Halloween pictures!

Better late than never. Unfortunately Chase had to close on Halloween. I went and hung out with my family. We took the girls trick or treating and watched the Wizard of Oz on Blu Ray. It was awesome! A few days before was my parents anniversary and they went out to dinner and I was the babysitter. So the girls and I carved some pumpkins. Well....I carved and they watched Casper. But the end results were pretty cool!!




The Oogie Boogie pumpkin is my favorite!

Grey's Anatomy

So I've been too busy to keep up with my good friends at Seattle Grace. But I'm taking some time out of doing productive things to catch up. I'm only on episode two of the season and I started to lose some faith when aliens in stomachs was mentioned. (Its not as crazy as it sounds now that I've watched a little more.) But they won me back with this little gem:

Need some lovin...

Between work, school, and everything in between, life has been really suckie. So I found this awesome website that has been cheering me up for like two days.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
Some of my favorites:

And the Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down....

I don't know how many Pooh-lovers there are out there, but when I was a kid Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was the bees knees! Today I woke up and it was like I was in that movie.

All I could find was a Swedish version of this song! lol! While the voices of Pooh and Piglet are beyond wrong the song is hilarious!
It rained, and rained, and rained. Last night I was walking down the hall and almost slipped and busted my ass on the floor.....because there was a leak in the roof. But it wasn't just dripping out of the roof, it was leaking down the whole 17ft. wall and gathering in a puddle on the floor. So we put a towel under it and went to bed. When I got up this morning I went to check on it and it had become a giant puddle that extended down the hall and into the laundry room. As it turns out, a majority of the puddle was from a leak in the roof right outside our door in the hall and that had overflowed under our door in the night and joined up with puddle in our hallway. Well, we soaked some up with our dirty towels, but we don't have a mop (and no, we aren't gross and never clean the floors, we use a swiffer mop). So we decided to go down to the office and ask Annette for a mop. We get down to the office (which is in the basement) and Annette is freaking out! She has traded in her signature super skinny cat walk heels for tennis shoes and she's running around answering phones and trying to use a wet vac. The office was flooded! Big time. So there was nothing she could do to help us at the time, but she told us the hotel across the street flooded and they were rescuing people by boat. This hotel is farther away from the river than our apartments, it just happens to sit in a little dip in the land that gathered a lot of runoff. So Chase and I were like "awesome"! We went to check it out. School got cancelled because campus was flooded and we went exploring. The river had flooded the entire park! It was the craziest thing I've ever seen.


I'm hoping the water doesn't make it up the hill into our parking lot, because from there its a straight shot to the apartments, but I'm really hoping the rain keeps up and there's no school Wednesday!! (crosses fingers) Anyway, long story short, I was gonna talk about H.G. Wells' birthday being...well now yesterday.....but I was sidetracked with the floods. So perhaps tomorrow you can hear all about how great Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds music was. And no, I'm not kidding. I loved it.

I know.....

....I'm horrible. In my defense I've been really busy. There have been some big changes in the last couple of months. Most importantly (and time consuming) we have finally moved into our new apartment. I have to say it's deliciously gorgeous and I should really have taken pictures, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. So you'll have to settle for some I found online. We live in the Canton Mill Lofts. They were built in 1924 as a cotton mill. They made denim. Our roommate Derek's great-grandmother actually worked in the mill when she was about 12-13. She used to ride the train down and live there throughout the week (they had a bunch of houses for the workers across the street from the mill) and then go home for the weekends. Crazy! But now they are lovely loft apartments with spiral staircases and exposed brick and steel. I love how they decided to keep as much of the original building as possible. The brick, steel, and concrete floors are so cool. Although we did have to sign a paper warning us of the dangers of lead paint, lol.

This is the apartment from the back where the pool and parking lot is located. The main entrance is on the other side of the pool.

This is a floor plan of our apartment. The first room on the left is the laundry room. Derek has the downstairs bedroom and Chase and I have the loft. We have huge 17 foot ceilings and 12 foot windows so there's a lot of light. Our apartment has a view of the courtyard which we were really exicted about. It's a lot quieter. And we did meet the neighbors across the courtyard from us because it's impossible not to see each other once in a while. They are both very nice jazz musicians.
Also, unfortunately, school has started back. Bleh! So we've been very busy trying to move, paint, unpack, decorate, study, do homework, and watch True Blood. There is also a very nice park and the entrance to it is also the entrance to our parking lot. So it's impossible not to go out and ride our bikes through the park on a nice night. If we really don't want to go back in we might venture into town a little. But I'm excited that fall is beginning to peek it's head around the corner. The nights have been a little cooler. The stores are starting to stock Halloween stuff and I just can't wait to decorate!! I might not be able to wait until October. But I'll try to get some pictures up before (and after) I decorate. I have to go or I'm going to be late for class, but I will start posting again. And they won't be quite as boring as this one....I hope.

Father's Day

Father's Day is over and done, but it was a nice one. I got my dad a Led Zeppelin concert on Blu Ray and Slumdog Millionaire on Blu Ray. He seemed pretty pleased. I didn't get to spend as much time with him as I would have liked. Chase had to work and couldn't bring me to Dad's till he got home and then when he came to pick me up (after visiting his Dad) he didn't wanna stick around because he'd been working all day. But I should be spending more time with him in a couple weeks when he takes me to Savannah to help me find a place to live down there. So anyway, thanks Dad for being so awesome.


In other father's day news I came across this beautiful and touching website:
Days With My Father
This man had to help care for his father after his mother died. His father had short term memory loss and was a little confused about things. It was such a touching story about the love between a father and his son. I highly recommend checking it out even if you aren't a huge fan of sappy stories. I am certain you will read this website from beginning to end.

Our fun date day

Well, as I mentioned in my last blog, Chase and I have not had a lot of time together lately. So we decided to take some time for just the two of us and do something fun. We rarely go to the movies because after buying two tickets we could own the movie for the same price when it comes out. However, nothing beats seeing a movie in theaters. I find this to be especially true when it comes to horror movies because of the giant screen and excruciatingly loud speakers. So we decided to go see Drag Me To Hell. Wow......wow.......and did I mention wow? That movie was great! The casting was just perfect.


Alison Lohman was completely adorable and endearing. I figured it would have a couple jump scenes and a lot of laughs, but goodness gracious I was like on the edge of my seat for the whole movie. I think it had been so long since Chase had seen a horror movie in theaters he was grasping at my arm and whimpering like a little girl. It was awesome. I think we may go see it again when it comes out at the dollar theater. Then we went shopping to get new bathing suits for the summer. So the next day we put our suits to good use and went to Lake Conasauga.



We took a walk around the lake and then we went swimming. Chase's mom made this giant sandwiches with homemade bread and melty cheese for dinner. It was a perfect day. :-)

Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall.....

So Chase has been rather busy lately and we haven't had a lot of "us" time. So last night and today we crammed in a few weeks worth of fun. We had a great time and I fully intended to write about it, but I think I'm going to take some more ibuprofen and go to bed instead. All was going well until we stopped by his dad's to drop off the drum set and I was headed up the stairs and somebody says, "What is that noise? Do you hear that??" I turn around to listen to the noise and will probably be wishing I had not done that for a few weeks. I have weak ankles that tend to just turn my foot on its side when I run or step just right and apparently I stepped just right on the last step. So I only had one step to fall (thank goodness), but I did it about as gracelessly as possible. With my laptop tucked under one arm (yeah, the one time I leave the house with it) I flew into the air in what I can only imagine looked something like the Peanut gang fixing up Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.



There were suddenly several pairs of limbs flailing in all directions. Only when it was all over there was no glorious Christmas tree in my place.



I landed in a painful heap on the ground. The only redeeming quality of the whole thing is that I landed with my laptop still tucked safely under my arm. (which Derek still can't believe) Upon landing on the wood floor I had three guys run in my direction looking like there was a large plank sticking out of my forehead or something. Luckily, I think I'm just bruised and sore with a possible sprain. But hopefully I will be back tomorrow to write about our lovely day. So goodnight!

Hide and Seek with the Girls

I visited my mom yesterday while Chase was at work and the girls wanted to play hide and go seek with me. So I counted to 20 and.....

Yes, the tub. It was adorable because Sailor jumped out when I found them and told me that she had to lay with bugs until I found her. Then it was Genevieve's turn to hide all by herself...

It would have been a great hiding place if she had bothered to close the doors.

Then Sailor ran to hide. She was fun to find because she always looked so shocked that you found her.

Genevieve's turn to hide was hilarious because she laughed the whole way to her hiding place where I found this...

"Oh where could Genevieve be?"

It was a fun night. And mom probably enjoys it when the girls are occupied while she tries to cook.

National Ice Tea Month

Yes, that's right. It is national ice tea month! And if you've ever been to the south then you know that we love our tea. Chase and I have have been repeatedly quoting this Tim and Eric skit since we saw it. It gives us unending pleasure on a daily basis. I just have to spread the joy!

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Yummy yum yum.

Happy Birthday Vincent Price!

So I'm just getting this one in with minutes to spare. So I'm going to be brief, but this is a man I respect and admire very much. If he was still alive today he would be 98! And I'm guessing he'd be just as creepy as ever. Let's just take a moment to remember a great man who has blessed the horror genre with his talent.

Creatures of the Deep

It occurred to me after acquiring my new fear of sea spiders that most fears are gained from television or movies. How many people are scared of sharks because they were actually attacked by one? So I thought back to and found pictures from the movies that caused some of my greatest fears of things in the water. I used the above picture of Finding Nemo because I do fear jelly fish, but I really can't remember the tv show that lead to that fear. Now I know that everyone is totally going to see this one coming so I'm going to go ahead and say it:
SHARKS:

My dad loved Jaws. This lead to many years of summer days on the couch with a popsicle and ever-growing fear of great whites in the local surf.

The 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio drama doesn't immediately strike you as terrifying, but the scene where the two foreign guys got attacked by the shark left an impression on me. They didn't even show the shark, it was the huge pool of blood in the middle of the lagoon and the giant trail of blood in the sand where they dragged the near lifeless bodies.

And no, it's not because I'm a big baby. I am a huge horror fan and can stomach almost anything. I think it was the unexpectedness of this attack in particular. I mean if you watch something like Jaws you expect to see some people getting eaten by sharks, but a Leo DiCaprio movie about a beautiful beach? It was startling to say the least.

CROCODILES:

Seeing as I don't live anywhere near crocodile country I know this is totally irrational. Still, you can't tell me you didn't think that log looked like one for a few seconds.
CREEPY FISH:

I know, I can already hear the giggles, The Blue Lagoon is not a scary movie. And I totally agree with you. But when I saw this fish posing as an unassuming rock with a killer poisonous fin I was never the same. I'm forever second guessing every rock, shell, and shadow under the water or I'll end up like this:

And I mean sweaty and dying not in the arms of a young hot Christopher Atkins.
CREATURES:

Although I only saw this movie a year or so ago I think that it totally tapped into that primitive there is something swimming just below my field of vision in this water feeling every time you get in water deep enough to require some paddling.

I wanted to include this creature because it walks. Living up in the mountains you really don't have to worry about sharks or poisonous fish until you go on vacation. But being out in a lake in the middle of the woods brings up a whole new set of worries. Creatures that can leave the lake and chase you if necessary is one of them.....at least for me it is.

So there you have it. Now that you are thoroughly freaked out it's time to go on vacation!! Have fun!

Sea Spiders?!?

I have had wicked insomnia for weeks now and once again I'm up in the wee hours of the morning while Chase snoozes away. There's nothing on tv this early except Planet Earth on Animal Planet. Their showing me cute little penguins and seals and then BAM!!!!

The Sea Spider!!
As if there wasn't enough to worry about in the ocean. In the shallowest most unassuming waters I am constantly talking myself out of running for the shore from a giant shark. And I was once stung on the forehead by a jellyfish. My greatest fear on land has now joined the underwater category as well. Which just goes to show that nothing good can come from insomnia.

Puppies!

This dog took up at our house a few months ago and got herself knocked up. The result: puppies everywhere! She ended up having 12 the night before last, but when Chase went and checked on them this morning one of them had died during the night. He buried in the yard this morning; poor little thing. But the other 11 seem to be doing fine and are cute as buttons!

We're probably not getting out of this one with at least one new puppy. So I'm going to start thinking of names.

A Walk in the Woods

So today I finished "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. I loved it! What a great story. Bill Bryson and his friend Katz walk portions of the A.T. in two trips. Bryson has a way of making anything sound funny and I quite literally laughed out loud several times throughout the book. Some of the best parts are the humorous anecdotes he sprinkles throughout the book. The only complaint I have is that sometimes he would be telling you about the history of certain spots along the trail and it just got to too long and boring. But don't let that discourage you. It was an informative and hilarious book and I would recommend it to anyone!

Serial Killer Files

A couple days ago I finished the book Serial Killer Files by Harold Schechter. He is a true crime writer with a specialty in serial killers and professor at Queens College. This book while long and a little repetitive is everything you could ever want in a serial killer book. Divided into ten sections: What it means, who they are, a history of serial murder, gallery of evil- ten american monster, sex and the serial killer, why they kill, evil in action, how it ends, and killer culture. It's like an encyclopedia of all things serial killer. On top of that it is riddled with case studies on serial killers throughout time. At the end of each section he gives you recommended reading and there is a detailed bibliography at the end. If you are into this kind of thing then I highly recommend this book. Just don't be surprised if you're suddenly suspecting everyone of serial murder. (Out of all the creepies working third shift at wal-mart one of them is bound to be.)

Frauniebarger Friday, kinda

Well, I haven't posted in a while. Blogger deleted one of my blogs without even saying anything to me, it kinda took the wind out of my sails. I decided to get over it and went to post a Frauniebarger Friday and boxstr was down again!! What is up with that? It's finally up again and I'm gonna post a Frauniebarger Friday a little late. Here's a video of Frauniebarger at Fort Mountain spreading the word of FB.


Here is "On the Way to Pick You Up." It is one of my fav songs from their album so check it out!!

Frauniebarger- On the Way to Pick You Up

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What?

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Ha!

Fire Tower

So last Saturday I decided I wanted to take a hike that we had never done before. We usually either go to Bear Creek or just hike the trail around the lake. This time I wanted to go on the Fire Tower Trail. We tried to get an earlier start than we normally do because this is about a four mile hike. We still didn't get there till like 4, but we figured we'd have plenty of time. We borrowed Dereks's parents Jeep because the road has been really bad since it's been raining so much and we actually couldn't get down it last time we went. Derek's driving policy is something like: Why slow down when you could just barrel through it? So after nearly dying of whiplash, tearing up various parts of the Jeep, and having a few close calls we made it. The trail was gorgeous.

Now I know we're hiking to a fire tower on top of a mountain, but we were kind of already on top of a mountain so I totally underestimated the hike. It was uphill literally the whole way. And Chase and I nearly died. Not even in some crazy sixth dimension could Chase and I be considered in shape. We had to take like three breaks just so I could stop seeing my heartbeat in my eyes. Derek on the other hand, all 90 pounds of him, plowed his way over the mountain like he was still in the Jeep. Leaving us in his dust for about half of the trail. We finally did make it up to the fire tower.



They wouldn't let you go to the very top of the fire tower, but you could go up the stairs and it was gorgeous!!




The hike back down was definately more pleasant. And it took a lot less time, lol. But it was worth all the pain because it was a really great view from the top. :-)