internal affairs

I reckon I need to dust my blog off, y'all. (and what's with the speech? I sound like I'm from Tennessee or something. ) Anyway, more to come later on what I've been doing recently. This entry is more about what I haven't been doing. Which is taking better care of myself emotionally. To say that this summer and the beginning of fall has been a roller coaster ride from hell would be putting how I feel pretty mildly. However, today I woke up with renewed sense of purpose and I am hoping to get my butt back in gear.

I'm going to guess that much of this has to do with the fact that I got some sleep last night. With everything that's been happening, I've been waking up at odd hours of the night, and if you know me, you'll also know that this is completely out of whack. I sleep like the dead, dudes. Really. I slept through and earth quake once. So, getting sleep is the first key, I now realize. I had to take some medication to help me do it, but I feel so refreshed today it was WORTH it! My next plan is to finish the delicious apple cider I made for breakfast, walk, take off some garbage and hopefully clean my house. Tonight I'm making dinner and a chicken pot pie for a friend who just got out of the hospital. I feel more like myself than I have in weeks.

I tip my cider to you today, friends. In the hope that you are feeling on the inside, perfectly balanced and calm.

Happy Thursday!

*Tom Petty- Free Fallin'

UT vs UAB

These games are getting more and more fun. Wait, maybe I mean irritating. : )   Mark I headed back to Knoxville this weekend to catch the game between our VOLS and UAB.

It wasn't exactly pretty, but we pulled it off. In overtime. See ya at Alabama, Neyland!

Oh yeah, did I mention Mark and I are getting the full season of tickets instead of just half? No? Well, there you have it folks. We feel pretty darn lucky! Happy Weekend!

*Rocky Top.

Gator Hater

 So..yeah. Florida beat Tennessee last weekend. We thought we had a fighting chance -as you can see in the first picture. We were pretty stoked. There was a bunch of booing and some bad plays, but I wouldn't take back seeing us play Florida in the flesh for anything. I had a blast. And I drank during the game. Ha! I snuck vodka in via my panties. Laugh if you want, but we were on a time constraint and couldn't get our groove on before the game. I improvised, OK? When I got into the bathroom to take the booze out, I dropped one little airplane bottle and there it tumbled across the floor. I sat there (slightly mortified) and thought, Oh well. That was, until someone rolled it back under the stall saying "I think you dropped this..." HA! So I stayed in the bathroom for about 10 minutes hoping anyone who might have seen it would have left. : ) By the end of the game I was pretty pissed, but in that my team just couldn't pull it off kind of way. See my face? I was in the middle of cussing out a ref when Mark captured that lil' beauty. It might make the wall of shame.

Still love my team, though. Go VOLS!

UT vs Oregon....Wah, Wah....

We left home fairly early on Saturday afternoon to catch the 7PM game over in Neyland. We coasted through the sea of orange, found our seats and got settled. The game started well.... oh so well.... and then came the rain.... Oh, the fracking rain...

We were entertained however...you can't hold the student section back...several people were arrested. I asked Mark when it was happening, "would you be mad if I had done that and gotten arrested?" His response: "If we were in college? No. Now? Yeah... I have a clearance to worry about." Being a grown up with responsibilities sucks sometimes. You can look to others for a laugh when the tough gets going though:

Crazy folks.. I tell you. Alas, the volunteers did not stay rolling strong after the rain delay was over...It got bad... lets just leave it at that. Mark I managed to have a really good time, though. : )

Until next week, Vol fans. We play Florida. Here. I'm going. I may lose my mind with excitement.

Go Vols!

Happy Birthday Mark!

So.... on September 8, Mark turned 29! Happy belated, my love! We did manage to celebrate, even though he was working the prdi stand last week and he was exhausted that day when he got home. His parents, Bill and Beth and myself got him a new grill for his birthday. He was awake enough to go and pick it up on his actual birthday, but not awake enough to use it that night. We did, however, play several hands of Yahtzee. : )

The man chose surf and turf to christen the grill and it was delicious. We also did baked potatoes and grilled peppers with onions. Those baked potatoes were so good. I haven't had one since the first of the year, I think? Totally worth the carbs, my friends. So... lobster, steak, potatoes, peppers and onions? So fracking good. And he LOVES the grill.

Happy Birthday, baby!

UT vs UT Martin

So, Tennessee's season opener started off with a bang. And I'm not ashamed to say, we got a little freaky.

Ha. That said, we deep fried 3 Turkeys for the festivities. 'Cause that's how we roll. We had people over for a party, and sadly, I took no pictures. Except for this freaky one. Oh well. At least we are spirited. Also, we got to split season tickets this year with my sister. We'll be seeing Florida and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for that.....please....let's win, OK?

Fundraising

I've been on a bit of a hiatus. I  know, I know. Not without good cause, though! I swear! We hit the street in front of the shop to help raise a little money for those involved in the crash at the shop. Little did we know.... our efforts were greatly rewarded! I met some of the most amazing people, and I don't just mean the people who donated, though they were pretty awesome too. The women of Renew-U Salon, especially Mrs. Stacy Wilson, are forces to be reckoned with! I would never have imagined I would encounter such caring, open hearted individuals, and I was happily mistaken. These women were phenomenal. They put the entire thing together, orchestrated it, and even managed to get Domino's to deliver pizza for us to munch on while we were there and Rocky Top donated waters and Cokes! Amazing! Thank you so much to everyone participated, be that as a donor, a collector, or even the ladies at the bank who helped us out by staying over to count money. I love each and every one of you!

Front of the shop.

Road workers!

Fantastic group of volunteers.