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!