Food and Friends!

Daniel and Danielle came over last night for dinner. Craig got a new grilling cookbook recently, so we decided to try grilling some baby back ribs with a tomato-tequila sauce. Ribs turned out to be a little more complicated than I had expected. Anyway, the dinner turned out well and we really enjoyed the time we got to hang out with our friends. Can't wait to do it again!

Weekend in Review!

Craig and I began our weekend Thursday evening by going to Abingdon, Virginia to the Barter Theatre. This time was saw a play called "Comin' Up a Storm." While the play was very good, I must admit that it was not a funny as I had built it up to be in my head. Even with the slight disappointment we managed to have a great time.

Friday was Craig's 26th birthday! We were so lucky to be able to celebrate his birthday with my sister Erin and our friends Jared, Melanie, and Brett who all came to stay with us for the Labor Day weekend!

Saturday we all went whitewater rafting on the Upper Nolichucky River in Erwin, Tennessee. Thanks to the heavy rains we had last week the river was absolutely at it's best! This trip consisted of 10 miles of class 2-4 rapids. Out of the four groups on the river that day I have to brag and say that our group was the only one that did not have someone fall out of the raft... unintentionally that is. Several of us became Nolichucky swimmers after being pushed out of the boat by the sneaky person sitting next to us! Jared and I took turns "riding the bull" which is when you ride on the very front of the raft while going over a rapid... extra style points were earned by throwing our arms up when we crossed the waves. Needless to say we all had a great time. Unfortunately we weren't brave enough to try taking the camera on the river with us, so the only pictures we have were taken after we got back and got cleaned up. Here's a picture of our group with our guide John (in the red shirt) standing in the middle.


Sunday we decided to wear out our lower bodies as we had worn out our upper bodies rafting the previous day. We all went biking down the Virginia Creeper Trail. The scenery was beautiful as usual. I think by the end of the day we were all wishing we had padded biking shorts like Jared wore.

We rounded off the weekend by having a few drinks on the newly revamped patio, catching up with each other, and recovering from all of the strenuous activity over the past two days. All in all it was a great way to spend the holiday weekend! Too bad it's back to work tomorrow.

The Habitat State Conference

Well, I'm back in town after spending 3 days in Murfreesborough, Tennessee for the Habitat for Humanity State Conference. I must admit that I was pretty nervous about the conference... when people would go to the annual conference with my old job at Youth Villages they would normally do something stupid and end up getting fired shortly after getting back in town. Luckily, I don't think any of us (Tommy included) did anything too stupid or are at risk of losing our jobs. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to the National Habitat Conference in Atlanta in January.

Laura (executive director), Tommy (construction manager),

Lisa (administrative assistant), Michelanne (office manager, and me (family services coordinator)

Patio Redo--Phase II

This weekend my parents and Craig's mom came up to help us with the bulk of the pergola building project. We spent all last week pre-cutting most of the beams, so we just needed help putting all of the pieces together. Of course this is simply easier said than done. Anyway, the majority of the pergola is now complete. All that is missing is the detail work around the base of each post, the final row of small slats to go across the top, and a coat of cedar stain. Hopefully these details will be done in the next few weeks.

Here's a reminder of what our patio looked like before we stained the concrete, got new patio furniture, and built the pergola:
Here are a few pictures of us assembling the pergola:


Here's the finished product (minus some minor detail work):
I can not tell you how pleased I am with the way it turned out!!! Now we'll be able to enjoy the space as much during the day as we do in the evenings!

Building Project Part I

This weekend Craig and I began the first phase of our pergola project. We had the goal of making all of the necessary cuts this weekend so that when our families come next weekend to help all we have left to do it put all of the pieces together. I really think we underestimated this phase of the project. The saying "measure twice, cut once" was actually more like measure 4-5 times, cut once.

Plus, we had occasional distractions when Sydney would climb up and walk back and forth on the boards we were cutting/sanding... I guess he thought they were like the "dog walk" and "teeter totter" that he gets to play on in agility class.
Well, after all of the hard work we only managed to get about half of the cuts done... so I guess that means we're going to have to get busy this week. Anyway, the end product will be TOTALLY worth it!

Happy Graduation Erin!

My sister Erin graduated with her masters degree in divergent learning from Columbia College this past Sunday. I was so proud of her... I never, NEVER thought I would see the day! Anyway, I know she has worked very hard over the past year to earn this degree and I am so happy for her!

Girls' Weekend in Columbia!

This past weekend I met up with Rae and Holly in Columbia for a girls' weekend. I had a lot of fun. It was nice to be back in Columbia, even if only for a couple of days.

Us at Gervais & Vine

Can't wait until we get together again!