candle, Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue perfume, Downy Lavender & Vanilla fabric sheets, and stinky dog (you do not want to purchase this smell- I promise)!

Now, this might gross some of you out... BUT, I love the way amusement parks smell (and malls) I think it's the large group of people and everyone's scents all running together- I know it's weird, but I love it!

Anyways, now that you think I'm a total nutcase... what are some of your favorite smells??

p.s.- I will do a post sometime soon (maybe before THIS weekend is over, about LAST weekend and the great time we had in Chattanooga! Go Mocs!)

Friday, October 8, 2010

My Blessed Boring Life

One of my funniest, favorite, friends Sara recently wrote this post and I felt like she was taking the words right out of my mouth.  As much as I like being 30 minutes away my parents (rather than 3 HOURS away while I was in college) and of course living with Ed and being close to his family as well, there are days when I think..."this is NOT what I would have EVER imagined life in my 20's being like."  Now, these days are few in far between, for the most part I'm a creature of habit and enjoy waking up early, going to work at my stable job, cooking dinner, and getting to spend time with the mammals (not just specifically people, gotta include little Beazy) I love.  But last night, Ed was studying, my mom is out of town, 1-sided conversations with Bea are only entertaining for so long, and I contemplated driving to Chattanooga just to have a girls night like old times.  In college, we would get one of these bad boys....

(Magnum bottle for under $7 with our student discount!)
...put on our PJ's, stay in, sip away, and laugh all night (or cry- depending on the conversation).  These are the nights I miss. 

After college it's really just so hard to meet good girlfriends- especially when you work with people that are all 40+, live in a small town, where most people don't typically move back until after they get married and want to start a family.  It's tough.  Now, I know some people might say something along the lines of, "change something!...MOVE!...get out!" and of course I toss that option around in my head sometimes, but really, for the most part, I think it would be hard anywhere!  In college, I was involved with many activities on campus that allowed me to meet all kinds of people and then of course, I had my sorority that automatically gave me 100+ girlfriends! Things are just different now...

Anyways, enough whining for now... I really do feel happy and blessed at this point in my life.  I live with the person I love, have parents that support me and have great friends that are just a phone call away!

Plus, when you live far away, and you DO get to go visit all your friends, everyone is just so happy to see you! : D and luckily, one of these away weekends is coming up in 6 days!!! I can't wait to go back to UTC Homecoming and see this one:

and these ones...

and can't forget these...

AH! Just thinking about next weekend makes me excited!