Garden Delights

A few weeks ago, those of us invested in the McC garden gathered for dinner. Each of us brought a dish that incorporated something from the garden. Look at all the yummy treats! And isn't Ellie, my neighbor, adorable? :-)
Our tomatoes FINALLY started turning red a week ago...which enabled me to try canning for the first time! Is it a sign that I am getting older when I get this darn excited about canning tomatoes? Homemade salsa? Come on, now! Is there anything more heavenly? Haha.

Anyways, the 6-hour canning process was a complete success. All 12 pints seem to have sealed, so hopefully we will be enjoying spicy salsa for months to come!

The Beauty of the Great Outdoors

We have been continuing to love our summer days and nights--and our new car! We have driven it around the state in search of fun swimming holes this past week and then coming home to our growing garden. Life is grand.

So...Camden didn't like the water. AT ALL. Here he is swimming for safety.

LOVE this picture!

Clay and Camdem are into this picture, but me...not so much.

Two out of three ain't bad.

Isn't this gorgeous? Both the husband and the scenery!

Beautiful.

We tried to get him to swim again, but he just wasn't digging it.

The McC Garden! Cucumbers, Squash, Peppers, and Okra (tons of okra!) are growing like crazy! Hopefully these watermelons will be ripe soon.

Yesterday, I went over to my head coach's home to learn how to can tomatoes. Salsa and yummy tomato sauce, here we come! I am ready as soon as these guys turn red.

Our first eggplant!

Not bad to be split three ways...Clay and I enjoyed lots of grilled veggies last night. And we love cucumbers, but there is only so many ways you can eat them, right? Any suggestions?

Love to you all!

Auto: Pilot

As many of you know, one of my goals this year has to become more financially savvy, which includes everything from learning more about investment options and retirement plans to simply not spending money on things we truly don't need. I told myself months ago that if I could discipline myself enough to take advantage of extra work opportunities and not buy that really cute purse or tenth pair of beaded flip-flops that eventually I could dedicate some of those earnings and my savings from college towards a new car. Once I started car crushing on a black Honda Pilot, that goal came into even sharper focus and suddenly working summer camps and coaching track seemed doubly appealing. Clay was all for it (how did I marry the most supportive, kind man ever??), so when Bruiser Camp concluded on Friday after a fun day rafting down the Nantahala River, I jumped into my 1997 Honda Accord and cruised up to Nashville to check out Honda Pilot #1.

I arrived at 6:45 p.m. in time to see two older men smoking cigars on the front porch of a small used car operation. They allowed me to take a test drive of the Pilot while they checked out the vehicle history on my car. I liked their car a lot, but the interior was a tan/brown color, which I wasn't so sure of with a black car, and it had a quarter-size nick right in the middle of the driver's vision on the windshield. Liked the car a lot, but there definitely seemed to be room for negotiation. Well, I guess I didn't play my cards right because they didn't budge from the sticker price and wanted to give me $1000 for my car, which isn't ludicrous (it had some things wrong with it, which is part of the reason for getting a new car) but it made the final numbers out of question for me. Ten minutes later, I was back on the road, home to Louisville and the fun Brittany Valley Road garage sale and a weekend with the wonderful fam.

I did a little more research on Pilots in the Louisville area before calling about one advertised on cars.com. For anyone looking for a car, I highly recommend this site--its thorough, clear, and allows you to compare costs and options easily. I checked it daily for probably about two months (it perhaps became a bit of an obsession). A dealership in Atlanta had two black Pilots, so I called, told the salesman my price limit and trade-in and told him to call me back if he thought he could make it happen. He called back three minutes later. I tried to remain cool and collected; inside, I was stoked.

I returned to Chattanooga on Sunday night, had practice with the CC team Monday morning (we are swimming now--hooray!), and then Clay and I headed down to Marietta to check out Honda Pilot #2. We both loved the car when we test drove it, it had grey interior, and the mileage was reasonably low (44K). I started getting really excited. Could I have just taken my final drive in my beloved, but ailing, Accord?

We sat down to hammer out the numbers and our salesman put a number on paper that suggested to me he didn't remember our conversation on Saturday. Uhh, dude, remember that I said I can only pay this much? I immediately balked and pulled out all the printouts we brought on the BlueBook value of the Accord and the comp Pilot prices in the area, etc. and then we countered the offer. They countered again, we countered again, we almost walked out, and then...he tossed me the keys to the Pilot. Congratulations! You just bought a Pilot! We just bought a Pilot! Craziness. But so, so fun.

Ahhh Summer

No laptop + no motivation = no new blog posts since early June. I am so sorry! I honestly just haven't even wanted to look at a computer in a month! I know most people aren't afforded that luxury, but as this was my first summer since I started teaching that I haven't been in grad school and thus writing away my summer, I guess I decided to ignore the computer altogether! Yikes! But we are back and hopefully I can stay on top of things a bit better now that I have thoroughly enjoyed my month-long hiatus from the keyboard :-)

So what have we been doing? Hmm...we haven't been taking many pictures (I have been so lazy, haven't I?), but here are some from the beginning of the summer! I bet you can tell what we did for at least one week!

We loved riding our bikes around Hilton Head!

I just had to stop to take this guy's picture--someone did a heck of a job!

Cute Mom

Hooray for Brittany taking time off work to come down for a few days! She is a ROCKSTAR.

Our attempt at taking this year's Christmas Card picture in June.
I think I am going to veto this one.

Rather than writing down long descriptions of what has been happening since school blissfully let out in June, here's a quick top ten (I am still in vacation mode, remember?)

10. I tore my bicep trying to do one of Clay's workouts with him. I am not joking. I am clearly not cut out for Crossfit (to check out the insanity that he calls his workouts, click here)
9. Camden turned 1!!! Oh my gosh, he is the cutest dog ever.
8. I have been reading as much as possible. I LOVED Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (great rec, Blair)--the recipes are really yummy too!. I also flew through American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld and am almost done with my favorite read of the summer so far, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. A beautifully written book totally influenced by Hamlet.
7. Clay and I celebrated two years! I love him more than ever. We jumped off the tower at the McC lake ("taking the plunge") before enjoying an incredibly yummy vegetable soup and fresh bread :-)
6. Clay is currently in the middle of his second week of soccer camp and is constantly going from their 6:30 a.m. football workouts to his last soccer scrimmage at 8:30. He's a stud. I am currently in the middle of my third week of camp at my school, which leads to #5.
5. I had to tell an 8 year-old today that a.) punching another camper repeatedly is NOT okay and b.) sticking your head in the toilet and then flushing it is not an activity we endorse. Wow. These girls make me laugh and smile constantly, but man, am I sleeping well at night!
4. Exercise exercise exercise. It feels so good to be healthy, to sleep well at night, to have time to stretch and push our bodies and enjoy the highs of fitness. Football and cross country team workouts have already started (6:30 am for Clay, 7 am for Sara) and before we know it, the seasons will be in full swing...but its still summer and we are definitely not wishing it away!
2.5. Hilton Head with my family was super fun and relaxing. Riding bikes, reading in the pool, playing in the ocean, making dinners at night, going putt-putting...thanks for a great vacation, Mom and Dad!
2.5 We loved seeing all of Clay's family (except for John--but we will see him soon!) at Rachel and Joe's wedding in Birmingham on June 20. What a fun event! And seeing Ali and Fritz and meeting Bill were definitely highlights of our summer as well. They are dear, dear friends.
1. Sleeping, eating, watching lots of fun tv (umm, the Federer-Roddick match was insane), going on long walks with the Camdawg, reading, playing tennis, and enjoying our first summer together not at BreadLoaf. Do we miss the mountains of Vermont? Definitely. Do I miss the live Shakespeare in England? Definitely. Do we miss our friends in the program. Hell ya. Do we miss the reading? Sometimes. Do we miss the papers. Hahahahaha. We don't miss the papers at all.

Life is great down in Chattavegas--and we always love visitors!

A Year of Mornings

LOVE this blog and this book. Check 'em out. I am continually inspired.

4--count 'em FOUR--more days!

That's right, folks. We can taste, smell, feel, hear, even SEE summer comin' around the bend. Four exams to proctor each and then we're home free for a 2.5 months. Man, there are some days when we are so tired and feel like we do nothing but work, but times like these make us once again realize that WE HAVE THE BEST JOBS IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. I love love love teaching!

Perhaps because this week has given us more down time than we're used to, a number of cool experiences and insights revealed themselves to us over the past few days:

1. First of all, Clay's soccer season ended. While their loss in the semifinals of the State tournament wasn't a totally "cool" experience, their team banquet on Monday night was. One of my favorite parts of coaching is always the team banquet. It is a time for reflection, for gratitude, for perspective, and for celebration. This one was typical, but I think most typical banquets are pretty extraordinary. You get to hear about awesome kids doing special things, going above and beyond, and achieving marks and accolades about which they dreamed when they were younger. We watched a slideshow of the seniors, all of whom had baby pictures of themselves with soccer balls. The adorable pics and the cheesy music achieved their desired effect, at least for me--I couldn't help but be proud of how far these kids had come and how much of their lives have been dedicated to becoming better at this sport. I was inspired.

2. I also sat in a bookstore yesterday and read an entire book: A Homemade Life. Mary, it's the one I talked to you about and sent you a link for...its the story of a young woman who wrote a blog about her family's recipes and food in general. I loved it. Check out her blog: Orangette. Of course, she has now decided to take a break from her blog for a bit, but that's okay--read some of her back blog entries and check out her book. Once again, its inspiring. She made me want to bake a cake and write a million blog entires all while I was sitting at a table at Barnes and Noble.

3. I practiced yoga 6 out of 7 days this week, including three classes at 6 a.m. I am hooked. Who would have thunk it? I love sweating and hi-impact and feeling like I have really burned calories and pushed myself to the limit. But wow. I can't get enough of yoga. It is exactly the type of exercise my body and my mind needs. I did a Hot Yoga class in which the room temperature was 106 degrees; my clothes were soaked by the time class was over. I mean, disgusting. and I was so, so happy. I also did a yoga class outside on banks of the Tennessee River yesterday. As I turned one way, I saw a bride and her wedding party posing for pictures; when I turned the other way, I saw a grandmother and her two adorable grandchildren running around in our downtown park's giant fountain. Again, so, so happy.

4. Buy Fresh. Buy local. I feel so priviledged to live in a vibrant community that is uberly dedicated to becoming a fully sustainable community. We are surrounded by farms that provide us with fresh fruits and veggies all the time. At GPS, one of my co-workers has his own farm and delivers fresh herbs and lettuce to my classroom every Thursday; one of our chefs in the school kitchen cooks only healthy, organic foods. My favorite grocery is all about local products and fresh ingredients. You can eat so well in this town. Clay and I are dedicated to trying to each as fresh and as local as possible this summer. We'll let you know what we learn. Tonight we cherished red lettuce salads with local strawberries, snow peas, mandarin oranges, tomatoes, and walnuts on top. Heaven. And there's enough left over for tomorrow :-).

5. Clay and I went out to dinner last night to celebrate the end of our teaching and coaching. We also had a really good talk about our life together--where we are, where we want to be, what dreams we have yet to pursue and realize. I came home thoughtful and grateful. We may have no idea what the future holds for us in a number of areas, but we are excited about figuring it out together.

6. Finished our wedding album. What's that you say? We were married almost two years ago? All I can say is that this is going to be one rockin' album. Blurb is a brilliant website.

7. The sermon in church this morning totally hit home and beautifully confirmed what Clay and I discussed last night. Don't you love it when you think something and then something out of the blue confirms that thought?

8. I think I am going to make my own planner. I keep looking for the "perfect" planner and have yet to find it, and so, inspired by Beth Williamson, I am going to try to make my own. Wish me luck.

I'll let you know how the wedding album, planner, buy local-eat local plan...and our lives turn out. Thanks for staying tuned.

Grateful and Excited

We're grateful for all the great times with friends we've had this week, for Clay's soccer team winning their big match in Memphis and thus ensuring them a spot in the State Semifinals on Thursday, and for the generosity of family as Clay celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday! We're EXCITED about sister Catherine Grace's engagement and upcoming wedding in August, our trip to Hilton Head in June with my family, and SUMMER!!!!

So the week started with awesome Brittany's birthday on Monday. She's a rockstar. Wish we could have been with her to celebrate, but our beach time isn't too far away :-). Tuesday and Thursday were the regional track meets at GPS, both of which went well, and Clay's soccer game at home, which they won 1-0. Wednesday night Clay was on duty in the dorm (the last night with the seniors!), and then Thursday he and the team headed to Memphis for their Friday showdown--and their victory! Thursday and Friday were no-class days for me as GPS celebrated Class Day Awards and then Graduation, but the track meet, mid-day faculty party, and then an 8th grade exam kept me at school late both days. No worries--it was blissful coming home and not having anything to plan or grade! Heaven!!!

Friday night I went to the opening of Public House, the new restaurant of which our friend Nathan is the head chef! Oooh La La! It was super delicious, and his girlfriend, Kat, and I and her sister had a blast laughing and enjoying the celebration at the hot spot all night long. I was full, relaxed, and happy. Life is good! I came home and Camden and I stayed up together watching Say Yes to the Dress (addictive) and making Clay's final birthday present: a corkboard made out of corks from CA wineries (and a few others) with cute pictures of our trip and Camden posted on it. I wanted to do something to commemorate the two biggest things in our life recently: Cam and our SanFran/Napa trip.

Clay returned home mid-day on Saturday and we kicked it into happy birthday gear--shrimp and crabcakes with grits and cornbread for dinner, a caramel cake for dessert, lots of fun presents thanks to family, and some precious and cherished time together as we went out for a late-evening drink to cap off a great day.

Today was McC's graduation and our last Sunday School class (everything is winding down! but ah, its so relaxing). I just took in my second yoga class of the weekend at North Shore Yoga, one of my favorite spots in town. I'm not a member but I would love to be. Also spent some time researching Honda Pilots online...our neighbor on campus just got one this week and got a total deal on it, so she has been coaching us on how to negotiate. Clay and I=terrible negotiators. Clay hates confrontation and I simply have no idea how to do it. But we're getting closer...

So as we read and plan for our last week of classes (!!), we are feeling grateful and excited. and hopefully I will have more time to post as the days get longer and the work gets lighter! Happy week everyone!

Happy Birthday Lil' Sis!

It cracks me up to think that Brittany and I once wanted each other dead. I don't know how Mom and Dad survived our high school years...I don't know how we survived those years :-). But thank God we did--because now I couldn't imagine life without my sister. As you can tell by the photos below, she is truly my best friend. As I told one of my classes today, everyone who knows my sister is better for it--her selflessness, love of life, upbeat spirit, impressive intelligence, and inner and outer beauty makes me pinch myself sometimes...how did I get so frickin' lucky to have her as my sister?? Happy Happy Day, Sis.

She was there for me every step of the way during our engagement and wedding...even coming down to St. James before the wedding to help us pack up and move!

Bachelorette Weekend.

On the Lawn at UVA. I will always be grateful for all the times she visited me there.

One of our many hikes--remember the one in Santa Fe, babe? Haha...

Pre-wedding craziness.

This picture is fairly tragic but still fun.

Oxford! I mean, she came to Oxford! How awesome is she??

Love this one of her.

On the Thames.

In New York City--her home of 4 years.

Ah, I love her laugh.

In Chattaboogie.

Beautiful Brittany giving her eloquent toast at Blair's wedding.

At Blair's wedding this past January.

And one more for fun...just because it makes Brittany smile :-).

Love you, babe! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!