Blessings abound

I feel like that cup up there. Overflowing with delicious goodness. I often feel grateful and have to stop in wonder because I have so much good in my life and I often cannot understand or fathom why God has decided to bless me so abundantly. But especially now when everything is new and different, I am especially able to see the workings of an almighty and loving God in my life and I am finding it especially easy to count my blessings because they are coming so readily. It seems that every time I turn a corner God is opening my eyes more fully to what He can do. He keeps reminding me that He is in charge and the more I lose control of my own life, the more He is in charge and can make the world go'round. I think where I personally am it, God is showing me that I can trust Him 100% with my life and I don't need to have such a stronghold on those strings that I think are keeping my life together. In fact, when I have let loose those strings I actually find things running a lot smoother. It's not surprising, but it is scary initially because, for people like me that like to have control, it's crazy hard to lose control. But God is teaching me through my new Bible study, through this move, through DJ and through other things that it is great to lose control.

Imagine a coffee pot full of delicious coffee (blessings) and a cup (your life), I think of a chipped cup in my case. My cup has been dropped and nicked a few times but you can pick one out of the great Starbucks store in your head and make it all yours. Now imagine that you are holding the coffee pot and in control of pouring out the blessings inside. You decide to pour a little here and a little there but you're careful not to pour too much because this is all you've got. Once you've poured the last drop, it's gone. So you are very careful only to pour what you think you need, a little at a time and always careful not to spill a drop. Now imagine that you are given the opportunity to give this coffee pot away but you're hesitant because, well, it's very special to you. Sure, sure, your opportunity is to give it to the ultimate Barista of all time but still you hesitate. Because we have feeble human brains, we foolishly think that He may not do as good of a job at pouring our special coffee AND what if He doesn't give us how much we want or need? I mean, we've been doing the pouring for so long and we've figured out just how much can get us through the day so how could He know that? But you decide it's worth a shot (ha, ha, get it) so you give the pot over every once in a while and after awhile you notice, hey, He's not doing such a bad job. My cup is full! And you find out there's another perk (ha, ha, the puns are endless). Your burden is eased because you don't have to worry about your coffee fix all the time, and you realize it was actually kind of stressful making sure that you poured the pot ever so carefully and get this, you are actually getting more coffee now than you ever were before! You finally realize (it takes you awhile, you know, feeble brains and all) that when you were in control of the pot, you had a limited supply and you could only do so much with what you had. But now that the ultimate Barista has control, He's able to make more coffee and fill your cup to the point that it is literally overflowing everyday with more than you ever needed or imagined you could have. AND He adds caramel and chocolate and whip cream, things that you never knew existed or could be so good.

This is pretty much how I feel right now. Beyond blessed. In awe of the goodness of a mighty God that cares about little ol' me and my chipped cup. And I just had to share because it's overflowing.

Happy Anniversary to me...

I mean, happy anniversary to us.It was our second anniversary last month but since DJ and I were 1,400 miles apart, we thought it best to wait to celebrate. I'm noticing a recurring theme here... Last year I went kayaking on my anniversary. Without DJ. (Although I did actually get to have dinner with him that night which wasn't the plan originally because he was supposed to work.) This year, I wasn't even in the same state. Hopefully this is not a sign of future anniversaries but even if it is, I don't mind. Not really. I sort of signed up for this when I married my football-lovin, career-driven man and then married him during football season. So you could say I asked for it. And I'm glad I did.

DJ planned a whole surprise date for me on Sunday night. I was more excited than ever because one, we were in a brand new place so I didn't have any idea of where he would be taking me (normally I can venture a pretty accurate guess) so this would be a total surprise and two, because we were in a brand new place, it kind of felt like a vacation and anyone whose anyone knows that dinner out while on vacation is the best. I was full of anticipation.

I got all dressed up, hair properly corraled into an up-do, and face powdered and colored for an evening out. We started to the restaurant (which I knew at this point) and I started trying to guess which one. Because that's just how I am. Then I stopped guessing because the two places I knew about and thought he might be taking me to weren't it. We drove and drove and drove and ended up down by the river. I knew it had to be good because anything down by the river is both gorgeous and upscale. And I was right. We ended up at the Lakeside Tavern, a gorgeous riverside restaurant with a beautiful view. Also I should state that DJ planned it so we would be sitting down looking out on the river at sunset. 1,000 points for DJ. He also planned to have the champagne we had for our wedding there but that didn't actually work out because the liquor stores aren't open on Sundays. I will give him 550 points for that because it was a great idea and we'll do it another time.

Because it was a nice restaurant and it was getting dark and I have not gathered the nerve to take pictures in a dark, nice restaurant, these are the only pictures I have. Sorry. Maybe next time.

View from our booth. Due to the large table impeding your view of the river in this picture, you cannot see it. So you must imagine it.

I was shooting without a flash thus the fuzzy in the picture.

My very handsome romantic date.

Whose body decided to revolt and have a cold/allergy/asthma attack during our very romantic dinner.

And because of the mutiny, shaky hands resulted.

We stuffed ourselves. The food was good, not fantastic, but definitely averaged good. We started out with a spinach artichoke dip. Ok, this was not good. It was weird and not normal spinach artichoke dip and yet, I ate too much of it. But we didn't know that we would next be served the warmest, butteriest, most delicious bread in the world and could have just had that for an appetizer. So I ate that too. Next we had salad wedges. Now these, these were great. They had a white dressing that was maybe ranch but then it was covered in bacon, carmeled pecans, feta cheese, tomatoes and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Absolutely divine. I may never be able to enjoy a salad again if it doesn't involve all of these flavors. Our entrees were served almost immediately after the salads came to the table (the food was served almost too quickly. I barely had time to enjoy each course before the next one came. Next time I will plan for this and allow the food to wait to the side so I can enjoy each course more thoroughly. Especially that salad.) DJ ordered a steak and I ordered salmon. We both agreed that our food was a little too salty for our liking but it still tasted quite delectable. The sides were great. I had a spinach casserole and we both had white cheddar mashed potatoes. Mmmm. At this point, we were so full that even the thought of dessert was unappetizing so we decided we would be coming back to sit on the patio outside, eat dessert and drink some wine. It was a great evening.

Oh, and I almost forgot, Maia's present to me that morning after we got home from church was just so...her...

Thanks Maia. How thoughtful.

A little something for the mama

That would be, a little something for the mama, of DJ. I know she will appreciate this. Maybe the rest of you will too but face it, how many pictures of DJ do you really want to see? You'll probably see more too so that's your warning. (If you haven't noticed by now, you will always be well-warned. I don't like to surprise my readers too much. Just a little here and there.)

By the way this picture was taken by an actual professional. Not from my camera phone. Bet you couldn't even tell. 

Glorious

I was having a conversation with my mom the other day and happened to look up. I was immediately in awe of what I saw.

 

I was so taken away by the beauty that I had to interrupt my conversation with my mom, hang up and take a picture. The contrasts between blue and white and the light that was shining from the sun were beautiful plus just the sheer enormity of the cloud magnified it that much more. I so wish my camera would have captured all of this better for you but given the quality my camera phone typically provides, this is pretty good and gives you an idea of how beautiful it really was. So, in your head, just picture this, times ten.

The clouds have just been amazing lately. I no longer curse the rain because although, yes it does make me look like a little girl who hasn't figured out how to comb her hair, and yes, it restricts activities outside, it does so much good too. It provides moisture for all the fuzzy, viney, leafy plants and trees that decorate the landscape and right now, most importantly, it is held in these clouds before it is dripped (or poured) on our heads. Absolutely breath-taking. These things remind me of what a great God we have and how good He is to give us more than we can even imagine!

Psalm 68:4  Sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds — his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him.

Rain, rain, go away

So first of all, good news. Knoxville has had an abnormal amount of rain this year - 10 inches above average to be exact. Good news you ask? Well yes, because that means it doesn't typically rain this much so I can at least look forward to next year and the probability of less rain. But as for now, I would just like for it to go away. It's annoying me a little. It rains all the time. Yesterday the sun came out for a good part of the day and I found out what broccoli must feel like. At least my broccoli because I steam it. We all got steamed yesterday. Rain combined with heat produces steam, or some call it humidity. But this was more like steam.

You know what else you get when you have lots of rain? Mushrooms! I have seen more mushrooms in the past two weeks than in my entire life. There are big, bright, white ones like the ones you would see in cartoons. (Again, Dr. Seuss had to have been totally inspired by these mushrooms. I'm convinced.) There are little sprout-like 'shrooms that look like an ant's redwood forest. There are orange mushrooms that I think, I think, are where the Smurfs live. They have peaked tops. I will not be investigating this though as I do not wish to be labeled as the "weird eccentric neighbor". And then there are other mushrooms that probably get the cold shoulder from a lot of the other mean mushrooms cause they aren't too pretty. They look like they were supposed to be bright, white mushrooms but they were cursed and came up looking like a dirty distant cousin. Anyway, it seems like every time I take Maia on a walk, I see a new type of mushroom.

And one other observation I've made about Tennessee rain. It doesn't have a smell. You know how rain usually smells like something? Usually good (unless you live in Albuquerque where it smells rather trashy). But here, there is no smell. Another good reason for the rain to go away. What good is rain if it doesn't smell good! They even make perfumes that are "rain-scented" for heaven's sake. I think it has rained so much that it has washed its own smell away.

And now a video. This may either freak you out (as it did me a little) or make you laugh (which I also did). So enjoy...

 

Office Matters

Ok my faithful readers, both of you, I have decided to give you a day in the life of me. Since everyone knows what DJ's workplace looks like or at least part of it - on the game days (I'm still working on him to take a camera to the training room and start snapping pictures, don't get your hopes up on that one) - I thought you should know where I spend the majority of my life. You might want to run and fill up your coffee so that you have something to keep you awake. That's my warning. So don't blame me when you wake up and can't explain the sudden onset of drowsiness and then waste all sorts of money on doctors trying to determine the cause of your random weariness only to find that you are perfectly healthy - you just have a lame friend who shows pictures of gray walls taken on her low quality camera phone. Anyway, let's get started...

I've been "upgraded" from a cubicle in Albuquerque to a cubicle WITHIN an office in Knoxville. Yessssss.

As you walk a few steps and pivot, you see this…

A step toward my desk and now you’re almost ready to sit…

What’s that? My phone is ringing! I better get it…

“Oh, I billed the client 5 million dollars and I was only supposed to bill them 4 million dollars? That's bad.”

“Are you sure that was me???”

“Oh, look, a bug. Gotta go.”

Ook, time to turn on some tunes. (Sorry especially for these terrible pictures. A girl's doing her best with the resources she's got. And while I'm apologizing, sorry for the terrible formatting on this post. You would not believe the problems I've been having trying to post today!)

Pandora.com. Anyone heard of Pandora? It’s basically the best. You choose what artists you like and it creates a radio station with those artists and artists similar to them from some Music Genome Project or whatever. If you don’t like a song, give it a thumbs down and it will change to the next song. These are my radio stations.

Cross off a day on the ol’ calendar. I do this for sanity's sake. I like to see that days are going by cause sometimes I forget when I'm sitting in my office with no windows.

Ok, time to get to work.

This is my new computer. It’s giving me problems. When I first got it, I said “Computer, you and me can be best friends or we can be worst enemies. It’s your choice.” It chose worst enemies. Nuff said.

So here's a funny story. I walked into my office the other day and I noticed this.

Apparently the maids didn't know whether they should throw this box away. But how much more obvious could it get??

So I took my note and stuck it on top of their note as a way to say “Hello! You can take it away! Remove this box from the premises! Leave! Be gone!” It’s still sitting there.

So that's a day in the life of me. Anyone feel free to come join me. I know it looks fun and exciting. Oh, no? Not really? Well now maybe you can understand why I am the way that I am and why this blog is what it is and why I am starting to match my clothes with the colors of my office and... Please send emails (and cookies) to brighten my day. I work in a sad, sad place.

Things to do, places to go...

I made a list. Anyone who knows me, you this statement does not surprise. (I'm channeling Yoda apparently this morning.) Yes, I decided we needed a clear avenue of our sightseeing adventures while we are living in the beautiful (and lately, very rainy) southeast. My goal is to focus on the local, in-town activities during football season when DJ and I only have Sunday afternoon and evening free to spend together and then advance outside the Knoxville borders as more and more time is freed up, aka post-football season. There are sunspheres, marketplaces, downtown shops and restaurants to investigate and further out we've got an amusement park, mountains, festivals and rivers to enjoy. I, for one, am all jittery and twitterpated when I think about all the new nooks and crannies that are still to be discovered. I think DJ is too but I don't think he would describe it that way. For the record, the plan tomorrow is to go walk around this ginormous park with Maia and enjoy the weather. The weather better cooperate. Must. follow. the list. (Ok it's not really that strict...not really.)

I have four boxes sitting in my living room. Those four boxes contain decorations among other things. The decorations in particular though must start doing their job. They will be clocking in today and will be working overtime since they have been on a very extended vacation. No more mister nice guy, no siree. I expect their utmost cooperation so that I can present you all with some nice educational pictures of our new home.

Also if anyone had wondered, because I know I have, why I don't have more pictures on this blog it's because my camera is one of those other "things" in the aforementioned boxes. This week, I expect the picture content to greatly increase. In case anyone had wondered.

Peace out homies. (Now I guess I'm channeling a gansta. yo.)

New address and more

In case you start fancying the idea of coming to visit and need to put an address in your GPS, I would like to provide that to you if you want it. Just email me! It's available!

Some other reasons to use the address could be...

...warm, homemade cookies (I know it might be a challenge to figure out how to keep them warm, but I don't got dumb friends or kinfolk, so anyone reading this will know how to do that),

...gifts (I tend to lean toward fine upscale items so if you must send gifts, please keep this in mind - *snort* huh, what? I must have fallen asleep for a second there. I was just having the craziest dream...),

...pictures (I don't really know what kind of pictures you would want to send but I would never turn down a good picture) or

...money (I think this one speaks for itself. I like it, I want it and if you have extra, just send it).

So I think we can all agree that these are all common and logical reasons that may lead to you to ask for my address.

And now for some other things that are on my mind...

Some of you may be very aware of the challenges of moving to a foreign country, uh, I mean, new state. It's amazing how different the southwest is from the southeast. Sometimes it really feels like I'm in another country! Some of the challenges stem from things that we left behind in New Mexico that we really couldn't take with us.

I have to find a new vet, new bank, new doctors, new post office, new insurance companies, new hair stylist and it seems there's always something else that is no longer just a phone call away.

It's a little overwhelming because for the most part, I have to open the phone book, close my eyes, spin around 5 times and plop my finger down on the page and whatever it lands on is the lucky winner. So-and-so will now be my new (fill in the blank). I bet they don't even know how lucky they are. Out of all the people I could have chosen, I chose them. Maybe when I call them, I should tell them they need to go buy a lottery ticket.

Now we've been fortunate for a few of the newbies.

DJ's coworker recommended a vet, check!

I drive by an insurance company everyday on my way to work and it's the same company we used in NM so it caught my eye, check!

We have very limited options for banks so we went with the only national bank in town, check!

But as for everyone else, they'd better hope they either have a really big ad in the yellow pages with lots of information or a really nice website that's pretty, has soothing colors that are my favorite and soft music playing in the background. As you can see I put a lot of thought into each one my choices.

And now to leave you with a song that plays often around these parts... The chorus gets played by the school band at all the games and the whole stadium erupts into singing about every 5-10 minutes. (Or so it seems.) It was cool the first 10 times and then I began to wonder if that would get old by the end of the year.

OK so I just found this video that shows what the song sounds like in the stadium.

Evil Eye

We've all had 'em. Don't lie, you know you're guilty. We've all possessed the evil eye at least once in our lives. Some more than others. I will be honest since I'm trying to keep it real around here. I have definitely possessed the evil eye more than once, ok more than twice. OK so I'm a habitual keeper of the evil eye. I'm working on it people. But really would anyone care if it was as cute as this??

If only we could all be as cute as that when we're trying to shoot daggers with our eyes. And seriously, I'm working on it people!

I went to another football game on Saturday and I didn't just have the football game to keep me entertained...

We have Billy Bob from the backwoods who just bought himself a brand new camera...(I was a little jealous.)

We have his mother, "Fro"lein-Susy, who really was quite pleasant other than the fact that I was constantly on alert for bees.

And then we have this cutie, little miss Addison, who I had the pleasure to cheer on the Vols with.

She is the daughter of one of the trainers DJ works with. They call him JD in the training room. (His wife called him John so that's what I call him.) People say that they are mirror images of each other. Ha. I was just fascinated by this little girl - she kept me entertained for much of the game with that constant smile of hers and her adorable dimply elbows and legs. Precious, precious, precious.

And lastly, people, we aren't in Kansas anymore - we attract the big timers here. As I do not possess such a nice camera as Billy Bob, you can't make her out too well but Erin Andrews from ESPN was reporting on the game. She seemed very friendly. People kept yelling at her and she would turn and smile and wave her hand and get back to work. It's nice to see people who attract so much attention not turn into crazies.

So maybe you're wondering why I was so often distracted from the game? Well the Vols played like poo. There is really no other way to describe it, I'm sorry. The Vols played the UCLA Bruins and not only did the Bruins play very well, our Vols played terrible. SO you put those two together and you get a final score of Vols 13 and Bruins 19. I really hope they don't make that a habit because I am tired of losing teams!

What's it like you ask?

Most people that I talk to back home (whether it be NM or SD) want to know what it's like out here. It's very difficult to explain because I don't really know how to compare something that is so different from what they (and myself) are familiar with. So I've been putting together a list of the things Tennessee has that New Mexico (and South Dakota for that matter) doesn't. They say you shouldn't compare your children so I won't. But I am going to compare cities. (And keep in mind these are my first impressions still so all statements are subject to change without notice. There, disclaimer inserted. I can now begin.)

Two words that Knoxville weathermen use frequently - patchy fog. To me those two words are so funny. Just say them to yourself now. Patchy fog. hahaha Ok deep breath. So for the last couple of days, I have woken up to and driven to work in patchy fog. In NM, I drove to work on patched up streets. Not really the same at all. But really, I think I can count on one hand how many times I saw fog (patchy fog?) in Albuquerque. I'm still deciding whether this is a positive statement or not.

Yesterday I experienced my first torrential downpour in TN. My naivete caused me to believe that I could wait it out in the car so I wouldn't get drenched running inside to my house - just like I would have done in NM. However after several minutes I realized that it hadn't let it up and was still raining big giant raindrops. So I made the run for it. And ended up looking like I had just taken a shower. I literally felt like I could have stepped outside with my shampoo bottle and saved some on my water bill. But I didn't. Maybe next time. (For the record this would be similar to rainstorms in SD.)

Take a look out your window. What do you see? Do you see a sea (crazy English language, "See a sea" - whoever came up with the American English dialect should be sentenced to many years of hard labor for their practical jokes. Anyways....) of evergreen trees, leafy trees, viney masses, grassy knolls, prancing squirrels, and a general sense of rainforest? No? Well there's another difference. As Chace stated quite accurately, Dr. Seuss was most likely from Knoxville or at least the surrounding area because the way the flora intertwines itself in and around each other, it looks like whimsical cartoon characters just waiting to be sparked to life. Quite remarkable really that there is an actual place like this and to think someone (well, lots of someones) built a whole huge metropolitan city smack dab in the middle of it all.

Here's one of my favorite differences...Knoxville is:

• 11.5 hours from New York City
  
• 9 hours from the Atlantic Ocean
  
• 8.5 hours from the Gulf of Mexico
  
• 8 hours from Washington D.C.
  
• 2 hours N from the Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee intersection


• 1.5 hours S from the Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee intersection
  
• 1 hour W from the North Carolina border

All of these amazing places, that I've never been to by the way, with the exception of the bodies of water and D.C., are within driving distance! Quite excited about that. DJ and I will have very busy weekends in the winter. Please still come visit us then but just know that we will probably drag you along with us to these places because we can't waste a moment.

Now for one random similarity. There are little multi-colored lizards here. They have green bodies and neon blue tails. They keep to themselves mostly. I have only seen one. Once. So it might have been a hallucination but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. Even though I had just finished staring at a moving road for the three days prior to that. But yeah, I'm quite sure I saw it.

 

 

Someplace to be missed - Part 2

 

Photo by Ambidexy (flickr.com/photos/59068872@N00/2661414188)

I have had the opportunity now to move to two separate cities of which I had no previous knowledge of before moving there. First Albuquerque and now Knoxville. It’s interesting because I can still remember vivid details of my first ever experience in Albuquerque and I'm wondering what my first memory will be of Knoxville when I look back in a few years. 

My mom and I made a trip to the southwest to look at colleges.  I can remember when we first drove into Albuquerque – it was very dark and must have been pretty late. We hadn’t planned on where we were going to stay so we just started looking for hotels.  We made it to this street called Central Avenue. Hm, I thought, surely now that we've found the main drag, we can find a nice hotel? For those of you who know Albuquerque, you know that this is the last place you want to find a hotel. You can find your hookers, your local drug dealers, runaways looking for whatever runaways are looking for, the latest homeless man, and other sorts of hoodlums up to no good. It's not too bad during the day but at night, it was never really somewhere I planned on being. People die there.

Needless to say my first impression of Albuquerque was not really ideal. We definitely did not see any suitable lodging, let alone actual hotels, on Central that night, thank goodness.  Actually it might have made this story a little more interesting had we decided to rent a room at the Aztec Motel in all its rundown glory. But alas, we ended up finding a nice Red Roof Inn somewhere along the interestate which I would pass by often during the next 7 years. The location would always cause a flashback to that fateful night when I drove into ABQ not yet knowing that I would make that my home the next 7 years OF MY LIFE. It turned out to be a great 7 years, in spite of my apprehensions thanks mainly to some pretty stinkin' amazing friends. They are what kept me there. More on them soon! And if it's not already apparent why I chose that dingy, lurking, dark city, it was because of a certain dark and handsome (and not dingy at all) 18 year-old boy that had stolen my heart.

Also just for the record, the picture I chose to show above is really truly the Albuquerque that I will remember but aren't first impressions fun to recall?

Another Day, Another Dollar

Yesterday I walked into my new office and it was like I had arrived home. It was weird to think of my job in such a fond way. It was nice to have some sense of normal amidst all the change. Same company, same procedures, same emails from the same people, same clients. But some new things that made it a little exciting too. New coworkers, new computer, new office, new office culture, new building.

I know the picture is a bit fuzzy but it gets the job done. (Actually Chace took the picture, thanks for your tools bro.) It's a nice building though huh? I was pretty surprised actually to see such a nice building. I had imagined a space that one could barely call an office, little to no supplies, so quiet you could hear a cricket chirping and no other people for miles. Ok, well maybe not miles but I figured it would be pretty desolate. Like a cave or something. They told me it was a satellite office with 7 people that weren't even there most of the time. What was a girl to think? So, I was right about little to no supplies but in all actuality the whole set-up is more than ideal for what I need. And even better, I get to handle everything myself because there are no administrative personnel! Not that I don't appreciate the administrative staff but really, I can do all that stuff myself. I'm not so busy I can't handle mailing a package or ordering some supplies. I always felt weird asking people to do things for me that I could easily do myself.

All in all, the day was a great day and I think it's all working out just fine. I'm just so thankful to have a job that I would have worked out of my house if I had to so the office is a nice perk. The people are really nice too although I won't be working with them too much, let alone even see them since they will mostly be at the client. My office itself needs a little pick-me-up but I can handle that. Throw up a picture here and there and it will instantly be homier. Now if I could just figure out a way to build a Starbucks in the parking lot and we'll be good!

Boom Boom POW!

On Sunday night DJ and I went out to eat with Cody and his girlfriend and then to THE best fireworks show either of us have ever seen. In fact, it is stated to be one of the best fireworks shows in the nation and I can now wholeheartedly agree with that statement. It was 20 minutes long and took place on the Henley bridge across the Tennessee River (the one Chace and I walked across in the previous post to get the football game).

http://www.boomsday.org/multimedia/2008/?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=468&width=571

Click on the link and you can see last year's show (make sure you turn up the sound!) - it's an annual event called Boomsday.

I watched the link and it's pretty comparable to this year's show. There were some new things this year but a lot of the same oldies but goodies I'm sure.

If you don't want to watch the whole video on the link (and just want to see it in person with me), I provided a minutes/seconds tip below if you want to see the parts I highlighted. Some highlights of the show for me:

• The fireworks were choreographed to music and at one point everyone around the river were all singing "I'm Proud to be an American" while watching the red, white and blue fireworks - it would have been so cheesy but instead it was really quite touching. It made me a little sentimental.


• Ash started falling on us from the sky. There were sooo many fireworks going off at one time and we were so close to them that we physically felt the fireworks and that leads me to the next highlight.

• The finale was unlike any finale I have ever known. In fact the whole show was comparable to finales that I've seen at other fireworks shows so this could be called the finale of finales. The fireworks were filling the sky so quickly that the booms that followed them just seemed to reverberate against each other and be that much louder. I could fill the booms hit me in the chest over and over. Awe-inspiring to say the least. (18:45)
  


• "Free Falling" started playing and all of a sudden a literal waterfall of white fireworks started showering off the entire length of the bridge. (16:15)

Considering the fact that DJ and I made no effort to see any fireworks this past 4th of July, you could say that we are not particularly attached to fireworks shows but I will never miss another Boomsday if at all possible. It was so good.

I told DJ that if I don't have my camera by next Boomsday, it will be excuse enough for me to go buy it. I never want to be without a camera again - I was just itching to take pictures of those amazing lights in the sky.

V---O---L---S, V-O-L-S, VOLS, Go Vols Go!

What do you get when 99,000 people impassioned about football all looking like walking citrus fruits walk, drive and ride from miles around to converge into one spot?

Well I'll tell you.

You get the most high-energy, fast-action, heart-pumping activity you can imagine. It may sound like I'm exaggerating but I'm not. It really was that amazing.

Chace and I went to the football game on Saturday -- Tennessee played Western Kentucky -- and it was awesome. There were so many people and they were all wearing orange, I mean, I've never seen so much orange and they all loved football. They really REALLY love football here. Our first hint was this....

Everywhere we looked people were either going to the game itself or obviously had plans to watch the game on tv. I felt a little out of place because I had yet to buy anything orange. Chace bought a wrist band at the gas station but that was the extent of our orange. Once we got to the area of the city where we had planned to park we discovered we were going to have to pay around $20-$30 to park. Obviously we're too cheap to spend that kind of money so we walked from a far far away parking spot that we paid nothin' for. Nice huh? Along our walk we got to see the Volunteer Navy. This was one side of the bridge...

And this is the other side of the bridge...

These people take their boats and tailgate right there on the water. How fun! I need to find myself a boat owner. Here's the stadium from afar...

As we continued our walk, we ran into some traditional tailgaters. You know, the non-rich kind that just have their orange grill, orange tent, orange chairs, orange bean bag game, orange food probably too but I didn't get that close to check.

This is what the other side of the stadium looked like. This is the side where they did the Vol Walk which is a tradition in which the team walks from a little ways away to the stadium and everyone follows a long with them. It's one big giant mob scene, only people are pumped up not angry.

Orange for as far as you can see. After we finally made it to the stadium, waited in line for our (free!) tickets, figured out where our seats were (because they were not "normal" seats according to the event staff - they were in the special section, ha ha), we were ready to cheer on the Vols! Here was the view from our seats...

We were four rows up!

And now lets play a little game. Can you find DJ?

And in this one?

OK that one was easier. But how cool is that, that out of allllll those people, we were able to sit close enough where we could see him and at one point, he even saw me!

And then we saw Peyton Manning!

He was there because he's given like a few million dollars or something to the team and so they dedicated the locker room to him. See?

Peyton looked just like he does on t.v. It was cool. And you can also see the Vols new coach above - Lane Kiffin. You may find it interesting that he just named his new son, Knox. I bet it's after Knoxville.

Ok now for the best part so far...

The band makes a giant "T" and then the whole team runs through it. That's another tradition. Very amazing. I had goose bumps and couldn't even hear myself cheer because it was sooo loud in that stadium.

Here's another shot from our seats once the game had started.

And me and Chacie...

As you can see we acquired some orange. It. was. so. hot. The game started at 12:20 in the afternoon and there was not a cloud in the sky so at half time, in desperation, we bought some hats. I also went in search of more sunscreen and finally found some at first aid. I was desperate.

So anyone who actually reads this blog is welcome to come with me to a game. I will always be looking for someone to go with because it was so awesome and I wouldn't want to miss another one if possible. Oh and the Vols won -- 63 -7. Go Vols!

Tennessee has welcomed me with open arms

I finally made it to my new home and I am happy to say that Knoxville,

unlike Albuquerque,

has yelled my name, ran to me with a big smile, given me a giant bear hug, and yelled "Welcome home!"

That's how I feel anyway.

My soul seemed to take a big sigh of relief when I drove into town. The city seems to be a combination of all the things I love.

Green plants. Everywhere. I think I stated at one point that it looked like the jolly green giant threw up all over everything. It amazes me that a city as large as Knoxville could be so covered in such lusciousness.

I also love big cities, which this is. I read somewhere that Knoxville was around 100,000 people but it seems larger so I'll have to get that figured out. All I know is there is much to be discovered and many adventures to be had.

I love heat. And that's something else that is perfect (at least so far). The warmth is just perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, juuuust right. I could be Goldilocks. Actually, literally, I could be Goldilocks. The humidity has done wonders for my wavy/curly hair. An instant volumizer.

So, as I do feel that I am still in the honeymoon period of this move, I will tentatively say that I really like (and am on the verge of falling head over heals in love with) Knoxville.

Now I must say that I am still in denial. So with all of this wonderfulness that is Knoxville and the adventures to be had, I feel like I am in the New Mexico mountains for a little vacay and will be headed home back to Albuquerque soon. I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that I. have. moved.

Permanently.

Until further notice.

No going back.

No siree. I guess it will start sinking in sooner or later but for now, I am just enjoying the denial so I can continue unpacking and not get all weepy or anything inconvenient like that. Hopefully that will never happen but I think it is inevitable.

I will start missing my friends. And I will wish that I knew where the heck I was going (even though I'm very happy to say, I am the new owner of Samantha, my GPS. She's great.) But I will start missing normalcy. (I know that's not a word but I'm making it one and have been for the last 10 years or so.) I will miss just feeling like I belong. But I hope the fact that having a consistent job and having DJ will help all that. I'll keep you posted.

Also I will soon have pictures! Get ready for lots and lots of pictures!