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.

we just needed a good paddlin'

so we are back and at 'em after our long weekend with the welch's (minus jackson). what an awesome time to kick back, not have good cell phone service and just relax.

when we plan any trip to the mountains (especially if we are staying in a cabin), I always envision this wonderfully primitive trip, where we cook everything over a fire pit, there is no television or phone and i am forced to paint or draw or read multiple books in a rocking chair on a porch.

this never happens.

the first thing i do is find outlet malls. then we all figure out which restaurants to hit up. and then there's the wii and guitar hero. to say that it's addicting is quite the understatement.

nonetheless, playing "dream police" over and over and over again was fun. i finally have mastered the easy level and now medium is seriously kicking my butt!!

we did get back to nature a bit---we got in a good paddlin' with zaloo's canoes on the new river. we packed a panini lunch (yep, still obsessed with them) and had the best time canoeing with our canoes tied together. we also went fishing and lindsay w. caught her first fish EVER. baby got bass. too bad we didn't even have a camera to take a picture of this life changing event!!

all in all, it's trips like this that make you sit back and be particularly thankful for the friendships we have in our lives.

the two amigos

the strange forces of nature and gravity at mystery hill

river rats!

lindsay w. looking for the darn brown barn! (it was likely the spot that was missing on the map)

the 1st day of the last year of my 20's

....in other words, the start of my 29th year. wow. time flies.

birthdays were much more fun when we were all NINE and having parties at holland's rollerama. but the years creep on and here i sit one year before my 30th birthday. (i'm internally screaming right now).

this year's birthday was great. jeff's been off for a couple of weeks so we got to hang out together, which we never take for granted because some years he gets to celebrate on my birthday, some years we have to celebrate a few days before or after because of his work schedule. we really didn't do much of anything, which was nice! my parents treated the family to dinner at paesano's (my fave) which was impeccable from start to finish. our favorite waiter, billy, created a special dessert just for my birthday which was incredible.

then the next day jeff taught me a little more on the golf course. i've been trying to learn the game and am almost to the point of buying some hot pink clubs/irons/wedges. i seriously knocked the crap outta the ball yesterday and i think it even shocked jeff how far i can drive it. bring it, tiger. bring it.

hopefully the weather will hold out tomorrow for us to go canoeing. we are headed up to paris mountain for the day.

one last note--i am officially hereby boycotting the oconee county wal-mart in seneca. it is filthy and disgusting and to go there on a friday night is like going to the circus. they should charge admission. everytime we go in there, i get in a bad mood and tonight was no different. so there, i said it. i hate the seneca wal-mart. dollar general of six mile, here i come!!

Daggum, that felt good!

the yard sale was today and we worked so hard all day yesterday cleaning out the garage and the storage building. it definitely paid off, but we worked our butts off.

it felt so darn good to get rid of stuff. what we didn't sell went straight to goodwill. we made a grand total of $289! hooray! and a tax write off for the stuff we donated. so it was well worth the time and the sweat we put into it.

the profit goes toward a mini-vacation this week with some of our very besties, justin and linds! we can't wait. we need time away and it will be great to get away with them to the mountains of west jefferson, nc. i am taking 3 books with me and will hopefully finish at least one by the time i come home! so only a couple of work days this week and then we are heading up to the mountains.

jeff is still doing great with having his teeth pulled. he has not yet felt any pain or had any swelling, so he was quite blessed. he'll go in for a follow up on monday. we have been making sure to follow all of the instructions so he doesn't get a dry socket. but i think he's all in the clear now. he had it MUCH better than i did when i had wisdom teeth pulled, that's fo sho'.

that's about it for now--SO looking forward to a chill day tomorrow.


Flash Toys At WishAFriend.com

golfth?

jeff did beautifully today with having his teeth pulled. he went in around 10:45, they called him back right at 11 and i was helping him into the car at 11:50.

he was so precious. i went back and they still had the laughing gas on him. he was very concerned that i remember to get his cap and kept pointing to it. so i put it in my bag.

the nurse then started telling me how to care for him over the course of the next few days. she said, "no strenuous activity for a few days, at least." jeff's eyes got big and he looked at me incredulously. oh no, i thought, please don't ask her about sex. i will die.

and he didn't.

he looked back at her and said with the saddest look on his face, "GOLFTH?"

"huh?"

"GOLFTH? THRIDAY? THITH THRIDAY?"

"no, jeff, you can't play golf this Friday...that might be overdoing it."

"oh." then he just shut his eyes and pointed for his cap again.

precious.

he's now on the couch and eating his jello. his numbness has worn off but he has felt no pain and there's very little swelling. he's had bags of frozen veggies on his face.

wall-e? eeeeeeevvvvvaaaaa!

oh yeah! we went to see wall-e this weekend and i loved it!! it's a must see and a must buy when it comes out. it's amazing how little dialogue there is, yet there is no question about the ideas and points that the movie is conveying.

i won't spoil it--just go see it before it leaves the movie theater.

and i finally saw sex and the city--literally a month after it came out, which is crazy, seeing as how that is one of my favorite shows EVER. i was completely satisfied. it was perfectly concocted and developed. it met every expectation i had and then some. i must say that i despised carrie's choice of wedding dress....why didn't she go with the oscar de la renta one that she had on in the photo shoot? and the headpiece? hmmm, what exactly was that?

i did adore the movie though. and those wicked black dior heels she wore throughout the movie.

"the" poem gives me cold chills. i'd like to have the last few lines tattooed somewhere. i bought a book of love poems and this one in particular is the one that carrie was reading in bed. it was written by beethoven (go on with yo bad self, Ludwig!):

From "Letters to My Beloved" by Ludwig van Beethoven

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us -
I can live only wholly with you or not at all -
Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits -
Yes, unhappily it must be so -
You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never -
Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves.
And yet my life in V is now a wretched life -
Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men -
At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection?
My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once -
Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together -
Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell.
Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours
--------------------------------
eeeeeek! cold chills!

taking some sick time...for jeff

i am going to be taking some sick time from work for the rest of the week. am i sick, you ask? no. am i going to the doctor? nope. but poor jeffy has to have teeth pulled tomorrow and i am going to be a good wife and take him since he will be going under anesthesia. and i'm taking sick time for it. i have already forewarned him that if he wants to confess anything now, he can, as i will be questioning him about various things while he's out of his mind temporarily. just kidding.

as badly as i hate it that he has to undergo dental work, i am looking forward to taking a few days to get some things done while he is recovering. we are having a yard sale on saturday and i need to get all my crap together for that. yard sales are great--you get to really purge yourself of all of those little nick nacks that just accumulate.

this year's yard sale bin consists of books that i don't care to keep, sheets that are less than 300 thread count (cause i'm spoiled like that), glasses that don't match any of my other glasses, tank tops that are size XS (when the hell did the girls ever fit into a size XS?!?) and some old cd's that someone in their eighties might like (such as michael mcdonald and spanish guitar serenade). i'll be sure to take pictures at this grand event and i'll even tell you how much money i make.

ooh-almost forgot...we had such a great 4th of july here. the weather was great--not too steamy hot and definitely not to cool. we enjoyed an afternoon at paul and mj's--paul made ribs, steaks, burgers, hotdogs and a boston butt. holy crap! can you say C-A-R-N-I-V-O-R-E-S?? everything was great. we all went out on the boat and watched the fireworks. they were literally all around us. it was gorgeous. bryce got to captain the boat and isaac had a hand in choosing what we listened to on the iPod (mostly Bob Marley and Frankie Vallie...he's got great taste!) with all of the great things going on, it was easy to lose focus of why we were out celebrating in the first place, but i was reminded of it when i saw a big american flag on our way home.


we are so lucky to be free and to live in america.

ps--i've now added a music player to the blog for your listening enjoyment.