things i love: the college football edition

things i love:

1. the sc chant at games that goes something like this:

(really ominous sounding) "dumm dumm dum dum.....U-S-C...gooooooooooooooo COCKS!"

2. the giddyness of waking up on saturdays (or in this week's case, thursday) and planning the entire day around the game.

3. the trash talking. love it.

4. jeff getting up at 4 a.m. and starting the smoker with something really good in it--and it being ready just in time for kickoff.

5. going to some of the games and doing the whole tailgating thing. even though it's a lot of work to get it all together, it sure is fun. even the rotten smell of the farmer's market makes me smile.

6. ryan succop--love this kid and i'm glad he's here one more year.

7. the making of new household names--even though i've already started missing cory boyd terribly, i'm looking forward to seeing how some of the newer names prove themselves--smelly, beecher, garcia, and taylor rank.

8. watching my hubby being lit up like a firecracker all week because it's game week. he is literally radiating excitement.

9. the fact that the espn commentators have plenty more to talk about now that it's football season. i mean, they covered a spelling bee this year.....is that really a sport??

10. this:

11. tim friggin' tebow. period.

time for the apple festival!

the sc apple festival is coming up--faster than i would like! it's a great little festival in my hometown of westminster and has become more of a homecoming to me than a festival in the last few years. it seems like a lot of people come back from wherever they've moved off to to come to the apple festival.

every year, i try to do a booth with my arts and crafts. seeing as how i sold off most of my goods in a yard sale last month, i have very little to take this year.

but i am still going and i have a plan for what i'm going to sell. if you want to know, you will just have to come see!

the festival runs the weekend of september 5-6 and there are all kinds of events that go on, not just the arts festival. there is also the big IPRA sanctioned rodeo and bakeoffs, road races, etc. etc. etc. i really wanted to do the road race but never can because i have to "man my booth" on friday, which is when the race always is.

so there's my shameless plug for the sc apple festival. come on down!

here's a sample of one of my wooden signs (these sell out every year!) interested in one? shoot me an email....lindsaystovall@bellsouth.net

they do make great gifts, if i do say so myself....

bring on the fall

i was so happy this morning to open the front door and be greeted by the cool morning air. cool being the key word. we here in sc have been hammered with a brutally hot summer with very little rain. we're in a severe drought and the grass is crunchy. (but to jeff's advantage, with the lack of rain, he didn't have to cut it very much this summer...)

in the past month, the humidity was so bad that i just let my flat iron take a sabbatical and i let the natural waves in my hair just enjoy themselves and hang loose. there's no use to straighten and style when the humidity is 100% because frizz takes over and you've wasted a half hour of your life each day with your CHI.

so it was literally a breath of fresh air this morning to feel a breeze and get a sneak preview to fall. fall is by far my favorite season. i love the colors, the smells, everything.

there's lots to look forward to this fall--

1. college football. need i say more? i seriously have ants in my pants waiting for the kickoff in a couple of weeks.

2. that wonderful, wonderful day that you realize you can drive without the A/C on, and so you roll your windows down, only to find you need to turn the heat on low. that moment is pure bliss. even the weird smell that comes with turning on heat for the first time in months.

3. gevalia's flavored coffees are always great in the fall. usually creme brulee and pecan torte. mmm.

4. the apple festival (which my next blog will be about, stay tuned.)

5. euphoria, the new wine/music festival started by edwin mccain in downtown greenville. the kickoff is the chris isaak concert, which we're going to!

6. our vacation to new england and canada in october. literally. cannot. wait.

7. WICKED IS COMING TO ATLANTA AND BUBLE'S COMING TO GREENVILLE. yeeah!

8. the colors around the upstate truly epitomize the term "this is God's country." when you look out and see the trees and the leaves, you can't help but wonder how anyone doesn't believe in God.

9. Thanksgiving dinner's just a few months away! I'm definitely doing a another turkey cake (see photo below of last year's)

AND......

10. ......CHRISTMAS is 134 days from today! Start your shopping lists!!

so, i say bring on the fall! i can't wait.

this is where it all happens...

....my work, that is! the office is finally finished (well, finished enough for me to take a picture of it...)

there's still a couple of things that need to be done, but all in all it is complete. i still have to add more books to the bookshelves and i need a rug and i'm planning to put a white sofa (for when i just MUST have a break) on the empty wall facing the desk. i have the whole thing visioned out, i just have to go back to atlanta for the missing items.