SPRING BREAK in CALIFORNIA!!!

Sure, we got into teaching for the students and the literature, but both Clay and I must admit that one reason we love our profession is because we still get Spring Break. Who doesn't love Spring Break? and who doesn't love San Francisco and the Napa Valley AND fun times with great friends we don't get to see very often??

We had SUCH a great time and took lots of pictures, so let's get this party started...

We arrived in San Francisco on Friday night, and sweet Mary and Jamie picked us up--and then picked up two deep-dish pizzas from Little Star Pizza. YUM. We headed back to their adorable home in San Rafael, enjoyed catching up and eating delicious food (since when do they not serve even snacks on cross-country flights?), and then hit the bed hard. We woke up Saturday morning feeling refreshed and excited to check out Mary and Jamie's favorite spots that we always enjoy reading about on their blog. Our first stop was Chrissy Field, a popular running and biking area around the Golden Gate Bridge. Mary and Jamie are competing in the hardcore Escape from Alcatraz triathlon this summer, so we did the running portion with them and their nice friend Anders. The photo above is post-run and pre-brunch at Squat and Gobble, a cute creperie and cafe. M&J then took us on a fun tour of the city, including a stop at the famous Painted Ladies (famous, if, you know, you kinda like watched DJ and Steph on Full House all the time when you were growing up, like, maybe I did).

Saturday night we enjoyed yummy carnitas and several rounds of games with M&J and their fun friends Josh, Trixie, and Krista. We played girls vs. guys and the gals won all three competitions, albeit with some tricky clues and perhaps some slightly ridiculously girly terminology the guys had never heard of much less knew how to act out in charades.

Sunday morning Mary and I enjoyed a super special private Pilates class at Flow Studio while Clay and Jamie took a run around Phoenix Lake. All four of us then hit up the SR Farmers' Market, where we picked up some fish for the fish taco recipe Jamie noticed in the NYTimes that a.m. We also found some hearty paella, lots of fresh tangerines and apples, and even some cranberry wheat bread, which I happily admit made my day. It was amazing.

pretty flowers at the market

Clay discovered M&J's aerodynamic bike helmets from their Ironman...

Monday morning brought sunshine (hooray!) and whole-wheate pancakes for M&J before they headed to school and we headed to Napa!!! We stopped at Trader Joe's for some goodies (including a whole box of Cuties, which sustained us through the tough task of wine tasting for three days. It's a rough life, isn't it?) and then hit the road in M&J's car, which they so graciously lent us for our 72 hours in Wine Country. Check out the views from the drive:

Our first stop: Domaine Carneros for some bubbly. A great way to start our tour :-)

Clay and Sonoma Valley

Three different types of champagne.

Guess which one was our fave? Yup, the expensive one! This would become a theme...

Next stop: Hess Collection. A gorgeous winery with an even more gorgeous art collection. It is part tasting room, part gallery. This was on the top of our list.

We're in Wine Country! Yeah Baby!

I'm standing in front of Clos Du Val here, another winery we recommend for those travelling through Napa. Their wine is delicious AND their labels are fun, a standard that SJ started employing when I couldn't tell much difference between wines anymore...:-)

Clos du Val

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a park in downtown Napa and also spent some time wandering around the cute town of St. Helena, where we picked up some goodies at Olivier Oil Co. and Woodhouse Chocolates. We then headed north to Calistoga for the night. We got a great deal on a room at the Calistoga Inn and Brewery and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Boskos Trattoria.

Tuesday morning brought even more sunshine, a great run on the bike trail through Calistoga, and then more wine tastings! We started at Sterling Vineyards, which is well-known around Napa for its incredible views and tram rides up to the winery. We went before 12:30, so we got two tastings for the price of one! Sterling is one we can find here in Chattanooga, so we didn't bring any home, but we definitely recommend their Chardonnay.

Clay enjoying the views

How fun is a trip up a mountain to a vineyard? Really fun :-)

Gorgeous Napa Valley

These are really big wine barrels...

...and these are a lot of barrels. Looks like Sterling is doing a-okay...

The views from Sterling were pretty incredible.

The wine was also really good--and by this point we had gotten pretty good at swirling the glass and smelling the wine even though we honestly liked them all! I mean, its WINE. In Napa Valley. It's gonna be good. But we had fun coming up with our adjectives for each sample...

Several glasses of wine? No problem...

More pretty labels...

The Sterling gift shop had some fun finds, including the sign below that I made Clay pose with :-)

Thought these guys were pretty fun

...and now we are on our way back down. More wineries to visit!

Next stop was Clos Pegasse. The coolest part of their tasting was watching their artist in residence paint his "vision of wine." The thumb made us smile, too.

Hey look, its Bacchus!

We then hit up Summers Estate Vineyards, which turned out to be one of our two favorites. It was small, yummy, personal, and friendly. We ended up buying their Charbono and Cabernet. It was at this point that Clay and I started discussing how we were going to get all this wine home. Details, details...

Our drive towards Sonoma then took us past the CIA, and my slight obsession with Food Network and Top Chef inspired us to peek inside. A school just for cooking and baking? Sign me up! Their classrooms are giant kitchens!

Loved the huge dream of a gift shop

A few hundred yards past the CIA was Beringer, and Clay and I couldn't pass it without a little shout-out to Mom :-)

We had a free tasting at Merryvale in the heart of St. Helena, so we decided to stop in. They had a pretty cool tasting room on display in one of their barrel cellars, but their wine wasn't super special, so we moved on. So many wineries, so little time! We also stopped at Hall St. Helena, which turned out to be our least fave. We decided that smaller vineyards were the way to go, so...

Oh wait, we stopped at one more big one: Chateau St. Jean, a recommendation from the nice man at the Napa Visitor's Bureau. We liked it, bought a bottle, and took a picture with a even bigger bottle.

As you can tell by the signs, there are a LOT of wineries to choose from, and at times we felt a little overwhelmed (not in a bad way, though :-)). So we decided to do the logical thing: go to the winery that wasn't on the sign at all: Kaz.

This was BY FAR my favorite stop. We drove up to this little deserted barn behind a house around 4:15, hopped out, and asked the man outside if we were too late for a tasting. He broke out in a big grin and said, "Well, folks, usually I'm closed on Tuesdays, but come on in! I think I can find some wines for you to taste." He stuck his hand out and said, "I'm Kaz." Awesome! This is exactly what Clay and I were looking for: a unique winery off the beaten path. He gave us samples of several different wines that he makes, all in small quantities, and then he even invited us to bottle our own straight from the barrel, choosing our own label from his fun collection. We had a blast with Kaz and enthusiastically recommend his winery--what a treat.

I wish you could see his face here too--I think he was mocking me :-)

Clay chose the awesome "Stimulus" label. Kaz then signed both bottles for us. Pretty cool.

Sonoma was our next stop. We stayed at the charming Sonoma Hotel and ate dinner at A Taste of the Himalayas. Indian food sounded divine, and their Naan and spinach curry were perfect. A little ice cream treat at Ben and Jerry's, a walk around the square, and a bath in our claw-footed tub rounded out this treat of a night.

Wednesday morning we took another run, this time to the Gundlach Bundschu winery a few miles outside of the town square. Clay enjoyed the treats inside the Sonoma Cheese Factory and I found an amazing bakery and more bread! We could live on bread and cheese. Seriously.

We stopped back Gundlach Bundschu on the way south. My expression above is something along the lines of "Isn't this freakin' beautiful??"

A sign for our students, perhaps?

Love this guy.

Taking in the scenery at Gundlach Bundschu.

Another cave of wine barrels. They are everywhere!

Our final winery stop was at Jacuzzi Vineyards south of Sonoma. We stopped there because a.) the tasting was free, and b.) they also feature olive oil tastings. Yum. We decided to have our picnic lunch by the fountain behind their tasting room.

Before heading back to Tennessee, we wanted to check out the John Muir Woods. Several friends told us this park was stunningly beautiful and it was--the redwoods were even bigger than we imagined. We got in a great hike before getting on a plane for 8 hours!

This one is REALLY old!

Look how strong we are!

These trees are, um, a little tall.

We had a couple hours before we were to meet M&J, so we decided to go for a drive along Rte. 1 on the coast. I couldn't stop snapping pictures while Clay handled the insane curves. It is pretty amazing to think that we really were on the edge of the country just yesterday...

We stopped at the nearest beach, smelled the Pacific Ocean, felt the sand, snapped one last picture, and then headed back to San Rafael--and then Tennessee.

Mary and Jamie, many thanks for your incredible generosity, kindness, and thoughtfulness. We LOVED being with you and enjoying your beautiful surroundings for a few days! And thanks to you and the rockin' blue suitcase you gave us, all six of our bottles of wine got home safe and sound yesterday! We now have PLENTY for the next time you visit, which will hopefully be SOON! Have fun in Peru!!

It was a glorious week in California. Clay and I feel so rested and recharged, and we feel so blessed to have been able to do and see so many beautiful sights. We also were grateful to have our awesome Cam-dawg to come home to...it was a bit pathetic how much we missed him. He is definitely a member of our family :-).

Mary and Jamie!

How cute is this couple?? REALLY CUTE. These really cute friends are the ones that Clay and I are super pumped to visit this week!!! We fly out to San Francisco tomorrow (!!) to begin a weekend full of Mary and Jamie, two friends we can't get enough of. They are ironmen, they are teachers, they are chefs and bakers, they are simply all-around fun, talented, thoughtful, full of LIFE people. YAY for people like Mary and Jamie. Life with them is just fun.

So hopefully many more fun pictures like the one above (taken at our wedding) will be posted upon our return. Marin, Napa, and Sonoma, here we come! Mary and Jamie, thanks for having us!!

Class Book Club!

Book clubs are one of the greatest things, right? Friends, books, food...I mean, how can you go wrong? So I thought I would try to incorporate one into my Honors classes this quarter, especially as most of them look forward to AP English next year and thus lots more reading that I require. So the day before Spring Break (!!) was our first Book Club day, and I think it was a hit. I made a cake for each class (the intentions were definitely sweeter than the actual products--but I tried!) and we sat around and shared our thoughts on the books we had each read over the course of the quarter. At the end of the book club, we put all of the books out on display and then I drew names, which dictated the order in which the girls could choose the next book they wanted to read. The first girl I pulled out of the hat got her choice of all the books, the next girl from the books we had left, etc. Now each girl has a book to read for fourth quarter, which will end with them hopefully engaging in thoughtful discussions with each other about the characters, themes, and styles of each text. I think Book Club might need to become a curriculum staple :-)

The Difference

In my last post, I confessed that at this point in my life, I am finally interested in finances. As someone who earned a C in economics (no joke) and honestly doesn't pull in a large income, who would have thunk it? But perhaps it is because I find myself more and more committed to education, a career that famously doesn't pay well, that I also find myself more and more committed to saving and spending wisely. Let me make one thing clear, however: I am not interested in financial freedom so that we can be "rich" and have lots of nice things. No, I am interested in financial freedom: being able to afford having children, perhaps one day owning a house, one day providing our children with a good education (we do believe in education, after all), and being in a place where we can take care of the people around us whom we love and cherish. I never want money to limit my ability to do what is right for my family. Simple as that. However, we simply don't make enough for this to be possible without careful thought, attention, and planning. I started paying attention to good financial advice because I had to...now I want to. And there is a lot of it out there.

One interesting article I came across today was on Oprah.com. One thing I like about Oprah is her committment to spreading the word about financial stability and knowledge to her millions of viewers. Experts like Suze Orman and Jean Chatsky regularly appear on her show, often offering free book downloads and "make it right" plans of attack that help viewers get back on track. On her website now is an excerpt from Chatsky's latest book, The Difference. Evidently, Chatsky has spent a lot of time lately studying the habits and traits of financially successful individuals and outlining them. Here were some highlights! Very interesting!!

Financial Attitudes and Behaviors
• They feel stocks are worth the risk.
• They devote money to personal savings or a 401(k) each month.
• They save regularly for emergencies.
• They have invested for retirement.
• They have reduced outstanding debt.

Goals
• They want to be financially comfortable during their working years.
• They aim to retire comfortably.
• They always knew what they wanted to do (for a career).
• They made it a goal to accumulate $1 million.
• They want to own a home.

Personality
• They are confident.
• They are happy.
• They are optimistic.
• They are competitive.
• They are leaders.

Nonfinancial Behaviors
• They have a college degree.
• They socialize with friends at least once a week.
• They exercise at least two to three times a week.
• They read newspapers regularly.
• They are married.

Seven Traits of the Wealthy Personality

1. OPTIMISM. Optimism is an expectation that good things are going to be plentiful. The wealthy generally have the sense that life will bring good rather than bad outcomes. That doesn't mean they believe that good things will be omnipresent, but that they will outnumber the not-so-good.

2. RESILIANCE. The wealthy are confident in their abilities to overcome bad situations—on the job, in their personal lives, with their finances. Many have triumphed over dismal financial starts. And, unlike most of the population that hops from job to job, career to career, the wealthy are much more likely to stick with what they start.

3. CONNECTEDNESS. The wealthy are people magnets. They are connected to people in all aspects of life—they have circles of family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. One sign of a wealthy person is that others are willing to work for him or her, sometimes for less than they are worth on the open market.

4. DRIVE. The wealthy want to succeed. Some want that success to arrive in the form of money (and that's OK). But most are quite passionate about the careers they choose to pursue. Not succeeding at these pursuits is, quite frankly, not an option.

5. CURIOSITY. The wealthy are likely to have gone to college. But it's not just classroom education that sets them apart. They are always learning, consistently reading books for pleasure and newspapers to keep up with the world. This may be a habit learned in childhood; most wealthy individuals report that their parents read to them when they were young.

6. INTUITION. The wealthy somehow know precisely whom they should be dealing with and whom to walk away from. And they listen to those gut instincts.

7. CONFIDENCE. When the wealthy take a calculated risk—such as starting a business or buying investment real estate—they don't see it as much of a risk at all.

Four Habits of the Wealthy

1. WORK HARD. The wealthy work harder—and sleep less—than other people. They are more likely to mix work with their downtime, sacrificing personal time for professional success. But because they tend to be passionate about what they do, it's less likely that they see it as a chore.

2. SAVE HABITUALLY. Wealthy people certainly have the funds to be crazy spenders, but most are not. In fact, some seven out of ten say that saving more money has been an "absolutely essential" financial goal as an adult. They typically pay off their full credit card balance each month.

3. INVEST SOUNDLY AND AGGRESSIVELY. The wealthy are more likely to invest in stocks or stock mutual funds. They understand that even in down markets they need to take risks in the market in order to make their money work as hard as they do. They are also more likely to invest in real estate (above and beyond buying their own homes).

4. GIVE BACK. The wealthy are grateful and they show it by giving back to their communities, to organizations they believe in, and to people they care about.

Money, Money, Money

It seems like I hear about it everywhere these days: on NPR on the way to school, at our faculty meetings when we discuss our shrinking budgets and frozen salaries, on TV programs and commercials (many of which are geared towards "savvy, smart" shopping these days--have you all noticed that?), even on the glorious walks I share with my dear friend Ashley, who is a financial whiz and an MBA student. It's everywhere. But let me be honest. I can't get enough of it.

I worry that I am sometimes too obsessed with finding ways to save money and then sometimes too casual with how I spend it. For example, Clay and I are trying to go to the grocery only once every two weeks these days, forcing us to either eat in the dining hall or appreciate what we have in the cupboards (which, even when we say we have "nothing to eat," we really do have the potential to make a pretty great meal). But then I go shopping for my friend's birthday present, and before I realize it, I am buying five extra greeting cards just because I like their sentiments. Is that $12 well spent? Probably, but it amazes me sometimes the expenditures that cause me to analyze beyond belief and the costs that don't make me blink twice.

If Clay and I really want to get serious about it, we need to take a closer look at our (meager) investments and make sure we are making responsible long-term decisions now. Suze Orman and everyone else constantly preach using time to our advantage. But others also tell us, "Have fun while you don't have kids! Travel! Enjoy being newly married! Carpe Diem!" Mixed messages that need to be balanced for sure. So while I continue to research budget B&B's (responsible) in Napa Valley (splurge), I take heart in the smaller decisions that we can control on a daily basis:

1.) Coupons. LOVE coupons. LOVE the Chattanooga Entertainment Book that provides Buy One-Get One Free coupons for lots of local eateries.
2.) Sales. Wait until my running shoes are discounted before I buy them--and then buy several pairs. Work the system.
3.) Fight the urge to spend. The number of times I think I "need" to stop and buy something on my way home. If you are similar, get a dog--Camden's sweet face always reminds me I have greater gifts waiting at home.
4.) Share! Don't have an outfit to wear to the costume party? Phone a friend!
5.) Read the magazines at the gym rather than buying them yourself.
6.) Combine errands. Saves gas.

Okay, I know that's not many, but it's all I can think of before track practice. Finances are a tricky subject, and one that is perhaps impossible to "master." But learning more about saving and spending has proven to be a fascinating pasttime for me lately...

Why Teaching?

I originially started this blog to record my experiences studying Shakespeare in England, and since then, the blog has gone in many directions: poetry, fitness, our lives in TN, books, food...but I honestly thought that what this blog would mostly discuss are my reflections on teaching, on literature, on the changing nature of education and my search to discern how to teach literature--and teach students--thoughtfully, responsibly, and enthusiastically. Friday was a day that reminded me of this original aim and desire.

Elizabeth Samet, author of A Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point, visited our school. Our senior literary society had the opportunity to converse with her over lunch prior to her lecture, so I was able to hear her perspective on teaching English to plebes and her approach to writing. Perhaps the comment I most appreciated was her response to the question, "What led you to write this book?" She said something along the lines of "I found I had a story to tell. Writing is much easier when you have a story to tell." So true. Sometimes even when writing this blog, I find I have little to "report"--and then some days, like today, I have so many thoughts and reflections that I want to record.

I love teaching. I love learning. I love my students. I love talking about literature and the art of writing with my students and my colleagues. I love working in an academic setting. I love meeting with my peers to discuss how we can better serve students. I love reading. I do not love grading, but every once in awhile, an essay rises to the surface that makes you think a student really got it. I love having my summers "off" to work on my craft. I love having the rest of the breaks to be with my family and enjoy them for an extended amount of time. I love that my days are broken into 49 minute periods. I love that I have time to exercise to my potential every day. I love that I spend most of my day on my feet. I love that I have dedicated myself to a profession where I will never be perfect and will always be reminded that I don't know it all or can't do it all or won't reach every student. There is always more to strive for.

Here's what I don't love about teaching: the parents. I said it. 99% of the time, I interact with parents who are kind and thoughtful and encouraging and helpful. But there is always the 1% out there who, even when I try not to let them get me down, are discouraging and sometimes downright disrespectful. Just this morning I got an email from a parent who blames me for her child's desire to not be in AP English next year. The email was curt and accusatory and, even though I know this parent to be uncommonly critical, it hurt.

I wish that our world could be more graceful. I wish that people could give each other the benefit of the doubt more often, be more generous in spirit, not expect perfection quite so much. I wish we could all trust each other a little more to do the right thing. I wish we could work together more to get where we want instead of trying to tear each other down quite so often. I wish people would take more time for reflection and less time for reaction. I wish we would listen more and talk less. I wish we could all see each other as gifts, as people who have unique talents and something to contribute. and I wish we could focus on those contributions, celebrate those, rather than harping on where we all fall short.

Thoughts like these remind me what type of a teacher, what type of a person, I want to be. I can't get around the fact that our system requires me to give grades or write comments on papers that could very easily be interpreted as criticism. I realize that my job, based as it is in inspiration and a joy of knowledge, contains elements that could enable me to be a negative force in a child's life. I hope to God that I never play that role. and I hope that most people realize that no teacher wants or intends to play that role. We didn't get into teaching to discourage talent. We got into it because we hoped we might inspire. May I always walk into my classroom with this aim in mind, and may I remember to show the grace and love to my students that I so long for from others in my life.

Book Update!

This past weekend, Clay and I enjoyed some glorious downtime, so I read and read and read. Finally finished The Power of One. The story of Peekay and his journey to understanding and a true sense of identity was enjoyable, but I honestly didn't get why two of my closest Bread Loaf friends said it was their favorite novel of all time. It was 540 pages of the both beauty and difficulty of human interaction--and the story of a young boy's dream to become the welterweight (boxing) champion of the world in the midst of a world of adults who both inspired him and tried to redirect this dream. What's kinda funny is that Camden got ahold of my copy of the book and tore out the last two pages...I was disappointed at first, but honestly, by the time I got to those missing pages, I was actually kind of relieved that I was done!
I then moved on to a fast read: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. This is GPS's faculty book club choice for the spring. It is the story of a columnist who publishes her first collection of columns about WWII--and this leads her to discover an undercover book club on a remote island named Guernsey in which the members meet at first to enjoy banned treats during the war--and bring books as their "cover." Before long, though, they actually start reading and enjoying these books, and then together they reach out to the English columnist narrator who desperately needs a reminder why people write in the first place. I finished it quickly--the letter format of the novel makes it fly by. I recommend it if you are looking for a relaxing, thoughtful story!

More Poetry

Optimism
by Jane Hirshfield

More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam returns over and
over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree: finding the
light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another.
A blind intelligence, true.But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers, mitochondria, figs—
all this resinous, unretractable earth.

Getting Disciplined

I don't know what to make of it, but lately I have been craving discipline and focus in my life. I find myself thinking of goals--financial, intellectual, athletic, nutritional--all the time. Anyways, one of my goals is save enough money so that we can buy a new car. Whether we can afford the black Honda Pilot I have been crushing on remains to be seen, but regardless, my Honda Accord is 12 years old, 130,000 miles in, and a bit bruised and battered. It still runs like a dream, so we are in no rush, but eventually we will need (and yes, I confess, want) to get a car that is a little more...new.

Our goal was to try to be in a place where a new car was possible by the end of the summer. Regardless of whether or not it happened, I like having something in my mind to save for. However, between taxes and some unanticipated dental work (not to mention the tough market right now), what we had saved for the car was quickly redirected. Bummer, but hey, life happens. I just kept telling myself that I would try to be financially savvy and look for ways to save when I could--you know, do the best we can.

One such option was presented to me just yesterday. The head of our IT department visited my classroom to inform me that the school had overlooked the leasing option for my laptop and thus I would need to pay for the computer in full now or start a significant payment plan--or I could turn in my laptop, get a desktop instead, and owe nothing. Ok, Sara, its time to put your money where your mouth is. I say goodbye to my laptop next week. But I am saving $35/month for the next four years. I don't know exactly why, but that decision felt really good.

Winterim Week

Tuesday found us at the start of Winterim, our schools' fall break. I headed to Sharp Top Cove, a stunningly beautiful Young Life Camp, for 48 hours with 14 eighth graders and four other chaperones and their families. The experience revealed a few things to me:
1.) I never want to go back to 8th grade. NEVER.
2.) You CAN eat too many graham crackers (my attempt to be healthy on this trip full of raw cookie dough, coffee cakes, and chocolate chip pancakes).
3.) I am glad I was a dorm parent to eighth grade girls at Saint James when I was young and single...because I don't know if I could do it now. God bless dorm parents.
4.) 2 days without exercise drives me crazy.
5.) People have incredible stories. I loved listening to the other chaperones tell their life "stories" about growing up in Venezuela or learning how to "weather a storm"...I talked about the dynamic and crucial role that people have played in my life, specifically in terms of my faith journey, and how I see God in other people. I definitely saw God in these girls during these couple of days, and thus I am glad I went, but I also came home exhausted.

Poor Clay has been pretty sick this week, so he has taken advantage of the days off to try to get well. Friday and Saturday were glorious days of relaxation, good workouts, and long walks with Camden. I woke Clay up on Saturday with heart-shaped pancakes--and he surprised me with two pairs of shoes that he picked out himself! He noticed that my shoe collection has been dwindling thanks to the fact that they are Camden's favorite chew toys, so now I have a hot pair of black heels and a fun pair of white sandals for summer. Awesome. He is the best. I gave Clay a new leather cover for his car's gear shift (it fell off a couple of years ago and we never replaced it). Really romantic, huh? But it was something practical that he wouldn't buy for himself, which was the rule we followed this gift-giving time around.

We met our dear friends Kat and Nate for dinner on Valentine's at Canyon Grill on Lookout Mountain. YUM! We had so much fun celebrating with them. Check out Clay's dinner: the famous catfish!

Sunday School went well again this morning (today's topic was on conflict and war; last week was love) and then we geared up for our third dinner party in just about as many weeks. This one, thankfully, was the smoothest one of all in terms of preparation and execution. I just hate being in the kitchen the whole time we have guests over, so Clay and I chopped and prepped as much as we could ahead of time so that I wouldn't be quite as flustered when it came time to making the dinner. Tonight we started with baguette and brie, mixed nuts, and homemade hummus and pita chips; lime and honey marinated salmon over a bed of corn, black bean, red pepper, spinach, and mango salsa with roasted new potatoes on the side; and then our favorite plum, pear, and blueberry crisp (thanks, Ina Garten!) for dessert. We had a great time with John, Susan, Tim, and Melanie--we love having people over!

I have to go back to work tomorrow for an in-service tech day, but Clay gets one more day off before the boys come back, so here's hoping that he continues to feel better.

We love you all!

Ali's Fun Visit!

It was so great to have my best childhood friend, Ali, in town with us this past weekend. Ali lives in Birmingham, and she was so sweet to make the 2 hour trip over to hang out with us for 24 hours. We started our hang out time together on the top of Signal Mountain. It was SUCH a gorgeous day that we had to spend some good time outside...so we took Camden for a hike and got to really catch up with Ali. She always amazes me with her "togetherness"--she is always up on the latest everything, so I love hearing what she has been learning and experiencing in Birmingham. She is always so fun and interesting to talk to--about everything!

We then gave her a mini-tour of North Chattanooga, taking her past GPS and our cute yellow house that we lived in last year. We then went out to Tony's Italian Restuarant in the Bluff View Art District (the first restaurant that Clay and I went to--with Mom and Dad!--when we moved to Chattanooga). We then stopped by The Terminal for a drink before crashing for the night. Sunday brought our Sunday School class (which had an interesting discussion on love) and a second trip to Greenlife, my favorite grocery store in town. We were able to whip up another batch of granola bars (I'm telling you, I'm obsessed) before she hit the road.

Ali, thank you so much for coming to Chattaboogie to visit us! We can't wait until our next trip to Birmingham! You are wonderful--so special to both of us (actually all three of us--Camden is sad that you are gone, too. He was also really freaked out on the bridge in the picture below--it was pretty funny!).