Zoku&Laptop

Monday:

A much needed day of rest after all the driving and chaos of yard sales and Knoxville. On this day I also, got a new iPhone, courtesy of the Apple Store in Green Hills, and accented it with a new case that Emily had first, but I don’t care because she doesn’t live here.

And we played with the Zoku popsicle maker. The pictures say it all. You’re jealous, and I know it.

And Tuesday:

I went back to work, but my dinosaur computer got replaced with a laptop and monitor. You know you’re growing up when getting more desk space makes you this excited. AND I can have two screen savers. Just wait until this new laptop gets it’s new battery. THAT’LL be a good day!

Not to mention that on Tuesday Adam and I had dinner with my parents, who abandoned me in Mississippi for the past 10 days! Talk about a good trip. Ten days is a nice little break. But anyway, they brought back wedding responses, wedding gifts from family, the wedding guestbook that the mail held (which drove me NUTS for the last week because I wanted it so bad), and a fun little shirt for me! It’s nice to know that your parent still bring you presents when they go on vacation. It was also the birth of my new obsession with Koi, who’s sushi is the closest I’ve found to Nama without being a million dollars at Wild Ginger.

My fingers hurt. This is like a hose… if I don’t talk for a week then it just all builds up and comes out at once. Remind me not to do this again? (For your sake and mine both!)

Knoxville

Sunday:

WE WENT TO KNOXVILLE! Now, ordinarily, I’d never put that in all caps. I don’t love Knoxville enough for all caps. But apparently, distance makes the heart grow fonder. Also, when you’re on “vacation” and have the liberty to do all of your favorite things from the last three years in a matter of hours, you really pack out your fun quotient.

Some things we did:

Ate at Firehouse.

Went to Market Square.

Bought a pea coat.

Got Christmas presents for my brother, my parents, and Lane.

Had white sangria (BEST. STUFF. EVER.) at LaCosta.

Saw Caroline Carter (!!!)

Bought $100 worth of Victoria’s Secret underwear (me, not Adam).

Ate NAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Including appetizer, sushi, and desert.

And attended Boomsday… Which easily won as the best fireworks show I’ve ever seen. Bryan Jones’s is a close second, in case anyone is wondering.

I’m not kidding you, this day sat nicely as one of my best days in awhile. I won’t soon forget it. Taking day trips with your best friend never gets old.

YardSale

Saturday:

We had a yard sale. It’s weird that I didn’t take any pictures of the yard sale; I apologize for that. I think the reality was that maybe I felt weird enough being there that I couldn’t bring myself to capture it on film. Yard sales are really eye opening (or something like that), because you go through this stuff that you once used or once loved (or maybe never used or loved) and decide what it’s worth to other people. And so you price it lower than you feel like it deserves to be priced because of how much you liked it or treasured it, and then people bring it up to you, look you in the eye, and say, “Yeah, this thing that you priced at $2 because you wanted me to buy it, isn’t even worth that. Give it to me for a dollar or I’m walking away.” Furniture, clothes, TVs, whatever. It all gets haggled down to the bare bones and then people take it away. Now I’m not stranger to yard sales – I’ve had some and been to some – but when you really sit down and think about the reality of the process, it’s weird. It's humbling and kind of sad. It's a very clear reminder that earthly things don't hold a lot of value. And six dollars is too much to sell a pair of pants for… Unless you’re going to Plato’s closet… because they took my pants for six bucks. In your face, yard sale lady! Moral of the story, we got some nice bonus cash. Nice. Bonus. Cash.

Also on this day, Adam got the truck running. We’ve driven it around Franklin! Outside of having tires on it from almost 30 years ago, it’s doing great! Patience pays off.

Fail

Okay… this is like the ultimate blog fail. I’ll own up to that. It’s been over a week! Wah wahhh... Really the issue is that I have internet at work, but I also work at work. So when I get home and actually have time to do stuff (like blog), I don’t have internet, making it difficult. There was this stint where I was fitting it in between work tasks, but I’m just not having a lot of in between time these days! Also I’m planning a wedding. Anyway, enough with my excuses… Let’s do some COMPENSATING!

Being as the last time that I did this was a pitifully long time ago, I need to go back and look at my pictures to figure out what I’ve even done in the past week. Because yes, I did still take pictures every day… they just didn’t make it up here!

Okay. I just looked into it, and apparently last week nothing happened but a lot of really good sunsets. Enjoy those.

Now, let’s just get strait to this weekend… because we bordered on best weekend/string of four days of the year. Unfortunately, this past weekend only gets that position for about a month. So let’s give it it’s moment in the spotlight. I’ll be quick. Very broad strokes here! In fact, you'll have to read up for those. For the sake of not appearing crazy, I've broken this post up in to multiple posts. Additionally... I took these pictures of birds on wires on Eddy Lane. NUTS, right!?

Monday

Bunganut

So, as promised... the night after my birthday we went to the Bunganut Pig. Now let me tell you something, for all those who haven't been there... It's a GOOD TIME! On a little bit of a whim, because we'd only ever heard of it, Mason, Chaz, Jessie, Adam, and I went over to try it out and continue my weeklong birthday celebration. (Any excuse for a party, really.) So anyway, we timed it perfectly. Pay close attention, in case you ever need to celebrate a birthday and want the perfect way to do it. We got there at 5:30, enough time to order a drink or two before Happy Hour ends at 6:00. We sat outside, because outside at 6:00, they have live music every night. So we got a drink and the music started. And it was cooler out. Very relaxing.

This is where the bizarre part starts. We're only there for a few minutes when the Listers show up. They're just great, and we just plain don't see them that much anymore... and if their presence isn't enough (it is, though) they bought us a round of drinks! So nice! Also worth noting that Bunganut Pig has Landshark, which you'll remember is my fav-o-rite beer. Double bonus points to them for that. ...So anyway, back to the story. Then, a little later after we ate, Adam offered one of the two tables we were occupying to a couple that didn't have a table. For that gesture, they bought our table a round of drinks. I'm not kidding. AND THEN we (the girls) went inside where Mason joked that we should always come and take up lots of tables and then generously give them away to see if people buy us drinks... at that point, a girl playing pool said, "Or you could just tell them that it's your birthday." To which I yelled, "IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY!!" She bought me a birthday shot. Some "fireball" something. Crown Royal and cinnamon, maybe? Irrelevant. It was awesome. People are SO GREAT! Some times I forget how easy it is to make someone's day. It was really easy for them to make mine. The importance of generosity, whether with alcohol or anything else, can not be overstated. They all reminded me of that.

I'm definitely going back. Everything about it was so pleasant... just imagine how AWESOME it'll be in the fall! If you go though, don't order the club wrap. It disappointed me. Everything else was picture perfect. Including my friends. I love them. And I wish Emily was there.

August27th

Alright... I'm behind. I admit it. But it was my birthday, and I'm pretty sure that gives me a free pass. I'm actually just all about milking birthdays for all their worth, including an excuse for my postlessness. Sooooo, as I've made abundantly clear already, Friday was my birthday. As a result, this post is pretty self explanatory, because it's pretty much just everything that I got, minus a few things. These flowers are from my parents, who despite leaving to go out of town on my birthday, still managed to come see me and bring me my gerber daisies (my favorite), a candle that smells SO GOOD (I think it's lavender apple something), and a giant chocolate chip cookie. That's on top of the stuff I already got last weekend (we celebrated both my mother's and my birthday last Saturday, where my aunt made this delicious pinecone thing with bacon and almonds and cream cheese... I can't even talk about it. I t's so good.), so it's really too much... but it's always fun to get something on your real birthday, so it made my day a little bit.

So after I saw them, I went and worked out with Mike Flynt (another post that I see in your future) (also note how dedicated I am to being fit) (also note how soon my wedding is), and then I got to open Adam's gift! Here, I want to call attention to the advantages of having a fiance who works at a sign shop. It occasionally has it's advantages, like the most creative wrapping paper ever. Also the most difficult wrapping paper to get into... being of course, that it's not paper, it's a giant sticker. It's actually great as a reusable birthday gift box... just tape the top closed next year and you can do it all over again. Basically, I loved it.

But guess what? THE BOX WASN'T EVEN MY GIFT! My gift was tea and a boiling pot. Now this probably requires a little bit of an explanation... but probably since we started dating I've been telling Adam that I want to become a tea person. He always mocked me or said something sarcastic, probably bringing to my attention how frequently I'm all talk and very little action... but one day (with Adam's parents actually) I just went for it. They bought some tea, and I started drinking it at their house... and then I bought my own, and started drinking it at my own house. And voila! I'm a tea person. Unfortunately, tea is pretty expensive (really good for you, but expensive), so Adam bought me some really really good tea! It's good. And a boiler, so that I don't have to transport mine back and forth from the office. The best part? Adam's a tea convert, too! The second best part? You use two teaspoons of tea leaves to make a cup of tea, and each of those two tea spoons (of this new tea) can get me six to eight infusions. So basically, two teaspoons of these leaves get me seven cups of tea. And the leaves keep for about a year in that nifty tin can. So I'm never running out of this expensive tea, is what I'm saying to you.

At this point, I have noticed that this blog is kind of long. My bad, I just love these presents, and I'm very grateful for them, so you have to listen to me ramble a little bit longer. To your immediate left you will see some Oreo truffles that Adam's mom MADE (that's right, MADE)... Jessie and I once tried to make Oreo truffles... they did NOT turn out like this. These are like, pro style. If you're lucky, you might get to try one soon. Who knows?

And as if that's not enough, they freaking bought me a ZOKU! It makes popsicles. It was on my registry, and I was dying to have it. Adam doesn't think I'll use it, but I plan on using it an unreasonable amount, just to prove him wrong. Anyone want to come over for popsicles? I can make nine at a time. And they're ready in seven minutes. And I can make them look really pretty. I'm hoping that because of this device, people will start calling me "Micah the popsicle lady" because I make the best popsicles around. That might be ambitious, but what's wrong with a little ambition?

And lastly, Adam's aunt and uncle got me this incredibly lovely ensemble. A super cute apron, which I intend to use when I'm a wife/homemaker, a tea cup for my new tea adventures, and a notepad book that you can't really see, but had a bonus gift in it! The bonus gift was a card telling me where my wedding shower will be held! It's in an art gallery in the factory, in case you were wondering. SO FUN, right?!

So anyway, there you have it. My birthday. It got even better on Saturday when I celebrated with my friends... that post is probably coming. I've got pictures for it at least! So to everyone who called, texted, Facebook posted, and anything else, THANK YOU! 23 is going to be a good year. :)