Memorial Day Weekend

Elisabeth was scheduled to be back in the states on Friday night after a semester in Spain. We decided that we would head to Knoxville to surprise her on Saturday and spend the rest of the weekend with family.

We got in late Friday night and chatted with Gene, Portia, Rachel and Gordon for a little while. During that time Gene got a call from Elisabeth stating that she was in the car headed to Seymour and that she would give him a call later the next day after she had time to sleep.

Saturday morning Michael and Gene worked on building a sandbox from Christian's visit in June. I look a tour of the garden, the property and the new honey bee hives. Sometime around the lunch hour Michael and Gene headed over to pick up Elisabeth from her mom's house. When they got back to the house we listen to Elisabeth tell us all about her time in Spain and other countries she was able to visit. That evening, we ended up dining at a Mexican restaurant so that Elisabeth could order in Spanish for all of us. She did a great job! Afterwards, we picked up Elisabeth's friend, Melissa, and headed back to Leisa's house. Leisa was getting stuff ready for their cookout on Monday. Steve was practicing some chicken wings and shrimp on the grill - we sampled what he had. Eli was out in the yard playing with his dog. Leisa made me some sweet tea, which I desperately needed! Then, Elisabeth brought out the chocolate from Switzerland. That truffle was amazing!!!! I have got to see if I can order some off the internet.

Sunday we all slept in late and had a nice breakfast around eleven. Then it was picture time, Elisabeth talked about her different photos from her travels. Later on he went back to Leisa's house for a few and then headed to the mall for a little shopping. I ended up getting the cutest red shoes for work! Then, we were back at Gene and Portia's house for the grilling of the hamburgers!!! We all had dinner outside and afterwards had a reading of a story from one of Gene's books. Portia made wonderful chocolate covered strawberries for desert - yummy! Then it was down to the basement for ping pong competitions! This went on for several hours. The last ones standing were Michael and Gordon. Everyone else went to bed!!!

Monday, Memorial Day, Michael and Gene loaded up the table saw into the truck we rented so that we could take it back with us for some of our future home improvement projects. Loaded up everything, said our goodbyes and got on the road. The vet was closing at noon, so we were booking it on down the road to make that deadline. Luckily, we succeeded with only minutes to spare. Now Michael, Jasmine and Auburn are all napping on this sunny holiday.

Fitness

My husband and I went to visit the YMCA this weekend to check out the facilities. I'm really looking for somewhere to swim. I grew up with a swimming pool at my parents house and then lived in apartments with a pool during my early adult life, so now that we are home owners I need to find a place to swim. The other options for us to ponder are Gold's Gym and the Country Club. Looking forward to getting back to swimming laps!

Wolverine

Okay, so with my recent volunteer work on Saturdays I have gotten behind on viewing new movie releases. This weekend, I finally made it to the theater to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was really good. I could probably stand to see it again, but I need to see Star Trek which came out last week and then Terminator Salvation which comes out this week.

Birthday Planning

My birthday is in October and we typically go to a Auburn/Tennessee game when they are on the schedule. They have always been in September or October. This year we will be going to Tennessee to see the game which happens to be a few days before my birthday. Well, now we will also be going to see Robin Williams just after my birthday when he comes to town. I am sooooo excited!!!!!

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Sunday, my husband and I headed out to the Rave to catch a viewing of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. I love Matthew McConaughey movies!!!! This one was really cute and had some funny moments which I could hear my husband laughing at too.

Volunteering

The spring session ended on Saturday for the organization that I had spent time with volunteering. I really enjoyed helping out and I have decided to sign up for the summer session. I hope I have just as much fun - I know it will be HOT!!!

YWCA Flower Sale

The YWCA holds the annual Mother's Day Flower Sale. Since I have worked at the bank there has always been a place set up at the courtyard of the downtown location. This year I purchased beautiful pink calla lilies. I'm going to keep them in the house for a few days and then try to plant somewhere in our backyard.

Transfer

My husband had requested to transfer to another branch in the area. He found out today that it will be approved and he will make the transition in a few weeks. There were numerous factors, but the best will be the proximity to our house. I'm am so jealous!!!

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!! Michael and I headed out to Pablo's to take in all the activities. It was covered up with people! Music inside and a dj from the radio station outside on the patio. We ordered some drinks and sat at the bar to take in all the action. We never were able to get any chips and salsa or even order food it was so crazy. We ended up leaving at 9pm to go to the Macaroni Grill to get some food. I think we are getting old!!!

Storms

Auburn in the basement
Jasmine in the basement

Fog after the storm

Hail

Close up of the hail

I left the house to go to volunteer. My entire trip there I never heard one thing on the radio about bad weather approaching our city. As soon as I walked into the barn the tornado sirens started to sound. Of course the classes were canceled for the day and I immediately headed back home. I think it was about 20 minutes before it really got bad at our house. Enough to where I felt like we needed to head to the basement. I took the dogs down with me. Auburn got into his cage where as Jasmine did not, so Auburn moved into the bigger cage. Michael was still upstairs and so this caused Jasmine to run up and down the basement stairs. When the storms did hit we had a huge hail storm with tons of wind and rain. I can't recall seeing hail come down like this before. It was all over in a few minutes and of course we headed outside to take pictures!

Kevin

This weekend Kevin was in town on business. Michael got to hang out with his brother Friday and Saturday during Kevin's down time. Saturday night we ended up grilling out for dinner and afterwards the guys played video games and later attended a late night showing of the Wolverine movie. As for myself, I worked on my scrapbook and headed to bed early due to being on the schedule to also volunteer for three hours on Sunday.

Peonies

I am in heaven!!! My peony plant is in full bloom. I have 28 buds. This year I have been cutting and bringing them inside for our enjoyment. They smell wonderful. I have even taken some to work for my coworkers to enjoy too. I am on a mission to get some more to plant.

Finally, I got a car!!!!!

This week we took the plunge and finally got me a new (used) car to replace my Firebird that I lost in 2007. In the interim I had been driving my 1994 Honda Civic, which was my car from high school. We tried to fixed the a/c on the Honda back when my Firebird was totaled, but after about $1500 of work it never really was at a 100% of functionality. I endured this for two summers in the notorious Alabama heat. Looking back, I really don't know how I managed. Nonetheless, I now own a 2006 Dodge Charger!!!!! Pictures to come soon.

UT Football

Michael is going to be purchasing season tickets for UT football from one of our friends. I guess I can attend additional UT games outside to the usually AU vs UT events! I'll have to start practicing the "Go Vols!" phrase :-)