Archive for October, 2008

Roll Tide Weekend

October 21, 2008 at 7:31 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged ,

This past Saturday, the boy and I drove down for the Bama/Ole Miss game in Tuscaloosa, which turned out to be a close and exciting game as expected. Of course it was even more exciting that Bama won. Since that was my first time to a game there, I would hate to have been coined as the bad-luck charm that cursed their undefeated season thus far.

Before the game, we walked around the campus that was filled with people tailgating and enjoying the gorgeous weather. We grabbed some tasty BBQ nachos because you can’t go to Alabama and not have BBQ.

Now this is nothing new to me, but what is up with football games in the South being the biggest social events of the year? When were comfy sneakers replaced with wobbly stilettos and solid pants replaced with khakis with embroidered elephants? I am glad to say that I refused to dress like I was going to a prom, and that Andy doesn’t own a pair of goofy, over-priced Bama pants.

Us at the end of the game

And now for a little bit of history

The door

Leave a Comment

Got socialism? Obama does!

October 16, 2008 at 9:38 am · Filed under in the news, rants, videos ·Tagged ,

One definition of socialism is “the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism.” Another is “the stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.”

Oh, that sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

“Spread the wealth” … raise taxes for small-business owners who keep growing their businesses and become more and more successful … are these people “lucky” as Obama said? No! They work hard…so why tax their success?

I propose that we instead invest money toward effective programs that educate people and empower them to properly manage the resources they have and money they earn – no matter how much money they make or in what social class they find themselves. (Financial Peace University, anyone?) Let’s think long-term instead of short-term.

Give a man and fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. – Chinese proverb

(Kinda interesting that the quote is attributed to the Chinese culture, known for communism.)

Here’s an interesting video of a question a regular, everyday guy – Joe the plumber – asked Obama about the small businesses and taxes:


Link to watch video

Comments (1)

A Fall Weekend in Chattanooga

October 14, 2008 at 2:28 pm · Filed under friends, life, travel ·Tagged

I spent this past weekend in the beautiful city of Chattanooga. My friends Mary Anne and Joel have lived there for 3 years, so it’s always fun to hang out with them and have a free place to stay when I want to take a little road trip down the interstate. This weekend was even more fun because Andy, the boyfriend, was in attendance as well. :)

Thankfully the weather was p-e-r-f-e-c-t the whole weekend, so we spent a lot of time in the great outdoors. The only thing I wasn’t too excited about was that the leaves haven’t really switched to their brilliant fall colors yet! After sleeping in on Saturday morning, we headed to the North Shore area to eat at Aretha Frankenstein’s, a popular place that’s always filled with hippies (and delish food). After we stuffed ourselves, we walked across the TN River on the world’s longest pedestrian bridge that connects the North Shore and downtown areas of the town.

MA & Mar

Mar & Andy

We also went to historic Point Park and Craven’s House on Lookout Mountain, the town’s nature center (which was actually not totally lame-o), and the Chattanooga Choo Choo. We decided to skip the tourist traps of Rock City and Ruby Falls because, let’s face it people, we’ve all seen rocks and don’t want to pay money to see a waterfall with a red light shining from behind it.

An old cannon overlooking the city. Point Park.

Of course there was some football watching and and grilling out thrown in the weekend’s festivities, too — what would a fall weekend be without those?

I’m looking forward to the next couple of October weekends that will be full of fun just like this last one!

Comments (4)

Fall Retreat ‘08

October 10, 2008 at 3:59 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Last weekend I went fall retreatin’ with my young adults group at church. We headed back to good ol’ Camp Linden for a weekend of fun, learning, and relaxation. We had great weather the whole time! One of my favorite things about this camp that I’ve been to 4 years in a row is the lodge’s huge backporch filled with rocking chairs. I spent a lot of time out there on Saturday.

Our speaker throughout the weekend sessions was a professor from Union University. He spoke about the realities of spiritual warfare. You can download his 4 talks here. I highly recommend checking them out!

This is me and some friends chowin’ down at breakfast on Saturday morning. It was my favorite meal of the weekend. Why? Because of the amazingly greasy bacon, of course! :)

This weekend I’m on the go once again. I’m headed to Chattanooga to spend time with friends I haven’t seen in a while. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Comments (1)

Tuesday’s Cooking Fest

October 8, 2008 at 12:55 pm · Filed under food ·Tagged ,

Last night one of my roommates and I had a cooking fest in our cute kitchen. She made cheddar sausage balls and I made this:

(One day I will get a very snazzy camera to make these pictures look much better, but for now, my little digital camera’s images get the point across!)

The teriyaki chicken was based off of this recipe. I improvised a little, and thankfully the food was still edible. Remember my bit of improvising with the lemonade pie that didn’t turn out so well? Yeah…

I also fried some tomatoes. Scrumptious. Made me want to watch the movie Fried Green Tomatoes (even though the tomatoes I fried were red).

I threw some of the chicken leftovers and lots of other good things (fresh corn, raisins, cheese, mushrooms, cucumbers, carrots, sesame seeds, Asian dressing) together today to create this pretty and tasty salad:

Happy cooking!

Comments (2)

Tuesday’s Thoughts

October 7, 2008 at 3:01 pm · Filed under food, life

This weekend I went away on the yearly Fall Retreat with my young adults group at church. Camp Linden in Linden, TN was the destination once again which has become a place I enjoy returning to every year. We had perfect weather, which made it enjoyable to sit in the rocking chairs on the huge back porch on Saturday afternoon. This year’s theme centered around spiritual warfare, and our speaker was amazing.

Remember how I mentioned my not-so-great experience with attempting to give blood last week? Well, over the weekend the area on my arm totally bruised up, so I’m still showing off my “battle wound” and getting some sympathy points. ;) Thankfully it’s healing and not too sore.

I am convinced the Cubs have PSC (post-season choke) disorder. After losing 3 straight to the Dodgers in the first round of post-season play, the only thing left to say is “there’s always next year.” Thankfully my new office fish pet, Wrigley, didn’t choke; he’s still alive and kickin’… eh, swimmin’.

Tonight the second presidental debate is being held at Belmont here in Nashville. I thought it would be fun to take some of the afternoon off to be a part of the festivities and hoopla, but I’m glad I decided against it because it has been raining for a good part of the day.

I went grocery shopping during lunch and was reminded once again how much I love Publix. I also love the new Lean Cuisine meal they sell – Butternut Squash Ravioli. Totally yum. Those meals are great for times when I haven’t prepared a sandwich or something cheap for lunch.

Stay tuned for some pictures and recipes of (hopefully) yummy food that will make your mouth water. I’m cooking some this week and going to eat at some great places in Chattanooga this weekend. Yay for delicious food.

Comments (1)

The Beginning of My Favorite Month

October 3, 2008 at 8:32 am · Filed under life, random

Yesterday was quite noteworthy in my world…

I attempted to give blood for the first time. I figured experiencing a little bit of pain was nothing compared to people in the hospital who need more blood to live.

Well, I was A-OK until she poked my arm to draw the blood. It hurt. A lot. A couple of minutes later, no blood came out. She took it out and everyone around me said later that my face and lips went white. (That’s the short part of the story. I won’t go into details.) Looking back, we’re all pretty sure it hurt so much then and for the rest of the day because the nurse hit a blood vessel wall. I have a big red spot on my arm supposedly from a punctured vessel. Don’t anyone punch my arm for awhile or I will have to punch your face. :)

Yeah, great first experience giving attempting to give blood, huh? Maybe I will try again in the future.

I got to talk to my best friend from high school. We connect about twice a year these days, so I was very happy to catch her on the phone at such a random time.

During the VP debate, Sarah Palin said people should get out of debt and live within their means. Maybe she and Dave Ramsey are friends. High-five, Sarah!

The Cubs. What’s the deal? Why must you continue to break our hearts? (I decided to name my new fish at the office Wrigley and I’m wearing my Cubs shirt today, all in hopes of a rally.)

October is already looking like a full month of activities for me. Tonight I am heading off on a retreat with the group I’m involved with at my church. Fall retreats are a tradition that I love, so I always try to attend. I hope to relax a lot, catch up with friends, take some cool pictures, and enjoy this beautiful weather. Later this month I’m also going to visit one of my good friends in Chattanooga, attend the Bama/Ole Miss game in a couple of weeks, review a friend’s book, and get in the Halloween spirit with haunted tours, corn mazes, and costume parties.

Hooray for Fall!

Comments (3)