Is this thing on?!?

Things have been quiet on the ol' blog lately. I've officially been MIA for over a year. It happens and I'm not gonna act like it doesn't. I'm not sure that anyone is out there left to read this but why don't recap the last year, shall we? (Things last spring are a little sparse - that was a long time ago!)

Spring 2014 

Old Friends!

We met up with Aaron, Andrew and his wife Amanda in Knoxville. These 3 guys spent their childhood years together in Athens so it was fun to see how life has changed since then!

Narco

After being referred to a sleep doctor, I had to go through a sleep study. Diagnosis?  Severe Narcolepsy. Yep. I know you are thinking - "Oh my gosh are you going to fall asleep like right now?" No! What you didn't know is that I have had it for years and been functioning just fine. 1 in 2,000 people have it. There is nothing you can do to cure it and I will always have it. What am I doing about it? Making the best of it! I no longer feel bad about falling asleep watching TV or a movie. I currently use it in the "Tell an interesting Fact about Yourself" icebreaker games and bask in the fact that I can fall asleep in 2 1/2 minutes no matter the time of day!

Community Service
I was appointed to serve on the Girl Scouts Board of Southern Appalachians and went to my first meeting.  I concluded my 3 year term on the UTAA Women's Council and concluded my 5 year term on the UTC GOLD Council. Tyler graduated from the Protege program with the Chamber of Commerce. He is also serving a term on the UTAA Board of Governors and the Partnership for Families, Children & Adults.

Summer 2014

"Kneeding" a Break
I slipped in some water before an event at work and fell pretty hard on my left knee. I slapped a band-aid on it and finished the event. I realized the next day I still couldn't really move it. Long story short - I ended up in a full leg immobilizing brace and crutches. Verdict: Cracked Femur. We were leaving for our British Isles Cruise in 1 week. Panic set in. Luckily after getting a second opinion - nothing was broken! The previous doctor can't read x-rays! Brace came off and slowly start to heal. Nasty scar to show for it!

British Isles Cruise
I slipped this in the last story but it was definitely the highlight of 2014. BRITISH ISLES CRUISE!!! We spent 2 weeks exploring the British Isles. We started in England and ventured to France, Ireland, North Ireland, and Scotland. We traveled 12,500 miles and took 1,000 pictures.

We walked over the London Bridge, trekked to Stonehenge in the pouring rain, ate lunch in the Eiffel Tower, drove through the tunnel where Princess Diana died, fought to see a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, looked for the Loch Ness monster, visited The Cavern where the Beatles played, toured a castle from Downton Abby and St. Patrick's Cathedral, and kissed the Blarney Stone.The list goes on and on.

I ate sheep bladder without realizing it, tried Irish coffee but wasn't impressed, and ate mushy peas with fish and chips. We had a wonderful time but were glad to be back in the good ol' US of A!

4th Anniversary
We celebrated our 4th anniversary! What a wonderful 4 years it has been!

Clingman's Dome 
For years we have wanted to visit Clingman's Dome, the highest point in Tennessee. We took a hiking trip with the Shells on July 4th weekend. We also took another hiking trail to Laurel Falls. Let's just say that if you go hiking in Cade's Cove on a pretty weekend, expect a crowd!

Alvin York Home
We traveled to meet Sarah and Craig to tour Alvin York's Home. It was a fun trip and very hot! Tyler and I got stuck in the World's Longest Yard Sale which made the trip a little longer than we had anticipated!

Nanny
July and August were hard. We lost our sweet Nanny in August. She fought hard until the end. She was such a special lady and meant so much to us. It still seems unreal she is gone. She loved me like I was her own grandchild and loved Tyler more than words can describe. I am lucky that I was able to know her and have no shortage of Nanny stories!

Fall 2014

Sunday School Class
We were asked to start a Sunday School class at our church for Young Professionals. We were so blessed to have such a large class it has already split! We have thoroughly enjoyed getting serve in this way. Obviously, I am more of the social aspect and Tyler teaches but it makes for a great combination! Tyler has a gift for teaching and I have loved getting to learn from him!

Garth!
As a surprise, I bought Tyler tickets to see Garth Brooks in Atlanta. We drove down for the concert that didn't even start until 10:00 PM, watched the concert and drove home the next morning in time to be at church! It was the latest we had stayed out probably ever. He can say he enjoyed every minute!

UTC vs. UTK
We traveled to watch the Mocs take on the Vols. Even though we were all expecting a loss, it was still fun to see. We even got to sit in the President's skybox. It was fun to visit the same place as our first date!

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
As many of you were a part of, the Ice Bucket challenge was everywhere for a solid month on social media. Needless to say, we were not spared from the challenge. (That's me in the middle!)

TEDxUTChattanooga
I helped plan the first ever TED event in Chattanooga. It was a lot of work but resulted in a wonderful highlight for the campus. Plans for the 2016 event are already underway!

2015

Mt. Airy - Mayberry
As crazy as it sounds, back in June 2014, I made reservations for January 2015 to stay in the house that Andy Griffith grew up in. I decided this would be the perfect birthday present for Tyler! We had a great weekend. We toured the Andy Griffith museum, visited Wally's service station, rode in the squad cars and visited the jail, visited Floyd the barber, ate a fried pork chop sandwich, and hiked Mount Pilot. The house was even furnished with retro furniture and all! I'm not sure that I will ever top this birthday present!

New Job!
In January I started a new job at UTC. 3 years, 3 Chancellors, and 158 events later it was time to move on to other things! I am now in the Development Office at the Associate Director of Stewardship & Advancement Services and absolutely loving it! I love learning new things and I continue to expand my knowledge. This is the perfect job for any people person so I am in heaven!

97 Years Young
My grandmother, Ruby Young, turned 97! She moved retirement homes of the summer so this was a new place to have the annual party. Jon & Malia weren't able to attend since they had just had their first child. We tried to help Grandmother Skype with them but she didn't quiet get the technology!

Engaged Teacher of the Year!
My sister, Sarah got engaged and was named Teacher of Year all in the same day! Tyler and I traveled to Nashville to surprise her once she said yes! The whole family (his & hers) waited in the lobby of Frist Museum where he proposed. The wedding has been set for June 20th! Wedding plans have been in full swing ever since with a bridal shower soon!

Valentine's Surprise
Tyler surprised me with a trip to Atlanta for Valentine's day. We toured CNN, the Margaret Mitchell house, the Swan house and finished the day with dinner at Capital Grille. Chattanooga is conveniently close to Atlanta and it was great for a quick day date!

Community Service & Leadership
Tyler spent a week at the UT Leadership Institute. I have never been so lonely! I take for granted how great it is to live together! He was glad to be back home and I was glad to have him back! (To keep myself occupied I took a calligraphy class!) He also was selected to be one of the newest members of Rotaract which is the Young Professionals Rotary group in town. Tyler is the current President of the UT Alumni Chattanooga Network and yours truly is the President Elect. I also was recently named secretary of the Girl Scouts board.

Harry T. Burn Grave Dedication
It wouldn't be in true Tyler fashion to update you if it didn't involve a grave yard! Tyler was asked to speak at the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) Grave Dedication for Harry T. Burn. He is related to the famous 19th Amendment vote politician and was honored to be included in the ceremony.


I guess you see why I had little time left for blogging. Until next time... whenever that is!

Birchbox Review

My sister gave me a trial subscription to Birchbox for Christmas. I'll admit, I had been eyeing it for some time but never felt like it was something that I would pay for. I know you are surprised!

I can honestly say  -  I am in love. I have tried stuff I never thought I would try and loved it.I am not your typically girly girl that gets into this stuff either. 

December's box 

That stuff in the the red bottle is awesome leave-in conditioner. I loved it so much I even purchased a full size bottle! Another HUGE surprise. The perfume smells very good. Not sure I would buy it though.  And, who can be disappointed in chocolate. Lip Gloss is pretty good yet nothing I would buy. And, who doesn't love glitter fingernail polish?

January's Box

I love love love that Monarch hand lotion. It smells wonderful and does amazing things for dry hands in the winter. I even bought a real size of it too! SHOCKING! I also have used the heck out of that pink fingernail polish. It helps that it is my favorite color. I haven't tried the hair stuff because I feel like it would be for the summer once you have been swimming. And, the face wash, I haven't ventured into yet because I love my regular stuff I use now but one day soon! And, the Under Armour headband - can't go wrong!

  

Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting to get my next one. I am starting to see the beginnings of a beautiful friendship!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

While there has been lots of things happening in our lives since I last updated, this probably isn't the best thing to be updating you on first but here it goes.

December 7, we took a trip with friends to the Biltmore. Everything was great. We were on our way back and only a few minutes from home and  a rock came out of no where and hit the windshield. The next day when I came out from work, it was cracked and spidering down the whole thing. So, we had to get the windshield replaced.

January 2, Tyler needed a few copies so we ran to the FedEx store. We stood at the copier next to the window. We were in there all of 10 minutes. I come outside to find that someone had hit my car and kindly drove away with not even so much as a note.

Also, please note that no one was parked around me. This was also a HUGE aisle for people to travel. I really don't see how this was possible. We had to call the police to get a report. We also found out that Tennessee state law says that if you are part of a hit and run, no matter your insurance, you have to pay $200. To replace my tail light alone was $200.

January 7, We had been at dinner at the Wheeler's new house. We came home and notice a funny noise coming from inside our house. It didn't take long to realize that it was our smoke alarms - all 4 of them were going off - at one time. Immediate panic set in - our house was on fire. Obviously, in our clear thinking, we ran inside. (Hind sight - this probably was a dumb idea if there really had been a fire.) No smoke in sight. Tyler ran to the back of the house and I ran to the front. That's when it hit me - literally - water in my face and then I slipped in the huge puddle of water. A busted pipe thanks to the polar vortex that we were currently experiencing. Tyler ran outside to turn the water off at the street. I ran upstairs to try to find where the water was coming from.

In case you were wondering, we chose not to finish the upstairs of our house. It has the potential for a full bath and another bedroom/bonus room up there. Seeing as how we didn't need that much space, we left it as is. We knew that it was plumbed for the bathroom but there wasn't supposed to be water up there.  Our builder, who shall remain nameless, put in a tub but no faucet and didn't even insulate the pipes. (Please excuse how dirty the tub it - like I said - we don't really even go up there, nor did I know there was water!)

See - no faucet. 

When I got up there water was shooting out of the non-faucet both the front and the back. What was coming out the back was going straight through the sub-floors. Luckily, what was going out the front was collecting in the bathtub. Conveniently, whoever put in the tub, also put the stopper in the drain. Genius move obviously. When I got up there, the tub was half an inch from overflowing over the side. Read: potentially a bigger mess. Through very cold cold water I reached in and unstopped the tub. My next move was to save the hardwood floors.

The water was draining out of the light fixture and the smoke alarm. The water in the smoke alarm shorted it and they are all connected which made all them go off. Keep in mind - they yell "FIRE FIRE BEEP BEEP" over and over and over times 4. I grabbed two big bowls and start collecting the water while trying to mop up water that was everywhere!

We cut off electricity to the front of the house yet the smoke alarms wouldn't stop. They have been going off for an hour now. At this point, we are out of ideas and we call the fire department non-emergency number. Being such a new neighborhood, we aren't in the GPS systems yet. They can't find us. They are coming down the street shining a spot light on every house. I finally wave them down and they come in. One of them remarked to me "I'm not sure why we are here, I was trying to read a book, the alarm didn't even go off."

Ironically, one of the firemen worked with dry wall as a side job. He climbed up on the ladder and says to me in a thick southern accent "Ma'am, I'm gonna have to rip this out of the wall. You're going to have to replace this anyways because of the water damage." To which I replied "Umm, ok" (What do you really say to that?!?! No???)

Once it was out, all the beep stopped except one little beep. All three firemen, Tyler and I were walking around the house trying to find the last of the beeping. One of the fireman stopped and held up the alarm he ripped out still in his hand and said "Backup battery!" (Insert face palm)

The firemen made sure that nothing was going to catch fire with all the water outlets. They told us we needed to find somewhere else to stay for the night. I then offered the firemen some of the brownies I had made earlier. They ate a few and was on their way.

The good news to the story - it was the builder's fault therefore, he repaired completely!

Needless to say, we have had an eventful few months. Let's hope that this is it for 2014. I am not sure that I could take any more!

Gavin DeGraw Concert

I fell in love with Gavin DeGraw back in the original days of One Tree Hill. 

(I was also probably the biggest fan and Chad Michael Murray was still on there.)

Gavin sang the theme song and I was in love.

I finally got to see him in concert!

It was a great show!

Monogram Problems

You know you love monogramming when you look at your luggage for the weekend and they all have at least one of your initials on them.

Top 10 Reasons I Could Be Monica Geller....

Recently it has become very clear that I could possibly be Monica Geller... Let's see why, shall we? (In no particular order)

1. She is very organized.

2. She likes to cook.

3. She is a clean freak.

4. She is a planner.

5. She loves to be the hostess.

6. She is super competitive.

7. She labels everything.

8. She has always wanted kids.

9. She is obsessive compulsive.

10. She is the mother hen of the group.

Need I say more?

The Story of Tom Kitten

When I was a little girl, my dad would read us Beatrix Potter books before bed. We had almost the complete set. One of my favorites was the story about Tom Kitten.

One night Tyler was bringing in the trash cans from the street when he looked down to find a cat laying on his feet purring. Tyler called me outside to see the cat. I immediately fell in love and named him Tom Kitten. I am usually not a cat person with the exception of a few that I have encountered but I really loved this cat. After checking with the neighbors, no one knew who he belonged to. While we were looking for the owners Tom Kitten disappeared.

A couples weeks passed and there appeared Tom Kitten in our yard again. He was skinnier than the last time we saw him. After begging Tyler if I could feed him, I went in to get some milk but when I came back out, he was gone again. The next thing I knew, I was in my (new) car looking for this cat. (I am still not sure what possessed me to do this.) After about 15 minutes, I found Tom Kitten on someone else's front porch. I realized he didn't need rescuing after all. But we still enjoy an occasional visit from him!

The New Ride

I am sorry to say that it was time for my little Civic to move on to bigger and better things. Don't get me wrong.. there was plenty of memories made in that car but it just wasn't cutting it any more.

As much as Tyler and I travel, we needed a reliable more spacious car (4 doors!) After much debate we decided on the Super White Camry. It even has DVD players in the headrests! (although we usually don't have anyone in the back seat!)

Imagine my surprise when I found that one my the doors didn't open from the inside and my phone charger didn't work either. It is a good thing for warranties! I took the car back in within one week of owning it. (They claim it was just a fluke they were messed up, which I believe them.)

Then the repair guys decided they would have to keep my car overnight because it was hard to get to what they needed to fix. So they gave me this ride:

Can you imagine me driving this? I called it a box. Complete with rims, a racing stripe, and a spoiler. I also may or may not have listened to rap while I was driving it because of course it had an amazing sound system.

So glad to have my Camry back! And, if you ever take a ride with us, make sure to bring your favorite DVD!

I'm a City Girl...

Let's get one thing straight. I am a city girl through and through. The craziest wildlife I ever had in my yard growing up was a chicken that escaped from an interesting neighbor's house and the occasional bunny.

Imagine my surprise when I am heading off to work as I am driving I swerve to avoid a stick in the road only to find that stick started moving and it wasn't so much a stick.. but a SNAKE!

Excuse me? What is a snake doing anywhere close to my house?!?!?!

Like any normal person would do, I turned around and went back to make sure I wasn't crazy. Staying the safety of my car I was able to snap this picture in a neighbors driveway with my phone.

No, that isn't a crack in the drive way (on the left) but the snake I almost ran over. (And a crazy number of trashcans for two people.)

I called Tyler immediate in a panic about almost running over a snake. His reply: "ok" My reply: "Are you kidding me?!? All you can say is ok??!"

Needless to say, Athens has a few more snakes than Nashville does.

A Dog's Gotta Sleep

As we have been working in Top It Off we tend to see lots of interesting things. We couldn't have picked a better corner!

This weekend, I will have to say this was my favorite:

Apparently this dog was a little sleepy on the job!

Quasquicentennial

This weekend Tyler and I traveled to Nashville to celebrate my mom's birthday, then we traveled to Athens for the 125th Anniversary of the First Baptist Church of Niota. Tyler had the special privilege of giving the history of the church. He is a 6th generation member of the church. He did a wonderful job and I was honored to be there to experience the celebration.

Here is a picture of Tyler giving his part of the ceremony.


Rev. Mike Farmer concluded the service and we all headed over to the fellowship hall for a great lunch. It was a great day and a complete success!
Here's to another 125+ years!

(In case you were wondering what the title means.. Cousin Harry shared with us that it is official name for 125th!)

-EMF

Happy Fall Y'all!

Fall has officially begun. Now, if it would only feel like it. The current tempature of 92 doesn't really say fall to me.

On another note, my mums bloomed!

BEAUTIFUL!
-EMF

My trip to the doctor....

Due to my new job, I recently got my own insurance! It had been a while since I had been to the doctor because it is not something that I tend to do willingly. But, I thought that I would go ahead and just go for a check up. As some of you might know, I am TERRIFIED of needles. I don't mean this lightly either. Seriously terrified. I have never had blood drawn for as long as I can remember. I figured it was about time. My wonderful fiance came back to Chattanooga to attend this doctor's appointment with me. (He is too good to me!)

We get there just in time and had a short wait. Everything was fine, then the doctor said she was going to get the nurse to come take some blood samples. I was kind and gave her a fore warning that I was not good at this type of thing. They bring me a cup of coke thinking that I was the kind that passes out. Amateurs...... so I drank the coke like they said. Then the nurse come in and brings me bubble wrap to "distract me"... that didn't work either. So like usual I started hyperventilating and scared the nurse and she called in the doctor. Then they tried to wait for another day, Tyler wouldn't let them. After antagonizing in pain on the table it was finally over. The nurse asked Tyler to had me some tissues. He did and then he sat down and said he wasn't feeling well.

Just as the nurse was wrapping up my arm, Tyler passes out! In runs the doctor, and 3 other nurses (all ladies mind you) to Tyler's side. After a couple minutes Tyler finally comes to. We have to stay extra time in the room while Tyler recovers. This was the moment the nurses told us we are never going to make it through having children, between my fear of needles and Tyler passing out, we would never make it through the delivery room! Of course with Tyler's charm, he had all the ladies laughing by the end of it. And so were we! Tyler's take on the situation: "The ladies always flock to me." -ECM(F)