welcome to my sunday afternoon

Physics. Lab reports. Sensory Neuroscience. A Schenkerian analysis (music not pictured). Not to mention completing my first article (publishable? hopefully...) & revisiting my data.

The fun of last night should carry me through the day: thank you to both Baba Reba & Nick and Jenna for a lovely evening of tapas, sangria & merlot-chocolate ice cream. Conversations of what it means to be a "follower of Jesus" in every way--with an emphasis on the financial & relational (meaning our physical lives must be overhauled to accommodate the underdog)--continue to challenge me today.

I spent 45 minutes surfing the net yesterday for testimonials from adult women who started ballet & progressed to dancing on pointe. Some have done it!

New Year's 2008

Tapas. Meaningful conversation. Good friends. Cocktails. A giant beer. Sparklers in the snow. Celebrating things past & things to come. What do all these have in common? They contributed to the celebration of one of our favorite New Year's yet! We enjoyed a lovely Tapas meal at Nicky & Eric's place--complete with planned activities, formal menus & more food than we could have hoped to eat, followed by the trek over a few blocks to Julian & Kristin's (after the kids went to bed) for more fun, friends & sparklers (oh, & more food too). I hadn't played with sparklers in quite some time--we were quite the thrilled group of adults shivering out in the cold, bringing in the New Year!

Below is a photo of Drew & Eric, playing with the huge beer we brought from Trader Joe's... yes. It's big.


Throughout the evening we drew cards from a large bowl, each with a question to be answered by each of us. Nicky had organized the activity & we enjoyed it so much, we ended up out of time & had to leave these two cards for next year.

nothing like time with family

We had such a good few days away from Chicago (although we did miss the city). We flew into Knoxville, TN, on Christmas day & were immediately escorted to Mamaw's house for a big family dinner: green beens cooked with bacon, sweet potatoes with pecans, country ham, mashed potatoes & plenty of pecan pie (literally, pie after pie). Now that's a southern Christmas. Unfortunately, we couldn't find our camera while packing so the only photos we have are those taken by my parents while we were visiting Cade's Cove, a pre-Independence era pioneer settlement in the Smokies. We have ancestors who settled the area back in the early 1800's and it was neat to once again visit their graves and homesteads.

Below is a shot with the Mama at the mill supposedly built by someone in my papaw's lineage.


This church below was a favorite of mine, with the two doors used to separate the men & women.


As it turns out, that was a good idea for couples like Drew & I...




Although we were sad to say goodbye to our loved ones in the Smokies, we are happy to be home again. Tink was in desperate need of some cuddles after our 5 days away!