Exploring Chattanooga

Happy belated birthday Rebekah!

In celebration of another year in my dear friends life, we (My sister, Rebekah, Jennifer and David ) road tripped it to Chattanooga TN to explore their downtown. Despite spending most of our time waiting for a seat in a restaurant, we had a great time!

The following is a mixture of iPhone and my "real" camera pics.

I'm still not in love with it. But it was practice, and made me realize some things.

Like I need to practice more? :) 

*Phew

Hello Blog,
Are you feeling a little neglected? Good because that means I may actually have something of interest going on in my life. Mostly its just because I'm trying to limit my computer time, to about 4-8 hours a day. 


But lets play a little catch-up shall we? 
Friday - I love Bank-that-shall-not-be-named,  they send me these lovely "Available Balance" alerts every once in a while, to let me know how much is (or isn't) in my account at the moment. So when I get this email, I click it with dread, knowing that I am about to see a very low number. Imagine my surprise when I see a couple hundred EXTRA in my account. Apparently Financial Aid had some more money to send me and did so. Have I mentioned how much I love those guys?  No? Well...I don't really but it seemed like a good thing to say right here. 


Earlier this week, I'd  been in contact with another person interested in adopting Zipper, who just happened to fit the "No Dogs" bill we were looking for. While I know Zip is a great little dog, she is not great for my family, and I was immensilly relieved to be given the "go ahead" to get Zip to her. So we made plans for her to meet me on Tuesday to complete the deal. Woohoo!


But let me tell you this. I will NEVER EVER bring an stray dog into my house unless, I have a huge fenced in yard, and a separate area for the dog to reside. Since that fateful day in June, my household has revolved around Zipper, and keeping her away from my dogs. I think Zipper really is a cat, who just happened to land in a dogs body. That being said, I am a lot more open to the idea of fostering that I've been in the past, but alas, I have a four dog limit and already have enough to do with the Pompsters. *sigh*


Saturday - A day that will forever haunt me. Let me begin by saying I have an 18yo sister and a 15yo sister, who'd ASKED ME if I wanted to go White Water Rafting with them, and some of our NC and AL friends. I'd been waffling back and forth, because i wanted to go hang out but I didn't want too raft. Well they assured me it would be fine if I just went and hung out. 
Ok great. 
Then I realized that would mean I'd be riding with my 18yo sister, on a two hour trip. *gulp*  
No offense to any 18yo's but hey I was that age once, with my brand new licenses and I can say that I DID. NOT. REALLY. KNOW how to drive. But I realized she hadn't killed anyone just yet, so I could suck it up, and convince her to let me drive. and ride along. Little did I know how close i would come to death on this trip. I also didn't realize how hard it is for me to let my YOUNGER siblings be IN CHARGE.


They decided they needed to leave at 7:00AM in order to make it to the Nantahala River by the 9:00AM meeting time, our friends had set. Which meant that I had to wake up at 6:00AM to get the dogs and I ready. Pompei was going with me, but everyone else had to stay behind. I should have known when at 7:15AM the arrive at my house, that this was going to be an interesting trip. Both sisters come busting in and head straight for my computer. 


Me: Do you have directions?
Sister 2: No let me look it up on your computer real quick
I go back to making sure I'm prepared, before coming to glance at the directions before we leave. Since I know Sister 1 will not before we get on the road. There were three options to get to the Rafting Facilities, two of which project 2 hours and 30 minute travel time, and the other was only two hours. My dear-dear-dear sister see's the shortest time, and begins looking for a way to print those directions. I on the other hand look at the roads and realize this is going to be a trip on a two lane road. 


Um...No. 


Me: This is just a two lane road, Sister 1, we won't make any time if we get behind someone slow. 
Sister 1: But we need to get there fast, we are already late, and I don't want them to be waiting for us. 
Me: But you can go faster on the highway, we can make more time there. 
Sister 1: NO we need to get there, lets go this way. 
Me: Fine. Whatever. Just email the directions, I can read them on my phone. 


Once in the car, I immediately pull up my GPS app on my phone, and begin trying to see if it will send us on an alternate route. No luck. 


Fine. Whatever. Suck it up Erin. So I sit back and try to enjoy the ride.  


The first stretch of travel is fine, we're in familiar areas...yada yada yada, though I do have some major issues with the distance (or lack thereof) she liked to follow people at, I try to make my criticism very positive and logical. 


"OMG SISTER 1, if you hit that person YOU WILL BE IN TROUBLE" or "SLOW DOWN we will get there when we get there!" or "...Um..those are brake lights, SISTER 1 SLOW DOWN" 


See? Very informative and positive. 


Then we get onto the two lane road, this has your typical Smokey Mountain curves, and sister 2 and I spent a lot of time, remind her how to try and slow down before the curve. Though why Sister 2 thinks she knows anything about it is beyond me. 

Yes honey you have been driving ...for the last couple of weeks.

Then we start realize that there are an awful lot of curves on this road, and whoa that is a steep drop off over there. I did notice there were a lot of Motorcycle activity but I was too busy trying to convince my sister to SLOW DOWN, and to QUIT ACCELERATING, since the curves were on top of each other, to pay attention to the warning signs. 


It wasn't until we got to the end of those extremely harrowing 11 miles that we all realized...we'd been on....THE TAIL OF THE DRAGON. 

*DUN, DUN, DUN*

{Image Credit}

To say I was freaked out, would not even come close to what i was feeling. Sister 1 and Sister 2, were very blase about the whole, thing because they are very inexperienced drivers, and had NO CLUE the different dangers we avoided due to God's mercy. Like This: 

{Killboy.com}

Tailofthedragon.com

Tailofthedragon.com

CLICK HERE to see a video of the road. If you are get car sick or motion sick easily, you may not want to watch. You don't have much room to any type of mistakes on this road. Its like a roller coaster minus all of the safety gear. I am willing to admit that perhaps roller coasters are safer than cars. But we made it, though I was literally shaking when I got out and kissed the ground. *No not really


They had a blast riding down the river, and Pompei and I had fun watching them float or ride past. :))
Group 1: Warren, Maegan, Kim, Jeffrey, Devin, Audrey and Patrick. 

Group 2 - Cassie, Mryna, Robyn, Westley, Walter, Grace, Kristen and Bro. W.C

This group was fun, as every-time they passed me, they were either floating sideways or backwards. 

Group 1 passes me first

Pompei playing in the water, as we wait for our other group to pass.

Hi Guys! Bye Guys!

Group 2 surfing the waves

Aaah PADDLE! PADDLE! 

It started pouring a few minutes after everyone had pulled their rafts out of the water, and climbed onto the bus. Pompei and I had parked quite some distance from the end point, and had to make a made dash back to the car. SECONDS before the rain came crashing down. On the way back to the facility, I made up my mind to either not giver my sister her keys or to make them take another route, even if it was longer. 


It took a while, but I finally convinced her to go the long route. And the ride home was much more relaxing. 


So that was my weekend, Sunday was spent at church and getting my house all set for this coming week.


But WOW, this weekend will be one that lives on in my imagination forever. *shudders*

Dear Diary: In which I talk about my roommate

Wait...did I say I had a roommate?

On occasion we actually happen to here at the same time.

So two months down and so far so good. Defiantly going to miss the girl when she runs off and gets married; not anytime soon, but you know God's sense of humor...

Its a little weird how much alike we are, but it makes life easy because i don't have to worry about things....read: drama. I'm not your typical girl in a way, I don't get offended easily, I'm a ridiculously logical about my emotions sometimes..read: I sometimes drive my self crazy trying to figure out why I'm feeling irrational without displaying towards other people.  I refuse to get into the "he said, she said", refuse to gossip, and i really don't care what people think of the perseception I want them to get of me. And I'm really trying not to be a feminist in a STRONG sense of the word..but psht after my sociology class this semester...

But I digress.

C is pretty much the same way.

Its easier too since we both have space to get away from each other, {hey PMS is not pretty around here} I don't know that I could have had a room mate in my other place. Having four dogs + me was about to drive me over the edge.

We've had a lot of fun discussions, I laugh thinking of how opinionated we both are..its funny we'll discuss all angles without backing off our position and then realize we both are on the same sides.

Though when she leaves I don't plan on acquiring another roommate for a while..unless I'm married too him.  Eight people has been plenty IMO.

Speaking of people I've lived with...my sister has FINALLY bought herself a car. HAlleLujAh. I love my sister but so happy to have my time back!

...I'm sure my parents are too.

Congrats Robyn!!

Dear Lord. Please let it and her in it last at least 1 year. Thank you.

I think I like Monday's

Give me a couple weeks and I might be able to tell you why.

The Weekend
My weekend starts on Fridays at 10:35AM.
An awesome feeling.
Pompei and I decided to check out a local dog park,and he had a blast...for the 10 minutes we were there. I had some shopping to do, and can't afford to bring a wet dirty puppy into stores. (We are not allowed to leave them in our vehicles)

We then went to Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby so I could get some more of those metal dresses; and then headed to Mckay's Bookstore for the next hour or so.
Poor Pomp was completely exhausted after all this.

Or so I hoped.

Later on I met my friends at our favorite hangout/study and we stayed there for a while.

Saturday, my sister disappeared with the car for 4 hours.
I'm starting to understand how a parent feels, I was biting some serious nailage waiting for the car  her to arrive home in one piece. (She's only been driving solo for about a month or so, and does not have a cell phone).
When the scuffed and hub-cap-less vehicle turned into my driveway, I knew my suspicions had been correct. Now I love my sister but...how shall I say this... observation of things about her, isn't a strong suit of hers. In other words...she doesn't know where she's going for the most part. 
When I talked to her, Friday we'd discussed where she was going to go, and how long she'd be gone. (Hey when you're the oldest of six, you tend to take on some "mothering" qualities, plus I really need that car to stay intact for at least the next few months.)

Well, being 18 she decided to make her own plans, and visit a library that neither she, nor I had visited. (She's also obsessed with the library) Well...she really wasn't paying attention to her directions, and left the house headed the wrong way.
And somehow managed to drive about an hour away from her course; thankfully some kind soul gave her directions back..which she did, but not before running the car off the road.

Thankfully no...permanent.... damage to the car was sustained.
And Robyn was fine too.

Did I mention I'm adopting all my kids when they are 20?

I'm thankful there wasn't a steep drop off or telephone pole in the way.

Sunday - Did my second ever photo shoot with a family from our church. A Nerve racking experiment for me, but one of my biggest critiques viewed them, and said they liked them... so gives me hope the family will like them as well. There's a reason why I want to be  pet photographer...they dont' have opinions. haha.
Then I took the dogs to a park, we all sweated our heads off, came home took a nap before getting ready for the evening service at church.

So yes, very uneventful but pleasant. My favorite kind! :)

umm....????

So I don't really have a title, or a reason for this post...
Note: I blame the caffeine on the randomness of this post. hee hee.
First I want to thank my new blogging friend Sam for the Sunshine Award.

The complicated rules for accepting this award are:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post 

- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers 

- Link to the nominees within your post - Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog 

- Share the love & link to the person from whom you received this award

And because I was really bored working hard at work, I decided to show you the a reason why I couldn't pick just 12 peeps to give this award too.
This is one Google account...

Second Google Reader Account.

I mean seriously......how in the world are you going to pick 12 out of 445   446 blogs?
An impossible task i tell you. I love them all. I think.
Some probably haven't updated in years.
So if I follow you or you follow me, feel free to take the award. From me.
Plus I never follow the "rules" for these things :)
Seriously who is going to get on and say "Sorry you didn't follow the rules, you have to give me back that award!?"


Topic 2 - 101~N~1001

One more thing crossed off my 101 N 1001..!
Try To Cook a Steak
Picked up a one of those "Meals in A Minute" deals that Food City, and already seasoned top sirloin or something. I added a few of mine own spices as well, and I think i came out pretty good.
It was a little...rare..due to my impatience.
And hopefully I won't get sick tonight (Beef doesn't agree with me at all. Normally eat Poultry)
*crosses fingers*

Topic 3- Random Photos 
More playing with Photoshop...etc..

 New Driver Alert. Scariest.Trip.EVER!!!

This was so just a "I'm-avoiding-doing-my-homework-post."
Oh look! Time for Bed!

TaTa!

End of Spring Break

I don't like traveling. But this week, I SOO wish I could have gotten away from it all, and actually had a BREAK! It doesn't help that my friend R is going to Florida next week. :-{ Not that I have money to go on vacation right now...or in the next six months for that matter..


My sister almost purchased her first car yesterday. I say almost because as they were test driving it the engine quit. yeah. Needless to say they came home car less...but we're just glad it happened then, and not after we got it home.

I have to admit to being a litttttlllee bit glad that she didn't get it, so that I will perhaps have the chance to get a car. I mean cause how lame is it for your YOUNGER sister to have a car before you do?

Ok I DID have a car, buttttt I kind of ran it into someone's hitch, and my parents said it wasn't worth fixing. Then they sold it to our neighbors who have been happily putting around in it.

Granted it probably wouldn't have survived all the traveling I do around here but...that is Not.the.point.

I am really hoping too get my FA money in next week, so I can start some serious vehicle inquiries..cause I'm really tired of driving my dads car.

Right now I'm looking at the Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute,Pontiac Vibe or the Pontiac Torrent. I am a "big car' sort of girl, but trying to get something within my budget. Plus my friends would LOVE to be able to ride with me, without having....dog hair on them, or the actually dogs on them.

image credit

image credit

 image credit

What can I say. Love me? Love my dogs.

Anyone own any of these vehicles Pros? Cons?

I wanna know!

March 5 - RAAK'd

First off Welcome New Followers!! :)) Here's the "real" March 5th Post.

I had a RAAK (Random Act of Attempted Kindness)#fail today. Since people around here, think dogs are great lawn ornaments, (Do Not.GEt ME STARTED) We have quite a few canine visitors from time to time.

Today's visitor was a well kept chocolate lab named Rex. I'd seen Rex earlier this week, when some people decided to park in our parking lot for the day. (We really needs some "Towed away Zone signs round here...) He was bouncing around the area, so I assumed he was theirs, and tried to calm the dachshunds, who were of course, Freakin out about the encroacher on their territory. They left, he left. Solidifying my thoughts.

Today as I was preparing to leave for my SHOE meetup there he was again. This time, without his "owners" we noticed a tag on him with an address and number...

I couldn't NOT call.

I would want someone to do the same if they found my dog, so after some debate I called to let them know, I would put him on my porch with some water, as I had to leave.

"Yeah..ook....we're in ------- so we'd have to come get him...."

Well GEE don't sound so excited/thankful!

So Pompei and I load up to head to Panera Bread, when Rex decides that he is NOT about to stay here by himself, with those screaming animals on the other side of the door, and promptly jumps the gate.


At this point, we'd already been waiting for the owners about 30 minutes, and I really needed to leave, so I did.

My daarrrlling, brother calls me up a few minutes later to, tell me that I SHOULD have called the owner to tell him, we didn't have his dog anymore...etc..etc..

But at this point, I really didn't feel like telling them, since they were oh-so-concerned, but didn't want them checking out my house while I was gone, so made a curtosy call.

Still they seemed very unfazed about the whole thing, so that was that. I'm just hoping I don't see this poor dogs body on the side of the road somewhere. HE was such a sweet guy.
Makes me miss Victoria.


Pompei and I went on to Panera, for my study session, with my sister and our friend. (We try to get together on a weekly basis, sometimes to study, sometimes just to hang out.) I'm already in full fledged spring break mode, so there weren't no. studying got done today.. But there was lots, and lots of laughter. Mainly cause we forgot my sisters ritalin. JUST.KIDDING.

But there is nothing like the relief of the weekends arrival, mixed with caffeine, to really bring on the giggles.

I love my friends.

{The rare quiet moment during the "Study Session" }

{Pompei under the table at Panera}

Christmas Weekend 2009

*Christmas Eve*

{My brother and Victoria waiting for dinner}

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning dawned bright and early....Fortunately I was still dreaming of sugar plums, or something and completely missed it. I had been looking forward to this day because it meant I could sleep past 8:00AM; something I hadn't been able to do for at least a month....and when Erin does not get her beauty sleep...well lets just say its not pretty. lol

{Victoria is not a morning dog either}

I made it point not to rush this morning,as I knew my family wouldn't be up and ready for our exchanging of gifts for a while, so I leisurely made myself breakfast and a smoothie, read a book with Texas cuddled in my lap,than dressed and took the dogs on a..mor.. no ok make that a early afternoon stroll. 


By this time, it was time to head to our friends house for dinner, so I put the dogs up and headed out with a car full of squabbling siblings. (Don't know where they came from!)


Several other families had pitched in and joined us, so we had a nice spread. While the "grown ups" sat in the kitchen we "kids" (ranging from 7-25) sat in the living room, and play games and listened to a dramatized version of the Christmas Carol...

We stayed for a couple of hours before headed home to open presents. This year my parents got "everyone" (minus me) a BIG gift (think popular gaming device) so, the it didn't take  as long as usual. (8 people, 8 gifts each.....we are so not going to do gift exchanges when we are all married. Good Lord.) As we were preparing to play my mom's new game (can you tell we like games?)Another friend called and invited us over their house for snacks, and games etc.. so off we went again. 

This morning came way too soon, and I pried myself out of bed, and forced myself and Victoria into the car. We drove out to the kennels, and helped cleaning up there, before heading back home, to meet my friends for my sister's birthday trip. She is officially an adult now. (WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN!?!) So we took her too Gatlinburg (DollyWood..Dolly Parton..) for some fun. It was JAMMED with people. The city is specifically a tourist town, and has a lot of attractions and shops, so we wandered around there for a while, rode the tram and ate dinner. Making it home just before 12AM. 

Today my friends and I got together after church for our personal gift exchange, this year we decided to pick names and get gifts for one person, instead of everyone. There is nothing like a group of tired girls late at night, hyped on caffeine...need I say anything more?


I am SOooooo happy I don't have to work Monday.