Testing 1-2

This is going to be a bit of a multi-faceted post...but all about things I've been testing out lately!

A few weeks ago, G got me a Keurig for my birthday (thanks G!) and I have been trying out new flavors of the K Cups.  In the spirit of the fall season, I picked up some Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice while in Morristown.

I was planning on trying it with the Pumpkin Spice Coffeemate but alas, I was too excited and was a little premature getting to the grocery and had to settle for caramel.  It's great though!  If I can hunt down the Pumpkin Spice CM I think we'll have a great match.  I get really weird about pumpkin spiced things....I don't care for them when they are too "spice-y." This is just right Goldielocks!

Moving forward with my testers, I had pinned a pin a while back about making your own fabric softener sheets.  I was a tad skeptical but I decided to give it a whirl.  So far I like it!  You take a jug of liquid fabric softener, dump it in a container, add old washrags/dishrags/cut up old t-shirt and then when you're ready to dry your clothes.  Take a "sheet," wring it out and toss it in with your laundry.  Reusable and therefore cheaper than those blasted sheets that always seem to wind up throughout my apartment.  Check out my "pinspiration" for this project here

The last of my test subjects was something my friend/sorority sister/former roomie suggested.  Few people can really appreciate a good owl find like a Chi Omega since our mascot is the owl.  However, there are such things as "cute owls" and "creepy owls."  Creepy owls tend to be porcelain  and perched in an attack/stalking position.  Nonetheless, a Chi-O is not a Chi-O unless she's got some creepy owls hanging around in her room or closet.  But I digress, Katy had suggested spray painting the little creepers all one color.  Here are my before & after shots!  

Before

After

Sound off in the comments on your thoughts on Mr. Owl here.  Do you like his transformation or should I have let him be?

Playing Catch Up

Hello there, remember me?  I am SO sorry!  I have had a crazy, crazy month but I am back, and ready to blog!

Where should I start?  Let's just go with last week!  Last week, I was basically a world traveler...okay more like a Southeastern traveler.  I enjoyed a fabulous week off from work with my family and G!  We loaded up the car and headed down to the Redneck Riviera of Panama City Beach, Florida.  I'm tell you all a little secret....go on a beach vacation after Labor Day.  Rooms are cheaper, you don't have overcrowding on the beach, it isn't 12,000 degrees outside and my favorite part....little to no wait at restaurants!  Of course there's the pesky hurricane season but life is all about taking risks every now and then right?

I had a new experience on vacation...celebrating my birthday at the beach!  That's right folks, I turned the big 2-5 last Tuesday.  September 11 is a tough birthday to have but my cousin posted a sweet message on my Facebook saying that "at least one good thing happened on this day in history!"  So that's nice to give people something to smile about...I'm one year older :)  My family treated me to a nice seafood supper and a visit to the outdoor mall where I found many pretty things!

Enjoying some birthday oysters at Shuck'ems

After several relaxing days, G and I loaded up my car and headed from the Florida panhandle to East Tennessee to visit his parents.  They live about 3-4 hours away and he doesn't get to see them as often as he would like.  I know he was happy to give his mama a big hug!

After much preparation and anticipation, we jumped in the car and drove to Knoxville to enjoy a little football time in Tennessee.  I'm going to preface this by stating that I really, really, really dislike the Florida Gators.  I always have, always will.  Couple that with riding high on the past two Tennessee wins and I was ready to rock and roll all over some Swampies.  Rather than discuss the disgust and disappointment I am still feeling today...two days after the game has ended, I will discuss the following:

1.  My gameday blazer/G's gameday britches
We just happened upon this perfect UT blazer while in Florida.  We did have to undress a total of two manikans and track down many salesladies to get it but it's all mine!  G's pants were a different story, we made a pit stop to Alumni Hall in Knoxville because he was determined to find some checkerboard pants.

Check us out!

2.  How excited I was to spend time with my long lost sorority sisters!
With a sold out ball game on our hands so many people made the journey to Rocky Top, or already lived there!  I was thrilled to see my sisters who live in Knoxville as well as precious Megan who is living in Denver these days.  Thanks so much to Rebekah and Jacob for keeping us up for the night (and for the donuts!) and to Cara and the entire Holden family for the tailgate fun!

3.  That I am thankful for Will Moore and currently owe him a favor of some form or fashion.
Our original tickets fell through and we quickly had to rustle up some others.  This was in the midst of the announcement that College Gameday would be broadcasting, live from Knoxville....and of course it was the Florida game...so tickets on Craigslist or any other site jumped to $150 for top level seats.  No thanks.  Enter Will.  You might remember Will from my Tale of the Stoneware Jug.  If not, see here. Will is my college pal, former neighbor and devoted Volunteer fan who just happened to catch wind that those scallywags from Florida returned a good bit of their ticket allotment which resulted in our ticket purchase.  Thanks my friend.

4. Bid Day
Today I was lucky enough to help with Chi Omega's Bid Day celebration at Austin Peay.  It has been seven years since I ran to my sisters in the APSU quad wagging my big purse behind me, and it has been four years since I welcomed the pledge class of 2008 with big hugs and smiles.  I am thankful for the opportunity to give back as an alumnae officer and loved seeing the joy on the faces of Baby Hooties learning chants for their very first rally.  As a side note, Pledge Class 2012 may possibly be the most coordinated pledge class I've seen in a while.  It was especially sweet to see my Little Sister's biological little sister enjoying her very first Bid Day as a Chi Omega.  Here's a picture of the Fabulous Family tree...missing a few branches who were there in spirit!

A Weekend in Clarksville, Tennessee

Hey there friends!  This weekend was fun but exhausting...I'm getting too old for these shenanigans!  I'll just blame it on my sunburn.  This weekend involved seeing lots of old friends and trying new establishments in Clarksville, Tennessee.  For the Weekend Roundup I'll also be reviewing one of Clarksville's summer pastimes as well as a new watering hole/dance hall. 

Friday night I had Mexican with my former roommate/sorority sister/one of my favorite people in the world.  We then went to try out the newest place in town, Electric Cowboy.  If you haven't visited many Clarksville establishments the thing you must understand is that they have a "window" of fun.  Some places have a larger window than others (RIP The Deli) but it seems like places eventually are overcome by the "sketch factor."  By "sketch factor" I mean the prevelance of suspicious and/or creepy patrons, severely "over served" patrons and just general filth.  For example, the last time I went to a place called the Pea Patch was the time they metal detected everyone who walked in.  No thank you.

According to its website, the Electric Cowboy is a "Country and Dance Nightclub" meaning one minute you're doing the Cotton Eyed Joe and the next they are playing Nelly.  Between Friday and Saturday nights I am pretty positive I saw everyone I have ever known, including a friend from college who is really going to be doing/already doing big things in New York.  So proud of him.  But back to the Cowboy's review!  Things I liked about the Electric Cowboy:

• Line dancing.  I LOVE line dancing and was hard up to find a place to go.  There was Silverado's which had a very high sketch factor, and the Wildhorse Saloon which is super touristy, expensive and entirely too large for my liking.  I also appreciated that the EC didn't stop the line dancing and country songs after 11 p.m. like Silverado's used to do.
• Size.  The place is large and in charge.  There are three bar stations in the building so the whole place isn't in line together at one station.  However, that being said it seems to take a hot minute to get a drink...even just a water.  We'll chalk that up to them getting into their groove.
• Bathrooms.  Big thanks to the designer of this building's restrooms as there are more than 1-2 stalls.  On the flip side they may need an instructional class on "How to Properly Throw Away Your Paper Towels" for all who enter or an employee who checks the trash can regularly. 
• Cleanliness.  Despite the paper towel overflow situation, the place is pretty clean and hopefully it will stay that way.  I hate sticking to the floor or slipping in an unknown substance when I go somewhere.  Seriosuly....I once saw a picture on Facebook of someone's flip flop that had stuck to the nasty floor of another establishment.  First of all, ew.  Second of all, who just walks out of their shoe and doesn't retrieve it?  Thankfully no was left behind.  They wouldn't even let you hold any liquids on their nice dance floor.  Good looking out, EC.
• Age of patrons.  The people inside ranged anywhere from late thirties to the college crowd.  Thus preventing the thoughts of "I am way to old to be here" or "I should really start a designated driving service for these people."

The con list is as follows:

• Smoking allowed indoors.  I hate leaving a place feeling/sounding/smelling like I've just smoked ten cigarettes when I have never smoked a day in my life.  Come on folks, take it outside.
• Enforcement of dress code.  Let me start this by saying that I am in support of dress codes.  However I do think they should be enforced equally.  One of G's friends was wearing a white t-shirt and was not allowed in.  Once he changed he came inside to find that there were at least two others in white t-shirts, one of which said his brother wearing a very similar shirt was not allowed in.  Weird.

Saturday evening I headed out to Beachaven Vineyards & Winery for our 2nd Annual Chi-O Alumnae visit to Jazz on the Lawn.  I have touched on the subject of Jazz on the Lawn in a previous post (read here) but here is the real low-down on Jazz.

Jazz is held every other month at Beachaven Winery, right off of I-24.  Throughout the week the winery offers free tastings to those 21 and up and also free tours of the facility but every other weekend from May-October they have a band set up on stage and invite folks to come enjoy music (not always "real jazz" but different varieties) and some of their Tennessee made wines. 

I'm no wine-o (nor do I even know if that is truly how to spell "wine-o"), but I do know that they have some pretty tasty wines at Beachaven.  Some have even won awards!  The kicker is that most varieties of wine only cost $9-$15!  I personally like Harmony, Budbreak Blush, Heavenly Peach, Blackberry (mix the Blackberry with the Peach for a delicious "Bleach" mixture), and everyone's favorite...Golden Rose.

Harmony via Beachaven website

An important tip for Jazz, it is typically hotter than Hades at this time of year so ladies, your best bet is a cool, breezy sundress...which I had to forgo due to my sunburned shoulders.  The girls and their husbands/boyfriends all had a great time together! 

I will leave you with a few photos from our post-Jazz visit to Electric Cowboy.  Our cars were in different locations and instead of taking a cab back to our vehicles...we somehow ended up in a limo?  This would be the doing of G's friend.  Might I add that said limo was circa 1990 (but was clean as a whistle!) and was having air issues.  The driver rolled down the window so we could have some air.  I kindly asked if he could roll it back up as I was getting rained on.  Enjoy!

Pardon the red eyes & red skin