so real life is busy...

life lately... 

we went to Mentone, AL to hang out with the McMunn family and Jared and Chrissie. We made these yummy eats called, Hobo's... Kerri mentioned we would be making these, so I googled around to try and figure out what they were... I mean, you would think with a BSN degree I would realize the pointlessness of googling hobos to learn anything about a dish that you cook...

Hobos (the kind you cook in a fire, not the people)

1. Start with a hamburger patty on a decent sized piece of tinfoil.

2. Gather any kind of seasoning or sauce you can imagine

3. Add potatoes (which have been soaking in water), carrots, onions, green bell pepper, and maybe a few small slices of fresh jalapenos. (not pictured, cabbage...)

4. Add more sauce

5. Label in a creative way, preferably with a drawing depicting a quirky character trait... 

6. Throw them in the coal bed and cover with more coals. Cook for 30-45 minutes. 

7. Have someone who brave get them out of the coals with either thick gloves or a shovel and enjoy!!

Jared demonstrated the appropriate attire for the upcoming Ugly Sweater Christmas Party! Reason #6038 that Mentone is awesome! 

We gave Chuck a haircut... He was reticent because he didn't want to violate the unspoken rules of No Shave November, but he gave in and we got out the clippers. Of course with this sort of thing, you can't just shave from front to back or in a grid type pattern, you have to make the person being shaved look like a dog with mange or a scary mental patient... Chuck, that eyebrow? crazy...

Next up! Athens, GA for the UGA vs. Auburn game... Such a fun weekend, staying with Jessica Foster's family, getting to see Camp friends and enjoying the Athens nightlife. First up, this is Whitney... 

Whitney linked arms with AC as we were heading back to Jessica's car. She had, you could say, enjoyed her night to the fullest extent. She was looking for her car, "a G-runner with a 4 on the front" (sober translation= a 4-runner with a G on the front, a UGA vanity plate). 

We tried to help her...

AC: who were you with?

Whitney: ivnoidea

AC: where did you start your night?

Whitney: ivnoidea

AC: can we call anyone for you?

Whitney: myfavoritefoodhereisJimmyJohns...

So to make a hilarious story a little longer, she walked with us to Jessica's car, trash talking the engineering department the whole way. By the time we got to the car she was convinced that we were all engineers. Jessica was a Chemical engineer, I was a Civil engineer (love ya dad!), and AC was a biomedical engineer (hats off to AC for legitimately being a biomedical engineer!!). We drove Whitney to her apartment, Jessica knew where it was because she had lived there one summer. The whole time in the car Whitney kept talking about how she was so happy she was going to cry in her pants and that when we got back to her apartment she was going to give us free waffles. I am driving picturing this poor girl stumbling up the steps to her apartment and falling back down carrying frozen eggo waffles... But Whitney promised they weren't frozen, "see, my godfather, when he plays the lottery and he loses, he gets free waffles..." So now we are the proud owners of 6 free Waffle house waffles! Jessica we will mail yours to you asap... Check out Jessica's account of our UGA trip...

We got to see the impressive GA stadium! Maybe next time lets go in it!

When I leave work in the mornings sometimes I try and find something beautiful or pretty that I only get to see because I am awake and present in that place. Sometimes it is the sunrise over the walking bridge and the river, sometimes it is the fog, the other day it was the sun shining on these beautiful fall leaves!

This is our "break-room" it is really so tiny... but there is a computer in it and our lockers. I was sitting back here and doing some charting so that I could enjoy a cherry coke zero.

This is another beautiful sight reserved for night shift workers leaving the hospital... God's little gift before I go to sleep!

Kara Hardin, a dear friend from Samford was so sweet to share her family's tickets to the UT vs. Vandy game! We got to see Annie B!!

And had a much better time at the game than this poor girl! 

The roommates being sweet while being intense rivals... They were both such good sports! 

We were pretty non-commital in our clothing choices... Lets hear it for UTUSCUGAVU... It's a new school I invented so that we can all cheer for the same team!

I passed this on the way out of the stadium... now someone please explain how you can sneak a full-sized bottle of whiskey into the stadium! They must be stuffing these things inside down jackets or babydolls...

Another treat leaving work... I guess I could of grouped these all together, but now you get to see them spread out like I come across them, tucked into the corners of my days...

How about three cheers for the fact that you can't orient on a holiday! This meant that I had just less than 48 hours off for Thanksgiving! Started off the celebration with a bang at Mafiozas!

Love this family! geez I miss them...

Hey Poppy! yeshums i mished you toooooooo... 

Found this little nugget on the kitchen counter! From my parents 25th anniversary trip to Disney World and Gatorland!

Mom got a mushroom growing kit... while I personally don't love to ingest the fungi I have to admit that they are so fun to watch! They tripled in size maybe over the limited time that I was there!

Delicious moist turkey...

We missed Kathleen a lot... the Fab Four is not as fab with only three...

I had to leave the family to come back to work... which was super grownup-ish and not fun. But I am grateful for the job, I really am. When I was coming back from work I passed The Longhorn Restaurant. 

On a whim I turned around and went in and had breakfast... I think that this was the first time I have ever eaten in any type of restaurant by myself without the protection of at least 50 lbs of nursing textbooks... and I can't say that I liked it. I enjoyed watching one of the ladies cook. The way she was cracking the eggs, etc it looked like she had been working that cook top for a while. And most of the people who came in knew the two cooks by name and vice versa. It was yummy and better than coming up with something at the apartment alone with no roommate to cook for... But AC, why don't you go ahead and come back up north to Chattanooga?

working on a longer post... in the meantime...

I just went to Lowe's to get a Christmas tree... 

I didn't leave with a tree. When you take into account the size of my car and the size of a Christmas tree, and multiply it by my lack of my dad's engineering know-how, raise that to the power of me being by myself, not having a rope, and the Christmas tree department being understaffed, this is what you get...

tiny car+5' Christmas tree x lack of engineering knowledge^being alone x no way to attach tree to car x lack of staffing= 

I left with a bird bath and this video...

Most of the store was laughing, maybe at the dancing toys, maybe at me... I didn't hang around to find out...

protestors, corn mazes, and Octoberfest...

These peeps have been posted up on Market Street downtown for quite a while... And if I had the guts (and an accessible parking place near them) I would ask them some questions...

1. What did the history museum do to deserve a protest?
2. Why do they stand there and read books? I was expecting chanting and picketing, something like the one in You've Got Mail... when they "picket the big bad chain store... that's out to destroy everything they hold dear..."
3. Is this protest related to the one I saw outside of Lowe's?
4. Who makes these signs?
5. How do they get off of work everyday to stand and read by this sign?
6. Why are they protesting so far away from the history museum?

Anyways...

AC got a Groupon for the Mayfield Corn Maze!! 

The last corn maze I did was one year during college and I am pretty sure there was a drought because the corn was on average 2" tall which defeated the whole maze concept... I remember it got dark and then we ran through the maze, arms linked, three people across, and that made it a little more challenging...

This corn maze was a little different...

And it was pitch black... I was grateful AC is good with directions or I might still be in there... wandering around that bit that is the ribbon.

This was at the entrance, it is made out of milk jugs! Super cool!!

See the milk jugs? Maybe Camp DeSoto could make one of these with all the Mayfield jugs from the summer...

This is how dark it was when we started the corn maze...

They had a Corn Box at this place... 

Imagine a McDonald's ball pit, now swap the balls for kernels of feed corn, take away the yelling kids and fast food smell, add in a cool fall evening and a 23 year old throwing corn and you get this...

Attempt #2...

And guess what we discovered once we got out of the Corn Box? Yup, that's right, we had broken all the rules...

They had a cool exhibit set up with different kinds of cows and signs telling you about the breed and where they lived and what was different about them. They were 3D-ish and had buckets in the middle and you could practice milking them. But of course the only one I took a picture of was the bizarre flat, green, ill-looking cow that looks like it got caught peeing in the neighbors grass or something...

AC beat me at checkers... badly...

Then it was Octoberfest at the Chattanooga Market!! Such a fun community! We listened to an Oompah band...

This is the way to celebrate Octoberfest... in a cape!

Saw this collie resting in the kettle corn tent. Love his little hat!

This little kid was having his pastel portrait made... Can't you see him in 20 years wondering why his mother dressed him up in a lederhosen/Sound of Music outfit and took him out in public? I hope they hang the portrait in the family room or maybe on the way up the stairs?

The Chattanooga Market has been one of the highlights of living here. Sundays 11-4pm... You should check it out!

bringing home the bacon...

I am grateful for my job.

I am so grateful to be able to say that! One thing they mentioned in orientation is to be careful talking about work on the internet. It made me a little bit paranoid... so I will try and be careful.

I have worked 2 weeks consisting of 6 night shifts. But let me start at the beginning...

The night before the first night I worked I stayed up all night and then slept some during the day. My roommate and I cooked a good dinner and grilled chicken on my grill.

I watched the show "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" TLC OnDemand and pinned on Pinterest like it was my job. I mean, I blew it up... out of control... I bet people unfollowed me after that night. AC was so sweet and stayed up super late with me (and then slept on the couch for a little bit, she knew I liked the company).

This is not an approach I would recommend to anyone. I wish I had just slept really good the night before and taken a nap before I went in. But it happened. And I cried a lot. I was nervous and tired and I showed it through tears... Sorry roommate!

About 6:30 I got to work and went up to my floor and stood there and had no clue what to do. I didn't even know how to clock in... After meeting the nurse who would be orienting me we jumped right in! She is so kind and a good teacher. She has had a good balance of stretching my comfort zone but supporting me along the way. I am beyond grateful for her.

I have a locker!! It is super tiny but makes me feel legit...

During my first week I had such a treat to look forward to! Dinner with sweet Camp friends! We met at the Terminal and parked near the Chattanooga Carriage ride HQ... I wonder if they bite...

So fun to see Annie and Grace! Grateful for Camp friendships that continue off the mountain.

Sidenote: is this not the most generous paper towel dispenser ever??? I was amazed! Usually they give out like three square inches... an amount this large is almost not helpful!

Sadly, I had to work Halloween night. But oh well, there are worse things... On the way to work that night I almost missed a turn because the joker from The Dark Knight was in the car next to me and scared me. Then I drove behind a person in a tutu on a bike... talk about talent, I would crash for sure!

I love getting off of work! It is such a good feeling, you put in twelve hours and then the next shift gets there and you pass off your problems and successes and get in the elevator and leave it all! I get in my car (this week I had to scrape off my windshield every day) crank up some music that my rockin' brother Nick probably told me about, and drive with my back to the rising sun.

**Sometimes I think night shift workers should have to have designated drivers... or someone should warn all the UTC students when I get off work so they won't attempt to cross the street outside of the crosswalk. Or I need one of those flag cars that lead those trucks on the interstate carrying half of a house. You know, the ones that have flags and signs that say "wide load"? I need a lead car that says, "Caution, Night Shift Nurse."

I get to see it reflect off the downtown buildings and rise over the walking bridge with fog rising off the river. It is be-autiful (two syllables, yep, it makes a difference).

Then I get back to the apartment and see this pulling into the parking lot...

And then I get in my bed, tell myself it is 8:30pm instead of 8:30am and sleep...